Chapter 348 A phoenix emerges from a crow's nest

The silvery white reeds swayed in the wind, and fishing boats were traveling back and forth on the open marshland, with sails side by side, a busy scene.

"Time flies."

Liang Qu stood at the bow, looking at the Yixing Town in front of him, feeling a lot of emotion.

He left in late August and returned in mid-October.

It was midsummer when he left, and autumn when he returned. Even on the low hill behind the town, a towering pavilion had been erected without knowing when.

The pavilion had not been topped off, and the beams and pillars were uneven, but the five-story and eight-sided pavilion had taken shape. Fishermen boating on the marshland could see it at a glance, and under the hazy mist, it gave birth to a bit of humanistic atmosphere.

"Confucian Temple Kui Pavilion?"

Liang Qu had excellent eyesight, and observing the style of the pavilion, he had some vague guesses.

There were three temples in every county town, the Confucian Temple, the Martial Temple, and the City God Temple, which were designed to encourage the people to respect virtue and martial arts and prosper.

If it was near a river, a river god temple or a dragon king temple would be added.

Liang Qu had heard that Pingyang County intended to build the Confucian Temple and the River God Temple in Yixing Town, but he didn't expect it to be so fast.

When the boat approached Shangrao Port, the water animals that were playing in the water dispersed.

The fat catfish and the porpoises followed the instructions and ran into the big lake to catch big crabs with yellow roe and fat to prepare for the crab feast.

Those who couldn't move and the fists followed the underground river and went home first.

Liang Qu rowed forward alone.

The continuous influx and settlement of people from all over the country made Pingyang County and nearby towns develop rapidly.

Compared with August, more than a dozen new foot shops opened along the coast of Shangrao Port, and there were many boatmen chatting and drinking under the awnings.

Two of them even hung wooden signs saying "Eight copper coins to eat full, twelve copper coins to eat well", set up a big pot at the door, the dark red old soup was boiling, and the fishy smell of meat was everywhere.

Before mealtime, hungry cooks came to put down copper coins to serve rice and ate happily around the iron pot.

The villagers saw Liang Qu's iconic barge passing by the shore, and they were surprised and came forward to greet him.

Liang Qu nodded one by one.

There were also fishermen rowing over, catching big fish from the fish basket, and warmly greeting Liang Qu who had not seen him for a long time.

"Master Liang! Take the fresh big crucian carp home to make soup!"

"What's so good about crucian carp? It's full of small bones. I have big silver carp here. Let's drink fish head soup!"

The owner of the teahouse on the shore laughed: "There is no shortage of fish in Daze. Master Liang was born and raised in Pingyang. What do you want from your two fish? Luanzi, go pack two pounds of cold cut mutton!"

"Oh, no need to do that." Liang Qu declined everyone politely, "I appreciate your kindness. Really..."

In the foot shop, the waiter who was busy wiping the table looked at Liang Qu's back and asked curiously: "Boss, who is that person? So arrogant? All here to deliver fish?"

The diners who were eating around looked at each other, and suddenly the hall burst into laughter, shaking the tiles slightly.

"Old shopkeeper, where did you recruit this stupid boy? Is he an illegal resident who escaped from the mountains?"

"If Yixing Town doesn't know Mr. Liang, it's like riding a donkey to chase chickens. You don't know your place!"

"Hey, kid, you're just pretending to be smart, but you're really confused." The old shopkeeper who just went out to say hello turned around, patted the waiter on the back of his head, and then raised his thumb, "Remember, Mr. Liang is the one in our town!

With your small body, if it weren't for Mr. Liang, how could you save up your wages? All the gangsters would have taken it away! Every year, we borrowed and paid grain for the two acres of paddy fields in our family, and we won't have a bite of food left until we die! In the future, you should open your eyes and recognize Mr. Liang even if you don't know the yamen runners!"

After that, the old shopkeeper bowed and apologized to the many diners: "A little yellow ox doesn't know a tiger. A country bumpkin who ran out of Nanxun Township to make a living has never seen a big man. Don't judge him."

Everyone naturally took the old shopkeeper's words as a joke.

No one would take such a small matter to heart, and they would ignore it after a few jokes and eat their own meals.

The young man covered the back of his head, thinking.

All the nearby towns and villages said that Yixing Town was good, there were no skinning ghosts, no rolling meat, and even the price of borrowing grain from large households every year was lower than that of neighboring towns.

The source of the feelings was here.

On the pier.

Liang Qu declined the kindness of the fishermen and shopkeepers, tied up the boat and went ashore, picking up the rhino skin box and cash box.

"Brother Shui! I just heard that you were back, and I thought someone was teasing me, but I didn't expect it to be true!"

