The sun is shining and the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant.
Almost home, Sara felt that everything around her was so comfortable and pleasant. Everything at home is better than outside, whether it is flowers and plants, insects and birds, or even the cow dung in the rice fields by the roadside, the smell is much better than that in other places.
As the daughter of a traveling merchant, Sha Luo followed her father around since she was a child. Although she is only seventeen years old now, she has been to at least eight countries.
Since she was eight years old, she has been a member of the caravan, responsible for accounting and logistics management, and now nine years have passed. Her reputation in the caravan is close to that of her father, and she is the real second in command in the caravan.
Every time a layman does business, the caravan will travel abroad for about a year, then return to his hometown, rest for two months, and then set off again.
what! My hometown, Tonggu City, I will be back soon. Mom and brother, you must be all right.
Shaluo sat on top of the cargo, greedily looking at the scenery on both sides of the road. Every wanderer who has been away from home for a long time can smell the taste of hometown on the way home. With this taste, they can know how far they are from their hometown.
The name of this caravan is 'Shalo's Blue Star Flower', yes, it is named after Shalo. This is the owner of the caravan, that is, Sha Luo's father. When his daughter was born, he happily changed the original name of the caravan to the current one, which sounds quite artistic.
Across from Sara, sat a young man. He threw four apples and performed his own acrobatics, which made Sara chuckle.
Shaluo is a pretty lovely woman, not pretty, but lively and mischievous. In caravans, it is very popular with young men. Many people often learn a lot of tricks just to make her happy, but even so, Sara has never said that she likes anyone, and she has always loved herself. Although she loves to laugh, she has never shown any love to any man. Any ambiguity.
Seeing the admirer on the other side doing acrobatics, Sara's heart flew back home early, and she didn't know if her younger brother was still so naughty, and she didn't know if her mother had become fat again... Sara was always very happy when she thought of things at home .
Just when she was happiest, the whole caravan stopped.
There are more than 20 donkeys in this caravan. When advancing in a straight line on the road, the distance between the head and the tail of the caravan is a bit far, so generally speaking, the people at the end of the caravan will not know what is going on in front of them. matter.
And during the journey, most of the things that can stop the caravan are good things.
Almost all of them picked up their weapons. Looking at the front seriously, because the distance was a bit far, they could vaguely see that the donkey cart in the front seemed to be blocked by something.
Sha Luo reached into her clothes with her right hand and clenched the dagger tightly, then she jumped off the truck and trotted towards the front of the caravan.
As she got closer to the front of the caravan, Shaluo felt that the atmosphere in front was not serious. After walking a few steps, she realized that although the caravan was blocked by people, it was not because of robbers. It was someone who was negotiating with his father.
Just beside the road in front of the caravan, there is a stone house. On the stone wall of the house, the words 'toll station' are written in Huo Lewen.
And from the stone house, there is a magical light path blocking the way. Shaluo leaned over, and heard a man in the stone house, wearing gold rims on a white background, who looked like a priest talking to her father: "The road was repaired by our temple, so naturally we have the right to charge for road maintenance. We don’t charge for pedestrians, but we have to charge for horse-drawn carts and donkey carts. After all, your carts are heavy and will cause some damage to the road. We are responsible for maintenance, which also requires money.”
"Then can we not pay the fee? After all, it is not easy for us to earn some money." The owner of the caravan, that is, Sha Luo's father, bargained and asked: "Or we can pay less."
"If you want to go on the road, you have to pay, two copper coins for a horse." The pastor in the stone house said impatiently: "If you don't pay the money, it's okay, the road is next to it, you can go from Go over there."
Sara looked along the priest's hand and found that there was indeed a road on the left. She vaguely remembered that when they left a year ago, they did come out of this side road. At that time, many people walked this road, but now, the grass on this road has grown as high as a human being, and there is only a khaki path in the middle, which can only be passed by individuals, and it is impossible for donkey carts to pass.
Then Shaluo saw her father handing over the money in pain.
Their caravan consisted of twenty-four donkey carts, which meant that my father had paid forty-eight copper coins. This is not a lot of money, but being so close to his hometown, anyone would be a little upset to be hit with a 'sap' like this.
Sha Luo breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it wasn't robbers who robbed her. She jumped onto the donkey cart closest to her and sat down.
