Roselle Peony

After drinking for three rounds, some guests got up to leave, some were still fighting for wine, and some were too drunk to bend down on the wine table unconscious.Master Lu also drank too much, and was supported by Yan Shi to go back to his room to rest.The wives were even more overwhelmed with alcohol, and they had already dispersed.

Although Master Lu has a good drinking capacity, he is not as good as his son Lu Shangqiu who is known as "not drunk after a thousand cups" in Bingzhou.Classmate Zhao Liuyi got the sixth place in the provincial examination. Although he was the highest ranked student in the class except Lu Shangqiu, he was only one place away from Jingkui (the top five in the provincial examination), which made Mr. Zhao happy and slightly disappointed, so he He was the one who toasted Lu Shangqiu the most that night.Here Zhao Liuyi was so drunk that he couldn't finish his sentences, and he was yelling that he was not convinced and wanted to compete in reciting poems and odes. Over there, Mr. Lu just had blushing cheeks, narrowed his eyes, and raised his glass calmly in return.

Xiaowan, Zhao Liuyi's younger sister, was sitting downstream with her family members. While helplessly watching her elder brother and Lu Shangqiu fight wine, while staring at Lu Shangqiu's handsome face, she gradually became fascinated. Just let daddy talk to the Lu family as a matchmaker.

Finally, when the guests dispersed, Lu Shangqiu was able to return to the East Pavilion.The male master lives in the east pavilion of Lu's mansion, and the vacated room is used as a guest room, while the Lu family's female family members live in the west pavilion.The housekeeper Lu Er lives in a single room in the south of the East Pavilion, the assistant lives in the East of the South Court, the maid lives in the West of the South Court, and the North Court is the Cangshu Pavilion.To the north of the East Pavilion, there is a large and exquisitely decorated house with a plaque hanging on it, with the words "loyalty and filial piety" written on it, which is the living place of Mr. Lu.

Lu Shangqiu went back to the house and lay down with his clothes on. At this time, he was drunk, but the joy when he first heard that he had won the list faded away.He didn't feel sleepy for a long time, he heard the silence outside the house, and expected that the servants had already rested, so he took out an iron spoon and a small whetstone from under the pillow, and began to sharpen the spoon.No one expected that Mr. Lu, who seems to be handsome and suave, would have such a habit—staying up in the middle of the night and grinding spoons by the bedside.

The iron spoon looks like it has been around for many years, and the surface is black and uneven, but there are very few rust spots, presumably Mr. Lu often takes it out to play with.Lu Shangqiu carefully rubbed off a few spots of rust, and gradually stopped moving under the torture, staring at the iron spoon fixedly, unexpectedly lost his mind.

He seemed to think of that childish voice in his ears again, full of anxiety but full of confidence and firmness: "Xiaoqiu, if you hold on for a while, I will rescue you right away!" Thinking of this, the corners of Lu Shangqiu's mouth curled up.Brother Yuan, I got to know Yuan in the exam, you must be happy for me, right?

After a long time, I raised my head and looked at the bright moon in the sky. I remembered that the Mid-Autumn Festival was coming. Lu Shangqiu hid the spoon under the pillow, turned over and left the bed, took out a stack of letter paper, added some new ink to the inkstone, brushed the brush, and finished the letter in one go. , and then carefully fold and seal.

Mr. Lu was not in a hurry to put away the letter paper.Instead, he stared blankly at the letter "My brother Yuan Zhenqi" on the envelope.Finally, unable to resist the drowsiness, he fell asleep in front of the desk.

***

Lu Shangqiu spoke at the age of one, and could recite five words and seven words at the age of two. At that time, whenever a friend came to Lu's house as a guest, Lu Suyuan asked Lu Shangqiu to come out and recite to show off.When he was four years old, Lu Suyuan invited Mr. Wang, the best local tutor, to learn the Four Books and Five Classics for his son, and invited Ligu, who was a musician in the palace, to learn Guqin.When Lu Shangqiu was six years old, he entered the best private school in Bingzhou, where he followed Master Sun to learn how to be a man.

Lu Shangqiu still remembers that on the day of enrollment, Mrs. Sun led him to introduce to others that he was the son of the governor of Bingzhou, and envious eyes were cast on him at that time.After class, the classmates gathered around to please him. There was only one guy sitting in the back row, a thin guy with unopened eyebrows. When he heard that he was the son of a high-ranking official, he snorted and looked very disdainful. He didn't talk to him after class, and wanted to run away with his book bag on his back.

Since childhood, Lu Shangqiu has been chased and admired by others, and this person's attitude aroused Mr. Lu's curiosity.He pointed at the sneaky person, and asked Zhao Liuyi, the son of rich man Zhao, whom he had just met not long ago, "Who is this person?"

Zhao Liuyi is the bully in the private school, one year older than the other classmates, so he is also tall, he has a thick head and a tiger head, and he bullies his classmates with his fists. His father is the owner of the largest silk shop in Bingzhou. The private school donated a lot of money.This Zhao Liuyi, even Master Sun has nothing to do with him.

Zhao Liuyi has long noticed this unique boy: "This little guy is called Yang Yuanzhen. His father is a descendant of the previous dynasty. He couldn't eat well in Chang'an City, so he hid in Bingzhou. Yang Yuanzhen can't beat me, so I'll go and bring him here and give it to Lu. Young master, you can bully me as you like." Then he stepped forward and grabbed Yang Yuanzhen who had slipped to the door by the collar, and dragged him to Lu Shangqiu. "You want to run, don't you? Kneel down for Mr. Lu!"

