Roselle Peony

On this day, Li Renyi sneaked back to the house and met Lu Shangqiu who was tying a horse in the stable.

Lu Shangqiu had never seen Li Renyi doing something that needed to be concealed, so he was curious, tied up the reins, and stopped him: "Brother Renyi, are you back?"

Li Renyi was about to tiptoe back to the room, when he heard someone calling him behind him, he hurriedly turned around, and made a "shh" motion with ten fingers on his lips, signaling him not to disturb Li Shi.

Lu Shangqiu was amused: "What is so mysterious that my wife can't let my sister-in-law know?" He clasped both hands like a trumpet, as if to call Li Shi.

Li Renyi hurriedly pulled him into a corner, and said, "Brother Qiubai, brother, I lost to you today. Don't tell your sister-in-law."

Lu Shangqiu smiled and said: "Okay, just don't tell me if you are a brother. Did brother Renyi get private money and don't want his wife to see it?"

Li Renyi said: "My brother is not like you. How dare you hide any private money. It's just a treasure I got today."

"What?" Lu Shangqiu was even more curious.

Li Renyi twitched a bit, took out a scroll from his arms, and said mysteriously: "This is a bet for my brother and that Taichang Temple cited praise Liu Hou, and I won it from him."

Lu Shangqiu snatched the scroll from Li Renyi's hands, untied the silk ribbon on it and said, "What is so mysterious painted here, let me appreciate it too."

The moment he unfolded the scroll, he felt his world spinning.His hands trembled, and he could hardly hold the scroll.

But in the painting, a red Shiguo man is bound on the bed, with his head raised and hips raised, his expression fascinated, and the emerald green jade in the back court appears and disappears; peonies are in full bloom around him, and there are clusters of flowers.The eyebrows and eyes of the person in the painting are [-]% similar to him.

In the upper right corner of the picture scroll, there is only a large three-character "Luo Shen Tu", followed by a poem, which reads:

"Famous flowers arrive at the Spring Festival Gala, and when you bow your head, you think about everything.

Immortals hold green leaves, and Luoshen rides peonies. "

It is marked with the words "Ji Shiyu was made in Chang'an in the sixth year of Geng", and there are Zhu engravings of Na Ji painter and Lai Junchen.

What an erotic "Luo Shen Tu", what an old man!

He threw the scroll back into Li Renyi's arms like a hot potato.

Li Renyi's painting is not the original one, but even people in Taichang Temple got a reprint. I don't know how many copies of this painting Zhongcheng has printed.

"This 'Master Peony' is quite famous in Chang'an City recently, and everyone begs for his picture scroll." Li Renyi flattered him, "If you like it, brother, I will go to the printing workshop tomorrow and help you to print a copy of it." .”

Seeing that Lu Shangqiu was silent, he pulled his hand again, begging him: "Brother, please don't tell your sister-in-law about this matter."

Lu Shangqiu shook him off, saying "I won't talk to my wife." He went back to his room without looking back.

Brother Renyi looked at his back as he went away, and couldn't help thinking, brother Qiubai didn't like this.

Lu Shangqiu gritted his teeth in hatred.He went back to the room and saw that neither Zhao Xiangling nor the maid was there, so he lay down on the couch with his clothes on.

At this moment, he felt sad in his heart, with mixed feelings, and almost crushed his silver teeth.I thought that if I won the Jinshi, I would be able to rise steadily and have a prosperous career from then on.Unexpectedly, I just did something that I thought was correct and served the country, but it led to the current situation: not only was there no hope of being transferred, but the erotic pictures were circulated and sold in the capital, so much so that Li Renyi, a fellow villager, also got it. One copy, such a great shame, but he can't tell anyone about the depression in his heart.

A man does not flick his tears easily, but at this moment he is crying like a baby, with tears streaming down his face, soaking the pillow towel.The young man was alone in a foreign land for the first time, and he was already unaccustomed to the climate, and Zhao Xiangling was not the kind of person who was good at serving; in addition, he was tortured that day, his wounds had not recovered, and he had been frightened and suffocated for several months. live.At this time, he finally became dizzy and had a high fever.

Today there was a fresh fish market in Chang'an East City, it was very lively, Zhao Xiangling and the maid waited for some hours before returning, only to see her husband's complexion was burning, his whole body was hot, unconscious, she was frightened and flustered.

She thought that Lu Lang was about to die, so she shook his body vigorously and cried loudly, "Lu Lang, Lu Lang, wake up!"

