Girl merchant

The sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing, and the flowers were fragrant.

They were almost home, and Sarah felt that everything around her was very comfortable and pleasant. Everything at home was better than the outside world, whether it was the flowers, insects, or birds. Even the cow dung in the paddy fields by the roadside smelled much better than anywhere else.

As the daughter of a traveling merchant, Sarah had followed her father everywhere since she was young. Although she was only seventeen years old, she had already been to at least eight countries.

Since she was eight years old, she had been a member of the caravan, responsible for accounting and logistics management. Now, nine years had passed. Her reputation in the caravan was close to that of her father, and she was the true second in command.

Every time they went out to do business, the caravan would travel for about a year, then return to their hometown, rest for two months, and set off again.

Ah! My hometown, Bronze Drum City, I will be back soon. Mother, little brother, you must be doing well, right?

Sarah sat on top of the goods, greedily looking at the scenery on both sides of the road. Every traveler who had been away from home for a long time could smell the scent of their hometown on their way home. They could tell how far away they were from their hometown just by this scent.

This caravan was called 'Sarah's Blue Star Flower'. That's right, it was named after Sarah. The owner of the caravan, who was also Sarah's father, had happily changed the ordinary name of the caravan to this one when his daughter was born. It sounded quite artistic.

Opposite Sarah sat a young man. He was throwing four apples and performing acrobatics, causing Sarah to chuckle.

Sarah could be considered a very cute girl. She wasn't beautiful, but she was lively and mischievous. In the caravan, she was very popular among the young men. Many people often learned many tricks to make her happy, but even so, Sarah had never said who she liked. She had always been very self-respecting. Although she liked to smile, she had never shown any ambiguity to any man.

Seeing her admirer performing acrobatics, Sarah's heart had already flown home. She didn't know if her little brother was still as mischievous as before, and she didn't know if her mother had become fat again … Whenever she thought about things at home, Sarah would always be very happy.

Just when she was at her happiest, the entire caravan stopped.

There were more than 20 donkeys in this caravan. When the caravan moved in a straight line, the distance between the front and the back of the caravan was a little far. Therefore, the people at the back of the caravan wouldn't know what was happening in front of them.

On the journey, anything that could make the caravan stop was usually something good.

Almost everyone picked up their weapons. They looked ahead solemnly. Because the distance was a little far, they could vaguely see that the donkey cart at the very front seemed to be blocked by something.

Sarah reached her right hand into her clothes and gripped the dagger tightly. Then, she jumped off the truck and jogged to the front of the caravan.

As she got closer to the front of the caravan, Sarah felt that the atmosphere in front of her wasn't serious. She took a few more steps and realized that although the caravan was blocked, it wasn't because of bandits. Instead, someone was negotiating with his father.

Right on the side of the road in front of the caravan, there was a stone house. On the stone wall of the house, the words "Toll Station" were written in Hollevin.

And from the stone house, there was a magical light blocking the way. Sarah leaned closer and heard a man in a white robe with gold edges, who looked like a priest, talking to her father in the stone house. "The road was built by the church, so we naturally have the right to charge the road maintenance fee. We don't charge ordinary pedestrians, but the wagons and donkey carts that carry goods must be charged. After all, the things in your carts are heavy and will cause damage to the road. We're responsible for maintenance, and we need money too. "

"Then can we not pay? After all, it's not easy for us to make money." The master of the caravan, who was Sarah's father, bargained and asked, "Why don't we pay less?"

"You have to pay if you want to go on the road. Two copper coins per horse." The priest in the stone house said somewhat impatiently, "It's fine if you don't pay. The original road is right next to it. You can go there."

Sarah looked at the priest's hand and found that there was indeed a road on her left. She vaguely remembered that they came out from this side road when they left a year ago. At that time, a lot of people used this road, but now, the grass on this road was almost as tall as a human being. There was only a yellow path in the middle that could only allow one person to pass. It was impossible for donkey carts to pass.

Then, Sarah saw her father pay the money painfully.

Their caravan had twenty-four donkey carts, which meant that her father had paid forty-eight copper coins. It wasn't a lot, but anyone would be unhappy to be hit in the back when they were so close to their hometown.

