Rescued Wu Chaoyue, the strong man who was very experienced in equestrianism, saw Wu Chaoyue sitting behind the horse, afraid that the horse would be frightened and raised his legs and kicked, kicking Wu Chaoyue's body, and quickly lifted Wu Chaoyue's donkey horse to the side, and forced the horse to roll over to the ground, and then pulled Wu Chaoyue aside, and asked kindly: "Little brother, are you okay?" ”

"It's okay, it's just that my butt hurts a little." Wu Chaoyue groaned and replied, struggling to stand up with the support of the strong man, and then thanked the strong man: "Thank you, big brother, if it weren't for you, I would be miserable today." ”

"Haha, it's a trivial matter, what do you want to thank?"

The strong man smiled heartily and waved his hand, and asked curiously about the reason why Wu Chaoyue's horse was out of control, when Wu Chaoyue hurriedly introduced the situation, Li Hongzhang and Wu Dadao and others had already arrived at the scene, and the chicken dealers who were knocked over by Wu Chaoyue at the entrance of the village also ran over, angrily accusing Wu Chaoyue of why he didn't have long eyes when he walked? I can't wait to ask Wu Chaoyue to compensate them for the silver.

Wu Chaoyue, who was in charge, had no choice but to apologize, and at the same time took out the broken silver to compensate for their losses, who would have thought that the strong man who saved people held down Wu Chaoyue and shouted at the chicken dealers: "Don't ask for his silver, he won't ride a horse and can't stop startling the horse, he didn't mean to hit you, you have nothing to do, do you want him to blush with silver?" ”

The strong man seemed to have a lot of prestige in this village, he opened his mouth and did not allow those chicken pickers to extort Wu Chaoyue's silver, and the villagers who came to see the excitement also helped, saying that Wu Chaoyue did not do it on purpose, and did not hurt those chicken pickers, and those chicken pickers asked Wu Chaoyue to pay for the silver It was too unreasonable. In the end, the chicken sellers did not dare to be angry, so they could only obediently accept Wu Chaoyue's apology and leave with the chickens and ducks purchased in the village.

After such a toss, Wu Chaoyue of course has a good impression of the strong man who is enthusiastic about the ancient road, and when he just wanted to thank the strong man again, he never thought that a cute little girl with a double ponytail ran out of the crowd, and asked Wu Chaoyue with great surprise: "Big brother, why are you?" How did you get here? ”

"Is that you?" Wu Chaoyue's eyes also lit up, it turned out that this short-haired little girl was none other than Wu Chaoyue, who happened to be the cute little girl Wu Chaoyue helped in the restaurant of Monk Greenqin's brother-in-law a few days ago - the accurate name should be the cute little Xiaoli.

"Girl, do you know this little brother?"

What Wu Chaoyue didn't expect was that the strong man who saved him in a short time happened to be the father of the cute little Luoli, and after the little Luoli introduced that Wu Chaoyue was a good person who helped her in the Beijing restaurant, the strong man immediately laughed happily, patted Wu Chaoyue's shoulder and said: "Good brother, I didn't expect that we were fated, go quickly, go to my house to drink, I want to thank you in person." If it weren't for your help in the capital last time, my daughter would have been wronged, brother, I have to thank you! ”

Wu Chaoyue hurriedly humbled and said that he should thank the strong man, but the strong man was too lazy to be polite with Wu Chaoyue, and pulled Wu Chaoyue up and left, and the lively little Luo Li also kept following beside him, constantly asking Wu Chaoyue the reason for coming to her village, when he learned that Wu Chaoyue and Li Hongzhang wanted to come to eat game, the little Luo Li immediately volunteered to hunt a few hares to give Wu Chaoyue wine, and finally her father stopped her, saying that there were still a few dried hares at home that could cook, The lively little Luo Li was born.

was dragged to their house by the overly enthusiastic father and daughter, Wu Chaoyue realized that it was completely wishful thinking that he wanted to buy Xiao Luoli as a maid, because although Xiao Luoli's family is not a rich family, it is definitely at the level of food and clothing in this era, and at the same time, the strong man only has a daughter like Xiao Luoli, and he knows that he will never sell his daughter without asking. Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to completely die of that dirty mind, and honestly call the strong man a brother.

