Chapter 89 Chapter 89 Ah Li's Life Story Little fox, you...
These days, Ali has tricked people into eating fried sesame lamb from Zuixianlou, golden fish from Jinyuge, lotus leaf chicken from Duan's Restaurant, and honey-roasted crispy fried fish from Lingnange. Her fox fur is even sleeker than the crispy fried fish, and her tail hidden in her robe is sticking up high. She is feeling very proud.
Today he used the same trick again and went to a shop specializing in roast pork elbows on the North Street of Xuanyangfang. The shop owner was originally a hunter. He had a ferocious look on his face and was not someone who was easy to deal with. He would not tolerate him throwing a tantrum, so he picked up a knife and wanted to fight Ali.
The wife of the inn owner is a calculating person. She has been communicating with other inn owners these days and they all know that there is a seven or eight-year-old boy who is cheating people to eat and drink for free under the pretext of being lost.
She rolled her eyes and wanted to teach Ali a lesson.
They kept two ferocious hounds in their backyard. They ate half a basin of raw meat and bones every day. The muscles on their backs were as strong as iron lumps, their fur was rough, and their faces looked ferocious.
The shop owner immediately had an idea.
She pretended to be friendly and walked to the front hall, took the cloth bag from Ah Li's hand and said, "There's a new batch of honey pork elbows baked in the kiln in the backyard. I'll go get it for you now."
Ah Li had a keen nose and could already smell the rich and sweet aroma of meat. His ears trembled happily in his hood: "Then I'll wait here."
Soon the shopkeeper handed him the tightly wrapped bag and said with a fake smile, "Here are all the elbows from the backyard."
When Ali put the bag on her back, she felt it was very heavy. But thinking about the delicious honey-roasted pork elbow, she gritted her teeth, put on the huge bag, thanked the store owner and left slowly.
It rained today, so the ground was finally not scorching hot anymore. However, he accidentally stepped into a puddle while walking barefoot, and his feet were covered with mud and fallen leaves, becoming sticky.
But today's elbow is really heavy, and the kind-hearted shop owner is really willing to give it to me.
He dragged the bag forward with difficulty. The old scar on his chest was slightly painful under the pressure of the bag. It was left in the twelfth lunar month when he was fighting for food with wild cats and dogs on the roadside.
He suddenly recalled the days when he was a child, waiting carefree in a cave in Mount Zhongnan for his mother and sister to come back from hunting. At that time, my mother would always come back with a pheasant in her mouth, and my sister would use her tail to shield it from the wind and snow.
Unfortunately, the good days didn't last long. A hunter found their cave and saw that the boy was young and furry and very cute, so he didn't hurt him. Instead, he put him in a cage and took him to the East Market to sell him.
No one was willing to take good care of him, and finally he was abandoned beside the Yong'an Canal, competing with wild dogs for half a piece of cold Hu cake. At that time, he swore that he would try all the delicacies in Chang'an City, even if they were obtained by deception.
Thinking of the fat cat in Duan's restaurant, even though it stole the fish, the beautiful and gentle owner of the restaurant would not blame it, Ali suddenly felt sad.
However, when her thoughts drifted to the honey-juiced elbow, Ali's mood became much better.
He secretly watched the diners eat outside the shop in the morning. The skin of the pork elbow was roasted very crispy. With a "crunch", it was like biting through the sweet crispy shell. The pork elbow meat inside looked soft and melted easily, blending with the honey. The aroma of the meat wafted all the way outside the shop.
Thinking of this, he felt more motivated to drag his elbow back.
But something was wrong, the package suddenly moved on his back.
Ali felt strange and took a few more steps. The package moved again.
Now he had no way of going forward. It was already evening and the sky was dim. There was no one on the road, and he thought that there would not be any wild cats or dogs that suddenly appeared to steal his food.
He pulled off the twine that tied the package tightly.
