Jia Yujing of Red Mansion

Chapter 274 The little princess sneaks out of the palace
The fifth day of May, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Early in the morning, Fanglin Gate in the north of Chang'an City was crowded with people. Many people left the city from here and flocked to Jinming Pond in the northwest.

Jinmingchi belongs to Shanglin Garden and is a royal garden. It is not open to the public at ordinary times. Only on certain festivals, people are allowed to come in for sightseeing.

For example, every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, Jinmingchi will be opened to the public, and people will spontaneously organize dragon boat competitions, and the scene will be very lively.

This year Emperor Longqing announced that he would watch the dragon boat race, and the Ministry of Rites began making arrangements half a month in advance.

Ordinary people are only allowed to watch the game on the east, west and south shores of Jinmyeongchi.

The only people who can enter the lake by boat, apart from the players participating in the competition, are the emperor's royal boats.

At this moment, the royal guards escorted Emperor Longqing's chariot out of the Shenwu Gate to Jinming Pool, followed by the accompanying ministers.

You'anmen is a corner gate on the west side of the Daming Palace. If the eunuchs and maids in the palace want to do anything in the palace, they will use this gate.

As long as the palace maids and eunuchs have a waist card and look familiar, the imperial army will generally not stop them.

At this time, a carriage came to You'anmen, driven by a young eunuch from the Shangyi Bureau named Xiao Fuzi.

The guard guard obviously knew this eunuch, and did not check his badge. Instead, he stepped forward and opened the door curtain to take a look.

The Imperial Guard noticed a large box in the carriage and asked, "What's in the box?"

Xiao Fuzi said: "Hu Shangyi asked me to go out of the palace to buy some thread, which is used for thread assembly. I packed some used fabric and went out to exchange for some small money."

As he spoke, he thrust a small ingot of silver into the hand of the forbidden soldier.

The Forbidden Army weighed the weight and said with a smile: "Little Fuzi father-in-law is going to get rich, but I still have to check."

Xiao Fuzi said: "Hey, they are just rags. If you want to check them, you can check them."

The Imperial Guard opened the box a little and took a look. When he saw that it was indeed some cloth, he closed it again.

"Okay, let's go, Mr. Fuzi."

The carriage drove out of You'anmen smoothly. Princess Yuanxi, who was hiding in the box, pushed the box open and got out from under the cloth.

Yuan Xi, who has lived in the Daming Palace since she was a child, has never left the palace except during festivals and festivals, when she goes to the Chonghua Palace to pay respects to the Emperor and the Queen Mother. Everything outside is very new to her.

That day, Princess Yuanxi knew that the emperor was going to take her sister to Jinmingchi to watch the dragon boat race, but he didn't plan to take her there, so she thought about sneaking out of the palace to play by herself.

So she found Xiao Fuzi, a young eunuch she had known since she was a child, and asked him to take her out.

Today happened to be the emperor's trip, and most of the leaders of the imperial army were transferred to Jinming Pond to protect the emperor's safety. The guards were relatively lax, so they chose this day to go out.

She opened the door curtain and shouted excitedly: "Xiao Fuzi, is there any interesting place? You can take me to visit."

Xiao Fuzi said with a sad face: "Little master, please sit tight in the car.

This is still on the edge of the palace city. There are many people from the palace coming and going, so don't let them see you.

It would be a crime of beheading for me to secretly bring you out. If someone discovers it, the slave's life will not be saved.

We made an agreement, you have to listen to me when you come out. After I finish my errands and take you for a walk in the market, we will go back. We can't stay any longer. "

Princess Yuan Xi stuck out her tongue when she heard this and quickly lowered the door curtain.

She said: "Don't worry, Xiao Fuzi, we are good friends and I will not let you be beheaded."

But it was said that the emperor's motorcade came all the way to the north bank of Jinming Pool, and all the ministers stood in formation by the pool and bowed to greet it.

