The beauty of Haiyin Silk City lies in the integration between water and architecture.Most of the buildings here are baroque style, all the buildings have a strong artistic atmosphere, under the cover of the clear water and blue sky, the ancient stone walls are slightly yellowed, just like the parchment paper in the library that is full of words and some yellowing, no matter where you go, you can always see a beautiful picture scroll from different angles.We took a small boat to dock at a pier, Angelo pulled Leah out of the boat first, the two children ran in front, and Kong Zhen chased after the two children, telling them to slow down.Most of the northwestern part of the city is a civilian area, and various workshops can be found in the vicinity.Kong Zhen told me that Fred and Sister Singh took out all their savings to buy a very ordinary house with a small courtyard in the civilian area, and used the money saved to open a leather shop, but Haiyin Silk City is very hot all year round, no one likes to wear leather clothes, and the main thing to open a leather shop here is to make some furniture, protective equipment and bags, etc., so in Haiyin Silk City, the leather shop business is not as hot as in the northern cities.The boatman took the silver coin from Helena's hand, bowed deeply to Helena, and rowed the boat away with his oars.Ying Li, Helena, and Becky and I followed behind Kongzhen, and walked slowly along the bluestone pavement, where the buildings were much cleaner, at least not so old, and there were even traces of re-covering, and there were many small workshops along both sides of the street, and the entrance of these workshops was only a pedestrian stone street that could accommodate three people in parallel, and in the center was a wide waterway, and the blue water was exceptionally calm in the city.There are many handicraft workshops in this area, some common women set up wooden tables on the street outside the workshops, the table is facing oysters like a hill, the women hold a shelling knife in their hands, quickly pry open the oyster shells, and then take out the oysters inside and throw them into a basin of water, it is said that some of the peeled oysters are not for their own consumption, but sent to the market, there are many nobles who like to eat lemon oysters, but do not like to peel the shell, they will buy these peeled oyster meat in the market, And many women from civilian families are happy to earn some money to support their families.Uncle Fred's leather shop is on the seventeenth of this street, Angelo ran all the way with Leah, and ran to the front of the shop with a leather plaque hanging on the doorway, there was also a wooden table at the door of this shop, and a woman with a waist as thick as a bucket was using a knife to quickly chop oysters, she didn't even raise her head, and said to Angelo and Liya standing at the door of the store in a bitter tone: "Look who is here, who patted her chest last time.
Did you say you would never come again?
Why did it come back again in less than half a month?
”Sharp eyes stared at Angelo's body, and there was a strange sharpness.But Angelo was leaning against the wall, pursing her mouth, standing there without speaking, her face full of stubbornness.At this time, I did not expect that Lia behind Angelo would stand up bravely, and she blinked her big innocent eyes, and ran to the wooden table, her chin was just enough to bear on the table of the wooden table, and I heard the little girl say to the woman, "Aunt Marianne, how many oysters you peel?"
Leah helps you peel oysters!
”When Aunt Marianne heard Liya's voice, her eyes softened, and some smiles squeezed out of her fleshy face, and she praised Lia: "Oh, my little Leah, you are really good at talking, Auntie doesn't need your help, hurry up and go in to play with Brother Garcia, and Auntie will cook you oyster soup for dinner." ”Angelo was so angry that her mouth bulged, and she stood in the corner of the wall and said stiffly, "I didn't want to come, it was Lia who pulled me here, and" Before he could finish speaking, Aunt Marianne's eyebrows were about to rise."
Angelo, Leah, come in quickly."
