Chapter 982: Pan'er: I was taken advantage of again
Ban Zhanmian made an appointment with many bosses and shopkeepers of Tea Soup Alley for a tea fight, and this matter soon spread throughout Tea Soup Alley and the entire Maxing Street.
In order to watch the excitement, many people gathered inside the half-masked shop, and there were even many people gathered outside the shop.
It is no exaggeration to say that it was only on the day when Half Mask first opened that it was in such great shape.
This is a good publicity opportunity for the half-masked person, but the prerequisite is that he must win over the many tea soup alley shopkeepers who come to challenge him.
If they lose, the reputation of Half-Hooded will plummet. Many people just want to save face. If Half-Hooded loses today, those pretentious literati will definitely not come to Half-Hooded again.
It is precisely because of this that Zhao Pan'er is very serious. She has the acumen of a businessman and knows that this is an opportunity.
Of course, even if it were not an opportunity, she would have no way out. Today she would have to compete with the shopkeepers in Tea Soup Lane.
While Zhao Pan'er was competing with the representatives of Tea Soup Alley, Zhou Chen also quietly came to the second floor where his face was partially hidden, and looked down at the tea competition below.
Chinese culture is extensive and profound. Even if it is just a tea ceremony, it encompasses everything and has countless schools.
Zhou Chen stood upstairs and watched, feeling something in his heart. In the modern society of later generations, many people think that the tea ceremony is too complicated. Most people drink tea to quench their thirst. Only a few people can truly study ancient times.
The tea ceremony passed down by our ancestors.
On the contrary, I learned some basic knowledge from our great country when I was young, and then I took it as a treasure and passed it down.
Of course, he could understand why it turned out like that.
The pace of life in modern society is too fast. Everyone is busy making money and supporting their families. They cannot even support themselves and their families. There is no time to calm down and study the tea ceremony.
Even if I have time, I usually look at my mobile phone, play cards, go to bars, and fall in love.
Unlike now, there are many people who drink tea and understand tea, especially those literati and elegant people. What they want is that kind of artistic conception. If you don't have two brushes in your hand, people will not be willing to come to your place to drink tea.
The tea fight was indeed an interesting thing, but it took a long time. Zhou Chen stood upstairs and watched for a long time before he could tell the result.
The result was naturally that Zhao Paner won, and the opponent who won also had no temper.
Sun Sanniang and the other girls all cheered excitedly. This victory in the tea fight in Tea Soup Alley was tantamount to establishing Hanzhi Mian's status in Tokyo's teahouses and greatly becoming famous in Tokyo.
Seeing this scene, Zhou Chen also smiled, and then left without going down to say hello to Zhao Pan'er and the others, with his face partially covered.
In the evening, Zhou Chen once again came to the small courtyard where Zhao Pan'er and the others lived, and knocked on Zhao Pan'er's window.
This was not Zhou Chen's first time here, so when Zhao Pan'er heard the sound, a smile suddenly appeared on her face, and she opened the window in a familiar manner.
"You're here."
"Well, here we come."
"Aren't you busy recently?"
"It's okay. It's not too busy. Today you were half-covering your face and having a tea fight with Tea Soup Alley. I also went to see you. You were really beautiful at that time."
"You went too?"
Zhao Pan'er felt sweet in her heart, but also very surprised: "But why didn't I see you?"
Zhou Chen said: "Because after your competition ended, I saw that you were very busy, so I didn't bother you. I happened to have something else to do, so I left first."
"After this competition, your Half Mask has gained a foothold in Tokyo. I believe that with your ability, you will be able to make Half Mask bigger and stronger."
But after saying this, he suddenly remembered something. In the TV plot, it seemed that a huge storm destroyed the half-hidden face, so Zhao Pan'er and the others had to think about expanding the scale and running the restaurant.
However, the specific time when the heavy rain occurred was not stated clearly in the TV series, so he didn't know how to remind him and could only let nature take its course.
Zhao Pan'er smiled and said: "Then I take the good advice from the Marquis. I hope that half-masking will get better and better, so that we can continue to stay in Tokyo with peace of mind."
Zhou Chen said: "Actually, if you want to stay in Tokyo, there is an easier way."
"what way?"
"When you become the eldest lady of the Zhongyong Hou Mansion, you can stay if you want, let alone three people, even thirty or three hundred people."
Zhao Pan'er immediately rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything, Zhou Chen suddenly reached into the window with his hands. Under Zhao Pan'er's shocked eyes, he held her waist with both hands and easily carried her out of the window.
