Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

Maoshi is approaching, and the sky is not yet clear.

The few people who hadn't fully recovered from the blow of yesterday's policy theory smashed, and slept unsteadily, opened their eyes at this time, and in the distant but loud ringing of the bell, they got up silently, changed their clothes and washed their hands.

Zhong Yuan, who had talked to Lu Ci and relieved some of the burden in his heart, was undoubtedly the first to wake up.

He was sitting neatly in the house, and while waiting for breakfast to be delivered, he felt weak all over his body.

I wanted to read again, but I was so upset that I really couldn't read it, so I took off my thickest coat and started running in the yard.

When he ran more than a dozen laps, Yi Shu rubbed his red, sleepy eyes, and walked out of the room second.

The one who came out next was Teng Zongliang, who was out of spirits and yawned profusely.

Although they still looked listless, overall, they were much better than last night's lifeless posture.

Seeing this, the servants breathed a sigh of relief, and became more motivated when they got busy.

What made them feel more at ease was that soon after, Lu Ci walked out in a well-groomed and radiant manner, with slightly curved brows and eyes, and the familiar gentle smile on the corners of his lips.

After Lu Ci realized that he had overplayed last night and caused Liu Qi and Zhu Shuo to worry for a while, he naturally stopped pretending to be depressed.

Zhong Yuan, who had just finished running [-] laps in the yard, who was lying on the table without any image while waiting for food and gasping for breath, was almost shocked when he saw Lu Ci's eye-catching spirit. Eye.

Yi Shu's eyes lit up at first, and he got up subconsciously and wanted to go forward, but he remembered the embarrassing thing about leaving after crying a lot last night.

He faltered, his face was a little hot, and he was not very quick to greet: "Brother Yu, brother Yu."

"Well, are you resting well?"

Lu Ci responded with a smile, and asked a casual question.

From the moment he sat down at the round table, it was like adding bright colors to a monotonous and boring picture scroll. The listless people in the whole room came to life, and exquisite and delicious breakfasts were served one after another. up.

Teng Zongliang, who was still somewhat depressed in his heart, also unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

It's just that before he had time to say hello to Lu Ci, after inadvertently catching a glimpse of the two walking out of Lu Ci's room, the expression in his eyes suddenly turned to astonishment.

He first looked puzzled at Lu Ci who was slowly chewing the fried meat, then quickly turned his head and looked at Liu Qi in confusion.

This day Liu Qi wore a white satin gown with narrow sleeves and waist, with a belt around the waist, a small crown with a hairpin on her head, and black shoes on her feet. shake.

In terms of clothing, he didn't go overboard in the slightest, he was only superior in the exquisite details, coupled with the natural lazy and coquettish, he brought out a chic and suave temperament.

If Lu Ci had to comment, it would be a natural hanger, plus good aesthetics and clothing.

Two steps behind Liu Qi, Zhu Yue, who also came out of Lu Ci's room in a leisurely manner, was at the other extreme—it was colder today than the previous two days, so he was wrapped even more thickly than the previous two days Duo, he is obviously a skinny young man, but he is wrapped up a circle thicker than Liu Qi, and he is more and more rounded, like a simple ball.

Except that Zhong Yuan, who also didn't pay attention to appearance, didn't think anything was wrong, seeing Zhu said that his attitude of keeping warm had intensified, all of them showed a look of embarrassment.

Lu Ci closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Fortunately, the palace test was held in the spring of March, when the temperature warmed up, Zhu said that he could consciously wear thinner clothes.

Zhu Yue, who had gained a lot of weight, moved to sit next to Lu Ci as if nothing had happened, and Liu Qi also took the seat on the other side of Lu Ci as a matter of course, pushing Teng Zongliang, who was originally sitting next to Lu Ci, away a little.

Yi Shu and Zhong Yuan only looked up at them, and then continued to concentrate on eating the rice in the bowl.

Only Teng Zongliang looked left and right for a while, couldn't help it anymore, and asked: "If I remember correctly, that is indeed Yu Yu's room, right? Why are Brother Liu and Brother Zhu in there?"

Liu Qi rubbed her aching waist indiscriminately, and said frankly: "What's so strange about it? Last night, the three of us slept in the same bed after Yu Yu kindly invited you."

Obviously no one in the room would believe what he said.

Lu Ci didn't even bother to look at him: "Hehe."

Zhu said that he stared blankly at Liu Qi, who was evasive: It was obviously Liu Qi who went first to brother Yu Yu's room...

Teng Zongliang frowned subtly, and murmured: "How could this be?"

He couldn't help feeling somewhat regretful in his heart: If he had known that this would work, he would have gone to discuss it with Lu Ci last night because of face.

