Cui Yi waited for Zhou Li to leave the office and reach Datong Street. He grabbed him and went to a nearby restaurant to have a drink with him, hoping to ask him for advice.
After drinking for three rounds, Cui Yi closed all the doors and windows around him. Seeing that no one was in the cubicle, he turned around and walked behind him. He put his hands on the seat of the chair and asked in a low voice: "Brother Zhou, is this Mr. Ye a human being?" Is there anyone you can trust?"
Official Zhou was drinking until he was slightly drunk, but he was still full of thoughts when he suddenly heard these words. He was stunned for a moment, then put down his wine glass and glanced at him in embarrassment: "Hey! I have told you before, this Lord Ye is not You can make friends. But you don't trust me, thinking that I won't tell you what's in my heart. You invited me to a drink like this, and I can't repay your favor!"
"Brother," Cui Yi put down his chair, reached for the empty wine bottle on the table, put it on the big table next to him, and took a new bottle, "Brother, I definitely don't mean that, I just plan to fight this You don't insist on success. You take me to the Ministry of Punishment once, and I only submit a post. If he doesn't want to see it, then that's it. Just treat it as if I spent the money on a meal and a meal, okay?"
"Alas," Official Zhou held his hand and prevented him from opening another drink. "Since you are so stubborn, I can't say anything anymore. If you get into trouble by then, don't blame me for not persuading you." you."
"Brother Zhou, although I, Cui Yi, have been fooling around for so many years, I am not a scoundrel. You still know this."
"Okay," Zhou Li said, "you go back and write a famous note. I will give it to Mr. Ye, saying that you are grateful for his great kindness and want to pay a visit in person and see his face. I don't expect him to know this. I refuse, but whether I can take the opportunity to climb up is another question."
"Okay, I'll do it! You, you wait first, I'll be back soon!" Cui Yi was overjoyed and hurried downstairs, asked the shopkeeper for paper and pen, and immediately wrote "Lu'an scholar Cui Yi and Xun greetings" With a few big words, he hurried upstairs and handed it to Zhou Li.
Official Zhou glanced at him, dried the ink, rolled it into his sleeves, stopped greeting him, said goodbye, and walked downstairs.
The next day, official Zhou returned to the Yamen with his name card and told Ye Yongjia the purpose of Cui Yi's visit. Ye Yongjia was concerned that he had just experienced the pain of losing his father and would not be able to please him, so he ordered the young official to go back and tell Cui Yi to wait at his house. Officials from Zhou knew well that Mr. Ye wanted to form a party and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make some achievements, so he advised him to meet Cui Yi in the lobby of the office so that his officials could see him and better understand his benevolence and righteousness. Ye Yongjia felt that it made sense, so he acted according to his method.
"go in."
After almost an hour, Cui Yi was brought to the Xingbu Yamen. Official Zhou asked him to come in. Cui Yi agreed, walked carefully, and then walked to the hall.
"What did Mr. Ye do?" Official Zhou looked around, not looking at Ye Yongjia's shadow, and grabbed a clerk and asked.
"Brother Zhou," the clerk bowed, "Mr. Ye was called by the emperor for questioning and will not return for a while. If there are any guests, please sit here for a while."
"He Xun," Official Zhou smiled at Cui Yi, "We still have to wait."
Cui Yiwei said yes and followed him to sit under the window. The officers were about to serve tea, but one of them recognized Cui Long's pregnant son, so they whispered to each other: "Brothers, do you know that although this man is the son of a servant, he does not do his job properly and wanders around all day long? , so that now he is still a scholar, and his true path has been abandoned. His father hated him for being useless when he was alive, and was so angry that he committed suicide now, which is probably related to this matter. Don't give him a good look. "
"That's it..." After hearing this, everyone nodded, and then deliberately did not serve tea and walked elsewhere. Cui Yi was so embarrassed that he had to turn his head to look at the scenery outside the window.
Just as the two were waiting impatiently, they saw an old man with white hair and beard walking out of the back room. He straightened his plain clothes, yawned and glanced at them.
"Who is this?"
Cui Yi saw that he had a good background, so he didn't dare to say anything and looked at Zhou Li in a daze. Official Zhou wanted to pull him to stand up and salute, but Cui Yi was so nervous that he could not move no matter how much he pulled him. He was so frightened that Official Zhou broke out in a cold sweat, so he had no choice but to make a deep bow alone: "I, you, Mr. Cai. , this is the son of Cui Shilang, his name is Cui Yi..."
Cai Xianqing raised his eyes and looked at Cui Yi's indifferent face. He still refused to salute. He sneered and thought to himself: "Since I have been an official, I have been used to seeing people who are flattering and duplicitous. I never thought that he would see me with such a great reputation." The prominent figure actually refused to bow. I don't know what he was thinking. This is really a strange person! '
"What are you doing here?" He walked over slowly and asked with a frown.
Cui Yi looked at his face and suddenly came to his senses, but he was still confused for a moment: "Who are you...?"
The Zhou official's face was livid, and he smiled reluctantly and said, "This is Mr. Cai, the Minister of War, whose name is Xianqing."
"Master Cai, I'm disrespectful..." After hearing this, Cui Yi shivered all over, and then he bowed again, "The villain's father passed away. I heard that an adult named Ye helped with the cooking, and I was very grateful. .I came here specially to thank him for his kindness."
"What kind of official do you want to be?" Cai Xianqing asked casually.
Cui Yi thought of what had just happened and was so ashamed that he suppressed his blush and replied in a low voice: "The villain, the villain is not an official, he is just a scholar."
After hearing this, the surrounding officers looked at him with suppressed smiles, and some even made a sound accidentally. This made Cai Xianqing's face darken, with a hint of anger in his eyes: "Cui Xiucai, why do you need to use the word 'just'? I think you are still young, and you can't tell if you will be a Jinshi in the future. Besides, As the saying goes, 'Heroes don't care about their origins.' Are those Jinshis really better than you? There are so many officials in the imperial court who are Jinshis, and all of them are just sitting there and doing nothing, without any achievements!"
The officers knew that this was a blow to Cai Xianqing's heart, so they were so frightened that they stopped talking.
"You don't have to wait here today," Cai Xianqing waved his hand. "The Ministry of Punishment has been busy these days, and there are still many urgent official matters to be approved. It is somewhat inconvenient for you to be here. Go back first and wait for Mr. Ye to be free. It’s not too late to come and see you again.”
"I..." Cui Yi was a little anxious. He took a step forward, only uttered one word in his mouth, and then took it back.
Cai Xianqing looked at him again following the voice, dusted off his clothes and said, "If you are in a hurry and want to discuss funeral-related matters, ask the official Zhou to take you to my mansion tomorrow to talk." After saying this, he Then he smiled and patted Cui Yi on the shoulder and walked away.
