Roselle Peony

On the second day, the king of Liang got up early to go to court, and the servants came in to serve and wash up.Lu Shangqiu woke up with a start, and got up in a hurry.

Liang Wang held him down and said, "Where is Lu Lang going?"

Lu Shangqiu said: "The lower officials have to go back to Yushitai, otherwise the Zhongcheng will be counted as absenteeism."

"Don't go to Zhong Cheng's place again." Liang Wang looked unhappy.

Lu Shangqiu was afraid of coming to Zhongcheng, and even more afraid of the Liang Wang who had just met and didn't know the details, for fear that Liang Wang was the moody person.Seeing his dark face at this time, I couldn't help feeling remorse.

"Yesterday when the king asked for someone from Zhong Cheng, Zhong Cheng's eyes almost swallowed this king alive." Seeing that he was frightening him, Liang Wang calmed down and kissed him on the forehead, "It's still early, Lu Lang might as well Get some more sleep. Don’t go to Yushitai anymore, and wait for me to find a job for you in Shangshu Province.”

Lu Shangqiu fell asleep obediently, and Liang Wang got up and left.

At this time, King Liang served as Chunguan Shangshu (Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites), supervised the compilation of national history, and was the same prime minister as Luantai Shizhong (Menxia Shizhong) and Fengge Internal History (Zhongshu Ling). Doctor Shi's words were naturally full of weight, and Lu Shangqiu sounded like a giant, overjoyed.He tossed and turned on the huge bed, but couldn't fall asleep in the end, so he called the servant girl in the palace, asking to change clothes and wash.

The maidservant who served him to clean up said: "Young Master Lu, the lord has told you that you can move freely during the day, but you just want to come back before the lord goes to court."

Lu Shangqiu nodded in agreement.

The maid gave him another small copper token, and said: "This is the token for entering and leaving the palace, please keep it, my lord."

After washing, Lu Shangqiu walked out of the gate of Prince Liang's Mansion. He felt relieved for a moment. The whole Chang'an City was in his eyes. The sky was blue and the air was not as dirty as before.

The cook took him back to Lu's house.After not returning all night, Zhao Xiangling waited anxiously with her big belly, and asked anxiously when she saw him.Lu Shangqiu felt ashamed of his wife and concubine, and couldn't think of any good excuse at this time, so he just hugged Zhao Xiangling's shoulders and said nothing.

***

When I was young, it was dark.There was a "dong dong" knock on the door outside the courtyard.

Lu Shangqiu poked his head out and waved his hand at Li Renyi: "Brother Renyi, say I'm not here." Then he hid in the room and motioned him to answer the door.

Li Renyi opened the door.

Outside the door is the messenger of Liang Wangfu.The messenger said: "The king of Liang invited Mr. Lu to come to the house."

When did Lu Shangqiu have friendship with Liang Wang?Surprised, Li Renyi opened his mouth into a circle and pointed blankly at the other side, betraying his good brother.

The messenger entered the room, knelt down on one knee towards Lu Shangqiu, and repeated: "The king of Liang invites Mr. Lu to come to the house."

Zhao Xiangling didn't know what was going on, seeing her husband's ugly face, she thought that her husband had caused some trouble, so she rushed over and said: "Lu Lang doesn't know any prince, please go back as a messenger."

The envoy said: "The King of Liang came back this morning and did not see the Young Master. He was very anxious, and asked the Young Master to follow you back quickly and return to his command."

Lu Shangqiu bowed to the messenger and said: "Please go back and tell the prince that the wife of the subordinate official is about to give birth. Please allow the servant to stay at home and take care of his wife."

The messenger looked at Zhao Xiangling's swollen belly, and seeing that what Lu Shangqiu said was true, he hurried back to report.

A quarter of an hour later, the envoy returned and said to Lu Shangqiu: "The prince is sympathetic to my younger brother and wife, and has granted Mr. Lu's request. If Mr. Lu wants to ask the prince for help, the token is known to everyone in the palace. Waiting for Mr. Lu."

Thank you Lu Shangqiu.

The envoy said again: "My lord, please stay at home, Mr. Lu, and don't go back to Yushitai. Please don't worry about the absence of duty, Mr. Lu."

Zhao Xiangling was very happy when she heard this: "Lu Lang, this prince is so kind, let you take a long vacation, and you can finally spend more time with my concubine."

