After Fairy Peach Blossom delivered the letter to Changde Mansion, she stayed and waited for Zheng Qia's reply. This place is a gateway stronghold of the Jianwen Yu Party and an important information exchange place connecting the southwestern mountains and the Central Plains. On the surface, it itself is a quarry.
The quarry is not far from the Changde City and is on the roadside. Its most important requirement is concealment. To achieve this concealment purpose, the people who laid out the quarry do not want to hide it. The world is as big as the king.
Where can the soil be hidden? Instead of hiding it, it is better to try to make it look normal, just like "a great hermit hidden in the city". Building it on the roadside is convenient for transportation; it is not far from the city, which is convenient for the market. The quarried stones can supply the larger city of Changde.
Concentrated market. So its existence seems very reasonable.
This place was originally called "Shui Dang Au", but now the water in the mountain col has been drained long ago. More than a hundred strong men are mining and rough processing stones there, most of them are from nearby villagers.
The model of drawing labor force from the village is similar to that of military households. For example, if a family has two or three working men, one of them can come to work in a quarry; the difference is that military households cannot choose due to social rules, while quarrying
The young men in the quarry are all voluntary, because they are paid, and the money and grain paid by the quarry is a very generous income for ordinary farmers. Even such a hard-working job cannot be done just because you want to. First of all, you must
Recommendations from acquaintances, those who know their roots and are honest and responsible, and must be strong and powerful. If they have worked as a stonemason, they will be given priority in hiring.
More than a hundred strong men were working in the mountain col, and the scene was very lively. People raised the heavy hammer and shouted with all their strength, like a high-pitched and rough and vicissitudes of song; when the hammer fell, they had to shout "Hey
"He shouted with great vigor and force.
Old stonemasons say: Shouting as hard as you can can avoid internal injuries.
Hundreds of kilograms of stone hammers suddenly hit hard objects. Unless you see it with your own eyes, it is difficult to experience the hardship of this simple labor. Occasionally, someone will be injured and bleed, and people are sweating all the time. The simple production conditions lead to injuries and deaths.
It is unavoidable that it will bring tears to relatives... Who says that the tall towers, gorgeous courtyards, and well-organized civilization in the city of Changde were not the result of the blood, tears, and sweat of ordinary men of the Ming Dynasty?
The stones quarried from the mountainside were transported on narrow roads, so they had to be carried by manpower to the road before transportation could be used. The huge stones used as the foundations of city walls and houses weighed thousands of kilograms, and several men used wooden sticks and ropes to carry them.
They could only rely on their own shoulders and feet, and had to grit their teeth to withstand the heavy pressure of the wooden sticks that were pressed deeply into the flesh of their shoulders; the people in the front had to shout to encourage morale, and the consequences of slacking off would be disastrous.
The voice that has been shouting all year round has evolved into a ups and downs song. The song is loud and heroic, sad and powerful, just like the ancient civilization, which has had glory and splendor, as well as blood, tears and tragic songs. That simple tune has never had a score, but it has
Singing deep feelings, giving silently without words, it is only such a simple and emotional song. Perhaps, the silk and bamboo orchestra in the old courtyard of Nanjing became so beautiful and refined after being processed by literati and beauties; then, in the mountains
The level of these songs also does not fall into this category.
They fly in the air and echo in the mountains.
In addition to more than a hundred strong men, there are also some village women employed in the quarry, who are responsible for washing and cooking. Some simple shacks have been built near the quarry as a temporary place to store tools, rest and supervise work. There are also some that leave home.
Young men from far away also stay here at night and only go home once every few days.
When the sky gradually darkened, the singing in the valley and the sound of iron and stone clashing gradually subsided. The strong men who had worked hard all day went to drink water and eat near the shacks. The stone quarry provided three meals for the staff free of charge.
Those who have to go home at night will eat first before going back, which can save one ration for the family.
In addition to a piece of land in the col for stone quarry, there is also a house on the mountain. Compared with the simple rough quarry in the col, the house has a different scene. Although the house does not look very strong, the walls are multi-purpose
The bamboo woven mud paste is then coated with lime, but it is much neater and cleaner; only the front doorway is made entirely of stone, with a few words engraved on it: Shuidang'ao Quarry.
In addition to requiring strong labor, a quarry must also have an organizational management agency that is responsible for contacting "customers", managing personnel, remuneration distribution, making friends with local officials, etc. Otherwise, the quarry cannot operate normally in an organized manner; of course,
Another most important function is to serve as the information contact point within and outside the Jianwen Yu Party.
This house usually receives all kinds of people, including powerful wealthy men from the countryside who want to expand the foundation, various people from the city who come to order stones, government officials, and even local villagers; this is a good place for key people to come and go.
It is difficult to notice among them. Peach Blossom Fairy is one of them. She and her entourage have been living here for three days, and they go out for a walk from time to time. They are still calm and peaceful.
