Beauty Jianghu

Chapter 221 Inquire about the situation

The three of them walked into the restaurant, and the shopkeeper came over. The three of them ordered some local snacks, which were nothing more than soup dumplings, dried tofu, and gruel.

The three of them finished eating quickly. Walking on the street, Bai Yuyao asked:

"General Li, we don't know the leader of Fushe, and we have no friendship with him. How can we go to them? Ask them to do something?"

Li Xingdao: "We don't say that they were sent by Emperor Dashun. We only say that they are people with lofty ideals who care about the country. They persuaded them to force Ma Shiying and others to resist the Qing soldiers and protect their homes and country. I know that these scholars have a lot of land and wealth in their families. After the Ming Dynasty fell, What’s the benefit to them?”

"That's right." Bai Yuyao said, "But we don't know these people."

Li Xing smiled and said: "Let's go find that Liu Aming."

Bai Yuyao slapped her head and said, "How could I forget about him?"

The three of them still remembered that when Liu Aming left, he said he lived in Quliu Lane. I asked people about it along the way, and then we walked towards Quliu Lane together.

The three of them slowly walked eastward, and were about to reach the outside of the city. There were low and broken houses everywhere, but they could see Zhongshan Mountain in the distance outside the city, rolling up and down on the horizon, and the green color was reflected all the way to the sky. Coming to town.

Bai Yuyao couldn't help but said doubtfully: "This Liu Aming lives in this poor place, how can he know about the affairs of the upper class?"

Li Xing said: "This man is just a freeloader. He doesn't know about the restoration of the society. He just watches this group of people from a distance. With his introduction, we can understand the situation of the restoration of the society. How can we He introduced us and we went to Fushe ourselves."

The three of them finally reached Quliu Lane on the edge of the city. It was a winding alley with tall locust trees growing on both sides, shading each other. Although there were some poor families living there, the environment was very quiet.

The three of them walked into the alley and met an old man. Li Xing stepped forward to say hello and asked where Liu Aming lived.

The old man pointed forward and said, "That's the room. I saw him in the room."

"Thank you." The three of them walked forward. Liu Aming's house was in a particularly dilapidated state next to the neighbors on his left and right, and the wall was about to collapse. Fortunately, there was an old locust tree supporting it outside the wall.

The old man looked at the three of them and just walked forward. He couldn't help it anymore and coughed.

Hearing the coughing sound, the three people turned their heads and asked, "What's wrong?"

The old man also had good intentions, so he took a step forward and said, "I see that you are outsiders, and my old man also has good intentions. This Liu Aming has no serious business. He only uses his mouth to lobby everywhere and make a living. I am worried about you... "

Li Xing said: "I know the old man is doing it for our own good, but we just come to him for a drink, listen to his gossip, and relieve our boredom. There is nothing else." He took out more than 20 pennies and said: "Thank you for your kindness, uncle. This is a little bit of our thoughts. Don't be offended, just accept it."

The old man got the twenty-something cents for nothing. Seeing that the three of them went to find Liu Aming alone, three against one, just drinking and having fun, and they wouldn't suffer much loss, he left with peace of mind.

The three of them said goodbye to the old man and walked forward to Liu Aming's house. The courtyard door was in tatters and one could see inside. The courtyard was covered with grass and there was a plum tree leaning crookedly against the wall. growing.

There are two rooms in the front, which are neat and tidy, with the doors ajar.

Li Xing shouted: "Is Liu Aming at home?"

As soon as he shouted, Liu Aming walked out.

When he saw someone outside, he probably wanted to pay the bill, so he turned around and went back into the house. Li Xing hurriedly said: "We are three people from Henan who drank together. You forgot, we miss you and want to treat you." Drinking."

When Liu Aming heard that someone wanted to invite him to drink, he hadn't eaten breakfast yet and was hungry. When he heard about drinking, he hurriedly took three steps and two steps at a time, ran to the door and opened the courtyard door.

When I saw him, I recognized him and said, "Thank you three young masters for remembering me. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that the distinguished guests were coming, and I didn't tidy up the house."

This Liu Aming can eat everywhere with just one mouth. Now that his true identity is known, his face suddenly turns red.

Of course Li Xing knew, and said hurriedly: "We three brothers want to treat you to a drink. If we don't have time to enter the house, let's go drink quickly."