Lu Ci didn't know that Teng Zongliang was secretly regretting, what he thought was that no matter what, he could no longer fall asleep with Liu Qi.

Unlike Zhu Shuo, who sleeps well and doesn't talk in sleep, when Liu Qisui, who is used to sleeping in flowers and sleeping in willows, hugs Lu Ci tightly when she is dizzy, she doesn't just rub her face. Rubbing back and forth, when the whole person pressed up, he was still muttering about Chong Niang for a while, and about Jia Niang Xin Niang for a while.

When poor Lu Ci was woken up by him, he didn't know what was going on, he just felt a shadow in front of him, so he kicked him off the bed reflexively.

After breakfast, the six people with different thoughts put on the test box again and rushed to the examination room.

After finding the queue familiarly, Lu Ci smiled and greeted Cai Qi and Pang Ji who were standing silently: "Zi Si, Chun Zhi."

Cai Qi, who was currently black and blue, was a little dull when he suddenly saw Lu Ci whose whole body seemed to be glowing, "...Yu Yu."

Pang Ji also said dryly, "Here comes Yu Yu."

Lu Ci raised his eyebrows, feeling even more strange in his heart, and asked slowly, "Yesterday—"

"It's time to enter." Unexpectedly, when Cai Qi, who had a dazed face before, heard the word 'yesterday', his reaction suddenly became more intense: "After the three exams are over, I will find another day to talk to Yu Yu. "

Pang Ji nodded again and again, afraid that Lu Ci would think too much and mistakenly think it was an excuse, and explained: "I will stay with Zisi and I at Wang Yuanwai's house for more than a month, and you are welcome to come anytime."

"Alright."

Lu Ci glanced at the prison guard who was still far away. Although he felt helpless, since both Cai and Pang were obviously reluctant to mention it, and would rather open their eyes and tell nonsense, it was not good to ask at this time.

After being ushered to take a seat, Lu Ci watched helplessly. Before the roll paper was handed out, Lu Ci unanimously took out earplugs made of cotton and blocked his ears in unison.

Lu Ci was taken aback.

This is obviously emulating his previous two practices.It's just that it's already the third round with the lowest difficulty, so I only thought about plugging my ears at this time, it seems a bit late.

Lu Ci didn't care about them anymore, and after the test papers were handed out, he concentrated on answering the questions.

And the few students sitting next to him, who had cast a heavy shadow, breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that they could not hear the sound of this abominable Lu Jieyuan answering the question.

Even for the irrelevant last Tie Jing and Mo Yi, they were terribly afraid of the pressure brought by Lu Ci, who was so skillful with his pen.

Because the scriptures and ink meanings have never been taken seriously, so compared with the first and second days of the turmoil, the third day of the provincial examination can be regarded as an ancient well without waves.

As soon as the application time came, it ended peacefully.

Most of the papers have been written ahead of time, and there is still room for checking the first time.

When the roll paper was taken away, there was no such ugly gesture of trying to obstruct it like it did yesterday, and they were even very cooperative.

After all the rolls were taken away, they each packed up their things, and under the guidance of the prison guards one by one, they went out and called the schoolboys or health servants who were waiting outside to come in and remove the tables and chairs in the examination room.

As for these tens of thousands of test papers, on the same day, the editors removed the titles and edited them with font sizes, and then sent them all to Feng Mi's office for proofreading by Zhao Zhen, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Ju Yongchong, the supervisory censor.

In the end, it was the turn of the examiners in the Luosuo Tribute Academy to review.

In any case, the roll call will be announced at the end of February at the earliest.

For more than a month before this, all the candidates will spend their time in the bustling Bianjing city full of festive atmosphere with anxiety or expectation, waiting for the final result to be pronounced .

Lu Ci waited in the old place outside the gate of the Gongyuan with a smile on his face. During this period, there were countless expressions of relief, and most of them noticed the youngest speech, Xie Yuan.

They stared at this high-spirited man with complicated eyes, even standing in the crowd, he was especially conspicuous. The handsome man who stood out from the crowd looked at him for a while, sighed deeply, and then buried his head and went back to the guest house where he had settled down.

Rather than being envious or jealous of others, they have been exhausted after the past three days, and now they just want to go to a foot shop to buy some wine, get drunk for a while, and then have a good sleep.

After all the people arrived, Lu Ci smiled and looked at Zhu Shuo and asked them, "If you are tired, go back to rest together; if you still have some energy, why not go to Fan Lou for a drink before going to Washi Watch the show for a while and relax."

