Day and night tour

Chapter 39 Fish Sashimi
The water in the pot bubbled up and down until all the water pipe tobacco was burned to ashes. Then Yuan Buyu put the copper pipe down heavily and stood up and walked to the bed.

The bed was a four-legged iron bed with space under it where two red-painted pear wood boxes were stuffed.

A box of seasonal clothes and a box of ancient book manuscripts were all Yuan Buyu's belongings.

There was a thin layer of dust on the box of ancient books. Yuan Buyu blew away the dust and opened the lock.

All the ancient books in the box were about Shu Liangzi, and the manuscripts were all handwritten. The cover had Yuan Buyu's handwritten title. The handwriting was like his paintings, crooked and difficult to recognize.

The names of the manuscripts are almost all related to the Blood Well, such as "Tracking Investigation of Folk Blood Well Psychics", "Oral Accounts of Family Members of Those Who Died in Dreams of the Blood Well", etc.

There is very little valuable content in these manuscripts. Despite this, Yuan Buyu still memorized every copy, word for word.

He moved the manuscripts one by one and picked up the one at the bottom.

This book has no name on its cover, and the entire book is made of dot-matrix paper, which is recognized as a high-end product by many printing houses. The paper surface is smooth and even if it is kept for many years, it rarely shows signs of aging and cracking.

Yuan Buyu had a solemn expression as he opened the manuscript. Every page was filled with paintings.

The painting on the first page is a random pencil drawing, like a ball of wool that has been scattered and then randomly kneaded into a ball. From a distance, nothing wrong can be seen, but if you feel it carefully, you can feel a very strong emotion from these lines - anger.

The painting on the second page was done with a pen, and it was painted with great force. Each stroke left a deep mark on the thick dot-matrix paper, which shows how impatient the artist was when painting.

The painting shows a rabbit without eyes or nostrils...the three glaring holes in its eyes make people feel creepy.

Yuan Buyu slowly flipped through the pages until he reached the last picture.

Rather than calling this a painting, it would be more accurate to say that this is a sentence drawn with many messy lines - Master, I want to eat you!
"Hehe, Xiao Guoer, your madness at the end of your life was not as fierce as Xuan's psychic."

Yuan Buyu sat there with a bitter smile. As he smiled, Xiao Guoer's voice and smile gradually became clear in front of his eyes. He suddenly lowered his head and covered his face with his sleeves. Tears fell after a few seconds, as if several years had passed.

……

The orange light of dusk was soft, and the wild cats of the Zhou family also enjoyed this leisure, lying on the green tiles on the roof in a daze.

The banquet to calm the nerves in the courtyard was neatly laid out, and before all four cold dishes were served, the men in the troupe were already drinking and drinking.

There were also three tables of banquets in the inner courtyard, but only two of them were occupied. The five senior brothers and their families, Zhou Lingyi and Zhou Xuan sat at the two tables as the main seats.

Except for Yu Jia who was still busy in the newspaper office, everyone else had arrived.

"Fourth Senior Brother is busy, so he asked me to tell you that we don't need to wait for him. Let's eat first."

After Zhou Lingyi spoke, everyone started eating the cold dishes with their chopsticks.

As time went by, the hot dishes were served one after another.

The dishes served at the banquet were from the Huaiyang recipes proposed by Zhou Xuan. The key points of cooking each dish had been explained to Yuan Buyu in advance. However, on the one hand, Yuan Buyu had rarely eaten or cooked similar dishes, and on the other hand, it was not realistic to accurately replicate the appearance and taste of the dishes just by explaining the dishes.

The Huaiyang cuisine produced by Lao Yuan is not as exquisite as those in good restaurants, but fortunately it is fresh, slightly sweet and mild in taste. Everyone can't stop eating.

In addition to Zhou Xuanjiao’s dishes, there is also an extra sashimi dish.

The way this sashimi is cooked is very strange. A carp is cut open and the internal organs are cleaned, then soaked in rice wine. Onion segments, chopped garlic and ginger slices are added to the wine. The fish's mouth can still move slightly.

“Is this sashimi or raw fish?”

Zhou Xuan stared at the raw fish and couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Onions, garlic and ginger are used to remove fishy smell, but using them on this raw fish is redundant.

"Oh, the waiter brought the wrong table."

Xu Li stood up and apologized to everyone, rolled up his sleeves, and brought the sashimi to the third table.

The dishes on this table were the same as those on the other two tables. Zhou Xuan asked Xu Li, who had returned to her seat, "Sister-in-law, who are you leaving the dishes on that table for?"

"Hush, don't scare them." Xu Li winked and pointed to the ground, then whispered, "We are a ghost opera troupe, we have rules, every time we have a banquet, we reserve a table for them."

"They?" Zhou Xuan suddenly realized.

Oh, so that’s why. That’s why raw fish doesn’t look like food for humans.

"Junior brother, you saved our troupe from a disaster yesterday. Big brother toasts to you." Yu Zhengyuan picked up the wine glass, raised it towards Zhou Xuan who had already stood up, and drank it all in one gulp. Zhou Xuan also drank up the rice wine in the glass.

After three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere at the table became lively and the topics of conversation were varied.

Li Shuangyi was a drama fanatic. Whenever he met someone, he would talk about how to sing a play. Everyone would laugh and say, "Third Senior Brother, can you please stop talking about drama for a moment?!"

"That's right. Haven't you talked enough with your disciples? Besides, we have to pursue something. Let's talk about people's livelihood. You don't know that Qianlong Mountain has suffered a disaster recently. It rained there, and mountain torrents broke out, washing away the villages in the mountains..."

Yu Zhengyuan was speaking enthusiastically, but everyone was bored. They might as well talk about opera.

Xu Li advised: "Old Yu, don't ruin the atmosphere when you are drinking. If you want to donate money, donate money. If you want to contribute, donate your efforts..."

"Why does Senior Brother like to talk about the disaster so much?" Zhou Xuan asked.

"Your senior brother reads too many miscellaneous books. A man who manages an opera troupe is more concerned about the country and the people than those officials in the government office. He also writes poetry on a regular basis. When I hear about his poems, I shake my head." Xu Li was disgusted.

When Yu Zhengyuan heard Xu Lizhou Xuan talking about poetry, he thought they were praising him, and his poetic inspiration was aroused. He came up to them and insisted on reciting one.

"Xiao Xuan, Senior Brother will read you a poem to open your eyes."

Zhou Xuan really couldn't avoid it, so he had to let him read it.

Yu Zhengyuan clasped his fists and said modestly, "I'm sorry for showing off my ugliness!"

"Zhoujiaban is all white in the morning. The big and small trees are like girls. If you reach out and touch them gently, it's all in vain."

"what?"

Zhou Xuan felt very enlightened - this is how poetry is written?!

"Xiao Xuan, what do you think of this poem by Senior Brother?"

"The poem is like the author, the main theme is honesty... I will show my ugliness, not making a fuss at all!"

Yu Zhengyuan: “…”

Yu Zhengyuan and Li Shuangyi are good at ruining the atmosphere, but the one who really brings the atmosphere to life is the second sister-in-law Song Jie.

She twisted her plump hips and toasted everyone one by one. Her voice was soft and her expression was charming. After a round of toasts, Second Senior Brother Zheng Jiujiang's face turned green, especially when he noticed that Zhou Xuan glanced at Song Jie's buttocks, his face turned even greener.

After Zhou Xuan became psychic, his perception became much stronger. He felt someone was watching him. He turned his head and saw the emerald green Zheng Jiujiang, and smiled awkwardly.

Zheng Jiujiang had a grudge with the original owner before, and since Zheng Jiujiang was doing purchasing work, he rarely showed up in the Zhou family yard, so Zhou Xuan was not familiar with him.

"Second Brother, I won't say anything more. It's all in the wine."

"Hmph." Zheng Jiujiang finished his drink and was still sulking.

Song Jie did not take care of Zheng Jiujiang's emotions. Instead, she sat down at Zhou Xuan's table and chatted with everyone about her company.

"Oh, there's a new director in the company recently. He said he wants to make an art film, and every actress wants to touch him..."

"Were you touched too?" Xu Li asked with concern.

"Hey, he wanted to touch me, but how could I get him that easily? However, although this director is a pervert, he is quite capable. I read the script written by the screenwriter he brought with him. It was written by a cultured person. I cried all night after reading it, and I still haven't gotten over the plot."

Song Jie did not participate in the daily management of the Zhou family. She was a movie actor. Although her status was not big enough, movies were a new thing for Pingshui Prefecture. The Zhou family was accompanied by dramas and funerals every day, so they were even more interested in movies.

Everyone listened to Song Jie, but Zhou Xuan didn't want to listen. He had heard too much about the unspoken rules and regulations in the film and television circles, so he left the table and sat on the stone pier at the gate to smoke.

As soon as the cigarette was lit, Zhou Lingyi's voice floated over.

"Brother, are you worried?"

"A little bit."

Zhou Xuan lowered his head and exhaled a puff of smoke, then said to Zhou Lingyi: "Sister, I want to light some incense and become a god..."

(End of this chapter)