ebookland Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Hearing his words, Xu Tian was immediately moved. This young man was truly a filial son. He was willing to travel thousands of miles to such a remote place as Liuzhou for the sake of his father's remains, who had passed away sixteen years ago.
Considering the difficulties involved, such people are extremely rare in any era.
"Do you still remember what your father looked like?" Seeing that he wasn't very old, I asked curiously.
"I'm ashamed to say that I was too young during the Zhenyuan era to remember what my father looked like. I also don't know the exact location of his grave outside Liuzhou City. I can only ask the locals who know it when I get there. In the end, I can only do my best and leave the rest to fate." Zhao Laizhang's words were somewhat dejected.
Zhang Ziqing looked at the blueprints in front of him, then at Zhao Laizhang's thin clothes, and thought of him eating steamed buns in a corner, feeling quite sorry for him.
So he said, "The South is unbearably hot. Since you've decided to go to Liuzhou, you should make proper preparations for the trip. Otherwise, it would be even more unwise if something unexpected happened. Do your uncles and elders really trust you to go?"
"My uncles and aunts naturally didn't want me to go to Liuzhou, saying that many years had passed and the tomb could no longer be found. I hesitated several times as well."
But I still felt that I absolutely had to go to Liuzhou, no matter what; it was better to go sooner rather than later. Sixteen years have passed, and for all these years my father's grave has remained unattended; the thought of it always fills me with unease.
Sure enough, he hadn't discussed it with his relatives; he had come out quietly by himself.
"I've wanted to go there for the past few years, but my mother is ill, so I haven't been able to leave home."
"If it were any later, the tombstone and burial site might no longer exist, and those who knew about this back then would gradually pass away, becoming fewer and fewer, making it even more difficult to find them." Zhao Laizhang's face darkened, but he still spoke resolutely.
"Alright, there's no rush. Stay here another day, and I'll refine this drawing for you to make your trip go more smoothly," Xu Tian said.
"In that case, thank you again, Young Master Xu. Meeting you today is my good fortune, you are truly my benefactor." Zhao Laizhang stood up, cupped his hands, and bowed gratefully.
Afterwards, Zhao Laizhang was arranged to stay in a guest room at the shop. When Zhao Laizhang heard that the shop was opened by his brother Xu Tianyi, he was inevitably a little surprised.
Xu Tian returned to his room with the rudimentary blueprint, took out his hidden atlas, and, referring to the two blueprints, redraw a more complete and detailed map of the route.
The journey from Dingxiang to Liuzhou involves crossing several provinces, as the south is mostly mountainous and forested, and there are few available routes.
The geographical locations of those major cities should not have changed much since then; being a few kilometers off-center would not matter much and would not have a significant impact.
The distances and orientations calculated from the satellite imagery are many times more accurate than those on Zhao Laizhang's drawings.
Other towns along the way should have had some inhabitants at that time, serving as places to stay and seek help.
He roughly calculated that even if the routes between the various city nodes were straight lines, the total distance would still be over a thousand kilometers. In reality, of course, this wouldn't be the case; the journey would definitely be at least two or three hundred kilometers longer.
The weather in the south will soon get hot. You can imagine how arduous it would be to walk there. Trekking through mountains and rivers requires a lot of courage.
He also carefully drew the main mountains, rivers and lakes along the way on the drawings, so that Zhao Laizhang could pay attention to where he might be able to take a boat and where he would have to cross mountains and valleys.
He also added many other notes, after all, he had worked in the south for three years and had some experience.
The next morning, Xu Tian handed the drawing to Zhao Laizhang, saying, "I've redrawn it. Can you take a look and see if there's anything you don't understand?"
"Well, thank you."
Zhao Laizhang carefully unfolded the blueprints, then stared in astonishment. The blueprints were far more detailed than he had imagined, containing more than a dozen large prefectures and counties, and nearly a hundred small, nameless villages. In addition, mountains and rivers were also included, along with numerous annotations.
Looking at this map, it's as if the person who drew it personally walked the route. No, even if they had, it would be almost impossible to draw such a detailed map, unless the government along the route had specially sent people to survey it.
After a cursory glance, he bowed to Xu Tian and said, "I am extremely grateful for your kind words. This map is incredibly detailed and unlike anything I have ever seen before. It is truly invaluable. With this map, I feel much more at ease."
"You've traveled thousands of miles and spent a lot of money along the way. I'll give you some money in this bag as a gift, hoping you'll reach Liuzhou soon and fulfill your wish." Xu Tian handed him another package containing ten taels of silver and a few strings of cash.
To reduce weight, the silver was specially exchanged for copper coins. Silver was valuable and easy to carry. Now the total weight is over ten pounds, and any more would be too heavy to carry.
This was the first time Xu Tian had ever seen silver in this era; it was scattered and not the kind of silver ingots that would appear in later generations.
In this era, silver was not yet a currency that could be directly traded. Like gold, it was just a precious metal that could be exchanged for copper coins. At that time, one tael of silver could be exchanged for more than one string of copper coins.
Zhao Laizhang's family seems to be of modest means. He secretly went on a long trip by himself this time, so he probably doesn't have much money on him.
“I am carrying money and would never dare to accept it. This painting, given to me by Master Xu, is already worth a fortune. I dare not accept any more money,” Zhao Laizhang immediately declined.
Xu Tian said directly, "I don't like being long-winded. You can't refuse. What if you need money on the way and don't have enough? Wouldn't all your efforts be in vain? Consider this money a loan to you. You can pay me back when you come back."
After hearing this, Zhao Laizhang finally stopped refusing and bowed deeply, saying, "Young Master Xu has treated me like family, and I will never forget your kindness. I will definitely repay you in the future."
"Yes, I'll wait for you to come back. When you return to Dingxiang City, don't forget to come and find me."
"I will never forget it."
Xu Tian admired Zhao Laizhang's character and hoped he would succeed on his trip. The money he gave him was essentially a long-term investment.
After seeing Zhao Laizhang off in the morning, Xu Tian spent the afternoon in the living room pondering the construction of a tap water supply system, which, simply put, meant building a water tower to store domestic water.
The challenge lies in getting the water to the high-altitude water tower, which the current hand pump system is certainly inadequate and requires significant improvement.
At this moment, Manager Jiang came over and said, "Second Young Master, one of the guests just came over, and I thought I should inform you."
"Oh, who's here?" Xu Tian was also a little curious; Manager Jiang had even come specifically to inform him about it.
"It was Zheng Zhuangyuan who came on the Lantern Festival. It turns out the waiter had sharp eyes and recognized him at a glance. I saw him sitting alone in the corner with his back to me, probably not wanting to make a fuss or be known by others. So I didn't go to greet him."
"Well, you're right. Let's just pretend we don't know anything. Go ahead and get busy. I'll think about what to do next."
Xu Tian sat and thought for a short while, then decided that he couldn't completely pretend not to know about this.