The middle building of Fan Tower, with its cornices, animal ridges, carved beams and painted pillars, is the largest among the five buildings.
There are four portals in the middle building, which are not connected inside. The portals correspond to the four directions of southeast, northwest and northwest.
The middle building of Fanlou is closed for business and is only used as a home and to receive distinguished guests. This is the excuse to the outside world.
But everyone who is familiar with Fan Lou knows that receiving distinguished guests is actually doing business. You can't get in just because you are not expensive enough.
When Fan Lou does his own business, he only uses the south gate, and the other three gates are reserved for distinguished guests.
Emperor Taizu once came to Fanlou to watch a play.
Emperor Renzong once came to Fanlou for a drink. After drinking, he praised it and ordered Fanlou to be established as a solid place for Tokyo liquor trade.
A business as big as Fan Lou naturally doesn't have just one owner, and there are almost dozens of shares secretly divided.
Among them, the Fan family holds the largest share.
From Baifan Tower, Fan Tower, to Fengle Tower, the name has changed several times, but the people in Tokyo only call it Fan Tower, precisely because the Fan family is a large stock.
The Fan family was originally engaged in the alum business, which was a medicinal material and a necessity for the army. They made a fortune during the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, and later built the Fan Tower in Tokyo.
In the beginning, Fan Lou only dealt in alum, so it was called alum building.
After several renovations and expansions, Ailun's business moved to another place and he began to operate a restaurant business. It grew bigger and bigger, and now it is the number one restaurant in the Seventy-Two Restaurants.
The Fan family is the major shareholder of Fan Building, and is called the Big Boss family both inside and outside the building.
The person in charge of the restaurant in this generation of the Fan family is Fan Xuewen, who is fifty years old, the eldest son of the head of the Fan family, and the successor to the next head of the family.
He knew destiny at fifty, but Fan Xuewen looked very young, with black hair and black beard, and almost no wrinkles on his face. He looked about forty.
He was sitting at a flower table at the moment, listening to the report from the thugs in the West Tower with an ugly expression.
The report was of course that the guests from the two pavilions were competing for the oiran. The guest who entered the later pavilion was arrogant and unreasonable, occupied the oiran, and connived at his subordinates to beat to death the assistant in the west building.
After listening, Fan Xuewen looked livid and fell into deep thought.
There was another person on the other side of the flower table, an old man with a red face. Seeing Fan Xuewen thinking deeply, the old man asked: "Do those guards know his identity?"
The thug lowered his head and said, "I know, the person in charge said it in advance, but the guards didn't care at all. They pulled out the sharp blades and held them for a while to kill. The young ones were defeated, so they were slashed to five or six people, and one of them was killed." "
The old man asked again: "What kind of knife?"
The thug said: "They are all Yan Ling knives commonly used in the martial arts world. They are polished very quickly and will hurt when touched. The hands are tight and black."
"Yan Ling Sword?" The old man said to himself, with a puzzled look on his face, and couldn't help but ask again: "Did Zhao Yuannu come from his own family?"
The thug said: "I don't know, but according to the yamen in the pavilion, he made an excuse, saying that there was something going on in the building, and he wanted to go out to take a look... By the way, Mei Niang has not been seen yet. The manager guessed that he and Zhao Yuan Nu and I are all in the pavilion over there."
The old man nodded: "Then he should go home. It doesn't matter whether he was forcibly detained or didn't want to leave. It all happened because of her. This Zhao Yuannu deserves to die..."
Just as he was speaking, someone suddenly ran in in a panic from outside. When he entered the door, he shouted: "Big boss, big boss, the steward asked me to report urgently. The young master from the family of the Minister of Civil Affairs has been kidnapped by the other party!"
"What?" Fan Xuewen, who had been deep in thought, suddenly raised his head and recognized that the person who came in was also a West Tower thug, and asked anxiously: "Where were you arrested?"
"Let the murderous guards arrest them and take them to the pavilion. The manager is afraid that something big will happen, so he asked the younger ones to report them."
Fan Xuewen raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "How dare you do this? What else did the other party say?"
The thug said: "The young one looked on and said nothing else. He just carried the Yameni like a chicken. He was so rude and rude!"
Fan Xuewen took a deep breath and looked at the old man: "Mr. Wu, what should I say?"
The old man stood up and said with a frown: "It would be easier to deal with the people below if they are beaten to death. If there is really a young master in the pavilion, just ask for more money, and the adults opposite will also deal with the aftermath, but now the yamen of the Minister of Civil Affairs are being held hostage. In the past...not reporting to the official would have been a sign of favoritism."
Fan Xuewen said: "If the person who committed the murder is really a young man from some family, wouldn't he be guilty?"
Mr. Wu shook his head and said: "Everything is in a dilemma. Where can we avoid offending both parties? At least this side can be determined to be the yamen of the Minister of Civil Affairs and Baowen Pavilion bachelor's family. The other side is not allowed to enter the pavilion to see people, and the identity is uncertain. , As the saying goes, he who doesn’t know is not guilty, even if he is really a young man who doesn’t go out often, he can just ask someone to deal with it when he is in trouble.”
Fan Xuewen stroked his thick black beard and said, "That makes sense."
Mr. Wu added: "What's more, there are seven or eight people in the pavilion here, and the people next to them have not come out. The minister of the Ministry of official affairs and the yamen of Baowen Pavilion's bachelor's family came out to look for someone. The identity of the people waiting inside..."
Fan Xuewen's eyelids moved: "All the ministers and young masters of the Ministry of official affairs have been sent out. Among them are at least the young masters of the Shangshu family, or even... bigger?"
Mr. Wu nodded: "That's true. Moreover, these Yameni young masters often get together. It's also a question that they are not familiar with each other over there."
Fan Xuewen thought for a while: "How to do it?"
Mr. Wu took two steps on the ground and said, "Send more people to surround the pavilion and prevent the people in the pavilion from escaping. Immediately send people to inform the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Chen Shilang, and report to the Kaifeng Prefecture to tell the big story." Some, it’s best to meet Mr. Teng and tell him in detail!”
Fan Xuewen said: "It's not possible for my subordinates to go to Kaifeng Mansion. I'll go there myself. As for Minister Chen's place..."
Mr. Wu said: "That old man, Mr. Chen, is going. The big boss will send people to surround the pavilion now. If it is not the Qing Shang Ya Nei, but a green forest thief, it will be a serious crime to escape."
Fan Xuewen said: "It should be like this, I will make arrangements right away."
Not to mention how he dealt with it, I just said that the young master had a good run and returned to the pavilion sweating profusely.
He was frightened and frightened, and exerted all his strength on the way to wear off all the alcohol. Then he told several people in the cabinet what he had encountered, and everyone was stunned on the spot.
Mr. Hairpin looked at him and was confused, fearing that there were some mistakes or omissions, so he asked again, and this time he could hear it more clearly. He couldn't help showing surprise on his face and said: "This man is so brave, he is so domineering!"
The young man in green robe next to him was already furious. He stretched out his hand and slapped the table and said, "Where does this talented person come from? Let me go over and take a look!"
"Wait a minute!" Mr. Hairpin frowned: "People have been beaten to death over there, Brother Wang, it's better not to go there!"
"I'm so afraid!" said the young man in green robe: "The other party could only kill the people downstairs Fan, how dare they attack me!"
Mr. Hairpin shook his head: "It's always wrong. The other party is so rampant, so I'm afraid of relying on someone. Not everyone dares to allow his subordinates to hurt people to death. The other party may not be from the capital, but if they come from outside... it is dangerous. To."
The young man in green robe asked anxiously: "What should we do?"
Mr. Hairpin said: "It would be better to go to Kaifeng Mansion to report to the official."
The young man in green robe shook his head like a rattle: "Wouldn't that be embarrassing? When I go out to have fun, no matter how big things happen, I have reported it to Kaifeng Mansion several times. If it spreads, I won't be laughed at by other brothers and sisters!"
The Hairpin Master glanced at him and said, "If you don't want to be laughed at, then avoid Kaifeng Mansion and go home to move troops."
The young man in green robe said angrily: "Where did my family get the soldiers? But that boy Wu Zhao can bring some more. By the way, where did Wu Zhao go?"
He couldn't help being startled when he said this. He looked around and said doubtfully: "Wu Zhao was the first to go out to look for people, and he hasn't come back yet..."
Master Hairpin looked at Master Baowen Pavilion: "Can you see Wu Zhao when you go out?"
The bachelor master of Baowen Pavilion shook his head and said: "I haven't seen it. I asked Fan Lou and he said that he was separated when he first went there. Maybe... maybe he passed out drunk somewhere."
The young man in green robe said: "This is impossible. Wu Zhao drinks more than me. He didn't drink too much tonight. How could he go out drunk!"
Mr. Hairpin's face changed at this time: "You won't be caught in the pavilion by the other party, right? And Chen Sui hasn't come back for so long!"
The young man in green robe became even more anxious when he heard this: "What should I do? I want to go over and take a look. I don't believe they dare to arrest Wu Tiao and Chen Sui!"
Mr. Hairpin shook his head and said: "This is a strange matter. Don't be rash. Now that Fan Lou can't be counted on, it's best to go back and call for help."
The green-robed young master said: "We can't go to Kaifeng Mansion. My father is not in the capital right now. Why don't you, brother Tang, go home to find Mr. Tang and ask him to come forward?"
Mr. Hairpin said: "What's the use of my father's coming forward? He doesn't have anyone under his command. I think it's better to go to Wu Shilang. After all, there are some officers in the Ministry of War who are worse than the officers of Kaifeng Mansion."
The green-robed young master said: "This is a good idea. Wu Shilang is the left minister of the Ministry of War. It will not be a problem to mobilize some division troops. Brother Tang, are you going or should I go?"
