For a whole afternoon, dusk and evening, until the restaurant closed, Bai Xiucai had been dialing the abacus with one hand and flying with a brush with the other, almost without rest.

The reason for this is that the shopkeeper heard from the traveler who had traveled in the Western Regions that there was a meal called afternoon tea in the Western Regions. So she and Chef Wang, who made pastries in the county, together with this rainbow carp restaurant, painted gourds and made an afternoon tea. The originally very simple pastry meal was carefully arranged, and it was a bit of palace cuisine. Yongguo people already like luxury, and those idle nobles are even more so.

If the restaurant in the evening at noon is surrounded by hungry people, then the restaurant at dusk in the afternoon is full of nobles who talk loudly. They are accustomed to lavish consumption, and they actually made the dignified proprietress grin to the sky.

Xiucai breathed a long sigh of relief, closed the ledger, and stretched.

Although it is not enough to talk about the daily income, it is also a certainty that the daily income of 100 silver is also certain.

What is the high price, there is a lot of oil and water, there is no peace of mind without these few taels of silver.

"Come, come, come on, get paid. ”

"Okay!"

It's as if a handful of millet has been sprinkled on a square full of white doves, and a flock of birds is whistling and flying.

Xiao Er, Left Running Hall, Right Running Hall, Big Back Kitchen, Small Back Kitchen, Xiao Budian, Bai Xiucai, seven people hugged up, around the big square table where the shopkeeper was located, and sat down in turn. The eyes of the crowd were enthusiastic, looking forward to how much they would be paid this week.

Glancing at the seven people whose eyes were more jackals, tigers and leopards than jackals, tigers and leopards at this moment, the shopkeeper snorted with a smile and spread out the seven earth-colored letterheads on the table.

Despite the fact that each letterhead had its own name written on it, everyone rushed up like a carp that could not eat its food, and in a moment the wooden table was several times cleaner than it was in the morning.

After getting their respective letterheads, everyone except Bai Xiucai couldn't wait to open them and take a look at them - not that Bai Xiucai was not greedy for money, but he knew how much his salary was just by weighing it with his hands.

"Shopkeeper, why am I missing a penny of silver this week!"

"Because you dropped two porcelain bowls the day before yesterday. ”

"Auntie, why do I only have two cents of silver!"

"What do children do with so much silver, just go buy some candy to eat. ”

"Shopkeeper, why do I have two more coins of silver!"

"Well, yes, I'll take it back. ”

Xiao Er hurriedly covered his salary.

The shopkeeper laughed.

Bai Xiucai, who was on the side, quietly put away the envelope containing a full ten taels of silver, stood up, and made a compilation to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper squinted slightly, "Bai Xiucai, shouldn't you go to the 'Manyan Courtyard' again?"

Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing, turned their heads sideways in unison, and looked at Bai Xiucai, who had always been personable in their eyes.

What is the place in Manyan Temple? It is the favorite place for everyone here except for the shopkeeper and the little one.

Bai Xiucai, who thought he would blush and be shy, just smiled slightly, "As the shopkeeper said." ”

"Don't spend the whole week there. ”

The shopkeeper said lightly, and leaned down on the wooden table.

"Understood. ”

Bai Xiucai nodded, glanced at the colleagues with the word 'real man' written in their eyes, and turned around and took steps.

"Brother Bai, what kind of place is Manyan Courtyard?"

The child's words are unscrupulous, but they don't know how to answer.

He looked up and thought for a moment.

"That's the Yan Courtyard, it's the place where the swallows return south. ”

......

Compared to the busy and crowded daytime, the streets at night are much more deserted and spacious.

Although there is not a curfew like Yongyang City, it is very rare for people in small county towns to not return at night.

After a busy day, I don't go home at night to live a comfortable and comfortable life, what do I do to wander the streets?

Bai Xiucai walked in the center of the quadrangular avenue, taking steps, step by step, slowly and steadily.

At the end of the street, the lights are full of wine and wine, and the courtyard is full of spring.

There, is the second golden signboard of Pingshui County.

Manyan Courtyard, a five-storey green building.

