How dare everyone stay for a long time in the Pope, and when they heard this, they all showed fear on their faces, and walked upstairs with their clothes and clothes. Lu Wenyuan went up to the attic first, and when he raised his eyes, the emperor and King Kangping had already entered the table, and they were holding a glass of wine and laughing and talking. Lu Wenyuan hurriedly cleaned up his clothes, led the officials behind him to bow down and said, "The ministers knock on the emperor, the prince." Long live the emperor, long live, long live, long live, the prince is a thousand years old. ”

Zhu Shiyang was in a very good mood, waved his hand, and said with a smile on his face: "There is no need to be formal, I and Qing and others have a rare gathering today, everyone is free to do so." ”

All the officials echoed and said yes, seeing that the emperor was happy, he was not as restrained as before, and they all took their seats. Gui Xi made a look, and the eunuch and the palace maid sent the royal meal upstairs as if it were a price.

Lu Wenyuan only had time to look around at this time. I saw that this attic was extremely exquisitely arranged, and it was surrounded by windproof blankets from the Western Regions, so there was no trace of cold wind and night dew. Under the eaves, there is a slip of lanterns, which are used for lighting, but they are more detailed and durable than those in the imperial garden, there are two dragons playing with pearls, carp spitting water, golden monkeys offering peaches, and there are four sides of the story embroidered image, the forms are thousands, and so on. The officials sat around, and a few fires were lit in the ground, which made the whole attic feel warm.

Zhu Shiyang only wore a bright yellow dragon pattern casual robe, sat facing south, and talked with Zhu Shiji. After a while, as soon as the dishes and drinks were ready, he ordered the banquet to begin. Zhu Shiyang drank a cup first, and Zhu Shiji took the lead and praised it, and the atmosphere in the banquet became warm.

Everyone ate and drank for a while, but there were dishes on the table, it turned out that the real big meal was behind, just listen to the name of the dish reported by the eunuch is enough to make people frightened, it turned out to be: a product of the official swallow, phoenix tail big skirt wings, elephant pull Yu qin, dry roasted net abalone slices...... It is only a few small plates that are divided into various seats, but everyone knows that no plate will be less than a hundred taels of silver.

Everyone here can be regarded as dignitaries who have seen the world, but they are all trembling for a while and are not moving forward. Listening to that, Zhu Shilang smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? I entertained you, and I didn't care if you asked for money, just let go of the food." As he spoke, he took the lead in picking up the jade chopsticks, scooped up a chopstick from the first-class official swallow and said: "The bird's nest used in this dish is the Siamese official swallow that I specially bought from southern Xinjiang, which is different from the bird's nest on the market that costs dozens of taels of silver and one tael. All the secretaries must taste it well, Hugh will live up to my wishes. ”

Zhu Shiji echoed: "Siamese Guanyan is indeed precious, even my imperial brother only ate it for the first time a few days ago, and after eating it, I felt that it was extremely delicious, so I immediately thought of letting all the adults taste it." The emperor cares about his subordinates so much, which is a blessing for us as courtiers. As he spoke, he picked up the wine glass and said, "Come, I'll give the imperial brother a glass." ”

Zhu Shiyang smiled and raised his glass to touch Zhu Shiji, and the officials saw that the emperor was in a good mood, so they were no longer restrained, and they raised their mouths to taste.

Lu Wenyuan couldn't even eat a bite, and his heart only thought that the victims outside the city were in dire straits, but the emperor led a group of important ministers to mess around here, which was really a sin. The chopsticks pulled the dishes in front of him, and his heart became heavier and heavier, hoping that this banquet would end soon, and he would suffer less torture.

Zhu Shiyang's tricks are more and more, and seeing that everyone has eaten almost enough, he asked yì to guess the lantern riddle. This lantern riddle is a folk thing, with Zhu Shiyang's naughty heart, of course, I like it very much, and I usually have to figure out and study, and I don't take it out at this time to show when. At that moment, there was an example: "Draw the time round, write the time square, the winter time is short, and the summer time is long." After a pause, he added with a smug face: "It's very simple, there is a reward in guessing." ”

All the ministers in the hall were thinking in their hearts, and when Zhu Shiji heard that there was a reward, he hurriedly asked, "What is the reward?"

Zhu Shiyang smiled: "You guess it first." Can I still shorten you?" Zhu Shiji then went to think intently.

After a while, I heard Zhu Shiji clap his hands and say, "Brother Huang, I guessed." ”

There were also many officials here who guessed, but Zhu Shiji took the lead, so it was not easy to say more, and only listened to Zhu Shiji's answer with a smile. I heard Zhu Shiyang say: "Oh? ”

Zhu Shiji shook his head and sold Guanzi, shook the folding fan in his hand with a crackling sound, and chanted: "There is a fish in the East China Sea, headless and tailless, and it is a mystery to get rid of the vertebrae. ”

Zhu Shiyang thought about it for a while, and sure enough, he slapped his hands and praised him for good. There were many officials who guessed it, and they also praised the prince for "solving riddles with riddles, which is really wonderful." Zhu Shiji was naturally more proud, and when he saw that Yan Yong was still sitting in the hall and didn't react, he asked with a smile: "Lord Yan, have you guessed the answer to the emperor's mystery?"

Yan Yong has always been strict and old-fashioned, but he inevitably lost his romantic interest, and he was the least good at these elegant and vulgar things, and he was panicked by Zhu Shiji's question at the moment. Shen Lun hurriedly reminded in a low voice on the side: "Day, it's day." Yan Yong then said: "Back to the prince, the minister also guessed that it was the day of the day." ”

Zhu Shiyang nodded again and again, personally reached out and took down two lanterns from the eaves, and rewarded them to Zhu Shiji and Yan Yong, Zhu Shiji and Yan Yong thanked each other without mentioning it.

