For several days in a row, the city of Quzhou was immersed in an inexplicable joy, for no other reason than a notice from the government: the bandits entrenched on Lao Ou Mountain, from the big leader to the living Zhang below, a total of forty-seven bandits were arrested; After the state and county yamen were reasonable, 27 people were sentenced to show the public, 11 people were killed, and 9 people were matched...... The largest group of bandits in Quzhou, the living Zhang bandits, who had been doing evil for eight years, have been completely pacified. As soon as the news came out, the whole city cheered, and the people spontaneously hung red cloth and red silk on the door of their courtyard to celebrate; All the merchants, shops, and restaurants in Tongcheng have neatly hung out all the seven-fold remuneration banners; The local gentry also invited the Shehuo team to perform a seven-day social drama in front of the Niangniang Temple outside the north gate, and the whole Quzhou City was as lively as the Lantern Festival.

Today is the last day of the Niangniang Temple social drama. Just after noon, the venue in front of the temple was already crowded. Those who watched the play, watched the excitement, and rushed to the boom, people were crowded, and the huge place was impassable, and the entire venue was shrouded in dust trampled by the crowd.

Shang Cheng was also crowded in the crowd, and now he was standing still looking for his companions. He was separated from his companions.

On the second day of the social drama, he came to see it with a few companions, the big drama was nothing to see, just a group of people and gongs and drums babbling and singing on the stage, he almost couldn't understand a word, so he didn't have much interest, but the acrobatic performance of climbing the knife mountain and crossing the sea of fire opened his eyes, sawing, disemboweling, grinding these magic performances also made him sigh and admire, as for the fork, over the plate, hanging jade hairpin, playing with water snakes, these things he had never heard of, it made him feel a kind of drunkenness. It's a pity that he walked around the venue today, and he didn't see these performances, there were only a few teenage dolls fiddling with knives and forks on a few improvised simple stages, it seems that because of time, those protagonists are still resting, after all, the main play starts in the evening when it gets dark, and it will continue until the second half of the night.

He was hugged by the crowd to a small stage, on the stage two women with heavy makeup painted on their faces, one sitting and one standing, muttering words he didn't understand, occasionally a gong and drum sounded, or the woman threw a wink at the stage, the audience crowded on the stage screamed loudly, and from time to time someone sprinkled a few copper coins on the stage, screaming something. Looking at the audience's expression and tone of voice, what they say is definitely not a good thing to say. If the copper coin is lost too much, the two women will also roll up their sleeves and flirt with the corners of their skirts, making the audience admire and cheer twice.

Shang Cheng came back and heard his companion say that this is a small opera troupe specializing in singing "Jiao Duan", that is, singing "meat" opera. The companion threw a string of copper coins at that time, and a woman sang and ripped open her neckline to expose most of her chest. After a while, a man sneakily rushed over, pulled his companion aside and muttered a few words, and then the guy disappeared and did not return until the next morning. Later, according to the knowledgeable companion, this was also an ordinary team of Kyauk, on the grounds that there were only three female actors in the team. The guy said with burning words, he had seen a big team on the ground in Quanzhou, and there were twenty or thirty female dancers, and those female dancers were so watery, so soft to speak, and so soft to be ...... These words caused only three people to lie on the Chase bunk, which could sleep twenty people that night, except for Shang Cheng and Shan Wazi, the other two were injured and unable to move.

Shang Cheng didn't come out to "see" the team because it was his turn to take care of the two injuries that night - at least that's how he explained it to others. And the mountain baby is reluctant to spend money tightly, and his money will be of great use. The government had already sent down the reward for the bandits, because the merchants did not declare that they did not want the reward, so in the end it was distributed to everyone for almost two dollars; Coupled with the extra wages of the warehouse, the thanksgiving from the merchants, and the hardships sent by the localities, each surviving packer got more than 4,500 wen in his hands. The mountain baby took more. The bandit leader Lin Laosi died in his hands, this is a big bandit who is wanted by the government and has a reward of five times, so he is now carrying almost ten pieces of money. He was going to go back and tear down his two straw huts that were about to collapse, and build three mud and straw huts again, and if he was rich, he would ask a craftsman to build him a stove again—his mother-in-law had been coveting someone else's new stove house for half a year.

