Broken Iron Clothes

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The spring is getting warmer, there is less snow and ice on the roads, Gu Nanxing is also on his way quickly, and he has been shopping in Qinzhou for two days now.

Qinzhou is in the easternmost part of Dali Kingdom, with Mengzhou in the south, Linja City and Aozhou in the west.It is not yet summer, Qinzhou does not have much rain, but the wind is also moist.

A few days ago, in order to save some money for drinks, Gu Nanxing took on another murder job, but he was cut on his left arm on the way. After the incident was completed, he ignored the wound and stopped the bleeding hastily.

It's been cold recently, Gu Nanxing was dressed tightly, and even forgot about the wound on his left arm.

It was warm in the room at night, and when he took off his clothes to take a bath, he felt that his injury had worsened. As a result, when he roughly pulled off the gauze to look at the wound, he tore apart the blood-clogged skin/flesh. The old injury fell, and this time the pain was more severe.

In the past, when he was in pain, he would bear it by himself, but sometimes Zhong Dingshan and Ji Dong grabbed him, so he would be dragged and scolded, and then he would be given medicine.But now Ji Dong is not by his side, and at night it is difficult to fall asleep due to the dull pain, so he uses alcohol to numb himself, so that every day when he wakes up, he has a severe headache.

On this day, when he turned around, he accidentally knocked the wine jug on the side of his hand off the couch, and a loud knock woke him up from his dream.He hammered his heavy forehead, got up and took a basin of cold water, splashed a few times hastily on his face, then set off to meet Zhong Qiu.

"Shopkeeper, why is your tavern getting more and more shabby, you can't compare to someone who knows how to drink at a stall opposite the door." Gu Nanxing leaned against the counter with an empty wine jug, and glanced at the booth surrounded by people outside the door .

Zhong Qiu pushed aside his abacus and said with a smile: "Guest officer, please don't laugh at me, as soon as you leave, this restaurant will be closed."

Gu Nanxing turned his head and asked, "Where do you want to move?"

"Go south and go north," Zhong Qiu shook his head, "it's hard to say."

Zhongqiu has been by Liu Zhaoye's side for many years. After receiving Liu Zhaoye's order more than a year ago, he went to Qinzhou to open a tavern to pass the news, but according to what he said, after passing the message, he had to leave Qinzhou I went to look for Liu Zhaoye. As for where I will go after that, it is not convenient to disclose.

There were only a few people sitting in the restaurant, and there was occasional commotion outside the door, which always attracted people's attention.Gu Nanxing listened to the sound, lightly clamped the copper plate with two fingers, and knocked on the counter.

"What wine do you want, guest officer?" Zhong Qiu asked.

Gu Nanxing put the jug on the table: "Same as usual."

Zhong Qiu took the empty jug and said: "Coincidentally, this wine is too strong, and only the people in our shop can taste it. Now there is only this jug left."

Gu Nanxing said with a smile: "Then I won't be polite, please ask the shopkeeper to fill up."

The wine was poured into the jug, and the mellow aroma rose from the bottom, suddenly evoking some blood-red memories.Gu Nanxing's fingertips were slightly loose, and the copper plate rolled forward for two rounds, and after hitting the ground, it circled a few times and settled.

Zhong Qiu paused, knelt down, picked up the copper plate, tapped twice on the table, and said: "Now this wine shop has been open for more than a year, and it's quite satisfactory. It doesn't have more tricks than the young man who set up the stall, so the business is naturally deserted."

Gu Nanxing raised his eyes and asked, "What's so strange about that booth?"

"The guest officer doesn't know, but the young man sitting in front of the stall seems to have an eye disease, and there is an old mother who is aphasic at home. Two months ago, this young man rented a table and a stool in my shop, and he came here from time to time to set up a stall on the street. At first He still sells wild vegetables, but this month he suddenly started a wine business." Zhongqiu said.

It seems that the person outside the door is the person Zhong Qiu found for him.

Gu Nanxing picked up the copper plate on the table and threw it up, caught it properly and turned around: "What is the method of knowing wine?"

"Here, I was asked to help write the words on the board," Zhongqiu squinted his eyes to recognize the words, and read, "Ten words once, smell the fragrance and know the wine, if there is a mistake, give five words."

A small sign was leaning against the wooden table, surrounded by many people.Yi Qinchen sat at the table, and stretched out his fingers to explore the jug in front of him.Although the man had a white cloth covering his eyes, he couldn't hide his cold and handsome posture, standing out alone in the crowd.

