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"Young man, are you from out of town?"
The old man glanced at him and said with a smile, "Do you know what Bay City used to be called?"
"do not know."
Lin Anyu shook his head blankly, and heard Bai Tongtong next to him laugh: "Beicheng has many good reputations, including 'Pearl of the Sea', 'Blue Fire City', and 'City Surrounded by Silver Beach', but I think what you want to say should be It’s not a good reputation, but some bad nicknames, like Bandit City?”
Han Zhou glanced at her in surprise, and Gu Zheng beside him muttered in a low voice: "I know this too."
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I know you know, let's first listen to what the uncle has to say."
The driver smiled and said: "Baicheng does have such a nickname, but calling it a bandit city is a bit exaggerated. I heard that there were quite a lot of pirates here in the past, and there were relatively few roadblocks and robberies."
"Pirate?" Lin Anyu was surprised. He had only seen this term on TV.
As if he knew what he was thinking, the driver explained: "It's not as exaggerated as on TV. After being robbed, he fled overseas, and then fled back after being robbed overseas. He basically lived in hiding."
"That's quite an exaggeration..." Lin Anyu didn't seem to agree with his point of view. It was quite outrageous to grab everything wherever he went.
Perhaps seeing someone taking away his opportunity to show off his knowledge, the old man knocked on his cane and said in a serious tone: "Xiao Zhang, you are wrong. You have not experienced that era and don't know the dangers involved. If At that time, there weren’t many people who stopped and robbed, so how can I say that everyone didn’t dare to relax after parking?”
"Yes, yes, uncle, you are right."
The little Zhang in the old man's mouth obviously meant the driver. He didn't want to argue with him, so he laughed twice and closed his mouth.
The old man was then satisfied: "But it's really not that scary. Over the past ten years, there have been fewer and fewer road robberies, and they have been even rarer recently. However, the main thing we were afraid of at that time was not the robbers. After all, the cars were full of robbers. Young and strong men, it doesn’t matter if everyone joins in to robber together.”
"Then what are you afraid of?"
Seeing that he deliberately chose his tone, Lin Anyu was very proud of him and started to praise him.
The old man coughed, took out a thermos cup to moisten his throat, and said seriously: "Of course I am afraid of human traffickers. At that time, human traffickers were the most terrifying. There were countless ways to abduct children. Sometimes it was just a matter of parking the car. , the child in the car may have disappeared, do you think it’s strange or not?”
"Evil, that's too evil." Lin Anyu nodded repeatedly.
"Don't worry about the improved public security now. You can still see some traffickers in these relatively remote villages. If you have children, you'd better live in the city, otherwise you might suffer disaster." The old man reminded in a serious tone.
While he was talking, Xiao Xiaoxiao, who had been in a daze, finally woke up.
Merry Christmas everyone
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 253 So stupid
"Where are we?"
Xiao Xiaoxiao opened his eyes drowsily, rubbed his eyes and looked around.
"Still on the way." Gu Zheng beside him whispered.
"Oh."
The old man was still describing the dangers of Beicheng back then, and it was easy to hear the embarrassment in his words, but Lin Anyu still showed a curious look to save face, nodding from time to time, as if he was listening carefully.
The broken tree blocking the road in front was removed soon, and the road became smooth again. The road was still bumpy after that. The old man seemed to be a little motion sick, so he closed his eyes and stopped talking.
Seeing Lin Anyu heaving a sigh of relief, Bai Tongtong whispered: "You probably didn't listen carefully just now, right?"
Lin Anyu shrugged: "I don't want to hear it anymore. I can still distinguish between real stories and fantasy stories."
The old man was fine in the beginning. Although he was exaggerated in many places, it was still consistent with reality. But later on, he became more and more outrageous. When he was young, he told a legendary story about fighting eight robbers alone and with bare hands. The whole paragraph The experience was full of loopholes, and he really couldn't stand listening to it.