Of course, Shang Cheng had more money than him. The living Zhang died in his hands, this is Shiguan; When the government counted it, the body of the second master of the old eagle village was found, and his body was cut into three sections, but at that time, no one paid attention to who he died in, but the second master was kicked over by Shang Cheng and never got up again, but it was something that everyone saw with their own eyes, since no one recognized this credit, so the clerk in the yamen also recorded this credit on Shang Cheng, which is another five guan money. So speaking of which, Shang Cheng is now also a small rich man with a net worth of twenty yuan. He had already planned where the money would go—he was going to take down the three mud and straw huts in Huojiabao when he returned. Of course, if he wants to build that small yard, his current money is still not enough, but he can find someone to borrow some, so that it will not be too bad, and then buy some necessary furniture to make a living, and he will have the appearance of a home...... Of course, having a home does not mean that he can easily get down, in fact, he knows that the next days will be even more difficult - at that time, he will not only have to take care of his own food and clothing, but also have to pay off other people's accounts, which means that he has to work hard to earn money...... But money is so easy to earn? Huojiabao's livelihood is getting harder and harder, and there are not many clumsy jobs in the fields, and maybe he has to run to the state capital to find something to do. Fortunately, he is a bachelor, even if he is away from home, he will not let his family miss him.

Thinking about things crankily, Shang Cheng turned two more stages, one was performing juggling with big guns, and the other was four women performing fan dance, he was bored and a little hungry, so he turned around and squeezed out of the crowd, ready to find something to eat. Because it has been as lively as the temple fair, there are many places to sell food on the side of the venue, most of them are from the city to do small business, and there are also people from all over the country.

The social drama has been sung for six days, and these people's business has also been done for six days, and the ground is full of all kinds of dirty water and sewage leftovers to eat and drink, exuding an unpleasant smell of sour and rancid; Green-headed flies buzz around. Shang Cheng walked around for a long time, and finally saw a clean food stall. He tried not to let himself go to the master's stove and the bucket for washing dishes, sat down at the only broken wooden table, and asked for two catties of beef and a bowl of noodles.

The things he asked for were quickly served, and the host's mother-in-law gave him a plate of sauce, scratched it a few times on the edge of the table with a black rag, and asked, "Do you want wine?" We also have our own fruit wine. Three wet marks immediately appeared on the table.

Shang Cheng forced himself to look away from the three distinct scratches on the table. For him, fruit wine is dispensable, but looking at the earnest eyes of the host's mother-in-law, he still sighed in his heart and said, "...... Let's have two bowls. ”

"Four bowls." Someone said.

Shang Cheng turned his face and saw Yuan Lan and his entourage. Yuan Lan picked up his cardigan and sat down at the table, and said to the host, "If there are any good dishes, just bring them." …… You sit too. "It's a greeting to his retinue. The attendant twisted it for a moment before taking it and sitting opposite Shang Cheng. However, he still didn't dare to sit in front of Shang Cheng, so he could only sit on the edge of a stool with his body leaning over, carefully keeping himself away from Shang Cheng and Yuan Lan. Shang Cheng felt uncomfortable for him when he saw him sitting, and smiled at the entourage, but didn't say anything. He knew that a big family had the rules of a big family, that is, Yuan Lan and his entourage were inseparable, and it was impossible not to distinguish between the elder and the inferior, and the two of them were already very unruly to sit at the same table like now, if he tried to persuade the entourage to sit upright and comfortable, he was afraid that the entourage would not even be able to sit.

The mother-in-law of the owner's family probably rarely dealt with people like Yuan Lan, and she grabbed the black mud on her hand and said, "It's just ...... We...... We are a small shop that only sells beef and noodles. ”

"Then cut five catties of cooked beef and have two bowls of noodles."

