Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

Lu Ci slept for the first time in the past few months, and went out refreshed. While walking towards the hall, while ordering the servants to prepare the meal, he saw that he was sitting at the table in harmony. The friends around were stunned.

The three people at the table heard the slight sound of footsteps, turned around in unison, and turned their heads together.

Lu Ci felt a little pleasantly surprised, smiled slightly, and said affectionately: "The little raccoon slave is here!"

Di Qing was stunned for a long time after he hadn't seen Lu Gongzu whom he missed so much.

Until he heard the familiar voice calling the word "little raccoon slave", he woke up like a dream, stood up suddenly, and stared at the smiling opponent without blinking.

After another half hour, he seemed to muster up his courage, and whispered: "Grandpa Lu!"

"I'm not your father-in-law. If you don't dislike me, call me brother Lu." Lu Ci replied with a smile, sat down on the vacant main seat, waved his hand, and greeted the standing foolishly. Di Qing also sat down, and immediately cast his eyes on Liu Zhu and the two: "It's been a few days since I had a good talk with you, now it seems that you and Di Xiaolang have met?"

Di Qing blushed slightly, lowered his head, and unconsciously began to stir the porridge in the bowl.

Seeing that he was so cautious, Lu Ci couldn't help laughing, and casually squeezed two nuts from the small dish and threw them in.

Di Qing's agitation stopped abruptly.

Liu Qi glanced at Lu Ci meaningfully, and was about to tease him a few words, Zhu said that he had already nodded seriously: "I've heard him say it."

Lu Ci nodded, and introduced Di Qing with a smile: "Jingzhuang and Xiwen and I have known each other for many years. They are like brothers and sisters. They are both very gentle and kind people. And they are like you, and they will live here for a long time. You will be with them When we meet, don’t be too formal.” Looking at Liu and Zhu, he joked, “In the future, when I’m not at home, I’ll trouble you to take care of this little friend for me.”

During the several hours of waiting for Lu Ci to wake up, Liu and Zhu kept talking to Di Qing, knowing how much he believed in Lu Ci, and only for Yixin's encouragement and invitation, they traveled thousands of miles alone Come here, I have a good impression of him.

Hearing that the two of them agreed without hesitation, Zhu said, "Since I know Brother Yu Yu well, Brother Di is naturally my little friend with Brother Liu."

Liu Qi nodded happily: "That is."

Di Qing was at a loss at first, but after realizing what happened, he quickly stood up.

His first reaction was to decline, but he was stopped by Lu Ci's smiling eyes. Under the embarrassment, he only accepted the kindness with a blushing face.

But just as he was about to bow deeply to the three of them, Lu Ci stopped him with his hand.

Lu Ci smiled and put some children's favorite sugar candies on the small plate in front of him, concerned about Di Qing's condition along the way: "Is your journey going well? Some relatives and friends stopped by and sent you here. Or did you follow another team?"

Di Qing was easily distracted by Lu Ci's small actions, and quietly covered his bouncing chest. After calming down for a while, he organized his words and answered in a straightforward manner.

But he said that as soon as he received the letter, he rolled on the bed with unbearable excitement holding the invitation, and the next morning, he asked the master of the academy for leave.

And after he successfully asked for leave, he immediately went back to Dijiazhuang, informed his parents, and refused to delay for a moment, and wanted to leave immediately.

Although Lu Ci has not been an official in Fenzhou for a long time, the changes he brought to this place are earth-shaking.In particular, he presided over the breeding of chickens and ducks, the construction of colleges, etc., which really brought benefits to the local people, so that when the new governor of Fenzhou who only pursued the arrival of futile life, everyone still Can't help but miss him.

At first, Father Di refused to believe at all that this would be a letter from Lu Gongzu himself, and he wanted to punch the grinning brat on the spot.

Thanks to Di's mother who persuaded him in time, Brother Di, who is literate, also helped to read the letter. With the testimony of several acquaintances, it proved that Lu Gongzu did have a good eye for Xiao Di, and the letter was indeed written by Lu Ci Stamp...

The ironclad evidence was so strong that Father Di was forced to believe with a stunned expression that he used to only know how to run around in the mountains, and only the stinky boy who was quite talented in finding mountain goods and hunting wild animals was really valued by the very good Lu Gongzu.

He raised Di Qing suspiciously, and took a closer look.

There are still two eyes and one mouth, no different from before.

Could it be that green smoke suddenly rose from the ancestral grave?

Since it was a letter written by Lu Gongzu himself, inviting Di Qing to live in his residence in the middle of the capital for a period of time, to adapt to the atmosphere of the tribute ceremony in advance, and to meet the capital market, Di's father obviously could not have any reason to refuse.

But most of the people in the mountains are simple and simple, and Father Di is no exception.

Although he couldn't resist the temptation that his youngest son would be appreciated by nobles and might one day become famous, he had the cheek to accept the kindness.

But if he wanted to let Di Qing cause extra trouble to others, he would not do it no matter what.

So Di's father almost used up all the existing savings in the family. Adhering to the principle of poor families getting rich, he insisted on letting Di Qing take it with him. The big caravan in Beijing had to put some money in, so they agreed to take Di Qing with them.

After making sure that nothing would happen during the delivery of the little boy, Father Di slapped Di Qing on the head coolly, and went home.

Di Qing had his own ideas.

He didn't want to use the travel expenses sent by Lu Ci at all, but took advantage of the opportunity that the caravan would stay for a few days to do business every time it passed through a town, and gave full play to his expertise in hunting and finding wild goods to earn money. own expenses.

