Looking at the mountains and rivers

Yong'an five years, the fifth day of June.West Square, Linfeng Pavilion.

This is a well-known tea mansion in Xifang, with elegant decoration and precious tea products, only a few dignitaries come and go.It was just after noon at this time, and the sunny side of the attic was covered with bamboo curtains to prevent the heat from coming in.This is the hottest time in Jian'an City, but the tea house is cool and pleasant, and this coolness comes from a giant vat placed in the center of the attic.The tank is filled with ice cubes, seasonal melons and fruits, and a tin pot with sweet cane syrup.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps in the empty tea house, the footsteps were sonorous and powerful, the owner in the attic followed the sound and looked towards the stairs, only to see a brave young officer walking up.

"Isn't this General Chen?" The master was slightly taken aback, but still recognized him.

"Mr. Wu, don't come here without any problems." Chen Shao raised his eyebrows and smiled at him, and then looked around the cabinet, "It's still the same here, it hasn't changed at all."

The host invited him to sit by the window, and said with a slight smile, "Little General has been away from Jian'an for two years now, when will he return?"

"I just came back with my uncle yesterday, and I really missed the tea soup made by my master, so I came here rashly at this time." Seeing that there was no one in the tea mansion, Chen Shao suddenly thought that it was still the time for the owner of the tea mansion to take a rest in the afternoon.

"It's okay, stay here and wash your hands first, and then make tea for the little general." After the master finished speaking, he said to the waiter, "Bring a bowl of ice cream to relieve the heat for the little general."

The ice cheese is made from fermented and condensed milk, and crystal clear ice cane syrup is poured on it, which is a good product for relieving the heat in this summer.Chen Shao stayed in the frontier fortress for two years and hadn't seen this thing for a long time. He took a spoonful of it and put it in his mouth.

"I heard that the little general has been to Huining these years?" The host has washed his hands and slowly baked tea cakes on the charcoal stove.

Chen Shao nodded: "Father previously asked me to practice with him in the army. Uncle was ordered to return to Beijing a while ago, so he allowed me to come back with his carriage and horses."On that day, his Chen family had a close personal relationship with Yang Jue, the third son of Prince Mu's residence. When the eldest son Yang Dai succeeded to the throne, the third son was exiled in southern Xinjiang. His father was worried that this matter would harm him, so he ordered someone to take him to Huining .

"I heard that the little general's uncle, General Chen Yan, has just been promoted to be the Great General of Habayashi Guards, and he was ordered to guard the capital. I am really happy and congratulated." Fanning the fire on the stove, he said softly, "In the past, the Commander Ma of the Imperial Army was too cautious, he only flattered the emperor blindly, Commander Zuo Xiaowei was under him in name, but in fact he was not valued. Now that General Chen is replaced, he must be able to bring the morale of the imperial army under control, Zuo Xiaowei has gradually lost power over the years, and the construction of Ancheng will most likely rely on Yubayashi's disciples."

Everyone knows that Zuo Xiaowei is under the jurisdiction of King Mu, and Habayashi Wei is the emperor's direct confidant. When the old King Mu ruled the world, Zuo Xiaowei naturally dominated the world, but now the power is gradually returning to the hands of the two central provinces. The power has also become much worse than before.

Chen Shaoduan sat there, smelling the light tea fragrance in the air, he just smiled: "My military rank is low, and I don't know much about these military affairs. Besides, I'm here only for the sake of Mr. Pin Good tea, why bother to talk about these trifles."

The master knew that he didn't want to say more, so he smiled knowingly, poured the tea soup into the cup, and served it in front of him.

Chen Shao turned the small teacup, lowered his head, took a sip, and couldn't help but praise: "As expected, the tea here is the best." He paused, then smiled, "I heard that even the servants in the palace once came here admiringly. Master asked for advice on the tea ceremony, is there such a thing?"

The master smiled: "That was a year ago, and there is still a story to tell."

"Appreciate further details."

"At that time, a few servants did come, and they only said that they wanted to learn the method of making tea. I was terrified, so I hurriedly taught them carefully. I heard from them that after the winter solstice sacrifice ceremony, His Royal Highness King Yong fell on the spot. I picked up the teacup and said that the tea was too young and too hot to drink, so they panicked and came out of the palace to look for me." The master spoke in a low voice, with a relaxed expression, as if he was just talking about something in the market. A short story, "Thinking in my heart, His Royal Highness King Yong is highly respected, how could he get so angry at the palace banquet because of a small bowl of tea."

Chen Shao looked at him with a smile, and agreed: "Yes, there must be other reasons."

"It was only later that I found out that King Mu and King Yong stood side by side in the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven that day. His Highness King Yong must have felt so offended by his nephew." The master smiled softly after finishing speaking.

Chen Shao was about to speak, but when he heard the voices outside, it became extremely lively.

