The waiter agreed and then retreated timidly.
Seeing him leave, Liu Qing asked the two to sit down, picked up the wine glass, and said to Qiu Yizi and Shi Wei: "I am the host, let me drink first as a sign of respect!"
Shi Wei also raised his wine glass filled with amber crystal clear liquid and clinked it with Liu Qing.
Qiu Yizi had something on his mind, but he didn't want to spoil the mood of Liu Qing and Shi Wei, so he clinked his glasses with theirs and took a small sip of the wine. Suddenly, a strong aroma of wine filled his mouth, and his body immediately became a little hotter.
Liu Qing was happy to see Shi Wei finish the glass, which was quite a honor for him. But he saw Qiu Yizi just symbolically touched the wine with his lips, but because of his noble status, he did not dare to force him to drink, so he forced a smile and said, "Sir, do you like this restaurant?"
Qiu Yizi nodded and said nonchalantly, "I've been to several of Mr. Zhou Cijing's big restaurants, and they're not much better than this one. But as for what's better about them, I'm an outsider and can't see the trick."
After hearing what Qiu Yizi said, Liu Qing began to explain the advantages of this "Yuanwailou" in a torrent of words, from the location to the decoration, from the dishes to the wine, from the chef to the waiter, in short, every aspect of it suited Liu Qing's taste.
Qiu Yizi was preoccupied with her own thoughts and chatted in a disjointed manner, but Shi Wei was quite interested. His triangular eyes, which were always squinting, now opened wide and gleamed with curiosity.
As they were talking, the waiter had already brought up seven or eight dishes, filling the table.
Qiu Yizhi was hungry, so she put her chopsticks into a dish of fried food that was shiny and greasy, and suddenly picked up a large piece and put it into her mouth. After chewing it carefully, she found that it was just bean sprouts, but they were processed a little more delicately.
So Qiu Yizi asked, "It seems that the reputation of this Garden Tower is not worthy of it. This is not a precious dish, just a few bean sprouts."
Liu Qing said with a smile: "Your Excellency's words are true. However, this dish is made with existing bean sprouts. We asked someone to cut off the head and tail to make it look like Ruyi. Then we picked ten good fat chickens, boiled them into a pot of chicken oil, and finally stir-fried it with the chicken oil to make this Ruyi dish. Your Excellency might as well taste it and see if there is a taste of chicken juice in the bean sprouts?"
After listening to it, Qiu Yizi savored the dish and indeed, a mellow taste of fresh chicken wafted in her mouth, which complemented the crisp taste of bean sprouts. It was undoubtedly a delicious dish.
Qiu Yizhi was in a good mood and tasted several other dishes on the table. The taste was either light or strong, each with its own characteristics. The three meanings of "color, fragrance, and taste" were all there - chewing such delicious food, the depression that had accumulated in his heart gradually eased. However, he often tasted the dishes cooked by Wu Ruofei, and he felt that the dishes at Yuanwailou tasted too artificial and clichéd.
Shi Wei was in high spirits. While picking up food and drinking, he kept praising: "General Liu is so lucky to be an official in the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River. I envy him so much."
Liu Qing smiled and said softly, "Isn't this the emperor's great grace? Besides, Lord Shi is busy and has tasted enough delicacies from all over the Han Dynasty. What is there to envy me for?"
Shi Wei waved his hand holding the chopsticks and said, "General Liu's words are not wrong, but they are not entirely correct. However, I heard such a story when I was delivering the imperial edict. I wonder if Your Highness Yi and General Liu are interested in listening to my story?"
Of course Liu Qing nodded in agreement.
Qiu Yizhi had another idea in mind: Liu Qing said that his official position was awarded by the emperor, which was both high-sounding and brought up the title of the Supreme, but Shi Wei didn't know that it became "not entirely correct". So Qiu Yizhi pretended not to hear Shi Wei's question, lowered her head, picked up a chopstick of unknown food, and put it into her mouth.
Shi Wei said, "I heard this when I went to Huguang Dao to deliver the imperial edict. It is said that there was a holy monk in the previous dynasty who admired the Buddhist country of India. He went through countless hardships and dangers and finally arrived in India. After arriving in India, the holy monk naturally wanted to sweep the pagoda and worship the temple to seek the truth of Buddhism. However, he visited ancient temples and found that the Buddhism there was not much more profound than that in China. The holy monk was disappointed, but he heard that in an ancient temple in the deep mountains, there was an ascetic old monk who was meditating deeply. After many hardships, the holy monk finally found the old monk and discussed Buddhism with him. However, the Buddhist practice and enlightenment of the old monk could not surpass that of the holy monk from China. The foreign monk was finally annoyed by the holy monk's questions and suddenly asked back: "What are you doing here in India? We can't achieve enlightenment by reciting scriptures and doing good deeds every day. I just hope to read more scriptures in this life and accumulate merits so that I can be reborn in your Eastern China to enjoy happiness in the next life!"
Liu Qing was a simple-minded person, and after hearing what Shi Wei said, he burst into laughter.
Qiu Yizhi had seen the world, but after hearing what Shi Wei said was interesting, he also laughed and said, "You old turtle man, your words are indeed quite interesting. But what does this story have to do with Liu Qing being sent to Jiangnan?"
Shi Wei replied, "What I meant is that the emperor's grace is great and he treats everyone equally. The emperor doesn't favor one over the other, and he doesn't discriminate between me and General Liu. Why is it that General Liu can come to Jiangnan to enjoy the good life, while I can only do some errands for a living? Isn't it because I didn't accumulate good fortune in my previous life?"
