Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1184 Epilogue : The children of the rich and powerful also have their own way of living

Before I finished my bowl of cold drink, the winner of the polo match had already come to the podium to receive his award.

There are five men and five women, all of whom are unmarried.

Men tuck their lower garments at their waists, revealing their trousers underneath, and wear polo jerseys (red or blue vests to make it easier to distinguish between teams when playing).

The women all wore swirling skirts with open hips at the front and back to facilitate riding. They also wore polo shirts and shoulder straps of various colors.

Their golf clubs are all fancy, as bright and eye-catching as possible.

Xie Yan scooped a spoonful of cold drink into his mouth. The mixture of raisins and watermelon cubes felt good. Then he looked at the five men and five women not far ahead.

One of the men was short and fat, but the other four were quite handsome.

All five girls were good-looking and dressed up carefully before going out. After a polo match, their faces were covered in sweat. Although they were careful when wiping the sweat, their makeup was inevitably ruined.

There was a pair who must be a couple, or maybe they fell in love with each other today, and they were standing side by side, exchanging glances.

Except for their elders who were still quite reserved, the other ladies all had auntie smiles on their faces. The ladies were usually free and keen on bringing young people together. Didn't they match them up as a couple?

The eldest princess smiled and said, "Since your majesty ascended the throne, the young men in the capital have not gathered together for a long time. I am holding this polo meeting today to get everyone moving around. If you win the first battle, I will prepare a small gift as a reward."

It has been almost four years since the coup.

At that time, many powerful people in the capital were killed. If the family members who were implicated were also counted, there were more than 3,000 people beheaded, exiled, or imprisoned in Luoyang alone.

The surviving dignitaries were trembling with fear, treading on thin ice, and even the will-o'-the-wisp boy had quieted down.

The newly arrived dignitaries in Beijing are busy digesting the results, and since they haven’t yet mastered the territory, they also restrict their family members from running around.

Even the Grand Princess no longer appears in public.

Now that the overall situation has been settled, the military power has been completely consolidated, and local reforms have begun, the political atmosphere in Luoyang should be relaxed. This can be seen from the fact that the will-o'-the-wisp boy dared to trample on the crops again.

A few days ago, the Grand Princess attended an academic conference, and today she hosted a polo match. In fact, they were all political tasks arranged by Empress Dowager Ye.

Send out a goodwill political signal!

The five winning men and five women came forward to express their gratitude, and ten attendants held trays and let the boys and girls choose their prizes.

The prizes are not expensive, but they are not cheap either.

Inexpensive means for the powerful, but not cheap means for the common people.

"What does Miss Yang want?" The couple who were attracted to each other actually showed their affection on the spot.

The girl looked at a scarf, lowered her head shyly and said, "It's all right."

The boy immediately bowed to his other teammates and said, "Can I choose first?"

"Please feel free to do as you like, Sanlang Huang." Everyone was happy to watch the fun.

The young man picked up the scarf from the tray, handed it to the girl and said, "I took it upon myself to choose one for Miss Yang. I don't know if it will suit your taste."

The girl blushed with shame and took the scarf reluctantly.

"Hahahaha!"

The ladies present couldn't help but laugh out loud. The feeling of shipping this couple was just too good.

The first polo game was just an appetizer. The players were not the children of top dignitaries, but mostly the children of fourth or fifth rank Beijing officials.

If they get together and fall in love, it has little political impact, and they are considered to be a good match, so the elders in the family usually won't object.

The boys and girls received their prizes and left. The young couple walked side by side, yet always kept a certain distance between them.

The girl turned her head from time to time to peek at the boy, and the love in her eyes was so deep that it could almost be drawn.

There were people everywhere on the court, men and women gathered in groups of two or three.

Li Dunshi was being taken around by Zhang Jiulang and met several officials' children. He also fell in love with a young woman, but after asking around, he found out that she was the daughter of a certain official in the Ministry of Revenue.

Li Dunshi was quite interested. The Yuwenlang of the Ministry of Revenue was not a high-ranking official, so he might have a little chance.

Soon, Li Dunshi fell out of love.

Although the Yuwenlang of the Ministry of Revenue was a low-ranking official, this woman had outstanding looks and was favored by several sons of powerful and wealthy people, who all treated her like a star.

What competitiveness does Li Dunshi have?

Just choose to give up.

Outside, there were servants from various families. They couldn't all come in, so most of them stayed outside, chatting and bragging with people they knew or didn't know.

Daiyu and Baochai did not enter the venue. They were originally staying with Xie Yan's four male servants.

The four male servants walked under the big tree at this moment, watching the servants of other families playing cards, and listening to the servants bragging to get information.

"Sister, let's go somewhere to play too?" Baochai looked around.

Daiyu asked, "Do you know anyone?"

Baochai was immediately discouraged.

