The carriages of Xie Ruqing and Gu Ruosu were walking slowly in the crowded streets. They stopped and walked up and down the road, watched many interesting performances, and bought many exquisite small objects and delicious snacks. Xie Ruqing was very good at timing. Just in time, he and Gu Ruosu's carriage successfully arrived at Yuan Tower half an hour before the start of the machine skills competition.
The Yuan Building is a twelve-story pavilion, all built with a special mortise and tenon structure. The materials used in the Yuan Building are all high-quality mahogany, bright red and free of charge. The hanging colorful lanterns make the Yuan Building so eye-catching within a ten-mile radius.
The sixth floor of the Yuan Building is the venue for tonight's Mechanism Competition. At this moment, many Mechanism masters wearing cloaks and masks have gathered on the sixth floor.
At this moment, Xie Ruqing had already held Gu Ruosu's hand, and led her step by step towards their private room tonight.
"Gu Gu, you and your wife are finally here."
"Aqi! The clothes you are wearing tonight are so special!" As soon as Gu Ruosu walked into their private room under the leadership of Xie Ruqing, he saw Gao Qi who had arrived here waiting for them at some point.
Gao Qi's greeting attracted Gu Ruosu's attention, and at that moment, Gu Ruosu couldn't help but praise Gao Qi's special clothes.
After listening to Gu Ruosu's words, Gao Qi stood up with a smile, walked to Gu Ruosu, and fiddled with his clothes with a flamboyant smile.
"That's natural. I personally drew the pictures and selected the samples. I also used the pearls and gold threads purchased at a high price and the priceless brocade. More than twenty embroiderers worked hard to embroider them this morning. clothes."
Gao Qi's clothes today are indeed very special. They are as thin as cicada wings and as gorgeous as clouds. They look very sparkling under the light and are decorated with precious red pearls and gold threads. Wearing a whole set of exotic-style summer clothes, the patterns on the clothes are also very unique. They are one after another lifelike and breathtaking Manzhushahua, dark red and coquettish, almost inseparable from the eyes.
"If you like it, Gu Gu, I can also have someone make it to your size, Gu Gu."
After saying that, Gao Qi didn't care about Xie Ruqing who was still present, directly took Gu Ruosu's hand and sat down and said.
Gu Ruosu touched Gao Qi's clothes very curiously, and then when he heard this sentence, he shook his head and said:
"No, no, this dress is too gorgeous. If I wear it out, I'm afraid it will attract criticism from a group of people. Although I don't care about them, I really don't like their probing eyes."
"Okay, then I will send some new brocades to your home later. The colors of those brocades are not too bright, and they won't make people look ostentatious when worn out. I think they should be very pretty. I will take your wishes into consideration." After Gao Qi was rejected by Gu Ruosu, he was not depressed, but continued with a smile.
Gu Ruosu no longer refused at this moment, nodded and accepted Gao Qi's kindness, and then asked:
"Aqi, what are you going to do in the machine skills competition now? How do you judge the level of machine skills? If you win, will there be any rewards? Also, why do those people have to wear hats and masks? "
At this time, Xie Ruqing sat down next to Gu Ruosu very naturally, picked up the wine bottle next to Gu Ruosu, and filled a glass of wine for Gu Ruosu. Then, without waiting for Gao Qi to speak, he took the initiative and said:
"This is a folk organ art competition, in cooperation with the government. The competition is divided into two parts, the people's livelihood field and the siege field. The people's livelihood field compares the effects of the organs and artifacts made by the contestants on people's livelihood. The benign influence, while the siege competition is about the role of the machines invented by the contestants on the battlefield or in intelligence transmission and city defense.
"For example, the leader of the people's livelihood field last year invented the mechanism tiger to help people peel rice, speeding up the autumn harvest and greatly reducing people's burden, and the cost is not expensive. The government will subsidize part of the money. Sixty percent of the farmers in Kyoto can afford this mechanical tiger in installments."
"Listening to what you said, the Minsheng Field seems to be very interesting. What about last year's Siege Field~"
"In the past few years, no leader has been born in the siege field. Perhaps it is because our Dayong has gathered a large number of high-quality mechanics in the court, or perhaps because there is very little information in this area circulated in the market. , the reason why most of them have to figure it out on their own is that most of the players in their siege field have unsatisfactory machines over the years.”
"Of course, although there is no leader, according to the regulations, as long as you get the top three in the people's livelihood field or the siege field, you can enter our country's institution that specializes in the research and development of machinery and enjoy the imperial salary and imperial official position."
"As for why those people wear hats and masks, the main reason is..."
Before Xie Ruqing finished speaking, someone outside the door interrupted Xie Ruqing's words.
"Mainly for the sake of Dayong's future."