Sarah was relieved to see that it wasn't a robbery. She jumped onto the nearest donkey cart and sat down.

The priest in the stone house made a strange gesture, and the green magic pillar that blocked the road disappeared. The caravan continued on its way.

When the donkey cart passed by the stone house, Sarah suddenly realized that there was a gray flagstone road in front of her. From her point of view, this flat flagstone road could accommodate at least ten donkey carts side by side!

Everybody in the caravan was lost for words as they looked at the road. After a long time, Sarah finally sighed. "What a big investment. No wonder they charge money for every cart. If it were me, I would at least double the price. When did Mayor Grinton become so rich? "

From the perspective of a merchant, building such an exaggerated road must've cost a lot of money. It would be impossible to recoup the cost of building this road by charging two copper coins for each carriage, at least not for the next fifty years.

The donkey cart traveled on the flat stone road. The swaying and swaying feeling from before was gone, and even its speed was much faster than before.

Soon, the caravan reached the gate of Bronze Drum City, which was crowded with people.

While the caravan was waiting to enter the city, Sarah felt that the people going in and out of the city gate were different from what she remembered. But she couldn't tell what was different. After a while, the city guards who were responsible for checking the safety of the goods checked the donkey cart and let it pass expressionlessly.

After entering the city, Sarah and the caravan were shocked once again. This was because all the roads in the city had been repaired. The black and white checkered stone streets gave people a beautiful feeling. Most importantly, Sarah couldn't see any garbage on the streets. The entire city was shockingly clean.

Clean?

Sarah suddenly clapped her hands. She finally understood why she felt that something was wrong … Almost everyone in Bronze Drum City was clean. Even if they were wearing old clothes, they were all clean and tidy.

What happened in Bronze Drum City in the past year?

In the past, except for the rich area, there were traces of urine and feces everywhere in Bronze Drum City. But now, there were beautiful stone streets, and many places had been repaired. She remembered that there was a slum on the right side of the city gate. As long as she passed it, she could see many small mud houses and the disgusting smell of urine and feces.

But when she passed it just now, she only saw a clean stone path and neat and beautiful white stone houses.

Even the slum looked different. What happened in Bronze Drum City in the past year? What did they miss?

The caravan entered the trade market in the city center. Soon, some acquaintances came over and took their goods away. Only three carts of flint stones were left.

In the past, there was no need to worry about the sale of flint stones. Why didn't anyone want them now? Sarah asked around and found out that not long ago, Mayor Grinton found a valley that was rich in flint stones about thirty kilometers away from the city. Now that the price of flint stones in Bronze Drum City had dropped, the caravan couldn't sell these three carts of flint stones.

Although it was a pity, Sarah didn't have a hard time. Doing business was like this. There were profits and losses. This time, they had been doing business everywhere for more than a year and had made a lot of money. The loss of three carts of flint stones was nothing to them.

After leaving the donkey cart with the old customer and paying the employees of the caravan, Sarah and her father hurriedly returned home.

Although Sarah and her father had made a lot of money these years, they didn't have a prominent identity, so they could only live in the commoner's area.

After returning home, Sarah told her overjoyed mother how much she missed her brother. After a long time, she let her father and mother hide in a corner and make out.

Then, she searched the whole house but didn't see her brother. She thought he had gone out to play again. She grumbled in her heart. Then, seeing that her brother's room was messy, she began to help him clean it.

By the time she finished cleaning the room, it was already dark. When she came out of the room, she saw her brother coming back.

The younger brother was very happy to see his sister. If it was in the past, he would have rushed over, picked up his sister, and spun her around. But this time, he was very calm. He just smiled happily and said, "Sister, you're back!"

Sarah was a little disappointed. Her brother had also grown up and understood the difference between men and women.

Then, she saw that her brother was holding a book in his hand. She was very curious. "Harris, you're reading? Did Mother hire a language teacher for you? "

Harris waved the book in his hand and said proudly, "Sister, I'm now a junior student in Woking Academy. Not to mention language, I'm already a professional."

Sarah giggled. "You naughty monkey? Professional? You should find someone more suitable if you want to brag. "

Harris stretched out his right hand calmly, and after a while, an orange fireball rolled over in his hand, emitting a hot light.