Kaifeng Bistro

Chapter 121

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door of the tavern.Yi Yi jumped up instantly, and with a wave of his hand, the bags fell into the huge iron box under the table, and then, a green light circled the iron box twice, and the lid of the iron box snapped. It closed with a snap.

When Yi Yi got up to open the door, Zhuo Zhuo stuck out his tongue at Tan Zhifeng.Tan Zhifeng smiled at her, and said in a low voice, "It's okay, I still have a little money in my hand. Although it's not much, I can give it to you. You can buy whatever you want before leaving the city..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a slightly apologetic inquiry from the door: "It's so late, didn't I disturb your rest?"

Tan Zhifeng took a look, and it turned out that it was Chen Qing who came.Yi Yi turned around and asked Xu Yan and Tan Zhifeng what they meant with his eyes. Unexpectedly, Xu Yan said first: "Let him in."

Yi Yi opened the door, and Chen Qing looked into the room hesitantly: "You... what are you doing?"

"Come in and talk." Tan Zhifeng waved to him.Only now did Chen Qing walk in, and Tan Zhifeng suddenly noticed that Chen Qing was holding a big bag in his hand.

"Hey, Mr. Chen, are you going out of the city?" Zhuo Zhuo asked curiously, "Where are you going... are you going to find your mother?!"

"Yeah." Chen Qing said, nodded, and after he finished speaking, he stared nervously at Tan Zhifeng for a while, and said, "Zhifeng, these two days, I don't see any of you open, I, I pay attention After a while, every night you and Yi Yi will light up the lights and clean up in the house, you guys, are you going out of the city too?"

Tan Zhifeng nodded: "That's right. Zijin, starting tomorrow, the owner of this tavern will change."

"Where are you going?" Chen Qing asked anxiously.

At this time, the sound of a carriage suddenly came from the quiet alley.Tan Zhifeng and Xu Gan looked at each other, Tan Zhifeng said: "Sister Zhou and Pengpeng should be here."

"What?" Chen Qing was very surprised when he heard that, he and Tan Zhifeng came to the door together, only to see that Zhou Yanjing's wife and his daughter got out of the car.

"Mr. Chen? Are you... also here?" Zhou Yanjing's wife bowed to the two of them, "We are two mothers and daughters, and we are causing you trouble."

"You're welcome," Tan Zhifeng hurriedly called Zhuo Zhuo, and asked her to help the mother and daughter settle down in the empty room next door, and then he and Chen Qing returned to the tavern.Tan Zhifeng and Xu Yan discussed a few words, Tan Zhifeng asked Chen Qing, "Zijin, how do you know...where can I find your mother?"

Chen Qing hesitated for a while, took out something from her bosom, and put it in front of Tan Zhifeng.Tan Zhifeng took a look and saw that it was a beautiful jade pendant, and picked it up to take a closer look, the word "Wei Mu" was engraved on it.

"This is...?" Tan Zhifeng handed the jade pendant to Xu Gan suspiciously.Xu Yan took it in his hand and looked at it for a while, then said: "The Wei Mu family is a member of the Xixia Party, and the biological mother of the current Xixia Emperor Li Yuanhao is a member of the Weimu tribe..."

"But..." Chen Qing said angrily: "But a few years ago, I seemed to see my mother dressed in white, kneeling in the backyard burning paper, I asked her, she said...she said her family died, and then... ...After she left, I saw that the letter she sent was all about the Northwest, and with this jade pendant, I guessed... I wondered if she was from Xixia?"

"Also, my father has always been secretive about my mother's life experience. I asked him several times, and he said that my mother wandered from Qinzhou to Kaifeng to look for relatives during a disaster year. But, but I checked the past years in the Guangwen Museum. For the record, there were no famines or plagues in Qinzhou in those years, I went to check what happened in Xixia in recent years, and I found out..."

