On the twenty-sixth day of April, the lush green is full of branches, and when the trees bear fruit, the new joy is not tired of the old, and the green plum is accompanied by the old wine.

There was a stove in front of the girl, and a pot with plum wine was placed on the stove, accompanied by wisps of green smoke, and the mellow and sweet aroma of wine wafted in the room.

It's just that the girl's expression is suddenly lost, and she doesn't seem to be in the mood to taste wine.

She poured a glass of wine and carefully handed it to the man sitting behind the table.

The man's gaze moved up as he was reading the paperwork, looking at this pretty girl who was old enough to be his daughter.

Taking the wine cup she handed over, the man took a sip, and his eyes showed surprise: "It has to be the best plum wine that has been brewed for a year. ”

Tang Xiaoyu: "......"

Seeing that the girl didn't answer, the corners of the man's mouth raised an arc and said: "This plum wine, you have to drink it when you are in a good mood to feel sweet, if you are depressed in your heart, you will only feel sour, girl, what do you think?" ”

The girl turned her head and muttered, "Don't dare." ”

said so, but whether it was the expression on her face or the tone of her speech, there was no sense of daring in it, which simply showed her daughter's ability to speak back.

The man put down the wine cup with a smile, leaned back in the chair and quipped: "I have really grown up, and I dare to have sex with me." ”

The girl was silent.

When the man saw that this subordinate ignored him, he didn't blame him, and simply changed the subject.

"I heard that the royal decree has managed the East Market in an orderly manner, whether it is the placement of the vendors' goods or the layout of the stalls, it is eye-catching, and it seems to have a slogan, I remember it is called...... Call. ”

"Show a new look, establish a new style." The girl reminded.

"Yes, that's the slogan." Savoring its meaning, the man praised: "Zhan Xinrong and new style, I passed by the day before yesterday to take a look, but he is quite a person who can do things, and I am considering letting the houses follow his example and spread it to other markets in the city." ”

Tang Xiaoyu glanced at him, with a slight hesitation in his eyes, but he still asked, "On the first day he came to report, why did the envoy help him?" ”

Du Mingtang was a little surprised: "I thought you would ask me why you arranged the second room to be responsible for escorting grain and grass, but I didn't expect you to ask this first." ”

"I'm just curious, Envoy Zun has never liked to meddle in the disputes of the people below, even if there is a conflict in the six deacon's rooms, you have never ignored it, and we will solve it ourselves, why did you go against the norm that day and stand up for that kid?"

"The tone of your voice now is not so much like asking for advice, but questioning me."

“......”

Du Mingtang's eyes were as sharp as knives, staring at Tang Xiaoyu's eyes, and the girl did not avoid it, but looked at him firmly.

After being silent for a moment, Du Mingtang didn't want to continue to be angry with a little girl, so he took a step back generously and said: "The day before, Cao Yong sent someone to send me a letter, saying that he was going to arrange a young man to enter the street division the next day, and the letter also said that you and that person will jointly conduct a routine election next month to decide who should be the general flag of the second room, I became curious about that young man, so I wanted to keep him and take a good look for a while, the person specially arranged by Cao Yong must be unusual, just like you, if you are cut off, Isn't that a pity? ”

······ Tang Xiaoyu said in her heart, she didn't believe that it was just so simple, if it was just these, just send a message, there was no need for such a troublesome form of letters, the reason why she did this was that there must be something that could not be told to people, and she needed to rely on the letter, and Du Mingtang did not mention the old man from beginning to end, he was the key person.

Tang Xiaoyu simply said bluntly: "The identity of that old man, can the envoy tell me?" ”

"Going around for a long time, this is what you really want to ask, it's quite keen." Du Mingtang smiled, then his smile slowly converged, and his expression gradually became serious: "The answer to this question is worth more than all your questions combined, I'm not worried that you can't afford it, but I'm worried about you...... I can't carry it. ”

Tang Xiaoyu's bright eyes flickered, and his pupils shrank.

"Regarding the identity of that old man, when the time comes, even if you don't ask, I will tell you, but not now."