Since he met an acquaintance, Shang Cheng couldn't eat and drink immediately, and while waiting for the host's family to send the dishes and rice ordered by Yuan Lan over, he said without words: "Yuan Dadong's family also came to watch the social drama?" Yuan Lan told him about his words, and he also knew that Yuan Lan had always wanted to make friends with him, but he didn't want to make friends with Yuan Lan. Of course, he was reluctant to associate with Yuan Lan, not because of the difference in the identity and status of the two people, but because he felt that Yuan Lan's purpose was not just to be friends with him, Yuan Lan wanted to make him a friend with a purpose. It's normal to have a purposeful relationship, and he has had a lot of such acquaintances and friends before, not for anything else, just to be able to have multiple acquaintances to take care of him when something happens. However, this kind of friendship depends on the situation and the mood at the time, for example, now, he is not interested in this matter now, or rather, he is not very interested in Yuan Lan.

"Yes, let's also take a look at social drama." Yuan Lan said. While talking, he looked around for a while, and said with emotion, "I didn't expect a small place like Quzhou to have such a lively place." ”

Shang Cheng smiled slightly.

Yuan Lan saw that he didn't speak, and he was a little embarrassed, but he couldn't find the words to say. He is a native of Shangjing, rich and powerful, he has never seen anything in the world, how can he be interested in this kind of temple meeting where ordinary people are busy? Shangjing "East Hangzi" is a famous lively place in the world, I don't know how many times more lively than this Niangniang Temple, and he hasn't been there twice. Speaking of listening to operas, it is even more nonsense, he has two ready-made opera troupes at home, singing big operas, singing drums, flowers, singing music books and even singing jokes, isn't it all a matter of his words?

Or Shang Cheng relieved him: "How is Brother Dao's injury?" ”

Brother Dao is Yuan Lan's entourage whose arm was broken by the living man Zhang,

Speaking of this, Yuan Lan sighed: "It's not good." "Brother Dao is the most useful person in his hands, clever and vigilant, and has a good martial arts, so that a good bow and arrow, within fifty steps of the arrow without missing a shot, but also know a few words, the most important thing is that he saved the life of Brother Dao's mother, so Brother Dao is the most loyal to him, and he takes him with him wherever he goes; But this time, Brother Dao was folded in the hands of a bandit, although he picked up a life, that arm may not be able to be saved, even if he healed a martial art, it would be discounted. Seeing that he was about to flee Qingzhou, it was not enough to have only one entourage by his side, and he couldn't find a good helper in a hurry, so the matter of recruiting Shang Cheng was imminent. But Shang Cheng, a monk who is still vulgar, does not enter the oil and salt, and several times he has tried to talk about it, but Shang Cheng is not leaking. If it is an ordinary season, he can still be patient and slowly grind, as long as he gets home, he doesn't believe that Shang Cheng will not follow him. But now he doesn't have time to do this water grinding work - he has already received the news, and his opponent will go to Quzhou when he speaks, and when the local officials in Quzhou show their merits in front of the officials, they will definitely mention the matter of breaking the bandits in Lao Yuzhai, and his name is also in the list of meritorious personnel, according to the temperament and temperament of that person, as long as he knows that he is here, it will be difficult to fly if he wants to leave when the time comes; With that person's hands and eyes, it is simply a matter of effort to pick out a few illegal facts and disadvantages from the piles and incidents of his own over the years, and when the time comes, he can only wait for himself to be the prison of Pingyuan Mansion. Thinking of what happened after falling into the hands of that man, he couldn't help but shudder - even if he didn't die at that time, he would have to shed a few layers of skin!

With so many thoughts in his mind, he didn't know what to say, so he heard Shang Cheng say in surprise: "Send it back to Shangjing?" How to send it thousands of miles away? Even if you use a horse-drawn carriage to walk the post road, you have to toss and turn for a month on the road. Brother Dao hurt his muscles and bones, and he couldn't stand the bumps, so if he really wanted to send him back to Shangjing, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to save his arm......"

While she was talking, the host's mother-in-law had already served the beef. The beef is ready-made, and a small wooden barrel is sleeved in a large wooden barrel filled with cold water, and the beef is served in the small barrel. Probably because it was just delivered, the meat was still warm. Five catties of beef filled a large plate with a lot of pride, and it was a little arrogant to put it in the middle of the small wooden table. The mother-in-law carefully picked out two pairs of chopsticks of similar length and thickness on the side of the vegetable table, and took them in the dishwashing water, and was afraid that Yuan Lan would dislike the water on the chopsticks, so she deliberately wiped off the water droplets with her sleeves.

