When Shang Cheng walked to the big restaurant in Dongshi, the noon bell had just struck.

The restaurant said that it was in the East Market, but in fact, it was half a street away from the East Market. Because it was still a little early before lunch, the restaurant seemed very deserted; There were no men standing on the green steps at the door who greeted the guests warmly. But several of the facades were open, and the cotton curtains in the doors on the east and west sides were also half-rolled up, obviously opening the door to do business.

Shang Chengcai stepped on the stone steps of the restaurant, and the guy in the restaurant came out with a smile on his face, shook lightly with one hand, and the long rag in his hand snapped on his forearm, picked up the other half of the door curtain with one hand, bowed slightly and shouted: "The old guest is here, just you?" The long-pitched Shangjing official dialect is straight and round, as clear and crisp as a poetry chant.

"I'm the only one." Shang Cheng climbed the stairs and said, "Is there an Accord upstairs?" ”

The guy was stunned with a "uh" sound, and glanced at Shang Cheng with a smile on his face. Shang Cheng's appearance needless to say, "his appearance is not good" is all praise, and the outfit can't be seen up or down, but he is calm and high-spirited, obviously not an ordinary person like a peddler and a pawn, and he said with a smile after a little hesitation: "The old customer is forgiving." There are a few Accords upstairs, but you are unfortunate to come today, and the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Affairs came to book four seats a few days ago, saying that it was to reward Gyeonggi County; There are four more rooms, two of which were ordered by Si Cao of the Yamen outside the Ministry of Household yesterday, one is that Mr. Li is leaving, and the remaining one is that our host is going to entertain the distinguished guests from Yanshan...... "As he spoke, he looked at Shangcheng with his eyes.

Shang Cheng originally wanted to find a place to fill his belly, of course it was good to have Accord to eat cleanly, and it was not a big deal without Accord, and after listening to the guy's explanation, he smiled and said, "Forget it if you don't have it." I'm right downstairs in the lobby. As he spoke, he found a bright place by the window in the lobby and sat down. Pick the hot dishes you are good at and send them, three dishes and one soup, no matter what kind of dishes they are, but they must put less ginger and garlic. Oh, I don't drink, rice pastry or something, I just serve it with the dishes. Then he asked, "You said that your host is going to invite guests from Yanshan, and I am from Yanshan, can you inquire which guest it is?" ”

The guy shouted loudly, "Three kinds of hot dishes, one less ginger and less garlic", and naturally someone ran to greet the stove room, and he took a rag to wipe the black lacquer strip case that was so bright that it could shine the figure again, and then smiled and said: "The old guest is joking, what can't be inquired about?" It was the general manager of the Huo family in Weiyi County, Yanshan, and Mr. Yao, the general account of the Liu Ji Warehouse in Yanzhou. ”

Shang Cheng pursed his lips and smiled when he heard this. He also thought that the owner of this restaurant invited some kind of big shot, but it turned out to be Liu Ji's Lao Yao. He is very familiar with Lao Yao, but the head of the Huo family has only met once, and he only remembers that he is a person from the Huo clan, Huo Liu's uncle and brother, and he must respect "Uncle Eleven" when they meet. When he saw that the man had wiped and wiped a piece of paper that was so clean that it could show the shadow of a person, he took out a small cloth bag and took out a tael of silver barley and put it on the table, and said, "This is the money for food." The extra is with you. ”

When the man saw the silver barley, he smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed. Shang Cheng's meal is thousands of dollars and ten Wen, but the current price of official silver is one to two thousand seven, and a word of flattery has been made so much money in vain, where can you not be so happy that the cracks in the bones are crispy?

"Who's your host?" Shang Cheng asked.

The guy was a little surprised. With such a big font size on the plaque outside the door, didn't Shang Cheng see it? He smiled and said, "Don't dare to ask as an old guest." Our owner's surname is Yuan ......"