After saying this, the man pushed the door in, closed the door behind his back, walked towards Xie Ruqing and the others, and said again:
"Dayong is famous all over the world for its mechanism skills. Other countries are very afraid of Dayong's mechanism skills, and they also yearn for them. Therefore, every year, there are countless people from other countries who send spies to Dayong to explore the secrets of mechanism skills."
"In order to prevent the secrets of mechanism art from being leaked, Dayong, except for some basic related books that can be found, the real secret books are basically included in the government and the public. Therefore, if spies from other countries want to know the secrets of mechanism art, they only have to Get rid of these mechanists."
"But there are official mechanical magicians who have special residences and special people to protect them for twelve hours. It can only be said to be even more difficult for spies to come into contact with them."
"So, in the final analysis, the only ones that can allow spies to succeed are these private mechanics who are not fully protected by the court. In order to protect the lives and safety of these mechanics, the government allows these people who are good at mechanics to work on weekdays. They kept silent and covered their faces when participating in the competition. After the competition, the government sent people to send them back to their homes so that these spies would have no way to start."
"Although this method of prevention seems simple and plain, it is very effective. At least, I have been in Nanman for so many years. I have sent countless men here, and the machine magicians I have captured... can only be said to be a handful. countable."
The man wore an inconspicuous light-colored cloak and was slender. When he walked in front of them, he slowly took off the cloak, revealing the scarlet clothes underneath and his very beautiful and young face.
"Hello, senior brother, hello Mr. Gao."
"Hello, sister-in-law. I am the junior brother of my senior brother Xie Ruqing. Now the national master of Nanman, Chu Ci. This is our first meeting. It was a little hasty and I didn't have time to prepare some gifts. I hope my sister-in-law won't take offense."
"Hello, Chu Ci, I am Xie Ruqing's wife, and my name is Gu Ruosu. It's okay. I just knew I would see you here today, and I didn't have time to prepare any gifts. Don't mind." Gu Ruosu looked in front of her and smiled. Chu Ci, who was very kind and almost harmless to humans and animals, found it difficult to connect the person in front of him with the rumored Nanman Imperial Preceptor who killed without blinking an eye. However, Gu Ruosu still remembered Xie Ruqing's explanation, and did not act like this because of this. He relaxed his vigilance towards Chu Ci, but stood up in a very polite manner, returned the bow to Chu Ci and said.
"Okay, you have officially met. Today, we are all on our own, so please sit down." Xie Ruqing said.
After Gu Ruosu and Chu Ci heard this, they sat down in their seats. For a moment, the four of them looked at each other in silence.
At this moment, Chu Ci suddenly turned to look at Gu Ruosu and said:
"Thank you sister-in-law."
"ah?"
Gu Ruosu shook his head in confusion and was about to ask why Chu Ci suddenly wanted to thank her.
But at this moment, bursts of fireworks sounded outside the window, attracting Gu Ruosu's sideways gaze.
"Gu Gu, these fireworks are pretty good. I specially hired a craftsman this year to make them a new type of fireworks. They are big and bright, and they can even be made into patterns of twenty-four stars through special means. "
"Twenty-Four Constellations? How did you come up with this, A Qi?"
"Originally I ordered twelve months of flowers, but I met a female disciple from a Taoist temple some time ago. She was sketching patterns on the stone wall. I thought it was very good, so I made it on her suggestion. This Twenty-Four Constellations, I specially invited her here today. I heard that she is the female disciple of Master Xianyun of Yunxiaoguan." After Gao Qi finished speaking, he turned his attention to Chu Ci, and Xie Ruqing's His eyes also quietly shifted to Gao Qi and Chu Ci.
Chu Ci's face was still full of smile, but the hand holding the wine glass in his hand unknowingly tightened his grip.
"Mr. Gao seems to be a very elegant person. He is actually interested in traveling around. However, Mr. Gao has such a large business. If he keeps going out to play, I don't know if it will delay the business. If... the business suddenly It would be bad if something unexpected happens..."
Gao Qi understood the threat behind Chu Ci's words, and stared at Chu Ci deeply for a moment. Then, he thought about what Chu Ci and Xie Ruqing had promised him, and said:
"Master Chu is right. Making money is the most important thing. As a businessman, how can I like elegant things? The only things I like are yellow and white things."
After saying that, Gao Qi took the initiative to raise his glass and toasted Chu Ci from a distance. Then he drank it all in one gulp. Then, regardless of the reaction of Chu Ci and others, he stood up, took Gu Ruosu's hand, and took it with him. Gu Ruosu reached the railing, raised her hand slightly to signal, and drummers around her beat the drums.
Immediately, more people gathered in the Yuan Building at a faster pace. After the incense burnt out, a group of majestic machine eagles flew down from the top of the building, passing over each floor, and then issued a There were bursts of eagle calls, which means that the mechanism competition is about to begin...
