The sugar shop is open on the edge of the Bianhe River, and there are two huge wangzi on the left and one on the right in front of the door, one on the left reads: "The first sweetness in the world", and the other on the right reads "Snow Sugar". Xu Ping's aesthetic level is not good, and I can't see what is good about this word, anyway, it is all from the name.

Xu Zheng rented a small courtyard nearby as a place for himself and Zhang Sanniang to stay, the place is not big, the rent in the capital is too expensive, and he can't afford to rent it if it's big. Fortunately, this is also a wharf, there are all kinds of cheap hotels, Xu Ping found a hotel close to home to settle the villagers, and then went to the sugar shop with Xiuxiu to have a look.

At this time, it was winter, the Bianhe River was shallow, and there were no boats in the river, but the avenue by the river was full of people. Along the riverbank, there are shops of various guilds such as fruit shops and sugar shops, which are particularly lively.

Xiuxiu looked around, she had never seen such a lively scene, she just felt that a pair of eyes was not enough. When he arrived at his shop, Xu Ping said to Xiuxiu: "Look, this is our shop in the capital." ”

Xiuxiu saw it and whispered: "Why is it not as big as the restaurant in Baisha Town?" ”

Xu Ping smiled: "This is the place where the goods are shipped, where can it be compared with the restaurant?" ”

Tomorrow is the winter solstice, at this time the royal street has been closed, and a short distance is the state bridge, and the road has come to an end.

Xiuxiu looked at the royal street as wide as the square, and muttered in a low voice: "Such a good road, wide and flat, why don't you let people go!" ”

Xu Ping said: "That's the Royal Street, where the emperor walks, where can ordinary people walk casually?" You don't know, Kaifeng City is divided into two by this street, and some relatives live in the east and west cities, and they don't get along with each other. We only come once in a while, so there's nothing to complain about! ”

Xiuxiu was surprised: "Don't you usually let this road go?" ”

Xu Ping said: "That's not it, if it's a normal time, people come and go, and there are many people doing all kinds of small businesses, it's very lively." ”

Xiuxiu let out a sigh: "That's okay." Otherwise, if the two families live across the street, but it is like dozens of roads apart, wouldn't it be miserable. ”

Not to mention this time, even in Xu Ping's previous life, the leader had to close the road when he traveled, and tomorrow the emperor will take his ministers to sacrifice heaven and earth, and it is not a matter of sealing this road for a day or two. However, this royal street is the right way for the palace to go out, and the number of times it has been closed a year is a bit much, which makes it a little inconvenient for the people in the east and west cities.

After seeing the royal street, Xu Ping took Xiuxiu back to his store and drank saliva to rest.

When I entered the shop, a clean and tidy guy greeted me and asked enthusiastically: "The guest officer has worked the road, how many catties of sugar do you want to bring today?" ”

This is the general number of businesses, whether you know it or not, let's set it first.

Xu Ping said: "My name is Xu Ping, I am the little proprietor here, I was playing on the road, I was tired of walking, and I came to ask for a cup of tea." ”

The little guy listened and hurriedly said, "It turned out to be a petty official, and I will take you to see Director Lin." ”

Xu Ping and Xiuxiu followed the little maid, turned the counter and came to an elegant room.

It can be seen that this is a special place to receive distinguished guests, one-color hardwood furniture, calligraphy and paintings hanging on the four walls, all from the handwriting of famous artists, valuable and valuable.

There was a table of eight immortals in the room, and two people were sitting at this time. A man in his forties, wearing a green shirt, with a bit of bookish atmosphere, is none other than Director Lin on duty today. On the guest seat opposite him was a young man of only fifteen or sixteen years old, with fair skin, dressed in regular clothes, and looking a little shy.

There is no need to ask, the one sitting with Director Lin is the little chamberlain from the palace that Zhang Tianrui said.

Seeing a living eunuch for the first time, Xu Ping was also a little curious, and couldn't help but take a few more looks.