Yuan Lan took chopsticks to eat, and it was not that he didn't eat. Let's eat, these chopsticks have been soaked in the dishwashing water, and they have been wiped by the sleeves of the mother-in-law, can they be used? Besides, the beef smelled fragrant, but if you look closely, you can still hang on it with the unburned fine pieces of firewood and grass; The bowl of rolling noodles was also in the same general shape, with a thick layer of oil floating on the soup, and a few suspicious things such as green onions and ginger that were not like green onions and ginger. With the curling heat, the air was filled with an unpleasant smell of cows.

Shang Cheng saw that he was embarrassed by such a meal, so he didn't say anything to eat, but nodded with the entourage, put a chopstick in his plate of beef and stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a few times and felt that the taste was not enough, and dipped a chopstick in the sauce dish a few times, filled it into his mouth together, and munched on his cheeks. The attendant pursed his lips and swallowed his saliva, only looking at Yuan Lan. The master doesn't move, how dare he, a subordinate, get down the chopsticks first?

Shang Cheng saw that he wanted to eat but didn't dare to eat, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, didn't look at the master and servant again, picked up the sea bowl and blew a breath, put aside a layer of oil on the soup noodles, turned around against the edge of the bowl, and took a sip of the soup with noodles. Put down the bowl and put two chopsticks of meat, dip it in the sauce and stuff it into your mouth. He shook off his cheeks and ate and drank heartily, and in the blink of an eye, two catties of beef, a large bowl of noodles and two bowls of wine were in his stomach. After eating, he wiped his mouth, and saw Yuan Lan looking at him a little stunned, because he smiled: "It's all a bad problem developed when he was taking up work, which made Yuan Dadong's family laugh." When it was time to eat, the host made gnocchi vegetable soup and steamed black buns on the head, and then served them in buckets and basins, more and so much, and less and so much, and it was inevitable that the hands and feet would not be full, and over time, they would fall into the appearance of a hungry ghost......"

"Huh? Oh. Yuan Lan hesitated a few times before pointing to the large plate of beef and said, "Eat, you eat." "I also took a piece of beef and took a bite on the horn. Pushed a bowl of wine in front of Shang Cheng again, "Please." As he spoke, he picked up his bowl and took a sip.

Shang Cheng was not polite, he gestured at Yuan Lan and his entourage with the bowl, and fell down with his neck raised. The entourage is probably hungry for a long time, or has the idea of competing with Shang Cheng, you have a bowl of wine and I have a mouthful of meat, and in a blink of an eye, five catties of beef were swept away by two people. Yuan Lan asked for another five catties of meat, but he was still swept away by two people.

"Another five catties of beef!" Yuan Lan slapped the table and shouted.

Shang Cheng hurriedly waved his hand and said with a smile: "I can't eat it." He bowed his hand to the entourage, "It's still a good brother, but I can't compare to you." The attendant was already so swollen that his face was purple and his eyes were white, and he didn't even breathe out evenly, and when he heard him say this, he hurriedly shook his head. There is also a bowl of noodles in front of him, and it is naturally clear whether he wins or loses.

Yuan Lan didn't go to divide the victory and defeat between the two, but just beckoned the host to bring two more bowls of wine to the two, compared the bowl with Shang Cheng, took a sip from bowl to bowl, and then said to Shang Cheng: "Brother Shang, I will leave for Qingzhou tomorrow, and today I am here to bid farewell to you." Speaking of this, he looked at Shang Cheng with his eyes and did not speak.

