Chapter 897: Fireworks, Imperial Descendant

The night ban of the Beijing division is strict, at this time there is only one hour from one more and three o'clock, although there are few pedestrians on the road, but the yellow flower shop in the east of the fourth archway is still lively and lively, there is no cold before the night ban, here is the famous fat powder wonderful place of the Ming Dynasty. Although the red lantern is hung high, there is also a difference between official and private.

In the official, it is natural to say that the teaching workshop is in the alley, and the teaching workshop is in the alley of the department, but on weekdays, the singers and dancers practice in the dance hall of the Yanle Hutong, and the performance is in the Goang Hutong. Naturally, the prostitutes of the church who should inherit the ordinary people and the kabuki who are specially designed to inherit the son of heaven are two different things, and this so-called hook column is the place where the prostitutes of the church perform, and the people who watch the songs and dances are commenting, and the end of the song is to spend money like dirt, which is the most important place to go for ecstasy. Since the Fuller House to which the official prostitutes belonged was burned down by a fire, the official prostitutes also lived on the 16th floor of the newly built Huanghuafang, specializing in welcoming passing merchants, which also made Huanghuafang more and more lively.

The sixteenth floor, like the former Fuller House, is inherited from the old system of the Hongwu year, which prohibits civil and military officials and people from entering, and only merchants are allowed to enter and exit. Having said that, it has been decades since the founding of the country, and the extremely strict rules for inquiries in the past have now become decorations, plus the big guys in the DPRK and China often make a note to call for a lot of kabuki to accompany them, and petty officials haunt these places of sound and color, and most of the imperial historians will not care so much. Therefore, Zhang Yue and Liu Zhong walked on the street of this Goulang Hutong, and they didn't have to worry too much about their eyes.

Liu Zhong saw Zhang Yue looking left and right, as if it was the first time he had come here, and immediately smiled: "What, you are still here for the first time?" ”

Zhang Yue just came all the way over, and saw that there were many high-ranking friends everywhere, and secretly thought that no matter what era, this place would never be forbidden, especially now that Beijing officials are poor, and their families are often not around. He didn't know about other yamen, at least there was such a director in the yamen of the Ministry of War, it is said that he got the funding of a private prostitute from Dengcao Hutong, stayed in the capital for six years, and was forced to take the entrance examination for a jinshi, and then took the person back, leaving a good story of a talented and beautiful woman. But what is the good story under the consumption of firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, you can see the situation by looking at the head of the car driving department who is less than forty years old man like a little old man.

Therefore, in the face of Liu Zhong's ridicule, he smiled and said: "If you want to watch the singing and dancing, there are ready-made ones in the British public; If you want to watch the troupe act, there are new plays sent by King Zhou of Kaifeng every month in the Hutong County Lord's Mansion of the Ten Princes' Mansion; As for the rest of the food, drink, and entertainment, my house does not say that it has everything, but it is by no means inferior to the outside. Besides, how many other people like Liu Lao would pull me to this place? Those officials don't dare! ”

Liu Zhong suddenly laughed: "That's right, your boss is easy-going, it's no problem for you to invite them to a few good meals, if you see their ugly appearance, it won't be like words, after all, there are always a few hard bones in the Metropolitan Procuratorate." Don't worry, I won't be difficult, tonight it happens to be the lark class of the Teaching Workshop Division performing in the Tianxian Building in this Goulang Hutong, just to watch singing, dancing and drinking. It is said that several cabinet elders have also come, and we are even more insignificant. ”

Zhang Yue originally thought that Liu Zhong was just talking, but when he stepped into the gate of the Tianxian Tower, he found that there were many people here, and all of them were well-dressed people, and many faces were common in the past. And when those people saw that it was him, their first reaction was to see a ghost-like expression, and then they calmed down.

Just to come to see singing and dancing, and not to come to prostitutes, what are you afraid of meeting acquaintances?

Although Liu Zhong had only recently returned to the capital, he was obviously more familiar with the road than Zhang Yue, so he gave an order to the guy who ran to the hall, and immediately took Zhang Yue to the second floor. The three bread boxes on the second floor are all built around the stage, and there are only four boxes facing the stage, Liu Zhong is the one who took Zhang Yue into the center in a grand manner, and as soon as he sat down, he instructed the guy: "Come to a jar of your own Tianxian drunk here, and the dishes are good at four cold dishes and four hot dishes, and then serve a soup and two dim sum, that's all." The dishes and snacks will be served later, and the wine will be served first, and we will sift it up and eat it. ”

This sentence almost choked Zhang Yue and coughed again and again, and when the guy repeated it loudly, he then went downstairs with a smoke, he looked at Liu Zhong and said, "Liu Lao, just the two of us, want so many drinks and food?" ”

"In order to save you money, I have already placed everything in the retinue at the tavern at the mouth of the alley."

