"That's my father."
"No wonder." Chen Que stroked his beard and thought to himself: Like father, like son. This useless behavior of hanging around his wife must have been learned from his father.
Lou Yunchun asked, "Sir, do you know my father?"
Chen Que said, "Your father and I were classmates. We later entered the government together. He stayed in Beijing, and I was posted elsewhere. We haven't seen each other for many years."
Lou Yunchun searched his mind for the official's name, but could not identify him. He must have been away from officialdom for many years. "If my father knew that I had met you, you would surely be delighted."
"It's good enough if you don't scold me." Since he resigned from his official position and traveled around, he gradually lost contact with his old friends in Beijing. In the early years, he would occasionally return to his hometown and receive a few letters, but after that, he lost all contact with them.
"You shouldn't be scolded?" Du Hui finished dealing with the previous matter and rushed to meet Shen Que, just picking up this sentence.
"You deserve it, you deserve it." Chen Que hurriedly stood up and invited him, "Come, come, sit down and have some tea."
He then snatched the teapot from Xu Jiang's hand, poured a cup and presented it to Du Hui personally.
Du Hui was indeed thirsty. He took the cup and drank most of it before continuing to curse, "You resigned without even telling anyone back then. If I hadn't found your hometown people and asked them about you, I would have thought you were dead in some mountain valley."
Xu Jiang couldn't help laughing. Mr. Du wanted to find fault with people, and no one could escape from him, young or old, male or female.
Shen Que glanced at the two juniors, then leaned over to Du Hui's ear and whispered, "Save some face for me in front of the juniors."
Then he gave Du Hui more tea and asked him to drink a few more cups to reduce his fever.
Seeing this, Xu Jiang moved Du Hui's favorite cake in front of him and said, "Sir, you have been busy all morning and haven't had breakfast yet. This Chongyang cake is freshly picked out of the steamer and is still hot. Hurry and have a couple of bites to fill your stomach."
What a good boy.
Shen Que glanced at Xu Jiang with appreciation, then picked up a piece of cake and stuffed it into Du Hui's mouth. "Don't let the child down. Eat it quickly."
Du Hui's words were blocked back at him, and he rolled his eyes in choking.
Xu Jiang added, "The kitchen has also prepared braised duck, roasted chicken, an eight-immortal dish, and a jar of the finest chrysanthemum wine. Let the two gentlemen take them with them and enjoy them on the mountain."
"Just hearing the name makes me greedy." Shen Que patted Du Hui on the back and said enviously, "Old Du, you are so lucky."
Du Hui swallowed the cake, took a sip of tea, and hummed, "I'm not the lucky one."
Chen Que glanced at Lou Yunchun, and understood what he meant. He couldn't help but laugh, "Who told you that your family didn't have another son?" Then he asked, "Whose daughter is this Madam Xu?"
Xu Jiang smiled and said, "My father, Xu Yuan, is from Qianzhou."
Du Hui and Lou Yunchun both looked at her at the same time, and only when they saw that she looked calm did they feel relieved.
Chen Que exclaimed, "Ah," and asked, "But what about Mr. Zhe Yun, who wrote "Tracing the Origin of Cultural Traces"?"
Xu Jiang was surprised, "Sir, do you know?"
"I've read it over and over again here, Brother Du. What a great book!" Chen Que couldn't help but admire it, then added, "I heard that this book is now being fiercely sought after by various institutions of learning. The official edition that has been sold to the public has been bid up for over a hundred taels. Handwritten and privately printed copies have also appeared, and the prices are not low either. It seems to be very popular."
Xu Jiang has been recuperating in the government office these days and had no idea that the situation would turn out like this. However, she was not surprised. As long as this book was published, this day would come sooner or later.
She was very glad that she presented the engraving to the court and established the standard. Otherwise, when handwritten and privately printed copies became popular, it would be difficult to distinguish the true from the false.
"I had originally planned to wait until Old Du finished his inspection of the Autumn Society before coming to copy it. Now that I've found an authentic one, I've saved a lot of time and effort. I wonder if Madam Xu could give me a set?"
"Thank you for your kindness, sir. You are old friends with Mr. Du and Mr. Lou, and you have helped me so much. Why wouldn't I give you a copy? However, I don't have this book with me, so I can only send it to you after I return to Beijing. I wonder if you can wait?"
"I can wait, I can wait." Chen Que nodded repeatedly, "I'm going to stay here for the next six months."
Du Hui snorted, "There's no room for you to stay in my residence." But his eyes showed an unconcealable joy.
"If there's no room, I'll spread out my mat under this chrysanthemum bush." Chen Que pointed to the flowers he had just planted and said with a smile, "When you water the flowers, just give me some water."
Du replied, "I'm pouring manure."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Seeing that the sun was already high in the sky, Du Hui stood up and said, "Aren't we going to climb up to admire the chrysanthemums? It will be too late if we don't come back now."
Shen Que quickly drank a sip of tea and found it delicious. He then asked Xu Jiang, "Is there any tea left?"
"Yes, I'll give you two pounds. Drink slowly."
"What should I do?"
"As long as you like to drink, sir."
Du Hui laughed and scolded, "You might as well take off your clothes and become a beggar."
Shen Que actually nodded, "That's a good idea."
Everyone smiled again.
Liu Mei called Du Hui's followers to the kitchen to get the food box, and the two old friends went out talking to each other.
Xu Jiang and Lou Yunchun stood in front of the flowers, watched the two leave, and then smiled at each other.
"Mr. Du is very happy."
"It's rare to have a true friend in life, let alone meeting again in a foreign land." Lou Yunchun held her hand, and he and Xu Jiang did the same.
Xu Jiang smiled like the autumn sun, then took Lou Yunchun by the hand and went to the kitchen. "It's a great occasion, and it's also a solar term, so we should celebrate. Let's go see what delicious food the cook has prepared."
Lou Yunchun looked at her, a warm light reflected in his eyes, "Okay."
————Departure dividing line————
There is a time for meeting and a time for parting.
Xu Jiang, Lou Yunchun and his party walked out of the government office with Du Hui and Chen Que seeing them off.
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