Yang Xianmao slowly turned around and looked, and at this look, he couldn't help but be stunned. - The woman who followed him turned out to be Liu Dongyan, the daughter of Liu Yu, the imperial physician he had just bought for a hundred taels of silver and put as a commoner.

Liu Dongyan stood there, looking at Yang Xianmao timidly.

Yang Xianmao sighed, walked over slowly, stood in front of him and said, "What are you doing with me? You are now a free man, you don't need to follow me." ”

"Young master, I am the slave you bought, I don't follow the young master, where am I going?"

Yang Xianmao said: "You are the daughter of the imperial doctor, you must have some knowledge, you should know the meaning of my words." - I have now handed over your servant deed to you, and I have also gone through the registration procedures for releasing you as a commoner at the Yamen, so you are no longer my slave, you are a free man, you don't need to follow me, understand?"

Liu Dongyan shook his head timidly and raised his thin hand. Her fingers were slender and beautifully shaped, but they were calloused, and she must have suffered as much as she had in her cell and exile, and that hand was as good as that of a washerwoman. She had the deed in her hand.

Liu Dongyan said: "Young master, you take back the deed of sale, you can buy me, so that I will not be trapped in the Qinglou, I am already my reborn parents, I am willing to follow the young master in life and death." ”

Yang Xianmao smiled bitterly, pointed to his Taoist robe, and said: "I am a monk, I am a Taoist priest, and a Taoist priest still needs someone to serve, so what is it called?"

"No, many Taoist priests not only have maids, but also wives and concubines, and there are countless slaves in the family. I've seen quite a few such Taoist priests. ”

Indeed, some sects of Taoism in the Song Dynasty not only did not taboo alcohol and meat, but also could marry wives and have children, and support domestic slaves. Of course, only rich Taoists can do it. Yang Xianmao had rarely been in contact with people in this area before, so he didn't know, so after hearing Liu Dongyan's words, he couldn't help but be a little stunned.

Yang Xianmao said patiently: "That's them, it has nothing to do with me, at least I don't need a maid to serve." I bought you out of sympathy, so I put you as a commoner, and you can live your life well. You have hands and feet, and you can find something to do. There are washermen in the laundry room on the dock, who are similar to you, and can also support themselves with their hands. In the future, find a good man to marry, there is only so much I can help you, don't follow me, okay?"

After saying that, Yang Xianmao turned his head and walked forward again, but he still clearly heard Liu Dongyan's small footsteps behind him, and he kept following, unhurried.

Yang Xianmao had no choice but to stand again, turned around, walked back, and shouted at her: "I told you, don't follow me!"

Liu Dongyan said timidly: "The slave is the young master's maid, so I can only follow the young master, otherwise I have nowhere to go." ”

Yang Xianmao thought to herself, only if she was fierce enough to scare her away, otherwise she would always follow her. I am a person with five disadvantages and three shortcomings, I can't keep the money, how can I raise a maid, and why should I let my girls suffer with me?

So Yang Xianmao's eyes widened, and he pointed at Liu Dongyan's nose and shouted: "I warn you, my patience is limited! I hate that others follow me, no matter who it is." So you listen to me clearly, don't follow me anymore, or I'll be unkind to you! I've said it countless times, you're not my slave, it's your business to go wherever you like, just don't follow me, I'm just kind to save you, I don't want you to pester me, understand?"

Yang Xianmao took a step forward and pointed to Liu Dongyan's nose. Liu Dongyan retreated step by step, and withdrew more than a dozen steps, until Yang Xianmao stopped, she also stopped, her eyes were already full of tears, she kept nodding her head, and her thin body kept shaking.

Yang Xianmao looked at her eyes carefully, and now there was no such sad despair, so he believed that this girl should not commit suicide because of her words, she should have been a strong girl.

Therefore, Yang Xianmao glared at her fiercely again, and then turned around and walked towards the tea shop. Sure enough, there was no more footsteps of the girl behind her.

Yang Xianmao came to Xia Yinhua's tea shop.

When Xia Yinhua saw him, she smiled, rushed to him like a spring breeze, looked up and down, and said happily: "You're here, where have you been these days? ”

Another tea guest smiled inside and said: "Yes, Shopkeeper Xia is looking at the door with a copper kettle every day, and his eyes are piercing." If you don't come again, she'll become a wangfu stone, hahaha. ”

Most of these tea customers were old acquaintances, and they knew that Yang Xianmao and Xia Yinhua had an extraordinary relationship, so they made fun of them.

Xia Yinhua glared back at the old tea guest happily, and said, "Drink your tea, so many words!" Then she turned around, happily reached out and took the heavy wooden box from Yang Xianmao's shoulder, and carried it to the table by the side of the street where Yang Xianmao usually sat and put it down. Then he took down a wooden sign on the table with the word "reserved" written on it and beckoned him to sit down.

Another tea guest joked on the side: "Dao Chief, if you don't come these days, this table is reserved for you, even if there are more tea customers, she won't give this table to use." She would rather not make money than keep this son for you, tsk, it can be seen what status you have in the heart of Shopkeeper Xia. What kind of family are you from? If you don't want to marry her, you will run a tea shop together, isn't that just a husband and a wife? Hahaha. ”

And the crowd laughed good-naturedly.

