Chapter 52 Anle Pavilion

In the yard, Duan Chengtian spread white gauze in a wooden box, and then neatly placed three pounds of glutinous white tofu in it. He then closed the box and carried it out.

It was snowing, so he turned around, put on a rain hat, and opened the door.

"Xiaobei, make your own lunch at noon..."

Inside, the apprentice was already lying on the kang and snoring.

After all, he is just a child who practices martial arts every day. Today is a rare day of relaxation, so he becomes carefree.

Duan Chengtian frowned, went in and tucked the quilt in for him, then put the snacks he bought when closing the stall on the table, then carried the wooden box out of the yard.

"Manager Duan has sent tofu to Anle Pavilion again."

Passing by the alley where the stalls were set up, a stall owner asked with a smile: "Why didn't you ask your little apprentice to deliver it today?"

"Young man, he's been having fun for a few days during the New Year, and he's now sleeping soundly in his room." Duan Chengtian responded cheerfully, and then said worriedly, "This kid will ruin my craft sooner or later."

The stall owner was somewhat envious and asked, "Why does that girl from Anle Pavilion like to eat your tofu so much? She sends you tofu every few days. But do you have any secret recipe? Teach me..."

But before he could finish, he saw that the former had walked a long way away without him knowing when.

"what?"

The stall owner rubbed his eyes in confusion and turned around to ask others, but his wife was dozing off.

"It's weird..."

……

Anle Pavilion is located south of Luo River, in Yanfufang of Linnan City.

If others wanted to get here from the newly built Lindefang in the old Taipei City, it would take fifteen minutes just by horseback riding. However, when Duan Chengtian arrived outside the pavilion carrying the wooden box, it took less than a cup of tea.

Because it is close to Nanshi and it is the New Year, there are a lot of pedestrians on the streets at this time.

Peddlers and tourists in the downtown area gathered into a crowd, lingering in the tall buildings and taverns, laughing and joking. Outside the shops and hotels, flagpoles stood in rows, with banners fluttering. Especially outside Anle Pavilion, the whole long street was very lively. Entering from the gate, you can see all kinds of performances, martial arts performances, acrobatics and sumo, and the sound of music.

It was a grand scene in troubled times.

Many years ago, Luoyang was plundered several times. Various princes came and went and almost turned Luoyang into ruins. In addition, these ambitious people not only wanted to plunder money and food, but also took a group of people with them when they left. In just a few years, Luoyang was "a ruined city with less than a hundred households."

However, this phenomenon began to reverse rapidly after Henan Yin Zhang Quanyi took charge of Luoyang.

During his more than ten years in office, he personally overcame difficulties, encouraged farming and weaving, accepted refugees, and encouraged production. After working hard to manage and govern Luoyang for many years, the country now has "no idle land in the capital, and hundreds of thousands of households", "every household has savings, and no one starves due to floods or droughts".

It can be said that the prosperity of Luoyang today is almost entirely due to the "farming fanatic" Zhang Quanyi.

Although Duan Chengtian still worked for the Tang Dynasty, he also admired this man very much.

He carried the wooden box and walked through the crowd until he was finally spotted by a waiter at the door of Anle Pavilion.

The latter hurried up and called out repeatedly, "Manager Duan, come quickly, we are waiting for your tofu to be put into the pot."

Duan Chengtian smiled innocently and was about to follow him in through the side door.

At this moment, in his peripheral vision, two figures wearing bamboo hats suddenly squeezed out from the crowd.

He subconsciously stopped and looked over there.

But the man had already been embraced by the Hu Ji who was soliciting customers at the door and entered the store.

"Manager Duan?" The waiter waved his hand and looked over in confusion.

He retracted his gaze and followed.

"Come here."

……

At the store door, a servant took the snow-covered hat from Xiao Yan's hand with a big smile on his face and greeted people inside.

In the hall, there were many drunken guests singing loudly, and on the stage there were barefoot dancers dancing to the music.

Behind him, a bad guy with a stern face, holding a bamboo hat, followed him closely like a bodyguard.

A male turtle saw from afar that Xiao Yan had an extraordinary temperament and there were tall and fierce guards behind him, so he hurriedly called out to the fake mother: "Mom, I'm afraid there's a fat sheep."

