Fang Qingxue, who had already turned around to leave, was suddenly shaken after hearing the last two lines of the poem. She murmured softly: Once the golden wind and jade dew meet, they will defeat countless people in the world. If love lasts for a long time, how can it last day and night?
Fang Qingxue suddenly turned back to look at the man on the stage. After listening to this poem, everyone in the audience became much quieter. Many people looked at the man on the stage in confusion. Everyone was amazed by the beauty of this poem. , what kind of love this is.
Bang bang, bang bang, bang bang, bursts of warm applause broke out from the audience. Someone shouted and asked: "Do you dare to ask if this poem was written by the young master?"
The man with the mustache composed himself, and then signaled everyone to be quiet. The man with the mustache said: This poem was written by my young master, and it sells for one thousand taels of silver!
"Fuck, such good words are actually being sold for only one thousand taels." Someone cursed angrily.
The man with the mustache chuckled and said, "My family is poor and I have to do this as a last resort. Please forgive me."
"I'll pay you a thousand taels, and Miss Li Ben wants this poem." Before Fang Qingxue could speak, a woman in the crowd shouted loudly.
"I will pay one thousand five hundred taels"
"I will pay two thousand taels"
"Two thousand two hundred taels"
"Two thousand five hundred taels"
"Five thousand taels" a voice shouted, and there was a commotion in the crowd. A young girl about sixteen years old came to the stage, and then repeated it again: "I have five thousand taels, and there is someone better than me." Are there many ladies?"
Someone in the audience who knew this person said unconsciously: "Oh, it turns out to be Xue Ningyao, the third daughter of the Xue family." As soon as this was said, no one in the audience made any bids, so Xue Ningyao happily reached out to Xiao Hu to ask for the song in her hand. During "Magpie Bridge Immortal", a faint voice from the audience remembered that it was five thousand one hundred taels. Everyone followed the sound and saw that it was Fang Qingxue, but she was disguised as a man, so many people did not recognize who she was.
Xue Ningyao did recognize Fang Qingxue at a glance. She couldn't help but smile and said, "Who do I think it is? It turns out to be Sister Fang. Why does Sister also like this poem?"
"Hmph, sister just pays the price, you don't have to worry about whether I like it or not."
What was unexpected was that Xue Ningyao actually refused: "Forget it, since it is my sister who wants it, I won't argue with her. Anyway, I have heard this word before. It doesn't matter if you want this paper or not." After saying this, , Xue Ningyao jumped off the stage.
Everyone focused their attention on Fang Qingxue. Fang Qingxue walked up to the stage step by step, looked at the man with the mustache and said, "Brother, can you tell me the name of your young master?"
The bearded man bowed his hands and said, "I'm sorry, my young master doesn't want others to know his name."
Fang Qingxue's face was a little stunned. Others were afraid of not being famous, but this person deliberately hid it. Fang Qingxue then said, "Can I ask your young master to meet?"
"I'm afraid that I will disappoint the young master. My young master is not in the capital."
"Then where is he?"
"This..." The man with the mustache glanced at the people in the audience and said, "Sir, we only sell poems."
Fang Qingxue was a little disappointed and said: "Okay, you come with me and come back with me to get the money."
Mustache followed Fang Qingxue down the high platform and gradually disappeared.
What everyone didn't expect was that the poem "Magpie Bridge Immortal" spread like wildfire and soon spread throughout the reading circles in the capital.
That night, Chunxi and the carriage driver drove the carriage, pulling more than five thousand taels of silver, and drove around the city twice before entering the backyard of Wangjiang Tower. Along the way, Chunxi was always on guard, for fear of being followed. But it was useless to be afraid. The people sent by Fang Qingxue finally locked onto Wangjiang Tower.
Back at Wangjiang Tower, Chunxi ran towards the conference hall with excitement on her face, where Xing'er was discussing matters with Zhang Guide, the manager of Wangjiang Tower.
Chunxi walked into the meeting hall excitedly, opened his mouth and said to the two of them: "Miss, my boss's poems have been sold."
Myolie was not surprised by this. This poem was written by Zhao Bin to Myolie. He still kept the original poem. What he took out to sell was just a copy. Why did Myolie want to take out this poem? To sell, the reason is actually very simple. Selling poems was not uncommon in the Xia Dynasty, and people who bought poems would brag about them everywhere.
"How much did you sell for?" Xing'er asked curiously.
"You may not believe it when I tell you, but I sold a total of 5,100 taels," Chunxi said excitedly.
Xing'er and Zhang Guide's jaws dropped when they heard that it was more than five thousand taels. They stood up from their chairs and exclaimed: "How much?"
