Zhu Daolin and the shopkeeper Ying were chatting in the north and south, and two middle-aged masters and the little Taoist Yulong came to report: robes, shoes and hats have been selected for four people, a total of eight sets, but Zhu Daolin and the Yulong Taoist priest who did not come are over five feet five inches tall, and the ready-made medium-grade Taoist robes in the shop are not suitable, and they need to be tailor-made.

Five feet five inches?

Zhu Daolin calculated for a while, and then came up with a figure of about one meter eighty-one, so he had to ask the tailor in the store to tailor it for himself at the suggestion of the shopkeeper.

After finishing the matter of clothes, shoes and hats, it was past noon, Zhu Daolin politely refused to accept the banquet of the shopkeeper, paid the full amount in advance, a total of 52 taels of silver, and set a date to take it three days later and leave.

The carriage carrying Zhu Daolin and the Jade Tiger Taoist slowly went south, heading towards the Qinhuai River, and the shopkeeper Ying, who was standing outside the gate of Zhang Ji's ready-to-wear shop, called a clever young man to give an order, and the young man glanced at the carriage that was about to disappear at the south street entrance, nodded and turned to chase after him.

Zhu Daolin on the carriage was worried, his junior brother Yuhu was distressed with his hands holding half of the burden, the carriage passed by the gate of the restaurant with fragrant wine and meat at Shengping Bridgehead, Zhu Daolin's stomach immediately growled, he swallowed his saliva, and immediately shouted loudly: "Stop-"

The parking space was parked steadily, Zhu Daolin had already drilled out, took out the five taels of silver snatched from the baggage of the junior brother Yuhu and handed it to the coachman: "This is the car money for today's chartered car, pay it to the elder brother first, I and the junior brother will fill our stomachs first and then go shopping, there is no need for a carriage within an hour, the elder brother only needs to park the car under the willow tree in front and wait." ”

"Great!"

The coachman took the money and happily agreed, raised his whip to drive the car away, guessing that the two young and strong little Taoist masters were hungry, and it was probably true that they secretly went to the kiln to extinguish the fire.

Zhu Dao looked up at the door of the two-story cornice-style restaurant with carved beams and painted doors and the flag of the word "wine" fluttering high, and dragged the panicked little junior brother who hugged the small burden tightly and walked in: "Is there a place on the second floor to watch the scenery by the window?" ”

"Dao Ye came at a really good time, and I can see that half of the second floor of the Qinhuai River is just vacant." The shopkeeper followed closely with brisk steps.

"Excellent! According to the standard of ten taels of silver, I will serve the food, and then five catties of authentic Shaoxing champion red, remember, for two people, it is best to serve two signature dishes in your store! Zhu Daolin strode through the lively hall on the first floor, with his hands held high behind his back, and his head held high.

"Okay—"

The shopkeeper who was in charge of welcoming customers agreed loudly, handed over the two bold Taoist masters to another guy at the staircase, turned around and trotted to the counter to order the menu.

Zhu Daolin's arrogance scared the little junior brother Yuhu into sweating, and his feet were weak when he went up to the second floor.

Zhu Daolin didn't care how Yuhu felt, Dama Jindao sat down by the window to drink welcome tea, finished looking at the rippling Qinhuai River outside the window, and finally looked at the two large painting workshops under the stone bridge in front of him, and his head was quickly occupied by the names Liu Ruyi, Li Xiangjun, and Dong Xiaowan, and began to speculate how old these Qinhuai beauties are now? If the nutrition can't keep up, will the figure be better? I guess there aren't any cups in vogue these days, right? If the beauties were really wrapped in disgusting little feet, would they like it?

After drinking a full cup of tea, Yuhu, who was full of sweat beads in his head, finally eased up, and waited patiently for Xiao Er to leave after pouring tea, he immediately lay on the table, lowered his voice and told the senior brother of the loser:

"The food and wine in this place are surprisingly expensive! Just the food costs ten taels of silver, but senior brother, you even want five catties of Shaoxing champion red, this kind of five-catty No. 1 wine in Jiangnan has always been made of carved porcelain jars, at least ten taels of silver a jar, which is twice as expensive as ten catties of an altar! Where can we afford to drink? The money in the baggage is almost gone! ”

Zhu Daolin turned his head: "Isn't there still a few dozen taels of silver left?" Why are you in such a hurry? ”

"Can you not be in a hurry? Buying clothes, shoes and hats costs fifty-two taels, five taels for the handlebar, this meal costs at least twenty taels, and the second person who rewards the shop after eating has not yet come in, if you buy some gifts after eating according to what you said to go to Lingying to watch the end, I'm afraid that today's one hundred taels of silver will be spent cleanly! ”

Yuhu grinned so much that he had never hugged a hundred taels of silver when he was so big, and he finally hugged it once, and he let the senior brother of the loser spend seventy-seven eighty-eight without covering the heat.

