"Thank you is so easy to say. Wouldn't you like to offer a glass of wine to our Lord Yan to express your gratitude?"
As soon as Zhu Ping'an finished speaking, Luo Longwen, who was sitting below Yan Shifan at the table, raised his eyebrows and smiled at Zhu Ping'an, and asked in a gloomy voice.
"Lord Luo is absolutely right."
Zhu Pingan nodded and smiled, then filled a glass of wine for himself, left the table, held the glass in both hands and came to Yan Shifan, toasted Yan Shifan with both hands and said: "Since Pingan came to Beijing, Master Yan has taken care of me many times. I am grateful, and today I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Master Yan."
"Zihou, you're too kind. It's just a piece of cake." Yan Shifan smiled and shook his head, then stretched out his greasy hands and patted Zhu Ping'an on the shoulders twice.
In an instant, two greasy handprints were left on Zhu Ping'an's brand new crown and robes, reflecting the sunlight.
Zhu Ping'an seemed to be blind to this and turned a blind eye to it, with the gratitude on his face unchanged at all.
"Master Yan, you only need to lift a finger to help Ping An ascend to the sky. How could Ping An forget it? Thank you, Master Yan."
Zhu Ping'an raised his glass with both hands as he spoke, appearing to be extremely respectful and his gratitude seemed genuine, but in his heart he silently greeted Lord Yan's female relatives.
Yan Shifan was very satisfied with Zhu Ping'an's tact. He patted Zhu Ping'an's shoulders twice again with his greasy claws, then grabbed a wine glass with his greasy fat hands. Luo Longwen beside him diligently filled Yan Shifan's glass with wine.
Yan Shifan casually picked up the wine glass with one hand, shook the glass towards Zhu Ping'an from a distance and drank it all in one gulp; Zhu Ping'an held the wine glass with both hands, tutted in the direction of Yan Shifan's glass, then picked up the wine glass with both hands and drank it all in one gulp.
After the toast, Zhu Ping'an returned to his seat with four greasy handprints, with the same silly smile on his face, unperturbed.
Luo Longwen, who was standing by, secretly said it was a pity when he saw this. He had originally wanted to see Zhu Ping'an's unhappy expression after his crown and robes were stained with grease, and then take the opportunity to make trouble. He didn't expect Zhu Ping'an to be blind and turn a blind eye.
However, when things get dark in one place, there are bright spots in another. Luo Longwen had obviously made preparations for both situations. Seeing that he could not find an opportunity to attack from here, he attacked Zhu Ping'an from another breakthrough point.
"Speaking of Zhuangyuan Pavilion, when we were in Zhuangyuan Pavilion to cheer for the champion, Lord Shang and I were there, and we told him some immature experiences. Why did the champion show favoritism and only toast to our Lord Yan, but not to me and Lord Shang?" Luo Longwen sat there, like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue, and asked Zhu Ping'an sinisterly.
Well
This is the real Luo Longwen. The enthusiastic Luo Longwen in Zhuangyuan Building was so fake.
Seeing Luo Longwen's attitude of getting Zhu Ping'an drunk, Zhu Ping'an had only one thought in his mind: You will pay for what you have done sooner or later. He had just dodged a lot of alcohol at the big banquet, and it seemed that he could not avoid it at this small banquet.
The opening toast is inevitable at the table. Since you can't avoid it, you might as well face it and maybe drink less.
"How could that be? The wine glasses are empty. Please wait for Ping'an to fill them with wine before you toast to the gentlemen." Zhu Ping'an looked at Luo Longwen and smiled slightly.
So, Zhu Ping'an held the wine pot in one hand and the wine glass in the other, and toasted Yan Shifan with a glass of wine from the position of his right hand.
The general process is to ask for the title, "Nice to meet you", pour the wine, hold the cup with both hands to toast, and ask for your care in the future... Anyway, it is just a bunch of official words, not much different from the modern ones. The only difference is that in ancient times it was not customary to clink glasses when toasting.
When it was Shen Lian's turn, Shen Lian looked at Zhu Ping'an and smiled, then said:
"Zhu Ping'an, Zhu Zihou, I finally know your name. It was thanks to you that you spoke up for justice in the Renning Street money bag dispute. You spoke the truth, otherwise it would have been difficult for me to punish that scoundrel."
"Haha, Lord Shen, you are joking. Even if I don't say it, Lord Shen will definitely find a way to punish that scoundrel."
Zhu Pingan was a little excited when he heard Shen Lian calling him "little brother". Shen Lian was a historical figure, upright, hating evil, and a fighter against strict laws. His famous "Ten Sins" was recorded in history, making him one of the people he admired the most.
However, thinking about the scene when he first met Shen Lian in the small restaurant last time, when Shen Lian arrogantly scolded Yan Song in the restaurant after drinking, as well as some things that happened later, it can be seen that this historical celebrity whom he admired was 100% upright, but somewhat inflexible, and also a bit arrogant in his hatred of evil.
At that time, in addition to admiring him, I was also worried for him.
At this moment, Zhu Ping'an was toasting, thinking that after a few days of training at the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, he would find an opportunity to remind Shen Lian that the current time when His Majesty is in the prosperity of the Holy Certificate for Yan Song is not a good time to impeach Yan Song, so as to avoid Shen Lian from proposing the "Ten Sins" as early as in history. In addition, the content of the "Ten Sins" is also open to discussion, and attention should be paid to the wording and expression. Some parts of this letter seem to be scolding Yan Song, but in fact it also steps on the tail of Emperor Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing is such a face-saving person, especially he is mentally eccentric and suspicious. Such a "Ten Sins" is doomed to be futile. Not only will it fail to bring down Yan Song, but it will also make Emperor Jiajing unhappy.
In history, Shen Lian was the one who proposed the "Ten Crimes of Memorials" when Yan Song's Holy Certificate was flourishing. After submitting the memorial, Yan Song had no time to react after learning the news, and Emperor Jiajing went berserk. It can be said that not long after submitting the memorial, less than a day, Emperor Jiajing angrily sent people to arrest Shen Lian, and issued an edict saying that Shen Lian had framed the ministers in the court, and ordered people to beat Shen Lian in public, remove his official position, and punish him to be an ordinary citizen in a remote place. A few years later, he was killed by Yan Shifan again.
Therefore, Zhu Ping'an thought about finding an opportunity to remind Shen Lian after the training to avoid this tragedy from happening.
"Ping An deeply agrees with the poem "Child Prodigy" written by Mr. Shen from the restaurant that day."
In order to consider Shen Lian's later reminders, it was necessary to gain Shen Lian's trust, so Zhu Ping'an said this unobtrusively when toasting.
Shen Lian was startled at first, then he remembered the two "Child Prodigy Poems" he had improvised that day:
Don't study hard when you are young, money can make a living; you see Prime Minister Yan, he will definitely employ rich people.
The emperor values heroes, and teaches literature and art; all things are inferior, only the strict and noble are respected.
Both poems were modified to satirize Yan Song. Zhu Ping'an said that he agreed with it deeply, which meant that Shen Lian's modification was good, which meant that he agreed very much with Shen Lian's version of these two child prodigy poems, and further implied that he also had no good feelings towards the old man Yan Song.
"My little brother is a top scholar, so I'm sure you have some good works. If you don't mind, you can come to my humble room someday and we can discuss it together."
Shen Lian understood Zhu Ping'an's hint and nodded with a smile. (To be continued.)