Globe Trekker

Chapter 27

Wu Ming carried an old canvas schoolbag on his back and walked eastward for four hours along the path, before arriving at Huangtang Village, two kilometers north of Shaxi Town, an important town in the east of Shangrao.

This is a fork in the road. The villagers in the north and the people in the mountain village in the west have to take this road if they want to go to the town. It looks like a small market.

Today is the Day of Huangtang Village. There are many people coming and going on the only stone street. Most of them are carrying baskets or carrying burdens. Almost all the shops and stalls on both sides of the small street are seated, and the hosts and guests are friendly. Qi, it seems that business is doing well.

Wu Ming chose the tea stand under the big tree, and asked the smiling proprietress for a bowl of tea. Seeing the steaming green rice dumplings on the bamboo steamer, he was greedy, so he ordered two and ate them with relish.

Halfway through the meal, two middle-aged guests put down their baskets and sat in. Facing the warm greetings from the proprietress, they shook their heads again and again, and said angrily that when they walked out of Shaxi Town, they were raided by a group of officers and soldiers and members of the militia who set up a checkpoint at the entrance of the town. Half of the salt bought by selling medicinal materials was taken away. The two kept complaining about the chaos in the world, and the officers and soldiers were like bandits.

After hearing this, Wu Ming was secretly vigilant. He didn't have any proof that he didn't have a road. He didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble, so he could only continue to walk eastward along the mountain path.

Wu Ming is quite familiar with the counties and towns under the jurisdiction of Shangrao. Although the size of the counties and towns is small and the roads are rough and simple, the mountains are still those mountains, and the rivers are still those rivers. Plentiful and spacious, as long as you continue to pass Yushan Mountain, you will be in front of Zhejiang, and you will be safer when you get there. If there are no roads to be stopped, at most you will pay a few dollars to buy the road, and you can probably deal with it if you find a reasonable excuse. At least no one was treating him as a murder suspect.

After making up his mind, Wu Ming speeded up his eating, took out a big ocean to pay the bill, and asked for five rice cakes in exchange for a handful of oily silver pennies and copper coins from the proprietress. Wu Ming put them in his pocket without counting them. Get up and leave with a smile.

After walking a few steps, I heard envious comments from behind: "I don't know which young master, he is rich! Drink a bowl of tea and eat two rice dumplings, then take out a big ocean, even count the change for him, tsk tsk! "

Wu Ming was quite helpless. At this time, except for silver dollars, he hadn't figured out the appearance of all kinds of silver coins and copper plates in the world, so he could only pretend that he didn't hear what others said.

When he was about to leave the village, Wu Ming accidentally saw a barbershop on the left. There was only one customer who looked like a student getting a haircut, and there were no other customers waiting nearby.Wu Ming stroked his sweaty long hair, thinking that his school uniform didn't match his full beard, so he turned around and walked in.

The boss politely asked Wu Ming to sit down first, and stopped chatting with the customer who was shaving after cutting his hair. After a while, he stopped working with a smile on his face, took the three copper coins from the customer, and greeted Wu Ming instead.

The barber, who was nearly fifty years old, invited Wu Ming to sit down: "Sir, what kind of hair cut? How about a trendy hair cut like this customer?"

The young customer who had just had his haircut was in front of Wu Ming, and looked at the palm-sized mirror on the wall again and again. Wu Ming glanced at the green scalp around his head and the pot-covered hairstyle above him, and refused repeatedly in fright: " No, no! I can’t keep up with this new trend, just cut it short for me, the requirements are not high, don’t cover the eyes in the front, don’t cover the ears on both sides, and don’t cover the collar in the back.”

"Is that so? Shave the beard?"

"Shave."

"Okay!"

The barber agreed with his mouth, but he secretly sighed at Wu Ming's request in his heart. It was hard to get a haircut these days, but this young master didn't cut it shorter, and he looked a bit like a prodigal.

Thinking about it, the barber still picked up the flying shears made in an unknown blacksmith shop with a happy face, cut Wu Ming's hair seriously, and asked Wu Ming if he was a local while he was working.Just wait where you want to go.Wu Ming always answered briefly and patiently. From time to time, he also asked a few questions about the situation of the local area and Yushan in the east, which immediately attracted the eloquent introduction from the well-informed barber.

More than 20 minutes later, Wu Ming stood up and looked at the palm-sized wooden framed mirror. He felt satisfied with his smooth face and chin. He readily took out five copper coins and put them in the hands of the barber. Acknowledgments Walk out of the shop and stride north.

Walking along the unfamiliar trail until evening, Wu Ming finally came to the familiar river. This river is called Yuya River, which flows into the Xinjiang section to the west of Yushan County, flows all the way to Shangrao, and finally flows into Poyang Lake.

The quaint town faintly seen in the south on the other side of the river is probably Hengjie Town, a thousand-year-old town. As long as you go south along the riverside road for about [-] kilometers, you can reach Yushan County. After Yushan, you will be in Changshan County, Zhejiang.

Wu Ming had no intention of passing by Yushan Mountain. He looked up at the gradually darkening sky and counted on his fingers. He walked up and downhill all the way, and in [-] hours he actually walked nearly [-] kilometers, and almost all of them were mountain roads.

