Chapter 212 Banquet
As drinking was inevitable in the evening, after Sun Shaozong changed his clothes, he called Zhang Cheng to get on the carriage.
After going back and forth for a while, by the time we arrived near Chongwenmen, it was already getting dark.
"Lord Sun."
As soon as Sun Shaozong got off the car, a servant came up to him, nodding and bowing, rubbing his hands and saying, "Our Second Master Bao was afraid that the good seats would be taken, so he asked me to come and book a private room."
It seems that Jia Baoyu has indeed made progress. If it were in the past, he would never be so thorough in doing things.
Sun Shaozong nodded and followed the servant into the restaurant called "Lumingxuan".
It was lunchtime and the seats were almost full, with many scholars wearing scarves, probably because of the pleasing name of the restaurant.
However, the guests sitting on the first floor could not afford venison, so the sign clearly stated various types of donkey meat.
Is this selling donkey meat under the guise of a deer, or calling a donkey a deer?
Thinking about all these things, Sun Shaozong followed the servant up the stairs to the private room on the second floor facing the street.
As soon as you enter this private room, you will see a huge screen. On it, several sika deer are stepping on the wormwood all over the ground, some looking up and neighing, some looking down and eating the wormwood. It is obviously depicting the scene in the Book of Songs.
After walking around the screen, there was a huge round table in the middle. Cups, plates and wine glasses had been prepared, but Baoyu and others were not there. It was obvious that they had eaten more than Sun Shaozong.
Seeing that there were several folding fans on the table, Sun Shaozong picked up one out of curiosity, twisted it open and looked at it carefully, only to see many names of dishes written in small regular script on the front and a painting of "Night Banquet in Peach and Plum Garden" on the back, which looked quite appropriate.
When the servant saw Sun Shaozong looking at the menu, he asked with a smile, "Master Sun, do you want to order any dishes?"
Sun Shaozong closed his fan and threw it back on the table, saying, "Ask the restaurant which of its signature dishes require time to cook. Choose five or six and prepare them first. It won't be too late to order the rest when everyone arrives."
The servant agreed and went downstairs in a hurry.
In those days, guests in private rooms all brought their own servants, so as long as they didn't greet them proactively, the waiter would not rashly come in and disturb them.
So Sun Shaozong, bored as he was, simply opened the window and looked at the night view near Chongwenmen.
Although there are no wealthy families nearby, there are many shops. The shops are decorated with densely packed lanterns and have many tricks to attract customers. Looking down from a high vantage point, it is quite interesting.
Ding~ding~ding…
As I was looking around aimlessly, I heard the sound of a gong from the city gate, and then I saw a team holding wooden signs to avoid me, pouring out of the gate. Apart from the sedan chair and carriage at the head, the most eye-catching thing was a few huge cages.
There would definitely not be a need for such a big fuss to escort an ordinary prisoner. This was probably another corrupt official from somewhere who was captured by the Imperial Censor who was on a tour of inspection under the emperor's order.
Just at this moment, there was another burst of laughter from outside the door. It turned out that Jia Baoyu, Feng Ziying and others had arrived.
Sun Shaozong turned around to greet them. As soon as he walked around the screen, he saw several people rushing in. They all bowed and said, "Congratulations to the second brother!"
Sun Shaozong laughed and was about to say something when he heard another noise outside the window. The sound of the gong mixed with the boiling voices immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Feng Ziying frowned and said, "Where did this official come from in the middle of the night to disturb the people?"
He just asked casually, but who knew that there was actually someone inside who knew the truth.
Then Jia Baoyu said, "I just looked from a distance and it seems that Lord Zhao, the Right Censor-in-Chief, who went to inspect Hebei, has returned. It seems that he has arrested many corrupt officials."
“Yo~!”
Feng Ziying's eyes widened mischievously, and he said teasingly, "When did our brother Bao become so concerned about the affairs of the court? You figured out something that even my second brother didn't know at a glance!"
Unexpectedly, when he asked this, Jia Baoyu hesitated. After a long while, he looked at Sun Shaozong's face and said hesitantly, "This time, Censor Zhao went out on a business trip, and the higher-ups happened to assign the second brother of the Wei family to accompany him as a guard. I went to see him off that day, so I recognized Mr. Zhao's carriage."
The second brother of the Wei family naturally refers to Wei Ruolan.
Except for Liu Xianglian, who among the people present didn't know that Sun Shaozong had had a conflict with him?
As soon as Baoyu finished saying this, the atmosphere suddenly became silent.
"What's that look on your face?"
Sun Shaozong laughed and said, "Do you think I am intolerant of others? As long as you don't bring that kid surnamed Wei to me, I don't care about your private relationship."
As he spoke, he extended his hand to let the room in, saying, "Come on, come on, everyone, sit down and talk."
If possible, Sun Shaozong naturally didn't want his friends to have anything to do with the Wei family - but the Wei family was also a noble family with meritorious service for generations, and they had a friendship with the Rongguo Mansion for several lifetimes, so how could they easily give up?
Besides, one should not give the monk any face, but the Buddha's. Wei Ruolan is now the brother-in-law of Prince Beijing, and Rongguo Mansion is one of the four kings and eight dukes, so it is even more impossible for them to fall out with him.
However, seeing that Sun Shaozong acted indifferent, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and sat around the table chatting and laughing for most of the time. Only Xue Pan sat alone, not saying a word for a long time.
Now Sun Shaozong was a little puzzled. Usually this guy was the most noisy, so why was he so quiet now?
"Don't worry about him, brother."
Feng Ziying gloated: "Big head Xue, good things are about to happen. He is so beautiful that he can't even speak human language."
No wonder he felt so depressed, it turned out that his wedding date with that girl from the Wang family was approaching.
"Get out of here! You don't know how to speak human language!"
Xue Pan glared at him, then said to Sun Shaozong weakly: "Second brother, the date is set for the ninth day of the third month. If you are free, come and take a look. If not, forget it. Anyway, I will definitely not argue."
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help laughing.
Sun Shaozong picked up the hot wine that the servants had just brought up, filled Xue Pan's cup, and said, "According to your usual misbehavior, I should have said a few words of 'retribution', but seeing your behavior, I am too lazy to say anything - come, let's not go home until we are drunk!"
"Yes! Don't go home until you're drunk!"
Xue Pan drank the cup with him, then looked around with his eyes wide open, and shouted, "If anyone dares to cheat or act slyly today, I, Old Xue, will not tolerate it!"
Except for Sun Shaozong, everyone present here is a wealthy and idle person. They don't have any serious work to do, so why would they care about not going home until they are drunk?
Even Jia Baoyu slammed the table and shouted, ordering the servants to quickly change for a bigger bowl.