He only said that Shang Cheng understood that this restaurant was the property of the Yuan family in Yongshengchang for a long time. I just don't know if the person who is here today is Yuan Lan or Yuan Chi; Maybe both brothers came forward. After all, today's Liu Ji is no longer the small warehouse of the year, and Huo Liu is not the old bookstore in the yamen at the beginning. He could imagine how beautiful Huo Liu was now. In the whole world, except for one or two official workshops in the Ministry of Industry, only he Huo Liu can take out the liquor in his hand; The dry son-in-law, Sun Zhongshan, became a world-famous general by virtue of the victory in Heishui City......

There are few guests in the restaurant, the chef's hands and feet in the stove room are fast, and in a blink of an eye, the food that Shang Cheng wants will be delivered, dry fried beef, fried lamb loin, fried meatballs, and a chicken egg drop soup, several dishes are very common, and it is rare that there are a few rare green vegetable leaves in the wax moon in the plate and basin as decorations, and looking at it will teach people to have a great appetite. Shang Cheng couldn't help but praise it. The man diligently chose a pair of chopsticks for him, and helped him fill a bowl full of white rice, and saw that he had nothing to say, and hurried to greet the few guests who had just entered the door.

"Yo-ha! It's Xuntou, how did you and a few brothers think about taking care of the business in the store today? One by one, Wangtou is not with you? ”

The man surnamed Xun seemed to be very impatient, and said with a sneer in his nose: "I dare to come to your Taibai Mansion to eat and drink?" Then my whole family has to drink the wind! Don't be wordy, tell your owner to come out, if you don't explain next year's tax today, I'll stop in your store! As he spoke, he heard the sound of dragging seats, moving drum stools, and heavy objects smashing on the table.

Shang Cheng glanced at the few people who came in. They are all dressed as errands in the yamen, with wooden plaques pinned to their waists and official boots under their feet, and the leader is still a little familiar in a trance......

"Where Xuntou speaks, he is a guest." The guy said with a smiling face, and shouted again, "Later, serve a few side dishes to Xuntou and these brothers, and warm a pot of wine!" One by one, you are unlucky. You see, at this time, sooner or later, how can our owner be in the store? Why don't I ask our shopkeeper out? ”

The surnamed Xun had a dark face and was silent, and some of the officers who came with him said: "I just went to your big shop to ask, and they all said that Mr. Yuan Er came to Taibai Building." Why, if you don't want to face each other, you can't do it? Will he be able to hide? Some people also said sourly: "Huang Si, you are so shaken, you actually have the money to invite us to eat and drink." One by one, you're not a big guy right now, and you're promoted again? ”

"Fifth brother, you're joking." The guy took the bowl and teapot from the young man in the running hall, and poured the best tea soup for several errands. "No, I just got the reward of that old guest, otherwise where would I have the money to invite a few of you?" As he spoke, he pointed to Shang Cheng, who was immersed in vegetables and rice.

A few noisy servants were silent for a moment. This Taibai Building is close to the outer yamen of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry, and there are usually more than six officials here to eat and rest for lunch, and it is very common to bump into a Lang official Cao Guan; There are also many officials who have come to Beijing to do business here, and it is not uncommon for a few officials of the prefect of the prefecture to come and go, and they do not dare to make too much noise, so as not to disturb the purity of the adults. In addition, Shang Cheng's appearance is fierce, and at first glance, he is not good at his peers, so they dare not be presumptuous. On the contrary, Xun Tou stared at Shang Cheng and looked at him fiercely...... He jumped up suddenly, not caring about the drum stool that he knocked over, and bypassed the two cases in a few steps, and there were still four or five steps away from Shang Cheng.

"General, it's you!"

This sharp and sharp voice startled the guests in the room, even the two guests who were walking up the ladder to the second floor were also shocked by his claim.

Shang Cheng smiled wryly. Counting this meal, he has eaten two meals outside after entering Beijing, and the results are recognized by people twice, it seems that the rice bowl in the capital is really not good! Seeing that Xun Tou didn't get up straight after a long fight, he had to put down his chopsticks, helped him through the case, and said, "Get up." And he said, "Are you also here to eat?" As the saying goes, 'you can't eat alone', come, you can also sit. It's also fate to meet, so let's join me......"

He was purely polite, how could he know what Xun Zhutou smiled and humbled in his mouth, "Where does a villain like me dare to sit at the same table with the general", but his hands and feet were not slow at all, he carefully moved a drum stool and then sat down one by one, but he only dared to sit on the small half of his buttocks.

Shang Cheng didn't expect Xun Zhutou to dare to sit down. But he had already said everything, and now he had no way to pick up people, so he had to smile dryly and say, "What dare you dare?" Speaking of which, I also want to thank you, if you didn't help relieve the siege on the Yangliu Embankment in July, I was afraid that I would have to be arrested and sent to the Yamen of the Plains Mansion to squat for two days......" Xun Zhutou quickly got up and said, "General Sun said that he laughed." What kind of person are you, and where do we dare to do anything to you? You only need to move your fingers, and I can't turn to ashes? ”

Shang Cheng was a little inexplicable for him to call himself "General Sun", and he thought it was his slip of the tongue, ignored him, and beckoned to the big guy: "Fight two cases, and serve some good wine and food, I will invite a few big brothers from Pingyuan Mansion to have a good wine and dinner." Then he beckoned the servant over there to come and sit down. Seeing that the big guy was still a little unconscious, he smiled and said, "The reward just now is still with you." In this way, you first remove all these dishes, and then reorganize a good table on the table......" turned back and asked Xun Zhutou the first sentence, "You still have to do things later, can you drink wine at this meal?" Without waiting for him to answer, he continued to command, "Ask for less wine." Don't want Yanshan's liquor, let's have some fruit wine to make wine. Turning his head again, Xun Zhutou said over and over again: "Don't dare, don't dare...... Where do you dare to be a general? It should be us who ask you to ......."

Shang Cheng smiled and said to him, "Why don't you call those brothers of yours over?" ”

Those few errand officers waited for this sentence, and they came over suddenly without Xun Zhu's hair, some learned Xun Zhutou's long salute, and some did the official salute, and sat down one after another around the case that the guy had just come over, and they all heard Xun Zhutou's shouting of "general", so no one had the courage to sit side by side with Shang Cheng. Fortunately, this case could have been equipped with four seats, and six people could barely sit down if they were squeezed. Some people also looked at Shang Chengqing, and looked at him as if he was a pillar country, so he asked Xun Zhutou in a low voice, who is this general?

Xun Zhutou originally didn't want to tell Shang Cheng's identity. But the whole hall of guys and diners were looking at him, and it was really itchy to hold it in his heart if he didn't say it, and finally he couldn't hold back and stood up and said loudly: "Do you know who this general is?" He is the general of Zheng Guogongsun Fusun who broke Blackwater City! ”

Sun Zhongshan's name is really loud, as soon as Xun Zhutou's words came out, the upstairs and downstairs lobby Accord suddenly inhaled a sound, and even the diners and men, everyone was dumbfounded.

Shang Cheng himself also opened his mouth wide and couldn't close it. He originally thought that Tao Qi revealed his identity to this Xun Zhutou in the summer, but who knew that this was all Xun Zhutou's own speculation. Is he Sun Zhongshan? Can he be Sun Zhongshan? What is he like the guy who does things backwards and backwards? Sun Zhongshan is a little better than himself, what else can compare with him...... He swallowed and said dryly, "This, that...... I don't have the surname Sun. ”

There was immediately another exhalation in the lobby.

Xun Zhutou was a little dazed. On the day of Daughter's Day in July, someone reported that the wicked committed a crime to pursue the people's daughter, and he and Wang Tou bumped into Shang Cheng on the Yangliu Causeway, and when he went back to Pingyuan Mansion Yin Taoqi to close the case, and then mentioned Shang Cheng's appearance, and within a few days, the two of them were transferred from the arrest to the East City for tax items. This difference makes it easy, there is no need to patrol the streets in shifts day and night, the salary is also a lot higher, and from time to time the skin of the mouth can be stained with some oil flowers and a few copper coins in the waist, which is stronger than catching fast I don't know how many times. They knew in their hearts that this good thing must be inseparable from Shang Cheng, but they couldn't understand why Tao Qi, a civil official, would sell the affection of a military general? It wasn't until Sun Zhongshan broke through Heishui City and set off fireworks in Beijing for ten days that they understood the truth: if the general they met twice was not Zheng Guogong Sun Zhongshan, who else could it be? If it weren't for General Sun, Tao Mansion Yin would be able to transfer the two of them to Dongshi? If it's not Zheng Guogong, who else can have the Xuntian jade pendant of the cloud-patterned unicorn? But, but...... But General Sun Fusun in front of him actually said that he was not surnamed Sun...... If it's not Sun, what else can you have as a surname?

