Volume 1 Chapter 135 The Method of Self-Recommendation

  The noise grew louder and faster, and before long, a shout came, "No, they've actually stopped."

  Another young man also called out: "Yes, those boats have stopped moving, could something be wrong?"

  As soon as these words came out, everyone gathered at the bow of the boat and looked forward.

  Only in the river ahead were densely packed with boats. And those boats, it was the fleet of Qi Xiang Lou that walked in front of them last night.

  At this moment, all the fleets stopped by the river bank, and everyone stared for a long time without seeing them move.

  In a flurry of chatter, Lu Yue heard the boat owner shout: "It's bad, what's wrong again? Come and block the river with an iron lock!"

  "An iron chain across the river?"

  Everyone turned around to ask, and the boat owner said with a bitter face: "This was eight years ago. The imperial court wanted to catch some water bandits, so they used iron chains to block the entire Yangtze River, stopping all boats from passing through."

  Seeing the crowd frightened and pale, the boat owner hastily comforted them: "Everyone doesn't need to worry, iron locks blocking the river is too laborious, now in a peaceful and prosperous era, the government will not do this." After a pause, he said: "At most, just set up a few obstacles in the waterway, limiting certain boats from passing through."

  At this point, a young man exclaimed: "That limited ship must be a super-large ship? But our ship is also very large!"

  The owner of the boat looked gloomy as soon as he heard this.

  Not bad, this passenger ship is bigger than a normal one. As it's also used for cargo transport, half of the people on board are merchants. And their goods occupy most of the space in the hold.

  As the crowd was talking, the passenger boat gradually caught up with those flower boats. When the passenger boat approached, it was found that the flower boats were busy getting close to each other and building a bridge with wooden boards. Then, one by one, passengers were sent to those smaller flower boats, when people were full. The small boats started, leaving five big flower boats standing in the river.

  Looking ahead at the river, a person on the flower boat turned around and looked at the guest boat before shouting: "Stop! You can't get through. There's an obstacle in the way ahead. Your boat is too big."

  Another man emerged from the flower boat and said loudly: "We are preparing to return to Chengdu, what about you?"

  "We're so close to Jiangzhou, yet we're going back to Chengdu?" The boat owner looked at everyone with a bitter smile and asked: "What do you all think?"

  Chai Jing stood up and said: "This place is only about 300 miles away from Jiangzhou. Please ask the old man to dock the boat, we'll think of another way to go to Jiangzhou."

  Several merchants stood up and said, "We can't afford to delay any longer. Let's moor at the shore instead."

  The boat owner agreed and ordered the boat to dock by the riverbank. Lu Xiang and his sister also walked into the cabin, starting to pack their luggage.

  As Chai Jing said, here is only three hundred miles away from Jiangzhou. If everything goes smoothly, you can hire a car to get there. If not, the brother and sister can walk with their luggage on their backs, and it will take ** days to arrive.

  As soon as the passenger ship docked, the merchants moved their goods out. The owner of the boat also reluctantly refunded money to everyone. Although only a small portion was refunded, Lu Yun was still very happy.

  Their luggage was simple, and the brother and sister easily climbed up onto the riverbank. The riverbank here was a vast expanse of shallow sandbars. Over the years, the fine sand washed up by the river had formed a flat area with many pits and hollows, occasionally dotted with small pools of water. Water lilies were also in bloom.

  The river sand has never been suitable for growing crops, and in July when the river overflows, this place will be submerged. As a result, it is desolate everywhere, and no fields or farms can be seen.

  Many businessmen are complaining, this place is where you want to call a car, but where can you find a car to call?

  Just as they were making a long face, someone suddenly called out: "Hey, here comes another one."

  As expected, another large ship arrived from the rear. The crowd watched with schadenfreude as the sturdy sailboat braved the wind and waves, and someone exclaimed: "I know this boat! Inside it's spacious and exquisite, and the fare is very expensive. Only wealthy people take it. It seems that these rich people will also suffer on this desolate beach like us."

  It's not bad, everything is appreciated by that person. The crowd watched as the large ship had to dock and stop, watching men and women wearing gorgeous brocade robes helplessly carrying their luggage onto the deserted beach, and couldn't help but laugh with joy.

  In just a short while, nearly two hundred people had gathered on this desolate beach. Amidst the crowded and noisy throng, those who were normally particular about their appearance now stood exhausted and could only sit down like ordinary folk.

  Lu Yun looked over and turned to Lu Xuan, asking: "Sister, do we have to wait too?" Some people with little luggage had already left ahead of time, which is why Lu Yun asked this.

  Lu Xuan was sizing up those people, and when she heard this, she nodded and said: "Let's wait for now. In such a desolate place, even if we walk for several hours, it's just a few dozen miles more. Let's stay here and wait for others to help us investigate the situation nearby before making a decision."

  As expected, those who are skilled in martial arts and have servants following them have already sent strong servants to explore the situation in various directions. Some even carry homing pigeons with them, which are now busy flying around.

  Time slips away slowly in waiting.

  Another two hours have passed. In these two hours, the river was blocked again by more than a dozen large ships, most of which were commercial vessels that chose to return to Chengdu. Only one passenger ship's passengers chose to disembark.

