When Mr. Duan saw Mr. Bai's cold face and remained silent, he said to Chen Xiaomu in a friendly manner: "Brother, if you have any grievances, it's okay to say it."
Chen Xiaomu cupped his hands towards Mr. Duan and said, "Thank you for your kindness, sir. In fact, the waiter and I didn't mention Miss Wei at all after we left the private room. I just told him that I was interested in the second line of the Zhenglian hanging in this restaurant. , and asked him to take me to see my boss to receive the silver medal...
"Haha, you said you offered a reward for people who come out of this restaurant? Did I hear you correctly?" Before Chen Xiaomu could finish speaking, Mr. Bai burst into laughter, as if this was the funniest thing he had ever heard in his life. , he said with a smile: "If you can really prove it, you don't have to go to the owner of this restaurant to ask for the five hundred taels of silver reward. How about I give you ten times the five thousand taels? Haha, it really made me laugh to death. !Ha ha……."
"Tea is the soul of the tree. The more you taste it, the more energetic it becomes." Chen Xiaomu blurted out.
With a "Gah", Mr. Bai seemed to have choked on something, and he suppressed the laughter behind him. He looked at Chen Xiaomu with wide eyes and surprise, and was at a loss for the moment.
"Okay, I'm a quick thinker, right and correct!" Mr. Duan on the side couldn't help but applaud.
At this time, Mr. Bai suddenly felt like he was riding a tiger, because he had just given a bounty of five thousand taels of silver for this second couplet, and so many people at the scene could hear it clearly. It would be hard to regret it immediately. Besides, And I longed for Miss Wei to be here. I was sure that this stupid guy was looking for excuses to get away from scolding Miss Wei, but I didn't expect that she would actually get it right!
Mr. Bai rolled his eyes, kicked Fang Xiao down who was kneeling on the ground, and cursed: "You rogue, how dare you make false accusations against a good person out of nothing, I can't spare you today!"
Fang Xiao originally thought that Chen Xiaomu was just talking nonsense, and the purpose was to get him to take him to his employer to accuse him. He never expected that he would be able to answer this line. At this moment, he was kneeling there and planning how to add fuel to the fire. Oil, let this stupid guy walk around without food today. When he heard Mr. Duan clapping his hands, he knew that something was wrong. Before he could think of a way to escape, he unexpectedly received a strong kick from Mr. Bai again. , couldn't help but scream out in pain "Ouch".
Mr. Duan stretched out his hand to hold Mr. Bai and said: "What does Mr. Bai care about with the villain? Let him go, so as not to ruin our fun!"
Fang Xiaoru heard that he was being pardoned, and quickly got up from the ground and ran, "Stop, keep the money I gave you just now." Miss Wei suddenly shouted from behind.
Fang Xiao hesitated for a moment, but reluctantly took out the silver ingot from his arms that was not yet warm, handed it to Miss Wei's personal maid Ziyun who came from behind, and then ran away in confusion.
Mr. Duan smiled and cupped his hands at Chen Xiaomu, "May I ask this little brother what his name is?"
Chen Xiaomu returned the greeting and said, "I will spare my surname Chen."
Mr. Duan's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but look at each other with Miss Wei, and then asked tentatively, "Can Mr. Chen please give me some advice on Taifu?"
Chen Xiaomu thought for a while and felt that the identity of the other party was unknown, so it was better not to give his real name for the time being, but it was difficult to lie. When he thought about it, didn't you all call me the Sixth Prince? Then I'll call you Chen Liu.
After hearing that Chen Xiaomu announced his name as Chen Liu, the eyes of Mr. Duan and Miss Wei quickly dimmed, and their faces were full of disappointment. However, they still politely invited him to sit in the private room. To be honest, Chen Xiaomu felt uncomfortable from the inside out when he was with these people, but he also wanted to see if the five thousand taels of silver promised by the domineering Mr. Bai would be counted. Now he had finally met a person who was taken advantage of. He let it go so easily, and followed everyone into the private room without making any excuses.
Mr. Bai wished that Chen Xiaomu could leave immediately and stop mentioning the five thousand taels of silver. Seeing Mr. Duan's invitation, Chen Xiaomu was so angry that his teeth were itching, and he immediately secretly greeted all the eighteen generations of Mr. Duan's family. Once again, but now that the matter was over, he had no choice but to put on a smile and return to the private room to sit down with everyone.
Chen Xiaomu was arranged to sit next to Guan Wei, whom he had just met in front of the restaurant. To his right was a girl wearing a bright yellow skirt. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a round face and a pair of big black lips. Eyes, looks extremely pretty! Probably because their official positions in the family were relatively low among these people, these two people didn't say much in the conflict that just happened.
Chen Xiaomu just sat down but immediately stood up, cupped his hands to Mr. Bai who had just sat down opposite him, and reminded: "Thank you Mr. Bai for the five thousand taels of silver. I just don't know whether Mr. Bai will reward cash or silver." Ticket? If it’s cash, I’ll have to ask someone to find the driver. Mr. Bai, it’s more convenient to exchange it for a banknote!”
