Lu Zhixian was disgusting, but Xu Xiancheng was very enthusiastic. In addition to the old acquaintances Lu Chengyuan and He Yan, there were also Hong Nanxing, the Nankang magistrate who had gone to Jianchang to handle Xu Liang's bribery case, and three officials from other counties.

In terms of the grade of the officials present, Xu Liang has the lowest grade, that is to say, all the officials present are Shangguan. Therefore, Xu Liang's attitude was respectful, and after the birthday banquet began, he toasted one by one, in line with the fearless spirit of your casual and I did it, and toasted one by one.

When he saluted Lu Zhixian, Lu Zhixian only raised the wine glass to his lips and wet his lips.

At this time, Governor Sun brought a wine glass on behalf of Mrs. Sun to thank the guests who were present, and it was Xu Liang's turn to be at the table. After everyone drank a cup together, Xu Liang took advantage of Governor Sun's mansion to leave, poured another full cup, blushed and had a thick neck, shook it in front of Lu Chengyuan, the magistrate of Jianchang, and grinned with a big tongue: "Lu, Lord Lu, both of us, both of us are from Jianchang, you, you are my superior, come, the lower official will salute you again, a cup!" ”

Saying that, Xu Liang poured another cup into Lu Zhixian's cup, and looked at Lu Zhixian with red eyes.

Lu Zhixian's face turned green when he boarded. Although he was scheming, but the amount of wine was not large, he had a few glasses with the people at the table before, and when Governor Sun came to thank him, he had a full drink, and he was trying to suppress the strength of the wine at this time, and now if he drank this full cup again, wouldn't it be a dead man?

Lu Zhixian waved his hand in a panic and said: "Eh, Lord Xu, we often meet, and there are many days of drinking and talking together, hiccup, let's forget it, you respect the adults in Nanfu Kangli." ”

"No!" Xu Liang was very persistent, the wine glass he was holding stretched forward again, and said with a sigh of wine: "Lord Lu has a lot of protection for the lower officials, even more, I know all of this, and I have to toast you again no matter what I do today." ”

"Heh, heh," Lu Zhixian smiled awkwardly, and then looked at Sun Zhifu and the others who were watching beside him: "I think Lord Xu has drunk too much, ha." ”

At this time, Xu Liang's face was red and bewitching, and the hot breath he exhaled was full of the strong aroma of wine, and his speech was slurred, so he was naturally drunk.

"I'm not drunk!" Xu Liang glared at him when he heard this, shouted with a wave of his hand, and then stared at Lu Zhixian, and said, "If Lord Lu doesn't drink poop, he looks down on the lower officials?" In this way, the next official will do it first! "Anyway, I craned my neck and gurgled, and I really did it. Then Xu Liang wiped the wine stains on the corners of his mouth with his cuffs, and glared at Lu Zhixian with red eyes.

Lu Zhixian really didn't want to drink it, so he picked up the cup and took a sip of it, and when he raised his eyes, Xu Liang was still glaring at him, and he had a desperate posture that he would come up if he didn't finish the wine.

The other officials at the same table would also see that something was wrong with the two people, and looked at the two strangely.

Seeing this, Governor Sun coughed lightly, and smiled at Lu Zhixian: "Lord Lu, Xu Xiancheng is also sincere, don't put it on the official shelf, drink the wine." ”

Lu Zhixian looked at Sun Zhifu in a little surprise, and saw that Sun Zhifu was twisting his mouth, thinking that this was on Sun Zhifu's mansion, to celebrate the birthday of the old lady Sun, if it was too loud, wouldn't it be embarrassing for Sun Zhifu?

Lu Zhixian quickly figured this out, looked at Xu Liang who was still staring at him angrily, secretly said bad luck, raised his hand, pinched his nose and drank it all. As soon as this wine was in his stomach, Lu Zhixian felt that his stomach was turning over the river and the sea, the fire was burning, and bursts of wine surged up to his throat.

Seeing that Lu Zhixian had drunk it, Governor Sun turned around and went to the next table.

He Tongju knew how much Lu Zhixian drank alcohol, and when he saw Lu Zhixian drinking, he sat upright, his eyes were straight, his face was blue, and he hurriedly sandwiched green vegetables into his bowl, and said, "Lord Lu, press the wine, press the wine." ”

Lu Zhixian turned his face and smiled at He Tongju, and then with a wow, he saw Lu Zhixian covering his mouth with his hands, squatting on the side of the stool and spitting out.

The officials on the side were startled and left the table one after another, so as not to be splashed on their bodies, He Tongju was busy patting Lu Zhixian on the back, Hong Tuiguan hurriedly beckoned his subordinates to fetch some water, several officials covered their mouths and watched, and said in one ear after another, and the guests at the next table also stood up to see what was going on.

In this mess, suddenly heard a burst of laughter, several officials strangely looked for the source of laughter, and after looking around, they saw that Xu Liang of Jianchang County was still standing upright, but there was a smile on his face, and his mouth was so happy, an official was about to ask what was going on, and suddenly saw Xu Liang's figure shake and fall straight under the table.

Another panic.

