A rebellious minister forced me to be a foolish king

Chapter 864: Exposing the Black Shop
Seeing that the female shopkeeper looked unhappy, the two of them lowered their voices and spoke politely for a long time.

This female king actually acted like a dandy and tried to coax the female shopkeeper not to be unhappy, saying that she was not a bad person and just asked her to follow the rules.

The female shopkeeper then turned around, walked out from behind the counter, and went to look for someone. She also asked the two guests to find a table, sit down and wait.

There are several wooden tables in the lobby for individual guests, and on the east and west sides of the left and right sides of the entrance, there are two and a half private rooms separated by load-bearing columns.

Yuan Wuyou glanced at a group of guests in the private room on the west side, speaking a foreign language and eating and drinking lively. Wanting to stay away from them, he spontaneously went to the easternmost part of the lobby and sat down at a wooden table.

After the two of them sat down, Mi Qinlin couldn't help but ask her: "What language were you two speaking just now?"

"Underworld jargon, with a few Nanyang dialects."

"You also know slang?"

He was shocked for a moment, then he looked at the girl in men's clothing in front of him with a click of the tongue. She had a pretty face, but she had a fake beard on her philtrum and chin, which made her look like what people in the Central Plains call a beast in human clothing, a scum of the gentleman class.

"You know what, you have a bit of gangster vibe to you, but it's not quite there. You look like a rich kid who's out to experience life."

"What do you mean?"

"To put it bluntly, the real hooligans are barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes. And you? You do have a bit of hooligan temperament, but you are not as disgusting and greasy as them."

Yuan Wuyou couldn't tell what Mi Qinlin said was good or bad, and ignored him.

Not long after the two of them sat down, the red-shirted female shopkeeper who had entered the back hall came back, holding a teapot in one hand and a plate of cold dishes in the other. She walked over with a smile and said:

"You two can try some of the free dishes from the shop first. I have something to ask you."

"Put aside the free dishes, where is the dish I ordered?"

The female shopkeeper waved her hand and smiled apologetically, "Dear guest, please take the dishes you ordered. I don't have any in stock, but I just notified you. Do you plan to eat in or take away?"

Yuan Wuyou said calmly: "We'll discuss it after we see the water snake."

The female shopkeeper leaned forward slightly, approached Yuan Wuyou and whispered:
"I have already sent someone to invite the host. Please wait for a moment."

As he spoke, he raised his sleeves and pointed to the menu on the wall next to him:

"Do you think our menu is good? Our specialty is mutton noodles. We also have stewed noodles, stretched noodles, soup noodles, and the sauerkraut noodles."

Seeing that she had directly arranged what to eat, Mi Qinlin grumbled in dissatisfaction, "You Han people really love noodles. Give me a bowl of mutton noodle soup."

The female shopkeeper smiled and replied, "Okay!"

Yuan Wuyou raised his hand to stop her, "Wait! We're eating plain noodles, we don't need to add anything else."

"Eh? Hit."

Even though Yuan Wuyou stopped his companion from ordering food, the female shopkeeper said nothing, just smiled and left.

Mi Qinlin became even more angry and said in disgust, "You have money to buy silk and satin, but you don't have money to treat me to mutton noodles?"

Yuan Wuyou hissed, "There is an explanation for this, we'll talk about it later. We'll talk about it later."

"Mystifying! By the way, who is Shuishe? Is he the person you want to contact?"

"Yes, Governor Yu asked me to come to the tavern to look for Shuishe. From what the female shopkeeper said, Shuishe should be the owner of this tavern."

"Okay, you people in the Central Plains use code words when you talk to each other. I don't understand, so I'll just follow you." Mi Qinlin went to get chopsticks from the chopstick holder, but Yuan Wuyou grabbed his wrist and said, "Don't touch others!"

Then she pulled out two pairs of newly bought bamboo chopsticks from her pocket.

Mi Qinlin joked, "I never realized you were so particular before. You don't even use chopsticks. Are you afraid that you might be poisoned?"

The girl in men's clothing sitting at the opposite table heard this, raised her sharp eyebrows, looked serious, and said in a firm tone:
"There is an unwritten rule in black shops that the chopsticks in the chopstick holder are for the shepherds to eat with, and knowledgeable diners bring their own chopsticks."

"Ah?" The man in white shirt frowned, looking surprised.

"How do you know it's a black shop?"

Yuan Wuyou lowered his hand and pointed at the wooden table in front of him, showing him the rough and deep cuts on the tabletop.

"It's obvious that it's been hacked with knives and axes many times, leaving traces and blood stains that can't be washed away."

At this point, the girl in men's clothing smiled happily, "Besides, this is the business of the Wolong Gang, it can't be called a black shop."

Mi Qinlin's eyes suddenly widened. "You knew it was a shady shop, but you were still so calm? How did you know so much? The Xiangyang governor didn't say so much to you at that time."

"Then don't worry about it. I have my own way."

Before the two of them finished their conversation, suddenly! Someone on the other side slammed the table and shouted, "Where's the buddy? Get out here!"

Yuan Wuyou looked in the direction of the sound and saw a few sturdy women in heroic clothing sitting at the table in the hole in the west wall.

They all had bare arms, showing off their muscular muscles and arms. They wore short-sleeved shirts with slanting collars made of various colors of gray satin. They had tattoos on their heads and faces, and their bodies were covered with wolf teeth and gems, dressed like they were from the Western Regions.

Just by looking at them, all of them are blonde and have blue eyes, with curly hair, some are red, some are brown, not a single one is black, and their facial features are deep, their skin is tanned, and some have pale faces... you can tell they are foreigners from the Western Regions.

Mi Qinlin sighed: "What a coincidence, we saw them on the way here, and we met them again, they seem to be--"

Yuan Wuyou replied in a serious tone, "Ren Daren."

The man in white shirt looked at his companion in surprise, "You know these people too? Are you friends with them?"

Yuan Wuyou shook his head. "I don't know them, but I recognize their clothes and appearance. I have lived in Huaxu for more than ten years, and my mother and the leader of the nine surnames of the Princess are close friends."

As she was talking, she noticed that he turned his neck to look at someone else, so she quickly raised her hand and patted his forehead.
"We'll talk about this later. Don't keep looking at him, or I'll beat you up."

"Huh? Oh."

After her reminder, Mi Qinlin lowered his head to sharpen his chopsticks, and occasionally stole a glance over there.

At the same time, these Western diners actually called out a waiter. The waiter came out from the kitchen, wiped his hands on the wall in front of his chest, and walked towards the table with a smile on his face.
"Hey, what do you want from the ladies from other places?"

As soon as they saw the newcomer, a strong red-haired woman wearing a short-sleeved shirt and with a long scar on her arm stood up from the crowd of Westerners. She took a plate of meat from the table with her hands covered with gemstones and gold rings and put it in front of the waiter:

"Tell your shopkeeper to come out! What kind of mutton is this? Serve it to me."

The waiter bowed and smiled apologetically, "Oh, you don't know, it's our signature mutton."

"Do you really think I don't eat enough mutton? Is a three-legged lamb considered mutton? Do you really think we outsiders don't understand?"

Unexpectedly, this group of foreigners revealed his true intention. The guy's face darkened, but he quickly forced a smile.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, I might have confused it with the shepherd's meat. I'll take it over now and ask the kitchen staff to apologize..."