Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 496 Fire in the Harem
When other people go to a brothel, they hug the pretty girls and drink and chat happily. No matter they talk about how awesome they are, how elegant they are, or simply touch them, they are all trying to gain some emotional value here.

At this moment, Xia Lin and Lao Zhang were each holding a chicken and eating it madly. It was not because they were greedy but because they were competing with each other. Whoever finished the whole chicken first would have to pay for all the expenses for the day.

How could I tolerate that? Money is a small matter. People have to live their lives, and they have to live their lives smoothly!

There were two young girls sitting next to them, looking at each other. They were arranged to serve an important person, and were told not to ask anything but to make the master happy.

They had met many big shots and masters, and they knew the rules very well, but these two people had never raised their heads from the beginning to now, and they were just eating chicken the whole time.

"My two masters... don't just eat it, please touch it, otherwise I won't feel at ease with the money I earn..."

The two of them said nothing and just ate the chicken.

Almost at the same time, they both ate the last bit. Xia Lin burped and turned his head to ask the girl next to him: "Who's faster?"

The younger sister silently shook her head: "I don't know...it happened so fast, I couldn't see clearly."

At this moment, Lao Zhang also wiped his mouth and looked down at the chicken bones on the table: "Well, let's put the bones together again. Whoever puts them together first wins."

Xia Lin lifted his sleeves and said, "Come on! I'm afraid of you!"

Then they started the second round of competition, the chicken bone competition.

But it was obvious that Xia Lin fell into Lao Zhang's trap. He was a man who spent all day thinking about drawing and structure. He had studied the structures of chickens, ducks, cows, sheep and humans thoroughly. He could piece together a chicken bone faster than he could eat a chicken. He used two chopsticks and tore a silk thread from the socks of the girl next to him, and in no time he had put a chicken together. The key was that he could even make the skeleton of a chicken stand up even if only the bones were left.

"Hey! You BYD cheated!"

"No, then no." Lao Zhang looked at the chicken bones in front of him proudly: "Look, look at it. This is called professionalism."

Xia Lin looked at his messy chicken bones and spat, "Damn it, this is bad luck."

After saying that, he took off his shoes and took out three hundred taels of banknotes from them: "Take it!"

"You are such a disgusting person. No, are you really that bad?"

"What else? What if it's lost?" Xia Lin searched around and said, "It's gone. There are only a few coins left."

"Waste." Lao Zhang grabbed the bill and said to the girl next to him, "Go, get some writing brush and ink."

The girl didn't understand, but customers are the priority, so she quickly brought out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone. Lao Zhang pushed the things on the table aside and started writing and drawing. After a short while, a lifelike golden rooster crowing at the dawn appeared on the paper.

"Wow~~~"

The little sister next to him almost burst out of her eyes when she saw the painting. They had seen many talented people, but this was the only one who could do it so effortlessly.

"Come on, write a poem." Old Zhang rolled up his sleeves and said, "You tell me, I'll write it."

Xia Lin scratched his chin. "You are perched on the eaves beside the weeds. You are the one who calls the shots in the morning. A parrot cannot rely on its eloquence. It can only be kept in a golden cage in a noble family."

"Hmm? Very good." Lao Zhang picked up his pen and started writing: "It has to be you."

The little sister next to him was just amazed at Lao Zhang's skills, but when she turned around, she found that there was another expert next to her...

Soon, a painting with a poem was created here. Old Zhang fanned him and asked him to start working. Then he asked the girl to take down a messy painting on the wall. Old Zhang used his hands dipped in wine to peel off the original broken painting, and then mounted his own work on it. His skillful technique was amazing.

"Seal."

Lao Zhang took the seal from his lower back and pressed it on the forehead, then waved to Xia Lin: "Give it to me."

"No need..."

"Give it to me! If you don't have one thousand taels, you'll have three thousand taels." Lao Zhang grabbed Xia Lin's seal and said, "This is my name. If I don't make a lot of money, I'll be sorry for these innocent people."

With the two sides printed, the painting of a rooster crowing at dawn was completed. Old Zhang handed the scroll to the little girl next to him and said, "You, take it out and sell it. I want three thousand taels, and the rest is yours."

The two girls were stunned for a moment. They had no experience and didn't know what this meant. They were just worried. After all, in their opinion, no one would be willing to spend three thousand taels to buy such a shabby painting...

"What if it's not enough... Sir, please don't make things difficult for me."

"If you don't have three thousand taels, the Po Lu army will come tonight and kill everyone here." Lao Zhang rolled up his sleeves and said, "Just go."

The two girls went out nervously, but they didn't dare to go out and hawk their wares, so they had to find the supervisor and said in tears, "Manager, something has happened."

"What's the matter?"

One of the girls held up the painting and said, "The guest in my private room just casually drew a shabby painting and asked us to sell it. He also said that they only needed 3,000 taels to spend, and the rest would be ours."

The manager was also confused: "You may have been blackmailed. Where is the painting? Bring it to me and let me see it."

The steward picked up the painting and frowned: "Three thousand taels for this chicken? Isn't this extortion? Wait, I'll go upstairs to find them." He was about to go upstairs angrily, when suddenly a hand pressed his shoulder from behind. The steward turned around and immediately changed his angry expression into a flattering smile: "Young Master..."

