sea

Chapter 40
The two played with flowers and enjoyed the scenery, and when they came outside Haining City, Gu Zhen smiled and said, "The city is full of smog, so it doesn't matter if you don't go in. I know a great place to go."

At present, the two found a restaurant by the Qiantang River and at the mouth of the sea. "Only this one couplet perfectly sets off the atmosphere of the sea and the sky.

Gu Zhen pointed to the couplet and said with a smile: "I heard that these two sentences were written by King Luo Bin of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, he was just like us, a bald monk who had just escaped from prison." Lu Jian smiled and said, "You are the one." Monk, I’m not. But this poem is very bold, that King Luo’s is amazing.” Gu Zhen nodded and smiled, “Yes, yes, that King Luo’s is really amazing.” Lu Jianzhi laughed at himself, laughed Smile, don't care.

The two walked upstairs and sat down facing the sea.Gu Zhen pointed out the mountains and rivers: "The sea in the south of Haining City, Zheshan Mountain in the southwest, the Qiantang River running through it, and the vast sea in the east, so it is also called Haimen."

Lu Jian asked in surprise, "You know this too?" Gu Zhen said, "I used to do business in this area. A merchant who doesn't know the weather, geography, customs and customs will inevitably suffer losses."

Lu Jian was even more surprised, and said: "You have been in prison for more than two years. It stands to reason that you were only fourteen or five years old. You started a business at such a young age?" The way of doing business is inherently interesting, much more fun than studying literature and martial arts."

There were several scholars in Confucian shirts at the next table, who were chatting over wine. Hearing this, he was very unhappy. One of them shouted: "You young man is bare-headed, not a monk, but what you say is deviant? Back then, the sage Confucius Among his disciples, Yan Hui studied literature, and Zi Gong was in business. Why did no one say that Zi Gong was better than Yan Hui? Zi Gong also said that he was not as good as Yan Hui. You kid, if you don't have the ability to read, don't talk nonsense and insult the sages."

Gu Zhen laughed out loud.The scribe said angrily, "What are you laughing at?" Gu Zhen shook his head, and suddenly chanted loudly, "Who is a good teacher or a businessman? Who is the richest one to give back? How many poor people are wronged by the quilt."

All the literati were stunned when they heard it. These four lines clearly said: who is better to be a teacher or a businessman? Let’s first see who is richer, Zi Gong or Yan Hui. Zi Gong is richer than a prince, but Yan Hui is poor.But how many scholars in ancient and modern times were deceived by Confucius' comments on the two, and fell into poverty.

All the scribes were stunned at first, then became furious, and cursed one after another: "You insult the sages, you insult the sages!" Gu Zhen laughed and said, "You say I insulted the sages, how dare you ask Yan Hui what he has done in his life? Apart from studying, he has It’s about Taoism, it’s useless to the family, it’s useless to the country, it earns the title of “sub-sage” for nothing, but it doesn’t even have a coffin when it dies. Zigong was sent to the four kingdoms, successively saving Lu, chaotic Qi, breaking Wu, and strengthening Jin And bullying caused the five countries to be turned upside down in ten years. So what if he was a businessman? After Confucius died, didn’t he pay for the funeral? The old emperor naturally hopes that you will all be Yan Hui, and everyone will live in peace and happiness. He is alone and happy. But if everyone is like Zigong, hehe, his life as an old man will be difficult."

All the literati shouted: "Nonsense, unreasonable words!" Gu Zhen laughed and said: "You scholars, don't you often say, 'There is a golden house in the book, and there is Yan Ruyu in the book'? It can be seen that the benevolence and morality of the mouth is full of benevolence and morality. It's not about money and women. If any of you can really learn from Yan Hui and die without a coffin, I will admire it. The money earned by businessmen is not very clean, but it is cleaner than those stinky officials who are corrupt and pervert the law More than a million times."

The scribes were dumbfounded by the refutation, and they could only curse: "Absurd, presumptuous, presumptuous, absurd..." Gu Zhen giggled, and suddenly called: "Man, come here." The debate was interesting, and I couldn't help snickering at the side, and when I heard the call, I hurriedly said: "Do you have any orders?"

