In the dark night of Linxi's Forty-seventh Lane, the door of Lao Bizhai was pushed open, and then quickly closed, and the dim lights inside flashed like stars before being extinguished again.

Ning Que untied the heavy weapon behind him, tore off the cloth cover on the outside of the big black umbrella, took off the wet and heavy coat on his body, handed it to Sang Sang who was standing in front of him, and asked the usually: "Hungry, are the noodles cooked?"

Sang Sang handed him the dry towel in his hand, nodded heavily, and said happily, "I'll bring it to you." ”

A bowl of hot noodle soup was served, still four peppercorns, but there were a lot more green onions than usual, and the golden and tender white fried egg on the noodles was extremely rare. Cutting people is indeed more tiring than hoeing, Ning Que was wet at this time, and his stomach was even more hungry, where could he resist the temptation of adding green onion omelette, his eyes suddenly lit up, put down the slightly wet towel, picked up the chopsticks, and suddenly ate it, which was extremely sweet.

Sang Sang saw that he was happy to eat, his dark little face was full of joy, picked up the slightly wet towel, stood behind him and began to wipe his hair, reminding him from time to time not to eat too fast if it was too hot.

At this moment, two coughing sounds sounded in the dimly lit shop. The Chang'an City boss, who had always been ignored and seemed to be invisible, watched the pair of masters and servants ignore him and talk, and finally couldn't help but say: "The noodles are very fragrant." ”

A few hours ago, the first sentence of Chao Xiaoshu when he came to Lao Bizhai was also these words.

Sang Sang continued to wipe Ning Que's hair, as if he hadn't seen this person and hadn't heard this sentence. Ning Que's reaction was a little different from earlier, and he lowered his head and ate the noodle soup and said vaguely, "Give him a bowl too." ”

After a while, the second bowl of noodle soup was served, and he glanced around at Xiaoshu, and found that there was no seat except for the circle chair, and he didn't care, so he squatted down next to Ning Que and ate a few bites with chopsticks, but found that his noodles seemed to be a little different from the noodles in Ning Que's bowl.

The standard is 4 peppercorns, 30 chopped green onions, but there is no fried egg.

He couldn't help but pick up the chopsticks and gently tapped Ning Que's bowl edge to remind him, Ning Que glanced at it with his spare eyes, almost laughed, turned his head and persuaded Sang Sang: "Don't be too stingy, fry another egg." ”

The omelette finally came, Ning Que and Chao Xiaoshu were happily eating noodles with a small basin-like sea bowl, Sang Sang squatted not far in front of the two, put the clothes and cloth cover into the copper basin and burned them, and no one in the shop spoke.

I don't know how long it took, Ning Que put down the noodle bowl in his hand, leaned back comfortably, rubbed his slightly bulging belly, looked at Chao Xiaoshu squatting beside him, and said, "I killed more than five people, you can re-report the number...... Don't be too stingy, I'll let Sang-sang add an omelette for you. ”

Holding a noodle bowl to Xiaoshu, he looked at him and said with a wry smile: "It turned out that you were waiting for me here, two thousand taels." ”

"Deal. Ning Que seemed casual, but his mood was a little excited, as for Sang Sang, who was squatting next to the copper basin and burning clothes, he clenched his little fist tightly, secretly thinking about how big a pile of two thousand taels of silver would be.

Sang Sang was about to wash the dishes, and handed over the bowl with a small half bowl of noodle soup to Xiaoshu with some reluctance, then frowned slightly, and slowly raised the corners of his sleeves to cover his lips, and when he put it down, there were already some more blood marks on his sleeves.

Ning Que looked at his sleeve, knowing that in the previous series of battles, this extremely powerful middle-aged man was still injured after all, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "Are you okay?"

Chao Xiaoshu took a bowl of coarse tea handed over by Sang Sang, smiled and thanked him, and said calmly after taking a sip: "Don't worry, I grew up in the slums and alleys of Dongcheng since I was a child, I don't know how many fights I have fought in my life, I don't know how many times I have been injured more than this, every time the enemy looks at me covered in blood and thinks that I can never get up again, I can always get up and give them a fatal blow." ”

Ning Que laughed at himself and said: "A gangster who only knows about fighting and brawling can actually practice, and he is so powerful, I am so concerned about the way of cultivation, but I can't even touch the door of the first realm, Master Haotian is really blind." ”

Zhao Xiaoshu smiled and did not continue the topic, the gang leader who had been immersed in the dark night rivers and lakes of Chang'an City all his life, and finally was able to become a great swordsman of the top grade of Dongxuan, during which he had some opportunities, but those opportunities were insignificant.

"You said that after tonight your hole cards will be revealed. ”

Ning Que's gaze fell through the wooden door of the shop to a corner of the palace wall in the distance, and said: "Now I can probably guess that your hole card is in the palace, with such a deep background, no wonder you don't need to look at the face of Chang'an Mansion." ”

"After tonight, probably the whole empire will envy me, because there is such a man standing behind me. Chao Xiaoshu said calmly: "But no one will know what I have paid for it." ”

"What do you need to do for the nobles in the palace?" Ning Que asked.

Chao Xiaoshu smiled and said, "If I hadn't been entangled in mundane affairs all these years, the occasional person in the palace would have to deal with countless trivial matters, or I would have already broken through the cave and stepped into the realm of the Mandate of Heaven." ”

"That's all?" Ning Que continued to ask.

