Judgement

Chapter 42 Distress in the River

"Watching the Tide"

In the southeast, the city of the Three Wus, Qiantang has been prosperous since ancient times.

Smoked willows and painted bridges, wind curtains and emerald curtains, there are 10 families.

Clouds and trees around the embankment and sand, raging waves roll frost and snow, the sky is boundless.

The market is full of pearls, and the households are full of Luo Qi and compete for luxury.

The heavy lake is stacked in Qingjia, with Sanqiu osmanthus and ten-mile lotus.

Qiangguan clears the sky, sings in the night, frolicking and fishing for the old lotus baby.

Qianqi has high teeth, listens to flute and drums while drunk, and enjoys the haze.

In the future, I will return to Fengchi to praise the good times.

The flat boat went out of the Qiantang River and entered the canal. It really looked like the river was surging and misty.This was Chen Mengsheng's first time out of Lin'an, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Looking at the thousands of miles of canals, he felt how insignificant he was.Among the people on board, only Xiao Zhuzi kept looking at the bulging baggage that Chen Mengsheng was carrying, but Chen Mengsheng just didn't notice it.

At this moment, the cabin was suddenly opened, and a naked-chested, bare-footed man walked in.As soon as the man entered the cabin, he bowed to everyone and spoke like a bell.

"Everyone, young and old, I rely on my parents at home, and my friends when I go out. I am the captain of this ship, and my surname is Jiang Dan. This time, I am here to deliver goods to my master, Yangzhou Master Pang. Go to Yangzhou, just to earn some money for tea and wine for the twenty or so brothers on board."

Chen Mengsheng understood that the reason why the boss of the boat babbled so much was to ask for the boat money. He reached into his pocket, took out his purse, took out three liang of silver, and put it in Jiang Meng's hands, as did the others in the boat.Only Xiao Zhuzi kept shrinking back, holding the window of the boat with both hands.

After everyone had paid the money, Jiang Meng shouted at Xiao Zhuzi in a loud voice: "I said this little brother is very nervous, and he is going to Yangzhou Mansion too? Bring five taels of silver, and Jiang will pack you on the way." Eat."

"This... this..., I... I..." Xiao Zhuzi escaped from gambling debts in Lin'an, he didn't care where he went, he just wanted to leave Lin'an as soon as possible.He didn't have a penny on him, and he was hiding in the cabin all the time. Unexpectedly, he was caught by the boss of the boat when he got out of the Qiantang River.

Jiang Meng has been the boss of the boat for quite some time, and the wind and rain come and go.His skin had already been tanned, and he had never seen anyone on the boat, but the money-grubbers and women on board were the most disgusting.

"Brother, there are rules for those who come out to beg for food. You are breaking the rules. Did you jump into the water by yourself? Or let me ask the brothers to throw you into the water?"

There was laughter in the cabin, but Xiao Zhuzi's face turned pale and he said: "Master, it's convenient for you. If I go back to Lin'an again, I will definitely end up dead, those people will definitely not let me go..." After finishing speaking, he turned to Jiang Meng knelt down.

Jiang Meng said angrily: "I have been sailing for 30 years, and I have seen many scoundrels like you. The brothers on the boat spend their lives in the river every day, exchanging their lives for living money." Lifting Xiao Zhuzi up like a chicken, he was about to throw Xiao Zhuzi into the river when he got out of the cabin...

"Wait a minute..." Chen Mengsheng recalled that Xiao Zhuzi's father had had a drink with him in the Fulai Winery that day, and that the two elders in the Yinlu Department would rather be blamed for this unworthy son.Thinking of the painstaking efforts of the second elder, Chen Mengsheng decided to help the half-grown boy.

"Boss Jiang, I'll give him his money." He poured the scattered silver taels in his purse into his hands, and there were seven or eight taels of silver left in total.These silver coins were left over by Chen Mengsheng when he sold fish in the past, and now they are all here, counting out five taels of silver and handing it over to Jiang Meng.

Jiang Meng was taken aback and asked, "Do you know this master?" Chen Mengsheng shook his head.

Xiao Zhuzi shouted: "The kindness and righteousness of the public, when Xiao Zhuzi gets rich in the future, he will definitely repay it ten times."

Jiang Meng put down Xiao Zhuzi with one hand, and bowed to Chen Mengsheng: "The strong man is Gao Yi, I can't accept this money. Jiang Meng puts righteousness first in his life, dare to ask this brother Gao's name?"

