Longevity starts from Liaozhai

Chapter 12 Bitter Fruit
The West Lake in Lingzhou, connected with the water of the Yujiang River, is the most beautiful place in this prefecture.

There are usually five types of people visiting the lake to enjoy the moon.

First, sitting on a building boat, playing the flute and drums, wearing a high crown, wearing beautiful and neat clothes, brightly lit, accompanied by actors and servants, the music and the lights are intertwined, intoxicating.

Second, sitting on the big boat, with famous beauties, virtuous and talented women, and beautiful boys, laughing and shouting jokingly, sitting around on the balcony in front of the big boat, looking left and right, Arty.

Thirdly, there is also music and singing in a boat, together with famous courtesans and idle monks, drinking slowly, singing in a manly voice, the music of flute, qin and se is soft and slow, and Xiaoguan is accompanied by singing in unison. Stand out.

Fourth, don’t take a boat or a car, don’t wear long gowns or headscarves, drink enough wine and eat enough, call three or five people, squeeze into the crowd in groups, and go to the temples and long bridges. He shouted loudly, pretended to be drunk, and sang out of tune songs, which often attracted everyone's attention.

Fifth, take a small boat with thin and thin curtains hanging on the boat, the tea table is clean, the tea stove is warm, the tea pan quickly boils the water, and the white porcelain bowl is passed gently. They sat together, some hid under the shade of trees, some went to Lihu to escape the noise, it can be said that they came here when they were happy, and left when they were exhausted.

Qin Chuan and Wang Fu do not belong to the usual five categories of people.

They are here for the Hairpin Banquet.

The largest building boat on the West Lake has been chartered by local celebrities to support Master Tixue in holding a hairpin banquet.

This building boat is naturally the most eye-catching existence on the West Lake tonight.

In the next ten or twenty years, there may be two or three Jinshi among them, who will determine the rise and fall of a certain family and surname in Lingzhou Prefecture, and affect the power structure of the local gentry.

One person attains Taoism and ascends to heaven, which is vividly reflected in the imperial examination.

Qin Chuan and Wang Fu sat at the same table, because other people either got instructions or knew something, in short, they didn't openly make friends with Qin Chuan in the presence of all the rookies.

As for private, they are still eager to have some communication with Qin Chuan.

After all, Qin Chuan's stereotyped articles are so well done.

But the famous person who went out to sponsor the tixue yamen to hold the hairpin banquet today was surnamed Huang, and he was Huang Meng's uncle.

Tixue's acceptance of Huang Mingshi's overtures actually means that Tixue and the bosses behind him have reached a compromise with the factions related to the Huang family, and the two sides have not reached the point where swords are on the verge of breaking out.

Of course Wang Fu knew a little bit, but he wasn't afraid of the Huang family either.

What's more, Huang Meng is often a child of someone else's family that the elders of the Wang family said.

This time Qin Chuan beat Huang Meng and won the first place in the court examination, which made Wang Fu secretly happy.

What's so bullish about Huang Meng? He's not like him, he's just a rookie. He tried three exams, and none of them was Huang Meng's leader.

It's useless to give him a chance.

Anyway, Wang Fu is very happy these few days.

It is said that Huang's family did not prepare a banquet for Huang Meng's exam.

When Wang Fu heard it, he almost looked up to the sky and laughed.

Of course, the old man of his family didn't hold a banquet for him, and warned him that in a few days, the cousin of uncle Nie Zhi's family would come to Lingzhou Fucheng to play, let him be the host, so that he could entertain the cousin.

This time Wang Fu was able to pass the childbirth test, thanks to his uncle's efforts.

Wang Fu accepted the matter happily, eating, drinking and having fun was his old profession.

People are refreshed on happy occasions, Wang Fu has a good appetite and eats happily.

Of course, he couldn't compare with Qin Chuan, because Liuxian ate most of the food on the table like a storm.

The other rookies were chatting happily with the people around them, talking about the past and the present. They drank a lot, but they didn't eat much food.

The painting styles of Qin Chuan and Wang Fu are really incompatible with the Hairpin Banquet.

At this time, Huang Mingshi couldn't stand it anymore, and suggested that he and several senior Jinshi who had become officials go out for drinking orders.

And the form of drinking order this time is not an ordinary general order, such as throwing dice, drawing lots, punching, guessing numbers, etc., but an elegant order.

The method of Yaling's order is: first select one person as the ordering officer, or write a poem or a pair, and the others continue the order according to the meaning of the first order, and the content and form of the order must be consistent, otherwise they will be punished for drinking.When carrying out elegant orders, one must quote classics, combine rhymes, conceive at the table, and respond impromptu. This requires the drinker to have both literary talent and talent, as well as agility and wit. .

The form of the Yaling this time is to write poems, which must be conceived at the table, such as borrowing ancient words and sentences, if they are recognized, they will be punished.

It is self-evident who this move is intended for and everyone present.

