A traitor

The two walked along the long street, turned around the alley, and walked for a while before arriving at the place Su Qinglang said.

Different from the one just now, the scale of this store is obviously much larger. The storefront alone occupies three or four rooms.

Just like flowing water, the things inside are also dazzling, luxurious and exquisite, and they don't look like ordinary things, as if they came out of some official mansions.

Su Qinglang said: "This shop is quite famous in Chang'an City, and it's very close to the Imperial College. When I was still a student, I often came here to buy things."

As he said that, he smiled helplessly, and said: "At that time, all the monthly expenses were spent in this store. I bought a bunch of pens, inks, papers and inkstones, and miscellaneous utensils, but I rarely used them at home. However, being naughty by Erniang is just trying to gain a reputation for elegance."

Mei Liusheng also lowered his head and smiled when he heard the words, and said: "Sometimes, it is a good thing to be talked about by others. Brother Su must have lived happily when he was young."

Thinking of the untimely death of Mei Liusheng's parents, the uncle who helped him to study, and the whole family suffering due to the plague, Su Qinglang suddenly felt speechless.

He tilted his head sideways, as if in relief, and said softly: "People have different experiences at the time. The so-called destiny is often like this, and it is always like this. It is always better to look at everything."

Mei Liusheng was taken aback, stunned for a moment, heard the meaning of his words, and nodded with a light smile.

Seeing Su Qinglang turn around again, he asked: "Brother Mei didn't have any interesting things when he was young, is there anything I can think about?"

Mei Liusheng was silent for a moment before replying: "When I was young, my father was extremely strict and always busy, so I hardly saw anyone. As for my mother, she was indifferent and rarely cared about me. passed away, so little is remembered of them."

After a pause, he said again: "But when I was seven years old, I went hunting with my father in the mountains. On the way, I met a wild bear. My father was seriously injured to protect me and almost died. Our father and son worked together to kill the wild bear. It should be the happiest memory in my heart..."

Su Qinglang turned around, only to see Mei Liusheng's expression was solemn, not as calm as before.

He thought for a moment, and then said: "I still remember when I was young, it was snowing in the winter, and I had to use a folding fan to cover my face. I always thought that doing that was considered a romantic talent, but in fact, my forehead hurt from the cold wind. Until now, if you don’t hold something in your hand, it’s like something is missing, no wonder the little brother of the Lu family will say it.”

Mei Liusheng lowered his eyes and smiled when he heard the words, and replied: "Lord Lu is young and ignorant, he has no intention of offending Brother Su, please don't share his knowledge with Brother Su."

Su Qinglang shook his head, but with a bit of admiration in his eyes, he said: "He is not young and ignorant, but he is outspoken. Such a person is better than a person with a sweet heart and a sword."

Mei Liusheng was taken aback again. He thought that Lu Xun would be annoyed by him for offending Su Qinglang so much, but he didn't expect that Su Qinglang had a good impression of this brother Lu Xun.

Thinking back to that Jia Siqi who was flattered by the whole family and paid money to the Minister's Mansion all day long, was squeezed to pieces by Su Qinglang, the relationship between this person is really changeable and weird.

Looking up, he saw that Su Qinglang had already walked in, and he followed suit. The shopkeeper in the shop was talking to the customers, introducing things with great interest and eloquence.

Turning around, he saw Su Qinglang approaching, accompanied by a young man in black clothes. He felt that the scene was familiar, he seemed to have known each other, and he was in a trance for a moment, as if he had been in a lifetime, so he couldn't help being startled.

After seeing the young man's face clearly, he came back to his senses, and hurriedly handed the things to the guy next to him.

He straightened his clothes, went up to him and cupped his hands and said, "I said what is the name of the magpie this morning. It turned out that Lord Shangshu came here. It is really an honor to make the small shop flourish."

Su Qinglang was very pleased with what he heard, he weighed the folding fan in his hand, and said with a wry smile: "If I'm really honored, I'll bring out some good things later, don't go to school twice and sell dog meat as a sheep's trick. Will introduce some fakes to me."

The store owner was very panicked, and hurriedly said: "Where is it, when Lord Shangshu comes here, the villain will offer the best things in the store, how dare you pretend to be inferior to deceive adults?"

After a pause, Lie Shou said: "A new batch of things has been brought in today, sir, take a look, is it still eye-catching?"

He was about to lead the way, but was stopped by Su Qinglang, and said, "I'm here for a casual look, as long as you're busy first, you don't need to say hello."

The store owner let out a sigh and said many good things. Seeing that Su Qinglang was not in high spirits and had no intention of dealing with him, he resigned and let them go about their own activities.

Seeing that the shop was walking away, Su Qinglang approached Mei Liusheng, deliberately lowered his voice and said, "The things here are quite exquisite. If you need anything in the future, Brother Mei, you can come here to find it. You just need to be more cautious. Many of them have been confiscated by the court. Confiscated items that have not been registered will be sold by the officials below, and if they accidentally buy such things, they will not be able to wash them off even if they jump into the Yellow River."

