RPAGF Chapter 166 Deer Ming Banquet
Chapter 166 Deer Ming Banquet
Ouyang Bo slumped on the ground. Although he was arrogant, he was no fool. He knew why Huang Wei approached him.
But now that he only came in fourth, his value to Huang Wei was not that great. Furthermore, if he circled the city three times in public to apologize, he would lose all his face and become a discarded pawn in Huang Wei's eyes.
At this time, he no longer cared about the jade pendant and was thinking about a solution in his mind.
The owner of the teahouse couldn't stand it anymore and came over to remind him, "Mr. Ouyang, the ground is cold. You'd better get up and sit on the stool!"
It's summer, and saying the ground is cold is just a lie. It's just an excuse to get rid of him.
Ouyang Bo stood up in shame and anger, turned around and walked out. The shopkeeper shouted from behind, "Ouyang, you haven't paid for your tea yet!"
This made him even more angry. He turned back to the teahouse, took out his purse, took out a small piece of silver, and slammed it on the table. "That's enough!"
The shopkeeper shook his head and said, "You are drinking Junshan Yinzhen. This little silver is not enough."
Some customers came up to him and pointed at him.
Ouyang Bo's face flushed with shame, and he slammed his wallet on the table, "That's enough!"
The shopkeeper poured out all the silver and weighed it in his hand. "Forget it, forget it. Let's just give Mr. Ouyang a discount today!"
Two days before the Luming Feast, Lin Jingyou and Yan Hui predicted a visitor would arrive. To avoid such an event, they fled to a mountain temple and did not return until the day of the Luming Feast.
The two returned to the inn, washed, dressed, and took a carriage to the prefect's residence.
They arrived neither too early nor too late, and were inconspicuous among the crowd of students.
However, some students who had been with Ouyang Bo before already knew them both.
So as soon as I saw them coming, I hurried over to greet them.
"Lin Jieyuan, do you remember me? I was the one who sat next to you during the exam."
"Lin Jieyuan won first place. It's a pleasure to meet you today!"
Lin Jingyou and Yan Hui kept greeting everyone with a smile.
It was a harmonious scene until Ouyang Bo came here and broke the harmony.
As soon as Ouyang Bo walked into the courtyard where the Luming Banquet was being held, everyone looked at him and then at Lin Jingyou.
Now everyone knows about the bet these people made. Two days ago, they went to look for Lin Jingyou, but the shopkeeper said he was not there.
Now that Lin Jingyou and Ouyang Bo have met, they both want to see how the bet will be resolved.
Ouyang Bo stood there, seeing Lin Jingyou and the people around him, but he didn't say anything. It seemed that he didn't intend to greet any of the students.
The atmosphere remained tense.
A curious person stepped forward and deliberately asked, "Is this the famous Ouyang Caizi? I heard about your bet with Lin Jieyuan before, but I don't think Ouyang Caizi walked around the city for three days to apologize. I wonder when Ouyang Caizi plans to fulfill his promise?"
Ouyang Bo ignored him. Soon, two middle-aged men in official uniforms came over, followed by some servants.
"The prefect is here, the governor is here!" the man in front sang.
The students immediately bowed and greeted him, "Greetings to the prefect and the governor."
The prefect raised his hand and said, "Get up. Today is the Luming Banquet. This is the first time I'm meeting you all. I hope everyone enjoys their meals and drinks!"
After saying this, the prefect and the governor walked up to the high platform together. There was a main seat for one person on it. The prefect went up and sat down, while a servant led the governor to the first seat on the left.
The remaining students were arranged in the back row according to their ranking. Therefore, Lin Jingyou and Yan Hui were separated, and Lin Jingyou sat directly opposite the governor Huang Wei.
"Seeing all of you students here today, I feel as if I saw myself back then. Today is a festive day, and I would like to offer a toast to you all. At the same time, I also hope that you can go one step further and win the first prize!" The prefect picked up the wine glass, drank it all in one gulp with great passion.
The students sitting below also raised their glasses. After Xukong toasted with the prefect, he drank a glass.
Only Lin Jingyou took a small sip and didn't drink too much.
Everyone was eating the food on the table carefully, fearing that something might be wrong.
The governor suddenly raised his wine glass and said to Lin Jingyou, "I haven't congratulated Mr. Lin for winning first place yet, so I'll toast you. Heroes are born young after all! You're so young and already a juren. I wonder if Mr. Lin can win three consecutive top honors."
Lin Jingyou smiled and said modestly, "I was just lucky. As for whether I can win three prizes in a row, I cannot predict the future, let alone guess the emperor's mind."
The last sentence blocked the question that the governor wanted to ask. If Lin Jingyou said no, then he could say that Lin Jingyou was not confident and incompetent. If Lin Jingyou said yes, then he could say that Lin Jingyou was arrogant.
But in this situation, it was obvious that he could not continue asking this question.
He changed the subject again. "Just now, when the prefect and I came here, we heard you discussing something. I wonder what you were discussing? Tell us about it so that the prefect and I can hear it."
Although he was asking you, his eyes were on Lin Jingyou. Now everyone understood that the governor was deliberately making things difficult for Lin Jingyou.
The prefect sitting at the top suddenly realized something and said that the Deer Singing Banquet had nothing to do with the governor. Why did the governor come to his house early in the morning to reminisce about the past and has been sitting here until now and refused to leave? It turned out that the governor had other intentions.
Lin Jingyou was neither humble nor arrogant, and passed the ball to Ouyang Bo. "Just now, student Ouyang was about to answer, but before he could reply, the two adults arrived."
The governor continued to ask, "So what question did you ask just now that made it so difficult for Mr. Ouyang to answer? Why don't you tell me, Lin Jieyuan?"
Yan Hui, sitting in the back, saw the governor constantly harassing Lin Jingyou. He grew angry and suddenly stood up, fanning himself and saying, "I heard it clearly. The man was asking about the bet between Ouyang Juren and Lin Jieyuan, which he had lost, and when Ouyang Juren planned to circle the city three times to apologize."
Huang Wei seemed unaware of Yan Hui's identity and asked in confusion, "I was talking to Lin Jieyuan, and you interrupted me on purpose. Is this the etiquette of a scholar?"
Yan Hui directly retorted, "The Governor is being aggressive. Is he trying to use his power to oppress others? Are you deliberately suppressing students and not wanting capable people to enter the court and serve the country?"
The last sentence was indeed a bit serious, but if something happened to Lin Jingyou in the future, the first person to be suspected would be the governor.
"How dare you, a mere scholar, contradict me!" the governor roared.
The prefect knew Yan Hui's identity, so he stepped forward to smooth things over, "Sir, the food is getting cold, let's eat first!"