"Let's go down, in three days you will set off to join the grain team, everything that should be prepared is ready, and after you leave, the people of Qizhou should almost arrive, and the East Market will be handed over to them to take care of, you can rest assured, it is your thing, others can't take it away, it's not your thing, even I can't force it."

Tang Xiaoyu lowered his eyes and clenched his fists: "My subordinates retire." ”

After she left, Du Mingtang picked up and put down the paperwork, he glanced at the pot with green smoke, got up and walked over, picked up a new lamp again, poured himself a lamp with a wine grape, and then said meaningfully: "I still have to do this work by myself." ”

······

Dongcheng Wa City, Wang Ling is still the first time to come to this place, before their team was responsible for the inspection task of Dongshi, this side is Zuo Yucheng is in charge, today the two teams are exchanged.

The cries in Wang Ling's ears came and went, and they were even harder than those in the East Market, but the things they sold were not quite the same.

Looking at the girls in light gauze and thin skirts, crisp-breasted and half-naked, the silk scarves in their hands fluttered up and down in the air, chanting words to the passers-by, from time to time there was a decently dressed old man who was dragged in, Wang Ling saw that those people were unwilling to enter the door, as if they were forced to drag in, but after crossing the threshold, he immediately shook his body, shook the hands that pulled his arms on the left and right, and then walked inward with his head held high, just like returning to his own home.

Xie Sanjin and the others were not surprised, and walked in front with great strides.

Shi Geng sneakily came to Wang Ling's side and quipped, "Eh, this is not the first time you have come back to this kind of place, right?" ”

Wang Ling pretended to be an old fritter and said, "There is also this kind of place in my house, it's not a big deal." ”

"Tut-tut, pretend with me, as soon as I look at your virtue, I know that the first time you have come to this kind of place, you ...... Isn't it still a boy chicken? After Shi Geng finished speaking, his two eyes looked down Wang Ling's waist.

"Are you finished? Let me tell you, there is a saying in my house, 'Talking about chickens and not talking about babes, civilizing you, me and him'. "The king's order that was seen through at a glance is bitter in his heart, he meows! Isn't he just a boy chicken? Don't talk about him, in the previous unit, almost half of the comrades-in-arms were still young chickens when they were twenty years old, mainly because the unit they were in did not have a fixed station, and they flowed in the deep mountains and old forests all year round, and they all went straight to their hometowns on rare vacations.

Once, in the process of going out on a mission with his brother unit, he often went to those people to get together and talk about the mountains, listening to their bragging, and the word prostitution was the most heard, at first Wang Ling felt a little disgusted, I don't know how these people were embarrassed to take the violation of military discipline as a talking point, but they still laughed so happily.

One of the big brothers saw his thoughts, so he smiled and asked him, "Boy, are you upset when you hear us say this?" ”

Wang Ling didn't speak, just nodded.

Big Brother laughed heartily, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Look at you, your kind of thinking is a bull's horn, isn't it?" You have to think like this, a beautiful young girl, who doesn't have much education, doesn't have the strength of our arm, how difficult it is to make money, there may be parents who are sick in bed at home, and a younger brother who is going to college, what is wrong with the girl's family wanting to provoke the burden of the family? ”

Wang Ling opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the old squad leader waving his hand: "People don't steal or rob, they don't give people as juniors to destroy the family, they don't play our grandfathers as Kaizi, they just want to make money with their skills, we are soldiers, we have to help the weak when they need help, but you want to say give her money directly, isn't it a bit of a slap in the face?" So what to do, I have to use a reasonable way to hand over the money to the girl, she obtains family income through labor, and we also gain the satisfaction of helping others, why not? ”

After speaking, there was a burst of laughter around him, Wang Ling's face was red when he heard it, and for a moment, he actually felt that what the old squad leader said made some sense.

