Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

On the day of rest, Lu Ci got up early in the morning. After taking a bath and changing clothes, he changed into a light-colored light-colored shirt, rode his horse, and leisurely headed towards the direction of Wang Zeng's mansion.

Although Yan Shu intended to go with him, but because Shiro had suddenly contracted an acute illness last night, even though he had been consulted by a good doctor, he was still a little worried, so Lu Ci forced him to stay and take care of him.

But Zhu Shuo and Liu Qi didn't receive the invitation, and it was not easy to go there, so it was quite rare for Lu Ci to go out alone.

For the same three-yuan and first-timers, Lu Ci naturally feels differently about Wang Zeng.

But in terms of official career, Wang Zeng can be said to be steady and steady at every step, while Lu Ci is an accelerated version of the cheating version - he won three yuan in succession at a young age, which is quite appreciated by His Majesty, but Wang Zeng went to the local government first He will serve as a supervisor, and was later recalled to serve as a post in Beijing.After being promoted repeatedly in the pavilion, he became a Hanlin Bachelor, then in charge of the Judgment Court, then he was promoted to be the Master of the Book and Guest Doctor, and then known to the Trial Official Yuan, Tongjin Yintai Division, and the Third Class Court...

The result of this dazzling resume is that when he first entered the age of forty, he had already used the right to advise the doctor to visit the political affairs.

Among a group of high-ranking colleagues, he can be called the deputy prime minister at such an age, he can definitely be called a young man.

Such a popular dignitary, there are not many people who want to befriend him, especially Kou Zhun, Wang Qinruo and others who are fighting openly and secretly, once had this intention.

However, Wang Zeng didn't pay much attention to the two factions. Purely in terms of political opinions, he appreciated Kou Zhun's actions more.

He praised him several times, and Ding Wei and others regarded him as belonging to Kou Zhun's school.

No matter what others think of him, Wang Zeng is still a businessman, doing his own way, and the people who make friends in private are mainly old friends when he was in the embassy, ​​or former colleagues with deep affection when he was in other government departments.

Yan Shu had been invited by him several times, and had a pleasant conversation, so he couldn't help admiring and admiring him, and also intended to recommend Lu Ci to him.

Not wanting to wait for Yan Shu to mention the specific name, Wang Zeng directly guessed Lu Ci's first name, and said straightforwardly that he had intended to get acquainted with him a long time ago, but suffered from no one to introduce him.

If Lu Ci hadn't been busy carving the wooden turtle Sinan that time, he wouldn't have missed Yan Shu who couldn't wait to find him several times.

Lu Ci had many guesses about Wang Zengxiang's intentions.

Is it about Wang Qinruo, Kou Zhun, or the little prince?

Lu Ci casually looked at the array of goods displayed in the shops along the street, and before he knew it, he had arrived in front of Wang Zeng's gift house in Chunmingfang.

Before he could give his name and explain why he came, the doorman recognized him at a glance and hurriedly led him respectfully across the front yard to the back yard.

After Lu Ci walked through the short corridor and walked out of the two stone gates, what greeted his eyes was a magnificent and elegant scene of 'Guests from all over the world visiting Huayuan'.

After experiencing the cramped and cramped front yard, seeing this scene at first glance gives people a sense of openness.

There are magnificent mountains and rocks, and there are also beautiful trees with cloudy clouds. There are chattering and laughing scholars, holding wine cups, walking leisurely among them. Obviously, they are all other guests who arrived one step earlier than Lu Ci.

The arrival of Lu Ci immediately attracted the attention of many people, and they all turned their attention to him.

Lu Ci smiled, and bowed his hands calmly.

Most people politely looked away after either nodding their heads or bowing their hands in return.

As the host of this feast, Wang Zeng was talking to people with a smile, and when he caught sight of Lu Ci near the entrance of the garden out of the corner of his eye, he simply took them with him and went forward to greet him.

Although everyone was wearing casual clothes and most of them were unfamiliar faces, Lu Ci could easily recognize Wang Zeng's identity based on his unique temperament alone.

When his gaze swept past the people around Wang Zeng, a smile flashed across Lu Ci's eyes.

