Zhao Mingming heard Liu Ruiying's words and looked up at the back of the stall owner. Although she knew in her heart that what Liu Ruiying said was correct, she didn't want to admit it...... If she admits it, doesn't it mean that she herself is too stupid to understand this person's world? Even though she and Liu Ruiying are already extremely acquainted, they don't want to show their timidity so quickly.

A woman's mind is always so complicated, even if she knows that she has a loss, she will not admit it generously in front of others, especially when she still has feelings for this person in her heart, this kind of thinking will become more intense.

Liu Ruiying heard Zhao Mingming snort from her nose, and she was still a little strange at the moment, she didn't know where she offended her, which made her very dissatisfied. But as soon as I thought about it, I remembered what Zhao Mingming told her before, and I was able to sort it out smoothly. Whoever is deceived will be in a bad mood, and what she needs at this time is probably not the big truth that Liu Ruiying said before, but real comfort, and a way to find it back.

When a woman is angry, she is undoubtedly concerned about whether the dish is cooked after being burned while cooking, although the dish also needs to be eaten, but compared with the injury, it can still be put down, and there is no need to do it in a hurry.

Thinking that Liu Ruiying and Zhao Mingming met for the first time in the Dingxi Royal Domain, the Xiangteng Inn in the capital of Dingzhou, after drinking, they were not also put on the table by a stall selling ancient books?

The stall owner had been busy with his back to the three of them, but there was no one else at the stall at this time. With the surrounding bustle, this tofu noodle stall looks a little withered.

"Guest officer, your ten bowls of tofu noodles!"

The stall owner squatted on a long tray with ten bowls of white tofu noodles that had just come out of the pot and were steaming continuously.

This tray is almost the length of his arms, and it is not easy for ordinary people to hold it, not to mention that there are ten sea bowls full of tofu noodles on it. But the stall owner did not change his face, walked over with a calm breath, and put the tray on the table. When the table was dropped, the tray was slightly tilted because the four fingers of the left hand except the thumb were withdrawn a little slower. The soup of the tofu noodles in the bowl instantly spilled out, splashing right on the tiger's mouth in his left hand. The noodle soup was so hot that his left hand turned red at once, but he didn't care, just rubbed it on his apron, and then put this hand behind his back. With the other hand, he took off the rag on his shoulder, held an index finger on it, carefully wiped off all the soup that was sprinkled on the tray, and finally smiled at Liu Ruiying, Zhao Mingming, and sugar-fried chestnuts, and then turned around and prepared to return to his stall to work.

"Not good!"

Zhao Mingming suddenly exclaimed.

Liu Ruiying thought that she wanted to attack the stall owner on the spot, and she also wanted to dissuade her, and then talk about it after eating this noodles.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Mingming told the sugar-fried chestnuts to hurry to the place where the carriage was parked and pick up the mysterious little girl in the altar.

Everyone had a sleepless night, but when they were on the road, they encountered some turmoil. Coupled with the familiar taste of this tofu noodles and the familiar figure and face of the stall owner, Zhao Mingming was a little uncertain, and in a hurry, she actually forgot about the little girl......

"Peace of mind, it's going to be fine!"

Liu Ruiying said.

After reaching out and gently patting her on the shoulder, he took out a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick cage and prepared to eat noodles. Zhao Mingming reached out and snatched the chopsticks in Liu Ruiying's hand with a flick of his eyes, but he was so shocked that he almost fell into the noodle soup.

"These chopsticks are too dirty, wipe them and use them again!"

Zhao Mingming said.

Then he took out a silk handkerchief from his arms and wiped it carefully. After a while, the goose-yellow silk handkerchief was dyed black by a small half. I don't know if it's okay, but after seeing this scene, Liu Ruiying suddenly felt nauseous...... Even though I've wiped it clean now, I don't want to eat noodles with it anymore.