He just wanted to refute, but saw the old squad leader looking at him with a wry smile, with a bonfire reflected in his eyes, and said to himself in a low and hoarse voice: "Although our troops are inferior to you, they are all people who pin their heads to their belts in this so-called era of peace, as long as they don't hurt themselves and don't infringe on the interests of others, they can live happily for one more day, and don't put too many shackles on themselves." ”

Wang Ling was silent.

Which mission was successfully completed, ending a border smuggling gang and capturing the gang leader alive, but at the expense of four comrades, the old squad leader was among them, in order to protect the young comrades, he was shot through the lungs, and when he was sent to the hospital, he was already out of breath.

Since then, although Wang Ling still has no chance to help the stumbling girl, he is no longer disgusted.

"Hey, what do you want?"

Wang Ling came back to his senses, felt that the back of his head was patted, and looked at Shi Geng with some displeasure: "Why are you beating me?" ”

"Nonsense, you didn't reflect when I talked to you, and I thought that your soul was taken away by the girl upstairs."

Wang Ling didn't answer his stubble, but looked at both sides of the street and asked, "It seems that there are more than one green building on this street." ”

Unexpectedly, when he asked this, he directly exposed the fact that he was a chick.

Shi Geng: "And said that it's not the first time you've come!" ”

Wang Ling resolutely refused to admit it: "I won't tell you, I've been a frequent visitor to Goolan since I was three years old!" ”

Shi Geng pouted: "Blow, I see you blow out flowers, just like you, even if you burn to ashes, that mouth is still there." ”

“？” Wang Ling was puzzled.

Shi Geng explained: "The mouth is too hard! ”

Then, Shi Geng introduced the tile city to Wang Ling as he walked.

There are 72 floors in the tile city, among which there are 12 places in the Washe Goulan where you can enjoy the opera and listen to the music, and the performance items in each place are different, such as storytelling, singing and dancing, opera, puppet play, instrumental music, hundred operas, sumo wrestling, animal fighting, acrobatics, everything.

In the twelve Qinglou schools, those girls were sold by their families on the surface, but in fact, most of them were abducted, but this kind of thing, the people don't raise officials and don't arrest them, they all signed a deed of sale, even if it is Cao Yong, they can only turn a blind eye. But the last girls in Qingzhou are not on this street, but in the Jiaofang Division located in Nancheng, most of the girls in it are the daughters of the convicts, the daughter of the official eunuch's house, proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and then after the training of teaching, they have become able to sing and dance, charming and moving, and if you want to go in and out of that kind of place, you can't do it without a few dozen taels of silver.

There are 12 gambling houses, even if the situation in the entire northwest is in chaos, there is still an endless stream of people entering and leaving the gambling houses every day.

There are 12 restaurants, each of which has different main wine dishes, except for most of the wine dishes, they all have their own unique special wine dishes, and some restaurants even have a hook bar, drinking and listening to music.

There are twelve chess houses, although the exchanges are scarce, but as long as people can come to this kind of place, most of them do not disdain to be in the company of the laity.

There are 12 tea shops that can be used to enjoy flowers and taste tea, among which Xinyue Tea Workshop is the most famous, just because there is a tea master who can fiddle with tea and play, there are very few people who know this skill, and it is extremely cumbersome to get started, and it is necessary to go through a series of steps such as boiling tea, grinding tea, Luo tea, waiting for soup, scalding, ordering tea and dividing tea, and each step must be meticulous and detailed.

Wang Ling found that in addition to talking about the brothel of the Qinglou, Shi Geng also focused on the so-called Xinyue Tea Workshop, and even the tea brewing process of the tea hundred operas could be talked about eloquently, which was really not like his style, those steps Wang Ling felt dizzy just by listening, so he asked: "What's so special about that Xinyue Tea Workshop?" ”

Shi Geng pondered for a moment and said: "It is said that the people who master this tea art are usually women, but the Baixi tea master of Xinyue Tea Workshop is a man, and he has a good skin, and he is extremely handsome. ”

After speaking, Shi Geng found that Wang Ling was not moving, and he looked away with some doubts, and found that Wang Ling was looking at him with a strange look.

As if to say, you are so good!!

