Pick up the Dragon

"It's not right for a boat to carry half a person." Peng Yu raised a finger and said very seriously, "Each boat must have at least one boatman, even if the 'tens' is counted as the minimum of twenty, then there is still a boat. The three boats are unmanned boats. Even if each boatman is half a person, there are still seven places left, which means that there are still [-] boats that do not carry passengers. If they do not carry passengers, they will have no money. They are idle. If you want to swim in the river by yourself, I will not do it. If you put..."

"Okay, okay," Li Wei interrupted him helplessly, "You're the only one who can figure it out? You don't get seasick, water sick, or insect sick, right?"

Peng Yu rolled his eyes, walked aside while humming, and stopped talking.

Li Yi steered the boat towards the ferry and was about to dock. Suddenly, his eyes moved and he caught sight of something in the corner. He stretched out his arms and reached for it. The one who blew up the boat is still alive.

I don't know if it was because of the word "dragon" in the name, but he held the dragon louse with great interest and looked at it, and even stretched out his claws to grab the fluff on its hind legs.

Peng Yu just sat down on the side of the boat, turned his head and saw this scene, immediately leaned back in fright, almost fell headlong into the water.Li Yi hurriedly gave him a hand, and the latter quickly broke free from his hand after sitting firmly: "Why are there still bugs!"

"This is the only one left, what are you afraid of?" Li Yi said without changing his expression, he pulled a strand of hair from his hair and tied it to the dragon louse, then he took out a glass bottle from the package and put it on The dragon lice, which he tossed half to death, stuffed in, and opened a few ventilation holes in the plug.

Peng Yu yelled loudly: "Are you sick! You are still alive!"

Li Yi made a "shh" gesture to him: "What do you know, if we want to find the Gu master behind that, we have to rely on it."

He put the glass bottle into the package, threw it on Jiu Yuan's back, and said, "Remember, don't starve to death."

Jiu Yuan: "..."

The boat slowly approached the shore, and Peng Yu was the first to disembark impatiently. He looked around and said, "Why is there no one at this ferry?"

Not only was there no one there, but there were only two boats, and it seemed that no one cared about them for a long time.

"Master, there are people over there."

Peng Yu went as she expected, and saw a woman washing clothes not far from the river, she was alone, she seemed to be stretching her neck to look at them.

Peng Yu couldn't help being a little surprised, thinking that it's freezing to wash clothes by the river?Just as he was hesitating whether to go and have a look, he heard Li Yi say: "From her position, you can see the boats coming and going at the ferry at a glance. Maybe she is waiting for someone. You can ask her, maybe you can get useful information."

"Are you a roundworm in people's stomachs?" Peng Yu looked at him suspiciously, "And why am I going?"

Li Yi: "Aren't you the best at 'strike up'? Especially when the other party is a young girl?"

Peng Yu: "..."

Why does he always feel that this dragon is alluding to something?

With "unexplainable" on his forehead, Peng Yu staggered and walked up to the woman. The other party's eyes had been chasing him, but when he really came, he turned into indescribable panic, and his hands He didn't even notice that the clothes he was clutching fell into the river, his eyes were wide open, trembling on the spot.

Peng Yu didn't know what was wrong with this man. Seeing that the clothes were about to be swept away by the river, he had no choice but to bend down. He stretched out his hand to hook it back and put it in the basin. Sighing, she found an opening line for herself: "Girl, it's such a cold day... Let's go home early."

The woman trembled all over, as if her soul had been knocked back by his voice, then she bit her lip hard and lowered her head, covering her face with her hands, crying.

Peng Yu: "..."

Master Peng was at a loss for a moment, and he looked at Li Yi for help with a headache, but who would have thought that this fellow would turn his back on him, and he could only cough lightly: "No, girl, why are you crying? I don't look so scary, do I?"

The woman cried even more fiercely when she heard the words, and said as she cried, "Liar...you promised me that you would definitely come back..."

Because Peng Yu was so close, he still heard this indistinct raving, and couldn't help but startled slightly, feeling that there seemed to be something hidden in it, so he knelt down and asked as gently as possible: "Girl, what do you say?" Who will definitely come back?"

Unexpectedly, the other party completely ignored his kindness, raised a crying face and shouted at him: "Liar! You men are all liars!"

Peng Yu: "..."

Whoever he provoked provoked him!

