Touring the Ming Dynasty

The three of Duan Fei came out of the cell, speechless for a while, until He Hai was sent out of the yamen, He Hai said: "Brother Fei, my father's funeral will be held in three days, and then I will separate the family. At that time..."

Duan Fei patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, I will definitely go, my brother, I will not let you be bullied by others, even if it is the emperor, I will let them go around without eating!"

He Hai nodded and left, Duan Fei and Shi Bin returned to the official house, Yan Butou was waiting for them.

Captain Yan threw two cloth bags to Duan Fei and Shi Bin respectively. This was the interest they got from this case. Duan Fei threw the heavy cloth bag on his bunk casually and said, "Boss , Tomorrow I want to go to Yangzhou with Shi Bin to relax, and come back before the evening of the day after tomorrow at the most, what do you think?"

Yan Butou said: "Go, wear casual clothes and wear a waist card. Don't get drunk, don't cause trouble, and don't be bullied. When you go out, don't show your money... Well, there is nothing else to pay attention to. According to Min My lord means that this case is quite special, and it may be sentenced to death after it is reported to Yangzhou..."

A repeat offender with clear and unquestionable facts can be sentenced to death. This case is more vicious and may involve some troublesome things. It is normal for Mr. Min to want to end the matter quickly.

"It's none of our business, they have to blame themselves." Duan Fei said flatly, "If we haven't come back by then... Boss, you can give them a last bowl of wine on our behalf."

Early in the morning, Duan Fei and Shi Bin boarded a boat at Ximen Wharf, and traveled southward along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. The journey was calm and beautiful everywhere, so Duan Fei couldn't help putting aside his unhappiness, and chanted poetically: "The old man Xici Huang The crane tower, the fireworks go down to Yangzhou in March. The lonely sail is far away and the blue sky is gone, only the Yangtze River flows in the sky."

"Good poetry, Brother Fei is indeed a book reader and can write poetry!" Shi Bin applauded and cheered.

Duan Fei laughed angrily at him, what an ignorant boy... Just as he was about to tell him that this was a famous poem by Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, a chuckle came from a nearby fast boat, and a girl's delicate voice said: "Miss, do you think it's funny or not? There are two people who are really strange. One has a horse's mouth on top of a bull's head, and the other is even more strange. The mouth actually grows on the ass of the previous one."

Duan Fei and Shi Bin both followed the sound and saw a black-covered boat, which is common in Jiangnan waterways, passing the slow boat they were on. A girl about sixteen or seventeen years old was sitting on the side of the boat. Talking and laughing into the cabin with a face, she is petite and exquisite, with beautiful eyebrows and eyes, especially the small mouth, the corners of which are curved upwards, making her look very playful and cute. She was wearing a lavender double-breasted, round-neck, sleeveless waistcoat, and a pink floral short jacket with one-shoulder sleeves. She turned out to be a pretty maid.

The maids are already like this, isn't that young lady beautiful?Duan Fei opened his eyes wide and looked into the cabin. In the dim cabin, a pair of star-like eyes were looking over with a smile. In addition to the uncontrollable smile, there seemed to be a hint of apology.

The awning boat went away quickly, Duan Fei and Shi Bin came back to their senses after a long time, Shi Bin shouted loudly: "Brother Fei, that girl is really cool!"

The girl with the veil kept appearing in Duan Fei's mind, especially the pair of star eyes, which seemed to win his heart away in an instant.

"Uninformed boy, you are still proud of the fact that he scolded both of us just now." Duan Fei snorted.

"Ah? What did she say?" Shi Bin's dumbfounded appearance caused the boatman and other guests to burst into laughter, and Duan Fei felt ashamed for a while.

At the beginning of noon, the two got off the boat at the pier in Yangzhou. In this era, Yangzhou was ranked among the top ten metropolises in the world, and the bustling weather was overwhelming. The two little boys from Baoying County were like Grandma Liu. After entering the Grand View Garden, everything was new, Duan Fei was fine, the road was full of men and women in fresh clothes and angry horses, and Shi Bin was dazzled.

After entering Yangzhou City, Shi Bin was completely dumbfounded. There were spacious and prosperous avenues on his left and right, and he didn't know where to go.

"On a moonlit night at the 24th bridge, where can the jade man teach you how to play the flute... go shopping first, and then play along the river." Duan Fei stopped a passerby and cupped his hands and said, "Brother, may I ask where there is such a flute in Yangzhou?" Sell ​​something that is as transparent as a crystal, you can look through it, and magnify things?"

