Back at Wang Ji Lou, Yu Shu was halfway through cooking the turtle board when Lin Fu knocked on the door. He stood outside and asked if she had eaten breakfast and if there was anything else.
Yu Shu squatted by the stove and said through the door, "I'm busy and need your help to do something."
"Miss, please speak."
"I heard that there are live chickens in the woodshed behind. Look for one that often crows in the morning and has a rosy crown. Put a bowl of chicken blood for me and I'll take it when I go back."
Lin Fu did not ask what she needed chicken blood for and left to carry out the order. He came back in a moment and said that it was ready. Yu Shu then let him go.
Perhaps it was because of the strong fire in the stove that this piece of turtle shell burned faster. Yu Shu's forehead was covered in sweat. Looking at the cracks, she hurriedly picked it up and studied it. There was a small study room in her room. Mo Ju Quan memorized the hexagram, took it apart and put it back together. Finally, he had some clues.
"Looks like he's headed south," Yu Shu muttered to herself. She put the broken turtle shell aside and wrote down a few places in the south of the city that he might go to, but she couldn't write any more after a while.
The area to the south was huge. The south of the city was also south, and Jiangnan was also south. She could not help but wonder if Jing Chen had already left Anling and returned to Mount Longhu in Jiangxi.
When this thought came, Yu Shu could not help but feel inferior. If he really returned to Mount Longhu, then what was the point of her searching blindly?
"Miss, the kitchen made lily perch soup. This servant has brought it for you." A voice came from outside the door. There were two servant girls in Wang Ji Lou. The slow one was Xiao Die and the fast one was Xiao Qing.
Yu Shu put down her pen and paper and went to open the door. She saw Xiao Qing carrying a wooden tray with a porcelain bowl in pink and green glaze on it. The lid was painted with a small cluster of plum blossoms, looking very exquisite. On the side was a small plate of the same color with some shallot foam.
Xiao Qing covered the bowl with a handkerchief and handed it to Yu Shu. She removed the lid and said, "Be careful, it's hot." Yu Shu smelled the aroma of the fish and tasted two spoonfuls. It was indeed delicious. After drinking half a bowl, she suddenly put down the spoon and asked Little Qing,
"According to the menu, this fish soup costs twenty taels of silver per dish."
Xiao Qing said, "That's right. These Song River bass were delivered fresh yesterday morning. There are only 20 of them in the fish tank."
Yu Shu sighed and said, "Later, go tell the kitchen that I don't have to go through so much trouble every time I come back, steaming snacks and boiling soup. Just send tea."
She was here to help Xue Rui with his work, not to enjoy herself. She had probably only eaten seventeen to eighteen taels of silver worth of pastries the last time. If this went on, she would have already lost over a hundred taels of silver before she even started her business.
If this restaurant was opened by her, she could eat whatever she wanted. But now, she was also a worker, not a boss.
Xiao Qing showed a troubled expression and said, "Miss, you don't know. This is what the shopkeeper told me. When you are here, you only need to serve them with fresh soup and delicious food. We can't neglect you."
Yu Shu frowned and said, "Go and find Old Lin. I will tell him."
Yu Shu originally thought that Lin Fu wanted to please her, so he served her well. Who knew that when she called Lin Fu, he actually explained, "Miss, you misunderstood.
This is all Young Master's instructions. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to make decisions on my own. "
Yu Shu was speechless. She didn't feel that Xue Rui's way of doing things was very useful. Instead, she felt that he was a fool.
Lin Fu looked at Yu Shu's expression and knew that she didn't buy it. He rolled his eyes and said, "Miss, you don't have to mind it. The dishes are expensive, and our cost is less than 30%. Moreover, you can taste every dish that the chef makes. If you find something lacking, you can improve it, right?"
How could Yu Shu not discern that he was speaking pleasantries? But it wasn't appropriate for her to make things difficult for them because it was something that Xue Rui had instructed her to do. So she thought that she had to tell Xue Rui face to face, so she asked them to leave.
She went back and took the cracked tortoise shell. She sat on the soft chair under the glass window and was lost in thought.
"Knock, knock."
There was a knock on the door. Yu Shu thought that it was Xiao Die and Xiao Qing who came to bring tea. She said, "Come in." After a while, she felt that something was wrong. She looked up and saw Young Master Xue standing at the door of the small study.
She quickly stood up and said with a smile, "Why are you here at this time? I have something to tell you. "
With one hand behind his back, Xue Rui looked at her and said, "There is news of Young Master Jing."
"Clatter." The tortoise shell in Yu Shu's hand fell to the ground. She hurriedly went forward and asked, "There is news? Where is he? "
Seeing that she was surprised and happy, Xue Rui's eyes flashed. He walked over her and picked up the tortoise shell on the ground. He turned around and sat on the soft chair that she had just sat on.
He said, "On the morning of the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month last year, the guards of the Xuanqing Gate in the south of the city saw a young man in white go out of the city. He seemed to be carrying some kind of sharp weapon. It seems that he is Young Master Jing. I have sent people to inquire along the way outside the city, but I don't know which direction he went. It is difficult to find him. You … "
Yu Shu's expression changed. The 22nd of the twelfth lunar month was the morning when she found that Jing Chen was missing. Only the rusted sword disappeared with him. In this case, if the guard at the gate saw Jing Chen, then he went out of the city and left Anling on the same day. What Xue Rui said next, Yu Shu didn't hear. There was only one thought left in her mind — Jing Chen, that heartless bastard, left her and ran back to Mount Longhu!
