Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 104
In late spring and March, the weather is already warm, and Chang'an is even more beautiful.

In the street market, youths from Wuling rode steeds and took beautiful Silla maids out of the city for an outing; the women's clothes became lighter and thinner, showing off their beautiful bodies wantonly.

The city is full of red makeup, and the willows and warblers are singing.A hearty laugh suddenly sounded outside the imperial city, scaring away the birds on the branches and embarrassing the surrounding girls.

"Xue Lang is face to face. I'm Liu Changqing, a scholar. I look forward to discussing our friendship with you in detail. Why don't we go to Pingkang Fang whoring together?!"

The man who spoke was in his early twenties, tall and tall, with a free and easy manner.While speaking, he turned his head to look at those slim figures with flying skirts, his eyes lit up, and he recited a few lines of poems casually, looking very coquettish.

"Qu Fang Zhu Cui He, Deep Lane Orchestral tune."

"In the evening spring breeze, the fragrance of clothes floats all over the road."

When even a woman threw flowers here, the skirts of the six people who were standing and talking on the side of the street were immediately covered with flower petals.

"Look, it's the fifth son of Chunwei."

"Why are there six? Oh, a fat book boy with small eyes."

The reexamination ended on this day, Xue Bai and Du Wulang came to pick up Yuan Jie, Du Fu and Huang Furan, and happened to meet the enthusiastic Liu Changqing.

A beautiful woman dressed luxuriously came forward and invited six people to her home as guests. Although Liu Changqing wanted to go, he was held back by Yuan Jie and avoided going to Wubenfang, where it was quieter.

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter if you don't go, I'll go whoring the most beautiful diva!"

Du Wulang swept the petals on his body, distressed by these entanglements, and asked: "Several brothers, I don't know how your retest is going?"

"Hey, I've passed all the exams, I just need to wait for the results to be announced, and let's sit down in Nanqu first and then talk."

"Goro and I are still young, why don't we go?"

"Xue Lang's words are wrong. When I was your age, I was more romantic than I am now, so I was sent to Songshan Academy by my grandfather to study hard."

"Student, don't bother. Mr. Xue Lang can't cope with throwing himself into his arms, how can he spend money to go whoring?"

After the retest, Yuan Jie relaxed, and a joke made Liu Changqing laugh out loud.

They had no choice but to agree to go to the restaurant first, and then Yuan Jie, Liu Changqing, and Huang Furan went to Pingkangfang by themselves.

Du Fu didn't go either, because his family was originally quite well-off, but after his father's death, his family fell into disrepair, and he spent a lot of money on the imperial examination in Chang'an, so he was completely reduced to a poor family, and he didn't want to go to the gold-selling cave.

Everyone sat down, and the five sons of Chunwei still had some secret matters to discuss in private, so they worked together to pour Liu Changqing.

After drinking for a while, Xue Bai's face flushed, but Liu Changqing became more enthusiastic, chatting about the romantic affairs in the past.

It is said that when he was Xue Bai's age, he went to Songshan to study, and he had a good relationship with a nun, and he talked about the taboo young love affairs in a touching and moving way. After he finished talking, he was half drunk, and when he was excited, he called the shopkeeper to borrow a piano, and sang in public. .

"Five years of precepts and one meal, and I still look like a flower. Standing alone under the green lotus, I endure the grass and Zen branches around the monastery..."

After the song, Liu Changqing hugged Xue Bai's shoulders, and said with a smile: "I heard that you once proposed marriage to the right prime minister's mansion and was rejected. Let me give you an idea, you let Miss Li be a female crown, and you can be with you for a long time." have come and gone."

"Brother Wenfang is drunk." Xue Bai was actually a little drunk, and said, "I am enmity with brother slave, how can I miss her?"

"Hahaha, Xue Lang is too reserved, who cares about this? If you act like you, can the saint accept Concubine Wu Hui first and then Concubine Yang Gui?"

Liu Changqing's words sounded presumptuous, and everyone else just laughed.

He also said that he had a friend who was the legitimate son of Jingzhao Du's family, named Du Wei, who was also the daughter of Ge Nu, and it was his idea that Du Wei abducted the daughter of the Prime Minister's mansion to elope.

"Brother Du has a strong character, he is naturally unruly, and he is a real man! Hahaha..."

Hearing this, Du Fu also hit the chopsticks to say good.

Yuan Jie said with a smile: "In comparison, Xue Bai is indeed too rigid, with more precepts than nuns."

"Hey, he's just too self-respecting." Du Wulang said: "However, a gentleman should respect himself, and I should learn from it."