"Five thousand one hundred taels."
"My ancestors, a poem sells for five thousand one hundred taels? Why should we open a shop? Let the boss write poems, and we can sell poems." Zhang Guide sat back on the chair again and murmured to himself, It can be said that Zhang Guide has lived a worldly life these days, and is no longer what he used to be, but just one poem sold for five thousand taels of silver, which is really beyond his understanding of the world.
"Do you know who bought it?" Xing'er asked curiously.
"I know, it's Fang Qingxue, the eldest granddaughter of Fang Shutong, Minister of the Ministry of War." Chunxi said, "At the poetry meeting, there was another woman vying for Dong's poem, the third lady of the Xue family, Xue Ningyao, who won the five thousand taels She was the first to propose the price, and then Fang Qingxue added another hundred taels."
Zhang Guide smiled coquettishly and said, "Oh, I didn't expect that these high-ranking young men and ladies would be so generous. I didn't expect it."
"Actually, it doesn't matter. Those high-ranking officials are all powerful in their own country. To them, this little money is nothing. Take the Xue family as an example. Just for salt, they don't know how much money they have. Their income is tens of thousands of taels, and a mere few thousand taels of silver is nothing to them. The same is true for the Shandong Fang family. This is one of the reasons why even the imperial court is afraid of them." Xing'er looked at them. The two said.
"Miss, the money is still on the carriage. Why don't you put the money into the warehouse first?" Chunxi reminded her as if something had occurred to her.
"Well, let's put it into storage first."
Several people came to the courtyard, and several guards moved the money into the bank.
At the same time, two figures outside Wangjiang Tower disappeared into the night crowd.
"What? Wangjiang Tower?" Fang Qingxue was surprised when she heard the servant's report.
"Why is it Wangjiang Tower again? Who is behind Wangjiang Tower?" She murmured softly.
"I heard that the owner of Wangjiang Tower is from the north, but no one knows his specific origins," the servant replied.
In fact, Fang Qingxue has known this for a long time. Everyone has already known it as early as the last big commotion caused by the opening of Wangjiang Tower. At that time, Wangjiang Tower hung two peerless couplets and offered a reward of 10,000 taels. If there was no one in the capital, At that time, everyone was very curious about who was behind this. However, Wangjiang Tower did a very good job of keeping secrets. Except for a few core staff, none of the newly hired guys knew about it. And these few The core staff hardly showed up in front of others. Even when they went out, they dressed up in disguise and changed their appearance. Later, everyone focused on the hot pot dishes at Wangjiang Tower, and no one cared about who was behind it. .
"Send someone to investigate Wangjiang Tower privately. In addition, help me book a private room in Wangjiang Tower tomorrow." Fang Qingxue said.
"It's Miss."
At noon the next day, Fang Qingxue, still dressed in men's clothing, walked out of the Fang family gate and went straight to Wangjiang Tower in Yashi.
"Sir, please come in." The waiter in front of Wangjiang Tower welcomed the two of them into the store.
"Are you two in the lobby or in the private room?" the waiter asked with an apologetic smile.
The maid behind Fang Qingxue said, "My young master has reserved a private room." She took out a piece of paper similar to a bill and handed it to the waiter.
The waiter took the bill, looked at it carefully and handed it back to the maid. Then he said, "You two, please come to the third floor."
Fang Qingxue and the two followed the waiter to the third floor, walked through the corridor and came to a private room called "Zizhuyuan". The decoration in the private room was exquisite and elegant, with several calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall. Fang Qingxue just looked at it casually. I took a look at the poems, calligraphy and paintings on bamboo and stone, but these poems, calligraphy and paintings were not from any famous family. Compared with the poem she bought last night, the artistic conception was very different.
The waiter pulled the tablecloth off his shoulders and wiped the table lightly.
"Take a seat, please. This is our menu. Let's take a look at what you want to eat. The most famous thing in our Wangjiang Tower is the hot pot. But if you don't want to eat hot pot, we have something else, like something else. Pan-roasted carp, braised soft-shell turtle, fried carp, fried prawns, soft fried tenderloin, soft fried chicken, assorted sausages, braised cold duck.”
The maid who was following Fang Qingxue was a little dissatisfied and said, "Why is it all meat and no light vegetables?"
"Hey, girl, look at this season, the vegetables haven't even come down yet. Right now there are only radishes and cabbage." The waiter said helplessly.
The maid wanted to say something else, but was stopped by Fang Qingxue. In the meantime, Fang Qingxue said: "It is said that the hot pot in Wangjiang Tower is the most delicious. The wealthy businessmen and aristocratic families in Beijing come to taste it in your store. Pass."
