The carriage was open-topped, and Mu Tian was sitting on the spacious seat with his arms stretched out.
The Mid-Autumn Festival has passed and the sun has long lost its heat in summer. Under the sun, it is like being covered with a warm quilt.
Mu Tian looked at the floating clouds in the sky. The reeds beside him had turned yellow and were retreating quickly on both sides.
The islands in Haizidang all have their own characteristics, especially the pillar industries, which seem to be naturally distributed to supply the needs of all the islands, making Haizidang almost a self-sufficient independent kingdom.
A flock of pigeons flew across the sky, whistling their whistles, hovering on top of the Mutian carriage for a while, and then flew away.
Doves are a symbol of beauty, which bring peace and prosperity to people, so that people feel happy every time they see or hear them.
Where are these pigeons flying to? Can they land on the roof of your house or on your outstretched hand?
Without the pigeons, the sky is very lonely.
Mu Tian withdrew his gaze from the sky and moved it to Pang Yingpei's carriage in front.
His car was also open, but the tarpaulin was piled up behind and only his head could be seen.
The shaking of the head shows the bumps of the car, and of course the unevenness of the road.
Like many people, Pang Yingpei is also an immigrant from Haizidang. The difference is that he is from the surrounding area and is educated. His elegance probably comes from his culture.
Parrot Island is located on the waterway more than sixty miles southwest of Toad Island in the center. It is the gateway to the southwest of Haizidang. More than three hundred miles to the southwest across the water is the land of Xi County. Pang Yingpei's ancestral home is there, close to the edge of Dalong Lake.
In a small farming and fishing village, my parents make a living by farming and fishing, and have five children. Pang Yingpei, the youngest, has four sisters. The eldest sister has married the son of a rich man in the same village.
There are also three older sisters waiting to be married. Pang Yingpei went to high school in a middle school in the county town.
Twenty years ago, there was a severe flood. It rained heavily for nine days and nine nights. There was a blanket of water for thousands of miles around. Even several small islands in Haizidang disappeared overnight. Only the branches of reeds were swaying in the water. The flood receded.
The ground was covered with fallen crops, and drowned poultry, pigs, cattle and sheep could be seen everywhere.
After the flood, as usual, there were refugees and bandits running rampant.
Due to the hard work of the head of the family and his wife, the Pang family had a small amount of savings, plus the support from the eldest brother-in-law's family, they could barely get by without running away to beg for food and leaving their hometown. Pang Yingpei did not interrupt his studies.
But there are unforeseen circumstances.
On the last day of summer vacation, the eldest sister came home to see off her younger brother as he returned to school. Unexpectedly, a group of strongmen rushed into the village, burned, killed and looted. The Pang family was not spared, and the poor four sisters were brutally humiliated. Pang Yingpei and his son were so angry that they took out harpoons.
They picked four big men to commit the crime, but they were outnumbered. They were chased by more strong men. The old father tried his best to protect his son and fled to the water's edge. He pushed his son onto a sampan and then pushed the sampan into the lake. Poor man.
The old father was captured by strong men and beaten to death with sticks on the shore. Before he fell, he shouted, "Son, run quickly. Remember to take revenge!"
Pang Yingpei, who witnessed the tragic death of his father, rowed quickly with his single oar, and the sampan headed towards the center of Dalong Lake.
Fortunately, the strong man is a man from a dry land and does not know the nature of water. He holds a torch and stands on the shore in a hurry.
I don’t know who said, shoot the grandson with an arrow.
Then sharp arrows rained down at Pang Yingpei.
Fortunately, Pang Yingpei was smart enough to overturn the sampan and hide under the boat. Only one arrow was shot in the shoulder, and the rest of the arrows, except those that fell into the water, were all shot at the bottom of the boat.
After getting out of the arrow range, Pang Yingpei turned the sampan over. It was already exhausted and the only oar on the boat was missing.
He had no choice but to drift with the waves, and by the time he reached Parrot Island, it was already midday of the next day.
At that time, Qu Fengjie, the only daughter of the owner of Parrot Island, gathered a group of girlfriends to play in the water on the shore and rescued Pang Yingpei, who was already unconscious, back home.
This is what happened. The two boys and girls fell in love for a long time, and since the Qu family had no sons, Pang Yingpei naturally married Qu Fengjie, married into the Qu family, and inherited the title of island leader. They gave birth to a daughter.
Pang Liying.