"When a big man is in the world, he should be romantic and open-minded. Such a mother-in-law and mother-in-law are simply restraining my Tang Dynasty's majesty of looking down on all nations!"

Liu Changqing wished he could stand on the table and taunt Xue Bai. He raised his head and drank the wine, and began to talk about the affair between Princess Gaoyang and Bianji, eloquently describing how normal it is for a noble daughter to become a crown prince and associate with young talents.

He was eloquent and eloquent, and his words made Xue Bai feel so backward and narrow that his thoughts bound by Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism and Ming and Qing Confucianism were so backward and narrow.

Nowadays, being romantic does not affect one's progress, but not being romantic will make people look down upon one.

The openness and inclusiveness of the prosperous Tang Dynasty are indeed unprecedented in the next thousand years.

~~
It was night, when Xue Bai came home, Qing Lan was so busy that she insisted on making sober soup, and sat by the couch to feed him spoonful by spoonful.

"Lang Jun, is it hot?"

Under the candlelight, the girl blew on the soup in the spoon, her pouty lips were glowing beautifully.

Her little finger was raised up, small and tender red, making one want to pinch it.

Even in the Du family, she is not a rough servant, and she seems to be much more delicate recently.

"Lang Jun? What do you want me to do?" Qing Lan asked in a low voice.

"Do you want to be my concubine?"

Although Xue Bai has been around for a long time, he has never asked such depraved words, especially to such a young girl.There was a few pauses in the middle of the conversation, and he didn't have the unrestrained and unrestrained demeanor of a Tang man, but now he really looked like a boy with curly hair in his teens.

Qing Lan was stunned for a moment, lowered her head, and replied: "Your Majesty misunderstood... slaves and maidservants are rebellious and lowly, so they cannot be concubines."

After finishing speaking, she quickly glanced at Xue Bai, and ran back to the ear room.

Clutching her collar and hiding on the couch, Qing Lan poked her head out to take a look, but she didn't see Xue Bai chasing in, she was also very annoyed at herself for a moment, so she simply put the quilt over her head.

She is not restrained by etiquette, but naturally shy.

~~
In a blink of an eye, it was the day of the re-examination.

The Imperial City and Tai Province were still empty, and the prepared list of Jinshi was sent to the Right Prime Minister's Mansion.

When he saw that there were two more names at the end, Li Linfu frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

"Back to the right minister, Pei Kuan forced Wang Zhongcheng to release the rankings directly, and Cui Qiao, the chief examiner of the Ministry of Rites, dared not object."

"Old Dog Pei thinks his life is too long."

The dignified Yushi doctor, one of the three princes in the Han Dynasty, only added two places in the imperial examination, and even his ranking did not change, but Li Linfu was provoked into a murderous look.

He knew that his guess was right, Pei Kuan and others were going to make an enemy of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion, and it was Xue Bai who was jumping up and down and making bridges in this matter.

"What has Xue Bai been doing recently?"

"I still study every day. In addition, I went to Yuzhen Temple a few times... I met Seventeen Niangs."

Faced with such an answer, Li Linfu did not get angry, and cursed, "The dog thief is so brave", and began to arrange a response.

It is nothing more than urging Pei Dunfu to report Pei Kuan, then search Pei's house, find evidence of Pei Kuan's conspiracy with the East Palace, and then involve Xue Bai and others... It's a very simple plan. .

Only a small ant like Xue Bai has escaped twice, but everything is no more than three.

"Ah Lang, Eleven Niang is here."

Li Linfu didn't have the patience to deal with family affairs, but after frowning, he still let his daughter come over.

After a while, Li Shiniang brought her husband-in-law Yang Qixuan to the lobby, and was scolded before she could speak.

"You teach good principles, let the sisters do whatever they want. It's good for now, Fourteen was abducted, and Seventeen is flirting with little beasts in the Taoist temple all day long."

"Grandpa, why does it matter?" Li Shiniang was not afraid, but smiled and said: "Daughter arranged Shiqiniang to Yuzhen Temple, isn't it just to enlighten her? Quiet, being a female crown is not about being comfortable with men. Later, she will hook Xue Bai into her hand a few times and play with it a few times, and she will be tired of it. From now on, she will be as free as Princess Yuzhen, and there is nothing wrong with it."

After listening to these remarks, Li Linfu nodded his head.

He really wanted to kill Xue Bai, and at this moment he also felt that if he didn't let his daughter play with the stick before killing him, she might regret it.

"It's a trivial matter." Li Linfu said, "What about Fourteen? But you indulged her?"

"My daughter didn't tell Fourteen Niang that she could remarry Du Wei, but she just said..."