"Lu Zuo Yude," Wang Zeng smiled slightly. After lingering on Lu Ci for a while, he retracted his eyes gracefully, and praised: "It's true that seeing a hundred things is worth seeing."

When Wang Zeng was observing him, he was also looking at the other party generously.

Although Wang Zeng is in his forties, his temples are full of frost, his brows and facial contours are still extremely upright, his eyes are full of radiance, which can be said to be upright and clear.

For Wang Zeng's kindness, Lu Ci declined a few words, and then saluted: "Thank you Wang for his invitation to participate in politics."

"You don't need to be so polite." Wang Zeng smiled and introduced his friends to him: "This is Song Gongchui. You must have heard his name in the pavilion, right?"

Before Lu Ci could speak, Song Shou, who had been pretending to suppress a smile, couldn't help it anymore.

He laughed loudly, took the initiative to take a step forward, and immediately opened his arms, hugging Lu Ci very affectionately: "It's more than just hearing about it?"

Wang Zeng was slightly taken aback.

Lu Ci also smiled and gently hugged him back: "Thanks to your love from that day, now that my two best friends have passed the selection, I still think about inviting you to my door someday, thank you very much, but I don't want to meet here first. "

Wang Zeng came back to his senses, couldn't help but smiled and patted Song Shou: "It turns out that you have been keeping a secret and refused to tell me your name and surname. You only want to find a good time to recommend to me. Is Lu Zuo Yude?"

Song Shou readily admitted: "Exactly."

With Song Shou, a warm-hearted and talkative friend, not only did Lu Ci not be idle for a moment during the private banquet that day, but also the Lord King had no chance to talk to Lu Ci alone.

Lu Ci let Song Shou lead him dumbfounded, shuttled freely in this beautiful small garden like a flower and a butterfly, and proudly introduced him to many visitors as if he were a big treasure.

When he dragged Lu Ci to walk towards his seventh friend, the melodious sound of silk and bamboo sounded in his ears, and everyone gathered in Dongzhai where the source of the sound was.

Although Lu Ci seldom went to such banquets and gatherings, he knew that at the banquets of ordinary officials and bureaucrats, there were often maidservants or singing girls who were hired to perform songs and dances for the guests to entertain them.

The beauty of the sonata has a graceful figure, which is faintly visible through the bead curtain, but it is difficult to see her true face.

Before that, people who are acquainted usually sit together to talk about current events or express their feelings.

Lu Ci was monopolized by Song Shou, so new acquaintances would naturally not come to snatch him, so they each found acquaintances and sat next to each other.

Song Shou was also very busy due to the recent examinations in the museum. This time, he came out for a banquet for the first time and met Lu Ci. He was very interested and full of things to say.

And since Lu Ci sat down, there have been a few malicious eyes cast over him secretly.

It's a pity that they were disappointed that Lu Ci was used to seeing much more turbulent occasions than this in later generations, and of course the appearance of Meng Lang that some people hoped to see would not appear.

Instead, he was pure-hearted and ascetic, still chatting and laughing with the nerd-like Song Shou, and never even glanced behind the fragrant bead curtain.

They waited patiently for a while, but Lu Ci was still the same, which made them lose interest and silently looked away.

Before you know it, it's been three rounds of drinking.

As the sound of the zither stopped, the six singers playing the qin behind the curtain opened the beaded curtain, revealing their pretty faces, and the atmosphere at the banquet suddenly became more enthusiastic.

Song Shou lowered his voice, and enthusiastically told Lu Ci: "The head girl is named Di Ji, she is good at bamboo flute, and Zhe Zhi Wu is also first-rate. It is said that there are very few people who can invite her."

Lu Ci felt that he was not interested in this from the bottom of his heart, so he just smiled and said "Oh".

Seeing his expressionless face, Song Shou couldn't help asking curiously: "Do you have no beauty in your eyes, or do you have beauty in your heart?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Shou found the answer by himself: "But with your appearance, it's really hard to look down on others."

Lu Ci: "...continue drinking your bar."

Song Shou picked up the wine glass with a smile, and was about to drink it when the maid behind him approached carefully, passed a delicate small table, and presented a simple study room from the right side of Lu Cikong's body.

