son-in-law

Chapter 206 Changzhou Wharf

Chapter 206 Changzhou Wharf

The heavy rain was torrential, mixed with the torrential rain, there were flashes of lightning from time to time, and bursts of thunder came, shaking the city in the darkness.

Changzhou is a big city on the Jiangnan River route. During the Tang Dynasty, it had the reputation of being the top ten capitals in the world, but even though it prospered because of the route, it was naturally inferior to big cities such as Bianjing, Jiangning, Suzhou and Hangzhou.In such a heavy rain, there are only some light posts flickering in the city, sparsely, and only when the lightning occasionally flashes, can the city's buildings overlap and spread out in the field of vision.

The sudden heavy rain caught everyone by surprise in the afternoon. At this time, there were still people running around in the heavy rain near the pier in Changzhou.In fact, the real chaotic situation ended in the heavy rain in the evening. At that time, many ships docked, rushed to load and unload goods, and fixed the ships. At this time, they were still busy in the heavy rain. The merchants who couldn't bear the loss spent a lot of money to hire boatmen who were not afraid of death, and carried the goods here in the rain.

The whole pier is howling with wind and rain, and occasionally when lightning lights up, there are probably two or three places that are still active. The place on the east side of the pier obviously has the most people. I saw the waves pushing the densely packed boats in the river. Surging, there are still many people moving things up and down near a cargo ship. In the sound of wind and rain, these people are like ants, blown to and fro by the wind, shouting loudly.There was the light of torches in the cargo ship, and the house belonging to the dock not far away was also lit. At this moment, they were trying to move some things on the cargo ship into the room.

The cargo ship belonged to a large commercial firm in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and the owner's surname was Lou. This time, the cargo ship transported a shipment of goods to the south, and when it arrived near Changzhou, something happened to the hull.At first, I thought that I would stop at the pier to avoid the storm, but it was only at night that the problem with the cargo ship became more serious, and there were a lot of cargo on board. In order to avoid bigger problems, I had to hire workers who gave their lives to save Down some, reduced the weight of the hull.

Of course, although there is not enough light in such windy and rainy weather, the workers may be blown down by the wind or fall into the water at any time, but the river is not deep after all. Most of these boatmen are quite good at water, and it is summer. It might not be a problem if you go on, if not, I'm afraid no one will come if you spend a lot of money.

At this time, the sky is full of the whistling wind in the heavy rain. Closer to the pier, you can vaguely hear the creaking and chaotic sounds of hundreds of boats shaking on the water, and the boatmen are carrying goods and staggering through the rain. , went to the lit room at the pier, the room seemed a bit shabby and empty at the moment, the soaked boatmen brought in the goods and put them in the middle, and there were merchants' clerks busy counting the records with.

In front of the window on one side of the room, several people were casting their gazes into the darkness outside, looking at the hull of the ship that was sinking and floating in the rain.The leader was a brightly dressed woman whose hair was already wet. The maidservant at the back handed over a towel, and she took it and wiped the water off her face. In fact, there was always rain coming in from outside the window, but there was another A man dressed as a scholar stood beside her, blocking part of her.

"How's the boat? Can it be fixed? It won't sink, will it?"

The bright woman was the one who asked the question. After the question was over, a man who ran in from outside wiped the water from his face and replied, "Miss Hui, she has already entered the pier and should not be able to sink, but The weather is so bad that it is difficult to repair it, and some of the goods on the ship have to be moved down."

"Then move on."

"know."

The man nodded yes.After saying this, the woman looked out of the window again, with a gloomy expression on her face.Many of the cargo on this ship were fragile items such as porcelain. After the current incident, there must be a lot of wear and tear, and she was in a bad mood.The man next to her who shielded her from the rain turned around and said, "Shu Wan, everyone is moving, you don't need to stand here and watch, it's not good to get wet, why don't you go in."

The man and woman are probably a couple. The woman glanced at him, her eyes were still a little gloomy, and then she suddenly smiled, turned her head and walked away, and the man dressed as a scholar walked over with a smile. The two were talking by the wall , the man was obviously trying to say something interesting to make the woman laugh, but the others - including the maid - walked away knowingly.The woman and the man exchanged a few words, then looked out of the window again, obviously still worried about the problem of the cargo ship.

After a while, another ship sailed towards the shore in the rainstorm.It was a two-story painting boat, and it seemed that some people from the family were traveling. They came to Changzhou only after encountering the wind and rain.In the storm, the driving was relatively smooth, and the fire in the cabin was shaking. It must have been lit torches for illumination, and silhouettes were reflected in the darkness.

