Chapter 280: Minglan eats pork knuckle. [Thank you all for your support! Bowing again!]

His Majesty the Emperor, with wide sleeves, came before the Imperial Prince Zhao Fang,

looked at the seven coins in the gold basin, and the Emperor grabbed them out with his left hand,

shook them in his hand for a while, then:

"Hey!"

"Clatter, clatter."

Zhao Fang hurriedly looked and said hesitantly: "Father, you didn't hit it!"

The Emperor frowned and pretended to be in a dilemma: "Then I'll borrow some of my son's luck."

As he spoke, he grabbed the coins again with his left hand and said: "Come, son, blow on it!"

"Whoosh!"

Zhao Fang pursed his lips and blew a breath; the Emperor shook them a few times just like before, then threw them with his right hand!

"Clatter, clatter."

Zhao Fang's eyes widened:

"Father! You are so amazing!"

The Emperor proudly pressed his lips and raised his chin, looking triumphant:

"Hmph! Fang'er, you just found out?"

As he spoke, the Emperor reached out his hand toward Zhao Fang.

The father and son entered the Empress's sleeping palace,

and seeing the Empress, Zhao Fang ran over with small steps:

"Mother! Your son wants to sleep in the middle!"

"Your Majesty, I heard that for a sleeping child, if the arm is like this, it won't fall down..."

Looking at Zhao Fang's arm resting on the mattress,

the Empress nodded toward the female official to the side,

while the Emperor looked eager to try.

In the compartment to the side,

the whale oil candle was covered by an expensive silk lampshade, emitting a gentle and bright yellow light.

The female official gently carried Zhao Fang to the couch,

and after tidying up the bedding for Zhao Fang, she saw Zhao Fang opening his large, bright eyes,

his index finger held to his lips, making a "shh" gesture,

not looking like he was asleep at all.

The female official looked at him in surprise.

Then Zhao Fang lay on the couch and pointed to his mouth,

and the female official shook her head with a smile, turning to serve him a small plate of dripping butter pastry.

Zhao Fang turned his head and looked at his younger sister with full affection,

"Sister, you are asleep, it's not that Brother doesn't love you! Ah oh!"

After eating a few bites of the pastry,

he rinsed his mouth, lay on his side, took one of the coins the Emperor had thrown just now, looked at it carefully front and back,

then he smiled and put the coin under his pillow.

On the street of Pan Lou on the Winter Solstice,

noble young masters dressed as gorgeously as Xu Zaijing and Qi Heng were not rare,

so most of the shops on the street, like the Zhou family's shop, displayed treasures to attract the attention of passersby.

When the shop assistants and clerks at the door saw Xu Zaijing and his group coming, they usually didn't need Qingyun, Buwei, and others to act,

the shopkeepers themselves would hurriedly make the onlookers clear a path.

When they walked to the door of a shop with a flag bearing the character "Wine," the situation was the same as before,

and the onlookers voluntarily or involuntarily cleared a path:

"Distinguished guests! This is the famous Qiongsun wine from the household of Imperial Concubine Zhu! It is excellent for dispelling cold!"

"It was a reward my master received ten years ago when he was invited by the Zhu family's kitchen to cook!"

"Market price is fifty strings of cash per jar! Five strings to gamble once!"

The steward at the door cupped his hands and shouted,

and Qi Heng beside him, looking at Xu Zaijing's high spirits, said in a low voice:

"Jingge, the Qiongsun wine from Imperial Concubine Zhu's household is just so-so, far inferior to the Jade Pear wine of my household."

"However, the Zhu family moved away from Bianjing five years ago, which is why it's a bit more expensive."

After Xu Zaijing nodded, he glanced at Alan, who was following behind and packing up the marinated pig's trotters he had gambled for with Xunshu.

"This one, I wonder how many have gambled before?"

Xu Zaijing asked,

and the steward cupped his hands with a smile and said:

"To tell you the truth, young brother, eleven people have gambled before."

Xu Zaijing nodded and said: "Come, hand over the stake! Alan!"

As he spoke, Qingyun threw out five strings of silver notes,

and hearing that it cost five strings to gamble once, Xu Zaijing was willing to let his household servants come; Buwei and Zhique both showed envious expressions,

they had followed Gu Tingye and the others in front just now and hadn't seen the scene of Alan gambling for hot drinks,

and Buwei even patted Alan on the shoulder as he walked over:

"Don't be nervous."

