"I was just going to find you," Mr. Feng looked at Chen Tongpao and said respectfully, "Lao Tongzhi is here in person. Please sit down, sit down."
"Is the play house dye house stable? Why haven't I heard any news about it these days..." He asked, holding a teapot in one hand.
"The great shopkeeper sent his servant today to tell me that the house is now stable. If the squire wants to pay a visit, I am willing to be an introducer." The colleague said with a smile.
After hearing this, Mr. Feng's hand holding the pot trembled with excitement, and the tea poured out. He quickly apologized to Chen Tongpao, wiped the table with a rag, nodded and bowed and said, "I was so excited just now that I was a little disrespectful.
, I hope you won’t laugh at me.”
"This is a good thing. I understand your excitement." Tongpao Chen didn't care.
"But..." Mr. Feng rubbed his hands and sighed: "When you go to see the shopkeeper, you can't go empty-handed. If you go back with a few gifts, it might appear that my friendship is not true. This is really a difficulty."
The colleague now had an idea for him: "How about this, you prepare a table of good wine and food in the house, invite the shopkeeper to have a meal, I will say a few words to him, and he will naturally come. That way
Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to have a hearty chat with the shopkeeper without looking too raw? Today, I feel my heart aching just to see how reluctant I am to give up."
Feng Dashen thought for a while and said: "I have buried ten years of aged wine in my yard, and I will just take it out to drink tomorrow. Although the good food must be fully prepared and exquisite, it only costs more than twenty taels of silver, so ordinary people still have to pay for it."
Affordable.”
"Don't forget to call Shopkeeper Wen from the gambling shop," Tongpao Chen reminded.
"What's wrong with Shopkeeper Wen?" Mr. Feng became confused.
"There are some conflicts with the house, and I would like to help mediate them. When the time comes, you will have to judge the situation."
Mr. Feng nodded repeatedly: "Master Chen has done such a favor and will not cause any trouble to you. Don't worry."
Tongpao Chen stood up, bowed, and said goodbye: "I will go home tomorrow and just wait for the good news."
The invitation from Mr. Feng was sent to the government office in the morning. The Hunanese picked up the invitation, read it once, and then handed it to the steward next to him.
"What old love is this?"
The steward took a rough look at it and bowed to answer: "In order to get the squires to support Mr. Chen's promotion, the shopkeeper wrote a letter to Wen...Gou, the man from the gambling house, to take care of the matter. Therefore, he owed a favor to this day.
There will be no movement."
"How can I return this favor to him?"
Before the steward knew how to answer, he saw a servant leading Tongpao Chen up to the hall.
"Why didn't you tell me that I knew?" Xiangren suddenly changed his color and shouted at the slave.
But Tongpao Chen waved his hand: "Hey, the shopkeeper doesn't need to be angry at him. I don't want to cause too much trouble, so I specifically asked him."
"Go down." The Xiang people glared at the servant, then turned to salute Mr. Chen: "Sir Chen, this is the first time I see you, and I didn't greet you personally. I really shouldn't have done it! What are you doing here?
"
Tongpao Chen glanced at the invitation on the table, pointed at it and said, "That's exactly what it is."
The Xiang people picked up the invitation and said to their colleagues: "I have been in power for a short time and have not cared about the past. I hope that you will not hesitate to use your great wisdom to clear up the ignorance of the Xiang people."
The colleague said: "What this squire is asking for urgently is just to see you once. If I see you in person, this favor can be considered repaid."
The Xiang man slapped his thigh: "It's hard to say! I accepted the invitation and went to his banquet."
At nearly noon, Xiang and his colleagues came out of the house, mounted their horses together, and ran straight out of the city gate. After walking along a muddy path in the countryside, they jumped off their horses and walked into the outer gate of the Feng family's house.
However, the Xiang man brought his horse over, held the bridle tightly in his hand, and said with a smile: "Master Chen, please go inside first to rest. I will tie both horses to the stable."
"Thank you for your hard work." The colleague glanced at him, said nothing more, and went straight to the hall.
The Xiang man led two horses and kept thinking about what his eyes meant. Before he could figure it out, he had already walked to the stables.
He kicked away the weeds in the shed, tied his own horse first, then grabbed Chen Tongzhi's horse and tied the knot in the shed next to it.
Just as he was about to fasten it, there was suddenly a sound of horse hooves behind him. He was so frightened that he hurriedly dropped the bridle. When he looked back, he seemed to be frozen and stunned.
It turned out to be Wenzhong. Wenzhong pulled a majestic tall horse and met him face to face, but waved to him in a normal way, which was far less dramatic than the reaction of the Hunan people.
"Old shopkeeper, are you here too?"
Wen Zhong thought to himself, of course I knew you would come.
"Squire Feng also invited you? Brother Wen, isn't this a coincidence?" The Xiang man was still tying the reins.
"It is said that Squire Feng has prepared a large jar of aged wine. He has been busy recently and has not had a good drink in a long time!" Wenzhong laughed.
The Xiang people obviously didn't want to talk too much with him and didn't answer Wenzhong's questions. Wenzhong sneered, threw off the horse's bridle, and went out of the shed.
The Xiang man just lowered his head and took a closer look. He found that the reins in his hands were all tied in the wrong place.
"All three of you are here!"
The Xiang people opened the curtains and saw four round sandalwood chairs in the back room, a square table in the middle, four pairs of silver chopsticks, and more than ten famous dishes.
"I have never met the Duke, so I have to spend so much money to entertain you. I am really grateful!"
Mr. Feng smiled even more happily: "The shopkeeper is a famous person in Jiangdu, what is enough for this little thing? Come and sit down with shopkeeper Wen and Chen Tongzhi. You are old friends. Let's chat."
The Xiang people just smiled at Wenzhong without any other courtesy and sat down.
"How old is the shopkeeper this year?" Mr. Feng narrowed his eyes.
"Only over twenty."
"Old shopkeeper, you are as old as my dog, but you have such a great talent, it is really admirable!" He kept putting his arms around the Xiang people's neck, pulling him close.
Seeing that Wen Zhong was a little anxious, the colleagues there were not very happy either. He hurriedly picked up the silver chopsticks and said with a smile: "Don't let the food and wine get cold. Let's talk while eating to add to the fun!"
"Since the colleague has spoken, let's have wine first!" Mr. Feng immediately poured wine for everyone, "For my sake, please drink it all in one gulp!"
The four of them drank a bowl together, and Wen Zhong blurted out: "Good wine!"
After drinking for three rounds, Wen Zhong became a little tipsy. Taking advantage of this moment, he grabbed Mr. Feng's arm and said, "I, Wen Zhong, have been doing business for half my life, and I can't sleep well. After these few days, I can't sleep well."
The day is especially heavy. Since you want to make friends with this big shopkeeper, you can help me with the dyeing shop in the future, so I won’t have anything to do. I’ll concentrate on taking care of my gambling house and have a leisurely time. What do you think?
?”
The Xiang man was already sleepy after drinking, but when he heard this, he suddenly became excited and looked up at Ding Wenzhong, as if he had sobered up, but his eyes could not close.
When Mr. Feng saw this scene, he was stunned. His eyes were darting from side to side, not knowing what to do.