Chapter 843: Moaning without Cause
Crunch, crunch.
The unpeeled radish strips made a sound like chopping meat with a blunt knife in Sun Shaozong's mouth. Although it was not very pleasant to hear, it made the dark carriage feel a little more lively.
These radish strips were pickled by Taoist Zhang himself. Although they look rough, the ingredients used are all precious and they taste very refreshing when chewed.
Of course, this only applies to young people with good teeth.
If a little older people want to taste the flavor of it, they may have to pay a price.
As for Zhang Laodao, who is over seventy years old, even if he tried his best, he might not be able to do anything with these pickled radishes.
But Taoist Zhang still pickles the vegetables every year, and he pickles several large jars at a time. Sometimes he gives them to others, and sometimes he just lets them go bad.
If it happened to someone else, it would be considered a quirk or a waste of food.
But with the association with Taoist Zhang, these pickled radish strips were shrouded in a layer of mystery, and even wealthy people in the city were willing to pay large sums of money to buy them.
Of course, the reason why Sun Shaozong moved two jars today was just because this thing suited his taste - it would be even better if it could be spicier.
While chewing Taoist Zhang's pickled radish, what kept echoing in my mind were, of course, the old fox's seemingly carefree but witty words.
The reason why Sun Shaozong went to see Taoist Zhang this time was, firstly, to further narrow the scope of the investigation into the headless corpse; secondly, he also wanted to learn more about the inside story of the Tianshi Mansion through his rival.
For the former, Zhang Laodao gave an accurate answer: I can’t help you.
Although the Tianshi Mansion is powerful at the moment and the northern Taoist sects such as Qingxu Temple are in decline, if we really count the number of people, the external forces of the Tianshi Mansion are just a fraction of the others.
As the saying goes, it’s hard to satisfy everyone.
Although Qingxu Temple is nominally the leader of the Northern School, in reality it is just a loose alliance and there is not much binding force between them.
What's more, many Taoists are inherently independent.
There are those who live in seclusion and don't care about worldly affairs, those who wander around and whose whereabouts are unknown, and those who hide in some corners and corners, occasionally showing up but never being found again.
It is simply a pipe dream for Qingxu Temple to be like Tianshi Temple, where followers gather in droves command of a master.
As for Sun Shaozong's second question, Taoist Zhang did not comment and talked about a lot of random things, most of which were praising the Tianshi Mansion.
If it were an ordinary person, he would probably have been fooled by him.
But when Sun Shaozong thought about it now, he felt that he had gained a lot.
Simply put, the old Taoist was not optimistic about the outcome of the emperor's quest for immortality and the way of Taoism, so he hoped that the northern and southern Taoist sects would break up at this point to avoid being implicated in the future.
But at the same time, Taoist Zhang couldn't help but worry whether there was some other mystery behind Master Hongyuan's recent unusual behavior.
To further refine it, the most useful information for Sun Shaozong should be the four words "unusual".
In the words of Taoist Zhang, regardless of how good Master Hongyuan's magic skills were, he was a man with great vision and means - otherwise, he would not have become a celebrity around Emperor Guangde in less than two years after coming to Beijing.
It is indeed somewhat unreasonable that such a person suddenly started a fight with the Northern Taoist sect when the contemporary Zhang Tianshi was about to go north.
Even if one really wants to subdue these local bullies in the capital, one should wait until the Tianshi Mansion is completed and then use the power to force them to surrender.
Is it because of being spoiled that you become arrogant and conceited?
Or is it like what Zhang Laodao worried about, is there any other plan?
And what role did Master Hongyuan play in this unsolved case?
Click, click...
He chewed a few more pickled radishes silently, and heard Zhang Cheng outside reminding him that they were not far from Rongguo Mansion.
Sun Shaozong put the remaining half plate into the secret compartment on the right, then took out a bottle of lychee wine produced in southern Xinjiang, took a sip and muttered to himself.
Seeing the carriage slowly slowing down and entering the corner gate of Rongguo Mansion, Sun Shaozong opened the window and vomited everything. He got out of the carriage with a sweet smell in his heart and asked the doorman about the whereabouts of Jia Yingchun and You Erjie.
I heard that one was serving in Jia She's court, and the other went to Ningguo Mansion to accompany Youshi.
Sun Shaozong then ordered the man to lead the way and rushed to the Yihong Courtyard to find Jia Baoyu to get some food and drink, and to pass on the new amulet made by Taoist Zhang.
Speaking of which...
The old Taoist Zhang is really thinking about Jia Baoyu. Considering their ages, could there be some unspeakable story hidden in this?
