"It's dry, watch out for the candles"

With a "bang", the old man holding the gong sounded the gong along the street. In the silence of the night, the sound of this gentle knock echoed throughout the narrow street, drifting away.

Xia Qian sat in his thatched hut, holding the Dragon Teng Sword in his hand, and his heart was strange. Why did you just bring it out in one go? Since he didn't want to be the down-and-out sect master, he should be clean. But when he jumped out of the window, he turned around and took it back with him. He himself was a little confused about his own mind.

It's the eighth day of junior high school, and it's the sixth day of junior high school.

He looked at the empty box, sighed, walked out of the back alley, and went up the long street.

At this time, the second watch has passed, and the street has long been silent, and there is no end in sight to the black pressure. Families turned off the lights and went to bed, and the fatigue of a day's work disappeared at this moment.

Xia Qian passed by the back door of the restaurant and found that the lights were on in the back kitchen, and two people were leaning against the window to talk, so he quietly leaned over.

The restaurant owner and the servant are worried about a large amount of unsalable pork. It seems that it is because the pork shop of Li Yuanwai's family has recently dropped sharply and is almost cheap. The customers all went to buy meat and cook it at home, so no one came to the store to order meat dishes.

When the wind rises, it is a large restaurant, with a considerable amount of ingredients a day, and its own ice cellar. Therefore, the ingredients are bought once every three days and put in the ice cellar, which is not only convenient but also can ward off the heat. But business has not been good in the past three days, and the ice cellar is full of meat, and if it can't be sold, it can only be thrown away, which is a big loss.

When Xia Qian heard this, he knocked on the door of the back kitchen.

The little guy was on guard: "Who is it?"

Xia Qian replied: "The people who came to help you." ”

The boss hesitated for a moment and opened the door for him. At a glance, it was clear that Xia Qian was the one who followed Old Man Hou. The face immediately did not look good: "How is it." Didn't you come to steal?"

Xia Qian said: "I'm going to steal something and say hello to you." Don't you just want to sell your pork, I'll give you an idea, you give me fifty taels, how about it? ”

The boss said disdainfully: "You can steal things, just sell things." So saying, he drove him out.

"So are you trying to do a loss-making business?"

As soon as Xia Qian's words came out, the boss pushed his hand and slowly withdrew, "What is the way, you can tell it." ”

"Fifty taels, I promise to keep you in short supply. Xia Qian swore an oath.

The boss suspiciously instructed the servant to go to the account office and get a silver ticket of fifty taels and handed it to him. Xia Qian reached out to take it, but was pulled back by the boss. "You speak first. ”

Xia Qian put his hands behind his back and said like an old pedant: "On the seventh day of the first month of tomorrow, it is the day of sacrifice for the common people, and the family will kill cattle and sheep to worship the gods and ancestors in the sky. You make these pork into sacrificial dishes, put them at the gate of your wind head, and find a few nurseries to promote them for you. I promise it will be sold out in less than half an hour. ”

"Oh~" The little guy nodded suddenly in realization.

The boss snorted coldly: "You don't know this truth when you are Li Yuanwai, tomorrow to worship the ancestors, if his pork is sold cheaper, won't I lose more." ”

Xia Qian said confidently: "Don't worry, the Li family's shop will not open tomorrow." ”

The boss hurriedly asked, "Why?"

"No comment. Xia Qian took the silver ticket in his hand and left lightly.

The figure on the corner flashed by and quietly followed.

Xia Qian didn't return home with the fifty taels of silver he had just gotten, and floated outside all night, looking for it, aimlessly. Finally, he spent the second half of the night on the tree outside the second floor of the Bai family's mansion.

At dawn, he pressed the fifty taels of silver tickets under a broken jug at the base of the wall of the Bai family's mansion before returning home hastily.

When he walked away, Xia Lin appeared from behind, watching the filled water flow down from the opening of the jug, wetting the corner of the silver ticket at the bottom.

When Xia Qian woke up at home, it was already noon, and there was a strong smell of meat outside, and he got up and went out hungry along the aroma, and saw Old Man Hou drinking in front of a plate of braised pork.

Old man Hou saw that he was awake and hurriedly beckoned him to come. "Come, son, eat meat. ”

Xia Qian went out to wash his face, and only after sobering up did he grab his chopsticks and start eating.

Old man Hou chatted with him without a match. "I just went to the wind to raise my head, and the people at the door are all at the end of the street, and the business is surprisingly good. This boss usually looks stunned, but he didn't expect that he would want to make money by selling sacrificial vegetables. He took a sip of his wine, shook his head and smiled.

Xia Qian's chopsticks stopped, pointed to the meat in front of him and asked, "Wouldn't this be their dish?" ”

Old man Hou was drunk, and his cheeks were red, "You eat yours, we don't know who our ancestors are, and we don't believe in immortals, so we don't have those taboos." ”

After lunch, Xia Qian immediately went to the outside of the Bai family's mansion, found the broken water can, pushed it open, and the fifty taels of silver tickets were gone. He hurriedly squatted down and looked through it, but there was no trace.

"Money, here. A hand reached out in front of his eyes, and between his fingers was his fifty taels of silver tickets.

