Cake Fragrance (1)
Rumor has it that "Liu Xiang Ju's signature tea soup can cure all diseases, and those who eat it will have a happy life."
Although this sounds mysterious, not every guest can ask for a bowl of tea. After all, the boss has set a rule - a touching story in exchange for fragrant tea.
As a result, the visitors no longer cared whether the tea soup tasted good or not, they just wanted to see whether the stories they brought were touching or not.
Xiao Lin and Mu You’s mission is to tell five of these stories.
"What...what do you mean? What does 'the person is gone' mean?" Xiao Lin plucked up his courage and asked back stutteringly.
But the man either didn't hear Xiao Lin's whisper, or didn't take her words to heart. Instead, he waved his sleeves and leaned his head on the table, changing his tone: "My name is Chu Mo, and I'm the current owner of this shop. I'm a kind person. You can stay here for the time you can't go back. However, I don't support idle people."
"So what do you want us to do?"
"Easy." Chu Mo leaned back in his chair, his whole body lazily. "My shop is short of two waiters. Their wages are calculated by the hour. Four hours a day will be enough to raise the money for the two of you to stay."
"By the hour?" Mu You shouted, frightening Chu Mo. "Then if we bring you tea, it counts as work, right?"
Chu Mo ignored him, rolled his eyes, and tore off two sheets of paper from the back of the booklet. He wrote with a calm and composed voice, "Of course... it doesn't count."
Oh my goodness! Isn't this pure exploitation of workers? They're not allowed to go out during working hours, and yet they have to use their free time to travel all the way to deliver tea soup?
But there is no other way at the moment. According to Chu Mo, if they want to go back, they can only listen to him obediently. Even if they are unwilling in their hearts, they have to grit their teeth and swallow it.
"The pledge is here. Once you sign and put your fingerprints on it, it will be valid." Chu Mo picked up a corner of the two pieces of white paper he had just written with his fingers, shook them slightly in the air, and then spread them in front of them.
"I must escape!"
Mu You secretly swore a vow in his heart, and then reluctantly followed Xiao Lin and pressed his fingerprints.
But escaping is easier said than done.
First, there was the inexplicable state of the country, with no knowledge of the laws and regulations;
Furthermore, they encountered a boss of unknown origin, who not only wanted to deprive them of their freedom, but also unexpectedly forced them to do some unscrupulous things.
Besides, what about what the boss said?
Since he knew the people were dead, why did he ask them to deliver tea soup? To whom? Did he want them to go to the underworld and deliver it to the dead?
When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong.
Xiao Lin and Mu You’s biggest thought now is to quickly escape from this place of trouble.
However, there is a threshold under my feet, and the boss is above me, and the road home is long...
"They're all here." Chu Mo walked out from behind the bookshelf, holding a few thin books in his hands. With a swish, they were all scattered in front of Xiao Lin and Mu You.
Xiao Lin didn't care about anything else and hurried over, spreading out the booklets one by one in a blink of an eye.
But Mu You just saw the large characters on the cover and let out a few surprised cries: "'Red and black sworn brotherhood, carp talk', 'The fragrance of cakes lingers in the air, sisterly love', 'The love of rice dumplings lingers with the bandit officer', 'The music of the zither is for the displaced', 'The red tassel wipes the snow off the female general'? What are these all?"
"This is the story I want you two to rewrite." Even though Mu You's tone contained a lot of complaints, Chu Mo still replied indifferently, "Pick one and try it first."
Although Chu Mo acted as if he was playing it down, Xiao Lin and Mu You had no clue what was going on just by looking at the puzzling inscription on the cover.
She wanted to look up and ask for help, but she regretted it when her eyes fell on Chu Mo - his whole body exuded indifference, and it seemed that he would not show much favor to the two of them.
Xiao Lin's eyes flickered, and she was just about to calm down and read the five books carefully, but Mu You's hand was a little faster than her. In the blink of an eye, he quickly pulled out a book and began to read it in the sunlight.
"Let's take this one! Something like... 'The fragrance of cakes lingers among the sisters'! It looks like a story about a girl. In this era, don't women stay at home? Rewriting... shouldn't be difficult!" Mu You was full of confidence, with a hint of youthful spirit in the corners of his eyes.
