Chapter 114: The Unseen Underground Party (Part 2)

In the early morning of this day, a drizzle drizzled down.

There are few pedestrians on the streets of Wujin Lane. Even if there is a road, you can walk quickly with an oil umbrella.

In the afternoon, the streets gradually became lively.

One carriage after another, he walked to the Zhao family mansion and walked in through the main entrance.

"Young Master, there is Zhao Mansion ahead." The last carriage arrived, the driver accelerated the speed, raised the whip and kept urging the horse pulling the carriage to move quickly. The Confucian scholar in the carriage lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out, frowned secretly: "In such a cold weather, I don't know who comes to you today."

He muttered, but did not mean to return immediately.

The person who invited him to party was Zhao Yuanjing, who was famous in the literary world of Wu. He has never been in charge of political affairs, but he is a very broad-minded person with talent and popularity. It is not harmful to have a lot of contact with such people. What's more, the literati gatherings, whoever goes to whom will not go. There are many things to pay attention to.

He was missing this party, I was afraid that it would be difficult to integrate into the group when I met next time. This kind of social matter is really important for Confucian scholars like them who have a good background.

"Young Master, the Zhao Mansion has arrived." As he was thinking, the carriage had stopped.

The coachman got off first, raised an oil umbrella, and helped the young master get out of the car: "Young master, please slow down, slow down."

"Did you see other people on the road?" The young master, wearing a Confucian robe, looked only in his early twenties, got off the car, walked up the steps and asked.

"Young master, I found that there were many traces of car wheels, leading directly to this side. There must be many people arriving first." The coachman looked at it and said.

The young master looked at the sky and frowned: "Let's go up and call the door quickly. The rain is getting heavier and heavier."

"No." The coachman hurriedly walked a few steps and knocked on the door.

"Here, come." After a while, the door was opened from inside. An old servant walked out and looked up and down. After a moment, the Confucian scholar whom he recognized was one of his master's friends, Huang Maocai, Young Master Huang.

"Young Master Huang, you are here. My master has mentioned you, come in quickly."

"Old man, that carriage..." the coachman asked at this time.

"The carriage goes through the side door, wait for a moment, and I will take Young Master Huang in first." After that, I bowed to Huang Maocai and said, "Young Master Huang, let's take a detour on the corridor. The rain is getting heavier and heavier, and the ground is muddy. Don't wet your clothes."

"I'm working hard." Huang Maocai bowed to the old man and thanked him. He knew that the old man had been with the Zhao family for decades and was half the owner in the mansion, and he was also an old man, so he was unwilling to be rude.

"Oh, I'm really a killer. Don't be too polite. Master Huang will follow me." He said that, leading the way.

Because the corridor turned around after entering the entrance, he walked along the corridor and basically never got rained. Huang Maocai walked on the road, looking at the raindrops falling from the eaves, and couldn't help but sigh: "This is the advantage of construction. You can walk from here on snow and rain."

This corridor circles the entire mansion. Every time you reach the fork of the courtyard road, there will be gaps that allow you to walk out, which is really convenient.

"Young Master Huang, it's here." The old servant took him to a small courtyard. The two of them walked into the courtyard with oil umbrellas. Not far away, they heard laughter and joy inside. The old servant said, "The flower hall in front is the place to gather."

As he said that, he took a few steps to report.

When Huang Mao arrived, someone had already come out.

"Brother Huang, you're late." Zhao Yuanjing bowed and said with a cheerful smile.

"Shame, they have all arrived?"

"I'm waiting for you."

"I will definitely punish myself for three cups in a while!"

"This is what you said yourself. Don't say I'm bullying you..."

The two of them were talking and laughing and entered the flower hall.

The old servant went out to pick up the coachman. In the past, there was nothing wrong with a carriage parked outside, but his master ordered that they might not end until the evening. It was raining heavily outside, so it was difficult to park the carriage. The street in front of the door was not spacious. Isn’t this disturbing the people?

He simply opened the side door and let the carriage go in, and found a courtyard to park alone. The coachman and his entourage were arranged to eat and drink alone in the courtyard, which was also a treat.

After Huang Maocai entered the flower hall, a pretty maid served him to put down his already wet outer shirt, and found a new dry boot for him to replace. Huang Maocai sighed that his home was considerate and looked at the people in the hall, and found that what he came today was particularly complete.

Almost dozens of people who had close contact with Zhao Yuanjing gathered together.

The flower hall is very spacious, with two floors, with stairs all the way up, and there are people standing there and chatting quietly on the handrail on the second floor.

Below the first floor, more than a dozen large tables were placed, with refreshments and exquisite side dishes, as well as pots of warm wine.

