The road is muddy, so walk barefoot. The calico cat was also following Song You, taking small steps. Every time a foot poked into the mud, there was a small hole, with small plum blossom-like footprints in the hole.
Mud put a pair of shoes on her feet.
"Yeah!" The calico cat blinked. It was Song You who stepped up and splashed muddy water on her face, so she ran diagonally with small steps, a little further away from Song You, and continued to move forward together.
There is a household in front. The city gradually became visible in the morning mist after the rain. Song You suddenly stopped.
The calico cat followed him to a stop, looked up at him, and then followed his gaze to look at the people in the distance suspiciously.
Several thatched houses, with fields in front and dirt behind, and cherry trees next to them. Several children are stealing cherries. cherries
Known as "the first branch of a hundred fruits", it is only March, but it is already ripe. Strings of red pearls among the green leaves are covered with branches.
Two children climbed up the tree, the other two children pulled their clothes and walked around under the tree, and another child was responsible for looking out.
The Taoist stopped and looked at them, and they looked at the Taoist too. It was because of this oversight that a figure emerged from the thatched hut behind him, but the child watching the wind did not notice it.
"Which baby!" shouted, shocking the children out of their wits. The three people under the tree turned around and ran away, and the two people on the tree also jumped down from the tree in a hurry. Fortunately, they didn't have any shoes on, otherwise they would have run away.
The old man chased after him using his crutch as a stick. Song You looked at this scene with a smile. Suddenly I remembered the countryside in my previous life. It was like this when I was young. When the fruits were ripe, it was the time for the children to show off their skills.
I won’t delve into the right and wrong consequences of this behavior here. It’s just that it felt like a different world later. The trees were full of fruits and no children came to steal them. There were even fewer birds to peck the fruits. Only The old man was left sitting under the fruit tree, lamenting the time and years.
A child ran onto the road and passed him. The old man didn't pursue him too far, he only stopped and scolded him. The children shrank their heads, feeling guilty and not daring to answer. They avoided the old man's eyes and the Taoist's eyes, and only glanced at the calico cat next to the Taoist.
Unexpectedly, the Taoist smiled and asked them to eat cherries. A child was bold and walked over with cherries in his pocket. He stretched out his dark and dirty hands and grabbed a large handful. After thinking about it, he loosened his fingers and let some of them leak out before putting them in the Taoist's hand. inside.
"Thank you guys."
"Is this the cat you feed?"
"It's the cat that's with me."
"It won't run?"
"She's with me."
"Where are you going?"
"Nanhua County."
"It's right in front."
"Thanks."
"Hahaha..." The children swarmed and walked onto a path. Their footsteps were unusually brisk on the dirt, jumping as they walked.
Song You lowered his head and looked at the cherry in his hand. It had just rained and it was still wet. No matter whether it is rain or dew, there is no need to remove it. No matter whether it is dirty or not, there is no need to wash it. It only needs to be passed on through the mouth.
You have to be careful when pinching perfectly ripe cherries with your fingertips. You can feel them trembling in the palm of your hand. When you put them in your mouth, you don’t have to exert any force. They break when you sip them lightly.
There is no sourness, nor is it very sweet. It has the fragrance of juicy cherries, and the existence of the pulp is almost invisible. It is very refreshing.
Of course, Song You did not forget Sanhua Empress: "Do you want Sanhua Empress to eat?"
"Cats don't eat fruit."
"This is called cherry."
"Cherry~"
"Do you want to eat it?" The calico cat wanted to say that cats don't eat fruit, but suddenly remembered that he had eaten fruit, so he thought for a while and then asked: "Is it delicious?"
"delicious."
"Is it the same as Hawthorn?"
"Of course it's different."
"Is there anything special?"
"The special thing is it's a cherry."
"It's a stolen cherry."
"I asked for it."
"They stole it."
"yes."
"This is wrong!"
"Of course, Sanhua Empress should not do such a thing." Song You sipped the cherry until there was only one seed left, then spit it out on the roadside, and continued to say to the Sanhua cat: "But Sanhua Empress is upright for cats, right or wrong It’s obvious, I don’t need to remind you even if you think about it.”
"Yes!"
"Want to eat then?"
"Don't eat!"
“Very delicious.”
"Try one then."
"Is it tasty?"
"It's not as delicious as a mouse."
"Forget it."
"You seem to be very powerful..." One person and one cat slowly walked towards Nanhua County, still walking in the mud, but they didn't care.
If the mind is calm, there will be no worries; if the mind is pure, there will be no dirt. ...Nanhua County is built on a flat land, and the streets are paved with stone slabs. Except for a small section of the road just entering the city that is muddy, the rest of the city is easy to walk. In addition, it is not big, so it doesn't take long to go around in a circle.
Song You asked about two inns, found one that was more satisfactory, and booked a room for five days. The store owner found water and washed their feet.
Song You washed it himself first and asked the shop next to him: "I'm new to Nanhua and I'm not familiar with the place. Is there anything delicious or interesting here? Or are there any taboos that need to be paid attention to?"
"Where are you from, sir?"
"Come from Xuzhou."
"Our place is next to Xuzhou, which is actually not much different. What's special about it is that our soup cakes are quite good, but they are available in small shops and they are very good. In addition, our Nanhua is rich in cloth, and our Nanhua's cloth They are the best in the whole of Pingzhou and even in Dayan. If you are willing, sir, you can buy some." The shopkeeper thought about it.
"If you want to talk about interesting things, I can't think of them at the moment."
"What's the taboo about that? I'm afraid I'll offend someone if I'm new here."
