Mingna looked at the green mountains and green fields in front of her and let out a long breath.
It had been two days since she entered Fan'a. What she saw before her eyes were flowers, grass and fruit trees all over the mountains and plains. Even the water was clearer and sweeter than other places. The sun was bright but not hot above her head, and dry soil was paved under her feet. The small road is lined with green trees and the cool breeze blows into your face. Even though you are riding a horse, it still feels as comfortable as taking a leisurely walk. It is truly the Kingdom of God that people praise.
After analyzing the clues provided by Alsina that day, everyone in the Security Agency decided to start the investigation from the three forces of Hob, Im and Entertainment Oasis. It would be best if they could find out the true identities of those who behaved evilly and strangely. But otherwise at least find out where Esparo went.
While reporting the intelligence back to the country, in order to save time, they immediately divided their troops into three groups, one to Weishide, one to Yudong Oasis west of Mengli, and the other to stay in Anke on standby to place the rescued boys and girls. , and contacted Shaonan and Fana officials to exchange information. Ming Na, on the other hand, went to Mongli with Luma because she had stayed in Mengli and the entertainment oasis. In order to save time, they decided to take a shortcut and took the road to Vana for the first time.
With Father Riddle's introduction, they easily obtained permission to enter Vana from the checkpoint near Anchor City, and then headed straight north. Compared with taking the Weisha side, which requires a big turn along the foot of the mountain, the journey here is much shorter, and there is no need to worry about wind, sand, water and accommodation along the way.
Separated by a mountain, Weisha and Fana are completely different worlds. Weisha to the west of the mountain is a yellow sand and gravel beach, while Fan'a to the east is green mountains and green waters. However, because it is a remote area, there are no towns, only a few small villages, surrounded by large tracts of land. Farmland and pastures, clear streams meandering through. Occasionally, there are a few farmers walking slowly on the winding path.
Ming Na undergoes annual training at the Security Bureau, which includes an important course. It is to learn the customs, political and economic information of various countries on the mainland. She still remembered the overview of this country of the Illuminati.
Vana is a religious country. Apart from the central Holy See in the capital, there are no big cities. It is mainly towns and villages. The citizens are mainly farmers and herdsmen. There are no nobles, but the temple personnel have a high status. The army is also under the name of the Holy See. There are no aristocratic territories in this country, and there are no slaves. Although the various large and small temples have their own real estate and tenants, they have no control over the tenants, and the tenants are also their believers, who are the ones they want to serve. Land rent and taxes are It is formulated uniformly by the state and no temple or individual is allowed to increase the quota privately.
Children of farmers and herdsmen who are outstanding can enter the local temple to receive education. After several years of study, some people will become monks and some will enter the Holy See Army. The rest returned to their homes to continue their lives as farmers or herders. People who join the army can go home and farm when they are old. The only thing is that merchants are hereditary, ordinary citizens do not report to the official, and the Central Holy See issues a license, and they are absolutely not allowed to engage in commercial activities.
The hillside in front of me is green. When I turned the corner, I saw a field of colorful flowers. Minna recognized that those flowers could be made into spices, and she remembered that several temples she had visited had candles soaked with this spice.
Luma admired and slowed down his horse involuntarily: "What a great place. If I retire in a few years and can find a place like this in China to retire, my life will be worth it!"
Minna nodded in agreement. She smiled and said: "Uncle. In fact, there are places like this in China. I think the small towns in the east and west of Iraq and Macedonia are all good places to retire. But the people there may not be so laid-back." She scanned the A few flower farmers were taking a nap in the distance. It's not even noon yet. They actually stopped working. I slept under the shade of a tree. Isn't it leisurely
Luma laughed loudly: "The taxes here are low. There are no natural disasters. Of course the people are leisurely. If it weren't for the Central Holy See banning immigration and the border being heavily guarded, a large group of people would have flocked in to live here. It's a good place to retire. It's a pity. I'm used to a busy and bustling life. I can't stand it when I suddenly feel free. Besides, life here is comfortable. It's just that things are a bit too old."
Minna followed his gaze. I saw a mother and son pushing a cart to deliver food and water to the flower farmers resting under the tree. The cart was made of wooden strips nailed to the ground. The one-wheel design is quite old. It's very inconvenient to push. Now whether it is Yidong, Shaonan or Nuojia. Both two-wheeled and three-wheeled carts are much better than this. The material is lighter. The bodywork is also stronger. Can hold more stuff. There are only some remote villages. There are still one or two of these old cars left. She somewhat understood what Luma meant. However, the country has been locked away for a long time. The land use is more traditional than other countries. It's also normal.
