twin moon

Chapter 21, Act Three
Half a month passed by in a flash, and it was already late spring in the blink of an eye.Yan Tong Ningyue changed into light single clothes, and sold the heavy winter clothes he wore earlier for some scattered money.After crossing the Zhihe River, they headed north and gradually approached Mulu, the capital of Ye Kingdom, which is located on the south bank of the Yanjiang River estuary and is known as the first city in Wanzhou.

Since I got on the official road a few days ago, the road under my feet has become a lot easier, and there are more and more travelers along the way.The inspection checkpoints set up everywhere were all withdrawn at some point, and only a few deep-buried horse pile foundations were still faintly protruding from the soil.

Now Ning Yue is too lazy to dye her hair, she just wraps her red hair with a scarf.Occasionally, there would be a few curly red hair tips sneaking out from the sideburns and ears, but no one noticed along the way, but it was relaxed and at ease.

At noon that day, the two arrived at Nanxun's gate on the outskirts of Mulu City.Before entering the city, Ning Yue, who was wearing a goose-yellow skirt, raised her head, sniffed her nose and asked excitedly:
"Wow - what's that smell? It smells so good!"

Hearing the other party's question, the young man just slapped his head:
"I almost forgot. It will be the Wuyang Festival in a few days, so so many people go to the city to go to the market. Before and after the festival, every family in the city will make sachets and steamed glutinous rice balls. Yue'er can smell it It's the fragrance of glutinous rice balls. The market is very lively throughout May, do you want to go and see it?"

After all, he was only a half-grown child, and when he talked about the festival, Jiang Yan's face was filled with excitement.

Although it is a time of troubled times, Mulu City is still a peaceful scene of singing and dancing.Even though there are a large number of refugees migrating from the Huai right border, this city can still be regarded as a rare place of peace amidst the war.

"Since it's a festival, it's a good idea for us to join in the fun!" When she heard that there was something delicious, Ning Yue couldn't hide her excitement, she turned her head and slid into the crowd.

"Yue'er, don't go so fast, Mulu City is bigger than you imagined, be careful not to get lost!"

Jiang Yan hurriedly tiptoed and raised his neck and shouted loudly, but he realized that his companion had already walked far away and disappeared in the bustling crowd, so he had no choice but to quickly follow up.

"Ah, what is this stuff? These are born like small fish, and the others are like kittens, dogs, and rabbits? Are they edible too?" Ning Yue asked curiously, pointing to a row of white pastries on the booth in front of her.

"This is a white ball, which is made by pounding glutinous rice and kneading it. It may contain jujube paste, or bean paste, and it is also mixed with dozens of preserved fruits and nuts. And other kinds of toners are embellished and painted, lifelike. But it is labor-intensive to make, and for some reason it is only sold during the Wuyang Festival. Do you want to buy one and try it?"

The vendors on the side of the road tried their best to sell to the weird blue-eyed girl, but in the blink of an eye, Ning Yue had already changed her interest and ran to the next stall:

"What is this? Why is it still buzzing?"

"Girl has a good eye. This thing is called Shaozhuzi. It is made of the best pork ribs, boned, minced, marinated, kneaded into small cakes, baked on charcoal fire until golden, and then served with fennel, It is made of more than ten kinds of different spices such as coriander, pepper, cardamom, jasmine, kangaroo, and sweet-scented osmanthus. It is the most popular snack in Wanzhou and Changzhou.”

"So meat can still do this?" Ning Yue couldn't help swallowing as she smelled the aroma of grilled meat, but was soon attracted by something else:
"What is this? That, and those? There are so many interesting things on land!"

The girl laughed and continued to run forward.At the moment, she is like a mouse that fell into a rice bowl, completely attracted by the dazzling array of new things, looking around and refusing to stop for a moment.The market was crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder one after another, Jiang Yan lost his attention when he was not paying attention.

The black-eyed boy was extremely anxious, and he searched for a stick of incense, but he could no longer see his companion.He stood blankly in the middle of the crowded street, feeling lost, not knowing what to do—after all, it was his first time to come back to a big city like Mulu, and he didn't know where to look for it.

Suddenly there was a loud shout from the crowd behind him.Jiang Yan looked back instinctively, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the red-haired girl was standing on the street more than ten steps away, looking around.He was afraid that he would lose it again, so he hurried up.

"Yue'er! Where did you go just now? Give me a meal so I can find it!"

"Little stammer, what are you talking about? Didn't I just look for you everywhere? Here, this is specially reserved for you. Eat quickly."

Ning Yue grinned and stuffed a lump of sticky stuff into her companion's mouth.It wasn't until this moment that the boy noticed that in the hands of the gluttonous girl in front of him, he was holding two white balls and half a shaozui carelessly.

Jiang Yan's heart shuddered, and he murmured with food in his mouth and asked:
"Did you pay for the things you took from others?"

"I saw that the owner of the stall was chatting with someone, so I took a few. Since everything is placed outside, shouldn't people take it at will?" Ning Yue looked at the other party innocently, "What is money?" thing?"

"Taking without telling is tantamount to stealing, Yue'er, you are in trouble now!" Jiang Yan immediately pulled up his companions and wanted to leave, but before turning his heels, he saw a tall and a young man chasing after Ning Yue from the crowd behind him. Two people shorter, it was the hawker who had previously set up a stall by the roadside.

One of the tall men put his hand on Ning Yue's shoulder and cursed loudly:
"Well, you little thief, you stole something and didn't give you any money, but you still continue shopping leisurely?!"

At this time, Ning Yue was stuffing the last half of the shaojiao into her mouth, and was startled by the other party's hand, and the pork immediately stuck in her throat and was difficult to swallow.Her pretty face turned red immediately, but she couldn't speak, so she stared back at the person holding her back with her big eyes.

In this way, it made the other party even more annoyed:

"You dare to stare at me? It's reasonable to steal things, right? Come on, follow me to the official now!"

"Wait, wait. Brother, don't get angry. The two of us are going all the way, and the money is left with me. I will pay for her. There are more than [-] copper coins here, which should be enough. .”

Seeing this, Jiang Yan quickly blocked the girl behind him, and untied the money bag from his waist with his backhand.

"Hey, someone paid for you, I should have said it earlier." The tall peddler snatched the purse away, rolled his eyes, turned his back and whispered to the short peddler next to him. , I do not know what to say.

Seeing that the other party took the money, Jiang Yan thought that the matter was over, he picked up his companion and continued walking forward.Unexpectedly, the two peddlers quickly chased after them again, blocking them one after the other:

"Hey, how can you just walk away like this!"

"Hey, the money has been given to you, why can't we leave?"

Ning Yue couldn't figure it out, so she asked loudly.But I saw the two people who were one tall and one short had strange smiles on their faces:

"Little girl, it's obvious that you stole things first! Although you paid the money, it's far from enough!"

Jiang Yan was surprised and persuaded Ning Yue with his eyes.Knowing that there are imperial guards on duty in the city, he didn't dare to easily clash with the other party, so he continued to try to negotiate: "Brothers, we have given you all the money and silver on us. If it is not enough, how much is the difference? We will find a way It’s still on.”

"We took a total of five white balls, two shaojizi, and a lot of time wasted by the two of us chasing them out. The business loss is not small. How about this, a total of one gold baht, today's matter can be counted gone."

"The price starts from the ground! According to the law of great promotion, one gold baht can be exchanged for ten silver cents, and one silver cent can be exchanged for a hundred copper coins! Just those few things, do you want us to pay you a thousand copper coins?"

Hearing the offer from the other party, Jiang Yan frowned suddenly.

Ning Yue also tried her best to swallow the ball of burnt meat stuck in her throat, and argued together: "That's right, the precious scorpion clothes were only sold for more than a hundred copper coins, you guys What's the difference between grabbing and grabbing!"

"Why? If you think it's too expensive, don't take it randomly. If you eat something but refuse to pay, then let us go to the government!"

The two peddlers showed rogue-like smirks, and they were about to reach out to catch people again.

Jiang Yan's strength was not too small, although the opponent twisted his arm back, he struggled on the spot.However, during the tugging, the Baipi pinned to his lower back fell down with a bang, and the two peddlers immediately noticed it.

Seeing the precious stones inlaid on the scabbard, the tall businessman's eyes showed a greedy light:

"This knife looks pretty good. If the two of you have no money, you can use it to pay off the debt—"

With the yelling from both sides, the crowd of onlookers gradually gathered into a circle around them.Some of the spectators pointed at the young man Tong Ning Yue.Seeing the two peddlers pick up their knives from the ground, Jiang Yan became anxious:

"I will find a way to get the money together, you guys return Baipi to me first!"

"Hey, this kid is being unreasonable. If you don't want to pay for something you stole, what's wrong with using a knife to pay for it?"

"I just can't! This knife was left to him by the benefactor who stuttered, so you can't take it!"

Ning Yue, who knew the origin of Baipi, was about to step forward to stop it, but was pushed to the ground by two vendors:

"Girl, stop talking nonsense! If you don't want to part with this knife, we can also tie you up and sell you to the flower shop for money!"

Seeing that Ning Yue was being bullied, a surge of anger burst out of Jiang Yan's chest, and it was hard to suppress it.While the tall peddler wasn't paying attention, he suddenly broke free from his opponent's hands, immediately picked up half of the white ball that had been trampled and incomplete, and slapped the two peddlers on the faces with all his strength.

The two scoundrels on the opposite side never thought that this young man with the scar between his eyebrows would dare to attack him in full view, and he was beaten dumbfounded on the spot.Taking advantage of this moment, Jiang Yan withdrew his Baipi from the opponent's hand, and immediately pulled up his companions and squeezed out of the crowd.

"Don't run! Catch the robber! Catch the robber!"

The peddler finally came to his senses, and ran after the two children.Ning Yue was dissatisfied, and turned around while running and shouted: "We have already paid the money! You are the robbers!"

"Yue'er, if they were reasonable, they wouldn't blackmail us. It's useless to talk too much, if you don't hurry up and find a way, it will be even more difficult to get out later!"

In this way, the four of them started chasing in the market two in front and two behind.Originally, the streets in Jishang could only accommodate two horses running side by side. Due to the festival, various temporary stalls were densely set up along the roadside.The children ran vigorously, knocking over all the goods on many stalls in order to prevent the people behind from bullying them.

But in this way, the already noisy street market became even more chaotic, and many vendors who were affected and very annoyed also joined in this crazy chase.Although the goods and shelves scattered all over the floor can stop the two children for a while, they cannot stop them for long.

　Thank you for your attention to "Twin Moons", and hope that the wheat grown by the little raccoon can meet your appetite.You can search for the official account with the same name~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)