"Not surnamed Sun? Don't have the surname Sun You......" He almost spit out the words in his heart, but fortunately, he was a little quick, and the words came to the tip of his tongue and changed. “…… Don't have the surname Sun, you, you ...... You must be General Simon! "If it's not Sun Guogong, then it must be the Marquis of Ximen!" You are also the martial arts star in the sky, and you were sent by the gods in the sky to protect our Great Zhao! ”

Shang Cheng was angry and funny, and said with a strange expression: "I'm not Ximen Sheng either." "Can Simenk be my size? Seeing that Xun Zhutou shook his lips and continued to speculate, he hurriedly opened his mouth to cut off his words first, and said, "I'm not Shao Chuan, not Qian Laosan." I don't have the surname Zhang either! "You guess it, just ask me what my surname is, and it's over?

If someone else listens to Shang Cheng's words here, even if he can't think of Shang Cheng's true identity, he can at least understand that his identity is much higher than Sun Zhongshan, Ximensheng and others. Xun Zhutou was just a catcher and not an official, so he was stunned for a long time before he asked cautiously: "This, a little reckless, has never consulted the adult's noble ...... I haven't asked for the name of the adult. He had a rare phrase that popped out of his mouth.

"My surname is Shang." Shang Cheng said. He stared at Xun Zhutou and a few errand servants, just to see what their expressions would be when they heard about his surname. He thinks that he is more famous than Sun Zhongshan and Ximen Sheng, right? Even if it's not good, it can always be compared to Huo Liubo, right?

But he was disappointed. He was very disappointed. Except for Xun Zhutou, the trace of hot enthusiasm in the eyes of others disappeared when he said his surname Shang. A few errand servants bowed their heads and looked at the sky, and there was a short sound of the diners' words in the lobby that was silent just now, and the guys who ran the hall also continued to be busy, serving wine and delivering food and hot towels, and beckoning new customers to drink and drink, and their voices seemed to be half a step higher than Fang Cai...... Only Xun Zhutou still remembered the Xuntian jade pendant of the cloud-patterned unicorn, and he didn't drink it while holding it, and he frowned and wondered which big man was in front of him.

suffered from the sissy plague, and was compared to Sun Zhongshan and Huo Liubo!

Shang Cheng smacked his lips, and after a while, he no longer persuaded a few errand soldiers, picked up the chopsticks and prepared to eat and drink, and put a clip of mutton on the rice, and was about to pick up a big bowl and eat without shaving and settling the accounts and leaving, when he heard a woman's voice ask: "Please ask this lord ......?"

Shang Cheng turned his head and glanced at the two guests who were about to go up to the second floor just now. One was a middle-aged man in his forties with a smile on his face, and he was not very good looking and dressed. Although the person who spoke to him was dressed as a scribe, he knew at first glance that he was actually a woman. This woman has long eyebrows, big eyes, melon seed face, clear contours of the face, clear lines, and much rougher skin than ordinary women. What's her last name......

He condensed and recalled, and then remembered that he had Lu Youtian Xiu one by one, so he stood up and arched his hand and said: "It turned out to be Lord Tian......" He remembered that this female son had a lot of official positions, and what Zhili Yuan right observed the eight and nine grades of Professor Dacheng Palace, the deputy secretary of Xijing Chi County, and the title of Lin Lin was also a long and slippery title. turned his gaze to the middle-aged man beside Tian Xiu, and then arched his hand and said, "I didn't ask this adult ......."