Seeing Liu Zhong's eyes glaring, Zhang Yue was helpless, so he had to stop talking. Suddenly, he saw the man on the stairs scurrying up with a jar of wine, followed by a man with a brazier. The two of them came up one after the other, and came from the aisle in front of the box, and when they entered the room, they sang a big promise first, and then set up the brazier and wine utensils one by one, and opened the mud seal of the wine jar. At the beginning, the guy was about to sift the wine next to him, but he was driven away by Liu Zhong without saying a word.

Liu Zhong personally lifted his sleeve to sift the wine, where would Zhang Yue let the old man and elder do it, and hurriedly snatched it. As soon as he saw the amber wine in the wine jar and smelled the familiar fragrance, he knew that this was the rice wine often drunk in Jiangnan, so he hurriedly poured it into a small copper kettle, added ginger shredded rock sugar and green plums to it, and then prepared a copper cloth for sifting wine. The wine was warm, and when he had sifted it, he filled the bowl in front of them.

"This is said to be drunk by the immortals, but in fact, it is almost the same as honey when concocted like this, but when you are drunk, the singing and dancing at night is not interesting, so this is a pastime before meals." Liu Zhong raised the bowl and touched it with Zhang Yue, then drank it all, and said with emotion, "That place in Gansu is colder than the capital in winter, and it is the most bitter place, but I heard that the wine there is good, so I don't care so much." ”

"It's been so many years, Liu Lao is still this big bowl of drinking wine and eating meat, no wonder he is used to staying everywhere."

"What are you used to, the person who is an official, if you can't be at peace with what happens, you can be tossed to death up and down! I was lucky, I was lucky to have killed a lot of people in the British duke, and I was lucky to be rewarded for my meritorious service; There was such a big thing in Shandong, and I survived the commander of the capital safely; Later, I also made some contributions with you, but I may not have killed more enemies on the battlefield in my life......"

The most important thing for military generals is the love of robes, they have fought the battlefield, they have drunk wine outside the battlefield, and most of the friendships have been established in this blood wine. Although Zhang Yue did not fight hard with Liu Zhong, he had waded through dangers together, and it was naturally very delicious to drink wine together. The cups and cups staggered to recall the past eventful years, an old and a young talking and laughing, and finally Liu Zhong stretched out his hand to shake the wine jug, and found that the inside was empty, so he couldn't help but shout.

"Little Er, send wine!"

As soon as this shouting was over, there was a loud cheer outside. Zhang Yue was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up and beat the transparent bamboo roller shutter high. At this time, the hustle and bustle outside disappeared completely, and was replaced by a sudden burst of music that seemed to be nothing, the music was clear and clean, as if the birds were singing solo in the morning, and there was a bit of a smell of no one else. However, the tune has gradually penetrated into people's hearts, even if they don't listen to the lyrics, they still make people unconsciously relaxed. Zhang Yue leaned thoughtfully on the comfortable Taishi chair, and immediately understood why this building is not like other places where there is no simple backrest chair, but this more comfortable and casual Taishi chair.

Sure enough, this is a good place to close your eyes and listen to music.

Soon, the ribbons of the lower colorful skirts fluttered, but it was the dancers who went on the stage, and after only a few glances at the well-choreographed dance, Zhang Yue closed his eyes and continued to listen to the melodious singing. What is amazing is that even if the dancing girl is on stage, the singing voice is still the kind of self-care taste, as if it is not sung to others, but to sing to oneself alone, partial and natural and simple, the most wonderful thing is that from beginning to end, except for those dancing girls who are completely just foils, there is no accompaniment of silk and bamboo.

At the end of the song, there was thunderous applause and cheers all around, and at this time, Zhang Yue opened his eyes, but saw that Liu Zhong was already dewy. Shocked, he wanted to ask a few words, but in the end he swallowed the words back. Sure enough, it was only a moment, Liu Zhong rubbed his eyes, and then smiled.

"It makes you laugh, it's just remembering some things from the past, it's not a big deal." Seeing that there were already men walking by with a tray at the door, Liu Zhong stood up without saying a word, casually put a gold bracelet on it, and then walked back as if nothing happened. The guy was only stunned for a moment, thanked him loudly and went to the next box to ask for a reward, but Zhang Yue was stunned.

"Didn't you say I was in for a treat?"