Regardless of whether Yuan Lan's words were false or fake, it was always a friendship for him to come to resign to him, and Shang Cheng couldn't put on a look of rejection thousands of miles away, so he could only follow his words and ask: "Yuan Dadong's family is in such a hurry to go to Qingzhou, can it be said that something happened over there?" ”

"It's not that something happened in Qingzhou." Yuan Lan put down the wine bowl, sighed leisurely, knocked his fingers on the table a few times, and said for a while, "I can't help myself." …… At the end of the day, it's my own recklessness. I caused a stir in Shangjing, provoked a person who couldn't be provoked, and that person let out a word to find me, not ......" and told Shang Cheng about how he spent a lot of money for a kabuki, how he begged three times in a hurry, and finally had to leave home in a hurry, etc., except that he didn't say who his enemy was, and he didn't even have the slightest reservation about the embarrassing situation of hiding in Tibet for more than a year. At the end, he said, "If I don't leave now, I can't do it, then the enemy will go to Quzhou immediately." I originally planned to go to Qingzhou to hide for a while, and then slowly find a way to find a way, but a few days ago, I listened to the mountain song you sang with the vicissitudes of life, which is faintly a song of the northern outburst, and suddenly I wanted to ask Brother Shang to take me to the grassland for a walk. Although my enemy is powerful, he can't reach out to the grassland, and after two years, things will slowly fade, and we will find a way to come back. ”

Shang Cheng held the wine bowl and didn't speak for a while. Yuan Lan is in trouble, but he himself is not in trouble? His fake identity is always a thorn, if nothing happens, it is a big deal, no one in Liu Laozhu and Huo Shiqi can run away, I am afraid that Gao Xiaosan and his father-in-law's family will also be involved, and when the branches are long and the leaves are short, I am afraid that dozens of people will be implicated, if you want to get rid of this head and tail, it is also a way to accompany Yuan Lan to the grassland. After two or three years of wandering in the grassland, his hair can be tied in a bun, and after he comes back, he randomly finds a place to move his household registration, who knows that he is a "vulgar" monk?

Yuan Lan saw that he was silent and did not speak, and said: "As long as you go in and out of the grassland with me, I will send you a mansion in Shangjing, and there is still 200,000 yuan." Seeing that Shang Cheng still looked indifferent with his eyes drooping, he gritted his teeth and added, "Build another hundred acres of land." ”

As soon as these words came out, the entourage was also shocked. He has been with Yuan Lan for 12 years, and he has also earned a house, and his family also has 100 acres of land, but there are only less than 5 acres of Shangtian in this 100 acres. Although the land in Shangjing is not as valuable as the land in the south of the Yangtze River, the official price of one mu of Shangtian is also 25 guan, and 100 mu of Shangtian is 2,500 yuan, and this is still the Shangtian of Pingyuan Mansion - a good thing that money can't buy!

Listening to Yuan Lan's words, Shang Cheng was already moved, but the entourage exclaimed, and the flame that had just started was suddenly extinguished again. Yuan Lan's matter is not big or small, and it is a laughing affair to the sky, but his enemy is not alive or dead, which shows that his enemy is not a generous and tolerant guy. With such a powerful and small-minded enemy, it is difficult to say when Yuan Lan will come back after entering the grassland. But this is not the point, the key is that during this period of time, he has to be like the entourage in front of him, even the bowl and the bowl to eat and eat have to look at the person's face, in that case, what is the meaning of a person's life?

Now that he had made up his mind, Shang Cheng didn't bother to deal with Yuan Lan anymore, put down the wine bowl and stared at Yuan Lan, and said slowly: "Yuan Dadong, I'm used to being a comfortable person, and I can't stand so many rules, so please don't mention this matter in the future." He held the bowl in both hands. Don't pass it today, it will be difficult for him to say goodbye in the future, so I wish Yuan Dadong's family a smooth journey. After that, he raised his head and drank the remaining wine in the bowl, put down the bowl, took out two strings of copper coins from his arms and put them on the table without counting, no longer paying attention to Yuan Lan who was full of astonishment, turned around and walked away, and disappeared into the bustling crowd in a blink of an eye.

The entourage was first surprised, then stunned, then regretful, and then looked at Yuan Lan's stunned expression, and said, "The owner doesn't have to worry about this. This man is just a hard farmer, and he has a bit of brute strength, so he doesn't take others seriously, and he doesn't know that ......the sky is high and the earth is thick."

Yuan Lan glanced at his entourage, opened his mouth and wanted to teach him a lesson, but when the words came to his mouth, they turned into a wry smile.