Roselle Peony

Time flies, time flies.In the blink of an eye, Lu Shangqiu was already in his weakest year, not to mention the nomination on the yellow list, and he was still in high school.

On the second day of Lu Shangqiu's middle school list, not only Zhao Liuyi's younger sister, Zhao Xiaowan, sent matchmakers to matchmaking, but the matchmakers who came to matchmaking for girls from other families almost broke through the threshold of Lu's house.

In the East Pavilion of the Lu Mansion, the bookshelves were filled with portraits of the eldest daughters of Huanghua. This one was a young lady from the Zhao family, and that one was the daughter of the Li family.

If it were Zhao Liuyi, the son of the Zhao chaebol family, he would have kissed and gnawed all over the floor holding many portraits.The young master of the Lu family didn't even look at him, he just played the piano in the house.His mother, Yan Shi, persuaded her at the side: "Qiu Lang, just take a look and choose the one you like, so that your father can reply to my daughter's family."

Lu Shangqiu kept stroking the strings in his hands, and replied in his mouth: "Mother, I want to study and become an official, to honor the ancestors of the Lu family, please don't meddle with my private affairs with you and father."

After receiving such an answer, Yan sighed, "I can't help my mother", and seeing that Qiulang is so unappealing to women, she was so anxious that she was about to come out crying.

Lu Suyuan here is also very worried about his precious son Qiulang.When he was young, Emperor Taizong ordered him to marry his eldest wife, Mrs. Hu, and his marriage was unlucky all his life until he met Mrs. Yan.He didn't want his precious son to repeat the same mistakes, so he carefully selected the portraits of the daughters who were well-matched, and gave them to his son for him to choose.But Qiu Lang has no intention of choosing.

Master Lu's worry is not unreasonable.The son of Mr. Li's family of the same age took in the concubine of the second room, and the son of the chaebol Zhao's family was exposed to scandals of sex with prostitutes from time to time. Only his son was still deaf to the outside world in his weak years, and he only read sage books.

Lu Suyuan thought that it was Qiulang's childhood memory of being kidnapped and bullied that made him afraid of being touched by others, so he once assigned two beautiful maidservants Xing'er and Mei'er who were proficient in sex to serve him.According to Xinger and Meier's reports, Qiu Lang is not afraid of them touching him, but he is not interested in them. Xing'er finally served Qiu Lang with her mouth, but after a while, the man softened again. Repeatedly, Qiu Lang Still can't act.Frightened, Lu Suyuan and Yan thought their son was impotent, so they secretly asked a doctor to prescribe yang-strengthening traditional Chinese medicine and force Lu Shangqiu to drink it.

Now that Qiulang has reached the age of marrying a wife, at least he has a wife and concubine to carry on the family line of Lu's family. The intercourse can be discussed in a long-term way and treated slowly.

So he walked to the East Pavilion, wanting to see how his son was selected. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Qiulang playing the piano expressionlessly.Anxious and angry, he walked up to Qiulang, slapped the guqin to pieces, and shouted loudly: "Unfilial son, study and study, be an official, your father and I are officials, what else do you want? Do you want to serve the Lu family?" Guangzong Yaozu, give birth to a son for me first!" After saying that, he was still puzzled, and slapped his son again.

Lu Shangqiu had never seen his father so furious, and he was slapped dumbfounded.Yan rushed over to protect her son: "My lord, it's all concubines who are not well disciplined. If you beat the concubine, don't anger Qiu Lang."

Lu Shangqiu caressed the face that was slapped by his father, and the red five finger marks were burning hot.As the saying goes, a man does not shed tears lightly. When he thought that he was devoted to studying and seeking talents, but was threatened by his parents to marry him, he also shed tears.The two girls cried together.

Seeing that the two people in his heart were crying into tears, Mr. Lu waved his hands helplessly: "Okay, okay, father is wrong, if father doesn't force you to marry."

