When the kind-hearted eldest girl kindly warned Pan'er not to do stupid things to beg officials, Shang Cheng was walking on the way back to the city under the scorching sun.

He just went to see Wang Yi off.

In the eyes of many people, Wang Yi, the prince of Yiguo, is undoubtedly a young man with some real skills. Although this person is from a noble background, he rarely holds his own identity when he interacts with people, usually behaves humbly and dignified, has an easy-going demeanor and is not frivolous, does not speak with knowledge, and has his own set of rules when he speaks and does things, so there are many people who publicly praise him. But this person's faults are also very prominent, the biggest one is that he is too careful and lacks flexibility, and often grasps other people's shortcomings in official affairs to teach people not to get off the stage; In addition, he is working in the Zhibing Division, and what he is in charge of is the ban and punishment in the army, and the parties who have been severely punished in public several times happen to have some minor holidays with him in the past, which inevitably leaves people with the impression that they are narrow-minded and cannot tolerate people; For this reason, he also got a bad review that must be retributed. That is, he is misunderstood that his personality has these two defects, so most people stay away from him. Some people also took out some of the things he had done to exaggerate and spread them, which further confirmed the rumor that he was "arrogant and not easy to get along with". But the relationship between Shang Cheng and Wang Yi has always been very good, for example, this time Wang Yi wanted to leave Yanshan and return to Beijing, Shang Cheng not only tried his best to keep him, but also recommended Wang Yi to serve as the commander of the right army; This makes many people feel incomprehensible. They take it for granted that this is a manifestation of the commander's open-mindedness and ability to tolerate people, and at the same time, they also have more opinions on Wang Yi, who refused to be kind to Shang Cheng, one by one, this person doesn't even look down on Governor Sima, and may not be a toad who wants to eat swan meat, and is delusional about being the governor of Yanshan?

Because of this incident, many generals and colonels in the army have found opportunities to remind Shang Cheng either explicitly or secretly that Wang Yi is a villain, and if he is left behind, he may be the second Li Shen! Since he is going to go himself, let him go; The sooner you go, the better!

For those who vaguely express their views, Shang Cheng is noncommittal and does not evaluate. Friends socialize with each other, which is one of his creeds as a man; He would never affect his attitude towards his friends just because others had any opinions and thoughts about Wang Yi. And for those who insisted on saying bad things about Wang Yi in the open fire, they were severely reprimanded by him. Duan Qi, who asserted that Wang Yi was the second Li Shen, was directly ordered by him to go home to recuperate, "Wait until your mind is sober and then go to Duanzhou to do things!" ”

Of course, there are also people who say good things for Wang Yi. Guo Biao is one of them. He was also the one who insisted that Wang Yi go to Fangzhou as a governor. It's a pity that whether it was him or Shang Cheng, the two of them took turns to persuade each other, and Xiao Zhi moved with reason, but in the end they still failed to make Wang Yi change his mind.

Since he couldn't keep it, Shang Cheng couldn't help it, so he got up early today and sent Wang Yi to the official pavilion ten miles south of the city, and then the two of them said goodbye to each other......

Now he sat on horseback, and moved slowly and slowly by his horse in the shade of the shelter trees on the post road. The faint sadness of saying goodbye to his friend made him not feel very good; The white poisonous sun burned people's foreheads, shoulders and backs, and the dust and smoke of half a foot on the road burned people's nostrils and throats as uncomfortable, which made him even more upset. He had already taken off his long shirt, wearing only a sleeveless short coat, bare spine drooping his eyebrows, bowing his head and silent.

He was in a bad mood, and another reason was because Wang Yi mentioned Li Shen to him just now. Wang Yi insisted that although Li Shen's death was his own fault, Shang Cheng was also inextricably involved. He pointedly pointed out that it was because Shang Cheng took into account Li Shen's kindness and knowledge of promotion, so he repeatedly adopted a tolerant and indulgent attitude towards Li Shen, which not only led to the defeat of the war, but also caused Li Shen's death and reputation......

