Chapter 38: Rogue Pig

  Left Chun Ying Building and walked towards Hei Shi Alley for a short while.

  Lu Bo Tao stopped and looked at the horizontal knife in Song Kai's hand, saying in a low voice: "Song Lang, this knife is probably not allowed to be brought in. You give the knife to my subordinate to hold, and we'll go in."

  Song Kai nodded, looking at Lu Botao's expression as he spoke, seemingly quite intimidated by this "certificate handler".

  In front was just an ordinary-looking farmhouse, with a white cloth pasted on the wooden gate, as if someone had died.

  Lu Bo Tao walked up to the door and knocked on the door ring. After a long time, a voice came from behind the wooden door: "Who?"

  "Master Lu, young master of the Green Gang, has an audience with Mr. Kong," said Lu Bo Tao respectfully.

  It was half a while later that the wooden door opened, and an old man with scars on his face stood at the entrance, nodding towards Lu Botao before looking at Song Kai in confusion.

  "Oh, this is my good friend, Song Kai. This time he's here about the matter of Song Lang," Lu Botao explained.

  "Since you are a friend of Young Master Lu, come on in. And have those subordinates disperse, don't crowd around the entrance," said the scar-faced old man with a wave of his hand, then led Song Kai and Lu Botao into the courtyard together.

  The yard is very small, and just a few meters ahead is a house.

  Entering the house, there was no one inside. However, at the back, there was a narrow and long passageway. It turned out that someone had connected several nearby farmhouses together. The ordinary-looking courtyards were actually connected by secret passages, probably to prevent being caught by government soldiers.

  The corridor is over 100 meters long, and after passing through it, there is a courtyard. In the courtyard, some people are practicing knife skills, and nearby, there are women's giggles and occasionally children's crying sounds.

  Song Kai was secretly admiring, this is what it means to have style, his own inn compared to this place is completely inferior.

  This courtyard is luxurious and secluded, the key is that there are three rabbit holes, so you don't have to worry about being surrounded by government soldiers.

  "Master, Lu Botao has arrived," said the scar-faced old man towards a doorway.

  "Haha, old customer, come on in," a deep male voice came from inside.

  Pushing open the door, Lu Botao and Song Kai walked in. The room was very large, with a living room in the center, a study to the left, and at this moment, a tall man stood in front of the desk waving his brush. Beside him were two maids wearing tight-fitting white clothes that just covered their bodies, although they were still young, but it could be seen that they had a curvaceous figure.

  "Huh? Who is this?" The man put down the large brush in his hand and walked towards Lu Botao.

  "In the lower Song, I have long heard of Mr. Kong's great name and specially came to seek his help," Song Kai said with a bow.

  "Alright, alright," Kong Zhi Xuan merely chuckled twice, then waved his hand, "Xiao Yun, serve tea."

  "Yes, master," a maid glanced at Song Kai with a sidelong glance, then lowered her head in embarrassment, wearing a loose dress, and went to serve tea.

  Song Kai doesn't care, although it's a miniskirt, compared to the super short skirts and hot pants of later generations, even the most common one-step skirt is much shorter than this miniskirt.

  Song Kai sat down and got straight to the point without any unnecessary pleasantries.

  "Oh? A woman, how old is she?" Kong Zhi Xuan sat in the main seat of the living room, slowly sipping his tea and asked calmly.

  "About twenty," Song Kai replied, knowing that Kong Zhi Xuan's inquiry was purposeful, so he answered very seriously.

  "What does he look like? Are there any distinctive features?" Kong Zhi Xuan asked again.

  "Medium build, seems like nothing special, just pretty," Song Kai said.

  "Haha, I suppose Song Lang wants to take her in as his concubine. I, Kong Zhi Xuan, love doing such virtuous deeds. Don't be mistaken, Song Lang, among the four concubines and four maidservants in my household, they were all women I took in who had escaped from difficult circumstances. Once they arrived here, of course, I would give them a legitimate status." Kong Zhi Xuan said with some pride, laughing "haha".

  Song Kai Xin slandered, saying that you might be blackmailing these women with this. In this era, without an official identity, one can be arrested and sold into slavery at any time.

  After chatting for a while, Kong Zhi Xuan stood up and bowed his hands, indicating that it was time to see the guest off.

  "What's going on?" Song Kai hastily asked.

  "Tomorrow you can come to pick up the official permit. Song Lang, you must be careful, although I have handled official permits with seals from various state and county government offices, it is absolutely not allowed to attract attention from the government. Also, you said that there is a man who ran away from Chang'an in your place, this kind of official permit is easy to handle, bring me his ID and household registration proof, just for a moment, I can make him a legitimate citizen of Suzhou city." Kong Zhi Xuan simply finished speaking, then ignored Song Kai and Lu Bo Tao again, walking back to the desk, two maids wearing casual clothes accompanied him, grinding ink and laying out paper.

  Lu Bo Tao pulled Song Kai down and the two of them walked along the path out of the gate of the farmhouse.

  Song Kai bowed his hands and said seriously, "This time, thank you very much, Brother Lu. If it wasn't for your help, I think Kong Zhiyuan wouldn't have agreed so readily."

  This sentence is indeed true, and the reason why Kong Zhi Xuan can be so at ease with Song Kai must be because of Lu Bo Tao. After all, Lu Bo Tao and Kong Zhi Xuan are old customers to each other.

  "Let's stop with the formalities, Brother Song. The sun is already setting today, I'll come back tomorrow to accompany you to get the official summons," said Lu Botao.