Emperor Longqing and Princess Mingyue got out of the car and saw dozens of dragon boats of various colors in Jinming Pool lined up on the east bank, ready to go.

Flags were flying on both sides of Jinming Lake, gongs and drums were beating, and people were crowded, making it very lively.

Princess Mingyue first boarded the emperor's royal boat. Emperor Longqing stood on the shore and admired the scenery in the lake. He said to the ministers: "The Jinming Pool is really lively today. Is there any masterpiece about dragon boat racing among the ministers?" ?" This time Emperor Longqing ordered to accompany him. Apart from Prince Gong, there were only some high-ranking officials with Hanlin bachelor's background, all of whom were highly talented officials.

Upon hearing this, Prince Gong smiled and said: "Your Majesty, with the most talented man in our country here, how can there be no masterpieces?"

Li Shirui echoed: "Yes, with Jia Sanyuan here, I won't have to do anything else."

Jia Qiong hurriedly waved her hand and said, "Mr. Li Ge is joking, how dare you, kid?"

Zhu Chen, the Minister of Rites, laughed and said: "Master Jia, don't be humble. When it comes to writing lyrics and poetry, who can compare with you."

Emperor Longqing smiled and asked: "Jia Aiqing, since everyone says so, you must write a good poem today no matter what."

Jia Qiong cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty will atone for his sins. I don't have any ideas yet."

Emperor Longqing said: "It doesn't matter, all the ministers, please follow me on the boat.

Let’s enjoy the game first and let Jia Aiqing think about it slowly. "

"Yes, I will obey the order."

Everyone got on the boat, Emperor Longqing and Prince Gong got on the third deck, and everyone else was on the second deck.

The building boat slowly left the shore, and when it quickly reached the center of the lake, there was a boom of cannons on the east bank, and dozens of dragon boats rushed out like arrows. The cheers on both sides of the bank also rose.

While the ministers were watching the dragon boat race with great interest, Dai Quan came down from the third floor and said, "Master Jia, the emperor has ordered you to go upstairs."

Li Shirui smiled and said: "Yu Jing, the emperor wants to listen to your poem. Come up quickly."

Jia Qiong nodded and followed Dai Quan upstairs, where he saw Emperor Longqing, Prince Gong and Princess Mingyue all sitting at the same table.

Princess Mingyue glanced at him, then turned her head away with a blushing face.

Emperor Longqing asked: "Jia Aiqing, do you have any masterpieces?"

Jia Qiong smiled bitterly and said: "Today I am exhausted of writing ideas. I thought of a poem but I am not very satisfied with it. There is really no good work. I hope the emperor will not blame me."

Prince Gong smiled and said: "I didn't expect that our great talent Jia would also be exhausted from writing."

Princess Mingyue whispered: "It is difficult to write race poems, so it is normal that there are no good ones."

Emperor Longqing nodded and said, "Didn't you compose a song? Let's talk about it first."

Jia Qiong cupped his hands and said, "Then I'm showing off my humiliation. What I composed is a song with the subtracted word "Magnolia".

The red flag was held high, flying out of the deep Yangliuzhu.

Drumming Chunlei, straight through the smoke wave and far back.

The cheers shook the ground, and thousands of people were repelled by fighting spirit.

To the west of the golden building, I won the first place in the championship. "

After hearing this, Princess Mingyue said: "This poem is very powerful and can be regarded as the best among the race poems."

Jia Qiong cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Princess."

Emperor Longqing glanced at Princess Mingyue and said, "Jia Qiong, I don't think your poem is a good one. You have to write another one, otherwise I will punish you."

Jia Qiong said helplessly: "I really can't think of any good poems, but I think of a story that is quite interesting. I wonder if the emperor would be interested in hearing it."

"Oh, what's the story? Tell it first and listen to it."

"This story is called "The Legend of White Snake" and it is a folk legend..."

(End of this chapter)