Chapter 27 door-to-door settlement

Huang Zongxi made up his mind to settle accounts with the people from the several clubs immediately.He inquired several places in a row, and asked that the leaders of several clubs were all gathered in the Qianqingyun Pavilion, and led Mei Langzhong, who was frowning, across the sword pool, to the back of Huqiu Pagoda. The front slope of Tiger Hill is relatively gentle, but the back slope is quite steep.A cliff rises several feet from the ground, and the Thousand Hectare Cloud Pavilion is built on the cliff facing west.From there, you can overlook the beautiful scenery of Tianchi Mountain.Because Su Dongpo had a poem "clouds and waters are beautiful for thousands of hectares", he used it as the name of the pavilion.There is a tea house on it, which was opened by the monks of this mountain temple. There is a small counter in the corner, and an old monk and a layman are sitting behind it.The top-quality Sanquan water was cooking on the stove, and a dozen or so square tables were scattered on the floor, with seasonal flowers on the tables.When there are not many tourists on weekdays, it is quite elegant to come here to taste tea and enjoy the view.

When they quickly climbed up to the attic, they unexpectedly discovered that the atmosphere above was unusual.A large group of Confucian scholars, at least one or twenty people, surrounded a table in the middle, each of them stood quietly with solemn expressions, as if they were waiting for something.The two standing in the front had disheveled hair, disheveled clothes, bare heads, and didn't even wear headscarves. They looked as if they had fought with someone.Behind the table, sat two elders of several clubs—one was tall and tall Zhou Lixun, he grabbed the armrest of the chair with his left hand, put the elbow on the table with his right hand, and slowly twisted his beard around his fingers, Without saying a word, his face was terribly gloomy.The other, named Peng Bin, was short and dainty, with a tense face and no expression.

Huang Zongxi couldn't figure out what happened, so he hesitated for a while.I saw Zhou Lixun's eyes flashed at him coldly, and immediately returned to the original target, apparently ignoring him; there were several other people who knew him, and they all ignored him.Huang Zongxi couldn't help getting angry. "I haven't opened my mouth yet. You put on such a face first, but you want to scare someone!" He thought, straightened his neck, and was about to ask a question, when suddenly, with a "bang", Zhou Lixun slapped the table. "Come and don't reciprocate to be rude! Okay, go find them!"

The group of scholars was obviously waiting for such a sentence, and they suddenly became commotion, several of them shouted loudly: "Yes, let's settle accounts with them!" "They must apologize and admit their mistakes!" "Give them some strength, and see if they dare next time!" "Let them hand over that bad boy Hou Chaozong!" "Yes, Hou Chaozong, you must hand over Hou Chaozong!" Huang Zongxi was taken aback: Chaozong?Why are you looking for Chaozong?Could it be that Chaozong and the others have already made the first move?He was anxious and shouted suddenly:

"Stop, don't go!" The crowd who had already moved stopped again, turned their heads one after another, and looked at the two uninvited guests suspiciously. "Excuse me, everyone, where do you want to go?" Huang Zongxi took a step forward, staring at Zhou Lixun and asked. The latter hummed, but did not answer. Huang Zongxi's eyes widened, and a fierce word came out of his mouth. "Hey, Tai Chong, that's what happened!" A high-pitched voice hurriedly broke in, and then, a middle-aged Confucian scholar with high cheekbones and a pointed chin stepped out from the crowd.Huang Zongxi recognized that this was Gu Ling from Changshu.In the past, when Huang Zongxi was studying at Qian Qianyi's home, he often came and walked around, and knew that he was very trusted by Qian Qianyi.Ordinarily, this person does not belong to the Jishe faction, but for some reason he is mixed with them at this moment.

"Brother Taichong, this is what happened—" Gu Ling repeated, seeming a little impatient.However, a young leader of several societies standing next to him, named Zhao Renhai, raised his sleeve and stopped him. "Tai Chong, this matter has nothing to do with you." Zhao Renhai said flatly, with an arrogant expression on his round face, "You—— don't know." "What, it has nothing to do with me?" Huang Zongxi sneered, "You—" "Listen to me!" Zhao Renhai straightened his sleeves calmly, with pity in his tone, "Originally, it's okay to tell brother, but it's not good for brother to know..."

"Ah, why?" Zhao Renhai sighed slightly: "Speaking of this matter, I'm afraid it will disappoint and embarrass brother!" "No, you say it, you say it!" Huang Zongxi was irritated by the other party's attitude like a cat playing with a mouse, his little face flushed red. "Then, brother must know?" Zhao Renhai stared at him, his eyes gradually became serious, "Aren't you afraid to put yourself in a sad and ridiculous situation - in front of so many community members?" "what?" Zhao Renhai lowered his voice, but still let the people around him hear clearly: "Are you—are you afraid that Wu Ciwei and Chen Dingsheng's dirty deeds will be made public?"

