"Housekeeper, please open two guest rooms, one upper room and one ordinary room." The servant next to Wang Qifu came to the inn counter and slapped a silver coin on the counter.
"Wait a moment." The innkeeper put away the money, turned around and took the room card from the wall behind him, and shouted to the waiter on the other side, "Take a few guests to the room upstairs."
The innkeeper trotted over, took the room card from the shopkeeper, turned around and said to Wang Qifu and others: "Guests, please follow me upstairs."
As he spoke, he led Wang Qifu and others up the wooden stairs.
After sending the guests to their rooms, the innkeeper left and went back downstairs to do other work.
Wang Qifu sat on the round stool beside the table, reached out to lift the teapot on the table, and found that it was empty, so he said to the servant next to him: "Go downstairs to ask the waiter for a pot of boiling water."
"Yes." The servant agreed and left the room.
Not long after, the innkeeper came to the room with a kettle in his hand and said respectfully: "Sir, the boiled water you requested has been delivered. There is tea in the shop. Do you want to prepare some and send it over?"
"No need, we brought tea." Wang Qifu said.
The innkeeper said again: "I'll leave the kettle with you, sir. When you're done, just hand it over to the counter. If you don't have time to send it down, just say hello and I'll come and get it."
"Well, I understand. Go and do your work. I'll call you if something happens." Wang Qifu waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.
"Sir, please have a rest. I'll take my leave." The innkeeper bowed and exited the room, closing the door from the outside.
The servant came over, took out a bag of tea leaves from his luggage, put a handful into the teapot, picked up the kettle left by the innkeeper, and poured the boiling water into the teapot.
After a while, the servant picked up a teacup on the table, poured some tea into it, rinsed it, poured it away, and filled up a cup of tea again.
when! when! when!
At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside the room.
Wang Qifu's expression changed and he said to the servant on the side: "Go and see who it is?"
The servant walked to the door, opened it, and saw two people standing outside the door, and said, "Who are you looking for?"
"May I ask if Shopkeeper Wang lives in this room?" the person outside the door said politely.
The servant asked: "What do you want from my shopkeeper?"
The person outside the door smiled and said, "Excuse me, please tell me that it's an old friend who's visiting."
At this time, Wang Qifu in the room said: "Let them come in!"
The servant stepped aside and opened the blocked door, allowing the two people outside the door to enter.
When the man walking in front saw Wang Qifu, he cupped his hands and said, "I, Zheng Dahu, have met shopkeeper Wang."
"My nephew has met Uncle Shi." Xu Shunqing, who followed behind, also saluted.
Wang Qifu moved his eyes away from Zheng Dahu's face and looked at Xu Shunqing. He felt that he was somewhat familiar. He also saw that the other party was wearing a patched linen gown. He couldn't remember where he had seen it before and frowned slightly.
Xu Shunqing saw that Wang Qifu did not think of him, so he explained: "My father Xu Youcai had a lot of contacts with Uncle Shi and Uncle Li Shi from Datong."
Hearing this, Wang Qifu suddenly realized who the young man in poor clothes was in front of him.
What puzzled him was that only about half a year after Xu Youcai's death, the Xu family was already in such a state of decline that the dignified eldest son of the Xu family was actually wearing patched linen clothes.
"Please take a seat, please!" Wang Qifu raised his hand and pointed to the seats on the other side of the table.
Zheng Dahu took the seat first, and Xu Shunqing followed suit.
Seeing this scene, Wang Qifu knew that Zheng Dahu was the one in charge among the two.
He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, the Xu family was also a top gentry family in Lingqiu, but now Xu Youcai's son has fallen to this level. And from his perspective, it is not difficult to see that this Zheng Dahu is just a servant of a wealthy family.
Of course, it has nothing to do with him what the Xu family is like now, and he will not care about it. The reason why he came to this Baohexiang Inn was entirely because of the letter he received in Xujiazhuang.
Thinking of this, he said: "I wonder what you two want from me?"
Zheng Dahu said: "I think shopkeeper Wang has read the letter, otherwise he wouldn't come to this Baohexiang Inn."
Shopkeeper Wang frowned and said, "Brother Zheng, what do you mean?"
Zheng Dahu explained aloud: "Don't get me wrong, shopkeeper Wang. The letter was sent by someone on behalf of my housekeeper. I don't know the content inside, but it's not convenient for my housekeeper to see shopkeeper Wang, so I had to send you here."
Xu Shunqing at the side said: "Uncle Shi, Mr. Zheng is from the garrison mansion. I came to uncle Shi to discuss the matter of dealing with the Tiger Flag."
Wang Qifu looked at Xu Shunqing with a hint of contempt. The dignified eldest son of the Xu family was reduced to calling a servant "master".
Zheng Dahu said: "My housekeeper hopes that shopkeeper Wang can tell Dongzhu Fan to deal with Hu Ziqi and Liu Heng together."
Wang Qifu frowned and ordered the servants on the side: "Go and guard outside and don't let anyone get close."
The servant agreed and left the room.
Wang Qifu then said to Zheng Dahu: "I think your housekeeper may have misunderstood. There is still cooperation between our Fan family and Hu Zi Qi. The relationship is not bad, and he will not help you deal with Hu Zi Qi."
Hearing this, Zheng Dahu smiled brightly and said: "If shopkeeper Wang didn't want to deal with the tiger-character flag, why did he come to this Baohexiang Inn? Moreover, my family also knows that the last time the Fan family brought goods from the grassland, they called a group The horse bandits were robbed, and that group of horse bandits must be members of the Tiger Flag!"
Wang Qifu's expression changed and he said, "How do you know?"
Zheng Dahu said with a smile: "My master naturally has a way to get the news. In short, the relationship between the Fan family and Tiger Flag is not as close as Shopkeeper Wang said."
Wang Qifu raised his eyelids and glanced at Zheng Dahu.
It wasn't long ago that the Fan family's caravan was robbed on the grassland. Not many people in Xuanfu knew about it. Even if they knew, few people knew that the horse bandits who robbed the Fan family's caravan were members of the Tiger Flag. Man, it is even more impossible for a local guard in Datong to know about this matter. Since the other party can know the whole story, it means that there is a bigger person standing behind the Lingqiu guard.
Zheng Dahu was not in a hurry to say anything more, but looked at Wang Qifu with a smile.
Wang Qifu hesitated for a moment and said: "You are not qualified to do this with me. Let your housekeeper come to see me in person."
Zheng Dahu shook his head slightly and said: "Shopkeeper Wang, it's not that my housekeeper didn't come, but that many people in the tiger-character flag have seen my housekeeper, so it's really inconvenient for him to show up. I believe that shopkeeper Wang doesn't want to be seen leaving the garrison mansion. Too close."
Wang Qifu picked up the tea cup, took a sip of tea, pondered for a moment, and then said: "I have to meet my boss about this matter. I can't give you an answer now."
"I understand," Zheng Dahu said, "I came here mainly to tell my housekeeper about the benefits that the Fan family can get from this matter in the future."
