Chapter 6: Several Bowls of Noodle Soup
Chapter 6: Several Bowls of Noodle Soup
Liu Sheng stepped out of the gate of the weaving workshop. The divine face shone brightly in the inky night sky, and the few lanterns swayed in the breeze.
The street was silent. She found the noodle stall that was still open in a narrow alley near the weaving factory.
At this time, the canteen of the Weaving Institute had already closed, so Liu Sheng and other colleagues from the Weaving Institute often came here to eat a bowl of hot noodles when they had to work overtime to make ends meet.
The stall is not big, but it is clean and tidy, with three tables.
Under an oil lamp, the stall owner, who is over fifty years old and has gray hair, is kneading dough skillfully. In a large pot beside him, pork bone broth is steaming and exuding a mouth-watering aroma.
Liu Sheng sat down and ordered a bowl of noodles.
Not long after, a bowl of steaming noodles was placed in front of her. The noodles were smooth and chewy, obviously made with great care. The soup base was thick and mellow, and I wonder how long it had been simmered, and it was filled with a fresh and fragrant aroma.
The noodles were covered with a few slices of green vegetables and some finely chopped meat, with a layer of bright red chili oil floating on top. Liu Sheng picked up the chopsticks and stirred gently, and the chili oil blended with the soup. Suddenly, the spicy aroma filled the air, increasing one's appetite.
She took a sip of the soup, which was fresh and fragrant with a slight spicy taste, just right. She then took another spoonful of noodles and mixed it with the greens and shredded pork. The chewy noodles, fresh greens, fragrant shredded pork and spicy chili oil were perfectly combined, satisfying the palate and stimulating the taste buds, making one unable to resist but have bowl after bowl.
In fact, Liu Sheng did eat bowl after bowl, and he ate six large bowls of noodles before wiping his mouth and stopping.
After a burp, the emptiness in Liu Sheng's mind seemed to be relieved a lot, and the previous fatigue and irritability seemed to be swept away with the stimulation of the spicy food.
"Shengsheng! Why do you eat so much!" A clear and pleasant voice came from behind, which sounded very familiar.
Liu Sheng turned around and saw her good friend and colleague from the Weaving Institute, Wang Dongdong. She was wearing the standard dark blue robe of the Inspection Office and had two thick pigtails. She was standing at the edge of the light, her eyes wide open with surprise.
Standing next to her was another colleague who also worked in the Detective Patrol Department. Liu Sheng was a little face-blind to these burly men and vaguely remembered that his name was Liao Peng. At any rate, he probably didn't look like the person who brought her the new weird thing tonight.
Liu Sheng usually doesn't like to socialize with others. She stays in the warehouse all day long. The only time she meets her colleagues from the Detective Patrol Department is to hand over strange objects. The reason why she has a good relationship with Wang Dongdong is that they both entered the Li County Weaving Institute in the same batch. They were both about 28 years old, and went through the rookie training together. Later, they were assigned to live in the same dormitory. They just had different jobs and different shifts, so they didn't run into each other often, but they still had a good relationship.
It was obvious that they had just finished their shift and came here for a midnight snack.
Wang Dongdong sat down opposite Liu Sheng very comfortably and asked the stall owner for a bowl of spicy egg noodles. Her hometown is in the southwest, and she loves spicy food.
Liao Shepeng nodded politely to Liu Sheng and consciously and silently chose the table next to him.
Liu Sheng coughed lightly, and stiffly and silently moved the six eye-catching large bowls on the table a little further away, trying to pretend that he was not going to eat them.
"Shengsheng, don't hide it, we all saw you eat six bowls!"
Liu Sheng blushed, but Wang Dongdong seemed not to notice. She pursed her lips and sighed, "But don't talk about you. Even I have a bigger appetite after all this busy work. Only delicious food can comfort this tired body." She patted her belly, which was a little fat from overwork. "Zhang Yuanzheng is a little crazy. He starts to work hard as soon as the evaluation period comes. In order to meet the investigation workload, we have to run every case. The number of steps in a day is over 10,000."
Cough cough cough. Liao Shepeng was slurping the noodles that the stall owner had just brought out. When he heard Wang Dongdong's bold remarks, he was so frightened that he almost choked.
"Why, can't we tell you?" Wang Dongdong said indignantly, "Look at what we did today. We spent three hours running to East Village because Aunt Guo said her son might be possessed by a ghost. There were always a lot of hairs on his clothes, and sometimes there were bruises and scratches on his body. It turned out that her son was looking for other people's cat slaves and secretly sucking them. Sucking someone's cat slave is no different from secretly pinching someone else's daughter's face. If the owner of the cat slave is a bit cruel, he would have kicked him out of the house if he saw this. Shengsheng, don't you think he asked for it?"
It was the first time that Liu Sheng heard about such a cruel act, and he was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth. Aunt Guo's son should be called a "cat slave" in the dream world. Thinking back to the memory of "Liu Sheng" in the dream, he had seen many short videos of people laughing wildly and pressing soft little cats under their bodies and sucking them wildly. That perverted laughter was like a devil's sound in his ears, and he couldn't help but shudder when he thought about it.