All the female servants also panicked, shouting "Master, Master", pinching the man's heart, pinching the palm of the hand, giving first aid.

Li Renyi's family in this room heard the movement and came out to check, only to see Zhao Xiangling holding the unconscious Lu Shangqiu, crying into tears, and was shocked.Li Renyi stretched out his hand to touch Lu Shangqiu's forehead, and it was scorchingly hot. He stomped his feet anxiously: "Sisters and sisters, don't cry, hurry up and ask the doctor."

Zhao Xiangling sobbed, "I don't know where to ask for a doctor."

Li Renyi rubbed his forehead and frowned, and said to Li Shi: "Miss, you are here to take care of your younger brother and younger siblings, and tell your younger siblings to be careful not to move your fetus. Wait for me to ask the doctor."

The pharmacist gave up after pinching his pulse and listening to his chest, and asked, "Is there anything unusual about Lu Geshi recently?"

Zhao Xiangling suddenly realized: "Lu Lang seems to be thinking recently, and his appetite is not as much as before."

"Lu's work is due to lack of food and accumulated food, qi deficiency and weakness, stagnation of qi, resulting in poor blood flow; it is not a cold, please rest assured." The doctor diagnosed, "The old man prescribed a prescription for reducing fever and promoting blood circulation. Take it twice a day. It will take about three days to recover. I can’t cure the depression in my heart, but I hope my wife can enlighten me with all my heart.”

The maid accompanied the doctor to grab the medicine.Zhao Xiangling hurried to the front yard to boil hot water, and gave the hot towel to her husband to wipe.

Li Renyi said to himself: "It was fine in the morning, why did it become like this?"

After returning to his own house, Li Renyi polished his ink and brush, and wrote a letter, reporting to Lu Suyuan that Zhao Xiangling was pregnant and unable to take care of Lu Shangqiu competently, and ordered the messenger to send it to the Bingzhou government office quickly.On the second day, he went to Yushitai to hand over the leave note for him.

At dawn, Lu Shangqiu's fever subsided and he barely woke up.Seeing his wife staying up all night, her eyes swollen from crying for him, she couldn't help being moved.He fell in love with the scene, and the two hugged and cried together again.

Lu Suyuan received Li Renyi's letter. Knowing that his son was ill, he was very distressed, so he sent four more servants, carrying silver, jewelry, Shanxi specialties, and rice cakes and almond candies made by Wang Sisi for her husband, and rushed to the hospital. To Chang'an.

***

Not long after Lu Shangqiu got better, it was time for the performance appraisal of the new official.Censor Zuotai has newly recruited two officials this year, besides the minister Lu Shangqiu, the other is Feng Yiru, the supervisory censor who was promoted from the local government.

On the day of the performance appraisal, Wei Yan, the supervisor of Yushitai who was in charge of personnel affairs, led the two of them into a secret room to stay there, waiting for Zhong Cheng to come to court.

Zhongcheng first commented on Feng Yiru.Supervising censor Feng Yiru is good at sycophancy. After taking office, he doesn't do a lot of supervising work. He doesn't see anyone for two or three days, but he often goes to his boss Lai Junchen to brag about bribes.This kind of bearded bastard, Lai Junchen actually got a first-class rating in his performance appraisal.

Feng Yiru was very grateful, and he bowed three times to Zhongcheng, flattering him: "Zhongcheng knows how to use people well, and he is really a pillar of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"

Lai Junchen waved his hand, signaling him to back down.

Only he and Lu Shangqiu were left in the secret room.

Lu Shangqiu hated him and avoided him all day long. He really didn't want to see him at this time, but he was a subordinate and he was a boss. Although his position as an official was in dire straits and he suffered a complete defeat, if he resigned and returned to his hometown because of this, how could he? If he has the face to see his parents and fellow villagers, where will his parents' face be saved?

Zhong Cheng flipped through the attendance book without looking at him, and said slowly, "Lu Xianqing, you have only been in office for a few months, why are you absent for so many days?"

On the surface, Lu Shangqiu replied: "I just came to Chang'an, and I am not convinced. Please forgive me."It's not because you, an old thief, captured me and used lynching.

Zhong Cheng said in that official tone: "You know, I don't need people who 'fish for three days and hang nets for two days' in Da Zhou."