Xia Qian took it first before going to see the man. "Why are you here? ”

Xia Lin said expressionlessly: "Protecting you is an order given to me by my master." Since I agreed, I will follow through to the end. ”

Xia Qian didn't mind being followed too much, he was calm and still did what he had to do. He went up the long street again, and Xia Lin followed him openly, because he was wearing a repair uniform, which attracted a lot of attention. Passers-by pointed at him, and the word "Xia family" appeared frequently in their mouths.

Xia Lin didn't care, he didn't seem to hear these rumors, he suddenly asked, "How do you know that the Li family's shop won't open today." ”

Xia Qian turned his head to look at him, but he didn't expect him to know about it. He speculated that perhaps he had been following him when he fled from the mountain of Dongcheng yesterday.

He absentmindedly plucked his ears and replied, "I just visited his house two days ago. He said that there was a swine fever in Chaoyun Town next door, so he sold it at a low price, and at that time he said that the meat in his library was only enough for half a day, let alone today. ”

Xia Lin just snorted softly after hearing this.

Xia Qian stopped in front of a jade shop, hesitated for a while, drove Xia Lin back, asked him to participate in the Xia family's ancestor worship ceremony, and after he repeatedly assured that his life would not be in danger, Xia Lin reluctantly agreed, withdrew from the long street, and disappeared into a quiet and dark place.

Xia Qian entered the jade shop, but did not find anything similar to the phoenix jade pendant, so she went to the jewelry store again, and chose a unique hosta, which was her favorite pear blossom.

That night, he sat on the tree outside Baijiang's boudoir, looking at the whole mansion full of happy words on the wall, bright red, listening to the ballad read by the matchmaker when she combed her hair, and couldn't help but clench the brocade box in his hand.

When the room was calm, Bai Jiang pushed the window and poked his head out. At the moment, she has waist-length long hair, and her face has not yet been powdered, and she is still her usual pretty appearance.

"You're coming, come in. She beckoned blankly.

Seeing her in a red wedding dress, Xia Qian gritted his teeth and jumped in.

Bai Jiang opened his blank eyes and groped to pour him tea, his hands swinging wildly in the air.

"I'll do it. Xia Qian held her up and took her to a chair.

For a while, the two looked at each other speechlessly.

Bai Jiang was the first to speak, looking lonely: "I'm going to get married tomorrow, and I won't be able to talk to you like this in the future." ”

Xia Qian stuffed his brocade box into her hand, "Congratulatory gift." ”

Bai Jiang opened the lid and touched its shape, and suddenly a smile like a flower bloomed on his face. "Thank you. ”

Xia Qian was sitting on pins and needles, he felt very uncomfortable, he got up to leave, and was asked by Bai Jiang: "Tomorrow, are you coming?"

Xia Qian was speechless and looked at the Kong Ming lantern that was gradually rising in the sky, "I'm afraid not." ”

"Why?" asked Bai Jiang busily.

"Because I'm a thief that everybody shouts about. He lowered his head and laughed self-deprecatingly, telling the truth he had been hiding for a long time.

......

"I know. Bai Jiang rang out for a long time. She said flatly, "I knew it when you first sneaked into my boudoir. ”

"What!" Xia Qian was stunned. "Then you still ......"

"I can't see, but I'm good at hearing. That night you saw that I was blind, and quietly put back what you had taken, and lit a candle for me. ”

"You, actually, your eyes are fine. Xia Qian shook in front of her eyes with confirmation.

Bai Jiang giggled, and Xia Qian laughed with her. The two chatted about the latest anecdotes as usual. It's always Xia Qian who is talking, and Bai Jiang is laughing. He talked about what happened in Xia's house the day before yesterday, and he was sad in his heart.

He sighed, "It's impossible for someone like me to do it." ”

As soon as Bai Jiang was about to speak, the mother-in-law and maid outside knocked on the door and came in. Xia Qian hurriedly jumped out of the window and left.

Xia Qian didn't sleep at night, and listened to people's private words on the roof of people's houses when he had nothing to do. After leaving the Bai family, he jumped aimlessly on the roofs of other people's houses, and when he was tired, he lay on the roof tiles to rest. Suddenly, he heard a conversation in the room, and he held his breath and listened carefully, and his face changed suddenly.

Due to local customs, if a married woman has parents who die before the marriage, she must go to the grave of her parents on the day of the marriage to pay respects. So Bai Jiang wore a wedding dress in the middle of the night and went up the mountain a little farther away. It was her mother's hometown, and the road was not too far or a little off.

The sedan chair walks forward on the winding mountain road under the slightly bright sky. The sound of gongs and suona all the way echoed in the distant mountains.

Bai Jiang successfully reached the top, was dragged by her mother-in-law to find her mother's tombstone, and knocked her head three times.

So as not to delay the auspicious time, Bai Jiang was pulled back to the sedan chair by his mother-in-law after the salute. As soon as she got off the grave, her mother-in-law couldn't help but be frightened when she saw the situation below.

The palanquin bearer and the band fell to the ground one after another, with stab wounds in different parts of their bodies. Although he was wearing a red wedding dress, the blood that flowed from the wound had stained the dry yellow earth red. The scene was terrifying.

"Mother-in-law, what's wrong?" Bai Jiang asked.

Before the mother-in-law could answer, a dozen rough and tall bandits had surrounded them.