"Hey, there are so many taboos! Everyone in the world is just human. They are all the same. No matter where you are, just be careful, don't expose your wealth, don't go out at night, and just walk around when you encounter a fool."
"What the store said makes sense."
"Would you like a bowl of soup cake?"
"How much?"
"Twelve coins, soup made from bones."
"Have a bowl."
"Okay!" Song You washed his feet and just stretched out his hand to the calico cat. The calico cat obediently lifted its feet and stretched them into his hand.
"Ha..." Song You shook his head and washed it carefully, not missing any gaps in the flesh pads: "If I had asked Sanhua Empress to ride on the horse, I wouldn't have stepped on her legs to be covered in mud. Look, her body is covered with mud. have."
"It's just mud." The calico cat said and let him wash it. Although she didn't resist, she had to stare intently. Even when washing her feet, she had to turn her head and stare with her own eyes. She couldn't help but stare.
"Sir, let me wipe it for you." The store also brought them a footcloth.
"Thank you." After wiping it clean, he put on his shoes and socks and put the things back to the room upstairs. After coming down, he went out and cut three taels of raw meat to feed the cat. As soon as he came back, the store brought soup cakes.
Soup cakes are noodles, which come in many varieties, wide, thin, and thick. Most of them are called soup cakes. The soup cakes here are thin and wide noodles, like bed noodles or trouser belt noodles. There are not many other seasonings, just a bowl of soup stock, the soup cakes are spread inside, and some green onions are sprinkled on top.
"Sir, please take it easy."
"Excuse me."
"ah?"
"I was on my way yesterday and encountered rain. My luggage got wet. I wonder if the store is convenient for washing and drying clothes?"
"Sir, do you want to wash it yourself or ask Huanyi to help?"
"Wash yourself."
"You can wash it in the backyard and dry it there. There are many hemp ropes hanging on it. As long as you see someone who is free, you can just pick it up. I just need to pay more attention to it. Although it is not easy to be stolen, there is nothing you can do if the store is lost. Compensation." The store owner smiled and said,
"It's just that the little old man has been sitting here. People who come in and out can also see it, and he will help you pay attention."
"Thank you." Song You had already picked up the chopsticks and started eating the soup cake. Thin noodles are added to the soup stock, and the taste is the same anyway, without much to say.
This noodle is very tough, thin and wide, has an excellent taste and deserves the title of specialty. Seeing the store owner sitting in front of the store, not far from here, Song You asked casually: "Does the store owner know that there is a Li Daguan in the city?"
"Who is Mr. Li?"
"A very majestic one."
"How do you know, little old man..." The store owner obviously lowered his voice. It's not necessarily because of how scary the person is, but more likely because of the store owner's habit of dealing with people. That is to say, ordinary neighbors will subconsciously lower their voices as long as they don't say nice things.
Song You said while eating: "Yesterday I met the official Li on the way. Seeing that I was alone, he took some money from me. He said it was a gambling emergency and asked me to come to the city to get it from him today. I know that I am afraid that this money It's not borrowed from me, but it's just that we are almost at the end of our rope, so I want to ask if I can go to that official Li to get the money back, and will I suffer a lot."
"Then sir, don't even think about it," the store owner said.
"If there are other witnesses, it is still possible to report it to the official."
"Is that official Li very vicious?"
"..." The store owner came in with a bench and whispered, "Sir, is he talking about the tall one with the mole at the corner of his eye?"
"Exactly."
"That guy is not easy to mess with."
"How to say?"
"It's hard to say, hard to say..."
"That official Li has already obtained my wealth, so he can't possibly kill me again, right?"
"That's not the case! It's easy to kill people, so what's the law?" said the shopkeeper.
"But he is a bully. He is rich, powerful, tall, has many friends, and has other abilities. If you annoy him, you will have to suffer a little, and it will be easy to deal with him."
"Tell me carefully."
"There's nothing to talk about..."
"I have three denarii here."
"..." The store owner sat down in front of Song You with a stool: "Then Li Daguan lives in the west of the city. He was originally from a poor family. Later, he curried favor with the government and gained some influence. Now he is a famous bully in the city. He is good at bullying the weak and fears the strong. Many people are not. To be afraid of him is to annoy him. If you are powerful or have other abilities, he really may not dare to do anything to you. But Mr. is new here, if you have other abilities, you will treat him like a young man without saying anything. , the money lost is not much, so just treat it as stolen, otherwise, Officer Li and the bad guys under him really don’t dare to beat you to death, but if they make things difficult for you, I’m afraid they will suffer a lot.”
"Have you ever killed anyone?"
"I've never heard of it, but if you've been bullying the market for a long time, what's better than killing people?"
"I heard there is some kind of sensitive immortal."
"That's what they all say."
"That's the rumor."
"Yes, it's a rumor."
"I love hearing rumors the most."
"Whether we are in Nanhua, or it's like this in neighboring counties, there are always people secretly offering sacrifices to some off-the-grid deities, saying they are more powerful than those in the temple." The store owner's voice became quieter, and then suddenly became quieter again.
"The bullies and thugs in our city basically support a man named Immortal Agility. I don't know where they live. Anyway, with this Immortal around, many nobles don't want to offend them easily."
"Elaborate."
"That's all I know."
"Dudu..." The silver knocked on the table. The store owner immediately showed a sad expression: "Aren't you here to ask for money, sir?"
"I want to ask him to do good."
"I'm afraid that's not easy to persuade."
"It's not persuasion."
"That is……"
"Dudu..." The shopkeeper showed a sad expression again, squinting at the small piece of silver. It's really not good to gossip about people.
But what can be done?
