Chapter 73: Big Surprise at the Classmates' Gathering
In fact, Zhu Peng was not the only one who had this question. His cheap elder brother Sun Shaozu had also discovered a long time ago that during the more than one year that Sun Shaozong had been in Qianxiang Country, his strength had more than doubled!
This obviously cannot be explained by the reason of "physical development".
Sun Shaozong recalled secretly for a long time, but still couldn't get to the point. In the end, he could only attribute it to the unique benefits of time travel - compared to those golden fingers that can summon powerful generals across time, or simply digitize everything, his extra effort is really nothing.
Stop talking nonsense.
Sun Shaozong returned home and whiled away more than half an hour. Seeing that the reunion with his classmates was about to begin, he set off for Tongfu Restaurant in the outer city under Ruan Rong's advice of "eat more vegetables and drink less alcohol".
Although this restaurant is somewhat famous, it is not considered top-notch in the industry. The reason why they chose to have dinner here is because Tongfu Restaurant is owned by the family of Wang Bingxian, who ranked fourth in the second class.
Because he came from a merchant family, Wang Bingxian was discriminated against for a time. After he was transferred to a civil service position, he waited for more than half a year for selection but was unable to fill a vacancy. Finally, thanks to Zhu Peng's relationship, he was able to get an eighth-rank position in the Dianmu Bureau under the Imperial Household Department.
To put it bluntly, this office order was actually the "Bimawen" who released horses for the court, but Wang Bingxian was still very grateful and became Zhu Peng's lackey from then on.
No conversation along the way.
But when Sun Shaozong arrived at the door of Tongfu Restaurant, he saw two huge lanterns hanging high on the railing of the second floor, with the words "Full House of Guests" written on them - this meant that the place was reserved, and when outsiders saw it, they knew that they were not allowed in today.
When Sun Shaozong arrived, there were a few men chatting with each other in front of the door. When they saw him coming, they all came forward and greeted him "Brother" or "Brother".
Since it was a gathering of military scholars of the same year, all of them were burly men, and even those who were slightly shorter could be described as "short and strong".
Sun Shaozong seemed more at ease among them than usual. He randomly wrote down a few names and found that most of them served in the military in the Patrol Battalion, City Defense Battalion, or Shenji Battalion. The only one who was transferred to a civilian position was Wang Bingxian.
But the person in charge at the gate was not Wang Bingxian, but a sixth-rank deputy lieutenant named Zhu Hu.
Sun Shaozong asked around and found out that Zhu Hu was actually Zhu Peng's cousin.
However, compared to Zhu Peng, who was full of forgiveness, Zhu Hu was obviously much better at dealing with people. His manners and words revealed a calm demeanor . Although he mainly greeted Sun Shaozong, he did not ignore others.
After they chatted for a while, Zhu Hu bowed and said with a smile, "My brothers, I've been waiting inside. How about we go in and talk?"
Naturally, everyone responded loudly, and after some pushing and shoving, Sun Shaozong and Zhu Hu finally walked in the front.
"Brother Sun."
Zhu Hu walked side by side with Sun Shaozong, but lowered his voice and said, "My brother has offended me just now. Please do not hold it against him for the sake of being in the same year as him."
Sun Shaozong laughed and said perfunctorily: "How dare I argue with your brother? If I offend the Lord of Heaven because of this, will I still have a future?"
Having said that, Sun Shaozong actually didn't care much about Zhu Peng. After all, after he got the bullfighting suit, he could be regarded as a person 'favored by the emperor'. Even the dignified Minister of Personnel didn't dare to deliberately suppress him just to help his son-in-law win favor.
Zhu Hu obviously understood this, and he smiled bitterly a few times, then lowered his voice and said, "Actually, my brother is not such a flamboyant person, but recently... he has been feeling depressed, so... I hope Brother Sun will be more understanding."
Although Zhu Hu hesitated to speak for two consecutive times, Sun Shaozong already understood what he meant - Zhu Peng was simply the scapegoat for being cuckolded, and he felt bitter but didn't dare to say it out loud, so he gradually became abnormal in this silence.
only……
It wasn't Sun Shaozong who gave him the green hat, so why should he "forgive" his arrogance and rudeness?
Therefore, Sun Shaozong just smiled and did not respond to his words.
Zhu Hu wanted to say something else, but saw a man rushing out from the side, with his chest hunched and his head lowered, and almost bumped into Zhu Hu.
"Jiang Yunhe?"
Zhu Hu stopped and looked at the man suspiciously, "Why are you here too?"
