Little Cardamom

Bickering all the way, when they arrived at Tonggang Town, it was already unapproved.

On the way, Ming Tan murmured that when he arrived in town, he would go to Jiabuzhuang to buy new clothes. The clothes were soaked by the rain last night. Although they were dry now, they were still uncomfortable to wear.

Jiang Xu didn't agree, and he didn't blame her for being coquettish. He just reined in and said softly, "We'll talk about it in town."

After arriving in town, Ming Tan was startled.

There are as many as eighteen large and small towns passed along the way. Ming Tan thinks that this trip can be regarded as a glimpse of the people's livelihood, but when she arrives in Tonggang, she suddenly finds that she has seen too little of the world.

If it wasn't a town, she would believe it was a slum or a village that had just been hit by a disaster.

All the way forward, there is no half a good road, full of potholes, three steps and one foot muddy.

The houses along the street are also dilapidated, the windows are glued with glue strips of various colors, and the clothes that have been washed white are stretched out from the windows on the second floor, densely packed in rows.

The sun is very hot, and the hot wind is blowing on the face, and there is an extremely unpleasant salty smell in the breath. Ming Tan couldn't help covering his nose, slowing down his breathing.

To be honest, she thought that Tonggang was relatively poor, but she never thought that it would be so poor. She seriously suspected that Jiang Xu had already known what kind of mess the town was, so he didn't agree to her proposal to buy clothes. How dare he think about it? Clothes, it would be nice to have a place to live at night.

She got off the horse, and together with Jiang Xu, led the horse forward.

After walking a few steps, a little beggar suddenly ran forward, wanting to hug her leg.

Jiang Xu blocked it without a trace, his eyes downcast indifferently.

The little beggar flinched when he saw Shang Jiangxu's gaze, and wanted to back away in fright. But he didn't know what he thought of, he looked at Ming Tan, still swallowing his saliva, and said in a low voice: "Brother, sister..."

The little beggar was filthy all over, and his face was dusty and muddy. He was small and thin, and seemed to have only a leather bag and skeleton left.

Ming Tan couldn't bear it, and subconsciously wanted to pay for the money.

Jiang Xu glanced at her.

Ming Tan hesitated, and suddenly remembered that Yun Yi bought steamed buns for someone back then, but was entangled by a large group of beggars and entangled Yue Li.

"Sister, I haven't eaten for three days. Please do me a favor, and the Buddha will bless you." The little beggar begged again in a sincere and childish voice.

Ming Tan didn't care too much anymore, looked around, saw that there was no one else, so he took a bag of pastries from the bag, and stuffed it with a small piece of silver.

The little beggar's eyes lit up for a moment, hugged the pastry, bit the broken silver again, and quickly bowed to thank him: "Sister, you are really a good person, thank you."

Ming Tan bent her lips in relief, and when the little beggar ran away, she gently pulled Jiang Xu's sleeve, and said coquettishly: "If you want to come to this town, you can't buy any clothes, so it's just doing good deeds. OK?"

Jiang Xu didn't speak, just glanced at someone who was in trouble and didn't know it.

There is only one inn in the town.

Seeing a guest coming, the shopkeeper was very surprised.

Ming Tan looked around, and it really lived up to expectations, but shelter from the rain shouldn't be a problem—that's right, after last night, her minimum requirement for the residence has been reduced to shelter from the wind and rain.

It's just that she was ready, but Jiang Xu suddenly changed his mind.

"Let's go." He grabbed Ming Tan's wrist and turned around to go out.

"G, guest officer, doesn't the guest officer want to stay in an inn, there is only an inn in the town!" The shopkeeper shouted twice behind him.

Ming Tan didn't know why, so he quickly followed Jiang Xu's pace. After being pulled out of the inn, she had time to ask: "Husband, husband, what's wrong?"

"Do you think this looks like an inn?"

Ming Tan was speechless, although it was a bit broken, but the word "Inn" was indeed written on the signboard, so it wasn't an inn.

She suddenly thought of something, and tentatively asked nervously: "Could it be... a black shop?"

She had read a storybook before, which said that the rich daughter eloped with the poor scholar, and accidentally stayed in a black shop at night. .

At the very moment when the rich daughter was about to be defiled, the poor scholar reported to the officials and led the officers and soldiers to wipe out the bandits' lair and rescue the rich daughter.

When Qian Jin's family learned of this, they greatly changed their view of the poor scholar, and agreed to their marriage. The two finally tied the knot and lived a happy life.

It's not because of anything else that she memorizes this script, it's purely because the script is too outrageous.

Regardless of why the bandits let the scholar go, and how the scholar reported his official status, it is enough to suffocate that the rich family's daughter was kidnapped by the bandits and can happily talk about marriage.

Jiang Xu didn't answer, but only motioned her to look at the clothes on the second floor of the inn.

Ming Tan looked up following his line of sight.

The clothes drying outside the inn are not quite the same as those in the other places. Although they are all rags in her eyes, the dozen or so clothes in this row are all brightly colored... She had a flash of inspiration, as if she understood something, and then remembered the The incongruity felt in the inn.

