Chapter 21 Act Three ? A Fateful Encounter? Part 1
Chapter 21 The fateful encounter in Act 3
More than half a month passed by in a blink of an eye, and it was late spring in the blink of an eye. Yan and Ningyue changed into light single clothes, and sold the heavy winter clothes they had worn before for some loose money. After crossing the Pheasant River, they headed north all the way. , gradually approaching Mulu, the capital of Ye State, located on the south bank of the Yanjiang estuary and known as the first city in Wanzhou.
Since we walked on the official road a few days ago, the road under our feet has become much easier to walk, and there are more and more travelers along the way. All the checkpoints set up everywhere have been removed at some point, and only a few are buried deep underground. The base of the horse piles still vaguely protrudes from the soil.
Now Ning Yue is too lazy to dye her hair, and only uses a gauze scarf to wrap her red hair. Occasionally, a few curled red hair tips sneak out from the temples and ears, but no one pays attention to it along the way. Get down and relax.
At noon that day, the two arrived at Nanxun's door on the outskirts of Mulu City. Before entering the city, Ning Yue, who was wearing a goose-yellow skirt, raised her head, sniffed hard and asked excitedly:
"Wow - what does this smell like? It smells so good!"
Hearing the other party ask this, the young man just patted his head:
"I almost forgot, the Wuyang Festival will be in a few days, so there are so many people going to the city to go to the market. Before and after the festival, every house in the city will make sachets and steam glutinous rice balls, and Yue'er will smell it. It’s the fragrance of glutinous rice balls. Throughout May, the market is very lively, do you want to go and take a look?”
After all, he was only a half-year-old child. When he talked about the festival, Jiang Yan's face also lit up with excitement.
Although the current times are in turmoil, Mulu City is still a peaceful scene of singing and dancing. Even though there are a large number of refugees migrating from the Huaiyou border, this city can still be regarded as a rare peaceful place amid the war. .
"Since it's a festival, it would be a good idea for us to join in the fun together!" Upon hearing that there was something delicious to eat, Ning Yue could no longer hide her excitement, turned her head and dove into the crowd.
"Yue'er, don't walk so fast. Mulu City is bigger than you think. Be careful of getting lost!"
Jiang Yan hurriedly stood on tiptoe and shouted loudly, but found that his companion had already walked far away and was hidden in the bustling crowd, so he had no choice but to follow quickly.
"Ah, what is this? These ones look like small fish, and the others look like kittens, puppies, and rabbits? Are they also edible?" Ning Yue asked with a curious look on her face, pointing to a row of white pastries on the stall in front of her. road.
"This is a white dumpling, which is made by pounding glutinous rice and kneading it. It may contain date paste, or be filled with bean paste, and is also matched with dozens of kinds of preserved fruits and nuts. The surface is topped with turmeric, flower red, and moss blue. Various toners are used to embellish and draw the paintings, making them lifelike. However, they are labor-intensive and time-consuming to make, so they are only sold during the Wuyang Festival. Little girl, would you like to buy one to try?"
The roadside vendor tried his best to sell to the quirky blue-eyed girl, but in the blink of an eye, Ning Yue had changed her interest and ran to the stall next door:
"What is this? Why is it still making a sizzling sound?"
"Young lady has a good eye, this dish is called roasted pork ribs. It is made from the best pork ribs, deboned, minced and marinated, then kneaded into small cakes, roasted over charcoal fire until golden brown, and then served with fennel according to personal taste. It is made of more than ten different spices such as coriander, pepper, cardamom, jasmine, kaempferia, osmanthus, etc., and is the most popular snack in Wanzhou and Changzhou."
"So meat can be made this way?" Ning Yue couldn't help but swallowed as her nose smelled the aroma of roasted meat, but she was quickly attracted by something elsewhere:
"What is this? What about that and those? There are so many fun things on land!"
The girl laughed happily and continued to run forward. At the moment, she was like a mouse that fell into a rice vat. She was completely attracted by the dazzling array of new things, looking around and refusing to stop for a moment. The market was crowded with people, and people were walking around one after another. Shoulder, Jiang Yan accidentally lost the person.
The black-eyed boy was so anxious that he searched for a stick of incense, but could no longer see his companion. He felt as if he had lost his place and stood alone in the middle of the crowded street, at a loss as to what to do - after all, it was his first time back to Mu Lu. In such a big city, I don't know where to look.
Suddenly there was a loud shout from the crowd behind him. Jiang Yan instinctively turned around to look, and was pleasantly surprised to find the red-haired girl standing on the street more than ten steps away, looking around. He was afraid that he would lose her again. , hurriedly rushed up.
"Yue'er! Where did you run away just now? Give me a good meal!"
"What are you talking about, little stutterer? Didn't I look for you everywhere just now? Well, this is specially reserved for you. Eat it quickly."
Ning Yue smiled and stuffed a soft and glutinous thing into her companion's mouth. Only then did the young man notice that the greedy girl in front of him was holding two white balls and half a roasted egg. Hypothesis.
Jiang Yan's heart trembled, and he murmured with food in his mouth:
"You took other people's things and paid for them?"
"I saw that the owner of the stall was chatting with someone, so I grabbed a few. Since the things are all placed outside, aren't they for people to take as they please?" Ning Yue looked at the other party with an innocent face, "The money is there again What is it?"
"Taking without telling is tantamount to stealing, Yue'er, you are in trouble now!" Jiang Yan immediately picked up his companions and wanted to leave, but before he could turn around, he saw one Gao and one chasing Ning Yue from the crowd behind her. The two shorter men were the vendors who had previously set up a stall on the roadside.
One of the tall men put his hand on Ning Yue's shoulder and cursed:
"You're a little thief, you stole something and didn't pay for it, but you still continued shopping leisurely?!"
At this time, Ning Yue was stuffing the last half of the roast pork into her mouth. She was startled by the other party's move. The pork immediately stuck in her throat and was difficult to swallow. Her pretty little face turned red immediately, but she He was speechless and could only glare hard at the person behind him who was holding him down with his big eyes.
In this way, it made the other party even more angry:
"You dare to stare at me? It's okay to steal things, right? Come on, follow me to see the official now!"
"Wait, wait. Brother, please don't be angry yet. We are on the same road together. Leave all the money with me. I will just pay for her. There are more than 20 copper coins here, which should be enough. .”
Seeing this, Jiang Yan quickly blocked the girl behind him and took off the money bag from his waist with his backhand.
"Hey, it turns out someone is paying for you. You should have told me earlier." The tall dealer snatched the money bag away, rolled his eyes, turned his back and whispered to the short hawker next to him. , I don’t know what was said.
Seeing that the other party had collected the money, Jiang Yan thought that the matter was over, so he picked up his companion and continued to move forward. Unexpectedly, the two hawkers quickly chased after them again, blocking the two of them one after another:
"Hey, how could you just leave like this?"
"Hey, the money has been given to you, why can't we leave?"
Ning Yue was a little confused and asked loudly. But she saw the two people, one tall and one short, with strange smiles on their faces:
"Little girl, it's obvious that you stole the thing first! Even though I paid, it's not enough!"
Jiang Yan was surprised and persuaded Ning Yue with his eyes. He knew that there were forbidden troops on duty in the city, and he did not dare to conflict with the opponent easily, so he continued to try to negotiate: "Two eldest brothers, all the money we have has been given to us. You guys, if it’s not enough, how much more is left, we’ll find a way to pay it back.”
"We took a total of five white balls and two Shaoxingzi. In addition, the two of us spent a lot of time chasing them out. The loss in business is not small. Let's just share one gold baht and we can settle this matter today. Already."
"Sit down and raise the price! According to the law of big promotion, one gold baht can be exchanged for ten silver cents, and one silver cent can be exchanged for hundreds of copper coins! For those few things just now, do you want us to pay you a thousand copper coins?"
Upon hearing the other party's quotation, Jiang Yan suddenly frowned.
Ning Yue also struggled to swallow the ball of simmering meat stuck in her throat, and joined in the argument: "Even before, that precious piece of clothing was only sold for more than a hundred copper coins, you guys What’s the difference between grabbing and grabbing in the Ming Dynasty!”
"What's going on? If it's too expensive, don't take it randomly. If you eat something but refuse to pay, then let us go to the official!"
The two vendors smiled like scoundrels and reached out to catch someone again.
Jiang Yan's strength was not weak. Although the opponent turned around and twisted his arm, he started struggling on the spot. However, during the tug, the Baipi pinned to his lower back fell down with a sudden sound, and was immediately watched by two vendors. In the eyes.
Seeing the gems inlaid on the scabbard, the tall dealer's eyes showed greed:
"This knife looks pretty good. If you two don't have any money, you can use it to pay off your debts——"
As both parties shouted, the crowd of onlookers gradually gathered into a circle. Among them, some onlookers pointed at the young man Tong Ning Yue. They saw the two vendors lifting their knives from the ground. Picking it up, Jiang Yandeng became anxious:
"I will find a way to get the money together. You must first return Baipi to me!"
"Hey, this kid is still unreasonable. He stole something and refused to pay. What's wrong with using a knife to compensate?"
"That's not possible! This knife was left to him by Little Stutter's benefactor, you can't take it away!"
Ning Yue, who knew Baipi's origins, was about to step forward to stop him, but was pushed to the ground by two vendors:
"Girl, stop talking nonsense! If you are reluctant to part with this knife, we can also tie you up and sell you to a flower shop for money!"
Seeing that Ning Yue was bullied, a burst of anger burst out from Jiang Yan's chest. It was difficult to suppress it. When the tall businessman wasn't paying attention, he suddenly broke away from the other party's hands and immediately picked up half of a bird that had already been eaten from the ground. The white ball, which was trampled to pieces, used all its strength to slap the faces of the two vendors.
The two scoundrels opposite had no idea that this young man with a scar between his eyebrows would dare to attack them in public, and they were beaten unconscious on the spot. Taking advantage of this moment, they withdrew Yan from the opponent's hand. His own Baipi immediately grabbed his companions and pushed his way out of the crowd.
"Don't run! Catch the robber! Catch the robber quickly!"
The hawker finally reacted and ran quickly behind the two children. Ning Yue was dissatisfied and turned around and shouted: "We have obviously paid! You are the robbers!"
"Yue'er, if they were reasonable, they wouldn't blackmail us. Talking more is useless. If we don't find a way quickly, it will be even harder to escape later!"
In this way, the four people started chasing each other in the market. The street in Jishang could only accommodate two horses running parallel. At this time, due to the festival, various kinds of horses were set up densely on the roadside. A temporary stall. The children ran with all their strength and knocked over all the goods on many stalls to prevent those behind them from approaching.
But as a result, the already noisy market became even more chaotic, and many vendors who were affected and very angry also joined this crazy chase. Although the goods and shelves scattered on the floor can provide The two children blocked it for a while, but they couldn't stop it for long.
Thank you for your tasteful attention to "Twin Moon". I hope the wheat grown by Xiaoli will suit your taste. You can search for the official account of the same name~