long moon smiles in the sky

Chapter 4 Wine, Commander and Beggar

Wine, since ancient times, has been getting better with age, but there are generally two different emphasis on aged wine, one is about alcohol, and the other is just a word of fragrance.Sweet-scented osmanthus wine and Lihuabai wine are easy to mellow but difficult to fragrance.

What shopkeeper Jade brought to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang this time was a jar of aged sweet-scented osmanthus that had money but no place to buy.As soon as the lid is opened, the aroma of wine is overflowing, with the sweetness of osmanthus, and then blown by the evening wind, it is indescribably pleasant.

Yuxi Zhang prepared a glass of emerald glass for Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. After filling a glass full, the boss withdrew and asked the two to drink and reminisce about the old days.

"Hmm..." Bai Yutang took a sip of sweet-scented osmanthus, raised his eyebrows and praised, "The shopkeeper is so good at searching, where can I find such good wine?"

Zhan Zhao took a sip from his cup and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's right." Bai Yutang raised his hand suddenly, and threw something to Zhan Zhao, "It's for you."

"What?" Zhan Zhao raised his hand to catch it, held it in front of his eyes, and saw that it was a small piece of something wrapped in white silk. When he opened it, he found a round, round, gray stone inside.

Staring at the stone in confusion for a long time, Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang, "What is it?"

"Wine medicine stone." Bai Yutang smiled mysteriously.

"Is it real?" Zhan Zhao stared at the stone, "Wine Medicine Stone is a rare piece in a thousand years, why does it look so ordinary?"

"I'm short-sighted." Bai Yutang smiled, took an empty bowl, poured some tea into it, and then took the wine medicine stone in Zhan Zhao's hand and put it in the tea bowl. After a while, he felt a burst of strong wine When the fragrance came, it even overwhelmed the fragrance of the whole altar of sweet-scented osmanthus.

Zhan Zhao stared at the bowl of tea like a cat seeing something new, picked it up and took a sip, then opened his eyes wide and looked at Bai Yutang, "It really smells like wine! It smells like the best green bamboo leaves!"

"That's right." Bai Yutang continued to drink with his glass in hand, "You've been running around all day, and when you run out of wine, take out a bowl and soak it in water."

Zhan Zhao drank all the wine in the tea bowl, took out the wine medicine stone, wiped it, wrapped it in a cloth, and said, "Mmm..."

"Hmm what?" Bai Yutang asked him.

Zhan Zhao stared at Bai Yutang for a while, then said, "Tell me, what can I do for you?"

Bai Yutang was slightly uncomfortable, and muttered, "Dead cat."

"No?" Zhan Zhao asked, "Then continue drinking."

"Wait." Bai Yutang raised his hand to stop him, "Then are you willing to help?"

Zhan Zhao narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Let's listen to it, what are you being polite about?"

"I want you to check someone for me." Bai Yutang put away his smile and said quite seriously.

"Who?" Seeing Bai Yutang's seriousness, Zhan Zhao put down his glass to listen.

"A general of Yingtian Mansion, Xia Guodong."

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, thought for a while, and asked, "Xia Guodong, I haven't heard of it, what's wrong with him?"

Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, and said, "Didn't I take a trip to Tianshan recently?"

"Yeah." Zhan Zhao nodded, "Have you caught the fox yet?"

"I accidentally found several camps in a depression in Tianshan Mountain." Bai Yutang said in a low voice, "The camps have been frozen, and there are still a dozen corpses, all of which have been dead for several years and turned into frozen corpses." dead."

Zhan Zhao was slightly surprised, "Did he die in Tianshan?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "I saw that the posture of those tents was very similar to what Song soldiers used to set up...so I went in and searched, and found something like this." As he spoke, he took out a token from his pocket , to Zhan Zhao.

Zhan Zhao took it over and took a look, he was taken aback for a moment, and saw "Ying Tianfu, Xia" written on the token

"I've checked, there are only a few officials with the surname Xia in Ying Tianfu, and there is only one military officer named Xia Guodong." Bai Yutang reached out and picked up a chopstick of womb rabbit meat and stuffed it into his mouth. "This is very strange. , since I ran into it, those dead ghosts are predestined to me, so I want to check it out."

"Are those dead bodies dressed as Song soldiers?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"En." Bai Yutang nodded.

