Shen Zangfeng and Wei Changying didn't know what Cao Yingmei was thinking. Although they hadn't arrived at Luweitingzhou yet and hadn't seen the purpose of their trip, the lotus flowers filled their eyes; but they were at the head of the boat, feeling the boat riding the wind and waves, and the powerful lake wind blowing towards them. I feel indescribably comfortable.
The two drank a pot of agarwood drink while chatting and laughing, and the boat finally approached the first clump of reeds. The green reeds fell and rose in the lake breeze, and the sounds inside were filled with the cooing of water birds, and occasionally some flying in and out. Wei Changying recognized them as egrets. They were very courageous and not very afraid of people. Even when the boat passed by, he still concentrated on fishing in the water and did not avoid it.
With sharp eyes, Wei Changying also saw a water snake swimming across the water surface quickly, bringing out a streak of water... Then the bold egret from before also saw it, flying close to the water, and moved so fast that it could not avoid the water snake. Take it in your mouth, spread your wings and fly away.
"The egret..." Wei Changying turned around and was about to tell Shen Zangfeng what she saw, but Shen Zangfeng pointed in another direction and said with a smile: "Do you think it's a coincidence?"
"What a coincidence?" Wei Changying thought he had met an acquaintance again, and hurriedly adjusted his clothes before looking over. He saw a pair of red-billed mandarin ducks swimming leisurely by a clump of reeds. When he saw the boat approaching, he also He burrowed into the reeds calmly.
Wei Changying also thought this was a good omen, so he picked a piece of pastry from the basket, crushed it, raised his hand and threw it into the reeds: "I scared them, so give me a snack to apologize!"
Shen Zangfeng smiled and said, "They think you want to hit them."
Wei Changying said: "Nonsense, I am obviously..." However, before he finished speaking, he heard a panicked cry coming from the reeds where the pair of mandarin ducks were hiding. The pair of mandarin ducks flapped their wings and flew up, stepping on them. The water fluttered with the reeds, and flew deeper into the air. As expected, it looked like it was running away in embarrassment after being attacked...
"..." Wei Changying blushed, "This pair... really don't know the heart of a good person!"
Shen Zangfeng laughed and said: "This Chuncao Lake is rich in water and grass, how can they get less food? Naturally, no one will deliberately feed them. They have already hid in the reeds, and I saw you throwing snacks in, but not just Think you want to hit them?"
Wei Changying became angry and suddenly knelt down, leaned over the side of the boat, took a handful of water from the lake, and poured it over Shen Zangfeng's head, yelling: "Then you didn't remind me! I told you to laugh at me!"
There was only such a small area at the head of the boat. Shen Zangfeng had no way to hide, and was splashed all over. The chest of the jade-colored Yueluo round-neck robe was stained with water marks, dyeing the jade color into emerald color. , very conspicuous. Seeing that Wei Changying still wanted to fetch water, he smiled and begged for mercy: "I have to go to Xiejia's wine shop in a while. My dear madam, please forgive me for my husband."
In fact, Captain Wei also thought of this after he insulted him, and he felt regretful. After hearing this, he took advantage of the situation and stepped down, humming: "I feel sorry for you, I will spare you now."
Then he gave him a handkerchief to wipe with.
Shen Zangfeng wiped two handfuls and returned them to her, smiling: "Look, there are lotus flowers."
Wei Changying looked to the right - at this time, the curtain was lowered on the left side to block the scorching sun. Sure enough, lotus leaves in twos and threes, either floating on the water or emerging from the water, appeared in a dangling pattern.
Shen Zangfeng introduced: "Furongzhou is the center of this lotus. Because there are many tourists in spring, there are three or two wine shops there. But after spring, there are fewer tourists and most wine shops are closed. For example, Jiejia Winery is one of them."
"It turns out there are islands in this lake."
"But it's not an island." Shen Zangfeng said with a smile, "To say that it is an island, it has to be exposed in autumn and winter when the water dries up. The so-called wine shops are all painted boats, because Chuncao Lake is vast, and tourists often go to the middle of the lake by boat to have a drink. It would be fine if a larger boat could run its own boat, but a small boat like ours could not. Carrying dry food or returning to the shore would be a disappointment. So a clever person set up a restaurant in Furong Island and chose Furong Island as soon as he came here. The water is shallow and the waves are small, so it is not easily affected by wind and rain. Secondly, Furong Island is full of fragrant grass in the spring, the water is green, and there are small lotus peaks. In the summer, the lotus flowers are tingling. In autumn and winter, there are residual lotuses and snow to sing. It is better for tourists to go back to the shore to get some. The food is much more elegant. Come here, this Furong Island is not far from the center of Chuncao Lake. You can get into the water from various shores. As long as you have been playing in the lake for a long time, it is convenient to get here. "
Guard Chief Ying Xiqi asked curiously: "Didn't you say that Hua Fang is not allowed to enter here?"
"They took advantage of the rising water in spring and drove the boats closer to the lotus leaves." Shen Zangfeng said, "Actually, these boats are specially used for wine shops here and are never driven out. Some of them are equivalent to stranded. .”
As he spoke, the surrounding lotus leaves became dense. Sometimes when the two of them were sitting, the lotus leaves high above their heads swayed past the portholes. Waves of lotus fragrance came over them, and dragonflies, bees and butterflies swarmed around them. The flowers are buzzing and noisy.
"See if there are any lotus pods." Shen Zangfeng rolled up his sleeves, moved to the porthole, and called to his wife, "Pick two, and you promise to peel the lotus seeds for me to eat."
The captain of the guard spat: "Who promised you?" He said so, but he still moved to the side of the boat... and felt the boat suddenly shake! She was startled and did not dare to move. Later, Cao Yingmei seemed to be surprised as well, and raised her voice: "Young master, young lady, are you going to go near the water to collect lotus?"
Shen Zangfeng was much more experienced than Wei Zhangying. He immediately understood what he said and said, "Yes, we just lay down on the side together, but did it scare you?"
Cao Yingmei smiled and said: "The little woman is on the water all day long, how can she not be scared? But this boat is light. If the young master and the young lady want to go to the water to collect lotus together, they have to tell the little woman. Let the little lady adjust, so that if the little lady doesn't know it, if the boat capsizes, it will offend the young master and the young lady."
Wei Changying secretly pinched Shen Zangfeng and complained: "It's all you, and you didn't say anything to me." Then he demanded, "I'll pick the lotus, you go back and sit down!"
Shen Zangfeng smiled and said, "You go and sit down while I do it. Look, there are a lot of bees here. Don't sting you."
Originally, Wei Changying had to pick them by himself, but he heard that there were many bees. He looked at the flying insects that were going in and out around the lotus, and quickly picked up a round fan to swat the ones that flew in. He warned, "Pick the bigger ones." .”
Cao Yingmei was very knowledgeable. Knowing that the couple wanted to pick lotuses for fun, she deliberately slowed down the boat and moved dexterously among the flowers and leaves. Since the boat was slow, it was naturally easier to spot the lotus pods.
Wei Changying sat back and stared at the outside of the boat. He suddenly said happily: "Look over there, look over there, there is one!"
Shen Zangfeng smiled and said, "I saw it too..." He knocked on the curtain behind him with his backhand and asked Cao Yingmei to draw across.
As they approached like this, Wei Changying noticed how dense the flowers and leaves were here. The boat they were traveling in was already very small, but they still squeezed through a bunch of flowers and leaves before they could get to the lotus pod. At this moment, the flowers and leaves on both sides were squeezed by the small boat that was forced in, making it seem airtight. This was still a small boat with a narrow body. It was necessary to change to a painted boat. It was not the season when the lotus flowers were withered, so it was really impossible to get in.
Wei Changying watched with joy as Shen Zangfeng bent down to pick it. Unexpectedly, just when Shen Zangfeng was about to touch the lotus pod but before he could touch it, a pair of slender catkins suddenly stretched out from behind the lotus pod and grasped the stem under the lotus pod. With a very skillful push, there was a soft "click" sound, and the lotus pod was picked off while the couple watched!
... If it weren't for a wooden basin that was carved out between the dense flowers and leaves, and through the gaps between the dense flowers and leaves, a dark-skinned girl could be seen sitting in the basin, looking over with a smile, Wei Changying almost thought he had met her. There are monsters in the lake...
She raised her fan to partially cover her face to cover up her shocked expression, and looked at the girl suspiciously. But I saw that this girl was about 28 years old. Like Cao Yingmei, she had a piece of floral cloth wrapped around her head. In addition to the floral cloth, she also wore a willow hat to provide shade. Wearing a short jacket and a skirt made of coarse cloth, she sat cross-legged in the basin. There was a small pile of lotus pods, wild water chestnuts and other objects piled in front of her... The author was a lotus-picking girl.
Wei Changying breathed a sigh of relief and felt resentful when he realized that it was a false alarm.
Just because it was beneath her status to argue over a lotus pod and a lotus-picking girl, she calmed down, turned to Shen Zangfeng, who also looked disappointed, and said, "Let's change places."
Seeing that the lotus-picking girl had quite a lot of lotus pods in her tub, I thought that even if there were other lotus pods nearby, she had picked them all.
Shen Zangfeng was about to nod, but before he thought, the lotus-picking girl asked with a smile: "Do you want to pick the lotus just now, sir?"
Shen Zangfeng glanced at her and said, "My wife does have this intention."
Wei Changying saw that he did not argue with the lotus picker girl, but that the lotus picker girl started talking to Shen Zangfeng in front of him, and he couldn't help but feel a little unhappy. Hearing that Shen Zangfeng mentioned him, he turned from anger to joy. , deliberately softened his voice, leaned forward and pulled Shen Zangfeng's sleeve, saying: "It's not necessary, let's go first."
Before Shen Zangfeng could answer, he saw the lotus-picking girl picked the fattest lotus pod from the pile in her basin and threw it across the water into the boat. Shen Zangfeng saw the lotus pod heading towards Wei Changying's face and hurriedly reached out with his hand. He caught it and frowned slightly, but the other party was only a young girl, and the boat was narrow, so there wasn't much room to throw it in. The other party might not have meant it, so he handed the lotus pod to Wei Changying, put his hand into his arms, and said: "Thank you very much, girl, but I don't know how much money it is?"
Unexpectedly, after the lotus picking girl threw away the lotus pods, she held her chin with a smile and looked at him intently. When she heard this, she laughed and said: "No money."
Shen Zangfeng and Wei Changying were both stunned when they heard the lotus picking girl laugh and say: "The young master is as handsome as jade and handsome. When the little girl saw her today, her heart suddenly fell in love. Unfortunately, the young master is already there." The little girl can only look at the wife a few more times and give her a lotus pod to show her love!"
These words made Wei Changying almost throw the lotus pods back into her basin! (To be continued)