The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 55: Waiting for the Master to Return
The two young men looked at each other, and Li Diudiu noticed that the man had been looking at his clothes with a complicated look, showing nostalgia, reluctance, and some relief.
Li Diudiu felt a little strange at that moment. Why could he understand such complicated emotions in the other person's eyes?
At that moment, Tang Pidi saw a hint of empathy in the eyes of the young man opposite him. He thought it was his illusion, so he looked again carefully.
Why did he feel like he had met the boy before when he didn't know him for the first time? It was very strange, very strange.
“The clothes are beautiful.”
Tang Pidi smiled, and after saying this, he turned to the carriage he had gotten off and helped his father down.
"Thanks……"
Li Diudiu replied, but found that the other party didn't even look at him. He helped the old man who seemed to have difficulty moving out of the car. Another middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties or forties followed and supported the old man from behind.
Although the old man looked haggard and seemed to be disabled, when he got out of the car and glanced at Li Diudiu, Li Diudiu felt that he must be an extraordinary person.
Sometimes, it just feels so strange.
"Master."
Gu Weishan helped Tang Shen get out of the car and said softly, "This is the old restaurant that Master has been talking about for years, and it only drinks. But today, I'm afraid I won't allow Master to drink."
Tang Shen smiled and said, "We still have to drink the wine. How about just one glass?"
Tang Pidi said, "Then just one cup. Father said it himself. What if he drinks too much?"
Tang Shen said, "I'll leave one more cup to you. From today until we return to Daizhou, I'll obey you. Your senior brother will be your witness."
Gu Weishan smiled and said, "Well, I will bear witness to this today. Master is a gentleman and cannot go back on his word."
Li Diudiu watched the three people chatting and laughing as they went in to drink. He stood there in a daze, not knowing what was wrong with him.
Xiahou Zhuo looked at his expression, then looked at the young man who entered the restaurant, and couldn't help but sighed and said, "So you like this."
Yan Qingzhi sighed: "Tang Pi Di."
Xiahou Zhuo was startled. "The Tang Pidi who was expelled from the academy?"
Yan Qingzhi hummed: "Although he is not my disciple, I still recognized him. I haven't seen him for a while. He looks almost as tall as an adult. Calculating his age, he is actually about the same age as Li Chi."
Xiahou Zhuo looked at Li Diudiu and said, "Look at him and then look at you. Eat more next time!"
Yan Qingzhi: “…”
Li Diudiu thought to himself, no wonder he was staring at the school uniform I was wearing, it turned out that he was also a student of the Four Pages Academy, and had once been the top student in the Jiazitang Academy.
"It turns out to be a senior brother, but isn't he involved in some major treason case?"
Li Diudiu muttered to himself.
Neither Xiahou Zhuo nor Yan Qingzhi had thought of this. They looked at each other for a moment and both felt that this was unusual.
If it is a major case of treason, it is impossible to release the person.
"It's none of our business."
Xiahou Zhuo shrugged his shoulders: "We are just here to drink."
He looked at the words on the plaque and said, "Only drink."
A double entendre.
Four people also entered the restaurant. Although Xiahou Zhuo was not always rich, he never took money seriously. He asked for the best private room right away. As a result, the waiter told them that the best room had just been occupied.
"Whatever, then."
Xiahou Zhuo asked, "Is your Shaodaozi really that good?"
The young man proudly said: "In the whole Tang County, no one makes better Shaodaozi than my family. In the whole Jizhou, no one makes better Shaodaozi than my family."
Xiahou Zhuo laughed and said, "But I haven't heard of anyone selling Shaodao in Tang County, nor have I heard of anyone selling Shaodao in Jizhou."
The young man said, "Yes, we are the only one selling it...so it's better if there is no one else..."
Xiahou Zhuo: "Beautiful!"
He smiled and said, "First, bring two jars of wine, and then introduce your special dishes so I can see if there's anything delicious."
The waiter said, "From your accent, you should be from Jizhou, right? It's not far from here, so you should have heard of the special dishes in Tang County. Look, this is one of Tang County's specialties, the thin-coated sausage. Have you tried it?"
Xiahou Zhuo shook his head: "I haven't eaten it."
The waiter said, "Then don't eat it. It's not tasty."
Xiahou Zhuo: “…”
Yan Qingzhi asked curiously: "Then what are you introducing?"
The young man said, "Look at what you are saying, sir. I earn this money..."
Xiahou Zhuo said: "I just don't need anyone around me. If I do, I will call you over to help me do things. Even if you don't do anything, I will just listen to you talk and have fun."
The young man said seriously: "Thank you for your kindness, sir. You can talk, but don't play..."
Xiahou Zhuo laughed: "What's your name?"
The young man said, "Sir, my name is Yu Jiuling."
Xiahou Zhuo smiled and lowered his voice and asked, "I'm very curious. Since you are so talkative, is there anyone who doesn't like you and wants to beat you up?"
Yu Jiuling said, "How is that possible... No, I know I am poor and mean, and I offend people, but I can't control myself. I really can't control myself. I have tried not talking for a day, and it was more uncomfortable than not eating for three days."
Xiahou Zhuo said: "You look fine, so there shouldn't be many people who would beat you up."
"many."
Yu Jiuling said: "I am fine because I can take a beating."
Xiahou Zhuo looked at this thin and small man, who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was not tall, only a little taller than Li Diudiu, and almost reached Xiahou Zhuo's ears. He was estimated to weigh less than 80 kilograms.
"With your body size, can you take a beating?"
"If you don't believe me, why don't you try it?"
Yu Jiuling said: "Young Master, if you want to try, I promise I won't cheat you."