He was a little surprised, stood up, opened the bamboo curtain and looked down, and saw the street downstairs was crowded with people, rushing to the side of the moat, he couldn't help being surprised: "These people are do what?"

The host paused for a while, and then said with a smile: "Today is the fifth day of the lunar new year, so there is something exciting to watch."

Hearing what he said, Chen Shao seemed to be a new trick in this West Lane, so he couldn't help being curious, but he saw those people flocking to the river and stopped along the street, as if they were waiting for someone to appear.

"The little general should remember that there used to be many stalls selling willows along the river bank. About two years ago, a young man suddenly came here one day. All the lottery heads were swept away." When the master said this, he shook his head slightly, "There was a period of time later, whenever the young man came to Xifang, the willow shooting stall owners immediately closed their stalls and left, and they panicked. It's really funny."

Chen Shao raised his eyebrows: "What happened next?"

"Later, it was thanks to Boss Song." The owner shook his head with a smile, and pointed to the tall pavilion opposite, which is another famous place in Xifang, called Qianshui Building.

The most famous thing about Qianshuilou is that it only does women's business. From rouge and gouache to silk and satin, they are all selected items, which are very popular with the ladies of Gongqing's family.The owner of Qianshui Building is surnamed Song. She is a woman who does not give in to her beauties. She is the most able to find business opportunities from extraordinary places. The story of the beautiful boy who shot a willow in Xifang and made a thousand gold was just spread, and it attracted young girls and young women. look.The ladies of the commoner's family are fine, those ladies of the noble families can't show their faces in the streets at will, so they can only use the excuse of buying rouge and gouache to go to the Qianshui Building to see the handsome archer.

"So every time the young man came, Boss Song's income would increase several times, so she called together the willow shooting stall owners, and she funded an archery competition on the bank of the moat every fifth day of every month. The bonus is very attractive."

"The boy comes every month?" Chen Shao was a little surprised.

The master nodded: "I come here every month. It's strange to talk about this young man. I can only find out that he is from the Mu Palace. No one knows why he comes here every month to shoot willows."

Just as he was talking, the street market downstairs became more and more noisy, and he saw a figure in plain clothes standing far away on the bank of the river. He held a bow in his hand, tilted his head as if he was talking to someone.

Chen Shao squinted his eyes to see the man's appearance clearly, and smiled slightly: "It turned out to be him."

The master turned back and said, "The little general recognizes him?"

"It's an old acquaintance," Chen Shao smiled, "What does he shoot here every time?"

"There are always some strange things for him to shoot. Copper coins and leaves are the most common ones. There was one time when he was asked to shoot the fruit on the head of a living person. I thought no one would go up to it, but those girls were vying for it. His target." When the master said this, he shook his head and laughed.

Just as he was talking, he saw that the man in the distance had already bent his bow and shot an arrow. The arrow shot straight out, but it fell into the bushes.Just when everyone felt a little strange, a large group of pigeons flew out of the grass suddenly. It turned out that there was a pigeon cage there, and the arrow just pierced a grass stem tied to the pigeon cage.That arrow was just the beginning, I saw the young man quickly picked up the arrow, pointing in the air, and soon another arrow.He kept firing in the middle of his hand, and the next few arrows went out, all pigeons landed, and the pigeons hit by the arrows were all snow-white in color.

The stall owner was the first to say: "The group of pigeons just now are mostly gray, and there are only seven white pigeons. Please count them all. Can Mr. Wei shoot down all of them?"

Everyone heard that they quickly clicked on those white pigeons, exactly seven of them, and the young man shot down all the white pigeons in the short time after the pigeons flew up. This skill is really amazing.What's more, those who have good intentions checked it again, and found that the parts of the arrows in those pigeons were all the same, and there was no difference.

There were cheers all over the place, and people on both sides of the road threw flowers at the young man. The petals fluttered one after another, almost covering half of the street.

The boy smiled and cupped his hands, turned around and was about to leave. When he walked to the Qingshui Pavilion, he was hit by a hard object unexpectedly.He picked it up strangely, but it was a delicate rouge box. He couldn't help but looked up to the upstairs, only to see a young lady was also looking down at him. She covered half of her face with a fan, only showing a pair of crooked smiles s eyes.Wei Changxuan guessed that she was the owner of the rouge box, so he raised his hand and threw the box back into the building.The lady was obviously a little disappointed, but the boy's handsome face in the rain of flowers made the hearts of all the girls around him thump.

Chen Shao held back his laughter and waited until Wei Changxuan walked downstairs before he finally shouted: "Young Master Wei, don't come here without any problems."

Wei Changxuan raised his head to see him in surprise, his calm face suddenly revealed a look of surprise, and soon he found the stairs of Linfeng Pavilion and ran up.

"Why are you here!" He punched Chen Shao on the shoulder as soon as he came up.

