Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 48 Birds of a feather flock together
It was noon, not yet mealtime, so there were not many diners in Deweilou.

Those who can come here to spend money cannot be poor people. Chen Xuan took a quick look and saw that the few sparse tables of guests were either well-dressed or had a bit of a bohemian and unruly air.

After entering the door, the restaurant owner personally took Chen Xuan and the others to the third floor.

At the door of the private room, as they pushed open the door and entered, Geng Hong stopped and said, "Miss Leng, please go in with the young master and the others. Brother Niu, you stay at the door. Erhe, go downstairs and look around. I'll go downstairs to the hall. If you need anything, please call out. You guys should pay more attention. The young master's safety is the most important thing."

After Geng Hong finished his instructions, the other three guards nodded to show that they understood.

Chen Xuan listened and thought that Geng Hong was quite professional and arranged everything in an orderly manner.

Seeing Gao Jingming and the others had already entered the private room, Chen Xuan thought for a moment and said to Geng Hong, "Uncle Geng, you can open another table later. You can serve drinks and other things, but don't delay the main business. We will settle the bill together when the time comes. Please take care of the specific arrangements."

Gao Jingming invited his friends out, but he didn't know when it would end. He couldn't let Geng Hong and the others go hungry. After all, it wasn't his own money that he was spending, so it was a generous contribution to others, and it would benefit everyone.

Hearing this, Geng Hong looked at Chen Xuan with a little surprise, nodded and said: "Thank you, Brother Xuan, I will make arrangements."

He hadn't expected Chen Xuan to actually consider them. Just how old was Chen Xuan? He actually considered them like that. It was truly remarkable that he was personally chosen by Madam Gao...

After saying that, Chen Xuan also followed him into the room. The private room was estimated to be about 50 to 60 square meters, with exquisite decoration, a separate toilet, and a small partition separated by a screen.

What surprised Chen Xuan was that there was no table in the room, but instead several low tables and couches. Was this for separate meals? Was it for hygiene reasons, or to prevent poisoning? Or was this the standard for banquets held here?
While looking around here, Chen Xuan noticed that Leng Bing, who had come in earlier, had quickly checked every corner of the private room, and then stood in a corner that almost covered the entire private room. It would be easy to overlook her if one was not paying attention.

Chen Xuan once again secretly admired the professionalism of the Gao family guards.

Gao Jingming didn't care about that. He walked straight to the main table and sat down without any image. He said: "I don't know when they will arrive. If they make me wait too long, hmph, next time they invite me, I will leave them alone."

Xiao Cai was discussing the dishes with the shopkeeper. She didn't make any specific arrangements. She just told the number of people and asked the shopkeeper to pick out the right amount of his signature dishes. She would notify him when the dishes would be served.

The shopkeeper asked if he wanted some drinks. When Gao Jingming heard this, he seemed eager to try, but Xiao Cai directly refused. Come on, Gao Jingming is so young. If he is allowed to drink here, he will be beaten to death when he returns.

After almost discussing it, Xiao Cai finally asked the shopkeeper to arrange for a musician to come up and play music to liven up the atmosphere. They ate and drank, and there was background music. It was a relaxing time...

After that, Xiao Cai went behind Gao Jingming to give him a massage to relieve his fatigue. The journey before was not easy for Gao Jingming, the young master. He could only be described as delicate, but not that fragile.

"A Xuan, come here and sit next to me. You are not a guest today," Gao Jingming greeted.

I'm not a guest, so am I the host? Okay, I'm a servant...

Chen Xuan followed his instructions and sat down on the cushion to the right of Gao Jingming. The cushion had no backrest, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

After a while, a figure moved behind the partition screen. It was the zither player who came in. He said through the screen, "I wonder what piece of music you would like to hear, sir? There is a list of songs on the table. I know them all."

It turned out to be a male musician, and from the sound of his voice he seemed old. Chen Xuan had thought the musician would be a pretty young lady.

At the same time, he also saw the song list on the table, which looked like a memorial, but Gao Jingming had taken it in his hand first. He flipped through it casually and simply threw it aside and said, "Then play something you are good at."

Seeing how serious he was, Chen Xuan suspected that this guy didn't recognize the words on the song list.

"Then I, an old man, will present myself with my poor performance," the musician said slowly.

Then a melodious yet cheerful piano music sounded slowly, and the sound seemed to pull people into the sunny afternoon, with warm breeze blowing on their faces, and a scene of three or five children playing and fighting innocently in the mountains, in the fields, and by the river.

Chen Xuan was very surprised. This old musician was quite talented. He was completely clueless about music, so he would not comment on it. But just listening to this piece of music, he felt that it was very appropriate because it was obviously played for children. It was probably also made considering the fact that Gao Jingming was hosting a banquet.

