East China Sea dust

The raw mutton in the middle of the stone platform was roasted by the fire, sparks splashed everywhere, and fell to the blue bricks. The red light flickered a few times and then went out.

Several maids came forward with wooden trays in both hands, knelt down, picked up three cold dishes and a cup of hot soup in the center of the tray, and put them on the table in front of everyone.

In the center of the courtyard, a fat man with the appearance of a chef walked up to the center of the stone platform after the sheepskin was roasted into an attractive golden color by the open fire, skillfully brushed the mutton with seasoning and dipping sauce, and turned it over several times.

After the mutton is fully roasted to maturity, the chef picks up the boning knife placed aside, slices the meat very thinly, neatly stacks it on a jade plate, and arranges it in the shape of a peony flower. Serve for guests to enjoy.

The musicians hidden in the Nine Turns Corridor kept moving, and a guqin was jingled.Different from the bright and cheerful rhythm when I accompanied the dancers before, the sound of the music has become soft and melodious now. Cooperating with the gurgling water in Fanglan Garden, it finally adds a touch of deliberate elegance to the smell of copper in the courtyard.

The few merchants at the banquet are used to socializing everywhere, and now they are at the Fanglan Garden of the old friend's house, and they seem to be at home.

After a while, they became very hot with each other, and the hands holding the dancers kept moving, teasing those beautiful girls and making them laugh non-stop, and their beautiful eyes were full of anger and resentment, coaxing those rich businessmen to smile.

In the yard, a group of middle-aged men with wrinkled faces hugged the dancer and teased and teased... Ao Zhan sneered, thinking that this scene was simply unattractive.

Sitting cross-legged on the futon, Lord Dragon King had serious eyebrows, his right hand holding the wine bottle had distinct knuckles, and his fingertips were rubbing the carved patterns on the wine bottle, without saying a word.

Ao Zhan has a great reputation among the rich and wealthy circles of merchants in Ye City, and the Ao family is even more synonymous with unfathomable.Although the man is sitting on the futon with a lazy appearance, the aura around him frightens the dancers so that none of them dare to step forward to offend them.

Qian Duobao was sitting on Ao Zhan's right hand, closest to him, but within a moment he noticed a bit of stiffness in the atmosphere.

Boss Qian has been struggling in the business world for many years, and immediately lost his smile, let go of the dancer in his arms, turned slightly sideways, and whispered: "Mr. Ao, if you don't like it..."

Ao Zhan heard the words, but just frowned, and said coldly: "It's okay." It seems that there is no intention of accountability.

Instead, he took a second look at the dancers who were still in the embrace of the merchants who were still immersed in the gentleness of the country, and a puzzled look flashed across a pair of dark pupils.

"cough."

At this moment, a wealthy businessman sitting in front of Ao Zhan's left caught the scene of Qian Duobao talking to Ao Zhan in a low voice, and half-closed his eyes.

The rich businessman was thin and shrewd, then cleared his throat, seemingly chatting, but actually interrupted: "If you want to talk about this dance, the proprietress of Baihualou must dance well."

"Oh? Brother Liang, why did you say that?" Another businessman sitting near this person took up the conversation and asked with great interest.

Boss Liang smiled slightly, took another sip of tea, and then Shi Shiran said: "You must have heard that yesterday at Changbu Wharf, a woman in red stood at a height of three meters and danced gracefully. Touching and beautiful, with just that one dance, I don't know how many people's souls have been hooked away."

"Master Ao, have you met him before?"

Ao Zhan half-closed his eyes, he didn't care about the familiarity in that person's tone, he just took a sip of tea and said coldly: "Not yet."

Boss Liang received a cold reception from Ao Zhan, so he could only let it go resentfully.

It's just that although Ao Zhan was not interested, the few people present were curious.Not long after, another voice sounded in the courtyard: "Boss Liang, could it be that you are talking about that Yao Yitang, Miss Yao?"

"Exactly." Liang Zheng nodded.

The person who asked the question clicked his tongue in admiration: "This style is novel and interesting."

There are also those who are not convinced, thinking that it is nothing more than mediocre: "It's just a gimmick."

Qian Duobao was fairly well-informed about the news, so he had heard it a little bit, and said: "I heard that after the beauty danced yesterday, she specially sent her servants to distribute name cards to all the people present, and invited people from all walks of life to the Baihualou Go to the banquet."

Everyone was chattering, and you started discussing with each other.

"Tsk tsk, it's a pity, it's a pity, I didn't get to see the face of the owner of Baihualou on the spot."

"Then how to get the invitation?"

"Old friends, listen to me, listen to me," mentioned the invitation, Liang Zheng, who was still slumped, suddenly regained his energy, and said loudly to everyone: "Little brother, there happens to be that hundred flowers here." A few invitations for the banquet, if you are interested, why not go to the banquet with my younger brother and see the beauty of the flowers."

After finishing speaking, Boss Liang, who was the first to raise the topic, took out a few envelopes from his sleeve, and ordered the maid who was waiting at the side to distribute the envelopes to everyone.

Among them, the most beautiful and exquisite one was naturally presented to Ao Zhan respectfully by the maid.

