Bastards

At Xu time, cross the head.

The two men were talking in a low voice in the dark.

"Brother, will they really come? Don't count your words, we all brought the boat here..."

"Certainly come! They are not people nearby, and they are in a hurry to go home."

"Are you sure it's safe? Don't lie to us again..."

"I've lowered the price with me. It can't be a scam or fishing, it's just a traveler!"

……

Here, Cui Mata and his party have slowly approached.The voices of the two men were not loud, they could all hear them.

After staying in the inn for two days, Fan Lingxiu finally changed into his gorgeous clothes, and he became more confident. He raised his eyebrows, and his voice was full of pride: "It's really the same as what Cui Liu said. People are afraid We are not coming!"

"Keep your voice down, don't get overheard!" Xie Cong reminded Fan Lingxiu.He didn't know how all of a sudden, Cui Yu found the boat owner willing to take them on the waterway, but this didn't affect his admiration for Cui Yu, and he didn't want any accident to spoil things.

"It's okay," Cui Yu smiled while hugging the little tiger, "It's still far away."

……

When the two people approached, the red-faced boatman jumped out and said in a low voice, "The place you are going to is far away. I am afraid that I will not be able to continue by myself, so I called my younger brother together."

Cui Yu looked at the middle-aged man beside the boatman. The two brothers should be about the same age. "It's okay, as long as you can send us to Chang'an."

Fan Lingxiu stretched his neck and looked into the distance: "Where's the boat?"

"Where's the money?" The boatman asked anxiously, he didn't see the money, so he didn't go out of the boat casually!

The moonlight is like practice, pouring down, but the atmosphere of the second wave of people is not so romantic.

"Hey, you are in business, we are all people of status, and you can't shorten your ship's fare!" Fan Lingxiu raised his eyes, unhappy.

Cui Yu patted Fan Lingxiu and handed over the prepared purse: "This is half, and the rest will be given to the local government."

"This young man is a sensible person..." The boatman took the purse, carefully opened some silver, and was immediately happy. Realizing that he was not very friendly just now, he nodded and bowed to the others, "The younger one and the younger brother are both rude. My dear, please don't mind, although we are rough and not skilled, we will definitely deliver it to you safely!"

The younger brother also hastened to please him: "If it wasn't for the fact that my mother was sick and was in a hurry to spend money, my brother wouldn't be in such a hurry. Please bear with me..."

Fan Lingxiu acted like a young master and tightened the strings for the two of them. The two of them showed more respect, and even knelt down and kowtowed to them before they got into the reeds.I don't know how they hid the boat. The distance is so close. No one in Cui Yu's group saw it until the two lightly exerted force. See.

To say it's a small boat is an understatement.The captain is nine feet long, three feet wide, and has a low awning with three leaves. The awning has built-in straw mats, which can be used for sitting or lying down, but it is too short to stand up.The space is too small, it doesn't look spacious for the two of them to sit together, not to mention that there are five of them in a group, plus two boatmen...

"Can you sit down here?" Fan Lingxiu jumped up, "Didn't you cheat us of money on purpose?"

The boatman bowed his waist again, and his face was full of embarrassment and flattery: "How dare you little ones! The river is not peaceful recently, and you all know that our brothers have already put in a lot of effort to get such a boat... You are all noble people, the moonlight is just right tonight, why not enjoy the moon..."

"It's nice to say, who can watch the moon for a whole night! Or you can reach Chang'an in an hour or two!"

The boatman almost knelt down again: "It's not that the little ones don't care. If you don't believe in asking around, no one dares to do business now, and no one can find such a boat!"

The brother of the boatman also stared at the few people, his eyes full of begging.

It was because they were afraid that they would change their minds and not leave.

"It's really crowded..." After Cui Yu said this, the boatman brothers looked even more anxious, but before they made a statement again, Cui Yu changed the subject, "But who told us to be anxious? Just bear with it."

Xie Cong followed suit and nodded: "As long as I can go home, I can do anything."

Fan Lingxiu didn't do it on purpose, he just wanted to embarrass the boatman brothers. After all, the first two didn't behave well, and if they don't suppress them, they will try to blackmail others. "Since you all agreed, the young master can only bear with it... However, if the service is not good, then don't even think about getting reward money!"

The boatman brothers immediately nodded their heads like pecking rice. Although Fan Lingxiu had fierce eyes and a bad tone, the two of them were not angry at all, because the young master hinted that there is a special reward for serving!

The two brothers wiped the seats in the canopy with their sleeves, stood on the bow of the boat, and humbled a few people to board the boat. Seeing that Lan Qiao was carrying a few large bags of luggage, he wanted to reach out to help, but Lan Qiao refused to let them go, and glared at them. At a glance, a few big bundles were hanging steadily on his thin arms, and he sat down by himself.

The two brothers didn't dare to mind. Seeing a few people seated, they cautiously looked around and began to row the boat.

Because it was to avoid people traveling at night, the boat did not dare to go too far in the middle, and went to a place close to the shore, where water plants and trees were shaded. Fortunately, the water was deep enough, and the boat would not run aground no matter how close it was to the shore.The boatman rowed the oars quickly and silently, and the boat was moving very fast. Small ripples arose on the water surface, and then smoothed out, and the water passed without a trace.

There were four people in the tent, Yang Xuan sat next to Cui Yu, Fan Lingxiu and Xie Cong sat across from each other, Lan Qiao hugged the little tiger and guarded his bundle, sitting on the edge of the tent, separating the two Padfoot boatmen.

The little tiger called out "meow meow", as if it didn't want to be hugged by Lan Qiao, but it stayed still, Cui Yu didn't know if it was looking for him or Yang Xuan.

