"Shopkeeper! Give us two bowls of fresh fish wontons, a large portion of beef stewed with radish soup, and a plate of cold spring bamboo shoots. Stew the beef longer and give us more beef tendons!"
"Okay! You two can sit wherever you want, coming soon!"
It was getting dark, and He Lai was walking on the road when he sat down in front of a roadside stall and ordered a bunch of dishes as he was familiar with the place.
"Brother Lu, don't underestimate this stall, the food tastes really good! I often see adults who have finished their shifts come here to buy food. If we come out later, I'm afraid there won't be any seats here, and we'll have to eat squatting on the ground..." He Lai rubbed his hands excitedly.
The snack stand is hidden in a quiet alley, with tables and chairs bustling over half of the alley. At this moment, it is almost full of diners, which shows how booming the business is.
"I trust you!"
As I passed by, I looked at the busy but orderly couple who owned the stall and swallowed several times.
A person swiftly threw the freshly wrapped wontons into the steaming pot and quickly poured two spoonfuls of clear soup into the bowl. The seaweed, dried shrimp and sesame oil at the bottom of the bowl swirled up to the surface of the soup.
The other person opened the earthenware pot on one of the stoves, reached in with a bamboo strainer to sift out several large pieces of beef and radish and put them into a large bowl, then poured a spoonful of bright yellowish soup on it and sprinkled a few green and white onion grains on it.
The tender and pointed spring bamboo shoots have been blanched in the pot and soaked in cold water. Only the upper half is taken, torn into pieces and thrown into the basin. Then all the seasonings are sprinkled on it, mixed well, and served on a plate.
In just a few minutes, all the dishes ordered by He Lai were served.
The wonton skin is thin and the filling is large. The meat is firm and chewy, with a rich and fresh taste without any fishy smell.
The radish is sweet, the beef is soft and tasty, and the beef tendon melts in your mouth.
The tips of the bamboo shoots are crisp and refreshing, and every time you bite them, the juice bursting between your teeth is the taste of spring.
He was so absorbed in eating on the way that he didn't even have time to respond to He's question "Is it delicious?" and just stuffed the food into his mouth with a mumble.
After drinking the last drop of soup at the bottom of the bowl, Caleb Lu was still not satisfied. He saw dozens of plates of colorful and juicy vegetables on the stall, and the stall owner was scalding spring pancake skins in a frying pan, so he ordered a few more spring pancakes.
The two of them ate until their stomachs were full. They should have been full a long time ago, but they were still reluctant to leave. One of them held a spring pancake and ate it slowly while sitting in the smoke of fireworks.
Caleb Lu touched his belly and sighed: "Ah, so happy. The boss's hands must have been blessed by the Kitchen God!"
"Brother Lu, your cooking is definitely better than theirs!" He Lai smiled and leaned over to whisper, "You have conquered the prince's chef. Our prince is so picky! These are a piece of cake! By the way, when can I have the honor of tasting Brother Lu's cooking?"
"......" Caleb Lu's mouth twitched, not knowing what to say.
You can, but you definitely don't want to.
Because not only did the Kitchen God not consecrate him, but he also closed the door in an emergency after seeing him, breaking his hand.
He Lai didn't get a positive answer, but he didn't take it to heart. He lay down on the table comfortably and sighed: "It's a pity that there is no wine here. I once heard Brother Lin from the neighboring house say that he drank a kind of wine that was packed in a bamboo tube and brewed with fresh flowers. After it was made, the floral fragrance spread for hundreds of miles. The wine was as clear as amber and sweeter than honey! I really want to try it..."
Caleb Lu also liked to drink occasionally in the real world, and he immediately became interested: "Are you serious? What's the name of the wine? Where can you buy it? Come on, I'll treat you to a drink!"
"I forgot, it seems to be called...what is it called..."
He Lai finally remembered, and his voice suddenly rose: "It's called Lingling Spring Wine (1)!"
