"Tell you good news!"
"What good news?"
"Today's order from the court has lifted the curfew."
"It's finally lifted..."
"yes!"
Wu Nuxia couldn't help but shook her head: "A few days ago, I heard that the bamboo demon was chopped off in the house of the talented man named Chen. I originally thought that the curfew would be lifted the next day at most, but it seems that the court wanted to take this opportunity to kill the bamboo demon. The other evil spirits and ghosts hidden in Changjing have also been cleaned up, so it has been postponed until today."
As she spoke, she paused and glanced at the cat next to her:
"Luckily your cat wasn't caught."
"I've often heard about the official Chen in the teahouse recently." Song You said with a smile, "I heard that he painted bamboo shadows at home, which is an elegant act."
"I don't know what's indecent." Wu Xia shook her head, "I just heard that when the bamboo demon was chopped out, it showed its true form, and its whole body was as black as charcoal. It just so happened that the one who was struck by lightning in Xicheng before A whole bamboo forest was chopped to death for a family. It was probably because God had eyes, or some god showed up, and struck him with a thunder from the sky. I guess the bamboo demon was already dying at that time, so he was chopped down. There was no resistance at all when he came out, and he died on the spot."
"The heroine is well-informed."
"What a pity..."
Wu Nuxia trailed off in a long voice, with a hint of dialect in her voice, and a bit of gloating: "If the bamboo demon is caught alive, Changjing will be bustling."
"Maybe."
"Well, you're right." Wu Nuxia said, "If I could catch someone alive, that wolf would have caught someone alive at that time."
"I clearly didn't say anything..."
"Haha!" Wu Nuxia just smiled and continued, "But tonight is also lively. There is no curfew tonight. I will take you to the night market to see the excitement of Changjing and try the snacks in the night market!"
"I wonder if there's anything delicious?"
"I've been to the night market several times before, such as grilled fish on an iron plate, mutton in a basin, and mutton liver glutinous rice. They are all very delicious. My favorite is the fish soup cake. Anyway, I'll check it out after I go."
"Please ask the heroine to lead the way."
"After what happened this time, Changjing will probably be at peace for a while. Even if those demons and ghosts with evil intentions are not caught, they won't dare to bubble up again for a while."
"I hope so."
"What a pity, what a pity..."
Wu Nuxia then shook her head and sighed: "We have basically eliminated those hard-working monsters outside the city. Now that we occasionally publish a new list, it is immediately exposed by folk experts and people in the world. I originally said that if you If you want to eliminate harm for the people, just look at the mess in the city. Later, I thought that you didn't seem to be very willing to take care of the city's affairs, so I didn't mention it. Now even if you want to, there won't be many monsters for you to catch."
"The female hero has misunderstood." Song You said, "It's not that I don't want to take care of things in the city, it's just that there are gods and capable people in the city. Compared with it, the people outside the city need us more."
"That makes sense."
Night slowly fell to Changjing City.
Tonight is different from usual.
Pedestrians at dusk are not in a hurry to go home, shops are not in a hurry to close, and there is no curfew gong. Instead, restaurants and shops light lanterns early, and if there are light boxes, they have already turned on the light.
The darker the sky, the brighter the earth.
When the afterglow of the setting sun dissipated, the heroine came to knock on the door and called her friends from Yizhou to join them for a night trip to Changjing.
The heroine walked a little ahead.
The Taoist carried a bag on his shoulders and walked a little behind. A cat's head poked out of the bag. The Taoist observed the pedestrians on the road leisurely, and the cat looked around curiously.
Halfway through, it got dark, and the Changjing City finally showed its true appearance at night.
There are lanterns on the road, and the light of the lanterns is not as bright as the street lights of later generations. It is an exaggeration to say that the lights are bright, but it is still possible to distinguish the road. There are many people walking on the street, walking in the dim light, and there is a kind of era in the darkness. The atmosphere is worth savoring.
The curfew has been in place for a long time, and everyone has complained about it. Now that it is released, even people who did not come out often in the past will all come out tonight.
And when you walk through those streets that are famous for their liveliness, night markets and brothels, you can really call them brightly lit.
When I walked past the curfew the night before, the shops and restaurants on both sides were closed, no light boxes or lanterns were lit, and there were no stalls. Nowadays, all the lanterns and light boxes are lit, thousands of lights in the night market illuminate the blue clouds, red-sleeved customers in high-rise buildings are crowded, Shuimen is bustling with evening tea merchants, and Qiao City is full of winemakers all night long. Only then do we know how powerful the fireworks in this world are.
In this era, it is unparalleled in the world.
No wonder so many people from foreign lands came to Changjing and were fascinated by it. They wanted to stay no matter what and were unwilling to leave.
The Taoist couldn't help but slow down.
While watching, he listened to Wu Nuxia’s introduction to him.
Different from the previous comfort when I passed thousands of houses alone in the dark, what I felt now was not the coldness, but the excitement, not the moonlight, but the lights, not myself, but this era.
The cat also opened its eyes wide, and countless colored lights were reflected in its amber eyes.
Gradually we walked to the night market that Wu Nuxia mentioned.
The most famous night market in Changjing is actually in Xicheng. Wu Nuxia led them around before going back to Xicheng Night Market.
Different from the night markets of later generations, this is not a street, but a square place. It evolved from the square market left over from the previous dynasty and is more like a commercial plaza. Xicheng has always been a gathering place for common people and foreigners from foreign lands. Under the fireworks of the common people, it has brought a lot of exotic customs. Whether it is vendors or customers, there are many foreign faces.
