Chapter 185: What Kind of Fox? (4K)

"This weather, it's starting to get chilly."

Whoosh—

Blowing on the steam drifting from his teacup, Hong Guoyi gazed at the bustling street below and sighed with emotion.

Beigan is located in the Beiming Divine Continent; although Wentian City is not situated in the extreme north, its climate is much cooler than the other three regions.

Not to mention that it is already mid-August, and autumn has long since arrived in Wentian.

Especially after the rain last night, the temperature has dropped quite a bit.

"An autumn rain brings a chill!"

Many fallen leaves have already scattered on the street, and some pedestrians have even started wearing long robes.

As the proprietor of Tianfu Teahouse, Hong Guoyi naturally does not lack the money for a few pieces of clothing, and today he has changed into an exquisite long gown.

As a native-born Wentianguo, Hong Guoyi has lived here his entire life.

In the eyes of the common people of Beigan, this Wentian City is the center of Beigan and the capital that everyone yearns for.

Scholars want to pass the imperial examinations with high honors, come to Beigan to display their talents, and realize their ambitions in the imperial court.

Martial artists want to be appreciated here, have the opportunity to display their skills, receive promotions and titles, and become heroes of this Earthly Realm.

But in the eyes of an old Wentianguo like Hong Guoyi, this Wentian, actually... is just like that.

Martial artists are still fine; as long as they have solid martial arts skills, they don't have to worry about not finding a place to stay in Wentian City.

Even if their status is low at the beginning, it is still possible for them to be noticed during some opportunity.

But for these scholars, wanting to become famous is just too, too difficult.

In this teahouse, Hong Guoyi has also seen many high-ranking officials and nobles, and he can sometimes hear a thing or two from their conversations.

He is very clear about the operational style of the Wentian officialdom and knows the ins and outs of it.

Perhaps it is not as excessive as selling offices and trading titles openly, but behind the scenes, there is no shortage of debauchery.

Just thinking about it, one knows that there are so many scholars in the world; how could everyone be given a chance!

Without powerful clans or influential families endorsing these literati behind the scenes, without them standing up for them, how many people could have a chance?

Without family wealth to support them, even if their essays are written with flowery language, how many of those examiners would take a second look at their work?

No way!

Besides, even if someone discovers that the essay is not good, it is of no use.

If the examiner insists that he just has an affinity with this candidate and just feels that his essay is exquisitely written, is that not allowed?

There is no way around it.

Hong Guoyi is clear about these things, but he has no intention of pointing them out, nor does he have anything to sigh about.

He is not a scholar; what does the injustice of this world have to do with him?

Does it affect him opening a teahouse to make money?

It does not.

Since the blade hasn't fallen on him, he doesn't feel the slightest bit of pain.

Even if they are lucky enough to pass the examinations and earn a title, they will be sent to remote towns to serve as minor officials to gain experience, and it is unknown when they will have the chance to return to Wentian.

Besides, even if they earn a title and work hard for half a lifetime, can they establish a family business in Wentian?

Do they have that kind of money? Do they have those resources?

In the end, those people are just passing through Wentian City.

They have only drunk a few mouthfuls of Wentian's water; in essence, they cannot be considered true Wentianguo.

They cannot be compared to an old Wentianguo like him!

In this world, hard work is useless.

Rather than working so hard, it is better to strive to be born into a good family in the next life; that is the right path.

However, although they are at the feet of the Son of Heaven, even an authentic old Wentianguo like him does not see the Emperor even once or twice a year.

The Emperor resides in the Imperial Palace year-round; instead, imperial relatives and nobles are more common in Wentian.

Various princes and princesses, feudal kings of noble families, officials of all ranks... although he, Hong Guoyi, cannot build connections with them, he has seen plenty over these decades.

Yet, based on this alone, Hong Guoyi can take pride in it.

Do others have this opportunity?

Hmm?

And since he can have an ancestral teahouse in Wentian City, Hong Guoyi naturally does not lack connections.

Of course, these connections have nothing to do with him personally; it is all due to the shade cast by his ancestors.

The ancestor of the Hong family was a house slave of the Shi family many generations ago, merely a lowly groom.

Later, that Hong ancestor seized an opportunity and was actually fortunate enough to redeem his deed of sale, successfully breaking free from slave status.

But that Hong ancestor was very clever; afterwards, he still always identified himself as a servant of the Shi family and praised the Shi family to everyone he met.

This reached the ears of the Shi family, and they were quite fond of him, tacitly allowing him to open a teahouse using the Shi family's reputation.

However, there are naturally no free lunches in the world; although Tianfu Teahouse is located on Heavenly Street, most of the profits must be offered to the people of the Shi family.

But even so, the remaining profit is enough for Hong Guoyi to live a quite decent life in Wentian.

On ordinary days, he is respected by the servants in the teahouse and can be considered to have some reputation in the surrounding area.

Although the guests coming and going do not hold him in high regard, they do not make things difficult for him out of respect for the Shi family.

For someone like him, having such connections is actually enough.

Using a shovel to stir the charcoal fire in the small stove, Hong Guoyi added a few more walnut charcoal briquettes inside.

Watching the rising sparks, he contentedly sipped his tea.

As the proprietor of the teahouse, Hong Guoyi naturally has profound attainments in tea drinking and has many special requirements.

Reaching middle age, he felt increasingly powerless in many matters, so he had begun to cultivate his character in recent years.

For instance, right now, he liked to brew a cup of fragrant tea in the morning, sit by the window on the top floor, and savor it slowly by himself, sometimes reading a few rubbings of scriptures sent from the Western Desert Divine Prefecture.

He enjoyed this time; looking down from a height at the bustling crowd gave him a sense of superiority, as if everything were laid out before his eyes.

The people of the world busied themselves for a few taels of silver, yet he could sit here tasting tea and burning incense—how wonderful was that?

The servants at Tianfu Teahouse all knew that during this time, no one was allowed to disturb the manager.

Even if Hong Guoyi didn't say anything on the surface, he would certainly reprimand them severely afterward.

After finishing his tea, Hong Guoyi's peripheral vision drifted downstairs.

"Hmm? What is going on?"

He didn't know until he looked; today, Heavenly Street was actually much livelier than usual, with many low-key yet luxurious carriages driving along the street.

Most of those carriages had no markings, but the well-informed Hong Guoyi still recognized a few of them based on his memory.

Every single one of them could be considered a big shot who had visited his teahouse.

Yet, these very people who could stir up winds and clouds in Wentian City were not as ostentatious with their carriages as they usually were.

Instead, they carefully pulled over to the side of the road to travel slowly, yielding the middle of the street to others.

"This is..."

Being able to make those people voluntarily yield, Hong Guoyi vaguely guessed the identities of the owners of those carriages.

Thinking about it carefully, Hong Guoyi still couldn't figure out what had happened to attract so many big shots.

Could it be that some talented scholar and beauty had decided on a whim to hold an exhibition on Heavenly Street?

After pondering for a while, Hong Guoyi waved at Zhang Xiaoer, who was standing by the door.

"Zhang Xiaoer, go out and ask around; is there some major event today?"

"Very well, Manager."

Looking up at the servant still waiting by his side, Hong Guoyi huffed:

"Take it and go, be quick! Don't be an eyesore here."

"Got it!"

Casually tossing a piece of broken silver to the servant to dismiss him, Hong Guoyi continued to ponder:

"Is today some kind of special day?"

The situation before him made him somewhat curious, and for a moment, he didn't even notice the sound of someone coming upstairs.

"Yo, isn't this Manager Hong? Why are you still sitting here so comfortably?"

"Sitting securely on your high tower, hahahaha!"

Hmm?

Hearing the mocking voice, Hong Guoyi was just about to get angry, but before he could turn his head, he realized the identity of the person speaking.

Click.

Rising immediately, Hong Guoyi turned around and flashed a fawning smile at the newcomer.

"Fifth Master is joking; compared to Fifth Master, how could I be worthy of such a description?"

The newcomer had a sturdy build and looked a bit chubby, but his movements were quite agile; although he had climbed to the third floor, he showed no signs of fatigue.

"What Fifth Master, Sixth Master—I told you long ago not to call me that; how bad it would be if others heard."

Shi Guangyin waved his hand, impatiently carrying a pot of wine as he sat down to the side.

"Why is Fifth Master here alone today? Is it the usual routine?"

Standing respectfully by his side, Hong Guoyi felt no sense of humiliation at all.

Shi Guangyin, the fifth in the Shi family, although he held no real power in the Shi family, was in charge of the revenue for this section of Heavenly Street.

In other words, Shi Guangyin was Hong Guoyi's direct boss, and he hadn't received few tributes from him over the years.

"I didn't intend to come to your place today, but I ran into an unlucky fellow halfway; I couldn't be bothered to argue with him, so I just came here to sit for a while."

"Oh? Where was Fifth Master originally going?"

Skillfully arranging the tea set and boiling water for Shi Guangyin, Hong Guoyi sensed he had more to say and took the initiative to continue the conversation.

