Bai Xiaosheng from Sanqi Tea House cleared his throat.
"Do you know who the people were who passed by this teahouse this morning?"
Ji Liyou yawned for a long time. He was indeed sleepy. Dr. Tea and a boy were holding a broom and a dustpan to clean up the debris on the ground.
The waiter smiled and joked, "The young shopkeeper's hands started shaking at a young age. If he gets older, how can he still hold the bowl in his hands?"
Dr. Tea heard the sound and glanced at him.
He often quarreled with Ji Liyou, but now he didn't dare to say a word in front of Dr. Cha.
Ji Liyou thought that if he went upstairs to sleep now, he would not be sleepy at night. If he heard the woman's voice again at night, he would be scared crazy. He went to the back of the bed to wash his face, and soon he sat in the crowd and listened. Bai Xiaosheng spoke.
Before tea and after drinking, it is the best time to listen to strange things.
Bai Xiaosheng said.
The stranger who came on horseback lived in Yuhua City, not far from Jiuyi City.
The first horse to come through the wind was the head of the Chang family in Yuhua City.
One of the pockmarked old men sitting around the table asked, could it be that Chang Xing's family came after Chang You
Bai Xiaosheng nodded, which was regarded as acquiescence.
Others asked the little old man not to interrupt Bai Xiaosheng. He knew, but they had never heard of the Chang family.
Bai Xiaosheng said, "Don't be impatient, please listen to him slowly."
Ji Liyou ate some peanuts and thought that Bai Xiaosheng in Jiuyi City was really similar to the former storyteller when he told stories. Speaking of which, he didn't know what the surnamed Wen was busy with recently. I would either go to bed or go out, and it would be too late when I came back.
Before Bai Xiaosheng could say anything, a man upstairs opened a landscape folding fan in his palm, slowly walked downstairs, and said.
To the west of Yuhua City, there was a family whose surname was Chang Xing, and the wife of the family was named Zheng.
Hairpins have been passed down from generation to generation, but in Changxing's generation, his family was in a lot of poverty. He made a living by selling pearls, raised five or six good pearl fishers, accumulated wealth for more than ten years, owned thousands of hectares of fertile land, and several more. In the shop, Chang Xing's father used to be a Yuhua Daotai, but the family tradition was not strong. Only a few years after his father left, Chang Xing completely ruined the family fortune.
Ji Liyou lowered his head and snickered, clearly slapping Bai Xiaosheng in the face.
Bai Xiaosheng also understood the interest and immediately shut up, bowed his hands and asked to sit down.
But he refused to take the seat he gave up and looked around.
Ji Li worried about the current situation and stepped aside to give up his seat. He was not polite and turned around to sit down next to him.
Chang Xing had no ink in his stomach and no intention of pursuing an official career, so he followed a few brothers and went to Li'er to collect pearls.
It is said that clams that can give birth to colorful pearls are hidden deep in the seabed. Every night on the 16th, when the bright moon hangs high, the moonlight passes through the sea and shines through the seawater to the bottom of the sea. Only these old clams that have lived for hundreds of thousands of years will open their shells. , in order to receive the essence of the sun and moon and turn it into the form of a pearl.
People who went to the sea with Chang Xing would dive into the sea on the 16th day of every month in order to salvage colorful pearls. But on the night of the 16th day, the waves in the Li'er Sea were worse than usual, and many people were swept into the waves. Never came back.
Bai Xiaosheng deliberately made things difficult for him, "Then how did Chang Xing make his fortune?"
The storyteller is neither hasty nor slow. Although Chang Xing has not read many books, he is very good at observation.
"Is it possible that he can see where the old clam is through the sea water?" someone asked.
Ji Liyou continued, "Maybe Chang Xing doesn't need to know where Old Ben is."
The storyteller gave him a rather satisfied look.
"What do you mean?" Some people still don't understand.
"Chang Xing doesn't need to know where the old clam is because he only needs to know where the moonlight in the sea is brightest on the night of the 16th." Ji Liyou explained.
The storyteller continued.
The total distance from Qingluan to Yudao is 275 miles. The people living on these coasts know best where the moonlight attracts the clams most. On a full moon night, in order to absorb the moonlight, the mussels will rise in the east and set in the west with the moon. Moving in the direction, the people of Qingluan and Yudao will fish for pearls when the clams appear.
"According to this, Chang Xing is following these seamen fishing for pearls?"
The storyteller shook his head. Sea people are the most cautious, especially those who fish for pearls. They will not allow any strangers to follow them to fish for pearls. Those who are often killed in the belly of fish and waves are non-sea people.
"Then how come Chang Xing has been fishing for pearls for more than ten years without any accidents?" The man just now asked again.
"Mr. Wen said that the sea people would not allow strangers to follow them to fish for pearls. In other words, to the sea people on Qingluan Yu Island, Chang Xing is not a stranger, he is one of them."