"I want to listen to this song myself, if you want to have a treat, invite me to drink more!" Liu Zhong finally got rid of that emotion, and shook his head vigorously, "This song is refreshing for people like you who are in the court, but it is another medicine for people like us who are always fighting on the battlefield." When I returned to Beijing this time, I was most happy to find such a wonderful place, and the second was that you were promoted. You are in charge of the army, and there should be fewer people who pick on my thorns. ”

Zhang Yue is not very interested in things like music - he has been a boring person since his previous life in this regard, so although the singing just now was beautiful and moving, he quickly forgot about it, and at this time he was more concerned about the two words that Liu Zhong said. He was about to ask, but the outside room happened to bring wine in, so he naturally paused first, and only when it was full again did he ask: "Is the thorn that Liu Lao said about the military department, or the speech official, or other yamen?" ”

"After all, I was born in Shandong, you should know that since the rebellion of the Han Dynasty, the generals of the Shandong Department have died and depreciated, and there are still many remaining households and border soldiers, and I have been steadily promoted all the way, so naturally some people are not used to it." Liu Zhong's tone was flat when he said this, and when he saw that Zhang Yue was already frowning, he smiled, "Ahem, you are not the first brother, what is there to be angry about in the officialdom?" After all, Qingzhou is close to Le'an, if I hadn't made a meritorious service, I am afraid that I would have been pushed down a long time ago, and now I am already content. Now that you're in charge of the military department, I have nothing to worry about. ”

Zhang Yue saw that Liu Zhong raised his head and had another bowl of wine, and came to persuade himself diligently, so he had no choice but to drink most of the bowl. This time it wasn't the soft and mellow rice wine in the mouth, and after a sip, he only felt like a fire from his throat to his stomach, and it took a while to come back to his senses.

"Hehe, this time it's an authentic Mongolian spirit, it's rare in other places in Beijing, and it's a big surprise that it's available here."

Seeing that Liu Zhong was already a little drunk, Zhang Yue wanted to open his mouth to persuade him to drink less, but Liu Zhong was willing to listen, so he poured him two more glasses. Just now in order to watch the singing and dancing, the bamboo curtain of the box was beaten high by him, and the hustle and bustle outside naturally rushed in one after another, even the new guests and so on also walked in front of the door. Just when he watched helplessly as Liu Zhong poured another full bowl into his wine bowl, there was a sudden soft applause outside.

"It's a coincidence today, I don't want to meet acquaintances in such a place of wind and moon."

Zhang Yue looked up and saw six or seven people standing outside the door. The young man at the head was about the same age as him, dressed in a red silk silk and a hundred butterflies wearing a brocade robe, wearing a gold crown on his head, and his bearing was luxurious. Although he had only seen it a few times in the past, he still recognized the person for the first time - it was none other than King Yue! Next to King Yue was Zhang Xuan, who looked very bad. Seeing that Liu Zhong had already fallen on the table, and he didn't know if he was really drunk or not, he stood up and saluted.

King Yue entered the room as if he was familiar with it, and when he looked around, he smiled and said: "It is said that Yuanjie is clean, I didn't expect to come here, and I also chose the best box in the entire Tianxian Building." How, do you mind if I take someone here to rub it back, I'm late, I just missed the clear sound, and I'm annoyed in my heart. ”

Although he didn't know what medicine was sold in Yue Wang's gourd, Zhang Yue didn't want to leave anyone with any talk about it, so he nodded lightly: "Liu Lao and I have also drunk to the fullest, and we are about to leave, and this box will be given to the third prince and the third uncle." ”

Zhang Xuan only touched the nail at Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, in the morning, and at this time, he listened to Zhang Yue's words, and his face was a little pale. However, King Yue shook his head with a smile and said, "If you meet, you have fate, why don't you stay for a while on the Yuan Festival?" Although my talent is not as far as that of my eldest brother, I am better than him in drinking, is it possible that I can't even be a drinking friend? ”

Seeing that Zhang Yue was about to refuse, Zhang Xuan suddenly sneered with a straight face: "This kind of place has come here, what else is there to be reserved, is it possible that Brother Yue, you look down on the third son?" ”

If Zhang Xuan spoke well, it would be fine, but he put on an elder attitude, Zhang Yue couldn't look past it, so he stepped forward and set up Liu Zhong without saying a word, and then said lightly: "What Uncle Xuan said is that this place should not have been for me to come, and now that it is almost the time of the night curfew, I naturally have to send Liu Lao back." There will be a court meeting tomorrow, and Uncle Xuan is in Jinyiwei, so he can't be absent, please go back early, I will be absent. ”

"You ......"

Zhang Xuan was angry and was about to sneer at each other, but the king of Yue next to him stretched out his hand to stop him. Seeing that Zhang Yue was not far from the door, he said seriously: "If Lord Zhang treats me as some kind of flood beast, it will be really boring." In today's system, the vassal king is just an idler, and I don't ask you to do anything......"

Seeing that Zhang Yue still didn't stop, Zhang Xuan, who was unbearable, finally couldn't help it: "Brother Yue, I can remind you that although the Jingshi is big, some people can't hide it." ”