Chapter 50 The 23rd round of the secret room of the bustling wine shop opened up

Xu Jue stopped his hand, winked and smiled: "Don't worry, I have four sentences here." After finishing speaking, he read it: Sisters with the same left hand,   head the same man.  Not my husband, How to make many of your sisters. Just finished reading, Hao Yibiao patted the table and laughed loudly, shouting: "Miao, Miao!" You Qi couldn't help laughing, and hid his mouth and sneered.Of the three Taoist nuns, except for Miao Hui, who was holding the wine, she straightened her neck and did not dare to move, the other two lowered their heads under the table.  "Brother You, did Brother Xu make a good point?" Hao Yibiao asked out of breath with a smile.  "Okay, it's just too thick." You Qixi looked at Miaohui and answered with a smile.  "I'm a vulgar person, so I can only say such vulgar words. You are a scholar, so let's see if your dog enters the toilet—wen (wen) in and Wen (wen) out."Xu Jue As he spoke, he moved the bow shoes to Miao Hui's head and put them away. 

You Qi stared at Miaohui, and said caringly, "You're better off, you'll be fined if you spill it." After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand and slowly stroked the cinnabar mole on his cheek.After a while, he cleared his cough, and began to recite in an orderly manner: The left hand is the same as the bran,    the same feces and fart on the head.  Do not eat this bran,  How to release a lot of shit. You Qiyin just finished, Xu Jue was startled and said: "Old You, you are trying to scold me in a different way!"You Qi replied: "Brother Xu is the one Just kidding, how dare I scold you?" "It's not scolding me, maybe you say you fart? Besides, these four sentences don't match the love between men and women, if there is a foul, you will be punished with alcohol!"Xu Jue As soon as the words fell, Hao Yibiao hurriedly got up to hold the pot, and said to Miaohui: "Sister-in-law, you have to drink three cups in a row.""Why should we drink?"

"This is the rule. If you pair up with Master You, if he breaks the rules, you will be fined three cups."  "Master, I don't know how to drink." Miaohui replied with a blushing face.  "It's not that the master is bullying you, it's the rules that we agreed in advance, we can't change them, brother Xu, what do you think?" "If you don't drink, we'll pour it into your mouth."  Miaohui was young, had never seen such a battle, and was so frightened that her eyes filled with tears.Seeing this, Miaolan hurriedly made a rescue, stretched her hand over to take the wine cup, and said: "Miaohui is young, and never drinks on her lips. I drank these three glasses of wine for her." "Slow down!" Hao Yibiao stopped Miaolan's hand, and said, "You and I are a couple, what does their couple's affairs have to do with you? It's not your turn to do it for me." Saying that, he stared at You Qi . You Qi saw Miaohui frightened like that, her heart was already moved with compassion, and she wanted to replace the wine for her, but she couldn't open her mouth. At this moment, she caught Hao Yibiao's words and said quickly: "Brother Hao It means that you want me to drink these three glasses of wine, right?"  "Why don't you eat three glasses of wine." Hao Yibiao winked and said in a drawling tone.  "How much?"

 "Double, six cups." Hao Yibiao gestured.   "You are bullying people." You Qi wanted to argue, but Xu Jue and Hao Yibiao couldn't help but stand up and hold him up to fill six cups in a row, too quickly, You Qi choked on his trachea and coughed violently for a long time .  played tricks on You Qi, Xu Jue was very happy in his heart, turned to Hao Yibiao again, and said, "Brother Hao, now it's your turn." At this time, he took the initiative to put the bow shoe on Miaolan's head, cleared his throat, and read:   head of the same eunuch family. 