Young Master Peng, who claims to never deceive women, was given such a hat for no reason. He felt that his intestines were knotted. He rolled his eyes at God, who was more innocent than himself, and felt that his patience was about to run out. It's also a little bit worse: "It's not a girl, you can just discuss the matter, which scumbag has failed you, and you are targeting him, can you stop killing us men?"

The girl blinked, and then shed two lines of tears: "He is not scum!"

Peng Yu: "..."

It's impossible to talk!

Young Master Peng was defeated, and several old men took turns to fight, and the result was more chaotic than the other. The girl didn't know how the brain circuit was so long. She refuted you when she said it against her, and she started crying again when she said it In the end, it was Qian Yue who finally got the truth out of her mouth.

It turned out that this girl had a husband who had been married for two years, who was a boatman on the Lijiang River. He disappeared a month ago in that part of the water where the vision had occurred. Clothes, looking at the open river with longing eyes, hoping to look forward to the boat with the black awning carrying the gentleman.

She had been waiting for a month, and today she finally waited for a boat to dock at the ferry, but found that it was not Mr. Lang, and thinking about the grievances she had suffered in the past few days, she burst into grief and cried endlessly.

While comforting her, Qianyue listened to her listing all kinds of "evidence" of her husband: "I told him not to solicit those guests, but he refused to listen. Everyone knew that something happened on the river, and no one dared to solicit customers. Why? He just wants to go! Why do they charge a high price, and going this way can make our mother and son have enough food and clothing for half a year... You have to live for it!"

Peng Yu couldn't help but glanced at her, reckoning that this girl was about the same age as Qian Yue, who actually had children, and seeing that her clothes were thin, her skin was pale from the cold, and she could faintly see traces of beauty on her unpainted face. It's a pity that the haggardness and poverty have been buried so much that it has almost disappeared.

Hearing this, he roughly understood what was going on—the man was focused on earning money to support the family, and regardless of the danger, he wanted to let his wife and children live a good life. Unfortunately, the sky failed, the money was not earned, and he even lost his life in it.

He rubbed his nose, thought for a while, stepped forward and said to the other party: "Girl, don't cry, be careful not to cry. How about this, my friend knows some psychic skills, maybe he can help you find Looking for someone, but we have just arrived here and are not familiar with the place, why don't you lead us to find a place? I have money here, so I won't bother you in vain."

As he spoke, he took out a piece of silver and handed it to the other party. The girl raised her tearful eyes, looked at him suspiciously, sobbed twice, and slowly wiped away the tears from her face, but she didn't take his silver: "Although we are poor, we I don’t need other people’s handouts, it’s just to lead the way, the young master doesn’t need to spend money, please come with me.”

She packed up her things, picked up the wooden basin and led the way, Peng Yu shrugged without embarrassment, and followed after her.

What he said about "unfamiliarity with the place of birth" is of course an excuse he made casually, and he has other considerations in his heart-generally speaking, boatmen are not too rich, and they will naturally choose a residence near Jiang to make a living. Set up family members, do the same job, earn about the same amount of money, and their residences are likely to be clustered together.

Sure enough, the few people saw a small village in the distance after not walking for a long time, and a few wisps of cooking smoke had already risen as the meal was approaching.The woman led them to the entrance of the village, pointed her hand and said, "Go straight along this road, and after walking for about two quarters of an hour, you will see the town, where there is a place to stay."

"How long will it take?" Peng Yu wailed exaggeratedly, showing his two-foot-thick skin, "Girl, I'm already hungry, or...hey, is there any place to stay in this village? Huh? Not overnight, just let us rest for a while."

The woman was silent for a while, as if she was thinking about why this "outsider" was so invisible, and finally compromised after a long while: "Okay then, a few follow me."

The dirt road in the village was not easy to walk. Peng Yu was led around by her, and he faintly heard a few weak dogs barking, and saw a few skinny dogs wagging their tails and begging for mercy.Most of the people living here have their doors open, because there is really nothing valuable in the house, and the dilapidated gates and dilapidated houses can be seen at a glance. It is not an exaggeration to say that the traffic is desolate.

Peng Yu frowned——this village was so lifeless, there was no vitality except for a little smoke, which made people feel uncomfortable for no reason.

He looked around dishonestly, and almost bumped into someone when he was not paying attention, he hurriedly took a step back to say sorry, but the tall brother on the opposite side smiled "hehe", clapped his hands and walked around him lock up.

It turned out to be a fool.