From the beginning of the new year on the first day of the first lunar month, the people of Song Dynasty have taken a seven-day holiday in accordance with the law. However, it has only been three days since the last holiday, and the beginning of spring on the tenth day of the first month has ushered in, not to mention the tenth day of the first month. The five-day Lantern Festival means a seven-day holiday.

Lu Ci's proposal was unanimously approved by all the staff.

On the other hand, when he saw that Liu Qi also wanted to follow for granted, he couldn't help laughing and teasing: "Now that the provincial examination is over, I won't hold Brother Liu to visit beautiful women anymore, just don't worry."

Liu Qi couldn't help being taken aback.

If Lu Ci hadn't mentioned it, he would have completely forgotten about the Chongniang.

But in the face of everyone's teasing gazes, even though he has always been thick-skinned, he couldn't help coughing lightly at this moment, and tried to clarify: "Am I so anxious? I should treat you all and thank you brother Yu again." The care these days is more important."

Everyone snorted, but Lu Ci said "Oh" meaningfully, and at the next moment when Liu Qi was about to become angry, he naturally looked away.

Although I ordered takeout twice from Baifanlou, also known as Fanlou, it was the first time I actually went to this famous shop.

As the top wine shop in Beijing, Fan Lou is five stories high and can accommodate more than a thousand drinkers at one time, and its scale is extremely grand.

There are flying bridges and sills between the floors, and each floor is divided into more than ten small pavilions. There are bright windows and embroidered pillars in the ethereal room, the lights and candles are full of lights, and the music and songs are endless.

On the outer Caimen Huanlou, dozens of singing girls with heavy makeup gathered, smiling coquettishly, attracting guests for Fanlou.

What is even more surprising is that, except for the porcelain used on the first floor, from the second floor onwards, all the food utensils used are made of silver. When you meet familiar customers, you are allowed to take them home to drink, and return them next time. No rent is charged.

Only the top stores in Bianjing can do this with such riches and magnanimity.

It's been a long time since Lu Ci came to the Northern Song Dynasty, but this was the first time he drank alcohol.

Not only that, but in his heart, he was actually a little curious about the accompanying singing girl who sang the ditty.

I don't know what's the difference with those who can be called at will in modern meeting halls.

Except for the few times when he was frightened by Liu Qi's sudden attack, he had never seriously listened to the ditties sung by Song Nu, and this was a good time.

Lu Ci knew that there was no need to worry that it would be indecent to invite courtesans to drink with them. On the contrary, the courtesans were accustomed to showy and extravagant styles. A few singing girls are invited to entertain guests at the banquet.

Even when holding public banquets, it is allowed to use the subsidies provided to recruit officials and prostitutes to add to the fun.

If it is purely writing lyrics and composing music for singing girls, as long as it is not as outrageous as Liu Qi's, and the words are too frequent and flashy, there is actually no problem.

Even the prime ministers of the DPRK and China are not lacking in writing ditties in their boudoirs for the beautiful singing girls.

He can't afford to play bells, tripods and jades yet, but he can enjoy the singing and dancing.

Although Fanlou is expensive, after a banquet, the per capita consumption is less than [-] Wen, so it is certainly affordable for doing it occasionally.

After Lu Ci ordered a table of signature dishes, and ordered three jars of festive brewed citrus wine, which was enough for six people to have a few drinks to taste, he said casually: "It's rare to come to Fanlou, You might as well ask a singing girl to come upstairs and sing some new lyrics for us to cheer us up."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Ci saw the group of people who had been enjoying the delicious wine a moment ago suddenly turn their heads back. They didn't say a word, but looked at him with astonishingly shocked expressions.

The surroundings were dead silent for a while, and the atmosphere was as awkward as if it had been frozen. It was Lu Ci's turn to come back to his senses, and he couldn't laugh or cry.

Did they misunderstand his words at this moment, or did they misunderstand his people before?

Among them, Liu Qi's reaction was the most exaggerated: his eyes were wide open, his mouth was wide open, and he didn't even notice that the silver cup in his hand fell to the ground and the wine spilled on his lower garment halfway.

"You, you, you, you," Liu Qi almost blurted out, "This good baby who only loves to eat," and then barely stopped after seeing Lu Ci's slightly squinted eyes, but it was still difficult for him to panic. Slow down.After coughing hard for a few times, he could not believe what everyone was saying: "What did you just say?"

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. Panyoufan

2. The tenth day of the first month is the beginning of spring.The day before the beginning of spring in Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng mansion entered the spring cattle into the palace to whip the spring; Kaifeng and Xiangfu counties set up spring cattle in front of the mansion.On the solstice day, government bureaucrats beat spring and whip spring cattle to express the meaning of welcoming the arrival of spring, so it is called whip spring.The day before, all the ministers and officials gave gold and silver banners to win, and the next day, they were hung on the head of the Fu, and they entered the court to congratulate them.

