Lu Sheng looked at the old man's expression, as if he had believed what he said, but when he and the old man Qi walked out of the dimly lit alley together, they were unconsciously facing a situation that was a little out of control. The children on the sea passage who saw the back of Old Man Qi walking into the alley before actually followed slowly, so when Old Man Qi came out again, those children greeted him happily.

At this moment, the gap was too short from the sentence he promised to Old Man Qi just now, and it was impossible for Lu Sheng to jump over the wall with a sugar gourd full of grass, so he had to fulfill what he had just said. With a strong smile, Lu Sheng looked at the group of children who looked at him with some strange eyes, and said gently: "Hello children, today I will help grandpa sell sugar gourds." It's the first time we've met, don't be surprised. ”

Lu Sheng struggled to figure out what tone to use to speak to a group of children, obviously he had too little experience in this area, and he only tried to say such a thing that made him feel awkward.

Many of the children in that group showed a sense of sadness on their faces, but there was less doubt in their eyes. In the group of children, an older child thought about it and said, "Since the eldest brother said that we are meeting for the first time, is there any welcome gift?" Before he finished speaking, his eyes were already fixed on the sugar gourd that Lu Sheng was carrying.

This point could not escape Lu Sheng's eyes, and he immediately solemnly announced: "Today's sugar gourd, big brother will give you the cheapest price...... Speaking of this, he glanced sideways at the old man Qi who was standing beside him, but he didn't listen to his prompts, so he had to bite the bullet and say his guessed price: "...... Three articles in a string! ”

The sugar gourds in the small county town sell for two wen a string, and Kyoto should be a little more expensive, so on top of that, you can reduce the price a little bit. A string of three articles should be about the same. These are the thoughts that change in Lu Sheng's mind in an instant.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he heard a burst of sighs from the group of children. Then I heard the eldest child take the lead and say: "Sanwen and a string are the prices of Jinxiu Street in the south of the city, there are many shops there, and the rich like to go there to play, but because of this, even the price of sugar gourds has risen, so we don't go there to buy sugar gourds anymore." We only buy grandpa's sugar gourds, because he only sells two cents a string, and sometimes he will give us some...... But why are you selling it more expensive than grandpa? ”

"Three articles in a string. And said it was a bargain price......"

"Give the sugar gourd back to grandpa, you should go to Fairview Street!"

The children began to heckle and unanimously diswelcome Lu Sheng. Lu Sheng stood in place in embarrassment, and the old man Qi on the side was faintly uneasy after his face was full of embarrassment, and secretly shouted: You bear children, you don't know how serious it is, you will lose the face of others, do you know that he is not an ordinary person!

Thinking of this, Old Man Qi quietly glanced at the young man beside him. I found that there was no trace of fierceness in his eyes. Until this time, he completely relaxed his mind, believing that this young man was really not a bad person, and he was really afraid that there was something unspeakable. Out of subconscious kindness, he decided to give him a hand.

"Kids, stop arguing." Old man Qi raised his voice. After a pause, he announced: "Big brother just learned to make sugar gourds with me, and many places are not familiar with it, don't complain." In the future, grandpa will also have helpers, so today I am very happy to invite everyone to eat sugar gourds that do not cost money, do you say? ”

"Okay—"

The children cheered.

The families of these children are not wealthy, but they are residents of Kyoto after all, and they can take care of enough food and clothing on weekdays, but this snack is a little inadequate, and they can eat a sugar gourd every few days. It's already a great satisfaction. A sugar gourd for two pennies. Old man Qi's zuò is very generous in terms of quantity, and a bamboo stubble is skewered with a full portion of nine sour dates, which are sweet and sour and delicious.

Children often buy a bunch and eat it with their younger siblings, and one can be folded into two halves. There are also many children who sell a bunch and take it back. Eat a few today, and you can pick up the rest tomorrow. Sugar gourds have always been the most popular among children's snacks - of course, this height is limited to children below the average family level - but such a group of people are more likely to give back their good feelings to merchants after buying something they are satisfied with.

Lu Sheng raised the straw handle, watched the old man Qi pull out the sugar gourds with a smile and distribute them to the children, he suddenly said, "Thank you for your help." ”

Lu Sheng's words contained internal strength, and Old Man Qi heard it very clearly, and he said without looking back: "I am anxious, I am still willing to help with this little help." If I'm not mistaken, your stuff should be in this straw, right? It's a lot heavier than usual! ”

Lu Sheng smiled and was about to speak, but suddenly heard the voice of an obviously adult man coming from outside the group of children tightly surrounded: "There are sugar gourds here that don't cost money, it's really good!" The younger generation wants to ask for a few to take to the children of poor families in the west of the city to eat, but I wonder if the seniors can allow it? ”

Lu Sheng's brows furrowed, and his voice sank: "Senior, the trouble chasing me is coming, I have to go first." ”

With that, he twisted the five fingers of his hand holding the straw handle, and a long thing fell out of the straw. Before Old Man Qi could see what it was, the thing was taken away by the figure in front of him.

