The old man Gu kept heaping praises, but something seemed off. He felt these words were overly familiar.
Words like being extremely gifted, having the opportunity to listen to lectures from great scholars and being taken as a disciple, studying hard day in and day out, reading in the morning and evening, and writing excellent essays that were widely praised... The old man Gu suddenly realized something was wrong. He tentatively asked, "Is Brother Baozhu named Shen Heqing?"
Seeing her brother being recognized, Shen Baozhu was even happier. "Mm-hmm. Does Grandpa Gu know Brother Baozhu? Isn't he very smart!"
"Brother Baozhu's second brother is also very amazing... And the third brother..."
Shen Baozhu didn't forget about her other brothers and praised them all one by one. Then she looked at the old man Gu expectantly.
Under Shen Baozhu's intense gaze, the old man Gu coughed lightly. "Brother Baozhu's second brother sounds very gentle... And the third brother will surely achieve great things in the military camp."
The Dragon King: [The little cutie gets more excited when others praise her brothers than when they praise herself.]
The Dragon King: [This old man can also talk.]
The old man Gu's throat was hoarse from talking. He waved at Yan Mingli. "Go pour me a cup of tea."
"I'll pour tea for Grandpa Gu!" Shen Baozhu volunteered.
Yan Mingli didn't dare to compete with Shen Baozhu for this chance. Afraid that Shen Baozhu might get scalded by the water, he could only watch worriedly.
Seeing his spineless look, the old man Gu was a bit speechless. Then he whispered, "Tell me the truth, kid. Do you like Chen Miaochun, or do you want to get to know Shen Heqing through her?"
Because the old man Gu's voice was hoarse, Yan Mingli didn't hear clearly. "What?"
The old man Gu frowned and repeated it, but Yan Mingli still didn't hear clearly.被逼无奈, the old man Gu simply shouted it out.
Yan Mingli finally heard what the old man Gu said. His face instantly turned red, out of anger.
The Dragon King: [I also want to know!]
Lin Yu: [It's really suspicious.]
Qingyun the True Man: [Is it both?]
Not only were the three immortals curious, but even Shen Baozhu, who was pouring tea, quietly perked up her ears.
Yan Mingli was both angry and annoyed. "What are you talking nonsense about! I shouldn't have told you this!"
"Hey, you stinky kid." The old man Gu's hunched body suddenly straightened. He grabbed Yan Mingli's ear. "Even if your motives are impure, you can't let that girl down. You should just say if you want to get to know Shen Heqing. Why do you have to go around hurting that girl?"
Before Yan Mingli could refute, Shen Baozhu ran over with a slightly warm cup of tea in her hands and handed it to the old man Gu.
Shen Baozhu looked disapproving. "If you want to get to know Brother, you can ask Baozhu for help! Sister Miaochun has had a hard time before. If Brother Mingli doesn't like her, he can just say it directly. Baozhu will help Sister Miaochun find someone who likes her..."
Yan Mingli was first confused, then his face was full of panic. "Wait, wait! I like Miaochun! The old man is talking nonsense!"
"Moreover, I've known Shen Heqing for a long time, but he thinks I'm stupid and that I haven't even passed the county-level imperial examination, so he won't let me into the poetry club."
The Dragon King: [Sure enough, haha.]
Shen Baozhu thought for a while and firmly refuted. "Impossible. Brother is the best. He would never think you're stupid and not be friends with you."
Lin Yu: [Brother Baozhu doesn't seem like the kind of person who would look down on others.]
The Dragon King: [The little cutie is so smart.]
The old man Gu nodded in agreement. Then he took a step forward, turned around, stood in front of Shen Baozhu, and questioned Yan Mingli with her. "That's right!"
Seeing the old man Gu causing trouble, Yan Mingli was extremely annoyed. The nonsense from Chen Liang yesterday hadn't been resolved yet, and today the old man Gu had caused him another problem.
Yan Mingli explained to Shen Baozhu for a long time and finally cleared things up.
Shen Heqing did look down on Yan Mingli, but not because he thought Yan Mingli was stupid, but because he thought Yan Mingli didn't study hard.
