After entering Yanshui County, Tang Ji was surprised by the scene in the city. There were no people on the main street. There were many crooked and abandoned stalls on both sides. The garbage piled in the corner was crowded with flies, and the smell was everywhere.
It makes people feel nauseous when they smell it. Everywhere they look is desolate, even more exaggerated than Qingxian County. People who don't know about it may think that this is a dead city.
"Let's go, find a place to rest for half a day, and continue our journey in the afternoon. If we go quickly, we can reach Yingzhou City in five days at most." Su Qing had already put away the angry look on his face and said to Tang Ji in a calm voice.
Tang Ji looked up at the sky and thought for a moment. It had been eighteen days since they left Kyoto City. According to the previous budget of twenty-five days, there was still two days of error tolerance, so there was no need to rush. He waved his hand.
: "Lao Su, we must be in good health to complete the mission well, otherwise we will collapse when we get to Yingzhou. Therefore, we should have a good breakfast and then sleep peacefully before setting off!
"
Hearing this, Sun Yufu, who was following behind and yawning, nodded in agreement: "I'll find a place to stay, old man, and I'll take a nap first. You can just buy some breakfast and bring it over to me."
Tang Ji cast a look of contempt at him. The old man was just like an old man, dictating to him along the way. However, considering that he still needed the other party's protection, he didn't say anything more, withdrew his gaze, and continued to move forward with everyone.
After a while, they walked through several streets in the south and finally found an area where there were people. However, the scattered pedestrians all looked melancholy. The vendors on the roadside stood behind their carts with their heads hanging down.
Without a trace of vitality, they did not hawk or sell their goods. They noticed the moving Tang Ji and the four people, and raised their heads slightly, with a little doubt in their eyes, or they could not figure out why there would be fools entering the city.
The four of them walked some distance and finally found an inn at the end of a certain street.
Tang Ji took the lead and walked in. The space of this small building was not large. The layout and decoration were simple, but it looked quite clean. He glanced around and then his eyes fell on the counter next to the stairs: "Shopkeeper, please stay here."
shop."
The middle-aged shopkeeper with a sallow face was resting on his stomach. When he heard the sound, he woke up suddenly. He raised his arm and wiped the scratches at the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. It was rare to meet someone who came to stay in the hotel early in the morning.
He was a guest. He adjusted his expression and said with a smile: "How many gentlemen are there?"
Tang Ji turned to look at the three people standing outside the door, and replied calmly: "Just give us three rooms."
According to the old rules, he and Su Qing shared a room each, and Old Man Sun and Cheng Tie shared a room.
The middle-aged shopkeeper nodded slightly and continued to smile: "Three rooms are only five taels of silver. I wonder how many days the young master will stay?"
Five taels of silver!
Tang Ji blinked his eyes, thinking that he heard wrongly. They had encountered black shops on the road before, but they only cost two taels of silver. This product actually cost five taels of silver. Even a luxury inn in Kyoto city only cost 5 taels of silver.
This price is good!
The shopkeeper noticed the change in his expression and explained: "Young Master must have just arrived in Yanshui County, but I believe you have seen how chaotic it is outside. It is not easy to make ends meet now. I hope you can forgive me."
Tang Ji nodded slightly, not intending to embarrass the other party. He took out his money bag, rummaged through it and found a few pieces of silver and handed it over: "There are so many that there is no need to look for them. Can you feed the horse?"
The shopkeeper weighed the silver in his hand. According to experience, it was probably nearly seven taels. He immediately said with joy, "Okay, since the young master is so generous, I will definitely feed your horse."
After saying that, he stood up and quickly made arrangements for Tang Ji.
After a long time, Tang Ji walked to Su Qing's door and was about to knock on the door when he found that the door had been opened from the inside. He continued: "Old Su, there is no food in this inn. Let's go out and have some breakfast."
, let’s find out more by the way.”
"Yes." Su Qing nodded, then walked out of the room and said with a smile, "Aren't you sleepy?"
"It's not bad, mainly because I slept well yesterday, and now I need to fill my stomach urgently." Tang Ji replied as he walked towards the stairs. As soon as he came down the stairs, he asked the shopkeeper again: "Shopkeeper Lu, where can I get breakfast nearby?
?”
Shopkeeper Lu thought for a while and said with a smile: "Young master, turn right when you go out. Walk two blocks ahead and you will find restaurants and restaurants."
"Thank you." Tang Ji left the door without saying a word.
