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Story 88: Taibai Restaurant
Taibai Restaurant
Author: Anonymous
One year, winter had just arrived and the cold was blowing. Li Bai, who lived in Caishiji, often went to a hotel on the street to buy wine and drink. This shop was opened by a wealthy man named Lu, and people called him Boss Lu. Even though Boss Lu is nice to people on the surface, he is ruthless in his heart! The few bartenders (guests in the hotel) he used were all hunched over from exhaustion, and in the end, they were all kicked out by him.
On this day, Li Bai walked into the hotel again. Boss Lu, who was lying on the chair, twirled his beard, squinted his eyes, and looked at Li Bai with a smile, thinking that this poor poet writer had been away from Kyoto for a few years, and the money he brought had probably been spent. I remember that when Li Bai entered the store for the first time, he greeted him with a smile. From now on, he would come and go frequently, but he probably couldn’t squeeze much profit out of it, and his face became uglier every time.
He hinted the little bartender to ignore Li Bai, but the bartender poured wine for Li Bai enthusiastically: before leaving, he also poured a large pot of fine wine for Li Bai. This time, nothing can be done to take advantage of Li Bai! He stood up, walked to Li Bai’s side, and said aloud: “The eaves of the shop are too low and the wine pool is too shallow to withstand the Imperial Academy. Service.) Such a big wine pot!”
Li Bai knew that the money he gave him last time was enough to buy a few drinks, but now that Boss Lu was looking like this, he didn’t want to argue with him, so he took out the last silver coin from his pocket and threw it on the counter, “Bang!”
Boss Lu was so shocked that his eyes were dazzled, and the dark clouds on his face immediately dissipated, and a smile emerged: “You can’t see the bottom of the river. I didn’t expect that Li Hanlin still has so much money for drinks.” He turned around and told the bartender: “Quick, ask for money from the adults. !”
Li Bai waved his sleeves: “Forget it, stop looking for it, come back next time!” Boss Lu narrowed his eyes and kept saying: “Yes, yes!”
At dusk the next day, Li Bai came again, and the bartender filled him with another jug of wine. On the third and fourth days, Li Bai came once a day. Boss Lu was very impatient. He calculated the money Li Bai left behind and found that it was almost enough to have another month.
So he dismissed the bartender with sweet words and secretly poured wine into Li Bai’s wine bottle. Add water inside.
Li Bai took a few sips and felt that the taste was not strong, so he didn’t say anything. Every time he came here from now on, Boss Lu always pretended to be particularly enthusiastic and poured wine for Li Bai himself, but secretly doubled the water. Day after day, Li Bai acted as if nothing had happened. Later, Boss Lu simply gave Li Bai a full pot of cold water. Li Bai thought it was wine, so he happily returned to the boat, picked up the wine flask and poured it into the cup.
When he smelled it, it tasted wrong; he took a sip and spat it out! At first glance, I realized that it was turbid and muddy river water. He was furious and wanted to talk to the shop owner to reason with him.
Then I thought about it, I have no business talking to this kind of person! But this is the only hotel in Caishiji area. Asking him for alms is even more unacceptable! Even in front of the emperor, Li Bai didn’t want to be humble, let alone to such a villain who has money in front of him and cares about money in the back!
It was still late at night, and he was tossing and turning in unsteady sleep. He wanted to write some poetry, but couldn’t. Over the years, wine has formed an indissoluble bond with him. After drinking a pot, he temporarily forgot his sorrow and saw the foggy world clearly.
But now, in this desolate Caishijitou, even the only drink that can relieve his boredom is gone! “Li Bai’s Hundred Poems on Drinking Wine”, without wine, no poems can be written. He sighed and listened to the pattering of raindrops under the eaves, his heart almost breaking.
One day, he was wandering along the river bank and passed by a hut. An old man with all white temples nodded and smiled at him, and warmly invited him to sit in the house. As soon as he entered the door, the old man bowed to Li Bai: “Thank you for your life-saving benefactor!”
Li Bai stood blankly, wondering what was going on. The old man told with tears: “My surname is Ji, and my hometown is Youzhou. That year there was a famine, and my wife and I took our children up the mountain to peel tree bark. Suddenly two big white-fronted tigers with dazzling eyes appeared and pounced on my wife. , the child and I were so frightened that we were out of our wits. Thanks to my husband who happened to wander there, he shot an arrow and killed two tigers, and my father and son only narrowly escaped death.”
