Chapter 44: The Taoist's Sleight of Hand

  Watching Yamamoto Ichiro's departing figure, the fake police could only silently curse in their hearts. Who made them serve as others' dogs?

  One of the two fake policemen who had just searched Qin Yang's body approached He Da Tou and asked in a low voice, "Captain, why didn't you tell them about what happened earlier?"

  "What a big head, one glance, stretched out his hand and made a beheading gesture on his own neck: "You little fool, tell them I put the great bandit Hong Yi into it, then I'd rather not live. Even if I can barely survive among the Japanese soldiers, Hong Yi's evil star would wipe out my whole family, damn it, how did I get involved in this?"

  No need to worry about what might happen at the bridgehead, Qin Yang and others have already entered the restaurant.

  Zhongguan Town, as a hub of transportation, is very prosperous despite its small size. The streets are lined with shops and stalls one after another, including clothing stores, pharmacies, grocery stores, restaurants, hotels... everything you need is available.

  Qin Yang and his friends entered a Northeastern Chinese restaurant.

  Northeastern Chinese cuisine includes the cuisines of Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. It is also one of China's historical and characteristic local flavor dishes, famous throughout the country since ancient times.

  Northeast China is a place where many ethnic groups live together. In the book "Qimin Yaoshu" written by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there are records of cooking methods for dishes such as "Hu Rou Mo", "Hu Geng Fa", and "Hu Fan Fa" from northern minority nationalities, indicating that their cooking techniques had a relatively high level very early on.

  Shenyang in Liaoning is also the old capital of the Qing Dynasty, with many palace dishes and royal dishes. Northeastern Chinese cuisine was influenced by it, with more exquisite cooking methods and ingredients, and also incorporated the essence of cooking methods from Beijing, Shandong, Sichuan and Jiangsu, forming a rich local flavor of northeastern Chinese cuisine.

  The characteristics of Northeastern Chinese cuisine are: cooking methods that emphasize stewing, roasting, braising and quick-frying; attention to the art of ladling, with a focus on technique that allows dishes to maintain their shape; flavors that emphasize saltiness and spiciness, with an emphasis on saltiness, heaviness and richness, and a focus on color; ingredients that prioritize the use of local specialty products.

  Before Qin Yang and the others had even sat down, the shopkeeper, who was busy in the store, saw this group of new customers. As soon as he saw that Qin Yang's group was dressed well, he knew they were big spenders. He quickly handed over the other tables' customers to his colleagues to entertain, and personally ran over with a smile: "What would you like to eat?"

  The man in red raised an eyebrow: "Shopkeeper, what's your signature dish?"

  The shopkeeper smiled, proudly puffed out his chest: "You guys are absolutely right, our store's most famous dishes are pot-burst meat and five-spice sauce beef, absolutely authentic Northeastern cuisine, the flavor is unbeatable!"

  The man in red interrupted the shopkeeper's introduction, ordered a pot of explosive meat and sauce beef, also ordered several other dishes, and asked for two jars of wine.

  The shopkeeper went down to prepare.

  It's already past dinner time, and there aren't many customers eating in the store. There are only two people at a table near the door. Qin Yang and his group found a window seat, which is quiet and allows them to observe the outside situation at any time.

  After sitting down, Hongyi asked Qinyang: "Qinyang, you've come this time for something, otherwise you wouldn't have run all the way to this place!"

  Qin Yang nodded, this time the matter was confidential, but Hong Yi was a bandit, and she had always been at odds with the government and the Japanese. Moreover, she had helped him in Zhenkou before, and the two of them were old acquaintances, so he didn't hide anything from her and told her the purpose of his trip.

  After listening to Qin Yang's account, Hongyi pondered for a long time before saying: "Qin Yang, forgive me for speaking bluntly, but your mission this time is not easy to accomplish. Since the Japanese army occupied Zhongguantown, they have stationed heavy troops here. I've sent several brothers to gather information, but none of them have returned with news. I'm afraid they've all been killed!"

  "There's no hope, but we have to try!" Qin Yang said calmly: "Besides, now is not the time when there is no chance at all. As long as we can grasp the loopholes in the Japanese army's defense, we should be able to succeed!"

  "It's probably difficult!" Hongyi shook her head.

  Qin Yang smiled and remained silent.

  With just this much effort, the shopkeeper had already brought up the dishes they wanted. Qin Yang, Hong Yi, Wan Lai Sheng and Gang Qing Ye sat at one table, while the people Hong Yi brought were seated at another table.

  Qin Yang took a look at the dishes on the table.

  Golden yellow color on top sprinkled with finely chopped scallions of pot-burst meat; sliced into thin pieces and topped with creamy white sauce of five-spice braised beef; served in a clay pot of small chicken stewed mushrooms; wafting rich aroma of red-braised pork belly; and that pulled-silk banana and carp stewed eggplant, and so on, filled up the whole table.

  Hongyi grabbed a jar of wine and slapped off the mud seal on the mouth of the jar, pouring the wine into several large black bowls.

  Seizing the large bowl in front of him filled with Northeastern Burned Knife, Hongyi raised his hands and bowed to Qin Yang, "Qin Yang, last time we parted hastily, I didn't have a chance to thank you. Today, I'll finish this bowl as a token of my gratitude!"

  After finishing, Hongyi brought the bowl to his mouth, tilted his head back, and gulped down a whole bowl of wine in one breath. Then he turned the empty wine bowl over and showed Qin Yang the bottom, indicating that he had no secrets hidden.

  Jian Hongyi had already drunk, Qin Yang also picked up a large bowl and poured a bowl of wine down.

