Hibiscus Flower West Moon Splendid

Chapter 152: Spring Grace and Yellow Two (1)
In the third year of Yuanqing, after the Waking of Insects, the spring breeze blows into Yumen Pass, and everything recovers.

At midnight, the jade bow was hidden in the clouds, and in Suzhou, darkness shrouded the border town "Huangliang Town".

In silence, Lan Sheng saw off the last drunken guest, yawned, and slowly crossed the threshold, and was about to put away the wine flag floating faintly in the night sky, but was caught by a black thing on the way. I stumbled and almost fell.

He quickly stabilized his body, looked back, and saw the black thing sitting up slowly, barking at him a few times, he was startled, and when he looked closely, it was a Big black dog.This dog has been obediently waiting for its owner at the door of the restaurant all year round. Its two bright black eyes stared at him, which made him furious for no reason. He let out a long sigh and patted his chest, "So it's Xiao Zhong."

The black dog suddenly raised its two front paws to rest on his arms, and stuck out its big tongue at him haha.Lan Sheng was amused, and sat on the threshold, stroking the little black dog, "Aren't you coming to find your father?"

The black dog barked twice as an answer.Lan Sheng sighed, "What a good boy. But your father seems to have left through the back door and went to the casino."

The black dog stared at Lan Sheng's mouth thoughtfully, as if trying to figure out the meaning, then turned his head and looked in the direction of the casino.

Lan Sheng stretched his head into the room to make sure that the shopkeeper had already rested, so he took the leftover meat and chicken offal from the guests, handed it to Xiao Zhong, and said seriously: "I haven't eaten yet, I'll go find some after eating." Your father. I think your father is in a good mood, so he can spend the night there if he doesn’t eat, or he will be hungry all night.”

Xiao Zhong obediently squatted in front of Lan Sheng, sniffed the dirt plate, and then began to gobble it up.Lan Sheng looked at Xiaozhong's eating, breathed on his hands, rubbed his hands together, and said in a low voice: "I think your father may go to Qiuxiang Pavilion to find a good friend when he turns back. Last time, let him give me a chance to help you." I don't know where to send the hairpins from Miss Qiao."

Lan Sheng talked to the black dog, like an old friend, about his thoughts, from the petty shopkeeper to Qiaoqiao, the top card in Qiuxiang Pavilion, which he admired. Listen patiently to him.

The black dog barked twice at Lan Sheng, lowered its head and began to sniff towards the gambling house. It didn't go far, but suddenly stopped, looked around vigilantly, and then ran back to Lan Sheng uneasily, biting His sleeve tugged hard towards the inn.

Lan Sheng asked suspiciously: "Xiao Zhong, you're still hungry, I'll find you something to eat. But you can just order, I'm sleepy, I need to sleep..."

The black dog's strength suddenly increased, and he dragged Lan Sheng in.Fortunately, Beidi Chuchun's clothes were still heavy, the dog's teeth did not bite Lan Sheng, but the sleeves were still bitten.As a clerk, Lan Sheng was so tired that he was half dead. He only had this winter coat for a year. Even though he liked Xiao Zhong so much, he was annoyed this time. There were shouts one after another, and soon there was a sound of galloping horseshoes in the distance.

After a while, there was a commotion outside the door, Lan Sheng wanted to go out curiously, but the black dog was biting his sleeve desperately, he picked up the chair angrily and was about to drive the dog away, but the boss who was already lying down looked nervous Putting on his clothes, he came out, the candle in his hand kept shaking, and asked in panic, "What's the matter?"

Lan Sheng was about to answer, but the black dog let him go in fear, and rushed towards the back door.

A dozen tall men in black stopped at the door.The big man in front was full of muscles, tall and strong, with dark brown scars all over his face, he just heard him shouting immediately: "Xiaosheng, this is Huangliang Town?"

Lan Sheng nodded.

The man with the scar got off his horse and ran to a slender figure wearing a black gauze in the middle, and said a few words in a respectful and soft voice, as if he was talking about a gambling house or something.

As the night breeze swayed slightly and the black veil fluttered, Lan Sheng caught a glimpse of the man's beautiful eyes emitting a faint purple light under the dim light, which looked like the eyes of a wild beast.

But when the man with the scar came back, he said coldly, "Three first-class guest rooms."

The shopkeeper came down and stammered: "The guest rooms are full, all..."

Before the words fell, the man with the scar stared at him, and the shopkeeper shrank back, leaving only a trembling voice to Lan Sheng, "Lan Sheng, you are so good at serving the guests."

The purple pupils behind the black veil swept towards Lan Sheng, who was immediately frightened out of his wits.In the past few years, the world has been turbulent, and there are terrible legends about Xiliang horse thieves and the Nether Sect circulating inside and outside the pass. He tried to calm down, "Guests...officials, officials, small ones dare not lie, lie...you, the only one left The next two medium rooms, and one lower room."

The leading man frowned, as if he was going to have a fit, and the woman in black gauze called out softly in an authentic Mandarin, "Qiao Wan, don't be so particular when you're away from home."

The man with the scar named Qiao Wan made a promise, and threw a bright object from his arms with squinted eyes, "Your reward."

Lan Sheng took it trembling, but his hands couldn't help shaking excitedly. It turned out that it was an ingot of two taels of silver.

Lan Sheng's whole body surged with energy, and he led everyone up to the third floor.

When Lan Sheng turned his head, he saw that Mrs. Heisha was surrounded by big men, Yingying followed behind her.

Lan Sheng suddenly remembered that there was a scholar who lived in their inn the year before last and shook his head and chanted, "The so-called beautiful woman is graceful and graceful". The middle lover Qiaoqiao is more beautiful.

After the horses were settled, Lan Sheng brought hot water and sent them to the houses. When he came to the lady's room, someone stopped him and asked in a deep voice, "Xiao Er, do you hear that some people here buy two catties of rice wine and half a pot of rice wine every day?" Salty?"

"The guest officer is asking about Jiao Da? The turtle slave of Qiuxiang Pavilion?" Lan Sheng rubbed his forehead and thought for a while, then nodded, "Now he is the only one who comes to make two catties of rice wine and half a cup of salt every day."

The big man's eyes shot out, and the scars all over his face twisted. He grabbed Lan Sheng and said sharply, "Where is he now?"

"He is a well-known bad gambler in the local area," Lan Sheng stammered, pointing in the direction of the gambling house with his fingers like autumn leaves in the wind, "he is probably in the gambling house now. Could it be that this uncle is also a debt collector?"

"Qiao Wan let go," came a soft voice, it was the lady, "what's the name of this little brother?"

Qiao Wan let go of Lan Sheng as he said.

Lan Sheng hurriedly leaned over and replied, "Madam will call the little Lan Sheng."

"Brother Lan Sheng, to tell you the truth, my concubine and her family came out to find her eldest sister who had been lost for many years." The lady sighed, "I wonder if there is any female family member in the Jiao family?"

Lan Sheng nodded, "Exactly. This Jiao Da is a bad gambler. He even gambled away his ancestral house this year, and almost sold his wife to Qiuxiang Pavilion. His wife fell ill in a fit of anger. He didn't come out for a year. He didn't have money to see a doctor for his wife, so he asked for a folk prescription from the temple in front of him. Every day, he would come to our inn to buy two catties of rice wine and half a pot of salt, which he said was used to mix the red willow leaves. , to wipe his wife's body. Could it be that Jiao Da's wife is the lost relative of his wife?" Lan Sheng said doubtfully.

The lady was silent for a while, and glanced at the big man named Qiao Wan through the black veil.

The candlelight flickered for a moment, reflecting those coquettish purple pupils, and glanced at Lan Sheng with a cold light.Lan Sheng took a step back involuntarily, lowered his head, his heart was beating rapidly.

But the lady said softly: "Brother Lansheng, my family is a foreigner. It is very inconvenient to walk outside. I am most afraid of disturbing your place. Please don't spread the word."

After all, as soon as he raised his hand, Qiao Wan threw him two taels of silver with a sullen face.

Surprised and delighted, Lan Sheng held the four taels of silver tightly in his arms and slept restlessly all night, and woke up the next day to the sound of cocks crowing.Lan Sheng jumped out of the bed, washed up hastily, opened the shop door to do business, and saw a dark-faced middle-aged man sleeping at the door of the inn with his sleeves wrapped around his sleeves.

Lan Sheng called out, "Jiao Da."

The man snored, turned over and continued to sleep soundly.

Lan Sheng called several times and kicked him hard, and the man woke up.The man yawned, his nose was red, his eyes were sleepy and he said: "Two catties of high-quality rice wine and half a pot of salt."

Lan Sheng said contemptuously, "Jiao Da, do you have money to pay the bill today?"

Jiao Da seemed to be fully awake, stood up slowly, and snorted heavily, "Little brat, when did I ever rely on you, Mr. Jiao? I have plenty of money, but I was just thinking about it so as not to scare you, you brat."

Lan Sheng laughed a few times, then stretched out his five fingers expressionlessly, "Bring me the money."

Jiao Da spit on the bluestone slab, murmured a few words, touched a few copper coins in his arms, and counted them one by one for a long time before handing them out distressedly, "It's all caused by that damned mother-in-law." Misfortune. Take it, it’s exactly eight characters.”

Lan Sheng scolded the rotten gambler in his heart, and took a long time to get the eight Wen coins from Jiao Da's filthy hands, counted them, and said in a low voice: "Hey, did you give the hairpin to Miss Qiaoqiao for me?"

Jiao Da faltered and hawed for a long time, and was about to run away with oil on his feet, before he could take a half step, he stopped there suddenly, staring blankly at the eight horses in the stable.

Lan Sheng wanted to ask about the hairpin, but saw that Jiao Da's eyes showed unprecedented fear. Even the last time a gambling shop beater threatened to pick his skin to pay off the debt, he had never seen him so scared, as if seeing a ghost in broad daylight. generally.

Thinking of what the lady said last night, just as Lan Sheng was about to speak, Jiao Da ran away without looking back, not even asking for wine.

"Jiao Da, Jiao Da?" Lan Sheng called out loudly.That Jiao Da disappeared in a blink of an eye, Lan Sheng had no choice but to curse inwardly as a rotten gambler.

As soon as he turned around, he saw a person standing in front of him, it was Qiao Wan from last night.Lan Sheng was startled, "Guest officer, what are your orders?"

That Qiao Wan ignored him, just stared at the direction where Jiao Da disappeared with his eyes as big as copper bells, turned and left silently with his eyes flickering.

As the sun rose, the first thing the shopkeeper got up was to ask Lan Sheng about the strange things of last night.Lan Sheng answered truthfully, except for the four taels of silver.

The shopkeeper went to the upper room to greet him again, but was blocked by a few black-clothed house slaves who were waiting outside, so he had to return angrily.

Hundreds of years ago, Huangliang Town was the place where the Ting Dynasty and the Western Regions exchanged trade. 200 years ago, someone discovered a gold mine fifty miles away from this town. Gold diggers from all over the world gathered here, and gradually developed into a town, named "Huangliang". , implying golden ten thousand taels.Now that the gold is gone, the Turks and the Ting Dynasty have been fighting and peaceful for decades, and there have been troubled times and bandits. Six out of ten townspeople have fled here. Huangliang Town has gradually become a slightly desolate northwest town. , the husband and wife of the east family quarreled, and the old man of the west family had scabies on his body, they would all be talked about for a long time, let alone such a precious mysterious visitor?During the day, the shopkeeper was thinking about the abacus, and he was quietly talking about this strange event with the shop assistants and a few regular customers.

Lan Sheng remembered the rice wine and salt that Jiao Da had forgotten, so at night, he took the rice wine and salt to Jiao Da's house.

(End of this chapter)