Zhu Daolin smiled when he saw this, and felt that it was time to beat the jade tiger: "Look at your bear-like appearance, there is no interest!" Sit down and listen to me, Huzi, you are the youngest in our group of brothers, kind-hearted, smart and diligent, able to write and calculate, solid martial arts, and handsome, the most rare thing is that you and I have a fate, so I am willing to have a deep friendship with you and become a brother and sister who will share weal and woe for a lifetime, if you trust me and are willing to follow me, you must relax your heart, understand? If you have other ideas, it doesn't matter, we are still brothers. ”

Yuhu was stunned, lowered his head and pondered for a long time, and when he raised his head, his face was already full of shame: "I'm sorry senior brother, I was wrong, I shouldn't be so distressed about the silver, I forgot the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver that my senior brother earned back to rebuild Ziyang Temple, and the senior brother generously gave away five treasure knives worth thousands of gold without blinking an eye, and I also forgot that I could exchange a lot of silver treasures in my baggage...... I understand, I will never be petty again! ”

This time it was Zhu Daolin's turn to be surprised: "How do you know that I earned back the silver to rebuild the Ziyang Temple?" ”

Yuhu replied truthfully: "This morning, after you went to the river to practice boxing, Uncle Shi told us everything you have done for Ziyang Temple, Uncle Shi also said, the revitalization of my Shangqing faction, I'm afraid it will fall on you, Senior Brother, and finally Uncle Shi also sternly warned us that if you choose to stay, we must respect you and obey you, and we must not ask you anything about it, let alone reveal anything to the outside world, and what you see and hear must be put in your stomach, otherwise even if you don't care, Senior Brother, Uncle He will unceremoniously drive us away." ”

Zhu Daolin was full of emotion in his heart, and admired Uncle Xuanqing's deep scheming: "I didn't expect Uncle Shi to talk to you about this, it seems that his old man has recognized you and made up his mind to leave the four of you behind." ”

"That's what I thought too." The bright Jade Tiger spoke his mind.

The wine and food were served in a stream, and Zhu Daolin, who was thinking about his thoughts, had lost much appetite and curiosity in the face of making exquisite and delicious dishes.

He motioned to Yuhu, who didn't drink, to let go of eating, and signaled to Xiao Er, who was warming the wine for him, not to bother, pushed away the tray neatly placed with white porcelain wine jugs and beautiful small porcelain cups, grabbed the wine jar that looked very good, and poured it directly into the big bowl, and drank three bowls of Zhuang Yuanhong in a row under the stunned gaze of the shopkeeper, and wiped his mouth while shaking his head, and said something that made the shopkeeper angry: "The first wine in Jiangnan is really a bird." ”

As soon as these words came out, not only the shopkeeper was unhappy, but the guests at another table across the low fence and a few pots of flowers and plants were also angry, and they turned their heads one after another, glaring at the two young Taoist priests with crooked Taoist crowns on their heads in old clothes, and one of them was a handsome scholar in a gorgeous brocade robe who directly scolded the sentence "Vulgar and unbearable wild Taoist priest", and a few next to him immediately echoed it, and the words were extremely bitter and mean.

Zhu Daolin, who had just arrived, didn't want to cause trouble, stared at the arrogant scholar who was the leader expressionlessly for a while, and motioned to Yuhu, who was getting more and more annoyed the more he listened, to eat well and ignore it, and then picked up his rice bowl and buried himself in eating, and left in less than a quarter of an hour.

The two walked out of the gate of the restaurant under the disdainful gaze of the shopkeepers, and walked directly to the carriage parked under the willow tree on the shore a hundred steps away.

Yuhu knew that the Cuiwei Zhai in front of him had a great reputation, and the upper and lower floors inside were full of gold, silver, jewelry and antiques, so he quickly realized what his senior brother wanted to do, and took the initiative to send the burden to Zhu Daolin.

Zhu Daolin smiled, praised "clever enough" and opened the baggage, took out a five-inch square exquisite wooden box carved vines and roses, told Yuhu to put away the burden and follow, secretly took a breath and strode into the antique Cuiwei Zhai, glanced at the guests who were choosing jewelry in twos and threes, and walked straight to the middle-aged man sitting behind the high counter inside.

The middle-aged man holding the book in his hand saw a tall priest standing in front of him, put away the book and asked politely, "What do you command?" ”

Zhu Daolin directly put the wooden box in his hand on the countertop: "May I ask Mr. Zhang, do you sell this thing?" ”

"Huh?"

The tall and thin shopkeeper was attracted by the delicate carving of the wooden box at a glance: "Dao Chief, can you open it and take a look?" ”

Zhu Daolin stretched out his hand and pressed the protruding copper buckle directly below the panel, opened the box with a "click", and the crystal ball in the center of the red velvet liner appeared in front of the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper suddenly opened his eyes wide, leaned down and stared at the crystal ball up close, his head swung back and forth and constantly changed the angle of observation, and he looked at it for half a quarter of an hour, but he still couldn't figure out how the lifelike golden Maitreya Buddha in the crystal ball got in.

The shopkeeper couldn't help but exclaim and attracted a few richly dressed female guests on the side, and after a while, the courtiers in the store also walked over to watch, seven or eight people stared at the crystal ball that they had never seen before, and one of the ladies directly shouted how much silver I bought.

