At noon, the number of pedestrians on the streets of Gu'an County has become sparse.
It stands to reason that the weather in Gu'an is not so hot in early spring. But I don't know what happened today. The sun is shining on people, and it feels a bit overwhelming.
Villagers working in the fields can only work for a while, find a shade tree to avoid the sun, and then continue working when it cools down.
In Shopkeeper Li's yard, Duan Tianming leaned against the wall with a big bamboo hat on his head, facing a pile of charcoal fire and flipping strings of beef.
As soon as a layer of hot sweat appeared on his forehead, he lifted up his sleeve and wiped it clean.
The sleeve of the right hand was already wet and seemed to be dripping.
An hour later, in a shady place in the outer courtyard, Xiao Chen ordered someone to move the table out of the room.
On the table, there were three or four plates, large and small, filled with cooked vegetables that Xiao Chen sent people to buy from the street.
In the middle is a large basin, which contains the "contribution" that Duan Tianming has been busy working on for an hour.
Two wine jars that looked to be of some age were placed next to the table.
Things here are no longer too busy, and the county magistrate Wei Liang is still lying on the earthen bed at home. After taking a hundred taels of silver from Duan Tianming, Xiao Chen arranged for Wei Qi to go to the county government to take care of Wei Liang.
At this moment, there were three people sitting around the table.
Xiao Chen, Duan Tianming, Shopkeeper Li.
There were clearly only three people, but there were five chairs placed next to the table.
Shopkeeper Li glanced at the empty chair, but said nothing.
I am just a prisoner. I just have to decide how to deal with others. What’s the use of asking so many questions?
"Shopkeeper Li, let's get drunk now." Xiao Chen said, then picked up the wine jar on the ground, tapped it lightly, knocked off the mud seal on it, and started pouring wine for Shopkeeper Li.
"Master Ziyi, I don't usually drink." Shopkeeper Li wanted to refuse, but Xiao Chen had already filled the wine bowl in front of him.
"It's hard to say whether there will be another meal after this meal, so why does shopkeeper Li have to restrain himself? Our destiny is in the hands of others, but we have the final say on this stomach. Drink it, it will make you feel better and have a good sleep.
Go sleep and do whatever you like tomorrow."
Xiao Chen said and poured himself a full bowl.
When he was about to push the wine bowl in front of him to Duan Tianming, the other party took the wine jar from Xiao Chen and filled it himself.
"Shopkeeper Li, are you a little sorry?"
Sitting on the chair, Xiao Chen raised his head and looked at the other party.
"What's the regret? As of now, this base in Gu'an is finished. Failure is failure, not a regret." After saying this, shopkeeper Li actually picked up the wine bowl, raised his head and drank it all.
The drops of wine dripping from the corner of his mouth made him look very bold for a moment.
"That's not what I'm talking about." Xiao Chen waved his hand towards Duan Tianming.
Duan Tianming had already understood this, picked up the wine jar and filled it for Shopkeeper Li.
"Not this? Apart from this, what other regrets do I have?" After a large bowl of soju, shopkeeper Li's face was already a little red.
"I feel that shopkeeper Li still has deep feelings for his wife, right?" Xiao Chen asked mischievously.
"I won't mention it today." It seemed that after a bowl of wine, shopkeeper Li had no worries and shook his hand, looking very unhappy.
"Here, I'll drink a bowl of wine and I'll apologize to Shopkeeper Li." As he said that, Xiao Chen picked up the wine bowl in front of him and drank it all in one gulp.
"Apologise? Where did Mr. Ziyi start with these words?" Shopkeeper Li was stunned and narrowed his eyes slightly.
To apologize to his own prisoner, where did this Master in Purple Clothes sing this song from?
"Today, in order to stimulate the man who sent the letter, I deliberately said that your wife has some problems with him. To put it bluntly, I also want to mess up your relationship and relieve my anger." Xiao Chen was a little "embarrassed"
said.
"This, this, this..." Shopkeeper Li said for a moment, "So Master Ziyi is just talking nonsense? Doesn't it make you angry? Does Master Ziyi hate that person for sending information that caused the prince to be sent away early?"
"It's not just that," Xiao Chen smiled, "If you hadn't been covering up, I wouldn't have discovered any clues three days later. The two of you contributed to my fate today."
