Xibo should now be called Chang'an. Even if the whim of today's saints has announced an imperial edict to the world, no matter how much the cabinet ministers in the center of power object, no matter how much they kneel outside the imperial city for a day to justify destroying the thousand-year inheritance of their ancestors. Risking one's life to remonstrate has no effect.
Even if he made a blunder while drunk, the moment the imperial edict appeared directly in Shangshu Province like a joke without going through Zhongshu, it was a final decision that could not be changed.
What goes up and what goes down works, this huge national machine naturally has its own rules of operation. In the southeast, there is a lake named Qushui, covering an area of 1,000 square meters. The lake is rippling with vast mist. In the spring and the scenery is bright, it looks like the finishing touch of the city from a distance, like a pool of autumn water under the spring mountain, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes.
There are children playing or rafting on it, walking through the reed swamps, and making sand gulls fly. Or jump into the water and stalk Jinlin, causing the fish in the lake to run away, making the waves even more sparkling.
With this scene, if you catch the sunset and the water surface is the same color as the sky, and the red sun rises and falls as the icing on the cake, it will be absolutely beautiful.
There is an island in the lake, Qizhou, which covers an area of more than a hundred acres. In the middle of the lake, if you can climb up and overlook it, it will look like a bright gem set on emerald. If there are cruise ships around, it will look like stars holding the moon.
Looking back on history, in the previous dynasties this place was just an isolated island, with a hilltop and a stone pavilion. Writers and poets often boarded boats to the island and sat across from each other in the pavilion to drink tea.
A scholar from the previous dynasty once wrote "Looking at the Snow in the Pavilion in the Heart of the Lake", the last sentence
"Don't say that your husband is an idiot, there are even more idiots who are as idiotic as your husband." Not only did the Confucian scholar get a
The title of "crazy scholar" made this place even more popular. If future generations of scholars did not visit this lake pavilion, they would not have visited the capital.
Especially ten years ago, the world-famous talented woman in the palace of Panshan Mountain in the south of the city, the second young lady of the Ye family who was only fifteen years old, once imitated an idiot and wrote a piece of "Looking at the Pavilion in the Heart of the Snow Lake" on a snowy day. , which attracted countless princes and grandsons to spend thousands of dollars to ask for words.
Although it was finally thrown into the stove to make firewood by a young master of the Ye family who was very good at fighting at that time, it was still passed down as a good story, and later generations imitated it one after another. So much so that the poets who came here every year for spring and autumn outings or summer vacations to watch the snow left countless calligraphy treasures. , there are also dignitaries, elegant young masters who are arty and spend money to buy words, which is the same for a while.
Although there is still one month before the end of February, there are already a lot of students going to Beijing to prepare for the exam, hanging out together and reciting poems, and some dandies in the capital have the habit of buying poems, so the pavilion in the middle of the lake is naturally crowded now.
Especially two months later, in mid-spring, the willow trees will be covered with green and peach trees will turn pink, and green smoke and red mist will fill a radius of more than 20 miles.
At that time, the lights are brightly lit at night, beauties and young masters are accompanying each other, warblers and swallows are surrounding them, songs are blown into the wind, pink sweat is like rain, and dandy clothes and dandy clothes are blooming on the grass beside the embankment, which is extremely beautiful.
Naturally, you can enjoy the scenery at the lake pavilion during the day, and at night, there is naturally a good place to go. Jiang Tower. Jiang Tower is only a hundred years old. It is said that after the crazy scholar from the previous dynasty made this area lively, the Jiang family, a wealthy businessman in Guanzhong, spent huge sums of money to purchase this place and then filled in the lake to expand the land to the current square. They also built this building as a The gold-selling cave has been passed down to this day.
Jiang Tower is not big, with a two-story pavilion style with double eaves and spires, but it contains all the imaginable things in the world, including Goulan Chun Ou Zhai, Gambling House, Shanbo Apartment, Tavern with Three Thousand Guests, and in recent years, just There are popular vaudeville and strange troupes, and there is also a martial arts performance venue that is banned by the imperial court. There is a saying that has been circulating in this huge city for decades: Only the things that the common people have never heard of in their lives, there is absolutely nothing that can be seen in Jianglou. Things that arrived.
It was gradually getting dark at this time, and one after another painted boats were slowly sailing from Qushuifang Pier to Qizhou. There was an endless stream of boats, forming a line in the lake. From a distance, the lights on the boats flickered on and off. The lake connects two places dozens of miles apart, like a golden thread, stretching from east to west.
