The hustle and bustle of the New Year's Eve is still going on, with many men and women coming here to watch lanterns and perform various performances.
A couple, also unmarried, came to a noodle stall nearby.
The woman said: "I'm hungry."
The man said: "Just right, then you can go home and eat some."
The woman said: "I don't have anything to eat at home."
The man nodded and said to the stall owner: "Here are two bowls of vegetarian dumplings. No fine ingredients, no chicken offal."
After saying that, the man said to the woman: "You don't want to eat either, right?"
The man turned to the stall owner and said, "No fine ingredients for both bowls, chicken offal."
"Okay." The stall owner was pinching some salt and putting it into the bowl.
The woman stood up and said, "I'm going home."
The man looked confused and said: "Hey, aren't you hungry? Why did you leave? Wait...that's it, the store just wants a bowl of mandarin dumplings."
Zhang Yue and Qi Niang laughed as they watched.
At this time Seventeenth Mother said: "I'm going back."
Zhang Yue said: "Then let's sit down and have a bowl of dumplings."
"You need to add fine ingredients, and you also need to add chicken offal."
Seventeenth mother. . .
After all, there is no eternal feast in the world.
"I'll give it to you!" Zhang Yueyan said.
Seventeenth Mother nodded.
The maid suddenly said: "I heard that the eldest husband and the second husband are having a drink at Fanlou tonight. Let's go to Fanlou."
To go to Fanlou, you need to walk a little longer than Zhouqiao.
The Seventeenth Mother hesitated slightly when she heard this, but nodded in agreement.
The two were happy when they came, but had different emotions when they returned.
It is well known that Fanlou is the first restaurant in Bianjing.
It is also known as Fengle Tower or Bailun Tower.
In terms of the style of the building, Fan Building is better than the other restaurants. All other restaurants have two floors, while Fan Building has three floors. Not only is the building high, but the Fan Building has two floors, east and west, and can receive up to a thousand drinkers every day at its peak.
The west tower can even overlook the palace, which would prevent people from spying on the emperor's whereabouts, so drinkers are strictly prohibited from looking into the west tower. I heard that Song Renzong was a frequent visitor to the West Building on weekdays.
Fanlou's liquor can sell fifty thousand catties a day, and the liquor tax alone can collect two thousand jin a day. On the night of New Year's Eve, Fanlou was even more lively.
On New Year's Eve, each drinker who arrives at Fanlou first will have a golden flag. A lotus lantern is placed between each tile on the roof. From a distance, the lamps and candles are shining brightly, reflecting each other from high to low.
In addition, Fanlou also had a poetry club where talented people from all over the capital would come here to make a name for themselves, and even invited Mei Yaochen, the founder of the poetry world, to sit here.
When it comes to poetry, Mei Yaochen is slightly better than Ouyang Xiu.
At that time, it was said that Mei Yaochen's poems, Ouyang Fa's prose, and Cai Xiang's calligraphy were the three most outstanding works of the dynasty.
On this day, the beaded curtains and foreheads were embroidered in the restaurant, and the lights were shining brightly. Han Zhongyan, Huang Lu, Fan Zuyu and a group of Tai students are here, and the atmosphere is certainly more lively than the poetry meeting upstairs.
Beautiful prostitutes sit nearby.
In this way, the restaurant was selling gold. There was a wealthy Taixue student named Shen Kai from Wu Xinglai's family, who fell in love with a famous prostitute in Fanlou.
After that, the imperial student went to Fanlou to see the famous prostitute for many days, but the famous prostitute was both beautiful and talented and ignored the imperial student.
The imperial student did not give up and spent a lot of money to meet this famous prostitute.
The famous courtesan saw that the imperial student was so affectionate, and agreed to meet the imperial student in Fanlou.
After the two of them climbed to the Fan Tower together, the imperial student was so excited that he shouted to the more than a thousand drinkers in the Fan Tower, "You can eat and drink, but I'll treat you today."
That night, the reputation of this imperial student as a wealthy man spread throughout Bianjing.
Who can be dissatisfied with this level of picking up girls?
