49.
Xielong Island is said to be an island, but it is more like a shoal exposed on the sea, as if it can be submerged by any big wave. Several people divided into two boats, one after the other headed towards the shallows. I don't know how many strokes of the oars, Hailian finally saw two small two-masted ships parked on the coast in the distance. Looking up, I can't tell which ship it is - if in the past, this kind of ship was just a small shrimp in the ocean in Hailian's eyes, not even enough to fit the teeth, but now these two ships can be said to carry everything. people's hope.
The sailors lounging on the opposite river beach naturally also saw the two fishing boats on the sea. The men's expressions changed, and they quickly stood up and yelled something at them, and the girl on Hailian's boat also stood up. Get up, put your hands together and shout back. The other party nodded to them after hearing the reply, and quickly got into the moored sea boat.
"What are they talking about?" Hailian was taken aback.
"Dongzhou dialect," Fang Tinglan explained, "the general idea is that the people here are from our own people."
Hailian pouted: "It doesn't sound like Dongzhou dialect at all."
"They're going to call the captain, let's go ashore first." The girl breathed a sigh of relief, and then reminded Hailian to put away the knife, "Don't do anything, I'll go and talk for you." He jumped off the fishing boat and waded through the shallow water.
"Do you think she can talk?"
"How do I know that?" Hai Lian put down his oars and flicked the rope, and then with the last push forward he rushed ashore. He tied the boat to the stake and said, "Anyway, if we can't reach an agreement, we will fight. Just remember to fill your firecracker with bullets."
"Don't worry, my magazine is never empty." Fang Tinglan also got off the boat, turned around and made an elegant gesture to the queen, "You have to watch out for your skirt."
Long Rong smiled slightly. She gathered up the spread skirt and neatly tied a knot on the side of her leg. Without supporting Fang Tinglan's hand, she jumped forward stepping on the edge of the boat, and she landed lightly. on the ground. Then he turned around and smiled at the two of them: "Actually, the best way to avoid soiling the skirt is to tie it up."
Fang Tinglan also smiled and withdrew his hand: "I made a slip of the tongue."
Just as Hai Lian was about to say something, there was a loud commotion behind him. He followed the sound and saw that the remaining boat seemed like a newborn fawn, trembling and struggling hard on the last part of the journey. Moving forward, the guards on the boat all looked pale at this time, and the boy in charge of the direction even looked like he was about to cry: "Benefactor, how do I get to the shore..."
"..." Hailian rolled his eyes, "Well, he still doesn't look like him, at least Ake's boat shaking skills are not as bad as his."
When the two finally got the people on the boat to the shore, a Dongzhou sailor came from the beach and ordered in broken Dongzhou Mandarin: "Our captain is calling you."
Hai Lian glanced at Fang Tinglan again, the other party nodded to him, and the two followed together.
The first thing that catches the eye is a cloud and mist, so that the two of them coughed twice as soon as they came to the front. The captain took away the pipe, only then did Hai Lian see that the captain was a thin man with dimples and scars intertwined on his face, making it hard to tell his real age. The captain swallowed his smoke and asked hoarsely, "Are you going to Xielong Island?"
"yes."
"See, you have people from Dongzhou and people from the south. What do you do?"
"Business." Fang Tinglan replied.
"Lie." The captain sneered, "Why do business people look for me? They have already gone to Youji to take a big boat!"
"The port of Youji is blocked now, and no ships can leave." Hai Lian said, making a gesture to the old captain that only pirates know, and then motioned him to follow him to take a few steps to the side, and said in a low voice. , "Did you see the clothes on the man who came with me? He and that woman are both in business, and they are very rich. They will rush to the southern border to earn gold, and hire me to take them out to sea.—What about me? , is also a sailor, otherwise how would I find you here."
"Oh?" The captain looked Hailian up and down, and suddenly smiled, "I see, you foolishly coaxed them to have a boat, but they couldn't get it, so you came to us, right? Where were you? Working on the boat?"
"The Black Shark."
"Hey!" The man's cloudy eyes were full of surprise, "Isn't that under Hai Lian's hands? I heard that your captain has a treasure map in his hand. Is it true or not?"
"Fake, I followed him for four or five years, and I couldn't even drink the northwest wind, otherwise, why would I come out to find work by myself." Hai Lian pouted, not wanting the other party to continue to explore, so he simply compared a gold coin to the captain. gesture, "Anyway, don't worry, that man is a fat sheep, as long as you send me to Xielong, you can kill him as you like."
The captain's brown eyeballs rolled in their sockets, and his eyes fell on Long Rong who was talking to the girl. He glanced past the princess's fair cheeks, and then he was speechless, "... okay, see if you save me!" For the sake of the daughter of the Li family, I will send you to Xielong," the captain tapped the cigarette rod with his arm, "but what I said before, don't try to play tricks, otherwise I will have a way to throw you into the sea Feed the blue shark."
Hai Lian pretended not to see the change in the captain's eyes at all, and he showed the same innocent smile as when he showed his favor to Fecna four years ago: "No problem."