Seeing someone gambling, the passing commoners stopped to watch,

and then they saw the smile on the steward's face at the door freeze.

"Whoa! Hit it on the first try!"

"Truly lucky!"

Qingyun rubbed Alan's head, walked up to the steward, and said:

"You've conceded!"

As he spoke, he moved the jar of wine that was on display onto the carriage; the steward sighed and could only let the clerk move a new jar of wine.

Without the gimmick, the money for gambling once would be much less!

The group continued to walk forward,

and when they arrived near Pan Lou, they saw a turntable standing at the door, similar to the one in the Zhou family's shop but much more exquisite,

and quite a few people were gathered there, discussing the gambling prizes of this Pan Lou.

At this time, the shop assistant Mingge'er, who was greeting people at the door,

saw the group and hurriedly leaned in, bowing:

"Gentlemen, long time no see! There is gambling in the building today, would you like to try?"

It was already nearing noon, and the group had walked quite a distance,

so they looked at each other and nodded: playing a bit would be just right before going upstairs to rest and dine!

Seeing this group of noble officials and their families coming over, the crowd hurriedly made way.

The servants and matrons of various families stepped forward one after another to hand over the gambling money,

and the turntable was exquisite, with most of the grids on it being:

"Deduct three hundred wen"

"Deduct one string"

"Thirty percent discount"

and so on,

while what people most wanted to hit was the "Free meal and wine" grid.

The young ladies started throwing darts, beginning with Tingyi,

but the luck of the young ladies was a bit poor; even Rong Feiyan, whose luck had been explosive just now, only hit a "Deduct one hundred wen."

The three Lans, Minglan hit a free glazed pork knuckle,

and although Rulan and Seeing Mo Lan hit different positions, the discount was the same.

When it was the turn of the few young masters,

Gu Tingye chicken-wittedly paid for the gambling money once more and handed the dart to Alan,

but unfortunately, Alan didn't have the luck of throwing the copper wire and only hit a "Deduct three hundred wen."

The young ladies chattered and entered the very warm Pan Lou,

and surrounded by matrons, went up to the second-floor private room.

The second-floor private room was close to Pan Lou Street and had a corridor with carved beams and painted pillars.

The curious Rulan couldn't care about the coldness of the corridor and pulled Minglan to stand on the second-floor corridor, focusing on the "battle" below.

Tingyi followed out, and when she scanned the street below,

she saw an exquisite carriage driving toward the building not far away.

"Hey! This is... the Chai family's carriage?"

Before the words were finished,

a burst of cheers erupted downstairs.

Also hearing the cheers,

the curtain of the carriage downstairs was pulled open,

and a young lady dressed as a maid poked her head out; when she looked up, she happened to meet Tingyi's gaze.

In the carriage,

Miss Yun Mu put down the curtain and said: "Young Lady, Young Lady Tingyi is on the second floor!"

Chai Zhengzheng leaned over to take a look at Gu Tingyi and then laughed.

Miss Yun Mu hurriedly said: "Park at Pan Lou!!"

Chai Zhengzheng got off the carriage, supported by Miss Yun Mu's hand,

and the matrons and maids surrounded her.

When entering the main gate of Pan Lou,

Xu Zaijing was being patted on the shoulder by Rong Xian,

beside him was the equally happy Qi Heng, as well as the smiling Gu Tingye, Changbai, and others.

Seeing Chai Zhengzheng, who was surrounded and wearing a cloak,

Rong Xian was stunned for a moment, then his eyes brightened,

he stopped patting people's arms,

walked to the front of the crowd,

smoothed his bright red brocade robe, puffed out his chest, and bowed to Chai Zhengzheng, thinking he looked handsome.

Watching Rong Xian's actions, Gu Tingye, Changbai, and Changfeng also followed suit and bowed.

Qi Heng cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Cousin!"

Chai Zhengzheng's gaze lingered for a short while on the cloak of someone who was bowing,

and only then did she return the salute with a reserved smile.

After Rong Xian finished bowing,

looking at Chai Zhengzheng, who was smiling and squatting to return the salute, he didn't know why he felt something different:

"This is too beautiful!"

At this time, Tingyi had already come downstairs with several young ladies and welcomed Chai Zhengzheng into Pan Lou.

Qi Heng also reached out and politely invited Gu Tingye to walk into the building first.

