Chapter 127: Hospitality and Friendship

"Brother Lian has really gone too far with this matter."

There are too many people in the yamen and it is certainly not a place to discuss business.

The two of them rented a private room in a restaurant not far away to talk.

"Don't mention him." Wang Xifeng was about to have a stress reaction at this point. She felt nauseous when she heard the name, her whole body was cold, and she couldn't control the trembling of her hands and feet.

Chen Ran poured wine for Wang Xifeng and said, "Why don't you ask Mr. Zheng or the old lady to ask Brother Lian to return the silver?"

Wang Xifeng smiled sadly, her charm fully revealed.

If she could have found one, she would have done so long ago, but she couldn't ask her elders for help.

There is no way to explain the source of such a large sum of money. This is public money. This matter is more serious than Jia Lian robbing her money.

"Let's not talk about these bad things."

After a few drinks, Wang Xifeng's pretty face gradually turned red, and she stared at Chen Ran with her eyes, "Help my sister-in-law."

"Sister-in-law." Chen Ran sighed and poured himself a drink. "You are making things difficult for me."

"Fifteen thousand taels, such a huge sum of money should be lent out with some explanation." He asked seriously, "Is there any collateral?"

Even if there were some valuables left, they couldn't possibly be worth fifteen thousand taels.

Wang Xifeng was straightforward and said, "How about I pawn my sister-in-law to you?"

"Sister-in-law is joking."

Facing the flirtation, Chen Ran instead became serious, "This is 15,000 taels. Even Miss Asuka Mingxiang from Piaoxiang Pavilion can redeem herself twice."

Piaoxiang Pavilion is the most upscale gold-spending den in the capital, and ordinary people are not even qualified to enter.

Miss Mingxiang is the most famous person in the aquarium. She can get five taels of silver just for drinking a cup of tea and chatting. This is called "Da Cha Wei".

Even for a Qingguan person with such appearance and skills, fifteen thousand taels would be enough to redeem her twice.

By the way, Jia Lian had booked a private room in Piaoxiang Pavilion for a long time, not because he was a consumer, but because he liked to show off and entertain guests.

For these middle-aged men, the most important thing is to appear in front of others.

Wang Xifeng instantly understood what Chen Ran meant and flew into a rage, "How dare you compare me with that prostitute?!"

In the contempt chain of this era, prostitutes are basically the lowest class among the people.

"I redeemed them, and when I returned to the mansion, I ate cucumbers and leaned against the wall. What do you have here, sister-in-law? I asked you to bend your back, and I guess you will have to give me a cold look."

Wang Xifeng was filled with rage. She stood up angrily, picked up the wine glass and threw it at Chen Ran, but he dodged it flexibly.

Watching her leaving angrily, Chen Ran shook his head seriously, "You don't know, hundreds of years later, prostitutes are doing well and they don't seem to be in a hurry."

After settling the bill, Chen Ran left the restaurant and returned to the government office to continue his work.

Hundreds of Shuntian Prefecture's fast-moving detectives and strong-mannered militiamen were gathered in the side yard for intensive training.

There were three shifts of yamen runners in the yamen, and the standing shift was the ones who shouted "mighty" when the court was in session.

The fast squad is commonly known as the detectives and quick hands who are responsible for investigating cases and arresting people.

As for the Zhuangban Minzhuang, they are militia organizations such as archers and firearms.

When war breaks out, those who are conscripted to guard the city walls or to accompany the army as laborers are mainly these strong men.

Chen Ran trained these people because he had offended the bigwigs in the court before. They set a trap for Chen Ran and asked him to wipe out a group of bandits who had recently come from Shandong and other places.

They were indeed fierce bandits. Although there were only a few dozen of them, they rode two horses and rode as fast as the wind. They were fierce and brutal and killed people without blinking an eye.

He had previously been rampant in Shandong and was hunted down by local troops.

Unable to defeat the government cavalry, they fled northward into Shuntian Prefecture.

Logically speaking, it should be handled by the Beijing Camp, or at least the Five Cities Army should be responsible for suppressing it.