The two stood beside the carriage for a long time, and several male and female servants from some unknown family ran outside to buy some snacks.

When they passed by a carriage, a maid saw that they were alone and asked casually, "Who are you from? Come over and sit with us."

Daiyu was alert and was thinking about how to answer.

Baochai has already spoken, and her tone is very proud: "My husband is Xie Liulang, a scholar from Furong. He is very knowledgeable!"

The male and female servants all became excited: "But is it the young scholar Xie with long black hair?"

Baochai held her head high and said, "It is my husband!"

Daiyu couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth, feeling quite proud.

A maid gave Baochai a paper bag of roasted pine nuts and pulled her to the shade of the tree in front: "Go over there and talk, it's very hot here. My name is Dujuan, and I'm a maid in Shen Honglu's family. What's your name, little sister?"

"My name is Baochai, and it was given by my husband," Baochai said, turning her head and shouting, "Daiyu, come here quickly. The carriage has a driver waiting for it."

Daiyu followed hesitantly, as she also wanted to fit in with the small group of servants.

When they heard that they were the maids of Young Scholar Xie, more and more servants from the surrounding families gathered around, all wanting to inquire about the gossip about the Grand Princess.

Baochai looks silly, but she keeps her mouth shut at critical moments, pretending to be dumb and ignorant.

Daiyu kept silent and remained completely silent.

Seeing that they couldn't get anything out of them, everyone quickly lost interest in them and went back to their original seats to brag.

Daiyu and Baochai just stood there listening. No matter what others were talking about, they both found it very interesting, as if the door to a new world had been opened.

Back on the field.

The second game has begun, also mixed with men and women, with each team having ten players.

Qingluan was arranged to sit next to Xie Yan and explain the rules to him in a low voice. After explaining the rules, Qingluan asked curiously, "Hebei Polo is also very popular. Has Mr. Xie really never played it?"

Xie Yan laughed and said, "I have never even ridden a horse, how can I play polo?"

"That's right." Qingluan realized that her question was quite stupid.

So she picked up the telescope again and began to explain the identities of the players on the field: "The number one on the red team is Li Silang Li Duoxun, the son of the Earl of Xiangping and General Huaiyuan. The number one on the blue team is Wang Zhijie Wang Qilang, the son of the Earl of Wuwei and General Anyuan. The number five on the red team who has the ball now..."

Xie Yan thought it was quite interesting. This thing even came with an explanation.

After the game was over and the prizes were distributed, they began to rest.

On and off the stage, everyone eats and drinks together.

Many servants came in with large and small bags, and sat around in the arbors or under the shade of trees, spreading blankets and chatting and eating.

Xie Yan also brought food and placed it in the carriage so that his servants could take it at will.

Of course, he had his own place to stay and ate and drank among a group of noble ladies.

The ladies' cross-legged and squatting postures were indecent, but they all tried to go retro and kneel on the cushions they brought with them.

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Some people are more informal and sit in a mermaid position. What can we say about this sitting position? It is very attractive for young and beautiful people, but it is quite eye-catching for old and faded people.

The ladies teamed up to make fun of Xie Yan. The more embarrassed Xie Yan acted, the more the ladies liked to tease him.

Which lady wouldn’t love a 17-year-old hunk of meat?
Finally, the Grand Princess couldn't stand it anymore and said to Xie Yan, "Xie Liulang must feel quite restrained and uncomfortable being with us women. Why don't you go to the next room and relax."

"Goodbye!" Xie Yan stood up and fled as if he had been pardoned, and ran to sit at the table with the children.

"Ha ha ha ha."

A group of noble ladies laughed, they just enjoyed seeing his miserable appearance.

Xie Yan's embarrassment was half fake, because he didn't know how to act. If he was at ease, he would appear frivolous, so he simply hid his incompetence and amused those ladies.

If you move to the next door, you will see the younger generations of the noble ladies, or their younger brothers and sisters.

He met Han Shizhong's descendants again.

Unlike Han Wanli before, the one in front of him could inherit the title. He was in his early twenties, with a slicked-back face and a rather exaggerated appearance, and he was accompanied by his wife and sister.

His name was Han Wanfang, and for the sake of the Grand Princess, he was quite polite to Xie Yan.

But he was just being polite; deep down he still looked down on Xie Yan.

There are not many founding heroes who still have titles today, and the Han family is one of them.

The Yue family was wiped out at about the same time as the Zhang family (Zhang Guangdao), and they were all dealt with by Emperor Dingtai.

Emperor Dingtai wanted to reorganize the army and consolidate military power, so he had to take action against these founding noble families. And it was difficult to do so, because those in Luoyang were easy to arrest, but it would definitely affect the local army afterwards.

Even if the main branch of the Yue family in Luoyang is killed, there are still several branches of Yue Fei's descendants.