It is said that it is a gold-lettered signboard, not that there are four beauties hiding in it, but because it is the only place in Pingshui County that can be put on the table.

Yonghua is a good country, and even the Qinglou is the same—no, it should be said, the Qinglou is even more so.

Antique courtyards, gilded eaves, high pillars with red painted phoenixes, screens painted with famous mountains and rivers, and famous singers with good manners...... If you don't have one, you can't say that it can be put on the table.

Of course, there are many people who like to do things under the table.

Bai Xiucai seemed to remember something and smiled faintly.

He looked up at the tall building that he had unconsciously reached.

Unlike others, when he walked to the wide door that never turned away customers, there was no such thing as the usual solicitation of customers.

I didn't even hear a 'Childe, come and play'.

The reason for this......

"Yo, Bai Xiucai, here you go again?"

The old bustard standing against the door smiled at him charmingly,.

He bowed slightly, stepped forward, took out the letterhead from his bosom, took out five taels of silver from it, and put it in her hand.

The old bustard took the money, gave him a blessing, and watched him walk into the hospital.

In his smiling eyes, there was a little more compassion for some reason.

......

The fourth floor of Manyan-in Temple is neither the place where the Oiran on the fifth floor lives, nor the place where the beauties on the third floor rest.

Living on this floor are the bustard, the turtle, and the one who can only play the harp.

Push the door in.

A bright moon hangs in the sky.

In front of the window, she wore a white dress and a veil. She turned her back to him, her slender fingers gently plucked the strings of the guqin, and the song "Seeing the Departure" told the pain of leaving home.

He didn't interrupt, just walked slowly to the desk with a cup of hot tea and sat cross-legged.

Just like this bleak song that tugs at the heartstrings, three years ago, when he first arrived in Pingshui County, he never imagined that he would meet her here after more than ten years of absence.

That year, he and her, childhood sweethearts, one was determined to practice martial arts and ask the sword to serve the country and save the world, and the other just wanted to grow old together.

One person may have it, and no one person may not.

That year, the military and military kingdoms went south, and the Yonghua country fought unfavorably, and the war between him and her hometown should not have burned like a prairie fire, burning the towns where tens of thousands of people depended. And her cheek, which should have been a shy flower, was also cut with a dagger used by an unknown military soldier with a scar that could not be hidden. Later, she was able to get out of the sea of suffering under the surprise attack of Yonghua Kingdom, but she had no relatives. After several years of wandering, he finally fell into the dust.

He didn't know all this until he met her Yu Pingshui.

Since then, he has spent ten taels of silver every week to come to this Manyan courtyard, listen to her play the piano, and drink a cup of tea.

That's all he can do.

The end of a song.

He stretched out his hand, rubbed his eyes slightly, took the envelope with his name written on it from his bosom, and gently placed it on the tea table.

She slowly raised her head, looking at the bright moon hanging high in the sky with her eyes that were not as clear as before.

"The rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband. ”

The voice is cold and has no temperature.

He didn't speak, and looked up at the empty seat across from the desk in front of him.

"Why don't you go to the temple?"

She stroked the strings and asked indifferently.

He still didn't speak.

"Isn't that what you're aiming for?"

She asked.

He still didn't speak, just looked at the empty seat in front of him, as if she would stand up and sit there in the next second.

But she didn't, she just turned her back to him and stroked the piano by the window.

"I just want to be by your side. ”

The strings are broken.

She smiled sadly, "If only you had thought so ten years ago." ”

He lowered his head and looked at his hands, with the white shirt on his body, "But I don't regret it." ”

"The rise and fall of a country is the responsibility of the husband. This is not an empty phrase. He seemed to smile bitterly and said lightly, "It's just that I've eaten too much." ”

"Then drink the tea, while it's hot. ”

She stroked the broken string and said lightly.

He nodded, lifted his teacup, and put it down.

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry, Yue'er, I'm ...... with the world"

Halfway through the conversation, I want to talk about it.

Just slowly got up and walked out the door, leaving a 'I'll come again'.

......

After he left, she turned around and looked at the small table where the man walked and the envelope with the words 'Bai Xiucai'.

Bleak smiled.