Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

It was only the first month of the year and the weather had not yet broken out. It should have been freezing cold, but somehow the spring breeze started to blow.

It's a good year for heavy snow. The previous heavy snowstorm has stored enough water in the farmland. When the boat is sailing on the Lou River, the golden cauliflowers on both sides of the river are dotted, which has become a brilliant sight.

"Ah, the season is not right. The flowers bloomed a month early." Wang Cai commented.

Wang Heng sipped his tea happily and said: "The cauliflower is a little early, and there are some confusions in flower order. The plum blossoms are in season these two days."

Speaking of plum blossoms, Wang Cai said proudly: "I think the plum blossoms in Nanyuan are very good. My uncle has been taking care of that beautiful Gongfenmei for a whole year. He bloomed it for us as soon as he went out. How lucky we are." ."

"The plum blossoms in Shen Xiaolian's Ai Lian Ju do not know what kind they are, but I hope they are green plums. In this way, I already have a poem about green plum blossoms in my stomach. That day, my eldest brother saw a poem "Ode to the Green Calyx of Nanyuan" in his study. "Plum", I thought it was very good, and I got a song by imitating it." Wang Heng said.

Wang Cai said: "You must compose a poem at the Plum Blossom Festival, why not compose one for both Rouge Plum and White Plum Blossom in advance."

Wang Heng said: "It's a pity that I didn't go through my elder brother's study carefully that day. There must be rules. It's useless to worry now. When the time comes, I can deal with it with a few random words."

Wang Caishen said nonchalantly: "Shen Xiaolian has never had any contact with us, why do you invite Seventh Brother to the flower viewing party?"

Wang Heng put down the tea cup, held it for a long time, and said: "It's probably because he has an old relationship with his uncle, or he is an old friend of Yuan Shanchang. Don't be curious. The Lantern Festival will be around the day after tomorrow."

Wang Heng concluded that Shen Xiaolian invited him to the Plum Blossom Party not because of his good knowledge and talents. He was not so narcissistic.

Wang Cai felt relieved and no longer pursued the reason. He turned around and looked at the scenery along the way.

This is when the boat has reached Xie Pond and is almost halfway through the journey.

Xiaocai said sadly: "We started from Zhihe Tangzhou Bridge, walked all the way to Xijiao Old Street, and then passed Zhengyi Old Street. Now we have arrived at Xietang Old Street. I want to go and take a look. The scenery of the old street, listen to what the storyteller in the tea shop is saying."

Wang Heng agreed very much and said: "We also need to take a look at the famous products on the old streets to see if they are worthy of their names. How much rice and cotton are produced in the village? How much is the family on the boat in the Loujiang waters, and how much fishing can support their whole family?" Aren't you hungry or cold? From this point of view, we thought of traveling to the North with Brother Chenyu. Xiaocai said: "Master Chenyu is sitting on an official ship and living in a post station. How much customs and customs can we see?" ? "

Wang Heng said: "Eldest brother has been stuck at home these past few years, and one can imagine his inner distress. After all, only a wealthy and idle man like eldest brother can afford to travel to the North."

Xiaocai thought for a while and said: "When we are in our 30s, we will buy a boat by ourselves, hire a boatman, and raise a sum of money. If we want to stop the boat, we can look at the clouds, and we can listen to the rain in the cabin. When the rain comes, the mood comes, the boat sails to the busy city, and the big man hides in the city."

Wang Heng was yearning for it and said: "That's so nice. Good days like this will come soon."

While talking and laughing, the boat was rocking very fast, and it was almost past noon when we arrived at Loumen, Suzhou.Two servants of the Wang family carried their luggage to the academy room, and Wang Heng asked them to take the boat back to Taicang while it was still early in the day.

Wang Heng brought a lot of luggage out of the house. Mrs. Zhu asked the kitchen to prepare a large box of street vegetables, such as smoked fish, fried fish belly, meat and bones, etc. These are Wang Heng's favorite hometown dishes.

In addition, the aunts on the needlework hurriedly made two silk cotton robes. When I opened the package and carefully put the new cotton robes into the suitcase, I found that there was a small wooden box in the package, which contained exactly ten pieces. Two scattered pieces of silver.

The two were stunned for a moment, then came to their senses. It was obvious that Mrs. Zhu knew everything about their conversation with Mr. Min at the second door and the ten taels of silver they handed over to Mr. Min.

After settling in for a while, Wang Heng went to the Zhishi Building in the back hill of the academy to find Mr. Xu to get the invitation. It was still the spring break these days, and there were only a few teachers and students in the academy, and he met almost no one along the way.

Mr. Xu's letter said that he was in Zhishi Building every day because he was in charge of general affairs. Wang Heng pushed open Mr. Xu's study, and Mr. Xu indeed copied it on the case.

"Mr. Xu, happy New Year." Wang Heng bowed and saluted.

When he raised his head and saw Wang Heng, Mr. Xu politely asked him to sit down and said with a smile: "I wanted to send you Shen Xiaolian's invitation to the Plum Blossom Club, but I was afraid that you would suddenly return to the academy, which would delay things."

Mr. Xu opened the drawer next to the desk, pulled out the second compartment, and rummaged through it. The invitation was not there. He patted his head and said with a smile, "My brain is not working well. I can't remember things."

I looked through the first and third boxes again, but found nothing. Then I became a little panicked and searched through other cabinets where materials were stored, but still couldn't find them.

Mr. Xu said apologetically: "Sheng Wang, my study is too messy and I can't find anything at the moment. Why don't you go back first and I'll search carefully before sending it to your study room."

Wang Heng had no choice but to obey.

At noon the next day, Mr. Xu came to his door and apologized: "I looked through the study, but I don't know how the invitation got away by itself. Tomorrow you go to Shen Xiaolian's Ailian Residence. Just give your name and go in to participate in the Plum Blossom Party. The host's family will definitely I gave the concierge a list of guests, so I don't expect anything to happen."

Wang Heng said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, it doesn't matter. The Plum Blossom Party is an elegant gathering. If you don't write a few plum blossom poems, how can you come out? I don't have much poetry, so I don't dare to go."

Mr. Xu smiled and said: "Shen Xiaolian in the south of the city is very famous in Suzhou. This time he invited a total of thirty young scholars. You are the only one in our academy. When the concierge Zhang sent the invitation, everyone was envious. Chief Yuan Shan, Dean Pu and others heard about it, and they all came to ask about it. They saw the invitation and asked why they didn't want to go."

Wang Hengnuonuo chatted for a few more words, and then Mr. Xu said goodbye and left.