The priest in the stone house made a strange gesture, the cyan magic beam of light blocking the road disappeared, and the caravan continued on its way.
After the donkey cart that Shaluo was sitting in drove past the stone house, she suddenly found that in front of her was a gray stone avenue. Looking at it from her own perspective, this flat stone avenue could be driven side by side for at least ten miles. donkey cart!
Everyone in the caravan looked at the road and lost their voices collectively. After a long while, Shaluo sighed: "It's a big deal, no wonder every donkey cart has to charge. If it were me, I would at least double the price. Mayor Greenton, when did this happen? rich."
From a businessman's point of view, building such an exaggerated road will definitely cost a lot of money. Relying on the toll of two copper coins per carriage, it is impossible to recover the cost of this road, at least within fifty years.
The donkey cart was driving on the flat stone road, the previous swaying feeling was gone, and the speed was much faster.
Soon the caravan came to the gate of Tonggu City, where there were endless crowds.
During the inspection of the caravan waiting to enter the city, Shaluo always felt that the people coming in and out of the city gate seemed a little different from what he had imagined before. But she couldn't tell what the difference was. After a while, the city guards who were in charge of checking the safety of the goods inspected the donkey carts before letting them pass with a blank expression.
After entering the city gate, Sha Luo and everyone in the caravan were surprised again, because the roads in the whole city have been repaired, and the black and white checkered stone streets look beautiful. And the most important thing is that Shaluo hardly sees any garbage on the street. The whole city is surprisingly clean.
clean
Shaluo clapped her hands violently, she finally knew why she felt something was wrong in front of her... Almost all the passers-by in Tonggu City were very clean, even if they were wearing worn-out clothes, they were washed clean.
What happened to Tonggu City in the past year
In the former Tonggu City, except for the wealthy area, traces of defecation and defecation can be seen everywhere, but now, it is replaced by beautiful stone avenues, and many places have been repaired. She remembered that as soon as she entered the city gate, there was a slum on the right side. As long as she passed there, she could see a lot of small mud houses, and the disgusting smell of excrement and urine poured out.
But when she passed there just now, she only saw clean stone paths and neat and beautiful white stone houses.
Even the slums have changed. What happened to Tonggu City in the past year, and what did they miss
The caravan entered the trade market in the city center, and acquaintances soon came over and cleared their goods. Only three carts of flint were left unclaimed.
In the past, Flint had no worries about sales, why no one wants it now? After Shaluo inquired, it turned out that not long ago, the lord of the city, Greenton, discovered a valley rich in flint at a place more than 30 kilometers away from the city. Therefore, the price of Flint in Tonggu City has been greatly reduced, and the three cars of Flint in the caravan cannot be sold.
Although it is a bit regrettable, Sara is not so difficult to love. This is how business is like, there are gains and losses. This time they have been doing business for more than a year, and they have made a lot of money. The loss of the three cars of Firestone is nothing to them.
After leaving the donkey cart with the regular customers and paying the wages of the caravan employees, Shalo and her father returned home with a heartfelt determination.
Although Sha Luo and her father have made a lot of money over the years, they still don't have any prominent identities, so they can only live in civilian areas.
After returning home, Sara and her ecstatic mother first expressed their longing for each other. After a long time, she gave way to her father and let him and her mother hide aside to make out.
Then she searched the whole house, but she didn't see her brother, and thought he was out to play again. He muttered dissatisfiedly in his heart, and then saw that his brother's room was quite messy, so he started to help him clean it up.
When she finished tidying up the room, it was already dark, and when she left the room, she happened to see her younger brother coming back from the outside.
Seeing his sister, the younger brother seemed very happy. If it was in the past, he would definitely rush over, hug her and spin around vigorously, but this time he seemed very stable. He just smiled happily and said, "Sister, you are back!"
In this regard, Sha Luo was a little disappointed, thinking that her younger brother had also grown up and understood the difference between men and women.
Then she saw a book in her younger brother's hand, and she was very curious: "Harris, you actually read a book? Mom hired a Chinese language teacher for you?"
Harris raised the book in his hand, and said proudly: "Sister, I am now a junior student at Woking College, let alone writing, I am already a professional now."
Sha Luo chuckled: "Just you naughty monkey? Professional? You have to find someone more reliable if you talk big."
Harris stretched out his right hand calmly, and after a while, an orange fireball rolled over in his hand, emitting a hot light.