Shopkeeper Li couldn't help but smile bitterly: "These are clearly two different things, but you have mixed them together. We are each our own masters, and that is a business matter. You are confusing right and wrong, but you have also mixed my private affairs into it."
Rubbing his nose, Xiao Chen laughed: "I can't help it, I'm just a petty person. As long as it hinders me, I will try my best to fight back. Now I see you and I are about to go one after another.
I think it would be a bit unreasonable if I didn’t say this before heading to hell. So, let’s drink wine and eat meat today to make it clear. Even if I die, I will have no regrets.”
"Okay, okay." Shopkeeper Li also laughed. With the blush on his face and the happy smile, no one could tell that he was a prisoner who was about to die.
"When you said this, I finally let go of the worries I had been having all day. In this life, apart from organizational matters, what I care about most is my wife. However, she also heard your words today. At this time
, She must think that I have believed what you said, and she is secretly sad, alas." As he spoke, the smile on Shopkeeper Li's face disappeared, replaced by a look of helplessness.
"Shopkeeper Li, don't be impatient, I'll give you a surprise soon." Xiao Chen said mysteriously.
"Surprise? What else will surprise me at this time?" Shopkeeper Li shook his head.
There was a sound of footsteps from the secret door on the courtyard wall, and then, a woman's figure walked out of the secret door.
Wearing beautiful clothes, the most important thing is that the makeup on her face seems to have been carefully painted. The curved eyebrows, the bright red lips specially applied, and the thin and moderate foundation, seem to be getting married.
Behind the woman was Liu Rufeng, the commander of Dongchang Shenji.
"Madam?" Shopkeeper Li stood up suddenly, looked at the woman in disbelief, and then looked back at Xiao Chen, who was staring at him with a smile.
Xiao Chen nodded slightly.
Pushing the chair behind him, shopkeeper Li rushed over in a few seconds, grabbed the woman's hands, lowered his head slightly, and looked into her eyes: "Why are you here? Master Ziyi asked you to come here?"
Nodding slightly, the woman's red lips parted slightly: "He said that we will all be executed soon. Before I die, let me dress up and have a meal with you. After all, we are husband and wife, and we meet before our death.
, you still have to be more serious.”
Looking at the woman's exquisite makeup, shopkeeper Li smiled broadly: "You are so beautiful today, just like the day we got married."
"The master is talking nonsense again. They took all the rouge and gouache I usually wear, and also took all my clothes and asked me to choose. I picked the one you like to see the most and wore it.
"The woman said softly.
"Okay, don't stand there anymore. Come over here, let's sit together and have a good meal." Xiao Chen greeted with a smile.
Shopkeeper Li took the woman and placed her in the seat next to him.
Liu Rufeng also sat on the last empty chair.
"Now that the misunderstanding between you and your husband has been eliminated, let's use chopsticks and let's chat while eating." Xiao Chen picked up the chopsticks in front of him.
"Eat, eat." Shopkeeper Li replied excitedly.
The woman picked up the chopsticks very reservedly, but felt puzzled in her heart.
What does it mean that the misunderstanding has been resolved? This person from Dongchang just revealed the embarrassing thing about me this morning, and now he is saying that the misunderstanding has been resolved. For a man, is this kind of misunderstanding called a misunderstanding? Can it be resolved?
Forget it, I don’t want to think about it that much. After eating this meal, I can’t decide whether I live or die.
What the people in the East Factory are planning has nothing to do with me.
Xiao Chen took a bite of food and winked at Duan Tianming.
At dawn, I immediately stopped using my chopsticks, picked up the wine jar, and started pouring wine for everyone.
"Shopkeeper Li, don't just eat the food. The wine needs to be stirred up. Madam is dressed up so beautifully to accompany you today, so you have to have a good drink." Xiao Chen picked up the wine bowl.
"How can one be enough? I'm in a good mood today and we'll keep getting drunk." Shopkeeper Li also picked up the wine bowl.
"Drink." Xiao Chen raised his head and drank it all.
After so much effort, Shopkeeper Li's mood was finally "reversed" several times.
After making you happy and getting you drunk, I don’t believe you can still lie to me!
