The outer edge of the castle is honest and thick, and the width behind the female wall is four or five meters, and there are no people, only a figure leaning against the battlement in the corner. His face was hidden in the shadow of the battlement, and he couldn't see it clearly, except for a faint glow of fire, which was the cigarette in his hand.

He looked greedily at the old city below the castle. It was still early in the first half of the night, and the surroundings were already quiet, there were no street lights on the street, and the lights of the shops were half off; The lighted half of it is also blurred, and it cannot penetrate the street. The moon hangs high, just like a thousand years ago, reflecting the earth and painting the night of the Golden City with a layer of milk and honey.

In the distance, beyond a large desert clearing with no people and no lights, more than a hundred kilometers away, is the border.

The headlights cut through the dim silence and drove towards the side door of the castle. The castle's primary objective was defense, and originally there was only one main entrance, no side entrances. In recent years, the development of tourism, there is a collapsed and damaged section of the city wall, simply no longer restore the original state, homeopathic change to a side door, convenient to go to and from other scenic spots, but also can rent out the building on the inner side of the city wall, become a restaurant. In these restaurants, the ability to go up the stairs to the city walls and serve as a wide observation deck is not bad for most of the business.

He stared at the car, lonely through the street, getting closer and closer; So lonely that you can be sure that there is no one or anything around you that is related to it. Safe. He used his fingers to puff off the still burning cigarette in his hand, walked to the side door, and popped the cigarette butt out with his fingers, and smashed a beautiful parabola into the yellow earth of the street below the wall.

Huang Ligong got out of the car, looked at the swarthy in front of him, there was no figure, and was about to ask Xu Qianqian, but he saw her holding the car door, raising her head, and staring up. He looked up, and a middle-aged man in his fifties behind the city wall was also staring at them. Xu Qianqian suddenly remembered how she felt at the airport, the face she was used to seeing when she returned to China and entered the house, did she have other stories in other times and other countries? The middle-aged man waved his hand and motioned for them to enter the side door and come up.

The two went up to the city wall, and the middle-aged man was setting up tables and chairs. Inside the city wall is next to the women's wall, with wooden tables and chairs that are put away, and the restaurant will set up two or three tables on the city wall at dusk, and dinner will be held at sunset and then collected at night. This restaurant is only temporarily received by the women's wall, and then put it into the store after freeing up your hands. Xu Qianqian trotted over and hugged the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man looked her up and down.

"I'm getting taller again."

"You make fun of me, I haven't grown any taller since I went to college." Xu Qianqian pursed her lips slightly. She is somewhat petite, which is not obvious in China, and when she studied in the UK, she looked very eye-catching. The British boy next to her actually likes her quite a bit, probably in line with their stereotypical imagination of oriental women, but she is not very happy in her heart.

"That's shoe height."

Xu Qianqian smiled and gently punched her uncle. Her uncle, Xu Chaoyu, patted her on the shoulder, pointed to the city wall, walked to the female wall on the inner edge, leaned down, and shouted loudly in Hindi, as if calling people's names. An Indian man with a turban walked up to the city wall and saw a middle-aged man with a smile on his face and greeted him.

The two whispered a few words in Hindi, and the Indian shook his head and went down. After a while, a tray came up with food, a plate of crepes, three empty glasses, and two stainless steel jugs, one of which was steaming.

"I'm not hungry."

"I have never seen a Chinese who have just arrived in India who can eat enough." Xu Chaoyu said with a smile. There was clearly a heartfelt joy in his smile, perhaps because he hadn't actually smiled for too long, and his eyes and facial muscles always looked a little stiff.

He looked at the Indian, "The tea here is the best in the city, and today the boss will personally pull the tea for the two of you." ”

The Indian boss looked silent, stopped in the air, like a small ritual to express a sense of piety before the official start of a matter, suddenly moved, and quickly picked up a stainless steel pot in one hand, one high and one low. The stainless steel pot at the high place is poured, pulling out a long stream of hot tea, like a small waterfall, rushing into the stainless steel pot at the low place, and the air is suddenly filled with the warm aroma of tea and milk; He rotated his hands, staggered and held the stainless steel pot high, and repeatedly slammed the milk tea into the empty pot in the low place.