Lu Shangqiu complained: You don't even ask why the lord gave me leave for no reason.

There is no such thing as a free banquet in the world, and he could see clearly that King Liang's policy was to be gentle, and he wanted to make a show of pursuing him.In Chang'an, the capital city of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the atmosphere was open and masculine prevailed. He also heard of the love and hatred between the gentry from time to time.But this king of Liang seems to be full. It is unknown whether this kind of petting for no reason is a blessing or a curse. I am afraid that he is not a blessing for the small people, so he can hide for as long as possible.

***

In November, the westerly wind blows and the cold air gradually hits.

Before winter, Zhao Xiangling gave birth to a pair of full-term twins for Lu Shangqiu. Lu Shangqiu named the boy "Wuyi" in the hope that he would be sensible; Virtuous woman.At the same time, Wang Sisi came out of confinement, and brought Lu Wuzai, a fat boy who was full moon, to Chang'an.The whole Lu Mansion suddenly became lively, welcoming the arrival of three new lives, and the family reunited happily, very festively.

Wang Sisi came to Beijing for the first time; Lu Shangqiu was at home leisurely, so he took his two wives to visit Chang'an.The group first visited the Taiji Palace, the emperor's palace during the Gaozu and Taizong periods.Taiji Palace is located in the northwest of Chang'an City Wall, built by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. There is Xuanwu Gate on the north palace wall, and the "Xuanwu Gate Change" took place here.Wang Sisi worshiped the Buddha, and the group went to the famous Da Ci'en Temple in the south of the city to offer incense, and visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda built during the Gaozong period in the temple.The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was the tallest building in Chang'an City at that time. When you climb to the top, you can overlook the capital city and the imperial palace.Unfortunately, the body of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was damaged at that time and was waiting for repairs, so no one was allowed to climb the pagoda.

The crowd drove a carriage, circled around the Xingqing Palace, the emperor's holiday palace in the east of the city, and then returned to Zhao Xiangling's favorite Dongshi.Wang Sisi had never seen such a bustling market, and she was also very interested in the dazzling array of gadgets.Purchasing is a woman's nature. After a while, the two sisters piled up a lot of miscellaneous things in the carriage, including shadow puppets, gauze fans, jewelry hairpins, almonds and dates, walnut rice cakes, all women's things.Mr. Lu watched the two wives walking forward talking and laughing, as if they were still unfinished, and wanted to continue buying. He looked at the trinkets hanging in the servant's hands, and thought about the pile of trinkets in the carriage, as if I heard the purse weeping.

In the evening, the two sisters didn't bother to eat, so they ordered someone to set up a white gauze tent in the guest room, lighted the oil lamp behind it, put the newly bought shadow puppet in front of the tent, and began to perform in an orderly manner.While eating, Lu Shangqiu watched the female relatives having fun, and thought to himself: These days of leisure are really carefree, no wonder there are often high-ranking officials in the book who "retire their old age and return to their hometowns" and "return to farm".

In a few days, Liang Wang really kept his promise and recommended Lu Shangqiu, a new Jinshi in front of the Holy One, as a member of the Spring Official Ritual Division, Wailang, from the sixth rank.The Holy One will play.Lu Shangqiu was promoted exceptionally, and within a year he was promoted to two ranks, and his salary was doubled, which made Li Renyi envious.

It was evening when the messenger came to report.Here, the Lu family was preparing meals, when they heard the Li family on the west side yelling: "Look at Mr. Lu, he has a smooth official career at a young age, he has been promoted step by step, and he has met his prince; you only do it when you are in your 40s." The last one was praised, you didn’t even have a grade, and the monthly salary is so high, it’s really unlucky for my old lady to follow you!”

I just heard Li Renyi yelling: "He has two wives, and they enjoy the blessings of everyone; I only have one wife—oh—oh, it hurts—please don't hit my wife—"

All the maidservants and servants laughed together, Zhao Xiangling and Wang Sisi each held their husband's arm, very sweet.

***

The next day, Lu Shangqiu went to Yushitai Supervisor Wei Yan to file.The old man Wei Lan grinned and stared at him with a wicked smile.

"Hey, congratulations to Mr. Lu, you are on the rise."

This Governor Wei is Lai Junchen's minion, Lu Shangqiu ignored him, just nodded to show that he received it, and waved his hand to urge him to find him quickly.

