Gu Wenwen didn't know where Qi Ning was taking him, but since Qi Ning did this, he was obviously ready to help him, presumably to find officials from the DPRK to help deal with the matter.
Gu Wenwen was afraid that Qi Ning would ignore the matter. Now that Qi Ning had taken action, he was overjoyed and did not hesitate. The two of them did not ride in the car. They took two horses and went out. Li Tang and others followed the guards, and Qi Ning asked Li Tang whispered a few words, and Li Tang immediately led the way, turned several streets, and arrived in front of a mansion, with the word "Yuan Mansion" written on the door.
Li Tang stepped forward, knocked on the door, and told Prince Tongchuan, Yuan Rong, and Yuan Rong, saying that Jin Yihou was here to discuss something.
It had already darkened, and the street was very quiet. Not long after, Gu Wenwen saw a young man in rich clothes and jade belt coming out of the house. When he saw Qi Ning, the young man said with a smile on his face: "Master Hou, what?" Did the wind bring you here? When did you return to Beijing? You went to Xichuan, and I was thinking about it day and night in the capital."
Qi Ning smiled and said: "I don't have anything to do without going to the Three Treasures Palace. Stop talking nonsense and find a quiet place. I have something to show you."
"What is it?" Yuan Rong looked around and said in disappointment: "I thought you brought a beauty back from Xichuan. I said, Lord Marquis, you went out and didn't think of bringing anything for me?"
Qi Ning smiled and scolded: "You, Mr. Yuan, are so charming and have a very high vision. Even if I bring back beauties, I'm afraid you won't be able to look down on them."
Yuan Rong laughed and led Qi Ning into the house. Qi Ning motioned for Gu Wenwen to follow. Qi Ning asked curiously: "Who is this?"
"This is my uncle." Qi Ning did not introduce him carefully. The three of them arrived at the side hall of the Minister of Rites' Mansion. The Mansion was very quiet. After sitting down, Yuan Rongcai said: "Tell me, what do you want to show me?"
Qi Ning took a scroll from Gu Wenwen, walked to the table, unfolded the scroll, and said to Yuan Rong: "Master Yuan, come and take a look."
Yuan Rong came closer with his hands behind his back, took a look, and was shocked. Then he perked up, turned around to get the oil lamp, held it in his hand and approached the flower scroll, Qining said: "Yuan Rong, don't blame me for not reminding you that this painting It’s priceless, if it’s burned by fire, you have to pay full compensation.”
Yuan Rong ignored him and held up the oil lamp to observe carefully. He looked extremely excited at first, but after a while, he smiled faintly, put down the oil lamp, and said: "Master Hou, at midnight, you came to my house just to give me something." Look at such a broken thing?" He was full of disdain.
Gu Wenwen looked even more embarrassed. Qining thought that Yuan Rong still had some skills in calligraphy and painting. Just by looking at it, he saw that it was a fake and asked, "Why, is it a fake?"
"Nonsense." Although Qi Ning is a Marquis, Yuan Rong is used to being casual with him and is not very restrained. He said: "The paintings handed down by Han Shengzi are no more than ten paintings at most. If anyone has his paintings, then They were kept at the bottom of the box and could never be shown off, so no one knows the whereabouts of those paintings. Among the paintings he handed down, the paintings of goddesses are the most valuable...!" Seeing Gu Wenwen's ribs He also held a scroll and asked, "That one should be the picture of the goddess returning at dusk, right?"
Gu Wenwen smiled awkwardly and nodded, Yuan Rong said: "The picture of the goddess is divided into two volumes, the picture of the goddess' morning dew and the picture of the goddess' return at dusk. Since this picture of the morning dew is a fake, the picture of the goddess' return at dusk is naturally not authentic." With his hands, he glanced at the picture on the table and said with a smile: "Although this picture is a fake, the painting skills are not bad. It is still worth a few hundred taels of silver. Mr. Marquis, could it be you who went to Xichuan?" , someone respects you and brought this fake to fool you, right?"
Gu Wenwen suppressed his blush and said in embarrassment: "These two paintings cost... hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."
"A hundred thousand taels of silver?" Yuan Rong was shocked and lost his voice: "Who collected it? It's so stupid. You spent hundreds of thousands of taels of something worth a few hundred taels of silver. This is really a wealthy man. These fakes were originally used. Come and fool those arty idiots...!" At this point, he suddenly realized something, shook his head, and said no more.
Gu Wenwen's face turned the color of pig's liver, and Qi Ning sighed: "Young Master Yuan said this was a fake, but it seems it is really a fake. Yuan Rong, I have something for you to help me with."
"Help?" Yuan Rong sat down on the chair and asked, "What can I do for you?"
"I know you know a lot of literati." Qi Ning said with a smile: "Tomorrow night, I will host a banquet in the restaurant, please help me invite some people over."
Yuan Rong didn't know what kind of medicine Qining was selling in his gourd, so he asked: "Invite someone? Mr. Hou, what do you want to do?"
"I suddenly became interested in calligraphy and painting." Qining said with a smile: "I will set up three or five tables tomorrow night. You can help me invite twenty or thirty guests. You can invite them in your name. I will pay for all the expenses." Come on, I just want to talk about calligraphy and painting with these literati."
