Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 199 The friendship between gentlemen
As the lights come on, the evening in Mo City ushers in the busiest time of the day. Teahouses and restaurants are waiting for customers dressed in silk and satin to come, and the young ladies in the brothels are busy dressing up to welcome the upcoming fleeting romance.

Such noise has nothing to do with ordinary people. After a hard day's work, they might as well go to bed early and save food and fuel.

Yipinxian has already opened its doors to welcome guests, with lanterns hanging high at the entrance and bright lights inside.

This hotel has the best food and the best decoration in Melbourne. The combination of the two makes it rank among the top ten in Melbourne.

Especially diagonally opposite is Wenxiang Pavilion, which is one of the five most stylish brothels in the whole of Mo City.

First, eat and drink at Yipinxian, wait until you are slightly tipsy, then go to Wenxiang Pavilion to drink and enjoy the graceful figure of the young lady. That is what I call enjoyment...

"Dear guests, please come in."

As soon as Chen Xuan and his friends arrived at the door, the waiter came forward to greet them warmly.

Xiao Cai and Xiao Ye did not come along, only Chen Xuan, Geng Hong and Gao Jingming came. This was Xiao Gao's first time hosting a banquet for his classmates in the academy, and their relationship was not that close, so it was not appropriate for Xiao Cai and the others to come and serve.

Gao Jingming nodded slightly and walked up the stairs to the gate. Chen Xuan stepped forward and said, "I have an appointment, Guanhua Pavilion."

"Please come in, please be careful with the steps," the waiter's enthusiasm immediately increased three levels.

There are only four or five best private rooms in the entire Yipinxian Restaurant, and Guanhua Pavilion is one of them. You can see Wenxiang Pavilion diagonally opposite when you open the window, and if you are lucky, you can eat all you can.

The price is naturally not cheap. A single consumption will cost at least thirty taels of silver. If you are more extravagant, it will be hard to say.

It’s not that all the consumption here is like this. If you are a little tight on money, you can spend a few bucks in the hall.

This is Xiao Gao's first time to establish a social circle, so of course he needs to be a bit classy. As everyone gets closer in the future, he can naturally be more casual.

Relationships between people are mutual. Xiao Gao invited him this time, and the relationship is good. Next time he is invited back, just do it. Few people will be the ones to be taken advantage of. One or two times is enough to see a person's character clearly.

When we arrived at the private room, it was about 30 to 40 square meters in size and was very exquisitely decorated. Two girls, about 17 or 18 years old, were specifically serving this room.

As one of the best private rooms in Yipinxian, it would be a bit cheap to use the waiter service.

Incense and tea have been prepared long ago, and there is a musician playing the piano behind the screen, waiting for guests to arrive.

Chen Xuan came to the window, opened it, and heard the sounds of sweet voices coming from the opposite side, which made him feel happy.

Gao Jingming joked: "Xuan, you are still young, don't worry, I will accompany you to experience it in person in a few years."

Chen Xuan almost rolled his eyes. Why should I be so anxious? Am I that kind of person?

"Master, you're joking. I don't have that much money to throw away on that lavish spending spree," Chen Xuan said with a smile, turning around.

Geng Hong was outside the door, and for the time being, they were alone. Xiao Gao winked and said, "Xuan, I'm not happy with what you said. Will I still let you spend money if I go with you in the future?"

If you say so, it's not wrong to criticize it later.

It's no wonder that the Wenxiang Pavilion is already bustling with activity as soon as dusk falls. The 'early risers' can't move their legs past the door, lost in the sounds of chirping. Once they enter, they're guaranteed to be emptied of their bags...

After waiting for a while, I heard an apologetic voice coming from the door, saying, "Brother Jingming, are you here? I hope you can bear with me for being late."

"Not late, not late. We just arrived too. Come in, Brother Jinhua," Gao Jingming stood up and greeted warmly.

The person who came was Yue Jinhua, who was two years older than Gao Jingming and was his classmate.

According to Chen Xuan, Yue Jinhua is a down-to-earth person. His family conditions are not very good. He entered Liuyu Academy based on his real talents and knowledge. Eighty percent of his tuition fees are waived every year.

He was truly impressed by Gao Jingming's painting of pine and crane symbolizing longevity, and Gao Jingming's performance in class was always among the best in the class. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together, so he took the initiative to make friends with him.

Gao Jingming and Chen Xuan discussed it secretly and felt that they could accept this person, so they handed over the invitation.

Be it Chen Xuan or Gao Jingming, not everyone can be treated with sincerity.

Sitting down and drinking tea, Yue Jinhua couldn't wait to say: "Brother Jingming, you were in poor health before and had no chance to talk to me. Today you have to tell me in detail how you came up with that picture and where so many longevity characters came from." "There is no rush for this matter. There are still a few guests who haven't arrived yet. They will probably ask about it later. I will explain it in detail then to avoid repetition. Let's have tea first," said Gao Jingming, raising his glass.

"I am a little anxious, please forgive me, Brother Jingming," Yue Jinhua said embarrassedly. He was really absorbed in these academic matters.

Such people are pleasant to get along with, they are pure and will not cause you trouble for no reason. If you have similar interests, there is a high probability that they will stick together for you.

