Traveling through ancient times, the empress insisted on having a child with me

Now that the serious business is done, it’s time to move on to romance.

The four dancers danced again, which made the four men's eyes almost pop out. When the four dancers returned to their seats, the four men could no longer control themselves.

Ling Chuan simply raised a glass of wine and said, "My four elder brothers, there is a saying that a night of spring is worth a thousand gold. I will not bother you any more. Mother Zhang, please help me arrange it."

The four of them quickly stood up and raised their glasses. Deputy Tu's face was red with joy. "Today is all thanks to Brother Ling. I won't say any more polite words. We still have a long time to get along with each other."

After clinking glasses and drinking some wine, the four deputy supervisors each hugged a dancer and left behind Mother Zhang.

Ling Chuan watched the few people leave the yard, then looked at Duan Xifeng: "Brother Duan, do you want me to arrange one for you as well?"

Duan Xifeng waved his hands quickly: "No, no, I have already received a lot of favors from Brother Ling today, and I will still rely on Brother Ling's care in the future. I toast to Brother Ling."

Duan Xifeng was confused throughout the entire meal today. It was not that he did not understand the ways of the world, but he did not expect Ling Chuan to put on such a big show.

According to his guess, he just needed to invite a few of his superiors for dinner and drinks, say a few nice words, ask them to be flexible, and give them some files in private, and that would be it.

However, it now seems that he has no choice but to acknowledge Ling Chuan's favor.

Duan Xifeng recalled his grandmother's evaluation of Ling Chuan, saying that he was a smart man, but being too smart was not necessarily a good thing, and he told himself not to get too close to Ling Chuan.

The two clinked their glasses, and Ling Chuan said, "Since Brother Duan doesn't like this, let's call it a day tonight. We still have to be on duty early tomorrow morning, so we must not let Wu catch us again."

Duan Xifeng responded, drank the wine in the glass, and bowed to say goodbye.

Ling Chuan stood up to see them off, and Tao Ran followed behind him until they were outside the courtyard gate. After Duan Xifeng left, Ling Chuan bowed to Tao Ran and said, "Thank you very much for tonight, Miss Tao Ran. If it weren't for Miss Tao Ran's arrangements, these officials wouldn't be so easy to deal with."

Tao Ran glanced at him dimly: "Do we still need to be so polite to each other?"

Ling Chuan was startled, thinking: "Haha, Miss Tao Ran is right, we are so familiar with each other, then I won't be polite with you, it's getting late, I'll take my leave first, another day..."

Before he could finish his words, Tao Ran interrupted him: "Mr. Ling rarely comes here, so you're leaving just like that?"

"Uh……"

Ling Chuan choked up. Today, Tao Ran had given him enough face. If this drinking party had been held in Ling Chuan's era, Tao Ran would have been the hostess who entertained everyone. This favor...

Tao Ran turned his head and glanced towards the yard: "Mr. Ling, would you mind having a few more drinks with Ran'er?"

The hint was already quite obvious. Although Ling Chuan had no intention, he had drunk quite a bit of wine after all. Facing such a charming beauty, he was finally shaken.

"Let's not drink wine, let's drink tea instead."

In the pavilion, the table had been cleaned and replaced with a pot of tea and two cups.

The two sat opposite each other. Tao Ran hinted several times, but Ling Chuan pretended not to hear. Finally, Tao Ran could only start a serious topic.

"Mr. Ling mentioned fame and fortune last time, and Ran'er couldn't figure it out after thinking about it. Working in this Jiaofang Bureau, how can there be any chance to make a profit?"

Speaking of this, Ling Chuan became interested: "Miss Tao Ran, you are sitting in a golden nest and crying poor. The Jiaofangsi is such a good place, there are so many ways to make money."

Tao Ran poured him a cup of tea and offered it with both hands: "Please give me some advice, Master Ling."