Gu Zhen said: "Do you have paper, pen, ink and inkstone?" The clerk smiled and said: "Yes, yes." Take it immediately.All the scribes were upset by Gu Zhen's refutation before, and one of them sneered, "Isn't this fellow trying to write two crooked poems? If they are done, they will definitely stink."

Gu Zhen said with a smile, "I didn't write any crooked poems. I smelt two stinky farts first. Although the stinky smell is unbearable, but grandpa is so generous that he accepted it with a smile." Regardless of the angry eyes of all the scribes, he dipped in thick ink and wrote on the paper. It said: "The journey is difficult, and there is a shortage of silver." After writing the name, hand it to the guy, and said with a smile: "You take this to Wu Langyue's mansion in Zhuangyuan Lane, Haining City, and give it to the gatekeeper. Ask him for 20 taels of silver as travel expenses."

The clerk was in a daze when he heard that, and said in a stunned way: "Wu Langyue you are talking about is not an official from Wu?" Gu Zhen smiled and said: "He is called an official now? Yes, this is the guy." The clerk was startled, and then said: " But...but why would he give me that money?" Gu Zhen smiled and said, "If you think it's too little, you can ask for more, it doesn't matter if it's less than 100 taels."

The clerk was dizzy from hearing this, and blurted out: "It's not bad to get 20 taels, enough...enough for me to open a small shop." A scribe continued with a sneer: "You guys don't keep your duty, and you come to listen to this Don't regret it if you fall for the tricks of a charlatan and get scolded."

The guy hesitated.Gu Zhen smiled and said: "Sending a note is not going to rob the court. Dude, you might as well gamble at the shop. If you bet right, it will be a few dozen taels of silver; Roll your eyes, what big loss can you suffer?"

The guy said with a smile: "Young master is right." Holding the paper with both hands, he dried the thick ink carefully, and then the wind was blown from the soles of his feet, and he seemed to fly away.

Gu Zhen glanced at the group of scribes, and said with a smile, "Would you like to deliver notes for me too? Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and scholars are the first. Since you are scholars, the travel expenses should be doubled."

Those few people were furious, and one of them shouted: "You are too presumptuous, you insult the sages first, and then insult me. Be careful, I will sue the government and punish you for blasphemy!"

Gu Zhen pretended to be deaf, and said, "You dare to say it again, what crime should I be punished for?" The man's blood surged up, and he said loudly, "Punishing you for blasphemy." Gu Zhen said with a smile: "Well said. , everyone heard clearly." The man sneered, "So what if I heard clearly?"

"Your crime is so weird." Gu Zhen said with a smile, "The "Law of the Ming Dynasty" has 460 volumes, [-] articles, and I can recite all of them, but I have never heard of the crime of 'blasphemy'. In the eleven volumes of "Criminal Law" in "Law of the Ming Dynasty", there are eight articles on scolding, and they stop at sons not scolding their fathers, wives not scolding their husbands, and ministers not scolding the emperor, but they did not say that ordinary people cannot scold sages and scholars. The "Law of the Great Ming Dynasty" was established by the Emperor Taizu, could it be possible that you are more intelligent than the Emperor Taizu, and have committed a crime of 'blasphemy'?"

When the scribes heard this, all of them looked ashen, and the crime of tampering with the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" was as overwhelming as a mountain, and no one could afford it.They originally thought that this bald young man was just an ordinary citizen, they only needed to be brought out of the government, and he could be easily subdued by making a random accusation.Unexpectedly, at the Tai Sui today, the people I met were first-class litigators, not only eloquent, but also proficient in the law.

Seeing Zhu Sheng's flustered expressions, Gu Zhen stared at the stairs with both eyes, secretly amused in his heart, but shouted in his mouth: "The people upstairs have heard it, these people tampered with the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", the crime cannot be punished. Shopkeeper, this Do you know all these people? Write down their names for me, if there is any deception, I will sue the government and punish you for the crime of treason and cover-up."

The shopkeeper of Guanhai Tower heard the commotion and had already rushed over. Hearing the words, he secretly complained, but he didn't know what came from it.The few scribes were trembling all over, one of them was timid and weak, and fainted from anxiety.

Gu Zhen wanted to make trouble again, but Lu Jian couldn't see it, and said: "Gu Zhen, that's all, why bother to hurt people for a few gossips." The scribe shouted, "You're lucky, I'll let you off for the sake of Lord Lu, and come over and thank Lord Lu."