It was also after the strong man arranged for his daughter-in-law to hurry up to prepare wine and food, Wu Chaoyue, who had already sat on the kang, seized the opportunity to ask the name and identity of the strong man, and the strong man replied truthfully: "The surname Gao dare not be a big name, Feng Sanbao, is the land protector of this village, usually farming, and when he has time, he goes to the mountains to hunt and earn a little scattered silver to support his family." ”

After introducing his name and identity, Feng Sanbao also went to sit down on the kang, and asked Wu Chaoyue curiously: "Brother, listen to my daughter, you seem to be a person from Prince Gong's mansion, what are you doing in Prince Gong's mansion?" Isn't it what the city people say? ”

"Of course not." Wu Chaoyue, who hated the clothed slave to the bone, quickly shook his head and denied it, and said with a smile: "They all misunderstood that day, in fact, I just knew Prince Gong, so I mentioned Prince Gong's name in passing, but I didn't expect to scare them." I was an errand boy in the Ministry of Rites. ”

"Ministry of Rites?" Feng Sanbao seemed to understand the difference between the official government and the yamen in the capital, and asked in surprise: "Brother, what kind of etiquette department are you talking about, could it be that the etiquette department that manages the top student in the examination?" ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled and nodded, and Wu Daida, who was waiting on the side, also stood up and said, "Feng Zhuangshi, my young master Sun is not only an official in the Ministry of Rites, but also the head of the Ministry of Rites of the Sixth Grade!" ”

"My mother!" Feng Sanbao shouted exaggeratedly, and grabbed Wu Chaoyue's thin hand, and said excitedly: "It turns out that my brother is not only an official, but also an official who specializes in managing Wenqu Xing, and the most respected thing in my life is a learned scholar, you can come to my house as a guest, it is an honor for my Feng Sanbao's family!" ”

Wu Chaoyue, who couldn't even write a few traditional characters, smiled bitterly, and Feng Sanbao held Wu Chaoyue's hands and shook them constantly, praising Wu Chaoyue without a mouth, but it happened that the little Luoli came over with tea, and thought that his father's hand was blocking the table, so he complained: "Dad, can you let it go?" I don't have a place to put a teacup, if I knock over the teacup, will my mother scold you or me? ”

"Little girl, no big or small, even your father dares to scold?" Feng Sanbao was dissatisfied and blamed his daughter, and scolded: "Dad is respecting learned scholars, if you can marry such a scholar who is so learned that he is an official in the Ministry of Rites, Dad can wake up with a smile in his dreams!" ”

Although his personality is lively and hearty, but when he heard such words, the cute little Luoli still blushed all of a sudden, and Wu Chaoyue, who really didn't have any ink in his stomach, was also a little embarrassed, who would have thought that Li Hongzhang next to him would fall into the ground, and said with a smile: "Weiting, Feng Zhuangshi thinks so highly of you, and you don't have a marriage, so just take this opportunity to ask Feng Zhuanghan for marriage." ”

Xiao Li's face turned even redder, and Wu Chaoyue was even more embarrassed, and hurriedly said, "Shaoquan, don't make such a joke." ”

"Who's kidding?" Li Hongzhang smiled evilly and said: "You forgot, when your grandfather left the capital, he told me, let me urge you to find a daughter-in-law and inherit your old Wu family." There is not much age difference between you and this girl, and you are so fateful, I am kind enough to match you. ”

After all, Li Hongzhang, who was favored by Zeng Guofan when he was young, also proved that Zeng Guofan saw people well, and really said to Feng Sanbao: "Feng Zhuangshi, how about thinking about it?" The origin of my brother is not simple, his teacher is the seventieth grandson of Zengzi Zengsheng, there is ink in his stomach, his grandfather is also a Qing official, not to mention the conditions of the family, he is still rich after buying a hundred Xie Zhuang silver. What's even more rare is that my brother has a very good character, no prostitution, no gambling and no big smoking, I've been in the capital for so long, I don't even know where the door of the Bada Hutong is open, if you agree, your daughter will be blessed immediately. ”

Hearing this, the little Luo Li was so ashamed that she had already slipped away, and Wu Chaoyue couldn't even make Li Hongzhang shut up by kicking several legs, and finally couldn't help blushing and being a little shy. To Wu Chaoyue's surprise, after listening to Li Hongzhang's joke, Feng Sanbao not only did not get angry, but on the contrary, he looked Wu Chaoyue up and down carefully, and never said a word, Wu Chaoyue's heart suddenly shook a little, and said secretly: "Is there really a door?" ”

