It was already noon when we finished inspecting the river bank. Lin Zhongcheng had a tight schedule and had to leave for Songjiang in the afternoon.

Therefore, Lin Run suddenly decided to arrange lunch at Nanshan Temple so as not to waste time going to the county.

This really caught people off guard. There were more than 300 guards and sedan chair bearers including the governor and his entourage. If we didn't make preparations in advance, we would not be able to serve them all at once.

Many officials who were not used to seeing Mr. Zhao enjoying such glory could not help but secretly laugh, thinking, aren't you going to suffer a loss now?

However, Zhao Shouzheng was still calm and composed, chatting and laughing with the governor.

After entering Nanshan Temple, he invited the governor to have tea in the incense room in the backyard first, while County Magistrate He led the governor's staff and several senior attendants to rest in the side rooms. As for the other attendants, they could only rest in the east and west side halls in the front yard.

In the cleanly swept side hall, incense was burning and seats were set up. On the table were neatly placed plates of grapes, citrus fruits and other seasonal fruits, as well as local snacks such as sock-bottom pastries and Wansan cakes.

It was still hot in the afternoon in September, so the servants served us herbal tea and fruits cooled with well water. After walking for half a day, everyone was thirsty and hungry. After eating, they felt cool and refreshed, and they all said it was very enjoyable.

Even the guards and sedan chair bearers they brought with them were in a makeshift reed shed outside the temple. Each of them had a big bowl of Aozao noodles, a basket of big steamed buns, and plenty of heat-reducing herbal tea, which guaranteed to fill their bellies.

Seeing that Kunshan County had made such a thorough arrangement, and that Nanshan Temple had also made preparations, those who wanted to see the joke secretly sighed, thinking, is this Zhao Shouzheng's first time as an official? How come he is so thorough like a veteran official? There are no leaks.

Is this a family tradition or a sign of the Wenchang star? He was born to be an official.

In fact, Mr. Zhao never asked about these trivial matters.

But who can blame him for being so lucky? He didn't have to worry about it at all. Wu Cheng'en and County Magistrate He took care of it after discussing it.

Both of them were experienced and inferred from the governor's itinerary that this might happen. They had already made a plan and ordered Fan Datong to prepare a banquet at the county mansion and also invited Master Xuelang to Nanshan Temple to preside over the vegetarian meal.

This time it came in handy.

It can be seen how important it is to have a good master and a good assistant, otherwise Mr. Zhao would be in such a miserable state at this time.

~~

In the back hall, Governor Lin washed and dressed in a moon-white robe, looking even more handsome and not like an ordinary person.

Zhao Shouzheng had prepared a table of exquisite vegetarian dishes. Lin Run's attendant had specifically instructed him not to have anyone else accompany him during lunch, so he was the only one in the room.

"Zhongcheng, you have worked hard this morning. Please enjoy your meal." Zhao Shouzheng offered the chopsticks with both hands.

Lin Run had been hammering away for the whole morning and was really hungry. Looking at the table full of delicious dishes, he couldn't help but feel hungry. He put down his chopsticks and asked, "Is your son here?"

"I'm here, accompanying you gentlemen in the front." Zhao Shouzheng replied quickly.

"Call him over to eat with us. This institute has admired this scientist for a long time."

"yes."

Mr. Zhao hurried to the door and wanted to ask someone to call Zhao Hao, but he saw that the person waiting outside the door was a sixth-rank official.

He was embarrassed to order others around, so he had to go and call his son over himself.

~~

It took Lin Zhongcheng a long time to wash and dress, and the banquet had already started in the east side hall of the front yard.

A group of officials drank a few glasses of wine and started to make trouble again. Instead of drinking properly, they had to play a drinking game to compete with each other.

There was no formal establishment for the officials of the governor's office. They were either temporarily appointed by the governor from among the reserve officials, or seconded from various offices.

For example, Pan Tian was seconded from Songjiang Prefecture to the Governor's Office.