"Jiang Chuanzhu is serious, my younger brother Chen Mengsheng is fortunate to know Xiongtai."

"Hahaha, everyone on the boat calls me Boss Jiang, if Brother Mengsheng doesn't mind calling me Boss Jiang, please feel free to call me Boss Jiang. Come, come, come, Brother Mengsheng, Big Brother will take you to meet my brothers. Without any explanation, Jiang Meng pulled Chen Mengsheng onto the deck.

On the deck, the river wind was blowing, and once the sweltering heat in the cabin was swept away, a three-foot-long green flag on the mainmast was embroidered with a big word "Pang".There are 24 wooden windows on the front cabin, and oars and sculls protrude from the windows, paddling the fierce river water and driving the flat boat forward quickly.

"Boss Jiang, how long will it take to go to Yangzhou?"

"Now is the flood season, and it will take ten days to travel against the current to Yangzhou without going on a business trip. I wonder if Brother Mengsheng went to Yangzhou for business or to visit friends?"

"Hehe, it's not that this trip to Yangzhou is to send a friend's ashes back to his roots."

"Brother, you are a righteous man, Jiang Meng admires you. As long as you use my Jiang Meng's place in the future, feel free to speak."

"Boss Jiang, what does the Pang family in Yangzhou do?"

"Come on, brother, be careful, let's talk in the cabin." Jiang Meng stepped forward and pushed open the front cabin door, only to see more than a dozen men sitting on the floor inside, all of them with strong backs, paddling with left and right oars in each hand.He was also dressed in the same attire as Jiang Meng, with a pair of knee-length hemp trousers all over his body, and the pieces of tendon and flesh rolled with the strokes of the wooden oars, and beads of sweat flowed down his bronze-colored skin one after another.

"Brothers, let me introduce you to a righteous man. This is Brother Chen Mengsheng. He generously donates money to people who have never met before, and sends his friend back to his hometown. When you see this brother Chen in the future, be more polite to me."

"Yes, boss." All the sailors replied in unison.

Jiang Meng turned his head and said to Chen Mengsheng: "Brother Mengsheng, follow me." There is a stringed ladder through the front cabin, climbing up the ladder is the steering room, and there are two helmsmen steering the rudder.Walking out of the wheelhouse was a row of cabins, Boss Jiang opened a cabin and took Chen Mengsheng in.

"Brother, sit down, these are my rooms. Brother Chen drinks tea, this is the Dragon Well tea I bought in Lin'an." Jiang Meng brewed two Dragon Well teas, and the guests of honor took their seats.

"The Pang family in Yangzhou that brother Cai mentioned just now is a well-known nobleman in Yangzhou. His family has tens of thousands of mu of fertile land, and half of the business on the ten-mile Qinhuai River is his. A boat like mine can only transport rough goods such as timber for the Pang family. Master Pang There are dozens of larger ships carrying goods."

Chen Mengsheng said with a smile: "Master Pang is really a rich man."

"Isn't it? A few years ago, Master Pang's only daughter's recruitment of a son-in-law caused a sensation in the entire Yangzhou government. On the three-foot-high platform, Miss Pang Da was wearing a cotton gauze. After three consecutive elections, she chose a scholar who was rushing to take the exam from a foreign country as her." Husband. It really makes the men of Yangzhou government ashamed, brother, drink tea, drink tea..."

Before Jiang Meng finished speaking, he felt the boat tremble.The two cups of tea on the table were also spilled. There was another loud bang, the ship was swayed left and right, there was a rush of footsteps outside the cabin, and a helmsman ran in in a panic...

"Boss, boss. It's not good, there are goblins in the river."

Hearing this, Jiang Meng jumped out of the cabin, holding his hand on the strings of the boat and looking around, he saw the white waves rolling all over the river, and there was nothing unusual about it.Chen Mengsheng and the guy who came to report the letter followed Jiang Meng to the outside of the cabin, and the three of them stared at the river for a long time without saying a word.

Jiang Meng murmured to himself: "Could it be that we encountered a boat-swallowing fish while sailing today? Xiao San, what happened just now? Tell me carefully."

"Boss, just now you and this brother left not long ago, and Ma Pi and I were steering the helm. Who would have thought that there were a lot of goblins in the water, and a dark thing in the water crashed into the flat boat."