But fortunately, this scene was not seen by the sugar fried chestnuts. The last time the two of them ate tofu noodles, their own lady was very free and easy, and after pulling out a pair of chopsticks, she inserted them into the noodle soup without looking at them, and said something "a trick is fresh, eat all over the world, and the joy is overnight." At this time, the person I like wants to use chopsticks, but I can't do it, and I wipe him clean with my own hands.

Zhao Mingming quickly handed the chopsticks to Liu Ruiying after all this last night, and then like a thief, she crumpled the goose-yellow silk handkerchief in her hand and threw it towards a secluded corner behind her. There are a lot of debris there, as long as the angle is tricky enough, this goose-yellow silk handkerchief can be drilled into the position of the pile of debris, and it will never see the light of day again.

After doing all this, Zhao Mingming breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as she looked up, she bumped into the little girl in the altar with the sugar-fried chestnuts and the little girl she brought.

"Is she alright?"

Zhao Mingming asked.

"Miss who doesn't get in the way, she is still sitting in the carriage by herself in a daze. But I drank a jug of wine that we had stored in the carriage earlier. ”

Sugar-fried chestnuts said.

Drinking is not a big deal, and being able to drink proves that the little girl's spirits are gradually improving. You must know that since Zhao Mingming took her, if she hadn't been fed on time and not fed, she wouldn't even feel hungry and thirsty. This is completely contrary to the basic survival of existence, and only the hibernation of alien beasts can be compared to it.

When the little girl saw Zhao Mingming, her eyes immediately rippled with tears, and she jumped into Zhao Mingming's arms with a leap of one step, regardless of the sugar-fried chestnuts that were holding her. Her head was buried in the placket of her chest, and she was desperately burrowing into it. even messed up Zhao Mingming's clothes, and even exposed the dirty clothes inside. When Liu Ruiying saw this scene, she immediately turned her head. After all, taking advantage of people's danger is not a gentleman's words, although he is really not a gentleman, but at least he can't sit on that trivial villain. Zhao Mingming didn't care much about it, the beasts didn't know much about these rules, especially the etiquette and religion between men and women.

On the contrary, the sugar-fried chestnuts saw that something was wrong, and stepped forward to pull the little girl away and tidy up the placket of his own young lady.

"Miss, you have to be careful. This is outside, and the clothes must be properly and neatly dressed...... You can't be taken advantage of by others!"

Sugar-fried chestnuts said.

These words made Liu Ruiying a little crying and laughing...... Although he has long known that the girl with sugar-fried chestnuts has a spicy temperament, is very bold, and is also heartfelt for her own young lady, but she didn't expect that she who seems to be very arrogant, once it matters her own young lady, she can also suddenly change her heart.

Liu Ruiying couldn't say anything, so she simply concentrated on the bowl of tofu noodles in front of her. The food was confused, and in less than a moment, more than half of such a large bowl of tofu noodles went down.

"If you don't have some flavor just by eating noodles, you can remove some tofu from other bowls. ”

Zhao Mingming said.

Liu Ruiying agreed, but didn't do it.

Tofu and noodles are his favorite foods, but somehow, when they are put together, the name is strange...... As for the taste, although it is not unpleasant, I also feel that it is impossible to express it, and it is difficult to describe it.

After taking another big sip of noodle soup, Liu Ruiying put the chopsticks horizontally on the bowl and stopped.

Sugar-fried chestnuts and Zhao Mingming were feeding the little girl, and her two hands were tightly gripping Zhao Mingming's clothes, as if she was afraid that she would disappear in a blink of an eye like before. Zhao Mingming comforted her while sighing, and delivered the noodles that had been blown to the warm to her mouth. After she chews and eats it, she scoops a spoonful of noodle soup into her mouth. The sugar-fried chestnuts took out a silk handkerchief from his body and dragged it in his hand to prevent the soup left at the corner of the little girl's mouth from staining her clothes.