Qiu Yizhi listened to Shi Wei's forced explanation and said with a smile: "As the saying goes, 'If you were a bad person in your previous life, you will be a county magistrate in this life.' According to your theory of karma and reincarnation, it seems that I, a small seventh-rank county magistrate, must have been a bandit who robbed houses in my previous life, right?"
Shi Wei said hurriedly, "You can't say that. Apart from the three princes of the emperor, who else in the world can compare to His Highness Yi in terms of his blessings? I am just bored and want to be a small county magistrate to relax. Thanks to the great blessings of the emperor and His Highness Yi, I am considered a superior person, but looking at His Highness Yi is like a firefly looking up at the bright moon."
Shi Wei's flattery was just right, making Qiu Yizi smile: "Then you have to do more good deeds from today on."
Shi Wei was about to answer when Liu Qing interrupted him and said, "Who can tell what will happen in the afterlife? I think it's better to drink and get drunk today. I think it's not enough for the three of us to just sit there and drink and eat, so why not—"
Liu Qing deliberately dragged out the words but did not continue to speak, immediately arousing Shi Wei's interest and asked, "Why not?"
Liu Qing deliberately kept the question a secret, took a sip of wine and asked, "This is the Qinhuai River, and Brother Shi used to be in charge of warming tents, so stop playing dumb, okay?"
Qiu Yizhi had already guessed what Liu Qing was thinking of inviting a few people to the brothel and the painted boat when Liu Qing was halfway through his words. However, Qiu Yizhi had just read the emperor's personal letter to him, and the words "lack of energy", "not enough", "frugal with my salary" and so on were still mentioned repeatedly in his mind. Qiu Yizhi was not the kind of heartless person, so how could he still have the mind to linger on the brothels
Although he did not answer, Shi Wei seemed to have been provoked by Liu Qing and swallowed hard, saying, "Well, an official going to a brothel seems to be unsightly, right? If an imperial censor who was inspecting the south saw it and impeached it, even if the six ministries could show some leniency, Prime Minister Zhongli would definitely not be able to pass it..."
Liu Qing laughed and said, "Brother Shi, you are an outsider. Those brothels beside the Qinhuai River are just for show. If you want to go there, you have to go to the pleasure boats. It's very private on the boats. The navy patrolling the river is under my control. Who dares to disturb us? Going on a boat on the river, you can enjoy the quiet in the bustling city. You can see the magnificent scenery on both sides of the Qinhuai River and hear the soft Wu dialect. It's very comfortable. If you feel like it, hehe..."
When Qiu Yizi saw him getting carried away, she suddenly remembered that the emperor had mentioned in the secret decree to her that Liu Qing's character and ability were not suitable for the important task of the governor of Jiangnan Road, so after the Japanese pirates were pacified, he would be transferred to another position. Liu Qing's "comfortable" days were about to end, but he didn't even realize it. When she thought of this, Qiu Yizi sneered contemptuously in her heart.
Then I heard Shi Wei say, "The Qinhuai River in Jinling is famous all over the world, and the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai are even more well-known. One of them is called Wu Ruofei. It is said that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. I wonder if Liu Jiedu can find a way to let me see Wu Ruofei, so that my trip is not in vain?"
Liu Qing was stunned when he heard this. He remembered that Wu Ruofei was Lin Shuhan's confidante, and Lin Shuhan was serving as an advisor to Qiu Yi. Regardless of what happened to Lin Shuhan, he could not speak nonsense just for Qiu Yi's sake. So Liu Qing said carefully, "Brother Wu Ruofei, don't even think about it. There are many beautiful women in Jinling City. Why bother to focus on Wu Ruofei?"
Shi Wei said, "They say Wu Ruofei is like a fairy. The other seven of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai are not as good as her. Is the money for the hairpin expensive? It doesn't matter. I have saved some money in the past two years. I am willing to spend it here."
Liu Qing stole a glance at Qiu Yi and saw that he seemed not to have heard the conversation. He just kept picking up food and drinking wine with a blank face, so he said, "This is not about money. Brother Shi, you don't know that Wu Ruofei was redeemed earlier this year. I don't know who helped her, but I heard that she was even pardoned as a whore. She is no longer someone you can just see casually."
Qiu Yizhi couldn't help but sneer in his heart after hearing this: "To pardon Wu Ruofei, wasn't it me who asked the emperor for mercy in person? As for the money for Wu Ruofei's redemption, at least half of it was paid by me. Otherwise, with the noble character of Mr. Bansong, how could Lin Shuhan condescend to be a legal advisor?"
Shi Wei was shocked when he heard this and said, "This Wu Ruofei is really amazing. The barriers between scholars, farmers, workers and merchants are strict. How can her place of origin be changed casually? Someone with connections might have asked a doctor from the Ministry of Revenue to secretly change the household register, and then correct it on the grounds of 'typographical error' when counting the population of the country. But someone as famous as Wu Ruofei would be exposed immediately if she did such a thing. If she wanted to change her place of origin, she must have asked the Minister of Revenue or a minister, or even the prince!"
Qiu Yizi listened to Shi Wei's analysis and found it very logical. Although he did not guess it correctly, he guessed it almost right. He felt that this "turkey" who was responsible for conveying orders and running errands did have some brains.
Then Shi Wei sighed and said, "It seems like I will never get to meet Wu Ruofei again! Alas!"
Liu Qing drank some wine and was a little tipsy, but he said, "Others may not be able to do it, but Brother Shi does have a chance. Think about it, Lin Shuhan, to whom Wu Ruofei is devoted, is working as a legal advisor under our Prince Yi. If the Prince invites her to have a drink, would she dare to refuse?" As Liu Qing spoke, a slightly lewd smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Qiu Yizhi listened to him talking more and more indecently, and with a pair of glaring eyes, he swept his gaze across Liu Qing's face. (To be continued)