Tavern old Zhou Shi Enhui

Don't ask me who I am

"Zhang Weiguo, is the iron lock Zhang your grandfather?" Hearing Zhang Chengyong's words, I couldn't help but be surprised, and then what followed was great joy. I said, "Are you the grandson of my master?" ”

"Uncle Master?" Hearing my words, Zhang Chengyong, who was originally aggressive, was stunned, he looked me up and down for a while, and then asked rhetorically: "Master Uncle?" What master Bo? Where's your master? Boy, don't look at the hardships we just went through together, but one yard is one yard, you don't have to be close to me in this matter! What the fuck are you looking for my grandpa? ”

"Hah! It's really a thousand times to find him, and it doesn't take much effort to get it! I smiled and shook my head, muttering to myself.

"Do you have a bit of culture, that's called stepping on iron shoes and finding nowhere to go, and it takes no effort to get it, okay? This is a knowledge point! How did you go to primary school, and how did the teacher get you to complete your coursework? Zhang Chengyong said with a look of being a teacher.

"Alright, I'm not going to talk to you about that. I'm looking for my master, Mr. Bo Zhang, it's really a bit of a serious matter. With that, I picked up the box at my feet, put it on the table, and then removed the furoshiki from it, revealing a black wooden box inside, and said, "I want to ask his old man to help me open the pepper lock on this box." ”

Seeing me take out this box, Zhang Chengyong was startled at first, and then his brows began to slowly tighten, and he thought for a while with a sad face before he said slowly: "Damn, it's this box again!" ”

"Again? What is this box again? Had he ever seen a wooden box like this one? Or did he open the same pepper lock as it? Hearing Zhang Chengyong's words, countless questions came to my mind in an instant. So, I hurriedly asked, "What do you mean by this box again?" Have you ever seen anything like it? Where is it? When? ”

Without waiting for Zhang Chengyong to answer, I asked four or five questions in one breath that I was eager to know the answers to.

"Let's not talk about that, you answer my question first. If I think you're pretty reliable, I'll take you to my grandfather, and he'll answer your questions. And if you lie to me, you don't want to find the iron lock in your life, and you don't want to open this pepper lock, let alone know the origin of this box and what it contains. Zhang Chengyong stretched out his hand to hold my intention to continue to ask, his eyes stared at me, although this kind of look was not friendly, but I knew that he had no malicious intent.

Although Zhang Chengyong looks honest and honest on the surface, he lacks shrewdness in his brain, and he seems to say such a sentence plainly, which is indeed forcing me to tell it all. And I also know that he didn't lie to me, although I already have Zhang Weiguo's address, but presumably Zhang Weiguo is no longer there at this time. The big black man in front of me right now may be the only one who knows his whereabouts. If I want to find the iron lock smoothly, and want to open this pepper lock smoothly, then the only way is to tell the truth, every sentence has to be the truth, as long as I have a lie, it is estimated that all my plans will be in vain.

Thinking of this, I took a deep breath, and then said lightly: "My surname is Liu, and my name is Liu Tianyi." You asked me what I did before, and to be honest, I didn't know how to start, because I was a Buddha before. At this point, I paused to see how Zhang Chengyong reacted and to see if he would be more defensive because of this.

"Buddha! Haha, it seems that you have also mixed up in the road, no wonder you are so good. However, there are really not many people who are willing to admit that they are Buddhas, which means that your kid didn't lie to me, okay! Very good! You continue. Zhang Chengyong smiled and clapped his hands and motioned for me to continue.

"Yes!" I nodded and continued: "I studied under Uncle Duan in the capital, that is, the master of a thousand means often said in Sijiu City, and Grandpa is also the leader of our old Shen City, Sun Jiuye, that is, your grandfather's master. According to what my master told me back then, I was ranked fourth among the 12 senior brothers at that time, and your grandfather was the senior brother, so in this way, your grandfather should be my senior uncle. That's right! ”

"Seems to be the case! However, I heard my grandfather say that he seemed to have sworn before that he would never have any more dealings with the people of the lower eight gates in this life! It's not going to be easy! Zhang Chengyong touched his chin and thought as he spoke, "Then you are looking for my grandfather to open this lock?" Where did you get this box? ”

"This box was kept by my grandfather." I said and touched the box, "My grandfather's house was demolished, it was the place where the two of us met before, I originally came back to go through the demolition procedures, but I didn't expect to find this inside, I have heard of this lock, I know that it is impossible to open it with my ability, so I have no choice but to ask the iron lock to help." As for the fact that his oath is not related to the dealings of the next eight people, I really don't know. That's the thing, I've told you everything, I hope you can help me with that. ”

"I'm ......" Zhang Chengyong thought for a while, and just wanted to say something, Lao Zhou, who had been sitting behind the counter reading the newspaper, suddenly put down the newspaper and said lightly: "Boy, your surname is Liu, is your grandfather's name Liu Military Academy?" People who know him call him Second Master Liu? ”

I was stunned for a moment, and then nodded slowly: "Dare to ask the old man, do you know my grandfather?" ”

"It's more than acquaintance!" Old Zhou sighed for a long time, then slowly stood up, rummaged through the drawers of the counter for a long time, and found a long small wooden board, very thin, dark brown, and two circles of the same size could be faintly seen from my angle on the back, and the pattern of this thing was exactly the same as the one hanging in front of his shop.

