Celestial being

When Yuan Ming heard what the old man said, he was also startled and a little confused.

"Sorry, I'm offended. Please don't mind, guest." Lao Yandai's eyes flashed and he apologized again and again.

"Take me to the guest room quickly." Yuan Ming waved his hand and said.

The old man quickly nodded and walked forward, greeting and leading the way, leading Yuan Ming out of the back door of the lobby, along a corridor, and into the inner courtyard.

There are many trees planted in the yard, and the environment is quite quiet, but almost all the rooms passing by are dark.

"There are a lot of people in this town, but the business of this store doesn't seem to be very good." Yuan Ming secretly complained in his heart.

When he came to the backyard, he saw the dull young man again, feeding fodder to his horse.

He followed Lao Yandian to the innermost guest room. The furnishings inside were simple and could only be considered clean. But overall, Yuan Ming was quite satisfied. It was much better than the Murano Inn he had stayed at before, and the price was naturally higher. many.

"Guest, please stay here with peace of mind. Do you need any food tonight?" the old man asked.

"No, if you have nothing to do at night, I don't want anyone to come and disturb you." Yuan Ming said, throwing a silver coin over.

He also had grilled ferocious beast meat in his storage bag, so he didn't plan to eat the food provided in the store.

"Okay, no problem. Then you can go to bed early." Lao Yandai took the silver coin, his eyes lit up, he put it in his mouth and bit it before turning around and retreating.

At this time, Yuan Ming suddenly asked: "By the way, shopkeeper, do you know that there is a time-honored incense workshop called "Jixiangfang" in this town?"

After hearing this, Lao Yandai paused, took out the silver coins from his mouth and put them into his pocket.

"Are you asking this, do you want to buy incense and candles? If you need these, I also own a grocery store. I sell them all in the store. I will definitely give you a preferential price." Old Yandai asked with a smile.

"I don't want to buy incense, but I want to learn the art of making incense. Do you know where the workshop is?" Yuan Ming shook his head and asked.

"Hey, I know this place, but it's a bit remote. If you really have to look for it yourself, I'm afraid it's really hard to find. How about I take the time to take you there early tomorrow morning?" Lao Yandai said with a naive smile.

"That's all there is to do." Yuan Ming thanked him.

Old Yantai turned around, closed the door for him, and walked into the yard.

The young man feeding Yuan Ming's horse has not left yet and seems to be waiting for him.

"Dad, what do you look like? Are you rich?" The young man's expression was still dull, but he spoke very fluently.

The old smoker immediately raised a finger to his mouth, gesturing for the young man to follow him.

After the two of them got out of the backyard, Lao Yandian lit up his pipe again, took a puff, and after spitting out a wisp of white smoke from the corner of his mouth, he slowly said: "What a pity..."

"What, he's a poor guy? If you have a horse to ride on, you can't be a poor guy anyway, right?" The young man's eyebrows flew up and he said in surprise.

"If I had come here half a year earlier, I might have been able to earn another bounty, but now...it's a bit embarrassing." Lao Yandian said thoughtfully without answering his son's question.

"Dad, what are you talking about?" the young man asked puzzledly.

"It's nothing. This young man is a noble person in our family. He must be well entertained." After the old smoker finished speaking, he smoked a cigarette and walked to the front yard with a straight figure.

…

The next day, the curfew was lifted not long after.

Yuan Ming woke up from practicing, got up, stretched, moved his body, and rushed to the front yard.

Lao Yandai was sitting at the door of the lobby, staring at the people on the street outside.

Not long after the city gate opened, there were already many small business vendors on the streets, but they were just coming and going, and there was no business to be attracted.

The old smoker was smoking a cigarette, his eyes were a little wandering, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

Yuan Ming stepped forward to say hello, and he stood up in a hurry.

The two exchanged a few words. Old Yantai slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Yesterday I promised to take the guest to the incense making workshop."

With that said, he called his son to come to the front to look at the store, and he took Yuan Ming along the street outside towards the town.

The bustle of Tiehu Town, where people come and go, is naturally far different from the Dajin capital that Yuan Ming had seen before, but the surrounding buildings have more of a southern Xinjiang style, and the hawking voices have a different charm and flavor.

Lao Yandai was like a qualified tour guide, telling Yuan Ming about the situation in the town along the way. From time to time, he would meet one or two acquaintances on the road and say hello.

The two of them walked along the main street for a while, then Old Yantai took Yuan Ming and turned around and walked into a side alley.

After walking along this narrow side alley for a long time, until they could no longer hear the bustle of the main street, they finally arrived at the incense making workshop.

But after arriving, Yuan Ming was greatly disappointed.

It was a medium-sized courtyard, with a copper lock hanging on the door, covered with cobwebs and covered with a thick layer of dust.

The stone steps in front of the yard were also covered with fallen leaves and debris. It looked like no one had lived there for a long time.

"Is this an incense making workshop?" Yuan Ming frowned.