So in this brightly lit market, the various stalls, carts and even shops can dazzle people. The variety of commercial snacks is amazing. In the middle, there are people from the Western Regions singing and dancing in the streets. This creates This is the most famous night market in Changjing.
Wu Nuxia said she would take them for a tour first.
So the Taoist and the cat listened to the exotic music, watched the people from the Western Regions dancing, looked at the dazzling array of goods, and savored the fireworks at night in this era.
Until Wu Xia asked them to sit down.
This is a small shop selling mixed fish soup cakes. It was already full, and the tables and chairs had to be placed outside to squeeze in among the passers-by.
Wu Nuxia ordered two fish soup cakes, then bought glutinous rice dumplings, grilled fish on an iron plate, mutton in a basin, and two glasses of sweet rice wine, as if she wanted to repay the Yun Chun Lou meal last month. Song Youya let her be.
"Two bowls of fish soup cakes!"
The owner of the small shop came with a bowl.
Several snacks were also delivered one by one.
Song You still took out a small bowl from his bag, placed it on the bench, and gave it to the calico cat to eat.
The so-called miscellaneous fish soup cakes are actually miscellaneous fish noodles. The store put a big pot at the door, which is full of various kinds of miscellaneous fish. They are boiled together. I heard that you have to cook them from noon to afternoon. A pot full of miscellaneous fish is boiled until the meat is no longer visible, then the fish residue is drained out, and the remaining soup is the soup base for soup cakes.
I don’t know where it is eaten, but it is really delicious.
I heard that grilled fish on an iron plate is a Mobei style. The fish is grilled on a long iron plate, and some Western spices and local condiments are added, making it taste quite exotic.
Sheep liver glutinous rice is a kind of fried pasta with open ends and sheep liver inside.
In addition to the mutton liver glutinous rice, Wu Nuxia also bought the specialties of the current season——
Cherry juice.
It is to replace the lamb liver wrapped in the pasta with cherries, fry it in a pan, and make a thick strip with fried cherries inside. It sounds a little dark, but it is a popular delicacy in Changjing every spring. Many rich ladies have their servants buy it for them even if they don't want to go out.
Sweet rice wine is simple. It is basically glutinous rice wine. It is boiled with sugar, red dates and wolfberry and then allowed to cool. It is not intoxicating. It is used as a drink for people who come to the night market. It is packed in a bamboo tube and you can buy a cup for a few cents.
Needless to say about the water basin mutton.
With such a table, at least three or four people can be fed. The dishes are rich and tasty. In terms of luxury and high-end, it is not comparable to Yunchun Tower, but in terms of taste, it is actually considered a delicacy.
And this table only cost one hundred and eighty yuan.
This is the delicacy of the people in Changjing.
"Thank you for treating me to Yun Chun Lou last month. I have a lot of money to spend. I want to treat you back but I can't afford it. It's too expensive and I can't bear it. I want to treat you to a meal in return. I don't want to." Disgusted." Wu Nuxia calmly raised her cup of sweet rice wine.
"Where is the heroine?" Song You also raised his glass quickly, "The reason why I went to Yunchun Tower is just to experience the unique experience of Changjing. Regardless of whether there is a heroine or not, I still want to have a meal. It's exactly Because of the heroine, I dare to order a table and eat more varieties without wasting it. I should be grateful to the heroine."
The heroine only opened her mouth after hearing this:
"gab!"
"Then no matter what happened that day, today the heroine took Sanhua Empress and I to experience another unique feature of Changjing. It is worthy of my thanks."
"As you wish."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
Song You brought the bamboo tube close to his lips. Before he drank it, he could smell the fragrance of rice wine and bamboo tube. After taking a small sip, there was only a refreshing sweetness, and there was almost no taste of wine.
So he poured a little more into the palm of his hand, lowered it and gave it to Sanhua Empress to taste, telling her that it was strong wine.
While eating, I watched people coming and going around me.
There are really many people today. If you want to go shopping in the night market, you will be crowded with people, many of whom are well-dressed. The literati walked and chatted, the young people laughed wildly, and the smells of various meats and spices were mixed. I didn't know what was being stewed in the iron pots of which shops and stalls. I could only see the water vapor rising, and it was like a dream.
Look at the world around you, the faces under the bustling fireworks, the real souls, everything is so real and vivid.
"How about it?"
Wu Nuxia asked him with a grin: "Have you never seen such a lively night market before?"
Song You turned his head when he heard this and met her eyes.
You can see her thoughts in her eyes.
I think she was shocked at that time, but at this time she had been in Changjing for two years and was considered an "old Changjing". Facing newcomers, she felt somewhat like a sense of superiority, so she couldn't wait to start from now on. She also saw the same shock on her face.
Song You nodded and whispered, "Indeed, I have never seen such a lively night market in my life."
"Haha, I was shocked when I first came here." Wu Nuxia smiled with satisfaction, "Not only because I have never seen many of the things sold here, but also because the people here look weird. I have seen them but not so many, which is a bit strange. But there are some people who smell worse than us if we don't take a shower for a month."
"Strange."
"Thank you to Mr. Cheng Huang for catching monsters and ghosts. Without his diligence in catching monsters, the curfew might not have been lifted so quickly!"
"Thank you..."
Song You nodded and looked into the distance.
To say that the lights here are bright, it is naturally far inferior to the neon signs of later generations. To say that this place is prosperous and lively, it may not be comparable to those famous night markets of later generations, but that does not mean that it is not beautiful. The Taoist still sees the value in it. Places that amaze me, and these places cannot be seen without seeing them with your own eyes.
(End of chapter)
