As summer gradually approached, it became so hot on the dock that even the wild dogs looking for food could not stay there and rickshaw drivers sat under the shade of the trees, wiping their sweat with the towels on their shoulders after every word or two, as if even speaking and listening themselves had become extremely strenuous tasks. They lazily squatted or sat beside their cars until they heard the ship's whistle. Then light finally appeared in their eyes and they stretched their necks high. By the time the boat docked, the sampan connecting the boat to the shore had not yet been lowered, but the drivers had already rushed out, crowding the shore. "Master, Madam, do you want a ride?" "It's just on my way. I'm going home to eat after this trip. You can take my seat." "It's a brand new car! I'm strong, I guarantee it won't even bump you!" The drivers were busy talking to the guests coming off the boat, soliciting business and bargaining. Some of them led their guests away happily, some kept complaining that they could not make much money on this trip, and some were scolded for cheating by knowledgeable guests, so they just laughed it off and went on to greet other guests, then used their simple tricks again. The dock was very lively for a while. One of the young drivers was a newcomer to the business. He was only allowed to pick up passengers here after paying a head fee according to the rules. He was not as strong as the old drivers, nor as slippery, so he was inevitably at a disadvantage among the crowd of people soliciting customers. He was squeezed far outside and could not get involved.
Dunlin is not a very busy port, or rather, most ships load and unload cargo here, and there are actually not many passengers getting on and off. Many people come here by connecting boat from the previous port, and there are few direct routes from other areas. If he missed this job, his income for the day would not be guaranteed. He naturally didn't have to worry about rent, because he, like other coachmen, spent the night in his own coach, which saved him the caretaker's fees. But there is no way to save money on car rental and meals. Even if they don't care about other things, the drivers have to make sure they can eat two taels of minced meat every day. If they don't feed themselves with oil, water and rice, they won't be able to pull the cart and the people sitting on it, and they won't be able to run. When the young driver was feeling distressed, he finally caught a glimpse of a man carrying a suitcase walking out from the crowd. The man was wearing a white suit, a gentleman's hat, and a pair of yellow round sunglasses on his face. The lenses just covered his eyes, and the temples were unusually bent. At first glance, one could tell that he had a carefree and unrestrained personality. He must be the son of a certain family. [Heh, another fake foreigner.] The driver came forward quickly, smiling, "Sir, would you like a ride?" Yin Xiu nodded, handed the box to the driver, and then followed the driver slowly to the rickshaw. "Where are you going, sir?" Yin Xiu did not answer, but took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to the driver. "Uh," the driver scratched his head sheepishly, "Sir, I can't read." "fine." Yin Xiu took the note back and read out the address, "Go to Xiaoyu Township." "Okay! Sit down!" The rickshaws started to sway and weave through the streets. Yin Xiu looked at the street scenes around him and felt that the streets in Nanyang were indeed different from those in Kyushu or Hong Kong Island. Both sides were planted with areca nut trees and palm trees, as well as some flowers that he couldn't name.
The wind blowing on Yin Xiu's face made him feel hot and drowsy. The driver was sweating profusely after running for a while, and beads of sweat the size of beans kept rolling down his neck. Yin Xiu opened his pocket watch and glanced at the time. The sunlight reflected from the pocket watch caught the driver's attention, causing him to look at it twice more without being noticed, then secretly turned his head away, pretending nothing had happened. "Is there a Majia Village in Xiaoyu Township?" Yin Xiu suddenly asked him. "Majia Village?" The driver slowed down so that he could regulate his breathing and speak more clearly. "Sir, I often go to Xiaoyu Township, but I have never heard of Majia Village." "No?" Yin Xiu scratched his face and asked him again: "Maybe it's just a different name? Think about it carefully, is there a village where many people with the surname Ma live, so it's called Ma Village or Majiagou?" The driver replied: "Sir, my last name is Ma, and people here call me Xiao Ma, but there is no Ma Village where we are." "Do you live in Xiaoyu Township?" "I don't live there." "Well……" Yin Xiu rolled his eyes. "Let me put it another way. Is there a village in Xiaoyu Township that outsiders don't usually go into? By the way, the people living there should all be Tang people, not locals." "Have!" The driver immediately replied, "There is one. I heard that there are many women who can do magic living there. The village is ruled by women, and local people generally don't go near there. And I heard that those people all seemed to have the surname Ma." "Isn't that Majia Village!?" "But it's definitely not called Majia Village, sir," the driver emphasized. "It doesn't matter what," Yin Xiu lay back on the backrest, "Take me there, anything else is fine." "okay!" The driver quickened his pace, and after about an incense stick of time, the rickshaw crossed the road and stopped in front of a village. It is called a village, but in fact it is just a wall outside. Inside there are more than a dozen houses of different heights, lined up one after another, making it look more like a "community". "Sir, we're here, the village where the women of the Ma family live," said the driver. "You just won't admit that this is Majia Village?" "This is really not Ma Village, sir, even though only people with the surname Ma live here." The driver insisted. "Ok." Yin Xiu sighed, took out a silver dollar from his pocket and threw it to him, "Is that enough?"