Yang Xuan didn't like the little tiger at first, but later she always played with it, and ignored it for the past two days... It seemed that Yang Xuan had never touched the little tiger since he gave himself the antidote.

Are you angry?Cui Yu gave Yang Xuan a playful look, this bear is quite childish.

At the beginning of the journey, there was no one talking inside or outside the boat, and the surrounding fields were quiet and peaceful, with only the soft sound of shallow water waves.

The moonlight is bright, the silver glow is shining, the vastness is like frost, it seems to put a hazy coat on everything, even the weird and rough black stones have become more beautiful.

After an unknown amount of time, Cui Yu looked away from the moon, accidentally glanced at Yang Xuan, and found that Yang Xuan was looking at the river in a daze, his eyes were dark, and he didn't know what he was thinking... Maybe he was in a bad mood, not just because of anger Little Tiger?

"The moon is beautiful today, and it's refreshing to look at, but it's boring to just sit and admire it all the time. Boatman, how about some gossip to relieve boredom?" Fan Lingxiu leaned against the side of the boat, his voice lazily.

Passing through the dangerous section where the transition head is easy to be found, the boatman no longer worried, and his voice became higher: "What do we sailors know? We usually listen to messy things, and I'm afraid it will pollute the ears of young masters."

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, the young master likes to hear nonsense!" Fan Lingxiu immediately became interested, "Just say it!"

"Hey..." The boatman's laughter became rougher at night.Thinking that the young masters on board were all young, just the age of curiosity, and had no female relatives. In order to please the guests and get more rewards, he recalled the things he had heard in the past, tried to pick out new and exciting things, and talked about them vividly.

For example, two hundred miles to the west from here, there is a water monster with a flat head, sharp teeth, and a mouth six feet long.

For example, two hundred miles to the east from here is the territory of the Red Carp Gang. The Red Carp Gang is different from other river gangs. The leader is a widow with white skin and sandal mouth, black hair and willow waist.A woman can rule over such a large area of ​​water. Some people say that she is very capable, and she can command hundreds of men with her strength. The leaders of the two gangs of the Four Seas Gang also had an unclear relationship with her, and some people even saw it with their own eyes, red silk flower boats, tulle dances lightly, night pearls, flower hairpins bumping into porcelain pillows, mandarin ducks flying red waves...

For example, one, two, three, four, five ghost stories...

Hearing this, Fan Lingxiu's eyes lit up, and he applauded from time to time, as if hearing a book to cheer him up, he almost threw money and shouted: "One more!"

Until the boatman finished emptying his stomach.

"It's gone? It's gone?" Fan Lingxiu was very dissatisfied, "The Chilang Gang has been in charge of this huge ferry for many years. How could it be just such a small matter?"

The boatman spoke dryly and complained in his heart.He is just a boatman, and he can't even talk to the most ordinary members of the gang. No matter how many things happen, can it be his turn to hear?That's all he's heard for years!

Why is the road so long... The boatman has been sailing for more than [-] years. For the first time, he feels that this job is not easy to do. Is the price low?

"Forget it, young master, I am magnanimous, and I won't make things difficult for you anymore. Tell me about the recent events. What's going on with the Chilang gang? Are there any rules for the river gang to fight?"

The boatman froze and almost fell into the river. When he heard the first sentence, he thought that the young master was really not in trouble, but in the end... let him say it, and he wouldn't even let him rest!

Seeing Fan Lingxiu tormenting the boatman, Cui Yu and Xie Cong looked at each other and laughed inwardly, this Young Master Fan is really not easy to provoke, what a ghost!

The boatman couldn't help but racked his brains to think, and continued to talk when he thought of it.No way, who told him to want a reward!

"As for the Chilang Gang, we have been managing this water area for so many years, and we have never had any troubles. No one expected it to happen suddenly. It's a good time to do business recently. It's raining continuously, the river is swollen, and mudstorms Frequent disasters have occurred in many places. The young ones have heard that from Xia County to the west and south of Qinghua Mountain, all have suffered disasters, and they can't go anywhere. They have to travel by water, but the Chilang Gang has something to do. No one speaks, the boat is afraid to sail below, many people stretch their necks and wait..."

Fan Liangxiu rolled his eyes: "Whoever wants to listen to this, come and have fun!"

The boatman choked, swallowed, and continued: "The rules of the river gang are quite old and young, such as 'everything on the water should be completed on the water', both kindness and hatred are on the water, and it does not affect the family. If you commit a crime on the water, run fast, and when you land on the shore, you can no longer chase and kill, but if you dare to go into the water again...hehe."

"Also, if there is a wave in the east when the boat is launched, and there is fog, it is an ominous sign, and the boat must drop anchor and stop for a day."

……

The boatman said a lot, but Fan Lingxiu still didn't let him go: "Is there any more?"

"Uh... just think about it, ah, there is one thing, if the lights are turned on at night—" the boatman was forced by Fan Lingxiu to keep talking, his mind was spinning, but he stopped suddenly when he said this, his eyes looked far away, He stared round.

Fan Lingxiu waited for a while, and seeing that he hadn't spoken yet, he urged, "What's the matter with the long lamp at night? You said it!"

After a while, the boatman replied, "I forgot, maybe it's unlucky?"

His voice was rough and hoarse, as if it was the same as before, and it seemed... deeper.

At this time, the night wind blew, and the water vapor hit the face, and the faint cold with a slight fishy smell invaded the nose and rushed straight to the heart.

Cui Yu frowned slightly, and asked the boatman, "How long will it take us to reach Chang'an?"

The boatman's voice was weak: "Look at the water situation, if it goes well, go fast, if it doesn't go well, go slow."

No honorific words, no longer being too humble...

His feeling was right, the boatman must have suddenly changed his mind and didn't want to send them ashore as promised!