The storyteller strokes his brow, and the children can be taught.
He said that Chang Xing married Hai Min's daughter and became Hai Min's son-in-law.
After listening, several people showed disdain on their faces.
Ji Liyou knew why they were disdainful. The sea people were far away from the mainland, and Japanese pirates often invaded the sea. Although His Majesty sent officers and soldiers to station at the seaside of Li'er, the sea in Li'er was so wide that it was not possible for a few thousand men and horses to drive them away at once. Defeated, they will come back again in full force.
No one knows whether the person coming from afar on the sea is a god or a demon, a guest or an enemy.
In order to beg for peace, the sea people would send dozens of women to the ship every March. They reached a consensus with the Japanese bandits that if these women were given to them, they would not kill and plunder in the sea.
Some women were so good at water that they secretly ran back after being sent away.
Speaking of which, it has a history of hundreds of years. When he was a child, he read in an ancient book and asked his father why the court did not kill all the Japanese bandits that invaded the sea. His father shook his head and said nothing.
People in the interior buy the pearls that the pearl divers exchanged for their lives at high prices, but they despise the people of Qingluan. They feel that they have already been complicit with the Japanese bandits, and the lowly blood of the Japanese bandits also flows in their blood.
Ji Liyou heard his father say that it is not easy for pearl divers. Each pearl diver would tie a rope around his waist and a small basket in his hand. They would dive into the sea and sincerely pray that they would not be caught. The fish on the bottom of the sea are gnawing, and they can only collect a dozen pearls at most at a time. The most powerful sea dwellers can only collect about twenty pearls.
After getting out of the sea, the people on the boat should immediately hug the naked sea dwellers with hot blankets. If it were a little later, they would be blown to death by the sea breeze.
Ji Liyou just felt that they were pitiful.
The storyteller continued.
The sea people hardly go out of the sea, and they rarely go to other states and counties until they die of old age. Due to being exposed to the sea wind and sea water all year round, their skin is darker and yellower than that of ordinary people, and they dare not reveal their skin to outsiders. They are sea people from Qingluan.
These sea people sold the pearls at low prices to the officers and soldiers who came to collect them. The local officers and soldiers paid part of the pearls as tribute to Liangzhu, and the other part was resold to the prefectures and counties near Li'er for hundreds of dollars.
Sea people are disturbed by their household registration. If they are born as sea people, they will remain sea people for the rest of their lives.
Chang Xing was different from them. He was from Boluyu, and he had known about the huge profits of pearl fishing early on. Most of the beads he obtained were secretly hidden.
After his wife died of illness, he left Qingluan and returned to Bolu. He learned pearl fishing skills in Qingluan for many years. After selling all the pearls he had collected, he bought some strong slaves and taught them how to pick pearls. beads.
Year after year, countless treasures are accumulated.
This is the origin of Changxing's fortune.
In fact, it is difficult to describe half of his life in just a few words.
"Which head of the Chang family does Mr. Wen think he passed by today?" Bai Xiaosheng asked.
The storyteller didn't reply to him and was minding his own business.
But God was not kind to him, and Changxing was still childless until he was sixty years old.
After he married his third wife, Mrs. Zheng, there was still no movement.
After hearing this, Mrs. Zheng heard that the Bodhisattva in Tianzhu Temple was very spiritual, so it was better to go and ask for help. Chang Xing chose a day and accompanied the young and beautiful lady by boat to Tianzhu Temple in Donghu.
There was a wind at sea and the boat lost its direction. It took half a year to complete the waterway that had been completed in three months. We even encountered a sea monster when we were near Donghu.
The sea monster had tentacles on its feet that looked like children's arms. It entangled the boat and prevented it from moving forward. In a panic, the sailor on the boat cut off his tentacles with an ax and escaped.
There was also a fortune teller accompanying him. He told Chang Xing that it is said that if a woman on the seashore is infertile, her family will go to the sea to find all kinds of strange fish and bring them back to cook soup for the woman to drink. The woman will conceive.
Chang Xing hurriedly asked someone to boil soup from the sea monster's tentacles and feed it to his wife.
Sure enough, he had just arrived in Donghu and had not yet visited Tianzhu Temple. He asked someone to take Zheng's pulse, and the doctor said he was happy.
Changxing was so happy that he stopped worshiping the Bodhisattva and spent a lot of money to buy a house in Donghu, so that Mrs. Zheng could give birth to her child here safely, so as to avoid the long journey and further twists and turns.
Unexpectedly, at nine months, Mrs. Zheng suddenly suffered from unbearable abdominal pain. Chang Xing asked someone to call Po Wen, while he stayed outside the door for half the night.
Just before dawn, a baby cried in the house.
Chang Xing hurriedly asked Po Wen, "Is it a boy or a girl?"