Mei Liusheng nodded, and replied yes, and seeing him stepping towards a shelf, he said confidently: "But I know this place well, if you want to buy something, you can ask me to look at it, I'm here , I’m sure you won’t buy something of unknown origin.”

He stretched out his hand and took down a dagger from the shelf. This dagger was about eight inches long, and the sheath was engraved with flowing patterns of clouds and waves, and several precious stones were embedded in it.

It's just that the gemstone has lost its original luster due to the age, and there are also dark stains deposited on the scabbard's lines. It is heavy to hold, so it should be a good treasure.

He was holding the handle of the knife, and just wanted to pull it out to have a look, but he was a frail scholar, and the dagger was not used all year round, so the inside of the dagger was raw, so he couldn't pull it out after several attempts.

Seeing this, Mei Liusheng stepped over to do it for him, easily pulled out the dagger, and handed it to him.

Su Qinglang looked at the sharp blade on the inside of the dagger, only felt that the murderous aura in it was restrained, which made people feel cold all over his body, and said: "Brother Mei, the imperial city is no different than the others. You wear a sword around your waist all day long to scare people. You are now I don’t have anything to give you as the number one scholar, why don’t I give you this dagger as a congratulatory gift.”

After trying to swing it twice, he said very satisfied: "Although it is not as good as your long sword, self-defense is still possible."

Mei Liusheng looked at the dagger, his eyes paused, and the words that someone swore just now echoed in his mind, "With me here, I will definitely not buy things of unknown origin."

Pulling his lips, he said: "Forget it, brother Su, as long as you have such a heart, if you spend more money, I will feel sorry."

Su Qinglang raised his eyebrows and smiled, and said: "What's the matter, the sword is given to the hero, since you and I are good friends, why should you be so polite?"

Saying that, he stuffed the dagger into Mei Liusheng's hand, and turned around to look for other things.

Mei Liusheng held the dagger, his eyes were complicated, he felt a little helpless, and he was speechless.

I was searching casually, but saw a delicate pen holder on a table not far away, made of bamboo and wood, it looked a little old.

The reliefs engraved on it include small bridges and flowing water, people, flowers, birds, insects, fish and animals. The carvings are exquisite and lifelike, and they are very strange.

Su Qinglang was stunned for a moment, and after a long while, he stretched out his hand to take it in disbelief, stared at it blankly, and didn't return to his senses for a long time.

The shopkeeper glanced at the thing in his hand inadvertently, and was scared out of his wits. He hurried over and said, "My Lord Su, this thing can't be bought..."

Su Qinglang turned his gaze to him, and the shopkeeper suddenly felt guilty, and said falteringly: "This... this is not for sale, it was put here by mistake because of the ignorance of the shop assistants."

Su Qinglang's face was a little pale, his expression was in a trance, as if he had been hit, his fingers tightly grasped the pen holder, refusing to let go.

Hearing this, he smiled sadly and said: "I like this thing very much, since it is not for sale, please give it to me?"

Mei Liusheng heard the movement and came over, but saw that he put the purse on the table, took off the jade sachet from his waist, and pushed all of them in front of the shopkeeper.

The words were sincere, even with a bit of begging: "I will exchange these things with you, together with that dagger..."

Mei Liusheng heard the words and looked at the pen container. Although the carving was peculiar, it was not a rare thing;

Moreover, it is slightly damaged. If you look carefully, you can find that one of the plum trees has half a branch broken, as if it was broken by someone forcefully. With Su Qinglang's identity, why does he have a soft spot for such things? , could not help but be more puzzled.

The shopkeeper was very embarrassed, and after a moment of silence, he sighed: "Since the adult is holding this thing, he must know the origin of it. The villain is not willing to give it to you, and it is for the sake of the adult. Why should the adult be persistent?"

Su Qinglang lowered his head, looked at the pen holder and said, "A's honey, B's arsenic, you're not me, how can you know how important this thing is to me."

Hearing this, the shopkeeper was silent for a while, and finally said: "Well, since the adults really insist, and the villains will not stop, I will give this item to the adults."

After picking and choosing, he returned the jade pendant sachet to him, leaving only some silver, and said: "That dagger is not worth the price, my lord should take these things back."

Su Qinglang thanked her, and carefully put the pen container back in her hand.

Walking out of the shop, Mei Liusheng looked at the things in his hands, and asked suspiciously: "Brother Su, this is..."

Su Qinglang smiled calmly, and replied: "It's just a relic of an old man, I don't want it to be left here, and make Brother Mei laugh."

He staggered away from Mei Liusheng, and walked ahead, walking in the bustling long street, unknowingly, his eyes were red, and his clothes were wet with silent tears.

Mei Liusheng stood in the same place, looking at the direction he left, and felt that the surroundings were still bustling and pedestrians were constantly flowing, but the back, desolate and silent, seemed to be alone.

The willows are blowing in the wind, and the tender branches are gently brushing across the air, smudged into the light green background, the person is like a dream, and the apricot blossoms are like snow, falling one after another, leaving scars all over the ground...