owlsbooks Chapter 266: Fireflies Flying Above the Window
Chapter 266: Fireflies Flying Above the Window
Chapter 266: Fireflies Flying Above the Window
The ancient road was windy, bells were ringing, and thin horses were riding on it. It seemed that there was never a shortage of dark-faced, weather-beaten pedestrians in the world. Among the winding slopes among the mountains, a caravan was walking slowly, whipping the horses. There was a pavilion every five miles and a shop every ten miles along the way, and they gradually arrived at the outer city of Chong'an County.
The origin of the establishment of Chong'an County can be traced back to the beginning of the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, when General Peng Qian of the Zuo Niuwei settled here and summoned the villagers to reclaim more than 90 wastelands, and the county began to take shape.
After that, time passed quickly. Fifty years later, Peng Han, the son of Peng Qian, petitioned the court to change the name of Xinfeng Township to Wenling Town. More than a hundred years later, Peng Dang, a descendant of Peng Qian, reported to the court to change the name of Wenling Town to Chong'an Field. From then on, the word "Chong'an" as the place name began to appear in history books.
The merchant cavalry arrived at the crisscrossing paths of the city. Under the low peaks were green buds, nestling together in the still chilly spring air. Later, they learned that they were about to enter the city. From afar, across the Moon City Tower, they saw a large city wall slowly emerging among the winding paths.
Hong Wendi and Xiao Shitou leaned their heads out of the carriage and listened to the introduction of the local servant of the Fang family. They learned that the circumference of Chong'an County was one thousand feet, twenty feet high and twelve feet wide. It had nine hundred and thirty-six battlements and twenty-seven sentinels. The four city gates all had moon gates. It was obvious that the city defense was extremely strict.
"Young Master, Young Master Hong, isn't this city magnificent? You know, this is Chong'an Road!"
Hong Wending recalled that his master had said that Chong'an Post had existed since ancient times. It was a rural road during the Qin and Han dynasties, and a thoroughfare during the Song and Yuan dynasties. The two ends of the road connected Wu and Yue in the upper reaches and reached the river and the sea in the lower reaches. It was a veritable "four-province thoroughfare" stretching for thousands of miles. Along the way, there were high mountains, dense forests, ravines and gullies, and one pass, two peaks, three rocks, four mountains, eight ridges and twenty-one crossings. Soldiers and bandits could either drive straight in or sigh in despair.
Therefore, unlike other places where military strategists do not fight for, Chong'an Road, as the first gateway for Chu Yue to enter Fujian, has always been a place of fierce fighting with water and grass stationed, barracks set up, and support provided. Last year, Qing troops from several provinces who fought fiercely with the Tiandihui in Wuyi Mountain also swarmed in from up and down this ancient road and almost blocked the anti-Qing forces.
On the short road from Xiamei Town, they could often see piles of bricks and stones scattered at the foot of the valley on both sides of the overgrown road. Those were the tombs that served as a general memorial for the lonely souls on this road and were also the final resting place for those who died in a foreign land.
Chong'an County has four land gates in the east, south, west and north. The convoy of Fang's business soon arrived at the Jingyang Gate in the south. The city official seemed to be familiar with the local servants of the Fang family and just lifted the curtain to take a quick look.
Seeing that the caravan consisted of familiar faces, and that Hong Wendi and Xiao Shitou were still young and well-behaved, he did not conduct any vigilant inspections. As the group successfully passed the inspection and entered the city, the bumpy journey on this stretch officially came to an end.
The place that Manager Fang arranged for Hong Wendi and Xiao Shitou to stay was near the water gate in the south of the city, not far from the Chongyang River, which flows around the city with rippling blue waves. There was a plaque hanging high above the water gate with the words "Yuxiu" inscribed on it, and there were also many bamboo rafts and small boats for ferrying people. It was indeed a water gate pier where passengers and goods gathered.
The Fang family's business was not small, but they had not purchased many properties in Chong'an City. The cloth they were transporting this time was only to be distributed to other companies in the city, so in addition to buying a warehouse for storing the cloth and for transportation, they only kept this small shop not far from the Shuimen transportation hub.
At first, Manager Fang's idea was just to use it as a place to rest.
