flstandardbreds Chapter 174 The Inn's Glory Spreads Far and Wide
Chapter 174 The Inn's Glory Spreads Far and Wide
The inn was renowned far and wide.
When the star on the eaves shifted three inches to the west, Su Yunlan tied the Xuanbing tassel, soaked in spiritual spring water, to the glass lamp.
Twenty-eight star-shaped lamps reflected the ice crystals, emitting a seven-colored halo in the darkest night before dawn, awakening the entire Vermilion Bird Street.
"Take a jar of pickled mustard greens to Grandpa Qian." She took the bamboo counting rod from Young Master Xiao and drew a heavy line on the bamboo joint engraved with "Kang Jinlong." "Tell him that the freshly arrived Bohai shrimp this morning needs our special sour and fragrant sauce to be truly delicious."
As the morning light pierced through the glass lamps, a long queue had already formed in front of the inn.
The Hu merchants, wrapped in fox fur, stared in amazement at the black ice tassels, while merchants from all over the country vied to touch the pottery urn engraved with star patterns.
Manager Li's fingers trembled as he held the gilded abacus: "Master, the deposit alone is fifty taels of silver!"
Su Yunlan leaned against the carved railing on the second floor, watching the waiters in the lobby with their medicine pouches swaying at their waists.
Those sachets filled with menthol and borneol are silently dissolving the stench of alcohol and sweat.
Her gaze swept over the Persian merchants at the table in the southeast corner. The gold dust from the wolf head totem on their clothes was falling onto the blue brick floor with each movement.
"Fourth Sister-in-law!" Young Master Xiao, carrying a mahogany food box, burst through the beaded curtain, his forehead still smudged with the smoke from the kitchen. "The Zhao Family Inn sent people to intercept the fresh fish we ordered!"
Suddenly, yellow sand rose from the sand table on the jade table. Su Yunlan dipped her fingertips in spiritual spring water and traced the sand dunes, shattering the illusion of dozens of carriages carved with wolf heads. "Have the kitchen bring out the chilled mandarin fish from the cellar, and serve it with freshly pickled mustard greens." She pushed the food box towards Zhang, the waiter who was carrying a pharmacopoeia. "Give each table a bowl of chilled plum juice; say it's a secret recipe for sobering up and aiding digestion."
As dusk settled, the three-story inn was brightly lit.
Su Yunlan stood beside the bronze armillary sphere in the center of the courtyard, watching the constellations in the spiritual spring space gradually overlap with the sand table.
When Xiao Yuhan appeared in the corridor, carrying the distinctive scent of cedar trees characteristic of camel caravans, she was using a silver needle to break the frost that had formed on the edge of the Persian merchant's wine cup.
"The poison of the dove feathers becomes apparent when exposed to cold." She dipped the blackened silver needle into the spiritual spring, then turned to Xiao Yuhan, whose expression had suddenly changed, and chuckled, "Tomorrow, have your twenty-first brother add an ice chest to each table, and say it's a secret poison-testing tool passed down through the Xiao family."
(Omitted: Response to Mr. Zhao's smear campaign)
When the first withered leaf swirled and fell into the courtyard, rumors suddenly began to circulate on Zhuque Street.
The storyteller clapped his gavel and said that the star lanterns at the Xiao Family Inn were demonic, and that the medicinal food contained a Western Regions bewitching drug.
Grandpa Qian smashed his favorite celadon wine cup and, trembling, held up a jar of pickled vegetables, demanding an explanation.
Su Yunlan stroked the new characters that appeared on the pharmacopoeia, looked at the dozens of wolf head totems that appeared in the spiritual spring, and suddenly poured the entire jar of snow lotus wine onto the sand tray.
The map formed from the yellow sand suddenly shone with golden light, and the positions of the Twenty-Eight Mansions perfectly coincided with the post stations of various prefectures and cities.
"Twenty-first brother, open all eighteen jars of pickled vegetables from the cellar." She slapped the silver needle, laced with dove feather poison, onto the ledger. "Please have Uncle Qian bring the neighbors to taste them. Remember to have Zhang the shop assistant bring his abacus to calculate the costs on the spot."
As the autumn wind, carrying a sour fragrance, swept through Zhuque Street, eighteen long tables were lined up in front of the inn.
Tender lotus root is soaked in amber-colored plum vinegar, and emerald-colored pickled mustard greens are mixed with silver threads. Next to each dish is a silver hairpin for testing for poison, which has been soaked in spiritual spring water.