What Mu You said made sense, but Xiao Lin always felt that something was wrong.
Seeing that they had chosen one of the books, Chu Mo slowly stroked his wide sleeves and walked over. "The original story ended with one soul returning to the earth and one shadow disappearing into the sky. At that time, they were unfortunately caught in a conspiracy, which allowed the evildoers to escape by chance."
"Now, your mission is to find those two women, lend them a helping hand, and rewrite the predetermined fate with a powerful hand. Afterwards, don't forget to pass this tea soup to the woman named Gao Qing. Let her drink it, and your mission will be accomplished."
Chu Mo's words were confusing, and Xiao Lin was full of doubts, but Mu You was a thick-skinned person and dismissed it: "Then please hurry up and do it, we are in a hurry to go back!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Mo waved his sleeves, and then the two of them felt dizzy, their eyes turned white, and they fainted immediately.
After a flash of orange light entered the corners of their eyes, a chill penetrated through their fingertips and slipped through the cuffs of their short sleeves to spread throughout their bodies without any defense.
It was not until the chill penetrated their lungs that Xiao Lin and Mu You realized that they had been transported to another time and space again with the wind raised by Chu Mo.
"Wow! It's so cold!" When the light came in front of his eyes, Mu You immediately screamed in fear of the cold. He didn't know when the scorching summer with the sun hanging high in the sky had turned into a bitter winter.
Chu Mo only glanced at the two of them for a few seconds, then took out a thick fur cloak from somewhere, unfolded it neatly, shook it, and then draped it over their shoulders.
Mu You quickly grabbed the edge of the fur coat and hugged Xiao Lin in his arms, just to keep him warm.
The current situation is already a winter night.
But looking around, the lights were bright at this time. Even though the night was as dark as ink, people were still gathering in the streets and alleys, laughing and talking happily.
"Today is the Harvest Festival, and the people in Tianling City are preparing for the lantern festival tonight." Chu Mo's low but clear voice came from above. Xiao Lin raised his eyes and glanced at him, only to be greeted by Chu Mo's usual indifferent expression.
"Lantern Festival?" Mu You casually added, "Then where are we going now?"
Chu Mo: "Go back to the store."
Mu You: "It's already this late, we shouldn't have to work when we get home, right? We can just fall asleep right away, right?"
"Of course."
After getting Chu Mo's consent, Mu You immediately put aside the coldness in his body and wanted to speed up his pace and get into the warm bed as soon as possible.
But who would have thought that Chu Mo's next words would hit him hard.
"However, you two must first owe me today's accommodation fee, and repay it slowly over time later."
Xiao Lin and Mu You turned their heads at the same time, but Xiao Lin just looked embarrassed, while Mu You glared at him.
But when he thought of what Chu Mo had done just now, he swallowed his anger back.
Although it was night, Mu You's unusual short hair still attracted attention. So, amid the discussions from passers-by, he could not help but lower his head and deliberately covered it with his fur cloak.
The three of them walked in this funny way, squeezing through the crowded crowd, crossing the brightly lit streets, suppressing rumors, and it took a lot of effort to walk back to Liuxiangju.
Just as the large characters "Liu Xiang Ju" emerged from the darkness, a noise came from the front, with the sound of horses neighing, hooves clattering on the ground, and the sound of horse grooms driving them.
After a while, the sound and their footsteps came to the front of the store.
"Boss! Boss! The horse you asked for is here! I've tied it to the big tree in front of your shop!" When Ma Yu saw Chu Mo walking towards him, he neatly tied the reins to the thick tree trunk in front of him.
Why buy a horse for no reason? Xiao Lin was puzzled.
But before she could ask, Mu You pulled her into the store.
At this time, the teahouse had already closed and the shop was left in complete darkness.
Chu Mo skillfully lit the candles in the lobby, and the room became brighter as the fuses were lit one by one.
The first thing that caught Xiao Lin's eye was two sets of thick cotton-padded coats. In addition, there were two delicate and small purses pressed on top of the clothes.
