Chapter 176

"Meow--"

The raccoon slave made a low hoarse cry and threatened Xu Yi with a "ha".

Xu Yi raised his eyebrows, grabbed the back of its neck, and let go of the aggressive civet cat.

The next moment, the civet cat half-hunched its back, raised its fluffy tail, and looked at Xu Yi warily.

"Afraid of me?" Xu Yi asked.

The civet cat didn't respond and kept its posture, but its slightly twitching pink nose gave it away.

Xu Yi's eyebrows instantly curved. Since they went out, they were accustomed to carrying dried meat with them that could be eaten at any time.

He walked to the suitcase, took out a cloth bag, opened it, took out a strip of dried meat, and shook it in the direction of the civet cat.

Seeing this, the civet cat's round golden eyes became even rounder.

It strolled towards Xu Yi with its chest raised and its furry paws. When it was two steps away from Xu Yi, it stopped, raised its head and gave him a "meow".

Xu Yi half-crouched and handed over the dried meat in his hand.

The civet cat held the dried meat in its mouth. This time, it didn't rush away and ate slowly.

Xu Yi naturally enjoyed watching such a cute side.

He still kept a distance and did not deliberately approach or touch her, although the soft and smooth fur on the back of his neck that he just grabbed made him still unsatisfied.

But there was no rabies vaccine in this era, so Xu Yi was still very restrained when it came to unfamiliar cats.

After the cat finished eating the dried meat, it did not leave immediately. Instead, it came over and rubbed Xu Yi's trouser legs, meowing a few more times.

It seems that he hasn't eaten enough yet.

Xu Yi laughed out loud and raised his hand to touch its head. This time, the cat not only did not resist, but also tilted its head and rubbed it harder.

"Why are you so greedy? Is it possible that your master didn't feed you cat food?" Xu Yi asked, without stopping, he still got the dried meat for it.

This time, the cat finished eating the dried meat, took the initiative to rub Xu Yi's palm, jumped to the window with satisfaction, and then jumped out.

Xu Yi stood up, walked to the window and looked out, and saw it walking nimblely on the green tiles, making a soft "tacking" sound.

If it weren't for this voice, Xu Yi wouldn't have "ambushed" by the window in advance.

Xu Yi half-squinted his eyes and said softly: "It's still a female cat."

After such an episode, Xu Yi couldn't sleep at all. Fortunately, he just squinted for a while and didn't feel too sleepy now.

He thought about it for a while and decided to go outside to inquire about the situation.

Hearing is false, seeing is believing. Although A Xu and A Jin have obtained a lot of information, there is no guarantee that nothing has been missed.

Xu Yi's eyes fell on the scattered sunlight on the floor.

It was the caravan coming from Maozhou that always reminded him of Zhenmu. He had told Zhenmu that he was from Zizhou, and he didn't know if the young man still remembered him after so many years.

In an instant, Xu Yi appeared on the first floor of the inn.

As he walked out of the gate and passed through the courtyard, he heard a clear and cheerful voice: "Tiger King, where have you been!"

He subconsciously followed the voice and looked over, only to see half of his green bamboo clothes. , the little lady who spoke had her back turned to him, not knowing who she was talking to.

The clear voice kept coming over: "If you do this again next time, see if I don't spank you, oh, hurry up, jump up and let me hug you..."

Xu Yi unintentionally overheard other people's words, and looked unhappy. He turned around, crossed the threshold and left the inn.

...

Puan County, also known as Pu'an County. The land here is vast and lush, and the resources are rich. The people in the city can live and work in peace and contentment, and the wealth is not inferior to that of other counties.

Strolling through the bustling market, he could see all kinds of strange things. Xu Yi stopped in front of a stall that was making clay figurines and asked the old man who was making the clay figurines for the little yellow dog.

Seeing that he was a handsome young man, the old man smiled and sold other soil.

Xu Yi looked around and saw another cat-shaped one, but it was not a civet cat, but a three-flowered cat.

The three flowers were beautifully pinched, and Xu Yi fell in love with them after just two glances.

He didn't know if he had never seen this thing before, but he couldn't help but buy a few more on impulse.

After coming back to his senses, he looked at the four pieces of soil in his hand, including a puppy, a kitten, a female doll, and a male doll. Xu Yi fell into deep thought: ...

that's all, I'll give the extra soil to Asua later. Jin and the others are fine.

With this thought in mind, he put the clay figurine in his hand into his pocket.