Peng Yu stared at the idiot for three seconds without a sound, and withdrew the apology that had rolled to the tip of his tongue, thinking that the other party might not understand him.

"Ignore him, please come here."

Peng Yu hurriedly caught up with her, and left the fool behind, but his eyes didn't stop. Along the way, he saw countless old people looking up at the door of the house with crutches, or women with gloomy faces, or babblers. Children, but no men.

Of course, there are also a few sporadic ones, such as the idiot who looked strong and healthy with a straight face, or the sick ghost with a sallow complexion and a stick-like appearance.

The woman finally led everyone to stop in front of a hut, and pushed open the door: "This is that fool's house, but he hasn't come back to live in it for a long time, I clean it up for him every day, if you don't mind, you can come here For the time being, I will live at the opposite door."

"I don't dislike it, I don't dislike it," Peng Yu said hastily, "But what's the matter with that idiot?"

The woman sighed and said, "He wasn't stupid. His brother Qi was the first person to disappear on the Li River. After being stimulated, he became what he is now."

"Brother Qi?"

The woman nodded: "Let's rest first, I'll bring some food later, I hope you don't feel dull."

"It's troublesome."

The group of four stopped in the hut for the time being. Peng Yu pulled a small bench over and squatted up in a disfigured way: "So most of the men in this village are boatmen on the Li River, and they all left and never returned. Now only Are you old, weak, sick or disabled?"

He didn't wait for others to agree, and said to himself: "Why didn't they sue the officials for such a big incident?"

Li Yi was also standing on a small bench, standing by the low wall and looking towards the opposite door. Hearing his words, he answered, "Sue the officer? Think about what happened to you before, if this is really the work of the Wu Clan , do you think the government can afford it?"

Peng Yu instantly realized that he had said something stupid, so he pressed his lips together tightly.

"In addition to a one-year-old child in her family, there is actually a blind mother-in-law." Li Yi jumped off the bench and took a few steps slowly, "Jiuyuan, Qianyue, I have filled my stomach for a while, you go and inquire about it." How many people are missing in this village, it is best to ask who is the name."

Naturally, the food in the dilapidated small village was only clear soup and little water, and the two of them made a few quick bites before going to do the errand entrusted by the Dragon King - as a woman, it was easier for Qianyue to get close to the villagers, and Jiuyuan's clumsy record was on the sidelines. With the cooperation of Li Yi, within an hour, the list of all the missing boatmen had been presented to Li Yi.

Li Yi pushed the thin piece of paper to Hongdou, on which were listed the names of about twenty people, and under the names of ordinary people were buried their mediocre lives.

Hong Dou took a serious look, and stepped on the paw prints on the names of two of them.

Li Yi: "It said that these two people were clearly sacrificed to Suzaku Ling, and it couldn't determine the other people's death... A total of 27 people were recorded on it. If two were removed, there were still 25 people whose whereabouts are unknown."

Peng Yu then said, "In other words, only two of the 17 people who died were boatmen? What about the others? They were all boat passengers?"

"Not really," Li Yi said, "Just now I found out that there is a small village not far from here where there are boat families, but the population is smaller, there are about a dozen families, and maybe some of the remaining 15 people belong to there, but it will never be It's all."

"so……"

"So Jinyu should be right when he said 'dozens' of boats, but the key lies in the dozens of boats, and there are probably more than a hundred people on board the boats, and we have only found one or two out of ten."

Peng Yu frowned—where did the remaining nine out of ten go?

Li Yi tapped the surface of the small wooden table with his fingertips, and said softly: "More than a hundred lives... This number is really big. What exactly do the Wu Clan want?"

Red Dou stood on the table, propped up her body with two thin claws, opened her pointed beak and let out a soft call.

"You said that Suzaku Ling hurt people's lives, so I can't just sit back and watch? Coincidentally, as the leader of all spirits, I can't just sit back and watch this kind of thing happen." He reached out and touched Hongdou's back, "Now the big situation It's already chaotic, so it's really inappropriate to talk about the grievances between the two clans—how about we let go of the past and work together in the same boat, what do you think?"

Hongdou tilted his head and looked at him for a while, then blinked Xiaodou's eyes twice, and then let out a long cry, which was his agreement.

Peng Yu rested his cheek in one hand, always felt that the two guys were not sincere, and a certain dragon even said "for now".

Li Yi nodded in satisfaction, took out the glass bottle from the package, and released the dragon lice inside.