At noon, Emperor Dongyuan gave a banquet to hundreds of officials in Daqing Palace.

Like the Zichen Hall on the day of the New Year's Day, the Daqing Palace at this time is still full of light songs and dances, still staggered, and still "Daqing Sheng is full of songs, and the outer garden is sparse". However, what is regrettable is that Yang Du, the prince of the auxiliary state, was grounded and unable to participate in today's feast, so the martial arts drama "Yang Chamber of Commerce", which was secretly looked forward to by many people, could not be staged twice. This cannot but be said to be a regrettable incident of this year's bow shooting in the outer garden.

Shang Cheng also felt very uncomfortable with this meal. Earlier, when Emperor Dongyuan summoned a large group of civil and military courtiers to warm the palace to talk, he didn't know what the reason was, so he left him out; During the meal, Emperor Dongyuan realized this negligence, so when he was at another table, he called several generals, including him, to the imperial platform to accompany him. It is, of course, a special honor to be able to sit and eat at the same table with the emperor; But it's also a sin! Emperor Dongyuan said that this dish was delicious, so everyone went to praise it with chopsticks; Emperor Dongyuan said that the dish was good, and everyone went to praise it with chopsticks. And it is also a profound knowledge to praise something according to the emperor's wishes, you can neither be more outrageous than the emperor nor worse than what the emperor said, otherwise it is a "lie" in front of the king, and you can't learn to say what others have just said, that is "with the words", which is more unbearable than the "fallacy in front of the king". One end can't eat and drink with an open belly, the other end must be careful to deal with talking, and be ready to respond to Emperor Dongyuan's cold and warm greetings at any time, just like that, when a meal is eaten and played outside the hall "Yan Returns to the Nest" should be the time when the monarch and the ministers say goodbye, Shang Cheng's stomach is still empty. When he resigned from Daqing Palace with the crowd, he was already hungry and sweaty......

He found his guards outside the west gate of the outer garden. Coincidentally, he met Zhen Xiang and Xue Xun. He had planned to drag them to find a place to eat and drink again; But both guys are fine. Zhenxiang's home is in the southern outer city, and he has to hurry home when he sees the snow getting heavier; Xue Xun is a relative who has traveled far away, and it is not good if he is a guest in the mansion and does not go back.

Shang Cheng led the horses and stood on the side of the road, watching them get into the carriage and run to their own things, wondering who else they could find to accompany him to eat and drink.

A carriage pulled up beside him, and with a warm greeting, he saw the last person he wanted to see.

"Oops, Zida!" Gu Shi lifted the curtain of the car to reveal a happy smile, and said, "I was looking for you everywhere when I left Daqing Palace, so you are here." How about going to the house with me one by one and drinking two more? ”

Shang Cheng was angry when he saw Gu Shi. He would rather go home hungry than sit and drink with Gu Shi! He said: "Gu Hou's heart has been received, and when I have time to turn around, I will definitely go to your house to ask for a drink." It's just that it didn't work out today, and I made an appointment with someone and said that I would go to his house for a drink......"

"Oh." Gu Shi said with a look of regret. After a pause, he asked, "Who did you date today?" ”

"Wang Yi."

"It's Xiao Yi Guogong! I remember that the Yiguo Mansion was in Dongcheng. Gu Shi said. He poked his head out and looked at Shang Cheng, then opened his eyes and looked at the west gate of the outer garden not far away, nodded, and said to himself, "Hmm? I live in the West City, I should go to the west gate of the outer garden, why did I park the carriage outside the east gate? "Saying that, Chao Shangcheng bowed his hand." Ask Uncle Ying, is this the west gate or the east gate of the outer garden? ”

Shang Cheng climbed onto the horse with a black face. The dead old fox specializes in exposing people's old bottoms, which is really not authentic! But he had said all the words, and there was no way to turn around, so he had to beat his horse around the garden to the east gate. Gu Shi's laughter came from behind: "Uncle Ying, if you don't find Wang Guogong at the east gate, remember to come back to me again, let's go to my house to drink together." I'll walk slowly! ”

Running out for three or four miles, estimating that it was impossible for Gu Shi to catch up again, Shang Chengcai restrained the horses and let the animal slowly take broken steps.

After a jolt on horseback, he felt hungrier now.

He sat down on his horse and looked left and right, back and forth. Beside a dirt road that can pass two large carriages together, the inner side is the rammed earth mud wall of the outer garden with two people, the wall plastered with plaster does not have a head in front and no tail, and the outer side is a steep ridge ten steps away, and there is a small river under the ridge that is frozen. On the other side of the river are clusters of miscellaneous trees, and a stone-paved path winds out of the trees to the river, presumably for the convenience of the residents to wash their clothes and get water. Occasionally, you can see a few black and fluffy wooden houses in the cracks in the trees. However, because of the snow, there was not a single figure in the woods on the other side of the river, only a few skinny dogs chased them persistently across the river, and from time to time they stopped and barked fiercely, as if to warn them. The barking of dogs is particularly harsh after the silence of winter......