This is not an inn, this is a flower building selling dog meat!

No, to say that Hualou is too flattering, there is no such thing as a Hualou, at most it can be considered a brothel for prostitutes.

Ming Tan clutched her small chest, while walking forward, she turned her head to look at the prostitute's brothel, coincidentally, she saw a man in rags walking in staggeringly when she looked.

It's really a kiln.

"It's not an inn, why do you want to keep us?"

"If you have money to earn, naturally you want to keep it."

There is no definite number of things to do in this kind of place.

Ming Tan murmured in a low voice: "They are so poor that they still go to the brothel, aren't they afraid that they will starve to death after visiting the brothel?"

"Food and **** are all human desires."

"But people's desires should be prioritized. If I'm too poor to let go, I must find a way to earn money to build a house and fill my stomach. I don't have the mood to go shopping."

"..."

He didn't expect his little concubine to be so motivated and ambitious.

As dusk approached, there were no more inns in the town to stay in. Ming Tan was a little worried: "Husband, where are we going to stay tonight?"

"Where can you accept."

Ming Tan thought for a while: "As long as it can keep out the wind and rain."

"Easy to handle."

——He led Ming Tan to find a ruined temple in the outskirts of the town.

Ming Tan: "..."

It's really only a shelter from the wind and rain.

Ming Tan was in a daze, he didn't know where to stand when he entered the ruined temple. Jiang Xu found a clean place, spread his coat on the floor, and motioned, "Sit."

"Oh."

Ming Tan obediently sat down.

The two hidden guards accompanying him appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly carried two stacks of dry firewood and a chicken.

"There are still chickens to catch in the mountains?" Ming Tan hesitated.

"Go back to the princess and buy it from a farmer."

Oh, so why not just buy it cooked? Is it more interesting to bake it yourself? She hesitated to ask, but before she could ask, the two hidden guards disappeared without a sound.

Ming Tan sat with his knees tucked aside, watching Jiang Xu proficiently light the fire, and put the cleaned chicken on the fire to roast. Hmm... In fact, she really wanted to say that there is still dry food in the bag, so there is really no need to reproduce the real scene of survival in the wild like this.

This chicken roasted like this must not taste good. She has watched Fuchu chefs roast chicken from afar. From marinating to choosing firewood to seasoning, every step is very delicate.

Seeing that the corns would be baked for a long time, and Jiang Xu was very bored, Ming Tan touched his arm, and took the initiative to find a topic: "Husband, I met that inn today, it reminded me of a storybook."

"What script?"

She told Jiang Xu the story of the rich daughter eloping with the poor scholar vividly, and at the end she didn't forget to express her own opinion.

Jiang Xu kept looking at the roasted chicken, his voice neither high nor low: "There are indeed some problems with the script, but why do you think that after the rich daughter is taken into captivity, you can no longer talk about marriage?"

"Fame is damaged, so naturally it is impossible to talk about marriage. If a woman is really kidnapped by bandits, even if she is rescued, she will probably wipe her neck for trouble. How could a scholar marry her?"

"This is not the fault of the rich family."

"It's true that it's not her fault, but morals in this world are harsh on women, and fame is more important than life, so only the scriptures dare to arrange things randomly." She rested her chin, and made a boring assumption, "If I were the daughter of a rich family, and my husband is That poor scholar, what should my husband do? I was kidnapped by mountain bandits, will my husband save me? Will you still marry me after saving me?"

"Of course it will be saved." Jiang Xu turned the grilled chicken over, pondered for a moment, and said indifferently, "But I don't need to go to the government, but I can make the bandit's nest full of corpses and blood flow into rivers. You both In terms of fame, apart from this king, there will be no second living person who will know about this matter, so there will be no one to talk about marriage."

"..."

Really thoughtful.

"Taste."

After a while, the chicken was roasted, Jiang Xu tore off a chicken leg and handed it to her.

"etc."

Ming Tan took out the bamboo tube, poured some water to wash his hands, took out a clean veil, and carefully held the chicken leg through the veil.

In all fairness, the grilled chicken looked pretty good. She took a small bite and swallowed it without daring to taste it. She boasted against her will: "It tastes really good, and your husband's craftsmanship is also great."

Jiang Xu raised his eyes and glanced at her: "The chicken legs and wings are left for you, eat slowly."

...?

Ming Tan choked up: "No, no need, my husband will eat too."

"Isn't it delicious?"

"It's delicious... I can't eat so much."

Not half a moment after saying this, Ming Tan slapped his face.

She can, she can! Husband’s grilled chicken is also delicious!

After nibbling a chicken leg and a wing, she stared at the remaining fat leg.

Jiang Xu glanced at her, tore it off and handed it to her.

She took it piously, swallowed quietly, and asked a question from the depths of her soul: "Why is my husband able to roast so deliciously? I used to watch the chef roast chicken in the mansion. The steps are very complicated, but the taste doesn't seem to be good." Big difference."

"Because your husband baked it."

...?

After saying this, Jiang Xu suddenly raised his eyes and looked outside the ruined temple. He wiped his hands with the Supa that Mingtan had used, and said: "You have caused trouble."