This night, the river breeze was slightly cool. Everyone had enough to eat and drink, and spent the night safely in the starry night.
In the middle of the day, Huo Xi was still sleeping when she was woken up by the sound of a gong. She sat up in a daze. After listening carefully, she realized that it was the escort who was waking her up.
He hurriedly pushed Huo Erhuai and Yang Fu who were still sleeping soundly.
There was a lot of noise on the river bank last night. Yang Fu and Huo Erhuai were chatting and fist-fighting with people on the bank. Everyone dispersed very late, and they didn't get on the boat until Huo Xi fell asleep.
"Dad, uncle, get up soon, the escort is urging you!"
"Ah, what?"
"The gong is ringing, urging me. Get up quickly!"
Huo Erhuai immediately sat up, rubbed his face twice, and pulled Yang Fu: "Fu'er, get up quickly, go wash your face with Xi'er and wake up. Ours is the bow of the Bingzi, and we have to set off first.
Hurry up."
If you are late for a while, you may be reprimanded by the escort officer.
Yang Fu immediately stood up and pulled Huo Xi out of the cabin. The two quickly went to the bow of the ship and scooped up water to wash their faces and mouth. Huo Erhuai tidied himself up in a few seconds and went to the bow of the ship to inspect the oar board.
.
Eighty stones of grain were piled in the middle of the boat, and sleeping in the bow was not easy. It was not easy to flip over the rice bags to the stern to use the stern plank. Fortunately, his boat had the same sculling plank at the bow and stern.
Huo Erhuai had just finished checking the oar board when he saw a small boat rowing next to his boat: "Bingzi No. 1!"
"Hey, sir, I'm Bingzi No. 1."
"Check the grain bags, check the boats, and set off on time!"
"Yes, sir." Huo Erhuai responded loudly to the sergeant in uniform, not daring to look at him.
After answering, I quickly set up the oar board and ran over to check the grain bags to see if there were any leaks. Fortunately, this was on the water. If I were on the shore, the mice would have got into the rice bags.
After Huo Xi and Yang Fu washed up, they also helped to check. They climbed up Liangshan and checked one by one. After checking, they looked behind their own boats to look for Taoye Ferry's boat.
"Uncle Yu, are you okay?"
Yu Jiang smiled at the two children, "It's okay, you're fine. Don't worry, I'll follow your boat."
Huo Xi nodded.
Yujiang was alone, and there was no one to change hands with. It was inconvenient to eat or drink.
"Uncle Yu, we will prepare a breakfast for you later."
"I have prepared dry food."
"It's okay. Just a matter of convenience."
Yu Jiang opened his mouth, then pressed it tightly. He felt like he was being pressed. There was no need to eat hot food, but having hot water to drink was a dream come true.
Huo Xi went to cook breakfast and asked Yang Fu how much he spent last night.
"Less than two taels."
Huo Xi nodded. Two taels can be exchanged for a smooth journey, which is very suitable.
Huo Erhuai also just found out about last night's expenses, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard it. Of the thirty boats, more than twenty helped his family hide the cloth. He united everyone and had someone to take care of him along the way.
The family still has some money in savings. Yesterday morning, the guard gave him nineteen taels to buy bald butter. His family now also has some money in savings.
Huo Xi glanced at Huo Erhuai and saw that he breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't help but smile.
"Dad, what does the escort officer look like just now? Is he easy to talk to?"
Huo Xi didn't see the person just now. It was still dark, so she only heard the sound but didn't see the person.
Huo Erhuai didn't really look at him. He was an official and he didn't dare to stare directly at him, so he said, "I don't know, but he looks like a young sergeant."
Just as the three of them were talking, they saw an official ship, larger than their own ship, sailing past quickly, with all the soldiers on board.
The three of them were busy standing at the bow of the ship, looking at the escort and lead officer of the ship.
"I'm afraid they have to go to the front to open the way." Huo Erhuai looked at the soldiers in the boat, all holding weapons and wearing armor, looking majestic, and he couldn't help but stand in awe.
"I'm afraid we have to leave." Huo Erhuai raised his head and looked at the sky.
Huo Xi also raised her head. She didn't know what time it was now. She still couldn't tell the time. It was not yet dawn, it was autumn, and the days were short and the nights were long.
Sure enough, the rice had just been put into the pot, and before the water boiled, the gong was sounded and the journey started.
First is the A number, starting from the Jiazi number, followed by the Jiayin, Jiachen, Jiawu, Jiashen, Jiaxu, then the B number, then the C number, starting from the Bingzi number 1, row by row, crowded.
The river is full.
The journey started from Jiangning County Pier and went straight to Huai'an Granary.
It was the first time that Huo Xi and Yang Fu saw such a scene. They didn't even cook breakfast. They stood on the bow of the boat and stared at it, their eyes widening.
Looking forward, I saw a mighty fleet, with the flags on the bows fluttering in the river wind. Looking back, I saw a dense darkness, and I couldn't see the tail. Many ships were afraid that they had not yet set sail at the dock.
"I didn't expect that there were so many ships near our capital." Yang Fu said wow from time to time.
"That's how much. Didn't you hear the yamen officer say yesterday that we were the first batch?"
Huo Xi saw such a spectacular scene for the first time, and couldn't help but feel excited. It seemed that her floating grocery store had a great future. There were so many fishermen.
Almost all the fishing boats have been requisitioned, and it seems that the people in the capital can't eat river fresh food these days. If I had known better, I would have saved some goods for Yang to sell in the past few days. He would have no worries about selling, and maybe he could sell them at a high price.
Tsk tsk, what a pity. I was busy transporting grain to farmers to make some money in the past few days, and I forgot about this.
If I recruit again next year, I will have experience.
After watching the excitement for a while, I squatted back on the bow to cook breakfast.
After the family had breakfast and gave Yu Jiang another portion, Huo Xi was thinking about lunch and dinner.
There should be many boat owners like Yu Jiang who work alone. If she cooks some boat meals, she should be able to sell them.
It's just a pity that Yang Fu didn't buy many wooden boxes last night and had nothing to put them in. But that's okay. If someone really buys it, he will let them bring their own rice bowl to put it in, and then he will lose two pennies.
Besides, she also has a lot of dead lotus leaves, so that can be pretended.
"Uncle, come and help me."
"Here we come."
The two began to wash and steam rice, pick and wash vegetables.
Huo Erhuai watched while rocking the boat. Seeing that the two of them were a bit generous, he couldn't help but remind him: "You two should make less. If no one buys it, it will be a waste."
"I know, Dad."
Pick all the vegetables, wash them, cut them, and blanch them in a pot.
Huo Xi doesn't plan to stir-fry it, but blanch it for a while, add various ingredients and mix it, then stir it with hot oil to make it fragrant. It is simple and convenient, there is not so much soup and water, and there is no need to spend so many pots and dishes to put it in
.
"Can this be delicious?" Yang Fu was skeptical.
Huo Xi glared at him: "Why doesn't it taste good? Make the taste better. Then there will be vegetables, meat, fish and shrimps. I will sell them cheaply, and everyone will grab them." Hum, ignore him.
Yang Fu touched his nose and looked up at Huo Erhuai, who smiled at him.
Well, my brother-in-law and I were responsible for eating them all as soon as they didn’t taste good. We can also eat them at night. The weather won’t spoil them tomorrow, so we can continue to eat them tomorrow.