His movements are rhythmic, soft and coherent, and he looks like he is shaking a flexible piece of fabric. Ten times, it came to an abrupt end. Waiting for the watcher to give an admiring look or voice, he took a step forward, poured three empty glasses one by one, placed the stainless steel pot next to the glass, made a gesture of pleasure, and in the applause, carried another empty stainless steel kettle, and retreated under the city wall.

"Big mouth." Xu Chaoyu saw Xu Qianqian pick up the cup and put it to her mouth, and rushed to remind her.

Xu Qianqian was going to take a sip, but when she heard her uncle's words, she drank it normally. The taste is very amazing, the mouth is silky, one after another, like a bunch of purple grapes with frost from the inside to the outside one by one, and like a snow hot spring rushing one after another, at a moment she actually faintly felt a sense of happiness. The sluggishness of black tea wraps the creaminess of milk, which is the traditional taste of milk tea, but from the beginning of the mouth, it is always stubbornly mixed with a trace of strange fragrance, subtle but difficult to ignore, until after swallowing, there is always that exotic feeling of gossamer in the mouth.

"It's so much better than milk tea in the UK! That is, there is a ......"

Xu Qianqian didn't know how to describe it for a while, her face was full of complicated and difficult to decide, she didn't have the courage to take a second sip immediately, but she was unwilling to put down the cup and lose the opportunity to take a second sip.

Xu Chaoyu smiled, and Xu Qianqian's reaction was as he expected. Indian tea is usually spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and even star anise, etc., and each family has its own recipe, and the taste is also subtly different. The boss here knows Xu Chaoyu's taste, so he doesn't need to say hello, only put a quarter of the usual amount of spices, otherwise Xu Qianqian will probably squirt out as soon as she enters her mouth.

Xu Qianqian looked at the cup in her hand indescribably, the sweet milk tea and the seasoning of the stew were mixed and intertwined, and the psychological awkwardness was probably greater than the impact on the taste.

"There is also a Chinese restaurant in the city, which is actually an Indian boss and Indian food, but the dumplings he makes are Chinese flavor, no worse than ordinary dumpling restaurants in China. Black tea is also a clear drink. It's just that I never go. ”

"Why not?"

Xu Chaoyu just shook his head, "If you are in a foreign country, don't stick to the memory of your hometown." ”

He picked up the cup and took a large sip of La Tea, savoring it in detail in his mouth.

"The Age of Discovery, at the beginning, was to go to the mysterious eastern country in search of spices. The meat that Europeans eat is too fishy to do without spices, and spices are often more expensive than meat. Don't believe in the beautiful saying that curiosity and exploration of the unknown are wonderful. How can a person's curiosity still be believed, and a group of people, organized with money and power, can remain curious?! ”

"Haven't you always been curious?!" Xu Qianqian said that this is her impression of Xu Chaoyu all along, and because of this, she liked to stick to him when she was a child.

"That's why I'm still alone." Xu Chaoyu smiled and continued his tirade.

"Spain, which had gone the wrong way, went to the Americas, and more than a hundred people destroyed the Inca Empire of six million men with cunning and smallpox, and returned with silver, and later, too much silver brought down their economy; The British, who were on the right path, went to India, turned the Indian peninsula into a colony, and returned with spices. Later, tea was discovered by chance in the vast empire of the farther east - spices did not change Britain, black tea changed.

Drinking black tea became the new quintessence of Britain, spending a lot of silver imports every year, and in order to balance it, they did two things. One was to exchange opium for silver, which was too effective, a measure to solve the trade deficit, turned into a war, ended a dynasty, and finally gave rise to a new state. Another thing is to steal Chinese tea trees and bring them to India for planting, and now, there are two of the four major black tea producing areas in India, and the yield and quality are better than China's. It has become a production area, and India has also had the habit of drinking tea.