Liu Ruiying looked at this scene, but she didn't expect Zhao Mingming and sugar-fried chestnuts to be so gentle. Treating the little girl like a baby really warmed him. The stall owner kept the fire in the hearth a little smaller, and had no business anyway, so he took a bench from the seat and put it behind the stove, took out a very small cigarette stick, and began to smoke. Taking advantage of his sideways, Liu Ruiying found that there were at least a dozen kitchen knives under his stove.

"Why do stall owners need so many kitchen knives when they sell tofu noodles?"

Liu Ruiying asked.

As soon as the words came out, the stall owner's face changed...... As if Liu Ruiying had said something on his mind, he hurriedly stood up and blocked the gap under the stove.

"It's all accumulated before, and after a long time, I am reluctant to throw it away. And they were all gone. ”

The stall owner smiled awkwardly and said, and then began to bow his head and smoke, never looking at Liu Ruiying again.

Tofu and noodles are extremely soft things.

But when it comes to tofu, it can be cut very neatly with chopsticks, and there are still so many kitchen knives there? Moreover, at that moment, Liu Ruiying saw that the kitchen knives in the space under the main stove of this stall were all made of fine iron, and the newly opened blades were not old knives at all.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Mingming asked.

Her original intention was to wait for herself and others to finish eating noodles before attacking the stall owner. Even if you can't find the money you lost at that time, you can at least export your evil anger. But when Liu Ruiying asked just now, it made him hear something unusual.

"Tofu noodle stall, but there are more than a dozen kitchen knives, don't you think it's a little unusual?"

Liu Ruiying asked.

Zhao Mingming pondered for a moment and nodded.

In fact, she didn't understand the meaning of Liu Ruiying's words at all, after all, she didn't have a deep understanding of these people in the market and the world. However, when I heard Liu Ruiying say this, I felt that it should be unreasonable. If he continued to ask, it would inevitably make Liu Ruiying suspicious of his identity, so he had to nod in agreement.

When Liu Ruiying was in the Investigation Division, he had read many files, and he had an understanding of the three religions and nine streams in this world, and all walks of life. Among them, there is a special and mysterious business, which surprised Liu Ruiying at that time.

During the imperial period, in the remote and backward towns, there was often such a group of mysterious people, who walked the streets and alleys, and gave kitchen knives, sickles, scissors and other items often used by ordinary people to those in need on credit, without taking a penny. But they are not for the sake of doing good deeds, accumulating merits, and for their own good birth in the future, but will say that they will leave strange prophecies to those who come to take the knife on credit, and then they only need to wait quietly until the moment when the prophecy comes true, and these people will come to ask for the account.

The credit knife people are not the product of the five kings, on the contrary, when the world is timed, the credit knife people will suddenly be silent, and only in the turbulent years, they will appear to be extremely active. Of course, the so-called sword people do not only refer to people who give all kinds of knives on credit, they sometimes give other things on credit, but the common feature is that they are conducive to prophecy to earn money, which is the same as those fortune tellers and seemingly higher-level onmyoji.

The last time the appearance of the person who was credited to the knife was recorded in the file of the Investigation Division, it was in the Zhenbei royal domain, when the dynasty overturned, the world was decided, a person with this foreign accent transported many kitchen knives from the Taishang River by water, and after going ashore, he carried a flat shoulder on his shoulder, walked north along the river bank, and shouted all the way when he met the villages, towns and cities, only on credit and not for sale.

At that time, just after the war, grain prices soared, and the price of japonica rice suddenly rose from the original 17 wen 1 dou to 73 wen 1 dou. However, the man with the knife on credit said that he would come to collect the money when the price of the japonica rice fell back to fifteen yuan, and everyone couldn't help but think that this person was too stubborn. Fifteen wen a bucket of japonica rice, this price is cheaper than the best in the previous year, the current world is not stable enough for more than a month, even if the price of grain falls, I don't know what year and month, so the onlookers agreed one after another, and the kitchen knife in the hand of the credit knife man was brought home.

