Little Cardamom

The night was muddled, Ming Tan curled up in Jiang Xu's arms, sometimes sleepy, as if he had already fallen asleep, but the next moment he was awakened by the raindrops splashing on his body and the muffled thunder outside, and occasionally he could hear a few faint cries of a baby.

It wasn't until five o'clock that the sky outside the house became hazy, and the rain gradually weakened.

The twilight of the morning light reflected the slightly distressed scene inside the house. There was water on the ground, the tables and chairs were wet, and the wooden basin on the couch was almost full. The window was probably blown open once, and two pieces were left on the chair that were destroyed by the wind and rain. of residual leaves.

Jiang Xu hugged Ming Tan, leaned against the head of the bed and closed his eyes to rest.

Seeing that he seemed to be asleep, Ming Tan withdrew from his arms lightly, put on the plain embroidered shoes, and left the room quietly.

Outside the house, after the rain, the turbid air disappeared, and there seemed to be a fresh air filled with the fragrance of plants and flowers in the mountains and forests not far away. The birds chirped and chirped, and the voice was ethereal and clear.

Ming Tan exhaled heavily. Before last night, she had never imagined that she could endure such a harsh environment for a night. The house was not as good as the cleaners of the Jing'an Hou Mansion.

Thinking of what her husband said, that 70% of Daxian's people might not be as good as them, she felt very complicated.

There was the sound of a broom sweeping the floor in the main room, Ming Tan finished moving his numb body and walked towards the main room.

When she entered the house, she happened to see Mrs. Liu had finished sweeping the floor, and then picked up a rag and started wiping the rain-soaked tables and chairs in the house.

In fact, Sister-in-Law Liu had already gotten up to work at the fourth watch, and the main room was tidy at the moment, and there was still a fire on the stove at the back, cooking porridge.

Seeing that Ming Tan had a clear circle of cyan under his eyes, and his expression was much more haggard than yesterday, Mrs. Liu stopped her movements, and asked in a low voice with some embarrassment: "Sister, it was raining last night, so you didn't rest, okay? It's all my man's fault." , The roof has also been broken for a few days, and I didn't fix it, which caused you and your man to suffer."

Not only did Ming Tan not rest well, he didn't rest much at all, but he kindly took them in for the night, so there was no reason for him to feel sorry.

She hurriedly shook her head and said, "You're being serious, I have a light sleep at night, and it's common for me to be unable to fall asleep during thunder and rain." She changed the subject again, "By the way, Mrs. Liu, I seemed to hear Xiaobao crying last night? "

Speaking of her doll, Mrs. Liu couldn't help but sigh: "Hey, that's right. The adults couldn't fall asleep, but the doll was scared by the thunder and rain, and it took most of the night to coax her to sleep. Is it bothering you?"

"No." Ming Tan hurriedly shook his head again.

After coaxing most of the children, Mrs. Liu didn't take much rest, but she also didn't rest all night. Mrs. Liu was full of energy when she said this, and continued to wipe the tables and chairs vigorously.

Ming Tan couldn't help asking: "Sister-in-law Liu, aren't you tired, do you want to take a rest?"

"What are you resting for? Resting, I watched the baby sleep soundly before getting up to do things quickly. When I woke up, I was screaming for milk. I was very worried." Aunt Liu replied without thinking, "Besides, the village Which family's women don't have to work. The Wang family's daughter-in-law in front gets up to do things every day at three o'clock, feeding chickens, pigs and vegetables, and serving her in-laws. I am luckier than her, and there are no in-laws waiting to serve. I'm used to doing rough work, so I'm definitely different from you, my sister."

She looked up at Ming Tan in a hurry, and asked curiously: "By the way, sister, why did you and your man come to Tonggang? I looked at you two with your appearance and attire. Are you from a wealthy family? This place is very poor, the front mountain turns over to the town, the wind from the sea blows all day long, and the town smells salty and fishy everywhere!"

"Me, me and my husband..." Ming Tan was speechless for a moment, and quickly made up a reason, "He wants to do some business, and he plans to take a look around the coast."

Hearing this, Mrs. Liu was surprised and said, "Doing business in the sea?"

Ming Tan didn't respond, it was a default.

Mrs. Liu quickly waved her hands and said, "Sea business is terrible, don't do it, don't do it!"

"Why?" Ming Tan was curious.

"You don't know how fierce the sea is. Once the wind and waves hit you, you won't know how to die. Of course, don't do it!" Mrs. Liu kindly pointed out, "If you want to work with the fleet, you still have to go to Ling State, there are big ships there, safe!"

Ming Tan listened carefully.

"Hey, our place is not so poor that we can't get rid of it. No one dares to go to sea. In the past, there were men who went to sea and brought back things, but no one took them from our place. We still have to sell them in Yuzhou, Lingzhou. But this little I have to go out, the road is not easy to walk, and I am very tired.

"It will take at least a year to make it back and forth. If you don't come back for a year, the dolls in the house can talk, and what you can get, the big fleet in Lingzhou can't get it? Take the things to the city Here, it can’t be sold at a good price, it’s not worth it, it’s not worth it.”

When Ming Tan heard the words, he was thoughtful, but he didn't say much, just nodded slightly.

Aunt Liu finished her work in the main room, went to get porridge from the stove at the back, and called Ming Tan to ask Jiang Xu to get up and have breakfast together.

