Chapter 1296: Chapter 1296: Unexpected Visitor

During the meal, Ouyang Feifei and Yang Qingyin abandoned their usual reserve and became quite lively.

Although there was no overt rivalry, their discreet competition never ceased.

Luo Ziling was not the protagonist of the day; the protagonist of tonight’s dinner was Luo Liansheng.

Luo Liansheng was in a good mood today, and fueled by the compliments and flattery from Ouyang Feifei and Yang Qingyin, he drank quite a bit.

His alcohol tolerance was very good; he could drink at least three jin of yellow wine without any change in his facial expression.

Yang Xiaodong, Wang Zhenjun, Ye Xiaoli, and Wang Qing were of course relegated to the role of background, spending most of their time in silence or eating.

Even Yang Xiaodong and Wang Zhenjun, two typically chatty fellows, knew to keep their mouths shut during the meal, leaving the floor to Luo Liansheng, Luo Ziling, Ouyang Feifei, and Yang Qingyin.

After drinking some alcohol, Luo Liansheng became more talkative, reminiscing about the past in Yuezhou, his childhood and teenage years, and some amusing incidents before he left Yuezhou at the age of twenty-three.

As people age, they enjoy reminiscing about their younger days and are happy if someone listens.

Although Luo Liansheng and Luo Ziling lived together, Luo Liansheng rarely shared stories of his childhood and youth with Luo Ziling.

Many stories Luo Liansheng told were new to Luo Ziling, so he listened with great interest, interjecting comments from time to time.

Ouyang Feifei and Yang Qingyin were also very interested.

Even if they were not interested, they would still pretend to be, especially since Luo Liansheng’s stories were captivating and completely held their attention.

Under normal circumstances, if they attended such a banquet, Ouyang Feifei and Yang Qingyin would sit very straight, barely crack a smile, and eat very ladylike. Moreover, they might not even wish to attend a gathering of this sort.

Today, however, they shed any air of aloofness and laughed cheerfully like the girl next door, occasionally interjecting with naive questions.

This was utterly unbelievable in the eyes of Ye Xiaoli and Wang Qing.

They were somewhat indignant, feeling that their goddess-like masters should not behave this way.

The change in them was all because of Luo Ziling.

Annoyingly, Luo Ziling had even incited rivalry between the two.

However, Luo Liansheng’s storytelling was very moving and engaging, drawing everyone into his narratives.

Only after listening to Luo Liansheng did Ouyang Feifei and Yang Qingyin learn that he, too, was an only child, his parents having had only one son with no siblings. However, Luo Liansheng’s father was the oldest among three brothers, the other two having several children each.

Luo Liansheng’s father was the eldest; his two younger brothers each had two sons and a daughter.

The daughters married but stayed within Yuezhou. The four sons of the two brothers still lived in their original locality.

The village where the Luo Family resided was originally in the suburbs, near the Orchid Pavilion area.

However, after the city expanded, it had since become part of the urban area.

Luo Liansheng’s four nephews still live in the place where the original village was located.

They have modern Western-style houses, but they also live in the old family house.

Hearing his grandfather’s accounts, Luo Ziling had already anticipated that their ancestral house might have been occupied by some of their cousins.

Otherwise, Luo Liansheng would not have seemed hesitant to speak about the old house.

He also wouldn’t bring up these matters at dinner and feel sentimental in public.

Although Luo Liansheng can handle his liquor, he becomes somewhat emotionally uncontrolled when he drinks too much.

If it had been a normal day, he might not have mentioned these matters.

Ouyang Feifei and Yang Qingyin listened intently, but they didn’t detect Luo Liansheng’s sentimental tone, let alone think about Luo Liansheng having disputes over real estate with his brothers.

They were interested in the centuries-old house Luo Liansheng mentioned, which has been preserved from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and can be considered a cultural relic.

If preserved well, its value as a cultural relic would be even greater.

Ouyang Feifei, having been a businesswoman for many years, is more flexible in her thinking compared to the student Yang Qingyin.

So, after hearing what Luo Liansheng said, she immediately thought of something.

That is, to find a way to protect the Luo Family Old Mansion and restore the Luo family’s reputation, thereby making them a prestigious family in Yuezhou.

She decided on the spot to plan this before the New Year to give the grandfather and Luo Ziling a surprise.

The things Ouyang Feifei was thinking about, Yang Qingyin hadn’t considered. After hearing Luo Liansheng’s stories, she was simply curious and eager to see what the exquisite old house looked like, and learn more about the house that holds so many of Luo Liansheng’s childhood memories.

“When we were kids, we were very mischievous. Once, we climbed up the columns to the beams while playing hide and seek and hid there. Later, my cousin actually fell asleep and accidentally turned over and fell off. Fortunately, we had practiced martial arts since childhood, and he woke up from fright during the fall, reacting just before landing, otherwise, he might have died,” Luo Liansheng narrated with a drink in hand, “The columns of that old house were so thick that people who hadn’t practiced martial arts couldn’t climb them. The house’s beams were also very thick, thick enough to put a table on them. Architecture of such scale from the late Ming era is rare in all of Huaxia.”

“Grandpa, such a house should now be listed as a culturally protected unit, and the government would protect it,” Luo Ziling agreed, then curiously asked Luo Liansheng, “Grandpa, does the old house have a garden?”

“There are several gardens,” Luo Liansheng replied nostalgically, “As a child, in the back garden, we planted many flowers like peonies, Chinese herbaceous peonies, roses, and various types of plum and wax plum. Everyone in our family liked plum blossoms, so we had all kinds of varieties. There was one plum tree that was a hundred years old; I wonder if it is still there.”

“What a great house,” Luo Ziling thought after listening to Luo Liansheng and felt a strong desire to claim the old house as his own.

While everyone was deeply engaged in these discussions and savoring the wine, there was a gentle knock on the room door.

Following that, the voice of the hotel manager announced that there were a few distinguished guests looking for the people in the room.

Hearing what was said outside, Ouyang Feifei signaled Wang Qing with a glance.

Understanding her hint, Wang Qing stood up and went to open the door.

When the door opened, Luo Ziling was surprised to see Wu Jianjun and Ding Zhongming, whom he had encountered earlier today at the scene of a dispute, standing at the door.

Yuezhou’s highest-ranking officials had come knocking on their room’s door, something Luo Ziling had not anticipated, and he was stunned there.

Yang Qingyin, Yang Xiaodong, Wang Zhenjun, and Ye Xiaoli, who had also met Wu Jianjun and Ding Zhongming, were equally taken aback that these two officials had found their room, and they too were stunned.