After getting off duty, Liu Bingyuan changed out of his official uniform and put on his regular clothes. The official uniform was given to his servants to take back, and he got on the carriage alone and left from the street.

I didn't know the official rank until I arrived in the capital. A brick fell into the crowd. Maybe the person it hit was a relative of a certain Yuanwailang.

Liu Bingyuan was only a seventh-grade censor. He could still patrol places in Datong, but his position was low and he had no power. But when he arrived in the capital, he was only of low status.

The carriage passed through several streets and alleys, and finally came to the door of a two-story house.

Although he and Wang Cheng were not too familiar with each other as officials in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he still knew where the other party's family lived. However, he did not expect that the place where Wang Cheng lived was much better than the place where he lived before leaving Beijing.

It's only two streets away from the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

In the capital where land is at a premium, such a two-bedroom house cannot be bought without three or four hundred taels. With the salary of the imperial censors like them, it would take them seven or eight years to buy such a house without eating or drinking.

.

With the meager salary of a seventh-grade censor, even if he receives some Bing Jing and Tan Jing, in the capital with relatively high prices, he can barely keep a family from starving to death. It is difficult to leave any money left, even for many low-ranking officials in the capital.

You need to borrow money to live.

Before he went to Datong to inspect the place, he, a seventh-grade censor, just rented an ordinary house. Every time he went to court, he had to go out half an hour in advance and bypass most of the capital.

Later, I had the opportunity to inspect Datong and worked as an inspection envoy for more than half a year. Only then did I save some money, pay off my foreign debt, and buy an ordinary two-story house in the inner city after returning to Beijing.

"Master Liu, my master has prepared a banquet."

A servant had been standing guard outside the door of Wang Cheng's house. When he saw Liu Bingyuan getting off the carriage, he hurriedly came over to greet him.

Liu Bingyuan said calmly: "Lead the way!"

The servant opened the door of the house and respectfully asked Liu Bingyuan to come inside.

"Brother Jie'an, please come quickly." Wang Cheng greeted him from the side hall.

Liu Bingyuan crossed Wang Cheng's hand and said, "Brother Youzhu, I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"You and I, brothers, don't need to say such outlandish words." Wang Cheng said, "The banquet has been prepared. Hurry up and take your seats. You and I, brothers, will have a good drink."

"please!"

Wang Cheng enthusiastically helped Liu Bingyuan enter the side hall, where the guests and hosts took their seats.

"Brother Jie'an, you and I will have a full drink first, so as to catch the wind and wash away the dust for you." Wang Cheng picked up his own wine glass.

Liu Bingyuan picked up the wine glass and clinked a drink with him.

After drinking, he put down his wine glass, and the maid who was waiting on them came forward and filled their wine glasses.

Liu Bingyuan glanced sideways at the maid who had just poured wine for him, and said with a smile: "It is said that Brother Youzhu has been poor since he was a child. In my opinion, it is pure lies. This second-level house in the inner city of Brother Youzhu alone is

, and these two lovely maids, they are much better than when I was in Beijing."

"Haha, if Brother Jie'an likes it, both the house and these two maids will belong to Brother Jie'an." Wang Cheng said with a smile.

Liu Bingyuan waved his hand slightly and said: "I appreciate this kindness, but a gentleman will not take away people's love, so forget about these things!"

"Brother Jie'an, you're welcome." Wang Cheng said, "As long as Brother Jie'an likes it, feel free to take it away. If there is anything else you need, Brother Jie'an, just ask. As long as I can do it, I will personally deliver it to your house."

Hearing this, Liu Bingyuan pursed his lips and smiled, but did not answer.

Wang Cheng said: "Brother Jie'an, don't you believe me?"

Liu Bingyuan shook his head and said: "It's not that you don't believe it. It is said that people must ask for something from a courtesy. I don't dare to accept such a big gift from Brother Youzhu. If things don't work out, wouldn't I be evil to Mr. Wang?"

"

By this time, he had turned Brother Youzhu into Lord Wang, and his personal relationship had turned into a business relationship.

