Chapter 036 Welcome Banquet
Night, Dingxiang Tower.
There were a dozen tables arranged like a fan in the spacious hall, but only a few assistants directly under the Criminal Judge and the constables under Zhao Wuwei occupied four of them sparsely in the corner.
At the round table in the middle, Sun Shaozong was the only one sitting at the main seat. His majestic figure swayed in the candlelight, giving a somewhat desolate feeling.
With things like this, it would be strange if the atmosphere of the banquet could be lively!
"Boss!"
A short and strong constable leaned close to Zhao Wuwei's ear and said anxiously, "Looking at the situation today, Sun Tongpan may not be able to stand in the yamen. We brothers..."
"What nonsense! Shut up your stinky mouth!"
Zhao Wuwei shouted harshly, but he was actually very nervous. He originally thought that it was just the officials who were not giving him face, but he didn't expect that even the clerks from various departments were nowhere to be seen.
Even though the former Tongpan and Liu Zhizhong were at loggerheads with each other, the officials below had never stood in unison.
perhaps……
Did I really choose the wrong channel? !
Zhao Wuwei felt a little regretful, but when he thought of what Sun Shaozong said during the day, how could he dare to be indecisive?
Besides, we have already come here, and if we leave halfway, wouldn’t we be in trouble both by everyone?
Don't other people think the same way?
Everyone looked at the platter in front of them with hunger, but all they wanted to do was swallow a few pounds of regret medicine.
At this moment , a servant hurried to the main table and whispered something in Sun Shaozong's ear. Sun Shaozong immediately stood up and said with a smile: "Everyone, a distinguished guest has come uninvited. How about you come with me to greet him?"
When everyone heard this, they all thought he had invited "foreign help".
Although welcoming banquets are usually internal gatherings, outsiders should not be invited to attend - but in this awkward situation, it is good enough to be able to smooth it over, who cares whether the guests are outsiders or family members? !
So all the detectives and assistants followed Sun Shaozong with smiles on their faces to greet the "uninvited" guest.
Everyone originally thought that the people coming were either military generals with old ties to the Sun family or descendants of nobles - but when they arrived at the gate, they saw that the four-man sedan chair was carried by a middle-aged civil servant wearing a red robe, jade belt, and a four-beam golden crown!
As everyone was in amazement, they saw the middle-aged civil servant get off the sedan chair, laugh and cup his hands and say: "My dear brother, I never thought that you and I came to Beijing on the same ship, and now we will work in the same government office. Although I haven't taken office yet, I can't wait to drink a few glasses of wine from you to welcome you!"
Swinging a ladle in a yamen?
Some smart ones had already heard some clues from these words, and their faces were immediately filled with joy.
Although the idiot didn't understand the situation, it didn't matter, because Sun Shaozong immediately solved the mystery.
He also laughed loudly and greeted him, bowing deeply: "I am Sun Shaozong, your humble servant, and I am honored to meet the Prime Minister!"
It turns out that this middle-aged civil servant is none other than Jia Yucun, who is about to take up the post of Chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture - no wonder those who guessed his identity were so ecstatic!
You must know that the Prime Minister in Shuntian Prefecture is the only person qualified to compete with the Prefect, and he is in charge of the evaluation, rewards and punishments of all officials. With this relationship, even if everyone in the yamen is against Sun Shaozong, he can still be as stable as a rock!
Zhao Wuwei was so happy that his nose was choking with snot bubbles. He secretly thought that he had a good eye and had hit the winning position with this bet!
So he hurriedly led everyone forward to meet him.
"Hey~"
Jia Yucun raised his eyebrows in dissatisfaction, stretched out his hand to pull Sun Shaozong up, and scolded him: "Now I haven't taken office yet, why are you doing this? I'm here to attend your wedding, not to show off my power!"
It's just for your information. If you really don't want to show off your power, why would you wear this official uniform?
The two chatted and laughed all the way back to the flower hall. Seeing that the hall was empty, Jia Yucun couldn't help but exclaimed, "How come I don't see any colleagues? Did I come too early?"
This is what we call professional acting!
From the expressions and the tone, who could tell that the two of them had been discussing secretly for more than half an hour in the afternoon?
Sun Shaozong secretly gave him a thumbs up and said with a smile: "Liu Zhizhong may be unwell - as for other colleagues, perhaps they remembered the time of the welcoming banquet wrongly."