In this era, sincerity is the most important thing in the friendship between intellectuals. Once they truly recognize someone, most of them can stick to a promise for a lifetime.

Just like Mr. Yushan back then, although he lived in Yushan for a long time, as soon as there was something to do, as soon as a letter was sent, there would be people working hard to get to the rescue.

Soon after, the other four guests invited by Gao Jingming arrived one after another, namely Lu Xiang, Gui Zhenlin, Qi Changmo and Bian Feng.

Among them, Lu Xiang and Yue Jinhua were classmates of Gao Jingming, and the other three were from other classes. The oldest was Bian Feng, who was eighteen years old.

As I said, Xiao Gao doesn't make friends with everyone. Although they are in different classes now, they both have the title of Tongsheng and are at the same level, which can bring them closer.

Well, many people with higher achievements also took the initiative to make friends with Gao Jingming. People of different levels will always have a gap after spending a long time together. This has nothing to do with family...

When everyone was present, the dishes began to be served. During the process, they introduced themselves to each other. Some of them already knew each other. Anyway, Chen Xuan and the others had investigated them in advance. From their temporary understanding, they all seemed to have good personalities and got along harmoniously and easily.

Wine was ordered for this banquet. Except for Gao Jingming and Qi Changmo who were under age and not suitable for drinking, the others had already stopped drinking, so they naturally had to be taken care of.

Gao Jingming, Qi Changmo and the others all drank tea instead of wine, and the others understood and did not force them.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, several people first raised their glasses to congratulate Gao Jingming for being able to present a gift to His Majesty on behalf of the academy, and then began to ask about the details.

Since this was done personally, not by someone else, Gao Jingming opened his mouth and spoke freely, saying, "I have to thank Ah Xuan for this. The other day, the teacher said he wanted to present a gift to His Majesty. I pondered for a few days but was at a loss. It was Ah Xuan who told me that since it was a gift to His Majesty, why not use longevity as the starting point? I knew my skills were limited and I was afraid it would be difficult to produce a decent work. It was Ah Xuan who reminded me to paint with the word longevity in mind, which led to this clever work..."

Xiao Gao was still very loyal. He said without hesitation that it was Chen Xuan's idea. He gave all the credit to Chen Xuan in his words and deeds, and did not feel embarrassed at all. If he was a person with a worse character, he would probably want to take all the credit and praise Chen Xuan in such an occasion.

He mentioned Chen Xuan every three sentences, which made several people present look at him sideways, but that was all. No one said much because no matter how well Chen Xuan performed, he was just a book boy who added glory to Gao Jingming.

"...Those 999 longevity characters weren't easy to come by. At first, we tried everything we could think of. We then looked at inscriptions on stone tablets, read books, looked at calligraphy and paintings, read ancient books, looked at scripts from other countries, some rare scripts from smaller places, and A-Xuan and I figured out some things ourselves. We were barely able to gather 998. When we were one short, I was almost going crazy. Finally, A-Xuan reminded us that using 998 longevity characters to form the last one was the limit of what we could do."

After hearing what he said, everyone was impressed and realized how difficult it was to get that picture.

It's not that they are underestimating themselves. Even if Gao Jingming explained the whole process in detail, it would be extremely difficult for them to replicate it themselves. Just thinking about finding so many different Shou is enough to give them a headache.

Yes, Xiao Gao's painting stood out by taking advantage of the situation. Everyone has to admit this, including Gao Jingming himself. But can you really get it by taking advantage of the situation like this?

Anyway, everyone toasted Gao Jingming sincerely.

Since they were all getting to know each other, Xiao Gao naturally didn't just show off. He took the initiative to ask about and discuss other people's works.

They all came prepared, their works were rejected, and some even brought their own this time, so everyone started to discuss.

Chen Xuan accompanied them throughout the whole process, thinking that this was a gathering of literati. They were not simply there to eat, drink and have fun, but were more like having an academic discussion.

The relationship built in this way is much more solid than those with those boastful friends.

Time passed little by little, and when it was a little late at night, Chen Xuan occasionally glanced in the direction of Wenxiang Pavilion. As expected, Wu Junyao appeared, surrounded by seven or eight people of his age. They had been drinking and chatting somewhere before, and they were all a little drunk.

They arrived at the door of Wenxiang Pavilion, and each of them hugged two beautifully dressed women as they walked in. Anyone could see that these were important customers, so Wenxiang Pavilion naturally did its best to entertain them.

But the main purpose of Wu Junyao and his friends coming here today is not to have fun as usual. The target is the woman who is going to get married in Wenxiang Pavilion today. Wu Junyao came here with the mentality of winning her at all costs. He has already prepared the money and he will get whatever amount he can!
Wenxiang Pavilion is about to usher in its busiest time, and Yipinxian is a place for dining after all. Late at night, both the host and the guests are having a great time, and a few people bid farewell and make an appointment to meet again next time.

Everyone gained something from this gathering, and some even felt that they had met too late.

After seeing them off and returning to their residence, Xiao Gao washed and rested as usual. Then Chen Xuan started his own action, planning to finish the work early and come back to rest early.

Thinking of the disguise skills Gao Jingyu had demonstrated a few months ago, Chen Xuan thought to himself, "I can do that, too. I might even be better than Gao Jingyu, who needed to use makeup to cover up some details..."

(End of this chapter)