Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 190 Brother Ji’s Birthday
The royal birthday banquet in Fang Chongyong's mind should be boring and depressing.

A venue is divided into several tables, and different guests sit on their own seats and must not exceed the rules.

In the banquet venue, everyone had a false smile on their face, sitting at a table with familiar or unfamiliar people, and then carefully considering what to say and what not to say, and always paying attention to whether anyone was stealing next to them. listen.

Eating delicious food and drinking all kinds of fine wines are like chewing wax.Then after listening to Brother Ji's instructions, he boldly composed another poem to flatter him.

After eating, everyone goes back to their respective homes, finds their respective mothers, falls asleep, or goes to the toilet to vomit all at once.

However, on the day of the banquet, Fang Chongyong was completely dumbfounded after seeing Brother Ji's luxury and artistry!

A quarter of the entire Xingqing Palace was set aside, with running water mats and a stage set up. The background colors were mainly red, gold and white.The Ministry of Industry sent special personnel to build a new scenery based on the original structure of Xingqing Palace. The banquet venue was beautifully decorated, full of Taoist elegance, but it did not lack royal luxury.

Every day, the banquet starts in the evening and disperses in the morning. The lamp wheels and curtains complement each other, and the candlelight and golden light are dazzling.Why do we say "every day"?

Because according to the gossip, Ji Ge is a devout Taoist believer and emphasizes "Nine-Nine Returns to One", so this birthday party will last for nine days!
As for why the banquet was held at night, it was purely because the lights at night were more dazzling, more artistic, and more appealing to Brother Ji.Other things are beyond Ji Ge's consideration.

From the moment the palace gate opened, there were dancing girls from various workshops in Chang'an City, wearing beautiful clothes of different styles, dancing on the stage set up.The band in Liyuan is divided into three classes. When one class gets tired of playing and singing, it will be replaced by the next class.

Famous tunes from all over the country will be played in sequence, and the styles are varied, and they will not be the same for several hours!
The day has lost its luster, but the night is decorated like day!

The number of dignitaries, officials and even Hu merchants from the Western Regions who enter the venue to eat exceeds a thousand every day!People are coming and going, coming in and out, just like a vegetable market!
The dreamlike and elegant scene is full of noisy and prosperous vulgarity. The two contradictory temperaments are perfectly integrated.People who come here seem to be infected by the wonderful and absurd atmosphere, becoming confused, wanton, arrogant, and revealing their true nature!
Brother Ji welcomes everyone and is very generous.Anyone with an invitation can enter the banquet venue of Xingqing Palace regardless of their status.As for security work, Ji Ge simply didn't believe that anyone would assassinate him at this juncture.

Everything was left to Chen Xuanli, and there was no special explanation.

Not only were the people who came to the banquet not afraid of the royal power, but they all couldn't help but indulge in wild behavior. There were many assholes who poured drinks on others, not caring at all that the wine was worth thousands of gold.There is no shortage of fools who drink too much and start "gesticulating" whenever they disagree.

In the end, these people who were fooling around were just driven out of Xingqing Palace by the Longwu soldiers on duty, and they did not receive any substantial punishment at all.

Fang Chongyong saw a young man wearing a prince's costume, picking up a beautiful dancer who was leaving Xingqing Palace and kissing him. The dancer was not polite and flirted with him. The two of them kissed and kissed in public. If you touch it, you can't wait to burn it immediately, the scene is unsightly.

After inquiring later, it turned out that the prince seemed to be Li Longji's sixteenth son, Prince Yong Li Lin.

However, even with such a debauched scene, Ji Ge just laughed when he saw it, and asked Gao Lishi to "teach Yong Wang a lesson" and stopped talking to him.

Xingqing Palace originally had a small pool as an accessory to the pavilion, one foot long and one foot wide, and several feet deep.The water was drained out recently, and it was re-paved with stone slabs. White wine brewed from the grapes grown in Beiyuan was poured into it. The fragrance of the wine can be smelled from a distance.

If guests want to drink, they can just take the wine flask and make their own drinks!

Li Bai was also here. Fang Chongyong saw him drinking and reciting poems and composing poems with a few literati, but he was too far away to hear what he was saying.Just looking at their expressions, they were probably a little carried away. Li Bai even took off his boots.

"Alas! This is really the prosperous age of the Tang Dynasty!"

Seeing the guests intoxicated and acting like crazy, Fang Chongyong suddenly felt like a superfluous person.

"It's my birthday party, why are you so frowning?"

