Traveling through ancient times: living a different life

The master and servant slept until 9:00 in the morning before getting up and washing up before going out to eat.

Eating at this hour was equivalent to having breakfast and lunch together. He also bought a lot of food and put it in the locker. After paying the room fee at the inn, he drove the carriage to Qingshui Lane to find the peddler Li Qun.

When they reached the door, Xiaomai went up to knock. A 30-something ordinary-looking woman opened the door. The woman saw the two girls and didn't recognize them. Suddenly she remembered her husband's words last night that someone had asked their son to be a guide. So she asked gently, "Are you two looking for Qun'er?"

Xiaomai said, "Yes, we are here to look for Li Qun. He served as our guide last night."

When he heard that it was really the two little girls, he smiled and said, "Oh! It's the two girls. Please come in and sit down. He and his father went out to set up the stall."

So he shouted into the house, "Ling'er, come out quickly and go to the street to call your brother back." Xiaomai parked the carriage in the yard, then went into the living room and found a chair to sit down.

After a few breaths, a little girl about the same age as Xiaomai walked out. When she saw that there were guests at home, she waved to the two of them and left.

The woman served tea to the two of them, then sat down and said, "My son may have done it. He is sensible and obedient, and he is also very eloquent. He can tell you clearly what is fun and new in this county."

Bi Yue ignored the woman's words of praise for her son and said directly, "We are going to the fishing village. Can you let your son lead the way? Last night he said that his grandfather and uncle live in the fishing village. I want to find a fisherman who can row a boat to catch some fresh seafood in the shallow sea. The introduction fee will be generous."

The woman was very happy to hear that. Last night when she heard her husband say that her son was paid two taels of silver for being a guide for the two little girls, she was a little skeptical. But this morning when her son handed the two taels of silver to her, she was so happy. In just one night she earned the same amount of money as she would have earned from setting up a stall for half a month. It would be great if such good things happened every day.

After a quarter of an hour, the father and son came back pushing their stall carts.

After putting the cart away and sitting in the living room, Li Qun's father said, "Miss, my name is Li Xunhai, my wife is Teng, I have two brothers and my father. They live in a fishing village by the sea and make a living by fishing. When they catch good goods, I help them sell them in the county. Sometimes I go to the fishing village to collect some pearls, and sell the expensive ones to Lingling Pavilion. The cheaper pearls are made into pearl flowers, which can also be sold at a higher price. How about this? I happen to be going to collect some goods these two days, and I will accompany you two, how about it?"

Biyue felt that she could help better with the guidance of an elder.

So he nodded and said, "This is better. I originally thought that if I asked you to come, I would delay your business. In this case, you will lead the way and introduce my father and brothers. The fee is also two taels of silver."

The couple and Li Qun all happily agreed, so they packed up their things. Li Xunhai said to them, "I will drive the carriage, and you two can just sit in it."

So the three of them drove all the way and arrived at the seaside fishing village in an hour. The fishing village was built on a relatively high mountain near the sea, with a mountain at its back. There were about twenty households.

Arriving at the door of a house, Li Xunhai went up to knock on the door. The person who opened the door was an old man in his 50s. He saw him and said, "Xunhai, why are you back today? Isn't it..." Li Xunhai interrupted his father and said to him, "Dad, these two girls came to the fishing village to find someone to help. Let's go in and talk in detail."

The old man also saw the two little girls standing behind his son, and immediately welcomed them in with a smile. After they sat down, Li Xunhai told them the purpose of their visit. Old Man Li said to Bi Yue and the others with a smile on his face, "Don't worry, I promise to get this done."

Only Old Man Li and his two grandsons were at home. The two children were only seven or eight years old. They poured water for Biyue and Xiaomai. Seeing that the two little boys were so sensible, Biyue and Xiaomai took a handful of candies from their small bags and handed them to them, saying to them, "Go eat with your brother." The boys looked at the candies with smiling eyes. They reached out to take the candies, said, "Thank you, miss," and ran out to eat the candies with their brother.

Old man Li said, "Miss, you can stay at my house tonight and leave at 11:00 am tomorrow morning, okay?"

“This is a good time.”

Old man Chen asked the eldest son to clear out a bedroom for the two little girls.

Li Xunhai went to clean the room as his father instructed.

Old man Li said, "Excuse me, ladies, are you fishing in the shallow sea or in deeper waters? But my boat can't go to the deep sea."

"Maybe Uncle Xun Hai didn't explain it clearly, or I didn't explain it clearly. You just need to send us to the uninhabited island and come back. You can pick us up in four or five days."

"Oh, just deliver it to me. That's easy."

Li Xunhai came out and said that the room had been cleaned up, and asked the two to go in and rest for a while. They could go to the beach in the afternoon. Biyue said, "It's hot now. I have some things for the bed in my carriage. Let's go get them."

Li Xunhai responded: "Okay, do you want help?"

"No, just rest."

The two men came to the carriage, took out their own mats and thin blankets, spread them out in the room, closed the door, opened the window, climbed onto the bed, and had a good rest. After all, they were still in their teens, and more sleep would help them grow taller.

At about 2 p.m., the two got up and felt a little hungry. Old Man Chen said, "Are you two hungry? There are cakes in the pot. Have some."

The two men went to the kitchen, opened the lid, and found a few multi-grain cakes in the bowl. They looked at each other and covered it, then went to where the carriages were parked and picked up a bag of rice. Xiaomai picked up a bag of millet, and put them on the kitchen floor, asking Xiaomai to talk to Old Man Chen.

Old man Chen went to the kitchen, and Biyue and Xiaomai returned to the room. They took out the food they bought in the county town from the locker and started eating.

After finishing eating, I came to the living room and asked the two boys, "What time does the beach catching start? Are you two going later?"

"Yes, my brother and I will go with you later."

"Where are the rest of your family? Why are there only you two brothers and grandpa?"

"They went out to sea. Mother and Third Aunt went to the beach to clean and dry the fish. You rested at noon and they came back. You didn't see them."

After the Yin hour in the afternoon, the four of them carried wooden buckets and wore straw hats and went to the beach. The fine white sand was very comfortable to walk on barefoot. It was August and the weather was hot. The heat from the sun was dissipated a lot under the blowing of the sea breeze.

They worked in groups of two, searching in the cracks of the rocks by the sea or in the mud and sand. They found crabs, mantis shrimps, big fish, and two or three sea urchins, which were very nutritious. Unfortunately, they only picked up three. They also found a lot of crabs among the rocks. The two big claws in front of the big crabs were no joke if they pinched your hands. Fortunately, they were fully equipped today. They used big pliers to pick up the two crabs and put them in the bucket. The harvest was full, more than half a bucket was filled. They walked over to Xiaomai, and she also picked up half a bucket. When they saw that it was almost done, they called the two boys to go back together.

Tonight's dinner is a seafood feast.