The boat sailed for two days, and with the last light of dusk, Huo Erhuai sailed the boat into a leeward wild ferry.
Light the candles and the family has dinner.
Huo Xi and Yang Fu were looking through the goods purchased this time in the cabin. Yang was cutting cloth to make clothes for the family, and Huo Erhuai took the restless Huo Nian to put out shrimp and crab pots.
"Only when I arrived in Songjiang this time did my mother realize that there are so many kinds of fabrics in the world, and the fabrics brought by foreigners are no less different than those in our country." For Yang, this was a great eye-opener.
Huo Xi glanced at her: "Mom, we bought a lot of foreign cloth this time. You can also cut some foreign cloth to make two sets of clothes for our family. It's a good time to try and see what clothes made from foreign cloth look like."
Yang thought that there was a lot of foreign cloth sold this time, so she nodded: "Okay, I will be generous this time."
Thinking of Xi'er's nanny, he added: "Your nanny refuses to come back to Beijing with us. From now on, if you have time, go and see her. She has become like that for you siblings. When I think of her, I can't say it.
I was gesticulating with my hands, and I felt sad and wanted to shed tears."
Huo Xi felt very sad in her heart, and responded with a buzz: "Yes, I know. Songjiang is not far from the capital. I will write to her often, and I will often visit her when I have time."
"Take Nian'er to see her together. When we left, she hugged Nian'er and refused to let go. Hey, she is a woman, and her husband and son can't be found. She can't speak, and she can't read. It's really too bad.
Difficult."
She originally thought that her family had lost their house and land on the shore, and it had been extremely difficult to make a living on the water these years. Who would have thought that it would be even harder for Xi'er's nanny.
I don’t know how she got through these years.
"She has Nanny Ma by her side, so she has a companion. I can feel more at ease."
"Thank you for having Mother Ma, otherwise your father and I would never have left her alone in Songjiang. No matter what she said, we would have taken her to live with us."
"Well, although Mother Ma looks cold, she is warm-hearted. The two of them are together, and the sisters can also be companions."
"Yes. Your father and I gave her money, but she didn't want it. Before we left, she held my hand and wouldn't let go. Although she couldn't say it out loud, I knew she couldn't let go of you and Nian'er."
"My nanny was a hard worker. When she was young, there was a flood in the family, and she was the only one left in the family. When she became a child bride in my nanny's house, she didn't live a good life for two years. My father-in-law and mother-in-law fell ill, and they spent all the money in the family.
I went to the capital with my nanny to make a living, and was hired by my mother to work as a nanny for me. I lived a good life for a few years..."
I just didn't expect that it would end up like that.
Fortunately, he is still alive, otherwise, Huo Xi would not be able to survive for the rest of his life.
Several people were talking in the cabin, and after a while, Huo Erhuai took Huo Nian and put away the shrimp and crab pots and returned to the boat.
"Oh, it's all wet." Yang hurriedly put down her sewing work and went to pull Huonian.
"You need to put the shrimp and crab pots in the water, so of course they will get wet." Pi Xiaozi didn't care.
"Just let your father go alone. You must go with him. If you catch a cold this night, you will make it easier." Yang took him and wanted to wipe his body and change his clothes.
"I'm not afraid. I'm a fisherman, so I have to go into the water every day. When we put up the cage tomorrow morning and get shrimps and crabs, we can have a good meal again."
Pi Xiaozi looked happy, as if he saw a family sitting around the table, eating the shrimps and crabs he whipped up.
After he and Huo Erhuai changed their clothes, the family talked for a while in the cabin and then rested.
Sleeping until midnight, Huo Xi seemed to hear something in a daze. She didn't want to pay attention to it, turned over and was about to continue sleeping, but the sound continued. She lay down and listened for a while, then immediately turned over and sat up.
Just when I sat up, there was movement next door.
"Father? Mother?"
"Hey, what happened?"
"Dad, do you hear anything happening outside?"
"You sleep, dad goes out and takes a look." Huo Erhuai said and walked out of the cabin.
After a while, he hurried in again: "Quickly, get up! Put out the lights on the bow and stern of the boat. Don't make any sound!"
Huo Xi immediately got up, rushed to the bow of the ship and blew out the windproof mast lantern hanging on the bow. Yang Fu also blew out the light at the stern. Huo Xi held the lantern and stood at the bow of the ship to listen to the movement.
.
The surrounding fields were completely dark, and the river was covered in darkness. Only the sound of water could be heard, and the intermittent sound of swords clashing could be heard in the night wind.
Huo Xi was so frightened that she hurriedly got into the cabin and asked, "Dad, are you a water thief?"
Yang trembled in fright: "Water thief?"
When he came to his senses, he slapped his thigh and said, "What should I do? What should I do? We have a boatload of goods!" He felt heartbroken.
"It's not necessarily a water thief. It might be a vendetta." Yang Fu comforted her.
"The water thieves only want money. If we abandon this boatload of goods and dive into the water, we can still survive. If it's a vendetta, how can they not silence me?" After Yang Fu finished talking to Yang Fu, her hands and feet were trembling.
, restless.
"Mother..." Huo Nian was awakened by the movement of the family and called to his mother in a daze.
"Hey, mother is here." With trembling hands and feet, she crawled over and held Nian'er tightly in her arms, "Dad, what should I do?"
"It's okay. Don't panic now. When things go wrong, we'll dive into the water. We're right next to the embankment. No matter whether we dive into the water or run to the shore, we can still survive."
"But what should we do with this ship's cargo? What should we do with our ship? All our family's belongings are here." Yang's whole body trembled, thinking about the things on the ship and her own ship, and she felt extremely distressed.
"How about we row the boat away?" Huo Erhuai had no idea. He looked for the direction of Huo Xi and Yang Fu in the dark and wanted to ask the two children for their opinions.
"Dad, if there are water thieves, our boat is not as fast as theirs. They will spot us as soon as we move. When they come to chase us, we won't be able to escape."
"Then what should we do? The water and grass here are not dense, and our boat is big, so we can't hide it." Yang hugged Nian'er tightly, fearing that the family would be left here, and worried about the boat's belongings, so she had no idea.
Huo Erhuai regretted a little. When it got dark, he saw a big ship parked in front of him from a distance. He thought it would be brave to follow the big ship, so his own ship fell far behind it and stopped near it.
I thought that the big ship was actually targeted by water thieves.
"Uncle, you go ashore and untie the boat rope. We'll watch for a moment and if there's something wrong, we'll row the boat back. Then we'll either abandon the boat or make another plan."
"Okay. I'll go right here." Yang Fu responded and got out of the cabin. Huo Erhuai also followed him out.
Huo Xi comforted Yang and then walked to the bow to take a look.
Not far away, I saw lights and candles lit everywhere on the big ship, which was particularly conspicuous on the dark river. The sound of swords clashing became louder and louder.