On the large desk in the warm pavilion, there was a big piece of rice paper.
Cang Xuan, dressed in a sky-blue robe, stood behind the desk. He gently rolled up his sleeves, dipped the large writing brush in his hand in the inkstone, then gathered his energy, lifted the brush, and the ink splashed onto the rice paper. With a bold and unrestrained stroke, the three characters "Tianbao Zhai" leaped onto the paper with astonishing momentum.
Seeing these three characters, the girl stopped grinding the ink. Her face showed a look of extreme satisfaction.
She had thought long and hard before inviting Cang Xuan to inscribe for her shop.
The plaque of Hanyu Zhai was written by the Prince of Jin. Although the Prince of Jin was not very old, he was excellent at calligraphy, which helped Hanyu Zhai gain great popularity.
Since her shop was to outshine Hanyu Zhai, she couldn't be careless about the signboard.
If one were to ask which official in the Great Chu was the most famous, it would undoubtedly be Cang Xuan, the chief minister of the cabinet, not to mention that he had been enfeoffed as a county prince. With his calligraphy as the signboard, ordinary people wouldn't dare to provoke easily.
However, she also considered that his reputation was not very good at present. The shop might be affected by his bad name and no one would come.
But he wouldn't always bear the stigma of being a "treacherous official".
By the time he cleared his name, it would be the day when their reputation soared.
Surely, this day wouldn't be far away.
Out of curiosity about Cang Xuan's calligraphy, the three brothers of the Su family and Wei Linlang gathered on both sides of the table, peeping. Seeing the three characters, they didn't exchange words but nodded in unison.
This scoundrel's calligraphy was indeed as good as Yuanbao had said.
Cang Xuan straightened up and looked at Su Yuanyuan. "Well, the owner of Tianbao Zhai, are you satisfied with these characters?"
After the ink had dried, Su Yuanyuan picked up the rice paper, looked at it carefully against the window, and two dimples appeared on her face as she smiled.
"I'm very satisfied. Thank you, Brother Yunjian! When the shop opens, you must come to support me and Third Brother."
Cang Xuan tapped the girl on the head gently with his ink jade fan. "Support? I think you want me to guarantee the safety of your shop, don't you?"
Everyone burst into laughter, and the estrangement of the past was completely eliminated.
The sun was gradually setting, and it was getting dark. When Su Qing and Mrs. Mo sent someone to call them for dinner, Cang Xuan realized that he had spent the whole day in the Duke Yong's Mansion.
He thought carefully and found that he hadn't done any serious work today. He either helped Su Yuanyuan inscribe or visited the famous weapons collected by Su Huaiyuan and the carvings of Su Huaisheng.
It felt as if he had returned to the time when he first met them in the Yandang Mountain Villa under the name of "Yunjian".
Without any worries or restraints.
This unprecedented feeling made Cang Xuan completely let down his guard. He indulged himself like an ordinary person, drinking heartily with Su Qing and the three brothers of the Su family without any scruples.
At the banquet, Su Qing used the Daozi Wine from the Northern Desert to entertain Cang Xuan.
Although it wasn't the first time for Cang Xuan to drink this wine, the last time he had secretly sneaked into the cellar of the Duke Yong's Mansion to taste it. The feeling was completely different from being openly entertained by the host.
How should he describe it?
His glazed eyes squinted slightly. He looked around, his eyes sweeping over Su Qing and the three brothers of the Su family one by one. A touch of warmth appeared at the corners of his eyes.
Perhaps it was a feeling of home.
The strong aroma of Daozi Wine filled the air. When they were drinking to their hearts' content, the drunken Su Huaiyuan walked up to Cang Xuan and put his arm around his shoulder.
"E... Elder Brother..."
Su Qing, who was a bit drunk, was so startled that half of his drunkenness disappeared. He quickly said, "Yuan'er, let go quickly. What are you doing?"
Su Huaiyuan mumbled, "I just want to talk to Elder Brother. This is our business between brothers. Why are you butting in, Father?"
Su Qing was left speechless by his words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Cang Xuan gave Su Qing a reassuring look, then smiled at Su Huaiyuan. "What do you want to say to me, Brother Yuan? Just speak your mind. We are family now. There's no need to be cautious."
"Elder Brother, I heard that you went to 'Manluo Yao' some days ago and took a woman away. She said she was your fiancée. Is that true?"
Su Huaisheng, who had not paid much attention to his second brother's actions, was startled when he heard this question. He looked up at Cang Xuan.
Feeling that all the Su family members were staring at him, Cang Xuan tightened his grip on the wine cup slightly. He raised his lips and smiled.
"It's true."
Hearing this, everyone showed different expressions on their faces.
"Elder Brother, you're already engaged? Which family's daughter is your fiancée?" Su Huaiyuan immediately asked curiously.
Su Huaisheng squinted his eyes. "Elder Brother, don't you have no parents? When was this engagement made?"
Su Huaichen frowned even more. "Manluo Yao is a brothel..."
How could a good man visit a brothel?
He never thought that Elder Brother, who looked so imposing, was so promiscuous in private. He mustn't learn from him in this regard.
Cang Xuan cleared his throat. "However..."
Everyone immediately looked at him again, eager to hear what else he had to say.
"It was just a show for others. It's not as the rumors say." Cang Xuan said with a faint smile.
"In recent years, there has been a case of a missing woman in Shengjing City every once in a while. The government office investigated for three months but found nothing. I did a divination, and the divination pointed to a magistrate named Jing in the government office. After some investigation, I found that he had tampered with the case files in the government office, confusing everyone's vision, and this became an unsolved mystery."
"And that day, it happened to be the day when he went to Manluo Yao for pleasure. In order to find his flaw, I staged a play with someone. I didn't expect it to spread so widely."
After hearing this, Su Huaisheng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It turned out to be a misunderstanding. It seemed that Elder Brother was still single and had no engagement with any woman.
Su Huaiyuan was indignant. "I didn't expect this magistrate in the government office to be so despicable! It's a pity that he didn't meet me. Otherwise, I would have cut him into pieces on the spot!"
Su Huaichen thought for a while, then toasted Cang Xuan. "Since Elder Brother says we are family, Chen wants to know if the prophecy about the northwest that Elder Brother saw when observing the sky was true? Will we really..."
This question was not only curious to Su Huaichen but also to Su Huaiyuan and Su Huaisheng.
Su Qing already knew the inside story of the prophecy from Cang Xuan, but he knew that his three stupid sons still cared about this matter.
Su Qing drank the wine in his cup while looking at Cang Xuan with his eyes, wondering how he would explain it to his three sons.