Butcher Fulang’s Noodle Shop - Chapter 50
He sighed and added: “Since you have come to Qingjiang Town, you might as well celebrate the New Year with us. My house has many rooms, so it doesn’t matter if you stay for a while. Your sister-in-law is beautiful and kind-hearted…”
He suddenly shook his body and looked at Xu Shuqing angrily, “What did you do!? Could it be that the incense… the incense is poisonous…”
He stayed in the carriage with the doors and windows tightly closed, so he naturally inhaled a lot of smoke.
Seeing him struggling to get out of the car, Xu Shuqing hugged the man tightly and refused to let go, “Quick, drive away!”
Xu Zhongyue shook a few times, finally fell down, and slowly closed his eyes.
Even before closing them, he was still glaring at Xu Shuqing angrily, which made the young man frightened.
Xu Shuqing was so scared that his hands and feet were trembling, and while his heart was pounding, he tied up his brother’s hands and feet with beef tendon rope soaked in oil, muttering incessantly.
“Brother, how can you, a talented person, find a wife from the countryside? He is not worthy of you. I will never recognize such a sister-in-law! Do you know that once you show up in the capital, even the emperor will want you to marry the noble ladies!”
“Don’t blame me, my good brother, if I don’t give you the medicine, how can you come back to the capital with me?”
It turned out there was a burning incense, which affected a man with extraordinary martial arts skills. The more powerful a man was the faster he would fall.
On the contrary, a useless body like Xu Shuqing, who was martial artist and couldn’t lift his hands, was not much affected by the medicine.
The carriage drove away in the heavy snow, and no one saw it.
.
After Xu Zhongyue went out to wish New Year’s greetings, Aunt He and Shen Fusheng came. Song Shi’an saw that the family were no longer dark and thin. They were wearing the same blue jacket and looked very energetic. Aunt He was wearing a silver hairpin, and her face was full of joy. He was happy for them.
Aunt He sat down and talked for a while, but in the afternoon, it suddenly became dark again, as if it was going to snow. When she saw Song Shi’an’s eyelids drooping, she got up and left with her two sons.
Song Shi’an closed the door, thinking that Xu Zhongyue hadn’t come back yet and was afraid he was drunk in his friend’s house. So, he bolted the door and went back to sleep for a while.
His sleep was not stable, and he had nightmares again and again. He dreamed that he almost fell off the cliff, but no one came to help him. He was so frightened, he opened his eyes and sat up slowly. The charcoal fire in the room was gradually extinguished, and Lao Liu barked at him twice. There was no sound, except for the silence.
He waited until late at night but didn’t see Xu Zhongyue come back. Finally, he couldn’t bear it anymore. He held an oil-paper umbrella to block the heavy snow.
He was not afraid with Lao Liu was following him and slowly walked towards Xu Zhongyue’s friend’s house.
When he came to knock on the door, everyone over there was asleep. The man got up and put on his clothes. Seeing his sister-in-law coming to the house, he hurriedly said: “Brother Xu talked to me for a while at noon. He said he was worried about you being home alone and then left… He hasn’t come home yet!?”
Song Shi’an nodded slowly, his face was the same color as snow, whether he was cold or frightened.
This was quite a surprise. The man hurriedly put on his clothes and escorted Song Shi’an home first. He told him not to move around and said, “Sister-in-law, you are so big and not easy to move. If you fall down on the way, I couldn’t bear it when Brother Xu come back!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll go out and call for help right now, and we’ll all look for him together! Qingjiang Town isn’t a big place; maybe Brother Xu meet some acquaintance on the way, go to his house Tthen he got drunk! We must bring him back and apologize to my sister-in-law!”
Song Shi’an didn’t fall asleep that night. He put on his clothes and leaned on the bed. Hearing a little movement outside the door, he couldn’t wait to open the door to see. Only snowflakes were seen dancing wildly, and there was no trace of Xu Zhongyue.
.
The next day, even Aunt Liu was alarmed. Everyone gathered in Shuimo Fang Alley, discussing whether to report to the official.
Aunt Liu and her daughters stayed in Shuimo Fang Alley, fearing that Song Shi’an being left alone and hurt himself.
Yun Ge’er also wanted to stay, but Song Shi’an, looking pale, said with a smile: “During the Chinese New Year, don’t your family have any relatives? Go back quickly. Brother Xu is so powerful; how can something happen to him? He…he might have just gotten lost…”
Yun Ge’er murmured a few times, but in the end, he didn’t say anything. He turned his back and shed tears.
Ye Du said: “All of us men will divide the work first and search Qingjiang Town carefully. If there is no trace this time, it will not be too late for us to report to the official!”
They all felt that reporting to the official was a bad idea. After all, it was difficult to enter the official government, and it was impossible to send out government officials to search for the disappearance of an adult man. If Xu Zhongyue came back halfway, the government might blame him for causing trouble.
The results of this search were not good.
Someone actually saw a series of footprints sneaking out by the river, and it was a man’s shoe.
When a group of people returned to Shuimo Fang Alley with the shoes, Song Shi’an, who had stayed up for two nights and one day, finally couldn’t stand it any longer and fell into a drowsy sleep before the rooster crowed.
Ye Du called Aunt Liu and asked in a low voice: “Auntie, do these shoes look familiar to you?”
Aunt Liu took a closer look, and her hands and feet suddenly shook wildly, as if struck by lightning.
Song Shi’an didn’t know how to do needlework. Aunt Liu helped mend his and Xu Zhongyue’s torn clothes. Aunt Liu also made their shoes by herself, stitch by stitch. One look at the stitches on the thousand-layer sole and upper, and Aunt Liu was sure.
Seeing her bleak look, Ye Du hurriedly supported her, feeling heavy in his heart.
Among the men who helped, not only were they a good group of people, some went out in the snow just join the fun.
When they saw this, they said bluntly: ” Butcher Xu probably went to someone’s house to drink on the way. He got drunk for a while. He was walking along the river in confusion, and he lost his footing and fell! Alas, last time he was floating in the river, and he was picked up by Old Man Liu. There is no good luck this time; I’m afraid he has already met the King of Hell!