Chapter 99 Chapter 99 Autumn and Huang Gui Persimmon Cake Lion is a lion...
The stone lion held a pair of chopsticks in its front paws, and looked embarrassed, so it could only respond weakly:
"I can't just sit there and eat forever. I have to eat occasionally. Besides, this land temple doesn't have many worshippers. Usually, not many people come here to worship. It's rare that there are so many people today. I'll just eat a few more bites."
It chattered on for a long time, but that was not the point. The important thing was that the stone lion actually spoke. Duan Zhiwei and A Pan were shocked for a long time and didn't know how to respond. They could only stand there in a daze.
The stone lion sighed, recited a few incomprehensible incantations, and then jumped down from the base painted with "wealth and longevity".
It was really heavy. The ground shook a few times when she jumped down. Duan Zhiwei couldn't stand steadily. Fortunately, A Pan supported her.
The stone lion raised its two paws and pulled out a lot of community cakes and maltose from a small hole at the foot of the temple, and put them into Ah Pan and Duan Zhiwei's arms: "Come, come, I'll give them to you as compensation."
These snacks were probably offered by pilgrims who came here to worship the land. Many of the cakes have become hard and weathered, with many cracks on them.
It thought about it, and took some back from the two people: "No, no, I can't give it all to you, I have to keep some for Ah Xue to come back and give it to it..."
Duan Zhiwei and A Pan didn't want these cakes that were as hard as bricks, so they returned them all to it: "We don't need them anymore, so let's give them back to you."
The stone lion grinned and said, "Then I won't be polite."
It took the snacks back and hid them back in the small hole at the foot of the temple. It dug some soil with its paws, sealed the hole again, and then clapped its paws.
The community opera had already begun in the distance. Today's play was "Nie Yinniang". Duan Zhiwei also wanted to go and see it, so he said goodbye to the stone lion and took A Pan with him to leave.
The stone lion sighed again: "It's a pity that I can't leave this temple for too long, otherwise I would like to join in the fun." It jumped onto the base again, took out the hydrangea and stepped on it.
He once again became the majestic guardian god.
Duan Zhiwei and A Pan walked a long way and looked back. The stone lion was motionless in the autumn wind and fallen leaves, looking a little lonely.
This reminded her of the bronze mirror. After staying in the vast desert for a long time, when she finally met someone, she would want to chat all the time to make up for the loneliness of more than ten years.
That stone lion, with its companions gone, is the only one left standing in front of this dilapidated land temple for hundreds of years. It must be very lonely...
This matter has been lingering in Duan Zhiwei's mind, causing her to be absent-minded when watching the community opera. After the opera ended, there were vendors selling apricot juice on the street. Yuan Shenji bought a bowl for everyone, but she drank little.
Yuan Shenji was a little worried: "Why don't you drink anymore? Are you feeling unwell?"
"No." She said dejectedly.
That short-lived mirror that left a deep mark in her life became her inner demon. From then on, she felt sad even when she saw a lonely flower at the door of a flower shop.
What’s more, there is the stone lion that has lost its companion and has been guarding the temple for a hundred years.
Anyway, after she returned to the restaurant, she was absent-minded for several days, but she decided to go to the temple again, bring some food to the stone lion, and talk to it.
It happened that there was a bumper harvest of persimmons this year. Vendors pushed carts and sold their products along the street. The persimmons were orange, round and plump, covered with a layer of white frost, and their sweetness could be smelled from afar.
Duan Zhiwei picked one out to taste. The bright orange flesh was soft, sticky and sweet, so he immediately bought a basket.
She plans to try making Huanggui persimmon cake.
The crust of the cake is made of a mixture of sweet persimmon flesh and flour, and the filling is made of osmanthus honey, walnut kernels, and persimmon flesh mixed together, then placed in an iron pan and baked over low heat.