Rong Xian, who was lingering at the door, thought beautifully about Chai's appearance just now, and then he saw Xu Zaijing walk in beside him.

"Hmm?"

Looking at the dark cloak bestowed by the Empress on Xu Zaijing, then looking at the one Chai Zhengzheng was wearing...

How could these colors be so similar!!

"Tsk! Miscalculation! Why did I wear a bright red robe!"

At this time, it was considered lunchtime,

and Pan Lou was very lively.

This group of young men and women with extraordinary temperaments

attracted quite a lot of attention.

When walking on the stairs,

the Pan Lou tea and wine expert following behind them shouted:

"Gentlemen! This young master gambled and won a free meal and wine!"

Listening to the tea and wine expert's shouting,

the guests in the building all showed surprise,

"Whoa!"

"There really is someone who won!"

"How lucky!"

A burst of noise and exclamation came,

and some guests cupped their hands and echoed:

"Young master has good luck."

"Congratulations!"

Rong Xian, who followed in, walked a few quick steps to the stairs,

came behind Xu Zaijing, and cupped his hands, feeling very happy and honored.

Xu Zaijing also cupped his hands and said: "I'll treat these two who said auspicious words."

The tea and wine expert following behind hurriedly agreed.

Hearing Xu Zaijing's words, the noble young ladies in front turned their heads to look over, then covered their mouths and said things like "These two tables don't need to spend money either," "He is quite generous."

The two tables of guests downstairs cupped their hands and said words of thanks to Xu Zaijing,

Xu Zaijing nodded with a smile,

and then, the group of noble youths and young ladies had already entered the private room.

In the time it took to go up and down,

the matrons and maids of various families had already installed exquisite partition screens on the card slots in the middle of the large private room,

the young ladies entered the inner room,

while Xu Zaijing and the others sat outside.

Rong Xian looked reluctantly at the partition screen as it closed, then sat down at the table and grabbed a handful of dried fruits to crack.

Everyone didn't care about the cost of this meal, but being able to eat for free once was also something that made people happy.

Tingyi was talking in the inner room, and the atmosphere was still very pleasant.

After entering for a while, a Chai family matron came out, bowed to everyone, and walked out.

Before long, she carried Chai Zhengzheng's soft bow into the inner room; perhaps the girls were discussing the topic at the Zhou family's bow and arrow shop just now.

At the door, the matrons and maids of various families received the dishes from the Pan Lou shop assistant and passed them in.

When opening and closing the partition screen,

Xu Zaijing inadvertently glanced inside,

and happened to see Rulan and Minglan at the door attacking a plate of dishes, both of them having expressions of enjoyment as they put them into their mouths;

Seeing Mo Lan, on the inner side of them, was looking at Chai Zhengzheng, who was talking in the middle, with some disbelief in her eyes.

"Cost"

"Exquisite..."

A few words were transmitted from inside.

Gu Tingyi was nodding, her expression unchanged.

Rong Feiyan, on the other side of Gu Tingyi, was holding Chai Zhengzheng's soft bow and looking at it carefully with eyes full of admiration.

"Jingge'er, let's go to Sibaozhai to take a look later..."

Hearing Qi Heng's voice, Xu Zaijing turned his head to look.

It was also at this time that Chai Zhengzheng, who had stopped talking, glanced outside and happened to see a side profile of Xu Zaijing.

Suddenly, a head appeared to the side,

Chai Zhengzheng was stunned, and this moment of daze also made the other young ladies look outside.

Rong Xian waved at the inner room with a smile on his face,

the young ladies looked at each other, while Rong Feiyan closed her eyes.

The partition screen closed, and the matrons at the door rolled their eyes at Rong Xian,

and a burst of girls' laughter came from inside.

Rong Xian looked at Changfeng beside him and raised his eyebrows: "Tsk, no way! I'm just that likable."

Changfeng nodded.

At this time,

a Pan Lou steward came in and said that the free dishes won from gambling just now were ready, should they be served or taken away.

Qi Heng smiled and was about to say something when he saw Xu Zaijing looking at him and shaking his head.

He was stunned,

and at this time Changbai nodded and said:

"Take away, please have the shopkeeper pack it well."

Qi Heng saw this scene, tapped his forehead in annoyance, then smiled and raised the wine cup containing the sweet drink toward Xu Zaijing.