It’s really what you’re afraid of. If Mr. Bai had not come here today with his father’s instructions, I’m afraid he would have turned away and left without letting this countryman embarrass himself now! He immediately took the teacup on the table and lowered his head to drink tea, pretending not to hear what Chen Xiaomu said.
Seeing Mr. Bai pretending to be deaf and dumb, Chen Xiaomu was not polite. He was about to raise his voice and repeat what he just said. At this time, Mr. Duan, who was good at being a peacemaker, came out to smooth things over again. He smiled and said, "Brother Chen, don't worry. Don't worry, I still have two first couplets here. If Brother Chen can match them, how about I add another five thousand taels?"
Chen Xiaomu nodded, "Mr. Duan, let's make it a deal. You can talk about the first couplet first."
''Hold on, Mr. Duan, I will add another five thousand taels, but I have a condition. I wonder if this dear friend will agree to it? "As soon as Chen Xiaomu finished speaking, Mr. Bai immediately broke away from the state of pretending to be deaf and dumb and jumped out again.
Chen Xiaomu waved his hand and said very rudely: "Mr. Bai, we'd better clear all the accounts one by one. You should give me the five thousand taels of silver before you can add more. Otherwise, I'll forgive you for anything you say." It’s hard to obey!”
Mr. Bai couldn't help but blush. He turned around and saw Miss Wei looking at him. He gritted his teeth secretly, took out a few banknotes from his arms and handed them to Chen Xiaomu. He said, "Count one thousand taels each, which is exactly five." One thousand taels, banknotes from Rishengtong, a time-honored bank in Xinjing City!"
Chen Xiaomu immediately smiled, stretched out his hand to take the banknote, counted it, and carefully looked at the seal on the banknote, then carefully folded it and put it in his arms, looking like a miser who loves money as much as his life. , he didn't seem to see the disdainful looks on Mr. Bai's, Miss Wei's and others' faces, and said with a smile, "Now if Mr. Bai has anything to say, I'm willing to listen attentively."
Originally Mr. Bai planned to use Mr. Duan's two first couplets to offset his five thousand taels of silver reward, but now he no longer thinks so. After paying the five thousand taels of silver notes, he couldn't help but feel angry and determined not only to If he wants to find a way to get back his five thousand taels of silver, he has to ask Chen Xiaomu to give him another five thousand taels. Although he looks at Chen Xiaomu like this, he probably won't be able to come up with this money, but that's easy to do. , he had already made a plan in his mind. He would use someone to pay off his debts and work as a servant in his house doing rough work. When he had nothing to do, he could find a way to deal with him. Let out the bad breath in his chest and think about what would happen in the future. This kind of scene makes me feel so happy.
Without hesitation, Mr. Bai took out a bunch of silver notes from his arms, slapped it on the table and said proudly, "This is ten thousand taels of silver notes. If this dear man can deal with the two taels of silver notes offered by Mr. Duan today, If you make a pair, all these silver notes will belong to you. If any of this dear friend can't match it, how about you give me 10,000 taels of silver?"
''That's not okay. Apart from the five thousand taels of silver that Mr. Bai just gave me, I only have some broken silver left on me. If I don't apologize, I can't afford to pay Mr. Bai so much money! "After Chen Xiaomu finished speaking, he pretended to get up and leave.
When Mr. Bai saw that his plan was about to fail and he had lost five thousand taels of silver, he immediately became anxious. He stood up and stopped Chen Xiaomu in a hurry, and persuaded with a smile: "Brother Chen, it's okay if you don't have any money. We can pay on credit." Do you think it’s good?”
Chen Xiaomu shook his head and said, "No, I never like crediting other people's accounts. I always pay them off immediately."
Mr. Bai said helplessly: "Brother Chen is very talented. You have corrected all the couplets that have been hanging in this restaurant for several years. To tell you the truth, even Mr. Duan, who is famous all over the world, was thinking here for a long time just now." , I couldn’t come up with a suitable second line for a while. Brother Chen is so talented, but his life is not very satisfactory now. Don’t you want to work hard so that you can live a good life without worrying about food and clothing? "
Chen Xiaomu seemed to be moved by Mr. Bai's flattery while holding back his disgust. He frowned and said awkwardly, "Who doesn't want to live a good life? But I am really short of money. I just want to You won’t have a chance even if you try hard, right?”
"Then Brother Chen must leave?" Mr. Bai was extremely disappointed.
Chen Xiaomu thought for a while and said hesitantly: "Mr. Bai, unless you can lend me some money first, I will risk my life to accompany you and give it a try!"