It is still a very popular place during the day, but it becomes quiet at night. After all, it is in the countryside and the mountains are not as good as in the city. Once the strong men in the quarry leave, the surroundings become deathly quiet, and the nearby farmers rest early.
There are very few lights. Occasionally there are one or two places where lights are on. In order to save lamp oil, the light is already weak, and the light seems to be non-existent, not as bright as the stars in the sky.
Peach Blossom Fairy walked under the eaves of the house for a while, and a feeling of loneliness slowly penetrated her whole body. There seemed to be no one around her to talk to.
She suddenly remembered that the second time she met Zhang Ning, it was at Peach Blossom Villa and she had lost all time. The quiet night was a bit scary; but tonight was even more difficult than that night at Peach Blossom Villa.
She is also afraid of unknown things such as ghosts, but fear is not terrible. What is truly unbearable is loneliness, just like now... Maybe loneliness is not the most difficult thing. The most difficult thing is that there is no one who can care about each other.
The Peach Blossom Fairy, who usually likes to tease, can no longer laugh now. Her face looks extremely pale in the mist that has just risen at night. The eyes under the thin gauze scarf also reveal suppressed sadness, which is the same as the left face on the left side of the face.
The scars matched her appearance, and for a moment her face seemed a little more desolate.
She thought of her good sister Fang Ling. At this time, she was probably looking forward to going to Changde Mansion to have sex with Zhang Ping'an, so she couldn't think about herself; and Zhang Ning, she probably had no weight in his heart at all, just like
Like many people he has made friends with, if they bump into each other, they can be considered acquaintances and can talk to each other, but how can they be remembered when nothing happens?
Uncle Zheng is right, no matter what, it is better to have a family.
The Peach Blossom Fairy felt panicked and felt uncomfortable for a while. Seeing that it was getting late and the weather in early spring was freezing, it was better to go to bed early and get under the quilt to warm herself up so as not to think too much.
She turned around and walked back, only to realize that there was someone behind her, her entourage. The entourage had been following her all night, but she completely ignored him. When she looked back, she remembered that she was not alone here.
The attendant's surname is Shi, but he has no real name and is known as Shitou. He is a powerful young man with a long face and thick lips. He was the servant of the Peach Blossom Fairy when they were at Peach Blossom Villa, and they have known each other for several years.
The Peach Blossom Fairy was looking for someone to talk to for a few words. She could say anything, so she changed her attitude and asked kindly and casually: "How does the girl who has been cleaning your room for you these two days look like?"
Shitou replied without thinking: "I'm married and have children."
Upon hearing this, Peach Blossom Fairy laughed and said, "Hey, you have already started talking to someone? Did you even ask this clearly?"
Shitou shook his head and said, "I can see that a woman who has not given birth to a baby has a perky butt, while a woman who has given birth to a baby has a flat butt."
When Fairy Peach Blossom heard the word "fart", she suddenly felt a bit harsh and felt uncomfortable. But she knew Shitou. How could an illiterate person be expected to tell anything? She endured it, and the two of them
After being silent for a long time, she sighed softly: "You should say a few words. We have nothing to do these two days, so it doesn't matter if we chat a little."
Shitou was stunned for a moment and then said: "The owner of the village treats people well. He beats his teeth every time to offer sacrifices. It's just that there is a lot of salt in the meat."
"Oh..." Peach Blossom Fairy looked tired, "I went back to my room to sleep. You should also go back and rest. Don't sleep too much at night."
Shitou nodded vigorously: "Okay!"
The Peach Blossom Fairy entered the door, looked around the room, and then slowly sat in front of the dressing table. She gently took off the gauze scarf on her face and placed it on the dressing table. She looked at the bronze mirror and saw a picture reflected in it.
With her face blurred, she put her face into the bronze mirror and saw a scar on her face. As time went by, the color of the scar had become lighter, but the wound had not healed, and the scar was still very obvious, like a complete piece of ceramic.
There were a few cracks. The hot breath from her mouth soon covered the surface of the bronze mirror with a layer of moisture, and the shadow inside was soon unclear.
She didn't wipe it, and just sat on the chair for a long time, thinking about it. In the end, she could only think of Zhang Ning and that night at Peach Blossom Villa. In fact, she didn't do much that night. As for the serious business of the negotiation, she had already stopped.
I paid attention. Things that I thought were important at the time really didn’t matter when I looked back over time. But the scenes of that night seemed to become clearer.
I miss that gentle and patient voice, I miss the eyes that look at me intently, I miss the dim lights on the wooden dining table, I miss the big tree in the dark yard, and the lotus leaves that have not bloomed...
Perhaps, there was only one reason that really made her unforgettable: there were almost only two people in Peach Blossom Villa at that time, and he had no choice but to talk to himself and get along with himself; there was no one else, no comparison and no struggle. If there were only two people in the world, it would be possible.
It's actually better.
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