Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 128: An Old Boy in Blue

At night, people are constantly coming and going in "Zhiweitang".

Yang Yuan disguised himself as a man in his thirties with a blue dress and a slight beard and walked into the hotel.

"Bartender, call your boss."

Yang Yuan saw the bartender he had dealt with last time and called out to him calmly.

He deliberately lowered his voice and seemed more mature.

"Sir, you want to..."

The bartender came over warmly and greeted us with a nod and a bow.

Yang Yuan said: "On the seventh day of the seventh month, we, Shen Goudong, will take charge of your 'Zhiweitang'..."

"Oh, it turns out you are Shen Goudang's men. Please, please, come this way. I will go and call the shopkeeper right away."

When the bartender heard that the person was sent by Shen He, he must be here to coordinate the banquet arrangements on the night of July 7th, so he quickly let him in and went in haste to find the shopkeeper.

When the scale of the hotel reaches that of "Zhiweitang", the shopkeeper and the owner are separated. The owner no longer manages the hotel himself, and the shopkeepers are all full-time professionals selected from the family.

The shopkeeper looked to be in his forties, and seemed very smart and capable.

When he saw Yang Yuan, the shopkeeper bowed and said with a smile: "My name is Qingbai, who are you, little brother?"

Yang Yuan cupped his hands and said, "I am Zheng Xiaofei, and I am here on the orders of Shen Goudang."

When Qing Bai heard the tone, he was afraid that the man in front of him was also an official from the National Information Office, so he became more polite.

"Please, little brother, let's sit down in the back and have some hot tea first."

"Don't bother me, shopkeeper. I'm here this time just to discuss something with you first."

Qing Bai smiled and said, "Brother Zheng, please speak."

Yang Yuan pulled Qing Bai aside and lowered his voice and said, "Boss Qing, on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month, we, Shen Goudang, will hold a banquet at your Zhiweitang. We will prepare the wine ourselves."

When Qing Bai heard this, his face turned a little grim.

It is true that when holding a banquet in a restaurant, guests can prepare their own wine, but preparing their own wine means that the restaurant will not make any money from the wine, which means a significant loss of income.

Qing Bai said with an unpleasant expression, "Brother Zheng, last time when Mr. Shen sent an official named Wang Jinbo to discuss the banquet and dishes, he didn't say that we should bring our own wine."

Yang Yuan said, "Boss Qing, we Shen Goudang are not trying to save money. We just want to let the guests drink to their heart's content, so we ordered some wine ourselves."

Qing Bai had a half-smile on his face. What do you mean it’s not for saving money? We at Zhiweitang have our own wine cellar. Can’t we afford to provide you with wine?
Yang Yuan took Qing Bai's hand and said with a smile: "We are Shen Gou Dang, but we are officials of the National Trust Agency. You have given us Shen Gou Dang convenience, so we will naturally accept your favor. Shopkeeper Qing, it's just a matter of favors. Don't you think this is reasonable?"

Shopkeeper Qing felt Yang Yuan holding his hand, and a rolled-up paper tube was stuffed into his palm.

As soon as he touched the texture of the paper, Shopkeeper Qing knew that it was official currency.

Judging from the thickness, even the lowest denomination of 500 Wen has almost twenty pieces.

Shopkeeper Qing's expression immediately turned from gloomy to bright and he smiled: "Brother Zheng is right. It is convenient for others and for oneself. Since it is Master Shen's intention, then... how can Qing not agree?"

"Shopkeeper Qing is a wise man, hahaha. In order to let the guests enjoy the wine, we, Shen Goudang, have ordered four carts of fine wine. These four kinds of wine have different strengths. Some are lightly fragrant, some are strong, some are pure, and some are strong. By then..."

Shopkeeper Qing said hurriedly, "Brother Zheng, please wait a moment. We at Zhiweitang will be responsible for arranging the drinks. I'll introduce you to the specific matters, and you can contact her when the time comes."

Shopkeeper Qing led Yang Yuan to the wine cabinet. Murong Yaner at the counter hurried out to greet him when she saw Shopkeeper Qing.

Shopkeeper Qing said with a smile: "Yan'er, this is the official sent by Mr. Shen from the National Trust Office, Brother Zheng. On the seventh day of the seventh month, Mr. Shen will bring his own drinks and all arrangements. You can have a good talk with Brother Zheng."

After hearing this, Murong Yan'er walked towards Yang Yuan with a seductive look and called out in a delicate voice, "Officer Zheng, please come this way."

This woman was mentally strong. After seeing the terrifying scene with her lover Wang Jinbo that day, she recovered within a few days.

Shopkeeper Qing asked Murong Yi'er to receive Yang Yuan, while he strolled back to the small room. He then took out the roll of paper from his sleeve, unfolded it, and immediately looked at the seal on the back of the official currency note.

Because the official Jiaozi with a denomination of one Guan and five hundred Wen have the same header, the word "帝" and the red circle, but the prints on the back are different.

When I unfolded it, I saw that the story printed on the back was "Wu Yinzhi drank from the Tanquan Spring and composed a poem" instead of "Wang Xiang's filial piety made the carp leap and the bird fly". I couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

This is a consistent denomination!

Shopkeeper Qing flicked his hand, twisted his fingers slightly, and easily threw out a fan with the official currency.

Shopkeeper Qing pressed five of his fans, pressed them five times, and then took out the last one. With another wave of his hand, the remaining twenty fans were closed and put into his sleeves.

These five strings of cash were to be given to Murong Yaner. After all, that girl was in charge of the wine and had an unclear relationship with her boss, her eldest cousin, so she had to give him a response.