"Old man, no matter what you said, go find it and get it back."

Li Shiniang has a straightforward temper, and even retorted: "In my daughter's opinion, it's good to let Fourteen marry Jingzhao Du's family. I think it will do more good than harm to my grandfather, right?"

Li Linfu was silent for a while, realizing that this matter seemed to be beneficial.

It's just his narrow mind that made him unwilling to endure this insult.

suddenly.

"Young Prime Minister, it's not good!"

This time it was Wang Ji who came to ask for an interview in person.

Li Linfu didn't want to take care of small things at home anymore, so he took Wang Chi to Yanyue Hall for a secret meeting.

"Master on the right, old man Pei Kuan has made a big move!"

Li Linfu regarded it as a matter of re-examination quota, and said displeasedly: "I told you to get rid of him earlier."

"Pei Dunfu has already reported it, and my censor is going to impeach him today, but Pei Kuan handed over the memorial first..."

"No, Taiwan Province has not received Pei Kuan's memorial!"

"The bad will be here, and the memorial will be delivered directly to the Liyuan."

Li Linfu turned his head suddenly, with disbelief in his eyes.

"How could it be so?"

"It must have been Yang Sanyi who brought it into the palace and gave it to the noble concubine." Wang Hao said, "Pei Dunfu also donated five hundred gold to Mrs. Guo's mansion, claiming that Pei Kuan wronged his subordinates. Yang Sanyi took the money and turned around to help Pei Kuan helped."

"What is the content of the memorial?"

Wang Ji didn't answer, but both of them knew very well that Pei Kuan and Sanyi Yang had never been friends, and that Aunt Yang suddenly gave him such a big face, and the memorial must be in support of the Dispute Law.

"Your Prime Minister, we must not allow them to facilitate the discussion of salt. Yang Li gets Pei Kuan, just like Princess Taiping gets Pei Tan."

Li Linfu recruited people immediately, and said: "The truth is to see the saint!"

Once Yang Li gained real power, for many officials in the court, it meant another option to bet on.

This effect may not appear immediately, but it will start to peel off the power of the right minister until the foundation is shaken.

……

"Your Prime Minister, I just got the news that Zhang Qiu Jianqiong, Yang Zhao and others were recruited into the mansion by Yang Zhen."

Before Miyagi's reply arrived, Li Linfu got the news first.

He and Wang Hao looked at each other, didn't speak, but they both realized that Zhangchou Jianqiong and Yang Zhao didn't send anyone to inform them.

These dogs have the sharpest noses.

"Right minister, news from Miyagi, Yang Yu is here for an audience, Pei Kuan, Zhangchou Jianqiong, Yang Zhao and others are all present."

Li Linfu sent someone to Miyagi to seek an audience again.

He frowned and pondered for a long time, then raised his head suddenly, and asked people to shout: "Where is Xue Bai? But in Yuzhen Temple?!"

"Ah Lang, there is no news from Yuzhenguan... The re-examination results are released today, so this son must be watching the results."

~~
Outside the courtyard wall of the Ministry of Rituals, a soft cry suddenly sounded from the crowd.

"This re-examination is unfair, why didn't Xue Bai pass?"

Many old men and young girls who came to the list to catch their sons-in-law heard about it, and then carefully searched the list, but they really didn't see Xue Bai's name.

"Hey, really, Xue Lang didn't make it to the list, isn't the slave family here for nothing?"

"The three of Chunwei's five sons are all married."

When someone with good intentions heard this, he immediately booed and yelled loudly: "The reexamination is unfair, brother slave deliberately deposed the five sons of Chunwei."

Liu Changqing squeezed forward and looked at the list for a long time, but he couldn't see his name.

He was disappointed in his heart, when he saw that Du Fu was the last one, he couldn't help but laugh at himself, thinking that even Du Zimei could barely get in the first place, no wonder he didn't win, let's go back to Songshan to study hard.

……

In a restaurant not far away, Xue Bai hired someone to copy a list.

"Congratulations to the three brothers."

Yuan Jie, Du Fu, and Huang Furan looked at the rankings repeatedly, they were both surprised and happy, and bowed deeply at the same time.

"Brothers don't have to be like this..."

"Yes, if you hadn't planned for us, we would have failed."

"In this way, brother Zimei did say that he got drunk after winning the list."

Du Fu smiled, but there was no wildness in his eyes.

He is very clear that his name can appear at the end not because of his talent.But after experiencing this in Chang'an, he was no longer happy for being selected, and the grief and indignation in his heart did not disappear, but he felt a lot of pain.