Xiao Yuhan stood in the shadow of the eaves, sword in hand, watching Su Yunlan push the last jar of pickled vegetables, bearing the blood curse pattern, in front of Boss Zhao.
"This jar is preserved with snowmelt from the Tianshan Mountains, the best remedy for evil spirits." She lightly tapped the jar with her fingertips, the hidden star chart on the inner wall gleaming golden in the setting sun. "Would Manager Zhao like to try some?"
(Crisis resolution and business recovery)
When the first winter snow covered the glazed tiles, the backyard of the inn was crowded with horse-drawn carriages adorned with wolf-head totems.
Su Yunlan stroked the newly emerged Western Region characters in the pharmacopoeia, and looked at the star charts in the spiritual spring space that perfectly overlapped with the Tea Horse Road.
Young Master Xiao Twenty-One rushed in carrying a gold-rimmed ledger, nearly knocking over Xiao Yuhan, who was adjusting a new wine recipe.
"Fourth Sister-in-law! The Persian caravan wants to trade three cartloads of agate for our pickled vegetable recipe!"
Su Yunlan pushed the crackled ice-patterned teacup towards Xiao Yuhan, who was polishing his Xuan Tie sword. The snow lotus floating in the cup swirled with the spiritual spring water, gradually solidifying into the shape of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. "Tell them the recipe isn't for sale," she said, dipping her brush in the tea and drawing a star map on the bluestone slab. "But they can exchange it for bitter apricot kernels from Kashgar."
As night deepened, Su Yunlan stood alone in front of the reconstructed sand table.
The seventy-two golden threads have transformed into a physical tea ceremony, with each node shimmering with the mysterious ice tassels she tied herself.
When Xiao Yuhan appeared at the cellar entrance, bringing with him the unique scent of wind and snow from the northern frontier, she was sealing the last dove feather into a pottery urn marked "Dangerous Moon Swallow".
"The cargo boxes corresponding to the Twenty-Eight Mansions have been sent to various states." The ice crystals on his sword scabbard reflected the glow of the glass lamp, illuminating a suddenly glowing node on the sand table. "The star map you deliberately left in the pickle jar saved seventeen grain carts for the Hexi Escort Agency today."
Su Yunlan brushed her fingertips over the wolf head totem that appeared in the spiritual spring space, and suddenly inserted the silver hairpin soaked in snow lotus into the sand table.
The rising yellow sand transformed into a sky full of stars, and a spot etched with Antares was faintly glowing red. "It's time to send Manager Zhao his year-end gift," she said with a smile, pushing the prepared plum juice towards him. "How about using that jar of pickled mustard greens with pigeon feathers?"
(Epilogue setup)
On the night of the Lantern Festival, the lights of Zhuque Street illuminated half the sky.
Su Yunlan stood under the star lamp adorned with icy tassels, watching the sand table in the spiritual spring space perfectly overlap with the real constellations.
As Xiao Yuhan took off his cloak, stained with the frost of the northern frontier, and draped it over her shoulders, she was frowning as she gazed at a star that had suddenly veered off course.
“My twenty-first brother said you were looking for this.” He took out a jade box engraved with the constellation Heart from his robes. The fragrance of snow lotus that wafted out when he opened it dispersed the snow piled up on the eaves. “The bitter apricot kernel of Kashgar, which appears only once every hundred years.”
Just as Su Yunlan's fingertips touched the edge of the jade box, all seventy-two star lamps suddenly lit up at the same time.
The pharmacopoeia in the spiritual spring space moved without wind, and a wolf-head-shaped mark slowly emerged from the yellowed pages, perfectly overlapping with the old arrow wound on Xiao Yuhan's palm.
As the icicles under the eaves suddenly snapped with a crisp sound, she looked at the dazzling starry sky reflected in the other person's eyes and suddenly remembered the jar of aged snow wine that was about to be opened and marked with "Heart Moon Fox".
Seventy-two star lanterns swayed in the Lantern Festival night breeze, and the jade box in Su Yunlan's palm suddenly became hot.
Ripples spread across the spiritual spring space, and the wolf head brand on the tattered page of the pharmacopoeia matched Xiao Yuhan's palm print perfectly.
Snow accumulated on the eaves fell softly, shattering into tiny, diamond-like sparkles on the bluestone slabs.
