Roselle Peony

"Cracking!" A burst of firecrackers sounded from far to near, and a large group of people were bustling and bustling through the streets and alleys.

The leader was dressed in a red robe, wearing a tall square hat, with his nostrils facing the sky, and holding a big gong, he knocked and shouted: "Congratulations to Mr. Lu Huangbang High School! Congratulations to Mr. Lu's high school Xie Yuan!" His expression was quite proud.

After that, several fan-wielding yamen servants followed the red-robed man to clear the way.After the eight large sedan chairs turned out of the street corner, the people on the street bowed and knelt down one after another.Someone took the lead and shouted: "Congratulations to Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu is blessed with great blessings!" Other people shouted after hearing this.

Who are the people sitting in these eight sedan chairs?This is Lu Suyuan, the governor of Shanxi Bingzhou, the parent official of this state.Mr. Lu has been an official in Bingzhou for more than ten years. He is clean and honest, with clear rewards and punishments. During this period, farmers' local taxes were reduced and exempted, and they were called Lord Qingtian by the people.

At this time, Mr. Lu was smiling, without losing the majesty of his parents and officials, stroking his beard, watching the people in the city bowing to him, listening to the flattering words, in fact, he was so happy that he was about to blossom.

Lu Suyuan just came back from the government office after visiting Master Yushi.Yushi Zha Shaoyu was the chief examiner of this year's Qiuwei Township Examination in Shanxi, and also Lu Suyuan's boss when he was an official in Beijing during the Zhenguan period.He brought the roster of the yellow list that will be announced soon, and without waiting for Lu Suyuan, he congratulated him repeatedly: "Prefect Lu is really lucky, your son is talented and outstanding, and his writing style is unmatched. The old man and several examiners admired him, so they mentioned him as this year's candidate. solution element."

Lu Suyuan's nervous heart instantly let go, and he immediately showed joy, and hurriedly said: "The next official kowtowed to Mr. Zha Ge. Mr. Zha Ge has been praised. The dog is young and has little knowledge. If there is no advice from Mr. Zha Ge, how could the dog be so happy?" Today is the day. Boss Zhage is so kind and virtuous, I am so grateful!" After thinking for a while, Master Lu cupped his fists again: "I hope Mr. Zhage will give me some advice in the future!"

Zha Shaoyu was originally the Taichang Shaoqing during the Zhenguan period. He was appreciated by the Emperor Wu for his outstanding literary talents.In less than a quarter of an hour of mentioning, this child's article is not only rigorous in argumentation, but also completely obeys his own guidance, what should be collected and what should be let go, starting and ending, following the rules, he is really a man of wisdom and can be made.Zha Shaoyu nodded and said: "My son got to know Yuan in the middle of the day, and he is going to take part in Chunwei in the future. Let him come to see me in the capital before the exam starts."

Lu Suyuan was overjoyed: "Thank you Mr. Zha Ge. The dog will definitely live up to the kindness of the master."

After Lu Suyuan retired, he sent the governor of Bingzhou to pick up the yellow list and go outside the city to post it, while he couldn't wait to go back home to tell the good news to his favorite concubine Yan, and of course his precious son Lu Shangqiu.

This Mr. Lu, who is Jieyuan in high school today, is named Lu Shangqiu, his name is Qiubai, and he is twenty years old. He is a well-known talent in Bingzhou. It provoked the secret love of many daughters of big families in Bingzhou.His paintings and calligraphy, which were lost to the folk, were snapped up by girls in the city.

It is said that there are quite a few noble gentlemen who can recite poems and paint pictures, why do girls like this young master Lu so much?This is not only because he is the son of Lu Suyuan, the current parent officer and governor of Bingzhou.If you go to the street and take a look around, you will see—isn’t the portrait of Mr. Lu hanging here in the shop?Look at this face, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, red lips and white teeth, romantic and suave, sassy and uninhibited-hey, why are you not allowed to touch?Ah, asking for a thousand taels?Master Chu's handwriting?Boss, are you lying?One, Master Chu's paintings cost several 10 taels, okay?[-]. When did Master Chu know Mr. Lu?Hey, let me just say, you profiteer!Hey, don't grab it, I haven't appreciated it enough!Alas, it's really embarrassing to compete with a group of silly girls for a portrait of a little boy.After walking away, these girls don't know that Mr. Lu is more beautiful than the portrait in real life.

Therefore, if you go to the street and take a look around, you can see a group of girls robbing a portrait of Mr. Lu.

***

The team of gongs finally stopped at the gate of a large mansion.The word "Lu Mansion" is written on the high-hanging plaque. Although it is well-behaved, it is also solemn and powerful. It is signed - Qiubai?

The red-robed gong ringer looked at the plaque, turned his nostrils upside down, hmph, my young master is very powerful, he can bring glory to our Lu family ancestors!I, Lu Er, admire our master the most in my life. My son will be like the master in the future, no no, maybe he will be more promising.

The housekeeper, Lu Er, was thinking happily, while not forgetting to help Master Lu get off the sedan chair.As soon as he entered the door, a large group of wives and concubines surrounded Master Lu with a clatter of congratulations.Regardless of whether they are sincere or not, these women have done a lot of hard work for their masters.

Master Lu was so crowded by his wife and five concubines that he couldn't walk. When he looked up, he saw Yan, the concubine, standing not far away. She wanted to get close to the master but was afraid of the elder wives, rubbing her sleeves with a cute and pitiful appearance.This made Master Lu's heart ache so much, he shook off the eldest wife and second wife who were on his shoulders, and walked towards Yan's.The ladies are jealous, but they can't vent it in front of the master.He had no choice but to grit his teeth and give Yan Shi six supercilious glances.