A familiar voice came from the room, and although it was a little hoarse, I could immediately hear that it was Sister Singh's voice.A familiar figure came out of the house, wearing a neat linen dress, she pulled Angelo aside, leaned down and touched Angelo's head, then pulled Angelo with one hand and Leah with the other hand and walked into the room, saying as she walked: "Angelo seems to have grown a little taller, these pants are a little shorter, come here, take these pants and try them." ”Angelo, who has a somewhat stubborn personality, hurriedly refused: "Aunt Singh, you can still wear these pants." ”Singh took him a pair of pants that had been changed to a smaller size, and said to him, "Hurry up and change them, and I'll talk to her over there." ”Little Liya followed behind Angelo, raising her thin hands like hemp rods above her head, holding a box of half-half canned luncheon meat in her hands, she was a little struggling to pad her feet, her eyes looked very cute, but they were so stubborn, it seemed that Singh would keep holding it up if she didn't take it."
Little Liya, what is this?"
Singh took the canned box and saw that there was still half a box of luncheon meat left in the box, so he asked Liya Xiaoya.Leah looked very happy to see Singh take the box of cans.Hurriedly said: "Aunt Singh, this is a box of canned luncheon meat, which Angelo and I saved and left for you." ”Singh shook the canned luncheon meat in his hand and asked the little girl with a puzzled expression, "Liya, where did you come from?"
”"It was given to us by Princess Yingli."
Leah and Angelo replied in unison."
Princess Yingli?"
Singh repeats with some confusion.The two children began to scramble to explain: "Yes!
Princess Yingli and Young Master Jijia came to my house" Kong Zhen stood behind me, and she gently pushed me and let me into this house.The woman at the wooden table at the door saw our group and was about to ask about Kongzhen, but then glanced at me and Yingli, and was so frightened that she immediately shut up."
Sister Singh" I followed Angelo and Liya's footsteps and walked into this house, this house is the house of Haiyinsi's ordinary civilian family, it is obviously much better than the house in Kongzhen, there is a small courtyard inside, and the side facing the street seems to be a storefront.My voice fell into Sister Singh's ears, and she turned suddenly, and then saw me standing in the doorway, and her eyes lit up."
Jijia, it's really you, you've grown so tall, have you really become a magician?"
As she spoke, she walked over and saw that I was almost as tall as her, looking at me with concern in her eyes."
It really made me a little embarrassed to talk about height as soon as we met, so I put a magic badge on my chest and showed her.Her eyes were full of relief and excitement, she grabbed my shoulders with both hands, almost held me in her arms, and said to me, "How have you come over the past few years?"
When I think about that trip occasionally, it feels like it happened yesterday. ”Sister Singh doesn't look so young anymore, the corners of her eyes have shown crow's feet, her hands look a little rough, and there is a layer of calluses, probably left by doing rough work all these years, but she is in good spirits.I asked Sister Singh, "Sister Singh, where is Uncle Fred?"
How are you doing?
”"He's still the same, and you know he's a tanner, and he has a tannery here, and he can eat a bite to eat with his skills."
Sister Singh wiped her reddened eyes, calmed her excitement as she spoke, and then looked at Ying Li, Helena and Becky behind me, and asked, "Look at me, I forgot everything when I saw you, these young ladies are your companions?"
”At this moment, I hesitated for a moment, because I was thinking about how to introduce them, because of the relationship of soul link contract magic, the three of them have become one, after Ying Li married me, it is equivalent to Helena and Becky have also become my wives, so I said to Sister Singh: "This is Ying Li, Helena, Becky, they are all my wives, Sister Singh, I got married last year!"
”Sister Singh's eyes widened, and I could see from Sister Singh's eyes that she could see that the daughters of Yingli were close to me, but she was a little surprised that they had all married me.She stretched out her finger and pondered, and said, "Let me think about it, last fall, it looks like you were going to attend the coming-of-age ceremony," "It was the wedding that took place the night after the coming-of-age ceremony." ”I explained.Sister Singh was so shocked that she couldn't close her mouth, she felt that she was a little out of shape, and wanted to cover her with her hand, but she couldn't help but ask me: "Is it the night of the coming-of-age ceremony?"
You can't wait!
Are they all your brides?
So where do you live now?
”I said to her, "I now live in the imperial capital, and for the last few years I have been living in a place called El City in the north!"
