Kaifeng Bistro

Tan Zhifeng said: "By the way, let's buy it. Besides you, who else can settle the bill here? Let Zhuozhuo go, are you afraid that she will spend ten yuan as one? Are you afraid that she will use your hard-earned money to buy rouge, gouache, Buy beautiful clothes?..."

Zhan Zhao watched Tan Zhifeng and Yi Yi quarreling outside for a long time, and finally Yi Yi walked out with his head held high, Tan Zhifeng chased after him with a wooden rolling stick, Yi Yi turned a blind eye to Zhan Zhao, and Zhan Zhao had already Getting used to Yi Yi's attitude, he came to the account counter by himself and threw the copper plate into the green cloth bag that Yi Yi usually put money in.

Not long after, Tan Zhifeng came back dejectedly. He sighed, called Zhuo Zhuo, and asked her to take out the freshly steamed dumplings, and began to season them with flour and shredded radish.The dried shredded radish removes the astringency of the radish, and with the addition of minced green onion and a little sauce, Tan Zhifeng exudes a fresh fragrance that is different from the delicious smell of mutton dumplings.Tan Zhifeng rounded the glutinous rice balls, threw them into the thick white bone soup boiled last night, rolled them, and quickly scooped them up with the soup and radish balls with a large wooden ladle.

Seeing that each bowl was filled with delicious radish gnocchi, Tan Zhifeng kneaded the sore wrists of the gnocchi and turned down the fire a bit. "Send it out." He told Shangshang: "Put it on a wooden tray, be careful not to burn your hands."

Changshang let out a hey, and walked out with the wooden tray.Just as Tan Zhifeng thought he could finally rest for a while, someone outside shouted again: "Shopkeeper, it's time to pay, where is your cashier?"

Tan Zhifeng hurried out to take a look. It turned out that at Chen Qing's table, the scholar surnamed Li had finished eating and stood up to leave.Zhou Yanjing stayed behind and said, "Ming Jing, why did you leave again, so early?"

"Could it be an appointment with Shuanglian? No, it's only early in the morning?" Another scholar surnamed Lu said with a smile. "Even if she is willing to see you, Ren Jia Le Fang may not be open for business."

"45 Wen. Steamed mutton dumplings are more expensive today." Tan Zhifeng said to Li Shusheng who came to pay the bill.After this period of time, he became acquainted with Chen Qing and several of his friends. The name of this Li Weiming was Mingjing.I heard that Zhou Yanjing was admitted to Taixue a year earlier, and now he and Zhou Yanjing are studying in the same room.

He is thin and looks a bit serious, but in fact he has a good temper.Another chubby man named Lu Mingyang, with a long record, often made jokes about Li Weiming and Le Niang named Shuanglian.

"You guys, don't make fun of me." Li Weiming mumbled while taking out the money.

Tan Zhifeng observed carefully, and Li Weiming, like Zhan Zhao, had dark circles under his eyes. It seemed that he was not going well recently.

He dug out for a long time, with a somewhat embarrassed look on his face: "Tan shopkeeper... I don't seem to have enough money, can I send it next time?"

"Come on, it's all on my account." Chen Qing walked over and said, "You go."

It seems that Chen Qing often does the billing for others, Li Weiming heaves a sigh of relief and runs out. "This guy, he's been haunted all day long, and he's about to catch up with that brat Xu Gan!" Zhou Yanjing shook his head, "You have to control yourself, especially you, don't think it doesn't matter if you're young, be careful of being hollowed out!" body!"

The scholars around all laughed.Lu Yang also said: "Yes, next time we have to persuade him together."

Tan Zhifeng turned his eyes back to Chen Qing in front of him: "Mr. Chen, do you want to pay the bill too? Actually, the money you left is not used up yet."

"Oh, no." Chen Qing looked at Tan Zhifeng, his cheeks were very red after drinking a bowl of steaming glutinous rice balls: "Zhifeng, that official surnamed Zhan, didn't he bother you?"

"Guard Zhan? He doesn't have one." Tan Zhifeng didn't know why Chen Qing was always hostile to Zhan Zhao, "He just let us recognize Zhang Shanchu's portrait, that's all."

Chen Qing let out a cry, and slowly turned around and walked towards the seat. He just took a step, but turned around again, lowered his head and said, "Well... Zhifeng, the winter solstice will be a while, and the school will be closed , the capital also has many good-looking and interesting places, which are more lively than New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve. I heard that this year, the emperor will take a jade chariot to Qingcheng, Taimiao, with seven elephants leading the way, from Xuandemen to Nanxun Mun, have you ever seen an elephant? Would you like to go and see it?"

Before Tan Zhifeng could speak, Zhuo Zhuo, who had just disappeared, suddenly leaned over: "Mr. Chen, Zhifeng may not be free, he has to open the door for business. If you want to find a companion, Changshang and I will go with you." ?”

