Chapter 14 Crystal Tribulation · One Xuanjing Boy

There was a slight itching on the forehead, Xuan Jingtong raised his hand and brushed it, it was wet, it turned out that he had sweated a lot.Looking up, the sun still hasn't climbed to the sky.It's not noon, and it's not summer, so why is it so hot?He was a little distracted, and he even started to dry his mouth for a moment. The sun is a strange thing, sometimes it goes so fast, sometimes it goes so slowly.Xuan Jingtong felt that he had sat on this crouching bull stone for half his life, but in fact he hadn't even passed a morning.He suddenly wished that the big stone plate in front of Ah Xiu's house was right in front of him, so that he could count the shadow of the iron needle in the middle of the stone plate one by one.As long as the shadow moves one block away from the red line, Axiu will appear at the door.

The first and fifteenth day of each month are the days for picking crystals.At noon, the crystal pickers in the mountains will gather at the bank of the Wo Niu Stone, and then Axiu will appear in the fragrant pine forest singing, jumping up to everyone, waving his hand, and leading everyone to Xiangshuitan Li Caijing. The rules of picking crystals have been passed down in Shanshangao for countless generations, and they have never changed.Of course, before Ah Xiu, it was Grandpa Feng, and before Grandpa Feng, it was Grandpa Feng.The ancestors of the Feng family have been the guardians of the lake in the mountains, but in Xuan Jingtong's heart, Axiu is equal to the guardian of the lake.From the day he went to Xiangshuitan for the first time, it was the leader's road. Before that, he had heard the stories of Grandpa Feng from his elders, but those legends had never been able to get a little color in his imagination. It just becomes a legend.

Axiu is always on time.When the sun is in the middle and the shadow of the crystal picker shrinks timidly into a small ball under his feet, the singing of Axiu will definitely come from the fragrant pine forest.Xuan Jingtong didn't notice this at first.The Crouching Niu Stone is always so lively, people are laughing, joking, and playing, and Axiu's singing slips in like sunlight penetrating the forest inadvertently.He didn't remember which day it was, but suddenly he saw Axiu briskly coming out of the fragrant pine forest, like a lively deer, walking to the center of everyone in the rhythm of the sun.Since then, Xuan Jingtong has been more and more eager for this half-monthly labor.No matter what topics the crystal pickers were talking about, he could always hear the light footsteps stepping on pine needles amidst the loud laughter and speech.

"Asheng, you're bragging again!" He smiled and punched Bao Shusheng hard, but his ears perked up cleverly.Then, Axiu's sweet eyes would flash in front of him.More often than not. Xuan Jingtong thought about Axiu's appearance over and over again, sometimes it was very clear, sometimes it was vague. Axiu is not beautiful, even in the mountains, there are several girls who are more delicate than Axiu.But when Xuan Jingtong thought of Ah Xiu's smile, his heart melted. A sleeve is compact.She was wearing bright red clothes, her skin was as white as goat's milk, and her hair was black and long, hanging softly on her waist.Ah Xiu has a small face, a delicate little nose and a pointed chin.When she laughed, her small black eyes were narrowed into two curved eyelash lines, and her crisp laughter filled the valley.Her red dress was dyed with the Yuanzai flowers by the Xiangshuitan.All the people guarding the lake wear such bright red clothes, which are wide and big, and are as red as the sunset.This is for the convenience of shadow identification.But Axiu wears it differently.After a long time, Xuan Jingtong discovered that Axiu had quietly tightened the waist and hem of the clothes, and when she walked, her soft and slender waist and white legs were dancing.That is to say, Axiu is still a cute little girl after all.This made Xuan Jingtong suddenly have some vague hopes that the little girl is much more kind than the lake guard.

He felt flustered and didn't know how to tell others, let alone how to tell Axiu.He's not even a crystal picker, just a crystal mushroom picker.The great joy of looking forward to seeing her was intertwined with the embarrassment and anxiety when facing her, and he could only bury himself deeper into the crowd.Watching Axiu's every move in the chaos, Xuan Jingtong felt much more at ease. But such a day suddenly became a luxury.Every first and fifteenth day of the new year, Xuan Jingtong would be surprised to find that there were fewer crystal pickers.It was as if the marmot hiding in the cellar saw that the tunnel he was hiding in was being dug little by little. Every half a month, the hole doubled in size, and the sunlight poured in irresistibly.If the cellar was completely dug open, Xuan Jingtong, a little marmot, would have to face the sun by himself.He was not ready to face such a moment, but behind the panic, he was still secretly savoring a faint sweetness.