"Okay, please sit down for a moment, and I will arrange it for you." After the waiter finished speaking, he exited the room.
After a while, several waiters came into the house carrying a copper pot and various ingredients. There were food racks in the room. They placed all the ingredients on the food racks. The waiters briefly explained how to eat the hot pot.
Under the guidance of the waiter, Fang Qingxue put a few pieces of beef and mutton into the copper pot. As soon as the bright red beef and mutton were put into the pot, they were cooked into white meat slices by the boiling soup. After a few seconds, Fang Qingxue put the meat slices into the copper pot. Pick it up, lightly dip it in Wangjianglou's special dipping sauce, put it in your mouth, and chew it twice.
"Yeah, it's really good. The mutton is delicious, delicate and delicious."
"Hey, the guest is so funny. I don't dare to talk about anything else. Let's talk about this hot pot. Our Wangjiang Restaurant is the only one in the capital. You can't eat it anywhere else." The waiter said with a proud look on his face.
"Little brother, the mutton in your house seems to be different from the one sold in the market? Is it the mutton bought in this meat market?" Fang Qingxue asked intentionally or unintentionally.
Seeing the customer's inquiry, the waiter did not hide anything, so he said: "To be honest, sir, the mutton on the market is incomparable to our mutton. The mutton in our store is all imported from Hebei Road."
"Isn't the second brother trying to deceive me? Hebei Province is sparsely populated and the people are poor. Where can we get all this mutton?"
"Look at what you said, how could this young man lie to you? Every day, forty or fifty fat sheep pass by the Yellow River ferry and are then transported to the capital for slaughter. The nobles in this city have all seen it." The boy vowed. said.
"Oh? I see, I heard that your boss is the Hebei Taoren clan?"
When the waiter heard this, he suddenly became a little alert, because such inquiries have happened frequently in the past few months, and the shopkeeper has already set the rules. No one is allowed to talk randomly, otherwise he will be fired directly. For these people, He said that Wangjiang Tower's business was booming and their wages were almost three times that of other places. If they were fired, they would really cry to death.
Although he was alert, the waiter still answered Fang Qingxue's question truthfully: "Yes, my boss is the Hebei Daoren family." But then he added: "But where exactly in Hebei Dao, I don't know. I haven’t seen any of the younger ones.”
What the second half of what my friend said is that I only know that he is from Hebei Province. Don’t ask about the rest. You won’t know even if you ask.
But Fang Qingxue did not give up, and immediately took out two taels of silver from her body and threw it to the clerk. The clerk took the broken silver in his hand with a happy expression on his face.
"I'll give this silver to my little brother."
"Oh, thank you, sir." The waiter bowed his head happily and thanked him.
"Brother, can you call your shopkeeper here? I want to discuss something with your shopkeeper." Fang Qingxue said calmly.
The waiter pondered for a moment and said, "Sir, you have something you don't know whether to say or not?"
"It doesn't matter, you say?"
"If the young master wants to inquire about our boss, there is no need to ask the shopkeeper. You are not the only one who has asked about this matter. Many people have asked about it, but the shopkeeper doesn't know who our boss is. He also works for the boss. of."
"How is this possible? To work, you have to know who to work for, right?" the maid at the side asked.
"There's nothing strange about this. If someone pays you, then work for them. The boss doesn't want people to know, so it's hard for us as assistants to find out, right?"
When Fang Qingxue heard this, she didn't ask any more questions, but said, "I know, thank you, second brother, you go ahead and do your work first."
"Okay, please take it easy, young master. If you have anything to do, call me." After saying this, the waiter bowed and exited the room, closing the door behind him. After leaving the door, the clerk walked down the stairs without stopping, came to a small room behind the counter, and knocked lightly on the door. The door was not closed. At this time, Zhang Guide was checking the account books in the room. He looked up at the clerk and motioned for the clerk to come in and talk.
"whats the matter?"
"Shopkeeper, two guests came to the third floor just now, and they are asking about the boss's affairs." The waiter said.
"Oh? What kind of guest?"
"It's just a handsome young man with a maid, but I noticed that the handsome young man has no Adam's apple and speaks softly."
"What did he ask?"
"Actually, I didn't ask anything, but I could tell that he wanted to inquire about my boss's background. He also said that he wanted to ask the shopkeeper to come over and talk, but I blocked him back as per your instructions in advance."
"I understand, you go ahead and do your work."
"yes."
At the same time, Fang Qingxue on the third floor, under the temptation of the hot pot, temporarily put the matter of searching for information behind her head and began to taste this rare delicacy.