  Put down the bowl, Hongyi wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth with his hand, then picked up the second bowl of wine and gestured to Wanlai: "Big Brother Wan, you are much older than me, so I'll call you that if you don't mind. I'm a rough man, only knowing how to ride horses and shoot guns, not good at speaking. I remember your kindness, and when I have the chance, I will definitely repay it!"

  The red-clad one drained his cup in one gulp.

  "Good!"

  Wan Leng's voice was also a Jianghu person, appreciating this kind of bold and decisive person. Otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed to follow Qin Yang to fight the devils just after their second meeting. Seeing Hongyi, not pretending at all, genuinely delighted, grabbed his wine bowl and clinked it with Hongyi's, then tilted his head back and downed it in one gulp.

  Hongyi picked up the third bowl of wine, this time it was raised towards Gang Qingye. The two bowls of wine he had drunk earlier had already made Hongyi's face slightly flushed, and under the fiery red clothes, it looked even more delicate and charming. If not for the hint of evil energy at the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, it would have been even more captivating.

  "This little sister is meeting for the first time, a chance encounter, it's fate. The older sister won't say anything else, come on, finish this bowl!"

  Qing Ye hastily waved his hand and repeatedly declined: "I don't drink!"

  "Hey, just drink it once and you'll be fine, it's nothing big, the first time is always like that!" Red now sounds like the wolf grandma who deceived Little Red Riding Hood.

  Jian Qingye repeatedly declined, her face sinking. She slammed the wine bowl on the table: "What, you look down on me? If you want to be friends with me, drink this bowl of wine!"

  Jian Hongyi was a bit angry, so Qingye had no choice but to bring the wine bowl to his lips, hold his breath, and carefully take a small sip.

  A fiery liquid gushed down his throat, and in his chest, it felt like a raging fire was burning. Just as Qingye put down the wine bowl, he covered his mouth with both hands and coughed non-stop, tears streaming out of his eyes.

  Hongyi looked at Qingye's embarrassed expression and couldn't help but laugh, getting up to walk over to her side and patting her on the back.

  "It's always like this at first, but it gets better afterwards!"

  "My goodness, it's so spicy!" Just then Qing Ye wiped away the tears that had been brought out by the spiciness.

  Drinking is like that, once you've gone through the first time, the rest are easy. Soon, Qingye blended in with the crowd, although she didn't dare drink as boldly as Hongyi, she also dared to take a small sip carefully.

  Several people were eating happily in the restaurant when the door curtain was lifted and a man walked in.

  Qin Yang took a glance and saw that the newcomer was a young man in his twenties, dressed in a way that caught his attention. Unlike ordinary people's clothing, this person wore a Taoist robe, but it had probably not been washed for a long time, so it was black and dirty, making it impossible to see its original color. There were patches on the shoulders, back, and buttocks. He didn't wear a Taoist crown on his head, but instead had a messy short hair that was dirty and matted. On his feet, he wore a pair of cloth shoes, with several toes sticking out from the broken front.

  The little Taoist walked in through the door, took a look at the guests in the room, and then walked directly towards Qin Yang and his group.

  Qin Yang and Wan Lai Sheng both paid attention, after all, a sudden stranger came, no one knew what his intention was.

  A little Taoist came before several people, bowed and said in a somewhat non-standard Northern dialect with a strong Xiangxi accent: "Gentlemen, I'm new to this place and don't have much money on me. I'd like to divine an oracle for you all, earn some living expenses, what do you think?"

  Hongyi and Wan Lai didn't say a word, they just looked at Qin Yang.

  Qin Yang sized up the person who had suddenly appeared, his heart full of vigilance. Although the little Taoist priest looked very shabby, his eyes were not dull and lifeless like those of someone who had been suffering from hunger and cold for a long time. Instead, they revealed a glint of cold light, which suggested that this person was not as simple as he claimed to be.

  After some thought, Qin Yang shook his head: "Dao Chang, sorry, we're not interested in fortune-telling, you'd better ask someone else!"

  The little Taoist let out a long sigh, turned around and left. As he passed by the red-clad figure, his large sleeves fluttered and brushed against him, leaving behind a sentence: "Good fortune and misfortune, thunder rumbles for a hundred miles, the sun sets in the west, if you don't beat the pot and sing, then it's a great pity, alas!"

  Several people were stunned, and no one expected this little Taoist to leave such a sentence before leaving, so they all bowed their heads in contemplation.

  The little Taoist walked to the gate and went out after lifting the door curtain.

  Qin Yang was deep in thought when he suddenly looked up and unintentionally saw the small Taoist priest's triumphant smile at the corner of his mouth as he left, and his heart suddenly moved, hastily reaching out to touch.

  The purse in his pocket was gone, and he hastily reminded Hongyi.

  Several others hastily checked their own purses and found that they were all gone, including the one under the red-clad man's hand.

  Qin Yang suddenly remembered that the little Taoist had brushed against people's bodies as if unintentionally when he walked out earlier, and realized that he must have stolen it. So he stood up and chased after him.

  The shopkeeper saw people getting up and running out the door, and hurried over to stop them: "Everyone, everyone, you haven't paid yet!"

  One of Hongyi's subordinates glared and pulled out a gun from his waist: "Shut up or I'll blow you away!"

  The shopkeeper was so frightened that he drew back his head and did not dare to utter a word.

  Just then, Qingye saw it and took off a piece of jade pendant from her neck and put it on the table. She said to the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, this is top-quality sheep fat jade, which is more than enough for this meal. I'll leave it with you as collateral. After we catch the thief, I'll come back for it."

  After finishing speaking, a group of people rushed out of the restaurant...

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  It's a bit late today, I've checked and reviewed it, otherwise there would be too many typos, sorry to readers. Friends who like it please collect and recommend, also this book is currently being recommended for voting on Sanjiang, welcome everyone to go vote and support, thank you Lingtian.

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