Huang Zongxi trembled in his heart: "What? Ciwei, Dingsheng's despicable deeds? What despicable deeds will he, they have?" He thought in surprise, and couldn't help but look back, only to find that Mei Lang, who had been coerced into coming, Zhong also looked at him in a panic. "How about it, don't you want to know? Ah!" Zhao Renhai asked proudly, laughing loudly. "No," Huang Zongxi said stubbornly, "I want to know!" Zhao Renhai's face sank: "Hmph, you're not worthy!" He turned around abruptly, and shook his head, "Brothers, let's go!" When everyone started to move, he turned his head again and looked contemptuously at Huang Zongxi. With a cold sneer, he walked towards the stairs.

At this moment, something surprising happened.Huang Zongxi jumped up suddenly, rushed to Zhao Renhai's back, turned him around roughly, and grabbed his lapel with both hands. "Tell me, I want you to tell me!" he yelled furiously, shaking him hard.His face was contorted, and his eyes had a menacing light.The desperate energy that he showed when he was insulted by Xu Qingjun on the Qinhuai River was once again shown in him. All the people present were stunned.Zhao Renhai was even more embarrassed. He tried to resist, but Huang Zongxi's arms, which had been practiced with boxing sticks since childhood, were so strong that he couldn't break free at all. He could only cry out in horror: "Ah, what are you doing? What are you doing?"

"Brother Taichong, don't be rude!" Zhou Lixun finally spoke, his tone was irritable.He gestured towards Gu Ling, "Brother Yun Mei, tell him!" At this time, Mei Langzhong and the scholars from several other societies had already woken up.They hurriedly rushed forward, pulling and persuading, finally rescued Zhao Renhai.I saw that his face was pale with fright, and he was trembling all over.Huang Zongxi was still blushing, and shouted angrily: "Say it, I want you to say it!" "Hey, too aggressive, let me tell you!" Gu Ling hurriedly stepped forward, "That's what happened, just now, these two brothers—" He pointed to the two disheveled Confucian students, "In the Walking back up the mountain, I met Hou Chaozong leading a group of people head-on. At first, I didn't pay much attention to them. Later, I saw them gesticulating, and listened carefully. It turned out that they were swearing, such as 'bastards', 'bastards', and they kept going. He spit on the ground. The two club brothers couldn't help being angry and asked him why he was like this. Who knew that they scolded him even more fiercely. Even several old seniors from several clubs, as well as Mr. Du and Mr. Xia, were all scolded in. Hey, the words are so absurd and ugly, it’s really inconvenient for me to repeat them! In short, the two brothers couldn’t stand it any longer, and went forward to reason with him. Relying on their large numbers, they held down the two brothers together and put their headscarves on , Straight shirts are all stripped off. It was the younger brother who saw a grievance with a few members of the community, so he rescued them anyway, otherwise, I don’t know how humiliating I will be!"