At this time, the men waiting for the emperor's family in the palace are not called eunuchs, they are generally called chamberlains, and they are generally called Xiaohuangmen like the young ones in front of them. The group of servants in the Song Dynasty was far less majestic than the previous generation of Tang Dynasty, nor was it as strong as the social presence in the later Ming and Qing dynasties, of course, except for the era of Emperor Daojun, whose brain was kicked by a donkey.

The Song courtiers were more like normal people, and the emperor himself regarded them as a special kind of subordinate rather than as a private minion. At this time, in addition to serving in the palace, the chamberlain did everything after getting the favor, those who went out to lead the troops to fight, those who supervised wine and taxes, and even those who were the governors of the prefecture and county, basically they could do it if they were capable of the military ministers. Anyway, the status of the martial artists is not high, everyone is half a catty, and they don't feel that they really have anything less than others. Of course, the quality is uneven, and there are those who have made meritorious contributions, and there are even more who have contributed to the disaster.

The servants with a little status will start a family, adopt their sons when conditions permit, and inherit their own careers in addition to their own retirement. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the biggest source of the inner servant was the adopted son of the inner servant, generation after generation, which is also a major feature of the times.

As for Zhang Tianrui's remark that this little waiter didn't know who colluded with someone to find trouble with the sugar shop, Xu Ping was not interested in caring about this kind of thing. Joke, he came up with technology to cooperate, of course, this kind of thing has to be solved by Li Duanyi, everything has to be done by himself, what is he looking for a partner to do.

And everyone can see that this little chamberlain is just here to find out the news, and no one really takes him seriously. Since Emperor Zhenzong of the previous dynasty, he has strictly ordered that the procurement in the palace must go through the miscellaneous purchasing affairs under the three divisions, and it is not allowed to go to the private department without permission. Of course, there are policies and countermeasures, and private purchases in the palace have never been prohibited, but it is impossible to bypass the three divisions for bulk purchases, and at this time, the emperor's private treasury has not completely escaped the control of the three divisions, and no one has settled the bill for random purchases. As for the palace maid buying a sugar gourd, which concubine thought of eating fast food outside the palace, the third division was not interested in caring about it, but thousands of catties of white sugar came out of the mouth of a small yellow door, and there was no evidence, and it would be hellish if someone believed him.

This kind of thing is to quickly find out the person who instructed him, and the two sides will talk under the table, whether it is peace or war, it depends on the other party's asking price and their own strength.

When Director Lin saw Xu Ping, he hurriedly got up and saluted: "Why is the little official free today?" ”

Xu Ping said: "I went into the city today to celebrate the festival with my father and mother, and I was tired of walking on the road, so I just arrived at the store and came in to ask for a cup of tea." The supervisor is self-dedicated. ”

Director Lin introduced the small yellow door opposite to Xu Ping: "This is Pavilion Chief Zhou in the palace, come to the store to talk about something." ”

When the little yellow door heard this, he hurriedly stood up and said to Xu Ping: "I'm Zhou Qing, and my boss wants to let me come and talk about some business with your store." ”

Xu Ping looked at him with a cramped expression, spitting and spitting, where did he have the momentum to blackmail? sighed in his heart, this must have been forced out by a powerful chamberlain, and it was not easy to eat anywhere. If you are unlucky and are caught by the imperial court as a typical example, it is good to beat the board, and it is nothing to lose your head. Fortunately, now that the queen mother is in power, the woman's problem is to protect the short, and their inner servants are living better, if they are replaced by a temperamental emperor in power, because the inner servants who came out of the fox and fake tiger power were killed by the sticks, they are not one or two.

Xu Ping bowed his hand and replied: "Sit down in the cabinet, I'll take a sip of tea and leave." ”

The little guy came up with tea, and Xu Ping sat down and drank it slowly.

Director Lin and this little yellow door have finished speaking, and they are all sitting here at this time. One is waiting for the result of the master's house to inquire and come back, and the other is that there is no result and he does not dare to go back, and now there is one more Xu Ping on the table, and both of them are uncomfortable.