Huang Maocai was given to one of the tables, and there was an empty seat here, so it was reserved for him. The people sitting around this table all had a good relationship with Huang Maocai on weekdays. When he saw him coming, they smiled: "I just mentioned you and thought you wouldn't come today. You are late, so you must do a few more articles to complete!"

"That's right, it's right! You can't spare him today!"

Huang Maocai hurriedly bowed and said, "You can spare me. You can have three cups in a row to express your guilt, how about it?"

"You are cheating, Mr. Zhao told us that you made a reply to his three drinks in a row. When we get to our place, it won't work!"

After talking for a while, several people began to whisper.

Although there are many people attending the party in the flower hall, they are basically children of aristocratic families, rich young men, and scholarly people. They say that they are not divided into classes when making friends. This is just a matter of being inconsistent in their circle. After this social circle, they really make people like them talk about literature and painting with ordinary people, and no matter which party they are, they will not feel comfortable.

There are a few so-called poor Confucian scholars here, but who are they? They are all those who have already become famous or have a family of famous families. Even if they are dressed in ordinary clothes, they are from noble families, which is very different from ordinary poor scholars, so they can naturally talk to them together.

Just after scanning the flower hall, Huang Maocai felt a little uneasy. These people were usually people with some contact and complaints.

His family is also a well-known big family in Wu. The children he educated have a good understanding. Just by looking at the current atmosphere, you will know that something will happen later.

"Did you see Mr. Zhao?" Huang Maocai asked in a low voice after scanning the circle.

"I went to invite a guest and went to the second floor when I saw him." The deskmate said back.

At this time, another acquaintance from another table came to greet him, and Huang Maocai suppressed the uneasiness in his heart and started to greet them.

In a room on the second floor of the flower hall, Zhao Yuanjing, who was just greeting guests, was talking to someone at this time. This person was Chen Qing.

"I have already followed what you said and invited you all those who complain about them. How do you plan to convince them? It is impossible to say it clearly. Do you have any solutions?" Zhao Yuanjing asked.

Chen Qingyi, who was sitting opposite him, smiled: "Didn't you prepare a few questions long ago to let them discuss state affairs?"

"Have you read those topics?"

"I have read these questions. As long as I am not a foolish person, I can guess the meaning of your banquet. I want to thank you here."

It turned out that a few days ago, Zhao Yuanjing was persuaded by Chen Qing. It is not difficult to see from the news he received that the foundation of the King of Chu was stable, and the people were willing to be praised by everyone in the jurisdiction. However, Wei Yue of the Wu Dynasty was suppressing with high pressure, and it was fine for a moment. Once he was defeated, he would definitely be defeated.

Under such circumstances, Zhao Yuanjing would not have defected to Wei Yue, let alone Wei Yue forced the Emperor of Dayan to death and usurped the throne and became emperor by himself. He was already scolded by thousands of people. How could such a person really convince him?

There must be a battle between the two kings, and they defected to the King of Chu early to plan for the family.

Seeing that his friends had been persuading him earnestly, Zhao Yuanjing finally agreed after thinking for a few days.

The following is a plan, relying solely on the Zhao and Chen families, Wu is vast, and I am afraid it is because of insufficient staff and lack of connections.

Zhao Yuanjing found his friends in this circle and set up a banquet today to test how many people were willing to follow the King of Chu.

Seeing Chen Qing thanking him, Zhao Yuanjing hurriedly said, "No need to do this. Since I have promised you to follow the King of Chu, you should do your best. Everyone outside has arrived. Can you go down and see?"

Chen Qing was silent for a moment and shook his head: "I can't go down anymore. I'm not here. Those who don't want to follow the King of Chu can still pretend to be deaf and dumb. If I show up, it won't be a good end."

Even if everyone has a tacit understanding of pretending to be deaf and dumb, there is still a bottom line, at least they cannot come forward openly, which is equivalent to calling for opposition in the street, which is too much.

"Since that's the case, then you're here and wait, I'll go down and do some work." As he said that, Zhao Yuanjing pushed the door and went out.

"Huh? Why did Mr. Zhao go downstairs alone?" Huang Maocai kept paying attention to the entrance of the stairs. Seeing Zhao Yuanjing coming down from the building, he was only alone, he couldn't help but be surprised.

However, Zhao Yuanjing then announced several questions to the literati present to see who has the talent to do a wonderful job of writing.

After waiting for a while, a servant picked up a large pair of white paper with a long pole, and wrote the title on it, which was very clear.

"The Fu of Chu Ji?" Huang Maocai was shocked as he recited this topic. He felt his head "buzzing", and when he looked at the people around him, he looked surprised.

Suddenly, the person in the flower hall whispered in a low voice.

Huang Maocai immediately understood why he was uneasy today, and he was so bold!
Chapter completed!