Shi Guangyin looked at him strangely and retorted:

"Where else? A new teahouse opened on Heavenly Street, and there are many foxes... wait, you really don't know?"

"Eh?"

What foxes? What teahouse?

Racking his brains, Hong Guoyi couldn't find any information related to foxes, so he had to honestly admit it.

"This... I truly do not know; please enlighten me, Fifth Master."

Shi Guangyin originally seemed to have a lot more to say, but seeing Hong Guoyi's bewildered expression, he seemed to understand something and smiled meaningfully twice:

"Oh~ so you really don't know... hehe, then never mind."

"Go do your work; you don't need to get involved in this."

Waving his hand impatiently at Hong Guoyi, Shi Guangyin simply usurped his position, sitting directly in the spot by the window where he had been.

"..."

Hong Guoyi was very familiar with that look from Shi Guangyin.

When he faced those outsiders and didn't want to waste time with them, he wore the same look of disdain, too lazy to say more to them.

He considered himself an old Wentianguo and looked down on those outsiders, yet he hadn't expected that he was also just a link in the chain of contempt.

In the eyes of those aristocratic families and clans, what could a lackey like him possibly count for?

But the world was just this kind of world; he had understood that many years ago.

Silently lowering his head, Hong Guoyi retreated honestly.

Just as he was about to leave, Shi Guangyin seemed to think of something and ordered casually:

"Oh right, send next month's regular payment to my manor a few days early; I have an urgent need for it here."

Hong Guoyi: "..."

On the surface, this was just about moving up the time, but the true meaning behind it was not as simple as just a few days early.

Shi Guangyin's real intention was to have Hong Guoyi pay him a higher percentage as a tribute next month.

Next month, not only would he fail to make any money, he would have to dip into his own savings quite a bit.

Hong Guoyi could pretend not to understand and send the same amount as before next month, but then the days ahead would be difficult.

Business at Tianfu Teahouse had always been good, and among Shi Guangyin's subordinates, there were quite a few people eyeing this piece of fat meat in his hands.

If he didn't do it, there were plenty of people willing to take his place.

"As the Fifth Master commands, this small one would not dare to be negligent."

"Mm, go busy yourself elsewhere; don't stay here and be an eyesore."

"... Yes, please enjoy your tea, call me if you need anything."

Bowing his head in a respectful salute, Hong Guoyi retreated from the top floor, leaving that space to Shi Guangyin.

"Fox Tea House?"

What kind of situation was this?

Just as he was frowning, the waiter he had sent out earlier walked in quickly from outside the door.

"Manager, I've found out!"

With a look of deep confusion on his face, Zhang Xiaoer said uncomprehendingly:

"Those carriages all went toward East Street; this small one followed them and discovered a new tea house had opened there."

"However, because there were too many carriages there, I was worried about offending the dignitaries, so I just took a look from afar and came back..."

A new tea house?

On this Heavenly Street?

Having been extorted by Shi Guangyin, Hong Guoyi was already in a bad mood, and his expression sank even further upon hearing this.

Where did these bumpkins come from, being so ignorant of the rules?

Opening a teahouse here, did they not even know they had to come and pay their respects to the local powers?

"Hmph! What is it called?"

"The name? Oh... it seems to be Fox something?"

"Fox Tea House?"

"Ah, yes, yes, yes! Manager, you already knew!"

This name again!

Hearing the name that had just been mentioned by the mouth of Fifth Master Shi, Hong Guoyi calmed down for a moment.

That was true; since the other party could open a shop on Heavenly Street and attract so many big figures, they must surely have a significant background.

But... even if they had some background, so what?

Could they compare to the Shi family?

Look at Shi Guangyin; he originally wanted to go join in the fun, but in the end, didn't he still come to my place?

This Fox Tea House was just a fresh place for these big figures who had been suppressed for too long lately to find.

Once the novelty wore off, who would still care?

There were three other teahouses on this Heavenly Street before, and while none were as strong as his own Tianfu Teahouse, they still took away quite a bit of profit.

If a portion was taken away again, then next month, he feared it wouldn't be as simple as just dipping into his savings a little more.

If he couldn't fulfill Shi Guangyin's requirements, he feared even this teahouse would have to be sacrificed!

"Zhang Xiaoer, you go wait upstairs; you must absolutely not be negligent. I will go see the situation for myself."

Putting on his coat, Hong Guoyi went out, boarded his carriage, and drove toward the Fox Tea House.

I want to see exactly what kind of medicine you are selling in this Gourd!!?