Li Boxen sat by the window of Zhang Tangzi's restaurant and ordered a bowl of black rice porridge, two steamed buns stuffed with meat, and a plate of fried pork. I thought the dishes in the south would be smaller, but when the fried pork arrived, there was actually a high plate.
The waiter seemed to know what he was thinking, so he put the handkerchief on his shoulders and said with a smile: "The guest just came to Zhangcheng, right?"
Li Bochen nodded: "How did I know that?"
He had indeed just arrived. I entered the city yesterday and just found this place today.
The waiter laughed again: "There are not many people in Zhang City who eat meat like you."
He sighed again: "It's not all Kong Minghui's trouble - to tell you the truth, this roasted meat is leftover from yesterday. It's also because of the winter that I dare to serve it to you. The chef cooks two kilograms a day. , there’s still two days left.”
The windows of Zhang Tangzi's restaurant are very large, and the curtains are not closed at this time of year, so it's a bit cold in the store. He is the only customer at the moment. Seeing that this guy was talkative, Li Bochen smiled and said, "What do you call me, brother?"
The waiter sat at a table next to him: "The guest can just call me Aluo. What do you want to inquire about?"
"Yes." Li Boxen picked up the porridge and took a sip along the edge of the bowl. "That Yi Shenghe diagonally opposite, I heard that the owner is a woman?"
A Luo's eyes lit up: "Haha, why do guests ask this?"
"I have a cousin, and the caregiver at home wants him to go to the closet to learn his skills. I'll come and take a look first."
"That's it." A Luo thought for a moment and lowered his voice, "Guest, I'm afraid that your cousin's business will not work out."
Li Bochen's heart skipped a beat: "How do you say this?"
A Luo glanced at the store: "Look, the door is closed. His family went to the north to sell goods a few months ago and just came back a few days ago. I heard that they met bandits on the road and two of the guys died. The owner also broke his head. I lost my leg and am keeping it. Alas, it’s not easy being a widow. A woman is exposed to wind and rain. She probably has to keep her for a whole winter. She probably won’t want anyone else.”
Li Bochen breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he would be able to knock Ye Yinghong out with that push on Wujing Mountain. I wanted to ask the two dead guys where they lived, but I couldn't ask for a while, so I hesitated for a while.
Unexpectedly, A Luo was very talkative. He wiped his hands with a towel and said, "Speaking of those two guys, it's a pity. They are getting married in the spring, and the family is just building a house. They used to come to my place often..."
He talked in bits and pieces for a while, and Li Boxen knew that the two dead people lived in Zhangcheng, one in the south of the city and the other in the east of the city. At this time, three more Lifu came in through the curtain, and A Luo made a confession and went to greet them. Li Boxen looked through the window at the Yi Sheng He store diagonally across the street, ate everything on the table, put down another ten cents, and walked out of the store.
Zhangcheng is much warmer and larger than Wuliang City. However, the Sui Kingdom was located in the north among the six kingdoms of the Emperor, so there was still a thin layer of snow remaining on the streets of Zhangcheng, and there was no greenery at all.
Li Bochen had eaten and drank enough and was wearing cotton clothes. He didn't feel cold at this time. He first walked along the street to the south of the city, went to a noodle stall and asked about the residence of one of the waiters. He threw a gold collar into the courtyard through the low wall. He also inquired about the residence of the waiter in the east of the city and threw another gold collar in. .
As a result, I only had six coins and a jade pendant left on me. But he was relieved. Zhang City is adjacent to Xiliu City and close to Li State. Along the way, I heard many people speaking with the accent of the Li State. It must be because of the war there that they moved to the Sui State.
His name is Li Boxen, which is quite common among Li people. Most people in Li State worship Emperor Beichen and like to name boys with the character Chen. The "uncle" in the middle of his name is his ranking. There must be many people with the same name in Zhang City, and there should also be some such as "Zhongchen", "Uncle Chen", and "Ji Chen", so even if he declares his real name, it doesn't matter. question.
There were a lot of people walking on the streets of Zhangcheng, so he planned to take advantage of the opportunity to keep warm in his belly and try his luck at a foot shop along the pier along the river. He would first make some money by doing hard work for a few days, and then think about how to settle down.
He was thinking as he walked, and unknowingly he turned into a small street, where the number of pedestrians gradually became thinner. Along the street is a high-walled compound that looks like the residence of wealthy people. There was no work to be found in a place like this, so he planned to sneak out again.
But when I reached the intersection, I glanced out of the corner of my eye and noticed that there seemed to be a few people arguing in another alley. He took a look and saw clearly that it was four young men in black cotton robes blocking an old man in his fifties against the wall. The old man was well-dressed, probably a scholar. But the four young men in black robes all had knives stuck in their waists. Li Bochen looked at them and found that they were wooden knives. But even so, it is very easy to break human bones with force.
He pretended to be passing by and coughed.
If you are an ordinary person and a bad person, you should retreat when you see this scene. But the four young people raised their heads and glanced in his direction, and three of them approached the old man again and continued to say something to him. The other one drew out the wooden knife from his waist and shouted: "Don't be troublesome, go your own way!"
He really didn't want to get into trouble, because at this time he could clearly see that one of the three people talking seemed to be slightly older. He would occasionally smile when talking to the old man. It didn't look like he was being robbed, but more like There was some trouble between the gangsters and the old man.
This kind of thing often involves debt disputes, and he can't take care of it, so he plans to leave.
But the young man who pulled out the wooden sword seemed to be very impatient. Seeing that he didn't lift his feet immediately, he walked over and shouted: "What are you looking at? Have you never seen a member of the Kongming Society!?"
Li Bochen was stunned. He had heard the name "Kong Minghui" from the waiter at Zhang Tangzi Food Shop before. After being stunned for such a moment, the young man became even more angry and even swung his sword to attack him: "I told you to leave!"
This man's knife was not swinging very fast, and he seemed to be trying to scare people. Li Boxen's beard these days is long and unkempt on his face, and he looks really down and out. But he had always been soft-spoken rather than tough-minded, and when he saw this man being arrogant and unreasonable, he felt a little angry in his heart. Without dodging, he raised his hand with a low groan and swung his hand violently. There was a snap sound, and the man's wooden sword broke in his hand.
The young man seemed not to have expected this result, and stood there stunned with his knife raised. Li Bochen put down his hand and couldn't help feeling a little proud. The strike he made just now can barely be regarded as his own palm technique - it was derived from the sword technique he learned on the battlefield, and he named it "Wind Palm". Empty hands are palm skills, and swordsmanship is sword skills.
Ordinary people hit a wooden sword with their palms. The sword is long and slender and the grip is unstable. The sword will probably be knocked crooked at most. But he had eaten the Sumeru fetus before, and it seemed that due to the effect of the monster's flesh and blood, his strength was stronger than before, and he actually chopped the wooden knife into pieces.
He was just about to say, "Your Excellency, don't bully others too much," but the young man had already reacted, took out a small knife from his arms and stabbed him.
Li Bochen then developed a real fire - being young and frivolous and killing someone with a weapon are two different things. The man had no plan when he rushed towards him. He just kicked him from the side and hit him in the thigh of his left leg.
The young man was immediately kicked back and fell three or four steps away on the ground, and the knife fell out of his hand. I couldn't help but hug my leg and scream, but it seemed to hurt even more when I touched my leg, so I quickly let go. He shouted twice more, gritting his teeth, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