The scribes turned their grief into joy, and regardless of their dignity, they stood up one after another, bowed to Lu Jian, and called him Lord Lu.Lu Jian blushed, and quickly got up to return the salute.

Gu Zhen laughed loudly, waved his hands and shouted: "Get out of here!" Zhu Sheng didn't have another word, and went downstairs in a hurry.

Gu Zhen smiled and said, "Once this group of sour men go away, this building will be three points less sour and smelly, and seven points more clean." Lu Jian sighed: "You have to win and lose everywhere, no wonder the people in the East Island Everyone is afraid of you." Gu Zhen said solemnly: "I compete with others to win or lose, but with you, I will not fight."

Lu Jian shook his head and smiled wryly.Gu Zhen said lightly, "You don't have to believe me, I mean what I say."

After sitting for a while, I suddenly heard the sound of "dengdengdengdeng" going upstairs, but the guy who delivered the note came back.His face was flushed, his eyes were shining, he was carrying a bundle in his hand, he ran to the table panting and said: "Master, you are really good at seeing the sky."

Gu Zhen smiled and said, "How much money did you earn?" The man spread out his burden, full of lumps of silver, and gasped, "200 taels. I... I originally only wanted 20 taels, but the concierge Zhong gave it to me. The note went in, and when he came back, he said: "The master said, you are doing things for Mr. Gu, and it is too shabby to give you only 20 taels. It is enough to say at least 200 taels." Send it." He was so excited that he almost went limp after saying these few words.

Gu Zhen said with a smile: "Put away the burden, be careful that the silver is too white and too bright, and it will hurt other people's eyes." go away.Gu Zhen smiled and said, "Why, don't you think it's too little?"

The clerk put down the money, plopped down on his knees, and said loudly: "The villain would rather not have these money, and would rather go through fire and water with Master Gu." He was nearly thirty years old, but he knelt down to the young Gu Zhen, and everyone in the building showed contempt air.

Gu Zhen smiled and said: "You guys, you are very good at calculating. If you let me go today, you can only get 200 taels of silver; but if you can get a little relationship with me, you will earn far more than that in the future."

The clerk was deceived by him, and said embarrassingly: "Mr. Gu is a fortune teller, this little selfishness can't be hidden from you." Gu Zhen nodded and said: "The way of doing business is to know people with your eyes. You are not afraid of others' ridicule, and you will help me , This is your vision; second, you are honest with yourself, you just said this, which shows that you are not a cover-up; With just these three points, it’s too much for you to be a waiter in a restaurant. Well, let’s take the Four Treasures of the Study.”

The clerk was overjoyed and brought a pen and ink. Gu Zhen said, "What's your name?" Scribbled all over the paper: "I have something to do, so I recommend you to Wu Langyue first, and I still start as a buddy, do you want to do it?"

Chen Shuangde said with a smile: "Master Gu wants me to be a beggar, and I will do so." Gu Zhen smiled and handed the recommendation letter to him.

Gu Zhen said: "The 200 taels of silver, together with this paper of recommendation, you give to Wu Langyue together." Chen Shuangde is also a smart person, knowing that the act of returning the money is to win the trust of others, so he nodded immediately.

Gu Zhen looked up at the sky with narrowed eyes, and said with a smile, "It's still early, Lu Jian, let's play a game of Shuanglu." Lu Jian shook his head and said, "I don't know how." Gu Zhen smiled and said, "This thing is no better than Go Chess is labor-intensive and time-consuming, but it all depends on luck, and the next game will be fine."

Chen Shuangde didn't bother him, he said, the chess set had already been brought.Gu Zhen demonstrated: "The black piece is me, and the white piece is you, both of which are [-]. Let's roll the dice first. If you get a one, you will take one step. If you get a two, you will take two steps. Whoever gets fifteen Whoever crosses the opponent's sideline first with one chess piece wins."

Lu Jian saw that it was really easy to do. For a while, the two started a game, forgetting all the time, until all the guests upstairs were gone.Suddenly hearing horseshoes thundering downstairs, it seemed that many people came, Lu Jian was surprised, but Gu Zhen focused on the chessboard without raising his eyelids.