Not this eunuch's family, How to use a lot of damask silk yarn. Just finished speaking, Xu Jue pursed his mouth, and said teasingly: "Brother Hao, You Qiliu was fined just now because his prose was not correct. Look at you, you are also three sentences. When you Qi heard about "silk silk yarn", he suddenly remembered the purchase of pepper sumac, and couldn't help but asked again: "Boss Hao doesn't mention it, this reminds me of It's a matter of business, you are asked to buy pepper sumac, do you agree or not?" Hao Yibiao took advantage of the madness and dared to ask: "If I agree, what will your chief assistant give me in return? "You Qi did not answer directly, but asked rhetorically: "You have heard that when did my master treat others badly?""Since I said so, I will help you with this."

As soon as Hao Yibiao's voice fell, Xu Jue immediately followed up: "Brother Hao, a gentleman's words are hard to follow. Let me just remind you, don't eat lime immediately, and you will end up with a white mouth."These words How could Hao Yibiao not understand the implied threat? He held up his teacup and said, "I, Hao, always say the same thing. Come, let's drink first."  When You Qi was talking to Xu and Hao, one hand was always kneading on Miao Hui's thigh. He thought that there was a table top to cover others from seeing him, but he didn't know that Xu Jue was an old hand, just looking at him The swaying upper half of the shoulder already understood everything, and when he put down his wine glass, Xu Jue laughed and said: "Old You, look at your left hand, it looks like you have epilepsy, why are you scratching at the bottom? method." Hao Yibiao had seen this "tricky" a long time ago, and as soon as Xu Jue finished speaking, he laughed so hard that a hiccup sounded in his throat.This time, the aunts also snickered. You Qi smiled blushingly, withdrew his hand, accosted him and said, "I, You, got your tricks tonight, and you gang up to bully honest people."Hao Yibiao stopped laughing and said : "Brother Zun, don't blame the good people, Brother Yu and Brother Xu dare not run on you. Come on, you drink three glasses of wine first, and there will be good things next."  "Why did I get fined wine? It should be You!"

You Qi pointed at Hao Yibiao, Xu Jue stepped in and said:  "It's not a penalty, it's a wedding."  "Wedding wine, where is the joy, don't eat or eat." You Qi saw that they had teamed up to deceive him, reached out and pressed the wine cup, and refused to drink no matter what.  "If you don't drink this good wedding wine, okay, I will drink it if you don't." Xu Jue held the cup in one hand and the pot in the other, and he drank three cups in no time.This move of his confused You Qi, and asked suspiciously:  "What's the happy event?"

 "You drink first, I will tell you after you drink." You Qi had no choice but to grit his teeth and swallow another three cups.  Watching the wine go down his throat, Hao Yibiao clapped his hands, but shouted, "Now, the bride and groom enter—the bridal chamber.""The bridal chamber, where is the bridal chamber?" You Qi was surprised.  "You Lang, please take the hand of Mrs. Miaohui, this way." Hao Yibiao's glib and funny voice is hilarious.You Qihou looked at Xu Jue, and saw that he had already put his arms around Miaozhi's waist, eagerly going around a seven-fold jade screen behind the wine table.You Qi also led Miaohui and followed.Walking past the screen, You Qi realized that there were actually two houses inside.Xu Jue, who was walking in front, pushed open the doors of two rooms side by side, and saw that the room was fully equipped with carved beds, brocade tents, dressing tables, dowry boxes—it was originally a secret room prepared by the store for guests' trysts.Xu Jue winked at You Qi, and said with a smile, "Brother You, your affairs are all settled, so please be happy now." After finishing speaking, he pushed Miaozhi into a room outside, and He also dodged in, and with his heels around the door, the door hinge squeaked and closed. You Qi, who was standing at the door of another room, had already been teased so much that he couldn't hold back. He wished he could immediately pick up the small, exquisite, warm and pleasant Miao Hui, and gnawed wildly, but he still scrupled his face and swallowed it forcefully. With a mouthful of saliva, he looked back at Hao Yibiao who was leaning on the screen, and asked shyly: "Brother Hao, isn't that all right?"

