wrapped in a green cloth robe that was not eye-catching, holding an ebony and vermilion lacquered tea plate in his hand, Xiang Youbao held a pot of good tea and four snacks on the tea plate with one hand, just like the young man in the Half Moon Building, half bowed, gathered to look at the lively crowd and walked towards the private room behind the Half Moon Building.

It is estimated that it is also the scene of the hundred birds worshiping the phoenix after the half-moon building, which is really rare and lively, and the little guys in the half-moon building who are waiting diligently on the left side of the private room on weekdays have also sneaked away to see the excitement, and there are leopards along the way, but I really haven't met the characters in the half-moon building.

Try his best to grasp the truth and listening method taught by Hu Qianli, Xiang Youbao listened carefully to the faint movement in the direction of several private rooms, and went straight to a private room where you can see the excitement behind the Half Moon Building, but the window is still half hidden behind a few bushes of bamboo, and deliberately stepped out of the heavy footsteps from afar, and shouted in a honey voice: "The first few people in the private room, the shopkeeper of our number will give a pot of high-grade Longjing buds and four exquisite dim sum, and a few distinguished guests have received you."

In the midst of the shouting of the obedient guys, Xiang Youbao walked to the door of the private room with slightly heavy broken steps, and pushed open the hidden private door with one arm sideways, and then turned around and shrank his hands, and stepped towards the threshold with his hands and legs.

Almost facing Xiang Youbao and reaching into the tray in the private room first, a strong man who was as short as a stone drum unceremoniously blocked in front of Xiang Youbao, a pair of narrow eyes stared at Xiang Youbao for a few moments, and then the urn shouted angrily to Xiang Youbao: "Put things down, go!" ”

With a slight waist, Xiang Youbao immediately answered the strong man's words with a crisp voice: "It's you!" You're bothered to be affected."

Steadily resting the tray on a slap stretched out by the strong man, Xiang Youbao shook his head slightly by turning around, and the situation in the private room suddenly came into view.

The private rooms behind the half-moon building originally had their own layouts, and each room did not have the slightest duplication. It's like this private room in front of a leopard. The inside and outside are just two rooms, separated by a moon door with a small beaded curtain in the middle, which is a gourd with a small outside and a large inside.

There were four strong men outside, two of whom sat on two chairs beside the moon gate, holding the moon gate like a vicious dog. The other strong man was sitting on a horse tie in the corner of the house, with both hands in his arms, looking at the posture of holding the hard fire in his arms at any time and dealing with an emergency scene.

The strong man who greeted the door looked at his stature, but the slap that stretched out to pick up the tray was full of dark yellow calluses, which was obviously a veteran of the military who danced knives and guns all year round. The waist is bulging on both sides, and I am afraid that I am carrying a short gun with a hard fire?

Although it is through the low bead curtain on the moon door. At first glance, you can't really see it, but you can probably see that there are two men in long robes sitting in the back room, discussing something in a low voice across the table.

Walking out more than ten steps along the private path, Xiang Youbao always looked embarrassed to stop and watch the excitement, but was afraid of the shopkeeper's scolding, and all his eyes were only staring at Xie Menshen, who was training the birds to play with various crafts. He didn't even sweep the corner of his eye towards the private room just now. Only when the characters waiting in the private room could no longer see their own figures, did Xiang Youbao slip out of the Half Moon Tower with the lively crowd. I walked around the brick wall outside the Half Moon Building towards the backyard of the Half Moon Building.

It is estimated that the excitement behind the Half Moon Building is too attractive. On weekdays, the half-moon building is also a lively alley, but at the moment it is so quiet that there is no one in it. Almost walked along the unmanned alley with a bowl of tea, a young apprentice at the main gate of the fire suddenly came out of a doorway next to the alley, and greeted the leopard is low shouting: "Senior Brother Xiang, I have inquired and understood."

dragged the little apprentice behind an uncle next to the alley, and Xiang Youbao first looked left and right at both ends of the alley. Only then did he bow his head and bared his teeth at the little apprentice who called him by his side: "Just so recklessly, you are not afraid that your senior brother will still have a tail behind his buttocks?" ”

Raising his hand and pointing at a cigarette box in the doorway, the little apprentice who was dragged by Xiang Youbao to his side also smiled at Xiang Youbao and responded: "Senior Brother Xiang, there must really be a tail behind you." Shouldn't you have known about it sooner? Besides, I'm throwing myself at you, even if you really have a tail behind you, I just shout that you still owe me two boxes of cigarettes, isn't this just a time to talk to you and deliver your belongings? ”

Stretching out his hand and scratching the tip of the nose of the little apprentice who was dressed as a hawker, Xiang Youbao said in harmony with half helplessness and half amusement: "I said that you children learned these rivers and lakes from whom?" The Nine Monkeys taught it, right? ”

Smiled and nodded, but the little apprentice who was dressed as a hawker straightened his face, and then whispered to Xiang Youbao: "Senior Brother Xiang, I spent a few boxes of cigarettes to find out, since the second half of last night, five or six people entered the private room in the Half Moon Building, and they all asked the guys to send them to the door, and they didn't let anyone in the door at all." Wait for this morning, and the guys from the Chrysanthemum Society came to the Half Moon Building to wrap up the remaining private room behind, just saying that they are going to serve a distinguished guest today, and they can only come later? ”

Blinking his eyes, Xiang Youbao thought for a while, and muttered as if talking to himself: "The characters in this chrysanthemum society really know how to hide the way to cross the sea, first stuff the important characters in, and then take irrelevant reasons to interrupt, and put them in one place inside and out, but they really respond to the truth that the light is dark."