The sound of footsteps was heard again, and suddenly, the silver and red candles at the entrance of the building reflected twelve stunning women, colorfully dressed, eyes like autumn waters, jade hairpins perched on luan, swaying like flying phoenixes, holding red lacquer food boxes in their slender hands , A table of superb feasts is set up in a short while; I saw elephant-nosed shark fins, monkey-brained humps, oily pomfrets better than sturgeons, giant shrimps like dragons, fire meat as bright as rouge, drunken clams as bright as spring peaches; Burning musk deer, all kinds of fruits compete for freshness, famous fragrances are all over the building, jade plates are like moons, and green bells are as ingenious as peaks.

After the banquet was over, a stunning woman stepped forward, blessed her, and said with a smile: "The senior officials are downstairs, and I don't dare to come up without being called by Mr. Gu. He asked me to tell Mr. Gu that the carriages and horses are ready." Qi. Four horses, all of which are well-known horses; one car, carved from Annan Chenxiang wood, with ten thousand taels of gold and ten dendrobium pearls in the car; Sewn and woven by Master Liu Xiangshan in the "Tianyifang" in the capital; eighteen altars of century-old wine, six altars of Shaoxing Huadiao, six altars of Kweichow Moutai, and six altars of Zhuyeqing in central Sichuan. Maid and concubine."

Lu Jianzheng was startled when he heard Gu Zhen laugh and say, "Lu Jian, you lost." Lu Jian looked down and saw that all Gu Zhen's chess pieces had passed the sideline.

Gu Zhen happily said: "Okay, let's play again." He was talking, holding the ball in his hand, and he didn't look at the woman. The woman kept her eyebrows down and smiled, without any embarrassment.

Lu Jian was puzzled, and patiently played another round. It took three sticks of incense to spend this round, but Lu Jian won.

Gu Zhen pushed the plate and laughed, looked at the woman in a blink of an eye and said with a smile: "Beauty, are you tired from standing?" Gu Zhen smiled, nodded and said, "Tell Wu Langyue, keep the horses and chariots, keep the clothes and wine, take away the gold and pearls, give me 30 taels of silver as money, and don't want any beauties and delicacies. Chen Shuangde!"

Chen Shuangde hastily agreed.Gu Zhen said: "You ask the kitchen to bake two pancakes for us, cook two bowls of water noodles and five catties of braised yellow beef, and then go to the carriage to get two pots of flower carvings."

The stunning woman was not surprised either. After hearing this, she smiled and called the girls to pack up the dishes.

After a while, the woman climbed upstairs again, saluting: "Mr. Wu really wants to meet Gu Ye, I don't know what Gu Ye wants?"

Gu Zhen ate up a bowl of noodles, waved his hands and said, "I'll leave it for today, we'll talk about it tomorrow." The woman didn't feel distressed, she hesitated for a long time before she went downstairs.After a while, there was a sound of horseshoes downstairs, and the wind went far away.

Lu Jian sighed: "Gu Zhen, it's too inhumane for you to do this. They treat you with respect and give you so many things, but you don't even see each other." Gu Zhen finished a bowl of wine and said with a smile: " Lu Jian, don't you think it's strange after seeing these things?" Lu Jian smiled wryly and said, "I don't think it's strange anymore."

Gu Zhen smiled and said: "It's not surprising." He drank another bowl of wine and wiped the wine stains from the corners of his mouth, "You don't know, Wu Langyue was my subordinate four years ago, but now she is shaking three times when she stomps her foot. The ruthless characters in the eight prefectures and sixteen counties of the prefecture. These people are wealthy and full of tricks. I have been imprisoned in the deep prison for the past two years. They are uncontrolled, like a tiger out of a cage, a dragon out of its locks, and I don’t know how many stupid things have been done. You Are his things delicious and useful? He gives you ten thousand taels of gold, at least 3 taels of gold he swallowed; Fragrant cars, fancy clothes and delicious food, they are all fascinating and dizzy things, once you fall into it, will you still have the time to settle accounts with him?"

He paused, and then said with a smile: "Wu Langyue asked me to see me in every possible way. Is it because I was born good-looking? Ha, just because if I saw him, I would forget the past; if I didn't see him, he would be in big trouble. But I took his chariots, horses and wine, that is to say, although the previous incidents are not written off, they can be dealt with lightly. Even so, Mr. Wu will not be able to sleep well tonight."

(End of this chapter)