Chapter 24

Fan Changyu followed Chef Li to Yixianglou. As soon as he entered the door, he saw a magnificent landscape screen. The ground was paved with fine carved green bricks, and the doors and windows were also carved with various hollow flowers, plants, animals and birds.

It was not dinner time, so there were not many customers in the building. At a glance, there were more than a dozen large round tables covered with silk fabrics in the lobby downstairs. The chairs were also very exquisite, not bare, but equipped with matching embroidered cushions and back pillows, which looked very elegant.

No wonder people in the town call Yixianglou the best building.

Chef Li led Fan Changyu to a private room upstairs and said, "The boss is inside. Just go in, maid."

Fan Changyu hesitated for a moment, pushed the door open, and stared at the young woman in the room who was happily eating a braised pork elbow with her sleeves rolled up.

In front of the woman was a table filled with delicacies from land and sea.

Fan Changyu glanced at the door again and asked uncertainly, "Are you the owner of Yixianglou?"

The woman put down the pork elbow in her hand, quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped the pork elbow grease off her face, coughed lightly and said, "You are Changyu, right? Sit down."

As soon as these words were spoken, Fan Changyu knew that this was the owner of Yixianglou. She thought that he was not quite what she had imagined, but he seemed quite kind.

After she sat down, she asked, "Do you recognize me?"

The woman smiled and said, "I heard Master Li mention you. The halogens you make are absolutely amazing."

Perhaps because she had heard about Fan Changyu's visit to Wang's theory, she looked at Fan Changyu and smiled: "Before I met you, I didn't know you were such a pretty girl."

Fan Changyu didn't know how to answer and just smiled faintly.

The woman smiled and said, "My last name is Yu, my given name is Qianqian, and I am a few years older than you, so I am taking advantage of you and calling you Sister Changyu. I think you also know that the brine business of Yixianglou and Wangji has stopped. I also sent someone to buy the brine in your shop and tasted it. It is indeed better than Wangji's. If you are interested, I would like to do this brine business with you."

This unexpected blessing was something Fan Changyu would have loved to have in the past, but after thinking about her family's current situation, she thought for a moment and declined the offer: "Thank you, Shopkeeper Yu, for your interest in me, but I really can't take this business."

Yu Qianqian said "eh" and asked, "Why?"

Fan Changyu said truthfully: "I plan to leave Linshui Town after the New Year."

Yu Qianqian said it was a pity and asked, "So where have you decided to go?"

Fan Changyu really hadn't made up her mind yet, so she just said, "I'm still discussing it with my husband."

Yu Qianqian tapped the tabletop with her pale fingertips, and said with a hint of melancholy, "If your salty food is gone, there will be one less delicacy in this town."

There is something joking in this statement.

Although it was the first time that Fan Changyu met this female shopkeeper, he felt that she was very friendly. Thinking that if he took his sister away from home, he would not know when he would come back, he said, "If Shopkeeper Yu likes to eat that brine, I will teach the shopkeeper the brine recipe, and she can let her servants make it."

Although Yu Qianqian is now the manager of a restaurant, she used to be a cook. She knows how expensive a recipe is, so she quickly said no. She looked at Fan Changyu helplessly and said, "You are such a naive girl. If you really want to go to a foreign country, you must be careful. Don't sell yourself out with just a few words."

Fan Changyu could sense the kindness of the female shopkeeper and said with a smile, "No, I am willing to give the prescription to the shopkeeper because I think she looks kind."

Yu Qianqian was amused by her, and after thinking for a while, she said, "How about this? My restaurant is the busiest these few days before the Chinese New Year. We have booked all the reservations, and the amount of brine ordered is indeed large. Those gourmets are very picky, and they have been saying that the taste of my brine is not as good as before. Wangji is not honest in doing business. They stabbed me in the back before, and now they are stepping on the name of Yixianglou to cooperate with other restaurants. I can't swallow this breath and go to Wangji again. Otherwise, you can help me supply the brine before the Chinese New Year, and I will find a way to make up for this shortage after the Chinese New Year."