"That's enough, sir. That's more than enough." The driver thanked Yin Xiu profusely after receiving the silver dollar. Before leaving, he shouted to Yin Xiu, "I wish you a pleasant stay in Majia Village!" Yin Xiu didn't look back, but raised his hand to indicate that he heard it. Then he picked up the suitcase and planned to cross the nameless stone tablet that should be used as the village sign. At this moment, a childish voice suddenly called him. "Stop, this is a private place. Do you have permission to come in?" Yin Xiu turned around and saw that it was a little girl who was about twelve or thirteen years old. She was wearing local clothes, short-sleeved shirt and long pants. If it weren't for the two buns on her hair, she would look more like a little boy. What surprised Yin Xiu even more was that the girl's eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar to Ma Xiaoyu. "What's your name? Who are you? What are you doing here? Do you have other purposes?" she asked a series of questions. Yin Xiu felt his eardrums tremble when he heard these questions. He smiled and said, "Before asking someone else's name, it's polite to tell them your own name first, right?" "What? Are you secretly scolding me for having no manners?" [Wow, the speaking style is exactly the same as Ma Xiaoyu's...] But the girl didn't argue with Yin Xiu. She just continued, "Listen carefully. My name is Ma Xinyi, and I'm the heir of the exorcist Ma family." "Of course I know you are the heir of the Ma family, because your temperament betrays you." Yin Xiu smiled and said, "My name is Yin Xiu, and I am a Taoist priest of Maoshan." "Maoshan Taoist?" Ma Xinyi glanced at Yin Xiu, and could not connect his fashionable outfit with a Maoshan Taoist priest. But then she thought of someone who didn't dress like a Taoist priest on a normal day, so she didn't have so many doubts about Yin Xiu's identity at this time. She just rolled her eyes and asked, "Do you have any proof?" "I haven't gotten my certificate yet, but this is what I carry with me." Yin Xiu took out a piece of talisman paper from his pocket and shook it at Ma Xinyi. Ma Xinyi immediately recognized that it was the cinnabar yellow paper unique to the Maoshan Sect. She had never seen the fakes sold on the street stalls, but it was precisely because she had never seen fakes that she was able to tell the real thing. In her heart, she had already implicitly accepted Yin Xiu's identity, but she was still not very confident about him as a person. "So what are you doing here?" Yin Xiu was not angry when being questioned by a little girl repeatedly, he just felt it was funny. "I'm looking for Ma Xiaoyu...Tianshi." “A lot of people came to her.” Ma Xinyi seemed to have known that Yin Xiu would say this, so she just remained calm. "Well?" On the contrary, Yin Xiu felt something was wrong. He frowned and said, "Many people are looking for her? Among those who are looking for her, are there any who are as handsome and dashing as me? "
"you?" Ma Xinyi shook her head, "Not really, but..." "I just want to find someone to marry, what's the problem?" Ma Xiaoyu appears. After not seeing her for a few months, she has become more graceful and beautiful. She was wearing a white dress, a straw hat decorated with a ribbon, and a pair of simple sandals, revealing her distinct toes and delicate insteps. Yin Xiu was very happy to see her, and walked a few steps towards her to hug her. However, Ma Xiaoyu folded her hands, took a step back, and turned her head to the side with a cold look on her face. "Why, you are here to ask for marriage too?" "Propose marriage?" Yin Xiu was stunned. "Of course it's a marriage proposal!" Ma Xiaoyu glared at him and said angrily, "Isn't it always like this in novels? The heroine is abandoned by a heartless man and becomes disheartened. At this time, a valley master, a prince, a young knight or the like often comes to marry her and make her forget about that playboy. So it's only natural for me to be seeking