Outside Yundu City, there is a roadside tea stall.
The bay-red horse parked peacefully on the roadside and grazed.
The local black tea produced in the mountains is boiled with plums and green tangerines. It has a little salt and sugar, but if you don’t taste it carefully, you can hardly taste the salty and sweet taste. It seems that the role of salt is just to amplify the sweet and sour taste of the plums and tangerines in the tea.
, just like how salt is added to fruits in some places, sugar softens the taste of tea and prevents it from being sour and irritating.
For only three pennies, you can buy a big bowl.
A bowl was already placed in front of the Taoist.
"call……"
The Taoist held up the bowl and took a sip.
The tea frying process is not exquisite enough, resulting in the color of the tea soup not being clear enough. However, if the tea is served in a thick brown bowl with a black background, it does not matter whether it is clear or not, no matter how clear it is, it will not be noticeable. However, the tea smells extremely rich, and the tea soup contains
The original fruity honey aroma and plum tangerine are perfectly blended, and the little sugar flavor makes the tea taste consistent with the smell. Even Song You, a person who is used to drinking clear tea, feels good when drinking it.
The Sanhua Empress, dressed in three-color clothes, sat opposite him, but she did not drink tea, but stared at him with a serious face, while her feet were dangling under the table.
People were still coming and going around me, and bells were ringing constantly.
There are caravans going to Yundu City ahead, and there are also caravans coming from Yundu City ahead. Some will stop in front of this tea stall, sit down and drink a bowl of tea, or take some away, and some will just come from
As Taoists passed by, they were attracted by bay-red horses or particularly beautiful girls and glanced at them.
Because the sunshine in Yunzhou is very strong, merchants travel all year round and are exposed to the wind and sun. Most of them are very black, with red in the black, and shiny red, and their eyes are slightly squinted by the sun.
People gathered here, and when Song You was here, he felt a sense of prosperity.
"call……"
The sky is almost blue, with only a few white clouds floating above the head and on the horizon. They are all highly condensed, like cotton balls. The sun is so bright that it dazzles the eyes, illuminating every plant and tree on the landscape and roads on the ground. The loess roads are covered with dust.
The merchants coming and going, the short southwestern horses and the large piles of goods brought up dust and sand as they walked, and when the horse bells jingled, the Taoist holding a bowl of tea on the roadside already had a vague premonition——
The picture of this moment will become my eternal memory.
Because it's really like a piece of history.
"..."
The Taoist turned his head and looked at the passers-by on the roadside, looking at the faces passing by, while breaking off the cakes and serving them with tea.
The filling inside the cake is flower petals and brown sugar, mixed into an intoxicating color, and you can still see the shape of the petals that have not been steamed. It does not taste as delicious as it looks, but it is paired with this sweet and sour fruity tea soup.
, but it has also become a rare delicacy for Taoists in their journey.
All the mixed sounds around me reached my ears.
"Will there be peace on the Five Feet Road this year?"
"This year? I don't know what to say this year, but during this trip, I heard that gods and goddesses appeared along the way. Many evil spirits and ghosts on the road were eliminated, and even some rampant mountain bandits and horse thieves were eliminated.
I guess it will be much safer if I take another trip."
"really?"
"We also heard about it along the way, and you will know it after just taking a step."
"If it's true, that would be great." A voice came from behind Song You, "Last time when I walked to Wuchun, I met someone on the way who was shouting that I was hungry. I thought it was a homeless beggar, but I was kind enough to bring pancakes.
When I asked him, he asked me if I could cut out the flesh and feed him to eat, which was really scary."
"and after?"
"There are many of us, we act cautiously, and we are protected by the talismans of Taoist temples, so naturally we cannot fall into its trap, but this kind of thing always makes people feel upset."
"Who says it's not the case? Besides, there are too many little monsters and little ghosts on the road. As time goes on, there's no guarantee that they won't turn out to be the worst!"
"well……"
"To say the least, you are kind-hearted."
"Well, the woman at home has just given birth to a child. It is not easy to raise the child. I thought it would be good to accumulate some blessings for my son. I don't seek to become talented, I just want to grow up smoothly."
"..."
Song You ate cakes and drank tea without saying a word.
The girl opposite obviously heard it too. She raised her head and glanced at the two tables of people sitting behind the Taoist priest. She quickly withdrew her gaze and stared at the Taoist priest seriously without saying a word.
The last piece of cake went into the mouth, mixed with the last sip of tea, and was eaten together.
"Stall owner, pay the bill."
"okay!"
A short, dark, thin man walked over.
"A bowl of tea costs three cents, and a brown sugar cake costs five cents. If the gentleman eats two, he will be charged thirteen cents."
"Buy four more and I'll take them away."
"That's thirty-three coins."
"..."
The Taoist glanced at the little girl opposite.
Empress Sanhua immediately looked away from her serious gaze, lowered her head and took out the money from her bag.
Take out two small strings of twenty coins, both of which are strung with delicate and clean small red strings. They are just big enough to be held by the girl's little hand. Put one string on the table first, untie the other string, and count carefully from the inside.
Thirteen copper coins were taken out and placed on the table.
"The children in your husband's family are really well-behaved and clever. At such a young age, they can actually count and manage money."
The stall owner watched and complimented with a smile.
Just when he was about to reach out to pick up the money, he saw the girl untied the complete string, poured out the copper coins with a red rope, actually put the rope back into her pocket, and then held it
A handful of loose money was handed to the stall owner.
"this……"
The stall owner took it in astonishment: "Thank you, sir..."
