Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

After all, it's money earned through one's own hard work, so there's nothing shameful about it.

"Such a high monthly wage..." The man and his wife exchanged a glance.

This wage is indeed very high. You should know that Zhuang Xing's father used to work hard in Yidu for half a year, without even taking a break during the Spring Festival and the cold winter. When he returned home, he only earned two and a half strings of cash in total, including what he had sent back before.

These two brothers earned eight strings of cash in three months, with each earning four strings, which is an extremely high salary for an ordinary family.

The couple's clothes were patched and mended, making them look rather shabby. Hearing about the wages, they were probably tempted.

However, seeing the man's sallow and emaciated appearance, the two brothers still tried to persuade him kindly.

"The wages are high, but you still have to put in physical labor."

The two brothers rolled up their sleeves, revealing several scars on their arms.

“Working in that coal mountain is bound to be bumpy and difficult. Making money is really hard. Some people even got buried in the mountains when rocks collapsed.”

"Sigh." The man sighed. "What my brother said is true. I'm afraid I'm not strong enough to do mining work."

"To be honest, my husband and I came from Mingzhou in the south, and we also planned to go to Yidu to make a living."

“Then you’ve come to the right place,” the brother said. “Yidu has recently opened up many cotton fields and is short of people to plant them. This sister-in-law can find a job weaving cloth, and you can also go and ask the agricultural official. If my brother and I didn’t urgently need money, we wouldn’t be mining coal. We should be at home farming.”

"Brother, could you elaborate?" the man asked, intrigued.

The two brothers then started talking to him and told him some ways to make money.

Zhuang Xing didn't interrupt; he sat calmly to the side, supporting his younger sister.

He took out candied fruit and dates from his bundle and distributed them to the people on the boat.

"These are some homemade fruits and vegetables. If you don't mind, please have a taste."

Even if we meet by chance, it's still a kind of fate.

If the person in front of him is in great difficulty, he is very willing to lend a helping hand. However, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. If someone offers advice to the couple, he will not say anything more.

"Thank you very much, young man."

The coal miners and their spouse thanked Zhuang Xing.

Compared to these four, Zhuang Xing and his younger sister seemed a bit out of place.

They were dressed very differently. Both of them were wearing new clothes, and the younger sister was dressed very neatly. Her mother had carefully braided her hair that morning. Zhuang Xing and the younger sister looked very clean and fair-skinned, like children from a wealthy family.

The four of them didn't intentionally distance themselves from them, but they genuinely felt they weren't on the same level, so they didn't talk to Zhuang Xing much.

Zhuang Xing only took a symbolic amount of the fruit that was given to him, tasted it, and dared not take more. They didn't have anything good to share, and they felt embarrassed. Perhaps they felt the disparity between Zhuang Xing and Xiao Mei.

Zhuang Xing simply took out half of the fruit and handed it to them, then took his younger sister to the bow of the boat to enjoy the scenery.

There's no need to force yourself into circles you can't fit into. If others feel you have nothing to talk about with him, then he should just talk to people he does have things to talk about with.

The younger sister chattered away in Zhuang Xing's ear, like a curious child, asking about everything she saw.

Sitting at the bow of the boat, she could see many sights she had never seen before. Zhuang Xing answered her questions one by one, telling her that the road over there was the official road and that the flock of birds that had just flown by were magpies.

When she got cold sitting at the bow of the boat, Zhuang Xing took her inside to warm up by the stove.

Seeing the little girl's boundless energy, the old man began to sing a long, drawn-out boat song.

Although the old man had wrinkles, his voice was loud and clear, and he was very strong when rowing the boat. He must have been very popular with girls when he was young.

The cold wind of December made the boat song sound a bit desolate, but it also gave it a historical charm that made people reminisce.

The younger sister seemed engrossed in listening, gazing quietly at the distant water.

The sun shone on the rippling river, and the small boats passing by shattered the golden light. She looked into the distance, and in her dark eyes, a look of anticipation and joy appeared.

It seems she has grown up a bit more.

The small boat sailed until noon, when it temporarily moored at a riverbank.

There was a newly built rest station nearby. It was a temporary ferry crossing, much like a service area on a highway, specifically for people to rest.

"If you gentlemen don't like river fish, you can go to the inn up there, where they sell food," the old man said. "I'll stop here for a while. If you need to use the restroom, you can go ashore. When you leave, I'll call out from the boat. Don't go too far. Remember to come back when you hear me calling out."