"Hurry up and put on your cotton clothes. You are penniless already, so don't get sick again." Chu Mo lifted the door curtain and walked into the back room without looking back amid the sound of glass colliding, leaving Xiao Lin and Mu You looking at each other in bewilderment.
Unable to bear the local cold, Mu You hurriedly took off his woolen coat, quickly stepped forward and put on a cotton coat, and then handed it to Xiao Lin.
Only after putting on his cotton coat did Xiao Lin's shaking hands feel better.
"Oh, right." Just as they were about to say something, Chu Mo's face appeared again from behind the beaded curtain. He put down a wastebasket and said, "Take care of my study wastebasket. Consider it as payment for these two cotton-padded jackets."
"Deal with it?" Mu You asked back, "How?"
"Just burn it."
"You haven't told us where to burn it..." Before Mu You finished speaking, Chu Mo disappeared into the backyard again.
"This Chu Mo always speaks half of his words. Why is he pretending to be mysterious?" He couldn't help but mutter a few words.
Xiao Lin just walked around him silently, came to the small door, picked up the wastebasket, and pursed his lips: "Let's go!"
The study is not far from the door, just a few steps away.
They took the wastepaper basket and candlestick and left Liuxiangju. Just as they were about to turn the corner to burn the waste paper in a secret place, the faint cry of a child suddenly pierced the night sky and came from behind them.
When Xiao Lin and Mu You turned around, they saw a little girl about six or seven years old squatting on the ground, crying uncontrollably.
They didn't want to pay any attention to it, but it seemed as if the little girl was doing it on purpose. The more they ignored her, the more rapid her crying became.
In desperation, Xiao Lin ran to the girl's side, wiped the dirt off her face, and whispered, "Little girl, what's wrong?"
Seeing someone coming, the little girl wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a trembling voice, sniffed her red nose, and sobbed: "Sister... I... I can't find my home... Wuuwuwu..."
Seeing the little girl crying more and more fiercely, Xiao Lin reached out his hand in a panic, stroked her head, and comforted her softly.
She first looked around, then pinched the purse at her waist. After confirming that she could feel a few copper coins, she said to Mu You, "You go and burn the food first. I'll take this girl to eat something."
Mu You hesitated for a moment, his brows furrowed, but then relaxed.
"Okay, be careful."
As Mu You's back gradually disappeared, the little girl's sobbing gradually became weaker. Xiao Lin slowly took her little hand and walked towards a brightly lit pastry shop in front of them.
She asked for a few jujube and yam cakes, turned her back to the little girl, and secretly checked the copper coins in her purse - not many, only two.
Picking up the two lonely copper coins, Xiao Lin tied the empty purse back around his waist.
"Boss, how much is one?"
"Two cents."
It turns out that two copper coins are only enough to buy one.
"Just... just take one, don't take the others." Xiao Lin looked embarrassed and stammered as he handed over the copper coin. He reluctantly exchanged it for a piece of jujube and yam cake and handed it to the little girl.
The little girl immediately snatched the food from Xiao Lin's hand without even saying thank you, and just gobbled it up by herself.
Xiao Lin didn't care. After all, considering that she was still young and frail, he just thought that she was extremely hungry and didn't know anything.
But out of the corner of her eye, the little girl glanced sideways a few times while eating, and secretly looked at the purse on her waist above the edge of the lantern candlelight.
As the night deepened, the cold wind in the alley became more violent. Xiao Lin was just about to wrap her cotton coat tighter when she heard a "swish" sound at her waist, as if the ice was cracking, causing her to stagger.
When she looked down, she saw that it was the little girl who, with lightning speed, held the knife in reverse and swiftly cut off the purse tied around her waist, then turned around and ran away.
Perhaps because he was not skilled enough, with one cut, the purse fell off, and the cotton wool flew outwards along with the tip of the knife.
In a flash, the thin figure slipped into the dimly lit streets and alleys, like ink dripping onto an inkstone, leaving no trace.
Xiao Lin was so scared that he lost his soul.
Robbery of money bags in broad daylight? A real-life version of The Farmer and the Snake?
No, why does she have to deal with all the trouble?
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