The smoke curls up, and it is said that Wu Yin is good in drunkenness;

The rain flowers are faint, and the spring dawn is extraordinarily bright.

In March and April, Jiangnan is a good season for misty rain. The streets are drizzling and the streets are shallow for pedestrians.

A simple inn not far from Yangzhou City, the inn signboard with the words "Mountain Inn" is hung obliquely on the door, the words on the signboard are crooked, the size is different, and it looks even less neat than the children who have just gone to school.

It is said that the inn originally had a sign written by a famous calligrapher from the city who spent a lot of money, and the calligrapher had many admirers throughout the south of the Yangtze River. During that time, the inn's business was still good.

Until one day, the shopkeeper of the inn on a whim, and some foreign guests to push the cup and change the lamp, after the wine was in high spirits, ordered the man to find a wooden board, wrote these four big characters in a free way, and called himself "the mountain and the wild scattered people".

The shopkeeper often does some unbelievable things when he gets drunk, and the guys are used to it. I thought that after I woke up, I would replace the gold-lettered signboard that beckoned fortune for the inn, but I didn't expect that the shopkeeper who didn't know a few big words, the first thing he did when he woke up was to go outside the door to look at his masterpiece, and in a sober state, he praised his talent in calligraphy again and again, and the guys on the side looked at each other.

The authentic handiwork of the famous calligrapher was returned to me by the shopkeeper, and since then the inn has only hung this "masterpiece" of the shopkeeper himself. Soon those literati and artists stopped coming here to drink and have fun, and outsiders shook their heads again and again when they saw this crooked sign. From full seats to full doors, it took less than two months.

At this time, in the inn, the shopkeeper who was over half a hundred years old was sitting behind the counter, napping little by little, and the shopkeeper was scolding and repairing the roof that was leaking because of the rain, and glanced at the shopkeeper from time to time, hoping that he would quickly smash his head on the counter.

In addition, there were only two customers in the store, one was an old man with gray hair sitting in the middle of the hall, who was counting the peanuts on the plate one by one with somewhat cloudy eyes, and then shook the wine jug in his hand, feeling as if he was about to see the bottom, so he took every sip and tasted it in his mouth for a while before swallowing.

The other was a young Taoist priest sitting by the window staring at the drizzle outside, in front of whom there was only a plate of light fried tofu with green vegetables and a cup of tea for free.

Finally repaired the roof that broke a hole at some point, the shopkeeper shook his arm that was a little sore, glanced at the two people in the inn, and scolded in a low voice.

These two people come to the inn to sit at this point every day for a while, as if they started a year ago? The shopkeeper also can't remember clearly, but I remember that the two of them came every day when the inn's business was at its most prosperous, and they ordered the same dish every time, the young Taoist priest had a plate of fried tofu with green vegetables, the old man had a plate of peanuts, and a pot of daughter red mixed with water.

In the past, when there were many customers, the shopkeeper didn't pay much attention to these two people, but now the inn's business is sunset, except for one or two poor ghost guests, he can't take out a few dollars of silver, and the only income of the inn is two dishes and a pot of wine for these two people.

Although these two people are extremely happy every time they come to the shopkeeper, they think that their own inn has a lot of fate with these two people, and they tell the shopkeeper to entertain them well, try to put more oil and water in the dishes, and less water in the wine.

But the shopkeeper knows that the money given by these two people every day is more if they have, and less if they don't, and they don't even buy enough food on weekdays, and they have to repair the roof leakage. If it weren't for the shopkeeper's conscience, he would have left long ago like those guys. But it won't be long before the only dozen taels of silver left are spent, and I will pack up my things and get out.

Thinking of this, the shopkeeper shook his head, now it's useless to think about this, the roof has been repaired, seeing that the rain is getting heavier and heavier, nine times out of ten it is going to fall until the evening, and it is estimated that there will be no other guests.

As soon as the shopkeeper walked to the counter, stood on tiptoe and stretched out his arms, about to cross the shopkeeper to reach the heavy old book, he heard the door of the inn "creak" and was slowly pushed open.

The shopkeeper subconsciously turned his head to look, but forgot that he was maintaining a posture without a center of gravity, and before he saw the appearance of the visitor, he fell directly to the body of the elderly shopkeeper, and the two fell to the ground together.

"What's going on, how do I feel the ground shaking, the earthquake is coming?" The shopkeeper was woken up with a frightened face, as if he didn't feel any pain at all.

The shopkeeper grinned and rubbed his buttocks, got up and rolled his eyes, and said, "The earthquake didn't come, the guests came." ”

"Got guests? Got the money? The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he grabbed the arm of the shopkeeper and stood up, rubbed his eyes that were still a little worried and looked at the door.

A white-clothed young man who looked about twenty years old was standing at the door of the inn, closing the oil-paper umbrella in his hand, and looking around at the interior of the inn. The young man's hair was tied a little casually, but his delicate face was extremely good-looking, and the shopkeeper had seen a lot of young talents from Jiangnan when the inn was doing prosperous business before, but compared to the young man in front of him, those people suddenly seemed a little mediocre.