Chen Shao saw that there were still a few scattered petals on his head, and finally couldn't help laughing out loud: "I haven't seen you for two or three years, and you have become the dream-like person of the ladies in Jian'an City!"

Wei Changxuan blushed immediately: "What do you know, I am forced by life, and I have no choice but to do it."

Chen Shao smiled and invited him to sit down, and then asked: "Are you still in the mansion with the Fourth Young Master?"

Wei Changxuan nodded.

"That's really embarrassing for you. It's probably not as good as when the old prince was in that mansion, right?"

"It's not as bad as it is." Wei Changxuan told the story of the situation with Yang Yan with a wry smile, and Chen Shao's face gradually changed when he heard it.

"How could this happen? It stands to reason that the fourth son has always kept his own place, so why should he be treated so harshly?" He frowned slightly and said, "Even my former master, the third son Yang Jue, who was so ignorant of the sky and the earth, was just sent off. Going out, I didn't suffer any flesh and blood."

Wei Changxuan said angrily: "That's what I said. I don't know what's wrong with that eldest son, but he just keeps staring at my son. This year, he has caused less trouble, but he still refuses to let us go out of the house."

Chen Shao thought for a while and asked, "Could it be that the fourth son is holding the handle of the eldest son?"

When Wei Changxuan thought of Yang Yan's gentle and weak appearance, he shook his head: "It's fine if he doesn't hold us, how can my son hold him?"

"Earlier, the eldest son easily let go of the third son, which was a bit beyond our expectation. After thinking about it, he probably didn't take the third son seriously at all, and he didn't want to bear the reputation of killing his brothers because of him. He hastily exiled him. And the fourth young master was probably held too much by him, so he has been detained in the palace." Chen Shao paused, and then said, "Don't you think that the behavior of the eldest young master who treats you harshly is not the same as Has he acted very differently in the past, he actually used such indecent means to deal with his own younger brother, it can be seen that if he either hates Fourth Young Master terribly, or is terrified of him."

Wei Changxuan's face changed slightly, Chen Shao's words were very logical, he couldn't help but think about it, but Yang Dai was afraid of Ye Xi, he couldn't believe it.

"By the way, is the Fourth Young Master willing to be detained in the palace like this, without planning for his own future?" Chen Shao asked again.

Wei Changxuan shook his head again and again: "You don't know who he is, he refuses to say anything wronged, and instead comforts me. He stays in that small courtyard all day long, can't go anywhere, and talks about planning for the future, Easier said than done."

Chen Shao thought about their current situation and said, "I will often be in Beijing in the future, if you have something to discuss, just come to me to discuss it."

Wei Changxuan smiled: "Naturally, should I be polite to you?"

Chen Shao untied the money pouch from his waist and handed it over: "From now on, don't make any fuss about shooting willows on the fifth day of the new year, like juggling, just leave your expenses to me."

Wei Changxuan was slightly taken aback, he knew Chen Shao's temper, and what he said was definitely not hypocritical, so he couldn't refuse, he picked up the money bag, cupped his hands, and said with a smile: "Thank you very much."

Seeing him so happy, Chen Shao was very happy, pulled him and said: "Let's go, our old friends meet again, we must find a wine shop, if we don't get drunk today, we won't return."

Just as Wei Changxuan was about to agree, he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly stood up: "I still have something to do today, so I need to go back early. Let's meet tomorrow at the hour of tomorrow. Let's have a drink all day, so we must have a good time!"

Seeing what he said, Chen Shao had no choice but to agree, and the two said a few more words before leaving.

The days in summer are exceptionally long, and the sky is still red after Youshi.

The room was too stuffy, so Wei Changxuan and Yang Yan sat on the bamboo mat in the porch to cool off and chat.

"Lorland never allowed me to sit outside like this before, saying that it was demeaning." Yang Yan hugged his knees and said with a light smile.

"That's right. Only servants have ever sat on the porch. There's no reason for the son of the palace to sit here. Yexi, you've been spoiled by us low-class people." Wei Changxuan pinched the tip of his nose with a smile .

Fang Ming was also sitting at the side, holding a cattail fan in his hand, chasing the flying insects around Yang Yan one by one.He has gotten to know them well in the past two years, and he has gradually forgotten the dignity of master and servant, and just smirked along with them.

Yang Yan has grown a little taller, her complexion is not as pale as before, and her cheeks are gradually turning red, but because she often does not see the sun, her complexion is so fair that it is almost dazzling.He stretched out his white and tender hand, and said to Wei Changxuan: "Is the string of that harp ready?"

Wei Changxuan stood up lazily, pulled out the old harp from the bag, and handed it to Yang Yan: "Why did I suddenly want to repair this old piano? I went to several shops before I found the master to continue it." .”

Yang Yan fumbled to take the piano, and suddenly his face froze. He turned his face and smelled Wei Changxuan: "You...why do you smell of rouge?"