"Ah? What are you doing?"
Zhao Pan'er exclaimed, but still couldn't stop Zhou Chen.
After Zhou Chen took Zhao Pan'er out, he did not put her down. Instead, he hugged Zhao Pan'er straight up. The nervous Zhao Pan'er patted his shoulder.
"What are you doing? Put me down quickly. Put me down quickly."
Zhou Chen did not let go, but said: "I have been waiting for this moment for so long, do you think I will let you go easily, Pan'er?"
Zhao Pan'er struggled hard, but how could she escape from Zhou Chen's clutches? She was still hugged tightly by Zhou Chen, and her feet could not touch the ground at all.
"Master Hou, don't do this. It will be bad if others see you."
Zhao Pan'er was nervous and shy. This was not the first time that she had been so close to Zhou Chen. When they were in Qiantang, they even had skin-to-skin contact.
But the concept between that time and now was completely different. Now when she thinks about what Zhou Chen said to her, combined with the current situation, she feels ashamed and happy.
"There is no one here, and it's so late. No one will see it. So what if someone sees it? Anyway, I am determined to marry you, and I am not afraid of others knowing."
These words left Zhao Pan'er powerless to refute. Zhou Chen was not afraid of anything anymore, so what else could she say, not to mention that she already had a good impression of Zhou Chen, so this was considered a half-hearted decision.
After a while, Zhao Pan'er asked: "Aren't you tired of holding me like this?"
Zhou Chen smiled and said: "That's because you don't know my strength. Don't say it for a while, even if I hold you for a whole day, I won't feel tired."
Being held by Zhou Chen like this, Zhao Pan'er felt uncomfortable, but there was nothing she could do if Zhou Chen didn't let her down.
"How can you let me down?"
"Unless you kiss me."
"no."
Zhao Pan'er flatly refused. She was already very intimate just by being held. Kissing Zhou Chen was something she really couldn't do.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
But as soon as she said her refusal, Zhou Chen put her down and gently pecked her lips.
Zhao Pan'er's eyes widened, and then he saw Zhou Chen's figure flashing in front of him, and he had already run away.
"I have to be on duty tomorrow, so I'm leaving now. Pan'er, have a good sleep."
Zhou Chen jumped away from the wall without giving Zhao Pan'er a chance to get angry, and disappeared.
Zhao Pan'er was originally very depressed and even had a little bit of resentment, but when she saw Zhou Chen disappearing so quickly, she still laughed out loud in this way.
After gently touching her lips, she felt frivolous and even kissed her lips.
"Really, it's not reasonable at all."
There was a helpless smile on her face, but no matter how you looked at it, you felt that there was more joy in her smile.
Zhao Pan'er stood in shock for a while, then turned around and prepared to go back to the house through the door. However, when she reached the corner, her steps suddenly stopped.
"S-Sanniang, when did you come?"
Sun Sanniang laughed a few times: "I just came."
How could Zhao Pan'er believe her and asked again: "Did you just see it?"
Sun Sanniang nodded: "I saw it, Pan'er, I really didn't mean it, but now Pan'er, you believe what I said before. I told you a long time ago that Lord Zhou is attracted to you, and you still don't believe me."
Zhao Pan'er rolled her eyes. Is this a question of belief or not? What Sun Sanniang can see, how could she not see it?
It's just that she had never thought about it before, but recently after Zhou Chen's filial piety period ended, his offensive was so fierce that she had no way to defend herself and she had already sunk.
Sun Sanniang teased: "It seems that it won't be long before I'm going to call you Marquise."
You can't be a lady, but you can be a marquise, which is even more noble.
"Sanniang, don't talk nonsense, it's not happening yet."
"Huh, if others don't know you, how can I know? If you didn't like Lord Zhou, how could you let Lord Zhou treat you like this? Anyway, I think you two are particularly suitable. Lord Zhou is better than Ouyang
Xu is more than a hundred times stronger. If you follow Lord Zhou, you will definitely enjoy happiness."
Sun Sanniang's experience during this period also made her see many things clearly.
When you look at a man, you don’t see how he treats you when he is poor, but how he treats you when he becomes rich.
Ouyang Xu is one example, and Zhou Chen is another example.
Zhou Chen knew from the beginning that Zhao Pan'er had a humble status and had fallen into a lowly status, but he had never looked down on Zhao Pan'er. He had been helping them since Qiantang; after arriving in Tokyo, he had taken care of them many times.