Shi Geng said angrily: "What kind of eyes are you? I can warn you, if you look at me like this again, I will be in a hurry with you?! I'm a dignified seven-foot man, just for beautiful girls to be strong, and I have no interest in men! ”

"Then why do you know so clearly? I also warn you not to have any physical contact with me in the future! ”

"I'm ......" Shi was more threatening to fight, but after thinking about it, he really didn't seem to be able to beat this thing, and he pinched him several times, and was pressed to the ground and called Dad, although he didn't know what 'Dad' meant, but he was sure that he definitely took advantage of himself.

So Shi Geng explained: "The reason why I know these is that I heard that the person was good-looking, and I saw a long queue in front of the Xinyue Tea Workshop, and they were all beautiful young women, I was not convinced, so I wanted to see how good-looking the little white face looked, and then mixed in the team, but when I was in line, I knew that the tea master had set a rule, and his tea was given to people who knew tea. ”

"And then? You're in? ”

Shi Geng nodded.

"Did you see the tea master?"

Shi Geng nodded again.

"How?"

Shi Geng sighed: "I'm ashamed of myself......"

Wang Ling was very surprised, he could make a person like Shi Geng, whose face was comparable to the city wall, say the four words of shame, and he couldn't help but wonder, how beautiful must the tea master be?

During the conversation, they suddenly heard the sound of beating and scolding in front of them, and Wang Ling and Shi Geng raised their eyes to look ahead.

Less than ten feet away from the street patrol procession, a young man dressed in fine clothes was whipping two homeless people with his whip in his hand, and next to him stood a tall steed, occasionally tapping the ground with his front hooves.

The two beaten homeless people looked like a mother and son, the woman could not tell her actual age, but she could roughly guess that it was no more than thirty, and the boy, just by looking at his figure, was no more than seven or eight years old.

Xie Sanjin walked in the forefront, he saw more clearly, he found the earliest, when he saw the man whipping people, he subconsciously frowned, and was about to step forward to stop, but when he saw the man's face clearly, his brows wrinkled even tighter, but his footsteps stopped, he didn't have the courage to step forward to stop it, his eyes flashed with a look of struggle, and his face was extremely ugly.

Just when he hesitated, Wang Ling and Shi Geng had already walked over quickly.

Xie Sanjin: "You two come back soon......"

He tried to stop the two men, but it was too late, and then hurriedly said to the rest of the city attendants: "Quick! Hurry up and get the royal order back! Don't stop that stunned seed! ”

"Stop !!"

With a loud shout, the surroundings were obviously much quieter, and one by one they followed the sound.

Everyone in the audience saw that it was a city servant, but this person didn't even have a general flag waist card, just an ordinary city servant, people either laughed or ridiculed, and some people sighed bitterly and shook their heads, but no matter what kind of attitude they had, they all revealed that they were not optimistic about the royal order.

"Who are you?" The man in fancy clothes was a little annoyed on his face, not because Wang Ling yelled at him, but because the appearance of this person disturbed his interest.

"Street Division, City Servant."

The man in Chinese clothes said unhappily: "Nonsense, just your dog skin, which one can't see that you are a city servant, let me ask you what is your name?" ”

Shi Gengpao pulled Wang Ling's hand and motioned him not to speak.

Wang Ling ignored it and shouted: "Wang Ling! ”

"Okay, this son remembers you, you can get out." The man in the fancy costume waved the horsewhip in his hand a little impatiently.

Wang Ling frowned: "Why did you whip these two people on the street?" ”

The man in fancy clothes sneered: "These two collided with my beloved horse, and I was about to smoke the two of them to death, what?" To manage? ”

Wang Ling saw that some people in the crowd wanted to speak and stopped, but they didn't dare to say anything, and he knew that things were not as simple as this man said.

He was just about to speak, but Shi Geng grabbed his arm!