He has excellent patience and eyesight, plus he has a calm temper and is not afraid of danger. Unless he is particularly unlucky, he can usually hunt some animals who have just woken up from hibernation in this early spring when the ice and snow are about to melt. It is a wild animal that is so hungry that it has to come out for a walk to look for food, but it is still a little slow.

Most of the hunters are unwilling to go up the mountain, and in the cold weather not long after the new year, the wild animals are obviously much more popular than usual.

Di Qing followed the caravan all the way and hunted all the way.

He was frugal in the first place, his daily expenses were not much, and he only thought about seeing him, Lu Gongzu, completely ignoring the dazzling array of rare things on the stall.

It's not like those gentlemen who are leaving their hometown for the first time, who are inevitably dazzled by the prosperity of the big city, and can't help but buy things randomly.

It's not that Di Qing doesn't want to buy something for Lu Gongzu, but he knows better that he is a frog in a well. What he sees is rare, Lu Gongzu may not think it is rare; Living expenses are not much of his own savings.

If he used the money to buy things for Lu Gongzu, he would not make Lu Gongzu happy either.

So he walked down for more than two months, and seeing that he finally arrived at the gate of Bianjing City, the money in his pocket actually increased instead of decreasing-before going out, he was carrying eight strings of money, but now it has doubled. All of a sudden it became sixteen.

This is due to a good luck that he met when he was approaching Kaifeng - because he was close to a crowded town, he didn't have much hope when he went hunting in the mountains, he accidentally shot one with the small bow that Lu Ci gave him. roe.

Because there are very few deer in the area, it is very tight.

When Di Qing carried the panting deer to the market to sell, it soon attracted enthusiastic purchases from curious residents.At the usual price of one catty, he quickly sold more than half of this small deer.

He didn't want to touch the remaining half, but divided it into two parts. One part was packed in a wooden box filled with ice cubes to keep it fresh; Its air-dried and slightly salted.

Deer meat is so popular, maybe Lu Gongzu would be interested in it?

When Di Qing told Lu Ci about his experience when he came here, he also remembered his hidden little expectations.

He hurriedly took out the wooden box and the jerky wrapped in oiled paper from his rucksack, and took out all the money he had kept like a miser all the way, and put it on the table.

"Lu Gong——" Before the ancestor word was out of the mouth, Di Qing stammered and changed it into the word "brother" under Lu Ci's smiling head shaking.

He closed his mouth, and when he spoke again, he was cautious and difficult: "Lu, Brother Lu, please accept it."

Lu Ci could somewhat guess Di Qing's unwillingness to owe him money. Even if he wanted to convert the solid five or six catties of roe meat to the other party at the market price, he changed his mind after thinking about it and accepted it without hesitation. He said: "Since I have received the gift you brought and got the coins you paid for, then all your expenses during your stay with me must be arranged by me at my own discretion, and you can't decide to share them out." .”

Di Qing was taken aback: "But—"

"But what?"

Lu Ci interrupted him involuntarily, and touched his head casually.

Apparently Di Qing had been waiting for him to come out for a short time, and was led by his servants to take a bath and change clothes. Although his hair was still a little damp, it was clean.

Lu Ci raised his lips slightly, looking at him leisurely.

But in Di Qing's eyes, there is a charming lazy and cunning in those beautiful eyes, which are as bright as morning stars: "If you have any objections to this, you should take all the money back, and you can take it back by yourself." Otherwise, you have to obey me obediently in terms of basic necessities of life."

Di Qing: "..."

The temptation of Lu Gongzu, no, brother Lu to take care of everything (basic, clothing, housing and transportation) of him is really incomparable. After a moment of dizziness, he nodded in bewilderment.

Liu Qi and Zhu Shuo couldn't help but look at each other as they witnessed the whole process.

Zhu said that in his eyes, he thought about himself a few years ago, and naturally showed kindness and concern.

In Liu Qi's eyes, there was a little sympathy for fun.

But it is obvious that this Di Xiaolang's degree of admiration for Yu Yu, even compared with Zhudi, is even more than that...

Under the tens of thousands of tricks of Yu Yu, will he be manipulated into a submissive, and sooner or later he will become a serious person who is completely insulated from the Qin Lou Chu Pavilion?

Liu Qi clicked his tongue a few times in his heart, but he didn't show anything on his face, he just looked at Di Qing kindly, and urged his servants to bring the main meal along the way.

After the dishes were prepared, Liu Qi couldn't wait to take out the wine that had been prepared in advance.

It's just that he was about to unseal when he was stopped by Lu Ci.

Liu Qi thought that Lu Ci was dizzy from sleep, so he couldn't help reminding: "I'll take a rest tomorrow and drink some wine to celebrate, shouldn't it be a problem?"

Lu Ci shook his head in disapproval: "Di Di is still young. Don't you spoil him with wine when we met the first day."

Strictly speaking, including Zhu Shuo, none of them have reached the legal drinking age for future generations.

What if Di Qing gets drunk?

Although Liu Qi didn't realize that there was nothing wrong with letting a half-child who was already twelve or thirteen years old drink alcohol, but seeing Lu Ci's firm attitude, he could only hold back resentfully, and put the wine away again.

With Brother Lu's meticulous care, Di Qing thought that he should be elated.

But when he clearly realized that he was actually being pampered like a child, the feeling in his heart was somehow subtle.

...Why can't you be happy?

The author has something to say: Notes:

The price of deer (zhang) comes from "Song Dynasty Price Research": During the Chunxi period, a butcher in Pingjiang Prefecture raised dozens of wild deer, which made local residents enthusiastically buy "one catty is worth one thousand"

One thousand money/text = consistently