In the early years, in Shunshui City of Baoding Mansion, there was an old cooking pot called Kangquan. Not only has the cooking pot been old for a long time, but the wine it burns is even more delicious, and the business has been good. But this year's situation is a little strange. It has been several days since the twelfth lunar month, but there are still very few customers who come to sell wine.

The situation on that day was even worse. Seeing that the sun was about to set, there was not a single customer came to sell wine in front of Kangquan's cooking pot shop. They only worried that the big shopkeeper Qin Liancheng and the big buddy Lao Liu couldn't stop sighing, but there was nothing they could do.

But when they got closer, they saw clearly, cough, it turned out to be a begging mother-in-law. I saw that the old woman was also old, thin and small, wearing shabby clothes, but she was sweating profusely. Qin Liancheng and Lao Liu were stunned when they saw it. You know, it was a cold winter at this time, and frost could fall from a yawn, but this mother-in-law was... weird.

But just as the two were stunned, the old woman arrived in front of the store in the blink of an eye, needless to ask, she must have come to beg. Qin Liancheng hurriedly stood up and subconsciously reached into the bag under the leather robe. Qin Liancheng is a famous good man. Although business is not good these days, he is losing money almost every day and can do good deeds, Qin Liancheng still does not even blink an eye. This time, he saw the old woman wearing a tattered single dress on a cold day. Although he was sweating profusely, he reached into the bag and pinched a piece of silver early. He wanted to give the old woman a small piece of silver so that she could eat a few full meals, so that she could also buy a set of cotton-padded clothes to wear on this cold day.

The old woman had no intention of begging and was still two feet away from the store. She stopped, and after she stopped, she saw that she was extremely thirsty. She took several breaths, then went straight to a short wall next to the store.

Qin Liancheng and Old Six both stared at him with wide eyes, but then they understood that there was something wrong with this beggar's brain. Otherwise, on a cold day, people would be trembling and lying on the frozen ground. Think about it.

Old Six didn't care, but Qin Liancheng's heart tightened - he was worried that the old woman would freeze to death in front of his shop.

Blame on blame

However, looking at the strange appearance of the old woman, Qin Liancheng did not know how to do it for a while. He immediately told Lao Liu a few words and put the matter on hold.

But as soon as he lay down at night, Qin Liancheng suddenly remembered and hurriedly ordered his maid to ask about the situation of Sixth's mother-in-law. Sixth was sleeping in the shop hall, and when he heard the meaning of the big shopkeeper, he was excited.

At this time, it was pitch black outside the store. If you listen carefully, everything is silent, and you can't hear the loud snoring of the beggar! Six couldn't help but snicker: On this cold day, even if the beggar has any problems, I am afraid that she would have been hiding somewhere warm by now!

With that thought in mind, Sixth also went under the short wall. Sixth stood on his feet, raised the glass lamp in his hand, and looked down. It didn't matter.

The beggar must have frozen to death for a long time. According to the instructions of the big shopkeeper, when he wiped the black child to send food and the old cotton clothes, he woke her up, and then... It was not so much... But at that time, the beggar woman was sleeping soundly, and her forehead was sweating, so she couldn't wake up!

But just as he was in a hurry, he saw the old woman move, and then he saw her sit up slowly. At first, he didn't pay attention to the dark lights. When he sees it, think about it.

But after running out a few steps, he heard a burst of shouting behind him, which didn't sound like a ghost's cry. Lao Liu held his feet and said to himself, I didn't even see whether it was a human or a ghost, so I was so scared! If this is going to be spread out, how can I mess around on the cabinet? Thinking about it, Lao Liu came back numb again.

When Old Six came back, he found that the beggar was not only "babbling" at him, but also his hands were constantly flying up and down. Old Six was calm and suddenly understood: This beggar is not only weird, but also a mute. No wonder she couldn't wake up no matter how much she shouted at that time.

Coincidentally, Old Sixth's second uncle was also mute, and his ears were influenced by it. Looking at the old woman's gestures, Old Sixth hurriedly put down the cover lamp and gestured in a mess. At the end, he gestured very rudely: There are many firewood haystacks on the village outside the city, you'd better go there to avoid the cold!

The old woman obviously saw what Lao Liu meant, and saw that she hesitated for a while, but she took something and quickly walked to the city gate. But when she opened the store the next day, she saw that, hey, she didn't make Lao Liu's nose crooked, and she saw that the beggar was still sleeping under the wall!

In a flash, it was February of the next year. February 2 was also the day when Kangquan's pot was boiled. According to the old rules, on this day, the best wine that had been burned over the years was to be taken out to worship the ancestors, but when Lao Liu went to the warehouse where the good wine was stored to pick up the wine, a strange thing happened: a well-sealed jar of wine, and when he opened it, the wine was gone.

