Welcoming Banquet

Night, Dingxiang Restaurant.

In the spacious hall, a dozen or so tables were arranged like a fan, but only a few assistants directly under the Judicial Assistant Magistrate, and the constables under Zhao Wuwei, sparsely occupied four tables in the corner.

At the center of the round table, only Sun Shaozong sat alone in the main seat, his sturdy figure swaying in the candlelight, giving off a sense of desolation.

In such a situation, it would be strange if the atmosphere of the banquet could be lively!

"Boss!"

A short and stout constable leaned his head to Zhao Wuwei's ear and said uneasily, "Looking at the scene today, it's unlikely that Assistant Magistrate Sun can gain a foothold in the yamen. We brothers..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Shut your stinky mouth!"

Zhao Wuwei scolded sternly, but in his heart, he was also in turmoil. He originally thought that at most, those officials would not give face, but who knew that even the clerks from various departments were nowhere to be seen.

Even when the former Assistant Magistrate and Administrator Liu were at odds, he had never seen the lower officials stand in line so uniformly.

Perhaps...

He really chose the wrong path?!

Zhao Wuwei vaguely regretted it, but when he thought of Sun Shaozong's words during the day, how dare he be indecisive?

Besides, he was already here, wouldn't leaving halfway make him look bad on both sides?

Weren't the others thinking the same way?

Each of them looked at the platter in front of them with empty stomachs, but only wanted to swallow a few pounds of regret medicine.

Just then, a waiter hurried to the main table, leaned over and whispered a few words in Sun Shaozong's ear. Sun Shaozong immediately stood up and said with a smile, "Everyone, a distinguished guest has come uninvited. How about going out with me to greet him?"

When everyone heard this, they thought he had invited 'external support'.

Although a welcome banquet is generally an internal gathering, it is not appropriate to invite outsiders to attend—but in the current embarrassing situation, it would be good to get through it. Who cares whether the person coming is an outsider or an insider?!

So the constables and assistants hurriedly followed Sun Shaozong with smiles on their faces to welcome the 'uninvited' distinguished guest.

Originally, they all thought that the person coming was either a military general with old ties to the Sun family, or a descendant of a noble family—but when they arrived outside the gate, they saw a middle-aged civil official sitting upright in a four-person sedan, wearing a red robe, jade belt, and a four-beam golden crown!

Just as everyone was surprised, they saw the middle-aged civil official get off the sedan, laugh heartily, and cup his hands, saying, "Brother, I didn't expect that we would enter the capital on the same boat, and in the future, we will be working in the same yamen. Although this old brother hasn't taken office yet, I can't wait to have a few cups of welcome wine with you!"

Working in the same yamen?

Those who were clever had already heard some clues from these words, and their faces were filled with ecstasy.

Those who were a little duller hadn't figured out the situation yet, but it didn't matter, because Sun Shaozong immediately revealed the answer.

He also laughed heartily and greeted him, bowing deeply to the end: "This humble officer Sun Shaozong, greets the Shuntian Vice-Prefect!"

It turned out that this middle-aged civil official was none other than Jia Yucun, who was about to take office as the Shuntian Vice-Prefect—no wonder those who guessed his identity would be ecstatic!

You must know that the Shuntian Vice-Prefect in Shuntian Prefecture is the only one qualified to contend with the Shuntian Prefect, and he also controls the assessment, rewards, and punishments of all officials from top to bottom. With this relationship, even if everyone in the entire yamen is against Sun Shaozong, he can still be as stable as Mount Tai!

Zhao Wuwei was so happy that snot bubbles came out of his nose, secretly thinking that his vision was indeed unique, and this bet was a sure win!

So he hurriedly led everyone forward to pay their respects.

"Hey~"

Jia Yucun raised an eyebrow in mock displeasure, reached out to pull Sun Shaozong up, and scolded, "I haven't taken office yet, what's the point of all this? I'm here today to celebrate your joyous occasion, my dear brother, not to flaunt official authority!"

Of course, that was just for show. If he really didn't want to flaunt his authority, why would he wear his official robes?

The two chatted and laughed as they returned to the main hall. Seeing the hall empty, Jia Yucun couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Why don't I see any colleagues? Could it be that I arrived too early?"

This is what you call professional acting!

With that expression and tone, who could tell that the two had already been secretly discussing things for over half an hour that afternoon?

Sun Shaozong secretly gave him a thumbs up and replied with a smile, "Administrator Liu may be feeling unwell—as for the other colleagues, perhaps they misremembered the time of the welcoming banquet."

