The cold wind was whistling in a low voice, and the half-green and half-yellow willow branches were flying in the bleak autumn wind, no longer having the vigor of a month ago.

It was overcast, and a few drops of rain occasionally fell in twos and threes. As far as the eye can see, there are only three or two boats on the Jinshui River, floating on the cool river.

Xu Ping leaned on the pillar of the "Drunkard Pavilion", and a fishing rod beside him stretched far into the Jinshui River, and the fishing line loomed in the autumn wind. Xu Ping didn't look at the fishing rod, but turned to look at the pavilion, looking lazy, peeling a peanut from time to time and throwing it into his mouth.

There were two people drinking in the pavilion, both in the prime of life, in their thirties.

There is a stone table between the two, a jar of wine on the table, and a few plates of side dishes such as peanuts and broad beans. Next to the table is a small briquette stove with a small iron pot on top of it, in which hot dishes such as bean skin and kelp are cooked. The two who were just drinking did not hold chopsticks, they just held the wine bowl in both hands, looked at each other, did not speak, signaled, and a small bowl of white wine dried up.

The one by the river is Shi Yannian. Naturally, after drinking the liquor brought by Li Duanyi, he fell in love with the taste, and when he had free time, he rode here to drink. The ban on alcohol is there, and Shi Yannian is not as famous as he was later, no one gave him privileges, and he had to travel dozens of miles to come over because of his alcohol addiction.

Several kinds of wine were named by Shi Yannian, but the cheapest one he used Xu Ping's name and named it "drunkard", which means that this is the wine that real drunkards drink.

finally met a character whose name Xu Ping had heard in Qiancheng, and he was also treated very favorably. Because the shed was full of boatmen and coolies, he was a little embarrassed as a scholar inside, so he specially built this pavilion by the river as a seat for people who love to be quiet.

The three characters "Drunkard Pavilion" on the pavilion are Shi Yannian's handwriting, and a couplet is written next to it: "Everyone who comes is a drunkard, save wine and go to Huangquan."

Xu Ping didn't understand why this person was so angry, and ghosts and immortals often talked about it. Fortunately, this kind of anger is integrated into the gentlemanly style of Confucianism, and his character is not violent, but has a different taste.

Shi Yannian has a rough personality, is informal, has friends with three religions and nine streams, and does not look at people differently because of their status. There are many people here, and they are also familiar with Xu Ping, and it is not because Xu Ping is the son of a merchant family that they look down on him, and the two sometimes drink two glasses.

This person is a real drunkard, Xu Ping's amount of alcohol is only average, no matter how bold he is, he doesn't dare to really drink with him, so he can only accompany him occasionally.

The other person is Liu Qian, a friend of Shi Yannian, who is also famous for his ability to drink.

Liu Qian is a native of Jingdong, and when his term of office has arrived, he came to the capital to elect a vacancy. wanted to choose a mother close to home to take care of, and it took a few months to finally wait for the vacancy in Penglai County, and finally took it down, and was about to set off for his post, Shi Yannian specially brought him here to drink and see him off.

The selection of officials in the Song Dynasty is very interesting. The court of judges will publish the list of vacant positions, and the requirements for the post will be specified one by one, and the qualified officials will write a letter and recommend themselves according to the content of the list. Popular positions are often contested by many people, and when the conditions are similar, it depends on everyone's relationships and financial means. As for those unpopular positions and places, there are often cases where no one pays attention to them for months or even years, and the court of judges will lower the requirements, and before anyone pays attention to them, they will be lowered again, and those that are particularly unpopular will be lowered and hung there. For example, in the area of Guangnan West Road, many counties are unwilling to go, and there are many vacancies. The Song Dynasty generally did not allow officials to serve in their hometowns, with the exception of Guangxi, and the status of the township Gongjin Shi was considered to be high.

Shi Yannian saw off Liu Qian's wine, and also invited Xu Ping to the table for a drink, Xu Ping refused anyway, preferring to just watch from the side.

These two are too good to drink.

They drank the lowest class of "drunkards", because Shi Yannian didn't have much money, and he couldn't drink all the money with his drinking.

As soon as the wine was served, the two of them first drank ten bowls in a row, said a few words, and said all the brotherhood in a few words. After that, it's a dry drink, bowl after bowl, without even a word, not to mention eating.