Fan Changyu pondered for a moment, thinking that he would have to buy houses and other things in a new place, which would require money. After selling the pig shed and fields in the countryside and the shop in the city, the money he had might not be enough. It would be best if he could save some more money now, so he nodded in agreement.

Yu Qianqian was obviously very happy: "You have helped me solve my urgent problem. Yixianglou used to cooperate with Wangji and had a one-year order. Regardless of the off-season or peak season, the halogens were purchased at 50 wen per catty. The price of meat is high during the two days of the New Year, so I will charge you 60 wen per catty. Yixianglou can sell at least ten halogen pig heads a day. If it is inconvenient for you to use a stove at home, you can directly go to the kitchen behind the restaurant to halve them, and the wages will be paid daily."

Fan Changyu's own house had been sealed by the government, so it was indeed inconvenient. He nodded and said, "I'll cook in the kitchen behind the restaurant."

It was almost afternoon at this time. Fan Changyu went to the meat market and bought ten fresh pig heads with the servant of Yixianglou.

Her family used to run a pork shop there, and almost all the butchers in the butcher shops on that street knew her. When they saw her buying so many pig heads, they couldn't help but ask, "Is Changyu's shop going to sell brined meat again tomorrow?"

The waiter from Yixianglou who followed her to buy meat was very clever and said immediately, "Miss Fan's salted pork is now only sold in our Yixianglou."

Yixianglou is a big name in the town. Even after Wang Ji revealed that his business with Yixianglou was bankrupt, its reputation in the town was not as good as before.

Many acquaintances congratulated Fan Changyu.

Her family's butcher shop was closed, but the business at the butcher shop next door started to pick up. When Fan Changyu went to buy pig heads from them, they offered a very low price.

In the market, a fresh pig head costs 20 wen per jin, weighing about 6 to 7 jin, but Fan Changyu only pays 18 wen per jin.

Borrowing the brine and stove from the kitchen of Yixianglou, the custom-made large pot can be used to brine four or five pig heads, and two pots can be used to brine all the pig heads. The total cost of brine for a whole pot is no more than thirty cents.

Fan Changyu made a rough calculation and figured that if she ate these two pots of pork heads, she could make a net profit of around 250 yuan at the very least.

I was a little confused for a moment.

When she was selling in the shop, she got up early and worked late every day. When selling meat, she had to bargain with the ladies who bought vegetables, which wasted a lot of time. After deducting the cost of work, the money she earned in the whole day was only about two taels of silver.

Now, as long as you take an hour or two to go to the market to choose good pork heads and then come to Yixianglou to buy them, you can earn this money, which is much easier than before.

She remembered that the female shopkeeper had charged her 60 wen per jin, and felt a little guilty for a moment. She found Chef Li who was also cooking in the back kitchen, and said, "Master Li, please go back and tell the shopkeeper to charge me 50 wen per jin for the braised pork."

Chef Li frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Fan Changyu scratched his head in embarrassment: "The Dong family is nice, but I think the money is too much, and I don't feel at ease."

Chef Li glanced at her and said, "The boss gave you this price because he thinks your brisket is worth it. What's there to be uneasy about? Don't underestimate the boss because he is young. He has a keen eye. Although he was cheated by Wang Ji this time, he was always profitable when he cooperated with Wang Ji in the past. Put your mind at ease."

Fan Changyu asked curiously, "What's the matter with Wang Ji's business in the building?"

Chef Li had nothing good to say about Wang Ji: "That wicked old man who only cares about money. The owner had planned to open another restaurant in the county to expand Yixiang Restaurant. He ordered twelve pig heads from Wang Ji for good luck. Wang Ji agreed, but on the opening day, Wang Ji didn't deliver the pig heads."

"The boss sent someone to Wangji to urge them, but Wangji hadn't bought the pig heads yet! The pig heads that were originally ordered were bought by another restaurant in the county at a high price, and they had also made a contract with Wangji to do the brine business for several years. The opening of the business missed the auspicious time to send the pig heads, what a taboo! The boss was so angry that he stopped all business with Wangji that day."

Fan Changyu had not expected that Yixianglou and Wangji had this reason behind their severance of business ties. Thinking of the face of Wangji's young master, he could not help but say, "Wangji is too dishonest."

