Chapter 118 Chapter 118 Update.
Speaking of going to Chang'an, Tian was secretly looking forward to it. If she returned to her hometown in such a dishonorable manner, her neighbors would tell her that she had tricked people into becoming miners, and they would gossip about her behind her back.
If she could make money from Chang'an, a wealthy place, and return home in glory, it would be different. Tian was so happy that she felt as if she could already see the good days when she would wear silk and satin and return home in glory.
Half a month later, Ji Xu went to the county court to pick up the mother and daughter and Xiaoyao who were passing through the customs in Chang'an, and met the second master.
The emperor took into consideration that the Second Master was young and his merits and demerits offset each other, so he raided the county magistrate's residence, stripped the Wang family of their titles, and still released the Second Master from prison.
He was dressed in a cloth cap and plain clothes. It was already the beginning of summer, but he was still wearing a padded jacket. His face was paler than others. He was accompanied by two maids, Lu and Xing.
This day happened to be the day when Magistrate Wang was to be executed in the West Market. The people who came to watch the beheading were all over the place and were throwing stones at the defeated Magistrate Wang in the prison cart.
"You're such a heartless person!"
"This bastard official is breaking the law and committing adultery! Behead him!"
"Cut off his head!"
They chased and smashed the prison van and headed towards Xishi.
"Second Master."
He was stationed outside the bustling West Market, and Ji Xu saw him as soon as he looked up.
Since returning to Zhuo County, he has been cooperating with the county court on the case, and the two have never met again.
"Now that my family is broken and my people are dead, why should I still call you Second Master?"
The Second Master saw her stuffing a bamboo slip into her sleeve, so he asked,
"Going back to Wudi?"
"Let's go to Chang'an and see, Second... Shouyu, do you have any plans to go somewhere?" Ji Xu said.
Wang Shouyu glanced at the West Market where the executioner's knife was raised and fell, and said that he did not plan to stay in Zhuo County. But when he talked about his destination, he fell silent, and the wind blew away his cough.
Yu Lai put on the fox fur cloak for him. He had caught a cold in prison, and the presiding official, the Minister of Justice, ordered it to be brought to him.
Even the two porcelain bottles of elixirs that were confiscated from the county magistrate's room, which could suppress his cold, were given to him.
Yu's eyes turned red as he said, "Where else can we go? Can we eat the medicine in those two bottles forever? The dragon grass inside is worth a thousand gold coins. Without the county magistrate's office, there is no way to find this medicine."
Xing started to cry as she spoke. They had lost their family when they were young and had been sold into the county magistrate's mansion, where they had lived and eaten until they were adults. Now that the mansion had been confiscated, it was naturally a heartbreaking thing. They also blamed the Second Master for disregarding their brotherly relationship and going to Qingzhou to report them, but they refused to be sold elsewhere and preferred to stay with the Second Master in coarse cloth and straw hairpins.
"This is all caused by you and the Second Master!"
Xing held back her tears and spoke to her in a resentful manner.
"Why are you crying? This is just my fate after all. I'll die if I die." The second master shook his sleeves and said.
Ji Xu thought for a moment and said, "Second Master, you have a cold. Youzhou is bitterly cold, so it would be good to get away from here. I heard that Lingnan is like spring all year round, with warm sunshine. Why don't you go there? Maybe the climate there can replace the dragon grass and help alleviate your coldness."
"Lingnan?"
"Well, Jiaozhou has the ports of Xuwen and Hepu. Merchants sailed from here, bringing back glazed pearls, strange stones, and monsters from various countries. The market is filled with a dazzling array of goods, which is quite interesting. Second Master, wouldn't you like to go and see it?"
These were all things Ji Xu heard from merchants traveling to various places when he was doing small business.
The Second Master also listened for a while, and finally said with a dead heart:
"In the past, how could such good things not be found at the prefectural governor's mansion? Even the lychees from Lingnan, I don't know how many I've eaten. What's the point? After all, dust returns to dust, ashes return to ashes."
"No matter how many good things you have seen and eaten, there are two things that you would never see again."
The second master's heart was moved when she said this. She gestured with her hands and said:
"In Lingnan, there are rats this big and fat, and fragrant ladies this thick and shiny. Second Master grew up in the north, where have you ever seen such a thing?"
"The mouse is fine, but what about Madam Xiang? If it's something good, I will bring it to you one day." said the second master.
"Once you've seen it yourself, you'll know. I don't want anything like this."
Ji Xu said goodbye and went back to the post station. Yu and Xing looked at each other and laughed secretly.
Yu couldn't help but tell the Second Master, "My Lord, that's a cockroach. Because it loves to steal oil, people in the countryside call it Fragrant Lady."
"There are also people called Zanglang." Xing who came from the south laughed.
On a chosen day, Ji Xu and his entourage set off for Chang'an in an ox cart. Since Marquis Mu Ping was stranded in Qingzhou on official business, she asked You Lu to say goodbye to him.