Lu Ci didn't know what the intention was, and he didn't ask directly, but just looked at her quietly.

But in an instant, she saw the maid's face flushed, and said in a very low voice coyly: "This, this is Chong Niang begging Zuo Yude to write a poem for your face."

Seeing that her head was almost buried in her chest, Song Shou waved her off and sent her off, and then explained to Lu Ci who knew nothing about it: "You still have an impression of the piece I played just now. ? If you are willing to appreciate the light and compose lyrics according to the music, she will compose it on the spot and sing in front of the guests."

It is not only a good time for singers to meet noble literati and seek some good lyrics from them, but also a chance for guests to show their poetic skills in front of others and get some "yanfu" by the way.

After all, in this banquet, there were only six singers, and only six songs, but there were dozens of guests.

To be picked by a singing girl and courteously, in the eyes of other people who have not been 'favored', it also adds some glory to Lu Ci.

Lu Ci thought he heard it wrong, so he couldn't help repeating: "Ms. Chong?"

... Isn't that the singing girl that Liu Qi had been thinking about before?

Song Shou thought that Lu Ci was interested in the singer, so he couldn't help but find it interesting, so he nodded and said, "If you are willing to write a song for her, you will most likely be invited to be the guest of honor."

Although Lu Ci didn't know how high the stage name duplication rate among singing girls was, he was completely unwilling to verify it for himself.

If before knowing the other party's name, he didn't mind explaining the style a little bit, and assisting these beautiful showgirls, now he has completely lost that idea.

After Lu Ci politely refused, Chong Niang still felt that she had been swept away, so she gave Lu Ci a dissatisfied look, pursed her lips and looked away, but still sent Lu Ci an angry look from time to time.

Lu Ci drank calmly and didn't even look at her, and the person she asked for also readily accepted the invitation. After saying a word, Chongniang finally stopped looking at him.

After this little episode, the arrangement and performance part was the climax of the whole banquet.

After Lu Ci listened carefully, the banquet was over, and everyone who had returned after enjoying themselves bid farewell and went back.

Song Shou, who was still not satisfied, looked at the helpless Wang Zeng, and suddenly realized something was wrong: "Did I take your job away?"

Wang Zeng said with a smile: "You just found out?"

Song Shou made a haha ​​in embarrassment, and Wang Zeng said jokingly: "I think the reason why you are reluctant to introduce Lu Yuyu to me is because you are reluctant, not because you really want to pick a good time."

Song Shou took it seriously, and said guiltily, "It's really my fault, then you guys have a good chat, I'll take a step first."

As soon as he finished speaking, he let go of Lu Ci embarrassingly, and walked away quickly.

Lu Ci smiled and looked at his guilty back and shook his head, but Wang Zeng said, "Although it was mainly to tease him just now, I do have something to show you."

Lu Ci had expected this for a long time, so he was noncommittal, and could only bow his head politely: "You have King Lao to participate in politics."

Wang Zeng took Lu Ci into the study unhurriedly, picked up the small stack of documents on the table, put them in a cloth bag, and handed them to Lu Ci: "I heard from Prime Minister Kou that you Recently, I hired a job in water control. When I have spare time, I found some information from my early years working in other places and sorted it out a little. It should be helpful to you. Whether you use it or not is up to you."

Lu Ci was slightly taken aback, Wang Zeng no longer looked at him.

He sat alone behind the desk, leaned back lazily, looked at the afterglow of the setting sun in the garden with a smile, and said to himself: "If you want to compose poems and have a banquet, you should take advantage of this time."

Lu Ci's thoughts moved slightly: "Thank you, Wang Canzheng, for your suggestions."

Wang Zeng looked at him with a smile, but said: "It's the icing on the cake, no need to thank you. It's getting late, you might as well go back."

Lu Ci bid farewell graciously.

Wang Zeng: "..."

really gone?

The author has something to say: Notes:

This kind of remuneration interaction was very common at family banquets in the Song Dynasty, and it was regarded as an elegant thing.And because most of them are domestic prostitutes, the scope of singing is not large, and the significance of spreading is not obvious.

Representative: Yan Jidao