But on weekdays, the caravan was responsible for traveling between Xiamei Town and Chong'an County. The distance between the two places was not far, and it was not difficult to arrive before dark. Moreover, the cloth shop workers who transported the goods were all locals. Even if the road was blocked one day, they could return to the city to live separately and did not need to settle down elsewhere. Therefore, this small shop had been idle.
Now, following the instructions of the shopkeeper Fang, the caravan servants came together to clean the place, clearing the cobwebs and the accumulated dust, and also arranged the bedding, tables, chairs and other daily necessities loaded on the carriage. Of course, everything was ready without further ado.
This small shop at the water gate has only one entrance, with two rooms, the inner room is divided into two floors. Climbing up the old wooden ladder is a narrow attic where an adult cannot even stand straight up. It was probably used for storage in the past.
But Hong Wendi was more cautious. He moved a bed to the attic by himself and opened the attic window a little, preparing for the two of them to take turns sleeping there. This way, they would have a place to keep watch. If anything went wrong, one of them would be able to notice something was wrong and take the opportunity to escape secretly.
After arranging the accommodation, Hong Wendi naturally had to go and complete Jiang Wen's instructions first.
He walked along the bluestone pavement of Shuimen Street and turned into Qian Street. Suddenly, he heard the sound of gurgling water. Following the sound, he discovered that among the densely packed houses in Chong'an County, there was an irrigation canal like a jade belt hidden.
It is this irrigation canal that quietly divides the county town into two halves, east and west, where sounds can be heard from each other, which is quite novel.
At this time, he was in the east of the city. Not far from the front street, there was a screen wall. Behind the screen wall was a county government office with a somewhat gloomy appearance.
Hong Wendi walked forward and found that the gate of the county government office was closed and the drum in front of the gate was covered with dust. Only a few children were playing and fighting in front of the office. On the low eaves were traces of nests left by mud swallows. No one had cleaned it up for a long time. After the seasons, the ground was covered with bird droppings, sewage and mud, which filled the originally magnificent bluestone road in front of the office.
"Well, it's just as Uncle Fang said. The Chong'an County Government has not taken care of the people's livelihood for a long time. I didn't expect it to be so dilapidated and ruined."
Before coming, Manager Fang had already told Hong Wendi that Chong'an County was unlike other places. Because of a strange case in the Ming Dynasty, the people of Chong'an County were unwilling to work in the government office, but instead borrowed the premises of the East Inspection Court as their office. Over the years, the county gradually became dilapidated and the people never returned.
So Hong Wendi found the right direction, bypassed the dilapidated county government office and headed north. Finally, not far from Jinshifang, he found what people called the East Inspection Court and handed in the documents for the naturalization of the boat people.
For Chong'an County, which was infested with refugees, the number of these dozens of refugees was not too many, but it was not too few either. The county officials saw that Hong Wendi behaved in a proper manner and spoke calmly, and they preconceived that he was a servant sent by some wealthy family to do business.
Since ancient times, the "naturalization" of refugees has been a means for these gentry to accept donations, rent and cultivate the land, so they did not make things difficult for them when they entered.
However, while checking the documents, the expressions of the county clerks kept changing. They kept muttering some random words like "unknown origin", "many mountains are closed", "there may be danger of people gathering together to commit crimes", and they read the two pages of documents again and again, almost fanning out a whirlwind.
Hong Wendi knew the answer clearly, and he quickly stuffed an ingot of silver into the clerk's pocket. The clerk immediately said with a smile, "Dawang Peak has been a deserted place for a long time," "Good people will promote benefits and eliminate evils," and "I will report this to the master immediately." Then he left his address and name in a friendly manner, and asked Hong Wendi to go back and wait for a while, and he would send someone to report any news immediately.
"Fugitives registering where they live" is not an uncommon thing, and it is also helpful to solve the problem of "barren land and sparse population" in mountainous areas. Moreover, the delivery of documents and exchanges of information by these yamen officials are all profitable, and this has been the long-standing practice. Hong Wendi was not worried that the other party would deliberately delay reporting, so he left the Eastern Inspection Court on his own.
The next three days were a time of peaceful waiting. Hong Wendi had long known that there were some suspicious situations in Chong'an County, so he wandered around the county by himself during the day to investigate, and only returned to the Shuimen shop to rest before dark. In everything, one must consider failure before considering success, so that one can be prepared for danger in times of peace. This was also a habit he developed from wandering around the world with Hong Xiguan in previous years.