After such a calculation, Wu Ming himself was a little surprised. After a short rest, his legs felt swollen and thirsty. He knew that if he sat down, he would not be able to walk anymore, so he had to stand up and continue on his way.

After arriving at the flat place by the river, Wu Ming was lucky enough to see a small fishing boat. He loudly begged the boatman to help him cross the east bank. The simple boatman saw that he was dressed in a school uniform. He was polite and kind, and he was happy to pull the boat to the shore to help out. He only charged Wu Ming two copper coins for his strength to cross the river, and he didn't want any more.

Wu Ming watched the boatman go down the river, then walked up the river bank to the side of the road, looked at the small town in the south and considered for a long time, and finally continued along the path on the east slope. People, the country people are very simple these days, and it’s okay to talk nicely and ask someone to stay overnight. It’s better than taking risks in the town. In my memory, Hengjie Town, like Shaxi Town, is a thousand-year-old town with a large population and a relatively prosperous population. It is very likely that officers and soldiers were ordered to come out and set up checkpoints.

Walking four or five miles along the foot of the Lianhua Mountain, the sky became more hazy, and there was not a single family in sight.

Wu Ming felt a little bitter in his heart. He walked to a small stream and drank water. He raised his head and suddenly remembered that there were not many people in this time, and many villages probably didn't appear. At that time, even if there is no one else, you will have to find a place to deal with it overnight. Fortunately, most of the snakes, scorpions and poisonous insects have not come out at this time, and camping in the wild at night will not be dangerous.

Fortunately, a lonely house soon appeared in front of him, and Wu Ming's spirits lifted immediately, but when he got there, he found that it was a dilapidated earth temple.

Wu Ming was a little disappointed. He stood at the gate of the temple without a door and thought about it for a while, and finally decided to stay. He took off his schoolbag with a box of cannons and a few rice cakes on him, picked up the dead grass and rotten wood on the ground, and took out matches from his schoolbag. Be careful not to ignite it, and then sit down with confidence.

After resting for a while, Wu Ming looked at the fire and the ground full of dust and sheep dung, so he had to go out again to find a large bunch of dead grass and branches, and by the light of the fire, he took down a few rickety thresholds and wooden windows for preparation. Only then spread out the dry grass and lie down.

As night fell and everything was silent, Wu Ming, who was exhausted, finally threw two big logs into the fire. Finally, he couldn't bear the tiredness and fell asleep. The burning flames shone on his tired face, giving him warmth and comfort. gave him peace.

Not long after, a few black figures suddenly appeared, approaching the bright ruined temple in a very methodical way. A short and strong man in black at the front approached the door. He saw Wu Ming who was sleeping clearly, and heard his long and even With the sound of breathing, he straightened his waist in relief and made a gesture. Two strong men quickly came to his side, exchanged eyes for a moment, and then touched Wu Ming together.

The short and strong man slowly squatted beside Wu Ming, stretched out the sharp blade in his hand, and pressed firmly on the neck of Wu Ming who woke up from the start: "Don't move! If you move, you will die."

Wu Ming felt the coldness and stinging pain on his neck, and knew that the skin had been cut, so he didn't dare to make any resistance at the moment, watching the two men tie up his legs.

"This sheep didn't panic, and his eyes were not friendly, like Lian Jiazi, you two, be careful, and tie his hands tightly."

The two men quickly turned Wu Ming over and tied his hands behind his back. The short and strong man carefully put away the knife, picked up the schoolbag on the side, opened it, took out the gun inside, and immediately widened his eyes: "Authentic German-made box Pao, good stuff! This guy must have a lot of background, and there are so many oceans, why not! Caught a fat sheep!"

The two strong men stared excitedly at Dayang on the ground and the box cannon in the man's hands, and then looked at Wu Ming lying on the ground resigned to fate, his face was full of joy.

The short and strong man thought about it for a while and made a gesture. A clerk immediately took out a black cloth bag and covered Wu Ming's head three times.

Wu Ming was taken aback. Before he could turn over, he was hit hard on the head. After a muffled sound, Wu Ming fainted softly.

I don't know how long it took, Wu Ming slowly woke up from the severe pain and constant jolting, but with a black cloth bag on his head, he couldn't see anything. In the process, he judged that he was tied to the horse's back, and the sound of footsteps and hoofbeats from back and forth from time to time mixed together, as if he was walking on a winding mountain road.

After staying for more than an hour, the team stopped, and there were several shouts in front of them. Wu Ming heard the loud response from the short and strong man beside him. Then the team continued to move forward, and finally stopped for a while. With the rope on his leg, a big hand suddenly pulled Wu Ming off the horse. Wu Ming landed on his shoulders and hit his head on the hard ground. Stars stared at him from the fall, and he couldn't help but hum in a low voice.

"What the hell, where did the second brother get such a dick? The horse is too tired to walk."

The men around laughed wantonly. Before Wu Ming could slow down, several big hands had already pulled him up violently, dragged him away without any explanation, and quickly entered a place with warm air and threw him down. No one replaced him. He untied the rope on his hands and the cloth bag on his head.

Wu Ming was lying on the cold ground in pain, his hands felt numb and unconscious, and his whole body seemed to be falling apart. Every second was so long and unbearable, he was so anxious that he cursed.

But he scolded himself so exhausted that his mouth was dry, and no one paid any attention to him.

(End of this chapter)