There was an explosion in the room, complaining that in Xinwu Hall it was like a war horse being saddled and bitten, and could not even move. But now they have no corruption, bribery, corruption, laxity, depravity, etc. For Li Guolou I didn’t feel that my hands and feet were bound by the "rectification order" issued. It was just like this, and I could just keep it in the future. After saying some complaints, the three of them left the room in neat steps, with their chests and belly raised. Went to have a big meal.
Seven tables were set up for the dinner, with plates and bowls filled with good wine and food. Li Hongzhang and others, as well as the school officials of the new martial arts hall, were entertained. Li Hongzhang had a high status and came up to propose three glasses of wine to everyone. After others toasted him, he took a sip. , and began to drink heavily.
Zhang Peilun, whose nose bone was broken by Li Guolou, also came to the banquet to drink, with gauze tied on his face, which looked quite funny. Li Guolou got up three times, walked over, toasted to Zhang Peilun, and punished himself with three bowls of wine. After a sigh of relief, Zhang Peilun said that he was deeply sorry, and said that the minor injury during the martial arts competition did not matter. He did not blame Li Guolou, but the seeds of resentment had been planted in his heart.
The soldiers were young and strong, and they were all big-bellied men. The meat they served was served in copper basins. No one was polite when a dish was served. The uncultured ones just tore and snatched it. The people sitting at the main table were fine. , pay attention to etiquette and honor, move slowly and leisurely, no one is trying to steal the food viciously.
Li Guolou saw that the next table was really making a fuss, so he said, "Battle, have you forgotten what you said? Five points is enough."
When Barter, whose mouth was full of oil, heard Li Guolou talking about him, he hurriedly stopped fighting for food, wiped his big mouth in a decent manner, slowed down his eating speed, and explained: "Master Xuezheng, Xinwutang is too bitter, and I usually only see How can you have a chance to eat and drink a little bit of minced meat!"
The school officials echoed Battle's words and complained about the poor food and hard life in Xinwutang. Li Guolou was extremely dissatisfied. He put down his chopsticks and said loudly: "You are all talking nonsense. How miserable can you be? Who has ever been hungry?" Ah! The common people only have meat to eat during the holidays. You have meat to eat every day, but you still say it's bitter. What about eating pot helmets during the war? Have you forgotten the days of chewing grass roots in the grassland, Battle? Xinwutang has raised you to be naughty. From now on, I will eat sweet potato steamed buns once a week, so that you can remember the bitterness and sweetness, and know what the common people are eating. Born here and raised here, people cannot forget their origins."
All the school officials in the audience were speechless by Li Guolou's refutation. The scene was quite embarrassing. Liu Mingchuan stood up, raised his wine glass and said: "Master Xuezheng is doing this for your own good. Come on, let's do it for you next." He had an outstanding performance in the boxing match, and I pay tribute to him."
"Salute to the Master of Academic Affairs and learn from the Master of Academic Affairs." The people in the audience raised their glasses to show respect to Li Guolou, showing the indomitable momentum of the soldiers.
Li Guolou looked embarrassed at this time. When beating the short Chinese, he still had the advantage in terms of body strength. But when beating Tarzan, he was at a disadvantage and became a short weakling. His self-confidence dropped to zero. He picked up the bowl helplessly. The high-sounding words came out of my mouth: "Gentlemen, don't worry, I have the determination to fight back and win glory for the motherland in the boxing ring. I hope you guys will support me a lot, oh geez..."
Everyone felt as bright as a bright mirror. The school officials had already analyzed it and did not expose Li Guolou's lies. Anyway, Li Guolou had already said that it doesn't matter if you lose a few times on the battlefield, winning the key battle is the key. Winner, it's not the time for a decisive battle yet, so keep your head above water, be a coward, and continue to be patient.
Li Guolou glanced sideways at Liu Mingchuan next to him and cursed in his heart: Liu Mazi, you are so attractive. I will wait until I have the opportunity to expose your true face as a private salt dealer. You also claim to be a loyal and patriotic man, but you are a smuggler and a gangster. The boss, the scum of society.