The scene of Lady Jia and Taoist Zhang exchanging glances flashed through Sun Shaozong's mind, and he shuddered and quickly threw this absurd idea to Java.
When they arrived near Yihong Courtyard, they saw that the gate was closed. Sun Shaozong was about to knock on the door when he suddenly heard Baoyu inside calling for wine. From his voice, he could tell that he was quite drunk.
Sun Shaozong hesitated for a moment, but still knocked on the door of Yihongyuan.
Not long after, the door slowly opened a crack, and a rosy face popped out from inside. It was Qiu Wen, the second-class maidservant beside Jia Baoyu.
Qiu Wen originally had an impatient look on her face, but when she saw that it was Sun Shaozong outside, she quickly changed her face to a happy one, opened the door wide, and said repeatedly: "It's good that Master Sun is here, our master is drinking alone!"
Sun Shaozong stepped into the courtyard without any courtesy, and saw that the lights in the pavilion in the corner were on. Jia Baoyu was holding a white jade wine glass, shaking his head and mumbling something.
When they got closer, Qiu Wen rushed forward a few steps to report, and only then did Jia Baoyu know that Sun Shaozong had arrived.
He immediately threw the white jade wine glass onto the table and greeted him with great joy: "Second brother, you came just in time, come and have a few drinks with me!"
He also shouted and asked Musk Moon to heat up the teriyaki deer kisses left over from lunch and serve them as a snack for the two of them.
In fact, there were already several hot dishes on the table. Sun Shaozong sat down at the table by himself, while Qiu Wen and She Yue ran around to get bowls, chopsticks and towels for washing hands.
Sun Shaozong held out his hands and let Sheyue serve him, wondering, "Didn't we already get over what happened this morning? Why are you drinking again?"
Jia Baoyu shook his head slightly, grabbed some grass from somewhere, and threw it into the night. Then he heard a rustling sound, and from time to time there were the calls of deer.
Considering that he had just been clamoring for teriyaki deer kiss, this scene really makes people wonder how to comment on it.
When Sun Shaozong saw that he didn't answer, he was not too anxious. He turned the chopsticks over and poked them on the table, then started eating and drinking as if no one was around.
Jia Baoyu couldn't hold it in any longer and sighed heavily, "I can't tell why. I was lying in bed this afternoon and the more I thought about it, the more bored I felt."
Yes~
It turns out that he is suffering from the literary youth syndrome and is complaining here without any reason!
As long as you throw it into the woodshed and let it starve for a few days, this problem can usually be cured without any medicine.
Unfortunately, this method does not work on Jia Baoyu.
So Sun Shaozong changed to another method which was equally effective.
He grabbed the wine pot and filled Jia Baoyu's cup. He pushed it to him without saying anything and said, "Come on, I'll drink three cups with you. Let's moisten your throat first!"
But Jia Baoyu lost interest in drinking. He stared at the wine glass and sighed, "Life is hard, but we have to wallow in filth. It's really... boring, so boring."
This weird guy is quite similar to that old Taoist Zhang.
Could it be that what I just thought was not groundless?
In his mind, Sun Shaozong was making up the unspeakable story of the two elderly men. He slammed his empty wine glass on the table and said casually, "Then why don't you think of a way to stay out of the mud without getting stained?"
After stopping talking, Jia Baoyu, with his eyes slightly drunken, slowly moved to Sun Shaozong's face and asked word by word: "Then has my second brother ever managed to stay clean from the mud?"
this……
Talking about the transformation I have experienced in the past four years, it is more than just a slight change, it can be said to be a huge change!
"It's dyed."
Sun Shaozong rolled his eyes and sneered, "I'm not as hypocritical as you. I've just been rolling around in the world, and as the saying goes, there are gains and losses..."
Just as he was about to say something profound, he heard footsteps approaching hurriedly, followed by Xiren's voice: "The sacrificial text has been sent over, but the mansion is in chaos, it's really... Huh?!"
With an exclamation, the words that were halfway through were suddenly stopped.
Sun Shaozong felt strange and looked back with the wine glass in hand, only to see Xiren looking at him with surprise, as if she had seen some strange sight.
"What's the matter?"
Sun Shaozong was surprised and asked, "You look at me like you've seen a ghost?"
“No, no, no!”
Xiren finally reacted and said hurriedly, "When I went to the East Palace to deliver the memorial, Grandma You was anxiously sending someone to invite you over! I never thought that when I got home, I would see you drinking here..."
"You... Ahem, what did Sister Zhen ask me to do?"
"I heard that Master Hongyuan's wife died, and it seems to be related to the case you are investigating!"
