Me and my Jianghu Tavern

"Meow……"

"Get up and get up!"

Xiao Qi had no choice but to be woken up half an hour after she lay down, it was really annoying, she wanted to sleep.

Zhang Ming hugged Xiaoqi and went out. He recalled the people on the roof before, and remembered what happened in the fence during the day, and then he remembered:

Isn't the person who gave him the badge and the mask the same thin man in the fence during the day?

"Will there be trouble?"

Zhang Ming raised his eyebrows, and suddenly felt that these two things were not important.

He glanced back at the inn, thinking about throwing those two things away when he came back.

.........

.........

Tonight is the Double Seventh Festival. Zhang Ming walked on the street and saw many people carrying lanterns. There were men and women, but no men and women were walking side by side.

Xiaoqi opened his eyes, he couldn't sleep because of the lanterns around him, so he had to watch.

Zhang Ming followed these pedestrians to a riverside.

Looking around, the river is full of river lanterns and flickering candles, carrying people's long-cherished wishes.

People believe that these lamps will bring the blessings, thoughts and hopes of the living to the dead.

In addition, releasing river lanterns is also a form of blessing. Young scholars look forward to their future, and twenty-eight girls look forward to marriage.

Or looking forward to children, or seeking peace, or wanting to be rich, whatever you think about, you can write it into the lantern.

"What is this doing?"

Zhang Ming saw that the entire riverside was overcrowded, most of them were men, almost no women, they were not releasing river lanterns, but picking up river lanterns on the river.

There are two types of river lights on the river, one is yellow and the other is red. People on the bank pick up red lights, but they never touch yellow lights.

Zhang Ming went up to inquire about it, and then he understood.

These red river lanterns are almost all river lanterns praying for marriage, in order to ask for a destined person.

There will be a note in the river lantern, and most of the notes are nagging or troublesome.

The red handwriting is for women, and the black is for men, but most of them are red handwriting.

People in the upper reaches put down the river lanterns, and the people in the lower reaches pick them up again. What matters is a fate.

However, this is just a form of entertainment. It is very difficult to say that we can really meet each other.

The name and address will not be written in the river lantern, and the person who picks up the river lantern is just listening to the nagging of a stranger. Maybe he will never know the person who put the lantern in his life.

The person who puts the lamp and the person who picks up the lamp are just trying to express their feelings.

"Why haven't I heard of such a custom?" Zhang Ming murmured, probably due to cultural differences, after all, this is a different world.

Zhang Ming thought that since he was here, he could just join in the fun.

Walking to the edge of the river, holding Xiaoqi in one hand, he picked up a river lantern from the river.

There was a piece of paper under the candlelight in the middle of the river lantern, and Zhang Ming took it out.

Opening the note, the handwriting is beautifully written in red, indicating that it is a woman, and the content on the paper is a poem.

[When the golden wind and jade dew meet, they will win, but there are countless people in the world. If the two loves last for a long time, how can they be in the same day and night. 】

"??"

The corner of Zhang Ming's mouth twitched, and he put the note back into the river lantern, and then put the river lantern back into the river.

Seeing the river lantern drifting farther and farther with the water, Zhang Ming muttered, "How could such a thing happen..."

Sure enough, copying poems will be punished by God.

Zhang Ming planned to leave just like that, but at this moment, a river lantern floated in front of his eyes, and was blocked by the weeds beside him.

"Meow." Seeing the river lantern, Xiao Qi reminded Zhang Ming to pick it up.

Zhang Ming thought about it, and finally picked it up.

It was still written in red, but there was only one word written on it.

【sandalwood】

The handwriting is strong and powerful, not like it was written by a woman.

Zhang Ming took the note and put the river lantern back. This was just for fun, so don't worry too much about it.

fate?

He never believed it.

.........

There are many people who are releasing sky lanterns by the river, which are Kongming lanterns.

The long-cherished wishes of the people who put the lanterns are written on the sky lanterns, and the sky lanterns will fly to the distance with their wishes.

"Meow." Xiaoqi's eyes were burning. It looked at the floating lantern with curiosity, so it writhed in Zhang Ming's arms.

Zhang Ming looked down at it and asked, "What? You want to play too?"

Xiao Qi looked at the sky lantern flying up, then at Zhang Ming, and nodded half understanding.

"I'll release it later, it's still early." Zhang Ming touched Xiaoqi's forehead and said.

"By the way, aren't you choosing the oiran today? Where did you come from?"

Zhang Ming walked back to the street. He heard them say that today is the day to choose the oiran, but he didn't know where it was. He walked around for a long time but didn't see it.

I've never seen it, so I'm curious.

"I would have asked Yu Linglong if I knew about it earlier." Zhang Ming muttered, but now that he couldn't find a place, wouldn't it be a waste of time to come here again.

"Meow! Meow!" Xiao Qi was in a hurry, probably wanting to release the sky lantern, and kept making trouble in Zhang Ming's arms.

"Uh..." Zhang Ming felt a little helpless, so he had no choice but to say, "Okay, let's put up the sky lantern first."

There were many hawkers selling sky lanterns on the street by the river. Zhang Ming picked one at random and asked, "How much is this sky lantern? Do you have a pen and ink?"

When the peddler saw the business coming, he immediately greeted him: "My lord, sky lanterns are not expensive, only three yuan, and naturally there are pens and inks."