Li Guolou was so depressed that he ignored the people at the next table and ate his own food. He drank several bowls of yellow soup and was already dizzy and slightly drunk. But because he came to Xinwu Hall After that, he showed himself as a gentleman. What he said and what he did were extremely strict, almost harsh, even mean. Therefore, the school officials were a little scared when they saw him, and even his former servants did not dare to In public, he went to propose a toast to him, fearing that he would fall out, but no one toasted him. This made Li Guolou slowly recover, and he was not drunk. He was still sitting on the chair with a backrest, watching the banquet with a stern look. Every move on it.
The atmosphere at the banquet began to improve under the leadership of Liu Mingchuan. When the steaming delicacies were served, there was a burst of noise. Everyone took turns toasting to each other, mostly to Liu Mingchuan and Master Xu Qian.
Liu Mingchuan had a good drinker and would not refuse anyone who came. He ate heartily and drank to his heart's content. Under his leadership, everyone at each table became relaxed, yelling, not caring about their official position, and calling each other arm-in-arm.
Xu Qian's status was respected, and he had the official title of third-grade Daotai. Apart from Li Hongzhang, he was the oldest person present, so the officials took turns toasting to him. After several rounds, Xu Qian drank too much, his tongue became larger, and his words changed. He had no scruples, shook his head, and said irresponsibly: "Liu Qianshi, please stop flattering me. I don't know how much I weigh, so I met Lord Ming, Mr. Fu Xiang. This is how I got it." In the early days, an alternate officer was nothing. He was called a disaster officer. Being an alternate officer suffered a lot, just like being hit by a disaster. The alternate officer had no income at ordinary times, and he had to maintain the corresponding dignity. He hired long-term attendants, levied food and drinks, and socialized and entertained all by himself. As a result, many candidate officials were extremely poor and even died of hunger and cold. There were tens of thousands of candidate officials, large and small, in eighteen provinces across the world. Taking Jiangning as an example, there were various candidate officials: more than 300 Taoist officials, There are more than 300 people in the prefecture, Zhili Prefecture, more than 1,400 people in the prefecture and county, and more than 2,000 miscellaneous people in Zuoer, a total of more than 4,000 people. However, there are vacancies in Jiangning, Hedao, prefecture, department, and prefecture. The county has less than fifty talents, and the ratio between the two is eighty to one. People at that time ridiculed it as, "There are more famous people crossing the river than crucian carp, and there are as many officials as ants." Alas..."
Liu Mingchuan rolled up his sleeves to eat, and shouted loudly: "That's right! People in the world say: There are many **, there are many donkeys, and there are many candidates."
Everyone wants to laugh but dare not laugh. Many people understand this deeply. They are also candidate officials. Like the staff around Li Hongzhang and the adjutant Geshha, they are all candidate civil servants and military attachés of this nature. If they follow a good master, they still have hope. There is always a chance to be sent to serve as an official, but candidate officials in the outside world do not have such good luck. Many candidate officials suffer from hunger and cold, and die of freezing.
Li Guolou held the wine glass and said with emotion: "Li Ciming, a famous scholar who once donated to the household doctor, wrote a couplet when he lived in Bao'an Temple Street in the capital, lamenting the slowness of filling the gaps, saying: Bao'an Temple Street has a collection of one hundred thousand volumes; In addition to the ministers, it takes a thousand years to make up for the vacancies. Once, Tan Zongjun, who was ranked second in the list, and I passed by Baoan Temple Street. He even wrote a poem specifically to fill the vacancies: "The Ministry has returned to the dynasty. It is not too late to fill the vacancies in ten years." If the vacancies can be filled in ten years, it will be filled. It’s not too late, there are so many candidates for officials in the Qing Dynasty.”
When Xu Qian heard Li Guolou showing off his knowledge, he felt quite sympathetic to each other. He nodded and said: "Yes, I have personally experienced an interesting thing. Let me tell you about it. On New Year's Day of a certain year, civil and military officials from Kaifeng Prefecture gathered together to care for each other. In order to celebrate the New Year, the governor wrote a couplet in reply, saying: "It is auspicious to open the seal of Kaifeng Prefecture, and it is auspicious to seal the seal." A candidate magistrate said to him: "There is no time limit for waiting for the vacancy of the candidate county, and there is no time for filling the vacancy." This is a true portrayal of our candidate officials in the Qing Dynasty. ah!"
