Before noon, Qiu Niang had already prepared a meal.

A bowl of water tofu, a bowl of pig's head meat, and nothing else.

There is a small table in the hall, it is a place to eat on weekdays, the table is very low, the two small horse stools are even shorter, after the meal is served, Qiu Niang immediately closes the door, the courtyard door is gone, eat in the main hall, people in the alley can see it as long as they turn their heads.

Although Qiu Niang did not fall behind in front of the fat woman, it was absolutely unacceptable for the passing neighbors to see that she was eating with a strange young man.

As soon as the door closed, the hall was quite dark.

Closed the door in broad daylight, and staying with a man, Qiu Niang also seemed to feel a little embarrassed, and when she was eating, she was embarrassed to look up, just holding the rice bowl and eating in small bites, but she obviously had something on her mind, and a few grains of rice were chewed in her mouth for a long time.

Qin Xiao saw it in his eyes, and his heart was amused.

Although Qiu Niang lives with her younger brother and does not seem to be married, Qin Xiao is not sure that Qiu Niang has not been married before, after all, she is almost thirty years old, and there are many people who marry at the age of thirteen or fourteen in the lobby, and it is really unreasonable to have never been married at this age.

However, looking at Qiu Niang's performance, it seems that Jing really hasn't gotten along with men.

It stands to reason that Qiu Niang is a lot older than herself, so she shouldn't be so restrained.

He picked up the chopsticks, sandwiched a piece of pig's head meat, stretched it out and put it in Qiu Niang's bowl, Qiu Niang raised her head, a little stunned, Qin Xiao said softly: "You haven't eaten vegetables, is there something on your mind?" ”

"No..... It's nothing. Qiu Niang smiled reluctantly.

She only felt that the current atmosphere was really embarrassing, if Gu Baiyi was at home, naturally there would be nothing wrong, but she was a woman's family, and she got along with Qin Xiao's lonely men and widows, the key was that Qin Xiao, who she only met yesterday, was not very familiar, and now she was sitting at the same table with this young man to eat, which always seemed a little ridiculous.

She was conflicted.

I hoped that Qin Xiao would leave as soon as possible after eating, so as not to make irresponsible remarks from the neighbors, but thinking that Qin Xiao's injury was not yet healed, and when he first arrived in Kyoto, it was always difficult for him to leave.

Qin Xiao only felt that Qiu Niang was really a sincere person.

Asked her to go grocery shopping before, mentioned the pig's head meat, and specially gave a few taels of silver, which was more than enough to buy a table of good wine and good food, but this beautiful lady really just bought a pound of pig's head meat back, and the water tofu was the cheapest dish, and it was also the most common dish on the Gu family's dinner table on weekdays.

Although she attaches great importance to money and does not spend money indiscriminately, she does not take advantage of others, and all the money left over from buying vegetables is returned to Qin Xiao.

"Is Sister Qiu Niang from Kyoto?" The two of them ate opposite each other and didn't speak, how embarrassing was the atmosphere, Qin Xiao had nothing to say and asked.

Qiu Niang shook her head and said softly: "I am from Tanzhou, but I came to Kyoto when I was very young, when I was only four or five years old, and my father was a tea merchant .....!" ”

"Tea merchant?" Qin Xiao hurriedly said: "Then Sister Qiu Niang must know tea very well?" ”

"I don't understand." Qiu Niang shook her head and said: "My father died of illness only half a year after coming to Kyoto, leaving only my mother and my sister and brother, and later ......!" Speaking of this, he didn't continue, and his expression was a little gloomy.

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Qin Xiao thought that the Gu family's sisters and brothers lost their father when they were young, and couldn't help but say, "That Sister Qiu Niang has always been ..... Have been living with Brother Gu? ”

Qiu Niang was also smart, smiled lightly, and said, "You."