But then he became depressed again, "But he didn't say where he drank it, and I've never seen it in the city..."
Caleb Lu: ... D@me, hunger marketing, I want to drink even more.
Perhaps the two people sighing and groaning stood out among the diners, a man sitting alone at a nearby table suddenly leaned over and asked softly, "I just happened to overhear. Are you looking for Tu Mi Chun?"
He Lai was very happy: "Hey big brother, have you tried it too? Do you know where I can buy it?"
The scholar-like man looked him up and down, then his eyes fell on Caleb Lu who was standing beside him. He paused for a moment and smiled: "Of course, but you can't look for it this way. I can lead the way... but you have to pay me some money."
"What do you think, young master? Do you want to go?" This is asked when asking for directions.
Lu stared in surprise.
Wow, what kind of wine is so mysterious that there are even scalpers reselling it!
"Go! How much?"
It's so hard to travel through time, it would be a waste if I don't join in the fun!
The scalper scholar didn't ask for a high price. He gave He Lai two or three coins on the way, then took He Lai with him and left the snack stand one after the other.
We walked through several side streets and alleys, the lights on the road became dimmer and dimmer, and we were getting farther and farther away from the crowd.
Finally, the scholar led them to a shabby shop.
The words on the wooden sign outside the shop were no longer legible, as it was hanging crookedly. There were only one or two customers inside.
There was a lame old man sitting at the door. When he saw the scholar coming, he limped over and asked, "Are you here to eat or stay? How many guests are there?"
Caleb Lu was shocked: How can a hotel be opened in such a rotten place?
Then, the scholar said, "Old Liu, two of you are here to drink."
After saying this, he turned around and wanted to signal the two to hurry up and follow him, but he saw Caleb Lu and He Lai standing far away, with a wooden stick in their hands, looking at him warily.
"Where do you want to take us? This doesn't look like a place for drinking."
The scholar was stunned for a moment, then he smiled as if he had discovered something funny, and then he lowered his voice and said, "It seems that the young master has a strict upbringing, so he must have never been out to play, right? The wine you are looking for cannot be put out in the open."
Caleb Lu: "?"
What, this is still a temperance drink? And why is this guy laughing so weirdly?
He turned to look at He Lai and said, "Xiao Lai, I think you should just forget it and ask your neighbor later."
This place looks really unreliable.
Seeing that they were in a stalemate, the lame old man began to urge them impatiently: "Hurry up, leave if you don't want to drink, and don't cause trouble for me!"
The scholar waved his hand at the old man, turned around and said in a gentle voice: "Young Master, the place where we drink is really here, just a few steps away. If you don't believe me, you can go home now. But I can't return the money to you, after all, I have shown you the way. You decide for yourself."
When He Lai heard that the money could not be returned, he immediately became anxious: "That won't do! The money will be wasted! Don't be afraid, Brother Lu, we will go in and take a look. I'm here, no one will dare to bully you!" After saying that, he hammered his strong arm towards the scholar in a deterrent manner.
"......" The scholar turned his head away, unable to bear to look at it, as if he was very disgusted.
"......Okay," Caleb Lu tightened his grip on the stick, deciding to take a gamble on whether the ox was reliable, "You go ahead."
"Don't play tricks, or I'll hit you with the stick and your head won't be able to withstand it."
The scholar looked speechless, as if he was too lazy to say anything more to them, and walked straight inside.
-
The anxiety on the road didn't last long.
I walked a few more steps, leaving behind the dilapidated shop lobby that looked like a slum, and pushed open a heavy door, and it was as if I had entered...
Another world.
The scholar stood still, turned around and looked at the two stunned people with a look of a country bumpkin, and said slowly: "Young Master, this is the Tu Mi Chun you are looking for."
In front of him was a luxurious restaurant that was completely different from the outside. There were light and colorful gauze curtains hanging between the beams. On the main beam in the middle hung a plaque with three flying characters "Tu Mi Chun" written on it.
