Chapter 61: Nanhai Railway Travel (1)
Lingao New Railway Station
Xu Xiake, whose head was wrapped in gauze, was sitting in the waiting hall, curiously looking at the furnishings and decorations here, and reaching out to touch his bald head, feeling very uncomfortable - even though the Executive Committee of the Traveler Senate has tried its best to Although law and order is maintained, due to the influx of tens of thousands of outsiders, various violent conflicts continue to occur in Lingao County. Last month, the unlucky Xu Xiake was accidentally involved in a large-scale gang fight involving hundreds of sailors while he was shopping. Someone smashed a wine bottle on his head, and his face was immediately covered with blood and painful. Fainted.
Seeing this, his brother Xu Zhongzhao was so frightened that he quickly asked for help to carry him to the hospital for help. However, in order to bandage the wound on his head and prevent infection, the "doctor Kun" actually shaved off all of Xu Xiake's hair... So , Xu Xiake, who had no intention of "surrendering to Kun" so far, has become a "fake Kun" with infinite depression - at least until his hair grows back, this hat will never be taken off.
The eyes of the scholars and scholars around him were full of contempt and disdain, which made Xu Xiake, who was forced to shave his hair, feel deeply hurt.
"...Tsk, tsk! He is so polite and shameless! Looking at his clothes, he seems to be a scholar with a good reputation! How could he be so fascinated by the alien barbarians and become so inhuman? Does it look like a ghost or not? ”
"...Alas, the "Book of Filial Piety" says: 'The hair and skin of the body are received by the parents and dare not be damaged, which is the beginning of filial piety.' In order to win the respect of the nobles of the Australian and Song Dynasties, these scum of scholars even forgot their ancestors and even their hair. No more, it’s so shameless! It’s so shameful to be with him!”
"...Haha, I'm afraid that he is willing to surrender to the thieves, but the Australian Kun thieves are still unwilling to accept him! Look, isn't he still wearing a scholar's straight jacket, instead of the four-pocket 'cadre uniform' like the Kun thieves? It must be that this person shaved his head to join the thieves, but was rejected by others..."
……
The Confucian scholars who made the sarcastic remarks seemed to have no intention of lowering their voices so that Xu Xiake could hear them clearly and could not help but frown. Xu Zhongzhao, who was sitting next to him, saw his clan brother's face getting darker and darker, so he had no choice but to persuade him, "...Ahem, dear brother, don't take these sarcastic words to heart, and don't care about these talkative sour men. After all, it is a matter of life and death, so I think your Majesty will be able to understand..."
"...It's okay. Mother will definitely not care about such a trivial matter. Otherwise, I would not be allowed to go out and travel around the world." Xu Xiake waved his hand and replied, "...Besides, this place is no less than thousands of miles away from my hometown in the south of the Yangtze River. Here, by the time I return home, my little brother’s hair will have grown out..."
Having said that, it is not a comfortable thing after all to listen to a bunch of idle people mocking and mocking me. Although he had been ridiculed and ridiculed by the Jiangnan scholars because of his maverick behavior and lack of professionalism, he was never ridiculed like this. Xu Xiake thought that he didn't have the spirit of tolerance and humiliation, but it was inconvenient to make a fuss with them, so he finally had to turn his attention to this station.
——Because it is a "toy railway system" built with Doraemon's magical props, this brand-new train station is also a typical children's park style: it looks colorful and beautiful from a distance, but once you walk in, you can take a look. Only then did I realize that it was actually quite rough and empty.
Overall, the entire station is just an extra-large pergola made of iron sheets. The waiting hall is directly built on the platform. There are only a few iron pillars on all sides to support the ceiling, and there is not even a wall. If there is a typhoon, , the rain may hit from one end of the waiting room to the other.