Old Six panicked when he saw it, and hurriedly commanded his buddies to open the other wine tanks to take a look. At this glance, the Old Six was even more dumbfounded: there were seven empty tanks. You know, there are hundreds of catties of wine in each tank, seven tanks, which is thousands of catties of good wine. What's more important to Old Six is that he has always been in charge of the key to this warehouse door, but if you look closely at the two finger-thick wooden doors and the extra-large copper lock, you can't see any traces of being passive!

Shadow

"Report to the official? Big shopkeeper!" When Qin Lianchengcha finished reading the warehouse, Lao Liu said anxiously.

Unexpectedly, Qin Liancheng pondered for a moment, but waved his hand at Lao Liu and said, "Forget it!"

Forget it?! Old Sixth almost jumped up, didn't that mean he couldn't wash it if he jumped into the Yellow River! But looking at the ugly expression on the big shopkeeper's face, Old Sixth was so anxious that he could only stare.

However, Six secretly swore that he must find out. Therefore, as soon as night fell, Six quietly ambushed near the barn. He knew that in everything, there was one and there was two. Six had to wait for the thief to show up.

Not to mention, this day appeared very quickly. A few days later, on a dark night, as soon as Old Six was ready to ambush, he saw a black shadow quickly move towards the warehouse, with extremely light and fast steps. When Old Six saw that he was excited, he was about to pounce on it, but as soon as he stepped on his legs, he felt that his shoulders were firmly pressed.

Big Shopkeeper! Old Sixth heard it, but what was the big shopkeeper doing in the middle of the night? Could it be... At this moment, I saw the black shadow had arrived in front of the warehouse, and then I saw the black shadow leaping a few times, and actually reached the roof of the warehouse.

The warehouse of Kangquan Burning Pot usually only has doors and no windows, but there is a ventilation hole on the roof, which is usually pressed with a stone slab, so Lao Liu understands it when he sees it, and he doesn't care about surprise. He wants to open the warehouse door, but his shoulder is still pressed tight and cannot move. In the past two bags of cigarettes, the black shadow appeared on the roof again, and then he saw the black shadow leap down, moving quickly along the same road to the short wall separated from the outside world. At this time, Qin Liancheng released his hand and whispered: "Follow up, see where'he 'goes!"

Six naturally understood what the big shopkeeper meant, but it was only twenty or thirty steps away from the warehouse and the short wall, and the black shadow was fast and extremely fast. Six raised his legs high before he could keep up with a few steps, when he saw that the black shadow had reached the short wall. This short wall is not high, but it does take some effort to climb up.

Six hurriedly opened the shop door and chased outside, but when he looked outside, there was still a shadow of a dark shadow. Only the beggar slept under the short wall, but he could not hear the loud snoring.

When he opened the barn again, he was so sorry that he stomped his feet. Another half of the good wine was gone. Needless to say, the seven bottles of wine that were lost must have something to do with the shadow.

In the blink of an eye, another few days passed, and the black shadow appeared again in the middle of the night. However, this time, before the black shadow had time to hang out on the roof, Old Six, who had been waiting for a long time, saw a hungry tiger and a hungry tiger, and pressed the black shadow to the ground.

appear

Qin Lian was so anxious that he clapped his hands, but that was all he could do. He quickly dragged the black shadow to a bright place to look at it.

At this time, despite all the tossing, the old woman was still asleep, soaking wet all over, as if it had been raining heavily. Lao Liu was holding his breath, but when he saw that he didn't say a word, he kicked the old woman's butt hard, and heard the sound of "ah", the old woman sat up from a deep sleep with a carp fight.

Qin Liancheng hurriedly waved his hand at Old Sixth, but this kick also made the old woman fully awake. She looked up at Old Sixth, then at Qin Liancheng, and then made a series of inquisitive gestures. Of course, Qin Liancheng didn't understand, and hurriedly turned his head to Old Sixth, and Old Sixth said, "This beggar asked if she was sleepwalking just now?" After saying that, without waiting for Qin Liancheng to speak, he gestured to the old woman: You not only sleepwalked, but also stole thousands of catties of good wine from our cooking pot! If you can't pay our owner a lot of silver wine, you can wait until dawn to go to jail!

The old woman was shocked when she saw it, and then she made another gesture. It turned out that this old woman had been a luxury wine since she was a child, and no matter how much she could cure it, it was because of this place that she had never been married. Who knew that when she was old, not only would she be more luxury wine, but she also had the problem of sleepwalking, which caused a lot of trouble for her parents.

