Because of the festival, there are many celebrations on the Chunlan River, and the folk customs are abundant, there are fighting flowers and birds, and incense is used to repel insects. The most eye-catching thing is the donation of the rich people in the city, and there are more than 100 dragon heads flowing in the shallows on a long river. The sailors held baskets to scatter ashes to attract the dragon, and the drums on the shore sounded, and the people who were interested could go to the river, hold the dragon's head, and be happy.

The small merchants and vendors on the riverbank, the flowers and melons and fruits, and the steamed hot black and white glutinous rice balls, must eat a few in this solar term, in order to respect the father-in-law of the land, except for the bad luck on the body.

Yu Shu and his entourage walked and stopped on the riverbank, and just tasted glutinous rice balls, two girls were stopping in front of an old lady who was carrying a large basket of flowers and selling flowers, picking a handful of flowers picked in the basket in the early morning, still with dewdrops.

None of them are precious flowers, most of them are wild flowers that can't be named, but the fragrance is not reduced, Yu Shu happily picked out a branch or two of the pink apricot blossoms that bloomed side by side, compared it to Xue Jinxun's face, and the hairpin was next to the bead nail on the side of her ear.

Xue Jin touched the petals of his ears and temples, and shyly lowered his head and rubbed his toes.

The old lady smiled and said to them: "The two sisters look good, the younger sister wears an apricot, why don't the elder sister insert hibiscus, how good it is to have 'blessing' and 'luck'." ”

"The old man really knows how to say auspicious words, then I will buy another hibiscus." Yu Shu was as kind as a stream, and took another red and gorgeous hibiscus, but did not wear it on his head, but folded the flower branch and inserted it into the button of his left placket, becoming a brooch that was real and fake.

Xue Rui saw that they had chosen well, so he consciously stepped forward to pay, because it was not a valuable thing, Yu Shu did not fight with him, and took Xue Xiaomei to look elsewhere to see the freshness.

Feng Zhaomiao ran away as soon as he got out of the carriage, and at this moment, he didn't know where the road came out of and squeezed in front of them.

"Lianfang, where is Brother Rui?"

The word 'lotus room' was originally a pseudonym that Xue Rui wanted to give Yu Shu for the time being. Feng Zhaomiao shouted smoothly, and later learned that Yu Shu's real name did not change, Yu Shu only regarded it as a nickname, and went with him.

Yu Shu pointed to Xue Rui, who was paying in the back. Then he asked, "Where did you just go?" ”

Feng Zhaomiao told her excitedly: "The Shuangyang Society has played twelve drums, and someone on the south bank of the river has set up a platform to compete, and the fight is very good, let me take you to take a look?" ”

As soon as Yu Shu heard that there was a ring to watch, he was a little moved at the moment, and he was afraid that Xue Jinxun would not like it, so he turned his head and asked her opinion first.

However, Xue Jinxun is the most unassertive. Squirmed and pinched and didn't speak, and I didn't know whether I wanted to go or didn't want to go, but then Xue Rui came over, and only then did he make a decision, and the four of them crossed the bridge together, followed the flow of people, and went to the south bank to watch the competition.

***

Every three years, the Shuangyang Festival has to beat the drums on the first day. Twelve huge drums were placed on the banks of the river, surrounded by a hundred and ten young and strong drummers, waving their arms. The rumbling is comparable to the sound of spring thunder, which is to inform the people from all walks of life who come to the meeting that the Shuangyang Club has begun and can show their skills.

Facing the Chunlan River, there is a three-storey Qiongyu Building, up and down full of nobles in the capital, the tea house wine table is placed I don't know how many seats, the most noble is a few princes on the third floor, high up, the view is wonderful. As soon as you look down, you can see half of the spring light on the Chunlan River.

It's another three years, and there are a few more princes who are qualified to sit here, King Jia and King Ning are both adults, and they have already left the palace to build a mansion. I also sat in Qiongyulou once three years ago, and Liu Tan and Liu Yi appeared at the Shuangyang Conference for the first time because of their weak years.

For more than 100 years, Shuangyang will recruit martial artists from all over the world, but anyone who has a skill, can try their skills here, and put 7749 days in the ring, writing and martial arts, eclectic, the most important of them, there are 18 big Yi halls in the north and south to send Yi teachers to participate in the fight, there are 23 martial arts halls and six dart bureaus to send martial artists to participate in the big martial arts fight, and then there is a hundred Wendou where literati from all walks of life gather.

Although they are all selected talents, compared with the civil and military examinations and the big Yan examination, the threshold of the Shuangyang Society is obviously relaxed, the literati do not have to pass the township examination and the provincial examination, and the Yike does not have to hold the letter recommendation of the Yi teacher, so they can have the opportunity to become famous, and the biggest difference before and after is that one emphasizes the "examination" and the other emphasizes the "comparison", and the two do not conflict.

Naturally, there are candidates who have participated in the imperial examination, and before the release of the big test list, they will come to the Shuangyang meeting for a long time, which is a good opportunity to make a name for themselves.

The nobles and rich people who came to watch the meeting had different thoughts, maybe they would be in the eyes today, and one of the unknown people in the curtain would become Master Jinshi and Mr. Yi Shi tomorrow.