"What's the problem." Hao Yibiao jokingly said, "I just don't know how good brother You is at forging a sword in a furnace. It will become popular tonight. Don't be like a silver gun."You Qi laughed, Ask again: "What about you?" Hao Yibiao replied: "I served meat last night, you guys just play around, I'll drink in the hall, listen to Miaolan singing, and wait for you to come out and eat five hot dishes." The night is as cool as water.In the city of Beijing shrouded in the hazy moonlight, except for a few restaurants and pavilions that are still singing songs, the streets and alleys are deserted and silent.Occasionally, one or two barking dogs passed through the uneven ridges and swayed far away in the night sky, making people feel the solemnity of the imperial capital even more. At this moment, Tong Liben has not fallen asleep yet.He stood in the small courtyard like a wooden stake and raised his head to look up at the sky: but he saw the floating clouds covering the moon and the moon piercing through the floating clouds, and the deep night sky was unpredictable.A cool breeze blew, carrying a smell of foul smell.Although the capital city is full of princely BMWs and fragrant cars, there are few public toilets on the streets.The bustling city is clean because of soldiers patrolling and cleaning, and the sanitation is acceptable.However, in the unmanaged back streets and alleys, people are convenient everywhere, and the ditches are overflowing with filth.Pedestrians have covered their noses and fled so far.The Yangwei Hutong where Tong Liben lives is located in a back alley, so the smell is inevitable.But at this time, Tong Liben seems to have lost all sense of sight, smell and hearing.He just stood there in a daze, his mind was in a daze like a pot of paste.  But when it was dark, what Lao Zheng said when he came back, Tong Liben heard it like a thunderclap.He knew that he had always been poor and had no ability to curry favor with others, but he never expected that the head of the Department of Rites and System of the Ministry of Rituals, a sixth-rank Beijing official, would be inferior to shit in the eyes of those profiteers.He felt that this was such a shame and humiliation that he had never suffered in his life, his facial features shifted in anger, a hot feeling in his chest went straight to his throat, he opened his mouth, and spit out a mouthful of blood.  "Master!"

Gui'er and Lao Zheng screamed in unison, Gui'er took out his handbag from his sleeve to wipe the blood from Tong Liben's mouth.Tong Liben pushed her away, wiped the corners of his mouth with his hand, stomped his feet, and suddenly turned his head up and laughed loudly. This stern laughter made people's hair stand on end.Guier and Lao Zheng were terrified, looking at Tong Liben's gray beard trembling in the air, Guier tremblingly asked Lao Zheng: "Is the master crazy?" Old Zheng was also at a loss, just knelt on the ground, holding Tong Liben's feet and crying loudly: "Master, master!"

