eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 901 Young people don’t work hard

Although Mei Huaigu worked hard, his actual results were far inferior to those of Zhu Houzhao. He had only one son, named Chengtai, who is only eighteen years old this year.

Zhu Houzhao held him in his arms when he was young.

However, I haven't seen my children for many years since they grew up.

The other young master Xu was the son of Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo, named Xu Yande. This child was even younger, only sixteen years old.

Zhu Houzhao had never seen this young master. Not to mention him, even Duke Dingguo himself had not entered the palace for some time because he was not popular.

Zhu Houzhao himself did not have high expectations for what a young man would do in the world of fame and fortune. He would not come here to study, right?

In fact, he had a certain degree of understanding. If he was a teenager with a prominent family background, no worries, and there was a fun place like the City That Never Sleeps, then he would definitely come and join in the fun.
If you are not crazy when you are young, will you wait until you are too old to move your legs before you start to think?
However, despite this, he still underestimated the luxury of the rich and powerful in the prosperous era.

The scene of coming out was already very grand. Zhu Houzhao was sitting on the second floor, and he couldn't see anyone even through the railing, but there were already people around who were curious and shouting,
"Young Master Mei is here! Young Master Mei is here!"

After hearing this,
Zhu Houzhao saw that some windows on the second floors of some shops across the street began to open, revealing white arms under the light, and brocade and silk were swaying from slender fingertips.

Just like the opening of a grand event, under the curtains, charming faces are unveiled, and a touch of red lips adds color to this charming night.

Soon,
Zhu Houzhao saw a large, colorful sedan chair carried by sixteen people slowly appearing. On both sides of the sedan chair were servants in tight-fitting clothes. They moved forward at equal distances and surrounded the owner of the sedan chair.

As it got closer, flower petals began to fall from the sky, bright and dazzling, bringing everyone inside into a spiritual world of bustling enjoyment.

After all, such pictures always have a psychedelic feeling.

"Waiter, waiter." Zhu Houzhao waved his hand.

As soon as the young servant in blue saw that the wealthy man called him again, he immediately ran over with a smile on his face and said, "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"Let me ask you, why did Young Master Mei come to the Never-Sleeping City with such fanfare, like tonight? What is he going to do?"

"Sir, you have asked the right person. I happen to know the answer."

Zhu Houzhao crossed his arms and said, "Tell me about it."

"Hehe," the waiter winked and said, "Young Master Mei has a distinguished family background and is still young. He has appeared in this city that never sleeps for the sake of the Changle Terrace's courtesan, Lin Qingyun. Speaking of Lin Qingyun..."

"Stop, stop, stop," Zhu Houzhao waved his hand directly, "You don't have to exaggerate the clichéd story. Do you want to say that this courtesan was born in an official family, but because of her family's decline, she became a prostitute, but she is tenacious and unyielding. Not only is her face beautiful, but she is also good at poetry, calligraphy, and painting, and she can speak eloquently. Countless men are attracted by her?"

After he finished speaking, the waiter was stunned and said, "It seems that the guest has known Lin Qingyun for a long time."

“Pfft… um…” You Zhi next to him tried hard to hold back his laughter, but a little bit of it leaked out, and then he quickly covered his mouth.

Zhu Houzhao seemed a little helpless, "I don't know her."

The waiter chuckled, "Sir, if you say you don't know him, then that means you don't know him."

Although he said this, it was a habitual obedience, and in fact the meaning was still the same as before.

Zhu Houzhao could read what was in his heart by looking at his expression: We are all men, there is nothing to be embarrassed about saying that we know Lin Qingyun?
As a person who was used to being an emperor, he rarely encountered such a thing, which made him laugh. "I don't know him anyway. Forget it, why would I argue with a waiter like you?"

"Young Master Xu is here!"

At this time, there was another shout outside.

Zhu Houzhao raised his head to look. This time, the sedan chair was carried by only eight people, so the scene was much less busy.

This is no wonder. Although the Mei Mansion is only a marquis's mansion, its wealth is incomparable to that of Duke Dingguo.

"Are the two of them going to compete for the top spot? Oh, no, Oiran?"

The waiter weighed his chin, and his young face looked a little mature when he was thinking. "In my opinion, these two young masters should like Lin Qingyun, so they have been coming to support her for nearly half a year, but they have not achieved any results so far."

"A prostitute can't even look down on the son of a noble family?" Zhu Houzhao thought to himself, you're just treating this as a novel. In reality, the gap in status is too big.

The waiter was surprised. "Sir, what are you talking about? A bunch of people are vying for her, and there are so many to choose from. Who knows, maybe she likes a talented man with a clean family background. We are born in a good time now. There are many rich families living a good life. Some wealthy businessmen live better than the officials in the court."