But the ministers did not care that the common people would be harmed, and directly used it as a trap to embarrass Chen Ran.

In response to this, Chen Ran politely declined Jia Yucun's offer to do the job for him, and instead gathered together the constables and militiamen for training, preparing to eliminate these bandits.

"Captain Liu, how's the training going?" After arriving at the venue, Chen Ran looked for a young man with an extremely outstanding appearance and asked, "Which group is the last one?"

"Sir." The young man saluted immediately. "In today's training, Group E ranked last."

"Got it." Chen Ran nodded. "Group E will stay to organize the equipment and clean the toilets on the site. The rest of the groups, collect your reward money and go to the restaurant for dinner!"

'Oh~~~'

After a whole day of rigorous training, everyone cheered except for Group E who looked dejected.

They lined up and came forward one by one to receive the reward from Chen Ran's hands. After expressing their gratitude, they happily teamed up to go to the restaurant to eat and drink. Naturally, the meal expenses were also paid by Chen Ran.

As for Group E that stayed, in addition to complaining to each other, they also trained extra strictly.

Even if someone wanted to go home, they would be cursed at by their companions and threatened to be kicked out of the team, saying that they would never be the last one in the team again.

There's no way around it, the treatment given by Lord Chen is really too good.

"Brother Liu." Chen Ran, who had left the government office, called out to Liu Dutou, "Come with me to Piaoxiang Pavilion."

The so-called Liu Dutou was named Liu Xianglian.

The reason why he was recommended by Chen Ran to serve as the head of the Shuntian Prefecture's militia was that it was Liu Xianglian who stepped forward to help when bandits attacked Qin Keqing in the temple last time.

Chen Ran never waits for revenge, and the same goes for repaying a favor.

He immediately helped Liu Xianglian solve the most critical first step in becoming an official, the opportunity to enter the government.

You know how many talented people can't even get through the door.

He has great talent, but he has lived a mediocre life without even the chance to display it.

As for the future, Chen Ran will not treat Liu Xianglian unfairly.

"Sir, don't spend any money." Liu Xianglian knew Piaoxiang Pavilion. Once you enter the door, you have to spend at least ten taels of silver. "No problem." Chen Ran waved his hand. "Someone is treating us today."

Liu Xianglian immediately showed joy on his face and said, "Then go quickly."

He felt embarrassed to let the benefactor who gave him a future spend money.

But if someone else is treating you, you have to hurry.

In all dynasties, officials were prohibited from entering places of entertainment.

But in reality, this ban is a joke.

Anyone who brings this up will be attacked by everyone, because almost everyone will go there and no one can escape.

Over time, smiling at colleagues in the land of romance has become an unspoken underwater rule.

After changing clothes and riding a horse, he arrived at this most prosperous place in the capital at dusk. Jia Lian was already waiting here to greet the guests.

"Zihou~~~"

Seeing Chen Ran coming, Jia Lian stepped forward to greet him warmly.

Jia Lian's enthusiasm made Chen Ran feel a little embarrassed. After all, not long ago, his wife Wang Xifeng wanted to play a friendly match with him.

To ease the embarrassment, Chen Ran introduced Liu Xianglian, "This is Brother Liu, Liu Xianglian."

When Jia Lian saw the handsome Liu Xianglian, his eyes immediately lit up and he greeted him warmly.

He had not been in the circle for a long time because of his debt.

With the help of Wang Xifeng's financial support, he solved his debt problem and immediately got back on his feet. He invited all his friends to come to this most prosperous place in the capital to enjoy themselves and announced that he had returned to the circle.

As for why Jia Lian spends money so quickly, and he had previously cheated Wang Xifeng of more than 10,000 taels of silver for private salt, just look at today's banquet and you will know.

There were more than dozens of people including the playboys from the capital who were invited and their friends and followers.

Just for these people to rent a private room and eat and drink, the expenses would be over a hundred taels of silver.

If there are some other projects, then there is no limit. It is possible to spend three or five hundred taels in one night.

