The Shaoxing Guild Hall was first built outside the Xuanwu Gate to provide food and lodging for people from all over the country who went to Beijing to take the exam; the Chinese have a strong sense of locality, and officials in various localities all hope that their hometown children can pass the scientific examination and enter the dynasty as officials.

In the Qing Dynasty, the people living in Beijing and the guilds in various places all moved to the outer city, so the unique guild hall culture was formed in the south of Xuanwumen, and the guild halls not only retained the local food, customs and living culture, but also became the gathering place of "Beipiao" in various places.

Therefore, this generation gathers the halls built from all over the world, and the Shaoxing Hall is only one of the inconspicuous ones, located in the southern half of the alley, the glaze factory is outside the Zhengyang Gate, and to the west, it is the Xuanwu Gate, which is very close, therefore, He Qi and Qian Xuan came very quickly.

The north side of the South Outer Half Hutong is the North Outer Cut Hutong, and at the end is an old vegetable market, the Ming and Qing dynasties decided a lot of people here, it was almost noon, there was no one at this time, two cars were in front of the vegetable market one after the other, and they glanced over, but He Qi was still filled with hundreds of years of rot and fishy smell in the air, and choked up his mouth and nose.

The main entrance of the Shaoxing Hall is very inconspicuous, hidden in an earthy yellow wall, the wall is full of devastation, so the door painted with red is particularly prominent, there is a wooden plaque inscribed by Wei Long on the door, on the book "Shaoxing Hall" four words, there is a thin shadow standing under the door, wearing a gray cloth gown, holding a cigarette in his hand, looking at the mouth of the alley from time to time, not Brother Xun or who.

The two got out of the car, Qian Xuan paid the car first, Brother Xun came up, after the three of them saluted, Qian Xuan was about to take He Qi into the door, Brother Xun was not in a hurry, took another sip, and said slowly: "Wait a while to go in, the two of them are evenly matched, I am afraid that I will not be able to tell the winner for a while, let's go to Guangheju first, order the dishes well, the two of them eat carefully, and the dishes they eat at noon should also be particular." ”

He Qi didn't understand what this "making money" was all about at this time, when he heard Qian Xuan quip: "Both of them are big businessmen, and they have traveled from south to north, and they haven't seen anything to eat?" In my opinion, it's better to have some home-cooked side dishes, and you can save some for Brother Qi.

He Qi was in a hurry, he had little money on him, and he couldn't wait to break it off and use it as two cents, and besides, there was no shadow of making money, so he hurriedly interjected: "I haven't found this job yet, and it costs money to rent a house. ”

But I saw Qian Xuan twisting his orchid fingers, looking like a god stick, and said in a chattering voice: "Pinch your fingers and count, Brother Qi will make money today, so this meal can't be run away." ”

He Qi scratched his head, and the more he listened, the more confused he became.

......

On the way to Guangheju, Brother Xun briefly talked about the meeting, and He Qi finally understood, how to "make money"?

To be precise, it is to help Brother Xun, and "making money" is secondary.

Brother Xun studied abroad in this book, met two fellow villagers, a mat sparrow, the family runs a raw silk business, another Gu Weixian, the family runs a weaving business, the three have always had correspondence, a lot of friendship, this time the two came to Pingjin to talk about business, and then came to visit Beiping, Xun Geer as the host of hospitality.

If you want to talk about these two people, they are serious rich second generations, with a solid family background, not to mention ordinary entertainment, and they have wasted money and things in vain, besides, Brother Xun still lives in a free hall, how can there be money to entertain these two?

But Brother Xun thought of a good idea, these two are a full chess basket, in the book, do not go to class every day, indulged in Go, after returning to China, but also jointly set up a chess club, a few days ago also wrote that the two spent a lot of money, and invited to play all over the invincible Chinese chess player Gao Daoping to Shaoxing, and Fengjing famous player Gu Shuiru to fight, in order to justify the name of national chess, but unfortunately Gu Rushui lost three games.

The two complained about this matter for a long time in the letter.

Just yesterday, Qian Xuan came to talk to Brother Xun about the article written by Yang Chengzan, and when chatting, Brother Xun talked about the visit of his friends and hospitality, and wanted Qian Xuan to come forward and say that he wanted to spend money to invite his student who was very good at playing chess, that is, Zhao Ruyi, a senior disciple of the national player Wang Yunfeng, to play the game.

When Qian Xuan heard this, he laughed at the time, and said that He Qi lived in his student's house, and his student Ruyi said that his chess strength was not as good as He Qi, so if he directly invited He Qi to come, he could also suspend He Qi's dilemma of lack of money.

Brother Xun immediately agreed.

......

Guangheju is one of the "eight residences" in Beiping, separated by a wall from the Shaoxing Hall, when Brother Xun first came to Beiping, he had to come to Guangheju several times a month to fight the tooth sacrifice, the guys in the store were very familiar, Brother Xun quickly ordered a table of dishes, and the three of them turned around and went back to the hall.

