The sky has completely darkened, the Ping'an Inn has hung a sign saying that it is closed, a dim light is lit in the lobby of the inn, and the little two in the store have put two or three tables together, and it is their meal time.

"Where did you two come from?" At the table, the shopkeeper asked Haitang and Xiaoyue.

"My brother and sister don't have a fixed place right now, we're just traveling around." Haitang replied with a smile, this reason was something he had already thought of, after all, from Duan Qi's mouth, he could also hear how powerful the Duan family was in Panyu, and he had to hide it from the Duan family, and he also had to beware of thieves to investigate things, so it was naturally good to conceal his identity, "My name is Mu Qing, and this is my sister Mu Luo." ”

The shopkeeper listened to Begonia's words and nodded repeatedly: "I have always envied people like you, traveling around, you can see many scenery that others can't see, and you can experience things that ordinary people like us can't experience in a lifetime." ”

Xiao Yue smiled indifferently and looked at the shopkeeper with a somewhat playful gaze: "If the shopkeeper is interested, why don't you go out and walk around?" ”

The shopkeeper waved his hand again and again: "The girl said that I can't bear that hardship," he looked around the inn lobby, "For me, running this inn handed down from my ancestors and living a down-to-earth life is already very satisfying, although the icing on the cake is good, but I don't want to get scarred by picking a rose." ”

"By the way, the shopkeeper knows that Panyu is here-" Begonia dragged out the syllables and asked tentatively, "Is there any unique scenery or specialty?" ”

"If you talk about the unique scenery, is the weather in Panyu unique?" The shopkeeper seemed to be joking, "Speaking of which, Panyu is facing an endless Daze to the south, and the water there is salty, this should be regarded as a unique scenery, right?" The shopkeeper shook his head and said, "However, there are many bandits near Panyu, and the convoys of merchants are escorted by many people before they dare to enter and exit here, and the local people rarely go out. ”

Haitang frowned slightly: "There are so many bandits, won't the government go to suppress the cowards?" ”

The shopkeeper sneered: "The government is going to suppress the cowards? I think that this government is a nest of thieves, snakes and rats, and has long reached a consensus that something will not be seen in the dark. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know how rampant the bandits are here, I remember that the year before last, a merchant group from Chang'an was intercepted, and all the people in the merchant group died," the shopkeeper made a gesture to wipe his neck, "It is said that there are people in charge of this merchant group in the court, and he is still a big official - but in the end, this matter is over, but our poor city has never been looted by bandits, and bandits have never been haunted ten miles away from the city." ”

"So the shopkeeper thinks that this bandit has reached an agreement with the local government, the government will not suppress the thief, and the thief will not disturb the city?"

"But isn't it," said the bookkeeper, who had been silent, "what kind of bullshit government, the people under his rule have been complaining but ignoring them, but they have been trying to find ways to oppress the people. ”

"Sooner or later, Duan Gou will ask for his own hardship!" Xiao Er also inserted the topic, he said a little excitedly, "I have been inexplicably locked down for a few months before, and the curfew time has been repeatedly advanced, I was still thinking about what kind of madness Duan Gou had, and then I heard that it was his treasure that was stolen, and it was good to steal!" ”

Haitang and Xiao Yue were stunned when they heard this, and couldn't help but glance at each other, and then Xiao Yue opened her mouth and asked, "Who is Duan Gou?" ”

"He is the lord of Panyu City, named Duan De, he is an insatiable guy, he often burns and loots wantonly for his own selfish desires, and we ordinary people are bullied by him." The shopkeeper said such a paragraph through some gritted teeth.

"Duan De......" Haitang muttered.

"Hey, by the way, two guest officers, just listen to these words today, but don't say them outside." The shopkeeper reminded again.

While talking, a table of food has been eaten, and after Haitang and Xiaoyue thanked the shopkeeper for his kindness again and again, they came to the room they had set. As the shopkeeper said, these two rooms are on the innermost side of the left-hand side of the second floor, and you can look out through the window of the room, which is the direction of the rising sun.

"Brother, what is the purpose of this Qi, didn't he say that it was him who lost something, why did he come out with another city lord Duan De?" Xiao Yue sat in front of the window and looked at the dim street where no one was around, the desertion on the street was in stark contrast to the bustle of Hangzhou City, "Duan Qi invited us to come to Panyu with him, if it is not Duan Qi but Duan De who loses something, as soon as we come, his lie will be self-defeating, he has no reason to lie." ”

Haitang pouted, sat at the table and poured herself a cup of tea: "Duan De Duan Qi, these two people are afraid that they are a family, Duan De is the city lord, and Duan Qi is in charge of the Duan family, so Duan Qi has such a great ability to seal the city." Duan Qi has no reason to deceive us, the thing should indeed be lost by Duan Qi, Duan De just used the excuse that he lost something as an excuse to seal the city. ”

"Brother, whether it's Duan De or Duan Qi, they shouldn't be good people, do we really want to help this kind of government that cares about people's lives?" Xiao Yue looked a little entangled.