Chef Li snorted coldly: "You are a villain who forgets his principles when he sees profit."

He changed the subject and said, "I heard that Wang Ji hired people to smash your store?"

Fan Changyu said: "His son hired someone to smash it, but I went to seek justice myself."

Chef Li suddenly looked at her and laughed: "No wonder the boss said he likes you, girl. Your personality is really similar to the boss in some ways."

Fan Changyu was a little embarrassed, "My boss is a capable person, how can I compare with him?"

Chef Li sighed, "The boss also had a hard life. She came to Lin'an Town with a big belly and no relatives. Her situation was even worse than yours."

Fan Changyu had heard the most about how powerful the shopkeeper of Yixianglou was. This was the first time she had heard someone talk about her past. She asked in confusion, "Where is the boss's husband?"

Chef Li just shook his head: "I heard he was dead."

Fan Changyu couldn't help but sigh. Chef Li looked at her again and said, "Business has been busy these past two days. The boss has a lot of things to do. The difference of ten cents for the brined meat has not been taken seriously by the boss. Don't go to the boss about this. The boss is a straightforward person. If you act coyly, it will only cause trouble for the boss."

Since he had said this, Fan Changyu naturally gave up the idea of ​​going to look for Yu Qianqian.

By the time the delicious meat had left Yixianglou, it was already getting late.

Fan Changyu thought that the bag of maltose he had bought for his sister was almost finished, so he took the 227 yuan he earned daily and walked into the candy shop, where he bought two bags of maltose, pine nut candy, and orange peel candy.

When she thought about how Yan Zheng was actually a person who was afraid of hardship, the corners of her mouth curled up unconsciously.

He was not afraid of pain, but was afraid of drinking bitter medicine.

When I got home, Aunt Zhao had already cooked.

Chang Ning was like a lookout stone, leaning against the door frame at the door and craning his neck to look out into the alley.

When he saw Fan Changyu coming back with a lot of bags, he immediately ran over to pick her up like a little ball, "Sister is back!"

She picked up the paper bag and found several large bags of candy inside. She raised her bright eyes and asked her, "Are they all from Ning Niang?"

Facing his sister's expectant eyes, Fan Changyu felt a little guilty for no reason: "Your brother-in-law is afraid of the bitterness of the medicine, should I give half to him?"

Before, she felt uncomfortable whenever she heard the word "brother-in-law", but now that she was coaxing Changning, she didn't feel so uncomfortable saying the word.

Chang Ning said "hmm" generously. She also took medicine frequently. She wrinkled her round face and said, "It's black and bitter!"

Black and sticky is her special name for the medicine.

Aunt Zhao came out to pour water and heard the conversation between the two sisters. She smiled and said to Fan Changyu, "Do you know how to love your husband?"

Fan Changyu's shamelessness was inevitably embarrassed by the teasing.

The medicine had just been boiled, and when Fan Changyu took a few bags of candy to the attic, he also took the medicine bowl up with him.

The people inside were still awake. When she entered, they looked over and asked, "Why are you back so late?"

It's a very common sentence, but it also feels a little weird.

"Any new clues from the county government?" he added quickly.

The weird atmosphere finally dissipated a little.

Fan Changyu handed the medicine bowl over and said, "The case has been closed."

Xie Zheng raised his eyes in surprise, and seeing the expression on her face, he immediately understood most of what was going on.

Fan Changyu expressed his guess: "Perhaps because there were so many murders during the New Year, the county magistrate was afraid that Wusha would be in danger, so he was eager to pin the murder on the bandits."

Xie Zheng said nothing.

The badge belongs to the Wei family. If the Wei family wants to suppress the matter quickly, it is not impossible for the state government to pressure the county to close the case.

But no matter what, the Wei family has already set their sights on Lin'an Town and should not stay there any longer.

He looked at Fan Changyu: "If they are here to seek revenge, I'm afraid they will come again later. What are your plans?"

Fan Changyu originally wanted to wait until his injury healed before telling him about leaving, but now that he took the initiative to ask her, she said, "I plan to sell my property after the New Year and take Ning Niang to hide somewhere else for a while."