Wang Ye was traveling with them. They were traveling along the Guangyang Road in Handan, and they took him home with them so that they could keep each other company.
When they arrived near Handan and saw the green wheat fields in the distance, Wang Ye in the car scratched his face again and again, covering his nose and refusing to show it to others.
"Sanlang!"
Old woman Wang, with gray hair, was spinning hemp in front of the door. She overturned the winnowing basket and threw herself on him, crying, "Son, husband, who cut off your nose?"
Old man Wang in the room came out after asking about the situation. He beat him and scolded him for not dying outside. In the end, he burst into tears.
"My son has gone out to earn money. Look, this is one and a half taels of wages."
The old couple entertained Ji Xu and his party with great hospitality. They went to the chicken coop, caught a plump hen, slaughtered it and made a soup. They also went down to the river to catch a crucian carp, stewed it with water chestnuts and ate it. They clasped their hands together and bowed repeatedly to Ji Xu, saying:
"I was lucky enough to meet a good person and survive from that shady illegal mine."
I heard that Ji Xu and the others were heading south, so I said:
"The tiger problem in the south was eradicated by the government during the Lunar New Year. We haven't heard of any tiger attacks since then. It's okay if you don't have to take the long route."
What Ji Xu was most worried about on the way was the tiger threat. After hearing the news, he felt relieved and went south to Xingyang, then staggered west.
Before the fifth day of May, they arrived at the Sili area, which was composed of the capital Chang'an and several surrounding counties, passed through Henan County, and arrived near Hangu Pass.
I saw that the gate of Hangu Pass was wide open. There was a three-story watchtower above the gate, with customs officials stationed on the upper floor for lookout, and customs officials stationed at the lower gate for guarding.
The common people and merchants entering and leaving the checkpoint all held a pass as a certificate of passage.
The officials had a pass called a "Qixin" (a letter of authorization), which was a striking red cloth banner hung on a flagpole. The official on horseback shouted:
"Hanoi Commander Qi Xin!"
It was the six large characters written in ink on the red cloth banner. The customs officials removed the barriers from a distance to allow them to pass.
The common people lined up on the side roads where pedestrians were walking slowly. Most of them were traveling merchants or people living in Guanzhong.
The Guanzhong area is mainly located on the Jingwei Plain, and is divided by four passes on all sides, namely Hangu Pass in the east, Dasan Pass in the west, Wu Pass in the south, and Xiao Pass in the north. After Ji Xu and his companions passed Hangu Pass, they were said to have entered the pass.
Because the area within the pass is centered on the Sanfu region, and Weinan County in Sanfu has the capital Chang'an, its economic and political importance is self-evident, so Hangu Pass has strict entry and exit procedures.
Even if one held the rank of Nine Ministers, anyone who entered or left Hangu Pass without a biography or a seal as proof would still be dismissed from office and stripped of his title.
Exiting the customs is stricter than entering the customs. Strong horses, excellent stallions and powerful crossbows within the customs are all prohibited from leaving the customs. Therefore, the exit review on the other side is slower.
Ji Xu and the others lined up obediently, their faces covered in sweat from the sun, their eyes squinted and difficult to open.
After much difficulty, I was finally allowed in. It was like entering a completely different world. I saw that the inside and outside of the pass were very different.
Looking around, there are green fields everywhere, and they are fertile fields. There is the Zhengguo Canal built by the previous dynasty, which draws water from the Jing River in the west and flows into the Luo River in the east, and can irrigate thousands of hectares of fertile fields. It happens to be the flood season of the Jing River now. You can see the waterways everywhere gurgling, which are all floods diverted to the vicinity of the farmland and then flooding the fields. The scene is very spectacular.
"No wonder they say Guanzhong has a thousand miles of fertile land. Today I finally see it."
Tian nodded repeatedly and said, "If all the grain in Guanzhong were ours, we would never have to worry about food for the rest of our lives."
"Not only that, I heard there are also Longshou Canal and Baiqu Canal, which are large canals for irrigating fields." Ji Xu said.
"No wonder there are so many people in Guanzhong. The place is also rich. We have been walking along the road and there are people everywhere."
Ji Feng was amazed. Looking along the way, he saw rice, ginger and taro, fish and frogs in the pond, bamboo forests and orchards, fragrant grasses and sweet trees. There was everything.
A carriage with a carved lacquer canopy came from the opposite direction, and Ji Feng couldn't help but stare at it in amazement.
The powdered child in the cart pointed at the squeaking oxcart with two wheels that turned outwards and asked:
"Mother, who are those people?"
"They are all from outside the Great Wall, ignorant country folk."
Their mother looked at them with disgust.
Ji Feng woke up immediately, "What do you mean by people from outside the pass and people from inside the pass? How can such a nice place raise such a cunning creature?"
"It's not as good as our yellow cattle who treat people kindly."
Tian Shiyuan also loved that family's carriage very much. When she heard such words, she felt disgusted and touched her own ox.
The ox mooed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
