Man Bao looked out of the window and saw that Bai Erlang was still sitting outside eating small fish with the big head, so he immediately accepted the letter and sat down behind the desk to start writing.
Bai Shanbao's letter came back together with Liu's letter, and they did not ask the passing merchants to help bring the letter, because such letters are easy to be lost and it is too late.
The road in this era is too difficult, and there are too many uncontrollable factors. If a merchant gets sick on the way, or decides to go to another place halfway, their letters will definitely follow that merchant to wander.
As short as three or four months, as long as two or three years, a letter may be delivered to its owner.
Naturally, it is impossible for the Bai family to take such a route. They send the servants of the family to deliver letters back and forth.
Unlike asking a businessman to bring a letter, which only costs tens of pennies, to ask your own servant to bring a letter, you have to prepare a horse for him, prepare the horse feed along the way, and pay for his accommodation and food.
To go from Longzhou to Qili Village, it is only a one-way trip, and five taels of silver will never be less.
Five taels, before the old Zhou's family, excluding the expenses of the family, it may not be possible to save five taels of silver in two years.
And even if it was the Bai family, if there was no important matter, the Liu family would not use this method to contact Master Bai, let alone communicating for the two children.
As for what is going on in the adult world, Man Bao and Bai Shanbao don't pay attention, they are still young, and if they know more about adults, they will not grow up.
That's what Mr.
Not only Man Bao trusted Mr. Zhuang's words, but Bai Shanbao also trusted him.
So they only talk about the children.
In the letter, Man Bao complained about the lack of fried small fish, and said: "When you come back, we will catch the small fish again, otherwise you will not have fried small fish this year."
Fried small fish is not particularly delicious on the table, but if it is put on the tea table as a snack for children, it is a good snack.
Not to mention Bai Erlang, even Bai Dalang who went home for the holidays liked it.
When Bai Erlang was going back that evening, Xiaoqian took a large dried lotus leaf, took half of the young fish out of the basin, and brought Bai Erlang back to eat.
Bai Erlang was so happy that he stuffed the thick letter written by Man Bao into his arms and left with the lotus leaf in his arms.
Datou sent him out, fearing that he would go back on his word, repeatedly reminded him: "We will wait for you by the river tomorrow morning, you must come, remember to bring a wooden barrel."
Bai Erlang nodded fiercely.
The small fish that were sent home were first sent to the kitchen to be oiled, fried, and fried again. The small fish was more fragrant and delicious.
After the meal, Bai Dalang couldn't help pinching one after another. When Master Bai saw it, he stopped stopping his younger son from fishing, and said to Bai Dalang: "You and your brother will go and have a look tomorrow, and it's rare for you to go home , it would be good to play more with the boys in the village."
Mrs. Bai muttered: "What's the fun with them, if you don't know a single word, why not stay at home and talk to us."
She hasn't seen her eldest son much throughout the year, so how can she still send her son abroad
Master Bai glanced at her and said: "Who said that people can't read big characters, everyone in the Zhou family can now read, and I heard that even the youngest child can recognize numbers."
Mrs. Bai: ...
Bai Dalang became interested, "Isn't that the House of Farming and Reading?"
Master Bai nodded, "His family has a good family style, it doesn't matter if you and Erlang play more with others."
So Bai Dalang followed Bai Erlang the next day.
Zhou Zhoulang had been waiting there with his fishing net and his younger brothers.
Zhou Dalang and the others are not interested in small fish, and the people in the village have been fishing for fish these days, and they feel that they can't catch big fish anymore.
So generously ignored them.
Zhou Zhoulang is already married, and his wife has a child. In everyone's eyes, he is an adult.
Everyone was relieved to be led down the river by him.
Zhou Zhoulang also simply rejected the three heads, three girls and four heads who were too young to work, and took the rest to the river.
Man Bao couldn't work either, but he couldn't refuse her.
Meeting up with the two young masters of the Bai family, Zhou Zhoulang led them out of the village and downriver.
"The upstream has been fishing for fish in the past few days, and some people in our village have also gone up to fish. There are no big fish there."
Bai Erlang immediately said: "We don't want big fish, we want small fish."
Zhou Zhou Lang said: "Okay, when the time comes, the small fish will be taken back for you to fry, and the big fish will be kept by our family. Don't worry, there are more big and small fish downstream."
Bai Dalang was puzzled, "Why?"
"Because no one goes fishing there," Zhou Lang said, "The fish are like people, and they like to live in one place. It wasn't when the embankment burst last year that the water was rushing and all the fish were washed downstream. They were fished upstream. Downstream is gone."
He said: "Now that the water flow is calm, those fish are of course living in their own homes. The upstream has caught a lot, that is to say, there are a little less fish coming down from the upstream, and there are still as many fish downstream as there should be."
Man Bao and the others all stared wide-eyed, thinking that what he said made sense.
Zhou Zhou Lang smiled and said: "Don't worry, I have a lot of experience in this, we used to be able to catch fish in the fishing basket here, let alone the fishing net.
Zhou Zhoulang led them away for half an hour, and finally arrived at the place.
This is a field, with paddy fields that have been harvested on both sides, and there is no water in the fields.
The width of the river is a bit narrow, and the riverbed is very small. There are dense aquatic plants on both sides of the river bank, and the water near the river bank is also densely populated with aquatic plants. It looks like a place where few people come.
Zhou Zhoulang took a long stick and motioned them to look at it.
He stretched the stick into the river, picked it up when it touched the bottom, then showed everyone the mark on the stick, and asked, "Do you know why no one comes here to fish?"
Wu Wulang and Bai Erlang were at a loss, but Bai Dalang's face changed, and Man Bao exclaimed directly: "It's so deep, much deeper than mine."
Zhou Zhoulang laughed, and stood up the stick. Standing with the stick, he gestured to the water mark and said, "It's not only deeper than you, but also deeper than me, so if anyone falls, unless they can swim, otherwise ... hum."
The ignorant and fearless teenagers and children were motionless, but flashed with excitement.
Bai Dalang frowned.
Zhou Zhoulang continued: "Even if you know how to swim, you have to be careful. There are a lot of aquatic plants in the bottom. If you are not careful, your feet will be entangled. So without my order, none of you are allowed to walk around, you know?"
Bai Dalang felt relieved when he saw that what he said was clear.
Zhou Zhoulang went to warn Man Bao, who was probing his head, "You are not allowed to go near the river, you know, or you will be dragged into the river by the water ghost, and you will no longer have good food, and you will not see your parents and sister-in-law."
Man Bao shook his body and nodded.