Shanshang'ao is probably the largest village on Huangyangling. Nearly half of the more than 100 households make a living by mining crystals. Huangyang Ridge is a branch of Nanmu Mountain, and the terrain is generally steep. It is difficult to find a piece of flat land the size of a palm.Everyone in the mountains grows millet, and where there are villages, you can see small fields of yellow millet the size of a small house, all of which are terraced fields built with stones piling up the sides.In the early years, You Fang saw the scenery of terraced fields on Huangyangling in foggy days, and wrote it in "Siyuan Bi Tan", thinking that it was very beautiful, but in fact behind this beautiful scenery was the extremely miserable days of the mountain people.Because farming is not easy, there are very few families on Huangyang Ridge, and there are often no more than ten families in a village.If there are more than ten households, it will be more difficult to find so many land species.

The topography of the col on the mountain is relatively flat, but it will definitely not be able to support hundreds of families.It just so happens that because there is a Xiangshui Pond nearby, and this Xiangshui Pond happens to produce crystals, and the wealthy people in Zhongzhou and Wanzhou also happen to like crystals, so Shanshangao has become the most famous mountain village in Wanzhou.About half of the crystals in the entire Donglu came from the mountains of Huangyangling. Hezhen also produces crystals, but the crystal pickers in the mountains on the mountain talk about the crystals in Hezhen with disdain. "He Zhenjing? Hehe..." The meaning behind "hehe" is, how can such quality be compared with Huangyangling's Jing?

When Chu Chu heard the crystal of Beimang Mountain, the people in Ao on the mountain still looked disdainful. "Beimang crystal? I haven't heard of it!" In their simple thinking, there is probably no other crystal that can be compared with Huangyangling. The good crystal in the mouth of the merchants is nothing more than a tool to suppress the price.Seeing that they didn't believe it, the businessman who came to buy the crystal shook his head. When he came again, he took out a piece of yellow crystal the size of a sea bowl from his leather bag.Bao Jiu, the oldest crystal picker in Shang'ao, even forgot to breathe while holding the crystal.

"Guess how much?" There was an inexplicable melancholy in the merchant's smile. "Such a big crystal..." Bao Jiu hesitated. He had never seen such a big crystal after picking crystals all his life, "The price is sky-high..." "It's not a sky-high price." The businessman stretched out two fingers. "Twenty thousand gold baht?" Bao Jiu said in amazement, the crystals harvested in the mountain depression in a month are almost made up to this size, even if it is a broken crystal, 20,000 gold baht may not be able to hold it. The businessman shook his head.

"Two hundred thousand!" Bao Jiu breathed a sigh of relief. Such a price did not have much impact on Jing in the mountains. "Two thousand!" the businessman said through gritted teeth. Bao Jiu seemed to have been struck by lightning, half of his face was black and half green, pointing at the businessman, he stepped back a few steps, speechless. "Old Bao," the businessman put the yellow crystal into his leather bag, "if it's worth 200,000 gold baht, how dare I just bring it with me just to show you?" His smile was ugly, "It's all gone Whether you are good or us, today is the last business, and we have done our best for several generations of business. Bei Mangjing rushes in like this, and everyone has no way out."