Lu Shangqiu wiped away his tears, broke away from his mother, and was kneeling in front of his father: "The unfilial son Lu Shangqiu swears to his father and mother that after Chunwei high school, he will marry and carry on the family line for the Lu family."

When Yan heard this, she burst into tears and laughed, and came to beg Lu Suyuan: "Master, you see our son is so motivated, so give Qiu Lang some more time, don't we have to talk about fate when we are together?"

Lu Suyuan also heaved a sigh of relief after hearing his son's assurance. "Well, we'll talk about this in the spring of next year." After a pause, he added, "Boy, no matter whether you are in high school or not, you have to get married to me."

***

Emperor Wu Zhao of the Great Zhou Dynasty opened the palace examination in the first year of Tianshou, no matter what his background was, he recruited talents from all over the world. Candidates from all localities can be recommended to participate in the palace examination.

In the spring of the first year of Changshou, the severe cold faded away, and the earth was covered with a new layer of green, birds and flowers were fragrant, and vitality was everywhere.

Lu Shangqiu took his baggage and entanglement, and went to Beijing to rush for the exam together with Zhao Liuyi and other three autumn exam candidates.

"Brother Qiubai, it's up to you whether we can get the champion in Bingzhou City this time." Zhao Liuyi was still resentful that Lu Shangqiu ranked higher than him in the township test, and said stinky.

"Brother Ziwu, where is it? What the Lord likes are bold and unrestrained people who dare to think and do. Talents like Brother Ziwu are the pillars that Da Zhou urgently needs." Lu Shangqiu humbly said.

"Hey, that's what I said, brother Qiubai, I'm not like you, I have a recommendation from Mr. Zhage."

Lu Shangqiu just realized that Zhao Liuyi was mocking him for taking the exam, so he turned his head away with anger.He knew that this kind of thing would get darker and darker, and even jumping into the Yellow River couldn't clean it up.

Li Renyi, a fellow candidate, came out to smooth things over: "Elder Zha Ge's recommendation is not for everyone. There are so many candidates in the world. Elder Ge only recommended seven people this time. The best of the bunch."

Juren Zhang Song also echoed: "Brother Renyi is right, if Brother Ziwu wants to ask me to write a letter of recommendation for him, I'm still not willing."

Zhao Liuyi couldn't take advantage of his mouth, so he obediently kept his mouth shut.

A group of people entered Chang'an City within a few days.The annual spring festival is just around the corner, so the city of Chang'an is naturally not clean, the streets and alleys are full of traffic, and pedestrians walk shoulder to shoulder.Hundreds of scholars from all directions in the Great Zhou Dynasty gathered in Chang'an City. On the streets and in teahouses, you could see dignified scholars everywhere, with feather fans and scarves, beaming with joy, giving lectures and treatises, and it was very lively.

The inn was overcrowded, and Lu Shangqiu and others found an ordinary inn near the root of the city with vacant rooms.A group of people went in and asked, but there was only one room and two beds left.The candidates hesitated.

"There's one room left, the last one, can't the guest officer live in? Hurry up, if you can't, let the guest officer in the back come—" The waiter in the capital bullied the customers by talking about the Chang'an dialect shop.

"Stay, stay." The candidates looked at a group of people waiting in line behind them to make a choice, so they had to quickly pay for the room to reserve the room.

"Okay, the guest officer will invite you—"

Fortunately, the bed was big enough for two people to squeeze together.Lu Shangqiu's father is an upright official, and the other two sons' families are not rich, so they don't care much about where they live.Only Zhao Liuyi was unhappy. His father was a rich man who was used to extravagance and extravagance. Now he was asked to share a bed with others, and he was the boss.

Li Renyi observed each person: Zhang Song is fatter, Lu Shangqiu is thinner, Li Renyi and Zhao Liuyi are not fat nor thin.So he assigned Zhang Song and Lu Shangqiu to huddle together, and himself and Zhao Liuyi to huddle together.

Boss Zhao Liuyi reluctantly arranged the luggage with the other three.

***

It was still early, and several students discussed going to Chang'an City for a stopover.

Chang'an deserves to be called the capital city, it is much bigger than Bingzhou City, the city is full of people, shoulder to shoulder.

The core streets of Chang’an City are divided into four streets: east, west, south, north, and four. East Street sells all kinds of food, as well as popular gadgets such as shadow puppets and kites; The Forbidden Palace of the Son of Heaven, and the residences of the dignitaries and dignitaries in the capital are also concentrated here. This West Street is indispensable for rouge, powder, flower street and willow alley.

The inn where the four children stayed was located in the south of the city, so they walked north along South Street.Along the way, there is a constant fragrance of books and ink. Some shops specialize in pens and paper, some shops sell expensive and expensive inkstones, some shops line up various antiques, some shops specialize in various ancient books, and some shops are magnificently decorated. They even sell celebrity ink marks, which are absolutely genuine, with prices ranging from a thousand taels to several hundred thousand taels of silver.The literati came in and out, coming and going, which made the four candidates dizzy and eye-opening.

Before they knew it, it was getting late, and everyone walked to the intersection of East and West Avenues, found a restaurant, and asked for a seat by the window.Zhao Liuyi ordered Chang'an Nurhong, and the other three ordered sweet-scented osmanthus wine. They ordered various Chang'an dishes such as big plate chicken, old bowl fish, and diving frog.The four of them had been on their way before, and when they saw the special dishes of the capital that made people's index fingers move, they all stretched their bellies.

As the sky darkened, the sound of watches came from the bell tower of Chang'an City.Suddenly a firework exploded in front of them, causing everyone to take a few steps back in shock.Immediately afterwards, colorful fireworks bloomed all over the capital, which was really spectacular.

Lu Shangqiu called Xiaoer to stop, and asked, "What good thing happened in the capital to celebrate like this?"

Xiao Er replied: "I don't know from a long distance objectively, but this is the custom of our princess to welcome the children from all over the country to participate in the Spring Festival. From yesterday to the day before the palace examination, fireworks are set off every day at Xu time."

Zhao Liuyi drank a little too much: "What kind of master dares to be so presumptuous in the imperial city?"

Fortunately, the sound of fireworks drowned out Zhao Liuyi's drunken words.

"It's not the lord, it's the princess." Lu Shangqiu covered his mouth and told him not to say any more.

Xiaoer said again: "It's a good place to sit objectively. You can see West Street with your head down. It's also the place where the most fireworks are set off."

All the judges looked down, and they saw that the West Street was decorated with lanterns and festoons, and there were more types of fireworks than other places, which were more beautiful.

Zhao Liuyi asked: "What is West Street doing, so lively?"

The waiter replied: "West Street is the Flower Street and Willow Lane, the place of fireworks."

Everyone closed their eyes together.Sure enough, the land of fireworks loves to set off fireworks.

After Xiaoer left, Zhao Liuyi hiccupped: "Hey, I'm going to West Street tomorrow to meet this princess."

This time without waiting for Lu Shangqiu's reaction, Li Renyi and Zhang Song rushed forward at the same time, covering Zhao Liuyi's troublesome mouth.

The children hurriedly paid the bill and left the restaurant in despair.

Zhao Liuyi was blown by the evening wind and woke up, only to realize that he had slandered the current Holy Majesty's darling Princess Taiping in public, which was a crime of disrespect and decapitation, and he was immediately ashamed.However, this person did not change his mind, and from then on he planned to take a trip to Huajie.

The author has something to say:

I finally wrote about Chang'an, so happy, so happy!The big plate chicken and old bowl fish that I miss the most~ It has been four years since I have eaten it again.

Note: During the Tang Dynasty, the Biaozi was the written name that literati and inkmen gave themselves when they were adults. The Biaozi that Lu Shangqiu gave himself was "Qiubai", and the Biaozi that Zhao Liuyi gave himself was "Ziwu".