If it weren't for what happened next, Wu Chaoyue might really have to settle a relationship with a cute little girl with great potential, because Feng Sanbao not only had a very good impression of Wu Chaoyue, but also had a very hot eye for Wu Chaoyue's background-he just didn't like Wu Chaoyue's appearance. But even Wu Chaoyue's details were not carefully figured out, Feng Sanbao of course did not dare to let his daughter out easily, and soon said with a haha: "This son is really good at laughing, such a good condition for the son of Weiting, will he look down on me as a naughty daughter?" I'll talk about that later, and I'll talk about it later. ”

"Later?" Wu Chaoyue's heart moved, and he immediately heard that Feng Sanbao did not flatly refuse, and Li Hongzhang also kept squeezing his eyebrows at Wu Chaoyue, indicating that there was still a door to this matter.

At this time, Feng Sanbao asked Wu Chaoyue again: "By the way, Gongzi Weiting, you see that I am a coarse person, and I haven't even asked your Gao surname ......." ”

"I don't dare to be a big name with a high surname, I surpass it in Xia Wu, and the comfort pavilion is my word." Wu Chaoyue hurriedly introduced himself, and then pointed to Li Hongzhang and said: "His name is Li Hongzhang, the word Shaoquan, he is my fellow senior brother, and he is ...... in Hanlin. ”

Before Wu Chaoyue could finish speaking, Feng Sanbao's face changed, interrupting Wu Chaoyue and saying, "Wait! Wu transcendence? Could it be that you just went to Dagukou to negotiate with the foreigners that Wu Chaoyue? The Wu Chaoyue who paid 200,000 taels of silver from the imperial court to the foreigners? ”

I never expected that I was so famous here in Xie Zhuang, Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to nod his head and admit it, and then hurriedly defended: "It was not me who signed the treaty to pay the silver, it was Prince Gong, I just acted as an interpreter for Prince Gong and helped him negotiate with foreigners." ”

Justifying uselessly, Feng Sanbao got off the kang directly, and said with a very ugly face: "I heard that the foreigners came to Dagukou this time, and they were also recruited by you and your grandfather Wu Jianzhang." ”

"It's not me and my grandfather, it's Weng Xincun and his son." Wu Chaoyue hurriedly continued to defend, "Weng Xincun's father and son acted mischiefly in Shanghai, framed and forbade foreigners to enter the city, and the foreigners were angry before they drove the warship to the ...... of Dagukou. ”

"Shut up!" Feng Sanbao was furious and yelled: "Get out of Lao Tzu!" Lao Tzu's family doesn't welcome you, a dog traitor! ”

The scene was even more embarrassing than before, hearing Feng Sanbao's roar, Feng's wife, who was cooking, and the cute little Luoli were so shocked that they hurriedly ran to inquire what was going on—why did they talk about marriage just now, and they would suddenly turn their faces again? Feng Sanbao pointed at Wu Chaoyue and yelled at his wife and daughter, saying that Wu Chaoyue was the notorious little traitor Wu Xiaocomprador among the people, and Wu Chaoyue explained with sweat, saying that the real fuse of this incident was Weng Xincun's father and son, and asked Li Hongzhang to testify for himself, proving that if he did not fight on his own basis during the negotiation of Dagukou, the imperial court would definitely have to pay more silver. But Feng Sanbao, who has a jealous and hateful personality, was preconceived by folk rumors, not only did he not listen to Wu Chaoyue and Li Hongzhang's explanations, but also rolled up his sleeves and clenched his fists and roared: "Are you going to get out?" If you don't get out, Lao Tzu will throw you out! ”

Looking at Feng Sanbao's fist that was bigger than the jar, Wu Chaoyue and Li Hongzhang both swallowed a mouthful of saliva quietly, and finally could only obediently go out of the kang and leave with a disgraced face, and after walking out of the courtyard gate of Feng Sanbao's house, Wu Chaoyue also heard Feng Sanbao roaring in the room, "Immediately fetch water and wash our kang three times!" Dirty! Stinking! Stinking! Dirty! ”