People were chatting and laughing with each other and eating lunch under the tree. The child caught a glimpse of Minna and Luma. He bit his finger and blinked. Then he went to pull the corner of his mother's clothes. said something. He pointed in their direction again. Minna thought the child was cute. Smiling and waving to him. The child shyly hid behind his mother. He poked his head out to take a peek again. The mother smiled and spoke a few words to several flower farmers. Then he came over with a rattan basket.
Minna stopped her horse. He looked at Luma in surprise. I was wondering what she was doing here.
The peasant woman was short and fat. The face is rosy. It is a typical Vana dress. Wearing a white round hat on her auburn curly hair. Wearing a dark blue top. Turn out the wide white square collar. The sleeves are tight. The long gray skirt is covered with a white bib. Underfoot are cloth-covered straw sandals. She walked up to Minna and Luma. He nodded to them shyly: "Are you two foreign guests? Have you had lunch? We have some cakes here. I'll give them to you to try." Then he handed over the rattan basket in his hand.
Ming Na hurriedly dismounted and took it: "You are so polite, thank you very much. We are just looking for a place to eat." After hearing this, the peasant woman pointed to the tree: "Come to our place, it is cool there."
"Thank you, but we have to go on our way after eating, so I won't disturb you and your family." Luma took the words, took off his hat and bent down to salute the flower farmers in the distance, then winked at Mingna, The latter hurriedly took out some money knowingly. Before he could say anything, the peasant woman waved her hands and said: "No need, no need, we really want to give it to you." She smiled and ran back to the tree to meet the children and other people. People look back. They were still discussing quietly.
Mingna blinked and looked at the money in her hand. Then he opened the green plaid cloth covering the rattan basket and saw five or six white flour cakes, a small piece of homemade sausage, and two apples inside. He raised it and looked at Luma, who sighed again: "Here The people are really nice…”
The people in Fan'a are indeed very nice. In the evening, Ming Na and the two stayed overnight in a small village. In order to entertain them, the villagers specially vacated a newly built house, took out the best quilt in the village, and even slaughtered a pig that they had finally raised and planned to kill again during the May Festival. They wanted to pay for a delicious barbecue for them, but they were sternly refused.
Ming Na was very moved by the villagers' enthusiasm and kindness. She couldn't help but recall the situation after she was trafficked. If Fan'a had opened the country's borders at that time, maybe she wouldn't have to endure so much hardship, right
Lu Ma frowned and said nothing. Mingna curiously asked him what was wrong, and then he said: "The villagers here are indeed simple, kind, warm and friendly, but... they are also too kind. We are obviously strangers. We are from foreign countries, don't they have no wariness at all? ? Just now we took out dry food as a thank you gift to them, and they ate it directly. Didn’t they think about what if we were bad guys? "
"This... shouldn't be possible, right? This is just a small place, what will the bad guys do?" Ming Na said this. In fact, I started to worry. She thought of the village in the desert. Was it because they were not wary of people that the people of unknown origin slaughtered the entire village, leaving only one child
"Some people just want to do bad things, or take advantage of others. It's a big place here, and the villages in front and back are fifty or sixty miles apart, and there are mountains blocking it. The villagers are not defensive. If someone intentionally does bad things, all they need is their hands and feet. Do it cleanly. Leave quickly and wait for other people in the village to find out. We can't find out who did it." Luma said while shaking his head, "The people here are so simple. Since Fan'a opened the border, why didn't he do it in advance? What about warning our own citizens? Or sending more troops to patrol places where foreigners arrive. But there was not even a shadow of a soldier along the way. They were so inconsiderate. If anyone was harmed, these kind-hearted people What will become of people?"
Ming Na felt depressed after hearing this. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Lu Ma's words were reasonable. She couldn't help but worry about these simple villagers. They continued on their way, and on the fourth day, they arrived at a small town, which was Father Riddle's hometown. As soon as Mingna finished dinner, she sent the priest's letter to his family and friends, and received many thank-you gifts.
She found that when people here mentioned Father Riddle, although they called him "the ugly boy of the Riddle family", there was no contempt in their tone. It was as natural as calling him "the brat of the blacksmith family". When she heard her praise the priest, People were also very proud to praise him. When they mentioned his studiousness and diligence as a child, they also reminded their children to learn from Father Riddle.
They also strongly supported Father Riddle's practice of rescuing orphans, abducted children and street children. Although they did not understand that he left his respected position in the Central Holy See to preach in foreign border cities, they still helped him silently. , a sum of money will be collected every quarter and sent there.