Liang Qu turned around: "Songbao? How come you have time to come to the fishing pier today?"

Lin Songbao, who had not been seen for a long time, was wearing a black martial arts uniform. He helped to lift the gangplank from the fishing pier, got on the boat and pointed to the hired workers digging pits and carrying mud on both sides of the pier.

"There are many merchant ships coming and going at the port recently. My father said that he wants to expand the port, build a deep port and a dock, and asked me to come and have a look every day at dinner time."

"That's perfect. I have a big ship, and I'm worried that there will be no place to put it after it's built."

"What a big ship, I'll ask my father to leave one more space for it."

"A lucky ship less than six meters long."

Chishan stepped on the gangplank to the port, shaking his muscles and hair.

Liangqu hung the box on Chishan and looked up and down at Lin Songbao: "Is it broken?"

Lin Songbao smiled: "It was broken in early September."

"Then hurry up, Libo and Jiechang are both in the second pass now."

Lin Songbao was stunned: "So fast?"

"There was a flood in Huazhu County, and all the fish rushed out. There were many treasure fish in it. Baozhi, the two of them go out to pick them up every day, and eat all the dead ones. Come, give me a hand."

Lin Songbao took the big wooden box.

Liang Qu carried Fubo on his back and led Chishan home, pointing to the low mountain in the distance: "What's the situation with that tower?"

"It was started a long time ago, it seems to be during the auction, it appeared in October, it is said to be a pavilion in the Confucian Temple, dedicated to Wenchang."

"Kui Pavilion?"

"Yes, Kui Pavilion!"

"Master Liang is well!"

Liang Qu nodded slightly, turned his head and looked at the back of the passerby, quite confused: "Why are you so happy that I'm back today?"

"Long time no see." Lin Songbao said without thinking, and then he pondered again, "Well... maybe it's because of the autumn harvest?"

Liang Qu was stunned: "What does it have to do with the autumn harvest?"

"You have to pay the rent during the autumn harvest. This year, many people went to pay the grain, and as a result, several large grain borrowers all lowered the interest rate. Everyone is grateful to you."

"Thank you? I didn't ask the large households to lower the interest rate?"

Liang Qu was more and more puzzled as he listened. He knew about borrowing grain.

The villagers couldn't always have enough food to eat on weekdays. In addition, when they were sick, many people had to borrow grain from large households to survive.

Not to mention that many people in Yixing Town were disaster victims from other places, so borrowing grain was more common.

Of course, there was no borrowing without reason, and interest had to be calculated.

"But Brother Shui, you are now the boss of the town, the most powerful rich man! You have a title, a seventh-rank official, and a martial arts master. The two martial arts masters in the town all rely on you.

When Chen Jiechang and Li Libo come out to teach the ruffians a lesson, everyone thinks it is your instructions.

You don't care about other places. Yixing Town is so small. The rich know your temper and will naturally look at your eyes when doing things. How dare you do anything reckless?

Brother Shui, haven't you noticed that even rogues are rare in the town now? The former Niu Er and Pan Wu are all honest."

Liang Qu looked around and thought about it carefully. It seems to be true.

"The nearby villages all say that the people in our town are lucky. A phoenix is ​​born in an old crow's nest."

Liang Qu suddenly realized.

No wonder the fishermen sent fish, farmers sent food, shop owners sent side dishes, and tea sellers asked him to sit down and drink tea when he came back today.

Liang Qu didn't do many things at all, but his status was getting higher and higher. Even if he stayed in the town and did nothing, no one dared to ignore him.

During the conversation, Liang Qu and Lin Songbao came to Liang's house.

"Woof!"

Before the door was opened, a black head popped out from the wall.

Wu Long grabbed the wall and turned over in a few seconds. His head hit the ground first and he fell hard, but Wu Long was thick-skinned and shook his head twice on the spot, jumping around Liang Qu.

After two months of not seeing each other, Wu Long had grown a circle, his two ears stood up, and he was fat and black.

Liang Qu picked up Wu Long with one hand and opened the door with the other hand. He carried the dog around the shadow wall and finally returned to the familiar courtyard.

Fan Xinglai in the backyard heard the sound and rushed over. He was overjoyed to see Liang Qu and hurried forward to help move things.

Liang Qu unloaded several large boxes from Chi Shan: "I've been away for two months. Has anything happened at home? Has anyone come to see me?"

"Master Yang sent someone to see you and told you to take some time to go there after you come back. It's not a big deal. As for the family... nothing should have happened, right?"

Fan Xinglai's tone was uncertain.

Liang Qu noticed something strange.

"Should?"