Chapter 39 Nosebleed
During the storytelling session in the afternoon, Ji Zheng saw several familiar faces as soon as he came on stage, including Li Wencheng, Lu Qin and his "good brother" Ji Yuan.
When he saw the three of them, Ji Zheng was very glad that he was wearing a mask and had his hair loose, otherwise it would have been really embarrassing.
Trying his best to ignore the gazes of the three people over there, Ji Zheng coughed softly and opened his voice to greet the audience, "Hello everyone today."
The audience below first answered in unison, "Good morning, Mr. An He!"
After that, they began to urge Ji Zheng to start quickly, talking at the same time and making a lot of noise.
Ji Zheng bowed and walked calmly to sit behind the square low table. He picked up the wooden stick on the table and tapped it lightly.
The scene soon quieted down. Ji Zheng waved his fan and said, "Last time we talked about how all the mountains and seas were bowed down, and all the nine states and ten categories were expelled. Today we are talking about how the official title of Bi Ma is not enough, and the will of heaven is not at peace with the name!"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone asked loudly, "What kind of official position is this Bi Ma?"
His eyes moved to the person who was speaking. Coincidentally, it was Li Wencheng. Ji Zheng tapped the table with his fan and said slowly, "Just listen. I will explain the rest later."
"Yeah, don't ask anymore, we won't have time later!"
"Sir, you will naturally tell me. Why are you asking such a question?"
....
"You just open your mouth and ask questions. What are ears for?"
"Please stop talking!"
Li Wencheng's face turned red and his neck became thick after being scolded by this group of people. He looked a little embarrassed and hid behind Lu Qin.
The crowd below became noisy again, like a vegetable market. Ji Zheng picked up the alarm clock in his hand and clapped it, "Everyone, please be quiet."
The effect of the shocking wood is very good. Every time it is used, the scene can quickly become quiet.
"...Jin Xing received the order, went out of the South Heaven Gate, pressed down the auspicious clouds, and went to the water curtain cave outside the Flower-Fruit Mountain. He said to the young waiters: I am an angel sent by heaven, and I have an imperial order..."
Every time Ji Zheng talked about a character speaking, he would change his voice and make some simple movements to match the character. The audience listened with great interest and felt as if they were in the scene.
Although Li Wencheng and Lu Qin had not heard the previous part, they were still attracted by Ji Zheng's story.
However, the story sounded completely different to the two men. Lu Qin heard some principles of being a human being and an official, while Li Wencheng heard it as a very refreshing story.
At the end, Li Wencheng hadn't even come back to his senses yet. When he heard Ji Zheng was going to continue on the second floor, he pulled Lu Qin straight to the second floor without thinking.
On the other side, Ji Yuan also wanted to go to the second floor, but he had no money in his pocket, so he found an excuse to say goodbye to his classmates, and comforted himself in his heart that he could just ask others about the plot later. However, when he passed by the entrance to the second floor, he couldn't help but show envy on his face.
Ji Zheng stepped down from the stage and returned to the backyard to drink the throat-soothing sweet soup that had been prepared long ago. "What kind of soup is this?" It tasted quite good, sweet but not greasy. His Ji Hean would definitely like it.
He asked Gululu who was standing beside him. He felt that Gululu must have some relationship with the shopkeeper, otherwise why would he always follow him around without doing any work and always hide in the corner listening to books, and the waiters would pretend not to see it when they saw it.
Of course he had this guess, but it was because when he was telling a story on the stage just now, he saw the shopkeeper listening below. The shopkeeper clearly saw Gulu hiding in the corner, but turned his eyes away and pretended not to see it.
"This is snow pear soup, which is made with the best honey and licorice." Gu Lulu introduced enthusiastically. He now likes Ji Zheng's stories, so Ji Zheng's throat must be protected.
Snow pear? No wonder it felt familiar when he ate it just now, but the snow pear should not be ripe at this season, and it doesn’t look like there were greenhouses in ancient times.
Seeing the confusion on Ji Zheng's face, Gu Lulu immediately flattered him, "These snow pears are rare. It just so happened that my brother just came back from the south yesterday. These snow pears were brought back from there. It's not easy to preserve them on the road, so there aren't many of them brought back. You are the only gentleman in the whole building who can eat them!"
After saying that, the two of them looked at Ji Zheng with an expression of 'I'm nice to you', which was so adorable with their baby faces. Of course, Ji Zheng didn't notice it. At this moment, he was thinking about how to exchange some pears from Gu Lulu and take them home to let his boyfriend taste them.
With a turn of his eyes, Ji Zheng asked, "Do you still have snow pears in your hand?"
