The official road was bustling with people and noisy like a busy market.
The shafts of the carts and the horses were being led back and forth by people. They turned their heads to look at the crowd cheering loudly, and after a few glances, they went to the high platform. The strings of the Kucha pipa were plucked by people's fingertips, the sound of the Hu music was in the air, and the veil of the Hu girl twisted her waist and she blinked seductively, causing the spectators below to whistle and excitedly lie on the platform to look at the sexy legs under the flying skirt.
Occasionally, copper bells from the Western Regions would ring softly, and merchants from afar would stop to enjoy the delicious Han food on the road outside the city. Waiters would stand by the roadside, shouting loudly, vying to attract every passerby and merchant who passed by.
"Imperial Yellow Queen Mother Rice, steamed rice made from the finest yellow rice. The steamed pork shreds and egg yolks are also top-notch. There are also a variety of dishes mixed in. You can mix and match as you like..."
"I have it too, it's cheaper than his, and I have more rice, meat, and eggs than they do!!"
"Fifteen cents, a bowl for only fifteen cents, and it comes with a side of fragrant biscuits..."
In the east city of Chang'an, the ancient and majestic city wall stretches out. In the official road market not far from the city gate, pedestrians are noisy and crowded. They whisper to each other or shout and cheer loudly at the eight tall and strong men in the middle.
"… It seems that these eight people have never been to Chang'an, otherwise they would definitely remember it."
"That's right, look at those legs, wow... they're almost as long as my waist."
"Hey, those eight heroes over there, can you do somersaults?"
"How about, I'll break a big stone with my chest, and get eighty cents for each hammer?"
The Taoist holding the small basin pushed the copper coins inside, turned around with a smile on his face, and shouted at the eight big men.
"A guest has requested a program. Come on! Get on the slate!"
Over there, one of the eight men tore apart a few strips of linen and pieced them together. There was a thick pile of large bluestone slabs on the ground. The man picked up one at random and held it in his hand, letting the onlookers around him touch and knock it to verify its authenticity. Then, he turned a face towards the other seven men.
"Someone come! Let's smash all these boards today. Each hammer costs eighty cents. Here are ten of them. It's enough to pay for our meal today!"
Ten?!
There was an uproar all around. One hammer for each person would cost at least eight hundred coins... The spectators who had been shouting before trembled in their feet, turned around, pushed away the people behind them, and ran away.
"Hey! Don't run! Everything is ready. Why are you running?! Even a 50% discount is fine!"
The Taoist priest squeezed out and shouted at the back that was running away. He spat on the ground in frustration, turned around and yelled at those who were standing with their hands on their hips and laughing at the fun.
"What are you laughing at? Don't just watch for nothing. Give me something at least! It's not easy to support these eight big guys..."
As he turned around to talk, he saw in his peripheral vision a scholar in a blue shirt and white robe leading an old donkey carrying a bookshelf, walking slowly towards him on the official road leading to the east.
The Taoist priest was Sun Yingxian. When he saw the man and the donkey coming over there, he was stunned for a moment, then he immediately waved to Lu Pan and the others in the crowd: "Stop working so hard, pack up!"
After saying that, he ran towards the scholar and the old donkey and howled at the top of his voice.
"Oh my, I finally got you here!"
Lu Liangsheng looked at him holding a small copper basin, and then saw Uncle Pan and eight others coming over with spears and swords, and he felt a little confused.
"Old Sun, what are you doing, selling weapons on the street?"
"Selling weapons? I almost sold people!"
The Taoist was also angry. He stuffed the copper basin into his hand, sat down on the side of the road, took off his shoes, and shook off the mud and sand. "… Now think about it carefully. Did you leave any money when you left?"
Hearing this, Lu Liangsheng stood there in a daze. He reached out to touch his other sleeve, and felt the heavy money bag rustling. He could only laugh dryly.
“…I left in such a hurry that I forgot…”
“Forgot?!”
Sun Yingxian was so angry that she put on her shoes, looked at the eight big men coming over there, and made a six gesture to the scholar.
"Six whole days... Do you know how I made it through?! The eight of them are such big eaters that I almost caught everything flying in the sky or running on the ground. I almost ran into the mountains to find monsters to drag around and roast on the grill."
