East China Sea dust

Twilight Quadruple.

Zhang Qinglan was walking alone on the main street of the town, holding a piece of meat pie with dried plums and vegetables in her hand, with her phoenix eyes slightly lowered, she was gnawing and biting the pancake in her hand very seriously, and walked forward slowly.

In the morning, Steward Wang gave the servants in the mansion a holiday, and allowed everyone to leave the mansion and go to the mortal market to buy some favorite things or daily necessities.So Zhang Qinglan took advantage of Xiumu, mingled with those shrimp soldiers and crab generals, and slipped out of the palace together.

——That's why he has such a leisurely style now.

The meatloaf is sandwiched with salty dried plums, mixed with refined meat and minced meat, pasted on the furnace wall, and baked with the residual temperature of charcoal fire.The noodle cake itself is thin and crisp, and there is a sweet fragrance of grain, steaming but not hot, full of flavor.

Walking slowly along the bluestone road in the small town, before he knew it, two palm-sized meatloaf had been swallowed by the young man.

Patting the cake crumbs on his sleeves, Zhang Qinglan stopped, lowered his head, folded the remaining half of oil paper into small squares, and stuffed them into his sleeves.

Usually, Ao Zhan was under strict control, most of the time young people were not allowed to go out alone.Now that there is no restraint, Zhang Qinglan relaxes a lot, and even burps a little after eating.

Wandering all the way, looking at the red paper lanterns on both sides of the road in a daze, the young man raised the back of his hand and subconsciously wiped the oil stains from the corner of his mouth.

After walking a few steps, the toes suddenly bumped into a hard object like a flat plate.

The slight tingling sensation made Zhang Qinglan recover from the fugue state, and after taking a closer look, she realized that she was standing next to a small jewelry stall.

What he accidentally kicked just now was the wooden box used by the shop owner to display jewelry.

The wooden box was placed upright on the side of the street, about half the height of a person.A flat piece of red cloth was laid out on the surface, and on top of the red cloth were various ornaments.

Among the jewellery, earrings and beads were the most displayed, followed by necklaces and bracelets.It's just that most of the materials are wood and stone, which are not expensive.

There happened to be a man and a woman standing in front of the stall. They were plainly dressed, holding hands, and looked very intimate.Not long after, the man took out some fine silver from his cuff and bought a finely carved wooden hairpin despite his wife's obstruction.

After putting the hairpin on his wife's head with his own hands, a simple and satisfied smile appeared on the man's face.Not long after, the two left the shop talking and laughing.

Zhang Qinglan stood aside and watched the whole process quietly, watching the back of the couple disappearing in the market, blinking thoughtfully.

The small vendor who just sold a wooden hairpin happily put the broken silver into his purse.When he looked up again, he realized that there was another young man standing beside him.

"Hey, little brother, what are you looking for?" The peddler put on a warm smile on his face, raised his hand and straightened the jewelry on the red cloth, and said, "It doesn't matter if it's a hairpin necklace or a bracelet earrings." , we have everything you need here, to your satisfaction."

The young man lowered his head when he heard the words, and his gaze swept over the rows of gadgets of various shapes.Pursing her thin lips, she didn't say much.

The hawker business has been in business for a long time, and it has become instinct to observe the words and the mood.Seeing Zhang Qinglan's jerky appearance, he immediately understood, with a clear smile on his face, he teased: "Looking at how shy I am, this is the first time I've come to pick out gifts for my sweetheart?"

Zhang Qinglan was taken aback, and opened her mouth, knowing that the other party had misunderstood something, but she couldn't think of an explanation for a moment.

Seeing that he didn't speak, the peddler thought he was acquiescing, and the smile on his face grew bigger: "Then you have come to the right place."

"Although our jewelry is neither gold nor jade, it is good because of the word 'clever'. Apart from giving it between husband and wife to increase the relationship, it is also very good as a gift for the girl you like."

"..." Feeling that she couldn't talk to the other party, Zhang Qinglan simply kept silent, quietly watching the peddler's eloquence, which was quite interesting.

When the stall owner spoke so dryly that he had to stop and take out the gourd on his waist to take a sip of water, Zhang Qinglan shook her head and said slowly, "I'm not married, and I don't have a girl I like."

Hearing this, the peddler spat water into his throat, and his face was almost green, so he couldn't resist spraying it on the troublesome young man in front of him.

Coughing a few times, the little boss raised his hand and wiped the water stains from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, his whole face turned red, he waved his hand at the calm young man, and said, "Go, go, you don't want to buy anything. What the hell are you doing here?"

Zhang Qinglan lowered her eyes, turned her mouth downwards, then took out a small piece of gold from her sleeve, placed it in front of the peddler, and said vaguely:

"...Who says I won't buy it."

***

Putting the hairpin in her bosom, Zhang Qinglan held a handful of copper coins that the peddler made up for in her hand, and walked towards a deep alley in a twisting manner.

At the end of the alley was an oil pan, and before the oil pan were scattered two or three low round wooden tables.The crackling sound of the oil stars bursting was slightly dense, and the air was filled with a strong fragrance of green onions.

An elderly woman dressed plainly and with a white cloth apron around her waist stood behind the frying pan, holding a piece of white dough in her hand, and was skillfully sending it to the pan.

There is only a sound of "stabbing", and the dough is deep-fried in hot oil until it turns golden yellow. The dough should be mixed with lard and green shallots, and the aroma is more intense after being fried in hot oil.After a while, the woman picked it up from the oil pan with a strainer and put it aside to cool.

Standing in front of the woman, Zhang Qinglan pointed to the scallion pancakes hanging in the bamboo basket beside her and said, "Miss Boss, here are three scallion pancakes, a bowl of porridge and two tea eggs."

