Chapter 22: Lantern Festival Night, Conflict

In his previous life, Yang Chang was a stay-at-home who had never been to the Lantern Festival in his city. Unexpectedly, he became famous for watching lanterns in the Song Dynasty.

He and Wu Song lived in the south of the city, and soon they arrived at the prosperous Imperial Street. Various colorful lanterns illuminated the entire street red, and the snow under their feet had been cleared.

Yang Chang looked at the road ahead, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

He was shocked when he saw the lantern festival for the first time. The dragons, phoenixes, cranes, fish and other animal lanterns were so lifelike that they seemed to be flying. The streets were crowded with tourists and horse-drawn carriages shuttled back and forth.
Xin Qiji's Lantern Festival poems seem to have been written based on the Imperial Street.

The east wind blows thousands of flowers into bloom at night. It blows down stars like rain. The road is filled with the fragrance of BMW and carved carriages. The sound of phoenix flutes moves, the light of jade pots turns, and fish and dragons dance all night.
"looks good?"

"It looks good. Brother, would you like something to eat?"

"I thought you had seen enough. There are couples everywhere on the street. We two rough guys don't fit in. Let's find a place to fill our stomachs. It would be best if we had a couple of bowls of wine."

"Brother has been drinking all day, let's find something to eat tonight."

Yang Chang was also hungry at this time, so he pulled Wu Song to the north and said, "Let's go. I know where there is good food."

"How do you know?"

"I asked the store owner this afternoon. I went straight ahead past Longjin Bridge and all the way to the south of Zhou Bridge is full of delicious food. I don't know if my money is enough."

“It’s not that expensive.”

Wu Song followed without thinking, but when he got there he realized he had made a wrong decision. Not only were the food varieties in Tokyo diverse, but the prices were also more than twice as much as in Yanggu County.

The area Yang Chang was talking about is the famous Shubashi Night Market in Tokyo, where you can find pan-fried rabbit, roasted pork skin, wild duck, crispy fried fish, crystal bream, and fried tongs.
The variety of food was no less than that in the night markets of later generations, and many of the foods were made from wild game, which were not available in later generations. The two men were dazzled by the sight and their stomachs rumbled.

Wu Song did not listen to Yang Chang. He bought a pot of cold wine and held it in his hand. Whenever he saw something he wanted to eat, he would buy it to go with the wine. However, Yang Chang saved his stomach and only picked out food that he had never eaten before.

Even so, Yang Chang felt a little full before he was halfway through the food street.

The two of them walked around and ate all the way north to Wanglou, where they suddenly saw a lot of people queuing.

According to Yang Chang's experience in his previous life, places with long queues must taste good. When he walked closer and asked, he found out that Mei Ji on the left and Lu Ji on the right both sold buns.

I asked the diners waiting in line, and learned that the common Beijing-style crystal buns, bamboo shoot and meat buns, river fish buns, crab meat buns, goose and duck buns, and seven-treasure buns are all on sale, while Mei Ji's goose, duck, chicken, rabbit stomach and lung buns and Lu Ji's eel buns are the most famous.

When Yang Chang heard this, he was shocked. These were all things he had never eaten before.

He suggested selling buns to Wu Da, but he didn't expect that he was so ignorant that he was showing off his skills in front of people from the Song Dynasty. He must try it today.

Yang Changsui and Wu Song queued up separately. He queued at Mei Ji to buy various meat buns, while Wu Song went to Lu Ji to buy eel buns.

The shredded eel looks delicious. Can this ingredient be used to make steamed buns?
Yang Chang was full of questions and expectations. He followed the crowd and slowly moved forward. He waited for half an hour before reaching the front row.

"I want."

"One goose meat bun and two rabbit belly buns!"

Yang Chang never expected that there would be people cutting in line in the Song Dynasty. He glanced at the burly man next to him and said to the waiter in a deep voice: "Store owner, you have to maintain order. Everyone should follow the principle of first come first served."

"I'm watching him and I won't sell him."

"You, idiot, are meddling in other people's business."

“Go in line behind you!”