The Xiangzhou Yue clan now claims to be the main clan, but other branches do not recognize it at all. There is another branch in Qihe, one in Linhuang, and one in Shandong. The founders of the clans are all sons or grandsons of Yue Fei, who settled there when they served as local civil and military officials.

Xie Yan looked at Han Wanfang and shook his head secretly. The young lord in front of him was quite like his grandfather. He must have quite a few concubines at home.

It’s not a festival, but she has flowers in her hair!
Ding Shaoyan, the ghost-fire boy whose beloved horse was ridden away by his friend, was also there. Compared with Han Wanfang's cold attitude, he seemed too enthusiastic towards Xie Yan.

This guy moved closer to Xie Yan, turned his head to look at the ladies, winked and asked Xie Yan in a low voice: "When can we attend Xie Liulang's wedding?"

Han Wanfang was drinking and choked when he heard the words and started coughing.

Our young master Han is indeed uneducated, but he still has some brains and would never ask such a question.

The other children of the powerful and wealthy also looked at Ding Shaoyan in surprise.

Ding Shaoyan was confused, scratching his head and asking, "Why are you all looking at me? This is not a secret, it has spread all over Luoyang City a long time ago."

No one responded, everyone looked at him with caring eyes.

There were also several princes' descendants present, who were the young emperor's cousins, nephews, and nieces. They behaved unusually low-key, mainly because they were frightened by the Yong prince's coup and had lived in seclusion since then to avoid attracting attention.

This is especially true for the princes, who refuse to participate in any large-scale events and do not allow their wives to attend. Their biggest fear is being praised as "virtuous kings."

Anyway, their lives are pretty miserable. Whenever their children get together, they all keep silent and don't talk much.

There were so many people, not counting the women, there were only two men among them, and they left a good impression on Xie Yan.

One is Zhang Xianqing Zhang Jiulang.

The other one is Yuan Tingzhi, whose ancestors were not prominent.

At first, he was just a bandit soldier recruited by Zhang Shuye in Shandong. He surrendered to Zhu Ming in Kaifeng City and was thrown back to Shandong to be incorporated into the miscellaneous army. After the Jin Dynasty was defeated, he stayed in Harbin.

Yuan Tingzhi even had a bit of Jurchen blood in him. One of his ancestors married a mixed-race person born from a Bohai and Jurchen couple.

The Yuan family rose to prominence very late. Emperor Dingtai transferred 2,000 soldiers from Andong to serve as palace guards, and his grandfather was one of the grassroots officers at the time. He made meritorious contributions in many wars to suppress rebellions, gradually became a general of the imperial army, and was sent by Emperor Dingtai to Shaanxi as a general.

Empress Dowager Ye took the little emperor and fled west to Chang'an, where they went to seek help from Yuan Tingzhi's grandfather.

Now, Yuan Tingzhi's grandfather has entered the cabinet as a military general, but he is old and no longer has much to do with affairs.

"Brother Yuan, what job do you do now?" Xie Yan asked casually.

Yuan Tingzhi said: "I am studying at the Luoyang Military Academy and will graduate in one year."

Xie Yan said: "Last year I met a strong man on the train who claimed to be the descendant of General Yang Zaixing and seemed to want to take the entrance exam for Luoyang Military Academy."

Yuan Tingzhi's expression was a little strange: "You are talking about Yang Boyan, right? He is now a famous figure in the military academy. He is proficient in riding, bows and arrows, muskets, swords and spears, and has learned military strategies well. He is extremely strong and is a natural warrior."

"What's wrong with him?" Xie Yan felt that Yuan Tingzhi's face looked strange.

Yuan Tingzhi said: "Just last month, he beat up a teacher at the military academy and was almost expelled from the academy because of this."

Before Xie Yan could say anything, Ding Shaoyan spoke up: "Dare to hit a military school teacher? He's a big shot. I'll definitely go make friends with him someday! Why did he hit the teacher?"

Yuan Tingzhi did not answer directly, but said: "It is for the sake of respecting the venerable."

Xie Yan understood that it was the teacher who made the mistake first.

After lunch, we continued walking and chatting.

After digesting the food, we continued playing polo.

In the last match of the afternoon, the Grand Princess and Wu Lingfeng teamed up to fight. The outcome was obvious, and the opponent didn't even let her win. Wu Lingfeng showed her prowess among the group of noble ladies.

Princess Fuyan did not join in the fun, but took the opportunity to talk to Xie Yan: "Scholar Xie, are you not interested in a career in government?"

Xie Yan said indifferently: "It's OK to be an official or to study. I don't have any ambitions."

Princess Fuyan reminded her, "My ninth sister used to be very willful. After a few years of hardship, she has become much gentler now. It's rare for her to like someone, so don't let her down."

Xie Yan responded with a shy smile, not knowing how to answer since they hadn't even officially started dating yet.

(End of this chapter)