He asked the two guards if they had anything to eat with them. But how could the guards have expected that the generals would still be hungry when they participated in the banquet, and they all rummaged through the blankets on horseback, except for making money, which is official silver, not to mention eating to fill their stomachs, and they didn't even order cake crumbs.

Fortunately, this is in the northern outer city, as long as you cross the river, there will be people, and where there are people, there will naturally be wine shops and restaurants that serve tea and rice. But the most important thing at the moment is that they can find a place to cross the river.

They walked more than a mile before they came across a bridge. Fortunately, there seems to be some kind of spontaneous market on the other side of the bridge, so there are several families who pick out the cloth for tea and rice not far from the bridge.

This morning and evening, the market has long since dispersed, so there are few people in a large empty field, only the shops with stores in the market are still open to do business, selling dried fruits, salt and sauces and the like. Occasionally, there are people who walk by with a burden, holding a rattle bell in their hands and shaking while walking, and in the long copper bells, "Lao Huang's sauce donkey meat", "Braised chicken, Lao Lin's braised chicken" and "rice wine lees", a long sound of buying and selling shouts hovers in the air like singing......

Shang Cheng called a guard to cut a few catties of donkey meat in sauce, and found a restaurant that looked relatively clean and stopped. He turned over on horseback, one foot was in the stirrups, and as soon as the thick cloth curtain of the restaurant was picked, he greeted the guy, took a small broom and patted the snow on his head and shoulders and said, "Oh, yes, the old guest is here!" You're going to eat, eat ......."

Not to mention that the guy was stupid and nagging the word "eat" over and over again, but Shang Chengdu was very surprised. Isn't this guy in front of him the head of Xun Zhutou, who is a tax collector in Dongshi? I haven't seen him for a few days, why did this guy lose his errand in the yamen and become a buddy in this small restaurant?

"General......" Xun Zhutou was about to arch Shang Cheng with a broom.

Shang Cheng held his two arms in one hand. Good fellow, he hasn't lived long enough, does he dare to accept such a big pillar of incense?

Xun Zhutou also realized that it was indeed not a matter for him to make such a salute, so he hurriedly threw the broom and solemnly shook it, and said in his mouth: "General, little Xun An, I have congratulated you on the New Year!" I wish the general all the best in the New Year! ”

Shang Cheng returned the salute casually, listening to Xun An's song-like congratulations, and couldn't help grinning. For him, the New Year is not good, everything is not very smooth, and it is impossible to rise step by step; However, he was still very happy to hear such a pleasant New Year greeting. He also thought that Xun An was dismissed by the yamen because he made a mistake here, so he had the heart to help him, so he grabbed a handful in the horseback coat, regardless of the yellow or white, three or four gold and silver bills were stuffed into Xun An's hands: "Borrow your good words." A little care is not a respect. ”

Xun An spread out his hands and held the New Year's gift given by Shang Cheng, and only glanced down, one yellow, three white and four were one or two official households, and he was startled at that time. The market price of gold and silver is one to twenty-four, and silver is one to twenty-six, which is a heavy gift of sixty or seventy thousand...... He shuddered for a moment, and hurriedly said, "General, this, this ......"

Shang Cheng waved his hand indifferently and said, "I'll take it for you, and buy some fruit candy for the dolls at home, which is a little bit of my heart." He threw the whip to the guard, and lifted the curtain himself and went in.

Because of the need to shelter from the wind and rain, the front and back of this small restaurant are covered with thick curtains, and the two windows are also covered with thick paper, and the room is neither very ventilated nor a little dim. Especially since it was a snowy day, the moon outside covered the sun and the snowflakes were flying, and the house was getting darker and darker, even if there was an oil lamp lit in a niche on one wall, it didn't make much difference. Shang Cheng just came in from outside and couldn't see anything clearly, so he blinked vigorously a few times before he finally got used to it. In front of him was actually a small narrow room, with only four tables and chairs, and two drunken men sat by the door, their faces red and red-eyed......

He found a table and sat down.