Wei Lan searched for a while, and found a brown paper bag. Out of courtesy, Lu Shangqiu respectfully stretched out his hands to pick it up.

Wei Yan held the cowhide bag in his hands and did not let go, baring his front teeth: "Mr. Lu, how does the prince's taste compare to that of our Zhongcheng?"

Lu Shangqiu was so angry that his cheeks swelled out, and it took him a lot of effort to restrain the urge to slap the yellow-toothed old man, snatched the kraft paper bag, and walked away without looking back.

He took a basket and went back to his desk to pack things.

Wang Shunzhi came over and said, "Congratulations, brother, for being promoted."

Lu Shangqiu had just been angered by Governor Wei, and now no one wanted to pay attention to him, and he agreed with him with a "yes".

Wang Shunzhi looked at the young man in front of him, sighed and said: "My dear brother, take care, the prince is not a good person to be with, my dear brother needs to be very careful in the future."

Lu Shangqiu impatiently cupped his hands in return: "Thank you, Senior Wang, for taking care of Xiaosheng for a year. Senior Wang taught you something, and Xiaosheng will definitely remember it."

"As long as you remember, as long as you remember." Wang Shunzhi said with a chuckle.

After cleaning up, Lu Shangqiu turned his head and went to the Shangshu Province located outside the Daming Palace.

What is the title of Chunguan Riji Yuanwailang?Among the six departments of Shangshu Province, the administrative body of the imperial court, Chunguan (the Ministry of Rites was changed to "Chunguan" in the first year of Wu Zhaoguangzhai) has four divisions (Rite Division, Sacrificial Division, Host and Guest Division, and Food Division), and each division has a chief called "Langzhong" , "Yuanwailang" is the deputy doctor, which literally means "an assistant official outside the establishment". It is a position that can be set up or not.Lu Shangqiu rushed to Shangshu Province to report on the Zhenger Bajing, and handed the kraft paper bag respectfully to Fu Rong, the supervisor of the Ministry of Rites of Shangshu Province.

Inspector Fu received Lu Shangqiu's materials, then went to do his own business and left him alone.

Lu Shangqiu waited beside him for a long time, finally couldn't restrain himself, stopped the supervisor and said, "Excuse me, supervisor, I don't know which doctor I should report to?"

Inspector Fu asked suspiciously, "Didn't the King of Liang tell you?" But he still took him to see Xu Su, the doctor of Chunguan Lisi.

Seeing that Governor Fu brought a newcomer over, Xu Su guessed that he was Lu Shangqiu when he saw the gentleman's appearance.Seeing that he was holding a big basket in his arms, he asked, "Why did you even move your belongings here?"

Lu Shangqiu quickly waved his hands: "Xiaguan just packed up his things from Yushitai, and these are just the pen and ink materials that Xiaguan used to work in."

Xu Su was displeased: "There is no seat for you here."

How can there be no public case in the office?Lu Shangqiu said "ah" in a daze, then quickly put down the basket, and said: "This is the first time for an official to enter Shangshu Province, and I also ask the doctor for advice."

Xu Su sighed, "Didn't the lord tell you?"

Lu Shangqiu tilted his head.These two people spoke in the same way, could it be that the prince really didn't tell him something important?

When Xu and Fu saw that he was still confused by Monk Zhang Er, they realized that this newcomer really didn't know anything.

Inspector Fu explained: "The King of Liang is the head of our Ministry of Rites—Chunguan Shangshu. Your duty as Yuanwailang is to accompany the King of Liang when he is in office, and is responsible for recording all matters big and small. Xu Langzhong handed in the record book. Liang Wang usually works in the mansion, so Shang Shusheng did not reserve your place."

Lu Shangqiu opened his mouth into a barrel shape.He thought that the King of Liang had found him a decent position, so he went around for a long time, but it turned out that the King of Liang had no good intentions and arranged him to be the secretary by his side.That night last time, I kept crying pretentiously, which made King Liang lose his appetite, and he was worthy of letting him go; now it's good, I have to stay by King Liang's side every day, like a sheep in a tiger's den, there is no guarantee that one day it will not Swallowed by "ah woo".

Xu Su patted the young man on the shoulder: "Okay, King Liang has already returned to the palace, and Mr. Lu, please take your belongings and report to Prince Liang's mansion as soon as possible."