Zhu Houzhao frowned, then quickly disappeared.

"In my opinion, this may also be Changletai's strategy." You Zhi has not spoken, but has been listening. "It is necessary to have this gimmick to attract the two young masters and attract people's attention. Only then can this business last long and prosper."

"This guest has a keen eye. It's different."

"Don't talk nonsense!" You Zhi glared at him. This kid spoke without restraint, as if he was more powerful than the emperor, which made him tremble with fear.

The waiter swallowed and immediately put away his favorable impression. He then looked at the man's face carefully, which seemed a little strange. Then he thought to himself: He really looks like an old monster.

"Changle Terrace..." Zhu Houzhao muttered.

You Zhi hurriedly advised, "Master, please think twice... I'm afraid your status is not suitable."

The waiter misunderstood and interrupted, "It doesn't matter if you don't have the qualifications. As long as you have money, I can get you two tickets!"

"you shut up!"

Especially God annoyed him.

"We won't go to Changle Terrace."

Zhu Houzhao still had some sense. No matter how much the courtesan was praised, she was just a prostitute after all. Why would an emperor like him go to a brothel?
Are you too idle and want to do something?

And even if he needed a woman, it would be too easy for him.

"But I would like to know how Master Mei and Master Xu will please the courtesan when they arrive."

The waiter said, "In theory, this courtesan Lin likes music, and she would come out to play the zither and compose poems every day. Therefore, there would be a poetry contest every half a month at Changle Terrace. As long as you can write a poem and win the heart of the beauty, everything will be fine.

But these two young masters are really not good at this, so they can only spend more money and rely on their status to gain some face, and often get closer to listen to the music. As for what they want to say and do, I have never seen it. "

"The Oiran performs every day, so don't they come every day?"

"almost."

Zhu Houzhao curled his lips slightly, "If you don't work hard when you are young, you will regret it when you are old. I come here every day and waste my time here."

"Ambitious!"

Suddenly, a man in front of them on the right stood up and responded. He clasped his fists vigorously and said, "Although what you said is not in line with the luxury and enjoyment of this city that never sleeps, it is very much in line with my heart. In fact, the prosperity of this world is hard-won, but the trend of extravagance has already started, which makes people worry."

Zhu Houzhao took a look at the man in front of him. He was wearing a square scarf and a green gown. He was seven feet tall and looked like a middle-aged man. He looked righteous.

Some of them were inexplicably moved to the railing and sang aloud: Looking back at Chang'an, I see piles of embroidery, and on the top of the mountain, thousands of doors open one after another. A horseman in red dust makes the concubine smile, and no one knows that it is the lychees coming.

This poem by Du Mu describes the scene in which the powerful and wealthy in the Tang Dynasty, in order to satisfy their appetites, spared no effort and cost to transport lychees from the far south to Chang'an.

This is somewhat consistent with the current phenomenon of cities that never sleep collecting delicacies and treasures from all over the world for various enjoyments.

After he finished speaking, he bowed to Zhu Houzhao like a child waiting to be praised: "Brother, I am honored."

Zhu Houzhao hadn't spoken yet.
The waiter was anxious, "What kind of courtesy is this? You are talking nonsense. It's your own business. You have offended Young Master Mei, but don't implicate our two guests!"

Zhu Houzhao thought to himself that spending money was still useful.

The waiter then said, "Everyone has seen it, these two guests don't know them!"

As they spoke, some other people also looked at the middle-aged man by the railing with caution.

The fellow didn't care at all, he laughed and said: "A man in this world has Heaven, Earth, the Emperor, his parents and his teacher. How can I bow my head and serve the rich and powerful and make myself unhappy? Don't worry, you waiter, I was the one who recited the poem and I was the one who offended the person, it has nothing to do with other people.

Pinghai Hou had made outstanding contributions and was an important minister of the country, but in the end he could not escape the ancient saying that a gentleman's grace will decline after three generations!"

The waiter pointed at him and said, "You are crazy, you are crazy, and you keep talking! Do you know that you have caused a big disaster?"

As they were talking, sounds were heard from the stairs, with footsteps coming up.

Zhu Houzhao winked at You Zhi and whispered, "Let's go first, so as not to be recognized."

It is possible that people in Pinghai Marquis’ Mansion knew him.

You Zhi felt as if he had been pardoned. It was better for him to stay as far away from such a place of trouble as possible. If anything happened, he would have more heads than enough to chop off.

Zhu Houzhao wanted to take a closer look at Changle Terrace. Although he had no intention of visiting a brothel, it would be nice to have a general idea of ​​its prosperity.

"Do you know who runs this Changle Terrace? I want to know how they make this money."

Zhu Houzhao had never cared about what kind of wealth game these people were playing under the power.

If it's too filthy, he'll take care of it.

(End of this chapter)