Who knew that when Qin Liancheng heard Lao Liu's translation, and then thought about the strange things that happened before and after, his eyes suddenly lit up, and then he whispered in Lao Liu's ear like this. After hearing this, Lao Liu slapped his thigh with joy and said, "Don't worry, I promise to make this beggar's life worse than death!" Then, he saw Lao Liu call his buddy and tied the old woman firmly to a bench in an empty room. There was no water rice for two days in a row, and only a wooden basin of wine was placed in front of her head.

Qin Liancheng couldn't bear to see it, and the sixth brother came to report every day, but on the third day, the sixth brother ran over with a pale face and said, "It's not good, the beggar doesn't shout or scream anymore, but it looks like a pot is boiling in her belly, scaring people to death!"

Qin Liancheng hurriedly ran to take a look, but before he ran to the front, he saw the fainted old woman opening her mouth wide, and then heard an earth-shattering retching, and then saw a blood-red living thing suddenly pop out of the old woman's mouth and instantly fall into the pot of wine in front of her head.

Qin Liancheng and Old Sixth hurriedly stepped forward, and saw the blood-red living thing like a toad, swinging its hips rapidly in the basin. At this time, the old woman also woke up from the coma, looking refreshed. Qin Liancheng hurriedly ordered Old Sixth to untie the old woman, and he couldn't wait to scoop a spoonful of wine from the basin to taste it, which made him feel full of fragrance and spirit.

Qin Liancheng was overjoyed, turned around and bowed to the old woman again and again, then pointed to the living creature in the basin, and said excitedly to the old sixth: "Tell the old woman that if this baby belongs to the pot, not only will she not be allowed to pay a cent of silver for the wine, but I will also give her a large amount of silver."

Old Six was confused and asked, "What kind of treasure is this? Isn't it just a meat bug, why is it worth a lot of money?" Qin Liancheng smiled and then told the story of this treasure.

Yellow Emperor Treasure

It turned out that this treasure was actually a treasure in the hands of Emperor Huang Xuanyuan 5,000 years ago. According to legend, there were two treasures in the hands of Emperor Huang back then, also known as "male and female two toads." In the battle of Zhuolu, more than 100,000 people from the Yellow Emperor tribe were besieged by the powerful Chiyou tribe on the top of Buyang Mountain for more than ten days. At that time, it was summer, but there was only one "dripping spring" on the mountain, so the spring was drunk by the clan in less than a day, and there was no water dripping from the spring. Helpless, the Yellow Emperor had to take out the "male toad" and put it into the spring. This male toad, also known as the "water toad", can fry water, but as soon as the male toad enters the spring, the spring water suddenly comes back, and he can't even finish drinking it, so he persists for more than ten days. When Emperor Yan came to rescue his troops, he defeated Chi You, and the male toad disappeared from the inside and outside. The Yellow Emperor lost the male toad, and his other treasure, the female toad, was also restless from then on, and for a few days he did not know where he was going.

Speaking of this, Qin Liancheng pointed to the toad-like living creature in the pot and continued, "It has been passed down from the ancestors that this female toad, also known as the" wine toad ", can fry wine and loves wine very much. Legend has it that someone once caught this treasure from the mouth of a luxury drinker, from the belly of a dog with a tripe that can drink alcohol... When I heard that the old woman is so extravagant, I suspected that she would have this treasure on her body, so I came up with this method... This is good, not only has the old woman's drinking problem been completely cured, but this baby has also appeared again."

As he spoke, Qin Liancheng picked up another wooden spoon and scooped a spoonful of wine from the basin for Old Six to taste. He said, "Not only is the wine soaked in the Wine Toad extremely mellow, but there is also one thing. As long as the Wine Toad is here, this wine will never be available."

As if listening to the myth, Old Six took the wooden spoon and tasted it with skepticism. It was really delicious, and when he scooped out a spoonful, the wine in the basin was really not rare, and Old Six was also excited for a while.

But just at this time, the white rooster called Night on the cooking pot came to the wine basin at an unknown time. This rooster is not afraid of people on weekdays, but when they were talking happily, they suddenly pecked the baby in the pot and ran away. The two were shocked when they saw it, so they chased after it, but when they chased the rooster, the baby was gone, and when the rooster was disemboweled, the intestines were turned upside down, and there was still no shadow of the baby. There was no way, so they had to mobilize all the guys to look for it everywhere, but they couldn't find it in the end.

However, this matter slowly spread out for some reason, and the more it spread, the more bizarre it became. It is said that Kangquan Old Cooking Pot got a treasure from the Yellow Emperor period from a strange mother-in-law. The wine soaked in this treasure was not only delicious, but also prolonged life, so everyone came to buy it, and the business of Kangquan Old Cooking Pot became prosperous again. As soon as the Twelfth Moon Gate entered every year, you can see that Baoding Mansion was a hundred miles away, and the customers who came to sell wine were constantly busy, so busy that the guys of Kangquan Old Cooking Pot were too busy with their feet up.