Linzhi

There is only a plate of oranges on each person's table, and the oranges are still dry and wrinkled, and they are about to dry completely. Although Lingzhou is adjacent to Turks, it is not like a rich place in the Central Plains, but a majestic King An is another The governor of Lingzhou is not so poor that he can only use these broken oranges for hospitality, right?

Just when many people suspected that this was a Hongmen banquet, some maids filed in and served a plate of cherries to each table.

The cherries are fresh, juicy and bright red. They are as big as half the thumb of an adult man, and they look extraordinary at first glance. This is how they look like they are really going to entertain guests.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. Although they didn't say anything, the heart that had been suspended just now slowly returned to its original place.

Instead, there was more doubt.

Zhou Shu cleared his throat, and spoke first: "Your Highness is from Lingzhou, and I am busy with business. I have been waiting to invite you over and over again, but I have never been able to invite you. Today, Your Highness sent an invitation card, so I will hurry over to listen to your advice." , to be invited by His Royal Highness, Sansheng is really lucky!"

This is pure nonsense. He Rong has been in Lingzhou for half a year, not to mention official business, and he hasn't even left the door. What do you think a big man can do by staying at home all day?At first everyone thought that he was hiding in the golden house and brought someone here to fight against the phoenix and the goblin all day long, but after looking at it later, there were not many people coming in and out under He Rong, but he was the only one. It seems that he is really cultivating himself, reading books and planting flowers—although according to Zhou Shu’s eyeliner in the periphery, it seems that none of the flowers planted by Fan An himself survived in the end.

Hearing what Zhou Shu said, others echoed one after another, pouring out good words like they don't want money.

Looking at Yu Feng, governor of Lingzhou, he watched his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose, and he didn't say a word.

When everyone saw it, they couldn't help but feel even more puzzled.

To say that King An's behavior is peculiar, Yu Feng is no exception.

After being forced to move out from the Governor's Mansion, Yu Feng returned to the Governor's Mansion not long after, but he didn't wait for an opportunity to retaliate against such a shameful humiliation, or make things difficult for King An, instead, he settled down completely. Greetings from the ground, even dare not accept the gifts sent by the Zhou family, many people secretly want to scold you for being a coward.

It's a pity, seeing that a good show is about to be staged, but the past six months have passed so peacefully.

In the past six months, it's not that Zhou Shu and the others have never thought of following King An's footsteps. Hearing that King An's legs and feet are not good, Zhou Shu even made a bamboo stick out of purple bamboo, hollowed out and stuffed into a rare place in the world. Ye Mingzhu, thinking that this will always impress the other party, who knew that the gift could not even be delivered, so she was stopped outside the gate.

Zhou Shu really didn't understand, what did King An want to do when he asked the emperor for this fief, and he didn't accept gifts or bribes or seek pleasure?

But King An has been here for half a year, and their source of income has unknowingly decreased, and businessmen will be heartbroken if they make less money, let alone being cut off from a source of income.

He Rong didn't seem to care about what they were thinking, and said after hearing the words: "It will be Qingming in a few days. During the Chinese New Year, Governor Yu hosted a banquet. I didn't go there for some reason, and I didn't see you. It's a little rude. I took advantage of Qingming It’s almost time to invite you all here to have a chat together, which can be regarded as my host making up for the belated banquet.”

……

As if an invisible wind had blown by, the scene fell into embarrassment.

Those who have heard of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Lantern Festival banquet, and Qixi Festival banquet have never heard of the Qingming banquet. Does King An not know, or is he deliberately trying to squeeze them out?

The smiles of Zhou Shu and the others froze on their faces, and they didn't know what expression to put on for a moment.

Yu Feng looked at the cup on the table, as if flowers were about to bloom on the cup, so he couldn't allow him to be distracted for a moment.

It's not that he didn't notice other people's gazes on him, but at today's banquet, he made it clear that he was only here to accompany the guests. Anyway, it wasn't Yu Feng's Hongmen Banquet.

Fan Xuan pulled out a smile: "His Royal Highness Wang An is really good at joking!"

Wang An smiled slightly: "Yes, I also think it's quite funny."

He raised his sleeve and pointed at the cherries: "These cherries are going to be transported to Chang'an as a tribute. Those merchants heard that I am in Lingzhou now, so they asked someone to send a few baskets over."

Pointing to the shriveled oranges: "The oranges are leftovers from last winter in the warehouse. I asked them to pick some that haven't broken, and bring them out to entertain guests. It's the way of life to be diligent and frugal, and make the best use of everything. What do you think? "

After talking for a long time, dare you not buy something with your own money?How did Wang An cut himself like this?

The corner of Fan Xuan's mouth twitched, he didn't even want to look at that plate of oranges now.

Also, no other dishes have been served for a long time. Although everyone is definitely not here to eat, Wang An didn't even put on a show?

Zhou Shu knew that He Rong would not invite them to dinner for no reason, and these two plates of fruit had already explained everything.

"May I ask His Highness to summon us today, what is your order?"

"It's not an order, it's just a little matter, I want to discuss it with everyone here." He Rong said.

When the play meat came, Zhou Shu sat up straight, ready to take the move.

He Rong said: "I proclaim myself a king. Apart from the prince's salary and the rewards from your Majesty, I have two sleeves and no long-term possessions. After I came to Lingzhou, you have seen it. Even for a few wing rooms, I still can't afford to furnish them because of my lack of money. I have the cheek to borrow money from Inspector Yu, but Lingzhou Mansion can't afford much. The rest are for the people's livelihood. Even Inspector Yu Dare to give, I dare not take."