Ming Na looked at the coarse clothes people were wearing and knew that for this not-so-rich town, quarterly funding was probably not an easy task, but they still donated it, which showed how kind they were. She held back the tears in her eyes and silently prayed in her heart: I hope the God of Light will favor his people so that their crystal-like hearts will not be harmed or stained by evil.
After traveling for three consecutive days, Minna and Luma met the Divan people, all of whom were hospitable. They couldn't help but fall in love with this country. Seeing that Mengli was arriving soon, they were very happy. It was noon, and because there were villages along the way, they didn't bring much dry food, so they discussed buying more from farmers to avoid encountering unexpected situations when they entered Mongli. Seeing a village ahead, the two of them ran towards it.
To their surprise, the villagers saw them riding horses from a distance and actually rang the big bell at the entrance of the village. Then dozens of people rushed over with sticks, nails, hoes and other objects, and gathered at the entrance of the village. The eyes looking at them were scrutinizing, defensive, and mixed with some resentment, which made them feel uncomfortable.
A tall middle-aged man came out and asked loudly: "Who are you? What are you doing in our village?" He looked at the knife on Luma's waist warily.
Luma smiled bitterly. He didn't have any accessories to store, so he couldn't do without a weapon, right
Mingna had no choice but to answer: "We are passing by, coming from Shaonan, and we are going to Mengli. Because the dry food is out, we want to buy some food from you. We are not enemies!" She jumped off the horse and raised her hands to show herself. Without weapons, he took out his wallet to show that he was sincere in "buying" something.
The middle-aged man looked at "him" for a few times and made a gesture behind him. The villagers put away their weapons and slowly walked back to their jobs. However, they still looked at Minna and Luma from time to time, with a look in their eyes. The caution is obvious.
Ming Na was suspicious, but the middle-aged man refused to allow them to enter the village. He just asked people to bring some food and water without charging them, and said, "Take it back, we don't covet your property, and you don't covet it either." Ours." After saying that, he turned around and entered the village. Several villagers standing nearby whispered about why they didn't leave even after taking the things.
Ming Na felt a suffocation in her heart, and she was so depressed that Lu Ma waved to her: "Let's go first." The two of them rode horses and ran farther, and stopped under a big tree. Ming Na couldn't help but kicked the tree trunk: "It's so strange, why do they treat us like robbers?!"
"Maybe... they really encountered bandits." Luma pondered for a moment and said, "Stop kicking, there is a child over there staring at you, probably from this village. This is not far from Mengli, maybe Someone comes in and does bad things to anger the villagers, so don’t take it to heart.”
Ming Na gradually lost her temper after hearing this, and when she saw a boy glaring at her in the distance, she made a face at him, turned around and broke open a pancake to eat. In fact, the attitude of the villagers didn't really matter. It was just that she had been warmly entertained for several days, and suddenly she was met with a cold face, which made her feel uncomfortable. After thinking about it, she no longer took it to heart.
After eating, she took a few sips of clean river water nearby. Looking at the sun, which seemed a bit fierce, Mingna suggested that Luma take a rest before leaving. Anyway, it was only half a day's journey from Mengli. Luma was thinking about it when he suddenly heard a commotion in the distance. The two of them looked at each other and saw a convoy parked at the entrance of the village. Several men dressed as Kamika businessmen were arguing with the villagers. It seemed that They are required to go into the village. Minna didn't want to pay attention to it, but she heard the businessman shout: "You Van people are so ignorant! If we foreigners hadn't brought you goods and money, you would have lived in poverty your whole life! Actually Are you going to drive us out? You are ungrateful! Is this how the God of Light teaches his people?!"
Ming Na paused after hearing this, and she looked at each other in surprise.
The middle-aged man who stopped them just now was so angry that he pointed at the businessman's nose and cursed: "Stop insulting the God of Light! You pagans are not worthy! We never asked you to come, you came on your own! Come on! He almost stole our girl this time, and injured our child last time, what are you going to do this time?!"
"This is slander!" the businessman shouted, "We Shaonan people never do this kind of thing! It's obviously your girl who wants to go to a foreign country with us to see the world. The child wanted to steal our things last time. We It’s just self-defense, how dare you bite us back?! I’m going to sue your Holy See and ask them to punish you unruly people, otherwise they won’t be able to get money from us foreigners!”
"Shut up!" Ming Na couldn't help but rushed over, "Stop talking nonsense here!"
(Thank you for your concern, I am getting better)