After spending most of the day on the boat, the group needed to relieve themselves, so they all disembarked and went to the outhouse near the post station.

Zhuang Xing also took the younger sister downstairs. It was the younger sister's first time at this post station, so it would be good for her to come and see for herself and broaden her horizons.

Chapter 267 One Bowl Per Person

After traveling by water for half a day, we were already very close to Yidu.

Yidu is a bustling place. Even in the dead of winter, there is still a steady stream of people walking towards that huge city amidst the wind and snow.

Like a post station on an ordinary official road, there are usually no people other than officials around. It is mostly a large, solitary building with a stable, standing in the middle of the long road, for people to rest and for officials to change horses.

But this post station is different. It is close to the canal and Yidu. In addition, many locals make a living here, running teahouses, tea shops and inns where people can stay. There are also restaurants along the way. It no longer looks like a place for carriages and horses to rest, but more like a snack street.

The old man was right; you could see quite a few food vendors.

The food that Zhuang Xing was familiar with also appeared before his eyes. To his left, a middle-aged man dressed in brown was holding a bamboo sieve and cooking noodles in a large pot.

The pot was steaming hot, bubbling and gurgling. The man's technique was extremely skillful. He grabbed the noodles that had been pulled out in advance from the basket and put them into the bamboo sieve, as if cooking hot pot, to rinse the thin noodles. The bowl over there already contained salt and soy sauce for seasoning.

He cooks noodles very quickly, with five or six bamboo sieves hanging on the edge of the iron pot at the same time. As soon as one bowl of noodles is cooked, the next bowl is put into the pot, almost without interruption. His technique is just like that of a craftsman who has been cooking noodles for decades. It feels like if you pass by that stall and just call out the word "boss," a steaming bowl of soup noodles will be placed in front of you.

However, only three years have passed since flour became widely known.

Zhuang Xing couldn't help but sigh, "In every profession, there are outstanding individuals."

Besides noodles, there were also vendors selling wontons, steamed buns, and dumplings. It was lunchtime, and some poor families only ate two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. But recently, most of the people coming to the area around the post station were men who did manual labor. They carried coal and goods in the morning, which took a lot of energy, and they were bound to be hungry by noon. So the tables and benches where they ate were basically full of people.

Seeing how much they were enjoying their food, Zhuang Xing suddenly felt his stomach grow empty and a wave of hunger washed over him.

The younger sister also bit her index finger, watching these people happily eating their rice.

She couldn't keep up with everything. She wanted to watch the noodle chef's smooth movements, and the fragrant steamed buns and large dumplings made her mouth water.

The surrounding area was shrouded in white mist, and the noise of people was deafening. Some were shouting for the laborers to hurry up and get to work, while others were yelling for another bowl of noodles.

The noodle cook took a moment to catch his breath and wiped the sweat from his brow with the rough cloth draped around his neck, while the man eating wolfed down his food.

The essence of everyday life is vividly displayed here.

She suddenly felt that the place was unfamiliar, and the noise made her ears feel chaotic. Fortunately, her brother was with her. She looked up at her brother's profile and held his big hand tightly, which gave her a sense of security.

Just then, another group of carriages arrived at the post station. There were more than a dozen people there. The child's perspective was very low, so she could only see the crowd coming and going, and the swaying legs blocked her view.

It's easy to understand why children are prone to feeling uneasy. If a dozen giants, twice your height, were walking around in front of you and you didn't know them at all, you would feel the same unease.

Zhuang Xing sensed his younger sister's unease; she gripped his hand even tighter. So he picked her up, and as she sat in his arms, the world suddenly became much clearer, without that oppressive feeling of the sky being blocked by a wall.

"Should we go back to the ship?" Zhuang Xing asked softly.

The old man said that meals were provided on the boat. He figured that an old man who had been rowing the boat for many years should have decent cooking skills. Anyway, he had paid for the meals. The food vendors at the inn were all catering to men who did hard labor. They just needed to eat their fill. As for the taste, it wasn't necessarily bad, but it was probably just average.

The prospect of trying the local specialty fish rice on the boat made Zhuang Xing even more excited.

Moreover, most people are on shore at this time, so it is actually quieter on the boat.