Mrs. Liu is busy with her work, and she cooks simple and clean breakfast. A small pot of porridge with minced meat, a stack of steamed buns with pickled vegetables, and fragrant hot rice milk made by herself are placed on the small square table, which is inexplicably very interesting. Appetite, Ming Tan seldom moved his chopsticks, so he used up everything.

Before breakfast was finished, Mrs. Liu and her husband came back from hunting. Mrs. Liu's husband's surname is Zhu, and he was originally the fourth eldest in the family, so the neighbors around here call him Zhu Si.

Zhu Si is a tall and rough man with a simple and honest face, he came back suddenly, Ming Tan was eating porridge, and he didn't have time to put on his veil.

In this world, people like Ming Tan and Jiang Xu have never been before. Zhu Si couldn't help but stare blankly for a moment, and thought he whispered to Mrs. Liu: "Mother, these two people are like gods, where did they come from?" Yes, why did you come to our house?"

Mrs. Liu also bit his ear twice.

To be honest, if it weren't for Ming Tan and Jiang Xu who were born like gods, they would be either rich or expensive at first glance, and they wouldn't be able to figure out what their family was, and Liusao was a woman with a child, no matter how enthusiastic she was, it would be impossible to let them in casually. Room.

After figuring out what was going on, Zhu Si was stunned, and warmly greeted the two of them to continue eating, and went inside the room to take a look at his sleeping baby son.

These hunters go into the mountains, and they can't get out for two or three days. It rained heavily last night, so Zhu Si and his companions spent the night in the cave. , rushed back early in the morning.

After seeing his son, Zhu Si came out to have breakfast with them.

Mrs. Liu has already scooped up the porridge for him, she should be familiar with his speed of drinking porridge, the bottom of the bowl here, and Mrs. Liu just scooped up a big spoonful for him to add more, she still reprimanded: "Let you slow down!" Eat slowly, no one will fight with you, what if you choke if you eat too fast!"

"I can't choke, don't worry, don't worry." Although Zhu Si said so, he still obediently slowed down the speed of drinking porridge, and looked at Jiang Xu and Ming Tan and praised, "My mother-in-law's porridge is delicious, and you can also eat porridge." Drink more, there is nothing else to entertain at home, but don't be polite, it's really delicious!"

Aunt Liu elbowed him to stop him from talking nonsense, but the corners of her mouth couldn't stop turning up, her face was satisfied and sweet.

After breakfast, Ming Tan and Jiang Xu planned to continue on the road.

After Ming Tan cleaned up, he was going to say goodbye to Mrs. Liu, but when he walked to the back of the main room, he saw Mrs. Liu washing dishes with her husband.

The two chattered about making arrangements, after the hunting this time was sold at the market, they would add something to the family. He also talked about the need to repair the roof as soon as the sun cleared and the ground dried outside. He also said that she bought him a few more pairs of shoe soles at home in the past two days, and often changed them frequently when walking in the mountains. Make it a little thicker, and it will definitely be comfortable on the feet...

The two of them chatted about ordinary and trivial matters, which sounded boring, but they had a lot to discuss, and her man would spare his hands to wipe her sweat from time to time. It seemed that the days changed just as you said and I said. Gotta come alive.

Seeing this scene, Ming Tan felt inexplicably warm, and his heart was also inexplicably touched. He even couldn't help thinking that if she could do the same with her husband, it would be good.

Hmm...Of course, she doesn't know how to wash the bowls. Her hands are so delicate because they are moistened with goat milk and honeydew. Once the bowls are washed, fine lines will appear on them. not bad.

After thinking about it messily for a while, seeing that Mrs. Liu and his wife didn't find her, she didn't step forward to bother her, but stepped back lightly, and put a bag of broken silver beside the sewing box where Mrs. Liu had packed the soles of her shoes and hadn't confiscated the needles.

She originally wanted to put a banknote directly, but she thought that this place is poor, and it might be a hassle to recruit people to change banknotes, or the use of broken silver is not so eye-catching.

"...So if you want to open a sea trade in Tonggang again, you must at least have a smooth official road, otherwise it will be very inconvenient to transport, but along the way, I found that the terrain in the whole state seems to be very complicated, which is different from the flat and open state of Lingzhou. very different.

"Furthermore, the road leading to Lingzhou is not as good as leading to Yuzhou. Yuzhou is closer, and the Yuxi area is closely connected with the Western Regions. If Tonggang and the sea trade are opened in time, Yuzhou will be the intercommunication between tea horses and sea trade. Place."

Jiang Xu and Ming Tan continued on the road. On the way, Ming Tan talked about some of his thoughts on Tonggang's opening of maritime trade.

"Also, I heard from Mrs. Liu that the wind and waves in Tonggang seem to be much more severe than those in Lingzhou Port. Why is this? Is it because of the different location, or is it that Tonggang is too backward and does not have enough experience in going to sea? If the experience in going to sea is not rich enough, I don't know How to fight the wind and waves is easy to solve, but if it is the former, it may be a little troublesome."

Jiang Xu didn't answer, but asked in a low voice: "You only talked with that woman for a few words, and you thought so much?"

Ming Tan looked back, hesitantly said: "I think...isn't it right?"

"That's right, this king just didn't expect that the princess is so smart."

"...?"

"Did you think I was stupid before?"