Xu Tong nodded thoughtfully, wrote down the boss's words word for word, and put away the drink: "Be taught!"
"Don't dare, please help yourself, sir."
The shopkeeper cupped his hands and continued to make plans. After Xu Tong got the wine, he walked out of the door. He looked back at the wine shop to make sure that the boss was not following. His expression changed, he held the wall and uncovered half of the mask and started to vomit.
stand up.
Can you stop vomiting? Drinking this wine is like a Sun Wukong burrowing into the stomach of his sister-in-law, tossing it back and forth. Xu Tong endured it until he came out before he dared to vomit the wine out.
Although the shopkeeper was right, Xu Tong still didn't think there was anything delicious about this stuff.
However, since Amei reminded him, she probably didn't deliberately trick him to suffer. With this mentality, Xu Tong took out the note and followed the directions above to search around the ghost market.
, finally found the mysterious little shop she mentioned in a remote corner.
The front of the house is very inconspicuous, and the signboard above also gives people an outdated feeling from the 1980s.
【Shuiji Grocery Store】
Xu Tong gently opened the door curtain of the shop and took a look. He saw several large tables placed in the dark room, some were empty, and some were three or five people sitting together peeling peanuts and drinking wine.
There were only one or two people sitting sparsely on a few tables, and the room was so quiet that it didn't look like a grocery store at all, but more like an elderly tea and card club.
When they saw someone walking in, everyone in the room just raised their heads and glanced, and then continued to do their own business.
There was no one waiting in this place, and there wasn't even a human figure on the counter. If it weren't for the fact that the name Shuiji Grocery Store was written on the note, Xu Tong would have doubted whether he had gone to the wrong place.
I just found a place to sit, and after a while, another person came in from the door. This person also wore a mask on his face and was obviously a player.
Xu Tong noticed the other party, and the other party obviously noticed him, and was obviously stunned, as if he was surprised that there were other players in this place.
The exhibition is a magical place. You may say how big it is, but it's actually not that big. If you stand at the highest point, you can overlook the entire exhibition, which is about the size of a small town.
But if you want to say that it is small, you would be completely wrong. There are many shops here, and they are not as bleak as a ghost market. If you enter an inconspicuous store, you may not know how much space there is inside.
I still don’t dare to say that a few players have explored the entire ghost city.
And in this inconspicuous place, few people come. Occasionally, some people come in to take a look, but they don't get the gist of it and leave after a while.
So when they saw other players there, they were also very surprised.
But it was an accident, so he just nodded to Xu Tong, strode straight to the busiest table, and then sat directly in the middle, chatting with each other.
After chatting for a while, the other party took out an old incense burner from the prop book and placed it on the table. Several people at the same table looked at it and winked at each other. Then they saw a man wearing a hat, looking towards the player.
He stretched out his arms and dropped his wide sleeves with a flick of his hand.
Hey! This is called price comparison.
It is an old custom. The price is determined through specific gestures on the sleeve. For example, if you say this thing costs forty, the index finger to the little finger is 4, and then the thumb and index finger pinch 0.
If you want fifty, just give a thumbs up and pinch 0.
Anyway, the two sides were slowly groping and calculating, and outsiders had no idea what the price was.
In reality, this old custom is no longer common. As for whether it still exists, yes, it can still be seen occasionally in the livestock markets in Shaanxi and Shanxi. Of course, people nowadays don’t have such big cuffs, so they are covered with cloth.
.
After the two fumbled around for a while, the man in the hat seemed a little dissatisfied, and in the end the transaction didn't seem to be successful.
No transaction was successful, and the player did not leave. Instead, he sat there and chatted with a few people.
"interesting."
Xu Tong sat aside and watched, and upon seeing this, he probably understood a little bit what was going on here.
Although this place is a grocery store, it is not a place where you can just buy and sell things casually.
You need to get closer to the relationship first, and the relationship can reach a certain level before you can proceed with the transaction. In short, it is a bit like fate.
It's no wonder that few people come to this place. Although the time at the exhibition is not the same as the time outside, there are only four hours outside here a day, but after all, it is limited.
Not everyone is willing to spend time in this place.
However, Xu Tong liked this place very much. Anyway, it was still early before the time he had agreed with Gao Zhuo. He took out the hookah pipe in his hand and slowly put the shredded tobacco on it. This shredded tobacco was from Gao Zhuo's father Gao Tian not long ago.
Put a new cut of tobacco that I found for him.
It is said that outsiders cannot buy this kind of tobacco, and even those with money cannot buy it. Xu Tong has never had time to taste it. Now that he has the leisure, he might as well taste it.
I saw clearly organized tobacco leaves, which glowed a faint golden yellow under the light. When I picked up a handful with my fingers and kneaded them gently, I could smell a unique scent of tobacco leaves.
It's hard to explain how to call this fragrance. It's thick, but not pungent. It has a fermentation feeling eroded by time. When you pinch it between your fingers, it doesn't feel dry or hard, but feels as soft as young grass.
.
