A pot of green ant soup, two plates of cold dishes.
A dish of pickled vegetables, the last batch of summer vegetables: okra, amaranth, turnips, and radishes, simply pickled and fermented with coarse salt, with a salty, sour, and crisp taste.
There are also two dried pork products, made by cutting pork into strips, marinating them with salt and Sichuan peppercorns, and then air-drying them.
It has a hard texture and requires force to tear and chew, but the more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes, making it a worthy main dish in small taverns.
Li E quickly suppressed his turbulent emotions, but his hand under the table trembled slightly.
"The guest looks unfamiliar. Are you perhaps from a military family?" The innkeeper put down the dishes and asked casually with a smile.
Li E's heart tightened, but his face remained calm: "Oh? How did you figure that out?"
"You are exceptionally robust, with thick calluses on your hands and knuckles."
I've been greeting and seeing off people at this alley entrance for many years, so I have a good eye for these things.
Please don't be offended if I've said anything wrong.
Li E took a deep breath, picked up the wine bowl, and took a sip.
The wine still tasted the same, but I could no longer taste any of the warmth and affection of the past; all that remained was a bitter taste in my mouth.
"fine."
Seeing that he had no intention of talking further, the shopkeeper cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Please enjoy your meal, sir. I'll be tidying up in the kitchen. Just let me know if you need anything." With that, he turned and went to get busy.
There were only two people left in the secluded little shop.
Li E's eyes were sharp as he stared intently at the person opposite him, and he asked telepathically, "How can you prove that you are Qu Er?"
Qu Heng tilted his head back and took a large gulp of wine. The liquid rolled down his throat, and without a change in expression, he replied telepathically:
"That winter night, the dock was frozen solid. Tiger, that scoundrel, slipped and knocked over the crates."
In a moment of panic, I tried to block with my hand, and my little finger was smashed and crushed.
You tore off your clothes to bandage my wounds, and carried me to find a traditional Chinese medicine doctor specializing in bone injuries.
That doctor's skills were rough; he couldn't set it back up. I was in so much pain that I didn't sleep for three days and three nights.
"Back then, military pay was embezzled at every level, and the brothers were almost starving."
That idiot Zhao Polu pawned his family's most treasured heirloom.
That was the only valuable thing his father left him: a jade pendant with a coiled dragon pattern from a previous dynasty.
"Only after exchanging money could my brothers survive that winter."
Upon hearing this, Li E's eyes instantly reddened.
The veins on his hand holding the wine bowl bulged, and his voice trembled with sobs and disbelief.
"You...you really are Qu Erlang? All these years...why haven't you come looking for me?"
Qu Heng stared blankly at the murky wine, his voice filled with weariness and numbness:
"Alive? Ha, nothing more than a walking corpse, a wandering ghost."
Why should I drag you down with my aimless wandering and constant hiding?
Li E's voice was filled with barely suppressed urgency and pain, "What exactly happened back then?"
His father passed away at that time, and he took a long leave to return to Beijing for the funeral and to observe the mourning period.
When they returned to the northern border, Zhao Yi Army was gone, Zhao Family Army was gone, and not a single brother was left.
Over the years, Li E could only conduct investigations secretly, and progress was slow, with only vague clues found.
Qu Heng took another gulp of wine, the liquid burning his throat and his memories.
"That idiot Zhao Polu!"
When his military pay was withheld, he used his own salary and savings to cover the shortfall. When he couldn't cover it anymore, he would pester his superiors.
After much difficulty, the higher authorities allocated a sum of money for military pay, only to later discover that most of it consisted of privately minted, inferior coins.
That fool actually wrote a secret report, intending to send it directly to the capital and report it to the emperor, but the news leaked out.
On their first routine border patrol, the few hundred men unexpectedly encountered a force several times larger than their own, consisting of elite light cavalry from the Shuofeng Army.
The entire army was wiped out... completely wiped out...
"Idiot! He's the biggest idiot in the world!"
Qu Heng's voice was hoarse and broken during the transmission, filled with endless resentment.
"They probably sensed something was wrong and arranged for me to die before the incident to escape."
So that I could have the opportunity to gather evidence and secretly take care of the young master…
"What!"
Li E was struck as if by a heavy blow, and he sprang up from the stool, knocking over the wine bowl in front of him.
The murky green ant wine was spilled onto the rough, compacted loess ground, spreading out in a dark color.
He stared intently at Qu Heng, his eyes wide with fury, his voice trembling with shock and agitation, almost hoarse:
"Young Master...Young Master is still alive?"
When Li E returned from mourning his father, everything had changed.
His former comrades-in-arms, his upright elder brother, and all his loyal brothers were killed or wounded.
He was left all alone and was assigned to the Xuanwu Army.
With the northern border becoming more stable, how could a small-scale cavalry skirmish possibly result in the complete annihilation of the entire army?
Besides, Li E would never believe it if he were beaten to death that his elder brother had survived a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
For years, he has been in the Xuanwu Army, appearing obedient and honest, but in reality, he has been secretly investigating.
Now, a conclusion has finally been reached.
The reason I spent most of my fortune to secure this job was to go to Fengjing and get results!
He had thought that the Zhao family bloodline had been completely extinguished, but unexpectedly he heard news of the young master in a dilapidated tavern.
"what is going on?!"
Li E's voice was low and hoarse, like sand rubbing together, each word carrying a burning, bloodthirsty intensity.
A secret telepathic message was precisely delivered to his ear: "Zhao Polu has left a backup plan."
"He had a backup plan and left a letter."
If anyone dared to silence his son, the scandal of the Northern Army embezzling military funds and using inferior currency to line their own pockets would instantly spread throughout the streets and alleys of Fengjing.
Because they were afraid of breaking the law, the people in charge at the time could only deal with the young master in secret.
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