"Ah... here," Chen Qing was stunned: "Why don't we all go together? Zhifeng, you can't always stay in the store, I have never seen you go out. There are so many interesting places in Kaifeng, you Don’t want to walk around and have a look?”

As soon as Tan Zhifeng raised his head, Changshang also looked at him longingly on the counter, he could only say: "Okay, when Yiyi comes back, I will discuss with him, Mr. Han, you should know that the expenses of our small shop It's all in Yi Yi's hands, and closing the shop for a day requires his consent."

Seeing that Tan Zhifeng let go, with a trace of joy on his face, Chen Qing happily sat back at the table.Zhuo Zhuo cast a dissatisfied glance at Tan Zhifeng, and said, "Can you give someone a way to survive? These days, men who are a little more pleasing to the eye like men, and my old lady has no one to admire. It's too sad Let's settle down."

"Why not." Taking advantage of Yi Yi's absence, Tan Zhifeng lowered his head and started counting the money, to see if he could pay back the rent earlier and redeem his few clothes.Hearing Zhuo Zhuo's complaint, he just wanted to comfort him, but Shang Chang said from the side: "Yes, everyone said that men like men, that Li Shusheng likes girls, but he doesn't like you, sister Zhuo Zhuo either."

Zhuo Zhuo suddenly felt that he had been insulted, and slapped Shangshang on the head with a loud "slap", but Shangshang didn't respond, but the people around were quiet all of a sudden, and then there were bursts of whispers: " Ouch, this girl looks weak and lovely, she is actually a tigress." "Tsk tsk tsk, she can handle such an honest child."

Zhuo Zhuo saw that his reputation was irretrievable, he tossed the hem of his skirt in grief and indignation, walked to the back kitchen with his head held high, and soon disappeared.

Tan Zhifeng had no choice but to stand on top, tidy up the dishes for her, and pour tea and rice for the guests.While he was busy, the tavern soon became lively again, and people continued to chat while eating.

The beacon smoke in the northwest, the quarrels in the court hall, and the ghosts passing away with the wind by the Longjin Bridge are like a few disharmonious notes in the prosperous age. I am troubled by things that are far away.

……

Not far from Wheatstraw Lane, there is another quiet alley.This alley has twists and turns, but it is much deeper and narrower than Wheatstraw Alley.

However, the alley is very tidy, and the exquisite and elegant small buildings on both sides with a burst of fragrance powder are vaguely mysterious, making people feel a little distracted and imaginative from the entrance of the alley. up.

This is the well-known Killing Pig Alley, where there are brothels that make the nearby scholars "longing for".

People in the Song Dynasty loved elegance, and many women in brothels were famous among scholars for their "talent".At night, there are bursts of music in this alley, melodious and long, full of emotions, those who are in it are happy to return, and those who are not in it are fascinated, although on the surface Killing Pig Alley will always be It is peaceful and quiet, but every night, every building is actually very lively.

Early in the morning, the doors of the brothels in the alley were closed tightly, so when someone walked into the alley, the sound of his feet on the bluestone slab was particularly noticeable.

The visitor walked straight in, until he reached the door of an unremarkable two-story building in the middle of the alley, raised his hand and knocked lightly, the door creaked immediately, and the people inside let him in.

Behind this person, there seemed to be a figure in a blue robe flashing past. This second person had obviously been waiting here for a while, but when he also approached the dark red door However, the string of broken jade hanging by his waist suddenly shook violently.

The man stopped in doubt, and looked around again. Although he didn't see anything unusual, he turned around after thinking for a moment, and walked out of the alley carefully.

"...Don't talk nonsense!..." A deep and angry roar came from the warm pavilion upstairs.A tall man was sitting with his back facing the window. His broad back shone in the morning light through the window lattice, making the whole room dark and depressing.

This man was exactly Bo who had fought with Xu Gan in person a few days ago, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call him Yeli Changrong.At this moment, he was whispering in a hoarse voice: "...Didn't I tell you? You just write, and you don't care about the rest..."

On Bo's hand, he was holding a two-headed yellow snake with lifeless eyes. The snake tilted its head and remained motionless, its four cloudy eyes were fixed on the other two people in the room.

"No..." Another young and uneasy voice sounded in the room: "I, I tried to do what you said, but, but the year is approaching, and next year there will be an exam, I'm afraid I haven't written it yet, Not many people bought it."

Bo smiled sadly, and said: "With the title of 'Luoposhanren', why worry that no one will buy your book? The owner of the bookstore has changed, you just need to write it, and I will hand it over to them for you. …When the time comes, the script you wrote will spread throughout Kaifeng, isn’t this what you have always wanted?”

He continued: "Besides, in a short time, I will ask the storyteller in Wazi to tell the illiterate people what you wrote. Chen Yuwan, who is blind to money, will not let the storyteller go. This is an excellent opportunity to attract guests by talking about the words written by the people from the Lost Mountains! The corner of the Duan Iron Tower is outdated, and he still has to find a way to make money... You coward, why did you come to this stall? Those who push and resist and refuse to do it?!"