I continued to guess for a while, but there were many people in the attic and few lights, so I couldn't appreciate it. Zhu Shiyang had no choice but to give up for the time being, and ordered the eunuch in the imperial dining room to come up with the Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Festival was brought to the table, all of them were packed in crystal clear white porcelain cups, all of them were exquisite and lovely, and the jade circle was full. Zhu Shiyang was not in a hurry to eat, and said a few words to Gui Xi, and Gui Xi promised to go.

After a while, it was the eunuchs of the flower room who came upstairs, each holding a pot of delicate peonies in their hands, and swinging around the fire in the center of the ground.

The officials present were a little stunned for a while, only to see that these peonies were blooming just right, and the plants were growing and branching, which was obviously carefully cultivated. The largest of them has seven or eight flower heads blooming at the same time, clustered together to reflect each other, and it is truly worthy of the title of the king of flowers.

Zhu Shiyang looked at the reactions of the officials, and said with a smug face: "These peonies are specially purchased from Luoyang, and I ordered the flower house to carefully cultivate them in the greenhouse, many of which are rare varieties in the world, such as the pomegranate red, Shengjiaorong, glazed pearls, and Buddha top green ......."

Seeing that the emperor was right, how could he not be more flattering and attached, one by one gave a thumbs up and praised the peony, and there was a conceited and talented poem to reconcile, which caused Zhu Shiyang and Zhu Shiji's Yaxing, the monarch and the ministers were happy, and the Chaofeng Tower was full of spring for a while.

Fu Qian watched from the sidelines, but saw that Lu Wenyuan was even more worried, and his face was full of worries, so he knew that he was complaining about the emperor and only caring about his own extravagance, but he did not care about the life and death of the victims. Fu Qian also said that the emperor was really too much this time, but he was also afraid that Lu Wenyuan would do something inappropriate when he was young and impulsive, but it would not be good, so he hurriedly pressed his hand secretly and said: "Brother Lu, bear with it for a while, it's not too late to admonish him privately in the future." ”

Lu Wenyuan was unmoved, still sitting stiffly, not knowing whether he heard or not. Fu Qian still wanted to persuade again, but listened to Yan Yong sighing on the fire: "Alas, how much silver does this cost, the peony was originally a flower that bloomed in spring and summer, but now it is against the weather to let it bloom in the cold winter like plum blossoms, isn't this nonsense?" Before he finished speaking, he was pulled by Shen Lun and Fu Qian.

Lu Wenyuan listened, turned his head and asked Yan Yong in a low voice, "According to Lord Yan, how much will this banquet cost today?"

Yan Yong looked left and right and said, "Probably, I can give you an accurate number." From the first to the fifteenth day of the new year, these banquets were jointly organized by the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, and a total of nearly 100,000 taels of silver were spent, and today this one spent the most, 24,000 taels of silver. ”

Lu Wenyuan never expected that there would be so many, and his heart was shocked: "Didn't the emperor empty his private treasury when he came to provide disaster relief?

Yan Yong sighed: "I don't know about this, the silver is directly dialed from above." However, the emperor has his hands and eyes, and there are always some ways to make money. ”

Lu Wenyuan heard Yan Yong's words, and thought that the emperor had shirked himself several times on the grounds of lack of money, and he was unwilling to take care of the victims outside the city, so he couldn't help but be indignant. Imagine that the king of a country cannot see the people's livelihood and suffering, but only covets the pleasures in front of him, how can he achieve a great cause?

At this time, Zhu Shiyang was already drunk and hot, and the fire in the attic was burning, so he only felt even more hot and uncomfortable, so he ordered Guixi to roll up the windshield felt on all sides. Gui Xi received the order and sent a few eunuchs to roll up the wind blanket one by one, and gusts of cool breeze came from all sides, refreshing people's hearts. But how can the peony cultivated in the greenhouse withstand the destruction of such a north wind, the petals are scattered all over the place where the wind passes, and the original fragrant fragrance is scattered into a fragrant wisp, which lingers up and down Chaofeng Tower.

Zhu Shiyang suddenly felt that the wine dissipated, and he was refreshed, so he walked down the hall and walked to the side of the building to look at the railing. Everywhere I looked, I saw a full moon hanging high in the night sky, clear as water, and the lights in the imperial garden were dotted, straight like the stars. Outside the Xuanwu Gate in the distance, there is a joyful leveling, the streets are lit up with lights, crowded with people, and it seems that you can hear people's laughter and the sound of firecrackers one after another. Zhu Shiyang stared at the qiqi in front of him, intoxicated.

Zhu Shiji got up at the right time and knelt down and said: "The imperial brother governs the country well, the world returns to the heart, the four seas are peaceful, and the ministers are subdued." The Ming Dynasty will definitely be able to carry forward under the hands of the imperial brother, and the country will last for a long time, and it will be prosperous forever!"

Seeing this, the hundred officials present also got up and knelt down in unison and said, "Long live my emperor, long live, long live." "The sound came far and far in the north wind.

Zhu Shiyang's heart was surging, and he turned around to let everyone calm down, but saw that Lu Wenyuan was not among the kneeling worshippers, but only sat quietly in a corner alone, playing with a wine cup in his hand, covered with plain clothes, like a snow wash, and his expression was extremely cold, and he didn't even look at the officials around him.

Zhu Shiyang was slightly displeased, frowned and said, "Lu Wenyuan, you are ......"