Since ancient times, it would not be so easy to take advantage of the cheap, and the person who took out a blank piece of paper and recorded the names and residences of these people who came to buy a knife on credit, and told everyone that if their words became a reality, they would come to the door to collect three taels of silver! A kitchen knife, an empty word, three taels of silver. Although everyone felt that it was extremely expensive, they thought that this must be an impossible thing, and then looked at the person who took the knife on credit, but his temples were already gray, who knew how many years he could survive the cold and heat?

Unexpectedly, after a year and a half, Scorpio Love was under the rule of the five kings, and all industries prospered. Relying on the favor of heaven and earth, he has a good year. In the autumn of this year, the rice harvest was abundant, and the japonica rice bucket dropped to 15 wen...... But the man did not come to collect the money, but his son came. The old man with a knife on credit had already passed away in the middle of winter, and before he died, he passed on all the credit documents that he had not yet collected to his son. The people are simple, so most of the documents are successfully written off. But he brought not only the receipts, but also a basket of brand-new kitchen knives, just when he was about to re-tell the prophecy with everyone, some people with ulterior motives did not want to pay the three taels of silver and reported to the official, the young man with a knife on credit saw that the wind was wrong, and immediately ran away, never to be seen again.

In fact, most of the so-called prophecies of the credit knife people are related to wars, natural disasters, and things that are closely related to the lives of ordinary people. Once they have succeeded in prophesying once, it is easy for the people to have a sense of trust in them, and when they make another prophecy, they will unconsciously believe it. This principle is no different from those onmyoji who put incense burners on the table, worship heaven and earth, and worship ghosts and gods. Moreover, the initial prophecies of the people were exaggerated to the extreme, so that many people felt that this could not happen. But there will always be a few prophecies that come true, and then the credit man will come and collect the debt. What they can do is to think about what others dare not think, say what others dare not say, and add kitchen knives to such a thing as the ultimate blade of fireworks, so as to arouse the curiosity of the people, so as to achieve the purpose of earning money. The final verdict of the Investigation Division's file for this category of people is: "It is not turbulent, it is not a fool who does not believe, and it is not a fallacy to confuse the public." ”

The first two sentences are easy to understand, but the last sentence is quite interesting, and Liu Ruiying is also puzzled. Since we knew that these people who were swordsmen were all open-mouthed, why did the Investigation Division give a sentence in the file of the Investigation Division that "it is not a lie, confusing the public"? Later, under the explanation of the old stable, Liu Ruiying gradually understood that whether it was a knife on credit or a sword on credit, it was nothing more than a moral dispute. The sword is upright, and he wins the trust of the Tao, and the two intersect with the Tao and the faith, and the sword establishes the faith and preaches the word with the faith. If there is no faith, the way does not exist, and if there is faith, the way is to settle the world.

Liu Ruiying saw the stall owner's kitchen knife, and immediately thought of the past he saw in the file. So the exit asked the stall owner:

"It's all good now, I'm afraid there's no one to take a knife on credit, right?"

After the stall owner heard this, the spirit that had just been raised by the frightened suddenly leaked, and he sat on the bench with a decadent ass, knocked the cigarette stick in his hand on the ground a few times, knocked out the cigarette ash, and then looked up at Liu Ruiying and said:

"It is indeed a good situation, but this situation has not only cut off the financial path of three generations of my family, but also put countless people on a different path. ”

The stall owner said.

The credit knife man is the industry of the rivers and lakes, and now the four seas are leveling, the rivers and lakes do not exist, and there is no place for them. The rivers and lakes in his mouth are the low-level people who cannot be managed by the government power in times of turmoil, and the so-called Jianghu people are the business people who set up a set of rules and abide by the rules of the government outside the laws of the government. "Golden skin color hanging, jury to adjust willows", these eight major rivers and lakes categories, refers to the fortune telling, medicine and medicine, acrobatics, circus magic, martial arts, storytelling, cross talk allegro counting treasures, fraud and theft, big drum pendants and other small songs. Although the credit knife man is not among them, it can probably also be attached to the business of fortune telling.

"If you can't get a knife out on credit, you can still sell it. But it is unreasonable to use this tofu noodles to cheat money. ”

Liu Ruiying said.