Haitang smiled: "How can anyone in business be picky about customers." ”

Xiao Yue looked at the street outside the window in silence, and Begonia stepped forward to rub her head, and then handed her a cup of tea.

"It's a bit unaccustomed to such a deserted street."

Xiao Yue took a shallow sip of tea and said.

Following.

After Haitang and Xiaoyue had a casual meal at the inn, they went to the street, and they were going to ask around for news about Duan De.

Even in the daytime, there are not so many pedestrians on the streets of Panyu, and these few pedestrians seem to have a strong purpose, unlike in Hangzhou, where there are quite a lot of people wandering aimlessly.

The two stopped and walked to a teahouse.

"I thought there was no teahouse in a place like Panyu." Xiao Yue seemed a little surprised.

"There are a lot of people in a place like a teahouse, and the shopkeeper should know a lot of things, so we can just go and investigate." Haitang said, and took the lead in entering the teahouse, but the scene in front of him made him stunned - only to see that there were only two or three dilapidated tables in this huge shop, and more open space. The interior of the teahouse was simple and old, the wooden counter was even a little cracked, several beams and pillars were covered with dust, and between the two tables, Begonia could see a huge broken cobweb.

"Yo," an old man behind the counter was snorting a dry cigarette, half of his body hidden in the smoke cloud, "There are guests here today?" ”

"Hmm...... You're the shopkeeper here, aren't you? Begonia asked a little embarrassed.

"Yes," the old man stood up, "I'm the shopkeeper, and you two are here for tea?" It's a pity that I don't have any tea in this place. ”

"We're from out of town, and we want to find a place to have a cup of tea and rest......"

"No wonder," Begonia said as he watched the thin old man walk towards them, and the old man spat out a smoke ring, "I said why a guest came suddenly, it turned out to be from out of town." ”

"You don't usually have any guests here?"

"There used to be several teahouses here, but now...... I'm the only one left, the old man. ”

The old man shook his head as he spoke, looked at the dusty old teahouse and sighed heavily, and sighed with emotion: "I don't know why, the good city lord seems to have changed overnight, he was originally quite enlightened, he suddenly became brutal and unkind, we ordinary people have not suffered less, the harsh taxes are getting heavier and heavier, everything in the city is rising in price, how many people can eat enough this year?" "Panyu is remote and poor here, the court almost ignores here, the city lord has become the emperor here, and the people who are close to the city lord's mansion are also doing evil wantonly...... In the end, it is only us people who suffer......

"And the people don't even have a meal, how can they still have the leisure to drink tea...... My shop is handed down from my ancestors, and I have no worries, only this store is reluctant to close, so it has been open. ”

After greeting the shopkeeper of the teahouse for a while, Haitang took Xiaoyue back to the street, and they were going to go to the market one last time.

The bazaar in Panyu is small and few, there are not many traders here, and they don't sell many things, but the price is a little expensive, if it is not for the rich and noble people, obviously they will not come to such a bazaar.

The two arrived at the market, which was on a street where the sun did not shine, and there were more pedestrians than the street outside, Xiao Yue couldn't help but be a little surprised: "Why are there more people here?" ”

Begonia figured out the reason: "Most people are poor and oppressed, but there are always a few people who stand on a high place, they may be rich, they may be powerful, these are the capital that can distinguish them from the majority." The people here should have something to do with the City Lord's Mansion to a greater or lesser extent. ”

Xiao Yue pursed her lips when she heard this explanation, a little disdainful.

"This world is like this, sunflowers are always sunny, most of its beauty is revealed in the sun for people to admire, but the shadows that the sun does not shine may have been overgrown with moths, moths are slowly tearing and gnawing the rhizomes of sunflowers, and so on the day when these disgusting turbidity and darkness see the light, the rhizomes and leaves of sunflowers have been eaten by moths and shattered, and it is precisely because sunflowers have no life that the moths have the courage to come out and face the sun."

Begonia sighed, standing at one end of the market and looking at the other side, the vendors in the market had hypocritical and cunning smirks on their faces, and the pedestrians came and went in groups of three or five, wearing quite elaborate clothes, picking left and right in different stalls.

It seems that there are still some people in Panyu who live a very "exquisite" life after all-Begonia thinks so.

Xiao Yue remembered the words of the teahouse shopkeeper, and sighed in a low voice as if talking to herself:

"If the sun doesn't shine on the sunny side of the sunflower, I'm afraid the sunflower will decay faster and more exaggerated."