"Do you suspect that either the one who was killed was Xia Guodong, or the one who murdered was Xia Guodong?" Zhan Zhao added a chopstick of sweet-scented osmanthus fish sticks and stuffed them into his mouth.

"It's just a guess." Bai Yutang shrugged, "It's also possible that it has nothing to do with him... But if it does, Ying Tianfu is not far from Fengfu, so it's better to find out."

"Yeah." Zhan Zhao nodded, put the token away, and said, "I'll take it back and let the adults have a look, don't startle the snake!"

Bai Yutang smiled, and raised his hand to clink glasses with Zhan Zhao.

Afterwards, the two ate and drank, joked and quarreled, seeing that it was already dark, and the lights outside were just beginning to come on.Kaifeng is very lively at night, and the folk customs are relatively open. Many young men and women go to the streets to buy something.

Bai Yutang's face was full of comfort, and he said to himself, "Oh, this bustling place is more suitable for me. The few months of cultivating my health in Tianshan Mountain, I was almost suffocated to death." While talking, he saw the crowd downstairs Among them, a group of teenagers dressed in all white walked by, holding weapons in their hands.Wherever those people went, many people would surround them. The men in white stared at the people who surrounded them one by one. The good-looking and young ones were all included in the back of the team, and everyone gave Five taels of silver.

"Cat, what is this for?" Bai Yutang asked puzzled.

Zhan Zhao came over to take a look, raised his eyebrows, and said, "Oh...it's taught by Bai."

"Baijiao?" Bai Yutang thought for a while, "Just now I heard from a buddy that some red peppers and white peppers have been produced in Kaifeng recently. What is it for?"

"What are red peppers and white peppers?" Zhan Zhao gave Bai Yutang a weak look, "It's the Red Sect and the White Sect, which take care of homeless children and beggars on the street."

Bai Yutang looked down again, then turned to look at Zhan Zhao, "Mao'er, it's not my heart to be a villain. There are so many sects these days, and I haven't seen anyone who pays money to recruit disciples... How can there be such a thing in this world?" Good thing?"

Zhan Zhao nodded lightly, "I also know this, Mr. Bao even specially sent yamen servants to monitor their actions, but they didn't do anything bad except giving alms and recruiting apprentices to practice martial arts and study. There is no way to take them."

"That's true..." Bai Yutang stroked his chin, "Is the Red Sect and the White Sect together?"

"I don't think so." Zhan Zhao said, "The red-clothed temple of the Red Sect in the north of the city, and the white-clothed temple of the White Sect in the south of the city."

"What red clothes and white clothes... Even the names are so symmetrical. Is it a new Jianghu school? Who is the head?" Bai Yutang asked, "Why are there so many new schools in the Jianghu recently?"

"Is the war over?" Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, "Is it time to start the internal fighting after the foreign enemy is settled? Speaking of... who is the leader of the Red Clothes Sect and the White Clothes Sect, I have never heard of it, but... At this point, Zhan Zhao paused, "The White Clothes Sect should ask you to be the leader, right?"

Bai Yutang turned his head and stared at Zhan Zhao, "Dead cat."

"Let's go, it's late." Zhan Zhao rushed downstairs, went to the shopkeeper to pay, but ran downstairs helplessly, the shopkeeper said to Zhan Zhao, "Master Wu has already paid."

Zhan Zhao was a little frustrated, so he had no choice but to turn around and leave the restaurant. Bai Yutang then rushed down to ask the shopkeeper to pay, but was also told, "Master Zhan has already paid."

Helpless, Bai Yutang had no choice but to go out, and Zhan Zhao went straight to a pastry shop opposite.

"Cat, aren't you full yet?" Bai Yutang followed.

"Bring some snacks to Mr. Gongsun and the brothers." Zhan Zhao took the packaged snacks while paying the money, and said, "I'm back to Kaifeng Mansion, are you going back to Baixun Village?"

"I'm not in a hurry, I'll walk with you again." Bai Yutang put the knife on his shoulder and turned to look at the bustling market.

"Then let's go to the bridge." Zhan Zhao said, "After winter, there will be river lanterns and painting boats."

The two of them chatted about irrelevant gossip while walking in the direction of the Seven Arch Bridge.

The so-called seven arch bridges are seven arch bridges erected side by side on the river in Kaifeng City. They were designed by the famous craftsman Wan Meizi. Renzong personally ordered hundreds of craftsmen to rush to build them. The deserted west of the city was connected together, and naturally, the west of the city became lively in an instant.