Murong Yaner moved Yang Yuan to a small compartment behind the counter. When the curtain was lowered, it became a relatively closed space.

Yang Yuan said, "Madam Murong, our Shen Goudang asked a friend to import some good wines, including Qingxintang from Jiangning Prefecture, Baiyunquan from Suzhou Prefecture, Shibaxian from Guangzhou Prefecture, and Huangu Yuquan from Shaozhou Prefecture.

"The four kinds of wine have different strengths. I will bring people to bring the wine when the time comes. I will trouble Madam Murong to remember to place the Qingxin Hall wine and Baiyun Spring wine next to their banquet. "As for the Eighteen Immortals and the Bone Changing Jade Spring, put them in the corridor for use. When the guests have almost finished drinking the Qingxin Hall and Baiyun Spring, they can be brought in. The four kinds of wine, from light to strong, are in this order. Don't make any mistakes. Please take care of it, Madam Murong."

As Yang Yuan spoke, he spread out his palms and handed over a few more official coins, smiling and saying, "A little money for tea. Please have tea, madam and the bartenders."

"You are too polite, sir."

Murong Yaner smiled as beautifully as a flower, threw him a coquettish look, took the official currency, and without avoiding him, stuffed it into her trembling, heavy bra in front of him.

"Don't worry, sir. I will never let Mr. Shen down and I will do it safely."

"Okay, I'll come again on July 7th."

Yang Yuan stood up, nodded to Ms. Hu and said, "I'm leaving now!"

Yang Yuan left Zhiwei Hall, looked back at the imposing door lintel, and then walked away.

……

On the seventh day of July, at four quarters past three in the afternoon, the guests at the last table in the private room of Zhiweitang had already left.

From 12:00 onwards, the hotel no longer welcomed new guests to the private rooms. Only those who wanted to sit and drink in the lobby on the first floor were allowed to come in.

At this time, the last table of guests in the private room left, and the second and third floors began to be decorated.

The elegant rooms behind the circular corridor are separated by wooden screens with carved patterns. Now, by folding the folding wooden screens one by one, they can be connected.

However, the private rooms on the third floor do not need to be arranged in this way.

Because the guests at the banquet on the third floor were all officials from the National Security Bureau, the officials were of different ranks and some of them even had grudges against each other, so it was better to separate them.

The main purpose of entertaining guests on the second floor was to win over and plunder.

The guests on the third floor, however, came to build relationships, so their purpose was completely different.

At this time, four mule carts loaded with neatly stacked and tied jars of wine arrived at the back door of "Zhiweitang".

Leading the convoy was a shrewd man in his thirties, dressed in green. It was none other than Yang Yuan, who had been here two days ago.

The back door of the restaurant is not deserted. The ingredients and vegetables bought in every day, as well as the swill taken out every day, are all brought in and out through this door, and there are often kitchen staff coming and going.

Yang Yuan asked someone to inform them, and soon, the Hu woman Murong Yaner came with two bartenders and several servants who did odd jobs in the restaurant.

After all, she spent money. As soon as she saw Yang Yuan, Murong Yier smiled and was very cordial.

"Oh, Mr. Zheng, you are here! Hurry up, open all the doors and call the carriage in."

Yang Yuan greeted Murong Yi'er with a smile and directed four mule carts into the backyard.

Yang Yuan led Murong Yan'er to the front of the carriage and said, "Madam, please look. These four carts of wine are the four kinds of fine wines that I told you about a few days ago. They are loaded in different carts. Each jar of wine has a name on it. Don't get them mixed up."

"How could that be? I unloaded them one truck at a time and put them away one truck at a time. There is no way they will get messed up."

Murong Yaner then instructed the sturdy servants, "Quick, unload the first cart first. Place a jar of the unloaded wine in every private room on the second and third floors."

When the odd jobs saw the huge wine jars, which filled four carts, they couldn't help but look miserable, but they didn't dare to complain out loud.

While paying the driver who was transporting the wine, Yang Yuan reminded him, "Brothers, please be careful. Handle it with care. Don't be late when you are out on business."

The bartender next to him said loudly, "Don't worry, sir. If a jar of good wine is dropped, he won't be able to pay for it even if he sells his wife and children. I don't think anyone dares to bump into it."

Yuan Chengju, who had sneaked into "Zhiweitang" a few days ago, and another imperial soldier cooperated with each other. They tied a jar of Qingxintang wine from Jiangning Prefecture tightly with a thick hemp rope, and then passed a wooden bar through the rope and twisted it twice to secure it.

The two men looked at each other, sighed resignedly, and then worked together to lift the bar onto their shoulders.

"Come and see, hey~lo! You know what's going on, hey~hi! Follow the shoulder tip, Ge~hey! Step on it well, hey~hi..."

A few unfortunate imperial soldiers pretended to be coolies and carried jars of wine upstairs.

Yang Yuan and Madam Murong were chatting outside, and when the last cart of drinks was moved, they followed in.

Yang Yuan walked around the second and third floors, nodded with satisfaction, called a few odd jobs over, and handed a piece of paper to Yuan Chengju as usual: "Brothers, thank you for your hard work. Let me treat you all to some tea."

Yuan Chengju rubbed his shoulders with a gritted face, watching the generous "Zheng Xiaofei" go downstairs.

A soldier from the imperial city came over and said with a wink, "General Yuan Shi, this guy is quite nice."

"Bullshit! Where are the good people in the National Trust Office?"

Yuan Chengju put the Jiaozi in his arms and said, "Be smart tonight, catch them and avenge our brothers!"

When he mentioned the twenty-one brothers who had died, the imperial guard beside him also put away the smile on his face and said solemnly: "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)