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TL Notes: The meaning of ‘Brother Nian’ is a self-reference vis-à-vis a civil-service examination classmate.
In fact, not only Zhu Peng has this question, but also Sun Shaozu, his eldest brother, has long found that Sun Shaozong's strength has more than doubled in the past year in the Kingdom of Qian Xiang!
This obviously couldn’t be explained by the reason of ”physical development.”
Sun Shaozong secretly recalled it for a long time, but he still didn't get the point. Finally, he could only blame it on the unique welfare of transgressors. Compared with those golden fingers who can summon strong generals across the times, or simply digitize everything, his extra strength was nothing.
—Dividing Line—
When Sun Shaozong returned home, he idled for more than half an hour. Seeing that the same year's party was about to begin, he left for Tongfu Restaurant outside the city with Ruan Rong's warning to "eat more and drink less.”
Although this restaurant was a little famous, it was not a top-ranking restaurant in the industry. The reason why they chose to have dinner here was simply that this Tongfu Restaurant was the property of Wang Bingxian's family, which was the fourth in the second class.
In the beginning, because he was a merchant, Wang Bingxian was once discriminated against. After moving to a civilian position, he waited for the election for more than half a year and still failed to fill the real vacancy. Finally, he entrusted Zhu Peng and got to fill the eighth-grade official in charge of livestock and livestock products in the Department of Pastoral Affairs under the jurisdiction of Taipu Temple.
Frankly speaking, this decree was actually issued by the “Horse Master” who helped release the horse to the Court, but Wang Bingxian was still grateful and became Zhu Peng's lackey from then on.
The journey was quiet.
When Sun Shaozong arrived at the door of Tongfu Restaurant, he saw two huge lanterns hanging on the railing on the second floor with the words "The restaurant is in full swing.” This meant someone made a block booking, in this case, it was the same-year martial scholars. If outsiders see the sign, they would know that the restaurant was not open for business today.
When Sun Shaozong arrived, several men were chatting with each other in front of the door. Seeing that it was him, they all greeted each other and called “Brother Nian” one after another.
Because it was the party from the same year that the martial scholars gathered, all the people present were big men. Even those who were slightly inferior could also be called "short and strong.”
Sun Shaozong was more comfortable in it than usual. He scribbled down the names of several people and found that most of them held military positions in Patrol Camp, Urban Defense Camp, or one of the three battalions of the Imperial Guard Army, Shenji Camp, and that only Wang Bingxian became a civilian.
But it was not Wang Bingxian who was in charge in front of the door but a sixth-grade Lieutenant named Zhu Hu.
Sun Shaozong inquired with the others, beating about the bush, and knew that Zhu Hu was Zhu Peng's cousin.
However, compared with Zhu Peng, who has a full head of “green color,” this Zhu Hu was obviously more human. He spoke with a conniving demeanor. Although he mainly greeted Sun Shaozong, he has not snubbed the others for this reason.
After a few more words of conversation and laughter, Zhu Hu bowed in a circle and said with a smile, "Brothers, my brother has been waiting inside for a long time. Why don't we go in and continue our conversation inside?"
Naturally, everyone agreed, and all were courteous enough to offer one another the chance to enter the room first. Finally, Sun Shaozong and Zhu Hu were at the forefront.
"Brother Sun."
Zhu Hu walked side by side with Sun Shaozong, but lowered his voice and said, "My brother offended you earlier. For the sake of being the same year, don't take it to heart."
Sun Shaozong laughed and said perfunctorily, "How dare I quarrel with your brother? If I offend the minister of personnel for this, will I still have a future?"
That's right, but Sun Shaozong didn't care much about Zhu Peng in his heart. After all, after he got the bullfighting uniform, he could also be called "recognized by the Emperor.” Even the dignified Minister of Personnel, didn't dare to deliberately suppress him to help others.
Zhu Hu understood this, after hearing the speech and smiling bitterly a few times, he then lowered his voice and said, "In fact, my brother is not such a flamboyant temperament, but recently... Sigh, he is depressed in his heart too, so... Please forgive him, Brother Sun."
Although Zhu Hu made a slight pause twice in a row, Sun Shaozong also understood what he meant. It was Zhu Peng who was given a big bucket of green hats. He was bitter and dared not say it, so he gradually became abnormal in this silence.
It’s just that…
This green hat was not put on by Sun Shaozong. Why should he “forgive” his arrogance?
Therefore, Sun Shaozong just smiled and didn't reply to his words.
Zhu Hu wanted to say something more, but he saw a man rush out. With his chest and head bowed, he almost collided with Zhu Hu.