So Sun Sanniang felt that Zhou Chen was much more reliable than Ouyang Xu.
"Yes, yes, yes, it's you, Sanniang, who has good taste."
Zhao Pan'er didn't argue with her because her thoughts were similar to Sun Sanniang's, and she also felt that Zhou Chen was much stronger than Ouyang Xu.
Sun Sanniang pulled Zhao Pan'er into the house gossiping, and asked curiously: "Pan'er, tell me quickly, Lord Zhou has treated you like this, has he ever mentioned marriage to you? He is a Marquis, with a high status.
, shouldn’t he want to take you as my concubine?”
"No, he said he would marry me as his wife and make me the eldest wife of the Marquis, but I didn't agree."
When Sun Sanniang heard this, she immediately became anxious: "Pan'er, have you lost your mind? Madam in charge of the Marquis Mansion, you haven't agreed yet? Are you stupid?"
Zhao Pan'er looked heavy and sighed: "You also know how big the gap is between me and him. I'm just afraid that he will regret it, and I'm afraid that if he marries me, people will gossip behind my back. Although I have also thought about being with him,
But at the same time, I’m also afraid of dragging him down.”
"well."
Sun Sanniang sighed heavily. Only after arriving in the capital did she realize the status gap between people. Zhao Paner's worry was indeed normal.
If a marquis like Zhou Chen, a high-ranking official in the imperial court, marries a woman who once had a lowly status, he may really be gossiped about.
"Pan'er, I don't know how to advise you, but I think Lord Zhou is a man worth trusting for life. If you miss him, you will definitely regret it for the rest of your life."
"Thank you, Sanniang."
Zhao Pan'er knew that Sun Sanniang was really doing her best, and she was very grateful.
"I need to think about it carefully."
…………
"Chen'er, today's banquet is specially held for you. You can interact with others more later."
In the side hall of Zhou Chen's fourth uncle Meng Wei's mansion, Meng Wei said to Zhou Chen with a serious face.
Today, a banquet was held at Meng Wei's mansion, and many nobles from Tokyo were invited to the banquet.
The Xungui Group is a group, just like the civil service group, but the Xungui Group is more united than the civil service group, because most of the Xungui Group is passed down from generation to generation, and there are often marriages within the Xungui Group, so the relationship is naturally better than that from the civil service group.
Civil servants from all over the world are more united.
The Meng family is on the first level of the entire Xungui Group, and the Zhongyong Hou Mansion has also stood on a united front with the Meng family since the marriage of Zhou Chen's parents.
In order to maintain the relationship between nobles and nobles, there are often such banquets, but in the past it was Zhou Chen's father, Mr. Zhou Laohou, who participated, but now, it is Zhou Chen, the head of the family, who participates.
"Uncle, please don't worry, I know what to do."
Zhou Chen is no stranger to communicating with people and building closer relationships. He has lived for so many years and has experienced many such occasions.
What's more, now that he has a very high starting point, he doesn't have to flatter others, he just needs to have a good relationship with them, which is even easier.
And she also has her own ideas. In order to complete the mission in the future, he must lead the army again, and among these nobles, there must be many elites. If he can make friends with them, it will be a big help to him in the future.
Meng Wei sighed: "Your eighth uncle has now gone to the border of Xiazhou to lead troops. With the troops you left behind, it should not be a problem to deal with Xiazhou's troubled army. And you, as for you, happened to be the deputy commander of the Ma Army.
This is equivalent to the two of you swapping places, so neither of you needs to worry about control."
Zhou Chen is now the deputy commander of the Ma Army, and his predecessor happened to be his eighth uncle Meng Cong. After he went to the border, this position became vacant until his period of filial piety was over and the official family handed it over to him.
It can also be seen from this that this official still trusts Xungui.
"Today's banquet is not only a gathering of nobles, but there is also another important reason."
Meng Wei caressed his beard and hair, and said with a smile: "You are already twenty-six this year, and you should have gotten married a long time ago. Before, it was because of filial piety, but now the filial piety period has ended, and you have no elders. Regarding this matter, I am still uncle.
I have to worry about you."
When Zhou Chen heard this, he quickly shook his head: "No, uncle, I don't have any objections to getting married, but I have my own ideas about the person I want to marry."
Meng Wei glared: "What can you think? Your conditions are so good that you are worthy of any woman, but I still think that you should marry the daughter of an honorable noble. This will be good for you, the Zhongyong Hou Mansion, and