Chao Xiaoshu didn't know what to think of, fell into a long silence, his smile became a little dull, and said slowly: "I still need you to pay blood, and you have to take the overall situation into account when doing things, so sometimes you can't be happy." Because it took me months to force out all of my opponent's hole cards, I couldn't even protect my brother. ”

Hearing this, Ning Que's right hand tightened slightly, knowing that he was talking about Xiao Heizi, but he didn't answer, didn't say the relationship between himself and Xiao Heizi, and lowered his head and asked, "How did your brother die?"

"My brother's name is Drow, and he's a spy. The military department asked him to lurk beside me and asked him to check whether I had colluded with Yuelunguo, in fact, he just wanted to find an excuse to do something to Chunfeng Pavilion, and he might even directly frame me. ”

"But a brother is a brother after all, he told me all the inside story, and naturally he will not investigate me for the military department, let alone frame me according to the military order of the military department, and as my Tang Dynasty soldier, it is impossible for him to betray the secrets of his colleagues in the ministry, so he has been caught in the middle of it very painfully in the past few months. ”

Chao Xiaoshu's eyes drooped slightly, and said: "Now that I think about it, even if it makes the palace person angry, I should have told him the truth of the matter earlier, maybe he will die after all, but at least it won't be so painful during that time." ”

Ning Que asked casually, "But you still didn't say how he died." ”

"A spy is one of the most dangerous jobs, and when he doesn't fall to either side, he can die at any time, and when he decides to fall to one of them, he is more likely to die. On that day, he finally decided to tell me about the plan of the military department, but the military department noticed it, so he was purged and died opposite this shop. ”

Looking towards the small tree at the wooden door of the shop, at the gray wall that could not be seen.

Ning Que was silent for a moment and asked, "The one who did it was the Southern Jin Dynasty swordsman from before?"

"Yes. Chao Xiaoshu looked back at the young man's childish face, smiled and said, "From now on, we will be brothers." ”

Ning Que raised his eyebrows slightly, and replied with a smile: "Wouldn't it be too child's play?"

Chao Xiaoshu smiled and said, "One world, two brothers, this kind of thing is so simple. ”

"One person, but two bowls of omelette. ”

Ning Que shook his head and said with a smile: "The word brother is a bit overused, and those famous brothers I know, if some of them are lucky to die first, then these brothers will eventually turn against each other, tonight I just want to help you, by the way, make some money, can you not be so cheesy, find something else in life?"

Chao Xiaoshu's eyebrows slowly frowned, looking at Ning Que with interest, a little surprised to hear such an answer, and asked, "At your age, the world in your eyes is so gloomy...... I'm really curious about your past now, and if you're interested in telling me about it in the future, please remember to call me and I'll ask for tea. ”

Ning Que replied: "I don't want to recall those things myself, let alone tell a story to others." ”

Chao Xiaoshu smiled and said, "Okay, so apart from the omelette noodles, what is the real meaning of your life?"

"The meaning of life is, of course, career and love, or money and women. I know you think that's a wonderful statement, and you think I'm a wonderful person, but can you not laugh so incomprehensibly?"

Ning Que shook his head helplessly, in order to let this Chang'an City boss understand what it means, he pointed to Sang Sang who had just come over and asked, "Which girl do you think is suitable to be your young grandmother?"

Sang Sang wiped his little hand on his apron, and then frowned and thought seriously for a long time before he said cautiously: "I think it's good to sit on the second girl on your left." ”

"That's Miss Lu Xueqi. Ning Que thought about the girl's soft waist, and asked with a smile, "Why do you think this girl is suitable for me to be my wife?"

Sang Sang opened his willow eyes and replied seriously: "The makeup on her face is evenly smeared, she feels very clean when she laughs, her teeth are white, she feels very healthy when she looks at it, and I have secretly seen her waist and hips, she should have children well in the future." ”

Ning Que turned his head and smiled smugly at Xiaoshu.

Chao Xiaoshu looked at the small dimple on his left cheek, and thought to himself, guarding a shop every day, discussing with his own underage maid which prostitute is suitable for birth and raising and suitable for being his wife, is this the meaning of life?

Suddenly, he thought of the little maid leaning against the door of the shop before leaving Lao Bizhai, thinking of the two bowls of hot omelette noodles after returning to Lao Bizhai, thinking of himself who had been forgotten in the corner before, and thinking of the feeling that the two of them were so natural that no one could insert them, he gradually understood something, and said with a smile: "It turns out that the meaning of life is life." ”

Ning Que shook his head and said with a smile: "It's sour, it's too sour." ”

Looking at the young man's expression at Xiaoshu, he knew that he didn't understand what he was talking about, so naturally he wouldn't break those things, stood up and walked to the shop, turned around and smiled and said: "I should go, there are still many things to deal with in Chang'an City tonight, someone will come to you tomorrow, and then he will take you somewhere." ”

Hearing the last few words of this sentence, a look of vigilance appeared on Ning Que's face, and he didn't ask where to go, but directly asked the key core of the matter: "Can you not go?"

Pushing open the wooden door of the shop towards Xiaoshu, he said cleanly, "No." ”

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