  "Alright, let's meet at Chunyan Building tomorrow at noon, I'll be the host," Song Kai said with a smile.

  "Haha, Brother Song is joking, of course I'll be the host, and I'll definitely book the Four Great Dan for you at Chunyuan Building," Lu Botao said with a hoarse voice, and the two parted ways.

  Song Kai carried the Tang knife into the store, feeling relieved in his heart. For now, everything seemed to be going smoothly. As long as he could figure out Nie Lingdang and Zhao Tieshan's identities, all that was left was to run the guest house well, and then even if Yang Huaiyan harbored resentment, there would be nothing he could do about it.

  Arriving at the Hongchen Guest House, Song Kai directly went to the counter and "thud" put the Tang knife on the table.

  Nie Lingdang behind the counter was startled and raised his head to see Song Kai, angrily saying: "You bastard! Are you looking for death?!"

  "Was it you who sold out 'Water Tune Song Head' that poem?" Song Kai loudly questioned.

  Nie Lingdang was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing with pride, "Hehe, I'm so clever!"

  "Intelligent?" Song Kai retorted.

  "Yes, a poem, if placed in our store, can only be used for decoration. But if we sell it to others, not only can we get gold, but also make the poem widely spread. In this way, our guest house will become even more famous." Nie Lingling chuckled and then furrowed her brow, "I told you about this before, see, I still remember. Besides, that poem was written by Nie Hong, who is Nie Hong? That's me! I'm selling my own poem, it's not against the law, right?"

  "Did you tell me?" Song Kai didn't care about Nie Lingdang's nonsense theories, he wasn't angry that Nie Lingdang had taken the initiative to sell the copyright of the lyrics, but rather was furious that Nie Lingdang hadn't told him about this matter. After all, he was also the boss.

  "Nonsense! That night, we were all sleeping on the bed, I told you and you agreed, then went to sleep," Nie Lingdang said, then reacted and stared at Song Kai, "Are you suspecting me of secretly stealing the gold from the store? I'm telling you, a lady like me wouldn't even deign to do such a thing."

  Song rubbed his head, thought carefully, and it seemed that there was indeed such a thing. Seeing Nie Ling's wronged expression, he felt somewhat embarrassed and quickly smiled: "Nothing, you are the young lady of the county, naturally you wouldn't care about this little bit of money. I just...I just...oh, your official permit will be ready tomorrow, from tomorrow on, you won't have to wear that dog skin plaster as a shopkeeper."

  "Really? Hehe, that's great. Since you're still somewhat loyal, I'll forgive you this time. Next time you dare to doubt me, I'll wipe you out!" Nie Lingdang glared at Song Kai, then continued to lower her head and sort through the day's accounts.

  Song Kai took the Tang knife and walked to the backyard, then said something about the Tang knife again. If someone comes to settle accounts, remember to give him the gold.

  Nie Ling Tong merely muttered a sentence "what a waste" and agreed.

  Song Kai was in the backyard, holding a knife and practicing the knife technique that Zhou Ce had taught him for over an hour.

  The craftsmanship of this knife is indeed very good. It chops on a log with a sharp and even blade, without any hindrance.

  Practiced knife skills, had dinner, then took a bath and went to bed.

  When sleeping, Nie Lingdang still chatted with Song Kai as usual, separated by the wooden board, and most of what they said was complaining that the inn's business was getting worse and worse.

  "Today's income is already in debt," said Nie Zhong, who was lying on the bed, "A total of 18 tables were sold, but 13 tables used the reserved funds in the membership card, so today's cash income is not enough to cover the cost of raw materials and labor."

  After being with Song Kai for a long time, Nie Ling's mouth was full of names one after another, including ancient vocabulary and modern words.

  "It doesn't matter, after all, there will be such a day. It seems that setting up the membership system was right from the beginning. At least now it can still guarantee daily business income. Binding customers has many benefits," Song Kaite said optimistically.

  "I know, but it's still not satisfying in my heart. Although the current funds of our restaurant are quite abundant, the recent sales performance has dropped too much. Those damn restaurants around us can all make our signature dishes, but our restaurant only has Zhao Tieshan, one chef who can cook. The variety of dishes is inevitably less." Nie Lingdang placed her hands on her chest, lying on her back and complaining with a tone of discontent.

  "It's time to launch new dishes and also come up with some more ways to attract customers," Song said, closing his eyes.

  "What other means?" Nie Ling Tong's eyes widened.

  "For example, sing a little song, tell a story, or dance a striptease," Song Kai said, and then fell asleep.

  "Strip tease? What's strip... You rascal!" Nie Lingdang shouted, then heard a faint snoring sound coming from next door.

  "Pigs, or a pig that's a rogue," Nie Lingdang muttered to himself, his face turning red. "But if there really are women doing striptease dances, it would definitely attract... no way, this absolutely won't do, but we can invite the girls from the brothel to liven things up... hey, Song Kai, hey!"

  "Hmm...hmm..."

  "Pig! Rogue pig! But it's quite clever though... Heh..."

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  Thank you to all the brothers who have rewarded and recommended, thank you. Recently, there have been several consecutive banquets and gatherings, so I've been drinking a bit too much, so it's been one update for the past two days. There is another gathering tonight, after that, nothing else, everyone can rest assured, tomorrow will resume two updates, even if it's New Year's Eve, I will still code words to repay everyone.

  The book is doing very well now, thank you all for your support, thanks!