Chapter 23 Rainy Night (1)
Strangely, no one came to hold the horse. Chen Jianqiu and the others walked around before finding the stable.
After settling the horses, the three of them arrived in front of the hotel.
The hotel door was closed, and Chen Jianqiu shook the rain off his head. He regretted not taking the lieutenant's hat away at that time.
"Dong, dong." Chen Jianqiu knocked on the door.
There was no reaction inside.
"Boom, boom, boom."
Still no one came to open the door.
Chen Jianqiu looked down and saw that the light shining through the gap at the bottom of the door dimmed occasionally. Someone was moving inside, occasionally blocking the light.
Chen Jianqiu simply exerted force with his hand, and with a click, the door was pushed open.
What caught Chen Jianqiu's eyes was a shabby bar. A middle-aged woman with a slightly rich figure stood behind the bar. When she saw Chen Jianqiu and the others coming in, she exchanged glances with a man sitting across the bar.
Chen Jianqiu continued walking inside.
The entire first floor was not really bright, maybe because the fat woman was reluctant to burn kerosene. Apart from the lamp on the wall near the window, only the bar and a table in the corner were lit.
There were some men playing cards there. Different from Chen Jianqiu's impression, these men wearing cowboy hats did not make any noise at all. They were just quietly looking at the cards in their hands. A man smoking a pipe noticed Chen Jianqiu looking at them and raised his head.
The two people's eyes met for a few seconds, and the pipe-smoking man lowered his head again. He lowered the brim of his hat and continued his card game.
"Boss lady, why don't you have anyone here to help feed the horse?" Sean complained while wiping the rainwater from his body.
Some of the water droplets he squeezed out fell on the bar, scratching the dust and leaving a water mark. Chen Jianqiu glanced at it and said nothing.
Sean originally wanted to wring the clothes dry, but finally gave up. Because the pants and inside were completely soaked.
"There is no extra person. I am the only one here. I can cook and clean. You can go feed yourselves." The fat woman said angrily. She would either remain silent or speak as if someone owed her hundreds of dollars. .
"Then do you have three empty rooms?" Sean was a little helpless and continued to ask.
"No more." The fat woman answered very simply.
"Madam boss, it's windy outside and raining heavily. You want us to find a place to stay somewhere. We have money." Sean touched the small leather bag on his waist, trying to get out a small gold nugget.
His hand was held down by another hand.
Chen Jianqiu stuffed the gold nugget back into his hand, and took out the wet few dollars from his inner clothes.
But even in dim light, this sparkling golden color did not escape the fat woman's eyes.
Chen Jianqiu didn't pay attention to the woman's gaze and put a few dollars on the table.
"Dear Madam, I don't insist on three rooms. Please give us one." Chen Jianqiu said, "In addition, we will feed the horses ourselves, so there is no need to trouble you. By the way, if there are dry ones, As for clothes, can you give us one piece each?"
The fat woman's expression softened a lot. She nodded, turned around and bent down to look for something at the bar. After searching for a while, she took out a key ring.
The three people followed the fat woman up the stairs. I don't know if it was because of the fat woman's weight. After taking a few steps, the stairs creaked and a layer of dust fell.
The four people came to the second floor. The fat woman came to the innermost room and handed the kerosene lamp to Feiniao, asking him to help shine it.
I don't know if it was because of the lock or the key. The fat woman fumbled around for a long time before opening the door to the room.
As the door to the room opened, a musty smell came out.
The fat woman threw the kerosene lamp and keys to them, and then turned around and went downstairs: "I will bring you the clothes later. It may be a little later for dinner. I will call you then."
Chen Jianqiu smiled: "Okay, madam."
After confirming that the fat woman came downstairs, Chen Jianqiu turned around and closed the door.
"This place is too shabby." Sean sat down on the bed. There was nothing on the bed, no mattress sheets, no quilt. "How can the three of us sleep? We squeeze into one bed?"
"I think there's something wrong with this hotel." Asuka, who had been silent, spoke up.
Chen Jianqiu found that the door could not be locked from the inside, and could even open by itself if the wind blew, so he found a chair to block the door.
"Is this a black shop?" Sean turned over and got up from the bed.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Something's not right about this town." Chen Jianqiu thought for a moment.
The town seemed too deserted, and the hotel seemed to have not been cleaned for a long time. If the corners of the stairs might have been neglected, it was obviously unreasonable to have so much dust on the bar. What's more, the fat woman seemed very unfamiliar with the hotel itself.
"Wait for Asuka, you and I will go feed the horses. Feed them, and then see if you can find horse bits (a kind of harness that prevents horses from biting or eating), and put them on the three horses. Bring weapons and ammunition. Sean stays in the room and we stay the same in the face of any changes."
After the three of them finished preparing, Chen Jianqiu and Feiniao walked out of the room.
He suddenly turned around and asked Feiniao: "By the way, Feiniao, is your injury better?"
"It's okay. It was supposed to be fine two days ago, but I drew the bow again two days ago." Feiniao moved his shoulders, indicating that the injury was no longer a problem.
When passing downstairs, Chen Jianqiu discovered that the man sitting opposite the bar was missing. The men sitting at the table in the lobby playing cards were still playing cards.
The proprietress was cooking something on the stove with her butt sticking out. Another stove beside the bar was sizzling. Chen Jianqiu smelled it carefully and realized it was the smell of coffee.
The lobby was quiet, and no one paid any attention to them. The two opened the door of the hotel, and a gust of wind mixed with rain came in.
The storm outside is getting worse.
Chen Jianqiu saw a large canvas next to the door, so he took it and rushed out with Feiniao carrying the canvas.
Arriving at the stables, Heiluobo and Huey stayed quietly in their respective 'single rooms'. Sean's horse was originally Scar Yu's mount. Scar Yu had been following Sean after he left, and the black man fetched it for him. He gave himself a name that he thought was powerful, called Guang Feng.
Chen Jianqiu grabbed a handful of fodder and handed it to Feiniao. Feiniao squeezed it and smelled it: "No problem."
Feiniao began to feed the horse, while Chen Jianqiu rummaged through the stable and finally found several horse bits on the wall.
After finishing processing, the two people started to walk back. The rain and wind were still strong. Even if they were covered with canvas, they were still wet when they returned to the hotel.
The two returned to the room.
After a while, someone knocked on the door of the room. Chen Jianqiu walked over and moved the chair away.
A quilt, a pile of clothes and a belly entered the door first, followed by the round face of the fat woman. She threw the things on the bed: "Here are the quilts and clothes. You can change them yourself. The stew is almost ready. You can come down and eat."
"Thank you, madam." Chen Jianqiu expressed his thanks.
The fat woman turned and walked out of the room.
Sean shook the gray puffy shirts: "They look pretty good."
"It's possible that they are all dead people." Chen Jianqiu's words were not surprising, and Xiao En suddenly lost the desire to wear them.
At this time, there were suddenly several sounds of horses neighing outside the window.
Chen Jianqiu looked down through the window.
"Someone's here again."