Yuan Ming was also stunned when he heard the old man say this, and he was a little confused.

"I'm sorry, offended, offended, don't mind the guest." The old cigarette pouch's eyes flashed, and he apologized again and again.

"Take me to the guest room." Yuan Ming waved his hand and said.

The old man hurriedly nodded and walked to the front, greeted and led the way, and took Yuan Ming out of the back door of the lobby, along a corridor, to the inner courtyard.

There are a lot of trees planted in the yard, and the environment is quite quiet, but almost all the rooms you pass along the way are dark.

"There are a lot of people in this town, but the business of this store doesn't seem to be very good." Yuan Ming secretly slandered himself in his heart.

When he got to the backyard, he saw the young man again, feeding his horses forage.

He followed the old cigarette pouch to the innermost guest room, which was simply furnished and could only be regarded as neat, but on the whole, Yuan Ming was quite satisfied, much better than the village inn he had stayed in before, and the price was naturally much higher.

"Guest, you can stay in peace, I don't know if you still need to eat at night?" The old man asked.

"No, if it's okay at night, I don't want anyone to come and disturb me." Yuan Ming said, throwing a silver coin over.

He still had roasted beast meat in his storage bag, so he didn't plan to eat the food provided in the store.

"Okay, no problem. Then you rest early. The old cigarette pouch took the silver coin, his eyes lit up, he put it in his mouth and bit it, and was about to turn and retreat.

At this time, Yuan Ming suddenly asked: "By the way, shopkeeper, do you know that there is a time-honored incense-making workshop in this town called "Jixiangfang"?" ”

Hearing this, the old cigarette pouch paused, took out the silver coin in his mouth and put it in his pocket.

"You ask this, do you want to buy incense candles? If you need these, I also opened a grocery store, which sells them in the store, and I will definitely give you a discounted price. The old cigarette pouch asked with a smile.

"I don't buy incense, I want to learn the craft of making incense, do you know where the workshop is?" Yuan Ming shook his head and asked.

"Yo, I know this place, but it's a bit remote, if you really have to find it yourself, I'm afraid it's really hard to find. So, tomorrow morning, I'll take you there? The old cigarette pouch said with a smile.

"Then there will be labor." Yuan Ming thanked him.

The old cigarette pouch turned around and closed the door for him, and walked out into the courtyard.

The young man who fed Yuan Ming's horse had not left yet, and seemed to be waiting for him.

"Daddy, what's the matter, is he rich?" The young man's expression was still wooden, but he spoke very neatly.

The old cigarette pouch immediately put a finger to his mouth and motioned for the young man to follow.

The two went out of the backyard, and the old cigarette pouch lit the cigarette pouch again, "Let's click" took a puff, and after a wisp of white smoke spit out the corner of his mouth, he slowly said: "It's a pity......"

"What's the matter, a poor ghost? If you have a horse to ride, you can't be a poor ghost, right? The young man's eyebrows flew, and he said in some surprise.

"If I had come to the first half of the year, I might have earned another bounty, but now...... It's a little embarrassing. The old cigarette pouch did not answer his son's question, and muttered.

"Daddy, what are you talking about?" The young man wondered.

"It's nothing, this young man is a noble person in our family, so he has to be entertained well." After the old cigarette pouch finished speaking, he smoked a cigarette, walked outside the figure, and went to the front yard.

……

The next day, not long after the curfew was lifted.

Yuan Ming woke up from his cultivation, got up and stretched, moved his body, and rushed to the front yard.

The old cigarette pouch was sitting at the door of the lobby, staring at the people on the street outside.

Not long after the city gate was opened, there were already many vendors doing small business on the streets, but they were coming and going, and there was no business to solicit.

The old cigarette pouch was smoking, his eyes were a little wandering, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

Yuan Ming stepped forward to say hello, and he hurriedly got up.

The two said a few words, and the old cigarette pouch slapped his head and said, "Ah, I almost forgot, I promised to take you to the incense workshop yesterday." ”

As he spoke, he called his son to the front to look at the store, and he took Yuan Ming along the street outside to the town.

Tiehu Town, where people come and go, is naturally very different from the Dajin capital that Yuan Ming had seen before, but the surrounding buildings are more southern Xinjiang style, and the sound of selling is different, and it also has a different taste.

The old tobacco pouch is like a qualified tour guide, telling Yuan Ming about the situation in the town all the way, and from time to time he will meet one or two acquaintances on the road and say hello twice.

The two walked along the main street for a cup of tea, and the old cigarette pouch took Yuan Ming to the side and walked into a side alley.

They walked along this narrow side alley for a long time, until they could not hear the noise of the main street, and finally they came to the place where the incense factory was.

It's just that after arriving, Yuan Ming was disappointed.

It was a small courtyard, and a copper lock hung on the courtyard door, and there was a thick layer of ash on it.

The stone steps in front of the courtyard are also full of fallen leaves and debris, and it seems that no one has lived in it for a long time.

"This is an incense workshop?" Yuan Ming frowned.

"That's right, this is it, you see their signboard is still there." The old cigarette pouch pointed to a dirty and worn plaque on the lintel with a cigarette stick and said.

