Made Contact

As soon as Chen Siwu blurted out those words, Xie Xian immediately focused his gaze.

He saw not far away a tall, straight young man with rather handsome features, entering while embracing a serving girl and flirting with her.

His other hand held a fan, constantly fanning himself. The fan face bore a poem.

Just looking at his appearance, he didn't seem like a merchant, but rather had the bearing of a scholar.

This person was precisely one of those on the original investigation list.

Haiyuan City, Du Lingfeng!

"Shopkeeper Chen, take a good look for me. Are you certain this person is definitely the one you saw back then, the salt dealer who traded with the Sun Family's shopkeeper?"

Chen Siwu stopped eating at this point, squinting his eyes as he looked toward Du Lingfeng.

"No mistake! I have a deep impression of him!"

"The Sun Family's steward has never been that polite to anyone before. It must be him!"

Xie Xian nodded solemnly, "Mm, good! You eat first. Don't worry about anything else. If anyone mentions any expenses, just say to put it on my account."

With that, he stood up and walked toward Du Lingfeng.

Xie Xian didn't hesitate. He walked directly in front of Du Lingfeng and cupped his hands in greeting.

Du Lingfeng, who had been embracing the serving girl and flirting, suddenly froze when he saw someone approach and cup their hands toward him.

He asked puzzledly, "What can this brother do for me?"

"I am Xie Xian, the shopkeeper of Fenghua Tower."

Du Lingfeng looked him up and down, briefly recalling.

He did have memories of Xie Xian. Although he had never seen him in person, as a regular customer of Fenghua Tower, he had heard of him to some extent.

Why would he suddenly come to see him?

Du Lingfeng became somewhat wary, pushing away the serving girl in his arms and returning the greeting to Xie Xian, "So it's Shopkeeper Xie, I've long admired your reputation! My name is Du Lingfeng."

"I wonder what business Shopkeeper Xie has with me?"

Xie Xian smiled slightly, "Brother Du, don't be suspicious. I have no other intentions."

"It's just that I heard Brother Du is a regular customer of our Fenghua Tower, but I'm told by the staff that you've never joined as a member here, so I wanted to ask Brother Du if there's anything lacking in our Fenghua Tower's hospitality?"

Du Lingfeng immediately breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, showing a smile, "So that's it!"

"Shopkeeper Xie is overthinking! Fenghua Tower has truly opened my eyes! I can say it feels like home, with nothing unsatisfactory."

"It's just that I'm not from Jianjiang, so I won't be staying here long. I might leave after some time."

Xie Xian lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then said "regretfully," "I see, it's such a pity that Brother Du can't stay long in Jianjiang."

"Looking at Brother Du's attire, might you be a scholar? There are still few scholars who come to Fenghua Tower."

Although Fenghua Tower was an entertainment venue, its consumption was truly too high, with almost no scholars coming.

Ordinary scholars couldn't afford it, those with official positions didn't dare come, and those with backgrounds were also being careful since the new official took office.

Speaking of scholars, Du Lingfeng's face clearly showed a trace of pride.

"Haha, Shopkeeper Xie is too kind. I'm just a down-and-out xiucai who now does some leather goods business."

Really a scholar! And he went into business, how rare!

A flash of disappointment crossed Xie Xian's face, "Oh, I see. Then I won't disturb Brother Du further."

Seeing his expression, Du Lingfeng suddenly felt his self-esteem was wounded and quickly called out to Xie Xian, who had already turned around.

With slight displeasure, he said, "Shopkeeper Xie, what do you mean by this?"

Xie Xian turned back with a bitter smile, "To be honest, I am actually a juren from the eighth year of Jinghe. When I saw Brother Du had a scholarly air about him, I couldn't help but come over to chat."

"But hearing that Brother Du is both a scholar and a businessman... it was my rudeness."

"We're both fallen people at the ends of the earth, why should we have known each other before meeting?"

Xie Xian's face full of bitterness left Du Lingfeng stunned, muttering, "We're both fallen people at the ends of the earth, why should we have known each other before meeting... good poem, good poem..."

This Shopkeeper Xie is a person with a story!

The suffering of a scholar turning to business, who could understand it?

Not only looked down upon by other scholars, but also looked down upon by other merchants. One could say he couldn't fit into either side.

Now this Shopkeeper Xie in front of him was actually the same type of person as himself, and even a juren!

That was truly rare!

As Xie Xian turned to leave again, Du Lingfeng quickly grabbed him, saying urgently, "Brother Xie, please stay! Brother Xie has such good literary talent! Could you have a chat with me?"

Xie Xian turned back to look at him again, hesitating before nodding.

He then found a nearby seat to sit down. Du Lingfeng immediately sat across from him and asked without hesitation, "Brother Xie, since you're a juren, why are you doing business here?"

Xie Xian closed his eyes, shook his head gently, and recalled painfully, "Don't laugh at me, Brother Du. Although I'm a juren, I've been poor since childhood and oppressed by local gentry. I originally thought that passing the juren examination would allow me to turn my life around, but I didn't expect the gentry family to also have powerful people. With nowhere else to go, I came to Jianjiang to do business. A man in the jianghu cannot help himself! Sigh"

Mm? Well said, really well said!

Du Lingfeng sighed, "Brother Xie, what you said really resonates with me. A man in the jianghu cannot help himself, truly golden words!"

"However, I'm different from Brother Xie. I really couldn't pass the juren examination... but wanting wealth and status in this world, I could only become a merchant."

"That line you just said, 'We're both fallen people at the ends of the earth,' is there a complete poem?"

"Forgive my bluntness, with Brother Xie's poetic talent, going into business is truly a waste!"

"If this poem could be spread in its entirety, it would certainly shake the world!"

How the hell would I know what the complete version is? It's all stuff I heard from Master!

Master composes poems line by line, and I don't even know where he copies them from.

Fine that he copies, but he doesn't even copy complete ones!

You can tell from childhood his studying wasn't that great. Asked him twice how much he paid for his jinshi degree and he won't tell me...

I'll ask again when I get back!

Xie Xian was complaining internally while having to deal with Du Lingfeng verbally, "To be honest, I only had this inspiration when I encountered an old friend by chance, feeling moved after drinking. After sobering up, I could never continue it, so there's only this one line."

Du Lingfeng immediately said regretfully, "I see, what a pity then."

"I never expected there would be someone in Jianjiang City with the same experiences as me. Meeting Brother Xie today is indeed fortunate."

"However, Brother Xie is a juren, while I'm only a small xiucai..."

Before he could finish, Xie Xian's eyes widened, "Brother Du! You and I are both fallen people. Do we still need to discuss high and low rankings?"

"The matters of earlier years have long since vanished like smoke to me... Since I've met Brother Du today, why don't I play host and we have a good chat?"

Du Lingfeng blinked, somewhat surprised.

He hadn't expected this Shopkeeper Xie to be such a straightforward person!

Slapping the table, he said heartily, "Good! Being able to meet Brother Xie today is truly fortunate. However, it wouldn't be appropriate for Brother Xie to play host. How about I play host instead!"

Xie Xian showed a slight smile, "Brother Du has forgotten? This Fenghua Tower is where I have the say. How could I let you spend money!"

"Someone! Bring good wine and food!"