Brother Ji's joking voice sounded around Fang Chongyong.

"Please forgive me, saint."

Fang Chongyong crossed his hands and bowed in salute like a conditioned reflex.

"Eh? What are you talking about? I won't blame those who deliberately poured drinks on others today, so how can I blame you, hahahahaha!"

Li Longji seemed to be in a good mood, pretending to be unhappy, and waved his hand casually.

He had just performed on the stage and played the song "Guangling San", and now it was time to get excited.During the performance, his bun had been untied, and Brother Ji was shaking his head and intoxicated, as if he had returned to his youthful days.

The whole world is celebrating, this is the real universal celebration.

Li Longji was very satisfied with the [-]th birthday party, which allowed him to see a fantasy in the world.

Brother Ji just wants to see others laugh, because he almost never really smiles now!

Only when he sees outsiders being happy will he be infected by this emotion and feel happy unconsciously.

Suddenly, Fang Chongyong saw that the smile on Li Longji's face seemed to freeze, his muscles tensed, and his face gradually darkened.

The constantly rotating lamp wheel illuminates the face of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty with light of different shades and colors, seeming to hint at his inner struggle and struggle.

Fang Chongyong followed Brother Ji's gaze and found two young men, a man and a woman, standing in front of a table eating and chatting happily.

"Alang, I'm telling you, among the whole banquet, this cherry cheese cheese is the most delicious. It's ice-cold and sweet. I can't stop talking when I pick it up."

The young girl who spoke was none other than the new Princess Shou Wei Sanniang.The man next to her is Yang Yuhuan's ex-husband, the longevity king Li Xuan.Wei Sanniang seems to have endless vitality. She can use her own methods to mobilize the despairing King Shou and make him feel the joys, sorrows and joys of the world.

When it comes to appearance, Wei Sanniang is far inferior to Yang Yuhuan, who is more beautiful than any other.But her optimism, vitality, and innate innocence and restlessness are incomparable to Yang Yuhuan.

Wei Sanniang, who is nourished by love, looks bright and cheerful, with a mysterious spirit, and has a unique charm in every frown and smile. Li Longji has not seen such a woman for a long time.

There is so much suffering in the world, but this woman seems not to notice it at all, or she doesn't care even if she knows it, and just enjoys the good life now.

It was like even if they knew they would be so poor that they would be begging for food tomorrow, they would happily pick up their rice bowls and sit down at the dining table to eat well today.

"It's autumn now. Eating cold food is not good for your health and can easily make you sick."

Longevity King Li Xuan said to Wei Sanniang softly.

"Although it is indeed bad for the body, it is really delicious. Whenever I am in a bad mood, I just need to eat a little and my mood will feel better.

Come on, Alang, don't hide, I'm feeding you!No hiding!open mouth! "

Wei Sanniang smiled and scooped up a full spoonful of the cherry cheese cheese from the white porcelain bowl, then simply and roughly stuffed it into the mouth of the longevity king Li Xuan.

After he finished eating, his teeth were chattering with the cold.

The two looked at each other speechlessly. Wei Sanniang's eyes flashed and she winked at Shou Wang. Then they both laughed and held each other's hands as if no one else was watching. They felt the happiness between each other and didn't pay attention at all. Not far away, someone was staring at them.

Seeing the two people leaving, Li Longji's heart was deeply hurt!
Why can they be so happy!It’s obviously me who celebrates my sixtieth birthday!
Why can the smile on Wei Sanniang's face be so beautiful and sincere?
How come Li Chen, a loser, can always have good women?And I am rich in the world, why am I not rich?
Brother Ji felt as if there were flames burning in his lower body. In anger, the part of his body that had long lost its vitality began to move.

Why has no woman ever smiled like this in front of me?Why are they all like fairies, only flattering for the sake of exploitation?

Why doesn't any woman really care about whether he, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, is living well and happy?

why?
Why is this happening?

Li Longji clenched his fists tightly and looked at the back of Shou Wang Li Xuan, his eyes full of jealousy and resentment.He recalled that when he was in Lingzhou, he was riding a tall horse and galloping with Yang Yuhuan. When they were tired of running, the two of them would wild together in the grass, unbridled and arrogant, full of wild vitality.

How free and unrestrained it was, what a happy time it was!

However, compared to the scene before him, he felt that there was something missing there, and he couldn't figure out what it was.

But Brother Ji knows that in some aspects, he has lost to the son he despises the most: King Longevity Li Xuan.