Yuan Rong knew that Qining couldn't go out of his way to spend money to entertain guests, and there must be something weird behind it. He thought for a moment and asked: "Master Marquis, do you not believe my vision?" He thought to himself that he recognized the picture of the goddess as a fake. Maybe Qi Ning is not convinced, and he is treating him tomorrow night just to let more people appraise him.
Qi Ning smiled and said: "Stop talking nonsense, I just want to ask you, can I invite guests?"
"Inviting guests to dinner is naturally easy." Yuan Rong said with a smile: "Don't say twenty or thirty people, even two or three hundred people, I can still invite you." After thinking for a while, he said: "How about we arrange it tomorrow night? Cuideyuan, that’s the favorite place for literati to hang out.”
Qi Ning nodded and said, "Okay, let's go to Cuideyuan."
"In this case, I will send someone to call for him at dawn tomorrow morning." Yuan Rong thought that Qining had also helped him a lot, and now he was ordered to do this small thing, so it was naturally his duty to do so.
After leaving the Mansion of the Minister of Rites and returning to the Gu Mansion, Gu Qinghan was already waiting in the hall. When he saw the two people coming back, he frowned and said, "Where have you been? There was no one around all of a sudden."
"I went out to meet a friend to confirm whether the picture of the goddess is true or false." Qining said: "Sanniang, how is the old lady's health?"
Gu Qinghan glanced at Gu Wenwen and said, "It's okay for now. As long as you don't see him, nothing will happen."
"That's good." Qi Ning said: "Uncle, it's already very late, so we'll go back first. You can rest early and go directly to Cuideyuan tomorrow night. Yes, be sure to bring these two paintings with you. "
Gu Wenwen was still confused and didn't know what Qining wanted to do, but with Gu Qinghan beside him, he felt guilty and didn't dare to ask more questions. He nodded and said: "Okay, I... I will bring the painting over tomorrow night. "
After leaving Gu's house, Qi Ning was still riding in the carriage with Gu Qinghan. Gu Qinghan was still leaning against the window, trying to keep some distance from Qi Ning and not have any physical contact. She looked worried, Qi Ning felt tenderly in his heart and said softly : "Sanniang, it's already happened, don't think about it too much, just leave it to me."
"Leave it to you?" Gu Qinghan glanced at Qining suspiciously and said, "Can you still conjure up so much silver? Has he told you everything? The banker owes 60,000 taels of silver, not to mention , he also mortgaged the house and land deeds in Jiangling to someone, and if that person doesn’t come back to redeem his mortgage in two days, the bank will come to visit him and not only take away all the shops, but also lose his place to live.” At this time, he didn't care about his anger and smiled bitterly: "They clearly set up a trap to harm him, took the money and left, how could they come back to redeem it?"
Her beautiful eyebrows were slightly frowned, and her pretty face was filled with sadness. Qining smiled and said, "If that's really the case, just ask the old lady and the others to come back to the Hou Mansion. Anyway, the Hou Mansion is very spacious, so I'm not afraid of not being able to live in it."
Gu Qinghan sighed softly: "It's okay for them to stay for a short time, but after a long time, people outside the house will make irresponsible remarks even if they don't say anything. And that's not the answer, Ning'er, I know they moved You don't mind coming here, but that doesn't mean others won't mind. Besides, the Jinyihou Mansion is not an ordinary place. If the Gu family really moves in, it would be unreasonable both emotionally and rationally...!" Youyou sighed and shook his head with a wry smile.
He knew that Gu Qinghan had always been smart and capable, but he was so helpless this time. There was really no other way. Seeing her pretty face with sadness, he couldn't help but reach out and hold Gu Qinghan's white and tender hand, and said: "Sanniang, there will be a car when we arrive at the mountain." Lu, just trust me this time and you will get through it safely."
He held Gu Qinghan's jade hand, and Gu Qinghan broke away like a reflex. The reaction was quite violent, and Qining was a little embarrassed. Gu Qinghan also felt that his reaction was a little too fast, and it was difficult to look at Qining. When he saw Qining leaning over, On the other side, his expression looked awkward and a little lonely, but Gu Qinghan felt a little unhappy in his heart. He forced a smile and said: "Ning'er, let's not talk about the unhappy things. Did everything go smoothly on your errand to Xichuan?"
After all, she is a mature and beautiful young woman. Although she adheres to some bottom lines, she also knows that the relationship with Qining cannot be too tense, and she does not want to hurt Qining's emotions too much, so she speaks at the right time to lighten the atmosphere.
Qi Ning said calmly, "Everything went well." He said no more.
Gu Qinghan hesitated and sighed secretly.
The two of them didn't speak any more along the way. When they returned to the house, it was already midnight. Qining wanted to see Tang Nuo, but it was quiet at this time and Tang Nuo was probably already asleep, so he didn't bother him.
The next day, Qi Ning actually slept until noon before getting up. After eating something, he asked Manager Han if Tang Nuo was still in the house. Only then did he find out that Tang Nuo had gone to the medicine store early in the morning. At dusk, Qi Ning finally I took a few people with me and headed straight to Cuideyuan.
Cuideyuan is easy to find. If you ask anyone on the street, they can point out the location carefully. Moreover, Li Tang and others are very familiar with Cuideyuan, so there is no need to ask for directions. When they arrived at Cuideyuan, Qining saw this The restaurant has two floors, a wooden structure, and the front eaves are flying out diagonally. It is quite imposing. From the outside, it is known that it occupies a very large area. When Qining arrived, it was brightly lit and the night was dim.