The Taoist priest had his hands behind his back and was spitting saliva from his mouth as he spoke. He saw the Toad Taoist priest heard the noise, poked half of his face out from the crack in the door, and yelled at him.
"I didn't say anything about you, what's there to see?"
Over there, in the crack of the door, the toad's eyes rolled up, and with a bang, the door slammed shut, and a voice of Dharma came: "Liangsheng, go into the city to eat! I heard the shop assistants shouting, and I am hungry."
Lu Liangsheng smiled, took the reins, called Lu Pan and others over, and put his arm around Lao Sun's shoulders and patted him twice.
"Are you still angry? I've come here in a hurry. Let's go into the city and take you to have a good meal."
"Don't hold my neck, I can't breathe!"
The Taoist took his hand away. It would be a lie to say he wasn't angry, because his anger came and went just as quickly. It was his own fault for liking the sister of Mr. Lu.
Entering the city, the noisy long street was still bustling, but more orderly than the market outside the city. Lu Pan and eight other men stood behind the scholar with swords and spears, looking so ferocious that passers-by stayed away from them. They were also quite excited to look at the prosperous street scene of Chang'an.
"Liangsheng, I never thought that performing on the street could earn more than farming at home. If I had known that there would be a slack season in farming, I would have gone to Fushui County to perform."
"Sell? What are you selling? Sell meat!"
The Taoist pointed at the busy streets, not caring about the looks from the people around him, and said, "Only here in Chang'an can you earn more. Go to Fushui County and try. You can earn a dozen coins a day, which is not bad. It's not even enough to fill your teeth."
He must have suffered a lot on the way. Seeing him muttering and complaining, Lu Liangsheng said some comforting words. He looked at the side of the long street ahead, where flags with white characters on a blue background were fluttering, with a big "Zhan" written in the middle.
The waiter who was greeting guests at the door saw that there were ten of them and an old donkey. He smiled broadly. After welcoming a guest in, he put a rag on his shoulder, ran up enthusiastically, and took the reins from Lu Liangsheng.
"Everyone, do you want to stay in a hotel or have a meal?"
"If you stay at a hotel, you naturally need to eat. Please, young man, take my donkey to the backyard to look after it and get some good fodder."
Lu Liangsheng gave instructions to the waiter, then brought Lao Sun, Lu Pan and eight other people into the inn. The hall of the inn was not very big, but there were more than a dozen tables set up, almost all of which were occupied by guests, some drinking and playing drinking games loudly, while others were eating quietly. When they saw the group of people coming in, they just glanced at them and continued eating and drinking.
Behind the counter, the skinny shopkeeper was fiddling with an abacus to keep accounts. Hearing someone coming, he raised his eyes and saw a scholar walking over and bowing.
"Boss, do you have any rooms left?"
"Yes, there are, but the rooms..." He glanced at Lu Pan and the other eight people and said quickly: "... But there are definitely not enough rooms, how about you squeeze in?"
"Okay, let's squeeze in!"
Lu Pan and his companions were all rough country men, and just having a place to sleep was enough for them, so they took the last three rooms in the inn, dividing the eight people into two rooms, with Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist in one. They also ordered some food for almost twenty people and asked the waiter to deliver it to the room.
"By the way, I'd like to trouble you to run errands and deliver this letter to the Duke of Yue's mansion for me. Here, this is a little reward for your hard work."
He stuffed a few copper coins into the waiter's hand, who rubbed the copper coins a few times, took the sealed letter, and nodded with a smile: "Just wait, sir, I promise to deliver it to you!"
After the waiter closed the door and left, Qiyou floated out of the bookshelf, sat down on the stool carelessly, picked up the chopsticks and knocked around, while the Toad Taoist opened the small door of the bookshelf, quickly untied the rope around his waist, climbed onto the table, took a deep sniff of the aroma of the food, shook his apron very elegantly, and tied it around his chest.
"Liangsheng, first give me a piece of fat meat to whet my appetite!"
"Then sit down, Master."
Lu Liangsheng took a piece of braised fat with chopsticks and put it into the master's bowl. He turned around to pour some wine and drank with the Taoist priest. While eating, they talked about what happened before, and naturally talked about the great catastrophe of heaven and earth...