However, you can’t blame society if you criticize someone.
Pang Liying was less than five years old when a plague swept through Haizidang. Unfortunately, Qu Fengjie contracted it and died soon after.
The father and daughter were left to depend on each other.
Pang Yingpei devoted all his energy to his daughter, raising an only daughter to be very picky and domineering. She has always said that she is one and the same. In addition, Pang Liying was born with a beautiful embryo, and she was successful as an adult.
The fish sinks and the wild goose falls, it is enchanting and charming, and it can be called the first flower in Haizi Dang.
Wang Yidong persuaded Pang Yingpei to marry Pang Liying to Yu Delin in return for Yu Genfa's early life-saving grace.
Unexpectedly, Yu Delin, who was beautiful, honest, hard-working and handsome, would be killed. He died just three months after his wedding.
Mu Tian couldn't help but shook his head. If Pang Liying was sanctioned, how would Pang Yingpei survive?
Mu Tian suddenly felt that he was stuck in a dilemma and couldn't extricate himself.
While he was talking, the car had already stopped at the entrance of Pangzhai.
Parrot Island is different from other islands in that its organizational system has always been separate from public and private. The island owner has his own office, called "Island Mansion", and the island owner has his own private residence, just like a larger household in the civilian population, called "
"Zhai". Because the island owner has his own property, he does not receive a salary, and only receives a small amount of official subsidies. The same is true for the corresponding chief of security below. Therefore, the taxes and fees on Parrot Island are extremely low, and the islanders can completely ignore them.
Parrot Island doesn't even have its own weapons. The owner of the island always travels with a light carriage and a simple follower. Even when he went to pick up Mu Tian today, he was the only one traveling there except the driver.
As for the limo, it was entirely purchased for diplomatic etiquette.
Pang Yingpei is famous for his maverick attitude among the island owners.
Pang Yingpei waited for the coachman to help Mu Tian out of the car. He got off first and walked up to him. He cupped his hands and said, "Pang is deeply honored that Mr. Mu can come to my humble house. Seeing that it was already noon, he invited Mr. Mu to have a meal under the house."
Yes. I think Mr. Mu is here because of his daughter's affairs. It will be convenient to talk after dinner, and there is no need to go back and forth to the court. Please."
Mu Tian arched his hands and followed silently.
When he looked at the house, it looked like an ordinary wealthy family. It had white walls and blue tiles, and two vermilion doors. There were neither copper nails nor iron nails on them. It was just a flat plate and the threshold was only half a foot. There were red lanterns hanging on both sides, which read
The word "Pang" means "Pang". The gate is open and everything in the courtyard can be seen from both sides.
After entering the door, it was very quiet, and there were no maids or servants walking back and forth.
Under a pipa tree, there was a stone table and several stone benches.
"The meal will be ready later. The room is hot and humid, so why not just spend a while here." Pang Yingpei said softly, as if he was apologizing.
"Okay." Mu Tian responded repeatedly.
After the guests and hosts sat down, the coachman came over and asked, "Sir, what kind of tea are you making?"
"Forget about the tea, Island Master Pang. We'll eat soon, so there won't be any trouble." Mu Tian said.
"Let's make some. I have nothing to do. I have some good Pu'er here, which was saved by my father-in-law in his early years. It's very pure. Mr. Mu might as well try it." Pang Yingpei advised politely and said to the coachman.
, "Just the Pu'er that I keep in my study."
The driver responded and left.
Mu Tian looked at the coachman's back, feeling suspicious in his heart. Pang Yingpei said: "Mr. Mu feels strange, right?"
Mu Tian turned around, looked at Pang Yingpei who was smiling, and nodded after a long while.
"As you can see, there are not many servants in the humble house. He is responsible for almost all the errands. There are two or three old women behind him who cook, and a maid who is responsible for cleaning. The younger one has a personal maid,
There are only two people in my family, so I don’t need too many people to serve me. It’s very clean when I’m here, but when there are more people, it looks messy.”
Integrity!
The coachman brought the brewed tea. Pang Yingpei poured a cup, held it with both hands, and placed it in front of Mu Tian, "Mr. Mu, please use it."
Mu Tian thanked him and raised the tea cup to his lips.
"Father, is he the man sent by Wang Yidong?"
The voice is high-pitched and vibrato.
Mu Tian suddenly stopped, the tea cup rested on his lips, and for a moment, he looked for the sound.