Especially Zhou Qing, the little yellow door, was not very old, and he entered the palace early, he didn't have much contact with people, and he had too little knowledge.

Xu Ping didn't mean anything else, but he felt that the man who was missing something was curious, and he finally saw the living one, so he inevitably looked at it twice. If it is said that he had everything in his previous life, it is that this creature has no soil for survival and has been buried in the dust of history.

Xu Ping drank a cup of tea, and the little yellow door opposite was already about to cry when he saw it.

Pushing the teacup, Xu Ping said to Supervisor Lin: "Thank you for the hospitality, you have guests here, I won't bother much, and I will leave." ”

Supervisor Lin often came when he was free, so he sent Xu Ping out of the door.

Seeing that Director Lin had returned to the store, Xiuxiu dared to ask Xu Ping in a low voice: "Official, what is the person who sat with you and the supervisor just now?" Why do you keep looking at him? ”

Xu Ping heard this, and said embarrassedly: "Even you can see that I see him?" This is not good, I want people to say that I am Meng Lang. As for the man, he was the chamberlain who served the emperor. ”

Xiuxiu didn't know what the waiter was doing, so she pouted: "What's so nice about that!" ”

The two were about to leave, when they suddenly saw an official on the opposite side riding a horse and leading two entourages straight to their own sugar shop. Xu Ping didn't know what was going to happen, so he stopped.

The official entered the shop, and the little servant greeted him and said, "Why is Ti Ha free, hurry up and worship tea inside!" ”

And he led the officer into the private room.

When Xu Pingzheng was confused, someone grabbed him from behind: "The little official is also here, come with me." ”

Xu Ping turned around and saw that it was Zhang Tianrui again, and he said in his heart why this person was always so sneaky.

The two hid in the crowd in front of a candy shop, and Xu Pingcai asked in a low voice: "Everything, do you understand who is responsible for it?" ”

Zhang Tianrui sighed and said, "I heard that Yan Wenying sent this little yellow door out. ”

Xu Ping looked dazed: "Who is Yan Wenying?" ”

"Oh," Zhang Tianrui didn't know how to explain for a while, "Anyway, it's a popular chamberlain in the palace, and there are connections inside and outside the palace." ”

Xu Ping still didn't understand: "He's an internal servant, why did he come to trouble us?" Not to mention that there is Taiwei Li who can clean him up, and he won't get any benefit from defeating us! ”

Zhang Tianrui sighed again: "That's true, but he has always been friendly with Lu Yijian, so I'm afraid that this family is behind it." ”

Lu Yijian is the nephew of Lu Mengzheng, the famous minister of the previous dynasty, and at this time he was a governor of political affairs, and this name Xu Ping also had an impression in his previous life, but what specific deeds were vague. But even with the knowledge of his life, he felt that Lu Yijian was impossible, and even he, a grass people, knew that Prime Minister Zhaowen and Prime Minister Wang Qinruo almost swallowed his last breath, and it was the time of the big change of the court to make the political opponents seize the handle?

Seeing Xu Ping's face full of disbelief, Zhang Tianrui said again: "I also think it's impossible, Yan Wenying is insatiable by nature, and it is possible to collude with others to do this." ”

Xu Ping didn't want to guess, so he asked Zhang Tianrui: "Who is the official who entered the store just now?" Did you find the one to scare that little yellow door away? ”

Zhang Tianrui said with a smile: "That's Zhang Weiji, the senior official who is in charge of the goods in Beijing, who has always been friendly with me, and brought him here, first scaring the little waiter who doesn't know the height of the sky!" ”

It turned out to be another chamberlain, but this one has a lot of status and real power.

As soon as Zhang Tianrui's words fell, Xu Ping saw Zhou Qing, the little yellow door, rushing out of his shop, walking with his head down, and vaguely seeing him wiping his tears, and he didn't know what Zhang Weiji scolded him.