After listening to this, Xie Zheng said, "It's better to leave sooner rather than later."

He was very clear about that man's methods. The death of so many Xuan-brand assassins in a small town in Lin'an would definitely attract that man's attention.

Fan Changyu said, "It's only a few days before the Chinese New Year. I've taken a job at Yixianglou helping them make salted meat before the New Year. I can make some money in the next few days. It will also take time to sell the property and transfer the various documents. I can wait until you are better before leaving."

Now that the conversation had come to this, she couldn't help but ask him about his plans: "What do you think?"

Xie Zheng thought she was asking for his opinion and was about to advise her to leave as soon as possible, but when the words were on the tip of his tongue he realized that she was asking whether he should stay or leave.

Leave?

Without having time to weigh any pros and cons, he subconsciously hesitated for a moment.

Fan Changyu said, "My parents probably made enemies some time ago. If you follow me, they might find you. I want to write you a divorce letter and leave you some money for your future troubles. Aunt and uncle are both very good people. I will ask them to take care of you until you recover."

Aunt Zhao and Uncle Zhao had no children. In their early years, one of their sons was drafted into the army and was taken to fight in the war. He never came back and was said to have died outside.

Fan Changyu planned to leave some land in the countryside to them so that they could collect rent from the tenants, which would provide security for the old couple in the future.

As for leaving Yan Zheng here, it was simply because he was afraid that he would be implicated in his family's affairs again.

Xie Zheng listened to everything she had planned for him, and for no reason he began to feel agitated. His voice also turned colder. "I have my own plans. You don't have to worry about me."

Fan Changyu didn't know what had offended him and stared at him in confusion.

Xie Zheng also realized that his tone was not right. He closed his eyes slightly, and when he opened them again, his expression had calmed down. "If you want to leave, it's best to leave today or tomorrow. You don't need to go to get a pass. It's best to follow the caravan. If you can't leave your household registration information when passing through the city gate, don't leave it."

No matter how stupid Fan Changyu was, he knew that this was to conceal his whereabouts.

She asked him, "Are you going to come with me, or stay here to recuperate?"

After she asked so bluntly, Xie Zheng was obviously stunned for a moment, his eyes reflected the shadows of the girl and the candlelight, and after a while he avoided her gaze and said, "I'll go with you first."

Lin'an Town was no longer safe for him, and he was really curious about what the Wei family's assassins had dug deep in her house to find.

The reason for making this choice is just these two reasons.

As soon as Fan Changyu heard the word "first", he understood what he meant. He would still leave after his injury healed.

She said, "Okay, I'll go to the county government office tomorrow and sell my shop and the pig shed in the countryside to the government at a discount."

If you sell land directly to the buyer, the price will naturally be higher. You only need to go to the government to transfer the land and pay the money for the deed.

Only those who are in urgent need of money will sell the properties to the government at a discount. The government will then sell the properties it has purchased at a low price to those in need at the market price.

At Yixianglou, just give the prescription directly to the shopkeeper.

Xie Zheng felt that the assassins had probably not found what they were looking for, so he asked, "Do your parents have any relics that they want to take away with them?"

Fan Changyu said as a matter of course: "Of course there is!"

There was a barely perceptible hint of strangeness in Xie Zheng's eyes.

Then Fan Changyu said, "I have to carry that set of pig-killing knives with me wherever I go. With that set of knives, I can continue to kill pigs to make a living, and if I encounter thugs on the road, I can also protect myself!"

Xie Zheng: “…”

However, his words did remind Fan Changyu, and she said, "The county government has closed the case, but for some reason, the seal on my door has not been removed by the officials yet. I will climb over the wall and get the deed out later."

Xie Zheng's eyes moved slightly, and he said, "The masked men who broke into your house that day pried open several bricks in your house, as if they were looking for something."

Fan Changyu couldn't think of any valuables in her house. She frowned and said, "You can't be looking for the land deed, too?"

Xie Zheng: “…Probably not.”

Fan Changyu glanced at the sky outside the window and said, "I'll climb over the wall and look for him when it gets dark."