But these are not the reason why Shuangyang will be prosperous for a long time, at the bottom of it, the real meaning of Shuangyang will actually be the incumbents of Da'an in the past dynasties, for the future heirs of an examination school, the dragon gave birth to nine sons, but in the end there is only one who can become a true dragon, "for the country, to know people and be good at the first", this is a holy precept left by Emperor Anwu, the founder of the Da'an Dynasty, and the descendants of later generations will not be rebellious.

Therefore, the real "protagonists" of Shuangyang Club are not the heroes with great ambitions in the ring, but the dragons who are intriguing upstairs in Qiongyu.

***

As the elder brother, King Jia and King Ning each occupy the two places with the best view on the observation deck on the second floor, sitting next to each other, on the ring below the building, today's opening is a big martial arts fight, the warriors are dueling in pairs, eighteen kinds of weapons are taken, on the stage, first report the name, a hand is fists and feet, the sword has no eyes.

"Good! This sword makes good! ”

"Good martial arts!"

The people on the riverbank were boiling, and the people who were surrounded by several layers to watch the excitement were very excited, and many spies were also mixed in, just waiting for a good hand on the platform to help the masters inquire about the way.

According to the instructions of Emperor Zhenzong, all princes attending the Shuangyang Society were to have only two seats beside them, one Qian and one Kun, either as a counselor or as an e-guest, and not as a master of the Si Tian Prison or as a Chinese courtier.

Therefore, around each prince, in addition to the slaves and maids who served tea and water, and a guard, there were only two people who could offer advice.

Jiawang Liu Si was playing with a Tai Chi jade lock in his hand, and he didn't know how many times he turned his head to look at the young woman sitting next to Liu Hao who was covered with a veil and couldn't see clearly.

Liu Hao took a sip of tea, turned his face to look at Liu Si, and quipped: "Why doesn't the fourth brother watch the ring, what do you keep looking at me?" ”

King Jia was caught by him, and he was not embarrassed, so he simply asked tentatively: "Which young lady is invited to the Kun banquet of the seventh brother, I always look a little familiar." ”

Liu Hao smiled, "I also want to ask the fourth brother, you are at the same table, one is Mr. Mingde, I know, I will read his articles every time, I admire it very much, this time I originally had the intention to invite, but the fourth brother took the lead." As for this lady, she doesn't look like a person from the capital, and I don't know where the fourth brother invited her. ”

Liu Si first heard him compliment Qianxi, and then listened to him ask Kun Xi, so he didn't hide it, stretched out his hand to lead the right seat, and introduced: "This is Mrs. Qing of the Wenchen family in Beifu, the sixth generation of the secret character heir. ”

As we all know, there is Xiajiang in the south, Wenchen in the north, these two surnames are illustrious in the Yi family, and each of them produced a Yi son a hundred years ago, creating a unique thaumaturgy, each leading the way.

When the "Lady Qing" in her thirties heard Liu Si's introduction, she got up and saluted Liu Hao without being arrogant or humble: "I've seen King Ning." ”

Liu Hao squinted his eyes, but bowed his head in return, and instead of showing surprise as Liu Si expected, he shifted his gaze back to the competition below.

Liu Si sat up straight with some boredom, but forgot to find out who the woman sitting on Liu Haokun's seat was.

On the other side of Liu Si sat the Eighth Prince Liu Yu, and on the other side of Liu Hao sat the Ninth Prince Liu Tan, and the two of them also sat next to each other, not to mention how Liu Yu was, Liu Tan's Kun seat was Jingchen's junior sister, Taiyi's female cultivator Shui Yun.

Different from the men and women on the rest of the Qiankun seats, the table in front of Shui Yun was not pens, ink and paper, nor was it a fortune chart gossip, only an old stick, which was finely and densely inserted with nearly 100 pitch-black sticks, I don't know what material it was made of.

Pay close attention, you can find that every time there is a person in the ring, she will watch intently, take out two slender black sticks from the lottery holder, pinch her fingers to calculate, about a cup of tea, and then insert the black stick into the system, shake and scramble, and take it next time.

Everyone here is used to seeing strange people, so it's not surprising, Shui Yun's movements are not eye-catching, plus she is young, everyone only thinks that Liu Tan invited her to make up the numbers, and how do you know that the black skewer is amazing!

***

There were too many people under the ring, Xue Rui and Feng Zhaomiao acted as flower messengers from left to right, lined up the crowd, and escorted Yu Shu and Xue Xiaomei's two girls' homes to the front, and stood in a good position to watch.

When the fight on the platform is good-looking, the front is not painful or itchy, it is all some flower fists and embroidered legs, just now there are two practitioners against each other, one makes a nine-inch sword, and the other uses a curved back knife.

Although Yu Shu said that it was not the first time he had seen a real knife or a real gun, he had never seen a real person in a martial arts competition, as a layman, he was soon dazzled by the confusion, and his blood surged, and like Feng Zhaomiao, he applauded and shouted with a group of spectators.

Because Xue Rui's martial arts are not bad, he doesn't pay attention to the small fights on the stage, his attention moves up, looking at the figures on Qiongyu's upstairs, vaguely distinguishing who is who, and secretly calculating.

Liu Tan's two seats, one is the same junior sister of Daozi, according to Liu Tan's private confession, she is a person with great skills, and the other is a strange person invited by Xue Rui.

With these two people as his companions, coupled with his secret help, although there is no guarantee that he will become the biggest winner of this Shuangyang Meeting, at least it can make the emperor look at him differently, so as not to think that this son has been recuperating in the mountain gate for a few years, and he has no sharpness at all. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )