Ever since Lin Manliu and Jiang Yanlin met the two purple-robed Taoists at the foot of the Star Viewing Mountain, they had never met anyone else.
In order to avoid being noticed by others when entering the city, the boy in short shirt decided to leave the horse in the bamboo forest outside the city. We can only wait until evening and then find a way to get him into the city.
The two of them drove lightly and simply towards the east gate of Fengcheng. After Lin Manliu's introduction, he roughly explained some situation related to Fengcheng to Jiang Yanlin beside him.
While the latter obeyed his words, he was also observing the surrounding movements. We are going into town after all...
"Brother Liu, is it really okay for us to enter the city in such a grand manner..." Jiang Yanlin was always worried and asked aloud.
Lin Manliu replied: "In the next few days, you stay in the house, and I will handle the purchase properly..."
"And we were running south without a clue a few days ago, so we couldn't meet up with Yijian Villa as soon as possible..." Jiang Yanlin nodded silently after hearing his explanation.
After a while, he seemed to untie his knot. Jiang Yanlin immediately laughed and said: "I understand! What we are doing is called 'hidden in the city'!" Lin Manliu, who was walking in front, could not help but stiffen slightly, and then he hummed again.
The two of them were walking at a slow pace. After passing through the bamboo forest, they saw the east wall in front of them, which was tall and wide but had not been repaired due to its age.
In the middle of the city wall is an open city gate. The gate on the east side of Fengcheng must open and close later than the other three sides.
After all, even those Yanyang soldiers guarding the city were extremely disgusted with coming to this mean alley in the East City. To them, this place is the lowest level in Feng City, and their impressions of this place are mostly barren, dirty, inferior... and the like.
Moreover, the east side of Fengcheng is surrounded by mountains except for the peak where the Star View Temple is located. There is no need to worry about anyone invading from here.
But looking at Lin Manliu, when he looked at the familiar city gate in front of him, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion. As a child, as long as he walked out of this door, it was the place where he played alone and was happiest. It was the small world full of joy when he was young.
"Let's walk into the city, just follow me later!"
"Yeah! Brother Liu!" In this Fengcheng, in addition to Lin Manliu's original pastry shop, there is also a secluded courtyard donated by the Star Visitor.
But at the intersection of the alley where the small courtyard is located, there are far more people coming and going on weekdays than at the pastry shop.
In this case, the boy in short shirt could only take Jiang Yanlin to their shop first. Lin Manliu skillfully took out the key from a small crack on the top of the door frame, which shocked Jiang Yanlin behind him.
"Brother Liu...Is this how you leave the keys to your house?"
"Most families in the east part of the city are like this. After all, they don't have much money at home... This is more convenient!" The boy in a short shirt responded.
In fact, there is another reason. This bunch of keys was given by Lin Manliu Niang herself. Because his father had to go away for several days whenever the government needed to go to work, and his mother had not been in good health since a few years ago.
Mother Lin, who was suffering from illness, could not always open the door to Father Lin who returned home, so she left a bunch of keys.
But a few years ago, the naughty child who couldn't pick up anything clearly and couldn't understand could not think of this. He would only think that this bunch of keys was left to him by his mother who was too playful and didn't remember the time.
Ever since he learned about the existence of this bunch of keys, he began to become more and more noisy as a child, and would not go home until dark.
Now that Lin Manliu thought about it, every time he returned home late at night, even though the shop and the backyard were not lit by candlelight.
But when he quietly climbed into the quilt, he would also hear a slight cough from the side room. It was his mother who was waiting for him to come home... When the boy in short shirt was thinking about it, Jiang Yanlin looked around, fearing that someone was paying attention to them at the moment.
Lin Manliu said: "Previously, many people died on the east side of the city due to the Tue Evil Sect incident. After the Tue Evil Sect incident, many people moved away. Even if they borrowed money, they would have to move to other places. So there are not many people now..." These things were what he saw when he went walking through the streets looking for family members of the caravan when the Tiandi Alliance factions, including the Fengxue Grand View Tower, were driven away by General Li.
As the key in his hand turned, the copper lock on the door of the shop was also opened. Lin Manliu opened the door, and soon there was the sour smell of cakes and the smell of dust from a house that had been closed for a long time.
Jiang Yanlin originally wanted to walk directly into it, but as soon as the smell entered his nose, he immediately took a few steps back.
"Cough, cough, cough...Brother Liu, what does this smell like!" Listening to the coughing sound from behind, Lin Manliu covered his mouth and nose and walked in, and started to explain to Jiang Yanlin.
"I was in a hurry when I left, so I didn't take away the pastries displayed in the house. It will naturally happen after a long time!"
"I saw so many pastries in the house, and I originally wanted to grab a few to fill my stomach..." Jiang Yanlin learned quickly, raised his sleeves and followed in.
Lin Manliu said: "I can't eat these... But Yanlin can help me later and we can pack them out!" Jiang Yanlin hurriedly responded and went to help the boy in the short shirt in front of him pick up the sour ones. pastries.
He looked at the pastry in his hand, which was already sour but still presentable. It's just sour... I've also eaten steamed buns that are more tastier and harder to swallow than these... How can I dislike these pastries now?
Jiang Yanlin picked up one of the pieces, stared at it for a long time, then put it in his mouth and started chewing. Lin Manliu listened to the movement behind him and quickly turned his head to look over.
"Yan Lin can't eat these anymore..." But the person behind him seemed not to have heard it and picked up another piece and threw it into his mouth.
He chewed faster and faster, so that in the end he stopped chewing. Instead, he stuffed all the already sour pastries into his mouth and swallowed them directly.
The boy in short shirt looked at this scene and was slightly in a daze. This Jiang Yanlin in his memory was very different from the Jiang Yanlin he had spent with each other these days.
"Yan Lin..." The latter still didn't reply, but tears were shining in his eyes. Soon these two lines of hot tears fell from Jiang Yanlin's eyes, and gradually he began to sob.
"Being able to see...Brother Liu is already...the best...the best..." Lin Manliu said: "It will get better slowly in the future, don't be afraid!" The boy in a short shirt said He took the sour pastry out of his hand and took it to the backyard.
Jiang Yanlin sat on the stone steps, covering his face with his hands and crying, still repeating the previous words...
"Wait for me here first. After I pack up, I'll see if I can go buy some food on the street!"
"Okay..." The boy in a short shirt looked at the appearance of the person in front of him and sighed. After all, the matter is not yet involved, and I hope that this journey can safely send him back to Jiangnan.
Lin Manliu returned to the shop in the front room and quickly packed away all the pastries and sundries.
When he returned to the backyard again, he saw that Jiang Yanlin was getting better, so he asked him to go to the main house to rest first.
Then the boy in a short shirt put on his father's old clothes, closed the door and went out. When I left Fengcheng, it was not even September last year.
Returning again, it was almost June... Lin Manliu walked on the streets and saw that all the wine shops and tea stalls in the past were gone. They must have moved away.
Suddenly, he saw a figure dressed as a woman at the entrance of the street. The boy in a short shirt immediately walked towards the alley next to him.
The woman seemed to hear the movement and turned her head to look over, but saw nothing. Aunt Ruan? She hasn't moved out yet... Lin Manliu clings to the alley wall, ready to escape at any moment.
With the lesson that Brother Dong had learned through his death, the boy in a short shirt didn't want to appear in front of anyone he knew anymore.
Ruan looked at these ordinary streets for a while, and then continued walking forward. After the boy in the short shirt confirmed that she was gone, he walked out of the alley and returned to the street.
In order to avoid being recognized, Lin Manliu finally chose a steamed bun shop that he had never dealt with before, bought three or two steamed buns and returned to the pastry shop.
Jiang Yanlin, who was in the backyard, heard the door open. He carefully hugged Xia Mingchan and didn't put Xia Mingchan back in her original position until Lin Manliu called out softly.
"Yan Lin, it's me!"
"Brother Liu came back so early! I thought it was someone else..." Lin Manliu raised his hand and handed the steamed bun wrapped in clothes to Jiang Yanlin.
As soon as Dabai Mantou was taken into his hands, the latter put it in his mouth.
"Brother Liu, let's eat too!" The boy in a short shirt grunted and gnawed on the steamed bun in his hand.
"That's right, Yanlin, let me tell you first where the dry toilets on the east side of the city are..." Jiang Yanlin was eating steamed buns and looked at Lin Manliu with a puzzled look on his face.
"Brother Liu, why is this?"
"You just ate so many cakes. If you need to go to the toilet later, you will naturally have to know the place in advance..."
"Okay?" Hearing this slightly corrective tone, Lin Manliu rolled his eyes at him.
"Yanlin, don't leave it in the yard and solve it on the spot..." Jiang Yanlin had no choice but to give up and said, "Brother Liu, please take me there later!"
"That's right!" As the sunset approached, the sky gradually darkened. Lin Manliu was about to take Jiang Yanlin out. Finding a dry latrine was actually only secondary. The main thing was to arrange the horses outside the city properly.
Whether you bring it into the city or continue to hide it outside the city, you need to treat it with caution. Only in this way can we have the capital to escape in time in times of crisis.
But when Lin Manliu opened the door, the next moment he saw a figure standing outside the shop. The figure's appearance was very familiar, it was Ruan who he had bumped into before when he went out.
After all, there was no way to escape... The boy in a short shirt had no choice but to call out softly: "Aunt Ruan..." Ruan's face looked a little haggard, but when she looked at Lin Manliu, she managed to squeeze out a smile.
"Man Liu is back?" Lin Man Liu nodded and replied, "Well, I just came back today..." Ruan didn't look at Jiang Yanlin behind her, but just stared at his face.
"There are not many households left in the east side of the city. I usually walk on the street when I have nothing to do... I just walked around and got here..." Lin Man said in six words: "It's getting late. It's time for Aunt Ruan to rest early..." Ruan nodded her head twice and let out a long sigh.
"I'll be back in a moment... By the way, if you can be of any help during these days, feel free to come and ask me..." Before the boy in a short shirt could give any reply, the woman turned and walked away. .
Lin Manliu looked at her back, his expression began to become a little complicated. Living alone in these narrow streets and alleys for a long time is too bitter after all.
"Yan Lin, let's go."
"Um..."
