The smoke from the kitchen is curling up, and I’m talking about how charming Wu’s voice is when I’m drunk;
The rain and flowers are faint, and the spring dawn is particularly beautiful.
March and April in Jiangnan are a good time for hazy mist and rain. There is a drizzle on the street, and there are only a few pedestrians on the road.
There is a simple inn not far outside Yangzhou City. The inn sign with the words "Shan Ye Inn" is hung diagonally on the door. The words on the sign are crookedly written and vary in size. It looks like it is not as good as just going to school. Children write neatly.
It is said that the inn originally spent a lot of money to hire a famous calligrapher from the city to write a sign. The famous calligrapher had many admirers throughout Jiangnan. Those literati wanted to see this sign. The master's authentic works come here one after another in admiration. During that time, the business of the inn was pretty good.
Until one day, on a whim, the innkeeper exchanged glasses with some foreign guests. After drinking, he was in high spirits and ordered his waiter to find a piece of wood. He wrote these four characters eloquently, and called himself " Loose people in the mountains".
The shopkeeper would often do some weird things when he got drunk, and the guys were used to it. I thought that after I woke up, I would replace the gold-lettered signboard that was used to attract wealth to the inn. Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper, who didn’t know a few Chinese characters, did the first thing he did after waking up and looked outside the door. Looking at his masterpiece, he repeatedly praised his talent in calligraphy in a sober state. The guys on the sidelines looked at each other in shock.
The original work of the famous calligrapher was returned to him by the shopkeeper, and from then on, the only thing hanging in the inn was this "masterpiece" of the shopkeeper. Soon those literati stopped coming here to drink and have fun, and outsiders shook their heads when they saw this crooked sign. From a packed house to a deserted place, it only took less than two months.
At this time, in the inn, the shopkeeper, who was over fifty years old, was sitting behind the counter, nodding off little by little with his head down. The waiter was cursing and repairing the leaky roof due to the rain. He glanced at the shopkeeper from time to time, hoping that Then he quickly slammed his head on the counter.
Apart from that, there were only two customers in the store. One was an old man with gray hair sitting in the middle of the hall. He was counting the peanuts on the plate one by one with his somewhat cloudy eyes, and then shook it. The wine bottle in my hand felt like it was about to reach its bottom, so every sip I took would linger in my mouth for a while before I swallowed it.
The other was a young Taoist priest sitting by the window staring at the drizzle outside in a daze. In front of the Taoist priest there was only a plate of light stir-fried tofu with vegetables and a cup of free tea.
After finally repairing the roof that had a hole in it at some point, the waiter shook his aching arm, glanced at the two people in the inn, and cursed in a low voice.
These two people always come to the inn to sit for a while every day. It seems like it started a year ago? The waiter couldn’t remember much, but he only remembered that when the inn’s business was at its peak, these two people came here every day, and ordered the same dish every time. The young Taoist priest had a plate of stir-fried tofu with green vegetables, and the old man had a plate of peanuts. A pot of daughter red mixed with water.
In the past, when there were many customers, the waiter didn't pay much attention to these two people. Now, the inn's business has declined. Except for one or two poor guests here and there, they can't get much money. The only income of the inn is the two plates of dishes from these two people. And a jug of wine.
Although these two people came to the shop every time, they were extremely happy. They thought that their inn had a good relationship with these two people, so he ordered the waiter to entertain them well, put as much oil and water in the dishes as possible, and add less water in the wine. , at worst, if there are more foreign guests, just kill them more.
But the waiter knew that the two men gave them more money for food and drinks every day if they had it, and less money if they didn't have it. It wasn't even enough to buy groceries on weekdays. The roof leaked and had to be repaired by oneself, so that the inn could maintain itself. Until now, it has all been relying on the capital saved in previous years. If the shopkeeper hadn't had some conscience and took care of food and food, I would have left long ago like those other waiters. But it won't be long before the remaining ten taels of silver are spent, and I will pack up and get out.
Thinking of this, the waiter shook his head. There is no use thinking about it now. The roof has been repaired. The rain is getting heavier and heavier. It will most likely rain until the evening, and it is estimated that no other customers will come. , I just haven’t finished the fairy tale I read yesterday, so I will continue to read it carefully today.
As soon as the waiter walked to the counter, stood on tiptoes and stretched his arms, ready to reach over the shopkeeper to reach the thick old book, he heard the door of the inn creaking and being slowly pushed open.
The waiter subconsciously turned his head to look, but forgot that he was maintaining a centerless posture. Before he could see the appearance of the person coming, he fell directly on the elderly shopkeeper, and they fell to the ground together.
"What's going on? I feel like the ground is shaking. An earthquake is coming?" The shopkeeper looked horrified after being knocked awake, as if he didn't feel any pain at all.
The waiter grinned and rubbed his butt, got up, rolled his eyes and said, "The earthquake didn't come, but the customers came."
"Are there customers? Have you paid?" The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he heard this. He grabbed the waiter's arm and stood up with help. He rubbed his still groggy eyes and looked toward the door.
