The first-class concubine of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 6 Dragon Boat Festival
Hearing what Cao Jue said, Liu Wei smiled lightly and asked, "I wonder who Brother Cao is looking for to write poems?"

Cao Jue was quite proud, and said: "Tao Gu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs at the time, although Mr. Tao served in the Ministry of Household Affairs, he was talented. Many people were proud to get one of his poems. My father was quite a bit like him For friendship, we will ask him, and we will not refuse."

When Liu Wei heard that Cao Jue was going to beg Tao Gu, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. Seeing this, Cao Jue frowned slightly, and said, "Brother Liu, why are you laughing? Do you think Master Tao will not agree to our request?"

Liu Wei shook his head: "That's not true, it's just that I heard that Mr. Tao likes to draw gourds like this the most. I'm afraid this poem is not as good as it really is."

Hearing this, Cao Jue couldn't help laughing: "I didn't expect Brother Liu that you forgot other things, but I remember this. The Holy Majesty did say that Master Tao did the same thing, but that was what he drafted. The imperial edict is only based on the old version of the predecessors, the poems are still of a very high standard."

Seeing what Cao Jue said, Liu Wei had no choice but to follow him to the Tao Mansion.

It's just that when the two of them came to Tao's house, they were told that Tao Gu was seriously ill and couldn't see the guests. Cao Jue was a rough man and wanted to force his way in, but Liu Wei stopped him.

After leaving, Cao Jue said angrily, "Brother Liu, why did you stop me? I saw Mr. Tao a few days ago. How could he suddenly contract a serious illness? Even if there is a serious illness, it shouldn't be a problem to write a poem for us, right?" ?”

Liu Wei smiled lightly: "Brother Cao's words are not unreasonable, but Master Tao doesn't want to see you and me, so why should we bother ourselves?"

Cao Jue was still a little angry: "Then Master Tao said he didn't want to see us anymore..." Cao Jue stopped before he finished speaking, because he suddenly thought that Tao Gu used the sickness as an excuse to not see them, so he just didn't want to see them them?

"Brother Liu, we can't count on Tao Gu now, what do you think we should do?"

Liu Wei shrugged: "It's just a poem, it's easy to say, I'll just write one for you."

"You?" Cao Jue was a little surprised: "I have known Brother Liu for many years, how come I have never heard that you can compose poetry?"

Liu Wei didn't panic, and said: "It used to be that the business was busy and I didn't care about these things. Now the Liu family's business is bleak, so I often read some poems."

Cao Jue knew that Liu Wei's family's business was in ruins. Hearing this now, he felt a little sad on behalf of his friends, but soon, he still focused on poetry.

"When will Brother Liu do it?"

"After you go back to the mansion, I'll send someone to deliver it to you when it's done."
-
Tao House.

Tao Gu looked at the man across the way, and said with a smile, "I will do what Pan's son-in-law asks for."

Pan Weide bowed his hands in thanks: "Master Tao's talent is unique in my Song Dynasty. With Master Tao's poems, the younger generation will definitely win the Dragon Boat Race at the Dragon Boat Festival. After the younger generation returns, I should tell my father about Master Tao's affairs." .”

After hearing Pan Weide's words, Tao Gu's face suddenly showed joy. He is already in his 60s, as if he has returned to the time when he was newly married for the first time.

After Pan Weide left Tao's mansion, he went directly into his own sedan chair.

"My lord, Master Tao agreed?"

Pan Weide smiled coldly: "This old man has recently been neglected by the Holy Majesty, and he wants the ministers of the court to help him speak well in front of the Holy Majesty. He knows that the Majesty loves my father the most, so why would he not agree?" Having said this, Pan Weide suddenly Asked: "Can you investigate everything clearly?"

"Returning to my son, I have made a thorough investigation. The matter of setting up a lottery was proposed by King Qin Kanghui. Each fleet contributed 2000 taels of silver, and the twenty fleets had a total of 4 taels of silver. In the end, they won the top three. No .1 will get 2 taels, No.2 and No.3 will get 1 taels respectively, this matter has been agreed by Zhao Guangyi, governor of Kaifeng Prefecture."

Pan Weide nodded slightly when he heard this, and then the boy continued: "The imperial court banned the use of dragon boat races for gambling, but there are already many small underground gambling shops. No matter whether the young master's fleet wins or loses, we You can make a lot of money every time.”

"How about letting you monitor the situation of other fleets?"

"The other fleets haven't taken much action yet, but Concubine Cao's fleet was training in the Bianhe River early this morning, but I saw that their training is not good at all. Compared with ours, I don't know how much slower it is."

"Hmph, that rough man Cao Jue knows how to use brute force to be undefeated." At this point, Pan Weide paused for a while, and then continued to order: "All the others are under surveillance by my son-in-law. report the situation immediately."

"Yes!"
-
When Liu Wei returned to the princess' mansion, it was still early, so he found a pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and wanted to help Cao Jue write lyrics. Of course, he didn't know much about it, but it was still a little bit to copy an article from the ancients. There is no problem.

After grinding it, Liu Wei wrote a poem with a reduced character of Magnolia.

