Chapter 40: Li Sheng's Plan
Judging from the decorations in the house, Li Shiqi's life was not satisfactory, and it was true that a small official who looked at the city gate could have a monthly salary. In addition, Li Shiqi was obviously a crazy man who was addicted to alcohol. It would be normal that this money was not enough to spend.
"Niece Yu, why did you join the Imperial Army? This one is again-!" After Fu Ge opened another jar of good wine, Li Shiqi finally turned the topic to Fu Ge, but his eyes were obviously unfriendly. Perhaps in his eyes, Fu Ge was a shameless thief who kidnapped Yu Ji and an unforgivable accomplice of the Empire.
"My name is Fu Ge, a native of Lintao." Fu Ge did not put a long list of titles behind his name. For him, those were given by the empire and were not worth showing off or nostalgic. If he really wanted to add them, Fu Ge would like to report to his family - Yu Ji's husband.
Li Shiqi was not surprised at all, as if he had never heard of Fu Ge. In fact, if he was the official history guarding the city gate, he would have seen it on the day Fu Ge entered Chenliu City. The question he had just asked was obviously on purpose.
"Fu Junhou, Yu Ji and I have something to say alone. Should you go out first?" Li Shiqi said without saying a word, snatched the last jar of good wine from Fu Ge, and then pushed him out. It turned out that what he asked Fu Ge to come in was the liquor.
Waiting helplessly outside the house for a long time, Yu Ji never came out. Fu Ge didn't know what she and Li Shiqi were talking about. He wanted to know but couldn't go in. Finally, Yu Ji came out, and Li Shiqi followed behind. When he saw Fu Ge, his face relaxed a lot. This may be because Yu Ji said a lot of good things in front of him.
After saying goodbye to Li Shiqi, he finally turned out of the alley. Fu Ge hurriedly grabbed Yu Ji and said, "This Li Shiqi is the master you call me. Why do I think it's a wine bag and a rice egg?"
Yu Ji smiled and replied: "Mr. Li is a drunkard, not a wine bag. Tomorrow, you should have a big banquet for the wise and nobles of Chenliu. At that time, you must not neglect Mr. Li!"
"This drunkard is really capable, so why did he only become the guardian of Chenliu City?" Fu Ge said in confusion.
Hearing this, Yu Ji gave Fu Ge a blank look and asked: "Brother Wu always says that the powerful and powerful in the court do not know talents. Why is the real wise man in front of him today, but the brother is also confused?"
Fu Ge's face turned red and shameless, as it was, the corrupt and declining empire was controlled by a group of corrupt officials and villains. There was no place for talented people to display their talents. It was not surprising that Li Shiqi looked at the city gate. Fu Ge secretly reminded himself that he should not learn from Li Si, Zhao Gao, Zhang Han and others. The promotion and appointment of officials only care about the etiquette of his disciples, but ignores the true skills of others.
The next day, without Yu Ji's reminder, Fu Ge got up early and took the soldiers to welcome Li Shiqi. After reporting his name, he waited at the door for a long time. It was not until the sun was noon that he heard the sound of breaking the door. Li Shiqi was still the same as yesterday, with his hair disheveled, his face disheveled, and his eyes were dull.
For most of the day, Fu Ge thought he was washing and dressing up, but he didn't expect that this was not the case. Such a "expert" was really a bit unique! If it weren't for the self-awakening that last night, if Yu Ji had repeatedly instructed and "boasted" Mr. Li yesterday, how amazing it was, comparable to Zhang Yi, the most famous lobbyist in the history of the empire, he would have turned around and left long ago.
"Sir, please get in the car!" Fu Ge bowed and smiled on his face.
The ox cart slowly started, and suddenly, Li Shiqi's thin body shook and almost rolled down from behind the cart. The empire was full of wars, and war horses had become the most scarce supplies, so using ox carts to pick them up and drop them off was the most noble etiquette.
"You guys are very kind, but Fu Ge is not used to this car. Why don't you be this coachman?" Li Shiqi rolled his eyes and said to Fu Ge without hesitation.
The soldiers next to him were inexplicably angry when they saw Li Shiqi being so rude. If it weren't for Fu Ge's wink, their old fists would have long called Li Shiqi's drunken face.
"Sir, sit down—!" I had long experienced Li Shiqi's arrogant attitude. Fu Ge was not angry. He just turned around politely and said something to Li Shiqi, then got into the coachman's seat and raised his whip.
Last night, Yu Ji told Fu Ge a lot about Li Shiqi. One of the stories was that when Emperor Qin Shihuang was in power, the empire would send censors to some places to secretly visit every few months. Chenliu's county magistrate was quite uneasy about this. Li Shiqi told the county magistrate that there was no need to worry about any censor who came secretly. He, the prison magistrate, would clearly argue clearly. As long as he recognized him as the censor, he would notify the county magistrate to be careful. As expected, in the subsequent several official assessments, Chenliu had excellent political achievements. This example shows that Li Shiqi had a very good eye.
In addition, Li Shiqi's eloquence is also famous. Legend has it that when he started training eloquence, he competed with shrews on the street, and then became the master of the empire Fan Sui and Fan Cai.
Yu Ji's father Yu Ziqi and Li Shiqi once studied with Fan Cai. They had a good relationship with each other. When Yu Ji was fifteen years old, Li Shiqi lived in Jianling, Donghai County, Yu Ji's hometown, for a while. He also taught Yu Ji for a while, and he could be considered half a teacher.
The ox cart passed by Chenliu Street and alleys, and pedestrians pointed and pointed at each other. Li Shiqi opened the wine on the car as if no one was around, raised his neck and poured his mouth back. When he arrived at the banquet, Fu Ge looked back, but Li Shiqi was already snoring like thunder and drunk as mud.
In this way, for three consecutive days, Fu Ge brought Li Shiqi to the banquet without any complaints, but every time he was drunk on the road. In these three days, he only suffered the wise and powerful officials who were invited by Fu Ge. They did not dare to refute the face of Fu Ge, the military marquis, and they did not feel good about venting their anger when they came. All they could do was to go back to find the bad luck of their servants in their family.
In contrast, Fu Ge, who has figured out his own situation, has always been very calm. These days he has thought about the past. Although Zhang Han, Zhang Ping, Dong Yi and others deliberately set up traps, no one around him reminded him, and no wise person pointed out the possible dangers is another reason.
If there is no talent around you, you will be bullied by others. The bloody lesson made Fu Ge understand this.
Regardless of whether Li Shiqi is really talented or not, at least Fu Ge's meticulous and polite reputation has spread, so there is no need to worry about those "experts" not coming to join us. At least, several famous scholars from Chenliu area have taken the initiative to join us in the past three days. On the fourth day, Fu Ge still rushed to the car early as agreed, but suddenly found that Li Shiqi was standing at the door, his hair was combed neatly, and he was wearing clean clothes.
Chapter completed!