Before the end of the year, Li Mao received a mess of gifts, including rice, noodles, sauce, vinegar, wine, preserved chicken, bacon, live fish, and live rabbits from the tenants of the public mansion field, as well as wine, meat, salt, incense, cakes, cakes, candles, tents, cloth, and new money from the tenants in the city. The so-called gifts are still exchanged, there is a return to the officials, Li Mao has gifts, and the colleagues have gifts to the celebrity in front of the county order, one increase and one decrease, Li Mao's residence is still piled up into a hill. After he sorted these gifts, he either asked Qingmo to help sell them, or gave them to the neighbors, but most of them went to Xue Rong's house.

Xue Rong is an honest official, although he is the respect of a county, he does not collect many things, considering that many places in the state have to be checked, Li Mao took out the valuables and local specialties he received, he made a list, and asked Wei to make additions, so he sent Lao Gu and Qingmo to send them to the family.

Lao Gu is lazy and likes to eat and drink, he is drunk and has no door on his mouth, nagging, and saying everything that should be said and what should not be said. Wei Shi discussed with Li Mao: "It's better for you to run through Caozhou, I'm really not at ease to let Lao Gu go." Li Mao promised to take Qingmo, Zhang Xuan, and Zhao Tong to Caozhou.

Zhang Xuan and Zhao Tong were left from the ten porters brought from Baoding County, they were all simple, steady, and capable men, and they got along well with Li Mao on the way when they came, and they felt that Xue Rong was kind to others, Li Mao persuaded them to stay, and now the Houya helps Xue Rong deal with some family affairs. Li Mao hired three mule carts to come to Caozhou, found an inn to live in, according to the official position, the relationship was estranged, and Zhang Xuan and Zhao Tong assigned tasks, and sent Qingmo to guard the guy in the inn, and the three of them acted separately.

On this day, Li Mao sent a Chengwu County specialty and a box of jewelry to Mrs. Hu in the west of Caozhou City, Hu is the sister of Hu Rongyu, the assassin of Caozhou, who died of her husband in her early years, and has been living with her brother with her son, the relationship between brother and sister is deep, Hu speaks very weightily in front of Hu Tingshi, and many people ask Hu Rongyu to do things are to follow Hu's door. Such a person who has an influence on the history of assassination, Li Mao naturally does not dare to ignore it. After he explained the reason to Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster personally selected a pair of precious jewelry for him to bring.

Hu Shi saw Li Mao's tall and burly, a talent, I liked it, kept a bowl of tea, sent the housekeeper to give him three hand-baked butter cakes as a thank you gift, these three cakes are very particular, with the first stubble wheat flour as a cake, with fresh mutton, diced vegetables as the filling, and poured a thick ghee, carefully baked, not only the real material, the appearance is also very good-looking, both sides of the cake are printed with patterns, the mold is carved by Hu Shi himself, the carving is extremely fine, the local officials and rich households are all proud of such a cake.

Li Mao accepted the cake, thanked the Hu family, and went out.

It was getting late, snowflakes were floating in the gray sky, Li Mao was not used to eating things that were too greasy, so he hid the three cakes in the package, and was thinking about going to a restaurant to solve the stomach problem, and someone behind Leng Buding shouted: "Brother Maohua, it's been a long time." ”

When I looked back, I saw a person coming out of the crowd and bowing to him, it turned out to be Zhang Ye, the state counselor. Li Mao hurriedly returned the salute, and Zhang Ye said: "Brother Maohua, my brother wants to say two words to you, but he didn't even show his face when he came to Caozhou, it's too bad for a friend." "A day ago, Li Mao sent Zhang Xuan to give Zhang Ye a gift, and Li Mao was an acquaintance of Zhang Ye in the state government, and this gift was more generous than usual. Zhang Ye had been thinking about this in his heart, so he hurried to say hello.

