Chapter 212: Banquet
Chapter 212: Banquet
Because it was unavoidable to drink at night, Sun Shaozong changed his clothes and asked Zhang to get on the carriage.
After reaching Chongwen Gate, the sky was getting dark.
"Lord Sun."
As soon as Sun Shaozong got off the carriage, a servant came up and rubbed his hands. "Our Second Master Bao was afraid that all the good seats would be robbed, so he asked me to come and book a private room first."
It seemed that Jia Baoyu had made progress. If he were his past self, he would never have been so thorough.
Sun Shaozong only nodded and followed the boy into the restaurant named "Luming Pavilion."
At this time, it was time for dinner, and the scattered seats were almost full. Many scholars were wearing square scarves in them, which he thought was also the delight of the shop's name.
However, the guests on the first floor couldn’t afford to eat venison, and the sign was clearly marked with various specialties of venison meat.
He didn’t know what it meant.
Thinking about these things, Sun Shaozong followed the boy up the stairs and went to the private room on the second floor facing the street.
As soon as he entered the private room, he first saw a large screen, on which several sika deer stepped on the artemisia grass, raised their heads to hiss, or even lowered their heads to eat artemisia, which clearly depicted the scene in the Book of Songs.
After bypassing the screen, a large round table was placed in the center. The cups, plates, and wine were all ready, but Baoyu and others were not seen. Obviously, they were later than Sun Shaozong.
Seeing that there were still several menus on the table, Sun Shaozong curiously picked up one, twirled it, and looked carefully. However, he saw that many dishes were written in small script on the front and a pair on the back, which was quite suitable.
When the boy saw Sun Shaozong looking at the menu, he asked with a smile, "Lord Sun, do you want to order?"
Sun Shaozong closed the menu and threw it back on the table. He said, "Ask for the restaurant's signature dishes. Choose five or six meals to prepare first, and the rest will come later."
The boy agreed and went downstairs in a hurry.
These days, guests in the private rooms brought along their personal slaves, so as long as they didn’t take the initiative to look for them, the servers wouldn’t rush in and disturb them.
So Sun Shaozong, alone and bored, simply opened the window and looked at the night view near Chongwen Gate.
Although there were not many large families nearby, there were many shops. The lanterns of each family were dense, and many tricks were made to attract customers. Looking down, it was also quite interesting.
Dang, dang, dang…
Just as he was looking aimlessly, he heard the sound of a gong at the gate of the city. Then he saw a team of evading wooden signs surging out of the doorway. Apart from the sedan chairs and carriages, the most eye-catching ones were several huge prison cages.
There was no need for such a big battle to escort ordinary criminals. This view was where the Corrupt Officials were captured by the Imperial Governor, who was ordered to go on patrol.
Just at this time, another burst of laughter came from outside. Jia Baoyu, Feng Ziying, and others arrived.
Sun Shaozong hurriedly turned around to meet him. As soon as he walked around the screen, he saw several people rushing in. They all arched their hands and said, "Congratulations to Second Brother!"
Sun Shaozong laughed and was about to say something when he heard another burst of noise outside the window. The sound of a brass gong mixed with boiling voices immediately attracted the attention of the public.
Feng Ziying frowned and said, "What kind of stupid official is bothering people so much in the middle of the night?"
He had asked casually, but who knew, it was someone they knew.
They just heard Jia Baoyu saying, "I just looked at it from a distance. It seems that the Right Metropolitan Governor Zhao, who went to Hebei for inspection, has come back. It seems that he has caught a lot of Corrupt Officials."
"Yo!"
Feng Ziying widened his eyes and said jokingly, "When did our Brother Bao become so concerned about the affairs of the Imperial Court? You can see that even the Second Brother doesn't know!"
However, when he asked, Jia Baoyu hesitated a little. He scanned Sun Shaozong's face and hesitated, "This time, the Second Brother of the Wei family was assigned to accompany the guard of the Right Metropolitan Governor Zhao when he was out on business. I went to see him off that day, so I recognized the frame of the Right Metropolitan Governor Zhao."
The Second Brother of the Wei family was referred to as Wei Ruolan.
Besides Liu Xianglian, who didn't know that Sun Shaozong had a conflict with him?
So when Baoyu said this, the mood suddenly became cold.
"What are your expressions?"
Sun Shaozong laughed and said, "Is it true that I am a little intolerable in your eyes? As long as you don't bring the boy named Wei in front of me, I don’t care about your relationship privately."
As he spoke, he extended his hand to the inside and said, "Come on, everyone, sit down and talk."
If possible, Sun Shaozong naturally didn't want his friend to have anything to do with the Wei family. But the Wei family was also a generation of meritorious nobles and had been friends with Rongguo Mansion for several years. How could he easily break them off?
Moreover, Wei Ruolan was now the Brother-in-Law of Prince Beijing. Rongguo Mansion, as a member of the four kings and eight princes, was even less likely to turn against him.
However, they were relieved to see Sun Shaozong's careless behavior, so they sat around the table, laughing and talking. Only Xue Pan sat alone and said nothing.
Now Sun Shaozong was a little puzzled. He used to be the noisiest guy. How could he be unusually quiet now?
"Don't worry about him."
Feng Ziying gloated and said, "The special day of Big Head Xue is coming soon. He is so happy that he can't talk anymore."
No wonder he was so depressed. It turned out that the marriage date with Wang's daughter was fast approaching.
"Get out of the way if you don’t know what you’re talking about!"
Xue Pan glared at him and then said to Sun Shaozong weakly, "Second Brother, that day is scheduled for the ninth day of March. If you are free, come and have a look at it. If you are not free, I won't be bothered anyway."
When they heard this, they couldn't help but laugh.
Sun Shaozong picked up the hot wine that the boys had just brought, filled Xue Pan with a glass, and said, "I should have said that this result is true ”retribution” according to your usual misdeeds. But looking at your virtue now, I don't want to say anything. Come on, let's get drunk today!"
"Yes! Don't go back until you get drunk!"
After drinking with him, Xue Pan stared at him and shouted, "Who dares to cheat today?! I will be the first to not agree with you!"
Apart from Sun Shaozong, all of them were rich and noble people. They have no serious business to do. Why would they care if they drank or not?
Even Jia Baoyu slapped the table, shouted, and told the boys to change the bowl into a big one quickly.