The fake mother was resting against the railing. Looking in the direction of the finger, she saw a young man who looked quite childish. He was curious about everything. "You can kill him!"

She immediately went down the stairs enthusiastically, waved away the servants, and personally greeted him, "Young Master, you are really handsome, with a dignified appearance, really charming... But is this your first time in my Anle Pavilion?"

She still had her charm, and at this moment, she took Xiao Yan's arm and, without waiting for his response, she pointed around the hall and began to introduce everyone.

"My dear, don't underestimate Anle Pavilion, as it may seem small. But here are all the beauties in the world!"

As if she was afraid that Xiao Yan would not believe her, or perhaps she was trying to fool the youngster, she immediately raised three thumbs in front of Xiao Yan's eyes and said, "This Anle Pavilion was first established in Chang'an during the Zhenguan period of the previous dynasty. It has been three hundred years now!"

"However, when the current emperor burned down Chang'an many years ago, the host brought all the girls to Luoyang. Don't underestimate the small area now. Over the years, we have always had visitors from all over the world, including Mr. Zhang, the governor of Henan..."

Her words were very familiar, but Xiao Yan smiled and pulled his hand away from her chest, then interrupted, "The madam has misunderstood. I have an appointment with a girl in your pavilion."

"Ok?"

The fake mother was surprised at first, and then she saw the bad guy behind Xiao Yan take out an invitation from his arms.

"My husband booked the fish lady from your pavilion yesterday and arranged to meet her today."

"Oh! I was wondering why the young master is so noble, and it turns out that he is really a generous nobleman!" The fake mother was overjoyed and hurriedly led the two upstairs. When they arrived at a private room where they could no longer hear the noise downstairs, she said happily: "My dear, wait a moment, I will go to see if my wife has packed up..."

"Please do as you please, Madam."

After seeing the fake mother cautiously enter the private room, Xiao Yan turned around and leaned against the carved railing to look down at the lobby below.

"The Luoyang branch is indeed more powerful than the Yanzhou branch." He pointed to the three-story restaurant with carved beams and painted rafters and said with a smile: "I'm afraid we can't afford the Anle Pavilion alone."

The bad guy behind him scratched the back of his head and whispered, "Captain, I don't know, but I heard that the owner behind Anle Pavilion is one of ours. He has been doing business for generations. According to the old seniors, he should be very wealthy..."

Xiao Yanxu covered his eyes, reached out and knocked on the fence, and began to think.

From the private room behind him, the madam's low voice came out.

"Mom, I thought the guy who was willing to spend thousands of dollars to meet you was an old man, but I didn't expect that he was just a young man with no knowledge! This kind of young man is the easiest to deceive. Youshu, you have to stand up for your mother and take away his underwear..."

"Mom, go out first. I know what's going on."

"..."

Ordinary people should not be able to hear this conversation, but Xiao Yan has great skills and can hear it clearly.

He just smiled faintly, turned around, and saw the fake mother pushing the door open with a normal expression on her face.

She had a flattering smile on her face and bowed gracefully.

"The young master can go in now."

Xiao Yan nodded politely at her, "Thank you for your help, Madam."

The fake mother just glanced up and down at his exquisite clothes and said with a smile: "It's still early, why don't you call a few more girls?"

But the latter had already walked in. She subconsciously wanted to follow him, but the bad guy was already blocking the door, holding a bamboo hat with his hands clasped across his chest, looking extremely cold.

The fake mother reluctantly retreated.

When you push the door open, you first see a screen, and then various decorations.

At this time, a woman in white came out slowly, holding a long zither. She had a well-proportioned figure and a pretty face, and was indeed a rare beauty.

However, she only glanced at Xiao Yan's very young face, and then said in a calm voice: "My dear, have you come to the wrong place? The person I want to see today is not you."

Xiao Yan, however, was indifferent for a moment, with a dignified look in his eyes that could not be looked directly at.

The scroll unfolded and fell in his hands.

"The bad guy is a dark star. I came here to see the bad guy from Luoyang."

The woman was stunned for a moment, and looked at the Yanzhou Bad Banner for a long time before she bowed as if she suddenly realized something.

"Luoyang's bad mermaid, Young Shu, greets the captain..."

"Everyone has been gathered in the courtyard. Captain, please follow me."

(End of this chapter)