Distinguishing Administrator Liu from the others was also a response that Sun Shaozong and Jia Yucun had discussed that afternoon.

Firstly, it was to turn the tables and isolate Liu Chongshan; secondly, Liu Chongshan was, after all, one of the three major 'department heads'. If he were present and challenged Jia Yucun, the play would be difficult to perform.

"If that's the case."

Jia Yucun turned around and smiled kindly at the constables and assistants, "Then I'll have to trouble you all to inform them again, and say that I'm here waiting—it's a good opportunity for me to get to know my colleagues at Sun's welcoming banquet."

With his 'waiting' here, which official would dare not to attend?!

Zhao Wuwei and the others responded spiritedly, leaving only three or five people to serve, while the rest scattered like birds and beasts to spread the word to the homes of various officials.

About half an hour later, people gradually arrived at the pavilion. The low-ranking clerks naturally quietly sat at the lower seats, but those with official positions had no way to hide and could only bite the bullet and step forward to pay their respects to the Shuntian Vice-Prefect and Judicial Assistant Magistrate.

Jia Yucun, however, only chatted and laughed with Sun Shaozong, paying little attention to others. To whomever came, he only said a faint 'sit', and then said nothing more—but it was precisely this indifferent attitude that made everyone feel uneasy and restless.

Seeing the hall bustling with people, even Chen Zhichuang from the Experience Department sat at the lower seat with a smile on his face.

Sun Shaozong then smiled slightly and said, "Brother Yucun, almost everyone has arrived, why don't we start the banquet?"

"Hold on."

Jia Yucun waved his hand, glanced around at the green-robed officials at the table, and suddenly asked loudly, "Who prepared this welcoming banquet today?"

With just this one sentence, the flower hall became so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping!

After a long while, a person on the side stood up with a face full of cold sweat and said tremblingly, "It... it was prepared by this humble officer... Zhou Da, the inspector of the Judicial Department."

An inspector was just a minor official who hadn't even entered the ranks. Not to mention the Shuntian Vice-Prefect, even Sun Shaozong could easily crush him!

If it weren't for the fact that the civil officials were united against outsiders this time, he wouldn't have dared to get involved in this kind of thing—but who could have imagined that a Shuntian Vice-Prefect would suddenly jump out to support Sun Shaozong?!

Zhou Da was now regretting it to the core.

"Since you were responsible for preparing the welcoming banquet, it's already bad enough that you didn't wait here early, but how could you even get the time wrong?!" Jia Yucun's face became more and more gloomy as he spoke, and he finally slammed the table and shouted, "Could it be that you are also so careless when handling homicide cases?!"

Thump!

Zhou Da knelt straight down on the ground and was about to cry out for injustice, "Your Honor, please be aware, this humble one really..."

"Zhou Da!"

Lin Delu, the registrar, jumped up and interrupted Zhou Da's words sternly, "What are you doing?! You've made it so that all the colleagues in the yamen almost missed Master Sun's welcoming banquet!"

The focus of his words was on the four words 'all the colleagues in the yamen'. The meaning was actually to remind Zhou Da: if you tell the truth, you will offend all the colleagues up and down!

If Zhou Da had a rank of seven or eight, he might not be afraid of these words, but who told him that he was just a minor official who hadn't even entered the ranks?

After weighing it, he could only bite the bullet and say, "Please forgive me, Vice-Prefect, I was just confused for a moment and made such a mistake."

"Humph."

Jia Yucun snorted coldly, and Zhou Da trembled three times. Just as he thought a great disaster was about to befall him, he heard Sun Shaozong laugh and say, "Brother Yucun, this is just a private banquet after all, not some important official business. I think we should forgive him this time—how about just fining him three cups of wine?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Da was so moved that he repeatedly thanked him.

Who knew that when the three cups of wine were placed in front of him, they turned out to be three half-jin bronze goblets, and inside was not the usual low-alcohol rice wine, but genuine spirits!

Zhou Da's face immediately changed color again, but under the gaze of Jia Yucun and Sun Shaozong, how could he dare to refuse?

He could only pinch his nose and pour the three cups of spirits down his throat one by one.

After drinking this one and a half jin, he staggered forward, intending to salute, but who knew that as he bent over, he directly plunged under the table, mumbled a few words with a mouthful of mud, and then fell silent.

"Serve the dishes, set out the wine!"

In the silence, Sun Shaozong shouted.

The wine and dishes were brought up like flowing water, and everyone exchanged cups, appearing 'delighted,' but no one dared to glance at Zhou Da.