Chen Mengsheng also wondered: "Boss Jiang, what is a fish that swallows boats?"

Jiang Meng took a long breath and said: "Jiang has been sailing for more than [-] years. When Jiang was eight or nine years old, he went to Penglai to fish and pick pearls with his father and uncles. I don't want to see a dozen or so trees protruding from the water on the sea. The Zhang-long floating island, half a day later, the floating island sprayed out a column of water. The elders on the boat knelt down and burned incense and wine on the boat, and the floating island slowly sank in the water. Only then did the elders on the boat tell me that it was a swallowing boat A fish can swallow a big boat with its mouth open. But I have never seen it in this canal waterway, today." Before Jiang Meng finished speaking, the flat boat was hit again.This time, all the people on the side of the boat saw a large turtle more than ten feet in the water hitting the bottom of the flat boat with its back.

Chen Mengsheng understood that this was the big turtle that came to trouble him.He hated breaking his soul-absorbing mirror that day, and now Da Yuan is here for revenge.Chen Mengsheng shook his head with a wry smile and thought: It's a blessing, not a disaster. It's a disaster that can't be avoided, and those who don't subdue this evil today will not escape bad luck.

Clasping the magic ruler tightly in his hands, his eyes were fixed on the ups and downs of the giant turtle.As soon as the turtle raised its head, Chen Mengsheng yelled "Sickness." A red light shot directly at the neck of the turtle, which looked bulky but was actually extremely dexterous.Shrinking his head and turning over, Chen Mengsheng's thunder and fire hit the shell of the giant turtle, sparking a flurry of sparks.The turtle's shell was hit by the thunder and fire. The turtle's shell cracked a crack, and the red turtle meat was seen inside. The river water was dyed dark red by the blood from the big turtle, and sank to the bottom of the canal with a roar...

Jiang Meng looked at Chen Mengsheng in amazement and said, "Brother, what a trick. The goblin was shot and escaped by my brother. Is my brother an Onmyoji?"

Chen Mengsheng said: "Boss Jiang praised me too much, I just learned some superficial Taoism. The goblin in the river is a giant turtle named Changsheng."

The back cabin of the ship was also full of voices at this time, and many people had already rushed to the deck to ask the crew what happened.

Jiang Meng shouted sharply on the side of the boat on the second floor: "Why are you making so much noise? It's not uncommon to encounter waves on the river, so go back to the cabin and stay there."

After being drunk by Jiang Meng, everyone went back to the cabin honestly, and took a nap in the cabin after having lunch on the boat.Chen Mengsheng was left by Jiang Meng in the upstairs cabin, which is much more comfortable than the back cabin.Looking at the clear water and green willows on both sides of the river alone is a refreshing pleasure. The water town in the south of the Yangtze River is really beautiful...

When the new moon was born, the flat boat dropped anchor and stopped sailing. Jiang Meng came to invite Chen Mengsheng to drink on the top of the boat and enjoy the moon.

When Chen Mengsheng came to the top of the boat, he saw a bright moon hanging high in the night sky, and this boat was the only one in the river bobbing with the waves. "Brother Jiang, where have we been? Why don't we see people from the two shores?"

"Brother Mengsheng is sitting here. This is Taihu Lake with a water area of ​​[-] miles. It is a pity that you can't stop at Huzhou City if you go forward soon. Otherwise, I will take you to see this land of fishing and rice, the land of silk. Come and drink, drink." On the table was a jar of Shaoxing's Daughter Red, fish, shrimp, fruits and vegetables.

Chen Mengsheng asked: "Why don't you see those brothers on Brother Jiang's boat come to drink?"

"They eat and eat in the cabin downstairs, but they can't drink the wine. There are too many changes in the river. If the wind blows and turns the sails, they may be busy. Let's drink, don't worry about those things." Chen Mengsheng He could only smile and drink with Jiang Meng.

When the wine was eaten until the second watch, Jiang Meng was telling Chen Mengsheng about the strange things he had encountered in the past. Chen Mengsheng knew that some water ghosts did it for the sake of life, but he couldn't say it clearly, he could only laugh it off...

After a loud "bang", the whole flat boat was shaken by the force of the impact. If the flat boat was not big enough, it would definitely be knocked over.At this moment, there was a shrill scream in the front cabin...