Xue Rui saw that Yu Shu's expression changed again and again. Obviously, she didn't listen to his words. He narrowed his eyes, raised the tortoise shell in his hand and knocked on her forehead.
Yu Shu came to her senses because of the pain. She covered her forehead and looked up at Xue Rui with dissatisfaction, "Why did you hit me?"
Xue Rui said, "If you have time to think about it, why don't you think about where Swordsman Jing might have gone? I will ask someone to trace him."
Yu Shu pursed her lips and said unhappily in her heart, "He has been gone for almost half a month. Can he still be found?"
If she knew which family Jing Chen came from in Mount Longhu, it would be better. At worst, she could find him and ask him for an explanation. Why did he leave without saying a word? The key was that she didn't know where he came from.
Xue Rui discerned the sadness in her words, and he said indifferently, "I don't care if I can find him or not, but since I've promised to help you find him, then I'll surely look for him. Unless you don't want to look for him anymore, just tell me now, and I'll save myself the trouble."
Yu Shu was silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice, "He should have gone south, in the direction of Shanxi."
Xue Rui nodded and said, "I know. I'll go back and tell them. You stay here, the tailor will come over in a moment. By the way, what did you want to say to me? "
After he asked, he didn't hear her answer. He looked down and saw that her soul had already disappeared. He sighed and raised his hand to pat her shoulder.
When Yu Shu remembered him again, he was already gone.
She sat back on the soft chair and leaned her head against the back of the chair. She thought for a while and gradually realized that Jing Chen wouldn't just leave like that.
But where would he go if he went out of the city?
The tailors came in a short time with small samples of various kinds of fabrics and two thick picture books. Yu Shu followed them to measure her height and answered them absent-mindedly. Listening to them talking about the most fashionable styles, she picked up the picture books and turned a few pages. Suddenly, a yellow talisman floated out and fell on the ground. A tailor hurriedly bent down to pick it up and carefully blew it. He said to Yu Shu embarrassedly,
"Miss, please forgive me. Yesterday I went to the temple to ask for the talisman, and when I came back, I put it here and forgot to take it out."
Yu Shu looked at the yellow talisman, and her eyes lit up. Without saying a word, she stuffed the picture books to them, lifted her skirt and rushed out.
"Hey? Miss, miss? "
The two tailors looked at each other, wondering why she suddenly ran away.
Yu Shu ran down two streets before she managed to hire a carriage that was neither new nor old. She tossed a piece of silver to the driver and said,
"Go to the Rising Cloud Temple in the south of the city."
Sitting in the carriage, Yu Shu was a little out of breath. She rubbed her chest to calm her breathing, and when she finally caught her breath, she slapped her thigh again with a vexed look on her face.
The tailor reminded her that she had been looking for Jing Chen for half a month, but she only went to a few places in the city that he knew, such as Body-Training Hall and Huixing Street. She forgot that she had taken him out of the city once, to the Rising Cloud Temple in the south of the city.
If Jing Chen did not return to Mount Longhu and left the city from the south gate, it was very likely that he had gone there.
Along the way, Yu Shu was anxious. She was very afraid that she would not find him when she arrived at the place. If so, she really did not know where he was.
The carriage ran for a long time. When it reached the city gate, Yu Shu got off and passed by. She got on the carriage again and continued walking. Outside the city, the carriage bumped and swayed to a small slope at the foot of the Rising Cloud Temple. Before the carriage stopped, Yu Shu couldn't wait to jump off, which attracted the attention of several pilgrims on the side of the road.
Yu Shu went into the temple and asked around. She knew that if Jing Chen had regained his memory, he would definitely avoid the crowd, so as not to implicate others. However, if he had appeared here, someone might have seen him.
The Taoist priests in this temple were aloof and did not like to talk to people. Therefore, Yu Shu had to ask them one by one in a kind voice, but she found nothing. She had seen many pilgrims in white, but none of them were as good-looking as Jing Chen and held a sword in his hand.
The more Yu Shu searched, the more anxious she became. After leaving the Taoist temple, she went to the nearby forest. Within a radius of more than ten miles, it was a large wilderness, overgrown with weeds. She searched around the periphery of the Taoist temple and then went further. At first, she could still see a few woodcutters. Later, as the sun set and the sky gradually darkened, there was no one nearby. Only the occasional sound of birds could be heard.
Yu Shu was afraid that Jing Chen had the intention to avoid her, so she did not dare to shout. She only hated that her legs were not long enough, so she quickened her pace. However, because she ran too fast, she fell on the ground twice. She did not even notice that her hands were scratched. When she heard the faint howling of wolves in the distance, she was startled to realize that the sky had turned dark.
The cold wind blew and woke her up a little. She shivered and turned her head to look at the road she came from. She saw the shadows of towering trees and birds flying past. In the darkness, she did not know where she was.
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