The requirement to enter the poetry club was to be a licentiate. Considering that Yan Mingli was not good at studying, Shen Heqing specifically lowered the requirement for him to a scholar, while others had to be licentiates.
Although the requirement was lowered, Yan Mingli still couldn't meet it.
Yan Mingli tried hard to defend himself. "It's not Shen Heqing's fault. It's my fault that I can't pass the county-level imperial examination. And it's not entirely my fault. I've really tried my best."
"Moreover, the marriage between me and Chen Ruxia was arranged by Princess Jingning. This proves that there's no feud between my family and the princess's mansion. The capital is so small. It's hard for me not to know Shen Heqing."
"I really like Miaochun. It has nothing to do with Shen Heqing!"
When he said the last sentence, Yan Mingli stared at the old man Gu specifically. The old man Gu felt extremely guilty and subconsciously touched his nose.
The Dragon King: [I've been laughing since Yan Mingli appeared. It's so funny.]
Although the misunderstanding was successfully resolved, Yan Mingli kept looking at the old man Gu with a resentful look, forcing the old man Gu to quickly finish his breakfast and leave.
When Yan Mingli turned to look at Shen Baozhu, he found that she was also full. "Are you full? Then Baozhu, come with me to collect rent. Walk around more to make room for your stomach for a big meal at noon!"
...
The old man Gu slipped out of the backyard and started wandering around the Zuiyin Tower.
Seeing the waiter brewing the excellent West Lake Longjing tea early in the morning, the old man Gu raised his eyebrows. "Are there distinguished guests so early?"
If Yan Mingli was the owner of the Zuiyin Tower, then the old man Gu was like the old master. He liked to order a pot of tea and sit quietly in the corner of the lobby to drink.
The waiter was familiar with the old man Gu and knew that his real purpose was to watch the fun rather than just drink tea. So he chatted with him about the strange incident in the lobby yesterday.
"Sir, you really missed out yesterday!" The waiter deftly brewed the tea and said regretfully.
After briefly retelling the strange incident in the lobby yesterday, the waiter didn't stop his actions. He carried the tea up to the third floor and placed it in the private room. The old man Gu also followed him up to the third floor.
The waiter concluded, "That sneaky-looking man later obviously wasn't a good person. He didn't match that girl at all!"
The old man Gu listened with great interest. Since there was not much work to do early in the morning, he turned around and pulled the waiter into the next private room. The two of them carefully analyzed yesterday's strange incident and finally agreed that the girl was really pitiful.
Seeing that the time was about right, the waiter patted the dust off his body and prepared to go outside to wait for the distinguished guests. "Stop chatting. I have to go and welcome the distinguished guests. That person is the former prime minister... Sir, do you know about the case of swapping the dragon for a phoenix in the Yong'an Marquis Mansion and the female marquis?"
The old man Gu had been out of the capital for a while and had just returned recently. He shook his head.
The waiter looked at the outside and asked hesitantly, "What about Shen Yunfeng being struck by lightning?"
The old man Gu shook his head again.
Seeing that the old man Gu didn't even know this, the waiter couldn't help but sit down again.
The waiter started from the incident of Shen Yunfeng being struck by lightning. He described it vividly, especially the scene of Shen Yunfeng being struck by lightning.
When he heard that even the emperor and the empress had left the palace to watch, the old man Gu's eyebrows twitched. "It can't be fake, right? The emperor was in the palace, while Shen Yunfeng was outside. Could it be that Shen Yunfeng had some special ability to withstand the lightning until the emperor came out?"
"Ouch! Sir, you've asked the right person. I saw it with my own eyes that day..." The waiter showed off for a while and suddenly realized that he had missed someone. His mood became even more excited.
Because he described it in such detail, by the time the waiter finished talking about the incident of Shen Yunfeng being struck by lightning, it was already getting late. He hurriedly went downstairs to welcome the guests.
The old man Gu sat in the private room. When he wanted to open the door and go out, he suddenly saw someone rushing into the next private room.
What did the waiter say just now? The distinguished guest was the former prime minister, Shen Qingshan. The old man Gu knew Shen Qingshan, and the person just now was obviously not him.
The old man Gu didn't hesitate. He turned around, closed the door tightly, and pressed his ear against the wall of the private room to start eavesdropping.