Tong Liben stopped laughing suddenly. After panting for a while, he stretched out his hand, and pulled Gui'er with one hand and Lao Zheng with the other.The two felt that Tong Liben's fingers were as cold as ice.Seeing that he had calmed down, Gui'er felt a little more at ease, she suppressed crying and said: "Master is too hungry, this concubine will cook porridge for you." "Wait a minute," Tong Liben finally uttered two words. He lowered his head, looked at the concubine and the old servant who were both kneeling in front of his knees, and said sadly, "I have been an imperial official for twenty years. It suddenly dawned on me that I am neither Master Bronze nor Master Iron, nor Lord Silver or Master Jin, I am just a piece of unlovable dog bone. Just understand, just understand!"  , Another burst of wild laughter.    This laughter is as piercing as a knife.Old Zheng was exhausted all day, his strength was exhausted, and he couldn't cry anymore.Gui'er wanted to cry, but she just begged: "Master, please don't laugh, you are frightening my family."  Tong Liben's laughter stopped abruptly, he looked down at Gui'er, always indifferent and rigid His face suddenly softened.He stretched out his fingers like dead branches to wipe away the tears on Guier's face, and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Guier!" "The concubine is here." Gui'er raised his face, Tong Liben stroked her disheveled hair, and asked lovingly, "How long have you been in Tong's house?""Twelve years." "Yes, twelve years. Eight years as a maid, four years as a concubine, I haven't lived a single day of comfort, I'm sorry.""Master, what are you talking about..." Not waiting for Gui'er to continue, Tong Liben interrupted her and continued: "As the saying goes, poor and lowly couples mourn for everything, but in fact, there are more than a hundred things to mourn. There are thousands of things, Gui'er, it's hard for you . " "Master, what happened to you today?" Seeing Tong Liben's words were not right, Gui'er panicked again.But Tong Liben had already left her at this time, turned his gaze to Lao Zheng on the other side, and asked: "Old Zheng, how long have you been with this old man?"  "Master, it's been sixteen years." Old Zheng replied.   "Time flies, Lao Zheng, don't you think so?" Tong Liben approached Lao Zheng, almost face-to-face and said, "I remember when you came to my house in Dengzhou, you only had 50 hanging sides. How strong you were then , You can kill a cow with one fist, and you can eat eight biscuits in one meal. Now your teeth have fallen out, your back is bent, and your eyes are blurred. I don’t have any biscuits for you.”Old Zheng is sad He replied: "My lord, the villain is from a poor family and can suffer all kinds of hardships. It's just that you are being tortured like this, the villain is really uncomfortable."  "Old Zheng, the more you say that, the more I feel ashamed." Tong Liben sighed, "You are the best servant in the world, but this old man is the worst master in the world.""The master's words are a shame for a villain." Tong Liben did not answer any more, but just patted Lao Zheng on the shoulder to signify the end of the conversation.Then he turned around and asked Gui'er: "How much rice is there in the tank?" "There are about two liters left." "Go, cook everything, let's have a full meal tonight."  "Master..." Guier did not move.   "Go if you are told." Tong Liben urged.  "Then, what will we do tomorrow?" "You don't have to worry, sir, I have my own solution." Guier hesitated, and finally went to cook.Tong Liben went into the bedroom and rummaged through the boxes and found more than 20 copper coins. He returned to the main room and handed them all to Lao Zheng, and ordered: "There are only so many copper bills. Go buy half a catty of wine, and buy some braised vegetables for the rest." Yes, it’s up to you.” Lao Zheng obeyed and left, and Tong Liben wandered into the wing room to look at the disabled son sitting on the wooden armchair.  "Chai Er." Tong Liben shouted.   "Hungry."  Chai Er answered.Just now there was laughter and crying in the hall, Chai Er was a fool, he didn't understand what happened, he just felt fear instinctively.Seeing his father enter the door, the sense of fear disappeared, but the starving hunger made him feel even more uncomfortable. Tong Liben moved a chair to sit opposite Chai'er, and said, "Be patient for a while, Daddy has rice and meat to feed you." Chai'er heard that there was meat to eat, and burst into tears.Tong Liben only thought that he was very hungry, and he couldn't find words to comfort him for a while, and the heavy sense of guilt made him even more confused.While wiping the saliva from the corners of Chai'er's mouth, he said: "My dear son, don't cry, don't cry, Daddy will sing you a song, okay?" The crying stopped, Chai'er Weakly rolling his eyeballs, moving his numb hands, he muttered, "Listen, I'll listen." Tong Liben cleared his throat and sang hoarsely:   heavy rain falls, light rain falls.    