Following the guidance of the innkeeper, Tang Ji and the other two people soon walked to a spacious street. It cannot be said that this place is very different from other streets. It has nothing to do with it. Although there are no pedestrians, it is very lively. There are people outside the brothel in the distance.
There were many prostitutes posing and soliciting customers. A naked man had just been thrown out of the gambling house on the other side. There were also voices of customers ordering waiters from the nearby teahouse... It was like fireworks in the whole city.
All the energy has gathered here.
"The people who can still enjoy it here are either rich or noble." Su Qing sighed.
Tang Ji nodded in agreement, but didn't answer much. He touched his belly and walked straight to a bun shop on the right: "Shopkeeper, here are twenty buns, ten vegetarian and ten meatless."
"Okay." The man with a big belly replied, opened the basket and counted the buns.
Tang Ji blinked his eyes and asked softly: "Shopkeeper, there is such chaos in Yanshui City, why didn't you escape, but you were interested in selling steamed buns here?"
Hearing this, the owner of the bun shop sighed: "My roots are here, and other places are similar. Where can I go after leaving Yanshui County? Is it possible to go to Kyoto? I don't have the money to travel so far.
No matter what, it's death, it's better to die here."
As soon as he finished speaking, he had finished the action at hand and handed the oil paper bag filled with buns to Tang Ji: "It's three hundred coins in total. Now the food in the city has increased a lot. I hope you can forgive me."
Tang Ji shook his head and said he didn't care, paid a piece of silver and turned around to leave.
"Well, it tastes pretty good, Lao Su, you should try it too." Two bags of steamed buns, one in Cheng Tie's hand, Tang Ji took out a meat bun from the other bag, took a bite, and handed the oiled paper bag to him
Su Qing.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, a figure ran directly into his back, and then left in a hurry.
"Can you please be careful when walking!" Tang Ji was almost knocked down. Seeing that the bun in his hand was still safe, he breathed a sigh of relief. He subconsciously touched the money bag at his waist, but didn't touch anything. He reacted instantly and pointed.
Looking at the fleeing gray figure, he shouted: "Damn thief, stop!"
Seeing this, Su Qing stuffed the oil paper bag she had just received back into Tang Ji's arms and quickly chased him out.
Tang Ji took another bite of the bun and quickly caught up.
The little thief knew some martial arts and was obviously a habitual thief. After he succeeded, he moved very neatly and walked through the streets nimbly. If there weren't many pedestrians on the streets, he might have disappeared without a trace.
After passing through two streets in succession, Su Qing saw the other person slip into an alley, turned his eyes slightly, turned around and turned into the side path, and within a moment, he caught the latter.
The little thief still seemed to be resisting. He raised his elbow and struck at Su Qing's chest. However, he was easily blocked. No matter how hard he tried, it was of no avail.
Soon, Tang Ji caught up and stopped beside Su Qing. He put his hands on his knees and breathed heavily: "Run, can you run away? You stole my money in broad daylight!"
After saying that, he touched the other person's waist, trying to take the money bag back, but as soon as he touched the slender waist, he suddenly understood something, quickly retracted his hand, put his hand on his lips and coughed twice: "Cheng Tie
, get my money back!”
Cheng Tie, who wanted to swallow another bun, stopped when he heard the sound and took two steps forward in confusion: "Brother Tang, didn't you find it?"
Tang Ji took a half step back and replied: "I haven't searched yet, but it feels a bit exciting, so it would be more appropriate for you to do it."
Hearing this, the little thief looked anxious and struggled violently again, but under Su Qing's control, he could not move at all.
"What's exciting?" Cheng Tie asked in confusion, but his hand had already touched the other person's waist. After seeing that there was no silver, he noticed that the little thief's chest was slightly protruding, so he thought that the silver was stuffed in his chest.
He raised his hand and touched it again.
But before he could succeed, the little thief's cheeks turned red and he shouted angrily: "Stop!"
Hearing the sharp sound, Cheng Tie was also startled: "It's really exciting!"
...
[Author's digression]: Let me tell you, due to work and family matters, Xu Xu's time for writing novels may be compressed in the future, so starting from the northwest chapter, we have officially decided to give you two chapters a day, each chapter is 2,500 words.
I hope you can forgive me if it brings you a bad reading experience~
The northwest chapter is something I've always wanted to write, and it's more about martial arts. I hope I can write it well and make it enjoyable for everyone!
Finally, I would like to thank last week’s golden tickets: Ah Zhou, Xingxing, and Li Dexian.
Thank you for your support of this book, and thank you to everyone who is following it!