When the old woman heard this, she nodded with a smile, and quickly wrapped the scallion pancake in oiled paper and handed it to the young man.

After paying the money, Zhang Qinglan took the white porridge in a porcelain bowl from the proprietress, picked a table at random and sat down.

There are only a few scattered tables nearby, except for Zhang Qinglan who is alone, surrounded by men gathered in twos and threes.

Most of the people who were still eating at this time were workers transporting goods from the nearby wharf. They couldn’t afford restaurants and restaurants, so they came here to make a living. A few men sat around the small round table chatting and eating, talking nonsense, and their voices were loud.

Zhang Qinglan didn't mind much, and casually unwrapped the oiled paper bag, took out a scallion pancake from inside, and took a bite of it.

However, he was quickly attracted by the nonsense content of those people's chatter.

"Have you heard? A new building has recently been built in the open space at the east end of the city. In the past two days, manpower is needed for decoration and moving, and the proprietress is about to hire someone. For helpers... this number." Said while sitting on the outermost side The big bearded man in my son stretched out five fingers and made repeated comparisons.

"Hey, so grand?" The thin man with a beard on the other side looked straight at him: "This is three times the market price...Where did you get such a generous shot?"

Swallowing the bread in his throat, another fat man said, "You can't be a liar, you little lady, where did you get so much money?"

"That's right, when the time comes, we'll renege on our debts, and we won't know a single word, what should we do?" The thin man agreed deeply.

"Hey, isn't this urgent?" The bearded man waved his hand impatiently and said, "Yesterday, it was near the pier. Do you remember the dancers?"

Being reminded by him, the fat man's squinted eyes lit up immediately, and he hurriedly said: "Remember, it looks like a fairy descending from the earth. It looks so good. My wife is still not happy for me to watch it, so she yells for me to watch it halfway through." Walk."

Everyone laughed when they heard the words.

After laughing enough, the bearded man said mysteriously again: "That one is the proprietress."

The other two men at the same table showed incredulous expressions.

"Didn't they say in the end, 'I'll see you in Baihualou in three days'." The bearded man took a bite of the scallion pancake and said while chewing, "The time is dead, so don't hire more people to help."

"Otherwise, after such a big battle, the time has come and the building has not been built, isn't it just playing around?"

The two brothers, one fat and one thin, drank a few sips of porridge, and were gradually persuaded, feeling that it really made sense.

After wrangling for a long time, the bearded man got impatient and took a bite of the oily pancake: "You guys just say you don't want to do it! Let me tell you guys, don't blame me for getting rich and not bringing brothers."

Hearing this, the thin man gritted his teeth, and slapped the porridge bowl in his hand on the table: "Okay, I'll do it."

"Three times the wages, it's a fool not to do it."

After the decision was made, the porridge bowls also bottomed out, and the few people settled the meal money, left the alley one after another, and returned to the pier to continue shipping goods.

He didn't even notice that there was a stranger sitting at the table next to him, and he listened to their conversation without missing a single word.

Looking at the backs of the three people away, Zhang Qinglan sat on a small wooden stool and took a sip of porridge thoughtfully.

……

By the time Zhang Qinglan returned to the Dragon King's Mansion with jade hairpin pancakes in his arms, night had already fallen.

This time it wasn't sneaking away, so when she came back, she had a lot of confidence. Zhang Qinglan deliberately chose the main entrance to walk, swaggeringly, quite confidently.

It's just that before he stepped over the threshold of the gate, he happened to bump into the carriage that came out from the inner gate and belonged to Ao Zhan.

The battle surrounding the carriage was relatively low-key as usual, and the guards were scattered around the carriage, marching forward in neat steps.The pioneers who opened the way were two adult mermen, wearing uniform bodyguard uniforms, holding forks tightly in their hands, walking in the forefront.

The whole body of the carriage was covered with dark blue satin, on which layers of patterns were outlined with golden embroidery thread, and a strong fragrance of incense was emitted from a distance.A group of people galloped out from the gate in a mighty way.

Before Zhang Qinglan, who was stunned by the roadside, could react, the entire convoy disappeared without a trace, leaving only footprints and ruts scattered all over the place.

The young man stood in place, glanced at the empty gate, his thin lips were pursed into a straight line, his face was not happy or angry, but he frowned imperceptibly.

Stopping a little Xiami who was bending over to clean up the rut marks, Zhang Qinglan asked him, "Master, where are you going?"

That little shrimp has low spiritual power, and he is only fifteen or sixteen years old when he cultivates. He is impatiently cleaning the ruts with a broom.

Hearing this, he raised his head and saw that he was the only alien in that house, his already wrinkled face drooped even longer, his mouth pursed, and he snorted coldly.

Originally, he didn't have to be on duty today, he was about to go to sleep happily after washing up.But suddenly a messenger came to report that the grain dispatched by Qian's grain farm had arrived, and they wanted to ask their master to check and accept it.He also said that the owner of the grain farm had a banquet in the restaurant, and he made a special trip to invite their master to dinner.

That's how it happened just now.

"You mortals just have a lot of shit..." Xiao Xiami muttered, getting up very angry, a broom danced vigorously, and swept it towards Zhang Qinglan's feet: "Master has already gone out to the banquet. Mortals, don't keep asking about things you shouldn't ask about."

After sweeping the land in front of the two of them, Xiao Xiami turned around and swept to the side.

Soon, Zhang Qinglan was the only one left in the huge outer courtyard.

The young man was tall and tall, standing motionless on the spot.Subconsciously, he touched the warm scallion pancake in his arms, and the hosta wrapped in silk beside it.

Thinking of the carriage that galloped away from her just now, Zhang Qinglan just glanced into the distance blankly, and finally turned around and left, returning to her room.