48 Tribute to the Imperial Court

  Boom boom boom——

  At the gate of a large mansion in the west of the city, someone was knocking heavily on the door.

  On the gate's signboard, two glittering golden characters "Feng Fu" were inlaid with pure gold.

  A finely dressed, silk-hatted servant opened the door and shouted in a harsh tone: "What are you knocking at this late hour? Where do you dare to knock so loudly? Can you afford to pay for it if you break it?"

  "Excuse me, sir. I'm so sorry to disturb you at this late hour. My name is Sha Bao, a subordinate of Master Pei, the second master of the Pei Manor. I've come to ask if Lord Feng is available? Master Pei has an urgent matter to report to him. Please forgive my intrusion and help me inform him, thank you."

  The silly leopard smiled all over his face and nodded his head, saying.

  "Which Pei's mansion?"

  "It's at the residence of Lord Pei Kuan Tong in the western part of the city."

  "Let's talk about it tomorrow, my parents are sleeping!"

  The door closed with a bang.

  It's hard to find a few families in the entire Luoyang City that don't look down on Pei Manor's Pei Qian, and Feng Manor is one of them.

  The silly leopard didn't even have half a temper, so he had to knock on the door again. The door opened and Tian Guanshi rushed out from inside, followed by two tall and muscular men wearing martial arts uniforms with thick facial features. Tian Guanshi pushed the silly leopard, who was a head taller than him, and shouted: "Are you looking for death? Letting you go and you still knock, is this intentional? Don't you see what kind of place this is? Is this your territory to be reckless in? Beat him up!"

  The two men were about to step forward and take action, but the foolish leopard hastily retreated a few steps and said: "Director Tian, please calm down. I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that this matter concerns Lord Feng's beloved woman, so I had no choice but to disturb you in the middle of the night."

  "What woman? Which woman?" Tian Guanshi asked gruffly, taken aback.

  The silly leopard said in a low voice: "Zhang Xi Shi of the tofu stall on the banks of the Luo River."

  Tian Guanshi heard this and silently looked at Sha Bao for a moment, then said in an ill-tempered tone "You wait here", before turning around and entering the main gate of the Feng manor.

  After waiting for about half an hour, Tian Guan Shi slowly came out of the main gate of Feng Fu and beckoned to him: "Come in."

  ……

  Walking through the long corridor of the gate hall, along the artificial lake embankment for about ten minutes, a few people entered an exquisite garden with fake mountains and pool water, where peach blossoms were in full bloom.

  In the garden, there are pavilions and towers everywhere, and the fragrance of lotus flowers wafts from the ponds. In the flower beds, various rare and exotic animals are raised, including lions, tigers, bears, and leopards. When they see people coming, they all bare their teeth and wave their claws, with a fierce appearance as if they want to pounce on humans, making one tremble with fear at the sight.

  The silly leopard bowed its body and followed the field manager with extreme humility, coming to the gate of the only mansion in the garden.

  The sound of silk and bamboo instruments came from the mansion, accompanied by the clear and pleasant singing of women. A dozen or so men were engaged in lively discussions, applauding and laughing loudly at times, composing poetry and essays, and praising each other repeatedly. It was obvious that the manor was hosting a banquet for guests.

  "Wait here, don't run around everywhere. Don't say I didn't warn you first, the fierce beasts raised here are all wild and untamed, they bite when they see strangers, and by then you won't even be able to find your bones."

  "The little one understands, just waiting here."

  Tian Guanshi entered the mansion and soon came out from inside, asking: "Master Feng is currently entertaining guests and has no time to see you, what business do you have?"

  The silly leopard hastily said: "It's like this, last night, two of my second master's men, in order to please my second master, on their own initiative, secretly took the tofu from Zhang's tofu stall by the Luo River and brought it back, wanting to give it to my second master."

  "My second master knew that Lord Feng had always taken a liking to the tofu beauty, but due to his status, he didn't dare bring her back to the manor. However, everyone in Luoyang City knew she was already Lord Feng's chosen woman and no one else was allowed to touch her. Those two dogs, blinded by their own desires, dared to take matters into their own hands, kidnapping the tofu beauty and sending her to my second master's room. My second master didn't dare use her, knowing he'd be in big trouble, so he secretly sent her back. As a result, those two dogs spread rumors everywhere, and our master heard about it, binding my second master and beating him severely, even the servants were innocently implicated..."

  "My second master, in a fit of rage, cut out the tongues of the two men who were speaking recklessly and also chopped off their fingers. He then had them sent to the government office for Lord Feng to deal with, and asked Lord Feng to give instructions so that he could report back."

  Tian Guanshi listened and his face remained unchanged, he turned around and went back to report.

  Before long, he came out again, his attitude becoming exceptionally warm and gentle. He put his arm around Xiao Bao's shoulder and smiled as he said: "Master Fan has spoken, since these two are people from your household, he can't very well intervene. What to do is still up to your household to decide. Master Fan merely hopes that nothing like yesterday will happen again. As for what to do, I think your second master is a clever person and will naturally understand my master's meaning. These ten taels of silver are a reward from my master to you. From now on, regarding the matter of Doufu Xishi, just come directly to Fan Manor to find me."

  The silly leopard received the silver with a surprised and delighted expression, bowing repeatedly and thanking him profusely: "Thank you, Lord Feng, for your reward. In the future, if there is anything that requires my services, please don't hesitate to order me, I am willing to go through fire and water for Lord Feng!"

  Tian Guanshi suddenly changed into a different person, laughing more warmly and patting Sha Bao's shoulder: "Hehe, with your words, Lord Feng can rest assured. Come on, Brother Sha Bao? Tian will send you out."

  "I dare not trouble you with such trivial matters."

  "That's all for now, I won't send any more. Please give my regards to General Li on behalf of my family."

  "I'll definitely bring it for you."

  As soon as he went out, the main gate of the Feng Mansion closed with a loud bang. The stupid leopard turned his head around and spat on the ground with a look of disgust, "Pfft! You're just a doorman, what are you pretending to be? Trying to act like a big shot in front of me? If it weren't for Master Feng's face, I'd beat you to death!"

  Having finished speaking, he hastily turned around and got on his carriage, driving away.

  ……

  Zhenming has recently become addicted to drinking soy milk. After finishing work at the blacksmith's shop, the first thing he does is go to Zhang's tofu stall and buy a bowl of hot soy milk. He sits by the riverbank, savoring it carefully, then lies down on the riverbank and takes a nap.

  When the sky darkened, Zhang's wife was packing up her stall, and Old Lady Song was nowhere to be seen. As she finished packing up her stand and prepared to leave, he stood up, patted his buttocks, and strolled ahead slowly.

  Days passed like this, and Zhang also gradually got used to seeing a thin figure walking slowly about 100 meters in front of her every evening when she was closing up her stall.

  Today, Old Song also came, possibly having lost all his money and with nothing to do, he came to Zhang's tofu stall to collect some gambling capital. Today, business was surprisingly good, the soy milk was sold out early, and Old Song started shouting to pack up and go home, at this time the sun had not yet set.