Sri Lanka, now called Ceylon, is like a teardrop of the Indian peninsula, embedded in the vast Indian Ocean.
The Fengshen sailed slowly along the coastline at the lower end of the teardrop.
The Sri Lanka that Ling Qingyu knew was destroyed after years of war. She only remembered the port of Ceylon in this era in the lower half, but the exact location was not very clear.
After walking around the bottom of the tears for half a day, a village at the mouth of the river appeared in the distance.
Ling Qingyu looked at the map and estimated that this place is not far from Colombo in later generations, that is to say, not far from the Jewel City.
The Fengshen stopped far away on the sea, and Ling Qingyu took Zhou Tan, Yan San, Yang Zhao, and a few skilled sailors, and slowly approached the village in a small boat.
Several dark-skinned women were fishing for fish near the water, and when they saw the boat approaching, they ran towards the village yelling.
"People here are aggressive, we try to avoid disputes with them." Ling Qingyu ordered and got off the boat.
Holding a few bolts of silk satin, Ling Qingyu greeted a group of people with various weapons running out of the village with a smile on his face.
Saying hello in the Indian language she didn't know much, Ling Qingyu put the silk satin on Yan San's hand next to him, clasped his hands together and saluted.
The group of people were shouting all the way over, but when they saw her like this, they stopped in their tracks, murmured in doubt, and then made way for an old man to come from the middle.
"We are merchants from Dazhou, and this is a gift for you." Indian is too difficult to learn, and she doesn't know much, so these two sentences were said in a stumble. However, Ling Qingyu said that this is the most practical skill when he travels around the world and learned a few daily expressions.
The old man's face softened, he changed into a smiling face, and said something to the people around him, and the people around him relaxed, put down their weapons, and laughed.
Ling Qingyu took the silk satin from Yan San, put it in the old man's hand respectfully, and asked in Chinese with a smile: "Can we supply it in your village?"
The old man smiled and watched her not speak. Ling Qingyu saw that he didn't understand, so he made a gesture for eating. Now that the old man understood, he hurriedly made a gesture of please, and brought them into the village.
The more you go inside, the village is not as dilapidated as it looks from the sea. The houses built inside are very beautiful, and all kinds of flowers and plants are planted around it. There are several stone-paved roads in the village, and the whole village looks neat and beautiful.
The old man led them into a big house in the middle of the village. The outside of the big house was surrounded by a fence, covered with vines and blooming flowers. At the front of the yard was a gorgeous pagoda covered with gold and silver.
On both sides of the entrance door of the main house, several people were picking gemstones in the bamboo baskets. The gemstones were not small, and they shone brightly in the sun.
Ling Qingyu resisted the desire to go and see, with a smile on his face, took off his shoes in a very humble and polite manner, and followed the old man into the house.
The room was spacious and bright, and some cushions were spread on the floor. According to the old man's instruction, Ling Qingyu sat down on the left cushion.
Because they had to take off their shoes, Yan San and the others stood outside, and Yang Zhao came in with Ling Qingyu. Unlike Ling Qingyu's posture of sitting cross-legged, he was sitting in a kneeling posture.
"Aren't you tired?" Ling Qingyu looked at him and asked in a low voice.
"It's okay." Yang Zhao also replied in a low voice.
Not long after, a woman brought food, fruit and two bowls of water.
Ling Qingyu let go of the two bowls of water, and said softly to Yang Zhao, "Wash the one on the left, and drink it on the right."
handwashing? Yang Zhao looked at her puzzled, and saw her washing her hands gracefully in the clear water bowl, and then used the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of her right hand to grab a small ball of rice in the bowl and put it in the bowl. To the mouth, smiled at the old man in Indian: "Very delicious, thank you."
The old man looked even more happy now, asking repeatedly.
Ling Qingyu ate half of the rice in the bowl to express his meaning, but Yang Zhao only used some fruits. During the period, the old man was called into the inner room once. Ling Qingyu caught a glimpse of an old woman holding the red silk and yellow gauze she gave her and was talking to the old man. When the old man came out again, the smile on his face was even brighter. .
Ling Qingyu washed his hands and signaled that he was ready to eat. The old man beckoned for someone to clean up and brought him fruit juice. Then he smiled and asked someone to put the piece of gauze and silk in front of him.
In front of a piece of gauze, the old man put a few gems in front of a piece of silk, and then put a few more gems in front of a piece of silk, then pushed it in front of Ling Qingyu, and said a few words with a smile.
Although Ling Qingyu didn't understand, he could understand what he meant. Seeing that the gem was just an ordinary amethyst, topaz, and turquoise, he shook his head, and moved the gems on both sides to the silk.