Lu Suyuan, governor of Bingzhou, had five daughters and one son.Among them, except for the eldest son born to the third wife who died early, and the seventh wife Yan who gave birth to a young son, the other five wives each had a daughter.Mr. Lu had a son in his old age, and he had lost a son, so he cherished this youngest son very much, and even doted on his concubine Yan Shi, and the other wives had been neglected for a long time.

Fortunately, Lu Shangqiu's elder sisters cherish only one younger brother because they have only one younger brother, and they are all kind and friendly to this beautiful younger brother.The eldest sister who married into the Bi family in Hebei specially brings Hebei specialty desserts to Lu Shangqiu every year, even though Mr. Lu has reached the age of weak crown, he doesn't like desserts for a long time.

Master Lu's eldest wife is Hu Shi, the niece of Hu Yankai, a member of Zhongshushe during Tang Gaozu's reign, and was appointed by Emperor Taizong to marry her.It's a pity that only one daughter was born, and she failed to honor the ancestors of the Lu family. Otherwise, how could she tolerate Mr. Lu accepting several concubines, and even swallow her anger when Mr. Lu only favors the Yan family who has no background.This time, Yan's son became the number one in the township examination. She was half jealous, and half angry that her belly was not up to date, and angrily cursed in a low voice: "Sao fox, look at you pretending to be like that! Wait until the day the master has a new love." , you are not the same as us!"

The concubines watched the words and expressions, and rushed to comfort the eldest wife. "Sister, don't worry, we'll think about it when we go back to the house~Fa~zi~" the second wife said, the word "Fazi" was purposely spoken loudly so that Yan could hear it.What is this "method"?Naturally, it was the tactic used by the wives to bully Yan.

Mr. Lu couldn't hear the conversations of the wives, so he went straight forward and took Yan's hand. After being excited for a long time, he said, "Our son is promising!"

Yan's mother also shed two tears of pride, but she still did not forget to say: "Thanks to the master's teaching, Yan is proud of the master!"

Yan's words made Master Lu feel as if he had knocked over a honey pot.Master Lu laughed out loud for a while, and walked towards the East Pavilion with Yan's arms in his arms, saying as he walked, "Let's go and see our son!"

After a pause, Yan said hesitantly: "Qiu'er and other scholars of the same class went to thank Master Sun of the private school together, and will be back at dinner time."

Master Lu was taken aback for a moment, it was a pity that a father could not be the first to tell his son that he was on the list, but after thinking about it, his son was sensible and knew how to thank his master.Alas, my baby boy has really grown up.Master Lu smiled, shook his head, smiled again, and nodded again, which made Yan think he had a stroke.

Afterwards, there was an endless stream of people who came to Lu Mansion to congratulate them.Many officials and colleagues had guessed the matter of Mr. Lu's high school long ago, and even prepared gifts many times in advance.The housekeeper, Lu Er, prepared a lot of firecrackers, and asked the man to light them at the door, and the crackling continued. The Lu family was so lively and lively all day long.

***

When it was time to light the lights, the entrance of the Lu Mansion was still so bustling. Master Lu greeted the guests at the entrance. The housekeeper instructed the guys to prepare the dinner. The cook was the chef from the most famous Chengyang restaurant in Bingzhou, and the ingredients were the first batch from the market that day. .The wives of Lu's mansion rushed to help the chef, in order to learn a few tricks and show their skills in front of the master in the future.

Suddenly, the bodyguard shouted: "Young Master Lu, go home!"

Everyone followed the voice, and saw a few noble sons dressed as scholars coming, they were disciples from Mr. Sun's Going to the Countryside High School, and everyone consciously gave way.

The leader is slightly taller than the others, dressed in a white scholar's robe, embellished with aqua blue embroidery, and his shiny black hair is tied into a tuft on the top of his head, fixed by a white hairpin. He is a standard scholar's dress, light and elegant. His pace couldn't conceal his joy after winning the list.When the visitor approaches, one can see: fair skin, thick sword eyebrows, a pair of piercing phoenix eyes, slender eyelashes, black eyeballs, bright as autumn water, the corners of the eyes are slightly raised, and there is a shallow tear mole under the right eye, straight The bridge of the nose, the slightly high cheekbones, the square jawbone, and a thin pale pink lip that was squeezed hard but raised slightly uncontrollably.If you don't look at him, his side face is really like a snowy mountain, heroic, but if you look at him, the slightly raised corners of the eyes and the looming mole of tears make him look like a peach blossom, full of affection, As if not like a mortal person.The few sons and brothers behind him stood together with him, like dim stars, trying to compete with the bright moon for brilliance.

Seeing his return, the female family members of the noble family who attended the banquet together shouted in surprise, or hid behind Daddy shyly.Lu Shangqiu smiled slightly at the female family member who made the noise, and instead of stamping his feet, he sped up and ran towards Master Lu. "The unfilial son pays his respects to his father. I met Mrs. Sun and talked a lot with my classmates today, and a few hours passed before I knew it, so you are worried!"

As soon as the words fell, I heard Master Li, the soldier who was walking to the door, say: "Master Lu has a good fortune, your son is handsome, talented, and knowledgeable. Today, he is the first in high school and has a bright future in the future. Today's words can be called filial piety and courtesy. Annexation, I really washed my ears. If the unfilial son in my family has one or two out of ten sons, he will be satisfied, ha ha." The guests and attendants all agreed, their eyes focused on envy and jealousy On the father and son of the Lu family.

The flattery made Lu Suyuan elated, and he immediately held his son's hand excitedly and said, "Today I won't be humble like everyone else, my son will live up to me, I have a good old face, I'm happy!" Master Li, please, everyone, go in and have a drink and talk!"