Milk tea has been a tepid thing in Britain for hundreds of years, trapped on the British island; Something better in India, a warm and wonderful tea pull, the conquest of the Americas, and then the conquest of Europe – in this way back to the beginning of the Great Voyage. ”

Xu Chaoyu lit a cigarette, glanced at the border line in the distance, and nudged the match and cigarette case in the direction of Huang Ligong. Huang Ligong waved his hand, he didn't smoke.

"At any Starbucks in the world, you can order Indian lacha. Well, except for China. You see, in order to illustrate that Indian pulled tea is more worthy of yearning and nostalgia than its homeland, British milk tea, such a trivial matter, history has to go around such a big circle, with the demise of three countries, and several generations, as a price. ”

"The British must agree with you. They prefer to emigrate to former colonial countries rather than stay on the island. Xu said that when she went to school in the UK, there were classmates in London in her class, and her parents were planning to move to Australia.

"Where do they identify with culture and life, just like the Nordic people love to go to Thailand, their own country is cloudy and cold, so they like to go to the tropics, to the seaside, where there is sunshine, and there are lovers under the sun."

"That is, it rains almost every day in London. The rainy season in Shanghai is just over a month, and London is a year. Xu Qianqian shook her head and sighed.

"No wonder your little girl wants to go back to China as soon as she graduates. Where's your brother? He is not afraid of the rainy season of the year, and intends to stay there? ”

"I don't know what he's going to do, he doesn't like to talk to me about anything."

"It's the same as his dad. Just the two of you are in London, your parents are not there, and the eldest brother is the father. ”

"Isn't it the same as you, the farther away from home, the better?"

"It's different...... People who stay in their hometown for too long will not be able to leave their hometown. Besides, I was conquered by La Cha. Xu Chaoyu raised the glass, tilted slightly, and saluted the two.

"Lacha conquers Europe and the United States again, no matter how you look at it, it is not a conqueror, it is still conquered by others." Huang Ligong also raised his glass and said the first thing after arriving at the castle. This is not your typical Huang Ligong. He likes to occupy the center of the discourse, either talking loudly and bringing the other party into his own field, or pushing and controlling the direction of the topic, allowing the other party to talk and enter his field on his own. However, tonight was an atypical night, and Xu Chaoyu was a tricky opponent. Xu Chaoyu has an uncommon aura on his body, he doesn't belong here, he doesn't belong there, but he has a deep understanding of both sides, even so deep that he gets tired of it. Either way, you'll probably think he's very knowledgeable about what we're doing here, but it's always the people over there.

Most people, in this situation, will fall into the invisible crack in the middle, invisible but steep, struggling to get out; Xu Chaoyu had his way, anyway, standing on top of the crack, maneuvering on both sides, trying to keep his gait calm, as if he were standing on solid ground—although, under his feet there was never ground.

He seems to be like many people, speaking amiably and casually, telling jokes before and after meals, telling interesting and surprising theories, and occasionally showing off and expressing himself through wine; Beneath the surface of this cultivated middle-aged man's mold, there are also cracks—the forces that tore his ground apart, and seem to tear his heart apart—far from others. The words are in the ears, in front of the people, but they can't be touched in any way. Even if Xu Qianqian is on the other side at the moment, it seems to be the same.

Huang Ligong heard Xu Qianqian say that when she was young, she was very close to her uncle, even closer than her parents. Her father was in the company all day and was not much at home; The mother focused most of her energy on her son, somewhat neglecting her. Most of the memories of the weekend are of her holding her uncle's hand and playing with him. After Xu Chaoyu arrived in India, she happened to be there almost every time she returned to China, so she occupied most of his free time. His wife and son have to share the little time they have left with the others. Tonight, Xu Qianqian came to look for her temporarily, obviously there was something, but Xu Chaoyu didn't take it seriously after they met, she didn't ask, just chatted, as if the two were originally close neighbors, and this was just a small gathering at night. Huang Ligong felt calm in his heart, and when he saw Xu Chaoyu for the first time, he knew that this was an old Jianghu, and Sven's friendly smile and polite conversation were just a cover. Lao Jianghu would not make such a low-level mistake, and he acted indifferent, naturally because he had the bottom in his heart, and on the other hand, it was also a defensive gesture, as if he was emphasizing to him that all this was for Xu Qianqian's face, and he just remembered this favor on Xu Qianqian's head. Huang Ligong faintly felt a little strange, Xu Qianqian's family didn't seem to be easy to match, there was something between them, more subtle and complicated than he imagined.

