The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 4 The Bet Won

The hazy morning light shone in from outside the doors and windows.

The candles were almost burning out, it was a sleepless night.

Li Hu, Wang Daniu, and Zhang Cheng all had bloodshot eyes and looked tired.

Li Hu stood up, walked to the door, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

A gust of autumn wind blew towards him, and Li Hu couldn't help but shiver.

Li Hu vaguely discovered that several guards from the Imperial Household Department were staring at this place closely not far from the second door of the duty room.

Li Hu showed a bitter smile, his worries became a reality.

After coming out of the Daming Palace, Emperor Yongchang ordered that all the people present be placed under guard. If it had not been for his insistence, Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng would also have been imprisoned in the Coal Hill Camp.

Li Hu slowly closed the door and walked slowly towards his seat by the wall. Just after he took two steps, he was suddenly shocked!
Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng were also shocked and stood up from their chairs.

They all heard footsteps coming from the guardhouse gate.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and Li Hu swallowed subconsciously.

"General Li." A eunuch's voice, with a very polite tone.

Li Hu, Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng looked at each other and everything was fine.

Li Hu closed his eyes for a moment, then turned around, walked to the door and opened it.

He was a red-robed eunuch from the Imperial Household Department.

Behind him, two eunuchs in blue were carrying two trays, one containing armor and the other official uniform.

The red-robed eunuch from the Imperial Household Department was filled with joy and shouted in congratulations: "Congratulations to General Li on his promotion!"

Li Hu was a man who knew the rules. He quickly took out the prepared silver note from his sleeve and said with a smile, "Don't think it's too little. Have a cup of tea." Then he stuffed the silver note into the hand of the eunuch in red.

The eunuch in red took a look, nodded with a satisfied smile, stuffed the banknote into his arms, and took out a new official certificate and handed it over: "You don't have a formal position yet, so you don't have a badge for the time being."

Li Hu was slightly stunned. An empty position?

The red-robed eunuch seemed to have seen through Li Hu's thoughts and whispered, "This is a major case of treason. A prince and a deputy commander of the imperial guards can implicate a large number of people, some of whom are real vacancies."

Li Hu clasped his hands and said, "Thank you." He took the official certificate and winked at Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng.

The two men immediately stepped forward and took over the armor and official uniforms.

The eunuch in red said: "The ancestor said that General Li can leave the palace, but he cannot leave the city." After saying that, he turned and walked towards the courtyard gate.

Li Hu looked at the backs of the red-robed and blue-robed eunuchs disappearing outside the courtyard gate, as if asking himself, or Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng: "Did you win the bet?"

Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng were full of excitement: "We won the bet!"

Li Hu came back to his senses, slowly closed the door, walked back to the chair and sat down, then he unfolded the official letter, Guerrilla General!
From the eighth rank to the fourth rank, it is true that the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!

Li Hu tried his best to calm down his excitement. He carefully put his official certificate and diploma into his arms, then stood up and said to Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng: "As long as I fill the vacancy, I will promote you two immediately."

Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng immediately knelt down and said, "We are willing to serve you, sir!"

Li Hu: "Okay, okay." He reached out and helped them up, then said: "Go back and have a good rest, and wait for my news." He paused, "Don't worry about what happened last night, think about your family, understand?"

Wang Daniu and Zhang Cheng: “Yes!”

".What's that smell?!"

Li Hu covered his mouth and nose. The unpleasant smell came from the alley. Looking over, he saw an idle man squatting there doing something indecent, and the ground was covered with excrement.

Is this an open-air toilet?!
Tsk tsk, can you believe that the capital city is full of shit and urine? Can you believe that the streets are full of vendors? Can you believe that a beautiful young lady walked by you without hesitation?
There is an old saying in Beijing: The east is rich and the west is noble, the south is poor and the north is humble.

Nancheng refers to the area in the southern part of the capital, roughly including the area from Xuanwumen, Zhengyangmen, and Chongwenmen to the south, and from Yongdingmen to the north.

Li Hu's home is in the south city. After leaving Chongwenmen, the streets are bustling with people. Both sides are filled with all kinds of stalls, such as wonton stalls, sesame cake stalls, steaming hot buns, and countless snacks of various flavors.

Suddenly, his comrade's voice rang in his ears: "Three big coins to buy good flowers, cut cakes and ghost legs, a bowl of sweet porridge in the morning, tea soup and noodle tea; cold fruit cakes and fried sweet ears, hanging oven biscuits, fork fire baked buns are just sold, and hard noodles are called buns; dumplings are filled with wontons, and new rice dumplings with flour are added."

This is the most authentic atmosphere of urban life.

Li Hu's stomach suddenly rumbled. He was indeed hungry, and according to his original body's memory, he walked towards a wonton stand.

Just then, a man drove past the center of the street, and the dust on the ground was stepped on and flew up quickly, then slowly fell down, and the food on the stalls was basically covered with a layer of yellow soil.

Li Hu's eyes widened. He took a bite, half of it was food and the other half was stains mixed with dust.

Those diners seemed to be used to it, and even wiped the dust off the food and ate it directly.

Li Hu understood that in this era, there were no such favorable conditions as in his previous life to worry about cleanliness, but he found it difficult to accept it for the moment and turned around and walked away.

Of course, the capital city is not all dirty and messy. The roads near the Imperial City and the East City are all paved with stone, and are managed by people from Shuntian Prefecture and the Bingmasi. As for the West City, I have never been there.

Qianmen Street is a thoroughfare, and naturally it is a clean stone road. There are all kinds of shops on both sides of the street, selling everything from jewelry and antiques, silks and furs, calligraphy and paintings, pens and inkstones, to clothes and fabrics, knives and ceramics, paper flowers and toys. One stall is connected to another, with people hawking and bargaining, creating a lively scene.

Behind the shops on the east and west sides of Zhengyangmen Outer Street, there are two north-south commercial streets. On the east side are the Meat Market Street and the Fruit Market, and on the west side are the Jewelry Market and the Grain Store, forming a situation where three streets run parallel to the north and south.

Walking south based on his memory, Li Hu entered an east-west street full of snacks. Although the facilities were simple, it was lively.

Li Hu ate from every restaurant. He didn't dare to try the soy milk. He took a big bite of the meat bun, a big bite of the roasted lamb, and then a sip of the wonton soup. He felt very happy.

I wouldn't dare eat so much meat. Chang'an is a big place, and everything is expensive. The annual salary of an eighth-rank official is only 40 taels of silver and 40 hu of rice. It's not easy to entertain people in the officialdom, appease subordinates, and save money to marry a wife!
Li Hu drank another bowl of tea as a dessert after the meal.

After eating and drinking, Li Hu walked out of the shed with a bulging belly. The bright autumn sunshine shone on his body, making him feel warm. He took a deep breath and turned to walk towards his residence.

The residence was a bit far away, so Li Hu decided to cross through the alley.

Along the way, there were rather messy courtyards, and a few women dressed up in fancy clothes flirted with Li Hu, but after seeing the sword on his waist, they hurried away.

Li Hu's residence is a three-room house with a narrow courtyard.

When Li Hu pushed open the door with peeling paint, he was stunned.

The courtyard was empty, with dilapidated doors and windows and peeling interior walls.

Is this your home?
Li Hu looked around inside and outside and shook his head. After all, he was an official appointed by the court, but this was too shabby. He couldn't help but blame the emperor in his heart. He saved his life but didn't even reward him with a house. He was so stingy!

After a quick wash, Li Hu lay down on the bed holding his sword.
(End of this chapter)