The four masters and apprentices had dinner in a hurry. Jiang Wen, under the puzzled eyes of the three Liuding goddesses, fled out of the house with his apprentice, obviously not daring to say a word.

Jiang Wen made up his mind, and when he formally bid farewell to the Red Lotus Virgin tomorrow, they would embark on the road to Guangzhou without looking back, to prevent the young Ningdie from being poisoned by the Bagua Spirit again.

After nightfall, the cold wind was biting, and people were still coming and going at Zhennan Gate outside Quanzhou City. All ships, large and small, lit night lights on their bows, braving the raging waves and heading back to Fashi Harbor to take shelter from the wind, waiting to continue fishing tomorrow.

Fishermen rarely go ashore, and a few boatmen parked their boats in one place and chatted about the current situation. As the smell of gunpowder smoke between the court and Zheng Chenggong grew stronger, the prosperity of this important maritime trade town increased instead of decreasing, which was quite interesting.

With the fierce fire cooking oil, the prices of overseas trade goods are changing every day, and the things are even more diverse and exotic.

Something that wasn't too far away. Just a few months ago, he saw with his own eyes that someone had brought a dragon that could only be found in a stone pond thousands of miles away. It was about one foot long and covered in scales. If it hadn't been tied tightly with hemp ropes,

If you have a mouth and a foot, you may be able to overturn his small sampan and disembowel him on board.

Another boatman curled his lips and said that he was not bad either. The day before yesterday, the ferryman met a strange man who was crazy and refused to get off the boat. He insisted on buying his boat and going out to sea to fish for something important.

Jiang Wen was wandering around the port and overheard these middle-aged boatmen talking in native dialect. He looked back at the gate of the city wall not far away.

The northwest of Quanzhou City is called Linzhang Gate. There is a Tongjin Gate between Linzhang Gate and Zhennan Gate, which leads directly to the moat surrounding the city. Thousands of lights illuminate a city that never sleeps, and the long-awaited human fireworks are dim.

They form one piece, shrouded in this drunken city.

The four masters and apprentices turned around and left. After all, it was too dangerous to enter the city in their capacity.

Dragons and snakes were mixed outside the city of Quanzhou. There were many gangs among the boat owners themselves, and officers and soldiers from the Qing court were passing by in a show of force. Along the short walk along the harbor, Jiang Wen and his party saw many people fighting for their lives, and there was also a tall and tall man.

The boatman was good at punching with his back, and he was able to beat five or six big men without getting close.

"This is a boxer from the Northern School. His skills were wasted when he was reduced to carrying bags at the dock."

Jiang Wen said to Hong Wending, "Unfortunately in today's world, a good skill may not be as effective as a pedicure or a hair shave. At least the craftsmen do their jobs. They won't be stabbed to death when walking on the street, and they don't need to wear helmets when fishing.

.”

Hong Wending turned his head and glanced at Jiang Wen, then nodded in agreement.

"Master said that. I have also thought about it, if my father had no kung fu like ordinary people, he wouldn't have to travel around."

Jiang Wen couldn't help but smile when he heard this hypothesis.

This idea is really interesting. How could his father have no martial arts skills on his face? Jiang Wen could not imagine Hong Xiguan farming honestly and supporting his family diligently.

However, when an ordinary person encounters a situation like Hong Xiguan's, they can only put aside their blood feud and live in anonymity. For example, Yan Yongchun's old father is not that capable of fighting his way out.

The master and disciples stayed away from several bustling docks and looked at the sapphire blue sky with the bright moon hanging high. Their ears were filled with the mighty sound of the rising and falling tides, accompanied by the faint rising and falling lights of countless ships wanting to return to port.

It looks like a sky full of stars falling on the sea.

Rows of bamboo tents were erected further west of the port, and many people dressed in short clothes gathered among them, shouting slogans at high and low levels. From time to time, there would be shouts due to winning or losing, and it was extremely noisy.

Life at sea is boring, so gathering together to play games has become their most cohesive activity.

"Those who practice martial arts are for fame, and those who play games are for profit. I wonder if we, in the eyes of outsiders, are also as vulgar and ridiculous."

Jiang Wen casually made a mean joke, but found that Hong Wending had a look of caution on his face.

"Do you regret learning martial arts? Or do you feel sorry for the children of Jianghu?"

Jiang Wen joked, "I see that Miss Tian Qingwen has a soft spot for you. Have you considered marrying Tianlongmen and becoming a rich man?"

"No, I want to travel around the world and do justice like Master."

Hong Wending shook his head.

"Besides, my father said that if you are in the world, don't even think about quitting. What happened to Miss Tian is just an ordinary thing for people in the world. What she hopes for most is to be born into an ordinary family."

Jiang Wen nodded silently, these were no longer matters of personal choice.

Born in this era where the torrent of history is rolling forward, every step that the feet fall has its own inevitability. Hong Wen must be so calm and easy-going. It is more because he was forced by life to give up his childish imagination early and could only stare closely.

As far as you can see.

"Wen Ding, the people you save by fighting and killing are only temporary. The shackles you have broken free will one day fall back on you. If you really want to save people, you must be prepared to bear everything."

Jiang Wen sighed, just like the people in this city today feel happy and safe, maybe tomorrow they will be moved to the border and banned from the sea, causing their families to be destroyed. Once the next Battle of Xiamen collapses, the Qing government will definitely try to avoid it.

The disadvantage of naval warfare is that it sacrifices the interests of coastal people and makes every family cry in exchange for the initiative on the battlefield.

