The night was dark and the lights inside were dim.
In front of the stove.
The man stared with red eyes, locked his teeth, and his cheek muscles trembled, forcing the harsh words out from between his teeth again and again.
The thick butcher knife in his hand was stained with blood and rust as it was raised and cut repeatedly.
chop.
chop.
chop.
The chopping made the chopping board tremble, the lights shook, blood splattered, and minced meat and bone fragments flew up.
for a long time.
Perhaps because he was exhausted, the madness in the man's eyes gradually diminished. He rested for a while while holding on to the stove, and then took off the lid of the large pot next to him.
Immediately, thick water vapor began to steam up. After a moment, the smoke dispersed, and you could see that the brown brine in the pot was boiling hot.
He remained silent and pushed the freshly chopped pieces of meat into the pot. The fresh flesh and blood were stirred by the boiling marinade, and the rich smell of meat mixed with the aroma of old marinade rolled out of the pot.
The person's throat moves greatly.
At this time.
"Boom, boom."
There was a sudden knock on the door.
"who?!"
The man's face tensed up again in an instant.
Snapped.
There was a tap on the door.
"You idiot." The person outside the door laughed and cursed, "Who else could be there in the middle of the night? It's me."
"Lady?!"
The man's tense expression relaxed in the blink of an eye, and his eyes burst out with wild joy. He took a few steps toward the door, then quickly stepped back, took off his apron, washed away the blood, and then happily ran to the door again.
And behind him, in the cauldron.
As the brine rolled, a human head quietly emerged.
In the interweaving of dim lights and steaming water vapor, one could vaguely make out the appearance of a woman, with soft facial features and a skin that became whiter due to blood loss and boiling.
She smiled wildly and coquettishly in the boiling water.
At the corner of the eye, a tearful mole is covered in soup, making it even more mouth-watering.
…………
Recently.
Xiaoshui City is quite uneasy.
The government officials spent the whole day wandering the streets, going door to door to check on people's food intake, and even secretly peddled a strange pill. Rumors spread in the market that there was a monster in the city, and it was mixed in among people's houses, making it difficult to identify them.
If we had to push it forward for a while, this news would have caused a huge uproar and made everyone panic. But now, after the Bacchus Festival, every winery is busy making wine, and everyone is so busy.
Where do you have the time to deal with any kind of monster?
What?
You said monsters want to eat people!
If we eat people, we will eat people. We will waste working hours, we will not be able to brew good wine, we will not be able to pay wages, and we will starve in the coming year. We can eat the monsters.
Therefore, there are only some talkative women and homeless sluts who still insist on this matter, and they spread many strange and strange things in a serious manner.
For example, a certain government servant forcibly sold ten pills to a certain family and asked for three taels of silver. As a result, the owner became so angry that he swallowed the pills on the spot and turned into a monster. Instead, he ate the government servant first.
For another example, although an old man in a certain family was in poor health and had a good appetite, his unfilial son quietly reported it to the government, and a Taoist priest was immediately summoned. The next day, the entire family disappeared.
Another example is that a child-like monster appeared in a certain shop, and he loved to get into women's bellies. So a certain unscrupulous matchmaker came up with the idea to use the clothes of some loose-bodied secret agents in the city to use the clothes of yellow-flowered girls.
I introduced the price to a country man, and if he asked why there was no blood on the night of the wedding, he would say that it was a monster that got through it.
There are many more such ridiculous rumors. When any serious person in the city hears this, no one can help but spit:
This is a peaceful world, tui!
…
"Hua Yan Luo" Zhang Tong spat out a mouthful of old phlegm.
By chance, he fell on the shoes of a passerby on the street. Before he could get angry, he glared at him with a pair of strange eyes, making the passerby tremble in fear and run away in panic.
Only then did he sweep the street with great satisfaction, and the "sensible" pedestrians hid their faces and ran away.
He chuckled.
It seems that even after a few days of "rest", he still looks great.
Suddenly I felt very good, as if the cane in my hand was a few ounces lighter.
"If you ask me, we brothers shouldn't get involved in that kind of thing. Look, if you don't make a penny, I will become a cripple..."
He patted the crutch in his hand bitterly and complained to his younger brother, Zhang Shaonan, who was hanging his arm next to him.
"You also broke an arm."
"I'm not here to be a dog for the official."
Zhang Shaonan casually grabbed a handful of mulberries from a street stall without even looking at the stall owner who nodded and bowed.
"It's true that rumors about demons are widespread, and some people murmured after hearing it."
"Afraid of me?!" Zhang Tong spat, knocking a pedestrian who couldn't avoid him into the ground. "How many rumors are true?"
"This time is different."
Zhang Shaonan shook his head.
When a little girl selling flowers met them, she trembled like a quail and was about to run away, but he hooked her finger and came closer to her crying.
"Not only are the two Taoist priests Feng and Li involved in this, it is said that even Yu Zhenren of Shuiyue Temple is also involved."
He picked through the little girl's basket and selected a wild flower to put on his ear.
"I heard some news..."
He pushed the little girl away and whispered some secrets to his brother Zhang Tong.
"I think it's true."
"Whether it's true or not."
Zhang Tong didn't care, he stopped in front of a house and banged on the door.
"The huge Xiaoshui City has tens of thousands of people, but it can only feed us two brothers?"
Zhang Shaonan stopped talking.
He only took a few steps back and just moved his ankles.
Not long after.
"who?"
An urgent question sounded from the door.
Zhang Tong smiled ferociously.
"Your grandpa!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Shaonan rushed forward like a gust of wind and kicked on the door.
"Bang!"
The door is open.
Zhang Tong rushed in fiercely.
Inside the door, the small courtyard was empty except for a man who had rolled to the ground and was still in pain. When he saw the two brothers who had barged in, he panicked and didn't wait to say anything.
Zhang Tong then rounded up the walking stick and smashed it randomly.
The walking stick looks like wood, but it is actually hard and heavy. When it falls on a person, it looks like an iron rod.
The man was knocked to the ground and rolled around. Every time he tried to escape, he was kicked back by Zhang Shaonan who was guarding him. The man had no choice but to curl up and beg for mercy.
But the two brothers didn't say a word and just fought randomly.
It wasn't until the noise caused the neighbors to look over one after another that Zhang Tong shouted loudly:
"Gu Laosan, who sells braised pork, you are a good thief. Zhu Xingshou from the meat shop asked me to give you a message: When doing business in our Xiaoshui, you must abide by the rules of our Xiaoshui! Who lends your courage?
,Dare to use other people’s pork privately?!”
While being beaten, the man took time to defend himself: "I didn't use other people's pork."
"It's no use?"
Zhang Tong laughed ferociously.
"The guy from the butcher shop has been waiting for you for several days. You didn't buy even half a piece of pork from the butcher shop. The braised pork business is actually very prosperous. If he hadn't used his pork, he might have been scraped by people on the road (Harmony)
Meat?!"
After saying this, Gu Laosan seemed to be speechless. He didn't defend himself or even beg for mercy. He just held his head and was beaten silently.
This time, Zhang Tong stopped.
"I thought you were just a turtle egg, but I didn't expect you to be a man."
"pity."
He clicked his tongue twice more.
"Then Zhu Xingshou is petty. Not only does he want to teach you a lesson, but he also wants to ruin your career. According to industry regulations, we brothers have to do things after we take the money!"
After that, he left Gu Laosan and went to the workshop.
Gu Laosan suddenly howled a few times and threw himself at Zhang Tong with both hands and feet. Unfortunately, he was still kicked over by Zhang Shaonan.
…
It's very common in the workshop.
There were two large pots set up on a large stove; the thick wooden chopping board next to it was deeply brown and covered with knife marks; next to it, there was a large cooking basket set up on two benches, with several leftover pieces of braised pork placed on it.
The color is bright and the meaty aroma is attractive.
Zhang Tong couldn't help but pick up a piece and stuff it into his mouth. It was unexpectedly delicious, not only did it not feel greasy, but it also made people feel appetizing.
Unknowingly, I picked up another piece in my hand.
"It's really good craftsmanship, it would be a pity if it was smashed."
Although he said this with his mouth, his hands were unambiguous.
The countertop was overturned, the seats were smashed, and the dishes were broken.
At the door, Gu Laosan's eyes turned red, and he frantically tried to come in to stop him, but Zhang Shaonan pressed him against the wall. He watched helplessly as Zhang Tong swung his walking stick, smashed the iron pot, and broke the earthen stove.
Overturned the old braised jar.
"Clang."
But it was Zhang Tong who knocked over a clay pot on the shelf.
The jar fell to the ground and shattered, and a lump of overcooked meat fell out, trembling and rolling away in the mud.
The room suddenly fell silent.
Gu Laosan stopped yelling and scolding, Zhang Tong stopped hitting, and Zhang Shaonan took a deep breath unconsciously.
The eyes of the three people were drawn to it involuntarily.