a marriage partner." "But, sister." Ma Xinyi suddenly interrupted, "Aren't the people who come here all those old men in their seventies and eighties? They are all clan leaders and village chiefs, who come from all over the country to ask us to exorcise evil spirits and catch ghosts. Besides, when did you start looking for a marriage partner? How come we have never heard of this? Didn’t you say we should wait for someone to come and then…” Before she could finish her words, Ma Xiaoyu's hand had already covered her mouth. "Why aren't you so eloquent and articulate when you recite scriptures on weekdays?" When she controlled Ma Xinyi's mouth and turned to look at Yin Xiu, Yin Xiu was looking at her with a smile. Ma Xiaoyu's face turned red and she turned around and walked out. Yin Xiu hurriedly followed behind. Ma Xinyi was stunned watching from the side, and for a moment she didn't know what she had said wrong to make Ma Xiaoyu so angry. She also didn't know why Yin Xiu followed her so closely. The two seemed to know each other, but they were on edge just now, which made people feel nervous. She stood there in a daze, and when she came to her senses again, Ma Xiaoyu and Yin Xiu had already walked out and disappeared from her sight. "What are you following me for?" Ma Xiaoyu turned around, her face still full of anger. "Why do you come to this country town instead of going to a big city like Dunling to have fun? There are no bars or nightclubs here. It's not a place for a young master like you to stay." Yin Xiu spread his hands, "Who do you think I am? Bars and nightclubs are where Liu Banxian goes! Last time, he insisted on asking me to go to a nightclub with him, saying that there was a golden cat called Takizawa Yua. I refused, and he even broke up with me because of it. We have never had anything to do with each other since then." Pfft! Ma Xiaoyu was amused by him and glared at him, "This is obviously a Japanese name, how is it related to the golden cat?"
"Stage name, that's a stage name." Yin Xiu also took the opportunity to move forward and finally grabbed Ma Xiaoyu's hand. Ma Xiaoyu glared at him, shaking and hitting him with her hands, but seeing that she couldn't break free, she finally let Yin Xiu hold her soft hand. "I thought you died outside, or that you met a new confidante somewhere and didn't plan to come back." Ma Xiaoyu's tone was still quite angry, but her eyes were a little red. "how is this possible?" Yin Xiu comforted her softly, "I just took the wrong road. As soon as I finished my business in Gaotan, I rushed back without even having time to treat my injuries." "Really?" Upon hearing that Yin Xiu was injured, Ma Xiaoyu couldn't help but feel a little worried, and her tone softened a little. "That's all right." Yin Xiu smiled and said, "In order to come to see you, even if knives rain down from the sky and the ground..." "Don't talk nonsense," Ma Xiaoyu sealed his mouth with her fingers, preventing him from saying any more. So Yin Xiu took the opportunity to grab her other hand and squeezed it gently. "Actually, my original intention was to come to Dunlin, but something unexpected happened, like this, like this, like this..." Yin Xiu told the story of the pilot mishearing the place name, and added some exaggerations, finally making the whole story sound difficult, thrilling and legendary. Ma Xiaoyu was nervous from time to time, and sometimes smiled and admired. Finally, after Yin Xiu finished telling everything, Ma Xiaoyu was no longer angry and was just smiling happily. The two of them got closer and closer, allowing Yin Xiu to smell her fragrance. "If that's the case, then I did everything wrong." Ma Xiaoyu's ears turned red. "make a mistake?" Yin Xiu smiled, "You are right about one thing." "What?" Ma Xiaoyu asked him. There was a gleam in Yin Xiu's eyes, which made Ma Xiaoyu lower her head. "I mean, I did come here to ask for a kiss." He lifted Ma Xiaoyu's cute chin and moved his face closer. (End of this chapter)