Roselle Peony

The young son of the governor's family won the Jinshi at a young age, and the whole city of Bingzhou was decorated with lanterns and festoons to celebrate.

Lu Suyuan, the patriarch of the Lu family, is far less happy than when he was released by Qiu Lang a few years ago.On the contrary, Master Lu was worried and sighed all day long.

Yan was puzzled and said: "My lord, we Qiulang has been selected as a Jinshi now, and we also have an official position in the court. Although we are not high-ranking officials, we should be happy in the future."

Master Lu shook his head: "Well, being an official in Beijing is not easier than here, and the officialdom is dangerous, not to mention the fact that Qiulang, the sage general, was sent to work under the censor Zhongcheng Lai Junchen. I am even more worried as a father."

Yan comforted: "Don't we still have the youngest Zhage, Zhage is always the boss of Zhongcheng, and there is Zhage's protection, then coming to Zhongcheng will not embarrass us Qiulang."

"You are a woman, I don't know much about it. People say that accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger, but I think Junchen is the real tiger." Lu Suyuan sighed, "He is a rascal, and he has won the favor of the Holy One. Li also called a cruel official, framed Zhongliang, killed innocent people indiscriminately, and even Zha Ge was jealous of him. Now the Holy Majesty listened to the slander of this handsome minister and sent Prime Minister Di to prison."

Yan said "ah" and fell to the ground: "Master, let's persuade Qiulang and teach him everything to follow Zhongcheng's orders."

"Well, it's easy to say. You don't know Qiulang's straight temper. What's more, the Holy Majesty is doting on this handsome minister today. Tomorrow, when Prime Minister Di makes a comeback, it may also be a bad day for him. I'm afraid that Qiulang will be implicated."

Yan cried, "Then what should we do, sir?"

"For the present plan, the only way is to let Qiulang get married as soon as possible and have a grandson, so as to leave a successor for our Lu family."

February 28 is an auspicious day for going out and getting married.

The Lu Mansion was decorated with lanterns and festoons, with gongs and trumpets beating, the sound of suona, gongs and drums clanging, and bursts of firecrackers, which was very festive.

A large group of people carried an eight-carrier sedan chair, and came out of Wang Qingxi's mansion in the south of Taiyuan City in a lively manner.On the bay red horse in front of the sedan chair, the bridegroom with red lips and white teeth has shattered the dreams of so many girls.

The bridegroom on this horse is Lu Shangqiu, a new scholar.

The bride is Sisi, the queen of Wang Qingxi, who joined the army in Taiyuan.

The front of Lu's mansion was bustling with people, Xiguan's loud voice echoed throughout Lu's mansion.

"Once to heaven and earth, then to parents, husband and wife to each other, and sent to the bridal chamber—"

The red candlelight reflected on his face.

The shy beauty sat in front of the bed.

Lu Shangqiu lifted the hipa and kissed those delicate red lips.

***

In March, the birds are singing and the warblers are flying, and the grass is luxuriant.

Lu Shangqiu left Bingzhou alone and took office.

His wife, Wang Sisi, was pregnant and her fetal movement was unstable, so she couldn't travel long distances, so she had to stay in Lu's house to protect the baby and be taken care of by Yan.

A few days later, Lu Suyuan made a private decision to take a concubine for his son, which was Zhao Xiangling, the youngest daughter of the Zhao chaebol family, and sent Zhao Xiangling and two maidservants to Chang'an for Lu Shangqiu.

"Qiu Lang, you have to take good care of Xiangling, and hold your grandson for your father." Lu Suyuan said earnestly and sincerely before leaving. "Remember to write a family letter to Wei's father. If Xiangling is happy, tell Wei's father as soon as possible."

The boss Lu Shangqiu is not happy.For one thing, Zhao Xiangling, the daughter of the Zhao chaebol's family, is not as well-behaved as the main wife Wang Sisi, and she is famous for spending money lavishly on weekdays. If she didn't bring some dowry with her, he really couldn't afford her.Second, as soon as he saw Zhao Xiangling, Zhao Liuyi's insane talk after drunk would appear in his mind, which disturbed him very much.

