Carrying half a catty of marinated beef with sauce, half a plate of fried peanuts, a pot of home-brewed spirits, and a lot of side dishes sent by the shopkeeper Liu, he avoided a lot of sentinels on the road, and after a long detour, Qin Chuan walked into the Tongfu Inn leisurely.

Waiting from the patio, he found that the shopkeeper Wu was not here, and asked the sister-in-law Niu who was working in the back kitchen, Qin Chuan went directly to the top floor of the Tongfu Inn, climbed the five-foot-high bamboo ladder, and finally reached the highest point of the Tongfu Inn.

Sure enough, there was an old man with gray hair lying on the ground, comfortably crossing Erlang's legs, humming the clichés of Qingzhou City.

The top floor of this piece is not big, in front of it is the eaves of blue bricks and broken tiles, and there are a lot of fallen leaves piled up between the tiles, and at this time the two swallows fly back to the eaves, and after a while, there is a young chirping. A few steps to the east, there is the street of Binh Duong Fang, but the high courtyard wall blocks the view, and you can't see what the situation is up there at all.

Qin Chuan tiptoed with his things and prepared to scare the shopkeeper Wu, who knew that he already knew who was coming, picked up the purple clay pot and poured a sip of tea into his mouth, and then said with satisfaction: "I don't know where you have been in recent days, I thought you left Qingzhou City without saying hello." ”

Qin Chuan walked to the side of the shopkeeper Wu, sat down cross-legged, took out all the things such as marinated beef with sauce and fragrant, fried peanuts, etc., and also took out the side dishes sent by the shopkeeper Liu, without waiting for the shopkeeper Wu to speak, took out two pairs of dishes and chopsticks, poured the two blue-edged bowls full of wine, one was left in place, and one was poured into the mouth.

"Although I am still in Qingzhou City today, it doesn't look too early, maybe I will have to leave Qingzhou City immediately. Growing up to ten years old in the wilderness of Taoism, this experience is not as much as a day in Qingzhou City, no wonder those small merchants and vendors as long as they earn some money, they will buy houses in the city, it seems that there are still many benefits in the city of Qingzhou City. Otherwise, a character like you can stay lonely for such a long time. Qin Chuan drank the rice wine brewed by the farmer and said with some emotion.

Shopkeeper Wu got up from the ground, took a piece of beef sauce, chewed it more than a dozen times, swallowed it, ate another peanut and said: "For me, whether it is a deserted land or a prosperous capital, it is a general virtue, people outside the city feel that the city is extremely prosperous, sharpen their heads and want to squeeze inside; This Qingzhou City, in my opinion, is not bad. ”

Qin Chuan picked up the glass of wine and handed it to Shopkeeper Wu, but he shook his head and signaled that he didn't need to, Qin Chuan asked with some curiosity: "Qingzhou City has been a fierce folk since ancient times, whether it is a scholar or a peddler's pawn, they will drink some wine. Even if the lady in the family is uninhabited, she will make a few taels to satisfy her hunger, and she can't imagine that the shopkeeper Wu doesn't drink. ”

Maybe Qin Chuan mentioned the past, Shopkeeper Wu became a little melancholy, took a bite of the side dish and explained: "I am a foreign person, and I later studied at the White Deer Academy in Qingzhou City, so I can be regarded as a scholar!"

Hearing the shopkeeper Wu say that he was a scholar, Qin Chuan almost choked himself on a mouthful of spirits. After being in contact with Shopkeeper Wu for such a long time, Qin Chuan only felt that he was just a proper innkeeper, and he had never smelled any ink on his body. And he often likes to hum the clichés of Qingzhou City, which is despised by readers.