Do you want to ask me if I've ever been married? I was poor and ugly, but no one looked down on me. ”

"Sister Qiu Niang's words are not right." Qin Xiao immediately said: "Silver is something outside the body, if you have a shy bag today, you may be full of gold and jade tomorrow, this is not a problem." If you were ugly, there would be no beautiful women in Kyoto. ”

He just wanted to praise Qiu Niang for two sentences, but as soon as he said this, he felt that something was wrong, being alone with a woman, and praising her for her beautiful appearance, but it seemed a little frivolous.

Qiu Niang was stunned, and said with a smile: "Kyoto is as beautiful as a cloud, if they want them to know that you compare you with an ugly monster like me, they can't spare you." ”

Qin Xiao could see clearly at this time, when Qiu Niang laughed, there were shallow dimples on both sides of her mouth, and the little red mole on her lower lip was even more charming and moving.

Although she is no longer young, she is like a ripe fruit, with a mature charm that a young girl cannot match.

Qiu Niang saw a trace of admiration from Qin Xiao's eyes, knowing that it was a man's reaction to becoming interested in a woman, she was suddenly a little unhappy in her heart, secretly thinking that this guy was young, but she thought about herself, and put aside the topic and asked, "By the way, what happened last night?" Why..... Why would anyone want to kill you? ”

"I don't know who it is." Qin Xiao said: "I rode through an alley, and suddenly someone shot an arrow in the dark, I couldn't dodge, I was shot in the shoulder, and then ..... Then he rode and rushed over. ”

He didn't mean to deceive Qiu Niang.

was attacked last night, Qin Xiao not only killed the giant man, but also the giant man disemboweled, if Qiu Niang knew about this, it is estimated that he would be scared to death of this beautiful girl.

If Mei Jiaoniang sees herself in the future, she thinks of the scene of disembowelment, and even thinks of herself as a murderer, and she is naturally afraid of herself, and it will be difficult to get along again.

The most important thing is that Qin Xiao really doesn't want Qiu Niang to be involved too much, and the more he knows, the less good it will be for Qiu Niang.

"I'm glad you rode a horse." Qiu Niang's heart palpitated, Xiumei frowned, and said in a low voice: "After you entered Beijing, you offended Tsing Yi Tang, those people are not good things, they oppress the people, do evil, rely on the support of people behind them, and are lawless." You hit their people, and they are not your opponents on the surface, so they attack secretly. ”

Qin Xiao nodded and said, "What Sister Qiu Niang said is extremely true, and I also hold it up to someone from Tsing Yi Tang who is secretly making ghosts." ”

"Hey, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have offended them." Qiu Niang regretted a little and said, "I shouldn't have parked the boat next to you that day." ”

"Don't say that." Qin Xiao smiled and said: "I heard people say that ten years of cultivation can be crossed by the same boat, and a hundred years of cultivation can be shared with each other...... Hmm, I was able to get on Sister Qiu's boat because I had practiced for ten years in my previous life, and without the cultivation in my previous life, I would not have the fate of this life. ”

Qiu Niang said "oh", noncommittal.

"But Tsing Yi Tang deceives people too much, and they dare to do such nonsense in Kyoto, if they go elsewhere, they will not do less murder and arson." Qin Xiao thought to himself that if Tsing Yi Tang really sent someone to assassinate him last night, he and Tsing Yi Tang would not give up, and asked softly: "By the way, Sister Qiu Niang, Brother Gu said before that Tsing Yi Tang has a backer behind it, but he didn't explain it, do you know who the backer behind these people is?" ”

Qiu Niang shook her head and said: "I don't know, I only heard that behind them are high-ranking officials and nobles, with high and powerful positions, and Tsing Yi Tang only dares to do anything wrong in Kyoto by relying on the backers behind them." When the people of the government see the people in Tsing Yi Tang, as long as they don't make trouble, they will turn around and leave, and they will not interfere. ”

Qin Xiao thought

On the bank of the Luoshui River that day, the official clearly saw Tsing Yi Tang bullying the people, but he ignored it, which shows that Tsing Yi Tang can survive in Kyoto because the backers behind them make their foundation stable.