As soon as Chen Xiaomu said this, everyone in the private room laughed. The pretty round-faced girl sitting next to him was even more happy. Everyone was thinking, is there any difference between credit and borrowing money now? It's just a flip-flop. Could this man be really stupid? No wonder the waiter in the shop kept calling him "silly guy" just now. It seems to be true at all. I just don't know what kind of shit luck this stupid guy got. I don’t know where I heard about this couplet offering a reward in a restaurant. I happened to encounter Mr. Bai who was arrogant for a while and asked him to pick up a large sum of money for nothing. Now I am afraid that Mr. Bai will be trapped by him. Not only will the money he picked up be taken, If you spit it out, you will still owe a bad debt that you will never be able to pay off in your lifetime. Alas, it seems that the saying that windfalls do not come to those who suffer hardship is right. The ancients do not deceive me!
However, everyone felt sad in their hearts. No one, including the peacemaker Mr. Duan, wanted to stand up and ruin Mr. Bai's good deeds. Everyone was waiting to see this silly joke! "
Without hesitation, Mr. Bai grabbed the silver note and handed it to Chen Xiaomu, and said generously: "Brother Chen, I will lend you these ten thousand taels of silver note now. When Mr. Duan finishes speaking the first couplet, if you are in a If we can’t answer the second line within the time, we’ll settle the bill again.”
"Okay, okay, if I can't answer the first and second couplets later, I'll just return the ten thousand taels of silver notes to you." Chen Xiaomu said as he reached out and took the silver notes from Mr. Bai's hand.
"What?" Mr. Bai was startled, and he immediately doubted whether he had fallen into Chen Xiaomu's trap. He pointed at the banknote in Chen Xiaomu's hand, as if he was afraid that he could not hear clearly, and said word by word, "Wait a minute." Yes, if you can't match Mr. Duan's pair, you have to pay me back 20,000 taels of silver. Do you understand? I lent you these 10,000 taels. If you can't match the pair, you will lose another 10,000 taels. Do you understand that the donation is twenty thousand taels?" Mr. Bai said as he raised two fingers and waved them in front of Chen Xiaomu's eyes to deepen his impression.
"Ah!" Chen Xiaomu couldn't help but let out a scream, jumped up from the chair, and waved his hands desperately, "I don't have so much money to give you, I don't care about these couplets! I will return these banknotes to you." Then he handed back the banknote in his hand.
Mr. Bai's face suddenly darkened and he said coldly, "Brother Chen, what you say is like water thrown out. Can you take it back? Isn't it wrong if you say it's wrong? With so many people here now, you If it’s not right, then even if you can’t be right, you still have to pay me 20,000 taels of silver!”
"That's right, a man, you can't go back on your word. You have to be right even if you are wrong about today's match!" Before Mr. Bai finished speaking, Miss Wei stood up to speak for him, and at the same time stared at Chen Xiaomu with a pair of almond-shaped eyes.
Chen Xiaomu knew in his heart that today the group of people had set a trap for him to get in. Now it seems that none of them, including this so-called Mr. Duan, are good people. He probably saw that he was so dirty that he looked like he couldn't read. The countryman was actually quite unconvinced that he could still stand up to someone who had been hanging out in a restaurant for several years, so he deliberately made fun of himself.
Chen Xiaomu pretended to have a depressed look on his face, slumped back into his chair, and murmured: "It's over, I won't be able to repay so much money in my lifetime!"
Seeing that Miss Wei came forward to speak for him, Mr. Bai suddenly became energetic. He and Miss Wei couldn't help but look at each other and smile. They turned around and bowed their hands, and respectfully said to Mr. Duan who was sitting on the table: "Mr. Duan, please come out." Ask a question!"
Mr. Duan smiled and nodded, and read aloud: "Lonely and cold, a widow with an empty window."
Chen Xiaomu couldn't help being shocked when he heard this. This was the famous absolute first couplet that was passed down to later generations. It should not appear in the lost dynasty in history that he traveled through! Could it be that this Mr. Duan is also a modern person who has traveled through time? He couldn't help but observe Mr. Duan carefully.
"Brother Chen, is this your fault? There is no second line on Mr. Duan's face. Isn't it too rude of you to always stare at Mr. Duan?" Mr. Bai saw that Chen Xiaomu was instantly confused after listening to Mr. Duan's first line. He looked completely lost, and he couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart, so he said teasingly.
Chen Xiaomu ignored him, stood up and bowed his hands to Mr. Duan, asking, "Mr. Duan, did you write this couplet yourself?"
Mr. Duan smiled and shook his head, "No, I heard it from a friend."
"Oh, is Mr. Duan's friend called Lin Jin?" Chen Xiaomu remembered that when he left Xinhe City in Zheng State, he left four couplets to his student Lin Jin, among which was the "Lonely Cold Window Widow" Union.
Mr. Duan still shook his head.
Seeing Mr. Duan shaking his head in denial one by one, Chen Xiaomu decided to test him again, and said to him with a smile, "Mr. Duan, can you also say the other first couplet? Let me think about the second couplet together."
