Chapter 28 Chapter Ten Floating Boats Carrying Wine, It Doesn’t Harm to the World’s Arms

Saying goodbye to the old and young dragon gods, Xingyan also walked slowly along the river with Xueyiqiongxun.When I was walking along the way, I thought about it, and I suddenly found it very interesting; I didn't expect that in just two years, I would have such friendship and become so close with the Poyang Dragon God, whom the neighbors and villagers respectfully worship.Usually I don't think so, but when I think about it suddenly, I feel that this matter is so miraculous. Now, he has roughly heard the news of the lost water spirit from the mouth of the old dragon lord, but he is not in a hurry to go there.

In the past few days, Xingyan and the two girls who were by his side have gone through several thrilling times, almost to the point of death; although they were able to save themselves from danger in the end, their hearts were still touched a lot.Therefore, since leaving Tongzhou at the mouth of the Yangtze River, he and Qiongxu Xueyi walked slowly along the north of the river, watching the scenery along the way, not in a hurry.After about two or three days, they came to Yangzhou City, the best place for Zhuxi, which is often seen in the dictionaries.This time, Xingyan has made up his mind to take Qiongxi Xueyi to have a good time in Yangzhou City, which is a small compensation for the two girls who follow him all the way to adventure.

It was the first time for them to come back to this Yangzhou city in front of them.They traveled westward all the way, and when they approached the east gate of Yangzhou, they made a special trip to the Songzi Niangniang Temple in the eastern suburbs, and worshiped in the temple. Last time, the dragon girl Lingyi tampered with this temple, smashing the empress's golden body to take away the black magic armor hidden inside.But it seems that this place is rich and prosperous. When Xingyan came to worship in the temple, he took a closer look and found that the statue of the concubine empress in the temple had already been reshaped in gold, covered with gold and silver, shining brilliantly under the reflection of the surrounding incense candles. human eye.

Seeing this situation, the young man who was originally pregnant with ghosts felt relieved, knelt down on the futon and prayed very devoutly, only begging his mother not to be offended. When he knelt down, that Qiongxi was the same as before, dancing and worshiping like his elder brother. While praying, he also spoke in a soft voice, saying that he was begging the mother-in-law to bless and so on-her words were just I was parroting with the women next to me who begged God for a child, and I didn't know what I was talking about; but when the other people in the temple heard it, they all looked sideways and were full of surprise!And most of these surprised gazes fell on the handsome young man with his eyes closed next to his little sister.These good men and women are now thinking angrily in their hearts: "Wow! You are so old? They are going to come and snatch the heir bestowed by the mother from us!"

Seeing this situation, Kou Xueyi, the fairy soul of plum blossom who knows some common sense in the world, is so ashamed that Hongxia rushes to her face, at a loss - is she trying to defend the hall master?Or do you want to tell my little sister what she said is inappropriate?This problem made the pure and pure woman blush, and she stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do. But this embarrassment, the young man who only closed his eyes to repent and bless him didn't know anything about it.After praying, Xingyan stood up from the futon, raised his hand and gave a slight signal, calling Xue Yiqiong to leave the hall together.And when he stepped out of the temple surrounded by cigarettes, the Taoist youth hall master was still muttering in a low voice: "Well, the people in this big place are really different, and you can tell that I am a foreigner at once—otherwise, I wouldn't be so Many people have been looking at me!"

After a few compliments, he took Qiongxu's little hand and walked towards Yangzhou City with Xueyi. At this time, Yangzhou was located in the land of Huaihai, and it was a rare Dazhou county in the world at that time.Legend has it that after Dayu controlled the water and pacified the water and soil in the world, there was the theory of Kyushu in the land of Middle Earth, and Yangzhou is one of them.When King Cheng of Zhou made a book "Yugong", it said that "the southeast is called Yangzhou".Of course, in the geography of the world at this time, the southeast had already reached the South China Sea area of ​​Jiaozhou in the south of Lingnan; Yangzhou, which was originally an ancient southeast place, has gradually become the center of the eastern part of the world.