Mr. Hairpin thought for a while: "It's better for me to go. After all, Wu Zhao is nowhere to be found at the moment. He is afraid that he may be trapped in the pavilion over there. When he goes to see Wu Shilang, he must be careful with his words..."
The young man in green robe said: "That's true. I'm most afraid of seeing Wu Shilang. He has a gloomy face all day long. The last time I met Wu Zhao in the house, he just snorted coldly and scared me so much that I ran away quickly."
Mr. Hairpin said: "I'm going now. Brother Wang, remember not to leave this pavilion. We'll talk about everything after I come back."
The young man in green robe said: "I'm just worried about the two of them...forget it, I won't go out."
The hairpin boy nodded, stood up and hurried out.
Seeing him leave, the young man in green robe shouted at the female singer in front of him: "What are you looking at? You're not playing music!"
The female actors all knew that something serious was going on, so they didn't dare to say anything, so they started playing. However, after a few sounds, the young man in green robe shouted again: "They've all stopped. Why are they getting more and more upset the more they listen? I don't know what's in the pavilion over there." Okay, Zhao Yuannu’s little hooves actually sneaked over and didn’t come back. When this happens, I’ll find someone to deal with her!”
The middle-aged man with black beard and the fat man next to him did not dare to say anything from beginning to end. They came to Beijing from other places to report on their work, and this banquet was for this purpose.
The two of them planned to stay in the capital as officials, but being an official in the capital required hard work and recommendation. The two of them had done enough work, but the recommendation was not very impressive. Their original backers were gone. If If you are inactive, let alone becoming a Beijing official, you may even lose your job.
But being recommended is easier said than done. It requires several letters of recommendation from several people with certain qualifications.
Since you want to stay in the capital, the level of this certain qualification should not be too small. It is usually purple and crimson court clothes, going up to the fifth level.
In fact, after Yuanfeng's reform, the sixth grade can also wear Feiyi and is considered qualified, but the sixth grade is too low, and only the seventh to ninth grades can be recommended.
However, Beijing officials of seventh to ninth rank are often appointed after each imperial examination, so probably no one goes to the sixth rank official for recommendation.
The rank of the recommender cannot be lower than or the same as that of the recommender.
Recommendation is easy to say, that is, as long as you have a formal background in the imperial examination, have friends in the same year, or even have classmates from Imperial College, you can always find recommenders in Beijing.
The difficulty is that this matter is not done in vain. Depending on the distance of the relationship and the level of the relationship, more or less money will be given.
The higher the rank of the recommender and the weaker the relationship, the more gifts will be given. On the other hand, if the recommender is the same year as a classmate and the rank is not that high, a smaller amount of money will be fine.
The man with the black beard and the fat man with the white beard have been working as officials in other places all year round and have not had much contact with the capital. There were also few candidates for the imperial examination in their session, so it was not easy to find a way to the capital.
Both of them were fifth-rank officials, so they could only go up in recommendation, but after a lot of miscellaneous manipulation and coercion, they managed to develop some connections and climbed into several yamen.
They knew that the adults in the government department would not handle matters directly, and would probably start from the Yameni side, so they came to Fanlou to set up a meeting and wanted to discuss how much money should be given to the adults, but they did not expect that something went wrong in front of them. .
The black-bearded middle-aged man said cautiously: "Master Wang, what will happen to this...?"
The young man in green robe glanced at him and felt irritated: "Who can say it right? If nothing happens, everything will be fine. If something happens, you two can't run away!"
The black-bearded middle-aged man suddenly cried in his heart. He didn't look at the almanac when he went out. Why did he happen to catch up with today? This is really bad luck.
He and Fatty Bai looked at each other, neither of them dared to say anything. The two of them were originally employed in a remote state capital and had limited plunder. Now that they had no money to spend and had to worry about things, they both immediately looked sad.
The green-robed young man sat there and thought about it more and more. He picked up a glass of wine and drank it down his neck. Then he said: "It's not okay to wait like this. I have to go over there and take a look. What if Chen Sui is still lying outside?" You have to get it back."
The young master beside him suddenly changed his color and said hurriedly: "Brother Tang told us not to leave the pavilion when he left."
The young man in green robe glared and said: "We have never been wronged like this in Beijing, and we are hiding and not daring to come forward. I don't believe that the people in the pavilion are so bold as to do anything to me, the son of a minister!"
Even if the black-bearded middle-aged man and the white fat man didn't want to speak at the moment, they hurriedly advised: "You can't do it, Mr. Wang. We should wait until Mr. Tang comes back."
The young man in green robe refused to pay attention to them. He stood up with a flick of his sleeves, looked at the bachelor and said, "Xu Yiwei, you come with me!"
The miserable look of the thug who had been stabbed flashed through the young master's mind. He waved his hands and said, "I'm not going, and neither is Brother Wang. We'll wait and see."
The young man in green robe snorted, kicked open the flower table in front of him, and walked straight out the door...
(Also, I am working hard to write)
(End of chapter)
