Chapter 4 Starry Sky

  "Dong Dong Dong"

  Two men listened dejectedly to the distant sound of bells and drums, gazing at the high city walls of Ji Zhou in despair.

  Slowly leading the four young men, they walked for half a day before saying that Ji Zhou was going to close the city gate. Chen Xin had seen it in some history books, but didn't remember this matter. Rushing slowly, they still arrived late by one step, and thus, the six people were locked outside the city gate.

  Fortunately, there was also an inn outside the city gate. The six of them opened three middle rooms, with three boys in one room and a little girl in another. The total cost for the three rooms was four taels and five cents. Chen Xin also ordered some simple dishes, which added up to eight taels and five cents. This time, Chen Xin had experience and estimated the size of the silver ingot he needed. He took out a silver block and handed it to the shopkeeper, waiting to see how the shopkeeper would identify its value and make change.

  The shopkeeper looked at the candle flame for a few moments, then took out a steelyard from under the counter, weighed it once, and then pulled out a pair of scissors. With a few quick snips, he cut off several pieces, then picked up the steelyard again and said, "Please take a look, sir." He turned the steelyard over for Chen Xin to see, but Chen naturally couldn't understand what it meant, so he just nodded solemnly. The shopkeeper then returned the cut-off portion to Chen.

  Chen Xin took another glance at the silver ingots on the scale, roughly remembering the size of eight-tenths silver. He casually asked the shopkeeper, "If it were copper coins, what would be the price?"

  The shopkeeper looked at him strangely and said, "Young master, you still bring so many copper coins when going out? If they are Jiajing Longqing Wanli Jinbei-made coins, one or two can be exchanged for 500-600 wen. If they are private coins, we need to check the quality, good ones can be exchanged for 1,500, and bad ones can be exchanged for 3,000."

  Chen Xīn nodded, then took out a piece of silver and tossed it to the shopkeeper: "Prepare hot water for my companions to bathe, and get some food ready. We'll eat after they've finished washing!"

  The shopkeeper received the silver and immediately nodded and bowed, instructing his assistant to handle it quickly.

  。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

  A single lamp flickered on the porcelain lampstand, six people sat around the table devouring their food with gusto, not a word was spoken. Chen and Liu hadn't eaten their fill for a whole day, while the other four hadn't had enough to eat in who knows how long. Six dishes and two pots of rice were quickly emptied.

  Apart from Haigouzi, the other two young beggars were two brothers, also from Haizhouwei. One was called Zhang Dahui, 17 years old, who shouted "The dog is coming" and then had his nose broken by Kui. The other was called Zhang Erhui, 14 years old, who ambushed Kui together with Zhang Dahui. Originally there were also Sanhui and Sihui, who died on the way to entering the pass. The young girl's name was Wang Dai Xi, 13 years old, it's unclear where she was from, only knowing that she was from Liaodong. Because they were all from Haizhouwei, the three youths mixed together, and not long ago they also brought along Wang Dai Xi.

  Four people took a bath before dinner, changed into old clothes that two of them had snatched, and became completely refreshed. Haigouzzi's face had many scars of various sizes, while Zhang Dahuai and his brother were slightly better off but still had quite a few scars. It was clear that they had suffered a lot since entering the country, their eyes dull and lifeless. Only Wang Daiji looked clean and tidy after washing up, her eyes sparkling as she turned around, remembering to serve Haigouzzi two dishes.

  "Big brother, this is the first time I've eaten so much food. From now on, I'll do laundry for you, cook meals for you, and bring joy to always follow you, okay?"

  "Alright, alright. But Elder Brother doesn't even have a place to live, and if you follow us, it'll be suffering for sure." Liu Min said with a hint of fondness towards Jing Yi.

  "With joy, I'm not afraid of hardship. Big brother is so powerful, soon he'll be able to earn a lot of money. When big brother buys a house, I'll live in the woodshed, and even in winter, I won't feel cold. In the past, at home, we only had one quilt, in winter, mother would hold me while sleeping, and I wouldn't feel cold."

  "Home?" Liu Min was stunned, thinking of his own home that existed but could never return to.

  "Brother Liu? Did you have a home before?" Wang Dai Xi looked up at Liu Min You with sparkling eyes.

  "What?... There is." Liu Min came back to his senses, quietly wiped the corner of his eyes, snatched the last piece of meat from Chen Xin's chopsticks and put it in the bowl with joy.

