The 50-mile journey takes at most half an hour on a fast horse.

Even though the carriage was much slower, it entered the capital at about 4 p.m.

The news of their return to the city was quickly reported to Xia Shouzhong by the eunuch Xia Shouzhong's godson.

Then there was the matter of Xia Shouzhong ordering people to find out what the relationship between Jia Lian and Shi Zhongkui was.

At the gate of the city, Shi Guangzhu took Shi Zhongkui's hand and said with an attentive face, "Bo Qian, I must be a guest at my uncle's house today."

Shi Zhongkui refused without thinking. Now that he came to the door without preparing a gift, he might be troubled by Shi Huaiyong, the head of the family.

After all, I just wrote a poem scolding him.

The third goal is Jia Lian. If he contacts Jia Baoyu, he will not have the time to repair the Duke's palace.

Luo Li grabbed the shivering Shi Guangzhu's wrist and exerted a little force. Shi Guangzhu suddenly felt as if his wrist was clamped by iron pliers.

I once again confirmed in my heart that Shi Zhongkui was a hidden practitioner, and his character of being soft-hearted and fearful of the hard could not help but be revealed directly.

Seeing that Shi Guangzhu stopped talking, Shi Zhongkui let go of his hand and stood outside the carriage to salute Mrs. Yu Shi in the carriage.

Then I made an appointment with Yu Tongfu to travel together during the Qingming Festival, and watched the carriages and horses from Shanguo Duke's Mansion leave.

Just as Shi Zhongkui thought, Jia Lian winked at Xue Pan and pulled him towards Jude Tower.

Shun'er wanted to persuade him, but before he could speak, he saw Shi Zhongkui waving his hand, so he gave up.

Following Jia Lian, Xue Pan and Feng Ziying, they soon arrived outside a wooden three-story restaurant.

Entering an ancient restaurant for the first time, Shi Zhongkui was quite curious.

But after a while, it lost its novelty. It looked good from the outside, but the interior decoration was more sophisticated than that of a modern antique restaurant.

Not long after, the waiter brought the wine and food to the private room on the second floor one after another. The food tasted pretty good, but what surprised him was that spices like five-spice powder seemed to be used in several meat dishes.

Pretending to be casual, he asked like a waiter. Unexpectedly, Jia Lian and Xue Pan both knew a little bit about it, and they immediately told them everything they knew.

It took a while for Shi Zhongkui to realize that even though it was commonly used in big restaurants, it was because he dared to buy one tael or several taels of silver for a dish.

Spices are more expensive than ordinary medicinal materials, and even wealthy families don't use much of them.

On the contrary, the proportion of incense making and medicinal use is greater.

Jia Lian complained that a kind of rouge called Qinrenxiang was worth as much as gold if only some saffron was added, and not many people in the Jia family could use it.

Xue Pan added that when his father went out to buy, he heard that someone in Sichuan and Tibet had been trying to plant it, but the results were not very good.

A few years ago, some people in Jinling used it as potted plants, and the flowers did survive, but the flower buds they produced were not as good as those from the Western Regions, so they have never been able to be planted on a large scale.

Shi Zhongkui thought, it must be okay to plant it in space.

Then he looked at Jia Lian with some sympathy in his eyes.

Even if I don’t know much about saffron, I still understand that it is contraindicated for pregnant women. Thinking about Wang Xifeng’s several pregnancies but only having one daughter, and hearing what Jia Lian just said, it’s impossible not to be suspicious.

But I couldn't say it out loud. After all, people who have just met are most taboo about exchanging superficial words.

Besides, Wang Xifeng is not a good person, and he has no connection with the Jia family. His persuasion makes people think that he has ulterior motives.

After eating and drinking so much that he felt slightly tipsy, he did not refuse the next offer to drink, and the wine went straight into the space.

And to be honest, he didn't expect Da Zhou's wine to be readily available in restaurants.

According to Xue Pan, wine is no longer a fruit wine that can only be enjoyed by nobles.

Shi Zhongkui originally thought about making wine himself, but after thinking about it carefully, it was okay to drink it himself or give some to relatives and friends.

If you want to sell in large quantities, merchants won't care where you brew it from, but the government will come looking for trouble.

In ancient times, salt and iron wine was controlled by basically every dynasty and was also one of the main sources of taxation.

In only half an hour, Xue Pan, Jia Lian, and Feng Ziying, who drank the wine as beer, turned red in the face.

Jia Lian and Feng Ziying knew that if they continued to drink, they would definitely be knocked down by Shi Zhongkui.

He tried to hold on to Xue Pan who wanted to decide who would win or lose, but after drinking, it was not that easy to persuade him.

In the end, it was Jia Lian who persuaded Xue Pan while Xue Pan was going to drain the water.

It can be said that my mother and younger sister are the Achilles' heel.

Although this guy is cute and cute, it doesn't mean he is a good person.

It can only be said that he is not so bad that he has pus, but that he has no bottom line.

Seeing that Shi Zhongkui's face was only slightly red, Jia Lian thought for a moment and simply said, "Brother Bo Feng, I have an unkind request for my brother. Please don't blame me."

Shi Zhongkui put down his chopsticks and asked with a smile, "I may have guessed what Second Brother Lian means, but I also have a problem."

Speaking of this, Shi Zhongkui deliberately looked at the waiter in the private room. After attracting the attention of Jia Lian and the other three, Shi Zhongkui said with a smile, "How about having a cup of tea at my little brother's house?"

When Jia Lian and Xue Pan heard that he had difficulties at first, their hearts skipped a beat, but when they heard him say that they should go to his house to sit, they knew that there was more to the matter.

It's just not good to say it in a restaurant, lest people hear it and spread the word.

Feng Ziying wanted to leave when she saw that personal matters were involved, but this time Shi Zhongkui grabbed him and insisted on inviting him to his home for tea before continuing the conversation.

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at Shi Zhongkui's home.

It had only been five days since the examination, so Shun'er and others were asked to wipe the table, and Jia Lian and the others were asked to take a seat in the living room.

Shi Zhongkui entered the bedroom and took out a wooden box containing 15 fans from the space.

After thinking about it, he left 9 behind and walked out holding a box containing 6 fans and a fruit plate containing some preserved peaches, persimmons, dried jujubes and raisins.

Shun'er hurriedly put the fruit plate on the table, took over 10 pounds of tea leaves that Shi Zhongkui had bought on the street for one tael of silver in the past three months, and asked three servants of Yu Honggao's family to go to the kitchen to boil water to make tea.

The tea was not good, Jia Lian and the others were sure as soon as they ate it, but the peach preserves, persimmons, dried jujubes, and raisins unexpectedly tasted very good.

I drank tea and ate preserved fruits.

Xue Pan asked where he bought these preserved fruits.

It's not that Xue Pan wants to start a preserved fruit business, but he wants to buy some for Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai to try.

By the way, I sent some to Rongguo Mansion and Ningguo Mansion. After all, the Xue family has been living in Lixiangyuan in the northeast corner of Rongguo Mansion this year. If there are any good things, I should also give some to the Jia family.

"Brother Xue likes it. When we leave, I'll have someone prepare for you, Brother Lian and Brother Feng to take it back. Don't mention it if you don't have money."

These words surprised Jia Lian and Feng Ziying. They had heard before that Shi Zhongkui could hardly afford to eat, but now it seemed that this guy was probably getting some money from the Yu family.
Chapter completed!