"I came back late for dinner... I was sent to the west of the city to investigate a midnight noise case. It was said that at midnight, a loud noise could be heard from the house of butcher Wang, deep in the alley. It sounded like a pig squealing or a ghost roaring. The residents nearby were all disturbed, but Wang couldn't hear it. Everyone said that the pigs he had killed had turned into strange creatures and were coming to take his life."
Wang Dongdong slurped her spicy egg noodles and mumbled, "We stayed up late to investigate a case, and wanted to hear the noise. It turned out to be Master Wang's snoring! His nose gets blocked when he falls asleep, and his snoring is deafening." "We haven't eaten for a day, we're really starving! Boss, another bowl!"
Liao Shepeng beside him also had a bitter smile on his face, but unlike Wang Dongdong, who was born into the famous Xichuan Wang family, he came to the Lixian Weaving Institute to hone his skills at the grassroots level for two years before being arranged for other opportunities, so he naturally spoke without restraint. He still had to work honestly to support his family, so he could only keep his frustration to himself.
Liu Sheng was speechless: "Doesn't the county government care about these things?"
"Why don't you care? We met Lao Qin and his apprentices twice today, and Lao Qin even scolded us for meddling in other people's business." Wang Dongdong was also helpless. Lao Qin was an old constable in Li County. He was 78 years old and still fighting on the front line. She didn't dare to retort out of respect for the elderly, and she had no way to retort based on the facts and results. It was the first time that she, who was always outspoken, was choked speechless.
According to the practice of the Tang Dynasty, the local government would usually send out detectives to investigate the case first. If the case could not be solved by common sense, the Weaving Institute's Patrol Department would be notified. Of course, if something was obviously caused by something strange, the Patrol Department would go out directly, with the county government assisting.
As a result, Director Zhang took on all kinds of work in order to pile up data, and did not follow the rules. Naturally, his subordinates had to run themselves ragged and were looked down upon.
"Speaking of which, Shengsheng, didn't you accompany Lao Zhang to receive the Censor today? Did the Censor say that Lao Zhang was wasting resources?"
Liu Sheng also knew that Wang Dongdong just loved gossiping and actually had no ulterior motives, so he shook his head and said calmly, "No, the Censor only came for half a day and left for another county after noon, so what he saw and heard was limited."
"There's nothing we can do. The five inspectors sent by the higher authorities have to visit hundreds of local weaving houses in these three months. Time is very tight. Basically, just taking a look and adding the documents submitted on weekdays will be enough." Liao Shenpeng couldn't help but interjected.
Wang Dongdong pouted and said, "Old Zhang knows this, that's why he asks Shengsheng to write this and that every day. I think among our more than 300 weaving houses, we must be the one that submits the most articles to brag about our achievements."
"If it weren't for this, considering that we are blessed by the Supreme God and there are only a few strange things in a year, Shengsheng's job as a warehouse manager would be a perfect leisurely job for retirement. Why would he need to work overtime all day long?"
Liu Sheng said unhappily: "Dongdong, just say less. Look at Liao..."
"...Liao Chengpeng." Seeing that Liu Sheng obviously didn't remember his name, Liao Chengpeng silently added.
"Oh, you see Liao Chengpeng can't even eat and is fidgeting."
Liao Chengpeng looked at Liu Sheng gratefully. He really didn't want to listen to so much. He just wanted to be a quiet worker.
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything. But," Wang Dongdong changed the subject, "I heard from my family that the inspection by the provincial inspector this time is not just for evaluation, it seems that they also have the task of identifying talents for the court. It is said that there will be some national plan next. Maybe it's right for you to listen to Lao Zhang, Shengsheng. If he is willing to say a few good words..."
Even Liao Chengpeng couldn't help but prick up his ears and listen carefully. Wang Dongdong's family background was not ordinary. There were countless officials of the fifth rank and above who came from the Xichuan Wang family in all dynasties. In short, she had connections in the court, and the information given by her family was basically true.
But then he quickly gave up the idea. Although he was a cultivator after all, he was still at the second level of the initial realm at the age of 35. He had not made any progress in ten years, which basically cut off the possibility of further progress. Moreover, his work performance was not very outstanding. In the eyes of Zhang Yuanzheng, he was a little transparent. No wonder Liu Sheng could not remember him. He was not like Wang Dongdong, who had already entered the fifth level of the initial realm at the age of 18. Even if this talent was not favored by the provincial governor, he might be able to participate in the imperial examination and enter the National Academy next year; he was also not like Liu Sheng, who was highly valued by the superiors and basically wrote all the documents in the academy.
Liao Chengpeng didn't know that Liu Sheng's article was adopted by "Theory of Cultivation". If he knew, he would be even more sad.
Of course, Liao Chengpeng was not the only one whose mind went from active to dead after hearing the news. Liu Sheng could not help but sigh after hearing this. No wonder the Censor would pay extra attention to a small person like her.
Liu Sheng couldn't help but look up at the pure face of the Supreme God in the sky, who was compassionate to the world, and thought to himself: "Oh God, you care about everything, why don't you care about me?"
Auspicious Year of the Dragon (*^▽^*)
New chapter on the first day of the Lunar New Year
(End of this chapter)