Putting tobacco on it, Xu Tong used a small fire to bake it. When the tobacco leaves gradually carbonized under the baking of the flame, a wisp of green smoke floated up, and the air seemed to be filled with the fragrance of the tobacco leaves.
Xu Tong took a light sniff and couldn't help but his eyes lit up. However, he did not smoke it directly. Instead, he put the water pipe in his hand and waited for a while. This water pipe smoke is not smoked with the mouth like other cigarettes, but has a smoke storage device.
During the process, let the smoke stay in the chimney for a while, and then slowly taste it after you feel that the chimney has gradually gained temperature.
Xu Tong didn't understand before, and he only wanted to have fun every time. Later, when Gao Tianfang saw this, he laughed and scolded him for wasting things. He also blamed Gao Zhuo for being too hasty and not learning this thing properly, so Xu Tong never understood this.
The true meaning of water pipe smoking.
Later, under the guidance of his senior brother, he gradually mastered the secrets.
And the hookah in his hand also has many mysteries. As the pipe gradually warms up, the patterns and colors carved on it become more rounded, making it appear that it is a dead object but it still gives people a sense of life.
As he slowly took a deep breath, the smoke lingered between his lips and teeth. The warm smoke emitted a unique fragrance in his mouth. The taste was sublimated many times compared to cold cigarettes, and even more so than cigars.
It has an extra layer of strong layering.
Xu Tong closed his eyes and felt the unique fragrance and temperature in the clouds of smoke. This feeling was like giving invisible time a layer of unique flavor, slowly tasting it in his mouth.
Wearing the same.
At this time, he suddenly felt the flow of smoke around him. He opened one eyelid and saw an old man wearing a shabby cotton-padded jacket sitting next to him.
The old man sat down next to him, closed his eyes and rested his mind. From time to time, his nose took a deep breath on the smoke next to Xu Tong, and he looked like he was enjoying it more than he did.
Xu Tong was happy when he saw this, and took out his tobacco and handed it over: "Uncle, would you like a sip?"
The old man looked at the cut tobacco, smashed it into his mouth, carefully picked up a cut tobacco with his fingers, put it in his hand and looked at it carefully for a moment: "What a good thing, this tobacco leaf is of the finest lemon yellow, and one tobacco plant can produce as much as
Five or six slices is enough."
After saying that, he put the tobacco in his mouth, closed his eyes and said slowly, "Yeah! Honey, sandalwood powder, bamboo leaf green, and soybeans."
After saying that, he took a light sniff at the shredded tobacco and said, "Okay, the lychee water should be mixed in when frying, stir-fry slowly over low heat, this is really skillful, and after three months of fermentation, um, it's good stuff."
After looking at it, tasting it, and smelling it, the old man actually calculated the production process of this tobacco leaf very accurately. It can be seen that the old man's level of attainments on the road of drug addiction is extraordinary.
"If you like it, I'll give you half."
Xu Tong said with a smile. He could see that the old man was extraordinary, so he just used this as a breakthrough.
As for this shredded tobacco, although it is rare, it is not a difficult thing for Gao Tianfang. After all, the Gao family's local prestige and power are extraordinary.
"No, no rewards for no merit. I appreciate your kindness. It's a blessing that I can take a puff of this tobacco. If I am an old man, my life will be shortened."
As the old man spoke, he took out a cigarette stick. Xu Tong took a look. Even though the old man was dressed in rags, the cigarette stick was extraordinary. It had a red sandalwood cigarette stick, a white jade mouth cover, and the cigarette pot looked like
It's brass.
There is something special about this smoking pot. The copper pot and Nan rod have a white jade mouth. Copper has the effect of heat conduction and heat resistance. It takes half a pound of high-quality brass to make a smoking pot. The white jade mouth is white marble, which is soft and smooth in the mouth.
The most difficult thing is that this "pole" is the hardest to choose. Iron poles are useless, copper poles are the worst, wooden poles are average, and bamboo poles are the best. They are not the kind of grown bamboo. They need to be made with old bamboo roots and bamboo whips.
The bamboo joints on the top need to be dense and the shape needs to be good. It is very difficult to find the right one.
The old man's cigarette rod looks like he is old at first glance. The cigarette rod has a layer of glass-like texture from years of playing with it, and the dense and tangible bamboo joints add a bit of artistic beauty.
One look at the state of this thing and you can tell that this thing is probably half of the old man's lifeblood.
He quickly pinched a handful of shredded tobacco. The old man's technique was also unique. He pinched it with his fingers and directly stuffed it into the tobacco pot. He gently rubbed it in the pot a few times to make it soft at the top and soft at the bottom.
After taking out the flint and roasting it for a while, he put it in his mouth and smoked it. After two puffs, the old man smashed his mouth and chatted to Xu Tong: "Very few people come to this place. You must be here to ask for something. Say
Let’s see, this old guy like me can still be of help.”
Or people often say that the distance between men is often only a cigarette.
Xu Tong was not polite when he heard this. After explaining his purpose, the old man glanced away and pointed at the man in the corner with a stone in his mouth and said: "Then you go find him, but this guy
It's hard to talk, so you should be prepared in advance."