Shang Cheng did not defend himself. He couldn't defend it. And Wang Yi's accusation is not wrong, what does he use to justify? It's really his fault; If it weren't for his blind maintenance as a fake commander, Li Shen would not have come to this point. Alas, he didn't know Li Shen's problems; It stands to reason that he should have sat down with Li Shen for a serious long talk, but every time there is always a delay in one thing or another...... He immediately sneered at himself in his heart: You are not excusing yourself, what else can you be? Why don't you bring Li Shen in for a conversation? Isn't it because he is your old boss and has a kindness to you, are you afraid that you won't be able to show affection? Isn't it because you're afraid of falling into an evaluation of "kindness will take revenge"? Look at what you've done to make a good name for yourself?!

Duan Si took two guards and followed him on horseback unhurriedly.

Duan Si had already seen that he was in a bad mood, and he couldn't think of words to persuade him, so he was looking around all the way, hoping to find a rare way to distract him. Seeing Shang Cheng grab a long shirt from the saddle bridge to wipe his sweat, he said, "Commander, the weather is too big." One by one, why don't we rest at the fork in the road ahead and hurry again? ”

Shang Cheng glanced up. Half a mile away, a small bridge was crossed, and the post road split into two branches, one continuing north to the state city, and the other zigzag to the west. On one side of the avenue are wheat fields of different sizes; The hot wind rolls up, and the gusts of heat come to the nose with the earthy smell of wheat. On the other side of the road was a village of 100 households, tall and low, old and new, among the old and old mud huts, and there were also a few large houses with white plastered walls and brick ridges and tiled roofs, which were noticeably higher than the surrounding areas. When I got closer, I saw clearly that six or seven out of ten of the houses facing the street in Zhuangzi were connected to the pergola, carrying various guises of refreshments and pasta. It was now near noon, and it was the most scorching time of the day, and there were hardly any pedestrians on the road, except for a parked horse-drawn carriage parked on the side of the road. There are also a few pack horses tied to the horse stones under several pergolas near and far, and they are called donkeys and mules; Needless to say, the owners of these animals are probably also resting and fighting.

He nodded and said, "Then take a break." As he spoke, he reached out and touched his stomach. He got up early, and the breakfast he ate at the end of the day had been three or four hours now, and the two bowls of gruel and a few pieces of dry buns had long since melted into sweat, and now his belly was growling with hunger. "Grab a bite to eat."

Duan Si smiled: "Okay." I'm going to find a cleaner restaurant. Then he went first.

Waiting for Shang Cheng and them to approach slowly, Duan Si had already found a restaurant, and the boss and partner greeted him enthusiastically and loudly from afar, causing several surrounding businesses to stand up and watch the excitement. Duan Si dragged Shang Cheng's bridle and said, "I've seen it all, and this one has freshly cooked sauce beef." The meat is good, and the taste is good, but unfortunately there is no wine. ”

Shang Cheng ignored Duan Si's words, jumped off the horse, grabbed the robe and hung it on his shoulders, wiped his face with the corner of his clothes, and was about to enter the pergola with a step.

The owner of the pantry where the carriage was parked in the distance suddenly slapped his leg, pointed at Shang Cheng and laughed and said, "Ha, old guest! It's you! Laughing as he spoke, he ran over at a trot.

Shang Cheng turned his head to look over, his face was a little familiar, and after a little recollection, he remembered Zhang Xiao, a guy from the big teahouse in Yizhou City. He also laughed, arched his hand and said, "What a coincidence! Brother Zhang, why are you here? ”

Zhang Xiao ran over in two steps and grabbed Shang Cheng's arm, and his face was almost smiling like a flower: "It's a coincidence!" As soon as I went out this morning, I heard the magpie chirping, and I was still muttering something happy in my heart. I didn't think I would meet you here! He pretended not to see the restaurant owner's black face, dragged Shang Cheng and said, "I haven't seen you for a year, right?" This has always been good, but business is booming, isn't it? Come on, come on, I'll sit there......" Without saying anything, he put on a posture of invitation and led Shang Cheng down to his pergola.