As for why Jia Lian was willing to be such a sucker, you can tell by just listening to everyone calling him "Master Lian" and "Brother Jia" and looking at those sincere smiling faces.

Jia Lian has little sense of presence in the Rongguo Mansion. His father often beats and scolds him, his stepmother is sarcastic, the old lady doesn't like him, and his daughter-in-law scolds him as a coward. He even has to bow and say nice things to a respectable old woman when he meets one. He has long been feeling depressed.

At this time, the famous young masters in the capital, when they saw him, all smiled and bowed and called him "Brother~~~"

The flattery of people of status is so honorable, and money comes so easily, so everything seems natural.

Today Jia Lian booked the largest private room, the Tianzi box, which was extremely spacious and had two large tables.

Just considering the cost of this private room, he didn't feel bad about spending his wife's money, but Chen Ran felt a little bad.

After all, it was he who paid for the money. "When Wang Xifeng gives in, I will have to make amends for her. After all, she is someone else's daughter-in-law, so I shouldn't feel bad about using her."

Jia Lian, feeling very proud, greeted everyone warmly.

He told everyone to eat and drink well and not to be polite to him.

Everyone responded loudly, and Jia Lian, whose self-esteem was greatly satisfied, blushed.

Looking at his excited expression, Chen Ran lowered his head and drank.

"In a few days, your wife will have to pay you back for your debt. The more happy you are now, the more Wang Xifeng will shout when the time comes."

There were many dandies who came to play for Jia Lian's sake, such as Liu Cheng, the son of Duke Liguo, Hou Liangming, the son of Duke Xiuguo, Shi Guangzhu, the son of Duke Shanguo, Jiang Zining, the grandson of Marquis Pingyuan, Xie Jing, the grandson of Marquis Dingcheng, Qiu Liang, the military commander of Wucheng, Han Qi, the son of Earl Jinxiang, Feng Ziying, the son of General Shenwu, Chen Yejun, Wei Ruolan and other grandsons of kings were all present.

In addition, Chen Ran also met some acquaintances.

Xue Pan was actually there too.

Xue Pan, who was noisy before, became silent instantly when he saw Chen Ran, like a mouse seeing a cat.

He was really afraid of Chen Ran. This man really dared to kill him.

Chen Ran smiled and took Liu Xianglian to the table.

"The one over there." Chen Ran pointed to Liu Xianglian and pointed to Liu Cheng, the son of the Duke of Liguo. "Your relative?"

Liu Xianglian's expression was a little unnatural. "Not familiar."

He is also a member of the Liu family, but over the years, the big family has continued to multiply and split up, and has long since fallen into decline.

Seeing that the host family was enjoying a good life while his own family was struggling to make ends meet, he naturally felt unspeakable pain in his heart.

"No problem." Chen Ran said with a smile, "He's just a useless guy who just eats and waits for death. Only someone as capable as you will have a chance to stand out."

This is pure pacifying nonsense. Without the support of a noble person, how can you have the opportunity to succeed? No matter how capable you are, it will be useless.

According to probability theory, in a few hundred years, there will be so many Messis in China, and they will either be moving bricks or selling milk tea.

Even if they have talent, they don't have opportunities.

Liu Xianglian didn't understand, but he smiled happily when he heard this.

He is very handsome, similar to the little puppy in the modern world, and has a strong attraction to double plugs such as Jia Lian and Xue Pan.

It’s a pity that Chen Ran was sitting there, and these two didn’t dare to say a word.

Amid the noise, Feng Ziying stood up and shouted, "What's the point of us drinking like this? Why don't you ask Miss Mingxiang to come drink with us?"

Everyone started to make a fuss and shout, making it very lively.

Jia Lian was a little hesitant because Mingxiang's appearance fee was very expensive.

But the atmosphere was right, and he couldn't be nervous, so he waved his hand and said, "It's not difficult, call her over now and pour wine for the brothers~~~"

Amid the roar, Chen Ran picked up the wine glass and drank it all. "Jia Lian, your wife is going to suffer. Just because of what you said, she will have to be beaten with a thousand sticks."

(End of this chapter)

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