"Seven years ago..." Xu Yan said for him: "Wei Mu's important minister Wei Mushan wanted to plot chaos, and Li Yuanhao killed all the Wei Mu's clan, even his own mother, Wei Mu's."

"Exactly!" Chen Qing slapped the table excitedly: "Although, although I don't know why my mother came to the Central Plains, but...but I know that she probably went back to avenge her own people. Li Yuanhao is so cruel , I... I really don't know why she went back to die..."

"As you said." Xu Yan said: "She is for her people. What's more, Li Yuanhao is aggressive and perverse. There are many people who oppose him in Xixia, but he is very violent. After Wei Mu's family was killed, no one dared to openly fight against him." He is right, but they are likely to have turned to operating in the dark, don't worry too much about your mother, since she sent you a letter a while ago, it means that she should be safe for the time being."

"What about you? Why are you going to the Northwest?" Chen Qing asked: "I heard from Lu Yang that the Northwest was defeated and many people died. Those officials will be unlucky. At this time, it should be very dangerous there. Zhifeng..."

"We went there for our reasons." Xu Gan interrupted him: "Mr. Chen, if you are here to say goodbye, then you can go."

"I..." Chen Qing hesitated again: "Actually, I see that the Zhan guards have come here often these days, I guess, I guess you may also go to the northwest, I just want to ask, I... can I Can't go with you?"

"This..." Tan Zhifeng was thinking about how to answer.Xu Gan said, "Yes."

Tan Zhifeng looked at Xu Gan, and Xu Gan said: "Since you are going to Xixia to find your mother, then you can go with me. We will leave the city when we are children, and the car will arrive soon. If you have made up your mind, stay here and wait." .”

"What about you, Zhifeng?" Chen Qing turned to Tan Zhifeng.

"I... I'm going with Big Brother Zhan and Big Brother Bai..." Tan Zhifeng replied truthfully, Chen Qing looked disappointed, but when his eyes fell on the jade pendant, his eyes gradually changed. Be firm: "Okay, no matter what, Zhifeng, this time, this time, I will definitely not retreat, nor will I run away, I will definitely find my mother, no matter what I encounter..."

Tan Zhifeng chatted with Chen Qing for a while, Xu Gan watched for a while, then he stood up and walked to Tan Zhifeng's side, and asked him, "Just now, you said you were going to Kill Pig Alley?"

"Yes." Tan Zhifeng replied, "I want to redeem Shuanglian."

"We don't have much time." Xu Gan said, "If you want to go, then let's go now."

Tan Zhifeng nodded. He got up and took out the money that Yi Yi had thrown in the corner from the iron box, and went out with Xu Yan, walked into the pig-killing alley, came to the door of the small building, and knocked for a long time. The woman came out to open the door again. She looked at Tan Zhifeng and Xu Gan sleepily and asked, "You two look familiar. It's so late, who are you looking for?"

When Xu Gan explained the reason for coming, the woman came to her senses. She said in surprise, "What's going on? What kind of luck did this Shuanglian have? Young Master, to tell you the truth, someone gave this Shuanglian a few hours ago. You have redeemed yourself, you are late."

"What?" Tan Zhifeng was stunned, and he asked, "Who is it? Do you know his name?"

"I don't know, but that young man is really handsome." The woman smiled: "He is wearing a moon-white shirt, like a fairy descending from the earth..." After finishing speaking, she glanced at Tan Zhifeng: "Hehe Well, Shuanglian is really lucky, all the young and good-looking sons who come to her door, but she has already left, you guys, if you go to the city gate now, you may still be able to say goodbye to her in time."

"She's out of town?" Tan Zhifeng continued to ask, "Do you know where she's going?"

"Why don't you go and find that poor ghost surnamed Li?" The other party slapped the door frame with his hands resentfully: "Oh! I have persuaded her so many times, why don't you find a well-to-do scholar in the opposite alley and marry her?" , even being a concubine is worse than going to die in a wild place..."

