Chang'an City, Fugui Tavern.
It was already evening, and Liu Fugui was busy greeting guests in the lobby as usual.
He really likes the lively scene in his tavern, not because he can make a lot of money, but because he simply feels that he is not empty.
The waiter in the store thought that his mentality was because he lacked a wife to discipline him, and several times persuaded him to marry a wife and come into the house.
Since he has never married a wife, and he owns a tavern on the streets of Chang'an, he can be considered to have a well-off family. Therefore, several matchmakers came to him to introduce girls over the years, but he rejected them all.
This also gave his neighbors something to talk about after dinner, and they secretly made up countless stories for him.
Some people say that Liu Fugui is actually secretly having an affair with Mrs. Yun from Fenglailou. They have been secretly communicating with each other for an unknown amount of time.
Some people also say that Liu Fugui is the real boss of Fenglailou who has never appeared, and the reason why he opened a tavern here is to hide his identity from others.
There is also the most bizarre statement. What is said is that Liu Fugui is actually a member of the palace, and was arranged to monitor every move of Feng Lailou. Because his lower body was cut off, he was afraid of being discovered, so he was a bachelor for so many years. The reason was the pair of phoenix jade bracelets he received before.
Although he had heard the rumors among the neighbors, he was indifferent to these remarks and had no intention of explaining or clarifying them.
"Boss, bring me a pot of tea."
At the entrance of the store, two people wearing straw hats walked in slowly and sat down at a table at the entrance.
"Okay, sir, please wait a moment. I'll be here soon."
Liu Fugui turned his head and smiled at them. After settling down the guests he was entertaining, he took a pot of freshly brewed tea from the kitchen and walked towards the table of guests who had just entered.
The regular customers in the tavern were already used to the scene where Liu Fugui personally served tea and water.
In fact, they had already persuaded Liu Fugui to hire a few more waiters so that he would not be busy all day long.
Logically speaking, although Liu Fugui's tavern is not big, it has been open on the streets of Chang'an for so many years, and he still has enough money to hire two waiters to help him.
There are many taverns of his size on Chang'an Street, but other taverns start with at least three waiters, and the boss sits at the counter every day and takes care of the books. Like him, he only hires one waiter and works for himself. The waiter is an errand boy. I'm afraid there won't be another tavern in Chang'an.
But when Liu Fugui faced the suggestions from regular customers, he always answered with a smile, "It's okay, it's okay. I just can't take any time off, so I want to find something to do for myself. Besides, I used to work as a waiter in a shop, so this kind of work is still Those who can do it, but if one day they can no longer do it, I will naturally hire someone to do it.
Seeing that their attempts to persuade him were fruitless, the regular customers stopped talking and allowed him to go about his business every day until he was out of breath.
"Two distinguished guests, your tea is here." Liu Fugui, with a smile on his face, carefully placed the teapot and teacup in front of the two of them.
He took a cursory glance and saw that both men had their straw hats lowered, and he could only catch a glimpse of their strong and solid faces from the side.
Before he could take a second look, the burlier guest sitting on the left knocked on the table and waved his hand, signaling for him to leave.
Liu Fugui was not angry. After all, he had been running a tavern for so many years and had never seen any big storms. He still had some tolerance for this.
He straightened his clothes and turned around to entertain other guests.
"Boss, please wait a moment. Can I take you for a while?"
The guest sitting on the right suddenly called out to him, and he stopped curiously, with a smile on his face again.
"Is there anything else that our guest has to do?"
As the guest on the right opened his mouth, the burly guest on the left did not urge him to leave. Instead, he poured two cups of tea and took a sip of one himself.
"Boss, can you sit down and say, I have some things I want to discuss with my boss."
The guest on the right spoke again, with a soft voice that made Liu Fugui unable to refuse.
In response to the guest's request, Liu Fugui picked up a stool and sat down, and began to look at the two people.
Apart from wearing straw hats to cover their faces, these two men were dressed the same as ordinary residents of Chang'an City.
"I wonder what the two guests have to discuss with me?" Liu Fugui asked curiously.
"Haha, boss, don't be anxious, let's have a cup of tea first." The guest on the right pushed the freshly poured cup of tea in front of him to Liu Fugui.
Upon seeing this, the guest on the left poured another cup of tea.
Liu Fugui stared at the steaming tea in front of him and hesitated for a moment, then picked it up and took a sip.
"If you want anything, please tell me. I still have so many customers to entertain in my store?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Fugui saw the hand of the guest on the left holding the teacup stagnate, and then a vague and dangerous aura pressed on his neck.
Liu Fugui only felt a pressure on his neck, which made his breathing a little sluggish. His heart couldn't help but twitch. Although he didn't know martial arts, he could still recognize that this was the unique aura of a warrior, and this guest was probably extremely powerful. A powerful warrior.
"Put it away, don't scare others." The guest on the right said softly.
The next moment, the guest on the left put down the teacup in his hand. Liu Fugui felt as if he had received an amnesty and touched his chest with one hand, trying to clear away the tightness in his chest.
"I want to discuss business with the boss and buy something from you." The guest on the right took out a 10,000 tael silver note from his arms.
The bank note made a loud noise when it fell on the table, but it was covered by the noisy and noisy environment of the pub. The drunken and chatting guests did not notice everything here.
"This... this... where can I find anything valuable in this tavern that is worthy of your guest... paying so much money?" Liu Fugui looked at the banknote in surprise. You must know that he has opened the shop for so many years, but from I have never seen such a large amount of money, so much money, even if it is to buy his tavern, it is enough.