Climbing over the wall in broad daylight could easily be seen. Her house could now be considered a haunted house. After being sealed off, only government officials could enter. If she climbed over the wall and was sued, she would be in trouble again.

Xie Zheng asked: "Didn't your parents tell you before that there are things you must take with you even if you want to escape?"

Fan Changyu said: "My sister."

Xie Zheng: “…”

He pressed his brow with his slender knuckles and suddenly didn't want to talk anymore.

Seeing that he hadn't yet finished the medicine bowl, Fan Changyu urged him, "If you don't drink it, it will get cold."

The medicine is no longer hot now.

Xie Zheng picked up the bowl and drank it all. Someone immediately handed him an orange peel candy with a smile: "I've tried this. It's sweet and sour, and it can also relieve the bitterness."

Her hands were very white, with long slender fingers. They were not as delicate and boneless as those of pampered women, nor as prominent as those of men. Just like flowers and trees have their own bones and tendons, her beauty was in between the two.

The orange chenpi candy was lying in the palm of her hand, still covered with a light layer of white icing. When it was shone under the warm candle, the words "a feast to the eyes" popped into Xie Zheng's mind at an inopportune time.

When this word was used to describe Fan Changyu...he himself fell silent.

Not wanting to have these strange thoughts in his mind again, he picked up the old candy and put it in his mouth, then said with a stern face, "Thank you."

Fan Changyu thought he was afraid of suffering and felt embarrassed, and thought that this awkwardness was quite funny.

She stood up with the empty bowl in her hand: "I'll go downstairs first and bring you food later."

The door curtain swayed, and after the person left, Xie Zheng frowned and glanced at the fingertips that had brushed against her palm when he took the Chenpi candy.

It feels really itchy and a little numb.

-

When Fan Changyu went downstairs, he saw his sister feeding the gyrfalcon with something in her hand. "Here, for you..."

The gyrfalcon had been forced into a corner. It tucked in its gauze-wrapped wings and refused to open its mouth. It stared with its small, terrified eyes, looking like a good girl who was being molested by a bully but had no power to resist.

Fan Changyu asked: "What is Ning Niang feeding?"

Chang Ning was caught by her sister, and she put her hands behind her back guiltily: "Nothing... nothing?"

Fan Changyu looked at her without saying anything. Changning was most afraid of her elder sister being like this, so she immediately stretched out her hand obediently, lowered her head and whispered, "I fed Falcon a piece of candy."

Sugar is a rare thing. If you give sugar to this big falcon, you will definitely be scolded.

Seeing his sister like this, Fan Changyu couldn't bear to say anything harsh. He said with a smile, "Gyrfalcons don't eat candy. They eat meat."

Chang Ning stared at him with a pair of round grape eyes, "Is that so?"

Aunt Zhao saw it and laughed, "These things are very fierce in the wild. The gyrfalcon that crashed into the window of the east room was also this big. That one was very fierce. The one you caught, Changyu, is obedient. It doesn't hurt anyone and knows how to protect its owner."

He paused and added, "I just ate a lot more."

A big bowl of meat a day, if she and the old man were to raise this thing, it would be eaten up in a few days.

Fan Changyu looked at the gyrfalcon and liked it more and more: "Maybe Yan Zheng taught him."

She had originally planned to keep the falcon and let Yan Zheng train it and then sell it for money, but the falcon was quite humane and had saved Chang Ning before. Fan Changyu thought it would be better to wait until the falcon recovered from its injuries before releasing it.

In the evening, after finishing her meal, Aunt Zhao carried the yawning Changning to her and Carpenter Zhao's house. When she came back, she saw Fan Changyu still by the fire pit, so she couldn't help asking, "Why don't you go upstairs to sleep?"

The Zhao family's home was the same as Fan Changyu's, with three rooms downstairs. The main room was where they ate and had a fire pit. The old couple slept in the south room. There was originally a bed in the north room, but a gyrfalcon broke the window there, so Carpenter Zhao put all the wood and the cabinets and chairs he made for others there.

Right now, only the attic is habitable.