After the Spring Festival in front of the prefecture and county yamen, "the common people were in a clutter, and they were all divided in an instant, and they fought and robbed each other to the point of mutilating their bodies. Those who got beef, their homes should be silkworms."

"Miscellaneous Notes on the Years of the Imperial Dynasty" records that in Bianjing, one day before the beginning of spring, Da Nei (imperial palace) put out a spring plate and wine to give to the near ministers, lettuce on the plate, dyed radishes are mainly, decorations are placed in the dowry, cooked pork, boiled Cakes and big ring cakes are ten times bigger than other people's loose cakes.

The folks also present each other with spring plates to express their congratulations.Cheng Gongxu of the Song Dynasty "Poetry on Lichun": The moon fell to the sky and sent to the pavilion, but the earth cow whipped the spring today.

("Cultural History of the Song Dynasty")

2. Making citrus wine: Wang Lichun, Anding County, made wine with tangerines, which is called Dongting Spring, with three unique colors, aromas and tastes.Su Dongpo's poem "Dongting Spring Scenery" praised this wine.

3. It has been mentioned in the previous commentary of accompanying the drinking and singing girls, and I will emphasize it again here: "In the evening, the lamps and candles are shining, and the top and bottom are illuminated. Hundreds of prostitutes with heavy makeup gather on the cornice of the main corridor, waiting for the drinkers to call. Look at it like a fairy" ("Song: The Dawn of Modern Times")

The singing girls here are usually just singing and drinking, not selling themselves. The Southern Song Dynasty’s Notebook "Capital Ji Sheng" said: "In other big hotels, the prostitutes only sit with them."

4. High-end restaurants all use silverware, and regular customers can take it home, and bring it back next time.

"Most people in the city have extravagant customs, and their tolerance is a bit wide. In a hotel, no matter who you are, if two people sit opposite each other to drink, you must also use a pair of injection bowls, two pairs of plate cups, five fruit and vegetable dishes each, and three or five water vegetable bowls. That is to say, there are nearly one hundred taels of silver. Even if one person drinks alone, the bowl is made of silver bowls, and the fruits and vegetables are nothing but clean" ("Song: Modern Dawn")

5. Regarding the price of dinner and drinks for guests:

"The Story of Mount Wutai in Mount Tiantai" recorded the expenses of entertaining the hired folks-thirteen people ate and drank, at most one time spent 150 yuan, at least one time 98 yuan, and the average per person was only about ten yuan. (But this is not in the capital)

In the capital, it is not expensive for ordinary people to eat out.In Tokyo at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, "fried fish, duck, fried chicken, rabbit, fried meat, plum juice, blood soup, powder soup, etc., in small restaurants cost only fifteen dollars each." 'Zao 齑', ten coins per bowl." In Lin'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, even a decent "big hotel" could "two people enter the store to buy 52 yuan wine, and they also use two silver cups, and there are also countless dishes." ——Not only for high-end drinking utensils, but also as a gift for appetizers.Even in the washhouse, "a strong man only eats 38 yuan", so it is not difficult to have enough food and drink.

If you want to save face and show your identity, eating a banquet is not the price.Su Dongpo recorded a story in which two people bet on the game of Go, and the winner would get a picture of Su Dongpo's handwriting, while the loser would treat guests to dinner, with the standard being [-] Wen.

Su Dongpo was an official and a literati, so he was naturally more particular about his meals.Five hundred cash is enough for a banquet for three people. ("Living in the Song Dynasty")

6. Those who have the right to make wine are called authentic stores, and those who sell wine from the official stores are called foot stores.Foot stores are relatively cheaper than regular stores, and the decoration is not as luxurious as regular stores.For wine making, you have to buy official songs from the government every year and auction the management rights, and you can't private wine. ("Yi Zhongtian Chinese History - Great Song Innovation" p119)

7. It is true that official prostitutes can be called to play at public banquets to add to the fun, but they cannot be called for private banquets. The expenses are paid out of public funds... The one who ridiculed Di Qing with tattoos on his face as "ban'er" in history is the official prostitute .

8. There are too many high-ranking officials who compose songs for singing girls, including Ouyang Xiu and Zhang Xian (that is, the protagonist of Yishu Pear Blossom Pressing Begonia), which has no influence on their official careers, but is regarded as a kind of life interest.Liu Yong was unlucky, the main reason was that he overdid it, and the embarrassment of writing the angry song "He Chong Tian" caused the emperor's displeasure, that's why his official career was troubled, not because he wrote a few small poems for singing girls.