Yuan Ming went up to take a closer look, and the word "auspicious" was vaguely engraved, and as for the third word "building", only the word "wood" on the left remained.

"What's going on, moving?" Yuan Ming wondered.

"I don't know very well, wait a minute, I'll help you ask." As the old cigarette pouch spoke, he went to a nearby house and knocked on the door.

A coarse cloth woman came out of the door, said a few words to the old cigarette pouch, and then closed the door and went back.

After asking clearly, the neighbor said that the owner of this workshop had become addicted to gambling a year ago, addicted to gambling, and lost all his family. After his wife ran away with someone half a year ago, I rarely saw him. The old cigarette pouch walked up to Yuan Ming and spoke.

"It's actually a gambler...... Yuan Ming was dumbfounded when he heard this.

"What do you think, shall we go back, or shall I help you ask again?" Old Tobacco Pouch asked.

"I'd like to see him anyway." Yuan Ming thought that he had come here, so he always had to ask.

"Done. Then I'll help you inquire again. The old cigarette pouch said.

"Thank you. If I can find it, I will be rewarded. Yuan Ming hurriedly thanked him.

As soon as he heard this, the old cigarette pouch's eyes lit up.

"You say, should we try our luck at the casino? Once this person is addicted to gambling, it is difficult to quit. You can't go back to home, but you don't necessarily don't have to go to the casino. The old cigarette pouch said suddenly.

"Not bad. Even if you can't meet him in a casino, you might be able to meet someone who knows him. When Yuan Ming heard this, he also felt that it made sense.

"That's it." The old cigarette pouch nodded in agreement.

"Then there are a few casinos in this town, why don't you tell me the location, let's go and find them separately?" Yuan Ming said.

"No, no. Although there are a few casinos in this town, there is only one closest to this, called 'Shanhe Gambling House', as the old saying goes, 'far prostitutes and close gambling', that person will probably only go there if he wants to go, the time is still early, let's go over and have a look. The old cigarette pouch "hehe" laughed.

Yuan Ming naturally nodded without an opinion.

The two quickly exited the alley and returned to the main street.

After walking a distance further north, I immediately saw a tall building with a towering gatehouse.

This building has three floors, each floor has two zhang to be high, the whole body is built with Nanmu, the more special thing is that on one side of the building, there is a rockery three or four zhang high, and on the right side, it is a small river about two zhang wide, the building is surrounded in a semi-enclosed form, it seems to be excavated by hand.

Outside the gatehouse, there is a string of diamond-shaped wooden signs, on one side of which is carved with the number of dice, and on the other hand, the words "Shanhe Gambling House" are written in southern Xinjiang characters.

Yuan Ming followed the old cigarette pouch, and the two walked to the front of the gambling house one after the other, and saw two sturdy men standing outside the gate of the gambling house, and a heavy curtain was hung on the door.

The old cigarette pouch greeted the two big men familiarly, and then stepped forward and lifted the curtain.

The moment the heavy curtain was lifted, the chaotic shouting, mixed with the impact of the dice, and the sound of pai gow smashing the table, came out from inside.

There was also a sultry and unpleasant smell that hit the face.

The old cigarette pouch walked in with Yuan Ming, and saw that there were nine gambling tables on the first floor of the gambling house, which was not small.

Yuan Ming took a brief glance and found that five of the tables were betting on the dice to guess the size, the other three tables were betting on pai gow, and the last table he had never seen in his memory, only saw that the gambling equipment was a pile of black and a pile of white round stones.

"I'll go and ask for you." The old cigarette pouch spoke, and walked over to a dice table.

Yuan Ming himself was not idle, and came to a pai gow table.

There were only seven or eight people playing cards at the table, and there were more than a dozen or twenty people watching from the side, all of whom looked red in the face and itched in their hands and hearts.

However, some are shy, and some are not available, so the expressions on their faces are still a little different.

Yuan Ming patted a sloppy-looking middle-aged man on the shoulder, who looked back at him and asked impatiently:

"What are you doing?"

"Big brother, do you want to ask you something?"

As soon as Yuan Ming finished speaking, the middle-aged man waved his hand impatiently and said, "I don't know, I don't know......"

After saying that, he turned his head to look at the table.

Yuan Ming had no choice but to pat the short man next to him who was on tiptoe and stretched his neck to look inside.

The latter turned his head to look at Yuan Ming, but he was not as impatient as the previous person, but he also said in a cold tone: "What are you doing?" ”

"This brother, I want to ask you about something?" Yuan Ming said.

"Tell me something, I'm busy!" The short man frowned.

"Do you know where the owner of the 'Lucky Luck Fang' in the town has gone?" Yuan Ming said.

"You mean Uzsan?" The short man asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yuan Ming then remembered that he had always thought that there would not be too many twists and turns in finding this kind of time-honored workshop that had been in business for so many years, so he didn't think to care about what its owner's house was called.

He subconsciously wanted to ask the old cigarette pouch, but when he turned his head to look, he found that the little old man had disappeared at some point.

(End of chapter)