Ling Chuan took the teacup, and Tao Ran inevitably took the opportunity to touch him. He almost dropped the cup, thinking that this woman was really omnipresent.

After taking a sip of tea, Ling Chuan said, "The Jiaofangsi is a place where all the high officials and dignitaries come and go. If any information leaks out, it will be a lot of money."

Tao Ran was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "It seems that Master Ling has some misunderstandings about Ran'er. In order to protect her innocence, Ran'er rarely receives guests in Lotus Garden. Occasionally, there are learned people who come to visit, and they always talk about poetry, articles, music, chess, calligraphy and painting."

As he spoke, Tao Ran rolled his eyes at Ling Chuan again: "How can someone be like this? He talks about money all the time without any reservations."

Ling Chuan was stunned for a moment, and retorted: "Those you mentioned are all hypocrites. They are in high positions but only care about love and romance. But which of the national economy and people's livelihood does not rely on money to support it? And I am a real villain, so I only talk about money."

Tao Ran chuckled and covered her mouth with her hands, "Mr. Ling is quite open-minded. I was also deceived by your two lines of poetry at the beginning..."

Tao Ran lowered her eyelids again, with a shy look on her face: "Mr. Ling, can you lie to me again?"

Ling Chuan was stunned. Coming again?

Looking at Tao Ran's expression, Ling Chuan estimated that he only needed to gently hook his fingers and she would throw herself into his arms. This would be too much of a test of one's willpower.

"Uh... Actually, I copied those two lines of poetry as well."

"Copied it?" Tao Ran pouted: "Then you can copy a few more sentences."

If Zhao Youtang saw this scene, he would probably faint from crying on the spot. He had spent a lot of money to buy a poem, but Tao Ran ruthlessly exposed him. If it weren't for his father, he would have kicked him out on the spot.

As a result, when it came to Lingchuan, it became okay to just copy a few more sentences.

Ling Chuan thought I was just copying shit, and quickly changed the subject: "Then why not try another method? For example, many women in the Jiaofangsi usually rely on singing and dancing to please customers. In fact, if they change the form of performance, they can make a lot of money."

"Change the form of performance?" Tao Ran asked curiously.

"In fact, singing and dancing are just a form of performance, just like storytelling in teahouses, opera singing, and juggling. As long as we come up with a new form of performance and promote it by having people buy tickets to watch it, it will surely become popular in the capital. At that time, the sisters of the Jiaofangsi only need to perform well, and they will surely be sought after."

Tao Ran thought for a moment and said, "It sounds good, but what do you think the new performance format will be like?"

Although Ling Chuan came up with this idea temporarily, the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. After pondering for a while, he said, "What I want to say is that if we combine all the performance forms I just mentioned, it will be a new performance form. For example, if we act out the stories told by storytellers in teahouses, wouldn't it be more interesting than just telling them dryly?"

"Act out the storyteller's story?"

Tao Ran began to recall the storytelling he had heard before.

Ling Chuan added: "In addition to the stories told by storytellers, there are also stories in vernacular novels, or simply asking people to make up stories, and the characters in the stories are all played by real people..."

He began to give examples: "For example, a scholar went to Beijing to take the imperial examination and was spotted by a young lady from an official family. In the end, he won the first place in the imperial examination and married the young lady, but he forgot his wife in his hometown. Then his wife went to Beijing to look for her relatives..."

Tao Ran was filled with righteous indignation: "This man is greedy for wealth and fame, and abandons his wife and children. This is really intolerable."

Ling Chuan added: "There is another story about a young lady from a family who disguised herself as a man and entered a college to study. She fell in love with a scholar, but the scholar never knew that she was a woman..."

Tao Ran was just angry in the previous story, but after hearing this story, Tao Ran was already in tears: "How could this happen... They were clearly in love with each other, how..."

"Hey, it's just a story, don't get so excited."

Seeing Tao Ran crying like a baby, Ling Chuan was a little flustered.