Money can't buy me happiness. What exactly is happiness?With so many concubines in the harem, are these women just tools to give birth to children?
For a moment, Brother Ji's heart was filled with complex and contradictory emotions such as jealousy, envy, regret, remorse, melancholy, etc. He just wanted to laugh wildly and then cry bitterly.

However, the expression on his face gradually became indifferent, until finally it became as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

"Tell me, am I a loner?"

Li Longji suddenly sighed and asked, without even looking at Fang Chongyong, he just looked at the tall and constantly rotating light wheel in the distance in a daze.

"The saint is rich all over the world, how can he be alone?"

Fang Chongyong cautiously raised his hand and replied, of course he knew why Brother Ji was unhappy.

Because Brother Ji saw something called "true love" in King Shou and Wei Sanniang, which he had never had and was a luxury for all emperors.

That was when they were in Hexi. Anaye had a troubled face time and time again, and she diligently put a leather armor on Fang Yanei's body, and watched and helped him when he was sent to the city gate for an expedition.

Just like what a certain emperor of the Western Han Dynasty said, "The old sword is deeply loved"!
Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty was lucky. He at least still had an "old sword" and would not be lost under the control of absolute power. But Ji Ge's misfortune was that although he had many concubines, he did not even have an "old sword". .

It's just that I can't say this, at least not now.Fang Chongyong, a man of two generations, knows very well when to be wise and protect himself.

Misfortune comes from the mouth, and you must suppress your desire for expression at any time.

"You are still young and don't understand many things. You don't understand what I am thinking at all."

Li Longji waved his hands a little disappointed and said.

"Asking the saint to forgive me is a humble minister's incompetence."

Fang Zhongyong crossed his hands and saluted.

"Go ahead, eat more and drink more. If you like any singer or dancer, just take her back and play with her. Here, you can have as much fun as you want."

Li Longji said weakly, turned around and left.

“No matter how honest a person is, if his wife is robbed twice, he will go crazy.

Don't force honest people. "

Fang Chongyong looked at Brother Ji's back, sighed and said to himself, not knowing how to complain.

Hopefully, Brother Ji can suppress his desires this time and not get too angry.

……

"I heard someone say that the lantern wheel in Xingqing Palace is dozens of feet high! There are also wine ponds and meat forests where you can't finish the food. Is this true?"

Anaye opened her eyes curiously and looked at Fang Chongyong with burning eyes and asked.That expression seems to be saying: Tomorrow is the last day, so just take me to see it!

"More than once, I've seen dancers having their butts touched and taking off their clothes. You're so pretty, and it doesn't take more than just a stick of incense to get your clothes stripped off, so it's better to save your time."

Fang Zhongyong weakly waved his hand and stuffed a piece of tribute orange from Fuyang County, Hangzhou into Anaye's little mouth, blocking her from talking.

"Don't saints care about these things?"

Wang Yunxiu asked with a frown while eating an orange.

A lot of things went wrong during this banquet. For example, someone drowned in the wine pool!There was also a dancer who was taken out of Xingqing Palace. The two parties did not agree on the prostitution. Later, the dancer went to Jingzhao Mansion Yamen to report the crime!

As for women being taken advantage of at banquets, it was commonplace. In such a crazy and rampant banquet atmosphere, many people were applauding.

"Saint... The saint is probably very busy."

Fang Chongyong sighed. From this banquet, he saw signs of the collapse of the Tang Dynasty. But if he said it now, no one would believe it.

"The first test of the imperial examination will be in two days. Is Alang confident that he can pass it?"

Wang Yunxiu looked at Fang Chongyong with confusion and asked.

This person has never read a book since Li Longji's birthday party.

"There is a blur on the river, and there are black holes on the well. The body of the yellow dog is white, and the body of the white dog is swollen.

Writing poetry is not difficult at all, I just open my mouth and do it. "

Fang Chongyong said boldly.

"You are so blindly confident, really..."

Wang Yunxiu rubbed her temples painfully, and Fang Chongyong was speechless.

"By the way, what is your little cousin's name?"

Fang Chongyong suddenly asked Wang Yunxiu a strange question.

"Little cousin? Li Kui?"

Wang Yunxiu remembered who it was. Her "little cousin" was very addicted to being an official. However, there had been no progress in the imperial examination since the last time she failed in the imperial examination due to the emperor's words not to allow admission.

It can be said that there is no exam every year.

"Invite him to dinner tomorrow. I have something to tell him."

Fang Chongyong said with a slight smile.

　Let’s post this chapter first. The next chapter will start moving into the next scene, and updates will be slow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)