Xu Yi didn't hurry. Although his purpose was to see Jishi Hall, he didn't just want to see Jishi Hall.

The restaurants, teahouses and taverns on both sides of the street, with their different customs and customs, are all very similar to what Pang Boyi wrote in his travel notes.

He smelled the aroma of food wafting from time to time on the street, which was different from places like Yanting and Zitong.

Not long after, Xu Yi felt a little hungry.

His eyes fell on these restaurants and stalls, and after scanning around, he came to a stall selling distilled fish.

The stall was run by a young couple who looked no older than thirty. When they saw customers taking their seats, the woman came over to clean the table and asked Xu Yi what he wanted to eat.

Xu Yi looked at her and said, "I wonder what the stall sells?"

The woman said, "We only sell fish with distiller's grains and rice with beans." After speaking, she continued with a smile, "If this official wants to drink, he can Buy two cents of wine from the Li's Restaurant next door. Their wine is cheap and good. If you want other snacks, you can also go to the old lady over there and buy some salty drinks."

Xu Yi listened carefully and took some. I paid dozens of coins and asked her to help buy some salty goods. The extra money could be used for running errands.

The woman readily agreed, took the money and ran to the old lady across the street to buy some salty goods.

This saltwater product is not a good food, but ordinary people love to eat it. You have to pay attention to the recipe and do it well. Even if you use low-grade pig waste, it needs to be cleaned and there shouldn't be a trace of fishy smell.

Next, the washed pig is put into the water and boiled until it is soft enough to be pierced with a chopstick, and then it can be fished out.

The fished pigs can be soaked in salt water after being fished out. They can be cooked and soaked in the middle of the night and can be picked up and eaten at noon.

A portion of the salty food includes all parts of the pig offal, and it is cut enough to fit on a plate. The price is also affordable, only fifteen cents.

Xu Yi gave the woman twenty cents. She could get five cents for running errands, so why not do it.

This money is almost more than what they earn from selling a portion of fish with distiller's grains.

This woman had never met such a generous guest, but she did not take it for granted and asked her husband to pick out a plump fish with distiller's grains and bring it to Xu Yi.

After having a full meal, Xu Yi paid and was about to leave when a group of people walked towards him.

Some of these people were wearing Han clothes, and some were Qiang clothes. They were so large that they blocked half of the entire street.

Xu Yi's eyes fell on these people, and suddenly, he stopped.

He actually saw a familiar face among these people, that was Zhenmu's uncle.

It was a few years ago when I met Maki's uncle. After so many years, Maki's uncle's appearance has not changed much, except that his skin has become darker.

Xu Yi passed him and looked at the young men next to him. He soon recognized two of them as the ones who had diarrhea at the time.

However, he didn't see Maki in the crowd.

Xu Yi frowned slightly, wondering if Zhenmu had followed him to Pu'an.

He hesitated whether to step forward, but unexpectedly, this group of people came towards him first.

In less than a moment, these seven or eight people sat down at the two wooden tables next to him. Uncle Maki, the elder, shouted: "Shopkeeper, please bring eight plates of fish with rice wine grains and twenty bowls of beans and rice."

"Okay, guest ." Officers, please wait~" The woman was delighted and quickly ran to help prepare food.

Xu Yi stood there and watched silently. After a while, he sighed softly and chose to leave first.

"Wait a moment, officer."

Behind him, the middle-aged man suddenly stood up and shouted to Xu Yi.

Xu Yi paused slightly and turned to look at him.

The middle-aged man raised his hands uncertainly and asked, "Excuse me, is this little brother a doctor?"

Xu Yi nodded and said his last name.

Sure enough, after hearing this, the middle-aged man clapped his hands happily and said, "I didn't recognize the wrong person. It's really you, Dr. Xu. Do you still remember me? By the way, do you still remember that we met outside Maozhou City? But you He also saved our lives."

"Remember."

How could Xu Yi forget.

At that time, some of these people were still confronting the Qiang people who wanted to cause trouble, and they were just about to pull out their machetes.

Thinking of those scimitars that seemed to be mass-produced, a smile appeared in Xu Yimei's eyes.

After the two parties recognized each other, the topic they talked about naturally turned to why each other appeared in Pu'an.

The middle-aged man said with emotion: "We originally only sold goods from Mianzhou. Unfortunately, in the past few years, Mianzhou has also been in a lot of chaos. The situation there is not good, and businessmen are not as active as before."