"Then... take two." Zhang Ming said.

After paying the money, Zhang Ming took pen and ink from the vendor, not knowing what to write on it.

"Meow." Xiao Qi wanted to play a long time ago, and jumped out of Zhang Ming's arms.

Zhang Ming turned to look at Xiao Qi, and said, "Do you want to write something too?"

"Then you can follow the two footprints." Zhang Ming stroked his chin, and finally picked up Xiao Qi's hoof to paint with ink.

The meat pad was pressed on the paper, Xiao Qi did not resist, and pressed several footprints in a row before giving up.

"Meow." Xiao Qi's sky lantern is full of cat paw prints, he likes it very much, looking at the sky lantern that belongs to him is very excited.

Zhang Ming didn't know what to wish, so he only wrote five characters in the end.

[May the world of mortals be safe. 】

On the bank of the river, a white cat in clothes stood on one shoulder.

The two looked up at the sky lantern that belonged to them, and their eyes were shining brightly.

The two sky lanterns floated side by side towards the long night, mixing into the thousands of sky lanterns.

The candle flame is like the stars in the sky, never going out.

May the world of mortals be safe.

Chapter 93: The Wind and Rain Are Coming

There is nothing better in this world than at this moment, the paw prints on the sky lantern, and the pen and ink that says the world is safe.

One person and one cat have nothing to ask for, that is the best.

Zhang Ming carried Xiao Qi back to the street, passing by the frolicking crowd, watching the sky lanterns rising from the side, the faces of the people were filled with smiles, the most simple.

For some reason, Zhang Ming came to the fence in the daytime, raised his head and looked surprised, and muttered, "Is the fence still open?"

The sword was moved in the hook bar, so didn't the yamen in the city take care of it?It's a little strange that the hook bar is still open.

Zhang Ming walked into the Goulan. There were a lot fewer people here. Compared with the previous few days, the stand was not even full of people today. Probably because of the daytime events, many people were scared away.

There is no one on the stage, and the play has not yet started.

Zhang Ming was not in a hurry, he found a seat and sat down.

"It's you, kid."

At this moment, a familiar voice suddenly came from beside him. Zhang Ming turned around and recognized this person.

This person is not someone else, but the old man Gu Qingshan took to the tavern, Zhang Ming invited him to drink last time.

"Listening to an opera?" Zhang Ming said.

Old man Huang shook his head and said, "No, I'm going to watch the show."

"Is there a difference?" Zhang Ming blinked.

"Of course." Old Man Huang smiled, showing his yellow teeth.

Zhang Ming raised his eyebrows. The old man obviously had something to say. In addition, Gou Lan had experienced the incident during the day. It is estimated that something will happen again tonight.

"Is that the storyteller?" Zhang Ming asked.

The old man Huang was startled, glanced at Zhang Ming and said, "You know why you are asking me?"

"I'm not very clear. Something happened here during the day." Zhang Ming shook his head and stroked Xiao Qi in his arms with his right hand.

"That old storyteller is no ordinary person."

"I know that, what happened during the day?"

The old man Huang wanted to continue talking, but he paused and asked, "Boy, did you bring any wine?"

"No." Zhang Ming said.

"If you don't have wine, I won't talk about it." Old Man Huang said.

Zhang Ming pouted, reluctantly took out the gourd at the back of his waist, and handed it to Old Man Huang.

"Hey, the kid still wants to lie to me." Old man Huang opened the wine cork of the gourd with a smile, and took a sip into his mouth. It wasn't plum blossom wine, but the smell of fermented glutinous rice.

The old man Huang grinned and sighed: "Not bad, this wine is really getting better and better."

"What you drink now is no different from what you drank before." Zhang Ming said.

Old man Huang cut it and said, "You still don't want to praise you a few times, old man."

"Forget it, you kid is like a dead face every day. After all, why are you asking about this?" Old Man Huang asked.

Zhang Ming thought about it, maybe it was because he was curious, the storyteller stopped talking halfway, and he was even more curious about the part he didn't say.

"Curiosity." Zhang Ming replied.

Old man Huang nodded, and then explained: "Have you heard of the Jian'an Quartet Envoy?"

Zhang Ming shook his head, he hadn't heard of it.

"The world is divided into rivers and lakes and the imperial court. The imperial court is the yamen, and the rivers and lakes are naturally guarded by people. The four masters in the east, west, north, south, and south are all in the dark."

"The green dragon in the east of the city, the white tiger in the west of the city, the red bird in the south of the city, and the Xuanwu in the north of the city. The old man thought this was just a legend until I actually met a few of them. The storyteller and old guy you mentioned is one of them. He is better than the others. Three people are much more interesting."

The old man Huang took a sip of fermented glutinous rice wine and continued: "The old guy is Xuanwu among them, Suzaku is a slutty woman, Qinglong wears a fox mask all day long, and is good at swordsmanship. As for the white tiger ...It seems that someone has changed, and the old man doesn't know who it is, but he was a young child before."

Zhang Ming's heart trembled, the man who gave him the badge and mask was Qinglong.

"But what does this have to do with what happened during the day?" Zhang Ming asked.

Old man Huang glanced at him and said with a smile, "It doesn't matter? It matters a lot."

The old man Huang held the gourd, thought for a while before drinking, "In my opinion, these four people never seem to know each other's true identities."