Aoyama

Chapter 236 Inn Rules

In the middle of the night, the sound of a door opening was heard from Room B next door, and someone walked out of the door and downstairs, stepping lightly on the wooden floor in the corridor.

Xiaoman was awakened while sitting on a small chair. She opened her eyes in a daze, only to see Wuyun lying beside Zhang Xia's pillow and falling asleep with his hands in his pockets.

Xiaoman was furious. No matter how she tried to please Wuyun along the way, Wuyun was heartless and refused to get close to her. But now he was willing to sleep next to Miss Zhang Er. He was so heartless.

She looked up.

Chen Ji still stood there, staring out the window, holding the whale knife in his arms, his back straight.

Xiaoman thought, if the young master wore the silver armor and white cloak of the Yulin Army, with a white pheasant tail on his helmet, he would definitely look more majestic than those Yulin Army soldiers, right?

But is this still the illegitimate son of the Chen family in my memory, who lowered his head and dared not speak after being scolded by Liang and Wang Gui?

Xiao Man rolled her eyes, quietly stood up, held up her clothes and walked to Chen Ji's side to test him: "Sir..."

Chen Ji suddenly interrupted and said, "Xiao Man, thank you."

Xiaoman's eyes widened: Huh?! Why did the young master suddenly thank me? Could it be that the young master knew that I had used Taotie to help him vent his anger?

When did you know about this? Was he seen when he was making a seal? Or did he eat too much and arouse suspicion?
Chen Ji said calmly without turning his head: "All the way to Guyuan, you never complained about the hardship or tiredness. No matter who you faced or who the other party was, you always stood in front of me to protect me. Thank you."

Xiaoman felt relieved as a huge rock fell from her heart. It turned out that this was what the young master meant.

She said, "Sir, you don't have to be polite. I am your maid. This is what I should do..."

Chen Ji spoke again: "Xiao Man, don't worry about your identity."

Xiaoman was startled.

Identity?

Did the young master know his identity in the "lamp"? Was he heard talking to Su Zhou? Or did he accidentally talk in his sleep?
Chen Ji comforted her in a gentle voice, "When we get to the capital, I will ask Madam to return your indenture. It is up to you whether you want to leave or stay. If you want to leave, I will give you a dowry. If you want to stay, I will increase your monthly salary."

Xiaoman's emotions seemed to be fluctuating between the clouds and the earth, up and down, and her heart was pounding.

But when she heard that she could get her indenture back, she couldn't suppress her joy: "Sir, you must keep your word. You said you would return my indenture to me. Don't regret it."

Chen Ji hummed and whispered, "Go back and rest. I'll continue to watch."

"Oh."

Xiaoman returned to the small chair in a daze. When her butt touched the chair, she remembered that she was going to test the young master!

She looked at Chen Ji's figure suspiciously, and the more she thought about it, the more suspicious she became!
Ah! When did the young master become so cunning... He must have been led astray by Zhang Zheng!

Thinking of this, she secretly stretched out her legs and kicked Zhang Zheng who was sleeping not far away, but Zhang Zheng did not even open his eyes. He just turned over and continued to sleep.

Xiaoman muttered, "He slept so soundly that he didn't even know he was killed!"

At this time, Chen Ji stared at the stable through the window. He wanted to see if the fat man who entered the stable would come out, but he had been waiting for more than an hour and there was still no sign of the man.

Could it be that the secret passage to quietly leave Guyuan Military Town is under this stable? Where did the guest next door go when he left home in the middle of the night? Could it be that he was also leaving Guyuan City?
But Chen Ji waited until dawn and saw no one coming in or out of the stable. It was not until the rooster crowed that the innkeeper came to feed the horses with hay.

He looked out again and saw that all the torches and braziers on the distant city wall had been extinguished.

Fortunately, Jingchao’s Tiance Army did not come.

Chen Ji thought for a moment, handed the whale knife to Xiaoman, turned around and walked out the door: "Guard the house."

Xiaoman sat on the chair, turned around and looked at Chen Ji's back. When the door closed again, she quietly untied the cloth strip on the whale knife and pulled out a foot-long blade.

The blade was so bright and shiny that Xiaoman could see her own face clearly on it. She had never seen such a good blade before, not even from her aunt's house.

Xiaoman thought for a moment, smoothed her hair against the blade, and then sheathed the sword as if nothing had happened.

Chen Ji walked down the stairs quietly. In the main hall on the first floor of the inn, three waiters were setting up the tables and chairs.

When the guys saw him coming down, they all stopped what they were doing and bowed, saying, "Greetings, sir."

Chen Ji nodded and walked to the backyard. The shopkeeper winked at Xiao Wu, and Xiao Wu limped behind Chen Ji.

"Sir, do you have any instructions for me?" Xiao Wu asked with a smile.

Chen Ji smiled and said, "I'll go comb the horse's hair."

Xiao Wu hurriedly said, "Sir, I'd better let me do this dirty work. The stable is a dirty place and it smells very bad."

Chen Ji explained: "My horse has a bad temper and won't let anyone touch it."

As he said this, he walked straight to the stable and stretched out his hand. Zaozao came forward and nudged his palm with his head.

Xiao Wu praised: "Sir, this horse is truly amazing. Even the war horses we bought from the north are not as strong as this one."

Chen Ji opened the stable door and led Zao Zao out: "Please go get two pounds of fried soybeans and two eggs, and put them on my account at Tianzi Jiafang."

Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed: "Okay!"

Chen Ji listened to the footsteps fading away behind him and immediately glanced at the stable.

In the stable, more than twenty horses were tied to hitching posts, and the ground was covered with thick straw. Perhaps the secret passage was hidden under a piece of straw.

At this moment, Chen Ji suddenly saw a corrugated black gauze hat in the corner of the stable, which had been deformed by the horse's hooves.

Why is there a corrugated black gauze hat scattered here? Is it the fat man's from last night?

The fat man was indeed wearing a corrugated black gauze hat, but late last night, the style of this hat was very similar, and Chen Ji was not sure whether it was the fat man's.

Chen Ji used a wooden comb to comb away the loose hair from Zao Zao's hair, and waited for Xiao Wu to come back with the soybeans. However, it was not Xiao Wu who came back, but the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper handed the wooden basin to Zaozao, but Zaozao remained unmoved.

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Let me do it." He took the wooden basin and handed it to Zaozao, who snorted and gobbled the food up voraciously.

The shopkeeper exclaimed in amazement: "Sir, this horse is really smart. Xiaowu just told me that others can't touch your horse, but I didn't believe it."

As he spoke, he glanced towards the stable and saw the black hat, and immediately frowned.

The shopkeeper took a few steps, standing between Chen Ji and the black gauze hat, and asked with a smile, "Where are you from, sir?"

Chen Ji answered the question irrelevantly: "Boss, how did that clerk become lame just now?"

The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "There's no need to hide it from you. We were all frontier soldiers before. Xiaowu was shot through the ankle by a sharpshooter from the Jingchao Tiance Army at the foot of Quwu Mountain."

Chen Ji suddenly asked, "Doesn't our Ning Dynasty have firearms? But when I passed the South City Gate last night, I didn't see any border troops holding firearms."

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Firearms are military equipment only provided to the three major camps, and they will not be used by our Guyuan Dusi Mansion."

Chen Ji asked in confusion: "Why, aren't they all used to fight the thieves from Jing Dynasty?"

The shopkeeper said slowly, "The imperial court doesn't trust us, and is afraid that we will sell firearms to the north privately... Since you are so concerned about the border troops, I'm afraid you are a spy from the Jing Dynasty, right?"

Chen Ji said nonchalantly: "Boss, I'm looking for a spy from Jing Dynasty, do you believe me?"

The shopkeeper looked Chen Ji up and down and said, "No, you look more like a top scholar who is going to Beijing for the imperial examination."

"The shopkeeper is really good at talking nicely," Chen Ji suddenly turned to look at the shopkeeper: "Excuse me, if I want to buy some information, where should I go?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Sir, you have come to the right place. Come to the main hall at noon and you will find what you want."

……

……

Chenshi.

Chen Ji led Zhang Zheng, Zhang Xia and Xiaoman downstairs, planning to have breakfast at the Longmen Inn.

But when they walked down the stairs, they were all stunned. The main hall of the inn, which was empty last night, was now almost full of guests.

When Chen Ji came down from upstairs, all the guests in the room looked at him sideways, then turned back as if nothing had happened and continued to eat the side dishes in front of them.

Some of the guests were carrying knives, some were wearing swords, some were sitting alone, and there were seven or eight people crowded around the same octagonal table eating melon seeds.

There was only one empty table in the middle of the entire main hall.

Zhang Xia hesitated and asked, "Why is it so lively?"

Zhang Zheng whispered, "Guyuan people are so weird. Drinking so early in the morning?"

Chen Ji glanced around and saw that there were wine jars on each table, but the jars were still covered with red cloth and sealed with mud, and they had not been moved.

Zhang Xia recalled: "I have heard that there is a custom of drinking early in the morning in Chuanzhou. Even wealthy men would go to the street to order a small pot of braised beef and pork intestines to eat with strong liquor. But I have never heard that Guyuan also has this custom."

Chen Ji walked to the empty table and was about to sit down when he was stopped by Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu smiled and said, "Sir, this table is not available."

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Are there any rules here?"

Xiao Liu hurriedly explained: "It's not a rule, it's just that this table is reserved for my boss of Longmen Inn. No one can sit here unless the boss comes."

Chen Ji asked calmly, "Who is the boss?"

Xiao Liu smiled and said, "It is inconvenient to tell you the identity of the old lady of the boss family. If you are destined, you will meet her."

As they were talking, someone at the next table stood up and left. The waiter led Chen Ji over and said, "Sir, please sit here."

When Chen Ji sat down, he discovered that the wine on the table had not been removed from its red cloth seal and had not been taken away until the guest had left.

Xiaoliu picked up the wine jar and asked, "What would you like to eat, sir?"

Chen Ji glanced at the wooden sign hanging behind the counter: "Two baskets of steamed buns, four bowls of noodles."

Xiaoliu suddenly asked, "Sir, do you want steamed buns or meat buns?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "It's vegetarian."

"Sir, would you like Western grape wine or Shaodaozi?"

Chen Ji's heart moved. The other party didn't ask him whether he wanted to drink or not, but directly asked him what kind of wine he wanted.

He looked around, but saw that the wine jars on the table next to him had "grape wine" and "shaodaozi" written on them, and there was nothing strange about them.

Chen Ji thought for a moment and asked calmly, "Hey, man, what's this jar in your arms?"

The waiter smiled and replied, "Burning knife."

Chen Ji pointed at the table and said, "Put it down. I want this jar of Shaodaozi."

The waiter shouted, "Okay, a jar of Shaodaozi!"

As soon as these words were spoken, people around looked over and started whispering.

The waiter put the jar of Shaodaozi back on the table and said, "Sir, the wine is here. The buns will take a while."

Chen Ji hummed.

As the waiter turned to leave, a man with a knife stood up, walked straight to the table and sat down, and asked casually, "You look unfamiliar, young man, what news do you have to sell?"

There was a sudden silence around them, and guests at several tables pricked up their ears.

(End of this chapter)