Li Mao apologized and said: "I am on a mission, and my busy feet do not touch the ground, so I have neglected Zhang to join the army." ”

Zhang Ye said: "Hey, what Zhang joins the army, you and I should be commensurate with brothers, let's go, I invite you to drink." This is exactly what Li Mao wants, and the two came to the famous drunken immortal residence in Caozhou, and the shopkeeper Wang Shiwei knew Zhang Ye and hurried over to flatter. Wang Shiwei lived in Caozhou, and the drunken immortal residence has a history of 40 years from his ancestors, and he is also famous in the local area. After communicating with Li Mao, he said: "Brother Maohua rarely comes to Caozhou, I invite you to this meal, try the specialty dishes of this store, go out and publicize it, and promote my name." Standing at the door and ordering, Li Mao felt a little uncomfortable, Zhang Ye persuaded: "They are all their own friends, it is true that the shopkeeper Wang is a businessman, but he is also a good man who is anxious for justice and righteousness. ”

Li Mao laughed, but thought in his heart: Is it appropriate to use the words "go to the soup and go to the fire, and do not give up" to describe a businessman, why do you always feel that this is a bit of a loser.

Wang Shiwei prepared several of the most distinctive dishes of Zuixianju, drank a glass of wine with Li Mao, and then said goodbye to greet business. Li Mao and Zhang Ye drank a few glasses and chatted a few gossips, Wang Shiwei suddenly rushed over, looking panicked, he said to Zhang Ye breathlessly: "Yu Mazi is here, he brought a group of generals from Chengnan Pass, I don't know who is angry, as soon as I enter the door, my nose is not a nose and my eyes are not eyes, you go over and help persuade it." "Drunken Xianju often supplies food to the Caozhou Prefecture Government, which is specifically handled by Zhang Ye, and the two of them are very familiar with each other, so they speak very casually.

Zhang Ye was taken aback and said: "Eighty percent is for the land again, okay, you go and deal with it first, and I'll be there." ”

After sending Wang Shiwei out, Zhang Ye twisted his brows and said to Li Mao: "This Yu Mazi is the famous Yu Hualong, the current military government envoy and Caozhou Chengnanguan town containment envoy, I didn't come a few times a year before, I'm afraid I will have to deal with it every day in the future, this person is a mess with a short temper, it's really a headache!" This time, eighty percent of the land was not discussed, alas, the day before yesterday in the state hospital had a stomach, I thought he was gone, at least to turn over the New Year, but I didn't expect it...... This juncture is coming again, isn't this a clear way to find fault? ”

Zhang Ye was chattering headlessly, and suddenly heard a miserable scream outside, and the two hurriedly went out to check, but saw a guy who was passing vegetables running out with his head in his hands, and the dishes and bowls flew over his head, smashing and crackling.

Zhang Ye's face was blue, the fat on his cheeks was shaking, and he looked left and right as if he had the intention of running away. At this time, Wang Shiwei also ran out with his head in his hands, grabbed Zhang Ye's hand, and begged: "The world is in chaos, put out the fire, put out the fire." Zhang Ye was forced to be helpless, gritted his teeth, and followed hard. Li Mao was afraid that Zhang Ye would suffer a loss, so he followed.

This is the largest and most luxurious private room in the Drunken Immortal Residence, and twenty people still feel spacious when they sit down. The visitors were twenty-three generals, half of them were wearing armor, a tall and thin man with a stiff face sat on the top seat, accompanied by a military general on the left and right, and the rest of the generals sat or stood, but all of them had gloomy faces. A young lowly general was holding a white and chubby fellow, blowing his beard and glaring at something, using the local vernacular, speaking too fast, Li Mao couldn't understand half of the sentence.

Zhang Ye floated into the private room with trembling legs, his pale face was suddenly full of smiles, he laughed dryly, and greeted the pock-faced man on the front seat, bowing and busy like a relative he hadn't seen for many years.

The pock-faced man obviously recognized Zhang Ye, and obviously didn't like him very much, Zhang Ye was smiling and bowing and making a gesture, and he only raised his hand slightly to return the salute.