"Think about it carefully, is it true?" The guest on the right said calmly, picking up the tea cup and taking a sip, "Think about it slowly, don't be in a hurry."
The banknote was placed in front of Liu Fugui. Liu Fugui was on pins and needles. For the first time, he felt that the banknote in front of him was a bit dazzling.
He kept thinking about what the guest on the right had just said, and gradually he had some guesses in his mind.
"I wonder what the guest wants to buy..."
Liu Fugui carefully gestured on his wrist.
The guest on the right nodded slightly, "I wonder if this money is enough to buy those two things?"
Liu Fugui hesitated in his heart. By the time he finished speaking, he already understood that these two people just wanted to buy the phoenix jade bracelet in his hand.
It was impossible to say that he was not moved by the bank note at all, but he wanted to save his head even more.
After all, it belonged to the eldest prince and the eldest lady of the Huo family. Although they said they were using it to pay for tea, they might come back to get it one day.
Although the eldest prince is now exiled to Yumen Pass, and the entire Huo family is being executed.
However, the eldest prince was assassinated on the way to exile and disappeared. When the Huo Mansion was sealed, no one saw the eldest daughter of the Huo Mansion.
These two people seemed to disappear from the world and disappeared in Chang'an.
But even if these two people were in such a desperate state now, they were not something he, a powerless tavern owner, could mess with.
If one day these two people came back to ask for the jade bracelet and found that he had sold their jade bracelet long ago, he couldn't imagine how miserable his death would be.
"Sir, another guest left this thing with me. Maybe he will remember it one day and come back to pick it up." Liu Fugui said carefully after considering his words.
Needless to say, he also knew that the identities of these two people were not ordinary, and they were definitely not ordinary people.
In his opinion, there were only two types of people who dared to come to take the belongings of the eldest prince and the eldest daughter of the Huo family at this time.
One type is people who are related to them, either princes, generals, or their servants.
One is some crazy businessmen who take desperate risks and want to take advantage of the chaos to make a lot of money.
"I'm curious, have those two guests come back to see you so far?" the guest on the right said softly.
Liu Fugui felt flustered when he thought of those two guests.
"They... never came."
After listening to his words, the guest on the right chuckled twice.
There is a sense of loneliness in the laughter.
Liu Fugui frowned and remained silent. This laughter was very familiar to him. He seemed to have heard it somewhere.
After a moment, he looked horrified and took a breath of cold air.
"You...you are...big..."
Liu Fugui's words came to an abrupt end, and the guest on the left pressed his throat again, causing him to hold back what he had not finished.
Liu Fugui really couldn't believe that the eldest prince, who was assassinated on the road to exile and had disappeared, would actually appear here. Everyone in Chang'an felt that the eldest prince had either been caught and killed, or someone had found someone. The place is hidden.
Who would have thought that the eldest prince would dare to return to Chang'an City.
The guest on the right slowly raised his face. Jiang Fengqing's originally handsome and smooth face had been darkened by the wind and sun, and it was impossible to tell that this was the face of a prince.
"So, have you agreed to do this business?" Jiang Fengqing stared at Liu Fugui sharply.
Liu Fugui felt as if he was being stared at by two knives, feeling uneasy in his heart.
He only took a cursory glance at Jiang Fengqing's face and did not dare to look again.
"Okay...since the eldest prince is here in person, I will go get those two bracelets."
After saying that, Liu Fugui immediately stood up and walked to the second floor.
Jiang Fengqing lowered her head again, lowered the brim of her hat, and covered her face with a straw hat.
An Zicheng, who was opposite him, also quickly collected the banknote on the table.
"Master... are you just going to let him get something like this? Are you not afraid..."
Jiang Fengqing rubbed her tea cup and whispered, "Since you are already here, don't be afraid that there is danger here. As long as you feel there is no danger here, there will be no danger here."
After a while, Liu Fugui slowly came down from the second floor.
After passing several tables of drinkers, Liu Fugui still greeted them warmly and familiarly.
Then he sat at Jiang Fengqing's table.
Liu Fugui wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead and took out a tightly wrapped sandalwood box from his arms.
"Here are the things that the eldest prince and the eldest daughter of the Huo family kept with me. I would like... guests to take a look." Liu Fugui respectfully pushed the box in front of Jiang Fengqing.
Jiang Fengqing carefully picked up the wooden box, raised her skinny hand and opened the box.
Under the cover of the straw hat, Liu Fugui couldn't see clearly the change of expression on his face.
Therefore, he felt uneasy. Ever since he got the pair of bracelets, he had been worrying about them every day.
He really didn't know what to do with the pair of bracelets, and he really couldn't feel comfortable handing them over to others. Although he didn't know how much the bracelets were worth, he knew that it was an astronomical figure and could definitely turn father and son against each other.
If the person who gave it to him ran away with the bracelet, he wouldn't know where to cry.
So he had no choice but to dig a hole in a corner of his tavern and hide the bracelet.
After so long, he never opened the wooden box again, and he didn't know if the bracelet was still safe.
After a long time, Jiang Fengqing nodded slightly and put the wooden box back on the table.
If Liu Fugui was granted amnesty, the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.
An Zicheng threw the banknotes in his arms under the table into Liu Fugui's lap.
Liu Fugui felt his legs sink, and he quickly grabbed the banknote with his hand.
An Zicheng waved his hand again, signaling for him to leave.
Jiang Fengqing didn't make a sound this time. She just picked up the tea cup and didn't drink. She didn't know what she was thinking.
Liu Fugui had no choice but to carefully put the banknote in his arms, then turned around respectfully and left to greet other drinkers.