Hearing this, Xia Yinhua's heart blossomed, and she looked at Yang Xianmao happily, but when she saw that Yang Xianmao still had a faint expression, she didn't seem to have any interest in such a topic, so she knew that Yang Xianmao had no idea about that at all, and she was a little disappointed, so she turned back and said to the tea guest: "Don't say that, the Taoist is just borrowing me to see feng shui to cure diseases." The Taoist chief is a nobleman, and after he came, my tea shop business has been getting better day by day, and he has done a lot of things for me, but that's all, why did he talk about it? ”

As he spoke, he poured a bowl of tea for Yang Xianmao for one penny, and then brought a plate of kimchi and two cooking cakes.

Yang Xianmao's previous strength had not passed, and his stomach did not feel very hungry, but he was not polite to the good cooking cakes, so he carried the cooking cakes into his arms, and drank the big bowl of tea slowly, looking at the pedestrians coming and going on the street.

Xia Yinhua's mother-in-law behind the counter used to be a herb doctor when Yang Xianmao set up a stall outside their tea shop to work as a herb doctor, she saw that Yang Xianmao had always had a straight face, and she didn't even smile, but since Yang Xianmao gave Xia Yinhua the box of fifty copper coins, Xia Yinhua returned her mother-in-law's coffin book, and her mother-in-law smiled when she saw Yang Xianmao.

Xia Yinhua's mother-in-law saw Yang Xianmao coming at this moment, and took the initiative to come over to greet Yang Xianmao, saying, "Dao Chang is hard!" and asked Xia Yinhua to change a pot of good tea for Yang Xianmao, but Yang Xianmao refused, and asked Xia Yinhua to bring a plate of edamame to Yang Xianmao to play.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, the sun has set. However, before closing, two people came to Yang Xianmao to see a doctor, and Yang Xianmao wrote them a prescription, charged two pennies, and asked them to take medicine according to the prescription.

When it got dark, the tea guests dispersed. Yang Xianmao, according to the previous practice, helped Xia Yinhua close the door of the store.

Xia Yinhua came to his side and whispered, "I'll cook you a few good dishes tonight, and a pot of burning knife wine." You'll have to chop wood for me, though. - You haven't been here for the past two days, I'm tired from chopping wood, and you don't feel sorry for others!"

Yang Xianmao didn't laugh with her, just nodded, and after putting on the door panel, he hugged the big water tank to carry water. The girls and daughters-in-law who were drawing water by the well were familiar with him and greeted him one after another. A person like him who holds a large water tank to carry water is also a Taoist, and anyone will take a look at it and forget it for a lifetime.

The girls and daughters-in-law gathered around him and asked him how he had been these days, and why he hadn't come to fetch water for a long time. Yang Xianmao just nodded very politely, didn't answer much, and after filling the water, he returned to the tea shop amid the jokes of the big girls and little daughters-in-law.

After putting down a large vat of water, Yang Xianmao began to chop firewood. He chopped the firewood very quickly, and in a short time he had a small pile of firewood ready.

When she came out, Xia Yinhua had already set up a table of wine and food. It's still two meat and two vegetables, but there is a roast duck in the meat dish, and the attractive burnt yellow color under the oil lamp makes people salivate, and it is really a good dish to accompany the wine.

Xia Yinhua poured him a bowl of wine, and also poured half a bowl for herself, and while drinking, she looked at him intently under the oil lamp, watching him eat.

Yang Xianmao drank a bowl of wine in one go, and then began to eat, without looking at Xia Yinhua, who was sitting opposite and looking at him.

After eating, he wiped his mouth and stood up to leave. Xia Yunhua hurriedly stretched out her hand and pressed his shoulder and said, "What's the hurry? You haven't been here for a few days, I'll save it for you, drink this jar before leaving. Don't worry, I'm not a tiger, I also said before, since we don't have that fate, I won't expect to have a good time with you. You just stay, eat and drink. ”

Yang Xianmao's heart softened, and he glanced back at Xia Yinhua, and then sat down again.

Xia Yinhua turned around and went into the kitchen, and after a while, she came out with a jar of wine, but this jar was five catties. put it on the table and said to Yang Xianmao: "You have a good amount of wine, I have prepared this big altar for you." It doesn't matter if you can't finish it all at once, save it for tomorrow, and I'll fry two dishes for you to drink. ”

Yang Xianmao said angrily: "Didn't you say that you can only drink wine when you chop firewood?

Xia Yinhua smiled and said, "In order to thank you, after you showed me feng shui, these days, my tea shop business is getting better day by day." The daily income has increased several times, and if it goes on like this, not to mention the big money, the small wealth will definitely cost a sum. Therefore, my mother-in-law was also happy, and secretly told me to let me treat you well, you are a noble person in our family. ”

Yang Xianmao said: "You can't talk about it, but I'm not used to eating and drinking every day, why don't you just have a jar of wine, okay, you put it down, I'll finish it today." ”

I think that at the beginning, in the extremely arctic cold land, Yang Xianmao fought with the generals of the Liao Dynasty, and he drank happily, and he didn't know how much wine he drank. Therefore, he is still sure that he can drink this five-pound and one-jar wine.