"Those people in Tsing Yi Tang used to be just ruffians and hooligans in the streets and alleys of Kyoto, who made a living by extortion in Kyoto." Qiu Niang sighed lightly: "But at that time, if these scoundrels deceive people too much and report to the government, the government will also come forward to arrest them and stay in prison for a while, anyway, they don't dare to be too rampant at that time." Later, I don't know when it started.,Out of Tsing Yi Hall.,Gather all the ruffians in Kyoto.,These people seem to be more regular than before.,Don't make trouble easily.,But if you offend them.,They're more fierce than before.。 In many places such as large and small shops in Kyoto, as well as waterways, they have to collect money, saying that if they pay the money, they can do business in peace, otherwise these people will make trouble all day long, and customers will not dare to come to the door. ”

Qin Xiao frowned, Qiu Niang continued: "The government wants to collect taxes, and these people also have to collect money, doing business in Kyoto is equivalent to paying two taxes, and fortunately, Kyoto has a large population and thriving business, and in other places, these shops have long been closed." ”

"Won't those merchants join forces to file a complaint with the government?"

"At the beginning, there were really many merchants who jointly sued Tsing Yi Tong." Qiu Niang said: "But the leading businessmen disappeared inexplicably, and the government ignored them, and everyone felt that those businessmen were secretly killed by Tsing Yi Tang, so they didn't dare to sue anymore." ”

Qin Xiao sneered: "At the feet of the Son of Heaven, it is so rampant, this is not only the fault of Tsing Yi Hall, but the fault of those people in the temple is even greater. I was puzzled, secretly thinking about the identity of the person behind Tsing Yi Tang who fell to the ground, and no one dared to provoke Tsing Yi Tang.

"There is more than just Tsing Yi Hall in Kyoto." Qiu Niang said softly: "There is also a Taiping Society, like Tsing Yi Tang, and they are not good people. The two groups fought each other in Kyoto to seize territory in order to collect money from the places under their control. There are three rivers in Kyoto, Luoshui, Gushui and Raoshui, the Gushui Waterway belongs to Tsing Yi Tang, Rao Shui belongs to the Taihei Society, and the remaining Luoshui used to be the territory of Tsing Yi Tang, and later the Taiping Society appeared, and half of it was taken from Tsing Yi Tang. ”

Qin Xiao was stunned for a moment, and felt more and more interesting.

In Kyoto, there are not only party fights in the court, but also gang fights in the city.

He knew very well that the gang dispute in the market was just an expansion of the party struggle in the imperial court, and behind both Tsing Yi Tang and the Taiping Society, there were shadows of court officials.

"I was holding a boat in Raoshui, and they asked me for money, so I ran to Gushui." Qiu Niang was a little angry and said: "When I got to Gushui, they also asked me for silver, and I went to Luoshui again, anyway, they chased me for money in the back, I hid from them everywhere, and when I got to the place of the Taiping Society, Tsing Yi Tang couldn't take care of it, and the Taiping Society looked for me, so I ran to the place of Tsing Yi Tang and played hide and seek with them." Speaking of this, the corners of his lips couldn't help but smile smugly.

Qin Xiao knew that Qiu Niang's living environment was really bad.

It is not easy for a woman to support her family by boat, and it is really hard to avoid those scoundrels to collect money, and she asked, "How long have you been holding the boat?" ”

"It didn't take long, less than two years." Qiu Niang said: "I was in ...... before!" Halfway through speaking, he smiled faintly, but the following words did not continue, Qin Xiao saw that she didn't say anything, so it was inconvenient to ask, picked up chopsticks, and put a piece of pig's head meat in Qiu Niang's bowl.

Qiu Niang hurriedly said: "Don't, don't, you eat it yourself, I'll ..... I don't like to eat meat. ”

At this moment, I suddenly heard a man's voice from the courtyard: "Dare to ask Qin Xiao if Qin Gongzi is here?" ”