But his father's life was too difficult for him, so he had no choice but to accept Zhao Xiangling's burden.

However, when he saw Zhao Xiangling, he really liked him, and he was willing to accept the eldest lady's temper for him, and served him in a low voice.Then he gradually got better with her.

Previously, Lu Shangqiu booked an inn room for a temporary stay.Now that there are more people, this inn is not a place to live for a long time, so he found a house in Chunming Gate to the east of Chang'an City and rented it.There is a distance from Daming Palace, but fortunately, the rent is not high, and it is not far from Dongshi, so daily necessities and food are very convenient.

Prices in the capital are very high.Lu Shangqiu's salary was meager, so he divided the house into east and west sides: the east side lived in Lu Shangqiu, his concubine Zhao Xiangling and two maidservants, and the west side was sublet to his fellow villager Li Renyi and his wife who were also in Beijing and served as praises for Taichang Temple.

The Yushitai Pavilion where Lu Shangqiu works is located in the southeast corner of the Xuanzheng Hall of the Daming Palace.The inner court of Xuanzheng Hall is the place where the emperor of the Great Zhou came to court and where hundreds of officials made pilgrimage.Every day, you can faintly hear the voice of the eunuch Gao Nuo "going to the court" and the officials shouting "Long live". Any young man will yearn for it when he hears it.

In the huge capital city, there are many dignitaries.Zhengbapin Jishilang is just a sesame official in the capital, not only the emperor and [-]rank officials are on his head, but there is also a "Zhengbapinshang" supervising the censor sitting on his head.

His official rank is too low to go to court; he only does some work of compiling records every day, and naturally he has imagination about the scene of the ministers fighting with each other in the court.

Lu Geshilang's actions are not as comfortable as before in Bingzhou.With his little salary, apart from paying the rent, hiring maidservants, and buying some daily necessities, the rest of the money will be squandered by Zhao Xiangling, the rich man's daughter who is used to extravagance.

Without the preferential treatment that he had in the Lu Mansion before, he bought a fat and strong bay red horse, and rode back and forth every day, and he was quite happy.

However, for the big girls with yellow flowers on Chang'an East Street, there is one more thing to urge the lazy girls to get up early every day: it is said that the girls have started to wash and wash every day at [-]:[-], so that they can go to the street to see The young master Pianpianjia who came here on horseback at Chenshi—oh no, it should be called "Master Pianpianguan".

At the very beginning of taking office, Lu Shangqiu found out that Yushitai's records of the two prefectures of Chang'an and Luoyang had been interrupted since the Ruyi year. It has been half a year so far, so he asked his colleague, Wang Shunzhi, the governor of Shangzhou.

Wang Jishilang looked at the young man who had just arrived, and said with a smirk: "The person who was the recorder of the two prefectures tried to rebel, and was sent to prison by our Lai Zhongcheng. His life and death are unknown. job."

Where can a little giver go for rebellion?Lu Shangqiu couldn't help being dumbfounded, thinking, it turns out that Zhongcheng came here not only to be cruel to the political opponents in the court, but also to be so merciless to disobedient subordinates.

Seeing his ugly face, Wang Shunzhi patted him on the shoulder for fear of frightening the young man, and said, "Qing is new here, so I will tell you the ugly things first. When you work under Zhongcheng, you have to be more honest. Tell the little pigtail to fly up to the sky, and let Lai Zhongcheng catch him, but you will be rewarded. Don't blame the old man for not telling you clearly."

Lu Shangqiu hurriedly replied: "Thank you, Senior Wang, for your guidance."

Wang Shunzhi approached mysteriously: "The old man might as well teach you a trick."

Lu Shangqiu made a bow and said, "The junior is all ears."

Wang Shunzhi stroked his long beard: "Qing Jixiao remembers the old man's name, 'Shun—zhi——'." After speaking, he laughed wildly.