Shopkeeper Wu didn't wait for Qin Chuan to answer, and said to himself: "It's a pity that you were never in that era, you didn't know how heroic the struggle for hegemony of a hundred countries was, and naturally you didn't know the prosperous scene of a hundred schools of thought. ”

Qin Chuan nodded thoughtfully: "I know that era. The breath of Monk Huaizhen has always been in my body, and I can often see the Iron Horse Ice River in my dreams, as if I can touch those sword things. It's just that I haven't figured it out, why do you want to study in Qingzhou City? There are so many choices in this world. ”

Shopkeeper Wu smiled sheepishly: "For one person, come to a city." When I was in the world, I met Sister-in-law Niu, and when she did not lose her memory, she settled in Qingzhou City. coincided with the peak of the literary style of Bailu Academy, which can be said to be the leader of Longguo, and the scholars of Longguo at that time only knew about Bailu Academy but did not know Tai Academy, so I became a scholar and wanted to enter Bailu Academy. Later, the sage felt that the White Deer Academy was already a behemoth, and he was afraid of threatening the Jiangshan Sheji of the Long Kingdom, so he secretly suppressed the White Deer Academy and went to support his own Tai Academy. ”

Hearing the secret matter many years ago, Qin Chuan was a little surprised, he had heard that eighty percent of the civil officials of the Long Kingdom were related to the White Deer Academy. Someone once joked that as long as you enter the door of Bailu Academy, you will have half a foot in the temple. It's just that for some reason, in recent decades, Bailu Academy has gradually declined, and even the people of Qingzhou City have some look down on it, and they can't imagine that behind this is the current sage suppressing, no wonder the scholars in Qingzhou City go to the capital to take the big exam, and there are very few people who can enter the Tai Academy, and it seems that today's saints are not so good.

Qin Chuan simply put down his chopsticks, directly pinched the peanuts with his hand and asked, "You were able to participate in the Longguo Capital City Examination at that time, and the results at that time were gratifying?"

Shopkeeper Wu replied expressionlessly: "I am not talented! Qingzhou City was the first in the spring examination, and the capital city was first in the examination, and the Tai Academy was not famous at that time, so I didn't look down on the recommendation test of the Tai Academy." I am free and easy by nature, I don't want to be an official, and I am a foreign country, the sage of Longguo at that time was naturally unwilling to entrust him with important tasks, but became a prince to read, sleep until he woke up naturally every day, and fooled a few ancient poems casually, those princes were like clouds in the fog, and they didn't know the charm. ”

It turned out that Shopkeeper Wu was so powerful before! Qingzhou City's spring examination and the capital's big examination were all champions. But why is such a famous person in Qingzhou City unknown, and in the dilapidated inn would rather be a shopkeeper for decades? All this is really incredible, but Qin Chuan doesn't know where to start.

Shopkeeper Wu continued: "In the capital, once in a deserted tavern, I met your master, who was the shabby old man, and said that someone asked him to bring a message and asked me if I had time to listen. At that time, I was young and frivolous, and I was already drunk that day, and I naturally ignored your master's words, and when I woke up, it was already the middle of the night. In the tavern, your master told me that the country is ruined!

Shopkeeper Wu said that he was very emotional at this time, picked up the purple clay pot and took a sip and continued: "When I knew that the neighboring country broke the city gate, I rushed all the way back, I didn't close my eyes for ten days and ten nights, and I was tired of dozens of blue-maned curly horses, but unfortunately I was still a step late, and it was difficult for me to stop those iron horses in time, so the country was ruined, and I became a stranger, so I stopped drinking." In desperation, I returned to Longguo, but at that time the princes killed each other, I felt that there was no fun in the capital, and I took my sister-in-law Niu back to Qingzhou City to spend the day, but something happened in it, she has forgotten who I am, and I will always remember her. ”

But Shopkeeper Wu is such a number one person, it stands to reason that everyone in Qingzhou City knows about it, and everyone knows it, if Shopkeeper Wu wants to be so incognito, I'm afraid it won't be so easy. Qin Chuan was a little suspicious in his heart, but he couldn't help but ask: "Qingzhou City doesn't look big, if you want to hide your traces, I'm afraid it's not so easy, right?"

Shopkeeper Wu stood up and looked at the bustling crowd in the distance, just like today's saints looking down on their courtiers: "I was low-key at that time, and there were very few people I met, and those old fellows who knew me were all killed by the people of the temple, and my appearance has changed greatly, so naturally few people know my identity." ”

Qin Chuan shook his head: "In addition to this, there should be another reason. ”。

Shopkeeper Wu asked with interest, "Oh, did you guess something?"

Qin Chuan also stood up and whispered to Shopkeeper Wu: "The dean of Bailu Academy is not the same as I imagined!"