Traveling to the ancient harem

The next day, Huang Ye and Hong Dou finished climbing the mountain early, ran down to have breakfast, and each of them changed into a clean monk's robe. Huang Ye also asked Hong Dou to put some copper coins and silver in her purse, and also asked her to take out a silver note. As the saying goes, if you have money in your hand, you will not be worried!

Lingyu helped them put their hair into a small monk's hat, and then the three of them walked down the mountain together. To outsiders, the three of them were just an older nun leading two younger nuns down the mountain.

The journey down the mountain was a bit long, and it took about an hour (two hours). A few people chatted and laughed and didn't feel tired. When they reached the foot of the mountain, Huang Ye saw the real countryside. Although the country was peaceful and the people were safe during this dynasty, the life in the village was still very poor due to the underdeveloped economy. People could barely make ends meet. There were a few houses scattered sparsely by the mountain in the village. Most of them were made of earth walls and were very short. The roofs were covered with thatch. The clothes worn by the people I met were also patched, and many of them were even patched up. Many children did not wear shoes and ran around barefoot.

Lingyu led the two people to a house with blue brick walls, which was also the only blue brick house in the village. The roof was covered with gray tiles. It was a three-room house with one entrance. In front of the house was a typical farmyard with chickens and ducks, and a fence around it with vegetables planted inside.

The yard door was ajar. Lingyu stood at the door, clasped her hands together, and shouted "Amitabha". A middle-aged man walked out of the house. The man recognized Lingyu and respectfully invited the three people to the yard. He moved a few stools for them to sit down, and then politely asked what was the matter.

Lingyu called him the head of the village. Huang Ye had asked him on the way and knew that the head of the village was the modern village chief. Lingyu told the head of the village that he wanted to rent their ox cart to the town. The head of the village's eyes lit up immediately. Their ox cart was rarely rented all year round, so this business deal could not be lost.

The village head shouted at her daughter-in-law who was squatting in the toilet to get up quickly, and asked her to go to the mountain to call her sons who were herding cattle to drive the cattle back. Her daughter-in-law was quick and said hello to them and ran out. The village head began to pack up the ox cart as she would use it soon.

Not long after, a fat and strong black ox was driven into the yard. The headman quickly harnessed the ox cart with a stool on it. The headman drove the cart himself. Three people sat on it, and the ox cart slowly drove towards the town.

The roads they passed along the way were mostly farmlands, forests, and some low houses. The road surface was a bumpy dirt road. Fortunately, it was a sunny day, so although it was a bit bumpy, it didn't dirty their clothes. Huang Ye was thinking, if it was a rainy day, he wondered if the mud would splash on his body.

It was almost noon when the oxcart arrived in the town. The village head told them to go and do whatever they needed, and he would wait for them at the place where they got off the car, but not too late, because if it was too late, it would be dark and they wouldn't be able to see the road clearly, and the oxcart would have difficulty moving.

Huang Ye motioned to Hongdou to take out a handful of copper coins. The child's hands were small, so a handful would only have about ten coins. Hongdou handed the copper coins to the head of the village. Huang Ye looked at the head of the village apologetically and said, "Head, thank you for your hard work and for waiting for us here. Take this money. If you are hungry later, you can buy something to eat. We will settle the ox cart fare when we get back." After all, he was a village leader. Huang Ye felt that it was a bit embarrassing to let a leader wait for others.

"You're welcome, young master." The head of the village took the copper coin with surprise. This copper coin could buy two big meat buns. The young master was very generous.

The town is actually not very big. Only the main road is paved with bluestone slabs, and the rest are dirt roads, but they are flatter. Most of the business houses on both sides of the main road are small blue brick houses, mostly selling necessities such as grain, oil, cloth, etc. It cannot be compared with Liushu Street in the capital.

From a distance, there were more people on the side road, probably some street vendors. The three people did not go in to see, they had to post the letter first before they could go shopping without any worries.

Lingyu often ran errands for her master and delivered letters. She led them there with great familiarity and found the post station in the middle of the street on the north side of the road. It was a small courtyard with the door open. There was a row of counters in the main room that were almost as high as Huang Ye. Huang Ye had to stand on tiptoe to see inside. An old man with a goatee was sitting behind the counter. When he saw them come in, he looked up at them.

"Young master, you are helping your master to send a letter again!" The old man recognized Lingyu and greeted him with a smile.

Lingyu chanted a Buddhist name: "Yes, please help me register, Mr. Wang." The people here are very respectful to the people in Ciyu Temple. Every time Lingyu comes to send a letter, the old man is very nice, so Lingyu is also very polite to the old man.

The old man spread out the account book on the table behind the counter, carefully asked about the recipient's address, wrote it down with a brush, and opened the oil paper bag that Huang Ye used to wrap the letter, confirmed that it was the same as the one he had just registered, then wrapped it up again and put it away. He walked to a row of cabinets on the back wall, opened a drawer with the key on him, put the letter in, and then locked it. Huang Ye watched the whole process and finally understood the process of mailing letters in this dynasty. It was already very good that the security could be achieved to this extent.

The three people said goodbye to Mr. Wang and walked out of the post station. According to Huang Ye's suggestion, they went directly to the small market they had just seen. Huang Ye felt that only in such a place could they better experience the people's livelihood.