The barbecue feast at Duan's Restaurant was coming to an end. Everyone was a little tired of eating meat, so they skewered some mushrooms, leeks, and eggplants, put them under a wire cover and grilled them.
A Pan took out a few cooled Hu pancakes from the kitchen, cut them in half, and then put them on the fire. When the Hu pancakes were baked until crispy, you could put vegetables and meat in the middle and eat them together.
Finally, Duan Zhiwei picked up a small copper pot and cooked some black plum drink for everyone to help them digest their food.
In the pleasant summer breeze, everyone sat together chatting and drinking.
Suddenly Chen Guifang concentrated and spoke after a long hesitation: "Is there anyone outside calling for help?"
Everyone stopped talking, and Li Heng subconsciously retorted: "It's past curfew, how could there be anyone outside?"
Even if someone knew that they had violated the curfew, they would quickly find a bridge hole to hide in, so as not to be caught by Wu Hou and beaten with twenty boards. Why would they shout and scream outside?
Yuan Shenji often had to distinguish the sound of enemy horses' hooves in the military camp, so he had developed an excellent hearing ability. He also listened attentively for a while: "It seems that someone is really calling for help outside."
He stood up and strode out.
Seeing the excitement, Aunt Duan was extremely excited. Since the powerful Jinwu Guards were there, it would be a waste not to watch the excitement. Everyone followed them out. Li Heng sat there alone for a while, but couldn't resist his curiosity and followed them out.
Yuan Shenji removed the door of the restaurant and saw a small figure in a dark green robe running while crying: "Help! Help!"
The two vicious dogs behind stared at their prey with murderous eyes, getting closer and closer and then opening their bloody mouths.
Pu Tao had also been chased by a wild dog. He was so scared that he trembled and buried himself in A Pan's arms, not daring to look.
As luck would have it, there was a small mound of dirt on the ground. Ali didn't see it and tripped over it. She rolled several times on the ground and could only crawl forward with difficulty.
The hound showed its sharp white fangs.
Ali had no choice but to cover her eyes with her hands.
The imagined pain did not occur.
He quietly opened his eyes and saw that one hunting dog was knocked to the ground by Yuan Shenji's bare hands. The other one saw that its companion had suffered a loss and ran away with its tail between its legs.
Duan Zhiwei came over to help him and said to Yuan Shenji, "Yuan Lang, don't let it run away. It would be terrible if this dog bites other children on the road."
Yuan Shenji responded and quickly chased after it, knocking out the other hound. He picked up one in each hand and tied them up with a rope.
Duan Zhiwei and Aunt Duan helped the trembling Ah Li into the restaurant, and turned to Yuan Shenji and said, "Tie her up tightly and send her to Chang'an County tomorrow. We'll see which family accidentally let the hounds out. It's so scary."
Although everyone knew that it was Ali who stole the chicken from the restaurant, he was still young, and his chubby face was covered in mud and wounds, so no one felt comfortable blaming him. Duan Zhiwei helped him into an empty warehouse.
He was covered in mud, so Duan Zhiwei filled a basin with hot water and A Pan brought in some clean clothes for Little Wolf.
Several people didn't ask about his condition. They just asked him to wipe his face, helped him apply some ointment on the wound, and told him to talk about it tomorrow if there was anything else.
After everyone left, Ali took off the hat that was wrapped tightly around him, and his fiery red hair was now lying like a mess of weeds. He looked at the large bruise on his leg, and tears rolled down his eyes again.
Duan Zhiwei returned to her room angrily. Yuan Shenji was already lying on the couch reading a book. Seeing her so angry, he comforted her, "Send this hound to Chang'an County and find out whose owner it is. The owner will be punished. Don't be angry."
Duan Zhiwei used his hand to compare with him: "Such a young child, with several big bruises on his legs, even if he made a mistake, you can't use a dog to chase him away."
It's simply murder.