"For the weak, even a cup of tea can leave a trace, which is already the generosity of history, isn't it? How many things are gone. What else did the Inca Empire have besides leaving jokes? ”

"If you can't work hard and fight back, then it might as well be wiped out."

"There is no youthful ambition in the country and history." Xu Chaoyu's face showed a look of memory, "It's bette."

to bu

out, tha

to fade away. ”

"Rather than withering slowly, it is better to burn to ashes." Xu Qianqian knew that Huang Ligong could understand the words, but he might not be able to understand the meaning of the sentence, so she rushed to translate for him.

Xu Chaoyu saw her niece's careful thoughts and smiled, "My favorite singer when I was young, the best song...... Come with me. ”

He walked to the female wall, pointed to the desert with no people and no lights in the distance, and said in a low voice, "What you see now is desolation. However, before the Age of Discovery, it was the most prosperous hub on the Silk Road, the meeting point of East and West. This desolation was once a road, one of the most important trade routes in the history of global trade. Every morning, camel caravans carried their goods along the road to Central Asia and to the West; Every evening, under the sunset, the camels returning from the west, also loaded with goods, come back along the road, rest here for a night, and the next day distribute the goods to various states in India, to Bangladesh, Nepal, to China.

The dilapidated little city behind us, in its golden age, was a veritable golden city, but in the barren desert, it was more dazzling than any other city. The outsiders who came here couldn't believe it, saying that it must have been a magician who used a spell to bring down the golden castle overnight.

You say, who created the glory here? ”

Xu Qianqian glanced at Huang Ligong and hurriedly said, "Times." ”

"Clever ghosts." Xu Chaoyu's smile softened in the moonlight, and a touch of love flashed in her eyes, which was the familiar look of Xu Qianqian when she was a child.

"People who want to make money." Huang Ligong's answer.

"Yes. Fugitive. Xu Chaoyu nodded, looking at the desolation. This is the Dragon Gate Inn, the rivers and lakes of outlaws. Robbers, caravans, peddlers, crooks, thieves, prostitutes, martial artists...... Where the money and goods are, they are there. The camel caravan, said to be traders, is also a knife licking blood, and only outlaws can do this. Each camel has a long knife on its body, and when something happens, it draws the knife. Every time you run, you either die or make a lot of money. ”

This is the undertone of a prosperous city. Ash has always been the background color of outlaws.

"When the Age of Discovery began, the glory ended. It was the end of the city's glory, not the outlaws. Outlaws are immortal, and where money and goods go, they go. When the times entered the great voyage, they followed, and went to the sea. Without the outlaws, the city is frozen in time. What you see now is what it was hundreds of years ago. ”

Xu Chaoyu stared into the distance. The real destruction is that there is no enemy to blame.

When he turned around, the softness on his face had disappeared, and he was replaced by a lean and alert person, straightening his waist, and looking at Xu Qianqian. Xu Qianqian understood what he meant, and when the conversation was over, it was time to get down to business.

Back at the table, she finished her intention in three sentences.

Xu Chaoyu didn't ask much, his eyes quickly swept over Huang Ligong, swept over Xu Qianqian, fell back to Huang Ligong, and said, "I'll try." ”

Huang Ligong took out a piece of paper from his pocket, put it on the table, and gently pushed it over with his fingers. Xu Chaoyu picked it up and looked at the words on it by the moonlight, the time, flight number, name, seat, and the necessary information were neatly copied on it. He nodded slightly, it was very clean, leaving no traces. Xu Chaoyu picked up the phone on the table, pointed to the plate of cakes, and said, "The banana pancakes here are also very well done, and they won't have a strange taste." I'll be back in a minute. ”

Xu Chaoyu walked to the inner edge of the city wall and disappeared under the stairs.