After the birthday banquet of Mrs. Sun, Xu Liang was carried into the sedan chair by the accompanying guards and returned to Jianchang County, while Lu Zhixian is said to have vomited until the end of his mouth only had yellow water, and was sentenced by He Tong to help him sleep in the wing room until three poles the next day.

Xu Liang, who woke up in Xu's mansion, heard that Lu Zhixian had only returned to Jianchang on the third day after the birthday banquet, and he laughed three times at the moment, and he was extremely happy.

After more than ten days, Lu Zhixian and He Tongju suddenly became polite to Xu Liang. In fact, Lu Zhixian was also very helpless, on the second day of the seventh month, there was such a big scandal in public, and Lu Zhixian gritted his teeth with hatred for Xu Liang. One day, I found He Tongju to discuss how to make Xu Liang down and stink again, but He Tongju relayed bad news: Sun Yiping, the prefect of Nankang, once said a sentence intentionally or unintentionally in front of He Tongju, Xu Xiancheng is very good.

This made He Tongju dumbfounded, you must know that Governor Sun was also the master who wanted to allow Liang to get out, why did he change his tone after a birthday banquet? The puzzled He Tongju quietly inquired, and learned from the mouth of a steward of the Sun Mansion that the birthday gift given by Xu County that day contained some other things, although the specific person in charge did not say, but He Tongju understood that the Sun Governor's Mansion must have changed his opinion on Xu Liang because of this birthday gift.

Lu Zhixian was stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect Xu Liang to be so good at something, and he actually quietly hooked up with Sun Zhifu.

In a few days, even Lu Zhixian will sigh that Xu Liang is too capable of pulling people.

Sun Xunjian, Qin Dianshi and others, who originally deliberately kept a distance from Xu Liang, may have heard some rumors from other places, or Xu Liang used some means, but they actually got very close to Xu Liang, and in half a month, these people went out with Xu Liang for three or four meals.

It's not much just to eat, but these people at the dinner table always talk about something, right? For example, the conspiracy of the dark room and so on.

Later, Jiang Zhunan, the chief bookkeeper of Jianchang brought out by Lu Zhixian from the capital Guozijian, actually hesitated to mention that Xu Liang had invited him to banquets several times, and asked Lu Zhixian if it was convenient for him to go.

Lu Zhixian's heart was shocked, and he even felt a trace of fear. After that, he was very polite to Xu Liang, and after Lu Zhixian finished explaining, he didn't forget to look at Xu Liang of Jianchang County and asked: "Lord Xu, do you have anything else to add?" ”

The officials in Jianchang were surprised, and Xu Liang was very satisfied. Xu Liang secretly sighed, the three thousand taels of silver tickets stuffed under the birthday gift were not in vain, and the results were immediate.

At the end of July, Lu Zhixian called Xu Liang to the county office, smiled, and kindly put a piece of paper on the hand of Xu Liang, who was still in a daze, and congratulated: "Congratulations, Lord Xu, in just one year, Lord Xu has been promoted from a person with no grade and no rank to the county lord of the seventh grade, and he is also on an equal footing with this official, which is really gratifying." ”

After reading this order, Xu Liang still didn't believe it, and asked in surprise: "County Zun, this, what's going on?" ”

Lu Zhixian smiled more and more sincerely, patted Xu Liang's shoulder, and said in an envious tone: "Don't you understand this? The court is at the time of employing people, Lord Xu has both ability and political integrity, the official felt that it was a pity for Lord Xu to be placed in Jianchang County, and specially folded to the court to recommend Lord Xu, but he didn't expect the court's will to come down so soon. ”

"No, Xia Guan wants to ask, why Zhenyuan Zhixian?" Xu Liang said.

"Well, this official doesn't know either, maybe there is a vacancy in Zhenyuan County." Lu Zhixian said with a smile.

Zhenyuan County belongs to Pingliang Mansion in Daming Shaanxi Province. It's located in the northwest, and it's been chaotic lately.

Xu Liang remembered that Ge Qiao once said that the officials of the Ming Dynasty had two places that were the most important, one was the front line in Liaodong, and the Jianzhou Jurchens fought almost every month, and the governor and governor died one after another, and the officials were promoted quickly and died quickly, maybe they would be promoted today, and they would be hung up tomorrow. The second is the northwest, the northwest is poor and partial, the materials are scarce, and the people are fierce, as if most of the northwest has suffered drought in the past two years, the people are not able to make a living, and the people are in turmoil.

But in comparison, Liaodong is still more or less close to Beijing City, and if you make some political achievements, you can still let the court know that if you work hard for a few years, you may be promoted if you don't die, and you will continue to be an official in a richer place. And the northwest, has always been relatively no one to care, no one cares, the northwest is an official, not to mention the poor living conditions, it is basically difficult to have commendable political achievements, no political achievements, there is no way to be promoted, at the age of 20 to be released to Shaanxi Renzhi County, most of them mixed to retire is a Zhengqipin Zhi County, which is considered lucky.

Through the appointment of Zhang Shushu, Xu Liang seemed to see a cold smile on Lu Zhixian's face.