If it is said that these were just seen in the classics before, and there is no specific impression, but when Xingyan and the others actually came to Yangzhou City, they really realized that Yangzhou, the thoroughfare of nine provinces and connected to the river and the sea, is even bigger than originally imagined. Ten times more prosperous! Although it is late September now, the city is already full of autumn and the yellow leaves are falling, but the streets are not deserted at all, and there are many people coming and going; and on the stalls of the busy vendors, there are all kinds of melons, fruits, water chestnuts and lotus roots in all seasons. , I don't know how they transported them from all over the world.Yangzhou, whose name means Yangbo, is really full of water in the city, and the rivers and branches are criss-crossed, and the boats come and go like shuttles.Those passing boats often walk side by side with the horse-drawn carriages on the Qingshi street on the bank, competing for the first place, and staring at each other in a daze.

Watching along the way, the three of Xingyan were dazzled, and they forgot to stop to buy goods for a penny and a cent while they were walking for most of the time.This grand scene really corresponds to the sentence: "There are as many lotus root water chestnuts in the city as rice, and the smoke and water in the city are as high as mountains!" Walking involuntarily on the street, they were suddenly rushed to the side of the market by a crowd of people, and then saw dozens of people rushing past clamoring; Suddenly they cheered loudly.Poor Xingyan and the three of them were squeezed into a corner of the street, their robes were crumpled and their sleeves wrinkled, their breathing was difficult, and their eardrums were even humming from the shock, but they still didn't understand what happened just now.

When the crowd dispersed, Xingyan grabbed the kind old man next to him and asked, only to realize that the one who swaggered through the city just now was not some high-ranking official or a general, but a cricket competition in Yangzhou City, where the champion had just been decided; It was only the champion cricket who had just been cheered by the crowd.After the cricket won, he was put in a Hainan box on a white jade plate, covered with red silk and inserted with gold flowers, and named "General Cricket". Then he was held by his master as a treasure and walked around the city, boasting for a long time .

Hearing what the old man said, and hearing that the winning or losing of this cricket fight is often hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, even if he wakes up to the fact that he has traveled far and wide in the past two years and has seen a lot, he can't help being dumbfounded for a while, and he didn't know for a long time. Lost language—thousands of taels of silver?In my hometown, as long as six or seven taels of silver, it is enough for a whole family to live for a whole year! "Hey, I thought Raozhou was already very prosperous, but I didn't expect that compared with Yangzhou, it is still one underground and one sky!"