"Thank you to the stall owner."
The Taoist smiled at him, picked up the bamboo stick next to him, and walked out of the small tea stall.
The stall owner's whisper came from behind.
"..."
The Taoist shook his head and smiled, then lowered his head and said to his child: "Look, Empress Sanhua is so stingy at a young age. Others can't believe it. They think she was taught by me."
The girl turned back to look at the tea stall, then turned to look at him, still with a straight face and not saying a word.
The Taoist didn't say anything else. He just raised his head and looked ahead. Then he stepped onto the loess road with a stick, passing by merchants' mules and horses, and listened to the ringing of bells in the sun.
The sun in front of me is so bright that it dazzles my eyes.
When the weather is good, the scenery is naturally beautiful.
This is already the end of the Five Feet Road.
Yundu City is getting closer and closer.
It was only after we left the tea stall that we heard the voice of Tong'er from around us: "We don't have much money anymore!"
“How much is not much?”
"There are still more than two taels of silver, and there is a large bunch of copper coins, three medium bunches, four small bunches, and eight loose ones."
"That's it..."
The copper coins of the Dayan people are usually strung into two types, large and small. The large one is theoretically worth one thousand yuan, which is called a hanging. Of course, it is often less than one thousand yuan. At the same time, for the convenience of use, people often put a hundred yuan.
The texts are also strung together to form a small string.
As for the smaller strings, they are often the change that you carry with you when you go out occasionally, or the pocket money you give to your children and younger generations at home.
Children have small hands, little strength, and small hearts. They cannot get a bunch of money that is too big, and they cannot spend too much money. However, children's hearts are also small. If they can get a bunch of money that is the same as an adult's, but the amount is smaller.
If you put the money together, you will be very happy.
Empress Sanhua made an extra 20 taels of small skewers, which were convenient to use and also cute.
So in her place, the money was divided into three types of strings: large, medium and small.
That is to say, there are still more than two taels of silver left, and the total copper coins are 388. This is indeed the time when Song You has the least money since he came down from the mountain.
It’s normal when you think about it——
The last large-scale income for my group was before leaving Changjing for the last time. After that, Yuezhou was almost a deserted land. Then there was either a severe drought or a country in the Western Regions where the language was almost unintelligible. After leaving the Western Regions, Xingzhou was also in a state of desolation.
A vast expanse of uninhabited land. Although Sanhua Empress occasionally caught some fish and mice in exchange for money, it was only a small amount of money. At most, it could subsidize the group's food expenses for the day, and it was not even enough. On the contrary, every time she went to a prosperous place, she bought food and lodging.
The expenses are not small.
Recently, when I came from Yidu, although Sanhua Empress and Yan An killed countless demons, they were mostly in the mountains beside the road. Nowadays, evil spirits appear frequently, the government does not have the financial resources to offer rewards, and the local villagers are not like those in Peach Blossom Village outside Yidu City.
They are so wealthy and live a tight life most of the time. How can a Taoist go to them to ask for money?
Moreover, all the demon removals were done casually. Sanhua Empress and Yanzi didn't even leave their names, let alone ask for money.
If you don't make a large amount of money, you'll be sitting on nothing. After a few years, your wallet will almost bottom out.
Before Song You left, he also took more than three taels from the Taoist temple...
It's just that Song You didn't care back then, and he certainly doesn't care now. He just leaned on his bamboo stick and continued to move forward, saying lightly: "It seems like I need to save some money."
"It's time to save some money a long time ago!" The child next to him frowned tightly, worried about the financial resources of his group. "If you don't live in the city, you don't have to spend money to buy food and water."
Drink, we will sleep in the mountains, Sanhua Empress will catch rabbits and fish for you to eat, and you will scoop water from the river to drink, so you won’t spend any money."
"How can that be done?"
"It can be done!"
"Miss Sanhua, don't worry..."
"..."
Sanhua Empress turned her head and glanced at the city that was getting closer and closer. How could she not be anxious in her heart: "There were so many treasures in the mountains over there at that time. I asked you to take them but you didn't take them. If you took them back, we would sell them in Yidu.
The money is enough to last you in the city for a long time!"
"Sanhua Empress still misses her so much."
"Then you use that, use that golden awl, and ask it to bring over a piece of silver."
"Where to get it?"
"Um……"
This is what Sanhua Empress asked.
Stealing other people's things is what mice do. Sanhua Empress is the goddess of cats, so naturally she would not do such a thing.
But this is not difficult for Sanhua Empress.
"Take it from the graves of the dead."
"That's considered stealing."
"Then take the ones that fell into the river."
"It doesn't have to be like this..."
"Oh yes! Empress Sanhua also has a piece of gold!"
"That gold coin is destined to be the Three Flower Empress. I only have that one, so I'd better keep it as a souvenir."
"What should we do?"
"Practitioners, although the world is so big, we can't starve to death or freeze to death. On the contrary, we can walk through places without spending a penny. Some businessmen can't find it even if their arms are full of money and they can carry goods worth thousands of gold.
I walked through it and died of thirst halfway. Didn’t Sanhua Empress in the Western Regions not see it clearly? Why should I be so worried?” The Taoist just wanted to laugh, “What’s more, the world is getting more and more chaotic now, and demons and evil spirits appear frequently. With Sanhua Empress’s
It’s hard to tell how much money you’ll earn after entering the city. Isn’t it easy to earn a full meal?”
The Taoist said that he had already reached the gate of the city.
Show the ultimatum and go into the city.
…
Asking for a monthly ticket at the beginning of the month~