It was also in the afternoon that Sun Shaozong and Jia Yucun had already discussed how to deal with Liu Zhizhong from the others.
Firstly, it was to turn the tables and take the opportunity to isolate Liu Chongshan; secondly, Liu Chongshan was one of the three "hall officials" after all. If he really showed up and competed with Jia Yucun, it would be difficult to perform the drama.
"That's the case."
Jia Yucun turned around and smiled warmly at the detective assistants, saying, "Please go and inform them that I am waiting for you. I would also like to take advantage of Brother Sun's welcoming banquet to get to know my colleagues first."
With his words "waiting for you", who among the officials in the yamen would dare not show up? !
Zhao Wuwei and the others all responded enthusiastically, leaving only three or five people to serve, while the rest scattered like birds and beasts to pass on the message to the officials' homes.
About half an hour later, people arrived at the flower pavilion one after another. The clerks of low status naturally sat quietly in front of the chief, but those with official status had no way to hide and could only bite the bullet and go forward to meet the chancellor and the magistrate.
Jia Yucun, however, just chatted and laughed with Sun Shaozong, and didn't pay much attention to others. No matter who came, he would just say "Sit down" and nothing else - but it was precisely this attitude of not caring about others that made everyone feel uneasy.
Seeing the hall bustling with people, even Chen Zhichuang from the Experience Department sat down at the lower table with a smile on his face.
Sun Shaozong then smiled slightly and said, "Brother Yucun, almost everyone has arrived. How about we start the feast?"
"Wait a minute."
Jia Yucun waved his hand, looked around at the officials at the table, and suddenly asked in a loud voice: "Who planned this welcoming banquet today?"
With just this one sound, the hall became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop!
After a while, a man at the table next to him stood up with a sweat on his forehead and said in a trembling voice: "It was... it was prepared by your humble servant... Zhou Da, the Inspector of the Criminal Law Department."
The Inspector was just a minor official, let alone the Prime Minister. Even Sun Shaozong could easily crush him!
If he hadn't relied on the fact that the civil officials were united in their opposition, he would never have dared to get involved in such a matter. But who could have thought that a chancellor would suddenly appear to support Sun Shaozong? !
Zhou Da was really regretting his decision at this moment.
"Since you are in charge of preparing the welcoming banquet, it would be fine if you didn't wait here early, but how come you even got the time wrong?!" Jia Yucun's face became gloomier as he spoke, and finally he slammed the table and shouted, "Could it be that you are also so careless when handling murder cases on weekdays?!"
Plop~
Zhou Da knelt straight on the ground and opened his mouth to protest: "My Lord, please be wise. I really am..."
"Zhou Da!"
The governor Lin Delu jumped up and interrupted Zhou Da with a harsh tone: "How do you do things? You made all the colleagues in the yamen almost miss the welcoming banquet for Lord Sun!"
The key point of his words was the four words "colleagues in the yamen", which actually meant to remind Zhou Da: If you tell the truth, you will offend all your colleagues, both high and low!
If Zhou Da had an official rank of seventh or eighth grade, he might not be afraid of these words, but who made him just a low-ranking official?
After weighing the pros and cons, he could only bite the bullet and say, "Please forgive me, Your Excellency, the Prime Minister. I was confused for a moment and made such a mistake."
"snort."
Jia Yucun snorted coldly, and Zhou Da trembled three times. Just when he thought that a disaster was about to happen, he heard Sun Shaozong smiled and said, "Brother Yucun, this is a private banquet after all, not an important official matter. I think I should let him off this time - how about just fine him three cups of wine?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Da was so moved that he kept thanking him.
Who would have thought that when the three glasses of wine were placed in front of them, they were actually three copper vessels holding half a pound of wine, and they did not contain the usual low-alcohol rice wine, but real liquor [white wine]!
Zhou Da's face suddenly changed color again, but under the gaze of Jia Yucun and Sun Shaozong, how could he dare to refuse?
He had no choice but to pinch his nose and drink the three bottles of liquor one by one.
After finishing drinking the pound and a half, he staggered forward to salute, but when he bent down, he went directly under the table, mumbled a few words with muddy mouth, and then there was no movement.
"Serve the food and the wine!"
In the complete silence, Sun Shaozong's shout was heard.
The food and wine were served in a continuous stream, and everyone seemed to be in high spirits as they toasted each other, but no one dared to look at Zhou Da.