Shang Cheng glanced at the restaurant owner and whispered apologetically, "Little brother, we are preparing to fight ......"

Zhang Xiaohun shook his head absently and said, "Where to eat and not eat?" He turned back to the restaurant owner and said, "Brother Wang, these are the old customers I got acquainted with in my early years, and their eating, drinking, and spending in your restaurant are all counted on my head, and I will make it up to you when I go back." He turned his head and said to Shang Cheng, "Let's go, I'll sit there." Then he raised his voice and exclaimed, "Family, here are the distinguished guests!" What good tea, good wine and good food, just serve! ”

Duan Si and the two guards both turned their faces and opened their mouths. Shang Cheng smiled: "Little brother is really a bold person!" So, we just bothered this afternoon? One by one, we don't have any money. ”

Zhang Xiao's chest of ribs can be seen in the rib strip even if he is so thin that he can see it, and he said very proudly: "What did the old guest say!" I've invited you to this meal, just say what you want to eat! ”

Duan Si smiled and took a bite at him: "You invited us?" You just talk about the spittle! He took two or three strings of copper coins from the saddle and threw them to the restaurant owner. The best sauce beef, cut ten catties first. You keep the money, and when you don't have enough to go, you will make up for it, and if you have more, it will be regarded as the stake money for tying the horse. The owner of the restaurant turned his anger into joy and busily went to cut the beef. Duan Si caught up and asked Zhang Xinhua; "Do you have any wine there?"

"Yes!" Zhang Xiaoji nodded like pecking rice, and immediately packed the ticket and said, "Rice wine, ale wine, fruit wine, apricot blossom dew, what do you want to drink, I have it there!" There are also one by one Huojia-brewed liquor in Yixian County, but there are not many! ”

Duan Si grinned: "It's better to have liquor!" He squinted at Zhang Xiao's skinny and skinny appearance again, and asked, "With a little ability, you can get liquor." Where did it come from? I'm afraid it wasn't stolen from the guards, right? ”

Zhang Xiaoma shook his head and said, "How is that possible, I have the courage to go to the barracks to stir up this matter." I'm not afraid to say to the old guest that this wine was given to me by someone else, only five catties, and it was packed in a blue and white porcelain jar one by one" He glanced at Shang Cheng with a smile and whispered, "It's the price......"

Duan Si grabbed him hard, pushed Zhang Xiao to his feet, and scolded with a smile: "Are you afraid that we will shorten your wine and meal money?" ”

Zhang Xiao rubbed his shoulders and didn't speak.

Duan Si asked again: "Tell me, where did this blue and white come from?" Even Shang Cheng was a little curious. The blue and white porcelain jar is filled with the best wine from the Huo family wine field, because I don't know the origin and process of this wine, so the output is very small, Huo Lun in addition to using it to give away, never sell this piece to the market, how can you get this thing?

"Someone else sent it." Zhang Novel, "A distant relative of mine is a relative of the Huo family in Zhoucheng, and the wine was given to her by the Huo family." She came to stay with me the other day and gave me this wine. He also said to Shang Cheng, "I'm a distant relative, and the old guest is also a ......."

Shang Cheng grinned. Zhang Xiao's distant relatives sat under the pergola.

He knew this man. Not only did they know each other, but they also met not long ago; Not only have they met, but it is said that they are also "alone men and widows in the same room". Now there are rumors everywhere in the city that he and Zhang Xiao's distant relatives are in love with each other, and they have been privately engaged for life in a small post station; There are already quite a few people looking for him to please the wine to drink......

He stepped into the pergola, nodded at Sang Xiu, who was full of surprise, and said with a smile, "Miss Xiu is also here." ”