Xun An didn't ask him what he wanted to eat, so he ran to the back and shouted: "Quick, quick!" Mother, sister-in-law, family, there are distinguished guests here, and all the delicious and delicious drinks are served! One by one, hurry up and light all the lamps and bring them! "Another trot back to push those two drunks." Daddy, brother, wake up quickly! He apologized to Shang Cheng and said, "General, look at this trouble." I really didn't know you could step in. At the end of the year, there were no guests, so they drank a few more! ”

Shang Cheng smiled and nodded to show that he understood, and asked him again, "Aren't you a buddy here?" ”

"This is my father-in-law's house." Xun An said, "Although they are all in the same city, my family is in Pinglefang in the southern outer city, and it takes an hour or two to go back and forth. It's not, taking advantage of the New Year's holiday to congratulate my father and grandmother. One said that the other helped put two or three more oil lamps on the walls of the surrounding tables, and then raised the wick to the maximum, and the room suddenly became much brighter. The two women were about Xun An's mother-in-law and his sister-in-law one by one, and they went in and out of the ground one by one, bringing up a few notched large bowls and side plates, what vinegar, garlic, onions, boiled eggs, salted eggs, boiled soybeans, tofu sauce, pig ears, air-dried chicken, and most of the table.

Looking at a few pieces of sauce pig ears and a few pieces of chicken neck and chicken feet, Xun An's face became ugly at that time, pulled his daughter-in-law's arm to the side, and asked angrily, "How dare you bring these things out for hospitality?" ”

His daughter-in-law rubbed her arm and said unhappily, "That's all there is left at home." That's all for me and my sister-in-law to leave for you so that you can accompany the wine. Why don't I go and serve him a bowl of noodles and add more sesame sauce sauce? ”

"You ......" Xun An was so excited by her mother-in-law's words that she almost lost her breath. He jumped to his feet and yelled, "You damn! Fast! Go buy it! Buy whatever is good, buy whatever is expensive! Hurry up and buy it! As he spoke, he shoved a silver coin into his mother-in-law's hand. Hurry up! ”

His mother-in-law obviously knew the goods, and took the silver coin and asked, "Ah, this is official silver!" Where did it come from? ”

Xun An was so angry with his mother-in-law that he was going crazy, he spun around on the ground with his hands, jumped up and shouted, "Why don't you get up and buy food quickly?!" ”

Shang Cheng laughed, picked a chicken neck that looked a little meaty, threw it in his mouth and chewed it, and said in a vague voice: "Lao Xun, don't be so outside, it's good to have these!" I asked people to buy donkey meat, and I brought it as soon as I spoke. Then he said to his daughter-in-law, "If my sister-in-law doesn't bother mes, I'll bother you to help me make a bowl of noodles, and if there are still chickens at home, I can beat a few, and if it's gone, put more green onion sesame oil or something." As he spoke, he casually took off the hood on his head, untied the hood that was covering the outside, and threw it all on the stool.

Xun An and his daughter-in-law were arguing about whether to go or not, and suddenly they all stopped talking and looked at his head dumbfounded. One, two, three, four, five, six, the six golden wings on the head of the black gauze pierced people's eyes brightly under the illumination of the lamp.

Xun Anshen stepped over with one shallow foot, almost approached to identify the color of Shang Cheng's robe, stood up for a long time, and muttered in a dream: "Three pairs of golden wings, pinching red robes, are you Shangzhu Kingdom?" ”

Shang Cheng smiled and dragged him to the side of the table to sit down, and said, "Didn't you shout one by one, why did you suddenly change your appearance like this?" ”

Xun An's buttocks were just touched by the stool, and he trembled violently as if he was sitting on the fire, and he wanted to jump up when he opened his mouth and hands, but he was pressed on the stool by Shang Cheng and couldn't move. Shang Cheng smiled: "Don't see Lilly." You and I know ......" easily stuffed the tea soup poured into his hand.

"Don't dare, don't dare. How dare the little one ......"

Shang Cheng laughed and said, "It's strange if you don't dare." I remember the year before last in that wine shop, when you tried to arrest me when you were arresting thieves, you were the loudest in a large number of head-catchers patrolling the streets. Last year, you almost dragged me into the prison of Pingyuan Mansion and gnawed on rotten vegetable dumplings......"

Xun An held the hot tea soup, a little hot in the palm of his hand, and gradually became less flustered, and then listened to Shang Cheng's words are mostly ridiculous, and the uneasy mood slowly subsided, and said with a smile: "I knew your identity, who would dare to take you?" He also said, "When I saw your face of Xuntian jade pendant, I knew that you were an earth-shattering man!" As he spoke, he jumped up and kicked his mother-in-law. Why don't you buy a good table at the table? ”

He didn't dare to say anything, buried his head and saluted the wall indiscriminately, opened the curtain and ran away, and then heard a plop outside the door, probably hitting something or slipping on his foot and falling on his heel......

Xun An didn't go out to see if his mother-in-law was broken or not, he sat on the stool with a tea cup, and said to Shang Cheng with a smile: "The country mother-in-law has never seen the world, don't pay attention to the general." ”

Shang Cheng had already heard his mother-in-law chirping away, so he spread his hands and looked at Xun An and said, "Old Xun, I'm coming here for the New Year, you have to invite me to drink a glass of water if you don't invite me to eat and drink, right?" ”

"Oh, look at my stupidity!" Xun An jumped up again......