Han Zhongyan was selling gold here today and said with a smile to the people around him: "Everyone is here in the studio today, but the chief is not here. You said that the chief only has poems and books in his eyes on weekdays, so he won't be studying hard at Taixue tonight." Bar."
Everyone laughed and said, "Maybe so. The chief is usually a serious person."
Han Zhongyan said with a smile: "I don't believe it. I can't tell which beauty he is meeting at the moment."
One person laughed and said: "This is absolutely impossible. We have never seen the leader of the village without returning home. He must not be close to women. As for whether he is close to men, I don't know."
Everyone laughed.
Han Zhongyan also smiled, but he also felt that Zhang Yue was unlikely to do this.
Han Zhongyan glanced at the window inadvertently and was about to raise a cup to drink, but suddenly paused and looked out the window again.
"This...isn't this the chief?"
Han Zhongyan was first surprised and then delighted: "Look at the woman next to him, I told you that he went to meet a beautiful woman tonight."
Upon hearing this, all the students rushed to the window to watch.
…
At this moment, Zhang Yue sent Seventeen Niang and two maids to Fanlou.
Visible from a distance, the Wu family's servants are guarding them.
Seventeenth Mother bowed to Zhang Yue and said, "Zhang Jun, stay here while I leave."
Zhang Yue held his breath for a long time and finally said: "Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Seventeenth Niang and two maidservants walked towards Fan Tower. The maidservant whispered to Seventeenth Niang, "Girl, why don't you say that the husband of the Zhang family will be admitted to Jinshi as soon as possible."
The Seventeenth Mother said: "When I see you today, he should already know my thoughts, so there is no need to say anything more."
The maid snickered and said, "I don't think so. But if we knew, it would be a good story to talk about in the future."
The Seventeenth Mother said, "I would certainly be happy to be admitted as a Jinshi, but for my own sake, I would be a strange man."
After saying this, the maid turned around and said to Seventeenth Mother with a smile: "Girl, the husband of the Zhang family is still watching here."
In full view of everyone, Seventeenth Mother nodded, but did not look back.
Zhang Yue knew that Qi Niang had no reason to look back, but when he saw her walking into the Fan Tower, he felt a little melancholy in his heart.
Suddenly I heard someone behind me saying, "Zhai Chief, why are you here?"
Zhang Yue turned around and saw Han Zhongyan and others, as well as several of his classmates.
Zhang Yue raised his head and said, "You didn't go to the brothel tonight, so why did you end up at Fanlou?"
Han Zhongyan smiled and said: "Don't ask us, how did you get here, Chief?"
Zhang Yue said with a serious face: "Why can't I come here? I'm tired from studying in Imperial College. Can't I go out for a walk?"
Unexpectedly, after Zhang Yue finished speaking, Han Zhongyan and everyone burst into laughter.
Zhang Yue was filled with questions when he saw this.
Huang Lu sighed: "Zhaizhang, I was speaking for you just now, saying that you...now..."
Han Zhongyan smiled and said: "Zhaifang, who is that woman just now? Although I can't see clearly, she must be a peerless beauty."
Zhang Yue was stunned, how could they see it.
Senior Brother Zhang Yue once said that he once made an appointment with the school beauty to go shopping. He said that his mood at that time was that he wished he could meet acquaintances all over the street. Although the senior brother only made an appointment once, the matter became a topic of conversation for him and he mentioned it from time to time.
However, there were still variables regarding the agreement between him and the Wu family, and Zhang Yue did not want to mention it.
The whole Imperial Academy knew about Huang Haoyi's engagement to an official. But after becoming famous, Huang Haoyi became the butt of jokes mentioned by his classmates from time to time.
So Zhang Yue flatly denied it.
Now that he has arrived, Zhang Yue follows everyone to Fan Tower.
This is not the first time Zhang Yue has come to Fanlou.
Although the Fan Tower has three floors, the lower two floors are made of bricks and stone as the platform, and the third floor has pillars on the upper floors. Therefore, the palace can be seen at a glance from the first floor of the west tower.
In addition to being able to see the palace from the west building, there is also a flying bridge railing connecting the east and west floors.
