The thirty-first year of Wuwei of the Great Wei, August 15, Mid-Autumn Festival.

Just after Shen Shi, the sky gradually darkened, and the lights were lit in Anyi, the capital of the Great Wei Dynasty, and the scattered fires gradually began to merge into a river, slowly extending to the last afterglow of the sky.

I took off the sack on my shoulder, stopped under a huge archway engraved with the words "the most prosperous wind and moon", and stared at the bustling flow of people in front of me.

At this moment, the gravel road under your feet has come to an end, and instead of a spacious and neat bluestone road stretching inward from the torii, you can't see the end at a glance.

Behind the archway in front of you is the world-famous Huansha Street, which is the source of all the hustle and bustle of Anyi City and even the entire Great Wei.

As far as the eye can see, there are countless green mansions and teahouses on both sides of the road.

Peddlers and pawns, talented and beautiful women, famous prostitutes in Qinglou, all kinds of characters shuttle around day and night.

The sound of selling, laughing, and pushing cups and changing lamps comes and goes, all day long.

Not far away, on the banks of the winding Huansha River, there are dozens of elegantly shaped painting boats moored in it, and the small boats on the boats hang lanterns high, and at a glance, they are connected together, like a fire dragon cruising.

The geisha sit upright in the cabin, playing a variety of musical instruments, and slowly handing the sound of silk and bamboo to the shore.

The market and the wind and the moon, these two scenes of vulgarity and elegance are staged alternately here, seemingly with different styles, but they can both achieve the same purpose - to empty your purse.

This year is the third year that I have begged for a life on Huansha Street, although my perception of this street has changed from the initial amazement to the current numbness, but I still have to admit that the "Fengyue is the most prosperous" engraved on the archway is indeed the best commentary here.

At the moment, I had walked two or three miles in a row, and the feeling of fatigue was constantly attacking me, but it was never too wise to stop and rest in the most crowded place under the torii.

Sure enough, under the urging of passers-by several times, I had to give up the idea of resting, gritted my teeth and carried the sack again, and was carried by the crowd across the archway......

The bustling scenery around me kept passing by, but I didn't realize it, and I just hurried away with my head bored.

This is not to say that my realm consciousness is very high, the main reason is because of the shyness in my pocket.

I'm ashamed to say that, in fact, my background can't be said to be too bad, my family has been in business for generations, doing silk business, and in my father's generation, I can already be regarded as a small rich family, and Dawei is different from other countries, and the status of merchants is not low, so if everything goes well, now I have the conditions to spend time here.

It's a pity that the old father was not angry, and he got into the bad habit of playing money, and in just a few years, the family property was sucked away by various treasures and pawnshops.

Later, he was finally forced by his mother to quit gambling, but he couldn't lift his heart anymore, and he spent all day drinking to drown his sorrows.

Three years ago, the day before my crowning ceremony, my father, as usual, left the house with a flask in his hand, and before leaving, he took my hand like a ghost, and instructed me earnestly:

"Xu Junwen, you remember, how can everything be as you want in life? How can you be worthy of everything? ”

With this thoughtless sentence, he pushed the door open and never returned.

By the time I saw him again, he was drunk in the snow......

Although my father was confused all his life, he finally made a clear statement before he died, and my later life was indeed as he said - everything was not satisfactory.

The father-in-law immediately withdrew from his marriage as a matter of course, and his mother was even more devastated, and she is still sick in bed.

As for me, although I know a few words, I have not been interested in articles and poems since I was a child, and I have no ability to make a name for myself.

Although he has not starved to death in the past three years, he has never made any reputation, and now he has to sigh that "my husband is poor and cheap, and I have no wine money when we meet today".

I walked forward while reminiscing about the bittersweet feelings, and it didn't take long for me to reach my destination, the Qingqi Wine Shop, where I am currently working.

Expertly pushing open the side door of the liquor store and going around to the utility room in the backyard, I quickly dropped the sack and prepared to seize the time to rest for a while.

This amount of exercise may not be a big deal for ordinary guys, but if it is left on me, it will kill me, Rao has done a lot of rough work in recent years, and his physique has become more or less strong, if it had been placed three years ago, I would have passed out from exhaustion at this moment.

Since I was a child, my body has been weak, and I can't do rough and heavy work at all, so when I first arrived on Huansha Street, no store was willing to take me in. Fortunately, the shopkeeper of this wine store saw that I had studied for a few years, and he was quite clever, so he gave me a job to barely survive to this day.

After about two sticks of incense, I felt that my strength had recovered to seventy-seven or eighty-eight, so I quickly changed my outfit and walked briskly to the lobby of the wine store.

"Gotcha! Two taels of burning knives, half a catty of beef, come right away! ”

"I'm really sorry, the guest master will wait a while, the wine will be refilled immediately, immediately!"

Today's business in the liquor store is particularly hot, the entire lobby is already overcrowded, the big guys are busy, and one or two younger shopkeepers have panicked, and even the shouting is stumbling.

I quietly walked behind the account counter at the entrance of the store, and came behind a wealthy middle-aged man who was quickly fiddling with an abacus, reached out and patted him on the shoulder and smiled:

"Lao Wang, I'm back."

Lao Wang was startled by my shot, turned his head and was about to scold, but when he saw that it was me, his originally tightly knit brows stretched slightly.

He pushed me and laughed and scolded:

"Stinky boy, I almost scared Lao Tzu half to death, why did it take so long to come back? Did you hide somewhere and secretly read the military book? Don't you pee on yourself and look like a general? Why are you still stunned, hurry up and call the guests to go, I can't even open the pot here! ”

I didn't care about Lao Wang's sarcasm, and smiled at him and pretended to complain:

"I said Lord Wang, it's really not that I'm lazy, you let me run so far to move sand, how can I stand it with my small body."