Nowadays, some middle-aged and elderly people are like this. They brag when they open their mouths. Lin Anyu seriously doubts that they liked this when they were young. Many of them brag and believe it, and they use it as conversation material when they get older.
Thinking of this, he reminded in a low voice: "Some uncles are like this now. I suggest that if you hear a sentence starting with 'I'm not bragging' in the future, it's best to treat the following words as a joke."
"Since you know that he is making up the facts, why do you still pretend to listen attentively?" Bai Tongtong was a little curious.
"Give me some face. Sometimes you have to pretend to understand in class and at work. Just nod in agreement, and you won't lose any weight."
"Is this a way of taking care of other people's emotions?"
"Uh, probably."
"Thank you, I'll remember it."
"What do you remember? In fact, it depends on the occasion..."
"..."
"These two are still chatting. I don't think they knew each other well in high school." Looking at the two people whispering in front of them, Gu Zheng muttered.
Xiao Xiaoxiao had already woken up. She no longer had to worry about whether the other party would kowtow, so she sat next to Han Zhou.
"We didn't look familiar to others when we were in high school." Han Zhou smiled and asked, "How is it? Have you found a dance suitable for two people?"
"Yeah." Gu Zheng nodded, then curled his lips and said, "It's obviously you who invited me to dance, but you actually asked me to come to you for the dance. There's no sincerity at all."
"Aren't I afraid that you won't like what I'm looking for?"
Gu Zheng rolled her eyes at him: "If you are really afraid that I won't like it, you should not ask for anything, and you insist on finding a dance where you can hold hands all the time. It will be very troublesome to find it."
Although he knew she wasn't really complaining, Han Zhou still said wisely: "Set a time, and I'll treat you to dinner."
"That's pretty much it."
Gu Zheng rolled his eyes, coughed lightly, and said casually, "I will send you the dance video when I get back. You can practice it by yourself first. We will rehearse together a few more times before the social event to avoid making mistakes later. .”
"Do you still need to rehearse?" Han Zhou smiled bitterly, "It's just an entertainment dance, there's no need to be so serious, right?"
"You are so clumsy, what will you do if you embarrass me?"
"I told you it's not a competitive game anymore. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I'm still very confident in my body coordination."
"I'm not confident in you. I have to wear new shoes that day and I'm afraid you'll step on my feet."
"I'll just pay more attention to my steps then, and I'll make sure I don't step on them."
"Why dance when you keep staring at your feet?" Gu Zheng corrected dissatisfiedly, "When dancing, you must look at your partner!"
"Aren't feet also part of the dance partner..."
"Eyes! Look into your partner's eyes!"
Gu Zheng punched Han Zhou, and she could already see that this guy was obviously pretending to be stupid.
She was still a little embarrassed at first, but now she stopped pretending, crossed her arms over her chest, and said viciously, "Anyway, you must take time to rehearse with me before the social event starts, otherwise I won't dance with you."
"Okay, okay." Han Zhou laughed and puffed out his chest solemnly, "I will practice hard with the goal of 'not stepping on your toes'."
"Humph."
Gu Zheng rolled her eyes at him, then turned to look out the window.
Blue sky and white clouds, with a little bit of morning glow remaining.
Not knowing what she was thinking of, the girl gradually bent her eyes, staring at the birds in the sky in a daze.
"Han Zhou."
"Ok?"
"Actually, it doesn't matter if you step on your foot."
But you have to look into my eyes... She added silently in her mind, deciding to wait until rehearsal to say this out loud.
"Oh...means there's no need to rehearse?"
"Think beautifully!"
……
The passenger bus arrived at Linhai Town Station at about ten o'clock. The bumps along the way made everyone feel a little uncomfortable. They got off the bus and waited for a while before leaving the station.
According to Xiao Xiaoxiao, there is no special bus to Jianyan Village in Linhai Town. You need to find a car yourself. However, because the roads there are quite rugged, many drivers are unwilling to drive there. Fortunately, she knows a few who are willing to drive there. The driver who went there said he didn’t have to worry about the rest of the trip.