Xue Bai didn't have time to think about these things, he was full of thoughts on letting his power grow rapidly in the cracks between the boulders.

"Being on the list is just the first step. Once you have the qualifications to confer an official, the next step is for the three elder brothers to seek an official."

"That's right. After passing the test, you have to keep the selection. This is even more difficult than passing the exam."

The so-called guarding the election means waiting for a vacancy in the imperial court. Sometimes a suitable candidate can be found in three to five years, and sometimes it has to wait for more than ten years.Even if it is out of the gate, there are still people waiting in line every year, including door shadows, recommendations, and mixed inflows.

There are many people who have waited for a lifetime without becoming an official after being selected as a Jinshi, and some people only waited until the Lingnan County Captain and the like, and died of starvation on the way.

Yuan Jie said this, and Du Fu listened, his eyes became more and more gloomy.

"Brother Zimei?" Xue Bai asked, "What's wrong?"

Huangfuran said: "Brother Zimei has been going to the outskirts of the city recently, the imperial court conscripted soldiers in Longyou, and saw many white-haired old men and newly-married men on the list, it must have touched me a bit."

Xue Bai nodded, and said: "Speaking of keeping the election, I have made an agreement with Pei, and today I will express my support for Yan... If the saint can appoint the uncle of the country as the envoy of Yan, he will have a large number of officials. It is an opportunity for Xu Tu to sweep away the accumulated evils."

Yuan Jie's face became serious, grateful and excited, and he solemnly bowed to Xue Bai, saying: "Yuan Jie must live up to Xue Lang's hard work, seek life and country, and never forget today's righteousness."

Du Fu felt a lot.

For this imperial examination, he had spent all his family wealth, and Xue Bai managed to get the last place. If he wanted to get another official position, how much would he need to manage?Xue Bai didn't take the exam but went all the way for them, giving them this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and even though he didn't ask them to pay back the tax officials, he gave them this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This is no longer the "To the King, Yao and Shun" he longed for, but now that he is penniless, he doesn't even have the qualifications to refuse this favor.

He was a sensitive person, and all kinds of emotions filled his heart at once, gratitude, worry, shame, bitterness, anticipation... Du Fu finally stepped forward to hug Xue Bai, patted the young man on the back, and let out a long sigh.

Huangfuran didn't say anything, just looked at Xue Bai and nodded knowingly.

~~
After all, the man of Tang Dynasty has a free and easy temperament, and soon accepts the demeanor of these children, and laughs heartily.

"Let's go to the Wild Goose Pagoda to sign the name!"

"Brother Zimei can't sell dirty wine today, I want to drink fine wine later."

"On credit, on credit." Du Fu laughed, and returned to his previous wildness, "Xue Lang only drinks one cup, good wine and bad wine, what's the difference?"

"..."

When he arrived at Da Ci'en Temple, Xue Bai looked up, and the pagoda body that existed both in ancient and modern times came into view, and the feeling of vicissitudes of time came into his heart.

"Xue Bai, what are you thinking?"

"I was wondering if Master Xuanzang was escorted by a monkey all the way when he came back from the West to learn Buddhist scriptures."

This Daci'en Temple is where Xuanzang translated Buddhist scriptures, and he personally supervised the construction of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

"The new Jinshi is here!"

With a loud cry, Du Fu pulled everyone up to the tower.

The five stood on the top of the pagoda looking at Chang'an, enjoying the picturesque scenery, and drank heavily with their wine bags.

"Brother Zimei, write a poem!"

"it is good!"

Du Fu raised his head and drank all the wine in his bag, and opened his mouth to spit out a long poem.

"The high standard crosses the sky, and the strong wind never stops."

"I'm not Kuang Shihuai, Denzi turns Baiyou..."

He thought of what Chang'an had seen and heard, and the grief and indignation welled up in his heart again.

Yuan Cishan dared to scold saints and Li Linfu, why wouldn't Du Zimei dare?
"Qin Mountain suddenly shattered, and the Wei and Wei cannot be sought."

"Looking down but looking down, how can you tell the Huangzhou?"

"Looking back, I am called Yu Shun, and Cangwu Yun is worrying."

"It's a pity to drink in Yaochi, and the sun is Kunlun Qiu."

"The yellow swan goes on and on, and where is the mourning?"

"Look at the wild geese that follow Yang, each has his own plan!"

Xue Bai only took a sip of wine, but he seemed drunk, and suddenly laughed out loud when he heard the phrase "Look back and call Yu Shun".

Du Fu, who was selected as a Jinshi, did not write the first poem, but he still wrote this poem about shouting, complaining about the disadvantages of the times, and speaking freely.

(End of this chapter)