When Liu Mingchuan heard Xu Qian and Li Guolou singing harmony in Wenzhou, he rolled his eyes and laughed: "I'm here to join in the fun and tell a joke about a candidate official. In Hefei, Anhui, there is a candidate who donates two miscellaneous jobs. As an official, there was no replacement for the vacancy for seventeen years. He wandered in the dark alleys every day to relieve his worries and relieve his boredom. Over time, he met a widow in the dark alley. Later, the two got married. The candidate officer laughed at himself: ' I finally made up for it,' hahahaha."
Liu Mingchuan was the first to laugh while holding his belly in his hands, and looked askance at Li Guolou, which meant that Li Guolou had filled the vacancy of a widow who lacked a husband.
Everyone present was not laughing at Li Guolou's marriage behind his back. Everyone could hear Liu Mingchuan's words and wanted to laugh but didn't dare. All eyes were focused on Li Guolou's face to see if he would get angry.
Li Guolou turned the wine bowl in his hand and did not splash the wine on Liu Mingchuan's face. Instead, he said with a smile: "Mr. Liu, your joke just now was wrong. The alternate official who donated two miscellaneous positions was not married to Instead of a widow, he married three widows. Did some of the people present even attend the wedding? When the candidate married three more widows, he invited you to a wedding banquet and celebrated the wedding for you. The bad luck will be washed away.”
Now everyone present couldn't hold it in any longer. They all fell down laughing and couldn't even breathe. Li Hongzhang laughed so hard that he covered his abdomen and pointed at Li Guolou. He wanted to look serious, but he couldn't keep his face straight. He smiled and said: "Okay, Li Guolou, you have some talent, aren't you afraid that the censor will impeach you?"
Li Guolou's face turned red and he lowered his head without daring to say a word. How could he hide the affairs of his house from Li Hongzhang, an old fox? If he talks too much, he will make mistakes. This time, he was embarrassed in front of everyone, and the stinky private affairs of his family were exposed. People treat it as a joke after tea and dinner. They quickly pick up the wine bowl and take a big sip of wine. They treat it as drunken nonsense and laugh it off.
When Liu Mingchuan saw Li Hongzhang's reproachful expression towards him, he understood. He winked, picked up the big wine bowl, stood up with a smile, walked closer to Li Guolou, hooked Li Guolou's shoulder, and shouted: "Li Guolou , That’s what you said, treat me to a wedding banquet next year, help me get rid of my bad luck, and keep your word!” As he spoke, Liu Mingchuan toasted, still hooking Li Guolou, like conjoined twins, it was so good.
Li Guolou didn't expect Liu Mingchuan to be so thick-skinned, and his ability to climb along the pole was no worse than him, and he would also try to get close to him. He almost lost his sight. So many people looked at him, pretending to be crazy, raised the big bowl, rolled up the He spoke vaguely with a big tongue: "Well, it's easy to talk, Liu Gong is as good as the King of Yue!"
Li Guolou and Liu Mingchuan touched the bowl and pretended to be crazy to fool them. Neither of them lost in the scene, and they showed the gentlemanly attitude of high-ranking officials.
Liu Mingchuan's red eyes shone brightly, and he dared to call him a bitch, Li Guolou, be careful of your little bitch, but for the sake of future fame and fortune, he temporarily lived in harmony with Li Guolou and retired. One step widens the sea and the sky.
The banquet ended in a lively atmosphere. Li Guolou shook his body and returned to the bedroom. He washed his face with cold water to clear his head. Others could sleep until dawn, but he still had errands to do and looked at the desk. The article "Etiquette and Negotiations for Western Envoys Going Abroad in the Qing Dynasty" will be another sleepless night. Li Guolou concentrated his energy, sat in front of his desk, and wrote the article with a pen like a dragon.