When Liu Aming refused to enter the room, he immediately became relaxed and said: "Please. Last time the three young masters invited me, I still haven't responded to the invitation. This time I want to fulfill the friendship of the place and invite the three young masters."

The three of them knew that he was talking beautifully, so they didn't care about him and just smiled.

The three of them followed Liu Aming and quickly walked out of Quliu Lane and onto the street. Li Xing asked:

"Is there any better hotel around here? It should have good food and wine, as well as good scenery."

"Yes, yes." Liu Aming said, "I will take three of you."

Liu Aming opened the way in front and led the three people forward. But he came east again, then walked south along the city wall, walked along a main street, and came to a street in Daheng. I saw that this street was particularly neat, with restaurants on both sides.

Then Liu Aming said: "This is a famous street in Nanjing. The emperor used to walk through this street when he went to Zhongshan. This is a famous imperial road."

Liu Aming led the way while talking, and soon came to a hotel with a black plaque and gold characters: "Taibai Restaurant".

Liu Aming said: "This is a famous century-old store."

As he said this, he led the three of them inside. Liu Aming knew that the three of them were very generous, so he brought them to this luxurious hotel.

As soon as he walked to the door of the hotel, a shop assistant saw him, strode over, grabbed him by the collar, and shouted: "Liu Aming, you stinky boy, where have you been hiding? You poor guy, When will you pay back the money you owe our hotel? Do you still want to run away?"

Liu Aming blushed as red as a piece of red cloth and said, "Let go, I brought three rich men to your store today."

The guy was probably scared of being deceived by Liu Aming, but he just didn't let go and kept asking for the money back. Li Xing took out two taels of silver and said to the guy:

"Let's pay the money first, and then you can help us find a good seat."

When the boy saw the money, he took it in his hand, stopped arguing with Liu Aming, and said: "You three gentlemen, please."

The waiter took the three people into the hotel, and for the sake of two taels of silver, he took them up to the second floor, walked to a private room, and waited for the four people to sit down.

The waiter asked: "You three gentlemen, what would you like to order?"

Li Xing said: "I gave you the money, so I just have to bring you good wine and good food."

"Masters, wait a moment."

Soon, the food and wine were served in a stream, and the table was filled with roast duck, smoked hooves, fried fish, stewed chicken, and several kinds of seasonal vegetables.

The four of them sat down and started drinking. It didn't take long for Li Xing and the others to finish breakfast. They ate very little food and kept drinking wine.

Liu Aming didn't even eat breakfast. He was very hungry. Now he had breakfast and lunch together. He was like a hungry wolf, eating meat and drinking wine.

This private room is really in a good location. Looking eastward, you can see Zhongshan Mountain, with overlapping trees, lush trees and misty smoke.

Li Xing looked at Zhongshan and thought about the land of Nanjing where dragons and tigers roost. There is a big river in front, a big mountain behind, and the rich land of Jiangnan in the southeast. But in such a good place, the monarchs and ministers are all drunk and dreaming, and the country is about to perish. This How can the victory of mountains and rivers help the emperor?

The four of them drank wine and talked for a while. After eating for half an hour, Li Xingcai asked:

"Liu Aming, do you know anyone in Fushe?"

Liu Aming lied: "How could I not know them? They are a very powerful group. Even Ruan Dacheng is afraid of them. If he meets them, he will leave."

"Do you know the leader among them?"

Liu Aming hurriedly finished chewing a chicken drumstick in his mouth, and then said: "There are four young masters in Fushe. All of them are wealthy and write good articles. Scholars in Jiangnan listen to them, and even officials in the court listen to them. Make friends with them too.”

Seeing that the three of them were looking at him helplessly, Liu Aming couldn't talk too far, for fear that he would lose the round table, so he picked what he knew and said: "Two of these four young masters are currently in Beijing. One is named Mao Pijiang, one is called Hou Fangyu."

Li Xing knew about Hou Fangyu. He was from Henan, and his father was against Dashun. Li Xing had studied the father and son, and Hou Fangyu had indeed written a lot of good articles.

Li Xing thought of this and asked, "Are you familiar with these two young masters?"

Liu Aming's face turned as red as pig's blood. Hou Fangyu was a rich man. He was not even qualified to carry someone's shoes. He just looked at her from a distance and didn't even smell a fart. How could he be so familiar with her?

He knew that he was in embarrassment, and the three of them could see it clearly. How could he boast in front of the three of them, so he had to tell the truth:

"I, I just heard the legend."