A young man in white clothes, who looked to be about twenty years old, was standing at the door of the inn, closing the oil-paper umbrella in his hand, and looking around at the interior decoration of the inn. The young man's hair was tied a little casually, but his delicate face was extremely good-looking. The waiter had seen many young talents from Jiangnan before when the inn business was booming, but compared with the young man in front of him, those people suddenly It seems a bit mediocre.
"Xiangzi, here comes the big ticket guy. This young man looks like a rich man." The shopkeeper whispered, with a hint of inexplicable excitement in his tone.
A normal person can tell that this young man is not an ordinary person, Xiangzi thought to himself.
"Shopkeeper, I think this young man has an extraordinary temperament. He is much better than the previous Jiangnan talents. I'm afraid he is not easy to deal with. If someone finds out, we won't be able to live with each other. ." Xiangzi reminded.
"At such an age, even if your family background is extraordinary, how much experience do you have in the world of martial arts? You usually fool all the young talents, why are you so timid today? Look at me, the shopkeeper, taking action in person, and you are watching and learning from behind. That’s it.”
The shopkeeper waved his hand, then took a deep breath, and immediately put a smile on his face. He walked up and asked: "This guest, do you want to eat or stay in the hotel? Our store has all kinds of good wine and food. , No matter you are a southerner or a northerner, our chefs can make you taste the taste of your hometown. The good guest rooms on the second floor of our inn are cleaned every day, and the bedding and pillows are from I bought it from the best silk and satin shop in Yangzhou city, and I guarantee that the guest will sleep comfortably."
The young man looked at the little old man who kept blinking in front of him and was stunned for a moment. Then, as if he had realized something, he put the oil-paper umbrella against the wall and took out a weighty ingot of gold from his arms. Put it on the table and pointed to the Taoist priest sitting by the window, "Shopkeeper, give me an identical dish."
The shopkeeper rubbed his eyes, quickly picked up the gold, put it in front of his eyes and looked at it carefully. As if he thought it was not enough, he took another bite. After confirming that it was real, he quickly put it in his arms, ran back to the counter in small steps, and slapped him. Xiangzi, who was still in a daze, said, "Why are you still in a daze? Why don't you go make this young master a plate of stir-fried tofu with vegetables? Put more oil!"
Xiangzi was startled, and after realizing what he was doing, he hurried to the kitchen. Darling, a dish of stir-fried tofu with green vegetables gave you an ingot of gold. Either the young master from a wealthy family doesn't care about this little money, or there is something wrong with his brain.
The young man did not pay attention to the two people who were happily beside him. Instead, he walked straight to the window and sat down opposite the young Taoist priest. He cupped his fists and saluted and said, "Junior Zhang Ziqing, I have met Master Li."
The Taoist priest only glanced at him and continued to look out the window. Zhang Ziqing was a little curious and followed the Taoist priest's gaze. By a small river not far from the inn, a middle-aged man wearing a raincoat and a raincoat was fishing by the river. He had been in the rain for a long time. Whether he wore a raincoat or not had no meaning. Not big anymore. The man's clothes were already soaked, but he didn't feel any discomfort while doing something as elegant as fishing.
"The green smoke and drizzle make you know how good Jiangnan is with just one word." Zhang Ziqing read softly.
"Master, your stir-fried tofu with green vegetables is ready." Xiangzi shouted loudly from a long distance away, and trotted all the way to put the fragrant plate of stir-fried tofu with green vegetables in front of Zhang Ziqing, and the plate of clear soup in front of the Taoist priest. Different, this plate is made of an ingot of gold, at least half of the plate is filled with bright yellow vegetable oil. Sitting by the window, the aroma of the vegetables spread to the old man in the center of the hall. The old man sniffed hard and looked at the young man. The food on the table, swallowed.
"Waiter, whatever food the old man wants to eat and what wine he wants to drink today will be recorded in my account." Zhang Ziqing pointed at the old man looking here, took out a piece of gold from his arms and handed it to Xiangzi .
"Okay, young master." Xiangzi quickly accepted the gold, trotted up to the old man, and asked with a smile: "Old man, you are lucky today. The young master over there paid for you, and you can finally have a meal this year. Okay."
The old man's eyes lit up, he stretched out his trembling fingers and pointed at the young man and said, "I want the stir-fried tofu with vegetables."
"It's strange, why do you love eating green vegetables and fried tofu so much today?" Xiangzi was stunned and muttered in a low voice. He quickly put on a bright smile and said, "Okay, old man, I'll do it for you now."
Zhang Ziqing looked away, picked up the green vegetables in front of him with chopsticks, tasted them carefully and nodded: "I have been in heaven for so long that I almost forgot how delicious the food on earth is."
"You helped him today and satisfied his temporary desire. Have you ever thought that in the future, he will look forward to this kind of pie-in-the-sky good thing happening again. Even tomorrow, he may feel that peanuts Wine mixed with water can no longer satisfy him. He might ask the waiter for a plate of stir-fried tofu with vegetables. The waiter might let him eat for two more days for your sake, but what happens after you leave? ? He can only continue to eat his peanuts." The Taoist priest asked in disbelief: "Having hope and then being disappointed is even more painful."
