The so-called flower lane is where women who can't even be a tail phoenix live, and those who will come to the flower lane are often not distinguished guests.

As soon as he stepped into the stone street of Flower Lane, Bai Ling faintly smelled a sour and rancid smell, which was a mixture of sweat and food mixed with the crowd's sweat, and some other suspicious smells in between...... She couldn't help frowning.

From time to time, drunkards and pot-bellied men came out of the low rooms on either side, scolding and smiling, singing and strolling, each with some kind of subtle pleasant expression on their faces.

This look made Bai inspiration feel a certain danger and disgust, and she couldn't help but lean a little closer to the fourteenth side.

From time to time, some people greeted Ah Li enthusiastically, but their eyes glanced straight at Wei Shishi and Bai Ling behind Ah Li - this kind of noble son who occasionally ran into the flower lane because of curiosity hunting is not nothing, for the women in the flower lane, if they can attract such a guest to their house, the nobleman's casual reward can solve their livelihood for ten days and a half, how attractive this is can be imagined.

So Fourteen held the hilt of the knife at the right time, and whenever someone tried to get closer, he gave a real deterrent.

What he has hanging on his waist today is not the embroidered spring knife that he has always been around, but the Hongming knife handed down by his master Wei Ying, because the secret guard is always in the dark, so this sharp blade is not famous, and most of the people who have learned its sharpness are no longer in this world.

The three of them walked through the middle of the stone street of the flower lane, and the two sides and the oncoming stars and visitors bypassed the three of them, like the waves of water separated by a small boat.

When Li finally led the people to a low wooden house, Bai Ling looked up and saw that the roof tiles had fallen in several places, barely repaired with straw and broken bricks, and in front of this house, there was not a red lantern hanging in front of the house—Bai Ling guessed that it might be some kind of sign of business.

"Aunt Shen!" Ah Li began to knock on the door, "Is Aunt Shen here?" I've brought someone here! ”

Bai Ling looked at Ah Li, a little worried that his actions would directly break through the wooden door. Judging from Ah Li's reaction, this old man probably couldn't hear clearly.

A short time later, there was the sound of staggering footsteps in the house, and the door was pulled open from the inside.

An old man with a clumsy figure stood there wearing a veil made of makeshift rags, and respectfully let the two of them in. Fourteen entered the house first, followed by Bai Ling, and as soon as he entered the door, a wave of heat rushed towards him.

At a glance, Bai Ling saw a small stove in the dim corner, which was hiding the orange fire, and the clay pipes directed the smoke directly to the outside of the room, but it still clearly heated the air in the whole room.

Bai Ling couldn't help but squint his eyes - such a fire hazard is too serious, don't the people of the Teaching Workshop Department conduct daily inspections on the flower lanes on weekdays?

The old man turned, picked up something in the darkness, and walked over to the stove and lit the fire—only then did Bai Ling see that she was holding a candle in her hand.

The whole room slowly lit up.

Surprisingly, the furnishings in the room weren't as dirty as they looked from the outside.

Although the room is small, there are wooden beds, cabinets, desks, wooden piers, and coffee tables. By the flickering light of the candle, Bai Ling saw that there were many traces of damage and insect moth, some of the joints of the mortise and tenon joints had been broken, and some cabinet doors were also missing half of them...... But it can be seen that the old lady wipes it with her heart every day, so those places where the surface varnish has not fallen off are still reflecting the firelight.

Bai Ling gently touched the wooden table beside her—as she expected, there was no ash on the table, no grease, and it was very clean.

The old man invited them to sit down in the middle of the room, where stools and chairs were stacked out of proportion to the surroundings, and she trembled as she fixed the candle to the candlestick of the coffee table, "It's all picked up, and you will sit down." ”

The old man's front tooth was missing, so his words were leaky, but between his gestures, Bai Ling could still feel the old woman's good cultivation.

"Why do you call this mother-in-law, Aunt Shen?" Bai Ling leaned over lightly and looked at Ah Li, "She doesn't look young. ”

"I don't know, I've been shouting like this all along, and I haven't changed my words." Ah Li said softly, "She's been here for almost twenty years. ”

As if she hadn't heard the conversation between Bai Ling and Ah Li, the old woman walked up and down the room by herself, taking something from this drawer and from the cupboard with a trembling thought, and finally bringing four cups of tea made with high foam.

"Let me introduce you!" Ah Li said loudly to the old man, "These two are the guests I mentioned to Aunt Shen before!" They all love the snuff bottles you make! So I want to order a set of collections! ”

The old man laughed, with a wrinkle at the corner of his eye.

Fourteen didn't take his seat, so he got up and looked around the small room.

On the wooden frame against the wall is the old man's work. Most of them are white and yellow roses, but there are also a few depictions of white mist in distant mountains and thrushes on branches.

"Has Aunt Shen always lived alone?"

Wei Shishi heard Bai Ling behind him ask, the old man really couldn't hear clearly, she repeated it many times in a row before she understood, and then nodded with a smile.

Most of the subsequent conversations are like this, and a question often has to be repeated two or three times before the old man can understand it.

"Do you make a living by burning this snuffbox?"

"That's right." The old man replied.

"How do you sell your snuff bottles here?"

"Childe picks what he likes, these have been done, they are all forty wen each, if ...... If you want to order, then add 20 more literary costs, boil a pot, generally take ten days, if you want to expedit, then add another 20 Wen, four or five days can be taken. ”

Bai Ling was stunned for a moment, "Then a kettle, when it comes to the top, it will only cost eighty yuan, the price is so cheap, does Aunt Shen still make money?" ”

"You don't have to make money, you want to make a living, and you want to be happy." The old man replied with a smile, "Anyway, one person is full, and the family is not hungry." ”

On the side, Ah Li added in a low voice, "There are a few masters outside who are also quite famous for making snuff bottles, and when they receive too many orders and can't catch up with the delivery, they all go to Aunt Shen for emergency relief, and they change hands for a few taels or even dozens of taels of silver." ”

"I like Aunt Shen's red roses very much." Bai Ling said, and put the snuff bottle that Fang Cai Ali handed her on the coffee table between her and the old man, "The time is not in a hurry, I can come back to pick it up in half a month, and the money will be given according to the expedited fee......"

As Bai Ling spoke, Wei Shixi had already walked to the display shelf by the stove, and at the bottom of the shelf, a small bamboo basket wrapped in red cloth caught his attention.

He pretended to casually pick up most of the snuff bottles on the shelves one by one, and then slowly leaned over and gently lifted a corner of the red cloth.

"Little brother over there." The old man's voice came from not far away, "If you don't come to drink it again, your tea will be cold." ”

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