Rebirth of the Great Power

The prosperity of Yangzhou is second to none in the south of the Yangtze River. Before entering the city of Yangzhou, Mu Yuan felt this.On the official road leading to the city gate, there were much more pedestrians and carriages than in the prefectural cities that Mu Yuan had visited before, and from time to time there were post officials galloping past on fast horses.

Because of the large number of people, it took some time to enter the city. When we arrived at the inn, it was already evening.

The carriage stopped in front of a glamorous inn. When Mu Yuan got off the carriage, he looked up and saw four bright red lanterns hanging from the high eaves. Each lantern was engraved with a word, which together became "Yuelai Inn." ".

Ji San got out of the car behind him, stood beside him and said, "This year's Yangzhou Ping Ping is held in 'Youjian Chess Building', you can see it from this street. This Yuelai Inn is not far from Youjian The nearest inn to Jianqilou, staying here will save you from the exhaustion of running back and forth."

Mu Yuan turned around and nodded in greeting: "Brother Ji has a heart."

During the conversation, a small second came out to greet him enthusiastically: "Guest officers, please come inside."

Entering the gate is a large yard, and to the west is a place dedicated to placing carriages and horses.As soon as a few people stepped into the yard, someone came to pull the carriage.The guard driving the car looked up at Ji San, Ji San nodded slightly, and he led the horse and followed the visitor.

The remaining four people still followed Xiao Er to the inn.

Xiaoer talked quickly, and said as he walked: "The guest officials came from afar at this time, and they also came to see this Yangzhou Lunping, right?"

Ji San smiled lightly, and replied, "Oh, how do you say it?"

Xiaoer said "Hey": "Yangzhou Lunping held every three years is a big event from Huainan Road to Jiangnan Road. In the past two days, most of the people who come to our inn are chess players from all over the world. Watching chess. To tell you the truth, if you come a little later, maybe there is no room. Even now," Xiaoer looked towards the counter, "you should go to the shopkeeper to see if there is any room. Do you have any room?"

Without waiting for Ji San to signal, Mo Yan had already walked towards the counter quickly.

At the counter, there were two young men dressed as scholars talking to the shopkeeper. It sounded like they thought the house price was too expensive and wanted the shopkeeper to lower it.The shopkeeper is naturally unwilling, and now the customers are coming like a cloud, and there is no need to worry about the source of customers. It is kind to not raise the price, and he is willing to lower the price.

Mo Yan threw an ingot of silver directly onto the counter, and said, "Boss, let me open two upper rooms and three common rooms."

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he saw the white silver, and he shook it in his hand, and his impatient expression immediately became courteous: "Brother, forgive me, there are too many customers today, and there is only one room left. There are exactly three rooms left."

Mo Yan frowned slightly, but said immediately: "Then I want it."

The two young people who were still wanting to bargain at the side immediately became anxious when they heard this: "Then what should we do?"

The shopkeeper squinted his eyes and said: "Don't you think it's too expensive? Coincidentally, this room is gone, so you two should go to another place quickly. Don't say I didn't remind, most of the inns around here today are full, and it's me. The conditions here are good and the price is high, so there are only a few rooms left, and it’s hard to say if there are any other places.”

The two young men gritted their teeth and took out a small piece of silver: "Then open us an ordinary room."

"I'm sorry for your embarrassment, this little brother wants the last four rooms, but they are gone." The shopkeeper said.

The faces of the two young men changed, and seeing that the shopkeeper couldn't make sense, they discussed with Mo Yan: "My little brother, look, it's getting late, and if we can't find a place to live, we will sleep on the street, little brother." Can you give us a room?"

Mo Yan showed a look of embarrassment: "I can't be the master of this, I'll ask my master."

Mo Yan walked up to Ji San and explained the situation. After listening to Ji San, he said: "What's the matter, just give them a room. Brother Mu and I share one room, you and Tian Yuan share one room, and Ling Xuan lives in the other room." What does Brother Mu think?" Ji San said and looked at Mu Yuan.

Mu Yuan nodded and said, "It's a good arrangement."

Mo Yan then went back to the shopkeeper, so he could find a room to come out.The two young men breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly thanked them and handed over the money to open the house, and they dared not bargain again.

Although the shopkeeper was a little annoyed by the two people's entanglement just now, and stabbed them a few times before, but after opening the door to do business, after all, harmony makes money. .

After the two left, the shopkeeper called another waiter to lead Mo Yan and them upstairs.

After returning to the room and settling down, the few of them went to the downstairs lobby for dinner.

The lobby, which was still slightly free just now, was almost full, and under Xiaoer's help, several people finally found a seat.There are many people here, so Ji San asked Mo Yan and Tian Yuan to sit down together without formality.

Xiao Er quickly served tea, and there were many customers at this time, so the food had to wait for a while.

Moyan wiped the tea set calmly, and poured it for everyone after trying it out.

The lobby is full of people. Although most of them are polite people, the voices of the conversation are not loud, but it is not enough for the number of people talking, and a word from one person is enough to cause a disturbance.

In such an environment, Mu Yuan and Ji Sanye had no intention of saying anything, while Mo Yan and Tian Yuan were naturally silent.

