"Be careful." Qi Ao said while supporting Zhu Yuanyu.
Zhu Yuanyu grabbed Qi Ao's shoulders, jumped slightly, and landed firmly on one foot.
He looked up and muttered softly: "Yue, Lai, Ke, Inn."
The waiter inside came out with a smile on his face and said enthusiastically: "Sir, do you want to work as a top or stay in the hotel?"
The waiter in this shop is the same as the man Zhu Yuanyu saw on the street. He is thin and has a yellow complexion, looking like a hungry man.
Qi Ao glanced at the cheekbones of the waiter's face and said: "Stay in the hotel, three bedrooms."
"Okay! Sir, please come with me!" The waiter glanced at Zhu Yuanyu's feet, threw the white rag over his shoulder, and made a gesture of invitation. Because he bowed slightly, the clothes on his body were already loose. Yes, now my chest and belly are bulging out more like they have been blown up.
Zhu Yuanyu found it interesting and took a few more glances.
Qi Ao noticed his gaze and followed it, frowning.
After entering Yuelai Inn, the waiter led Zhu Yuanyu and the two to the counter.
"Shopkeeper, these two guests want to open three upper rooms."
The shopkeeper, who was playing with the abacus with his fingers, raised his head, glanced at Zhu Yuanyu and Qi Ao, and said slowly: "Three upper rooms?"
The shopkeeper looked old, with wrinkles on his face, his eyelids were drooping weakly, and there was no smile on his face, which was also thin and yellow.
Qi Ao asked: "How much does it cost for a three-bedroom apartment?"
"How long will you stay?" The shopkeeper looked back at the abacus and asked without raising his head.
"Three days for now." Zhu Yuanyu answered for Qi Ao.
"One tael of silver in total."
Zhu Yuanyu nodded and looked at Qi Ao. The latter untied the money bag with one hand. Zhu Yuanyu took it, opened it, took out a tael of silver and put it on the counter.
Even though the shopkeeper seemed to be slow in everything he did, his hand in collecting money was not slow at all. As soon as he stretched out his hand, one tael of silver disappeared on the counter. Then he slowly bent down and fumbled around, and took out three pieces. I left a palm-sized wooden sign on the counter and ignored it.
Zhu Yuanyu grabbed the wooden sign. There was a big word "上" written on it, and a small word "五" written under the word "up". Looking at the other two, there was also a big word "up". At the bottom are the small words "Lu" and "Qi".
"Two distinguished guests, please come with me."
It was still the waiter from earlier who led the way.
When going up the stairs, Zhu Yuanyu wondered whether the waiter in front of him would lose his footing and fall.
Fortunately, nothing happened until he finished walking up the stairs.
The waiter pointed to the front and said, "Two guests, that's right in front." After saying that, he walked over and pushed open one of the doors.
Before entering, Zhu Yuanyu looked at the corner of the door and found a wooden sign with the character "五" hanging on it.
Speaking of the upper room, the decoration in the room is ordinary, with only a wooden bed, a round wooden table and a desk.
The waiter smiled and said: "Are you satisfied with the two guests? If you don't have any instructions, please go ahead and get busy..."
"It's okay, you can go out." Qi Ao waved his hand and said.
Zhu Yuanyu sat down by the bed. He couldn't bear it anymore, so he immediately took off his shoes, and a white bow appeared immediately.
Shaking the white bow, Zhu Yuanyu said suddenly: "Where are Zhuang Zhuang and Cui'er?" He turned his head to Qi Ao, who was standing on the left.
"The two of them went to the backyard to park the carriage first. Cui'er said that she wanted to pack the luggage on the carriage. Master, please rest first while your subordinates go over and take a look."
Qi Ao glanced at the bow on Zhu Yuanyu's feet, bowed and walked out.
We hadn't gone very far when we saw someone making trouble.
Qi Ao wanted to go around, but accidentally took a look and found that the person causing trouble was someone he had met once before - a middle-aged man who came in from behind while taking shelter from the rain in the deserted temple.
If it weren't for Qi Ao's good memory, he might not have recognized that the person in front of him was the middle-aged man he met in Huangmiao.
At this time, the appearance of the middle-aged man has undergone a huge change. The figure that was originally full of fat and plump belly is now so thin that he is almost inhuman shape. His face is sallow, his cheeks are sunken, and his cheekbones appear to be high and protruding; probably due to obesity. The skin was stretched open, so when I suddenly lost a lot of weight, the skin relaxed. It was not visible because the clothes were covering the body, but the skin on the face and neck was drooping, as if it was being pulled down by something. The same, the whole person has aged several dozen years, from his forties to his sixties.
The reason for the commotion seemed to be that the middle-aged man owed the inn a few days' rent and didn't want to leave.
Two skinny waiters grabbed the middle-aged man's arm and dragged him away forcefully. One of them even cursed: "You still want to hang around without money? No way! The shopkeeper said he doesn't want you to pay for these days." You have paid for the rent, so just get out of here now! If you can’t afford it, there are still people who want to live there!”