Lao Wang continued to scold:

"Give me less of this! Rajah? I'm still a prince! Hurry up and go, don't affect Lao Tzu's bookkeeping! I'll have to prepare the items for the war in a while! ”

"Okay, let's go, don't settle accounts when you are old, it's time to rest and rest, and if you continue to calculate, your hair will be all gone."

Lao Wang was accustomed to my hippie smile, and he was not really angry, so he touched his hair and muttered a few words, then turned around and started to think about himself.

Don't look at me talking to Lao Wang so casually, in fact, he is the lobby manager of this wine shop with more than 10,000 people, and ordinary people are afraid of him. However, he has a good personal relationship with me, and has always valued me very much, and it is precisely under his cultivation and promotion that I unexpectedly became a steward assistant this year, and now I am also a senior shopkeeper.

Seeing that Lao Wang no longer cared about me, I had no choice but to pick up a rag by the account desk, put it on my shoulder, and began to greet the guests as usual......

_______________________________________________________________________________

Qingqi Liquor Store is divided into two floors, although it is not as large as the third and fourth floors, but compared with other ordinary liquor stores, it can be said to be quite spacious.

Generally speaking, in restaurants or restaurants with more than two floors, the first floor is basically a scattered seat, which is responsible for receiving ordinary guests, and the second floor and above are mostly private rooms to entertain regular customers and distinguished guests.

However, Qingqi Restaurant is different, the first and second floors are scattered, and there are no private rooms.

This is mainly because this wine shop has a hot business all year round, and it never worries about being dissatisfied, so for the shopkeeper, it is a lot of income to make room for more tables.

However, there is still a need for some differential treatment, and more than a dozen ordinary square tables around the railing on the second floor are taken out by the shopkeeper and marked separately, which is called "elegant seats".

The private seat is no different from other seats, but the price is more than three or four percent, and there are still customers rushing to book for various reasons.

This may be the so-called business experience.

At this moment, two young men in green shirts were sitting on the private seats near the stairs drinking and chatting, and one of them slowly spoke:

"Su Xian, we have traveled all over Anyi City in the past few days, tell me about it, how do you feel?"

The person who spoke was about twenty-five years old, with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, a well-proportioned figure, a folding fan in his hand that was half-closed, and swayed slightly on his chest, which was quite graceful.

The man named Su Xian on the other side of the table was in a completely different situation, although he was also dressed in a green shirt, he did not have any elegant temperament.

This man was unusually burly, with a large belly and bulging muscles in both arms, and he almost broke the dishesive gown. The facial features on the face of the national character are like a knife and an axe, the two eyebrows are very thick, like sea cucumbers on the forehead, and the square mouth is surrounded by a thick beard, which is a standard face that people should not enter.

Hearing the young man's question, Su Xian hurriedly put down the wine glass in his hand, thought for a moment and replied in a low voice:

"National ...... Eh, Li Gongzi, his subordinates originally thought that this Anyi City was located in the hinterland of Wei State, and it was a key place connecting the north and south, and the city should be firmly defended, but after observing it in the past few days......"

Before Su Xian finished speaking, he saw Li Gongzi wave his hand lightly and interrupted:

"Don't talk about military affairs, just talk about the feelings of the Wei people."

Su Xian scratched his head, thought for a moment, and replied distressedly:

"This ...... Anyi City is indeed much more prosperous than our Beiping, well, as for the rest, I can't say anything else. ”

Li Gongzi nodded and said with a smile: "Anyi is indeed prosperous, for example, this Huansha River, which is known as no less than Qinhuai, was originally modeled after the Qinhuai River in the Southern Tang Dynasty. ”

Halfway through the words, Li Gongzi paused slightly, the smile on his face began to become a little bitter, he took the wine glass and drank it all, and then sighed:

In recent years, Emperor Wei has repeatedly issued an order to seek talents, advocating meritocracy, reusing poor scholars, severely punishing corruption of wealthy lords, and the clarity and efficiency of court politics have been rare since ancient times. At the same time, the Wei State opened its doors to encourage trade between the north and the south among the people, and incorporated the essence of the culture of various countries for its own use. The two national policies of Wei go hand in hand, and now they have gradually achieved results. Just now you mentioned the city defense, it is true that our Qi country has resisted the Xiongnu in the north and Wei in the south for decades, relying on the solid city defense and the integration of attack and defense, and the Wei State is far inferior in this regard. It's a pity that although the city defense of our Qi country is solid, the heart defense is equally stubborn. For decades, he was closed to himself, there was little communication with other countries, and the temples were mostly controlled by the gate lords of the previous dynasty. ”

After listening to Li Gongzi's words, Su Xian frowned, and asked dejectedly:

"As Gongzi said, is there really no chance for our Qi State to defeat the Wei State?"

Li Gongzi slowly exhaled a breath of turbidity, calmed down a little, squinted his eyes and said lightly:

"Whew....... It depends on the effect of this transaction with the second shopkeeper. ”

"Haha, yes, yes."

Su Xian's depressed mood suddenly improved a lot after hearing the words "second shopkeeper", and he stood up with a grin, intending to pour Li Gongzi another glass of wine.

As soon as he lifted the flask and shook it, he realized that the wine had bottomed out, and then turned his head and howled downstairs.

"Little two! Bring me another jug of wine! ”

Somehow, no one responded to him, so Su Xian had to raise his voice and shout a few more times......