Although Jianyan Village is very remote, Linhai Town is not as backward as everyone thinks, and is similar to an ordinary town.
"It's quite lively." Lin Anyu looked around curiously.
"Because it's the weekend, and the recent sea banquet, it's normal to be lively, but usually it's quite deserted." Xiao Xiaoxiao explained with a yawn.
This was not the first time that everyone had heard the word "Haiyan". Guzheng asked curiously: "Xiaoxiao, what is Haiyan?"
"It's a custom in Linhai Town, it can be considered a festival."
Xiao Xiaoxiao explained, "You also know that Beicheng is a city by the sea. There are many people coming and going from all countries. With such good conditions, Linhai Town has not developed much trade, but has adopted the customs of various countries. After learning a little bit, an event was held in the middle of every season, and gradually it became a sea banquet. I heard that I originally wanted to extend this custom to the entire Bay City, but it failed."
Lin Anyu concluded: "In other words, this is a custom that is stitched together with many customs?"
"You can say that, but I heard this from people of the older generation, so I don't know exactly what happened."
"Customs and habits are generally formed to commemorate a certain period of history. If the sea banquet is really a mixed custom and has no commemorative meaning of its own, it is normal that it cannot be promoted." Bai Tongtong said with a smile.
"What a pity." Lin Anyu sighed.
"What's such a pity?" Xiao Xiaoxiao glanced at him.
Han Zhou explained: "What he means is that if this custom can really be extended to Bay City and even the whole country, we can have another holiday."
"Hehehe, Han Zhou still understands me."
Xiao Xiaoxiao said that the driver who was willing to go to Jianyan Village was a local of Jianyan Village. He would go back to the village every now and then and was willing to take passengers. However, he couldn't do it at noon today because it was a sea banquet and he had already made an appointment with a friend. Let's play together and say that we can take Han Zhou and others to the village in the afternoon.
Everyone didn't care. It only took more than forty minutes to get from Linhai Town to Jianyan Village. It didn't take long. They could also stroll around the town during this time.
As a city near the sea, one of the most famous products in Bay City is shells. Shells of various shapes are sold in various stores at different prices. Linhai Town is naturally no exception. Since it is the sea feast period , you can see many stalls selling shells on the road, some of which seem to have just been fished out of the water, and you can smell the fishy smell of the sea if you get close.
Seeing the novelty on everyone's face, Xiao Xiaoxiao consciously took on the responsibility of the guide: "Many shells sold in the store look beautiful, but they are actually slightly polished. There are not those in these stalls, but the beautiful ones are basically the same." It has already been scooped up by the store or other customers, whether you can find the one you like depends on your ability."
Girls basically have no resistance to beautiful things. Gu Zheng and Bai Tongtong were very interested in them and went to the stall to pick them up.
The merchant enthusiastically introduced the origin of these shells.
Han Zhou had no interest in shells, but he was asked by Gu Zheng to work as a "coolie". The latter thought some shells were too dirty, so he asked him to pick them for him and help advise which shells were the most beautiful.
Bai Tongtong followed suit and called Lin Anyu over. However, compared to Gu Zheng's arrogance, her words were quite polite and her attitude was too good to find fault with.
Xiao Xiaoxiao stood still and did not move. Although she was not born and raised in Beicheng, she had seen too many shells since she was a child. This kind of mass product that could be scooped up in large quantities could not catch her eye.
About ten minutes later, Gu Zheng and Bai Tongtong finished their selection and walked over with a few shells in their hands with satisfaction. Han Zhou and Lin Anyu were slower because they needed to wash their hands.
Facing the two girls' inquiries, Xiao Xiao reluctantly gave a "not bad" evaluation, and then proudly said that he also had a better collection of shells at home.
The nature of Haiyan is a bit similar to a large-scale trade fair. You can see various stalls along the way. The aroma of delicious food continues to penetrate your nose. Games such as ballooning can be seen everywhere. Gu Zheng was very excited to try it. , won the prize easily, and even asked Han Zhou to give it a try.