When night fell, I saw Hai Rui take a sedan chair and go to Pan Xian's house for a banquet as promised.

On both sides of the sedan chair, a large number of heavily armed guards were closely followed, responsible for protecting Hai Rui's safety.

The people along the way were already surprised by this, and could only curse in their hearts: "Another dog official!" ”

As the governor of Henan, Pan Xian built his own mansion in the city, and the decoration style of the mansion is quite simple, and the surrounding environment is quite quiet and not easy to be disturbed.

Pan Xian's mansion looks no different from ordinary rich people from the outside, with vermilion gates, two stone lions that look very majestic at the door, and a gilded plaque hanging on the top of the gate, on which the word Pan Mansion is written.

It's just strange that the wall on Pan Xian's Mansion is more than twice as high as that of ordinary people.

Hai Rui's sedan chair stopped at the door, and the doorkeeper saw the distinguished guest visiting, and after confirming his identity, he quickly entered the house to report.

After a while, I saw Pan Xian with Yang Yinglin, the political envoy, Liu Yuan, and other officials, who came to greet him.

Pan Xian had a smile like a spring breeze on his face, and then bowed to Hai Rui with a respectful expression.

"Lord Qincha is coming, and the lower officials have missed the distance, and I hope that the Lord will forgive his sins!"

Hai Rui's gaze swept over the many officials around Pan Xian one by one, and immediately responded with a smile.

"Where is it, the official takes the liberty to disturb, I hope you don't blame it!"

Next, Pan Xian introduced the officials around him to Hai Rui one by one, and Hai Rui also behaved very approachable, nodding and smiling frequently.

Immediately afterwards, everyone exchanged a few more pleasantries, and with the intentional promotion of both sides, the atmosphere quickly became harmonious.

Immediately afterwards, Pan Xian put on a look of hindsight, turned his gaze to Hai Rui, and a little self-reproach appeared on his face.

"Patronizing and talking, the banquet has already been prepared, let's go in first!"

Pan Xian's voice fell, and then the butler, who had been waiting for a long time, stepped forward and showed the way for everyone.

Pan Xian walked with Hai Rui, and the two said a few inconsequential words from time to time.

It wasn't until he entered it that Hai Rui suddenly discovered that there was a hole in it.

As soon as you enter the door, the first thing that catches your eye is a huge locust tree, judging from the cracks in the bark and the place occupied by this tree, this tree is no less old than the big banyan tree that Hai Rui saw at the entrance of Shiqiao Village earlier.

It was only at this moment that Hai Rui understood why the walls of Pan's Mansion were more than twice as tall as ordinary people's homes, and it turned out that they were all to hide the big locust tree.

Pan Xian naturally noticed the look of amazement in Hai Rui's eyes, and saw him take three steps and make two steps to come to the big locust tree, gently caress the bark on the surface of the big locust tree with his hand, and immediately introduced it to Hai Rui.

"Lord Qincha doesn't know that this tree was already here long before Xia Guan came to take office!"

"To be precise, Xia Guan's mansion was built around this big locust tree."

After listening to Pan Xian's introduction, Hai Rui also knew it in his heart, and immediately looked away and gave an evaluation.

"Well, that's right, when the time comes to return to the capital, the official will also plant a few trees at home!"

Hearing this, Pan Xian suddenly came to his senses, and began to teach Hai Rui the doorway, from the selection of saplings to the location suitable for planting trees, Pan Xian knew everything and said everything, as if he had found a confidant.

In this way, after passing through a long corridor, the maid who had been waiting there came up to take over the housekeeper's job, and under the guidance of the maid, everyone entered the room.

In the room, everyone sat down in order according to the already arranged positions, and Hai Rui, as the most distinguished guest, should sit on the right seat of Pan Xian.

Immediately after that, the delicacies were served to the table by the coolly dressed maids.

Soon, Pan Xian stood up and proposed to everyone: "Lord Qincha has been tired of traveling and driving, today's meal, I should take the wind and wash the dust for Lord Qincha!" ”

"I think, why don't we all join together and have a cup of Jingqincha?"

"Good!"

As soon as the words fell, many officials present followed closely and got up from their seats, picked up the wine glasses placed on the table, and toasted Hai Rui.

Seeing this, Hai Rui had no choice but to pick up the wine glass and clink glasses with these officials one by one.

After a few glasses of wine, the atmosphere of the scene quickly became lively, and there was less restraint among the people.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, many officials present began to tell some interesting stories they had experienced or heard about in order to liven up the atmosphere.

Hai Rui was also very happy to cheer on this, and put on a very interested look.

Then, seeing that the atmosphere was almost over, Pan Xian picked up the wine jug on the table, poured a full glass of wine into his cup, turned his gaze to Hai Rui, and poured bitter water.

"Lord Qincha, do you know that it has been almost five years since Xiaguan became the governor of Henan."

"And in the past five years, Xia Guan has never forgotten the oath he made when he first stepped into the official career, so that the people have clothes to wear, food to eat, and a house to live in!"

"It is precisely because of this that the lower officials have offended many people, and I won't tell you the truth, there are many people secretly looking forward to the bad luck of the lower officials!"

"Presumably, Lord Qincha, you came to Henan to investigate the case this time, because you received the impeachment note submitted by people with ulterior motives, right?"

Since Hai Rui took up the post of Inspectorate, he thought that he had seen countless despicable and shameless officials of all kinds, but the shamelessness of the Henan governor in front of him was still much beyond Hai Rui's expectations.

"If this official went to Shiqiao Village not long ago to check on the situation, maybe he would have believed your nonsense!"

Thinking so in his heart, Hai Rui raised his eyebrows, without any waves in his tone, and then responded.

"Oh, yes, it seems that the governor really loves the people like a son!"

After Hai Rui finished speaking, he then changed his words and said slowly.

"However, the governor mentioned the impeachment earlier, but this official has a definite information here, does the governor want to know?"

Hearing Hai Rui's words, Liu Yuan's face couldn't help but show a hint of nervousness, and even the hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly.

When Pan Xian heard this, he couldn't help but be interested, and then asked.

"Oh, please speak up to Lord Chincha!"

Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, Hai Rui looked Pan Xian up and down before turning his mouth to speak.

"Lord Governor, let me tell you the truth, this matter was personally supervised by His Majesty, do you understand what this official means?"

Hai Rui's words fell, and the room suddenly fell into a deathly silence, and no one spoke.

After a long time, I saw Pan Xian squeeze out a smile from his stiff face and start a round.

"Haha, Lord Qincha is really good at laughing!"

"Let's not talk about this, come on, drink!"

After that, I saw Pan Xian raise his glass, and the other officials at the table saw this situation and wanted to reveal the matter, so they raised their glasses one after another.

"Come on, let's drink together, cheers!"

Who knows, Hai Rui didn't plan to raise his glass, I saw him pick up the wine glass, and then spill the wine in the glass on the ground, smiled, looked around, and said slowly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you can drink this wine at any time, but before that, the official wants to make a bet with you, believe it or not, someone will come in and knock on the door later, saying that the granary is on fire!"

Hai Rui's words fell, and after Pan Xian and Yang Yinglin glanced at each other, they both saw a deep look of shock in each other's eyes.

Immediately after that, Pan Xian's face was gloomy, and he turned his gaze to Hai Rui, with a slight threat in his words.

"Lord-sama, do you know what you're talking about?"

Hai Rui was not afraid of this at all, and directly met Pan Xian's gaze and responded with a smile.

"Of course, this official has always known what he is talking about!"

"The cup of wine just now, the right should be the official's respect for you."

(End of chapter)