Having said that, if he didn't have some skills, he wouldn't be able to make a living in Deweilou.

Anyway, I will definitely give a reward later, and I don’t know if the ten taels of silver I took out will be enough...

This classical piano music seemed to penetrate the heart, worthy of being professional. Chen Xuan was a little intoxicated by it, but was soon interrupted by a voice from downstairs. "Jingming, where are you? I came here just because you invited me to dinner."

He sounded young, with a high-pitched voice, as if he hadn't reached voice change yet. Perhaps he spoke too quickly, and his voice was a little cracked.

Gao Jingming was delighted when he heard this and said loudly: "Taiyun, I'm here, in the best private room on the third floor, Niu Le, please greet him and show him the way."

"Yes, Master"

After Niu Le outside the door responded, Gao Jingming looked at Chen Xuan and said, "Ah Xuan, Luo Taiyun is here. He's one of my best friends. I didn't expect him to get here first. His family is the largest grain merchant in Yang County. They mainly run the grain business, but they also run restaurants, teahouses, and even the cloth business."

As soon as he finished speaking, a chubby boy of seven or eight years old appeared at the door. He looked very pleasant, and was followed by maids and guards. However, except for one maid who came in, the others stayed outside. There was no one who looked like a servant following him.

"Taiyun, you are finally here. I have been here for a while." Gao Jingming stood up to greet him. Soon the two children hugged each other, as if they had not seen each other for a long time.

Chen Xuan also stood up. He couldn't just sit there like a big boss.

"Jingming, we just came back together yesterday and we're going to travel together tomorrow. Why do you want to treat me to a meal today?" Luo Taiyun asked bluntly after the hug.

Gao Jingming corrected him, "You are not the only one invited. Zhou Lin and the others are also here. Why are you keeping it a secret for now? This is Chen Xuan..." He looked at Chen Xuan who had followed him and said, "Ah Xuan, he is Luo Taiyun, one of my good friends."

"Hello, Young Master Luo," Chen Xuan nodded and smiled.

Luo Taiyun looked at him curiously and said with a smile: "Your name is Chen Xuan, so you are also good."

After greeting him, his mind was no longer on Chen Xuan, but on Gao Jingming: "Since you're keeping it a secret, I won't ask, but who else did you invite besides me and Zhou Lin?"

"There are also Tian Xueyu and Deng Lingfeng," Gao Jing said.

Luo Taiyun was surprised and asked, "Jingming, you even invited Deng Lingfeng?"

It seemed as if Deng Lingfeng was a little special in his words.

"Well, after all, we are from the same county. No matter what others think, we have to stick together," Gao Jingming nodded.

Luo Taiyun thought about it and said, "That's right."

As if worried that Chen Xuan didn't understand, Gao Jingming looked at him and gave a brief introduction: "A Xuan, Zhou Lin, Tian Xueyu, Deng Lingfeng, and Tai Yun are all my classmates and friends. I just mentioned Taiyun to you, so I won't mention it anymore. Then Zhou Lin's father is the county magistrate. Tian Xueyu's grandfather is a doctor and the principal of Yang County School. His family also has some calligraphy and painting pawnshops. Then there's Deng Lingfeng. His family runs a martial arts school and also an escort agency. I'm not sure about the details, but it seems that the escort service covers a wide range. Hehe, anyway, the five of us studied abroad together, and we have the nickname of the Five Tigers of Yang County."

Chen Xuan was stunned when he heard this. Five Tigers? A nickname? This might not be a nickname.

At the same time, they secretly said, wow, birds of a feather flock together. Look at the backgrounds of these five friends. Luo Taiyun's family controls the grain of Yang County, Tian Xueyu's family dominates the education of Yang County, Zhou Lin's family is the top official in Yang County, and Deng Lingfeng's family controls freight logistics. As for Gao Jingming, his father who is an official is not aware of the situation, but he has a sister who is a princess. It can be seen that his identity is very important. He might even be in a dominant position in the small group!

It is no exaggeration to say that these brothers together are enough to dominate Yang County.

Chen Xuan soon figured out what was going on. Luo Taiyun seemed to be a little bit special in his words towards Deng Lingfeng just now, and now it seemed that he made sense.

After all, Deng Lingfeng's family runs a martial arts school and an escort agency, which can be classified as a gangster family, which is somewhat inconsistent with the formal background of Gao Jingming and others.

But children are simple-minded and they study together in a group, so they don’t care about so many things.

These are huge connections. Even though they are still young, their influence is obvious.

Wait, they are studying outside, not in Yang County?
Why do we choose the far away instead of the near?

……

(End of this chapter)