The person who came was none other than Yang Hao, a member of the Yang family. He nodded and asked, "What happened?"

The steward immediately became indignant: "There are two guests in the private room. They brought a broken painting and insisted that it was worth three thousand taels for a chicken. Isn't this extortion? I plan to go up and argue with them."

Yang Hao picked up the picture of the rooster and looked at it...

"Mother Ganlin..."

He cursed silently in his heart, and was silent for a while. He rolled his eyes and turned his head to ask the girl, "Did they take out this picture or did they draw it now?"

As he was talking, he touched the ink on the painting with his hand, and felt that it must have been painted on the spot. The younger sister quickly said, "Boss, the two of them painted it while chatting and laughing, and the poem on it was recited on the spot."

"You." Yang Hao patted the steward's shoulder: "You almost died."

After saying this, Yang Hao asked someone to bring over a promissory note of 10,000 taels and handed it to the little sister: "Go, tell them that your boss has bought this calligraphy and painting. I will visit you in person later."

The younger sister agreed and hurried upstairs, but the manager didn't quite understand: "Young Master, why is this? This painting can't be worth ten thousand taels, right?"

"It's worth a hundred thousand taels, or it could be worth your life or mine." Yang Hao chuckled, "You... that's all, go get busy."

A servant is a servant, and he has no way of understanding what this concept means.

Not to mention that the painting is of extremely high quality and has great value in itself, what is even more valuable than its own value are the two seals.

The first one is Zhang Zhongchun's personal seal. Who is Zhang Zhongchun? He is the inspector of the Inspection Department, a fourth-rank military officer in Beijing. He investigates the superiors and the subordinates, and makes decisions first and reports later. If such a person draws a picture, someone will give him 30,000 taels, not to mention 3,000 taels.

The second one is Xia Daosheng's private seal. Who is Xia Daosheng? The late emperor left behind the aristocratic family of the Great Wei, and although he does not hold real power in the capital, he can mobilize 570,000 troops.

Many people may have no idea about 570,000 troops, so everyone will understand if I say this. The Wei Dynasty now has a total of 650,000 troops in the capital and surrounding areas... Except for Wang Shichong's more than 50,000 to 60,000 troops and some river troops, the rest are nominally surnamed Tuoba, but actually surnamed Xia.

He alone exerted pressure on the entire northern clan, making Li Yuan afraid to go south and making the Central Plains unable to breathe.

The seals of these two people were on a painting. Let alone three thousand taels, even if Xia Daosheng fell asleep and talked in his sleep, the content of the dream would be in front of him when he woke up.

But the biggest problem here is that almost everyone knows Xia Daosheng, but few people know his face.

But Yang Hao recognized him. He had been to Fuliang and met Xia Daosheng in person with the Third Prince. He was a young man, a very young boy, low-key, humble and shrewd. He was different from all the rumors on the market and different from what everyone imagined. Anyway, if he had not seen him with his own eyes, he would definitely not recognize him if he met him on the street.

At this moment, the little sister had already handed the banknotes to Lao Zhang. Lao Zhang dusted off the banknotes in his hand and said, "See? This is a kind of corruption. What is it called?"

"Elegant bribe."

"That's right." Old Zhang smiled and gave seven of the ten bills to the little sister next to him: "We agreed just now that anything over three thousand taels will belong to you two. Now it's yours."

The little girl was stunned for a moment, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't know how to deal with this huge sum of money, but the two big guys in front of her didn't seem to care about them anymore...

"Is the activity going to start soon?" Lao Zhang pointed at the crowd below and said, "Alas, I'm old now and I'm not very interested in these things anymore."

Xia Lin propped up his head and poured himself a glass of wine out of boredom. Then he pointed at the barely touched food on the table and said to the two girls, "Go, get me a lunch box and pack it up. I don't have to spend extra money, right?"

"no, I'm fine……"

The younger sister immediately got up and walked out. As soon as she reached the door, she saw Yang Hao coming over. The two of them called out "Young Master" and then walked out sideways.

At this moment, Xia Lin turned his head and happened to meet Yang Hao's eyes. The young master of the place immediately bowed and said, "Master Xia, Master Zhang, I have heard a lot about you."

Xia Lin laughed: "Hello, Young Master."

"I don't deserve it, I just help with the family affairs." Yang Hao was very polite, then bowed and asked, "Can you come in and talk?"

"Please."

Xia Lin let Yang Hao in. Most of the children from these aristocratic families were quite generous. He walked in alone. After a round of greetings, Yang Hao's expression suddenly changed. He smiled and said, "My lords, I have a secret. I wonder if you are interested."

"Name a price." Xia Lin said lazily, "You and I are both businessmen. We should solve our business problems as businessmen. Name a price."

Yang Hao's smile suddenly bloomed: "Then I won't be polite, Lord Xia, I want a fifth-rank censor position. I am not from the Yang family."

Xia Lin raised his eyebrows and said, "Good fellow, you are so arrogant. Then tell me what is worthy of this fifth-rank official?"

"The current queen is also here today. In the elegant private room above the two lords, the person accompanying her is the Grand Commander Li Mi. Is that enough, lords?"

(End of this chapter)