The two of them had just stepped onto a bridge when they saw chickens flying around in front of them, mixed with scolding.

"What's this for?" Bai Yutang was curious. At this moment, the crowd parted, and a small dark figure charged straight over, bumping headfirst into Bai Yutang's body.

Bai Yutang subconsciously moved towards Zhan Zhao's side. Zhan Zhao also wanted to reach out to give him a hand at this time, but inadvertently touched his hands, one's hand was slightly hot, and the other's hand was slightly cold. Withdrew...unspeakably embarrassing.

The one who rushed over was a little guy, because he rushed too hard, Bai Yutang got out of the way, he didn't see the road ahead, couldn't stop the car, stepped on a space under his feet, and rolled directly...

"Be careful!" Zhan Zhao stepped forward, walked to the little beggar's side in two or three steps, raised his hand and grabbed him, jumped off the bridge, and stabilized him, "Are you okay?"

"No..." The little beggar looked up to see Zhan Zhao, and quickly pulled his arm back. At this moment, a group of people shouted not far away, "Catch him, don't let that little thief get away!"

As soon as the child heard this, he turned around and wanted to run, but he seemed to have twisted his foot when he fell off the bridge just now. The sudden movement made him tremble in pain, his body swayed, and a piece of jade pendant in his arms fell out... Seeing It was about to fall to the ground, the beggar was shocked, but saw the clean white shoes coming in from the side, caught the jade pendant and picked it up lightly, the jade pendant flew up.

The little beggar raised his gaze following the rise of the jade pendant, and saw a man in white standing beside Zhan Zhao, who reached out to fish for the jade pendant and took it into his hand.

"Ah, give it back to me!" The little beggar stretched out his hand to snatch it, but Bai Yutang gave him a sharp look, "What's the hurry?"

The little beggar was taken aback by Bai Yutang's gaze, and seeing Bai Yutang handing him back the jade pendant, Zhan Zhao patted him with a smile, "Little brother, I want to say thank you at this time."

The little beggar blushed slightly, and reached out to take the jade pendant.

"Master Zhan!" A few people running up the bridge from a distance saw Zhan Zhao, and said, "Don't let that little thief get away, he stole our things!"

Zhan Zhao was slightly taken aback, then glanced at Bai Yutang, and it was Old Liu, the treasurer of the jade shop, and a few fellows who came after him.

"Little thief!" Shopkeeper Liu rushed down panting, and said to Zhan Zhao, "Master Zhan, thank you so much, that little thief stole my jade pendant worth several hundred taels!"

"Oh?" Zhan Zhao was a little surprised, and looked down at the beggar.

"Bah!" The beggar gave the shopkeeper a rude and fierce look, and said, "I didn't steal it, that jade pendant belonged to a friend of mine! He disappeared a few days ago, and this jade pendant was left by his mother. His, tell me, is it because you murdered yourself for money?!"

"Uh..." Shopkeeper Liu waved his hands again and again, "Don't spit blood on people! How could I murder myself for money?"

When Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang saw shopkeeper Liu's eyes seemed to flicker, it seemed that there was something inside.

Zhan Zhao smiled slightly, and said, "Why don't you go back to Kaifeng Mansion with me, let Mr. Bao make a judgment and see who this jade pendant really is, and besides..." He looked down at the beggar, "You Didn’t it mean that your friend is gone? Why didn’t you report to the police? We’ll help you find it.”

The beggar looked up at Zhan Zhao, and asked, "The beggar is lost, can you find it too?"

Zhan Zhao thought it was funny, "Why not?"

"Uh...you don't need to enter Kaifeng Mansion?" Shopkeeper Liu trembled, "It doesn't need to be so big..."

"Old Liu." Bai Yutang patted him, "Why are you so frightened that your face turned pale? Have you done anything wrong?"

"I..." Shopkeeper Liu looked at Zhan Zhao and then at Bai Yutang with a mournful face, a little discouraged, "I am not the one who killed that child..."

"The child was really murdered?" Zhan Zhao's face turned cold, and he stared at shopkeeper Liu.

Shopkeeper Liu felt the cold on his back, waved his hands quickly, and said, "...I saw that little beggar was taken away by some people from Baijiao, and then the jade pendant fell off while struggling. I think it is quite valuable. , and picked it up." Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other—something happened.