Gu Lulu was a smart waiter, so he took a step back and stared at Ji Zheng warily, "What do you want to do? I'm already taking good care of you by telling you one, so don't be too greedy!"
Xueli's brother didn't bring back much, but because his brother was nice to him, he gave him two more, but there were only five in total, and he himself didn't have enough.
Judging from Gu Lulu's reaction, Ji Zheng probably has more in his hand. He was delighted. As long as Gu Lulu has it, there are plenty of ways to make him give it to her willingly.
"Can you read?" This is a declarative sentence. When he first met Gu Lulu, he saw the script that fell out of Gu Lulu's arms.
At this point, Gu Lulu proudly puffed out his chest and said, "Of course, I went to a private school!"
Families that can afford to go to private schools these days are not poor. This Gu Lulu is 100% related to the owner of Xiangxianglou.
"How about I write down the story I'm telling you so you can know the plot before others?"
Gu Lulu's eyes rolled and he immediately understood what Ji Zheng meant. A knot of expression began to form on his face. Of course, he liked to eat the pear, but he also wanted to hear this story.
"Then...how many pears do you want in exchange? Let me know in advance. I won't do it if you have more than that!"
Ji Zheng had expected Gu Lulu's reaction, and he replied, "Three will do!"
Without waiting for Gu Lulu to respond, he continued, "Every story I tell from now on can be told to you before anyone else."
"Okay, deal!" Gulu gritted his teeth and agreed. At worst, he could just go and show off to his brother later. His brother doted on him so much that he would definitely give him a few more.
"Give me the pear today, and I'll give you the finished story tomorrow," Ji Zheng said. "You'll have to pay for the paper, ink, and brush. As you can see, my family is very poor."
Gu Lulu: “….” Feeling like I’ve been cheated.
At this point, Gulu had no choice but to do as she was told. "Wait." She said this and turned around and ran away.
When he came back, he was holding the four treasures of the study in his hands. "Here I give it to you, but you must give it to me tomorrow!" Gu Lulu reminded him again and again.
Ji Zheng nodded and took the paper, ink, brush and inkstone handed to him by Gulu. Only then did he realize that the quality of the paper was much better than those he had bought, and the ink also looked very finely made.
The thick stack of paper that Gulu gave him could last him for a long time. It turned out that Gulu's family must be very wealthy.
Ji Zheng finished the cold pear soup on the table in a few gulps, then walked to the second floor in a good mood, fanning himself, to start his second performance.
Gulu was left alone with his furry head lowered, looking worried as he thought about how he should act coquettishly with his brother to ask for a pear in the evening.
Coming to the second floor, the layout here is similar to that of the first floor, the only difference is that small screens are used to separate the seats to form a small private room.
However, Ji Zheng's platform was built very high, and he was also tall, so he could take in the entire scene below as soon as he stood on it.
At the same time, he also saw Lu Qin and Li Wencheng in the small compartment on the left.
Perhaps it was because of the screen, at this moment Li Wencheng seemed to be leaning on Lu Qin like a boneless person, while Lu Qin still sat straight with a cold face, peeling walnuts in his hands, but he did not eat them himself after peeling them, but put them in a clean bowl beside him.
Looking at the way the two men interacted with each other, Ji Zheng felt something was wrong, but since it was none of his business, he did not think too much about it and turned his gaze back to the audience.
"....The Monkey King was furious when he heard this. He gritted his teeth and said: How dare you disrespect me like this! I am the king of the Flower-Fruit Mountain, how dare you trick me into raising horses for him? Horse raisers are the young generation..."
"So this Bi Ma Wen is a horse breeder, hahahaha." Li Wencheng whispered in Lu Qin's ear, and all his hot breath sprayed on Lu Qin's ears.
A dark light flashed in his eyes without anyone noticing, and Lu Qin moved to the side with a cold face without leaving any trace, putting some distance between himself and Li Wencheng.
....
Ji Zheng was in a very good mood as he walked home in the evening. He had earned more than 200 coins today, and also got three snow pears and a bunch of better pens, ink, paper and inkstone.
Counting the money in his hand, Ji Zheng planned to buy a servant for Ji He'an in two days. Although slaves were not expensive in that era, they would cost at least three or four taels of silver.
What's more, he also wanted to ask Ji He'an for his opinion, so he would have to find time to take a leave and take Ji He'an with him to choose.
"I'm back!" Ji Zheng shouted as he entered the house and walked into the house eagerly.
After not seeing him for a day, he missed his boyfriend so much.
I must give you kisses, hugs and love later.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he pushed the door open, he saw a scene that made his nose bleed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