  It wasn't until then that the servants sent by the wealthy families to various directions returned one after another. From their mouths, it was learned that the nearest town was over a hundred miles away from here. There were villages in all three directions of east, west and north. However, those villages were simple and crude, let alone ox carts, there were only a few donkey carts in those villages.

  There were no vehicles and not many people, so everyone was at a loss. After some discussion, the crowd decided to continue sending servants to hire cars and people in a town 120 miles away, and they would spend the night in this wilderness.

  There were old men in the crowd who could tell by looking at the sky that it wouldn't rain tonight. Without rain, and being midsummer, although they couldn't avoid mosquito bites, sleeping outdoors wasn't a difficult task. Moreover, traveling during this time often took tens of days on the road, so many servants were accustomed to their masters bringing camping tools with them.

  After making the decision, everyone started busily making a fire and cooking food.

  They didn't bring anything to eat, but Chai Jing and the other boys and girls did. After the bonfire was lit, the siblings joined in and had a meal together.

  The sun is slowly setting in the west.

  At this moment, there were also big ships being intercepted on the beach. The crowd was still increasing, and the newly arrived wealthy families were habitually sending their servants to explore the way around...

  Lu Xuan has been watching all along.

  When the sun sank below the horizon, Lu Xuan stood up with a full stomach and walked towards a bonfire on the west side.

  That was a big bonfire, and there were over ten people sitting beside it. The four men in magnificent attire sat in the middle.

  Walking into the fire heap, Lu Xuan took a glance and walked straight to a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy with pale complexion and slightly disheveled hair on his forehead, which almost covered his eyes, but his facial features were very delicate.

  As Lu Xing walked over, these people naturally noticed her. At this moment, seeing her walking towards that young man, the crowd was silent and watching her.

  Lü Yuán came before the young man, bowed to him, and said in a clear voice: "I am Lü Wén of the Lü clan. This time I have come to propose an idea to you, sir."

  The young man's eyes looked over at her through his bangs, just as a middle-aged man in a fancy suit was about to speak. He stretched out his hand to stop him. Looking at Lu Yue, the young man spoke up, his voice slightly husky. "What suggestion do you have, go ahead and say it."

  "So far, there have been fourteen batches of servants sent to various villages to investigate the situation. Ah Wen thinks that in these mountains and fields, there may not be any fierce bandits or evil people. Those people can completely hear about our painting from this batch after batch of inquirers. Lang Jun, I'm worried that someone will attack us tonight."

  The young man listened attentively and asked: "You're right, go on."

  Lu Xiangdao said, "I think we can unify the camp and also order the servants to dig a ditch two feet deep and two feet wide around the tent before nightfall, just in case."

  The young man raised his head, staring at Lu Xuan. After a while, he smiled and said, "That's reasonable." He paused for a moment before continuing, "I have one thing I don't understand - why did you find me to talk about this? I think you shouldn't know me, right?"

  Lu Xuan smiled and said: "The reason why Ah Wen directly found Lang Jun was because among the deserted beaches, Lang Jun's position was the most prominent."

  The young man was taken aback, and the three men around him were also taken aback.

  They exchanged a glance, shocked in their hearts. This time they traveled, they all changed into ordinary casual clothes, and there was no difference between them and ordinary businessmen. Not to mention these, even if it were themselves, they had grown up since childhood, and they had been making decisions on their own for many years, so each of them looked majestic and dignified in their youth. But the person in front of them directly found their young master.

  After the four were shocked, a young man couldn't help but say: "Are you Lu Wen?"

  "Yes."

  "Don't you recognize us?"

  Lu Ying shook her head, "I don't know."

  "Your eyesight is beyond ordinary!" The young man stared at Lu Yue and said directly, "Neither Jiangzhou nor Chengdu has a noble family with the surname Lu. Your demeanor is extraordinary, but you have no followers, it seems that you are just a commoner's son."

  After a pause, the young man smiled and said: "However, even if he is a commoner's son, with this kind of vision, it's only a matter of time before he rises to prominence."

  Lu Xuan bowed and smiled: "Thank you, sir, for your auspicious words."

  That pale and delicate young man who didn't seem to like speaking much opened his mouth at this time, "Lu Wen, are you heading to Jiangzhou this time?"

  "That's right."

  "It just so happens that we are also heading to Jiangzhou. I think you're quite clever, and our current plan is still short of one person. Are you willing to join us?" The young man smiled and said, "If the task is successful, I won't treat you unfairly."

  Lu Yu bowed his head and said, "I have sought for it in vain."

  She was indeed hard to come by. She had observed so much and seized this opportunity to show herself off, wasn't it all for this moment?

  Many people need to understand that fame and fortune require a lot of time and effort to build up. She wants her brother to recover as soon as possible, the best way is to make friends with the powerful, and get rich rewards by doing things for them.

  The young man in front of him, with delicate features and amber-like eyes, looked like a member of the Nanyang Deng clan, who were said to produce beautiful people... Of course, it didn't matter if he wasn't, as long as they were powerful and willing to offer generous rewards.