Before she finished speaking, Tan Zhifeng pulled Xu Gan and turned around to leave.Xu Gan asked Tan Zhifeng, "Where are you going?"

"Of course I came back after chasing Shuanglian!" Tan Zhifeng said: "She is a girl, is she really going to the northwest? Doesn't she know that the northwest is still fighting?"

"It may take a while for the news of the Song army's defeat to spread." Xu Yan followed closely behind Tan Zhifeng: "The imperial court and officials certainly don't want the common people to know so early on, and how long they can hide it...just How long will you hide it?"

Tan Zhifeng didn't bother to reply, the two ran all the way to the city gate, and finally saw a solitary and slender figure, Shuanglian changed into a suit of coarse short brown trousers, dressed like an ordinary handyman, a little hesitant Standing by the bridge, looking at the closed city gate.Tan Zhifeng walked over, and Shuanglian said unexpectedly: "Tan shopkeeper, why is it you?"

"Miss Shuanglian, you, you can't go out of the city." Tan Zhifeng said out of breath, "I know, I know you want to go to Brother Li, but the situation at the border...is not good right now, and there will be war again soon, you... ...You have been away, and you may not be able to reunite with Brother Li..."

"Master Bai also said the same thing." Shuanglian lowered her head and said softly, "It was he who redeemed me. He told me that the Northwest was defeated and told me not to go, but, but I still want to go."

"Stay here." Tan Zhifeng earnestly said: "No matter what, the gate of the city is closed now, you can talk to us in the tavern first."

Shuanglian thought for a while, she could no longer go back to Killing Pig Alley, and the gate of the city had indeed been closed, so she could only look at Tan Zhifeng and nodded.

When the three of them returned to the tavern, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang hadn't arrived yet, Chen Qing and Yi Yi were sitting at the table boringly talking to each other, and they were surprised to see Tan Zhifeng bring Shuanglian back to the tavern.Coincidentally at this moment, Zhuo Zhuo brought Zhou Yanjing's wife over from the next door.

"Pengpeng has already fallen asleep." Zhou Yanjing's wife thanked Tan Zhifeng and Xu Gan repeatedly, and then said to them: "This...is really a very good place, shopkeeper Tan, I will manage it well, and wait for you to come back. This tavern, this house, I will return it to you as it is..."

Tan Zhifeng said: "You don't have to thank me. Besides you, I really don't know who I can entrust this tavern to. Tomorrow, after we leave, there will be a Kaifeng Mansion guard surnamed Wang to visit you. You If you need anything, or want to hire a maid or servant, you can tell him that he is our friend and will try his best to help."

Zhou Yanjing's wife wanted to thank her again, Tan Zhifeng supported her, and continued: "There is a list of some things I left behind in the account table, when you are free, you can count all the belongings in the backyard and the cellar Don't worry, our tavern is not in debt, and we don't plan to pursue the occasional credit accounts of those customers in the past. There are a lot of customers here, as long as you put a little effort into management, the business will not be bad. "

Zhou Yanjing's wife looked at the tavern, and saw that the tables and chairs in the front hall seemed to be arranged casually, but it made people feel very neat and comfortable. The back kitchen was wiped clean, without any oily smoke or stains.Signs are hung on the walls, and various flowers and plants are placed on the tables. It is different from any restaurant or foot shop she has been to when she came to Kaifeng. It has a unique sense of elegance and leisure, not like a tavern. It's more like a place where literati occasionally sit around and talk about the world.Tan Zhifeng watched as a smile gradually appeared on her face, and her eyes were no longer as tired and gloomy as they were that day.

At this time, Shuang Lian, who had been sitting quietly in the corner just now, stood up, and asked Zhifeng in a low voice: "Shopkeeper Tan, is this the new owner of the tavern?"

Zhou Yanjing's wife looked back at Shuanglian, she asked curiously: "Who is this girl?"