After writing, I was going to pretend to be sent to Cao Jue, but at this moment I became anxious, so I put down the brush and hurried to the toilet.

But as soon as Liu Wei went to the latrine, Lvyi walked in from the outside. When he saw the words on the table, he was very curious. After reading it carefully, he found that the meaning of the words was not bad, and it was quite imposing. I had never heard of this song before. The words, I think it was written by the son-in-law, but he was surprised, how could the son-in-law know how to write words?

Just when Lvyi was wondering, Liu Wei walked in from the outside, and Lvyi quickly put down the poem and stood aside. After seeing Liu Wei, he hurriedly saluted. The servant girl also lost her goodwill, and after she nodded slightly, she went to put the poem away, put it in an envelope and handed it to a servant in the mansion, and asked him to send it to Consort Cao's mansion.

Lu Yi was very puzzled by Liu Wei's words, and felt that if the words were really written by Liu Wei, the princess would definitely look at him with admiration, but in the current situation, he didn't know where to ask, so he had to give up in the end.

In the next few days, Liu Wei went to help Cao Jue train the sailors when he was free, and occasionally went to the Liu Family Winery to see how Uncle Liu cleaned up the Liu Family Winery. I will think of some wine-making techniques in order to increase the mellowness of the wine or increase the types of wine.

So soon, the Dragon Boat Festival will come.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the sun was quiet and the whole capital was bustling with excitement. I don’t know when there were more vendors selling zongzi on the street. If you want to eat, you can find one within a few steps on the street, and you can find a zongzi for a penny. , plus a bowl of sweet soup, many people lead their children to eat at the stalls, which makes people often recall their childhood time.

Early that morning, Liu Wei was not in a hurry to find Cao Jue. The Dragon Boat Festival held at the Bianhe Festival was considered a major event, and because of such a grand event as the dragon boat race, the nobles in the city often invited them to watch it together. Cao Jue Princess Xingping made an appointment with her cousin Princess Ruyi to watch the dragon boat race together, and Cao Jue will also come with her, so Liu Wei doesn't need to go to make an appointment with Cao Jue.

After breakfast, after waiting at home for about a stick of incense, someone came to report that Princess Xingping and Concubine Cao were asking for an audience. Princess Ruyi smiled happily and led Liu Wei and her two maids, Xiaoyu and Lvyi, to welcome them. After going, the two sides met and said a few words of courtesy, and then drove to Bianhe in a carriage together.

The street was very busy with people coming and going. Liu Wei and Princess Ruyi sat in the carriage without saying a word. Princess Ruyi occasionally opened the curtain to look out. After looking around, she couldn't help it. sigh.

Seeing her like this, Liu Wei knew that she was lamenting her own destiny. As a princess of the royal family, many things are beyond her control. Marriage is not in control, and even freedom is sometimes difficult to have.

In this way, it is not as good as those ordinary people on the street, with their families accompanying them, and being a little poorer, so why not?

Although Liu Wei knew what Princess Ruyi was thinking, she didn't comfort her, let alone said anything, maybe she felt that she was inferior to her.

The carriage drove through the bustling street, and after turning a few more turns, it finally arrived at Bianhe River.

At this time, the Bianhe River was already crowded with people who came here to join in the fun, and around the Bianhe River, there were all kinds of stalls. Princess Ruyi and the others were distinguished, so naturally they didn't have to crowd with these people to watch.

On the outskirts of the Bianhe River, there are several pavilions. These pavilions have long been assigned by the nobles of the capital. Standing on them to watch the dragon boat race has a special flavor.

The place where Princess Xingping and Princess Ruyi are staying today is one of the pavilions.

After the few people boarded the pavilion, some servants moved the seats. After they sat down towards the Bianhe River, they looked into the distance, but saw that the Bianhe River in the distance was full of people, but the river water was as clear as Looking at the mirror, there are twenty dragon boats parked on the bank, and they are full of Confucius and Wuhan.

At the end of the dragon boat in the opposite direction, there is also a pavilion. On the bank in front of the pavilion, there is a bamboo pole with a pennant hanging on it. It will be the object of competition for many dragon boats.

At this time, Cao Jue was in a heroic state, and his face was full of joy. Princess Xingping saw him like this, and smiled slightly: "The son-in-law is so happy, but he is very confident in this year's dragon boat race?"

Cao Jue looked smug, and said: "The princess is right, my son-in-law is very confident in our fleet this year, and we are sure of the prize." Said, Cao Jue glanced at Liu Wei, But Liu Wei just sat on the side, quietly looking at the river in the distance, as if he didn't hear what he just said at all.

This made Cao Jue's interest suddenly drop a lot.

And just when Cao Jue was about to pull Liu Wei to cheer him up, there was sudden bursts of urgent drumming in the distance, and when the drums sounded, Cao Jue suddenly became excited: "The king of Jin is here, The Dragon Boat Festival ceremony is about to begin."

Liu Wei glanced in the direction of the sound of the drum, and then saw a man in his thirties walking slowly, supported by many ministers.

(End of this chapter)