Rong Xian to the side said in a low voice:

"Two days ago, I heard from a few brothers in the Police Inspectorate that during those few days of heavy snow, they captured a few people..."

"One of them was a fierce bandit from Xiangyang Prefecture, I heard he committed all kinds of crimes, even eating human flesh, to the point his eyes were red..."

Hearing Rong Xian's words, Qingyun didn't look at his own young master, just blinked his eyes.

Alan and Xunshu, the two horse attendants beside Qingyun, stopped their movements,

Buwei glanced at them, thinking they had stopped because they were scared by Rong Xian's words, so he didn't suspect anything.

At the table, Qi Heng said with curiosity:

"I wonder which person from the Police Inspectorate could be so formidable!"

Rong Xian raised his forehead proudly and said:

"Some news, when I went to inquire, I managed to ask a little bit vaguely."

Seeing that even Xu Zaijing was looking over with curiosity, Rong Xian said with even more high spirits:

"It is said, it is said, mind you! It was the young master of the Marquis of Zhongshan's family who made the move... using his family's Twelve-Road Park Knife technique."

"I heard the place where the incident happened was very bloody..."

Gu Tingye looked at the dishes on his chopsticks and thought of the sons of the Sha family of the Marquis of Zhongshan whom he had met a few times, and said with doubt:

"I didn't see it on weekdays, is he that formidable?"

Rong Xian said:

"It was passed down by the yamen runners who went to collect the bodies that day, who knows..."

"Perhaps it was his family's servants who were formidable!"

Gu Tingye nodded.

Suddenly,

a loud cry from a woman came from outside the door!

Buwei, Zhique, and the servants of several families hurriedly went out, wanting to scold them.

The door of the private room was opened,

and the sound outside suddenly became louder.

The servants walked outside the door,

all of them were stunned,

and Rong Xian, who liked excitement, got up and walked over, asking:

"What are you looking at?"

Before Xu Zaijing reached Rong Xian's side, he heard Rong Xian, who had walked to the door, let out an exclamation of "Heavens."

Xu Zaijing lifted his leg, stepped over the threshold, walked onto the corridor, and looked in the direction the few were looking.

He was also somewhat surprised by the fair-skinned woman lying on this red carpet,

the surrounding crowd was all startled by this turn of events and didn't know what to do.

Behind this fair-skinned woman followed a man who was only wearing an outer robe.

Xu Zaijing had excellent eyesight and looked with some doubt at the incredibly exquisite gold hairpin worn on the woman's head, thinking to himself:

"Can women in Pan Lou also wear such good jewelry?"

"Qingyun!"

Hearing Xu Zaijing's voice, Qingyun gave a start, took off his outer robe, and walked toward the woman.

The man cupped his hands toward Rong Xian and Xu Zaijing:

"No need for the noble servant to act, we will go in now."

As soon as this man spoke and walked over, the woman hid in Qingyun's arms,

looking like they were whispering intimately, which made Qingyun look very embarrassed.

It seemed the woman said something, and Qingyun was stunned.

"Stop!"

Qingyun shouted!

The man said:

"Don't believe the words of this bitch, noble servant!"

"Bitch, if you continue like this, your reputation will be gone!"

As soon as these words came out, the woman in Qingyun's arms shivered.

Xu Zaijing's ears moved, he pointed to the room the man had come out of and said: "Xiange'er, go in and take a look!"

Rong Xian was stunned, then his eyes brightened, and he shouted with excitement: "Order received!"

As he spoke, he raised his chin at his few tall attendants!

Seeing this scene, the man's face panicked; just as he was about to turn and flee, he was kicked in the back by Rong Xian, who had accelerated and run over, and was sent flying to the ground.

It seemed he had grazed something in his crotch when he fell,

and the man could only cover his crotch and groan in pain silently.

At this time, Gu Tingye and the others also followed out,

and Zhique and Buwei had already followed Rong's attendants into the room next door.

Looking at the scene in the room, Buwei frowned, walked out, came to the side of the crowd, and said:

"Looking at the dress of the servant woman tied up in the room, she seems to be from a good family!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the corridor was stunned,

then they looked at each other,

"Good family? This... let's control this place first!"

Soon, the servants of various families surrounded this place, not letting outsiders pass,

and the servant women of various families in the inner room also walked out, draped clothes over the woman, and covered her body.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 281 =====