The crust of the cake is baked crispy. It makes a "crunch" sound when you bite it, and then you bite down further and the filling inside bursts between your lips and teeth. The flesh is sticky, sweet and delicate, with a faint sweetness accompanied by the scent of osmanthus. Eating it feels like walking in a maple forest. It is a dessert with autumn characteristics.
Duan Zhiwei packed a box of persimmon cakes and followed Yuan Shenji to the land temple at the foot of Mount Zhongnan.
On the day of the Autumn Festival, the place was packed with people, and Duan Zhiwei was squeezed so hard that he almost couldn't breathe. Today, all the stalls were removed, and there was no one in sight. There were only the tall red maple trees that blocked out the sun, and the ginkgo leaves that crackled when stepped on.
Seeing that there was no one around, the stone lion chose a sunny spot and lay there with its four legs up in the air to sunbathe its belly.
Suddenly, it heard footsteps, and it rolled over and jumped back onto the base. It didn't have time to pick up the hydrangea, so it had to leave its paws hanging in the air, pretending to step on the ball.
Duan Zhiwei said from behind it: "Stop pretending, it's me."
The stone lion turned its head and saw her and Yuan Shenji, and immediately relaxed, jumping down again and lying there: "It's you."
It was lying comfortably, and suddenly it sniffed: "I seem to smell a very sweet smell, like persimmon fruit."
Duan Zhiwei raised the food box in his hand and said, "I brought you some persimmon cakes."
It jumped up with its eyes shining: "Really?"
A box of yellow-orange Huanggui persimmon cakes exudes a mellow and rich sweet fragrance. I carefully picked up a piece and put it in my mouth, with an expression of enjoyment on my face:
“This is so, so delicious.”
Its claws were not flexible enough, and when it took the second piece, it accidentally knocked over the food box. It quickly used its claws to gather up the persimmon cakes that were overturned on the ground: "I won't eat these for now. I'll save them for Ah Xue to eat when she comes back."
Duan Zhiwei was curious: "Who is Ah Xue you are talking about?"
The stone lion seemed to be lost in memories. It sat down on the ground and began to tell stories from the past.
Axue and Amo are stone lions polished by stonemasons of the previous dynasty. Both are majestic. At that time, the land temple was very popular, and countless pilgrims came to burn incense every day.
As time passed and incense was offered, the two lions gradually developed their own consciousness. They would often run in the woods together and play with hydrangeas after curfew at night.
Then one day, they had a big fight and Axue got so angry that she ran away and never came back.
After the stone lion A-Mo finished the story, he raised his paws to cover his eyes. He could not shed tears, but cried out two strings of small stones: "It must be very angry. It has not wanted to come back for hundreds of years."
Duan Zhiwei raised her hand to touch its hard head, and felt that the name Axue sounded familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before. She looked at Yuan Shenji: "Do you remember it?"
Yuan Shenji was of course deeply impressed by the man who was scared away by him, Yue Zuoren, who had only worked in the restaurant for less than two hours, and whose name was also Axue.
"Maybe it's the same name. What if she's just an ordinary person named Axue..." She talked to herself and suddenly stopped.
That strange Axue seemed to be frightened and covered his neck, begging the people in the restaurant not to eat his head.
A lion’s…head?
Ah Mo was still crying as he sat there. Duan Zhiwei asked, "When Ah Xue turned into a human form, was she skinny, pale, and small?"
Ah Mo stopped crying and said, "I don't know. I can't transform yet."
"Then..." Duan Zhiwei thought for a while and could only say: "Let's go to Chang'an City to help you look for it and see if we can find it."
Ah Mo raised his head, his face full of hope, then dimmed again: "But we had a very intense argument at that time, I'm afraid Ah Xue won't forgive me..."
Duan Zhiwei asked: "What did you quarrel about? How could it be so serious that it refused to come back for hundreds of years?"
Ah Mo said sincerely, "We are arguing about whether the moss grows more on the left paw." It raised its left paw to reveal traces of green moss, "or on the right paw."