Li Bai suddenly remembered after hearing this, and quickly helped the old man up and said, “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter.”
The old man said: “For many years, in order to repay my kindness, I have been following you secretly. Except when you were in Kyoto and I couldn’t enter the palace, I have been following you from Jinling to Luzhou, from Xuancheng to Caishi. Fish and firewood.”
After hearing this, Li Bai burst into tears. He took the old man’s hand, shook it, and asked kindly: “Is it a child?”
The old man pointed his finger and said, “Here, I’m helping out in the hotel.”
Li Bai was about to tell the old man about Boss Lu using water as wine, but the old man interrupted him: “I have listened to the child. What can’t that person do?!” After that, he took him out of the house A large jar of wine, “Come on, Immortal, please drink to your heart’s content!”
The old man patted his chest, “From now on, all the wine you drink will be taken care of by me, the old man!”
Li Bai was so happy that he didn’t know what to do. The alcohol addiction he had been holding back for many days suddenly came out. He couldn’t wait for the old man to get the food, so he picked up the cup and drank it all in one gulp. Drink, drink, get drunk.
He squinted his drunken eyes, stumbled to the “Lianbi Terrace” outside the door, and asked someone to get a pen; the old man knew that Li Bai Shixing was here, and hurriedly delivered the prepared pen, ink and paper. Li Bai looked at the rolling river in the distance. Like the bloody sunset, pick up the pen and write with one stroke:
The Tianmen interrupts the opening of the Chu River, and the clear water flows eastwards to this point.
The green mountains on both sides of the strait stand out from each other, and the lone sail comes from the sun.
The old man stretched out his trembling hands, picked up the cursive script that was still wet with ink, ran back to the hut, and respectfully posted it on the wall.
From then on, this ordinary thatched hut became lively. Passers-by, firewood collectors, and fishermen all wanted to come in and read the poems on the wall. Some copied them, some memorized them, and they passed them on to ten people and hundreds of people.
Some even traveled thousands of miles just to appreciate this poem. When someone asked who wrote it, the old man always gave a thumbs up and proudly said to everyone: “It’s the handwriting of the poet Li Bai! He only wrote such a good poem after drinking the wine I brewed!”
Upon hearing this, people from all over the world rushed here to sit down and drink a few cups, savoring the intoxicating wine and appreciating the artistic conception created by the poet… I don’t know from which day the old man started to open the door. After arriving at the hotel, day and night, in addition to making wine for Li Bai, he also worked hard to wash away the travel dust for tourists.
From then on, the store number of “Taibai Restaurant” came out.
Boss Lu heard that the old man surnamed Ji was good at brewing wine and his business was booming. Feeling unhappy. In addition, the bartender also went to Taibai Restaurant, which made his hotel deserted and there were fewer and fewer drinkers.
He was so angry that he blew his beard and glared. After thinking about it, he had no choice but to ask his servants to hold a few large ingots and two jars of fine wine, and go to the riverside to visit Li Bai in person, in order to ask him to write a poem for him to support his appearance.
Li Bai saw the purpose of Boss Lu at a glance and waved to him: “Your wine pool is too shallow for me to drink in one gulp!” After saying that, he raised his hand and asked the boatman to start the boat. He gently left the river bank and drove towards the center of the river.
Boss Lu was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He shouted in a hoarse voice: “Immortal, Immortal, please stop, if you have something to say, it’s easy to say!” After running a few steps, he tripped over a stone and fell to the ground with a “plop”. On the beach.
Soon, the Lu’s Hotel closed, but Old Man Ji’s “Taibai Restaurant” business was booming day by day.
A year later, the old man unfortunately died of illness. Li Bai was so grief-stricken that he spilled wine into the Yangtze River, cried for three days and three nights, and wrote a poem in memory of the old man.
In Ji Sou’s Huangquan, old spring should still be brewing.
If there is no Li Bai on the nightstand, who can I sell wine to?
It can be seen how deep the friendship between Li Bai and the old brewer is!
For thousands of years, many large and small hotels along the river have always used “Taibai Restaurant” and “Taibai Heritage” as their store names. They were written on cloth and hung on the front porch, showing their true love for the great poet Li Bai.