Hearing the name "Jiang Yunhe", Sun Shaozong also looked at the other person curiously, because Jiang Yunhe was one of the three civil servants who were dismissed. It was said that he was framed by the clerks under him when he was a county magistrate, and was imprisoned for more than half a year before being released.
Seeing how thin he is now with only a skeleton left, you can tell that he suffered a lot in prison.
Jiang Yunhe dodged everyone's gaze, shrank his neck and whispered, "It was Master Zhu who sent me the invitation. I... Although I was dismissed from my post, my title of Jinshi is still there."
Although he spoke intermittently and without any confidence, what he said was not without reason - there was no requirement that only current officials could attend the gathering of the same year, and as a military scholar in the eighth year of Guangde, there was nothing inappropriate about him appearing here.
Considering that he was tricked by someone and was not a real corrupt official, Sun Shaozong felt some sympathy for him, so he smiled and said, "Since it is a gathering of people of the same year, Brother Jiang is naturally qualified to participate."
His words were clearly meant to help Jiang Yunhe out of the predicament, but Jiang Yunhe did not appreciate it at all. He just gave Zhu Hu a stiff smile and quickly slipped away into the corner.
“Ah~!”
Zhu Hu looked at his hunched back, sighed heavily, and lowered his voice to say: "This Jiang Yunhe has recently been asking my brother to seek reinstatement, but my brother is nowhere to be found... Alas~!"
This guy always tells others half the story and leaves them to guess. I don't know how he developed this habit!
Sun Shaozong was just hesitating whether to ask what was going on when he heard a familiar and harsh voice coming from the hall in front of him: "Brother Sun, you are finally here. Come on, come on, take a seat over here. I have a big surprise prepared for you!"
This arrogant tone naturally belongs to Zhu Peng.
Sun Shaozong looked in the direction of the voice and saw him sitting in the main seat in the middle with his arms and legs spread out. His classmates at the surrounding tables stood up one after another to greet Sun Shaozong, but he alone stood there without moving an inch.
After all, Sun Shaozong was a fifth-rank cavalry deputy captain and a sixth-rank magistrate. Regardless of his civil or military position, he was the best among all the people present. He behaved like that in private, but now in public, he was still so disrespectful to his superiors. He was really domineering!
Sun Shaozong laughed loudly, and after returning the greetings to everyone, he sat down at the table next to him and said leisurely, "Since today is a gathering of people of the same age, it naturally has nothing to do with official status. Let's just talk about age. It would be more appropriate to invite a few respected brothers to sit in the main seat."
These words clearly showed that he did not give Zhu Peng face, but they were also said without any loopholes, leaving no trace of evidence, which formed a sharp contrast with Zhu Peng's willful and erratic behavior.
With just these words, everyone could tell who was better between him and Zhu Peng.
Then those who were brave enough also sat at Sun Shaozong's seat.
However, due to Zhu Peng's cheap father-in-law, only a few people dared to ignore him.
Therefore, there were only six or seven people sitting sparsely at Sun Shaozong's table, most of whom were from the patrol camp, and it was far less lively than at Zhu Peng's table.
Zhu Peng's expression softened a bit, and he laughed, "Shao Zong brother is indeed incomparable to others. Well, when the big surprise I prepared for you appears later, you must open your eyes and watch carefully, don't let me down."
This guy mentioned the "big surprise" twice , which really made Sun Shaozong curious.
Just as he was wondering what his 'big surprise' would be, he saw the waiters bringing wine jars and wine bowls and placing them on five round tables.
Zhu Peng changed his arrogance, stood up and took the initiative to distribute the wine bowls, and then filled the wine jars one by one. Finally, he raised his own wine bowl and said loudly: "Brothers, to celebrate today, drink this cup first!"
As he said this, he covered his face with his left sleeve, tilted his head back and drank the bowl of rice wine.
Upon seeing this, everyone quickly responded and raised their wine bowls to drink wildly.
Sun Shaozong was no exception. He tilted his head back and poured the Shaoxing rice wine into his mouth. Before he could swallow it, he heard a crisp clang, followed by Zhu Peng's shrill scream: "Wine... the wine is poisonous!"
Puff~!
Sun Shaozong opened his mouth and sprayed all over the table. He turned to look at the chairman, only to see that Zhu Peng had staggered and fallen to the ground.
"Third brother, third brother? Third brother?!"
Zhu Hu hugged his shoulders and shouted a few times, then slowly turned around and said in a trembling voice with a pale face: "He...he is dead!"
I'm going to
Could this be the 'big surprise' you mentioned?!