Wang Ling looked at Shi Geng beside him suspiciously, but when he saw that the other party was giving him a look, he lowered his voice and gritted his teeth and said: "Don't make a mistake, we can't afford to mess with this person, even if it is a few general flags, it is not easy to provoke him, don't make trouble for the leader." ”

The reason why he came forward was not to uphold justice for the mother and son with Wang Ling, but to stop Wang Ling, and the head of his mouth was naturally not Xie Sanjin, but Tang Xiaoyu.

Wang Ling felt the strength of Shi Geng's grip on his arm, and also realized the seriousness of the matter, and looked at Shi Geng with a questioning gaze.

Shi Geng explained: "This person is Lu Jialei, the son of Dongchuan Houshi, the ancestor is the founding hero who has followed Emperor Gaozu since he was a child, and he is a noble who can be hereditarily replaced, not something that small people like you and me can afford to provoke, don't look for death!" The last four words, Shi Geng almost gritted his teeth.

Wang Ling's eyes were complicated, like Xie Sanjin, and a look of struggle appeared on his face.

He looked at the man, and saw that the other party was also looking at him, and the corner of the man's mouth in the fancy clothes had a mocking smile on his lips, and his expression was arrogant, staring at Wang Ling and a number of black-clothed servants behind him.

Wang Ling looked at the mother and son, and when his gaze met the woman's pleading eyes, his body trembled violently, and the little boy who was held in his mother's arms did not have fear in his eyes, but just looked at the uncle who suddenly appeared suspiciously.

Wang Ling felt his two rows of teeth clenched together uncontrollably, trembling uncontrollably from head to toe.

Then, he lifted his foot and took a step back.

This step seemed to have extinguished the only glimmer of hope in the woman's eyes, and her eyes gradually dimmed, and her face was like ashes.

The man in the fancy clothes spat in the direction of Wang Ling: "It turned out to be a gutsless one." ”

Shi Geng looked at the brother in front of him and comforted: "If you want to stand up for that mother and son, you can find a chance to take revenge, then Lu Jialei has always been domineering, and sooner or later he will offend people he shouldn't offend." ”

"Is that possible?" Wang Ling said dejectedly.

Shi Geng wanted to reply in the affirmative, but for some reason, his mouth that could blow through the sky opened and opened, but he still couldn't jump out of half a word.

At this time, Xie Sanjin and the others had already come to them.

"Are you alright?"

Wang Ling didn't speak, and Shi Geng shook his head to indicate that it was okay.

Xie Sanjin looked at the gloomy Wang Ling, put a hand on his shoulder and said comfortingly: "You did the right thing, go back first, this matter is not something you and I can manage." ”

"Xie Sanjin, even you think it's right for me to do this?" Wang Ling asked hoarsely.

He didn't call the third brother, but thanked Sanjin.

Xie Sanjin was stunned, facing Wang Ling's gaze, he only looked at each other for a moment, then turned his face to the side weakly, and said in a deep voice: "Let's patrol the street first." ”

The group planned to bypass the crowd of onlookers and go to the other side of the street.

Like soldiers in a defeated battle, these city servants bowed their heads and walked down the streets step by step.

Some people watch coldly, some people just want to watch the excitement, some are cynical, and some are hiding in the corner and sighing.

Few people really cared about the lives of the two outcasts, but no matter what kind of people they were, they all cast a disdainful look at those people who had left the city at this time.

"Hey, I usually only dare to be a bully to us flat-headed people, and when I meet a real big man, don't you still be a turtle with a shrunken head?"

"Be quiet, don't let me listen."

"I'm afraid of a hammer, am I wrong?"

Whether it is Xie Sanjin or Wang Ling, or other servants including Shi Geng, their hearts are extremely tormented at this time, as if their hearts have been pinched, this painful feeling does not come from the surrounding people, nor from the begging of women, but from themselves, the cowering self, even if they are unwilling, what can they do?

He first remembered that he beat the housekeeper angrily in front of Cao's Mansion, and then remembered Zhang Zhanyi that morning, remembered the absurdity when he knew that he might be beheaded, remembered Cao Yong and Cao Shuangxu's advice, and thought of Tang Xiaoyu.

Finally he thought of it...... The scruffy old back.