During the Lantern Festival, the lights outside Fanlou Pavilion are brightly lit. Now on the Lantern Festival night, the roofs are covered with lotus lanterns, which makes it really spectacular to look at.
Outside the gate of Fanlou is a huge colorful building. After passing the colorful building, there are more than a hundred singers lined up on the corridor. Each of them is wearing heavy makeup and is graceful. Looking at them, they all look like fairies from the palace.
When we entered the building, we saw hundreds of people sitting in the east building.
The two waiters in front of the door, wearing square-topped headscarves, purple shirts, and silk shoes and socks, ushered in the visitors when they saw them.
There are seventy or eighty tables and benches scattered downstairs, and there are more than sixty pavilions upstairs. In Bianjing, these scattered seats in restaurants are called door beds and horse roads. If you don't buy enough wine, you are not allowed to go up to the pavilion.
As for big customers like Han Zhongyan, when people saw it, they directed him upstairs.
The second and third floors are all in the shape of a return, with a patio in the center, but there are more than a dozen pairs of poetry plaques hanging on the patio.
Zhang Yue went to the courtyard and took a look. He was drunk with wine and his ears were warm, and someone said: "There is another Yuanxi poem written in the pavilion."
One person hung the poem sign on the patio.
Both the front and back of the poetry card are heavily ink-written, so anyone with a good eye can see them clearly.
Many drinkers read the poems as if they were savoring them over and over again.
Han Zhongyan said to Zhang Yue: "Just now, we have written more than a dozen poems and submitted them to Mr. Wan Ling, but no one has been included in the poems. Why don't the chief write a poem for New Year's Eve and give it a try?"
When Zhang Yue heard that Mei Yaochen was in Fanlou, he said: "You all are not good enough. How can my little writing and calligraphy catch the eye of Mr. Wan Ling? I won't bring shame on myself."
The Tai students also knew that Zhang Yue's strength was in Confucian classics and articles, but he could only barely pass every exam in poetry.
One person laughed and said: "Zhao Zhan, everyone is here."
"Yes, the poems we usually write have a certain format, but the New Year's Eve poems are not limited to these. It can be either poem or lyrics. It's just that the article is not good, so I can't write this poem."
Everyone laughed.
Zhang Yue waved his hand and said, "Today I only chatted with Tongzhai and did not write poetry."
Zhang Yue said so, and no one dared to force it.
After saying that, everyone climbed up the steps and came to the pavilion. The other people in the room looked at Zhang Yue but did not dare to say a word. They were all newcomers and did not dare to directly joke with Zhang Yue.
In addition to Tongzhai, there are also more than a dozen singing girls who come to accompany the wine or play and sing.
People in Bianjing call this "qianli'er", and it doesn't matter whether the singing is good or bad, as long as it can relieve boredom. Many people in Bianjing had no livelihood, so they let their daughters or wives go to restaurants to catch up.
There were twice as many people catching up in Fanlou as there were drinkers.
All the utensils in the pavilion are of the first grade, and the chairs and tables are all of good quality. This is the grandeur of Fan Tower. Sitting in the pavilion, you can have a panoramic view of the night view of Bianjing City during the Lantern Festival.
Someone wrote a poem to record Fan Lou.
The restaurants in the city are as high as the sky, and the dragons and phoenixes are delicious and delicious.
Gongsun dismounted and became drunk after smelling the fragrance. He did not hesitate to spend ten thousand yuan on one drink.
Recruiting distinguished guests and virtuous people, there are music and orchestras playing and singing upstairs.
There are all kinds of beautiful things and treasures, and the railings on all sides are painted with colorful eaves.
At this time, there was a burst of cheers outside the pavilion.
Someone said: "Good poetry, good poetry, this year's New Year's Eve poems must be the best."
Han Zhongyan was a little dissatisfied when he heard this and said, "I want to see who did it?"
Several classmates followed.
Zhang Yue didn't care about eating in the restaurant. He was really hungry after walking around for so long.
Soon Han Zhongyan came over, looking a little surprised.
Others asked: "Who did it?"
Han Zhongyan said: "It's a man named Wang Kui. It's a really good poem, but I've never heard of this name before."