The old man frowned, turned around and said a few words to the woman next to him. After a while, the woman took out a large box of gems from the house and placed them in front of the old man and Ling Qingyu.
Ling Qingyu swept his eyes, and saw that there were really everything in there, sapphire, ruby, opal, moonstone, his heart twitched, and he said to Yang Zhao: "Bring a hundred pieces of medium silk and silk each, and bring more. Red, white and yellow, and two red horses."
Yang Zhao got up, first saluted the old man with clasped hands together, then turned around and went out, leading some sailors to the beach.
Ling Qingyu winked at Zhou Tan, but Zhou Tan didn't see it, he was poked by Yan San before realizing it, then took off his shoes, followed Yang Zhao's bow to the old man, and sat down beside Ling Qingyu.
The old man nodded, indicating that you can look as much as you can, and then stroked his beard and smiled.
Ling Qingyu said thank you, and dragged the box closer bluntly, then took out a piece of white satin from his bosom, took out a handful of gems and put it on the white satin.
Zhou Tan looked over one by one, and said to Ling Qingyu: "Good things, the quality is very good, these can be sold at a high price."
After inspecting all the gems in the box, Zhou Tan exhaled, and said, "There are no top-notch gems, but these can be sold for more than a hundred thousand taels of silver. If we reprocess them, it may be possible to double the price. "
Before he could finish his sentence, there was a noise from outside, Yang Zhao came back with people, more than 20 people were holding the silk in their arms, shining brightly in the sun.
Four hundred silk gauzes of various colors and patterns were placed on the floor, and the old man's eyes were straightened.
With a scream of "Ah!", several women ran out of the room, each holding the silk they liked and unfolding it. Immediately, the whole room was filled with the lustrous color of silk. Several women happily shouted in the old man's ear.
Ling Qingyu looked at the old man and smiled without saying a word. The old man was dizzy from the woman's noise. Seeing that the silks and satins were mostly red, yellow and white, he unconsciously looked at Ling Qingyu twice, and gave instructions to the lady behind him. He took out a small box from the inner room, opened it and placed it in front of Ling Qingyu.
Inside are more than 20 semi-rough gemstones of top quality gemstones, including dark green and amber cat's eyes the size of a fingernail, red sapphires the size of a little finger, and several bright red pigeon blood red rubies.
"It's worth ten thousand gold after processing." Zhou Tan whispered in Ling Qingyu's ear.
Ling Qingyu smiled and pushed the silk and satin forward, and the old man also pushed the two boxes of gems to her, and at the same time threw the few gemstones that were placed on the ground into the box very generously.
Ling Qingyu asked Yang Zhao to put away the gemstones, took a red silk, and twitched lightly, the light red silk filled the room with splendor, the red color seemed to be floating in the air, making people stop breathing for a moment .
"Wow la la la!" A woman jumped up, ran into the inner room, and ran out from inside after a while, put a pigeon blood red treasure the size of a red date in Ling Qingyu's hand, and picked up the red horse. Luo ran away.
Before Ling Qingyu came back to his senses, the red Luo in his hand turned into a red treasure. After blinking, he saw the other women jumping on their heels and shouting loudly at the old man. So with a very decent smile, he showed off another red horse.
This red horse is different from the previous one, there are some silver threads in it, so the magnificent red is shining with silver, making it even more gorgeous.
At this time, all the women ran back, the old man jumped up with sharp eyes and quick hands, and threw himself in front of Ling Qingyu. Yan Sanben was standing at the door, seeing him take something out of his arms, and flew in with his feet. When it was not a weapon, it flew back with another point, the speed was so fast that the surrounding Ceylonians didn't even notice that this person came and went that once.
What the old man took out was a pair of star gems, a red star gem and a purple-blue star gem, both about the size of pigeon eggs.
Throwing the gemstone to Ling Qingyu, the old man hugged Hong Luo tightly in his arms, and when the women rushed out from the inner room, they had already carried Hong Luo back to their seats.
It was so lively, the women almost didn't fight, but the old man couldn't bear it anymore and yelled, and the women calmed down.
Among them was a very beautiful woman, although her complexion was dark, seeing that the old man refused to let go, she moved to Ling Qingyu, put the gem in her hand in front of her, and looked at her pitifully.
Those were two rough stones, they were not big, and the true state of the gemstones inside could not be seen. The other women laughed when they saw the two rough stones, and the woman's dark face seemed to turn red, and she lowered her head , and seemed reluctant to give up, and pushed the two gems towards Ling Qingyu.
People around all had contemptuous smiles on their faces, but Zhou Tan whispered in Ling Qingyu's ear, "Try to get it here, this is a good thing!"