The benches and ticket booths in the waiting room are also made of iron sheets. They are hard and cold and not very comfortable to sit on. But the shape is very beautiful. For example, the ticket booth is made into a big orange mushroom, and the iron seats are painted with cartoon patterns of various animals, flowers and plants with colorful paint. Even the trash cans punched out of iron sheets were made into the shapes of rabbits, monkeys and other small animals holding baskets, so that when the locals first walked into the waiting room, they didn't recognize them as trash disposal objects. I thought they were large vases or flower pots... So, later on, the station actually changed these overly exquisite iron trash cans into flower pots, and also placed a few rattan baskets as trash cans.
At this time, the waiting room was already crowded with vendors, eager to sell fruits, pastries, cold drinks, candies, and various unnamed local specialties. Because they were blocked outside by an iron fence and couldn't come in, the vendors could only cling to the iron railing and shout loudly. Then from time to time, because they made too much noise or tried to squeeze in, they were beaten with canes by the "kun soldiers" in black uniforms at the station entrance...
In short, Xu Xiake was looking at the layout of the station, taking out a pen and paper, and taking notes while waiting for the bus.
——In fact, according to the travel plan originally booked by Xu Xiake, after seeing the "Australian scenery" here in Lingao and going into the mountains to visit the scenery of Li Village, he, the "first donkey traveler in the late Ming Dynasty", should At the end of this trip, we crossed the sea and returned to our hometown in Jiangnan.
Unexpectedly, the plan could not keep up with the change. As soon as he and his brother came out of the deep mountains and Li District, they caught up with the unprecedented event of fleets from all countries gathering for the Lingao Conference. There were all kinds of new gadgets that had never been heard of before, and there were also weird people of all kinds and so on. Persian Dancer, African Kunlun Slave, American Red Barbarian, Tianzhu Snake charmers, as well as all kinds of overseas exotic beasts, all rushed to the market in Lingao, which dazzled the curious Xu Xiake for a while and could no longer move... Wait until the airship formation appeared in the sky above Lingao After that, Xu Xiake, who was so enlightened, never wanted to leave again.
The problem is that the Xu brothers spend money every day when they go out. After traveling across mountains and rivers and across oceans for such a long time, the little money they had brought with them for the trip was already running low, and they could not last more than a few days. Although Xu Xiake had lost his face and set up a stall on the street to write letters for others and sell his own calligraphy and paintings, the business did not seem to be very good and the money earned was very limited... Fortunately, just when he and Xu Zhongzhao were about to be unable to pay, Inn room When I was looking for money, I met a Jiangnan businessman I had met in the past in Lingao, and finally borrowed dozens of taels of Sichuan capital from him - Xu Xiake was born in the Jiangyin Xu family, which is also well-known in the local area. Wealthy families don't have to worry about paying for it.
Seeing that he finally had a little more money, Xu Xiake thought about continuing his trip south - according to the "broadcast" played in the big tin speaker on the street lamp pole in Dongmen City, Lingao, and the "Lingao Daily" According to the content published on the Internet, the "Emperor of the Australian Song Dynasty" was in Qiongzhou Prefecture. At the southernmost point, which is also the southernmost point of the Ming Dynasty's territory, Sanya New City was established as a "walk in", and "remainers of the old Song Dynasty" from all over were gathered to discuss major plans... In addition, several copperplate paintings of Sanya's "ends of the world" scenery were published in newspapers. , Xu Xiake, a donkey guest, was immediately attracted.
——You know, as the most famous tourist in the late Ming Dynasty, Xu Xiake often risked his life just to see the scenery. He once even climbed cliffs with bare hands in order to find the alpine lakes on Yandang Mountain. Later, in order to appreciate the scenery of western Hunan, he took the initiative to go to the battlefield where the government troops suppressed bandits. It can be said that there is no limit to the death limit. Now that he knew that there was such a scenic spot at the southern end of Qiongdao, and the transportation was very convenient, how could he not go and feast his eyes on it? As for being suspected of being involved with the "Aussong Kun Thief"...he has never been afraid of this issue since he left home...