After the long thing fell out, the grass handle suddenly became a hollow thing, and the sugar gourd string inserted on the grass handle sank because of the full weight, and now because the support of the grass handle was greatly reduced and there was a tendency to fall, which caused the children in the group to quickly get closer. All of a sudden, the children around Old Man Qi became even denser.

In this dense crowd, it was difficult for Old Man Qi to see when and where the young man who had taken the long thing had left. At the same time, he suddenly felt the straw handle in his hand sink, and when he looked up, he vaguely saw a person flashing overhead. The tip of the man's toe touched the top of the straw handle, and his figure rose high again, but the straw handle in the old man's hand was like a heavy blow, and it stabbed into the street tiles with a bang, which made the old man Qi let go of his hand in surprise, and the straw handle did not tilt to the ground, and still stood upright like a flag.

Old man Qi raised his head in a daze, and sighed in his heart: "Oh my God, what kind of people are these two!" ”

In fact, it was not only the old man Qi who saw this scene, only in the group of children, the older and taller child just now was also shocked by this scene, and forgot about the sugar gourd for the time being, just raised his head and exclaimed: "Look, everyone, there are people flying in the sky!" ”

A child standing next to him was the first to hear what he said, and looked up curiously, but found nothing, and the child could not help but blame: "How can a man fly in the sky if he is not a bird?" You're trying to trick us into looking up at the sky, and then you can get the biggest sugar gourd! ”

The tall child's eyes were fixed on the figure of the man who had just passed overhead, until the figure disappeared into the uneven roof in the distance, and he didn't have the leisure to talk to the child next to him about the gains and losses of words, but then said: "Look, that person has flown to the back of the house, so fast!" ”

This time, no one paid any attention to him.

……

After a few laps around the old housing area, Lu Sheng couldn't get rid of Qiao Cui, who was chasing after him, and in desperation, he had to prepare to change the location. Qiao Cui, who followed closely, also felt uncomfortable, and walked around the old house area a few times, only once was he very close to Lu Sheng, but he was finally thrown off by him. For the tracker, it is difficult to fully grasp the target, or even to get close, a situation that makes him ashamed at first, then embarrassed.

After chasing for nearly a stick of incense, Qiao Cui began to feel that the consumption of his body was a little too much, and he estimated that Lu Sheng, who was on a par with himself, should also feel tired. Sure enough, then he saw Lu Sheng change his course, leave the old house area, and walk south through a large pond between the inner city and the city river.

The reason why there is such a large pond on the outskirts of the old house area is not only to stabilize the water level of the Dìng Huancheng River, but also to isolate the waste dump on the other side of the pond.

Kyoto is the second largest shopping mall in the entire Akikuni, and the area opposite the large pond was originally a forest area with a lot of bamboo, but later nearly half of the area was cut off as a temporary storage place for the city's garbage, except for the bamboo around the small temple in the bamboo forest. This practice was arranged by the last emperor of the previous Zhou Dynasty, and after the abolition of the Zhou Dynasty, the new monarch retained such a seemingly unwise geographical arrangement, I don't know if it was because he had not thought of a better alternative, or because he had other intentions.

In short, the residents of the whole city do not have much opinion on throwing garbage or picking up garbage here for public or private purposes, and this pattern of behavior has continued for decades, and it can be regarded as a part of the habits of the residents of the city. But there are still some people who think of this place, when they think of the sacred temple and the garbage mountain as neighbors, while the condemnation of the former dynasty's faint monarch's policy is increasing, they are also slandering the good and evil, and the emperor of Zhaoguo is carefully retaining the stain left by the emperor of the previous dynasty!

In this mountain of garbage, in addition to fruit peels, vegetable leaves, construction waste and other waste, there is another thing that makes people sound a little creepy, and that is dead bodies.

There was no shortage of poor people anywhere in the world, and there were beggars in every city, big or small, so almost every day, in the streets of the capital, the city patrol soldiers could find ownerless people who had died of hunger or disease on the corners or alleys of the capital. They may not be all beggars, but most of them will go unclaimed, which is also a kind of 'garbage', but because of their special nature, they must be disposed of properly, even if their deaths are meaningless.

Therefore, as early as many years ago, the imperial court spent money to build a righteous village on the side of the garbage mountain next to the small temple in the bamboo forest in the south of the city.

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PS: To explain, the currency issue in this article is equivalent to five cents, and the rest will be upgraded according to this basis...... (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )