White-robed Minister

0063 [Farce]

Before the door was even kicked open, the activity inside had already stopped, and everyone turned to look.

Xue Yuer remained calm, showing no sign of panic.

Who owns Huixianlou?

The government!

During Emperor Renzong's reign, the national treasury deteriorated rapidly. In order to cope with the expenses, not only were all the mines in the country nationalized, but other important industries and large shopping malls were also nationalized one after another.

The famous Fanlou was confiscated by the Song Dynasty in the fifth year of the Tiansheng era of Emperor Renzong, and then contracted out to merchants for operation.

The same goes for Huixianlou in Guangzhou.

The contract fees and business taxes paid by Huixianlou were one of the important sources of revenue for Guangzhou.

Dare to cause trouble here?

If things escalate, Master Yu might even personally intervene.

The business tax from Huixianlou went to the state treasury, while the contract fee went into the public treasury. The public treasury was like a slush fund for state officials, which could be used for both public and private purposes, and funds could be withdrawn at will—private use was illegal, but no one cared.

Anyone who dares to touch Huixianlou is tantamount to touching Yu Jing's money bag!

However, in Shi Dalang's eyes, Huixianlou was his father's money bag. This was because his father was the prefectural magistrate, the second-in-command in Guangzhou, and also the second-in-command of the Guangzhou Minister's Treasury.

Although Yu Jing was nominally in charge of managing the money in the state treasury, the ministerial treasury, and the maritime treasury, and decided how the money should be used, it was actually his father who was responsible for auditing the accounts.

Unless Yu Jing orders a thorough investigation, only his father knows the specific details of the accounts for the three treasuries' money and grain.

Therefore, his father was the head steward of Guangzhou, and he felt at home when he came to Huixianlou.

"Get out, all of you!"

Shi Guoting called out as soon as he entered the door.

More than a dozen men followed him in, all of them slicked-back hair and greasy faces. Some were sons of officials, some sons of merchants, and others were idle scoundrels who were good at having fun.

Get out?

The scholars, who had also drunk quite a bit, stood up angrily upon hearing this, and some even began to roll up their sleeves.

Shi Guoting, although he has enrolled in the state school, never attends a single class, and nobody at the school knows him. He is registered under his father's official post and will most likely go on to study at the Imperial Academy.

"What are you all standing there for? Get out of here!" Shi Guoting shouted angrily.

The group of men who followed him were initially somewhat wary of the room full of scholars in traditional Chinese robes. However, after hearing Shi Guoting shout twice, they no longer took the scholars seriously and began to echo his shouts, taking advantage of his power.

"Get out of here right now! Look again and I'll gouge your eyes out!"

"Don't push your luck. If you don't leave, we'll throw you out. Do you think you can afford to mess with the son of Magistrate Shi?"

"..."

Amidst the chaotic shouts of his followers, at least half of the scholars present immediately chickened out.

Firstly, they were afraid of offending the prefectural judge, Shi Xun.

Secondly, their staying out all night to drink and frequent brothels on non-holidays is a violation of school rules. If this gets out of hand, they will definitely be disciplined by the school.

Yang Shu clenched his fists and stood still.

If it had been last year, he would have taken action immediately.

But having already caused trouble once by assaulting someone, Yang Shu now has too many concerns, mainly because he is afraid of implicating his family.

Xu Lai smiled and looked at Xue Yuer with curiosity, wondering how Xue Xingshou would handle the situation.

Such things are common in entertainment venues, and famous prostitutes have their own ways of handling them.

But then Xue Yu'er stepped forward gracefully and took the wine cup handed to her by the maid: "Young Master Shi, please calm down. Today, I have failed to entertain you properly. I will use this cup of wine to apologize to you."

With a beautiful woman in front of him, Shi Guoting immediately softened his tone, took the wine cup handed to him by the maid, and said, "I am not an unreasonable person. Today, I will give Xue Xingshou some face."

He then looked at the group of scholars and said with great magnanimity, "I will not argue with you today. You may leave now and make room for me and my brother."

To show off his wealth in front of the beautiful woman, Shi Guoting even said to Yang, the troupe leader who followed him in, "All the wine money of these scholars is on my tab."

Young Master Shi paid for everything; how generous! Chief Xue must be completely smitten.

However, none of the scholars moved.

Having reservations is one thing, but to be driven away like that, how could one hold one's head high if word got out? Even if many scholars were truly intimidated and wanted to leave, they remained where they were because of their desire to fit in.

The scene had frozen in place.

Xue Yuer said softly, "Young Master Shi, there's still plenty of space inside. Why don't we bring some more tables and chairs so we can drink and listen to music together tonight?"

This is a standard procedure for handling car crashes.

After all, famous courtesans have so many fans, there are always a few who are unreasonable and domineering. Or maybe several groups of customers are small in number, so they simply get together to share the place, creating a lively atmosphere and spreading out the cost.

Generally, no customer would refuse to share a place; they had to give face to the government, the boss, and the famous courtesan!

When Xue Yuer said this, the scholars breathed a sigh of relief.

Let's compete for the same space; that way we can save face without offending the prefectural magistrate's son.

Xu Lai, like an outsider, smiled at Shi Dalang, sensing that this matter might not be over yet.

really!

Shi Guoting, who had been smiling magnanimously, turned cold upon hearing this: "Say it again, I didn't hear you clearly."

Faced with this reckless attitude, Xue Yuer had no choice but to look at Master Yang.

Yang, the troupe leader, had just been beaten up by her henchmen, and the slap marks on her face hadn't faded yet. Not daring to provoke Shi Dalang again, she turned to Ding Zhengchen and said, "Ding Erlang, how about you gentlemen come another day? Tonight's payment is waived, and next time you'll get half price."

If it were just him alone, Ding Zhengchen would definitely agree, but tonight he's not the only one.

Ding Zhengchen was caught in a dilemma. If he agreed to leave, all his classmates would despise him. If he refused to leave, he might offend Shi Dalang.

It's much easier for a state judge to kill a merchant than to deal with a rural landlord!

Ding Zhengchen became increasingly anxious as he thought about it, and he was completely stunned. He subconsciously looked at Xu Lai.

Not only him, but all the scholars looked at Xu Lai. From some point in time, Xu Lai had become their pillar of support.

In this situation, Xu Lai had no choice but to intervene.

He remained calm throughout, even having the leisure to think about other things: if he were in power in the future, would he act like this tonight? No matter what kind of messy things were going on, at some crucial moment, he would have to stand up for his cronies.

Consider tonight a practice session.

Xu Lai stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Xu Lai, a student from the prefecture, greets Young Master Shi."

"You're Xu Lai?" Shi Guoting's reaction was particularly strong, his arrogant eyes turning fierce.

Xu Lai's idea was to try reasoning first, and if they really didn't want to fight, then they would have to resort to force.

But Shi Guoting's reaction struck Xu Lai as odd.

When did I offend him?

I've never seen this before.

Xu Lai said, "It is indeed I. Young Master Shi, you are particular about everything..."

"Beat them!"

Before he could finish speaking, Shi Guoting swung his fist and charged at him.

Holy crap, what's going on?

Xu Lai subconsciously raised his foot and kicked the other person in the abdomen.

Although he wasn't a trained martial artist, he grew up in the mountains and could walk up and down hills as if they were flat ground. He was a bit thin, but he was still quite strong.

And what about Shi Guoting?

He was so weak from drinking and womanizing when he was just over 10 years old.

Shi Guoting looked extremely fierce, but before he could even throw a punch, Xu Lai kicked him back.

The guy clutched his stomach, yelling in pain, "Kill them!"

The followers were taken aback at first, then swarmed forward.

Having endured this for a long time, Yang Shu rushed to Xu Lai's aid when he saw him in danger. He swung his fists, knocking down three people in quick succession.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Wen Zhonghe casually picked up a wine jug and smashed it every few steps, leaving one of his henchmen with a bloody head.

Luo Dunxin, exhausted from climbing the mountain, had a strong urge to engage in gang fights. He even tried to use a lamp stand that was half his height as a weapon, but failed to lift it, so he grabbed a stool and charged out instead.

"Don't hit me, don't hit me! Let's talk this out. A gentleman uses words, not fists!" Liang Wensu shouted, trying to persuade him.

Guo Shen, also from Qingyuan County, picked up a fruit platter and smashed it, yelling, "You dare to hit my fellow villager? You're asking for it... Ouch!"

Young people are easily carried away and don't care about anything else.

The entire place immediately descended into chaos.

Ding Zhengchen was dumbfounded, standing there like a wooden chicken.

Xue Yuer was helped back by a maid.

Xu Lai also took a few steps back, pointed to the large candle overhead, and asked, "Head of the guild, how much does this large candle cost?"

"Huh?" Xue Yuer was a little confused by the question.

Xu Lai then said, "It's nothing."

Xue Yuer said, "I don't know how much it will cost, maybe one or two strings of cash."

Xu Lai didn't say anything more, bypassed the chaotic crowd, and went straight to find Shi Dalang—this guy was hiding near the door.

"When did I offend you? Why do you hit me whenever you see me?" Xu Lai asked, voicing his doubts.

Having been kicked back earlier, Shi Guoting seemed somewhat intimidated by Xu Lai, and said with a fierce but weak voice, "I took a liking to the sixth young lady of the Yu family first! What right do you have to try and take her away?"

Yu Family's Sixth Daughter?

Xu Lai was filled with questions and felt completely bewildered.

This guy is insane!

Seeing that Xu Lai did not make a move immediately, Shi Guoting felt that he was in charge again, and pounced on Xu Lai with bared teeth and claws.

Xu Lai raised his foot and kicked him back.

"What should we do?" Master Yang slipped over to Xue Yu'er's side, hiding behind a pillar and sighing.

Brothels definitely have thugs; ordinary troublemakers would have been thrown out long ago.

But neither of the two people fighting tonight are ordinary people.

Xue Yuer, with an excited expression, said to Master Yang, "It's almost over. Scholar Yang is really amazing. He took down seven or eight people by himself. Those who took his punches couldn't even stand up straight."

Yang Shu is indeed skilled in martial arts; he could probably take down all of them single-handedly.

This farce didn't last long. The scholars had more people on their side, and with the expert Yang Shu in charge, they won almost a one-sided victory.

Shi Dalang had three footprints on his abdomen and chest, and he retreated outside the door, intending to run away as fast as he could.

Just then, someone downstairs shouted, "The officials are here! The officials are here!"

More and more people were shouting, and their shouts grew louder and louder.

Immediately, the area upstairs and downstairs fell silent, and the officers repeated their calls over and over again:

"The late Emperor has passed away..."

"From this day forward, for the next three days, there shall be no banquets, drinking, singing, dancing, or other recreational activities..."

"Within one hundred days, no music, weddings, or other such activities are permitted..."

"Brothels, pleasure houses, boat houses, and taverns shall all comply; violators shall be punished for disrespect, with eighty strokes of the cane and exile for three thousand li!"

The scholars looked at each other in bewilderment.

The emperor's death had a profound impact on them, far more than just the fact that the next imperial examination would not include a palace examination.

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