Although they were kicked out of the door so unceremoniously by Feng Sanbao, Wu Chaoyue and Li Hongzhang did not have any intention of hating Feng Sanbao, on the contrary, they admired Feng Sanbao's jealousy and hatred and fearlessness of the powerful, so on the way to leave Xie Zhuang, Li Hongzhang also smiled bitterly at Wu Chaoyue and said: "Weiting, when I was in Dagukou, I was still in the limelight when you learned from China and the West. But now it seems that I should be glad that I didn't be as showy as you at that time, and didn't let people remember my name, otherwise I wouldn't dare to come to Xie Zhuang to eat wild meat in the future. ”

"Wait, you can't run away!" Wu Chaoyue gritted his teeth and said from the bottom of his heart: "If you Shaoquan still want to continue to mix in the officialdom, and you still want to be promoted to a knighthood, you can't run away from such a thing!" A promising paster job awaits you in the future! ”

Of course, Li Hongzhang of this era didn't know that the word pasteur in the Qing Dynasty was actually his first creation, and he didn't understand the meaning of the word pastemaker, and said that Wu Chaoyue was in a bad mood and said it casually, so he didn't joke with Wu Chaoyue, but just walked out of Xie Zhuang with Wu Chaoyue, who was even more depressed. However, before he had gone far from the entrance of the village, there was a crisp shout from Feng Sanbao's daughter behind him, "Wait, Wu Chaoyue, you wait!" ”

Wu Chaoyue stood and turned back suspiciously, but saw Feng Sanbao's lovely daughter running directly in front of him, stretching out her little hand to reveal a few pieces of broken silver, and said, "Wu Chaoyue, my father asked me to return it to you, and my family doesn't need your silver." ”

"Little sister, why don't you even believe me?" Wu Chaoyue wailed, and said: "I'm really innocent, the foreigners didn't come to Dagukou because of me, and I didn't pay for the 200,000 taels of silver in the imperial court, if it wasn't for me at that time, the imperial court would definitely lose more silver!" You have to trust me! ”

Because of Wu Chaoyue's help, Xiao Luoli didn't have a particularly bad impression of Wu Chaoyue, and said crisply: "I want to believe you, but the people in the village say that you did it, how can you tell me to believe you?" ”

"So what am I going to do to trust me?" Wu Chaoyue asked with a wry smile.

The little Luo Li hesitated, pondered for a moment before saying, "If you can do something good and let me know that you are a good person, then I will believe you." But now, I will return the money to you first, and my father is very angry, and he will not ask me for your money. ”

After that, the little Luo Li sent the silver to Wu Chaoyue again, Wu Chaoyue helplessly took back the silver he gave to Xiao Luo Li to buy clothes and red head ropes, and gritted his teeth and said: "Little sister, that's good, you just wait, one day, I will prove to you that I didn't lie to you!" I will also let you know that I did all those things for the good of you innocent people! ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue was serious, Xiao Lili also nodded, and then said, "Brother Wu, I'm leaving, thank you for what happened in the restaurant last time." My name is Feng Wanzhen, and I will remember you. ”

The silver in Wu Chaoyue's hand slipped to the ground, and his thin face was full of shock, looking at the little Luoli as if he was settled, the little Luoli was a little embarrassed by Wu Chaoyue, and quickly said I left, and then turned around and ran towards the village, Wu Chaoyue also came back to his senses this time, and hurriedly said loudly: "Little sister Wanzhen, you must wait for me, after I prove that I didn't lie to you, I will definitely come to you, you wait for me!" ”

Hearing this, Feng Wanzhen, who is still just a little Li, of course blushed, ran faster, and her heart began to speed up a little, and she said secretly: "Why is this person like this?" What should I do if I shout so loudly at the entrance of the village, so that people hear a misunderstanding? The people in the village are not allowed to laugh me to death with this? Maybe Dad is right, this person is not a good person. ”

At this time, Li Hongzhang next to him was also surprised and asked: "Weiting, no, listen to what you mean, do you really like her?" Are you really determined to marry her? ”

"Don't get me wrong." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said, "I just feel a little cowardly, let such a cute little girl misunderstand me like this, so I just said a few more words to her, and it didn't mean anything else." Besides, she's so small, don't make fun of her if you're kidding. ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue was serious, Li Hongzhang also believed it, but after refuting Li Hongzhang with righteous words, Wu Chaoyue quietly pondered again, "However, looking at the appearance of this little Feng Wanzhen, it will definitely be more beautiful than the textbook says in a few years, maybe more beautiful than my Zhou Xiuying in Shanghai, and it is not impossible to consider it in a few years when she grows up." ”