Gu Nanxing looked at the person, folded his arms, and bent his eyes: "Interesting."

"To this day, I haven't seen the son lose money once, but the mother and son are not from Qinzhou. If you are interested, you may as well go and have a look." Zhong Qiu closed the wine pot and handed it over. "You take this wine."

Gu Nanxing handed over the money, took the note from under the jug, and said, "Thank you."

Zhong Qiu nodded and said, "Guest officer, go slowly."

The breeze blew a little, and the scent of wine mixed in the air, smelling intoxicating.Yi Qinchen lightly opened the lid of the pot, and fanned the aroma of wine from the mouth of the pot to the tip of his nose.

"Mulberry leaves fall into the well, take the water and make it," Yi Qinchen said in a clear voice, "Sangluo wine."

After saying that, he covered the jug and put it back on the table, and someone came out and took the pot away, and put ten copper plates on the table.

Yi Qinchen fumbled for the copper plate, picked it up and threw it into his waist pocket, opened another pot of wine, and smelled the mellow fragrance that came out of it.

"This wine smells like cinnamon, I think it's some cinnamon wine mixed with the rice wine."

Yi Qinchen closed the lid and handed back the jug.

After taking over, the man raised the spout of the pot to his nose and sniffed it, then raised his hand and waved it in front of him, and asked half-believingly, "Are you really blind, or are you covered in a cloth to deceive people?"

Yi Qinchen said calmly: "It doesn't matter whether the eyes are sick or not, if you are blindfolded, you can't see."

Another person pushed the last jug of wine on the table and said, "There's one more jug, let's get to know each other."

Yi Qinchen found the pot by touching the table, and frowned after smelling it for a while.

Seeing his appearance, the man smiled triumphantly: "How about it, can't you recognize him?"

Yi Qinchen sighed and laughed: "Although I collect money to know the wine, and don't judge the good or bad, but the green bamboo leaf wine is brewed carefully, and it is a bit wasteful to mix wine and water into it."

Hearing this, the man put away the jug angrily, and said with a bowed head, "It's amazing..."

Twenty copper plates were smashed on the table and scattered in an unruly manner, Yi Qinchen had to pick them up one by one, put them in his palm and count them.Taking advantage of this moment, one hand sneakily reached for the money bag on his waist.

Yi Qinchen frowned slightly, but still focused on counting the money and didn't move.

"I have knowledge about wine here."

Gu Nanxing circled around, walked to the side of the person who stole the money, put his hand on his shoulder, leaned towards Yi Qinchen again, and said, "How about a piece of silver?"

Yi Qinchen said calmly: "Next time, only ten coins will be accepted."

Gu Nanxing opened the lid casually with one hand, and handed the pot to Yi Qinchen: "It's not too late, sir, to get to know the wine first and then negotiate the price."

Yi Qinchen judged the direction by listening to the sound, reached out and took the flagon, moved it in front of him to taste it.

Seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, Gu Nanxing said with a smile: "If you can't smell it, it doesn't hurt to try it."

"No, if you say you smell the fragrance and know the wine, you only smell the fragrance," Yi Qinchen handed out the wine pot, touched the money bag at his waist, put it on the table, and said, "It's because I'm ignorant and ignorant that I don't know this." For the wine, you don’t need to give the ten coins, the money is in the bag, and the young master can take another five coins for himself.”

Unexpectedly, before Gu Nanhang took the money, he spread his palms and raised his head and said, "Yo, it's going to rain."

When everyone heard this, they all raised their heads and looked up.Dark clouds gathered in the sky, it looked like it had accumulated rain but it would not fall, and then there was a gust of cool wind, and someone shivered, rolled up their sleeves and echoed: "It's true, it's gone."

Then the crowd dispersed because of the rain that was about to fall, and the little thief wanted to follow the crowd and hid his hands holding the money under his wide sleeves with his lowered arms, turning his head to leave.

Gu Nanxing squeezed the little thief's shoulder, and pushed the man's arm behind him with a smile.The thief suddenly sweated in pain and cried out.

Feeling that the cry was strange, Yi Qinchen listened carefully.Gu Nanxing took the money stolen by the thief, let go of him, and deliberately said: "You use snacks when you walk, why did you stumble over it?"

The little thief ran away in panic, clutching his shoulders. Gu Nanxing grabbed the money bag while Yi Qinchen was touching the table and got up.

The smell of spirits was still lingering on the tip of his nose, Yi Qinchen stood up and asked: "Young master, why don't you leave, but there is a mistake in the money?"