"Jiang Yunhe?"
Zhu Hu stopped and looked at the man suspiciously, asking, "How can you be here?"
Hearing the three words "Jiang Yunhe,” Sun Shaozong was also busy looking at him curiously. It is only because Jiang Yunhe was one of the three civil servants who were sacked. It was said that he was calculated by the following civil servants when he was a County Magistrate, and he was imprisoned for more than half a year before he was released.
Seeing that he was now skinny as a skeleton, he knew that he had suffered a lot in prison.
Jiang Yunhe dodged everyone's eyes, shrank his neck, and muttered, "It's the invitation given to me by Lord Zhu. I… Although I was dismissed, my reputation as a Scholar is still there."
Although he spoke intermittently and without confidence, his words were not unreasonable. The same year's party did not stipulate that only current officials must attend. As a martial scholar of the eighth-year Guangde Imperial Examination, it was not inappropriate for him to appear here.
Considering that he was cheated and not a really corrupt official, Sun Shaozong felt some sympathy, so he laughed and said, "Since it's the same year's party, Brother Jiang is naturally qualified to attend."
His words were to help Jiang Yunhe out of the siege, but Jiang Yunhe was not very grateful. He only showed a stiff smile to Zhu Hu and hurriedly flashed into the corner.
Sigh
Zhu Hu looked at his bent back, sighed heavily, and lowered his voice, "This Jiang Yunhe is asking my brother to recover his position recently, but where can my brother... Sigh~"
This guy was always saying half of the sentence for people to guess, and he didn’t know what was wrong with him!
Sun Shaozong was hesitant to ask, and he heard a familiar and harsh voice from the hall in front of him, "Brother Sun is here, come here, come here, take a seat. I have prepared a big surprise for you!"
This arrogant tone naturally belongs to Zhu Peng.
Sun Shaozong followed his reputation and saw him sitting on the main seat of the center seat with a golden blade. Among the people of the same year, several tables around him rose to greet Sun Shaozong, and he was the only person unmoved there.
Sun Shaozong was at least a Riding Vice Lieutenant of the fifth grade in the Capital and an Assistant Prefectural Magistrate of the sixth grade. Regardless of his civil and military official positions, he was a leader to the public, and he just has a title down in private. Now in this public, he was still so arrogant, it’s domineering!
Sun Shaozong laughed. After coming forward and greeting the people, he sat down on the table beside him and said leisurely, "Since today is the same year's party, it has nothing to do with the dignity of officialdom. Let's just talk about age. This main seat is more suitable to invite the other respected Brothers Nian to take up the seat."
This statement not only made it clear that it did not give Zhu Peng face, but it was also said to be watertight and people couldn’t find any fault in it, which formed a sharp contrast with Zhu Peng's wanton perversity.
With these words, they distinguish his relative superiority and inferiority to Zhu Peng in their hearts.
So some brave men also came to sit at the main table where Sun Shaozong was.
However, due to Zhu Peng's father-in-law, there were still a few who didn’t dare to not give him face after all.
Therefore, only six or seven people were sitting at Sun Shaozong's table, most of whom were from the Patrol Camp, making it far less lively than Zhu Peng's.
Zhu Peng's face calmed down again. He laughed and said, "Brother Shaozong is not comparable to others. Anyway, when the big surprise I prepared for you appears later, you must watch carefully and don't let me down."
This guy has mentioned "big surprise" twice now, which made Sun Shaozong curious.
Just wondering what his “big surprise” would be, he saw that the workers of the restaurant brought wine jars and bowls and put them on the five round tables respectively.
Zhu Peng changed his pride earlier, stood up, took the initiative to divide the wine bowl, filled the wine jar one by one, and finally raised his wine bowl and said in a loud voice, "Brothers, for today's greetings, cheers!"
With that, he covered it with his left sleeve, looked up, and dried the bowl of rice wine in one go.
Seeing this, everyone rushed to pick up their wine bowl, raised it, and drank wildly.
Sun Shaozong was naturally no exception. He looked up and poured the Shaoxing rice wine into his mouth. Before he could swallow it, he suddenly heard a crisp clang, followed by Zhu Peng's shriek, "The wine... It's poisonous!"
Poof!
Sun Shaozong opened his mouth and sprayed it all over the table. Turning to the main seat, he saw that Zhu Peng had staggered and fallen to the ground.
"Third Brother, Third Brother? Third Brother?!"
Zhu Hu hugged his shoulder and shouted a few times. He slowly turned back and said, in a pale, trembling voice, "He... He's dead!"
The fck!*
This shouldn’t be the “big surprise” he was talking about, right?!