street aunt good white feet.  Hand in hand and go up the mountain, To catch squirrels in the forest.  You catch it too, I catch it too, All the squirrels slipped away.  Suddenly a fat baby appeared,   will not cry, only laugh ho ho.  All the girls fell in love with each other,   must be loaded into their own basket.  The fat baby suddenly said: Big sisters, please don’t rush, don’t talk too much,  I am my little baby, Clang in clang, shuttle in that shuttle, You take me home, My father will give you sugar water to drink.  Tong Liben has been able to sing this children's song since he was a child, and Tong Liben often sang it to Chai'er when he was still in his infancy.Later, although Chai'er became demented, Tong Liben, the father, felt that he had ruined the child's life, so he loved him even more.As long as I fail, I will sing this nursery rhyme to Chai Er.Strange to say, as soon as Chai Er heard this nursery rhyme, she immediately calmed down, and the stupidity on her face was reduced a lot, and the cute childishness could overflow from her eyes.Since coming to the capital, Tong Liben has never sung again. One is that Chai Er has grown up, and the other is that his career is not going well, and his mood is never bright. Although Chai'er hadn't heard this nursery rhyme for nearly twenty years, Tong Liben's eyes changed as soon as he opened his mouth.Some long-lost childhood memories began to flash in his mind.A burst of laughter, a piece of snack, a ray of sunshine... These fragmented memories made him sweet again.Once Tong Liben finished singing, Chai'er moved the corners of his mouth, and his speech was actually much more coherent: "Father, you still sing, I love to hear it." Tong Li was already dry and weak, but in order to make Chaier more happy, he hummed again with great effort.This time it was more like a lullaby, Chai Er drooped her head and was about to fall asleep. At this time, Guier had prepared dinner, and Lao Zheng carefully calculated and bought half a catty of sorghum shochu at a bargain price, and bought some stewed pigs for the remaining copper coins. Intestines and beef liver, this is the most sumptuous meal since ten months dinner.Usually the couple eat together, Lao Zheng feeds Chai first and then eats by himself.Tonight, Tong Li didn't want Lao Zheng to do anything, he added rice and braised vegetables and fed it to Chai Er bit by bit. When Chai Er was full, he went to the table and ate with the three concubines and old servants.During the dinner, Tong Liben talked and laughed, as if nothing happened.He and Lao Zheng drank a cup, and urged Gui'er, who had never drunk alcohol, to drink half a cup too.Although Guier and Lao Zheng felt that the master's behavior was a little abnormal, they just thought it was because he had figured out some reason and let go of their worries.Gui'er even thought that Tong Liben must have hidden his private money somewhere, and that he would use it to buy food to survive the crisis tomorrow.Therefore, the three masters and servants had a "rich" dinner in a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere.Then they chatted for a while, and then went to rest.  Gui'er was very sleepy due to worrying about insomnia for several days, and drank half a glass of wine, so she fell asleep as soon as she went to bed.But Tong Liben didn't feel sleepy at all. He tossed and turned until the third watch. He crept up, fumbled his way to the courtyard, and looked at the slanting last quarter moon. He stood like a clay figurine.  In addition to the resentment and frustration brought by the pepper sumac, another incident that happened during the day also made him extremely sad.  However, after the implementation of the Beijing inspection, the first hurdle for a sixth-rank Beijing official like Tong Liben is to report his performance in the past three years.Whether the actions are good for the family and the country, whether the words are for the benefit of the country; what kind of achievements, generosity to do things within the legal system;All kinds of things have to come together one by one.Although Tong Liben was not sociable, he heard the comments from his colleagues and knew that this Beijing inspection was not a good one.After carefully grinding the ink for a few days, I wrote out a self-report and handed it over to Mr. Benji.This afternoon before the class ended, Lang Guan came to call him, saying that he was a hall official. Wang Xilie asked him to give instructions.After Lu Tiaoyang entered the cabinet, the Ministry of Rites temporarily asked Wang Xilie to take the lead.Tong Liben entered Wang Xilie's room on duty.Wang Xilie asked him to sit down, returned his statement to him, thought it over and said: "Master Tong, your statement has been returned by the officials."  "Why?" Tong Liben asked nervously.   "They think that there are some ambiguities in your self-report. Last month, the chief assistant personally presided over the East Pavilion meeting to discuss the promotion of the emperor's biological mother, Li Guifei, to the empress dowager. At the meeting, you insisted on your own opinion and refused to add more words to the empress dowager. These two words caused the chief assistant to be unhappy. This time, the Beijing inspection, the chief assistant instructed the Ministry of Officials to investigate this matter." Tong Liben became anxious when he heard this, and argued loudly: "Before the meeting in the East Pavilion, it was Your lord personally instructed me to be a lowly official, and asked me to stick to the court’s laws, act according to the rules, not to yield to power, to flatter others with my name and title, and my humble official to obey orders, why are you now putting this pile of shit on the humble official’s head again?” In Wang Xilie's eyes, Tong Liben was an unlucky slob who ate tofu, and he was pedantic and easy to admit death, so he wasn't likable at all.But right now he wants to use him, so he doesn't care about Tong Liben's attitude, and just teases him: "Master Tong, it's not that Wang wants to make trouble with you. You should know that in the Jingchayi document submitted by the Ministry of Rites, It’s definitely a plus for you.”“Then…”  "As we said, the superiors refused to let it go," Wang Xilie pointed in the direction of the Forbidden City with his finger, then shook his head, and said with a straight face, "Don't talk about your Master Tong, even our Wang will do well." I am preparing to cut my membership and go home, because I refuse to exaggerate the status of Queen Mother Li, and we are the main ones!"  "Yes, is it serious?"  "I'm afraid it's even more serious than you Master Tong thought," Wang Xilie sighed again and again, "I'm afraid that none of those who have had a problem with the chief assistant will be spared this time. When the goal of dismissal and demotion is reached, one of the three officials must be removed, and none of the officials in the Sixth Branch Gallery who beat the Dengwen drum can escape.""All dismissed?"  "It's still easy to withdraw, and if you don't do it well, you will have to be exiled into the army."  "The deadline is coming, the deadline is coming." Tong Liben's face was sallow, and he muttered to himself, "Pepper and sapphire will be paid off, and the days are too late. If you come to Jingcha again, there are snakes and scorpions before, and tigers and wolves behind." Ah!"  "Master Tong, we are now a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and we cannot protect ourselves, so you can do it yourself." Wang Xilie took the opportunity to tease.  "Okay, okay, I got it, I got it." Tong Liben didn't know how he left Wang Xilie's room, and he didn't know how he got on the little donkey.He returned home in a daze, and after hearing Lao Zheng's crying, his mood was even worse.At this time, the sentence that was circling in his mind repeatedly: "Scholars can be killed but not humiliated." How can the teachings of saints not be effective?Almost at that moment, he had made up his mind to kill himself. Unknowingly, the fourth watch drum from Qiaolou came faintly.The shadow of the moon moved up the wall, and the surroundings were quiet and hazy.Tong Liben, who had been standing in the small courtyard for an hour, now had nothing to worry about.He took one last look at the dark night sky, turned around and walked into the main room. The weather at five o'clock, Gui'er, who was soundly asleep, was suddenly awakened by a burst of cold.I reached out and touched it, but there was no one around.Husband clearly. He undressed and went to bed with him. Where did he go in the middle of the night?Gui'er felt something was wrong, so she quickly put on her clothes and got up, lit a candle to look for it.I searched for two rooms but no one was there. When I entered the main room, the candlelight flickered, and suddenly I saw a person hanged from the beam. She was so frightened that she cried out and fell on her back.Lao Zheng, who slept in the wing room and took care of the fool Chai Er, heard the screams of the hostess, and ran out in a hurry to help the fainted Gui Er, and fumbled to light the extinguished candle.Only then did he discover that Tong Liben, the old man he had served for sixteen years, had hanged himself.He was still wearing the gray cloth robe that was neither gray nor white, and there were two small cloth bags hanging on his chest. Old Zheng recognized that these were the two bags containing pepper sumac.But the master's sixth-rank official uniform was neatly folded and placed on the desk, with the half-new black gauze hat still on top.There is also a piece of white paper with writing on it next to it, and it is pressed there with a ruler.Old Zheng couldn't read, so he didn't know that what was written on this piece of paper was Tong Liben's desperate poem: Selling along the street for 23 days,   hematoxylin pepper and return.  going to be a peace ghost tonight, It is better than a sixth-rank official in the world.