Zhu Daolin, who retreated to the side, was very patient, as if the crystal ball was not his, and walked around with great interest, carefully admiring the dazzling porcelain and bronze vessels on the Bogu shelf behind the counter.

It wasn't until the smiling shopkeeper came over to respectfully invite that Zhu Daolin turned around and nodded slightly to a group of female guests who had made way out of the way, then he shook the sleeves of his white-washed Taoist robe, and calmly walked to the high counter with his left hand behind his back:

"Everyone is right, this thing is made of crystal, as for how to put Maitreya Buddha in it, I haven't figured it out for two years, haha!"

"So, where did this thing come from?" The shopkeeper asked first.

Zhu Daolin proudly introduced: "When I traveled in the South China Sea two years ago, I was curious when I saw this thing, so I bought it from a Franco machine merchant, but unfortunately I didn't see the crystal ball of my Taoist ancestor in it, I have to say that it is a pity!" ”

"How much did the Taoist spend to get it back?"

A girl who looked like a girl couldn't wait to ask, which immediately attracted a roll of eyes, and the noble lady immediately lowered her face and scolded in a low voice, feeling that the ignorant maid around her had embarrassed herself.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper smiled generously, turned to Zhu Daolin and asked kindly: "I'm afraid the Taoist chief is not here to buy things, but to sell things, right?" ”

Zhu Daolin smiled: "This makes you see it, amazing!" ”

"Haha, it's over! In fact, crystal is not a rare thing, there is a small workshop in Hangzhou is also thanks to the teaching of the Francophone people, for the elderly gentry to grind reading glasses, lenses are used crystal, haha! Dao Chang This thing is indeed a rare high-quality crystal, polished to be crystal clear, round, and flawless, but in the final analysis, this thing is still crystal after all, right? ”

The experienced and well-informed shopkeeper began to press forward step by step, but he did it mildly, and deliberately did not mention the most subtle and seductive Maitreya Buddha in the crystal ball.

All the eyes around turned to Zhu Daolin's face again, Zhu Daolin didn't know the treacherous of the shopkeeper, and his brain was spinning: "Sir, can you tell me, how much is a pair of reading glasses sold by that small workshop in Hangzhou?" ”

The shopkeeper seemed to be choked, and had to answer truthfully under the gaze of many guests: "The most comfortable reading glasses are only more than 100 taels of silver, and the second order is worth 350 taels of silver. ”

Zhu Daolin thanked him with a smile, and stretched out his hand to cover the small wooden box: "In this way, I didn't lose much when I bought this thing, haha!" Thank you, sir, for letting me see for a long time, and a lot of antiques on your shelf have opened my eyes, and I like it very much, and I will definitely trouble Mr. after a period of more money. ”

Zhu Daolin took back the box and thanked him again, beckoning the jade tiger who was squeezed out to prepare to leave, and the guests who had been deeply attracted by the crystal ball gradually came back to their senses, and the two ladies immediately got together to discuss nervously.

The shopkeeper and the short man at the counter glanced at each other, Chao Feng nodded helplessly, and the shopkeeper had to turn around and chase after Zhu Daolin: "Dao Chief, please stay-"

Zhu Dao stopped and turned around: "What do you command, sir?" ”

The shopkeeper scolded the little fox in his heart, but his face was extremely sincere: "Since the Taoist chief also likes the antiques of this number, why don't you stay for a cup of tea and have a good talk?" ”

Zhu Daolin smiled happily, looked around, and approached the shopkeeper who was almost as tall as himself: "To tell you the truth, I really don't mean to offend, I really have no money on me and have to come in to try my luck and see if there is anyone who knows the goods, so please ask Mr. to offer a price directly, right?" ”

"I'll give you five hundred taels at most, this thing is made of crystal, although it is ingenious, but the price is too high, I'm afraid I'm going to lose money." The shopkeeper's hand was on his lips to lower his voice, and it seemed that he had a toothache.

Zhu Daolin hesitated for a long time, and finally pointed to the tallest blue and white plum bottle on the Bogu shelf in front of him: "How about five hundred taels of silver tickets plus that tall bottle?" ”

The tall and thin shopkeeper looked in the direction of Zhu Daolin's finger for a moment, and explained with great heartache: "That's the official kiln tribute porcelain in the Yongle period!" It's worth at least three hundred taels of silver, no, no! It can barely be replaced with the blue and white pot on the side, which is the treasures of the official kiln in the Yongle period, and it is worth two hundred taels of silver, to say the least! ”

"In that case, why don't you just add another three hundred taels of silver to the two of you? Don't think about it, with so many guests watching, maybe someone will hit me on the head with a silver ticket as soon as I go out. Zhu Daolin did not back down.

The shopkeeper solemnly weighed it, glanced at the two ladies who were looking over from the side out of the corner of his eye, and had to nod and agree: "Okay, Dao Chief, please give me the box in your hand, sit down and wait for a while, I will let the guy take down the two porcelains and pack them for you." ”

"There is a shopkeeper Lao, happy cooperation!" Zhu Daolin bowed, and his face was full of bright smiles like spring.