Fan Changyu was still thinking about climbing over the wall to go back home, so he said, "Auntie, you go to sleep first. I'll warm myself up by the fire for a while."

Aunt Zhao has lived for most of her life, so how could she not see that this young couple still couldn't succeed.

In the past, the two of them slept in separate rooms at home, but now the girl might be planning to spend the night by the fire pit.

Aunt Zhao said with a fierce face: "It's late at night, why don't you go back to sleep and stay by the fire? It's a waste of firewood!"

Fan Changyu didn't expect that Aunt Zhao would just say something to force her to go upstairs.

She thought that she could go back to her own home by going up to the roof from the attic, so she slowly got up and said, "I'll go upstairs and sleep now."

I walked to the stairs and asked, "Do you have any extra quilts?"

I have to work on the floor at night.

Aunt Zhao responded decisively: "No!"

Fan Changyu wanted to tell the whole story of the fake bribery: "Actually, Yan Zheng and I..."

Aunt Zhao didn't want to hear her say more: "I don't care what you think, but I think Yan Zheng is the best kid. Look, your family has such a big problem this time, and he dragged his injuries and took Changning away. Now he is injured and sick, do you dislike him?"

Fan Changyu was speechless: "I didn't abandon him..."

Aunt Zhao chased her upstairs: "You still want to work as a clerk? If I were Yan Zheng, I would be disappointed. I risked my life to protect your sister, but in the end, you don't like me..."

Fan Changyu was like a playboy who was warned by his mother not to let the girl down, and was forced to go to the attic.

As soon as the door closed, Aunt Zhao stopped scolding. She took a deep breath and turned to meet Xie Zheng's calm and indifferent eyes. Thinking that he must have heard everything she and Aunt Zhao had said, she looked embarrassed and a little uncomfortable.

She walked towards the chair and said, "I'll take a nap on the table first. When uncle and auntie fall asleep, I'll climb back up from the attic."

There is also a bed in the attic of her house. After finding something, you can spend the night there and climb over the wall back before dawn.

Fan Changyu had no intention of letting his uncle and aunt know about climbing over the wall. After all, it was against the law. If they knew about it, they would be charged with not reporting it.

Xie Zheng didn't say much.

As the candles went out, the whole room fell into darkness. Fan Changyu lay on the table with his eyes closed and took a nap. Xie Zheng on the bed breathed lightly without making any sound.

But she didn't know whether it was the darkness of night that triggered her fear, or Fan Changyu's reaction was too slow. She was thinking about returning home soon. Many people had died in her house and yard. She had also killed many people that day. Only now did the tragic appearance of those people before their death slowly emerge in front of her eyes.

The north wind was howling outside the window, like ghosts and wolves howling.

Fan Changyu tried many different postures but couldn't lie down easily, so he just sat up.

There was no sound from the bed, so Fan Changyu asked tentatively, "Yan Zheng, are you asleep?"

"Not yet. What's wrong?" His voice was particularly clear in the night.

Fan Changyu pursed his lips, trying to make his voice sound normal: "You woke up at noon, sweating all over, did you have a nightmare after killing someone?"

There was silence for a long time before a "hmm" was heard from the other end.

Fan Changyu felt that he had found an ally. He swallowed and said, "This is my first time killing someone, too."

After a pause, she asked again: "Are you still afraid now?"

No one responded in the room for a long time. After a long time, a light voice came from the other side of the bed: "Come here."

"You don't have to be too scared. Just imagine that you are killing a pig. Do you know how to kill a pig? I will teach you how to kill a pig later. This way, you won't be escorting anymore, and you will have a way to make a living in the future..."

While she was saying this, she had already touched the edge of the bed, sat down by the headboard, coughed twice, and then regained her confidence: "Go to sleep. The old people say that people who kill pigs have a lot of evil spirits, and ghosts dare not approach them. If I sit here, you won't have nightmares."

The author has something to say:

Mini-theater:

Changyu: Are you scared? If you are, I will come to accompany you.

Xie Hou: ...I won’t tell you who is afraid.

---------

I wrote a fat chapter, but the update is late. Please give 100 red envelopes to the kids in the comment section~