"You mean, it's available in jewelry stores. You can go to Baodaxiang Yangzhou head office to have a look, but it's not cheap, about 20 taels of silver each." The person who was stopped knew by looking at their clothes. They came from a small place, so they kindly reminded them.

Duan Fei memorized the name, then asked the way, thanked the man and walked along the road, Shi Bin said: "Brother Fei, why are you asking that? It's so expensive."

Duan Fei explained: "I don't necessarily have to buy it. Let's talk about it. What I want to buy is not reading glasses, but a guy who eats."

Shi Bin was still confused, Duan Fei asked Bao Daxiang all the way, and finally found it by the Dadongmen Bridge beside the Xiaoqinhuai River. This is a bustling commercial street near the place of fireworks, and Bao Daxiang occupies a large area The facade was decorated luxuriously and elegantly, showing the owner's extraordinary taste. Duan Fei and Shi Bin walked in through the high threshold.

There were a few customers in the store who were picking up jewelry, all men and women were dressed in bright clothes, Duan Fei and Duan Fei immediately attracted a lot of curious eyes when they walked in.

Bao Daxiang's clerk came up to greet them, looking at the plain clothes of the two, he was a little surprised, but still maintained a respectful demeanor and a professional smile: "My lords, what jewelry do you need to buy?"

Duan Fei didn't feel any embarrassment at all, Shi Bin also braced himself and held his head up, but unconsciously lowered Duan Fei half a body, and after looking around, Duan Fei casually asked: "I heard that you have a salesman here. , I wonder if you have custom-made business?"

The guy said with a smile: "It's common to order things for distinguished guests. I don't know what kind of 叆叇 the young master wants to order?"

Duan Fei compared a circle with his hands, and said: "Round, thick in the middle and thin on both sides, wrapped with a wooden handle..."

The man suddenly said: "Oh, so the young master wants to order a large convex mirror that can be held in the hand. It is easy to make, but such a big one needs to be finely ground with a good big crystal. The handwork costs 100 taels of silver, if you want to order it, the artisans in our shop can start making it for you immediately after paying the money."

At this time, I don’t know if there is any glass. The best choice for making lenses is high-quality crystal, so the price is quite expensive. To make a magnifying glass actually costs 100 taels of silver. Duan Fei thought for a while and said: "It’s not too expensive. , take a look, and I have to order another thing, which is more complicated..."

Duan Fei made a gesture, and the guy was also confused. The old shopkeeper who had been paying attention to him for a long time came over and said with a smile: "If you order complicated things, you should go directly to explain to the craftsmen. Please come with me, sir."

Passing through a row of private rooms and a patio, Duan Fei was taken to Bao Daxiang's backyard and entered a large room where craftsmen worked.

"Master Liu is the most skilled craftsman here, so you can just tell him the details of the objects you need to make." The old shopkeeper introduced a craftsman to Duan Fei.

Duan Fei first explained the specifications of the magnifying glass he wanted. Master Liu nodded lightly to show that he had remembered it. Duan Fei then explained another thing to him in detail. , tube mirror, eyepiece, condenser, and can be adjusted up and down, left and right, this thing is really complicated.

Duan Fei talked for a long time, and finally made Master Liu understand by drawing pictures, and several masters surrounded him, looking at this novel thing curiously.

"Grandfather said that this object can magnify rice grains by a hundred times and a thousand times?" Master Liu asked suspiciously.

Duan Fei licked his dry lips, and said, "That's right, a convex mirror can magnify ten times, and it's no problem to make this microscope more precise and magnify a thousand times."

Master Liu nodded silently, and said, "According to my father-in-law, this microscope is not difficult to manufacture, but the requirements for several convex mirrors are quite high, so it will cost more. It will cost at least 300 taels of silver to make this thing."

"300 taels!" Duan Fei was a little embarrassed. He had earned a lot of money during this period, but yesterday he spent 50 taels to temporarily arrange those little brothers in the charity hall for a while, and he got some more yesterday. , It’s been offset. At this moment, I only have about 250 taels of silver left. I wanted to buy two things and ask the shopkeeper to give me a discount, but I didn’t expect the difference to be so much, or... order a smaller microscope?

"Let me see." A calm and steady voice suddenly sounded, and all the craftsmen stepped aside one after another. A man in his thirties walked in, picked up the sketch drawn by Duan Fei and looked at it seriously.

"Master Zhou Zhe is one of the seven masters in the Jiangnan jewelry industry..." The old shopkeeper introduced to Duan Fei in a low voice.