The man returned the salute with a fist and said, "Chang'an Li Mu." ”

"It turned out to be Master Li." Shang Cheng arched his hand again.

Xun Zhutou had eyes, and when he saw the three adults talking about their homes, he immediately moved two drum stools over and placed them next to Shang Cheng's case.

Li Mu waved his hand, shook his head and said with emotion: "Don't dare to be the word 'adult'......"

Tian Xiu helped explain beside him: "The teacher has resigned and retired for many years, and this time the imperial court has repeatedly recruited him to return to Beijing, and he has not been appointed for the time being. She could probably see that Shang Cheng was very unfamiliar with the name "Chang'an Li Mu", so she paused for a moment and then said, "My teacher, Mr. Dingyi, has been concentrating on cultivation in Taibai Mountain for the past few years. ”

Shang Cheng knew that it was a very elegant thing to go to the Tao in these years, and it was not that a person who was famous enough to a certain extent did not have the qualifications to cultivate. Looking at Taibai Mountain, the place where Li Mu cultivated, the fame on the Dao Dan Road is almost as famous as Zhongnan Mountain; And Zhongnan Mountain because of the Tang Xuanzong Lu Zang used to make an allusion to the "Zhongnan shortcut", which was quite despised by later literati, and then there is the special landform of Taibai Mountain, which has always had the praise of "mountain bones and forest wind", so Li Mu cultivated in Taibai Mountain, and his reputation alone was much higher than that of cultivating in Zhongnan Mountain. He smiled and said, "It turned out to be Mr. Dingyi...... and he suddenly remembered who this person was. That day, I had dinner at Liangfeng Restaurant, and halfway through Jinan Wang Chen Huang came in and said that Mr. Dingyi had returned to Beijing, and it turned out that the middle-aged man in front of him was indeed a high-ranking man...... He arched his hand again and said casually, "...... Why don't you sit down for a meal together? I'm also kind to Mr. Dingyi...... Also, Lord Tian, I would like to ask you two about your studies. ”

He had a fierce look on his face, and the people sitting with him were all some yamen servants who were catching heads, no matter how Li Mu and Tian Xiu looked at him, it didn't seem that he had knowledge to ask for advice. Li Mu smiled and said, "Don't dare to be instructed." One by one, today we are here to Li Changguan's invitation, I dare not teach him for a long time, if the adults don't think we are noisy, you might as well go together? ”

Li Mu's words were tempting, but Shang Cheng didn't notice it at all. How did he know that Li Changguan that Li Mu said was Li Changguan, a famous scholar in the Central Plains, and said with a dry smile: "I still have a little urgency to go to the sixth department later." Why don't we change the day? ”

Li Mu smiled and nodded. Seeing that the teacher was no longer stubborn in the invitation, Tian Xiu was a little anxious, and said beside her: "I haven't asked the adult ...... yet."

If Li Mu was willing to sit down, then Shang Cheng would definitely be willing to get to know and interact with the two senior intellectuals, but if Li Mu didn't sit down, Shang Cheng would have no interest in making friends. He waved his hand indifferently, interrupted Tian Xiu's words, and said, "The events of that day have nothing to do with Lord Tian. That female thief was originally the person I had always wanted to arrest, but unfortunately she was as shrewd as a ghost, and she ran head-on several times, and finally taught her to escape. Speaking of which, I was the one who tired Lord Tian that night. If I hadn't suddenly appeared, she would probably have disappeared like this......" After saying that, she would have said goodbye to the two......

On the way home, Shang Cheng suddenly remembered something. That night, Chen Huang seemed to have not only mentioned Li Mu, but also mentioned a person named Qingshan, as if he was saying something like "Qingshan invited back Mr. Dingyi from Chang'an". This Qingshan, is it the Tian Qingshan he has been looking for to write the "Qingshan Manuscript"?

He felt that this Qingshan, who came back with Li Mu, was probably the person he was looking for, because Li Mu's student was surnamed Tian. Lu Youtian Xiu, she must have some kind of close relationship with Tian Qingshan......