Shaoxing Hall occupies a very large area, there are many courtyards next to it, there are 84 large and small houses, the front hall is called Yangqi Hall, enshrines the sage tablet that Shaoxing people are proud of, the back hall is called Xixian Pavilion, enshrines Wenchang Kuixing, in addition, there are Jiayin Hall, Xiu Yu Hall, Wisteria Flower Hall, Mending Tree Book House, Xian Pavilion, Huaixu Zhai, a branch nest and other halls, these names are mostly related to the story of Shaoxing or the scenery in the courtyard.

However, the names of these courtyards sound elegant, but the actual situation is another matter, they are all old-style houses of the year, the eaves are cobwebs, the windows are lattice paste, there is no glass, the ground is paved with some green bricks, some are not paved, if it is sunny, it is fine, and on a rainy day, you have to enjoy the rain in the house.

It is said that on the first night that Brother Xun lived in the Fujihua Pavilion, he was attacked by thirty or forty Xiaoqiang, so that he had to move to the table to sleep, and the environment around the Fuji Flower Pavilion was very noisy, which often made Brother Xun unable to work and rest with peace of mind, he complained in his diary more than once: "At night, there was a big uproar in the adjacent room. ”

"The neighboring room came again, and in the middle of the night, Judas howled like a wild dog, and came out to scold him, and he was young."

There is a big locust tree in the yard, although the green leaves are green, but it always makes people feel gloomy and desolate, the house is dark and depressing, because a wife has been hanged on the tree in the courtyard.

After entering from the big red gate, pass through the hall, go to the left-hand side, the south side of the beginning is called the vine flower hall, named after the courtyard has a rattan shelf, there are several houses in the courtyard, and Brother Xun lives in the south one.

The courtyard of the rattan flower hall is not big, you can sweep it at a glance, the gray and yellow house, the gray and yellow wall, and the layer of withered yellow, is the rattan in September, a dead leaf has fallen, under the vine blossom frame, there is a chessboard, there is a fat and a thin person sitting, the thin is the mat sparrow, the fat is Gu Weixian, all wearing Western-style clothes, combing the back of the oily head, kneeling on the side of a middle-aged man, watching the chess on the side, it is a friend of Brother Xun, a fellow villager and a colleague, named Xu Shoushang, the word Ji Fu, also lives in the hall.

Under the vine shelf, everyone bowed to each other, Brother Xun looked at He Qi and introduced: "This is He Qi, who just returned from the West today." ”

looked at Xi Zique and Gu Weixian again, and said with a smile: "Brother Qi is my helper today, son-in-law, Shao Yuan, if you are invincible later, don't be angry." ”

"Chess, self-cultivation, don't talk about winning or losing." Although Xi Zique is a businessman, his conversation is a literati flavor, and he smiled at He Qi and said, "I don't know Brother Qi, where is the teacher?" ”

This era, or following the ancient etiquette system, it is necessary for the teacher to teach it in person, such as Zhao Ruyi's teacher is Wang Yunfeng, and Wang Yunfeng is the high foot of Liu Yunfeng, a famous player in the north, and he is one of the two sons of Zhou Xiaosong in his later years, Zhou Xiaosong is a famous player in the late Qing Dynasty.

The so-called famous teacher produces a high apprentice, and if he knows the name of the teacher, then the chess strength of his disciples can only be known, which is also a more common way for unfamiliar chess players to meet each other.

saw He Qi blurt out: "I haven't been taught by a teacher." ”

Qian Xuan and Brother Xun believed this, because they both knew He Qi's details, he was born in Nanyang since he was a child, and then went to Western countries, and Go is popular in East Asia, in other words, even if He Qi wants to learn chess with a famous teacher, he doesn't have that opportunity.

But Xi Zique and Gu Weixian didn't believe it, they just thought they were underestimated, and they couldn't help but feel a little angry, but they didn't have a good seizure, so they made up their minds and saw the real chapter on the chessboard.

Brother Xun didn't think about it so much, and when he saw that the time was noon, he said, "Let's go to dinner first, and we'll talk about it later." ”

After Xi Zique and Gu Weixian glanced at each other, they both nodded, and Xi Zique said: "Yu Cai, you can eat at any time, but you can't play at any time, you know that the two of us are good at chess in our lives. ”

He Qi arched his hand and said, "Brother Qi, please do your best, fight quickly, don't starve them." ”

He Qi didn't realize the meaning of Xi Zique's words, he just thought that he must help Brother Xun and entertain these two guests, so he naturally responded to his needs, and simply responded: "Okay!" ”

Rapid chess?

He Qi has long been used to it, and those who often play chess in the wild fox know that they can set the time, and if they haven't fallen after the time, it will be counted as losing.

So, this game of chess was really fast, unexpectedly fast, half an hour later, the mat sparrow raised his head, glanced at He Qi with complicated eyes, placed a sunspot in the corner, and took the initiative to abandon the son and admit defeat.

At this time, He Qi was still muttering in his heart!

Xi Ziqi doesn't seem to be as Xun Ge'er said, it is not as good as Yi, at least Ruyi can stick to the middle game, and this game, the middle game is only half, and there is a big empty piece in the middle of the chessboard.

Although Qian Xuan and Brother Xun are not masters, they also know chess, and after glancing at each other, their eyes are making contact, but their brows are furrowed, both of which are a little incredulous.

Brother Xun'er's heart: Why is it so fast?

Qian Xuan's heart: What about the master who said good?

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