Wang Cheng hesitated for a moment, then smiled slightly and said: "It seems that nothing can be hidden from Brother Ji'an."

Liu Bingyuan did not answer, but picked up a piece of white meat with chopsticks and put it into his mouth to chew.

Swallowing the white meat in his mouth, he picked up the wine cup on the table and drank the wine with a slurp.

The maid standing behind him gently picked up the wine flask and filled the wine cup for him.

Seeing that Liu Bingyuan had no intention of speaking, Wang Cheng knew that he was waiting for him to speak, so he said: "My younger brother is from Xuanfu. I received a letter from home not long ago, saying that a group of huge bandits appeared in Datong, carrying a tiger-character flag, and plundering businesses.

In this place, merchants from all over the country are suffering unspeakably, but the local government’s fornication and cover-up has allowed such a giant bandit to harm the local people, causing great anger and resentment.”

Liu Bingyuan, who had just picked up a piece of white meat with chopsticks, paused, and the white meat that had just been added fell back onto the plate.

He thought of several reasons why Wang Cheng invited him to a banquet, but he never thought of it because of the tiger-character flag.

After thinking about it, he realized that it was probably Wang Cheng, the businessman in the Datong area of ​​Xuan Mansion, who wanted to use him, the patrol officer who had just returned from Datong, to deal with the tiger-character flag in Lingqiu.

However, he was not prepared to do Wang Cheng this favor.

The Tiger-Character Flag has been regarded as his own private territory. Even if he does not directly take action to clean up the Tiger-Character Flag, he can still use the Tiger-Character Flag to obtain benefits for himself from others.

"Brother Jie'an, have you ever heard of the Tiger Flag?" Wang Cheng looked at Liu Bingyuan.

When the tiger-character flag was just mentioned, all the white meat picked up by Liu Bingyuan's chopsticks fell back onto the plate. He then understood that Liu Bingyuan knew about the tiger-character flag, but he didn't know if the other party was willing to sell his face and help him.

Liu Bingyuan pondered for a moment and said: "I have heard of the tiger-character flag, but I heard that it is just a business in Datong. How could it be related to bandits? Could it be that Brother Youzhu and your family made a mistake."

Wang Cheng, who was sitting aside, saw that Liu Bingyuan just said that Tiger Flag was a business in Datong. He knew that the other party would not help him unless he came up with something practical.

Immediately, he reached into his left cuff, took out a bank note, and pushed it in front of Liu Bingyuan.

"What does this mean?" Liu Bingyuan frowned.

In front of me is a five hundred tael banknote, and it is the largest bank in the capital. With the money order, you can exchange it for the full amount of silver at the bank.

"This is something sent by someone from the Xuanfu. I hope Brother Jie'an will accept it." Wang Cheng smiled and pointed at the meeting ticket on the table.

Liu Bingyuan glanced at it, pushed it back with his hand, and said, "Brother Youzhu, you should take it back!"

Compared with this five hundred taels of silver, if he takes the Tiger Flag in the future, I believe it will bring him even more benefits, which are definitely not comparable to this mere five hundred taels.

Seeing that the other party refused the five hundred taels of silver, Wang Cheng asked in confusion: "Brother Jie'an knows the proprietor behind the Tiger Flag?"

He didn't think Liu Bingyuan was an upright official like Hai Rui, who didn't even accept the money when it was delivered to him.

Liu Bingyuan said calmly: "I don't know, I just heard people talk about it. This company called Huziqi does a lot of business."

Seeing that Liu Bingyuan's expression did not seem to be fake, Wang Cheng understood that the other party was dissatisfied with the fact that he had given out too little money.

Thinking of this, he reached into his right cuff with his left hand and pulled out a piece of white paper with words written on it and a large red seal.

I heard Wang Cheng say: "This is a three-level house in the inner city. It was originally owned by a wealthy businessman in Xuanfu. Now he wants to sell it, so he will keep it with me for the time being."

With that said, he pushed over the house deed and the five hundred taels of silver vote.

Liu Bingyuan raised his eyebrows when he saw the house deed on the table.
Chapter completed!