Behind them, their business The number of goods that the team can carry through Maozhou and Mianzhou is gradually decreasing. Seeing that if they don't change lanes, the caravan will be forced to disband.

"Fortunately, this kid Maki is smart. He knows that business in these two places is not easy, so he wants to go east." The middle-aged man said, "Many people have been running here in the past two years. This time, we still picked him up. The order from Jishitang came to Pu'an to deliver the medicinal materials."

Xu Yi frowned and asked, "Is it Dr. Yan?"

The middle-aged man was stunned, then shook his head and said, "No, Jishitang in Maozhou is already here. The doctor has been replaced."

When Xu Yi heard this, he felt uneasy and quickly asked what was going on. Could it be that the Shen family had sent another doctor to replace Dr. Yan?

The middle-aged man did not know the relationship between Xu Yi and Doctor Yan.

He thought that Xu Yi was just asking casually, so he said: "Doctor Yan had a cold in the severe winter last year and died of illness before he could survive it. Now the doctor at Jishi Hall is named Tian, ​​and he is Dr. Yan's apprentice."

Xu Yi's head buzzed, and his whole body No other sounds could be heard.

Everyone has to go through birth, old age, illness and death. Even if he knows how old Dr. Yan is, even if he can live a long life, he will not have many years.

But when he heard the news, he couldn't help but feel sad.

The middle-aged man asked with concern: "Doctor Xu, what's wrong with you?"

Xu Yi waved his hands, trying to say that he was fine, but he couldn't say anything while his mouth was moving.

For a long time, Xu Yi closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his eyes suddenly became clearer for a moment. He calmed down and said slowly: "...I, I'm fine."

Seeing him like this, the middle-aged man Only then did he realize that Xu Yi and Doctor Yan had an unusual relationship.

He sighed softly: "Doctor Xu, don't be sad. Although Dr. Yan has caught the cold, he can still be regarded as dying of old age. The apprentice named Li who he took in back then did not leave Jishi until his funeral was completed. "Tang."

Xu Yi looked up at him and asked, "Why did he leave?"

The middle-aged man shook his head. What was the reason, he, an outsider, could not know.

Xu Yi was not disappointed when he failed to get the news from the middle-aged man. After all, Doctor Yan's matter had occupied all his mind.

After saying goodbye to the middle-aged man, Xu Yi no longer felt like continuing to inquire about Ji Shi Tang.

Back at the inn, he sat at the table in a daze for a while.

It wasn't until there was a knock on the door and Ah Jin's voice outside that Xu Yi came back to his senses and got up to open the door for them.

"Lang Jun, when did you come back?" A Jin asked, "We came here just now and saw that you are not in the house."

Xu Yi was not interested: "I have been back for a while."

A Xu and A Jin looked at each other , they all noticed something was wrong with Xu Yi, and were about to ask something, when they suddenly heard a lot of movement downstairs outside.

Their thoughts were disrupted and they ran to see what happened.

It turned out that there were attendants moving boxes and cages downstairs. One of the attendants accidentally tripped over one of the boxes and cages.

The older woman standing next to her was shouting to be gentler and directing the followers to put the boxes and cages on the cart.

Xu Yi and the others were standing at the attic window on the second floor. Suddenly, he saw the young lady wearing a green bamboo-colored jacket among the crowd.

The little lady still had her back to him, but her posture... seemed to be holding something.

The attendants downstairs were still moving boxes and cages one by one, but Xu Yi had already turned his eyes back. He asked the brother and sister, "Is something wrong?"

Ajin pursed her lips and spoke first: "Is there anything bothering Mr. Lang?"

Xu Yi's mind moved slightly: "Did you see it?"

"Lang Jun rarely shows such an expression. We just entered the house. You've always been like this." Ah Jin said, glancing at his brother from the corner of his eye.

Xu Yi caught the small movements of the two brothers and sister and said nothing.

A Xu also nodded and said, "Mr. Lang, if you have anything to do, please tell us. We may be able to relieve your worries."

How to relieve your worries?

Xu Yi laughed. If it were other worries, it would be okay to talk about it, but his old friend died of illness in a foreign country, but he didn't receive the news and had nowhere to let go.

A long time...

"Axu Ajin, come with me to the temple outside the city tomorrow to burn some paper money." Xu Yi said seemingly casually, "I want to pay homage to an old friend."