One of them is a larger painting boat, about ten feet long, with two floors of pavilions. There are gentlemen and beauties chatting and laughing shoulder to shoulder, and the cool spring breeze will never spoil the scenery.
There was a young man leaning on the side of the boat, with an ordinary appearance and ordinary clothes. He grinned stupidly as he looked at the group of men and women who were actually shivering from the cold due to the wind.
When he saw a man and woman on the second floor, whose high status could be guessed by looking at their clothes, they looked at each other with disgust. The young man quickly turned around knowingly, and suddenly felt a rush of emotion in his grinning mouth. The cool breeze forced him to shut up quickly.
There was a fat man next to the young man, so fat that his belly was pressing against the side of the boat. His arms were swinging back and forth happily, and he could not even reach the wooden fence, which showed that he had a big belly.
Next to the fat man is a muscular man. In terms of height, he is even a head taller than the fat man who is not short at all. He has a tall and tall body and two swords on his waist, one long and one short, which is a popular standard in the military.
The fat man with an amazing figure glanced at the weapon he accidentally touched on his right, and said impatiently: "Old Ye, after a long time you and Brother Li came to Qizhou to play, you carry two knives, what do you mean? ? Are you afraid that others won’t know that you are from an official family? Or are you afraid that I won’t give you the money soon and you will use these two broken knives to pay the bill?” The strong man known as Lao Ye glanced sideways at the fat man and said, “Speaking of which, you This belly is more famous than my two knives. If it really pays off, your piece of meat will fetch a better price than my long and short knives." The fat man seemed to be really afraid of having his belly cut open. , stretched out his arms and hugged his belly, looked at the young man aside, with a look of embarrassment on his face, and said with a smile: "Brother Li, I can't bear to part with you." The young man called Brother Li turned his head and looked at the man who lowered his head. I couldn't see the fat belly on the tip of his toes. I stretched out my hands and slapped the fat man's round belly rhythmically, enjoying it. Then he giggled again. I don't know what made him happy all the time.
There was a beautiful young man passing by. When he saw a fat, staggeringly tall, and a somewhat silly weird trio, he looked disgusted and took a few steps to avoid them, staying far away. of.
As for the wealthy young men in the capital who were really unworthy next to them, relying on the blessings of their ancestors and having some spare money, they felt that they were superior to others, and the fat man with a big belly didn't bother to pay attention to them.
If Brother Li hadn't been there, I'd probably have slapped him in the face if he went up to me. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to make these prodigal things with their eyeballs just for decoration kneel down and kowtow.
But the fat man had more important things at the moment, so he immediately turned around and pointed his round belly towards the young man who had been smiling innocently, letting him play with his belly like a toy. He asked: "Brother Li, let's go to Qiu." What are you playing with? I borrowed the ingot of gold, so I'm not afraid of you spending it." There was something flattering on his face that was incompatible with his fat face, and he winked and winked, like a weird uncle coaxing a child.
The young man stopped what he was doing, squatted down, straightened his arms and put them on his knees, then looked up at the men and women chatting on the second floor, and said, "I'm not playing for anything, I'm just looking for two or three to go out." ." The fat man with an outrageously exaggerated figure wanted to squat but couldn't. He could only bend down with his knees. His huge butt made the muscular man next to him stagger.
"Er San is now the number one geisha in Chun Ouzhai. Isn't it a bit arrogant for you to take her out? Why don't you take Ye Qing with you? He will fight." The strong man who usually had trouble dealing with the fat man nodded at this time: "What I said makes sense, Brother Li..." The fat man bent over and his belly sagged, making him look even more playful. The young man moved his steps and turned half around, raising his hand to slap. The fat man, who was already a little out of breath, cooperated very much, and again Put your belly down.
"But..." The young man looked at the belly like a big water bag, interrupted the strong man's words, and pondered, then looked up at the fat man's turned face, and said with a smile,
"But how can you seduce others with Ye Qing's appearance?" The fat man was stunned, then straightened up and laughed, not caring about using his belly as a toy for the honest young man.
Ye Qing, the Prince of Wanshi County in Chang'an City, didn't understand what Brother Li meant, but he felt that the Magistrate of Wanshi County next to him was attracting everyone's attention at this moment, and it made people feel stupid.
So Ye Qing squinted his eyes and said, "Bian Xiaoxian, you are just a fool."
