The bamboo tube in his hand became a natural “warm stove”. The milk tea was smooth and rich with a hint of sweetness. The milk tea aroma with the unique aroma of caramel entered his throat and slid into his stomach.

The warmth seemed to slide into the depths of his body with this mouthful of milk tea.

Holding the bamboo tube of caramel milk tea, Lin Fei looked at the market not far away. Xun Zhou, who went to Hongyanlou yesterday, seemed to have a better relationship with the two vendors selling porcelain bowls because of the banquet last night.

Today, the vendor gave Xun Zhou the same bamboo tube, but it was not the mutton soup with a strong smell of mutton yesterday, but a carefully cooked chicken soup, and even a soft chicken leg was stuffed in it.

Compared with this chicken soup, the flat bun in his hand became more and more difficult to chew.

Seeing Xun Zhou sighing, the two vendors looked at each other, and one of them stepped forward and said with a smile: “Brother Gou, do you want to come to my house today?” Then he looked up at his painting stall, “We have been watching the little brother for a few days, and the little brother’s business is a bit deserted!”

The word “deserted” was indeed true. After setting up the stall for so long, he really didn’t sell a single painting! But his surname was Xun, not Gou, and the two even pronounced his surname wrong!

Thinking of those men at yesterday’s banquet — who appeared refined but were in fact full of a rugged, roguish air — Xun Zhou felt a trace of excitement deep down. His heart was stirred, yet he forced himself to remain calm on the surface. He let out a sigh and said, “Very well. Alone in a strange land, it was my good fortune to have met you two elder brothers!”

Xun Zhou, on the other side, was very excited. He wished that he could grow a pair of wings and fly to Lin Fei and others not far away to tell them that he, the bait, had completely become a brother with the murderer behind the scenes. It seemed that it was just around the corner to capture the murderer!

Compared to Xun Zhou’s excitement, Lin Fei sipped his caramel milk tea, but his expression was extremely calm. He tilted his head and said to Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu behind him: “It’s almost done, bring Xun Zhou back, don’t let him get too close to these murderers!”

It was not easy to be bait who mixed with the murderer behind the scenes. If you were not careful, it was very easy to be discovered. A novice like Xun Zhou was obviously not suitable. Moreover, Xun Zhou had a special identity. He was Wang He’s student and… Master Wen’s senior brother. If something really happened, they were afraid it would be difficult to explain!

After walking around the house twice, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, who had “made room” in their stomach, immediately responded, “Then let the young man of the Yang family jump out to find the evil man, and let them fight each other!”

Lin Fei nodded, lowered his eyes, and looked at the vendors who were talking enthusiastically with Xun Zhou not far away, and said, “These people are just knives after all. Although they are sharp, they are still knives. There must be someone behind the scenes.” Speaking of this, holding the bamboo tube in his hand, Lin Fei’s expression was slightly condensed, “Nothing has happened for so many years, there must be someone behind the scenes!”

Since this case had been investigated, the knife must be caught; the hand hidden behind the back must also be caught.

After Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu agreed, they put down the Xiaomi Guoba that they were about to be put into their mouths, looked at each other, and went out.

This walk took half an hour. When the two came back again, they went in and said to Lin Fei, “It’s done.”

Lin Fei nodded and said “hmm”, holding a piece of Xiaomi Guoba wrapped in oil paper in his hand, and put it into his mouth.

The crispy “crunch” sound was just the beginning. Lin Fei’s eating movements were very gentle, but every time he chewed, there was an accompanying “crunch” sound. Hearing the crispy sound and smelling the spicy smell of cumin, pepper, and salt in the air, Bai Zhu and Liu Yuan swallowed subconsciously.

Just now, they felt that walking around the house would not leave much room in their stomach, but after this trip, there was a lot more room, enough to hold the two packets of Xiaomi Guoba.

Lin Fei, who was sitting by the window, kept looking out the window, holding a bamboo tube in one hand, drinking milk tea with a straw made of a thin bamboo tube, and pinching the Xiaomi Guoba from the two open oil paper bags in front of him with the other hand. Although he didn’t say anything, his expression was extremely comfortable.

After the two of them finished answering Lin Fei, they couldn’t wait to sit down. After this trip, the milk tea was no longer hot. This time, they didn’t have to worry about being burned when using this “straw”.

Perhaps to “retaliate” for the previous action of being burned, Bai Zhu took a sip with the straw. The aroma of the milk tea that was not hot was slightly less than when it was hot, but the taste seemed to be smoother, and the sweetness of the milk tea was more prominent.

After taking two sips of milk tea, Bai Zhu couldn’t wait to reach for the Xiaomi guoba. Unlike most snacks that lost their aroma once they cooled, these millet crisps didn’t have that problem at all. They still tasted perfectly crisp, and amid the salty, savory fragrance of cumin, there lingered a distinct, comforting aroma of grain and flour.

After Bai Zhu finished a piece of cumin, he couldn’t wait to pick up a piece of pepper and salt. The crispy taste, accompanied by the “crunch” sound when chewing, inexplicably made people more and more addicted.

After eating five or six pieces in a row, Bai Zhu remembered and picked up a piece of Xiaomi guoba. He didn’t put it directly into his mouth like he did just now, but stared at the rough surface of the Xiaomi guoba for a while, and sighed: “If Master Wen hadn’t called this food ‘Xiaomi guoba’, I would never have thought that it was made of millet!”

No wonder it had a unique fragrance compared to other fried snacks made of pure flour!

“The texture was really something special!” Liu Yuan chimed in, happily crunching away with a loud “crunch, crunch.” “That day, the crispy guoba stuck to the side of the clay pot in the làwèi bao zai fan smelled incredible. This snack, called xiaomi guoba, has a bit of that same guoba aroma, but compared to the guoba on the clay pot wall, it’s even better suited to eating as a snack!”

A mouthful of salty and delicious xiaomi guoba paired with a mouthful of sweet and mellow milk tea was really salty and sweet, and people couldn’t stop eating.

Amid the “crunch, crunch” sound of chewing, the Xiaomi guoba in the oil paper bag and the caramel milk tea in the bamboo tube were all gone.

After eating snacks and burping, Liu Yuan looked up at the sky: “It’s half an hour before dinner!”

Lin Fei, who had been sitting by the window, suddenly said: “Here he comes!”

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu hurriedly got up and walked to the window, following Lin Fei’s gaze: a solemn man in an official robe, an official hat, and a beard appeared on the street.

Although there were probably fewer than five people in the entire street who actually recognized him, most of the passersby still instinctively stepped aside when they saw the crimson official robe he wore.

Anyone dressed in a robe of that color was usually an important figure from some government office. Looking at the slightly disheveled hair beneath his official hat — messed up from walking in a hurry — and the mud clinging to his official boots, it seemed he had run out of the yamen all of a sudden, likely because of some urgent matter.

In fact, this seemed to be the case. The official in the scarlet official robe stood still, and then he looked up anxiously around the street, as if he were looking for someone!

(End of this chapter)

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