For unsuccessful candidate officials, this was a good opportunity to turn their lives around. Although there was no official announcement, if they could be appreciated by the governor, they would naturally have the opportunity to rise to prominence.

So they all competed secretly with each other, even trying to see who was the most talented person under the Zhongcheng.

Zhao Hao was too lazy to get close to these guys, so he sat in the corner and ate his vegetarian meal.

Xuelang did not let him go, and personally helped him to serve the rice and dishes, and asked earnestly: "Donor, how do you think the taste of this vegetarian food compares to that of the Da Baoen Temple?"

"Well, more or less." In fact, Master Zhao had only eaten the vegetarian food at the Da Baoen Temple once, and had long forgotten what it tasted like.

"Then it's not in vain. I specially invited the fire monks from Hanshan Temple and Chongyuan Temple, and personally went to Suzhou to prepare the ingredients." Xuelang finished taking credit, and then revealed his true colors:

"As the saying goes, you should be grateful to the person who has eaten your meal. Since you ate my vegetarian meal, you should at least give me a poem in return, right?"

"Then I won't eat." Zhao Hao put down his chopsticks. This guy wanted to make poetry whenever he caught him, and Master Zhao felt that he was about to be squeezed dry by him.

"No, that won't work. Wouldn't it be like eating for nothing?" Xuelang naturally refused.

"You're the idiot." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes. Xiong Dianshi was arranging a meal for the governor's guards outside the temple, so he had no time to come in and accompany Master Zhao. No one helped him to throw this pestering creature out.

His voice was a little loud, attracting the attention of all the officials.

As luck would have it, it was the turn of the commander, and seeing Zhao Hao making noise again, he immediately seized the opportunity to retaliate, and skipped over the next official to give orders, and rebuked Zhao Hao:

"That green boy of the eighth rank, the drinking order is like a military order, you made noise without reason, you should be punished with three cups!"

Then he said to the clerk holding the pot, "Fill it up quickly."

The clerk knew his own son, so he would not listen to the noise of an outsider and just looked at Xuelang who was accompanying him.

Yes, Master Xuelang, as a well-known person in Jiangnan, was invited to help greet the guests. He was the main attendant in the East Side Hall, but unfortunately, as soon as this thief saw Zhao Hao, he forgot his mission and just pestered him for poems.

"Forget it, forget it. He is underage and cannot drink." Xuelang quickly came to Zhao Hao's rescue, and then said, "I think we should let him play a drinking game."

"What's it got to do with you?" Zhao Hao rolled his eyes. He didn't know whether he was scolding Xuelang or Tian Baiguang, maybe he was scolding both.

"Hey, why are you talking like that? I'm the wine commander, I'm the boss at the table, of course I can control you." Tian Baiguang sneered:

"If you don't want to drink, then continue the drinking game, otherwise you'll be disturbing everyone's fun!"

"Not bad, not bad." Naturally, all the governor's entourage agreed with Tian Boguang.

"Donor Zhao, please don't refuse anymore. Look, I don't even mind drinking poems." Monk Xuelang looked at Zhao Hao pitifully.

"Bah." Young Master Zhao spat out the hard-to-chew gluten in his mouth and cursed, "What the hell is this?"

Then he sneered and looked at Tian Baiguang and asked, "How do you play it?"

"It's a riddle poem. I give you something, and you have to use it as the answer to a poem... The rhyme of the poem must also be it." Tian Baiguang looked at Zhao Hao provocatively and said, "The commander gave you a 'needle'."

"This is not easy..." The guests whispered to each other, "It takes some quick wit to come up with a riddle and make it rhyme."

"If you can't do it, drink the wine." Tian Baiguang looked at Zhao Hao smugly.

"What's the difficulty?" Young Master Zhao smiled contemptuously, looked at the thin and small Judge Tian, ​​and recited aloud:

"It has a pointed head and a thin body, as white as silver. It doesn't weigh a centimeter. Its eyes are on its buttocks. It only recognizes clothes and not people!"

ps. The first of four consecutive updates. Please vote for me at the end of the month!!