Everyone in the Yushitai Courtyard knew that the real person posting the net was obviously Feng Yiru, who had just been rated A by him.Lu Shangqiu worked diligently, but just because he betrayed his boss first, any achievements were obliterated.If it weren't for the fact that he was recommended by Mr. Zhage and appointed by the Holy Majesty as a celebrity in the palace examination, it would be difficult for Zhongcheng to explain, he might have died and came to the mansion long ago.Hearing Zhong Cheng's words, knowing that he was deliberately making things difficult for him, he felt very bitter: I expected that you would not let me pass.Then he gave up on himself a little, and the circles of his eyes were also red.

The treacherous minister collected the books and said to the man kneeling in front of him, "You official, do you still want to do it?" It was clearly intimidating and luring him.

Lu Shangqiu gritted his teeth with hatred, but he still bite the bullet and squeezed out two words: "Do it."

Seeing that the young man who resisted him in the past is now under his arrogance, he automatically bows his head in admiration, with a satisfied look on Zhong Cheng's face, but he still doubts this man's loyalty to him.

"This is very embarrassing for the old man—how are you going to make up for this missed time?"

"The lower official has always been diligent and conscientious. Even though he has been absent for a while, there is nothing wrong with the post of recording. The lower official will definitely do his best to serve Zhongcheng in the future, and he will do his best."

"Serve for me, do you not hesitate to say so? To put it bluntly, this old man will test you to see if you don't agree with your heart." Zhongcheng ordered, "Show the silver ring to this old man."

"Here?" This is the Daming Palace.

"Don't you still want to go outside the hall and show it to everyone?"

Lu Shangqiu looked around for no one, and slowly unbuttoned his shirt.The silver ring between the breasts produced many barbs like a trick, piercing deeply into the wound, and after a long time, they all grew together with the flesh. He tried to remove it by himself, but not only failed to remove it, but also made the wound inflamed. He had a high fever and almost died.

Zhong Cheng nodded in satisfaction.

Lu Shangqiu thought it was over, and he breathed a sigh of relief, but he was very wrong.

Zhong Cheng lifted the hem of the court clothes, and uttered a cold command: "Lick."

Seeing this scene, Lu Shangqiu couldn't help but stare angrily.Zhong Cheng actually ordered him to do such obscene and obscene things in the Daming Palace, it was just to humiliate him deliberately.

"It's a dog, and it knows how to be obedient. Lu Geshi said just now that he wanted to work for the old man, but now he wants to go back on his word?" Seeing Lu Shangqiu gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, Zhong Cheng said, "The old man gives you two choices: one, go back to your hometown immediately; Second, serve the old man obediently. If you serve well, you will be rewarded."

Lu Shangqiu's heart was sour, and a line of tears slid down the corner of his eyes.As for the first option, he definitely cannot choose; for the second option, anyway, it is not the first time he has been forced to do such a thing, just treat it as being bitten by a dog. The humiliation of the next is good for revenge.With a heartbeat, he closed his eyes and covered his red lips.

A quarter of an hour later, Lu Shangqiu only felt numbness in his lips and teeth, sticky and greasy mouth, and nausea in his stomach.Only then did Zhongcheng squirt out from his throat.

"It seems that Lu Geshi is not a useless person. The old man is very satisfied with this mouth. Let's go down."

As soon as Lu Shangqiu heard about the amnesty, he tidied up his clothes and hurriedly pushed the door out.

He avoided everyone's strange eyes, went all the way to the hut, picked his throat and vomited out all the smelly and filthy things.

***

When the results of the performance appraisal came out, Lai Zhongcheng thought that he was considerate in his service, and his subordinates were merciful, giving him the first rank.According to Da Zhou's regulations, only the first-class and above are eligible for promotion, which means that he still has to stay in Yushitai as his sesame official.

Next, he found out that Zhongcheng followed the saint to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen, and he was not in the capital for nearly a month.Then he had a chance, handed over the greeting card to the Chafu, and chose a day to visit him.

"Nephew, I have wronged you." Seeing Lu Shangqiu came to beg him, Zha Shaoyu knew he was ashamed, "Can you give me some more time, when the sage Feng Chan returns, I will definitely transfer my nephew."

Lu Shangqiu thanked silently.

Cha Shaoyu lowered his voice, and said again: "The old man is in charge of the procuratorate, and he can't interfere with the Taiwan court's affairs; the nephew works under Zhongcheng, so it must be easier to know every move of Zhongcheng. If he finds that he has any Please inform me of any disobedience." The implication is that he should be an eyeliner to monitor Lai Junchen.

Without hesitation, Lu Shangqiu readily agreed.