"Kneel down!" The other students yelled at the side, and by the way, they threw Yang Yuanzhen's bookbag on the ground and stomped on it.Lu Shangqiu watched these people making a fuss and didn't stop them.

It is said to be small, but Yang Yuanzhen is only shorter than Zhao Liuyi, and still a little taller than Lu Shangqiu.Yang Yuan's face was blushing, no matter what Zhao Liuyi pushed, his small body stood upright, but he didn't kneel down.

Zhao Liuyi didn't want to lose face in front of Lu Shangqiu, so he stepped on the hollow of Yang Yuanzhen's leg.

Yang Yuanzhen couldn't stand the pain, he knelt down slightly, his upper body was still straight, and the moisture gathered in a pair of big bright eyes and circled.

Seeing Yang Yuanzhen knelt down, Zhao Liuyi went even further, calling other students to hold his legs, and he grabbed Yang Yuanzhen's hair bun, pressed his head towards Lu Shangqiu's feet, and said, "Kowtow to the master quickly."

Yang Yuanzhen didn't say a word from the beginning to the end.He has been bullied by Zhao Liuyi several times. Zhao Liuyi dislikes his proud face the most. Every time he is forced to kowtow to the children of high-ranking officials, he refuses and says "kowtow to your mother's head". When he couldn't walk, he went back late and violated the access control of Yang's house. Not only did he miss dinner, he was also punished by Yang's father to kneel down for one night, and no servants were allowed to deliver food to him.Yang Yuanzhen had been beaten a lot, he no longer resisted verbally, now he could only look up his head desperately, trying not to let the tears fall.The bun that was neatly combed before was also messed up.

Seeing Yang Yuanzhen's disheveled face, Lu Shangqiu suddenly lost his usual interest in watching a good show.He waved his hand and said to Zhao Liuyi: "I don't want to see this man, you have to make him go somewhere else."

Zhao Liuyi kicked Yang Yuanzhen reluctantly: "Master Lu told you to get out?" The other students followed suit, "Get out, get out!" Everyone surrounded Lu Shangqiu again, and took out the snacks and other small things in their schoolbags. please him.It wasn't until the servants of the Lu family who were waiting at the door came to urge them that the crowd dispersed angrily.

***

Lu Shangqiu was sitting in the sedan chair bored, today Master Sun was speaking the Analects of Confucius, he had already read it by heart, it was not very interesting, he should bring some of his own books to read tomorrow.He opened the car curtain boredly and looked at the pedestrians on the street. Suddenly he saw a familiar figure, carrying a dusty book bag, walking with his head down, and was crowded by pedestrians. When he came over, he lost his balance and was pushed into the middle of the road.

Lu Shangqiu couldn't see him, but felt that the sedan chair suddenly tipped forward, and he couldn't sit still, and almost fell out of the sedan chair with his feet in the air.

Wang Zhongyi, a member of the Lu family who was carrying the palanquin, tripped over this boy who suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, and kicked him angrily: "Where did the short-sighted boy dare to block the way, and knocked our young master?" How many lives do you have to pay?" He turned back and asked inside the sedan chair, "Is Mr. Lu injured?"

Lu Shangqiu lifted the curtain: "Uncle Wang, I'm fine." His eyes fell on the dirt-covered sedan chair bearer.

He finally remembered who this person was, isn't this Yang Yuanzhen?The one bullied by Zhao Liuyi?Zhao Liuyi and the others all sat in sedan chairs, why did he walk home?

Uncle Wang came over and checked Lu Shangqiu in his arms: "It's as long as you are fine. How do you plan to deal with this short-sighted bitch?"

Lu Shangqiu shook his head. "Uncle Wang, he is also a student of Mrs. Sun, and he will study and read with me in the future. Besides, when I saw someone pushing him, he didn't intend to block the sedan chair. I don't plan to pursue him."

Uncle Wang cupped his hands in disappointment: "Young master is huge, so don't pursue it." Looking back at Yang Yuanzhen, he said in an arrogant tone, "So you are my son's classmate, sorry for being rude. You can go."

Yang Yuanzhen glanced at Lu Shangqiu, flicked the ashes off his body, turned around and left without saying sorry.

"Wait." Yang Yuanzhen turned his head, only to see Mr. Lu walking towards him, and backed away hastily.Didn't you mean not to pursue him?Could it be that he still couldn't escape a punch?

Young Master Lu walked up to him, raised his face, and put his hands behind his back like an adult: "I have a question to ask you."

"Others take sedan chairs, why do you walk home?"

Yang Yuanzhen blinked and didn't speak.

Apart from answering the Master's questions in the school, Lu Shangqiu hadn't seen Yang Yuanzhen make a sound that day. "I know you're not dumb, but why don't you talk?"

Yang Yuanzhen turned his head to the side, still unwilling to answer.

Young Master Lu walked around in front of him, and nodded as if suddenly enlightened: "You walk home because your father has no money to hire someone to carry the sedan chair. You don't speak because my father is the governor, and you don't bother to talk to me."

Yang Yuanzhen raised his head angrily and looked at Lu Shangqiu.

Young Master Lu didn't take it seriously, and continued to ask: "Do you walk to school every day?"

"Hmph, none of your business!" Yang Yuanzhen finally spoke, his immature childish voice was full of humiliation.

Lu Shangqiu didn't take it seriously, took Yang Yuanzhen's arm and walked into the sedan chair, saying: "How tiring walking home, where do you live? I think your house and mine should live in the same direction. Come and sit in the sedan chair with me." Uncle Wang, please turn around and go to the Yang Mansion." At the same time, he dragged Yang Yuanzhen into the sedan chair, ignoring Uncle Wang who was looking resentful outside.