Inside a certain mansion.
Several officials were sitting in the hall, all frowning.
"Master Wei has been arrested." A person sitting above said.
"Why is he arresting people? I'm waiting for the official documents. Do you have any questions?"
"On the surface, there are no problems with the official document, but there are inevitably some small flaws in it. I heard that it is also related to the handwriting."
"Hmph, just based on this, there can be a hundred reasons to prevaricate."
"Liu Changqing is just relying on his status as the inspector of Liangzhou and having Wang Jian in hand. He arrested a court official as soon as he arrived. He is not afraid that he will not be able to put an end to it!"
"The worst thing is, we'll jointly submit a memorial and join him in a copy!"
Hearing this, the man above him immediately raised his hand and said: "No! Since Liu Changqing suddenly arrived in Liangzhou and was holding the king's sword, it must be related to the matter of grain. Now that he is jointly signing the report, doesn't it mean he has exposed himself?"
"Otherwise, we can take advantage of him before he finds anything!" Someone else said with a sullen face.
"You're crazy! He has a king's sword in his hand. Don't you know the consequences of killing him?"
"Then, what do you think we should do?"
"Well..." The man above pondered for a moment and said, "Although Mr. Wei has been arrested now, he should be okay for the time being. Liu Changqing's purpose is probably to elicit something. Therefore, we must not mess up our position and stay calm." ."
"But...but if something happens to Mr. Wei..."
"Then we can't come forward, but we can find someone to help test it out."
The next day, at the gate of Ruan Mansion.
"Master Pu, please take your time and come here often when you have time..."
"Stay, stay, Lord Ruan, stay..."
Ruan Mingzheng sent an official out of the house with a smile on his face, and his son Ruan Yang said beside him: "Father, have you promised Mr. Pu?"
"It's a small favor, just help if you can. There's no harm in having a good relationship with these Liangzhou officials." Ruan Ming said cheerfully.
But when he heard this, Ruan Yang became a little anxious: "Oh, father, these are extraordinary times, and this kind of work is not that easy to help!"
"Yanger's words are serious." Ruan Ming said without hesitation: "Isn't it just to invite Liu Changqing to have a meal? It just so happens that I can take advantage of this to build a relationship with him."
"But this." Ruan Yang still looked anxious and said: "Father, Liu Changqing is not kind to Liangzhou. In my opinion, it is best for our Ruan family not to get involved. If we can Hide as far as you can."
After Ruan Ming heard this, he glanced at him and said: "Yang'er, you are not an official and don't know the complexity of officialdom. Treating Liu Changqing to a banquet is also an opportunity for the Ruan family. If we can build a relationship with Liu Changqing, then in In the future, our Ruan family will have an extra political resource in the court, do you understand?"
"This..." Ruan Yang didn't know what to say.
Ruan Ming's idea is very simple, he simply wants to win over Liu Changqing.
Liangzhou officials took advantage of his mentality and wanted to use him to test Liu Changqing first.
The Ruan family was not involved in this major case this time, because Ruan Ming's official position seemed empty, and important official documents could not get through his hands.
That evening, Ruan Ming, on behalf of Liangzhou officials, warmly invited Liu Changqing to a banquet.
After receiving the news, Liu Changqing was originally prepared to refuse. He was pedantic, too stubborn, and not humane at all. This was also the annoying thing about him.
However, Qi Ying advised: "My lord, you have been in Liangzhou for these days and you refuse to go to the banquet. In this situation, it is somewhat unjustifiable."
After hearing what he said, Liu Changqing thought about it and said, "That's fine, just go."
This dinner was held in the Ruan Mansion.
The Ruan Mansion was large enough and one of the top wealthy families in the area. During the banquet, many officials were present. After a polite exchange of greetings, everyone sat down one after another, each with a case in front of them.
At the beginning, the scene was quite lively. After all, they were all dignitaries. When the food and wine were served, Ruan Ming also picked up the wine glass and said with a smile: "Master Liu has been in Liangzhou for these days, and I haven't done all the things that the landlord has to do." Come here, I would like to take this cup to express my apology."
"Let's respect Mr. Liu together," people said as they held the cups.
This was already very polite, but Liu Changqing sat there and sneered: "Master Ruan, as an official of the imperial court, he holds a big banquet and is full of guests. This table of food and wine is too extravagant, isn't it? For me, The prices of these things in front of me are probably enough for ordinary people to live on for several years."
He is toasting you, but what he said clearly implies that Ruan Ming is corrupt. When the latter heard this, he suddenly looked embarrassed and froze there. He didn't know what to do and could only laugh in embarrassment.
Seeing this, everyone else silently put down the wine glasses they had just picked up, not to mention how disappointing it was.
The scene fell into awkwardness for a while, until after a long pause, Ruan Mingcai laughed and said to smooth things over: "Haha, Mr. Liu likes to joke, joking, come on, drink..."
Everyone was very uncomfortable eating this banquet. After leaving the banquet, people walked out and said one after another:
"Hmph! This person really doesn't know how to appreciate praise!"
"I've never seen anything like this..."
In the mansion, Liu Changqing was naturally ready to leave, but Ruan Ming quickly stood up and stopped him: "Master Liu, stay here."
"Master Ruan, is there anything else?"
"Haha, sir, can you lend me a moment to speak?" Ruan Ming said with a smile on his face.
Liu Changqing raised his eyebrows, but in the end, he followed him to the inner hall.
After arriving here, before he could ask any questions, Ruan Ming had already retreated and opened a box placed in the hall.
Liu Changqing took a look and saw that the box was full of gold nuggets, which were dazzling!
Even he couldn't help but be surprised when he saw such a huge amount of gold, and secretly said what a big deal!
Then he asked in a solemn voice: "Master Ruan, what do you mean?"
"Haha, it's not interesting, it's not interesting." Ruan Ming still looked like a good old man and said with a smile: "It's just a little thought, not respectful. If you don't give up, I hope you will accept it."
"Haha." Liu Changqing also laughed.
Ruan Ming didn't understand him at all, so giving Liu Changqing such a heavy gift was just like making himself uncomfortable.
I thought that with so much gold, I could build some connections. There is no one in this world who doesn't love money.
But after Liu Changqing glanced at it, he sneered again and again: "What does Mr. Ruan want to do with such a large sum of money? You don't need to give this gold to me, and you don't need to take it back. I will submit it to the king on my own!"
"What!?" Ruan Ming suddenly panicked when he heard this: "Sir... what do you mean by this?"
"Hmph! People with different Taoist views don't agree with each other! Mr. Ruan can do his own thing!" Liu Changqing sneered again and walked away directly.