The middle-aged man struggled violently, with his feet firmly attached to the ground, trying to prevent himself from being kicked out of the inn.
The three of them all had sallow faces. In Qi Ao's eyes, their movements were like slowed-down shots, and they had been grinding for a long time without making any substantial progress.
Qi Ao looked at it speechlessly for a while and then left.
When going down the stairs, I met Li Zhuangzhuang and Cui'er who were going up the stairs. Both of them had luggage hanging on them.
When Qi Ao was helping Cui'er pick up her luggage, the three of them stopped at the stairs. When they couldn't get up or down, someone murmured in a low voice.
Qi Ao not only had good eyes but also good ears. He heard the man's words clearly. He narrowed his eyes and looked down condescendingly, his face expressionless.
Li Zhuangzhuang once said to Zhu Yuanyu that Qi Ao is quite capable of bluffing people when he has no expression on his face.
Now the muttering person was frightened and quickly lowered his head, not daring to look at him.
Qi Ao then gave up, put his luggage on his shoulders handsomely, turned around and walked up.
Cui'er quietly glared at the thin man. Although she stood closest, the man spoke too quietly, so she didn't hear him clearly. But based on Qi Ao's expression, she knew it was definitely not a good thing.
After gouging out the man with her own eyes several times, Cui'er was willing to let him go.
Seeing Qi Ao and the others leaving, the man breathed a sigh of relief. Then he couldn't help but feel aggrieved. He glanced jealously in the direction where they disappeared. It wasn't until the people behind him said that he was blocking the way that he continued walking up.
The desk in the guest room was empty, not even showing off the four treasures of the study. Fortunately, Zhu Yuanyu brought pen, ink, paper and inkstone, so he was able to write a reply to his family.
Briefly mention the things that happened recently, hide the things that should not be written, and write some customs and customs in the reply. At the end, you can say that you are safe and you are done.
Zhu Yuanyu put down the pen, picked up the paper, and blew gently for a few times. The ink on the edges of the words written on the paper slowly dried, leaving only the ink in the center of the words that was still a little moist.
After waiting for a while, the ink on the paper was completely dry, and then Zhu Yuanyu folded it and fixed it on the pigeon's feet.
At noon, Zhu Yuanyu released the carrier pigeon by the window. The carrier pigeon flapped its powerful wings and flew to the north.
There are three upper rooms, one for Zhu Yuanyu alone, one for Li Zhuangzhuang and Qi Ao, and one for Cui'er.
Cui'er wanted to object after hearing this. For her, someone had to take care of the young master at night, and she was the most suitable candidate. Unlike Qi Ao and Li Zhuangzhuang, who were men and had rough hands and feet.
However, Zhu Yuanyu seemed to know that she was going to object and made the decision immediately, without any discussion.
Cui'er secretly bit her handkerchief, feeling extremely aggrieved.
Zhu Yuanyu didn't care what she thought, he was the biggest anyway, and he had the final say in everything.
Touching his belly, he said to Qi Ao and the others: "Let's go downstairs to eat."
Cui'er also wanted to have the food delivered, but this time she failed again.
She tore the torn handkerchief hard and said dullly: "There are many people waiting downstairs, a mixed bag of good and bad. Master, why do you want to go downstairs to eat? Why don't we let the waiter bring the food up? In the room It’s so peaceful to eat…”
"It's just because it's quiet and it's rare to go out for fun. Isn't it more lively when there are more people?" Zhu Yuanyu said with a smile.
Feeling that his calf was being rubbed, Zhu Yuanyu pretended to be surprised and said: "I almost forgot about my Maotou! Cui'er, take the food from Maotou, and let's go down to eat together."
When they got downstairs, the four masters, servants and a dog sat down in order of priority, and Zhu Yuanyu ordered a table of special dishes.
When the dishes were served, Zhu Yuanyu was stunned.
When he saw Cui'er smiling and putting a chopstick of vegetables into his bowl, his hair immediately stood up and goosebumps appeared all over his body.
Qi Ao immediately noticed something strange about him and asked, "Master, what's wrong?" Then he glanced at the dinner table and found nothing wrong.
Is it poisonous? Qi Ao thought as he took out a piece of cowhide from his pocket, opened it and picked up a silver needle, and was about to reach out to one of the dishes on the dinner table.
Zhu Yuanyu quickly grabbed his hand and said softly: "Don't move."
Looking around, I saw that because I didn’t ask for a private room, there were people eating around. Zhu Yuanyu felt disgusted when he saw other people stuffing bugs into their mouths with gusto and acting as if nothing had happened.
He pointed to a dish on the dinner table and asked, "What is this?"
Cui'er wondered: "Qingcai! Master, why do you ask this?"
Zhu Yuanyu looked at Cui Er's face with the expression "You know what you're asking", but he really couldn't tell her that in his own eyes, this dish was just a whole plate of wriggling white maggots.