"That's right, it's right here. Look, their sign is still there." Lao Yandai pointed to a dirty and worn-out plaque on the lintel with his cigarette pole and said.

Yuan Ming went up and took a closer look, and found that the word "auspicious" was still vaguely engraved on it. As for the third word "lou", only the word "wood" on the left was left.

"What's going on? Moved?" Yuan Ming asked doubtfully.

"I'm not very sure either. Wait a moment, guest, and I'll ask for you." Lao Yandai said, and went to knock on the door of a nearby house.

A woman in coarse cloth came out of the door, said a few words to Old Yantai, then closed the door and went back.

"After asking clearly, the neighbor said that the owner of this workshop became addicted to gambling a year ago and lost all his money. After his wife ran away with someone six months ago, he is rarely seen." Lao Yandai walked up to Yuan Ming and said.

"He's actually a gambler..." Yuan Ming was stunned when he heard this.

"What do you think we should do? Should we go back, or should I ask again for you?" Lao Yandai asked.

"I still want to see him before we talk." Yuan Ming thought about it and wanted to ask him.

"Sure. Then I'll help you find out more." Old Tobacco said.

"Thank you very much. If you can really find it, I will be rewarded generously." Yuan Ming quickly thanked him.

Upon hearing this, Lao Yandian's eyes lit up.

"You think, should we go to the casino to try our luck? Once this person gets addicted to gambling, it will be difficult to quit. You don't have to go back home, but you don't have to go to the casino." Lao Yandai suddenly said.

"That's right. Even if you can't meet him in the casino, you might be able to meet someone who knows him." When Yuan Ming heard this, he felt it made sense.

"That's the truth." Lao Yandai nodded in agreement.

"Then there are several casinos in this town. Why don't you tell me where they are and we can look for them separately?" Yuan Ming said.

"No, no need. Although there are several casinos in this town, there is only one closest to here, called 'Shanhe Gambling House'. As the old saying goes, 'Whoring is far away and gambling is near'. If you want to go there, most people will only go there. It's still early, let's go over and have a look." Old Tobacco said with a "hehe" smile.

Yuan Ming naturally nodded without any objection.

The two quickly left the alley and returned to the main street.

After walking some distance to the north, I soon saw a tall building with a towering gatehouse.

This building has three floors, each floor is about two feet high, and the whole body is made of nanmu. What is more special is that on one side of the building, there is a rockery three to four feet high, and on the right side, there is a wide road about The two-foot-long river surrounded the building in a semi-encirclement shape. It seemed to have been dug manually.

Outside the gatehouse, there is a string of diamond-shaped wooden signs hanging. One side is engraved with the number of the dice, and the other side is written with the words "Shanhe Gambling House" in southern Xinjiang script.

Yuan Ming followed Lao Yandai, and the two of them walked to the gambling house one after another. They saw two strong men standing outside the gate of the gambling house, and a heavy curtain hung on the door.

Old Yantai greeted the two big men familiarly, then stepped forward and opened the curtain.

The moment the heavy curtain was lifted, chaotic shouts, mixed with the crash of dice and the sound of pai gow hitting the table, came from inside.

There was also a sultry and unpleasant smell that hit his face.

Lao Yandian took Yuan Ming in and saw nine gambling tables on the first floor of the large gambling house.

Yuan Ming took a quick glance and found that five of the tables were for betting on dice, and the other three tables were for pai gow. He had never seen the last table in his memory. He only saw a bunch of black gambling equipment and a bunch of gambling equipment. Small white round stones.

"I'll go ask for you." Old Yantai said and walked over to a dice table.

Yuan Ming himself was not idle either and came to a Pai Gow table.

There were only seven or eight people playing cards on the table, but there were more than ten or twenty people watching nearby, all of whom looked red in the face, with itchy hands and hearts.

However, some are short of money, and some have no room to get started, so the expressions on their faces are somewhat different.

Yuan Ming patted the shoulder of a slovenly-looking middle-aged man outside. The latter looked back at him and asked impatiently:

"What are you doing?"

"Brother, could I please ask you something?"

As soon as Yuan Ming finished speaking, the middle-aged man waved his hand impatiently and said, "I don't know, I don't know..."

After saying that, he turned to look at the gambling table.

Yuan Ming had no choice but to pat the short man next to him who was standing on tiptoes and stretching his neck to look inside.

The latter turned to look at Yuan Ming. He was not as impatient as the previous person, but he still said in a cold tone: "What are you doing?"

"Brother, I want to ask you something?" Yuan Ming said.

"Say what's going on, I'm busy!" the short man frowned.

"Do you know where the owner of the 'Jixiangfang' in town has gone?" Yuan Ming said.

"You mean Wu Sang?" the short man asked with a raised brow.

Only then did Yuan Ming remember that he had always thought that finding such a time-honored workshop that had been in business for so many years would not have much trouble, so he never thought of caring about the name of its owner.

He subconsciously wanted to ask Lao Yandou, but when he turned around to look, he found that the little old man had disappeared at some point.