The guest officer laughed! The knife on credit was also handed down from the ancestors, and he couldn't help it. Now in the world ruled by the five kings, the warblers sing and dance everywhere, so they can only break the inheritance, change their business, and do a small business, all for making a living. ”

The stall owner said.

Liu Ruiying was a little stunned in her heart, this stall owner really deserves to eat the bowl of rice in the "rivers and lakes", and when he speaks, he does not leak a drop of water, and the wisp of wind does not enter. Fortunately, what Zhao Mingming said to him before was true, otherwise, Liu Ruiying would be like those wronged heads with credit knives, and she would easily fall into the way.

"Do you know this girl?"

Liu Ruiying pointed at Zhao Mingming and asked.

"Looking at the eyes, regardless of the stalls and shops, they all attract customers from all over the world. Once born, twice cooked, next time I come, I will definitely remember!"

The stall owner glanced at Zhao Mingming and said.

Zhao Mingming ignored it at all, and still concentrated on feeding the little girl in the altar. Quiet as a virgin, moving like a rabbit is a character like her. When Zhao Mingming freed his hand, he would force the stall owner to hand over the money he had cheated last time.

"The stall owner Li is inevitably a noble man who forgets things!"

Liu Ruiying said.

He remembered that Zhao Mingming clearly said to himself that the stall owner's surname was Li.

"Guest officer, under the surname Ma. ”

The stall owner said.

Liu Ruiying smiled, not only is there no more rivers and lakes in the mouth of this original credit knife in this world, but even the morality they used to worship is gone. Just when Liu Ruiying was stunned about this, Hua Nong returned to the stall with her stomach.

"But you found a craftsman who repaired the car?"

Liu Ruiying asked.

"No ......"

Hua Nong shook his head and said after sitting down.

"What about the men?"

Liu Ruiying then asked.

"They lied to me!"

Hua Nong said indignantly.

"You killed someone?"

Liu Ruiying asked.

Before they could draw their swords, they scattered. ”

Hua Nong said.

He couldn't figure it out, he had told them that the sword at his waist was a toy. The three of them formed a crowd, and there were not only five or six people on the other side, but also people who ate this bowl of tepid rice. I didn't expect that I didn't even have the backbone to beat you. As soon as Hua Nong's hand touched the hilt of his sword, they ran away with a loud shout.

"Let's eat a bowl of noodles. ”

Liu Ruiying said.

Then beckoned the stall owner to order another bowl of tofu noodles. Although I asked for ten bowls before, it was already cold when I put it on hold. The noodles soak up the noodle soup and form a lump. Just one look at it makes you lose your appetite.

Outside the market, where horse-drawn carriages are parked.

The three clothed guests were sitting around the carriage, unbelievably discussant.

"It seems that the people of the Prairie Court do not speak of faith. ”

The leader said.

The other two nodded, one carrying a one-man-length burlap bag on his back.

After inspecting the inside and outside of the carriage, the leader kicked the burlap bag behind the man, followed by a groan and a writhing.

"Stinky...... If it weren't for your concubine's untrustworthiness, the three of us wouldn't have had to work so hard!"

Said the man at the head.

"The top priority is to find her back as soon as possible, but the time given by the altar court is already three and a half days overdue...... If it is delayed any longer, even if it is successfully brought back, it will not be able to escape the court's punishment......"

One said.

Speaking of the two words of court rules, even the person who is the leader can't help but tremble. He glanced at the bustling market, then asked the man to put the sackcloth bag on his back into the carriage and hide it, and then the three of them walked in together in iron robes. But the strange outfits of the three of them provoked people in the market to avoid and exclaim.

Liu Ruiying also caught up in the commotion at the entrance of the market, and there were some bad thoughts in her heart, urging Hua Nong to eat noodles quickly, and on the other hand, she was thinking about how to make Zhao Mingming no longer worry about the lost money. After all, it's better to be a foreign thing than to get involved in another trouble.