This is my little sister's first time traveling so far, and she's bound to feel a bit out of place in such a crowded place. I think she'll feel more comfortable on the boat.

But the younger sister hesitated for a moment and said, "Brother, I want to take another look."

"Let's take another look then." Zhuang Xing patted her little head.

She thought the people were eating very well, and the little horse pulling the cart looked rather silly. She asked Zhuang Xing, "Brother, why is that horse different from the horse at home?"

Zhuang Xing saw the direction she was pointing and saw the big-eared "horse," smiled, and said, "Sister, that's not a horse, that's a donkey."

"A donkey?" She blinked, then realized that there was such a thing as a silly horse called a donkey.

Zhuang Xing carried her and took her around for a bit, and bought two steamed buns to tide her over.

The buns were filled with bean sprouts and a little bit of minced meat. The dough hadn't risen very well, so they were a bit tough to bite into and not very soft. However, this was by Zhuanghang's standards. In reality, for most people, they were already quite delicious.

Besides, he's not a picky eater. He likes to eat good food, but it's not that he can't eat something that's not tasty.

Hunger is the best seasoning; when he's hungry, he naturally finds food delicious.

The main dishes were still on the boat. After buying the steamed buns, he took his younger sister back to the old man's covered boat.

The old man set up an iron pot in front of the small stove, cooking fish porridge. There was a fishing rod on the boat, so the fish must have been caught by him himself. The fish bones, already removed, were laid out on the cutting board. The tender fish meat was finely sliced ​​into thin pieces. Once the porridge boiled, the old man smeared the translucent, delicate fish slices into the pot. After just one roll, they turned snow-white. A sprinkle of mineral salt made the aroma even more enticing.

"This blackfish has no small bones, little sister, would you like to scoop out a bowl and try some?" the old man asked.

"Yes!" The little girl was already hungry. She had been on the boat for half a day and had become more familiar with the boatman, so she was no longer so shy.

The old man smiled, took out bowls and chopsticks from the low cabinet, and gave each person on the boat a bowl.

When paying for the boat, they said that a meal would be provided, so of course none of the people on the boat went to the post station to buy food.

There were exactly six bowls, and the small pot of white porridge was empty. The old man was very fair; everyone got a bowl, whether adult or child.

Fortunately, the bowl was quite substantial; it was a large bowl. Although it wouldn't fill a big man's stomach, it was enough for a meal, and there was absolutely no intention to cheat anyone.

Chapter 268 Witnessing All the Splendor

The river was already quite cold, and it was winter, which made it even colder.

However, with the roof blocking the wind, holding the hot bowl of white porridge, and feeling the stark contrast in temperature with the outside, sitting around the stove made me feel much warmer.

The porridge was a little hot when it was served. Zhuang Xing was afraid that his sister would knock the bowl over. The bowl was quite big and a child couldn't hold it with one hand, so he put down his own bowl and held it for his sister.

The little girl puffed out her cheeks and blew air as she tried to pick up the fish with her chopsticks. The fish was a bit slippery and seemed reluctant to let her pick it up. She tried several times before she finally managed to pick up the thin slice of fish.

Her face beamed with a smile, as if she had just defeated a formidable opponent.

Zhuang Xing found her appearance quite amusing. If it were someone else's child, he probably wouldn't find it so interesting, but this was his younger sister. Seeing her struggling with the fish and meat reminded him of when she was two or three years old, when she couldn't speak clearly and only had a few baby teeth. He realized that she had grown up so fast in the blink of an eye.

Zhuang Xing was just thinking about how she puffed out her cheeks and put the fish into her little mouth, saying it was so hot. But instead of eating it herself first, she put the piece of fish that she had painstakingly picked up into her mouth to Zhuang Xing's lips.

"Brother, eat." She looked at Zhuang Xing expectantly.

She didn't intend for her brother to test the porridge for poison. The porridge smelled quite delicious. It was just that Zhuang Xing had always fed her before, and since she rarely had the chance, she suddenly had the idea to feed her brother as well.

Zhuang Xing was taken aback, then smiled and opened his mouth.

Upon seeing this heartwarming scene of brother and sister affection, the old man on the side laughed heartily a few times, and the other four also smiled.

This seemed to make the younger sister a little shy. She fed Zhuang Xing a mouthful, then stopped and lowered her head to drink her porridge herself.