It's not a very strange thing to come to the pier to dock at this time, after all, there will be orders occasionally.The place where the painting boat docked was not far from here, so it attracted a little attention. It is not easy for the boat to dock in such weather. The guys on the boat supported the shore with bamboo poles and adjusted it for a long time. Difficult to stop the painting boat.Afterwards, the people who came down from above were also very strenuous. Due to the heavy wind and rain, the stretched planks were not stable, and they could only jump down wobbly. The group of people wore coir raincoats, and there were women and children among them, so they went down first. It took a while for dozens of men to hold or catch them. They hid under the eaves not far away and lit torches.

Although the wind and rain were quite heavy, a few of the children among them were quite happy. They ran around under the eaves with weird words called "Dawei Tianlong", and some looked this way with their heads, and then they were called by their parents. After going back, they probably counted the number of people, and then discussed to leave from the pier.

With such weather, no one has time to care about him, and the people in the room here are just looking over there, after all, what they care about is their own cargo ship.The woman named Lou Shuwan chatted with the scholar for a while, and then began to frown and ask about the ship and cargo, but at a certain moment, when she cast her gaze at the eaves outside the door, it happened that lightning flashed past, She was also slightly taken aback.

The three torches under the eaves were shining in everyone's hands, and they were violently swayed by the wind. The light was not much.Some people were laughing and talking, unbuttoning their coir raincoats, and then tightening them up again. When the lightning flashed by, you could vaguely see the smiles on their faces.I can talk and laugh in such weather, which shows that I am in a good mood.But one of the faces seems to slightly evoke the memory of the woman here.

"Huh? Shu Wan, what are you looking at?"

Lou Shuwan opened her mouth, then turned her eyes to the man next to her, but became calm and impatient: "It's nothing."

After all, I can’t see clearly this kind of weather, and it’s not an important memory. She shook her head and turned her mind back to her own business. It's really long-winded, and some don't like it.

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Although they were in a bad mood, it was useless to be anxious about things right now. After confirming that the goods were almost moved and the condition of the ship was a little stable, they left the pier and went back to the inn in the rain.The Lou family's business is mainly in Hangzhou, Changzhou is just passing through, and they live in one of the best inns here. The weather is sudden, and there are not many people staying there. They go out at night, and when they come back at this time, it seems deserted.

After ordering the servant girl to bring hot water for a simple bath, Lou Shuwan called an accompanying steward to discuss the issue of the cargo ship.The summer wind and rain come and go quickly, and it is impossible to last for several days, but the ship is damaged and cannot leave, and most of the goods on it are no problem, only a small part of it, because it is promised to others, cannot afford the delay, So you have to consider the issue of chartering a boat.After discussing this matter for a while, when the manager left, the scholar who had also done grooming in another room also came over, wanting to know that she was arranging business matters, and had been waiting outside for a while.

She had something on her mind, the scholar closed the door, joked a few words, and then came to hug her, wanting to make fun of her.She hesitated in her heart and frowned slightly, but she didn't refuse.However, just as she was taking off her coat, she heard someone knocking on the door in the lobby below, and then a lot of people seemed to come in. Curious, she pushed the scholar away, put on her coat again, opened the window and looked, there were about twenty people A man was taking off his coir raincoat in the lobby, and the two children were running around, the same people they saw on the pier.

"what happened?"

The scholar approached and looked out through the window. The woman frowned slightly, her eyes patrolling the crowd in the lobby. After a long while, she pushed the scholar away: "Go to sleep, I don't want tonight... There's someone I know."

"Huh?" The scholar became interested, and looked down, "It looks like an official family's outing."

In this kind of weather, umbrellas are useless at all. Although these people are wearing coir raincoats, they are actually soaked through when they find this place.A few of the women couldn't change their clothes for a while, so they found thin cloaks to put on. Judging from the clothes of a few women, this group of people is quite well-to-do.

At this time, the scene in the hall was chaotic, the shopkeeper and the waiter were busy arranging the rooms, and the people who came in were busy ordering the water to be boiled and luggage to be carried, and it seemed extremely lively for a while.Of course, the servant girl and the master in the middle could clearly distinguish between the maids and the master in a moment. One of the women held her wet hair in her hands and spoke to the people around her sideways. It seemed that she was also arranging things. This woman is tall and slender, and her appearance is also extremely beautiful.The scholar took a few glances, and Lou Shuwan pointed at her.

"This woman's surname is Su. I've seen her before, but I know her. She lives in Jiangning for several years. I never thought I'd meet her here."

"Do you want to go out and meet?"

"It's not in a hurry..." Lou Shuwan said, and thought for a while, "But... she has a boat, and she seems to be going south. If so..." Thinking of this, she looked down again, seeing that Xiaoer seemed to arrange After finishing the room, she led the people up, closed the window, tidied her clothes slightly, and then pushed the door open...

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There are chapters tonight.

(End of this chapter)