Gu Ling gesticulated, vividly, and said it in one breath, while shaking her head, showing a very disapproving look. "So, so everyone... are you going to ask Chaozong now?" Mei Lang asked hesitantly.Obviously, even he felt that this matter had gone too far, and it was difficult for him to defend Hou Fangyu. "That's right!" Gu Ling stopped shaking her head, and said righteously, "Chaozong is so nonsense, don't say that the Songjiang community members are full of anger, even if the younger brother sees it, he will not be convinced!" After finishing speaking, she was worried. He slipped a glance at Huang Zongxi. "This..." Mei Langzhong scratched the back of his head and looked at the two disheveled victims, "I don't know how you guys plan to end this matter?" "At least—" Seeing Huang Zongxi bowed his head and said nothing, Gu Ling became angry, "I want him to admit his mistakes, make an apology, and pay back the losses. He also needs to put up a bond and declare that he will never commit another crime in the future!" He turned back and asked Zhou Lixun and Peng Bin, "Old Xun, Old Yan, is that so?" "But, you guys caused it yourself!" Huang Zongxi suddenly raised his head and said explosively, "Why did you reverse the case for Ruan Huzi? Why? Tell me!" He asked loudly, tears welled up in his eyes , "Why do you dare to do this? Could it be that you don't know who Ruan Huzi is? Could it be that you have forgotten the "Liudu Anti-Riot Public Exposure"? Forgot the catastrophe and tragedy of the eunuch party and government? You also forgot Donglin Why did the blood of the sages be shed? Are you still considered a rehabilitative society, a gentleman?!" Seeing that the turmoil had subsided, everyone was about to go downstairs when he suddenly yelled again for no reason, they all stopped in shock and looked at each other. "Tai Chong, you mean who is going to reverse the case for Ruan Yuanhai?" Zhou Lixun frowned and asked. "You, it's you!" Huang Zongxi wiped away the tears streaming down his cheeks, and said through gritted teeth, "In order to control the social situation and eliminate dissidents, you didn't hesitate to use Ruan Huzi's matter to stir up disputes, thinking that others don't know?" Zhou Lixun blinked, as if he didn't understand what he said.Peng Bin, who was standing beside him, was obviously much smarter. He laughed "hehe" and said, "Brother Taichong, whether this Ruan Huzi should be lenient or not is another matter. However, your Excellency said that this matter was provoked by me and others. It was a big mistake!" At this time, Zhao Renhai had recovered from the embarrassment and panic just now, and he suddenly shouted at the top of his voice: "Yes, tell him! Tell him about Wu Ciwei and Chen Dingsheng's scandal!" "Bamboo man, please tell me!" Peng Bin said briskly to the back of the crowd. It wasn't until this moment that people realized that apart from Gu Ling, there was another person standing behind them who was not from Jishe.And when this well-dressed old man with a square head and a pair of small eyes came to the front calmly, Huang Zongxi couldn't help being startled, because he suddenly recognized this man who had been hiding in the crowd and didn't show his face. The person in question turned out to be Chen Zaizhu, Qian Qianyi's uncle. "Ah, what is he doing here? Who told him to come?" Huang Zongxi stared at it in bewilderment, then turned back to look at Gu Ling who was standing beside him, and suddenly had an ominous premonition, as if something terrible happened. Like it's going to happen. Chen Zaizhu didn't talk nonsense, just nodded to him, cleared his throat, and spoke seriously.According to him, as early as when Zhou Yanru came back, Ruan Dacheng went to Wu Yingji and Chen Zhenhui, crying for forgiveness.At that time, seeing his sincerity, Wu and Chen agreed, and then they went to Yangzhou to discuss with Zheng Yuanxun.Zheng Yuanxun knew that Zhang Pu, the leader of Fushe, had this intention before his death, and felt that talents were rare, so he agreed.Afterwards, opinions from both inside and outside the agency were widely solicited, and the vast majority of people agreed.Unexpectedly, Wu and Chen had other plans, they wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail Ruan Dacheng, and they asked for 10,000 taels of silver.Ruan Dacheng had given away 10,000 taels because of Zhou Yanru's comeback, and now he can't take it out anymore, so he asked for some reduction.Seeing that he was upset, Wu and Chen immediately turned their faces and wanted to let this matter go.It was Zheng Yuanxun who couldn't see it, and kindly persuaded him.Wu and Chen were so angry that they simply refused to do anything and kept on putting the spoils on Zheng Yuanxun; they also hated the Jishe for not buying their accounts, so they even implicated the Jishe... Finally, Chen Zaizhu swayed Head, said with emotion: "Who would have thought that the dignified Wu Ciwei and Chen Dingsheng would do such a thing for 10,000 taels of silver! It is said that they are bluffing there now and want to fight with Chaozong and Jishe. I just want to force Ruan Yuanhai to submit!" This news is really shocking. Although Huang Zongxi and Mei Langzhong were dumbfounded when they heard it, the members of the community present were even more in an uproar: "Wow, that's it!" "It's a good thing they usually pretend to be alike!" "Aha, it turned out to be a hypocrite!" "Yes, hypocrite, hypocrite!" People were shouting, laughing, cursing, and making a noise. Chen Zaizhu remained calm.He glanced at Huang Zongxi, saw that his face was upturned, his eyes were wide open, and he seemed to be deaf to the commotion around him, so he leaned closer, sighed, and whispered sympathetically, "Tai Chong, the old man knows about this too." ,so……" "Ah, no!" Huang Zongxi jumped away as if he had been scalded, "I don't believe in anything, no!" He straightened his neck and yelled, ran to Zhou Lixun and Peng Bin, pointed at them angrily, "It's clear that you are the ones who want to reverse the case for Ruan Huzi! It's you, you can't let it go!" He shouted with all his strength, in order to overwhelm the surrounding noise that made him feel angry, humiliated and frightened. "It's you!" He yelled again, but unexpectedly found that his voice became so loud, clear, and lonely.It turned out that the surrounding noise disappeared without a trace in an instant. He turned around in bewilderment.Suddenly, he also became dumb.At some point, Wu Yingji led Zhang Zilie, Hou Fangyu, and Fang Yizhi to the attic. "Tai Chong, you're wrong, it's not them." Wu Yingji looked at him and said calmly.