Po Wen stretched out her hand for the red envelope, "Congratulations, uncle, you are a brother."
Chang Xing was naturally happy and invited many friends and guests to have a drink. The banquet lasted for three days.
It's just that this child is strange. He likes to soak in water since he was a child. Zheng was giving him a bath once. Suddenly she heard the master calling her and hurried to go, but she forgot the child in the bucket.
When she came back and saw the child with his head buried in the water, her heart suddenly became cold and she cried, "My son..."
The child vomited a few bubbles and popped his head, "Why did mother come back just now?"
Hehe smiled at her.
Mrs. Zheng asked him, how long have you been soaking in the water? These people don't even know how to take you out. When your father is done, I have to deal with these unscrupulous slaves.
The child said no, it was because he wanted to play in the water for a while longer.
Mrs. Zheng went to touch the child's hands and face, and was surprised to find that there was no sign of whitewash at all.
The child had to take a bath every day. If he didn't take a bath for a day, his face would turn pale and his chest would be short of breath.
Chang Xing heard people say that it is difficult to raise a boy, and if he was raised as a girl instead of a man, his life would be tough, so he named her Yan Niang.
Those who didn't know thought she was a girl, with a delicate little face, thin eyebrows, two eyes that looked like a pair of eyes, and two braids. She always smiled when meeting people.
The older Yan Niang got, the more naughty she became. Like his father, she didn't like reading. When her children got older, it was hard to use her childhood name anymore, so she changed Yan Niang's name to Yan Liang.
However, he is not a rotten creature. Every mortal can understand all books at a glance and has a photographic memory. By the age of eleven, he can clearly remember the books he has read and the people he has met.
For example, if you ask him what his mother was wearing on a certain day a few months ago, or what his father had for breakfast, he can remember it.
The storyteller turned around and said, "Chang Xing disappeared five or six years ago, so the person passing by Jiuyi today is Chang Xing's son, Chang Yanliang."
Bai Xiaosheng found it boring. He wanted to enjoy the scenery, but was robbed of the limelight. "You said it as if you had met the Chang family with your own eyes."
The storyteller pursed his lips and said for a moment, "It must have been forty years ago that Wen first met Chang Xing."
After saying this, everyone laughed.
How old is he? He is only twenty-five at most. Who would believe a young man in his early twenties who said that he had met Chang Xing forty years ago
Ji Liyou rubbed his nose and sighed helplessly.
The storyteller also smiled and said, "Everyone, I'm just hearing this from hearsay. The storyteller just wants to please you all. What I just said is just an anecdote."
Someone said, "Since it is an anecdote and cannot be true, sir, please tell me again. It is really interesting to hear about the Chang family."
Everyone cheered for the storyteller to continue.
He said it was a shame.
It is said that when Yan Liang grew up, he moved from home to the garden. His father found a famous teacher and urged him to study every day, which made him very upset.
Not long after, his father was going back to Bolu, and no one at home dared to discipline him, so he played in various places in the garden every day without touching the book covers.
One day while playing in the garden, he walked into a group of strange rocks and saw a fairy mountain. He climbed up and found that there were more than ten pavilions deep in the fairy mountain, like a fairy city made of countless pearls.
I walked in casually, saw a door, and walked in boldly. There was a wonderful cave inside.
While he was watching intently, he suddenly heard a burst of laughter, like the sound of a warbler singing. He stayed where he was, not knowing what to do.
Suddenly someone tapped him from behind and said, "What are you looking at?"
Yan Liang hurriedly turned around and bowed before daring to look up at the woman.
But the woman called out, "Lower your head."
He didn't dare to look up, so he had to look down at the pleated clothes she was wearing, with ink-colored floral uppers. He didn't dare to make a sound, so he had to stand bent over. He was very worried when he broke into this unknown place. Fear.
The woman sighed, "Stretch out your hand."
He stretched out his hand.
The goddess wrote on the palm of his hand, "In heaven and earth, there is no fate in the future. It is in vain to only laugh at those who are lost."
Yan Liang lowered his head and asked her, "What do you mean, girl?"
She whispered, "Just go, this is not a place for you to stay for a long time."
He took a few steps, and the moss on the ground slipped. As soon as he fell, he suddenly looked around him and saw that there were some beauties there. Everything seemed like an illusion.
He felt strange, and when he looked back, there was no trace of the woman just now.
Suddenly he heard the woman's singing laughter again. He carefully identified it. This time, the sound was very clear.
He wandered around the garden following the sound and came to a corner where he saw two women playing on a swing.
A woman pushed another woman, "Girl, be careful, it will be serious if you fall."
The woman on the swing curled her lips, "You are the most careful, nagging me every day."
The two women turned their backs to him and did not notice the man.
"Who are you and why are you in my garden?" he asked.
(End of chapter)