Then the voice from the next table came clearly.

"Brother Yiqian is No. 1 in our Yongzhou chess world. Even the governor praised brother Yiqian's chess skills. This time in Yangzhou, brother Yiqian will definitely shine and come out on top."

"Where there are, Jiangnan and Huainan are like a cloud of masters in Yilin, each of them should not be underestimated. I can only do my best, but I just hope that I can live up to the love of Lord Inspector."

Mo Yan was facing the people at the table who were talking, and happened to see that the man called Brother Yiqian spoke modestly, but his face was full of complacency, and he couldn't help but look down on him a bit in his heart .

Mo Yan is inconvenient and doesn't know what to say, it doesn't mean that others will have this self-restraint.

The people at that table boasted too much, and some people couldn't stand listening to it and said: "Yongzhou is only a mountainous place, but you dare to speak wild words. It is really the light of a firefly, daring to compete with the sun and the moon."

The man who was boasting so much just now felt a little uneasy, he slapped the table and stood up, angrily said: "Who is Li Zi? How dare you name him."

The young man who spoke looked quite young, his handsome face was full of arrogance, his peach eyes were slightly raised, and his tone was still neither cold nor cold: "Who is Zhu Zi talking about?"

The man responded loudly: "Zhu Ziyan you!"

The young man curled his lips, sneered, and stopped talking.

The man felt that something was wrong, but he didn't understand what was wrong. The young man sneered and yelled, "Why are you laughing? Why don't you dare to report your name."

The young man didn't even look at him, he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip gracefully, then he said as if talking to himself: "I don't talk to people who call themselves Zhuzi."

The voice was neither soft nor heavy, just enough to fall on the ears of everyone who was listening silently.

Some people who didn't understand at first also understood immediately, and burst into laughter.

The man was blushing from the laughter, and wanted to say something more, the man who was held by Brother Yiqian lightly pressed his hand, stood up, faced the young man and cupped his hands and said: "Yang Yiqian in Lower Yongzhou, please give me your brother Tai Gao's name. "

The young man also stood up, raised his hand casually, and raised his chin slightly: "Luzhou, Lu Zijun."

Yang Yiqian's face was slightly stern: "It seems that brother Lu is also the one who participated in the debate, and I hope to have a chance to compete in Wenping at that time."

Lu Zijun raised his eyebrows: "That's exactly what I mean."

Yang Yiqian cupped his hands again: "Farewell." He left with his friends.

Looking at their backs, Lu Zijun snorted softly and sat down again.

After the play was over, the audience started discussing again, and this time there were some common topics.

"He is Lu Zijun from Luzhou. I heard that at the age of 16, he defeated the old master Lin Yufu Lin. He is a Go genius."

"So powerful? If you can win chess and wait for Master Zhao, can you still use it to participate in this debate?"

"Where is he so clever? That's because Mr. Lin gave up his second son. Besides, Mr. Lin is getting old, and his chess skills have long since deteriorated."

"Let the second son win the first chess and wait for the edict, it is really capable."

"That's right, I'm afraid you won't be able to win if you have nine sons."

"Brother, I am naturally self-aware, so this time I am only here to watch chess, not to play chess."

"But speaking of it, Lu Zijun is not the most likely to win the prize this time around in Yangzhou. I heard that Su Yuzhi from Suzhou, Fan Yanxian from Yuezhou, and the one from Yangzhou all participated."

"Really? With so many big names here, then this time, Lunping is really a good fight, and it's worth watching."

"Not only that, it is said that this time this year, even Master Jing Kong recommended someone to come."

"What? Master Jingkong? Is it the Master Jingkong from Lingyin Temple?"

"Exactly. Apart from the one from Lingyin Temple, where else in the world is there any other Master Jingkong?"

"Master Jing Kong used to be the teacher of the prince, he is highly respected and has great chess skills. In the past, he never recommended anyone to participate in the debate. This time..."

"A person who can win the favor of Master Jing Kong must have extraordinary chess skills. I really look forward to this round of chess."

"Brother Cen, don't you expect that this time you will be able to bet on the outcome again and win a lot of money."

"Haha, it's easy to talk about, this is naturally something worth looking forward to."

……

Hearing this, Tian Yuan couldn't help tugging at Mu Yuan's sleeves, and asked in a low voice: "Master, is the Master Jing Kong they're talking about the same Master Jing Kong who played chess with you?"

"It should be." Mu Yuan said.

After hearing this, Ji San couldn't help asking: "Brother Mu, have you ever played chess with Master Jing Kong?"

"En." Mu Yuan nodded.

"How about the outcome?" Ji San asked directly.

"Of course our young master won." Before Mu Yuan could answer, Tian Yuan replied proudly.

Ji San didn't seem too surprised, but just sighed: "When I was young, I was taught chess by Master Jingkong. If I had known earlier, Brother Mu would have beaten Master Jingkong..."

Ji San paused for a moment, and seeing that he didn't continue, Mu Yuan said, "So what if I knew earlier? Would it be different?"

Ji San thought for a while and said, "Even if I knew earlier, it would be no different."

As he said that, he laughed, and Mu Yuan also smiled.