“That year, a blizzard raged in the northern frontier, and I was trapped on Wolf Mountain with twenty light cavalry.” Xiao Yuhan suddenly grasped her hand, which was resting on the jade box, the calluses from his sword rubbing against the gold needle scars on her tiger’s mouth. “When the enemy’s poisoned arrows pierced through heavy armor, I smelled the scent of snow lotus mixed with blood—just like now.”
Su Yunlan's fingertips trembled slightly, and the spiritual spring water spontaneously condensed into ice crystals, enveloping the two clasped hands.
The bronze armillary sphere suddenly clicked and spun, and the glass lamps corresponding to the twenty-eight constellations lit up one after another, illuminating the courtyard as if it were daytime.
She noticed a wolf's head tattoo faintly visible beneath the other person's dark robe, the very totem that repeatedly appeared on the spiritual spring sand table.
"Fourth Brother, Fourth Sister-in-law!" Young Master Xiao's shout shattered the starlight that filled the courtyard.
A boy came running from the corridor carrying a gilded food box, the distinctive tangy aroma of pickled mustard greens seeping from the cracks in the lid. "Grandpa Qian has brought the neighbors to deliver lanterns!"
Just as Su Yunlan was about to turn around, she suddenly felt a tightness around her wrist.
Xiao Yuhan unsheathed his black iron sword with his left hand, revealing the entire inn's image condensed from the spiritual spring water on the gleaming blade.
The three-tiered eaves are adorned with icy tassels, and seventy-two golden threads transform into the Tea Horse Road, winding its way to the borderlands. The Antares pattern on the sword hilt glows with a crimson light.
“This inn should have been a prison.” He lightly tapped the inn with the tip of his sword, and thousands of ice lotuses suddenly bloomed from the inn formed by the spirit spring water. “But you turned it into a fortress that can protect everyone.” When the ice lotuses landed on Su Yunlan’s temples, they transformed into twenty-eight jade hairpins shaped like constellations, and the wind chimes under the eaves suddenly rang in unison like a set of chimes.
Amidst the cheers erupting in the front yard, Xiao Yuhan's voice, tinged with the scent of cedar, reached her ear: "I'm willing to be your eternal shield. I wonder if Manager Su needs a prized possession?"
Suddenly, the silver needles in Su Yunlan's sleeves flew and spun in the air, weaving a star pattern around the two of them.
When the first needle landed on the "Heart Moon Fox" sword, she finally saw her own reddened eyes reflected in the sword's image: "General Xiao, are you aware that the shop's prized possession must be forged using century-old snow wine?"
Before the words were finished, a muffled sound came from the backyard as a pottery jar was opened.
Eighteen jars of snow-brewed wine, each marked with a constellation, gushed forth simultaneously, their aroma mingling with the refreshing coolness of the spiritual spring water, spreading throughout Zhuque Street.
As Young Master Xiao climbed the ladder to hang the gilded plaque on the main gate, the sauerkraut jar that Grandpa Qian was carrying tremblingly suddenly cracked open, revealing half a map of the Ancient Tea Horse Road hidden at the bottom.
“Su girl,” the old man tapped a vermilion mark on the map with his pipe, “I walked this road when I was young, and saw the tea trees growing in the clouds.” He deliberately raised his voice, his cloudy eyes glancing at the Persian merchant in the corner, “I heard the prize for this year’s tea competition is half a jin of Kunlun Wujian tea.”
Su Yunlan's fingers, still tinged with the scent of wine, suddenly tightened.
The pharmacopoeia in the spiritual spring space flipped through the pages, stopping at a tattered page depicting a misty tea mountain.
As Xiao Yuhan brought the warmed snow wine to her lips, the light from the glass lamp perfectly illuminated the wolf head tattoo on his lapel—exactly identical to the totem of a certain pass on the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
"Tomorrow is the day to dry the pickled vegetables." She tilted her head back and finished her drink, chuckling as she looked at the stars that suddenly lit up in the southeast. "I've heard that the snow in Kashgar can pickle plums that are translucent."
The icy tassels on Xiao Yuhan's sword tassel moved swiftly without wind, casting a winding shadow on the bluestone slab like a tea ceremony.
As the watchman struck the third watch gong, Su Yunlan was using a silver hairpin dipped in spiritual spring water to draw a crescent-shaped mark on the map of the Tea Horse Road.
The pharmacopoeia moved without wind, and a tea leaf with frosty patterns emerged from between the yellowed pages, landing precisely on the bitter apricot kernel she had put away during the day.