Liang Zheng picked up a goose feather fan at some point in his hand, met Ao Zhan's sight, and nodded at him with a smile on his face.

The color of the paper used to make the letter is cold and dull, and the light turquoise color sets off the golden hot stamping on it.A faint fragrance of bamboo leaves floated faintly from the letter.

On the envelope was carefully written the words "My lord's greetings". The handwriting is beautiful and fresh, obviously from the hands of a woman.The few people next to me received the invitation, all admiring and couldn't put it down.

None of the people present noticed that besides the scent of green bamboo, there was also a layer of hazy gray mist lingering on the envelope.

The maid knelt in front of Ao Zhan holding the invitation card in both hands, with her head bowed and her hands raised high, looking very respectful, waiting quietly.

"..."

Ao Zhan didn't take the invitation right away, but just looked at the gray mist on the envelope, and a trace of unclear emotion flashed across his eyes.

Except for Boss Liang who was alone and nervous, several people around held their breaths and stared at Ao Zhan secretly, wondering whether the famous Mr. Ao would accept Liang Zheng's love.

After about half a cup of tea, just when everyone thought it was impossible to go to that vulgar place for a banquet as proud as the Ao family——Ao Zhan lazily put down the wine glass in his hand, stretched out his hand , took the thin invitation from the maid.

Casting a meaningless look at Liang Zheng, who was looking surprised, Ao Zhan raised the corner of his mouth and said in a deep voice, "Thank you."

The others were in an uproar.

Liang Zheng swept away the embarrassment and depression of being coldly received before, and he was so happy that he couldn't help but waved his fan while saying, "It's easy to say, easy to say."

Seeing that Mr. Ao, who has always been as lofty as a snow mountain, actually accepted the invitation, the eyes of the few people who had no chance to talk to Ao Zhan suddenly became hot.Seeing this, Qian Duobao, who was the first to save the game, couldn't help feeling depressed for a while.

So he waved his hand instead, added a few more dishes, made an excuse, and diverted the topic elsewhere.

The moonlight is getting stronger.

……

It was already late at night when Ao Zhan inspected the remaining batch of rice grains one by one and returned to the palace.

The attendants stood on both sides of the door, with respectful expressions, lowered their heads and opened the door for Lord Dragon King.

The door opened, and the room was empty, except for a red candle burning quietly in the corner.

Recalling that a few days ago, because of the ineffective supervision of the housekeeper, the merman in charge took advantage of the loophole and secretly put in two carp spirits that had just transformed, and even lost a thousand-year-old pearl in the warehouse... The expression on the face of the Lord Dragon King It was dark, and even the force of closing the door was a little stronger.

In the end, the carp spirit was sealed in a human form by Steward Wang, and thrown into a pond in some other courtyard for confinement to confine her.The sharks were even sent back to the East China Sea directly, when they finished weaving a thousand pieces of water-proof shark silk, and when they would be processed separately.

Presumptuously speculating on the Lord, leaving them alive is considered kindness.

The man tugged at the neckline, took off the heavy outer shirt, and threw it aside casually.Sitting halfway against the bed, the dim candlelight passed through the layered veils, leaving spots of light on Ao Zhan's side face.

Ao Zhan held the unopened letter between his fingers, and the original light fragrance on the paper had evaporated long before leaving Liangzhuang, only the thin layer of gray mist lingered for a long time, like a shadow everywhere.

Ao Zhan opened the letter casually and glanced at it hastily.The content of the invitation is simple, and the time and place of the so-called "Hundred Flower Banquet" are written in a few sentences. The signature is a red seal with a bright red crabapple flower engraved on it.

Staring at the crabapple in silence for a moment, the man gave a light snort.Throwing the letter out casually, he extinguished the candle, closed his clothes and lay back on the wide and flat jade bed.

Bingning Shangqing Pill was burning in the bedside censer, and the icy scent of the elixir, like pine and snow, drove away the sweetness of inferior cosmetics in the world.Without the candle lighting, the moonlight outside the window only penetrated a little, leaving only a gloom in the house.

Ao Zhan lay flat on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep with his clothes closed... It took about half an incense stick, but he still didn't feel sleepy at all.

At this moment, there was an extremely slight noise from the outer window, and the original silence in the room was broken.

I saw that round window carved with dragons and painted phoenixes was gently opened from the outside, followed by a sound of rattling and the cloth on the clothes rubbing against the window frame.

With a muffled "click", it seemed that a heavy object fell to the ground.After a long silence, the sound of soft footsteps reappeared in the room.

On the other side, Ao Zhan lying flat on the bed still had his eyes closed, looking unconscious.

The person who sneaked into the Dragon King's room just stood by the bed for a while, and after a while, he got into Ao Zhan's bed without any fear.

The outer robe on Zhang Qinglan's body was extremely rough, she put her two thin arms up, and leaned lightly on the other's chest, pursing her lips, her pair of phoenix eyes were shining with stars in the dark night.

Only then did Ao Zhan lift his eyelids, and glanced coldly at the young man nestled in his arms.

He snorted softly...but he didn't refuse.