I saw Lao Zhou take out this wooden board, and then, he found a carving knife and carved a very strange symbol on the wooden board, which looked like a bee and a butterfly, and then threw it to Zhang Chengyong with a wave of his hand, and said: "Xiao Yongzi, you take this, and then take this kid to find your grandfather!" Although he swore not to ask about the affairs of the eight gates, he could not care about other people's affairs, but he had to take care of this young man's affairs. As for why, you don't have to ask, and I won't say, if you give this piece of wood to your grandfather when the time comes, he will naturally agree when he sees this. ”

"What is this?" Zhang Chengyong took the wooden board and looked back and forth several times, and then asked in surprise.

"It's a promise! Your generation won't understand! However, you give it to your grandfather, and he will naturally understand. Don't ask if there's more. After Lao Zhou finished speaking, he picked up the newspaper again and continued to read the contents, ignoring us, as if we didn't exist.

"Gotcha!" Seeing Lao Zhou's attitude, Zhang Chengyong had no choice but to respond, then put the wooden card into his arms, turned to me and said, "Hurry up and eat, go to my grandfather after eating." Eat more, there's still a long way to go. ”

"Okay!" After saying that, the two of us shook off our cheeks and ate a lot. Not to mention, the stewed elbows in this Wednesday tavern are really good, and I vaguely think of the taste of my grandfather, especially the sauce inside, which feels very familiar and very kind.

Zhang Chengyong and I each ate four bowls of rice and drank two pots of wine, the two of them almost had nothing to say, but the food was not embarrassing, but it was a very tacit feeling, so that the two of us looked at each other and smiled, to be honest, I didn't believe in this kind of thing that you can be friends for life when you meet, but after meeting Zhang Chengyong, I believe at least half of it.

In the middle, Xiaomei brought me two more dishes, one is braised pork ribs, the other is fried pork, looking at these two dishes, I couldn't help but be stunned, and this surprise is not only because these two dishes are not on the menu, but also because these two dishes are my favorite when I was a child, and what makes me wonder the most is that the taste of this dish is actually ninety percent similar to what my grandfather made for me back then. This made me look at Lao Zhou, who was still sitting at the counter, and he was still sitting there as if nothing had happened, reading the newspaper, rolling his not too expensive cigarette.

Since there was not much conversation, Zhang Chengyong and I ate a lot, and in more than 20 minutes, the two of us ate a lot, Zhang Chengyong waved his hand and said, "Old Zhou, settle the bill." ”

"Excuse me!" Lao Zhou didn't even look at us, and said lightly.

"Hey, hey! This is when the sun hits and comes out. Before, I ......," Zhang Chengyong said in surprise.

But before he finished speaking, Lao Zhou interrupted him, "Don't be stinky and beautiful, you kid, it's not because of you, it's because of him." Lao Zhou tapped me with his chin.

"Hey! Which song is this? Zhang Chengyong looked at Lao Zhou in surprise, and then looked at me. And I was even more confused, seeing Zhang Chengyong looking at me, I quickly spread my hands, indicating that I hadn't done anything and didn't know anything.

Zhang Chengyong wanted to say something else, but Lao Zhou gave an eviction order, and said in a cold tone: "Let's go quickly!" Do what you have to do! Where is so much nonsense. ”

"Gotcha! I will say goodbye to that little brave man, write Lao Zhou, your hospitality, the green mountains do not change, the green water flows forever, and I will come to eat you tomorrow! Zhang Chengyong is also a big-hearted person, seeing that Lao Zhou didn't want to say more, he didn't ask anymore, looked at me and said, "Let's go!" Go find my grandpa. With that, he walked out of the tavern first.

And the moment I went out, I subconsciously glanced back and found that Lao Zhou was staring at me with a very strange look, and his mouth moved, as if to say: "Child, be careful in the future." ”

Although I didn't know what to do, I nodded politely to him and turned around and walked out the door.

After going out, Zhang Chengyong called a taxi, pulled me into the car, and said to the driver: "Go to Faku, and then go to Wu's store!" Thank you. With that, he closed his eyes and stopped talking.

When I saw that Zhang Chengyong didn't speak, I stopped making a sound and looked at the scenery outside the car window. Since I have been away from this place for more than ten years, everything in this city has changed, it has become completely different from before, it has become very developed, and it is also very strange.

Faku belongs to the suburbs, more precisely, the urban-rural junction, while Wujiadian is completely rural. After driving for a while, the car changed to the national highway, and then began the bumpy country dirt road. After driving for nearly an hour and a half, the car finally stopped, and stopped in front of a small courtyard with no village in front and no shop behind, and there was almost nothing around except the mountains.

The yard was dilapidated, and a mud house that was almost crumbling stood alone, half of the surrounding fence wall had collapsed, and it lay there in a state of non-existence. And it is extremely inconsistent with it, is the left side of this house four or five meters, stands a three-meter-high, nearly 1.5-meter-wide stone stele, under the stele seat is a whole piece of white marble carving, angry majestic, lifelike, from the carving point of view, this is by no means a folk craftsman made things, the age should be the product of the middle of the Qing Dynasty. There are three kinds of characters carved on the stele, namely Manchu, Mongolian and traditional Chinese, and I saw that it was written impressively: Iron Hat Wang Sen Greenqin.

"We're here." After Zhang Chengyong paid the fare, he told the driver to wait for us for a while. Seeing that I was looking at the stele in a daze, he patted me and said, "Go in!" My grandfather was inside. ”

With that, he went into the courtyard first, and I followed.