When they came, they were sitting on the Lady in the Cloud, four-masted and double-decked, with a thousand-year-old oak wood as the keel, equipped with six mortars, twenty heavy shells, and ten falcon cannons, and even the neck-singing bow of the ship Every inch of skin on the statue of the young girl was specially plated with gold for this trip; but when they came back, they could only take this small ship, and as soon as they stepped on the deck, there was a harsh creaking sound. tremble with fear.
Hai Lian sent the others onto the boat, and was about to board the boat and leave, when a voice suddenly shouted from behind: "Benefactor!"
The young man ran up to him in two or three steps, and smiled brightly at Hailian: "Benefactor, can I follow you to meet your big ship?"
"No." Hailian directly vetoed it without thinking.
"why?"
"You can't even go to the deep sea because you can't even drive the fishing boat."
The baron said this very bluntly, the original brilliance of the young man's face dimmed instantly, and he lowered his head twice. Hailian looked at his appearance, and then glanced at the boy's sister who was not far away. The other party's gaze was obviously facing this side, but after noticing Hailian's gaze, he turned his head angrily. Hai Lian understood, and said, "Did you tell your sister about your plan to go to sea?"
"Say it," the boy said sullenly, "She said it's up to me."
As soon as the boy finished speaking, his hand suddenly sank. He blinked and found a money bag in his palm, "This is..."
"You're not a child anymore, don't rely on your sister for everything." Hai Lian said, "This half is my dowry to your sister, the other half... I guess it's just enough to buy another small fishing boat, so you can find a way Turn the small boat into a big boat that can fly on the sea, and when the time comes, drive your big boat to Tisu’s Jiumeng City to find me, and I will take you to see my big boat.”
The young man grabbed his purse tightly, "But... how can I find you?"
"You stop any Tisu casually and ask him where the Lady in the Cloud is, and he will tell you." Hailian smiled and pushed him towards his sister, "Don't waste your money, my eyes are so sharp." Yes, I can see you across the ocean."
"I don't want to waste money!" The young man puffed up his cheeks and retorted. He turned his head, heaved his thin chest several times, and then said loudly to Hailian, "It's done, it's a deal! In the future, I will definitely drive a boat bigger than yours to find you!"
50.
"You are too kind." Fang Tinglan leaned against the railing of the boat just now, and he has a panoramic view of the things under the boat.
"Didn't you always know that I am this kind of person?" Hailian raised his eyebrows, "I don't care if he will use the money to earn a big boat, or turn around and use the money to sit on a gambling table—it happens every day in the mud zone, but…" he lowered his eyes, "at least when he looked at me just now, his eyes were clean."
Fang Tinglan's lips parted slightly, "...you care about this?"
"Yes." Hailian looked at the other party with a calm gaze, "It's the same for you."
"..." Fang Tinglan breathed out slowly, "I see."
The route from Xiaojiao to Xilong is not complicated. You only need to follow the ocean current all the way to the west, and you can go unimpeded after bypassing the Tianzhu Strait. Hai Lian had signaled to Fang Tinglan to disguise his identity, and the other party was happy to be an ignorant fat sheep, playing the role of those expensive and arrogant rich businessmen in Bainiao District with Long Rong; Bandit Qi also helped him, at least the other people on this ship had already regarded him as a sailor living in Dongzhou, and would drink half a bottle of wine with him in their free time, chatting about gossip about the pirates in Dongzhou. They even encouraged him to finish the job, so he might as well stay on this ship and hang out with them.
"Don't look at our ship as broken, but our ship is powerful!" The pirates approached and said, "Have you heard about the fight between the Poseidon and the Banshee five years ago?"
Hailian raised her eyebrows, "... I have a little impression."
"Our ship was there at the time!" said the man, who was still dancing excitedly, "My dear, I have never seen such a terrifying explosion. Even the gold box hidden at the bottom of the Banshee was blown away. A gold coin and a finger is falling right in front of me!"
"Tsk tsk, aren't you frightened?"
The man shook his head: "I was terrified, but our captain was very courageous! Later, when the rain stopped, he took us to fish for things quietly—here, did you see the knife on his waist? 'It was used back then...Why do you have such an expression?"
"...It's nothing." The young man took a deep breath and smiled again, "I'm so engrossed in listening to your story." Shang Hailian clenched his hands into fists where the sailors couldn't see.
The captain was holding on to his saber, and he was absent-minded all the way. He was thinking about the half box of gold coins he was going to get, and he was already thinking about how to refurbish his dilapidated ship, and then go to the shore to spend a round of it. —Anyway, he is not worried that the man and woman will renege on their debts. After all, judging by the appearance of the other party, he has never suffered such setbacks. It doesn’t matter even if there are three guards around him. On the sea, whoever has a boat and who has more knives , who has the final say.
As the night fell, the captain took another puff of his cigarette, and was just about to change someone else to take the helm and go to sleep well, but before he took his hands off the steering wheel, he heard a sailor shouting from the other side of the ship: "—what is that?" ?”
"Looks like a boat?"
"Why are there so many ships?"
Everyone quickly gathered at the bow of the ship, seeing the ups and downs of the stormy waves, and at the moment when the last wave fell, everyone also saw the fangs protruding from the Beihong fleet in the distance.