Gu Nanxing threw the copper plate into the bag, and replied casually: "That's not true, it happens that there is nowhere to go, and the inns I found are full of people, so I can only worry about where to go here."

Yi Qinchen paused, and then asked, "What kind of wine is the young master's wine?"

After all, he had a heart for wine. Hearing this, Gu Nanxing immediately raised his head and said, "Tieyi Wine."

"I heard that this wine is quite strong. If you have nowhere else to go, my lord, it's better to drink less." Yi Qinchen also straightened his nose, looked warm, but when he smiled, he gave off a cool breath.

Gu Nanxing carefully looked at the man's face, seeing him bowing to lift the table and stool, he cut off the table with his hands first.

"The restaurant opposite will be closed tomorrow, I will return this table and stool for you."

Yi Qinchen smiled and said, "I can still do such a small thing as moving tables and stools."

"You have poor eyesight, and you don't know when the money bag was touched by someone alone guarding the booth." Gu Nanxing handed the money bag to the man, "Count it to see if it's right."

Hearing the sound of moving beside his ear, Yi Qinchen stood where he was, and carefully touched the copper plate inside with his slightly cool fingers through the purse, making some noises.

-

The plum blossoms in the Huimei Courtyard also fell, and the green leaves on each tree were all green. Although they had changed their colors, they carried a pure breath, and the disciples faded away from the horror of being hit by the storm.

In the study, Jiang Shiqing was warming the wine.The freshly boiled hot water was poured into the mother pot, and the water vapor steamed out, lingering in the air. Jiang Shiqing poured the wine into the child pot and said, "The inspections in the city have been tightened these days, and it is inconvenient for you to go out, sir."

Yuan Mucheng fingered the books on the shelf, and replied, "Yes."

Jiang Shiqing put down the wine jar lightly, put the poured jug into hot water, and said: "Cui Cheng's whereabouts are unknown, and the person who took him away does not belong to King Yin, nor may he be from the Yan family."

Yuan Mucheng looked at the words written by Jiang Shiqing on the case, dipped some wet ink on his fingertips, and said "hmm" again.

Jiang Shiqing looked up at him, then poured himself a cup of tea, picked up the rosary and sat in silence.

After hearing no sound, Yuan Mucheng looked away from other places, looked at the person and asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"We'll talk about it when you're free." Jiang Shiqing didn't look at him, his eyes were fixed on the warm wine.

Yuan Mucheng rubbed the ink on his fingertips: "Your study looks exquisite. It's just right for two people, but it's crowded for three people."

Jiang Shiqing imitated Yuan Mucheng's appearance and replied "Yes".

Yuan Mucheng smiled, slowly moved to the side of the man, and sat down with his back against the edge of the table.

"Can we be regarded as people on the same boat now, Huai Chuan?" Yuan Mucheng bit the last two words a little harder.

Get rid of the dizzying passion/desire, he can't completely trust Jiang Shiqing, because this person still has too many secrets, no matter who he is, he always looks indifferent to anyone.

"Second Master Yuan asked this question," Jiang Shiqing said, "I feel that I have lost money."

Yuan Mucheng put his legs up, put his hands on his knees, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Shiqing turned his head, showing a little disappointment: "You took all the advantages, and I was the only one who was bitten and hurt, and it turned out that I couldn't get a little sincerity."

Yuan Mucheng stretched out his hand and pulled Jiang Shiqing's wrist holding the rosary, and lifted up the long sleeve, revealing the piece of flesh that had been bitten by him to bleed. You, Mr. Yuan, are not such a confused person, there are many battlefields, if you stumble in the arms of a beauty, wouldn't you be very sorry for the brothers who were born and died."

The fingertips rotated a few times between the wrists, full of provocation, but what people recalled was the feeling of pain and itching.

Jiang Shiqing looked down at his wrist that was being pulled away, and replied with a smile: "Second Master Yuan should know how to swim, isn't he afraid of capsizing the boat?"

Yuan Mucheng looked at the man's expression, put his five fingers together, and firmly held the slender wrist in his palm: "I'm afraid, so I want to be tied together with you, let's live and die together, okay?"

"It's not worth dying with me," Jiang Shiqing said after a pause, "but if you want to be tied up, please do so."

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New characters in this chapter

Zhongqiu: People from Yemenzhuang often assist Liu Zhaoye by his side.

Yi Qinchen: 27 years old.That's all I can say.