The next day, Qian Renfu brought Qian Jiahai to Changsheng Tavern early in the morning to beg for forgiveness with thorns on their backs.
Gu Changsheng was slightly speechless looking at this pair of silly father and son. Others who came to apologize with thorns on their backs were there to make amends, but these two were different. The father and son were both bare-chested, each carrying a bundle of thorns on their backs. However, the thorns seemed to have been intentionally blunted, otherwise, carrying them like that would definitely cause them to bleed non-stop.
Yao Xian, in disguise again, came out of the room and was stunned by the scene.
"What is this? Begging for forgiveness with thorns? But why are there no thorns on these branches?"
Yao Xian asked three questions in a row.
Upon hearing this, Qian Renfu couldn't help but blush. He believed that Gu Changsheng must be related to the royal family. After all, Gu was the imperial surname. Even if ordinary people's ancestors were named Gu, they would change their surname to avoid it. Therefore, from Gu Changsheng's surname, he concluded that Gu Changsheng was related to the royal family, and his status was not low, at least a leisurely prince. Otherwise, the city lord would not be so respectful to Gu Changsheng.
Yes, in Qian Renfu's eyes, the city lord's compliance with the rules in Changsheng Tavern was a sign of respect for Gu Changsheng, which was why he guessed that Gu Changsheng was a leisurely prince. A leisurely prince had no real power, but no matter what, he was still a prince, and although he had no rank, he was comparable to a first-rank official.
Although the Qian family was wealthy in Tianrao City, they knew the saying: the common people don't fight with officials, and officials don't fight with royalty. Now that his son had offended royalty, he was willing to beg for forgiveness with thorns if he could get the other party's forgiveness.
However, before coming, Qian Renfu hesitated again. The thorns on the branches were almost as long as his little finger. If they carried them on their backs like that, with dozens or hundreds of thorns piercing their bodies, could the father and son even survive to reach Changsheng Tavern?
After thinking it over, Qian Renfu came up with a compromise: remove the thorns from the branches and then beg for forgiveness with them.
However, to avoid being exposed, Qian Renfu had already thought of his excuse before coming. Now that Yao Xian pointed out that there were no thorns on the branches, he calmly said, "The humble one and my son were afraid that our blood would stain your place, so we removed the thorns from the branches."
"Actually, I don't mind the staining at all," Gu Changsheng said with a faint smile.
Gu Changsheng was, after all, an old monster who had lived for millions of years. Even without mind-reading, he could see through Qian Renfu's thoughts to a great extent, so his words were inevitably teasing.
However, he really didn't know that Qian Renfu regarded him as a member of the Nanxiang Kingdom's royal family.
"Uh…"
The Qian father and son were immediately shocked. When Qian Renfu saw the smile on Gu Changsheng's face, he knew that Gu Changsheng was teasing them, and he was relieved.
Qian Renfu quietly gave Qian Jiahai a look. Qian Jiahai saw this and quickly knelt on the ground, saying, "I have eyes but couldn't recognize Mount Tai, and I looked down on people. I offended you yesterday, and I hope you will punish me."
As he spoke, he took off the thorns from his back, raised them with both hands, and signaled Gu Changsheng to use the thorns to beat him.
Gu Changsheng was speechless. He had no intention of arguing with a mortal brat.
Yao Xian, who was next to him, seemed to find this scene very interesting, so he moved a bench and sat aside, watching with great interest.
"Hey, Lao Gu, Lao Gu, I'm here to drink with you… Huh, are you guys putting on a show?"
At this moment, a slightly chubby, gray-haired old scholar-like man walked in, holding a jar of extremely luxuriously packaged wine in his hand, dusty as if he had just returned from a journey.
"City Lord?"
This old scholar-like man was the city lord of Tianrao City, a second-rank official of the Nanxiang Kingdom, Ouyang Ji!
Don't look at Ouyang Ji's appearance as an old scholar, but his military command is not weaker than those great generals in the court. Tianrao City is located on the coast of the sea, and there were always sea bandits harassing it in the past, causing the people of Tianrao City to live in misery. In the end, the young Ouyang Ji took office and served as the city lord of Tianrao City. At that time, Tianrao City was not as prosperous as it is now, but just a small county town, and Ouyang Ji was just a seventh-rank official.
But the young Ouyang Ji was high-spirited. After taking office, he not only led the army to strike hard at the sea bandits, but also took the initiative to lead the army to the sea bandits' base camp, destroying the sea bandits in one fell swoop, and was in the limelight for a while.
At the same time, Ouyang Ji's political skills were also very outstanding. After suppressing the sea bandits, Ouyang Ji developed Tianrao City's economy vigorously, adapting to local conditions. In just over ten years, he developed Tianrao City into a large city whose prosperity was not inferior to that of the royal capital.
And Qian Renfu also seized the opportunity during this period to become the wealthy family in Tianrao City, second only to the Li family.
It can be said that Ouyang Ji's contribution accounted for 80% of the Qian family's development.
Of course, not only that, Ouyang Ji's usual dress and attire all revealed his identity as a scholar. He had a wide range of knowledge, poetry, songs, and military strategies were all excellent.
Even in his early years, he created a magnificent "Sha Po Lang", which was regarded by the scholars of Nanxiang Kingdom as a must-read classic in this life. Even the military generals who always looked down on the literati were also impressed by the bold momentum expressed in "Sha Po Lang".
If Ouyang Ji's actions were not too upright, his resume would be enough to be among the first-rank officials and control a county, which was no small matter.
Tianrao City was just a city in a county.
Qian Renfu was also shocked to see Ouyang Ji, and he quickly wanted to bow and salute. However, he also had a bundle of thorns on his back, and he couldn't bow now.
"Eh, Master Qian, and your son, are you begging for forgiveness with thorns?" Ouyang Ji didn't care about saluting or not, but asked curiously.
"Uh…"
Qian Renfu didn't know what to say. To be honest, he was still very afraid of Ouyang Ji. His glorious deeds alone were enough to make ordinary people terrified.
"Hmm? Did you offend Lao Gu?" Ouyang Ji narrowed his eyes. Because he was old, his eyes were slightly turbid, but the turbidity shone with the light of wisdom.
He had experienced countless large and small things in his life, and coupled with Qian Jiahai's纨绔character being known throughout the city, he could guess roughly what happened just by looking at the scene in front of him.
"Lao Gu?"
Hearing Ouyang Ji's address to Gu Changsheng, two people present had reactions in their hearts.
Yao Xian curiously looked at Ouyang Ji, and found that Ouyang Ji was just an ordinary person, but he had a different temperament, a temperament she had never seen or heard of before.
And the other was naturally Qian Renfu. He was even more frightened when he heard Ouyang Ji call Gu Changsheng so affectionately. Gu Changsheng didn't look very old, but he could make Ouyang Ji call him Lao Gu, and he thought of a deeper level.
Ouyang Ji's integrity was well known. If Gu Changsheng was just an ordinary leisurely prince, Ouyang Ji would respect him, but he would definitely not call him so affectionately.
Unless Gu Changsheng's identity was more profound than he imagined.
Qian Renfu's heart was in a mess, and he didn't even notice Ouyang Ji looking at him.
In the end, Gu Changsheng broke the strange atmosphere.
