imperial psychologist

Chapter 237 The Old Woman Living Alone
The so-called Hua Nong is a place where women who can't even be considered as Wei Fenger live, and those who come to Hua Nong are often not distinguished guests.

As soon as she stepped into the stone street of Hualong, Bai Ling could faintly smell a sour stench, which was mixed with the sweat of the crowd and the smell of spoiled food, and there were some other suspicious smells in it... She couldn't help but Frown.

From time to time, drunkards tidying up their clothes and men with pot bellies came out from the low houses on both sides, some were cursing, some were humming and strolling, and everyone had a subtle expression of satisfaction on their faces.

This expression made Bai Ling feel a certain danger and disgust, and she couldn't help leaning a little closer to Fourteen.

From time to time, some people greeted A Li warmly, but their eyes went straight to Wei Shishi and Bo Ling who were behind A Li. For the women here, if they can attract such a guest to their house, a simple tip from the nobleman can solve their livelihood for ten and a half months, one can imagine how attractive it is.

So Fourteen held the handle of the knife in good time, and whenever someone tried to get close, he gave a real deterrent.

What he wears on his waist today is not the Xiuchun Knife that he always hangs by his side, but the Hongming Knife handed down by his master Wei Ying. Because the dark guards are always in the dark, this sharp blade is not well-known. People who are too sharp are no longer in this world.

The three of them walked through the middle of the stone street in Hua Nong, and the scattered visitors on both sides and facing them bypassed the three of them one after another, like water waves separated by boats.

A Li finally brought people to a low wooden house. Bo Ling looked up and saw that the roof tiles had fallen in several places, and they were barely repaired with straw and broken bricks. In front of this house, there was no There were red lanterns hanging like other houses—Burling guessed that might be a sign of some kind of business.

"Aunt Shen!" Ah Li began to knock on the door, "Is Aunt Shen there! I brought someone here!"

Bo Ling looked at A Li, a little worried that his actions would directly punch through the wooden door.Judging from Ah Li's reaction, the old man probably couldn't hear well.

Not long after, there were shambling footsteps in the room, and the door was pulled open from the inside.

A stooped old man stood there wearing a makeshift veil made of rags, and politely let the two of them in.Fourteen stepped into the house first, followed by Bo Ling, and a wave of heat hit his face as soon as he entered the door.

At a glance, Bo Ling saw a small stove in a dark corner, and the orange-red fire was covering it. The mud pipe directly directed the smoke from the stove to the outside of the room, but it still obviously heated the air in the whole room.

Bo Ling couldn't help squinting his eyes—this kind of fire hazard is too serious. Don't the people in Jiaofang Division conduct daily inspections on Hua Nong?
The old man turned around, picked up something in the dark, and went to the stove to light the fire—Berling realized at this moment that what she was holding was a candle.

The whole room slowly lit up.

Surprisingly, the furnishings in this room are not as messy as they look outside.

Although the room is small, there are wooden beds, cabinets, desks, wooden piers, and coffee tables.By the light of the flickering candle, Bo Ling could see that there were many signs of damage and insects, some of the mortise and tenon joints had been knocked out, and some cabinet doors were missing half of them... But it can be seen that this An old lady wipes it carefully every day, so the places where the varnish has not fallen off are still shining with the firelight.

Bo Ling lightly touched the wooden table next to him—as expected, there was no dust or oil on the table, and it was very clean.

The old man invited them to sit in the middle of the room, where stools and chairs were piled up out of proportion to the surrounding ones. She tremblingly fixed the candles to the candlesticks of the tea table, "They are all picked up, just sit down."

The old man lost one of his front teeth, so his speech was leaky, but Bai Ling could still feel the good self-cultivation of the old woman in his gestures.

"Why are you calling this mother-in-law, Aunt Shen?" Bo Ling slightly leaned over and looked at A Li, "She doesn't look too young."

"I don't know, I've been shouting like this all along, and I haven't changed my words." A Li said softly, "She has been here for almost 20 years."

The old woman seemed not to have heard the conversation between Bo Ling and A Li, and walked back and forth in the small room on her own, tremblingly taking something from this drawer, and then something from that cabinet, and finally Four cups of high foamed tea served.

"Let me introduce you!" Ah Li said loudly to the old man, "These two are the customers I mentioned to Aunt Shen before! They like your snuff bottles very much! So I want to order a collection!"

The old man laughed, the creases at the corners of his eyes.

Fourteen didn't take a seat, he got up and looked slowly around the small room.

On the wooden shelf against the wall are the works of the old man.Most of them are white and yellow roses, and there are also a few works depicting white mist in distant mountains and thrushes on branches.

"Has Aunt Shen lived alone all the time?"

Wei Shishi heard Bai Ling asking behind him. The old man really couldn't hear clearly. She had to repeat it many times before she understood, and then nodded with a smile.

Most of the subsequent conversations were also like this. Bo Ling often had to repeat a question two or three times before the old man could understand it.

"Do you live by burning this snuff bottle?"

"Yes." The old man replied.

"How do you sell your snuff bottles here?"

"Young master, choose what you like. These are already made, and they are all [-] yuan each. If you want to order, then you need to add [-] yuan for the cost of paperwork. It usually takes ten days to burn a pot. If you want to add Urgent, then add another twenty Wen, and you can get it in four or five days."

Bai Ling was taken aback for a moment, "Then it only costs [-] Wen to burn a pot. With such a cheap price, is Aunt Shen still making money?"

"You don't need to make money, just make a living and be happy." The old man replied with a smile, "Anyway, if one person is full, the whole family will not be hungry."

A Li added in a low voice, "There are a few well-known snuff bottle masters out there, and when they received too many orders and couldn't make it in time for delivery, they would come to Aunt Shen's for help. "

"I really like the red rose painted by Aunt Shen." Bai Ling said, and put the snuff bottle that A Li handed her on the tea table between her and the old man. If you come to pick it up later, the money will still be paid according to the expedited fee..."

Bo Ling was talking on the other end, and Wei Shishi had already walked to the display shelf next to the stove. At the bottom of the shelf, a small bamboo basket wrapped in red cloth caught his attention.

Pretending to be casual, he picked up most of the snuff bottles on this row of display racks one by one, then slowly leaned over, and gently lifted a corner of the red cloth.

"Little brother over there." The old man's voice came from not far away, "If you don't drink again, your tea will be cold."

　Thanks to the name of Xuan, the monthly ticket of Schrödinger's fox~

　　
　
(End of this chapter)