Lu Shangqiu said words of gratitude, but in his heart he secretly scolded the old man for being spineless.

The new official took office three times. In the first few months, Lu Shangqiu devoted himself to collecting and compiling official affairs, filling in vacancies, and was very busy.

During this time, Cha Shaoyu, the doctor of the censor, came to take care of Lu Shangqiu once, praised him for his dedication, and asked him, a newcomer, to learn from the seniors at the censor platform.

However, his immediate superior, Yu Shi Zhong Cheng Lai Junchen, did not show up for a long time.

Actually, Lai Junchen was too busy.

Prime Minister Di Renjie is powerful in the court and has won the trust of the Holy One.Although he is now in prison, if Emperor Wu doesn't kill Di Renjie for a day, he will feel like a lump in his throat when he comes to Junchen, and he will feel restless.He was so busy working with Wu Chengsi to completely bring down Di Renjie that he completely forgot to ask this new subordinate.

***

The sound of cicadas chirping and the warm wind blowing.

Although Chang'an City is located in the northwest, the summer there is very hot and dry. Even in the evening, the hot wind blows, making it difficult for people to enjoy the cool air.

Lu Shangqiu, who had been busy all day, was free now, so he took off his official uniform, put on a light Luo shirt, and fought with Li Renyi in front of the chessboard.

Zhao Xiangling played a fan for her husband.The maidservants were busy preparing dinner, the smoke rose from the kitchen, and the aroma of the rice was entangled, which made people move their index fingers.

"General!" Lu Shangqiu held the red "Shuai" and ate Li Renyi's black "General".

Li Renyi threw the chess piece on the chessboard with a "clack": "I said brother Qiubai, you know that I can't beat you, so why don't you let me have a game?"

Lu Shangqiu said: "Brother Renyi, even if I let you two, you may not be able to beat me."

"Nonsense, nonsense, come on, let's fight another round and compete again. You let me two sons, you have made an agreement, and you are not allowed to go back on your word."

The wife of the Li family poked her head out: "Old Li, dinner is ready."

"Brother Renyi, let's eat first, and continue playing chess after eating. I will let you two, and I promise not to regret it."

Everyone smiled and took away the chess pieces, and went back to their houses for dinner.

Suddenly hearing the sound of "dong dong" knocking on the door of the courtyard, everyone came out to check.Lu Shangqiu opened the courtyard door and saw that it was the envoy who came to Junchen.

The envoy didn't get off his horse, and said directly, "Zhongcheng called all the officials of Yushitai to gather at Zhongcheng's mansion." Then he left in a hurry.

Zuotai Yushi Zhongcheng was in charge of the internal affairs of Xuanzhengdian Yushitai. He had a total of [-] subordinates. Except for Wang Shunzhi and other five Shishilang who were in charge of the thirteen prefectures, who were on the same level as him, the rest were all higher in rank than Lu Shangqiu.

Lu Shangqiu hastily changed his official uniform, and rushed to the Lai Mansion located outside Anfu Gate on the west side of Daming Palace.

Laifu is next to Daming Palace, so it is very easy to identify.There are bright lights hanging high all around, and there are two vermilion lacquered gates in the middle.The servants and cavalry guards gathered in front of the gate, presumably something important happened.

He got off his horse and stepped forward to reveal his identity to the servants who came to the mansion.

When the waiter led him into the mansion, Lu Shangqiu was even more speechless.The residence of Zhongcheng, the imperial censor, is very large, about the size of three to four prime minister's residences.The inner court imitates the architectural style of Suzhou, with pavilions, arched stone bridges, rockery and waterside pavilions, potted antiques, and decorated like the backyard of the imperial palace, which is very grand.

He was led by his servants, and after a long detour, he finally arrived at the reception hall. Seeing that everyone had gathered, he found the end of the line and stood there.

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Note: Xue Ji, a calligrapher in the Zhenguan period.