Fortunately, the bowl used to sell liquor now is customized by Xu Ping Tuo Sang Yi in Ruzhou, a small bowl of Ru porcelain, if the original big bowl is still used, these two drunkards can't bear it.

Xu Ping counted the two of them on the side, and now they have drunk twelve bowls, each of them is already more than a pound, and their faces have not changed.

Seeing that the two of them poured wine again, Xu Ping said: "The two officials don't drink dry, but also eat some food." ”

Shi Yannian looked at Xu Ping and replied: "The little master said this badly, how can the food be good with wine." If you eat the food, you will have no place to put the wine. ”

Xu Ping really couldn't understand the logic of this drunkard, so he just shook his head: "Wine and food, wine and food, it can't be separated, and it's not interesting to eat just one thing." If you don't like what is on the table, I'll get you a plate of mutton, and you'll be warmed up when it's cold. The officials are old customers, and I will send them to you. ”

Shi Yannian said with a smile: "If you want to eat mutton, how many of us can't eat in the capital?" I'm here to drink. The little master had a heart and brought us a bottle of good wine to eat. ”

Xu Ping doesn't care about this, but Xu is a businessman who calculates accounts carefully, and one yard is one yard. Besides, the wine shop is managed by the supervisor Lu Pan, and he has to pay an account to Xu Zheng every day, and Xu Ping is not easy to take it around. But when Shi Yannian said it, Xu Ping was embarrassed to refuse, and finally made friends with a historical celebrity, what is a few bottles of wine.

Back at the wine shop, Xu Ping took two two-liter bottles of sorghum Daqu, and took two pieces of braised pork from the boiling iron pot and put them on a plate. In order not to embarrass Lu Pan, Xu Ping paid the money out of his own pocket.

Cooking braised pork and pork liver in a large pot with snacks, as well as using a briquette stove to heat some tofu skin and kelp shreds, etc., were all Xu Ping's ideas, which he learned from a street shop in his previous life. This liquor shop is the business of people who work hard, and these things are popular.

Although due to the influence of Shi Yannian, there are occasional literati with bold personalities from Tokyo City, but the number is not large, and the climate has not yet formed.

Back at the "Drunkard Pavilion", Xu Ping put the wine and meat on the table and said, "The weather is bad today, there are few customers in the store, these are all sent to you by me." ”

Liu Qian said: "Thank you to the master's family." ”

Xu Ping smiled: "You're welcome, Liu Guanren wants to go to Penglai to be the magistrate of the county, and he won't be able to drink the wine here in the future, just have a good time today!" It's cold, so warm up with some wine and meat. ”

said that he didn't eat vegetables, mostly because he was shy in his pocket. Since it was sent, the two of them were not polite, they ate two pieces of braised pork, opened the sorghum Daqu, poured it into a bowl and smelled it, and drank it all.

Xu Ping sat on the edge of the pavilion, watching the two of them eat Haisai, and sighed in his heart. This is the life of lower-level officials in this era, the local area is fine, there are many ways to get money, these petty officials in the capital, just rely on money to support their families, and it is not easy to live. Therefore, you must not have bad habits as an official, otherwise it will be very difficult to work hard at the bottom. Liu Qian is okay, there is a Jinshi who can't do it for a few years, so he will go out to be a magistrate, and his life will not be embarrassed anymore. After three more terms, you can enjoy being promoted to a middle-level official. Like Shi Yannian, the Jinshi was still taken away, and I don't know when I will be able to get out.

It was overcast and I didn't know the time. Shi Yannian and Liu Qian drank a bottle of wine, and finally had a slight sense of wine, so they said goodbye to Xu Ping.

Xu Ping asked the little maid to wrap the rest of the dishes for them, and even told them to take away the remaining bottle of wine, and sent the two of them on the horse and headed for Tokyo City.

The sparse raindrops in the autumn wind fall with a chill, making the world even colder.

A thin figure shrunk down and walked slowly along the main road by the river, until he walked into Xu Ping's shop.

Xu Ping stood in the "Drunkard Pavilion", looking at this person, his eyes narrowed slightly, and the person he was waiting for finally came.