Looking at the street scene while sighing in this way, it feels like the sun is about to set after not too long.Looking at the sun in the west, the young man who had always been greedy only felt a little hungry in his belly.After visiting for a long time, affected by the luxurious atmosphere, the young man who was ready to reward Xueyi Qiongxi, gritted his teeth, and went to the Slender West Lake in the northwest suburb of the city to find a restaurant called "Zuixianglou". The style of the restaurant, ready to eat a big meal. Of course, the hall master of the Four Seas, who has always been considerate, did not forget to ask the boy at the entrance of the restaurant to find out the approximate price of the restaurant before he boarded this luxurious restaurant.Although he was cautious and somewhat rustic in the eyes of Yangzhou people, the young boy guarding the gate did not dare to underestimate him at all, because although the three people in front of him were dressed in ordinary clothes, they were either sword-browed and star-eyed or elegant and refined. Not ordinary people.Therefore, he reported the prices of the food and drinks very honestly, for fear that he would accidentally offend some prince or grandson traveling in low clothes.Maybe it's because of the abundance of goods in the city, or because of the fierce competition from the many restaurants nearby, so the price of the food and drinks at this luxurious Zuixiang Restaurant is probably within Xing Yan's expectations. At this time, the sun had not yet set, and there were not many diners in the restaurant.Climbing up to the second floor, Xing Yan picked a seat by the window, and invited Xue Yiqiong to sit down together.Sitting by this window, you can just watch the lake view, see the misty water of the lake under the setting sun, and the twists and turns extending in the morning and evening mist. Sit down and start ordering.Although the intention is extravagant, but he is used to simplicity after all, so Xing Yan still ordered three bowls of moderately priced silver noodles in broth.Of course, one of Zuixianglou’s signature dishes, silver noodles in broth, is different from ordinary soup noodles; a bowl of jade white noodles as thin as willow silk is covered with a fragrant soup, which contains chicken skin, chicken wings, offal, Squid, puffer fish, ham, crab roe, and several kinds of fresh food are mixed together, thickly boiled into a thick and thick soup, and poured on the thin silver noodles, the delicious and mellow taste is beyond words. When Xingyan ordered such noodles, he left the table with an excuse, caught up with the shop waiter, and asked him to add shark fin and Jiang Yaozhu to the Ernv's noodles - he could see clearly on the menu that there were these two rare seafood items to mention. Point, the noodle soup tastes completely different; and only the noodle soup with these two kinds of seafood is really called the signature dish of Zuixianglou.Of course, in this way, each serving of noodles will cost more than half a tael of silver; Xing Yan has already thought about it, these may be just a gimmick of the store, let Qiong Yuxueyi try something new, let alone his share. After ordering, when I returned to my seat, I saw the little girl who had been to such a luxurious restaurant for the first time, her face was flushed with excitement, and she kept looking around, as if she wanted to see all the beautiful decorations in the restaurant. arrive.But Xue Yi, who has an elegant face, is a little embarrassed, occasionally looking at Xing Yan's eyes, she is a little timid, as if she feels that the hall master is spending so much money, and she is very disturbed. Aware of this, Xingyan talked about the Yangzhou allusions he had heard, and then pointed out the window to the lake water shimmering in the setting sun, asking Xueyi to pay attention to those pleasant places——after a while, the plum blossom fairy was captured The young man's words attracted him, his eyes followed his guidance, and he focused on watching the lake view outside the window. When the soup noodles came and started to eat, the sky gradually darkened, and there were more people in the restaurant.Not long after, red candles were lit in the building, illuminating everywhere in the hall brightly.When the lights are feasting, the shadows of the lake and trees outside the building become faintly blurred, and the afterglow of the setting sun gradually disappears into the distant mist, making it impossible to see clearly.At this time, Xingyan ordered another small pot of light wine brewed by Baihua, and poured it with the two girls. Compared with the style of those new diners, their superficial deliberation suddenly paled in comparison.Those who came to the building to have a banquet were probably rich salt merchants from the north and the south, or local celebrities. Almost everyone brought a prostitute from the nearby brothel to the banquet to relieve their boredom.During the battle of wine and punching, there were voices of warblers and swallows interspersed, which is completely different from the deserted scene in Xingyan's side. Of course, there are also bold and powerful customers among them. Seeing that the boy by the window is alone with a man, and the two women next to him are both stunning, so when the wine is hot, they can't help thinking about it, wondering if they want to use the wine to go crazy, and go forward Molested.However, those of them who can hang out in Yangzhou City for a long time, even if they are rough on the surface, are definitely people with knowledge; before going crazy with alcohol, pay attention to the ancient sword leaning on the young man's side, and then look at him in the noisy building. The demeanor of eating and drinking calmly, without thinking about it, must not be someone to be messed with.Therefore, even though those high-ranking literati who were hugging left and right were full of vulgar language, they only dared to greet the prostitutes they brought, and did not dare to get involved with the two stunning girls over there. It's okay to live in peace like this, but Xingyan became a little bored.After eating for a while, seeing the few kabukis singing in the corner of the hall, deserted and deserted, they never opened their doors, so Xingyan remembered his experience as a musician in Huayuelou back then.It happened to be a little deserted now, so he took care of the business of those singing girls.After calling the waiter to ask about the price, he felt that it was not too expensive, so he ordered the performances of the singers in the corner of the hall and asked them to come and sing songs for him to accompany the wine. Hearing someone sing, the kabukis were naturally overjoyed, dragging the singing board with their pipas in their arms, Niaoyou Nana moved over here, and sat down on a few red lacquered waist drum stools not far from Xingyan's table , Then he plucked the strings and began to play the tune.When the song was played across the door and the song became longer and longer, the lead singer clung to the red tooth singing board and sang to Xingyan tactfully.The song is soft and soft, and it is: