"Mr. Lu? Are you Mr. Lu Qiuzhi?"
Lu Qiuzhi had just calmed down the twelve people who were rushing towards him, and those who were eating on the side joined him.
Gu Jiu watched Lu Qiuzhi from the side, with a helpless look on his face as he motioned for everyone to be quiet and not to affect the shopkeeper's business. At the same time, the corners of his mouth turned up as if he had won a lottery, and he silently stepped back.
Man, if it were really acted out, you would believe it to be true.
As the exclamations increased, in the end everyone in the lobby cheered for this free meal.
After about forty minutes, Lu Qiuzhi took control of the scene, stood in the middle of the crowd, and passionately told everyone about the article "Cyanotic Pearls in Elementary School" in the enlightenment textbook.
"good!"
Amidst the bursts of applause, Lu Qiuzhi's smile could be said to come from the heart. When he heard someone wanted to send him a banner, he waved his hand quickly.
"No, no, it's too expensive for everyone! Teaching knowledge is what I should do as a teacher."
"Mr. Lu, the more you say this, the more we have to send this banner! There are many gentlemen in this academy, but you are the only one like you! You all have to express your gratitude to me. You’ve made this trip in vain! Everyone, don’t you think so?”
"That's right, Mr. Lu, just keep it. It doesn't cost much anyway, so just treat it as everyone's wish. I hope you won't dislike it."
Everyone said something to each other, and Lu Qiuzhi was soon defeated, and he "reluctantly" agreed to the banner.
The location of Tianyi Restaurant is very good, and the impact of this publicity is better than Gu Jiu and the Madam expected.
The vast majority of ordinary people do not have relatively accurate identification capabilities. In most cognitions, it is said that if it is good, it is definitely not bad and can be given priority.
Gu Jiu and the Madam took advantage of this.
Moreover, if there are more people, it is inevitable that there will be a few exaggerators, so it won't take long for Lu Qiuzhi's reputation to spread throughout Yuncheng.
“I didn’t expect everyone to be so enthusiastic. Don’t worry, we will definitely have the opportunity to meet again in the future!
As the night fell, Lu Qiuzhi said goodbye to everyone with some reluctance.
To be honest, his original plan was to speak for two hours at most, but he didn't expect that this opening would last until dark.
"Uncle Lu, let me take you back."
After hearing Gu Jiu's words, Lu Qiuzhi just waved his hand to say that she didn't need a little girl to send him off. One of the twelve people took the lead and said, "Mr. Lu, it's not safe for you to go back so late. Otherwise, let my child send him off." You go back! He happens to still have some knowledge that he doesn’t understand!"
"My home is fine too, Mr. Lu. It's really not safe for you to go back by yourself, so we'd better take you back!"
Everyone said something to each other, and Lu Qiuzhi really couldn't shirk it, so he asked everyone to send him back to the entrance of the mirror field.
"Has it been dealt with?"
On the way back to the inn, a man with a hat covering most of his face suddenly walked up to Gu Jiu and spoke incoherently.
"Yes." Gu Jiu nodded, glanced at the magistrate and continued: "But you'd better dress differently next time you come out. Your appearance will make people more suspicious."
Magistrate: ...I have carefully chosen my outfit for most of an hour.
"Follow me, I have something to ask you."
Gu Jiu and the magistrate entered the teahouse one after another. Looking at the magistrate who was still secretive, Gu Jiu sighed in his heart. He had to read so many messy brochures to do this.
"Sir, there is really no need. You have a good reputation and no one will poison you at this time."
The magistrate coughed lightly and took back the silver needle: "Isn't it best for me to be careful?"
Gu Jiu: ...How long has it been since you left the government office?
"What do you want to ask?"
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot about business." The magistrate put his expression aside and said seriously: "What's your next step? Your actions today have made Lu Qiuzhi's reputation skyrocket, but what's the use of it?"
"To keep him isolated."
The county magistrate was puzzled and asked, "What do you mean?"
"To give a very simple example, there are ten children playing very well right now. You praise and encourage one of them alone, and use this to suppress the others. Do you think the other nine will like him in the long run?"
The magistrate frowned, not understanding the connection between making others dislike Lu Qiuzhi and eradicating him.
Seeing this, Gu Jiu further said: "Although the forces in Yuncheng are at odds with each other on the surface, they are like grasshoppers on a rope after all. Anyone who moves will be blocked by other forces. It can be said that they are fighting alone. But if there is a gap between them, Do you think Lu Qiuzhi has become yours?"
The magistrate was shocked: "You want me to pretend to win over Lu Qiu when he is famous?"
"No, no, no, you have to give real benefits. In this way, as long as you give a little benefit to any force in the future, it will make others wonder if he has also betrayed."
Hearing this, the county magistrate took a deep breath. It was the first time that he understood and was so sure about the strategy that "one hair would influence the whole body".
"How to do it exactly?"
"Then it depends on how your magistrate reacts when you really want to win over someone."
The magistrate nodded excitedly.
After the two discussed, Gu Jiu left the teahouse and returned to the inn early. Tomorrow morning, she had to go to the academy to report, so it would be bad to stay up late.
However, just as she left, Shao Baisi walked out of the room next to her.
Early next morning.
Before dawn, Gu Jing woke up early due to excitement, put on the new clothes Ye Qingyi made for him, packed his textbooks, put on his new schoolbag, and walked around the room excitedly.
"Sister, sister, are you up? I've bought breakfast. Do you want to eat a bun first?"
Hearing the noise, Gu Jiu opened the door and took the bun from Gu Jing's hand in a daze.
"Xiao Jing, don't worry, it's only about six o'clock now, and the report won't start until nine o'clock."
"Oh, sister, let's eat some first, and I'll go see my mother."
Seeing the person knocking on Ye Qing's door again, Gu Jiu couldn't laugh or cry for a moment. Forget it, just leave it to him for this day.
At eight o'clock, Gu Jiu and the village chief's family arrived at the academy report location on time.
"Mom, sister, I'm going in!"
"Go ahead."
Ye Qingyi and Gu Jiu smiled and waved goodbye to Gu Jing.
The village chief on the side also finished instructing Gu Cheng and let people in.
"Fortunately, both children passed the exam, otherwise he would really be worried about himself."
The village chief came over and looked at Gu Cheng's back while chatting with Gu Jiu and Ye Qingyi.
Gu Jiu paid attention to the students coming and going around, listening to the village chief's words. Suddenly she saw Lu Qiuzhi, who waved to her.
"Mom, village chief, you guys are chatting, I'll go over there if I have something to do."
After a brief exchange of words with Ye Qingyi and the village chief, Gu Jiu ran in the direction of Lu Qiuzhi.
"Good morning, Uncle Lu."
"Okay, how's it going? Didn't you delay anything?"
Lu Qiuzhi had given Gu Cheng's letter of introduction to Gu Jiu the day before yesterday, saying that his studies were the most important thing and any other agreements would come later.
"No, it's just right. It's just a pity that he just went in and didn't have time to thank Uncle Lu in person."
"It doesn't matter, these are all small things."
While the two were chatting, Gu Zheqi limped over again with his hands covered tightly.
In the last Yamen incident, although Shi Yuyan interrupted the punishment, it did not prove that Gu Zheqi was wrongly accused. Although the county magistrate did not explicitly say that Wang was killed by Gu Zheqi, the fact that he punished the two of them and only spared Gu Jiu made many people speculate.
There is no shortage of scholars in Yuncheng, and there is no shortage of people who are about to become scholars, so even if Yu Yan sometimes protects him, Gu Zheqi's current reputation is still spurned by others.
"Mr. Lu, this junior Gu Zheqi came from Mr. Ding's sect. I wonder if you still remember this junior."
Lu Qiuzhi's reputation is getting stronger day by day, and Gu Zheqi's eagerness to come over just wants to take advantage of it.
Lu Qiuzhi didn't reply, but looked at Gu Jiu, said goodbye and walked into the academy first.
Gu Zheqi quickly stepped forward to stop the person.
"Mr. Lu, you must have misunderstood something. This junior is not what that group of people say...Uncle Lu!"
Lu Qiuzhi didn't want to hear what Gu Zheqi had to say at all, so he just walked around.
Looking at Gu Zheqi who was limping forward and trying to chase someone, Gu Jiu couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" Gu Zheqi turned around and asked coldly. Although Gu Zheqi used the power fence to cover his face so that no one could see his eyes clearly, those eyes must have wanted to skin Gu Jiu alive.
"I laugh at you for talking nonsense and talking nonsense all day long."
Gu Jiu glanced at Gu Zheqi's empty back and continued: "Cousin, do you remember what you said before I left Gujia Village? Now that I think about it, it's just like a joke?"
"You don't have to rush to scold me. After all, no matter how much you scold me, I will still be alive and well, but it will be bad if you pull a wound."
"But then again, why didn't my uncle come with you on such an important day? It's not like he's not back yet!"
Hearing this, Gu Zheqi's heart condensed. The reason why he came here by himself today was simply because his father hadn't come back yet, and he didn't want others to see his embarrassment, so he had no choice but to come here on his own with injuries.
His father said the day before yesterday that he would help him solve this problem, but he has not come back since he left. He originally thought that his father had gone back to the village to ask his grandfather for help or to bribe the villagers. After all, the road was there, so he didn't rush back today. But what Gu Jiu said...
"Gu Jiu, what did you do to my father?"
"How can I do that?" Gu Jiu shrugged indifferently: "If I want to ask you, I should ask your fiancée."
Gu Zheqi: "What does this have to do with Yu Yan!"
"The relationship is that the uncle is now in the hands of the Shi family. Calculating the time, the uncle fell into the hands of the Shi family the night before yesterday. What? Miss Shi didn't tell you? Oh, that is really hard for the uncle. After all, Mr. Shi hates you so much. , even if you think about it, it won’t make it easy for uncle.”
After Gu Jiu finished speaking, he looked at Gu Zheqi, whose breath was stiff, and left with satisfaction.
