The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Chapter 31 31 Jingshui Tower (Unforgettable night of laughter, happiness, and good luck)

On the fifth day of the lunar month, around noon, Wei Guangde followed Wu Dong and his eldest brother Wei Wencai in a carriage heading to the river.

Zepeng County is located on the Yangtze River. Standing on the county wall, you can see the river and the merchant ships passing by on it from a distance.

However, they were not heading towards the county seat this time. The most prosperous area of ​​Zepeng County, in addition to the county seat within the high city walls, also had many buildings near the riverside docks.

In fact, the docks in Zepeng County cannot be said to be prosperous, and are far less prosperous than Jiujiang and Hukou. However, in this era, as long as the towns near major rivers are still far more prosperous than other places.

This time Zeng Yuanshu chose the Jingshui Building on the riverside as the host, which is also a well-known restaurant in Zepeng County.

Speaking of being famous, naturally it was because Wei Guangde thought so, because when his brother Wei Wencai told him about the situation in the county, he mentioned this restaurant casually.

Located on the bank of the Yangtze River, you can climb the tower and see the water of the Yangtze River coming up from the sky. Wei Guangde felt it deeply after he went to this restaurant.

In the past, I stood on the shore and looked at it. Maybe the level was not high enough, so it didn’t feel as shocking as it does now.

"No wonder the ancient poets became so inspired by poetry while standing in a riverside restaurant that they published one masterpiece after another."

This is what Wei Guangde was thinking at the moment. In fact, what he didn't know was that there were so many restaurants on the long side. Only those few were really famous, and the literati and poets left so many poems and articles. How many of them have actually been handed down?

It’s still luck! ! !

As the host of this banquet, Zeng Yuanshu naturally arrived here early, and the dining table near the river had been reserved early. Wu Dong and his party arrived relatively late, at least most of the people at the table arrived first.

"Sorry, sorry."

When Wu Dong went upstairs, he saw Zeng Yuanshu looking towards the stairs. He hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "We can't get there quickly with the two brothers Wei Wencai and Wei Guangde."

When they saw the guests arriving, several people at the wine table also stood up and saluted them.

Following Wu Dong's introduction, Wei Guangde knew the identities of the people dressed as scholars at the table. It was similar to what Wu Dong had said before coming. The two people at the top were Zeng Yuanshu and Zeng Xingwu, and those next to them were Ma Xiang and others. people.

Zeng Shengwu is already the highest-status person at the table. Of course, this does not refer to age, but to fame. He is already a scholar. Although he is not from Jiangxi, in the Ming Dynasty, Huguang and Jiangxi were both major imperial examination provinces. , the study atmosphere in the two places is similar, so the competition is also very fierce, and the gold content is naturally not low.

So among the people at the table, he was the only one wearing a t-shirt, which was different from what other scholars wore. It was a round-necked, large-sleeved shirt, which was obviously different from the others.

"This is my cousin, Wei Wencai and Wei Guangde."

Wu Dong pointed at the two brothers from the Wei family and introduced them, "This time my cousins ​​are coming home, so I brought them here with them to get to know the famous people in Pengze County, and also let them get to know them."

Wu Dong was polite at first and then introduced the situation of the two of them.

Wei Wencai has also read books. As long as he is not asked to write, he can handle everything casually. Pretending to be a scholar is not a big problem. Although he has only read four books, he still has the gift of memory. It's also a set of sets, which makes sense.

Wei Guangde is younger and has only read four books at the age of eleven. He is considered outstanding in the town, but in Pengze County, he can only be considered average.

Like the host family this time, the children in their family enter school relatively early. They start elementary school at the age of five, six, six or seven. Generally, they have learned almost all the four books by the age of ten. This is also the case for children from a scholarly family and Differences between children from other families.

Everyone arrived, and soon the food and wine were served on the table. Everyone began to chat, and the focus was naturally on Zeng Xingwu, who was already a scholar.

Among the people present, the oldest one is Ma Xiang, followed by Zeng Xingwu, Zeng Yuanshu and Wu Dong. Wei Wencai and Wei Guangde are the youngest, so most of the people in this group do not take the Wei Guangde brothers seriously.

In their opinion, even Wu Dong can't compare with them, because they are serious scholars, and Wu Dong is nothing but a guy who can only take military positions.

It's just that Wu Dong was really lucky. Among the many classmates and scholars, he actually passed the county and government examinations in one go and got the title of Tongsheng.

You know, among the people here, only Zeng Yuanshu and Ma Xiang are Tongsheng, and the others are nothing.

Of course, Zeng Yuanshu and Ma Xiang were not among those who had this idea. After all, they had passed the exam and knew how difficult it was.

Although Wu Dong is destined not to be like them, he is still willing to make friends.

The knowledge is there, neither increasing nor decreasing.

In fact, those who dislike Wu Dong are envious and jealous that he passed the county and government examinations, but they can only think about it in their hearts.

For scholars, such thoughts cannot be expressed verbally, as it will ruin their reputation.

After all, Wu Dong is a serious child student and their classmate.

Everyone was chatting and laughing while drinking wine and eating vegetables. The atmosphere of the banquet was very lively. Wei Guangde also had the opportunity to drink the wine of this era, not white wine, rice wine, but local bottled wine.

Listening to them talking about the Four Books for a while, and the Five Classics for a while, and someone singing poems loudly from time to time, Wei Wencai seemed to be very excited at the moment, re-reading the things he had learned that had been thrown away in Java. Pick it up.

Wei Guangde drank wine and ate food, listening to their long talk, but he still thought about it later. He would find an opportunity to ask his cousin about Zeng Yuanshu, strike up a conversation, and ask about those stereotyped essays.

Just as he was thinking about it, there was the sound of people going upstairs, and several men and women came up the stairs.

Wei Guangde was not affected by the heated discussion at the wine table, so he naturally heard the noise and turned his head to look over.

The woman in front of her was dressed in a bright red dress and heavy makeup. She seemed to be older. She was probably a pretty girl in pink when she was young. She seemed to have a hint of seductiveness as she walked along.

This is terrible. After all, she is estimated to be over forty. Although later generations also call mature women, this is too mature.

Wei Guangde thought to himself and decisively shifted his gaze to look behind her.

But behind her is a girl of seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a pink plum-colored snow fox cotton coat, a hibiscus auspicious cloud hundred-flower pleated skirt, a light blue plum blossom shirt, a cloud bun on her head with a hairpin inserted diagonally, and a purple hairpin. The jade looks very elegant, with tassels tied on three thousand blue hairs. It is only lightly applied with pink and white, but its red lips are beautiful, and the person is more delicate than flowers.

What a beauty!

Wei Guangde lamented in his heart, because after being used to seeing all kinds of beauties on TV networks in later generations, seeing this girl will make your eyes light up, but what makes you sad is that he is now eleven years old.

Well, not all the hair has grown.

Behind the two women, there were many men and women, who seemed to be followers, but also seemed to be...

The one behind the two women is indeed a maid, but the one behind is holding musical instruments one by one, just musical instruments.

An ancient orchestra?

Wei Guangde thought in his heart, but someone soon gave the answer.

"Oh, Madam Liu, you have brought someone with you."

When Zeng Yuanshu saw the people coming in, he laughed and shouted to the woman in red.