On either side of the horizontal plaque were two hanging silk scrolls with inscriptions. On the left was written "Romance penetrates the bones and turns into spring wine", and on the right was written "Pleasant dreams enter the pillow" (2). They swayed slightly in the wind.
It was a busy time in the restaurant, with people coming and going, singing and chatting, and the air was filled with an atmosphere of decadence and pleasure.
The door closed behind him and the scholar disappeared.
Caleb Lu was still holding the stick in his hand, and he and He Lai were standing there in a daze. Two handsome boys came up to them, bowed to them, and smiled as they tried to take their arms: "Please come this way, both of you."
The two of them hurriedly rejected each other's excessive enthusiasm and were led to a place to sit down in a daze.
Seeing the two young men leave temporarily, He Lai breathed a sigh of relief and came back to his senses.
He looked around, timidly approached Caleb Lu, and whispered to him: "Brother Lu, something is not right."
Caleb Lu also looked serious: "What?"
He Lai looked terrified: "This looks so expensive, it doesn't look like the wine we can afford, how about we leave?"
"......" Caleb Lu agreed with this, "Let's go, let's go now."
But this was different from what he felt was wrong.
As he stood up, the strange feeling in his heart became more severe.
The young man who had just come to greet them had a strong smell of powder on him, and his face was too pale, and it was obvious that he was wearing makeup. He was very different from the waiter at Shifang Restaurant.
Also, it seems like he hasn’t seen any girls on the way here?
Because many people were dressed flashily, wearing long robes with wide sleeves, I was not sure where to go.
So when he passed by one of the drinking tables, he leaned over and took a closer look: man, man, man...wait, the hostess in that man's arms...is also a man? !
At this moment, He Lai beside him suddenly grabbed his arm tightly.
Caleb Lu felt pain and turned to ask him: "What's wrong?"
The blood on He Lai's round face, which was always red, had completely drained away. He looked extremely frightened. His lips trembled several times before he uttered a sound: "It's... It's over, it's over, it's over, it's over! Brother Lu, I, I seem to have run to... a small, small brothel!"
As I walked along the road, a series of sparks flashed through my mind: No wonder, no wonder they are all men! No wonder the reception is like that!
The modern man Caleb Lu, who had seen the world, patted the ancient man He Lai, who had just turned 18, and comforted him: "It's okay, we will go out now, we won't play here..."
However, He Lai's nervousness did not decrease at all. A few drops of cold sweat oozed out of his forehead. He stammered and tried his best to pull him: "Hurry up, hurry up, let's go! If someone finds out that we have been here... we will be thrown into jail!!"
"Emperor...Your Majesty hates g@ys the most!!!"
He opened his mouth wide while walking, his thoughts like a roller coaster, running from "How could I accidentally enter a brothel while drinking" to "The laws in this world are quite advanced", and then to "It turns out that the emperor is just homophobic".
Without time to think, he was hurriedly pulled out by the panicked He Lai. On the way, he didn't pay attention and bumped into a passerby head-on.
The man was hit hard and was furious and wanted to curse, but when he looked up at the young man in front of him, his anger instantly melted away.
"Hey, honey, are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you new here? What's your name? Can you come and keep me company tonight..."
As he spoke, his hand had already reached out to Caleb Lu's shoulder, trying to pull at his collar.
Lu was startled and swung the stick in his hand out reflexively------
"ah!!!!!"
An earth-shattering scream pierced through the fragrant and misty land of tenderness, and the entire restaurant was silent for a moment.
The man's tears and snot gushed out, his face flushed with anger, he covered his arms and quacked like a duck: "Someone! Someone! Your waiter is beating up a customer! Hurry and arrest him!"
The crowd was suddenly in an uproar.
He Lai's face suddenly changed when he saw the big men running towards them quickly.
Before Lu could react, he suddenly shot out like a small cannonball, knocking the man aside and shouting, "Brother Lu, run!"
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