Knock, knock, knock.
A burst of knocking came from the second floor of the tavern.
This tavern had a second floor and stood not far from the Lu Residence. At the knock, there was a deathly silence. After a long while, the tightly shut door creaked open, and a man poked his head out, asking coldly, "What are you knocking for?"
The waiter jumped in fright and hurriedly said, "Sir, the wine you asked for..."
"Enough, give it to me!" Seeing that the waiter was indeed carrying a small wine jar, the middle-aged man who had opened the door snatched it away, stepped back inside, and slammed the private room's door shut.
The waiter wore a miserable expression, but he did not dare argue.
As he went downstairs, the proprietor had just finished attending to other customers. Seeing the waiter come down, he asked softly, "How was it? Did the officials upstairs scold you?"
Although both men wore plain clothes, anyone running a tavern on a bustling street needed sharp eyes. At a glance, the proprietor had recognized one as Qi Huashan, the county's patrol inspector, and the other as the county registrar.
Neither official looked particularly pleased.
Qi Huashan in particular had been coming and going within the past two hours, no one knew what he was busy with. The proprietor was worried too, afraid the men upstairs might be handling some unspeakable business and drag the tavern into it...
To put it bluntly, undercurrents had been surging through the commandery lately, and quite a few things had happened.
Officials of such unremarkable rank had especially fallen in great numbers. Before the truly powerful, they were like bugs to be kneaded at will.
Yet for someone like him who ran a tavern, no official could be offended. Even if