His eyes swept over everyone one by one, and his smile was like a spring breeze: "I have heard that you can turn stones into gold and do business well, so I invite you here today, and I want to ask for advice, is there any way to make money quickly, so that I can also do business?" Dip in the light."

Before coming here, Zhou Shu had a private discussion with several other families, and felt that King An's banquet for them was nothing more than two things, either for money or for relationship.

Strictly speaking, although they are only offshoots of the noble family, they have the same surname and root, rely on the relationship of the family to do business, and the money they earn has to go to the main family, and the things that the family is inconvenient to do are also done by them. The two parties are mutually beneficial. It is also a semi-public matter. If King An wants to take root in Lingzhou, he will find them sooner or later. Zhou Shu and others are not surprised.

However, Zhou Shu was a little uncomfortable when a prince asked for money so openly.

He secretly scolded the philistine for his ignorance, Zhou Shu smiled, stood up and cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, even if you don't tell me, I have to report this matter. When you first arrived in Lingzhou, I have already visited the door several times. I wanted to present a meeting gift to His Highness, but His Highness didn’t see outsiders at that time, so we had no choice but to finally see His Highness with our own eyes today, and in the future, thanks to Your Highness’ perseverance, I will definitely come to visit and ask for advice more often.”

The implication is that we have long wanted to give gifts and money, but you don't want it.

After Zhou Shu finished speaking, he clapped his hands, asked his servants to present the wooden box, and asked him to open it again.

A Buddha statue carved from high-quality mutton fat white jade immediately caught everyone's attention.

Everyone looked at this statue shining brightly in the sun, and they all converted it into equivalent gold in their hearts.

But He Rong didn't even look at the Jade Buddha, and said in a gentle voice, "Mr. Zhou has a heart, but you should take back the Buddha statue. I have never been in the habit of worshiping Buddha. It would be a waste for me to put this Buddha statue here. Why don't you give me some?" It’s more realistic to bring cash.”

Zhou Shu was stunned.

It's not that he has never seen officials ask for bribes. What he has seen and heard over the years is enough to write a diary of officialdom, but ordinary people are always a little bit ashamed. Some don't even accept gold, silver and jewelry, only antiques Calligraphy and painting, it seems that he is deeply afraid that he will be stained with copper. Zhou Shu has never seen such a straightforward and unpretentious person who asks for money, and the other party is still a dignified prince!

There was endless contempt in his heart, but Zhou Shu still smiled and said: "Your Highness is right, the villain will send someone over ten thousand dollars immediately!"

Now that you are shameless, there is no need for me to beat around the bush.

He Rong raised his eyebrows: "Mr. Zhou is sending beggars?"

Zhou Shu was stunned again: "What does Your Highness mean?"

He Rong looked around and sighed, as if he was unhappy that he didn't understand.

"How about this, you share one point, a total of 12 yuan, and see when you can give it to me."

12 yuan? !

Everyone opened their eyes wide, suspecting that something was wrong with their ears.

At the beginning of the establishment of this dynasty, the world was uncertain and prices were chaotic. A bucket of rice soared to three or four hundred yuan. The change is 12 yuan, which is an unimaginable number.

Even if these merchants could barely scrape together, they still couldn't help but gasp for King An's lion.

These days, the best and most expensive Turkic Dunma has more than 9000 texts.

How dare King An speak!

Are you really taking them for granted?

Zhou Shu sneered in his heart, and the smile was also suppressed on his face: "Your Highness, this... is a bit too much?"

"Where have you been?" He Rong looked at him without changing his face.

Pretending to be understanding and pretending to be confused!Zhou Shu couldn't help showing a sneer on his face. He fixedly looked at the other party, as if he wanted to see some clues from the other party.

For no reason, why do you think they will pay such a large sum of money?Was he, Wang An, stupid, or did he think they were fools?

Yu Feng raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of the strange and twitching expressions on the faces of the people, secretly gloating in his heart.

He still remembered when he first took office, these people gave him a bad name, now that the feng shui turns, it's their turn to be rectified, right?

Deserve it.

But he also suspects that Wang An is poor and crazy, and he is asking for 12 yuan in bribes. Who can afford it, and who is willing to give it?

He Rong took a cherry and put it in his mouth, um, it was quite sweet.

"Well, I'll give you three days, you can go back and think about it."

He stood up, took the bamboo stick in his hand, and walked towards the side hall without looking at the reaction of others.

Yu Feng could vaguely hear a few words between him and the boy next to him.

"I'm in a good mood today, go to the market to buy potted flowers and come back to display."

"I still buy it, you have planted eighteen pots to death!"

"Nonsense, what do you mean I'm dead?"

……

Could it be that King An still has something to rely on?

Yu Feng turned around in his heart a few times, turned his gaze back, and then got up and brushed off the dust that didn't exist on his clothes. After recovering, he paced away.

The people around King An left one after another, even the servants were gone, and the rest of the merchants with livid faces looked at each other, unable to suppress their anger.

"Father, this He Rong is really deceiving..." Zhou Zhi couldn't help it.

"Shut up!" Zhou Shu stopped him, he couldn't say anything here. "Go back and talk!"

On the other side, Yu Feng, who had already left Dudu Mansion and was about to get into the carriage, was stopped by Sang Lin who appeared from nowhere.

"My lord, our Highness is looking for you."

Yu Feng was surprised: "Are you going back to the Governor's Mansion?"

Sang Lin grinned at him: "No, Your Highness said to take you out to play."