Even after dusk every day, Hong Wendi would stay alone in the attic after moving the door panels and fastening the sturdy bolts, looking out the small window at the bluestone pavement of Shuimen Street.
At sunset every day in Chong'an County, vendors and pedestrians hurried home, leaving only an empty and quiet place. When night fell and the cold wind blew, the county fell into a true curfew silence. If it weren't for the faint light of oil lamps still faintly shining through the small windows of several houses across the narrow street, Hong Wendi would have thought that the county had been quietly emptied overnight.
What impressed Hong Wendi the most was that every time the clock struck late, the slow and sluggish footsteps of the night watchmen could be heard in Chong'an County.
To this day, he had not seen the figure of a night watchman on Shuimen Street, but he could tell from what he heard that the night watchman did not strike a gong or a gong, but instead walked and struck a bronze chime while reciting the unclear words of the Ksitigarbha Sutra, mixed with some strange humming and banging sounds...
Another day was drawing to a close as night fell. Outside the dark window, a cold crescent moon quietly climbed up the eaves. Frost immediately formed on the old tiles and walls. The sparse withered trees around it cast a shadow on it, and the crooked shadows of the trees could be vaguely seen.
Hong Wendi was in the attic, and the sound of a cold current whistled through his ears, and then turned into a low whisper in the small hall, making him feel that there was someone hiding in the dim and dark spot on the beam in the kitchen, spying on him.
After these few days' experiences, Hong Wendi vaguely realized that the people in Chong'an County seemed to have a gloomy look on their faces, and their speech and behavior were different from those of the merchants who came and went. However, these were just some feelings, and no specific clues could be found after careful analysis.
Hong Wen was thinking in his heart while sitting cross-legged on the spot. His eyes were looking into the empty space, and his breath was flowing like the gentle breeze and drizzle. He was maintaining an extremely clear consciousness without any slackness - he acted like this today only because the night was getting cold outside and his senior brother Xiao Shitou still hadn't come back.
In contrast to Hong Wendi, who was trying his best to be pious, Xiao Shitou's life these days was particularly comfortable. With the money that Manager Fang had stuffed into his pocket, he would go to the market every day to eat and drink to his heart's content, and then run out to play and have fun with the children in Chong'an County in the remaining time, and only went home when it was dark, still not satisfied.
Every day before, no matter how much fun Little Stone had, he would always come back on time. But today, for some reason, he has been away for now and there is still no news. Hong Wendi stared at the cold moon outside the window, counting his breaths and thinking, if he still hasn't seen him after another incense stick of time, he will go out at night to look for him.
But not long after, there was a knock on the door outside the Shuimen shop, and the sound of small stones was heard, which made Hong Wendi's uneasiness disappear for the most part.
"Junior brother, open the door, I'm back."
The sound of the small stones and wooden slabs could be heard far away on the cold street, but because the surroundings were too quiet, it always felt like something dormant would be disturbed. Opposite the Shuimen shop were two rice and flour shops, and a noodle stall where people could rest and drink tea. On both sides were street businesses run by locals. Once dark came and they returned home, there was no more sound.
At this time, only cloth pieces were floating in the shops on both sides, and the streets were empty. The night watchman's vague recitation of the Ksitigarbha Sutra was floating from a distance, and seemed to be getting closer and closer to Shuimen Street. Hong Wendi did not answer immediately, but first peeked down from the dark window.
A cold wind suddenly blew, causing the cold moon to sway. The whole street seemed to become dim and shadowy. Hong Wendi felt that the trees, which were already swaying, were now even more tilted, and the figure of Xiao Shitou suddenly broke away from the shadow of the trees and quietly appeared on the bluestone slab, turning into a figure that was as tilted as the surroundings.
The small stone was still knocking on the door panel persistently, and the Ksitigarbha Sutra not far away seemed to be recited faster and faster, and the footsteps were approaching Shuimen Street rapidly. But even so, Hong Wendi did not move to open the door.
Because he was shocked to find that behind the short figure outside the door, there seemed to be a taller, taller, and more crooked and twisted figure leaning, clinging, and standing there!
(End of this chapter)