Duan Zhiwei and Yuan Shenji could only use silence to face this naive but seemingly not very smart stone lion.
As dusk fell, they said goodbye to the stone lions and rode back on horseback.
Duan Zhiwei leaned in front of him and asked, "Do you think that Ah Xue is a lion?"
"I guess it's him."
Duan Zhiwei turned his head and glanced at him. His jawline was particularly sharp under the glow of the setting sun. "Why are you so sure?"
"He ran away when he saw me, naturally because..." He paused, catching Duan Zhiwei's curiosity: "Because I drew my bow and arrow at him on Suzaku Street the day before."
It certainly wasn't because I looked so scary.
Duan Zhiwei knew that he was still upset about this, so he couldn't help but laugh, and then rubbed his chin with the top of his head: "I've already said, you're not scary at all, you're the most people-friendly military officer."
Yuan Shenji felt her soft hair rubbing against his chin and couldn't help feeling a little distracted. But when he heard her praising him like that, although he didn't show it on his face, he was already beaming with joy in his heart.
Duan Zhiwei: "Tell me, are you extremely happy now?"
Yuan Shenji did not answer, but just tightened the reins. The horse felt it and started running quickly towards home under the orange sunset.
Axue wandered around Chang'an City for a few days. His original form was a stone lion that could survive without food. However, the various aromas in the restaurants in Chang'an were so tempting. He was greedy and his stomach was rumbling, but he had no money and could only stare at the steaming stalls.
The impatient Hu vendor waved him away: "Go away, you're just a poor bastard if you don't buy anything."
He was a little angry, thinking that he was a divine beast after all, yet he had to suffer such humiliation.
Axue wandered for half a day and unknowingly walked to the outside of the courtyard of Duan's restaurant in Xuanyangfang.
There's a sweet persimmon aroma coming from it.
He swallowed.
Soon it was completely dark, the few yellow lanterns in the Duan Family Restaurant were all extinguished, and the silver bell-like laughter also stopped.
He also felt a little lonely, but the most urgent thing was to eat something to stop his stomach from growling again.
He wandered outside the restaurant for a while, hesitated for a while, and then quietly climbed over the back wall.
At worst, I can go back to the dock to carry the goods, make some money and then come back to pay them back.
As expected, there were still a lot of soft, sweet and fragrant persimmon cakes left in the restaurant's kitchen. He sat there cross-legged and began to eat them happily.
The Jinhua cat lay on the eaves for half a day. When the lights in Duan Zhiwei's room went out, it wagged its tail happily and ran into the kitchen.
Autumn is the peak season for sea bass, which is known as the "Three Fresh Autumn Dishes". The restaurant stews sea bass and tofu soup. The green chopped green onion enhances the flavor, and the milky white soup is fragrant. The sea bass meat inside is very fat and shaped like garlic cloves. The fish meat is fresh and firm, but it quickly turns into thousands of fish shreds when eaten, which is so delicious that it makes your eyebrows fall.
But the stingy Mrs. Duan was only willing to give it one pot of soup and then closed the lid tightly.
But that won't stop it.
The Jinhua cat waggled its tail and ran into the kitchen. From a distance, a dark figure was seen sitting there eating persimmon cakes.
It's a thief!
That would be great. If they caught such a thief, everyone in the restaurant would definitely look at him with admiration. Madam Duan would also be very grateful and would prepare a table of steamed sea bass, braised sea bass, and yellow croaker with pickled mustard greens, and invite him to eat with a smile.
"Jinhua is so amazing!" everyone in the fantasy praised.
The Jinhua cat happily arched its body from behind, and its paw pads made no sound on the ground.
The thief was unaware and continued eating.
It opened its mouth wide, revealing its sharp teeth, and bit the man's leg.
"ah!!!!"
The sound echoed throughout Xuanyangfang, and the lights in every room of the restaurant lit up instantly.
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