[When a boundary is first established, it is thought to be close. Then it becomes further away, and then further away. Whenever it moves three times, the boundary is finally established.]

There is only one sentence in the history book, but one does not know how many people will have to pay a heavy price for the relocation of the forbidden sea.

Seeing his master lost in thought again, Hong Wending also fell silent.

He could feel that the number of times his master had been lost in thought had increased significantly recently, and his speech was always becoming more and more mysterious. It seemed that walking in the world was a huge burden. Only on the Dawang Peak of Wuyi Mountain, where the clouds were deep and the cranes were rolling, could he temporarily forget these things.

trouble.

Hong Wen walked without squinting, but from time to time he looked back to check whether Xiao Shitou and Fu Ningdie were falling behind.

"Master wants me not to take action easily, but to make a decision before taking action?"

Hong Wending suddenly asked.

Jiang Wen suddenly broke away from his thoughts and shook his head vigorously.

"No, I'm saying that next time you plan to heroically save a beauty, you must first find out how difficult your future father-in-law will be."

"Master, I'm hungry."

The little stone suddenly appeared and spoke a call from the heart.

Jiang Wen frowned and stared at him fiercely.

"Didn't you just eat in the afternoon? Why are you hungry so quickly?"

Xiao Shitou lowered his head and touched his belly, thought for a moment and then raised his head.

"I was in a hurry and didn't have enough to eat. I was hungry just after I smelled it..."

Jiang Wen followed his line of sight and found an ancient temple with a solemn atmosphere not far in front of the port. The huge banyan tree blocked the sky and the sun. Only the west wall was lit by fire. The stall owner set up a big pot and ate.

, the fragrance floats faintly in the wind.

Cooking snacks at the gambling stalls is a good business, but unfortunately the night is still here, and the gamblers are still obsessed with the excitement of making money, and no one has the intention to leave until their wallets are empty.

Even if diners occasionally arrive, they will finish their meal in a hurry and then go back to the gambling house to yell. This stall can only hide aside alone, and the owner with a wrinkled face pops up timidly.

.

"Isn't your nose a bit too much?"

Jiang Wen sighed and took his three apprentices to the stall, ready to try these clean and hygienic local delicacies.

Seeing a Taoist priest arriving with three children, the wrinkled face of the stall owner instantly relaxed a lot, and he quickly started shouting at him in Mandarin with a weird accent.

"Shopkeeper, you don't have to force yourself. I can understand you if you speak calmly."

Jiang Wen first elevated the person from "stall owner" to "store owner", and then pointed his ears to show that he understood the local dialect.

The food at this stall is as shabby as it looks, with very few varieties. It’s cheap and affordable. You can buy a big bowl for two cents and eat it hot until you’re full. Jiang Wen just ordered a couple of things and started eating.

He and his disciples sat around a simple wooden table, broke off a bunch of branches, and split the wood into chopsticks for each of them.

Four bowls of delicate and fragrant meat soup were served first. The aroma of the mellow and beaten meat was contained in the soup, which was fragrant but not greasy. Sprinkled with chopped green onion, the taste was even better. When scooped into the mouth, it was refreshing and chewy.

"Ningdie, girl, you should pay attention to what you eat."

Jiang Wen watched Fu Ningdie take a tentative sip first, then put her hands around the pottery bowl in the wind, as if she was afraid of being snatched away by a small stone, so she couldn't help but give a warning.

Xiao Ningdie's speed did not slow down at all, and she asked vaguely, "Master, what kind of meat is this so delicious?"

Jiang Wen did not answer.

He had just seen the other party use a knife to carefully remove the remaining meat scraps from the cowhide, and mixed it with the minced pork to increase the taste. He guessed that this might be the other party's exclusive secret recipe.

Fu Ningdie came from an official family, and according to Ming Dynasty law, she was not allowed to eat farm cattle. In order to avoid breaking the law, her family probably didn't eat much beef.

But the people did not pay this attention. In fact, by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the number of cattle was sufficient, and beef became one of the common meats on the market, and it was high quality and cheap. For example, in Nanjing in the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), pork was sold every day.

A catty is worth 7-8 Wen, and beef only costs 4-5 Wen per catty.

"Eat, eat. If you don't have enough, just add more. Do I usually make you hungry?"

Jiang Wen only took one bite, then took out the brocade and sandalwood box from his luggage and looked at it carefully.

Ever since he got the Mani Pearl, it had been lying quietly in this small box. Jiang Wen had never encountered any strange things, let alone had strange dreams or hallucinations like Huang Ji said.

Ding Dian and Zhao Wuji had been imprisoned together for more than ten years, and nothing strange seemed to have happened. Therefore, Jiang Wen always suspected that the brocade box itself had a magical function, and might be able to block the radiation of the Mani Orb from the outside world.

"Master, is there something wrong with this box?"

Seeing that Jiang Wen didn't move his chopsticks, Fu Ningdie gradually turned her attention to the bowl in front of Jiang Wen, so she started talking in a roundabout way.

Jiang Wen stared at the box and said slowly.

"There is more than just a problem. Once this box is opened again, who knows how much trouble will happen. Fortunately, I don't want to know, and I don't dare to know, but I can't just put it in the back like ordinary things.

That’s it…”

Fu Ningdie continued to make insinuations.

"Master, you are so smart, you must have thought of a solution, right? If you have something to do, you can leave first, and I can walk back by myself."

Jiang Wen glanced at Ningdie angrily and pushed his bowl in front of her.
To be continued...