Yuan Shenji comforted her again, fetched some water, squatted down to wash her feet, and then talked about what he had been preparing for many days: "Would you like to go back to the Yuan Mansion with me on the night of the Qixi Festival?"
"Okay, no problem." She casually flipped through the military book that Yuan Shenji was reading, and put it back when she found that she couldn't understand it. Then she realized, "Why do you want to go back suddenly?"
He had thought of an excuse long ago, so the lie went smoothly: "There is an old custom of drying books on Qixi Festival, and all the books in my study need to be taken out to dry. The old housekeeper has to go back to his hometown on Qixi Festival, so we need to go back to the mansion to collect the books ourselves."
Duan Zhiwei thought of the cabinets full of ancient books in his study, so he nodded: "That means we should go back early, so that the books don't get stained by the night dew."
Yuan Shenji picked up the ramie towel and wiped her feet, with a smile on his face that he couldn't stop. In order to avoid being exposed, he quickly blew out the candle.
The next morning, Ali got up early and folded Little Wolf's clothes neatly and placed them on the bed. He felt embarrassed to trouble the people in the restaurant, so he had to get up early and slip away.
The sound of a water wheel was heard in the backyard. Ali opened the door and saw several people in the restaurant were already working.
Pu Tao was sitting by the well drinking soy milk and eating steamed cakes. When she saw him come out, she hurried over to greet him and asked with concern, "Are you still in pain?"
Ali blushed and shook her head.
Duan Zhiwei brought out a plate of steamed buns from the kitchen: "Don't stand there, now that you're awake, get up and have breakfast."
The hot soy milk has a mellow aroma with a hint of burnt fragrance. A plate of soft steamed cakes is filled with honey and a few red beans, and it tastes sweet when chewed.
Ali ate with great relish. He hadn't had such a delicious breakfast for a long time.
It was warmer than half a piece of cold and hard Hu pancake that fell on the ground, and also more delicious than the Chang'an delicacies that he had stolen or cheated with great effort.
Everyone was chatting and concerned about his injury, and everyone tacitly agreed not to mention the lotus leaf chicken that was stolen that day.
He felt more and more ashamed, and stood up quickly after finishing his breakfast.
Everyone stopped talking and looked up at him.
His face turned red, and after thinking for a long time, he gritted his teeth and lifted his hat, revealing two big furry ears and fiery red hair.
Maybe they had encountered too many monsters, and everyone in the restaurant was almost immune to them. Only Chen Guifang rarely saw monsters, and shouted: "Oh my god, it's the fox demon in the storybook."
The fox demons in the storybooks were all as charming and beautiful as Daji. When people saw the round-faced child for the first time, they didn't think in that direction.
Ali stammered a few times and told her story, from her comfortable life in Zhongnan Mountain, to being caught by hunters and sold in the East Market, and finally being abandoned by the buyer and wandering on Chang'an Street.
Several ladies were moved to tears, but Chen Guifang looked around and whispered to Aunt Duan: "That's a demon..."
Aunt Duan was blowing her nose loudly and no one could hear her talking.
She turned her head and whispered to Duan Zhiwei: "Why are you so moved? That's a fox that can speak human language."
Duan Zhiwei was trying to comfort the crying Pu Tao and had no time to pay attention to her.
Finally, Ah Li wiped her eyes and said, "I will go back to Mount Zhongnan right away and will never come to Chang'an to steal anything again."
Everyone hurried to stop him, especially Aunt Duan: "The child is fine, you can stay here without worry! Our restaurant is full of delicious food, eat as much as you like, we will never stop you."
The backyard was in the middle of a lively conversation when a noise suddenly came from the front hall, and someone shouted, "Is anyone there?"
Duan Zhiwei thought it was a customer coming to buy breakfast, so he quickly opened the curtain and went out.
It turned out to be the very beautiful Miss Hu from yesterday. She looked anxious, totally different from her calmness from yesterday. "Where's Ah Li? Is Ah Li here with you?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