”Sister Singh took us into the courtyard, which was very clean and tidy, and she invited us to sit on wooden chairs in the courtyard, and while making us tea, she asked me, "Have you seen Qige and Caterina in the imperial capital, I know that Caterina has been waiting for you all along." ”I knew that Sister Singh would ask this, and I wasn't prepared to hide it, so I said bluntly, "Well, I also married Qige at last year's coming-of-age ceremony!"
Caterina has been with me lately. ”"Sister Singh, at this moment, was almost suffocating, she stared at me in disbelief.The water in the cauldron of cooked skins is still steaming, the charcoal fire under the cauldron has almost burned out, some cooked skins are dried on the wooden shelves next to them, the workshop is filled with the smell of rotten animal fur, there are some coarse salt piled up in the corners, some air-dried animal skins are stacked on the wooden shelves at the door, and all the space in the narrow room is basically filled.Uncle Fred sat on a small wooden chair with his belly bold, his head bowed and dozing, his snoring was intermittent, he still had a pair of tongs in one hand, an iron hook hanging in the other, a pair of cowhide boots on his feet, his shirt was naked, only a leather apron was around, his face was covered with sweat and oil, his squinted face was full of tiredness, and his sideburns were already a little white.Singh walked into the workshop, first removed Uncle Fred's hook and tongs, and whispered his name: "Fred, look who is coming." ”At this time, Uncle Fred slowly woke up from his sleep, he opened his eyes, his eyes were bloodshot, and saw that Singh was wiping his face with a towel, so he asked, "Are you ready to eat?"
”Sister Singh leaned to the side, exposed my figure, and said to Uncle Fred, "It's Jijia here." ”Uncle Fred opened his mouth wide, he pushed Singh away, got up from the small wooden chair, looked at me standing behind Singh, his eyes suddenly turned from chaos to clear, and he smiled excitedly: "Jijia, it's actually you here, let me see, oh, you've grown a lot taller, and your appearance has changed a lot, remember that you were only a little taller at the time of the caravan, and now you are wearing decent clothes, if you walk on the street, where can you still recognize you!"
”Uncle Fred looked at me carefully, rubbing his hand vigorously on the leather apron and squeezing my shoulder.Uncle Fred's face was full of wrinkles, and even his teeth became loose when he smiled, and I couldn't help but sigh, "Uncle Fred, you're getting old." ”Uncle Fred just snorted, hugged me, and said as he walked out, "Quick, let's go sit in the courtyard, this studio is so choking." ”We all sat in the courtyard, and I was with Ying Li, Helena, Becky, Kong Zhen and her two children, and Uncle Fred, and her other two wives and three children, and Sister Singh was the third wife of Uncle Fred, and the woman we saw at the gate of the courtyard was his eldest wife.I said to Uncle Fred: "This time I came to Haiyin Silk to accompany Ying Li to attend a funeral, I can only stay in Haiyin Silk City for a short time, Sister Singh, do you want to return to the Imperial Capital City with me, you and Kong Zhen, as well as Uncle Fred and this big family, the living environment over there will be better than here, I also mentioned this matter to Kong Zhen, you can come to the imperial capital to help me, and when I return to Haiyin Silk City again, if you are willing to go to the imperial capital, you have to go with us." ”"Of course, if you want to stay and live with Haiyinsi, I happen to have some resources in my hands, which can help you open a magic shop, or a grocery store specializing in imported products from the orc tribe, and if you have other ideas, of course you can do it, I have some spare money in my hand now, so I will be a venture capital.""
Or, have you ever thought about going back to the North, I know that Uncle Fred's hometown is in Sloitt City, it seems that he has offended a certain nobleman over there, if you go back to the North, I will help you settle this matter, we can ask that nobleman to sit down and talk together, I know some very energetic friends in Sloitt City, if they come forward to help us, there should be no problem."
Uncle Fred fell into deep thought when I said this, and he took a hard puff of his cigarette, raised the pipe in his hand, and could not utter a word for a long time.