  "Thank you, Uncle Liu, I don't dare eat Brother Chen's meat with joy."

  "Chen's meat is no good to eat," Chen Xin cursed with a smile.

  Liu Min patted his happy head: "Eat with joy, Brother Chen is full, and the rest is wasted."

  With joyful and eager hands, she picked up the meat, just about to eat it, when suddenly remembering something, she put the meat into Zhang Dahu's bowl instead, saying: "Zhang Dahu bled a lot today, let Zhang Dahu eat."

  Zhang Dahuai swallowed it in one gulp and didn't even bother to speak, starting to fill another bowl of rice.

  After the four young men had eaten their fill, two of them declined their offer to help wash their feet and sent them back to their rooms. Chen Xincan sat down to wash his feet and said to Liu Min, "Tonight we'll take turns sleeping, don't let both of us fall asleep."

  "Why?"

  "What if someone comes and steals the silver?"

  "You mean all four of them? No way."

  "Be careful, we just met today and we're lucky to have gotten the silver. If we didn't get it, we'd be in the same situation as them. Besides, we need to guard against others too. This is outside the city, and that boss said there's no patrol."

  Liu Min had an idea too, and this silver was now their only asset, so he nodded in agreement.

  "Tomorrow we'll enter Ji Zhou, but what can we do after entering Ji Zhou?" Liu Min asked, staring at the candle flame.

  "Let's enter the city first, having a place to live is one thing, and I won't be farming, with this little silver on me, I estimate its weight, at most it's only several tens of taels, only by entering the city will we have opportunities, like this bringing several kids wandering around, this little money doesn't know how long it can be used."

  "Are you going to stay in Jizhou? Aren't you afraid of running into that demon, the medicine farmer, the shopkeeper, or the beggar again?"

  "Anyway, let's take a look at what this city of Da Ming is like first. We'll buy some good clothes and then leave for another place."

  "Are you going to Beijing or not? You love talking about politics so much, go to Beijing and talk."

  "Never mind, in this era, one must pass the eight-legged essay to be qualified to talk about politics. Otherwise, it's just practicing the Brocade Pouch of the Peony. I'm not good at writing eight-legged essays, nor do I dare to castrate myself with a knife. Thirdly, I don't even have an identity. If I were to cross into the body of a jinshi, I'd still be able to deceive that fat guy."

  Liu Min said: "Or we go to Tianjin?"

  Chen Xin agreed, "Let's go to Tianjin first and take a look around. After all, it's our hometown. The north has been unstable for years, so if we have the chance, we can take a boat to Jiangnan. Jiangnan was peaceful until Chongzhen's death, anyway, there are still over ten years left. We have some capital, let's go to Jiangnan and do some business to make a living. The Jiangnan of the late Ming dynasty is quite interesting. Let's just take it one step at a time."

  Liu Min was unfamiliar with these people, but felt that Chen Xinyi came and immediately took in the younger brother, and didn't seem to be in a hurry to mix with them.

  It was only 9 o'clock at this time, and the two of them were originally night owls who never slept before midnight. Today they were tired. To say that in ancient times, except for the room, there was no light anywhere else at night. If it was a cloudy day, it was truly pitch black.

  Chen Xin washed his feet and went to bed, Liu Min was afraid of disturbing Chen Xin's sleep, so he blew out the lamp and sat at the desk, outside it was quiet, with only occasional barking of dogs, after sitting for a while feeling extremely bored, he walked to the window and pushed open the window.

  A gust of night wind swept across his face, and he lifted his head to see the starry sky outside the window. The Milky Way was clearly visible, its sparkling lights stretching far and wide. Liu Minyou gazed at it in a daze, as if looking out at the distant city that had once shone with brilliant lights. The skies of later industrial eras were no longer as clear as they were now.

  Liu Minyou knew that Chen Xin was still awake and asked, "You said, the golden pyramid that brought us through time and space, which star did it come from?"

  "Is it Ebert or Avatar, or is it Moon? Who knows."

  "Dong dong dong" The bell tower of Jizhou City rang out again, this time without drums, a total of eighteen rings. The clear bell sound was like a substance in the quiet night.

  "This alarm clock is good, next time it rings, you wake me up and I'll change shifts with you. I'm going to sleep first." Chen Xin said in the darkness. Then there was the sound of turning over, and soon a series of snores came through.

  "This is the night of Ming Dynasty." Liu Min murmured to himself.