Qin Chuan was born in the countryside, so he naturally didn't have a channel to know poetry and songs. No matter how good the writing is, it must be a shortcoming in this aspect.

Soon Mingshi Huang came up with a question, "A full moon shines on the golden cup."

He raised his glass to Qin Chuan and said with a smile: "Next, let's invite Xiao Sanyuan, who comes out every ten years in Lingzhou Prefecture, to be the first to continue the drinking order."

Qin Chuan kept silent, did not continue the drinking order, and punished himself with a glass of wine.

Huang Mingshi saw that Qin Chuan didn't answer, and it seemed that he really hit Qin Chuan's shortcomings, so he continued, "The gold cup is full and the moon is full."

Qin Chuan still punished himself with a glass of wine.

Huang Mingshi smiled slightly, "Then let me say the third sentence, the full moon fell into the golden cup, and the head of the case Qin can think about it for a while."

Qin Chuan still punished himself with a cup.

Huang Mingshi laughed loudly, "The next sentence is to hold a golden goblet and swallow the moon. It seems that our little case leader is not good at these trails, so I won't make things difficult for you."

He said to Huang Meng again: "Huang Meng, since Chief Qin is not good at the small ways other than the imperial examination articles, you are usually distracted by these. Today, use what you have learned on a daily basis to have a good time with your classmates. These things will be received and sent in the officialdom in the future, and they will be used after all."

All the people present, many of whom were smart, secretly called Huang Mingshi an old fox. After saying this, it was implying that Huang Meng lost to Qin Chuan in the scientific examination essay because he was usually distracted by poetry and poetry.

In this way, it can somewhat restore Huang Meng's reputation in the public opinion.

It also gives Qin Chuan an image of a bookworm who concentrates on scientific research and does not do ordinary affairs.

Really good calculation.

Of course, he didn't speak up about his studies, so naturally no one planned to stand up for Qin Chuan.So the crowd busily set up a drinking order.

Huang Meng was a little absent-minded.

He has seen Qin Chuan's article, the article can achieve that level, such small ways as poems and songs are really easy to master, and with a little research, he can surpass the world.

Qin Chuan probably knew the strength of the Huang family, so he deliberately hid his clumsiness.

In this way, Huang Meng felt like punching the cotton with a punch, and he couldn't vent the frustration of Tong Sheng's frustration at all.

Everyone was drunk, only Huang Meng paid attention to Qin Chuan from time to time.

Suddenly, when Huang Meng looked at Qin Chuan's table again, he found that Qin Chuan had disappeared.

Huang Meng couldn't help being lost in thought.

Huang Mingshi was always paying attention to his nephew, and seeing Huang Meng lost his mind, he realized that Qin Chuan had slipped away at some point.

He asked Tixue beside him: "Great Master, why did your disciple Qin Chuan leave without saying goodbye? Could it be because the old man made things difficult for him, then the old man is wrong."

Ti Xue smiled lightly, "You said Liuxian, when he came, he told me that there were orphans of the elders in the family to take care of, and he couldn't stay for a long time. So he told me in advance that after he was full of wine and food, he had to leave immediately. Go back. He doesn't dare to walk alone at night, so he invited the kid from the Wang family to accompany him. And this kid is really different from others. He even sent me a poem, describing his life ambitions. Look After reading this poem, you should understand what kind of person he is, so don't embarrass the younger generation in the future."

Huang Mingshi immediately accepted a poem post from Ti Xue,
"Where is the fragrance of flowers clear at night? The sound of thatched huts in the stone forest across the stream.

Youren moonrises every solitary go, and the bird sings when the bird is in the sky.

The grass dew is not far away from the awns and wetness, the pine wind is light and the kudzu clothes are light.

Linliu wants to write Yilanyi, Jiangbei and Jiangnan have infinite love. "

The poem is written about the night scene of the mountains and forests, which is quiet and quiet.However, the clear thinking that is tired of the secular world and favored to return, is lingering in taste.

An old Jinshi took it from Huang Mingshi, squinted his eyes to look at it under the light, and couldn't help but praised: "Good poems, with a refreshing air, flowing from the ink."

He shook his head and read out the poems, like drinking fairy wine, with a face full of enjoyment.

This poem not only vividly conveys the secluded style that traditional scholars yearn for on paper, but also shows how open-minded and open-minded Qin Chuan is at the end.

Qin Chuan did such poetry and prose, but he didn't accept the drinking order.

Because Qin Chuan's level is too high for traditional scholar-bureaucrats, too high to bother with old masters like Huang Mingshi.

If they hadn't brought out Qin Chuan's poems and essays, they would have no idea that Qin Chuan has such a poetic talent and such an open-minded mind.

Huang Meng is like eating a bitter fruit, and it is not a taste in every way.

The gap between him and Qin Chuan was bigger than he imagined.

He has no way to defeat Qin Chuan head-on, and even he can fight against Qin Chuan only because his surname is Huang.This is a reality that Huang Meng can never accept.

But reality is reality.

Very skinny, very disappointing.

(End of this chapter)