That was on the seventh day of last month. It is common for princes to fight wars. For many years, everyone thought that it had nothing to do with Wanzhou. Unexpectedly, Heluo was also involved this time, and the market was suddenly filled with extremely exquisite Heluo products.The businessman said that Heluo didn't need to pick crystals, they could refine them, not to mention the size of a sea bowl, even bigger ones could be refined. In just half a year, Wanzhou's largest crystal trading place was moved from Qingshi to Yunzhong.Buying crystals is very profitable, even if the merchant quits, he will not change his career to sell steamed buns when he returns to Qingshi.The crystal carving craftsmen in jewelry workshops all went to Huai'an and Yunzhong.Only the crystal pickers in the col on the mountain, guarding a Xiangshui pool, can't do anything. The village is too big, if every family goes to pick crystals, Xiangshuitan will become a dumpling pond, not to mention that the people who guard the pond will not agree.There can only be up to twenty people at a time to pick crystals.Every year at the beginning of spring, each household draws lots to arrange the order of picking crystals. As long as each family arranges three or four times a year, it can guarantee the expenses for the whole year. On the first day of last month, Xuan Jingtong remembered that there were 13 or 14 crystal pickers.But at fifteen, there were only seven left.Today is the first day of the new year, and it is almost noon. How many people will come?Xuan Jingtong looked in the direction of the village, the dirt road was quiet, no one was there, and the open space in the forest was quiet, only his heart was beating.Xuan Jingtong also heard the news brought by the merchant.Only in two or three days, the col on the mountain was as limp and quiet as if it had been cramped, lifeless. He sighed, lowered his head, and stared blankly at the crystal in his palm for a while, the sharp tip of the knife jumped and fell into the middle of his palm again. "Brother A Tong!" Xuan Jingtong was taken aback, his hand trembled, and the tip of the knife lightly picked out a line of blood on the edge of his palm. "Brother A Tong!" This time he heard clearly that someone was shouting with his throat narrowed.That must be Bao Shusheng, even if his ventriloquism is excellent, how can he learn the voice of Axiu?Even Axiu's breathing, Xuan Jingtong could hear it. "Ah Sheng, come out!" He said while holding the edge of his palm. With a "wow", a man jumped out of the bushes behind him.There was no embarrassment on Bao Shusheng's face when his tricks were exposed, he still had that playful smile on his face, "You can tell..." He leaned in front of Xuan Jingtong and wanted to say something naughty, but when he saw the blood on Xuan Jingtong's hand, he was so shocked that he forgot what he said just now. "Oh, why are you so careless?" He reached out to grab Xuan Jingtong's hand, "I saw blood, how can I go today?" Xuan Jingtong hid his hands behind his back in a panic, "It's a little bit broken, it's fine." "Are you okay?" Bao Shusheng looked at Xuan Jingtong suspiciously.Unlike crystal pickers, Xuan Jingtong picks crystal meat.It is said that crystal meat is the most sensitive to bloody smell, and it will not grow if it is stained with bloody smell. "It's okay..." Xuan Jingtong said vaguely, feeling anxious in his heart.I cut my hand, so I shouldn't be able to pick up crystal meat.But if he can't go to Xiangshuitan, it means he can't be with Axiu this afternoon... He was so anxious that the roots of his ears turned red. "It's fine, it's fine." Bao Shusheng seemed to see Xuan Jingtong's eagerness.If Ah Xiu had no objections, he would naturally not talk too much, but his face suddenly became heavy, "Anyway, let's go! I don't know when the next time will be." "What next time?" Xuan Jingtong didn't understand. Bao Shusheng looked around and said, "Ah Tong, if my father didn't force me today, I wouldn't come here!" He took a deep breath, "In the past month, you have also seen that the village is young and strong. The crystals are all downhill! The crystals are worthless, and everyone is looking for a way to survive. My father is too old and his heart is too dead. I will pick it again today, just to make him feel at ease." He patted Xuan Jingtong on the shoulder, " I will also go to Huai'an in two days, Xiaoshan and the others said that there is still pearl fishing on the seashore. Those rivers may not even be able to refine pearls!" He laughed, and there was something indescribable in his laughter . "There are no more crystal pickers!" Xuan Jingtong heaved a sigh of relief.There are no crystal pickers anymore, only him who picks crystal meat.There is only a sleeve and him in such a big sounding pool. "Without the crystal pickers, how will the pond watchers live?" Bao Shusheng shook his head. "I..." Xuan Jingtong blurted out the word "I", his face flushed red, but he couldn't say the following words. Bao Shusheng stared at Xuan Jingtong: "Axiu is a good girl, but... she is a keeper of the pool! Ah Tong..." He suddenly stopped talking, seeing unspeakable pain in Xuan Jingtong's eyes. color. Xuan Jingtong looked down at the ground, the shadow under his feet shifted slightly, and when he raised his head, he met Bao Shusheng's eyes again, both of them were equally surprised: Ah Xiu was late. "Don't be..." Xuan Jingtong panicked, what if Ah Xiu was sick?After thinking about it, a dense layer of sweat broke out on the forehead. Bao Shusheng also felt strange, and was about to say wait, when he heard something suddenly, a smile appeared on his face. Passing through the fragrant pine forest is the sweet voice of Ashuo.