In addition to the indispensable, Lin Weiye, Sima De, Liu Quan, and Murong Longcheng also accompanied the trip, and Sun Yuanhua presided over the situation as a left-behind person. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The reason why Sima De accompanied him was because his ancestral home was Nanjing and he was very familiar with Jiangnan. With his guidance, it took only ten days for the "Yangming" to reach Songjiang Mansion. However, he did not go ashore at Songjiang Mansion (present-day Shanghai), but traveled from the mouth of the Yangtze River along Chongming Island to Liujiagang (present-day Taicang Port), where he took a local ship to Suzhou.

In the summer, Nan's entourage was very numerous, and there were fifty guards alone, and seven or eight chartered boats to form a mighty fleet. Accustomed to the flying clippers who cut the wind and waves, suddenly became a slow inland boat, Xia Nan was very uncomfortable, he complained to Lin Weiye: "It would be nice if the flying clippers could also enter the inland river, it is said that Suzhou Mansion is more than 100 miles away from the coast, when will it go so slowly?" ”

Lin Weiye pouted: "Not to mention whether it is convenient for such a long hull of the flying scissors to sail on inland rivers, it is all driven by the wind, and you can't move when there is no wind in the inland river, and then you are afraid that you will be so anxious that your head will smoke." ”

Sima De smiled and said with relief: "General don't worry, Suzhou is not only a thriving silk weaving industry, but also a good place to visit the mountains and rivers, not to mention anything else, only one Suzhou garden is famous in the world, known as 'Jiangnan Garden, Suzhou Garden is the best in the world'." ”

Xia Nan smiled: "Sir, is this to emulate Cao Cao and let me look at Mei to quench my thirst?" ”

Sima De smiled secretly, leaned over and whispered: "Suzhou's Bantang Street is famous in the south of the Yangtze River, no less than the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. ”

Xia Nan was surprised and delighted, he only knew the romance of the Qinhuai River, but he didn't know that there was a comparable Bantang Street in Suzhou, which was completely unexpected!

Just as he imagined what the "Qinhuai River" in Suzhou should look like, a small boat from the right side of the boat side by side, the curtain on the side of the cabin was lifted, and a young woman looked out and collided with his line of sight.

This woman's facial features are delicate and beautiful, with an indescribable height in her eyebrows, and she has a transcendent temperament between her expectations. Just a simple glance at it was like a magnet that attracted Xia Nan's gaze and couldn't take it off anymore.

It's not that Xia Nan hasn't seen beautiful women, not to mention the few female relatives around this time and space, their posture is good, and the beauties they have been in contact with in the old time and space are even more sea, from white-collar beauties, college students to eighteenth-tier starlets, all walks of life, all kinds of women have, these beauties armed with modern cosmetics may be more than the woman in front of them in terms of visual effects, but no one can have her fresh and indifferent temperament.

Lin Weiye and Sima De noticed his abnormality and followed his line of sight. At this time, the woman noticed that the people on the boat were looking at her, and gently lowered the curtain, and the two only had time to see the side face she showed before the curtain was covered, Sima De's eyes were sharp, and he also saw a white-haired old man sitting opposite the woman in the cabin.

Just seeing the side face had already surprised Lin Weiye, and he sighed: "Jiangnan really has beautiful women, and it is so beautiful to meet a random one on the river." ”

Sima De looked at the other side, and then at Xia Nan's expression, thoughtful.

Xia Nan stared at the window over there with blazing eyes, and the woman's slender figure was faintly visible behind the translucent gauze curtain. He relied on his own imagination to guess the figure, age, and occupation of this woman, but his cognition of ancient women either came from a maid like Chunlan, or the children of an official eunuch like Xie Wenjun, and he knew very little about the rest of the women with background backgrounds, and he couldn't guess it for a long time.

After a long time, he came back to his senses and asked, "Mr. Sima, you are a native of Jiangnan, in your opinion, such a woman will be a girl from someone else?" "A woman with this temperament is very much to his liking, and in the old time and space, he has long found an opportunity to talk to him and ask for a phone number.

Sima De replied: "This kind of appearance and temperament is definitely not from a small family, but most of the ladies do not leave the house, and there are old men on the boat, and the two are not like father and daughter, I'm afraid it will ......."

Xia Nan had an ominous premonition in his heart, and asked nervously: "I'm afraid of what?" ”

Sima De looked at his serious expression and sighed: "I'm afraid it's a girl from a Qinglou who is just traveling with guests." In the area of Suzhou, there are often such wealthy and elegant guests, taking their favorite Qinglou girls to enjoy the mountains and rivers. ”

In the summer, Nanyan was disappointed, such a fresh and refined woman like a valley orchid was actually a prostitute in the Qinglou! In his cognition, a naturally charming woman like Bai Xiaoxian is the standard configuration of the Qinglou, and he really can't associate such a woman with the image of a happy woman in his impression, and completely forgets his "ambition" of traveling to Bantang Street in Suzhou and Qinhuai River in Nanjing with great interest just now.

The Upong boat overtook the fleet with ease, slowly disappearing from everyone's sight.

Until he arrived in Suzhou Mansion, Xia Nan was quite excited, and he couldn't even raise much interest in Bantang Street. Seeing him like this, Sima De had to tell Liu Quan to find a place to settle down first, and then talk about business tomorrow.

On the morning of the second day, Xia Nan asked Sima De: "Regarding the matter of raw silk, are you going to inquire about the market today?" Or should we take Governor Mu's letter and visit the prefect of Suzhou first? You are more familiar with Suzhou than us, but we are Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden. ”

Sima Deqi said: "Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden? Where did this allusion come from, and why haven't I heard of it? ”

Xia Nan then remembered that "Dream of Red Mansions" was written by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty, and it had not yet come out. He took it with him: "I once read a book, and there seems to be this paragraph in it, saying that it is about countrymen going into the city to make jokes, but I can't remember the specifics." ”

"Oh, I guess it's a vernacular script." Sima De didn't ask any more questions, "Since I am half a landlord, then I will arrange it today." The matter of raw silk is handed over to Mr. Liu to inquire first, and everything is clearly understood, and then he goes to visit the prefect of Suzhou, and he can have a target and something to say. The general doesn't have to do everything himself, I've got a good place for you. ”

Xia Nan understood that the "good place" Sima De said was probably the legendary Bantang Street.

Although he had been looking forward to the ancient "high-end club" before coming to Suzhou, yesterday's contrast and disappointment made him unable to raise his interest in visiting the kiln for a while. However, Sima De also had good intentions, not to dampen the enthusiasm of others, and then saw Lin Weiye's face on the side was red, with an expression of "I want to go very much, just look at your attitude", I can't bear it, for the sake of this sullen good friend, just go, don't lose everyone's interest because of yourself.