"Xiangzi, here comes a big ticket, this young man looks like a rich man." The shopkeeper said in a low voice, and there was a trace of inexplicable excitement in his tone.

It is a normal person who can see that this young man is not an ordinary person, Xiangzi said secretly in his heart.

"Shopkeeper, I think this young man has an extraordinary temperament, I don't know how strong he is than those previous Jiangnan talents, I'm afraid it's not easy to deal with, in case someone finds out, we won't be able to eat and walk around." Shoko reminded.

"At such an age, even if the family background is extraordinary, how much experience can you have. On weekdays, you kid pit those young talents, why are you a little less timid today? Watch the shopkeeper personally go out, and you watch the learning in the back. ”

The shopkeeper waved his hand, then took a deep breath, and immediately put a smile on his face, and stepped forward and asked, "This guest officer, is it a meal or a hotel?" Our restaurant has all kinds of good wine and good food, whether you are a southerner or a northerner, our chefs can make your hometown taste. The good guest rooms on the second floor of our inn are cleaned every day, and the bedding and pillows are bought from the best silk village in Yangzhou City, so as to ensure that the guest officers sleep comfortably. ”

The young man looked at the little old man in front of him who kept blinking his eyes, was stunned for a moment, and then as if he had reacted to something, he put the oil-paper umbrella against the wall and put it away, took out a weighty gold ingot from his arms, put it on the table, and pointed to the Taoist priest sitting by the window, "Shopkeeper, give me an identical dish." ”

The shopkeeper rubbed his eyes, quickly picked up the gold and put it in front of his eyes to look hard, as if he felt that it was not enough, he took another bite on his mouth, and after confirming that it was true, he quickly put it in his arms, ran back to the counter in small steps, and slapped Xiangzi on the head who was still stunned, "What are you doing in a daze, why don't you go and make a plate of fried tofu with vegetables for this son?" Fill it with more oil! ”

Xiangzi was excited, and after reacting, he hurriedly ran to the back kitchen. Obediently, a dish of fried tofu with green vegetables gave a gold ingot, either the son of a wealthy family didn't care about this money, or he had a problem with his brain.

The young man didn't pay attention to the two people who were elated on the side, but walked straight to the young Taoist priest by the window and sat down, clasped his fists and saluted: "Junior Zhang Ziqing, I have seen Li Zhangjiao. ”

The Taoist priest only glanced at him, then continued to look out the window. Zhang Ziqing was a little curious, and looked at the Taoist priest's gaze, not far from the inn, by a small river, a middle-aged man wearing a hat and a hat was fishing by the river, and he had been in the rain for a long time. The man's clothes were already soaked, but he didn't feel any discomfort when he was accompanied by such an elegant thing as fishing.

"The green smoke and drizzle are continuous, and you can know that Jiangnan is good in one word." Zhang Ziqing read softly.

"Childe, your fried tofu with green vegetables is ready." Far away, Xiangzi shouted loudly, trotting all the way to put the plate of fragrant fried tofu with green vegetables in front of Zhang Ziqing, different from the plate of clear soup and little water in front of the Taoist priest, this plate made with a piece of gold, at least half of the plate is yellow cancan's vegetable oil, sitting by the window, the fragrance of the vegetables has spread to the old man in the center of the hall, the old man sniffed hard, looked at the dishes on the young man's table, and swallowed his saliva.

"Xiao Er, what kind of food and wine that old man wants to eat and drink today are all recorded in my account." Zhang Ziqing pointed to the old man who was looking here, and then took out an ingot of gold from his arms and handed it to Xiangzi.

"Okay boy." Xiangzi hurriedly accepted the gold, trotted to the old man, and asked with a smile: "Old man, you are blessed today, the boy over there paid for you, and you can finally have a good meal this year." ”

The old man's eyes lit up, and he stretched out his fingers and pointed at the young man tremblingly: "I want that dish of fried tofu with green vegetables." ”

"It's weird, why do you love to eat fried tofu with vegetables so much today." Shoko was stunned for a moment and muttered in a low voice. Soon, he put on a bright smile and said, "Come on, old man, I'll do it for you now." ”

Zhang Ziqing retracted his gaze, took a look at the green vegetables in front of him, tasted them carefully, and then nodded: "I've been in the sky for too long, and I've almost forgotten how delicious the food in the world is." ”

"You have helped him today, satisfied his temporary desire, have you ever thought that in the future, he will look forward to this kind of pie-in-the-sky good thing every day. Even tomorrow, he may feel that the wine with peanuts and water is no longer enough to satisfy him, and he may ask the shopkeeper for a plate of fried tofu with green vegetables. The shopkeeper may look at your face and let him eat for two more days, but what about after you leave? He still had to continue to eat his peanuts. The Taoist priest replied, "Hope is followed by disappointment, and it is even more painful." ”