It is estimated that it would not be appropriate to bring out red silk again. Rare things are more valuable. After thinking about it, Ling Qingyu said to Yang Zhao: "Go and get a high-quality colored silk and a high-quality red silk."
Yang Zhao responded, and walked out quickly holding the gem box. The sailors outside followed suit. A boat is rowed by someone.
"Wait," Ling Qingyu said to the woman gently in Hindi.
The woman's eyes suddenly lit up, she sat affectionately beside Ling Qingyu, and poured her a glass of juice.
The old man's eyes also lit up, pointing at the red Luo and yelling, Ling Qingyu quickly shook his head, meaning that this is really gone. Just kidding, Hong Luo only brought 500 horses in total, and they were planning to use them to rob the Indian royal family and the Arab royal family for money.
"Yan San, tell Yang Zhao to bring some more porcelain over here. Ordinary utensils are fine." Ling Qingyu said to Yan San, seeing that Yan San glanced at the Ceylon man and said, "It's okay, don't worry. Hurry up." Just go back quickly."
Then, the Ceylon people in the yard saw that the man in black who had been standing outside the door suddenly disappeared, and after a while, he appeared outside the door again, and after a long pause, they all moved away from him. step.
While waiting for Yang Zhao to come over, Ling Qingyu drank ten cups of fruit juice that the woman poured so diligently, and felt his stomach was suffocating. He really wanted to ask where the toilet was, but he couldn't remember how to say this word in Hindi.
Counting the seconds, he finally waited until Yang Zhao brought two silk silks and a pile of porcelain. Ling Qingyu let out a long breath, pushed the silk to the woman, and asked the sailors to put the porcelain in the yard. At the same time, he said to the old man: " It’s for you, no money, just some water and food.” He picked up the cup filled with clear water and gestured.
The old man finally understood when she gestured for the third time, and ordered the people outside to fill up the water, and then went to inspect the porcelain with Hong Luo in his arms. Seeing those exquisite porcelain, the old man expressed his satisfaction. He is the lord of this land, and in a few days, it will be the day when the king chooses a new concubine for his birthday. The silk fabrics from the Great Zhou Dynasty have always been owned only by the royal family and nobles. I bought more than a dozen horses at a high price from the merchant, which was not enough for his wives, daughters and daughters-in-law. Recently, even the merchants in the capital couldn't get new silk fabrics, and the silk fabrics of Dazhou became very tight. There are so many products this time! so much! Moreover, this red horse has never been seen by nobles or even the king. As long as he donates one horse, the king may even reward him with a large piece of land next to him. What are some gems? His land is full of them To plant something, just let the slaves dig it again. This time, I will definitely make those people in the capital look at me with admiration!
The woman took two silk silks and smiled happily at Ling Qingyu. Although these two silk silks are not as gorgeous as the red silk, they are much more beautiful than the others. This year, her younger sister who married the king will definitely show her face at the banquet up.
Ling Qingyu picked up the two rough stones, and stood up. She had sat cross-legged for too long, her feet were already numb, and she fell down before she could stand still. Fortunately, Yang Zhao put an arm around her waist, so she didn't fall.
After stabilizing his body, Ling Qingyu walked out the door, saluted the old man, and saw that the villagers had already led the sailors to fetch water, so he also left.
Walking on the road, Ling Qingyu handed the two rough stones to Zhou Tan and asked, "What baby? Are you so nervous?"
"I heard from my master that someone brought back a ruby with a tear-like core inside from the Lion Kingdom. That gem can avoid bloody disasters, and keeping it at home can make the family prosperous." Zhou Tan took the gem and looked at it carefully. Look, and said: "I don't know if it's this one, oh, little girl, anyway, you won't suffer. The last three, one is worth ten thousand taels of silver."
"Yan San, take me back to the boat." Ling Qingyu gave him a look of contempt and said to Yan San. God! I'm almost suffocating. If I had known it was such an unreliable thing, I would never have waited!
While resting on the boat, Ye Shiyi asked Ling Qingyu: "Sister, that silk yarn can be exchanged for so many precious stones, why don't you exchange more?"
"Everything has a limit. If we give them too much silk, it will be worthless. The old man is probably the lord of that area. How much silk can he need? How many clothes can be cut from a piece of silk? , I was afraid that 400 horses would be too many, maybe they have some grand event." Ling Qingyu answered him with a smile leaning against the head of the bed. Speaking of gems, she still has several big boxes hidden on Fengshen Island. If those gems are not sold in Dazhou, one is because she is afraid that they will be sold off when she goes back, and the other is that so many gems are put into the market, and the price will be determined immediately. Press down. Anything is rare.