Yang Chang turned around and shouted angrily, only then could he see the face of the person who cut in line. He saw that the man was eight feet tall, with a muscular face and a majestic look, but Yang Chang's eyes were firm and he remained unmoved.

The man squeezed into the crowd and no one dared to say anything. He originally planned to buy the buns and leave, but was stopped by Yang Chang, who reminded him that the store would not sell them to him.

"I bought your place."

"I'm not short of money."

The queue-jumper suppressed his anger, took out a few coins and handed them over, hoping that Yang Chang would take advantage of him. However, Yang Chang was a fool and turned away, ignoring him. He pointed at the wooden board on the wall and ordered: "Give me your specialty goose, duck, chicken and rabbit, everything."

"Boy, don't be ignorant of the current situation!"

When Yang Chang was ordering food, he suddenly felt his left shoulder sink.

This guy who cut in line wanted to use force? Yang Chang's blood instantly rushed to his head, and then he instinctively stretched out his right hand to grab the other person's hand firmly and turned around to throw him to the ground.

Although he had only learned the basics of the grappling techniques that Wu Song taught him at the time, he was able to use them in an emergency.

However, the moment he released the weapon, Yang Chang realized something was wrong. He had not restrained his anger and released a lot of power.

With a whoosh, a black shadow flew out of the crowd, and the man was thrown out like a stone.

Seeing this, Yang Chang swallowed his saliva, worried that he would hurt the other person and get into trouble for Wu Song, but the result was beyond his expectations.

While the queue cutter was turning in the air, he seemed to have forced himself to change direction, and finally stopped steadily with one hand on the ground.

Is he a martial artist?
On the night of the Lantern Festival, there were acrobatic performances in the streets of Beijing. The actions of the two men in front of the steamed bun shop actually drew cheers from the people around them.

Yang Chang saw the man raise his head. His eyes changed from arrogant to fierce and murderous. He was immediately grabbed by a man with the same clothes and body shape.

Just as he was in a daze, the waiter from Mei's asked loudly, "Sir, I didn't hear you clearly just now. How many of each kind of buns do you want?"

"Two of each."

"I will give you one hundred and eighty coins."

"well."

Yang Chang paid the money without asking the price. Suddenly, someone patted his shoulder again. He turned around nervously and found it was Wu Song.

"elder brother."

"What happened just now?"

"Someone tried to cut in line, but I stopped him."

"Well, I've bought the eel buns."

Wu Song raised the bun in his hand and looked vigilantly behind him, where four eight-foot-tall men were standing. One of them was the man who cut in line, staring straight at them.

"Brother, why are you stopping me?"

"He can throw you out, don't you know that?"

"I was careless just now and didn't dodge. He is just a brat and is definitely not my opponent!"

"I believe him, but he also has helpers. The man in gray beside him is not simple."

"What are you afraid of? We have four brothers."

"Don't forget your identity!"

The young leader among the four men calmed his brothers down and then turned to ask for instructions from his master.

It turned out that behind these four strong men, there were two petite boys standing.

"Sir, look"

"It's indeed wrong to cut in line, so let's get in line, Li Lang, let's go somewhere else first."

"it is good"

After receiving instructions from the young master, the little leader arranged the person who had just cut in line to line up again.

The slightly taller boy called Li Lang saw the guards reluctantly walking to the end of the team, so he lowered his head and whispered jokingly: "What a master of the palace, but he was defeated by a street boy when he went out."

"There are so many amazing people in our Song Dynasty. It's hard for me to throw a stone, but he can throw Yun Zhao away. Let's go."

"Yun Zhao is rude, how about I go buy a seat? Young Master likes this rabbit belly bun the most, but he has never made you wait?"

"OK then"

Li Lang volunteered to walk to the front of the team, where he ran into Yang Chang and Wu Song who had just bought some buns.

"This stuffing should be made from rabbit stomach. It would be too unpalatable if made into buns. It's really not as good as our Yanggu County."

"Ok?"

When the two sides passed by each other, Li Lang suddenly heard Yang Chang complaining about the bad taste, and mistakenly thought that he was deliberately provoking him, so he shouted loudly: "You two, stop right there!"

(End of this chapter)