The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 67

Xu Tian rested at home for a while, and the journey back felt even more tiring than the social engagements at the county government.

However, there are still some objective benefits.

Although the reward wasn't very generous, it was still free. And after this incident, the reputation of Hua Zi Lou would likely increase through word-of-mouth advertising from the shop's customers, which would be an intangible benefit to the business.

He took out the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone that had been bestowed upon him as a reward and examined them closely. They looked like works of art, indicating that they were of very high quality. Although he didn't know much about art, he could at least tell that they were much better than the set he was currently using.

I just don't know how much it's worth. I'll take it and ask Uncle Du another day; he'll definitely know.

The prices of the items sold in the shops outside varied greatly between different grades, ranging from a few hundred coins to several dozen strings of cash. This set must be worth at least eight, nine, or ten strings of cash. Thinking this way, I felt a little more at ease.

At this moment, Zheng Zhu was sitting there casually, with a lot of food and wine on the table in front of him. Some of the dishes looked fresh and were still steaming.

Zheng Zhu picked at the food with his chopsticks a few times, cursing, "Is this pig feed? What is this? Change it right now. Everything that hasn't been on the menu yet must be ordered in one serving, not one less."

Such words were indeed intended to make things difficult for the shopkeepers.

When Xu Tian came in, Zheng Zhu glanced at him, then looked away as if he hadn't seen him at all.

Having confirmed that he was up to no good, Xu Tian walked over and sat down opposite Zheng Zhu.

"I heard that Brother Zheng has recently made a fortune. Congratulations! As a fellow traveler, I haven't had a chance to offer my congratulations yet, but today I'm hosting a banquet to celebrate with you."

"I'll drink three cups of wine as punishment to apologize to Brother Zheng for my past rudeness. I hope Brother Zheng will be magnanimous and not hold these minor past grievances against me. After we drink, let bygones be bygones, how about that?" Xu Tian took the wine bottle, poured himself a cup, and said this.

He tried his best to salvage the situation and didn't want to clash with Zheng Zhu, because winning or losing wouldn't benefit Xu Tian at all.

After all, Zheng Zhu is now considered a semi-official in the bureaucracy. Since ancient times, the bureaucracy has been a class system, and mutual protection among officials is the norm.

Even if they don't know each other, protecting each other's class interests is the default priority, so it's often not as simple as offending one person.

As an ordinary citizen without any special status, Xu Tian offended an official. If the matter escalated and spread, regardless of whether he was in the right or not, he might inadvertently offend a class, making future dealings with officials more difficult.

Unless this person is such a failure as to be hated and actively ostracized by everyone else in the officialdom, or has a more solid background and influence in the officialdom.

In many dynasties, the law explicitly prohibited ordinary people from suing officials, or if someone sued an official, they would be severely punished first, receiving thirty strokes of the cane, regardless of whether they were right or wrong. This is the same principle.

As the saying goes, even when beating a dog, you have to consider its owner. If officials make mistakes, the government can manage and punish them; ordinary people of lower status cannot voluntarily participate.

"Hmph, hmph," Zheng Zhu glanced at him with disdain and sneered a few times, "You're quite arrogant, thinking you can settle things with just a few drinks."

"What do you want? In the end, we don't have any major grudges. It was just a verbal conflict a few months ago. Making a big fuss won't do you any good. Although this shop is opened by my sworn brother, the Du family and other families also have a share in it."