Thinking about this, Wu Chaoyue couldn't help but start to miss Shanghai again, and missed Zhou Xiuying, who almost rolled the sheets with himself legally, "If you receive a drop of water, you will be rewarded by Yongquan, the little girl helped me last time, I haven't repaid her yet, and when I have the opportunity to go back to Shanghai, am I thinking about suffering a loss and marrying her?" ”

This day's business is not over yet, thinking about how to make Xiao Feng Wanzhen and Feng Sanbao believe that they are innocent and infamous, and whether they are wronged to marry Zhou Xiuying into the door, Wu Chaoyue also has no intention of continuing to visit the scenery of the Old Summer Palace, and went straight back to the capital with Li Hongzhang.

When they arrived in the capital, Wu Chaoyue and Li Hongzhang, who had been tossing for most of the day, were of course hungry and tired, so they went straight to the restaurant under the Dashilar, but when it was time to raise a glass and change the lamp, Li Hongzhang suddenly made a silent gesture to Wu Chaoyue, and then listened to the movement of the private room next door.

After listening to it for a long time, Wu Chaoyue asked Li Hongzhang a little strangely: "Shaoquan, what's wrong?" Why do you care so much about Lord Su's affairs? ”

"Who in the capital doesn't care about him?" Li Hongzhang glanced at Wu Chaoyue and said: "You are still a Beijing official, and you don't even know what the status of Lord Su is in the capital, the number one celebrity in front of the emperor!" The emperor's favor for him is still above the several halls of the military aircraft department! If anyone hugs his thigh, he will wait to be promoted and make a fortune! ”

"Is Su Shun so powerful?" Wu Chaoyue was a little puzzled and said, "Don't you think? When I came into contact with him in Shanghai, I felt that he was just kind and unpretentious, and I didn't think he was anything remarkable. ”

"Lord Su treats people very kindly, and there is no arrogance?"

Li Hongzhang listened to the alien language, and hurriedly inquired about Wu Chaoyue's contact with Su Shun, Wu Chaoyue had no reservations about Li Hongzhang, and truthfully told him how many contacts he had with Su Shun in Shanghai, and also said that Su Shun was because he respected Lin Zexu's special care for his family, and even confessed and whispered that his comprador grandfather had invested a lot of money in Su Shun. The more Li Hongzhang listened, the more stunned he became, and suddenly grabbed Wu Chaoyue's hand and said in a low voice: "Weiting, this is a good opportunity, since Lord Su has taken a look at your Wu Jiagao, and he has just returned from Shanghai, why don't you hurry up and seize this opportunity to visit him, and strive to hold his thighs firmly and firmly?!" ”

"Not interested." It was Wu Chaoyue's turn to roll his eyes and say, "You know, I don't want to be this official, so I'm not interested in these things." ”

"You're not interested, I have! You don't want this opportunity, I want it! Li Hongzhang was so angry that he wanted to strangle Wu Chaoyue to death, so he simply took Wu Chaoyue's hand and shook it, and said: "Weiting, we are good brothers, in the whole capital, you and I have the best relationship, you have to help me in this matter anyway, take me to meet Master Su, I beg you!" ”

"Didn't I take you to see Prince Gong last time?" Wu Chaoyue said angrily: "It's not enough to hug Prince Gong's thighs, and you still want to hug Lord Su's thighs?" ”

"What am I hugging Prince Gong's thigh? Prince Gong didn't ask me to hand over the protégé post, nor did he promote me vigorously, so I hugged his thigh? Li Hongzhang complained bitterly, and said in a low voice: "Comfort Pavilion, and Prince Gong has no real power now, even if he really hugs his thighs, it doesn't have much effect, Lord Su is different, he is the number one celebrity in front of the emperor, the emperor obeys his words, if he looks down on me, I will have a chance to soar!" So Weiting, you have to help me with this matter no matter what, you must help! ”

Can't stand Li Hongzhang's repeated entanglement, and Li Hongzhang can be regarded as smelly, Wu Chaoyue finally nodded helplessly in the end, Li Hongzhang was overjoyed, and quickly thanked him again and again, Wu Chaoyue waved his hand and said no, and said in his heart: "You like to be a pastemaker, then I will fulfill you, and in the future, when you run out of oil and vomit blood in Xianliang Temple, don't blame me." ”