Xiahou Zhuo shook his head and said, "Forget it. I'm here to drink, not to fight. Besides, you're so interesting, why would I hit you for no reason?"
Yu Jiuling sighed: "Why doesn't anyone believe it?"
He looked at Li Diudiu and said, "Young Master, how about you give it a try?"
Li Diudiu said: "I won't try it either. If I get addicted and don't have the money to hire you, I'll feel bad."
After hearing this, Yu Jiuling immediately said, "That's fine. Young Master is from Jizhou. If you get addicted to it, I'll go to Jizhou twice a month. I'm good at running fast. I'm not bragging. I can go to Jizhou and fight back and forth in one day. I'll come back after beating them up. It won't delay anything."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the shopkeeper scolding behind him: "You're talking nonsense again!"
Yu Jiuling shrank his neck, smiled and said, "Let's order the dishes first."
Xiahou Zhuo thought he was interesting, so he said, "We won't order any food. There are four of us. You can arrange everything for us. Just take us to a private room."
Yu Jiuling asked, "Then I have to ask the four young masters first, do you have a big appetite?"
Xiahou Zhuo said: "I have a small appetite..."
He pointed at Li Diudiu and said, "He has a small appetite, and the other two combined don't even have half the appetite."
Yu Jiuling said, “That’s not much.”
Xiahou Zhuo said: "You don't understand... Let's do it based on the amount for ten people."
Yu Jiuling was startled, but still nodded: "Okay, leave it to me."
He went up to clean up the private room first. Xiahou Zhuo curiously asked the restaurant owner, "This guy is so rude and boastful. He seemed quite helpless when you called him. Why don't you do anything about it?"
The shopkeeper said, "Sir, he is a bit rude, but he is not bragging. Last time two men beat him up, they were tired but he was fine. He just dodged and didn't fight back. The two strong men didn't hit him with a single punch and were out of breath . In addition... he is really strong on his feet. He said he could travel more than 200 miles to and from Jizhou in one day. He was not bragging."
Xiahou Zhuo was stunned. He looked at Yan Qingzhi, whose face was also full of surprise.
He sighed: "This is a talented person."
The shopkeeper said, "Sir, what kind of talent is he? I don't know where he came from with his family. He himself didn't say. It was seven or eight years ago. When he came to our Tang County, his parents died of illness. He had no one to rely on, so he lived by begging in Tang County and competing with wild dogs for food. I guess he learned to run fast at that time."
"At that time, he had no money. I felt sorry for him, so I paid for two thin coffins to bury his parents. He didn't ask me to take him in, but begged on the street every day."
"He would sleep outside my shop at night. One night, a thief came to the shop and he got into a fight with the thief. His face was covered in blood. From that day on, I took him in as an assistant in the shop."
Xiahou Zhuo asked: "Then...if I want to take him away and give him a future, are you willing?"
The shopkeeper was stunned and shook his head. "Sir, you are joking. He has no other strengths except that he is talkative and can run. What do you want him to do? You find him interesting today and take him away. Tomorrow you find him boring and just throw him away. Since he left with you, he must be too embarrassed to come back to see me. Who knows what he will become. Although I can't give him a future, I can only give him three meals a day..."
Xiahou Zhuo nodded and said, "I see. I'm just saying that I can still have a say in Jizhou. The shopkeeper can discuss this with him later. I will go to the northern border to join the army next year, and I will have to recruit soldiers for myself anyway. I think he has some skills..."
Xiahou Zhuo looked at Li Diudiu when he said this. Li Diudiu said, "Don't look at me. You are an adult now. Make your own decision."
Xiahou Zhuo: "Get lost..."
He looked at the shopkeeper and said, "Just mention it to him and we can discuss whether to go or not."
After saying that, he went up to the second floor with Li Diudiu and the others. When they reached the stairs, they saw Yu Jiuling standing there looking at them with a complicated expression on his face.
"Sir, you are not kidding, are you?"
Yu Jiuling asked.
It turned out that he had heard everything Xiahou Zhuo and the shopkeeper had just said.
Xiahou Zhuo said: "A real will never break his promise. Now that I have said it, I must keep my word."
Yu Jiuling nodded vigorously and said, "I'm willing to go!"
"Um?"
Xiahou Zhuo was startled: "You... don't think that if you follow me to join the army in the Northern Frontier, you will have a bright future. There are fighting all day long in the Northern Frontier..."
He was interrupted by Yu Jiuling before he could finish his words. His eyes were slightly red. He bit his lip and said, "My father was once a lieutenant in the frontier army. Later, he accumulated military merits and was awarded the title of fifth-rank general. You should also know that when you reach the fifth-rank, you can bring your family to join the army. So my father took leave and went back to his hometown to pick me and my mother up..."
He let out a long breath, tried to force out a smile, and continued, "However, my fate is bad. My parents caught a cold when they came here and they couldn't hold on. I am the only one left..."
Yan Qingzhi said: "The court will have an explanation for your situation, and the army will also have an explanation. Have you asked?"
Yu Jiuling smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, don't say that I have no place to go to seek justice. Even if I do, do you think I can get the money? Our Great Chu..."
The shopkeeper called out from downstairs, "Jiuling!"
Yu Jiuling quickly shut up: "Yes, yes, yes, I know, shopkeeper, don't say what you can't say..."
Xiahou Zhuo was silent for a moment and then said, "Let's go in and have a drink first, then stay in the city for one night. We will go to Yuntuo Mountain early tomorrow morning and come back in about five or six days. I will come here to look for you again. If you are determined, then come with me."
Yu Jiuling looked downstairs at the shopkeeper who was looking at him with red eyes, and nodded after a moment, "Okay, I'll wait for you to come back."