As if he remembered something again, the little apprentice dressed as a hawker suddenly stared at Xiang Youbao and said: "Senior Brother Xiang, I still heard the guy in the Half Moon Building say that everyone went in first, and they all looked at the mouthful of Beijing films, and some of the words they listened to when they spoke were all talking about the lively things in Sijiu City these days, and they looked like the masters who had been in Sijiu City for a long time?" ”

As soon as the little apprentice's words came out, Xiang Youbao was already shocked, and suddenly reached out and grabbed the little apprentice's shoulder: "You mean that those masters who entered the Half Moon Building in the second half of the night last night all look like people who have lived in Sijiu City for many years?" ”

Nodding a little ignorantly, the little apprentice grinned and shouted at Xiang Youbao: "Senior Brother Xiang, you have this strength in your hand."

Hurriedly let go of the slap on the shoulder of the little apprentice, Xiang Youbao half-bent over and smiled at the little apprentice who was grinning and rubbing his shoulder: "I didn't stop my hand for a while, didn't hurt you?" Tell me brother, how do you know that those guys in the Half Moon Building didn't look away? ”

With a stiff neck, the little apprentice dressed as a peddler suddenly whispered in response: "Isn't this an unknown matter? When the guys in the Half Moon Building gave them food and drink, they were a little slower, and they didn't follow the number of people who served in the Forty-Nine City, so there was one less scene of hard work, which made the master who blocked the door rewarded the two crisp, and he also alarmed the second shopkeeper in the Half Moon Building to make amends, which can be regarded as settling down the scene! ”

Listening to the little apprentice explain the reason, Xiang Youbao suddenly came back to his senses

There are many rules in the city and many rules in the imperial city, just when it comes to the guys in restaurants and restaurants to entertain guests, there are more than 100 rules and roads, not to mention the number of large and small rules. Even if you enter the door with a tray in your hand, you will shout before entering the door, push the door with one hand, enter the tray in the first room, and change hands to pay attention to four things.

But if there is a slight mistake in this exquisiteness, the customers who have lived in Sijiu City for many years can immediately notice it. The good-tempered patron is also Hehe Yile, and he muttered another sentence in his mouth - this guy, I'm afraid that the second shopkeeper will let him in to serve people without seeing it, right?

If you bump into a grumpy master, you have to send it up with a big mouth, and in the end, you have to take care of the reason why the guy is not polite when serving people, and talk to the second shopkeeper of the restaurant!

But if a person from a foreign country has just come to Sijiu City, where did he know the rules of the road that only the natives in Sijiu City can understand?

Rolling his eyes, Xiang Youbao stretched out his hand and patted the little apprentice on the shoulder, and whispered to the little apprentice: "The back of the half-moon building under the feet of the horse, find a time to talk to your Uncle Xie, just say that there is a hard fork in the half-moon building today that there is an anti-collapse knife (Note 1), and let him grasp the scene!" I don't show my face, I don't want to do it with people, and try to stretch the work on today's scene as long as possible! ”

Quickly agreed, the little apprentice turned his head and picked up the wooden box selling cigarettes from the doorway and ran away, but before he could run a few steps, he turned his head to look at Xiang Youbao and shouted, "Senior Brother Xiang, where are you going?" If Uncle Xie asks, how can I agree? ”

"You just tell Uncle Xie that I will go to the Liuguo Hotel now, and it will be three or four miles away, and I will come back if I have nothing to say!"

"We don't care about the characters in the private room?"

"We don't care about them, they all want to run - your senior brother and I just served four kinds of snacks and a pot of tea to those characters in the private room, which is enough for them to use for most of the day!"

"Drugged in tea and dim sum? If there is one who doesn't drink tea or eat snacks, won't this matter be exposed? ”

"I said, why did you come out of the same mold as the Nine Monkeys? Do you have to break the casserole to catch anything? There is no medicine in the tea or in the dim sum, but there is something wiped on the outside of the teapot, and the heat of the teapot is radiated, that is, a cow has to lie down when it smells two bowls of tea! ”

"Then Senior Brother Xiang, you must be more careful, I heard Brother Nine Monkeys say, if the Six Nations Hotel is not in trouble today, you have to sing a Six Kingdoms Great Seal Phase?"

"Well, don't worry about me!" (To be continued......)

PS: Note 1: The term anti-collapse knife, also known as the chopping knife, was originally a common saying of the Liangguang generation in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which means that the opponent is strong and difficult to resist. It was also circulated to Beiping City by the people of Liangguang and Qianmen who wrote the deception lip dictionary "A Bao Chapter", and was later accepted by the northern underworld and partial doors.