Chapter 261: West Lake Festival (2)

With the arrival of Fan Zhongyan and others, it also indicates that the grand event is about to begin, but before that, there is an important thing to do, that is, to worship Kuixing, today's activities, most people understand that it is for frolicing and entertainment, but there must be a serious name, celebrating the Qixi Festival, and worshiping Kuixing is a good excuse.

After Liu Renzhi's guidance, Chu Zhen also put on the confession, incense and candles at the corner of the West Lake early, and also set up a wooden statue of Kuixing, which is the same as the life-size of a good craftsman, carved by a good craftsman, draped in silk and satin, lifelike, looking from a distance, there is really a bit of true god's atmosphere.

Fan Zhongyan acted a little resolutely, after signaling to the people of the Quartet, he immediately moved to the statue of Kuixing, at this time, it was the turn of the priest of Hangzhou official school to appear, wearing a wide and flowing Confucian robe, consciously divided into several columns, standing respectfully next to Fan Zhongyan, according to folklore, when worshipping, the first pillar of incense scholars, the probability of winning the imperial examination is relatively large, so these literati, on the surface modest and polite, but secretly rushed to squeeze inside.

As for those officials and gentry, they can only be compromised, after all, they are also considered to be famous, so there is no need to compete for positions and luck with these post-graduates. Fortunately, in full view of everyone, the literati did not dare to be too blatant, and their movements were very secretive, anyway, nearly 100 people were standing together, and if you pulled me, it was not easy for people outside to notice.

Of course, there are naturally not only nearly 100 students in Hangzhou, not to mention others, there are no less than two or three thousand talented people who are famous and famous, but they are not official scholars, considering that there are too many people, they are not allowed to participate in the worship ceremony held by the government in the name of righteousness.

In the final analysis, it is because the teaching quality of the official schools in the Song Dynasty is not as good as that of other people's private academies, otherwise the total number of official scholars in the three official academies will not even be less than 100, but at this time, these official scholars have become the envy of the scholars of other private academies.

Just when some scholars were thinking about frustrating the prestige of the officials and scholars when they were passing the examination, the ceremony of worshiping Kuixing was also about to begin, and the sound of crackling firecrackers sounded, and after a while, a faint smoke of gunpowder filled the air, and it disappeared with the wind in an instant, followed by a somewhat solemn and solemn sound of ceremonial music.

In a peaceful sound of ceremonial music, Fan Zhongyan took the prayer presented by the master of ceremonies, first bowed to the statue of Kui Xing, and opened the prayer lightly, and wanted to recite it, his eyes suddenly saw Chu Zhen below, his heart moved, smiled, closed the prayer, and said to everyone: "The old man has not been involved in the imperial examination for decades, and there is not much left of the Chinese fortune on his body. ”

This is obviously a pretext, some people are skeptical, but some people feel very reasonable, thinking of Fan Zhongyan's identity as an official, it seems that it is not very auspicious, and some students suddenly hesitated in their hearts.

"Then according to Taishou's intentions, what should it be?" Gu Tongju asked curiously.

"Chuzhi County." Fan Zhongyan smiled indifferently and suddenly raised his voice to call.

At this time, Chu Zhen was bored and casually observing the surrounding situation below, a little absent-minded, and suddenly heard someone calling him, and couldn't help but "dew" a stunned expression, reacted, and found that it was Fan Zhongyan, and hurriedly responded: "The lower official is here." "I didn't pay attention to what happened just now, so I was a little confused and confused.

"Chuzhi County is the first Jinshi and the first Jinshi, and he is in charge of this matter, and the old man feels that it is very suitable." Fan Zhongyan said with a smile.

Many students who took Chu Zhi as an example immediately nodded slightly, ready to dip his light, and he could also be named on the gold list in the coming year, and many people's eyes were "chaotic", as if they were thinking about something, so many officials present, Fan Gong just pointed to Chu Qian, and there was no deep meaning in it.

Blinking his eyes, after Chu Zhen understood what was going on, he hurriedly stepped forward, the superior had an order, and there was no room for the slightest excuse, besides, this kind of thing is also beneficial to itself, why should he refuse, he quickly came to Fan Zhongyan at the moment, saluted respectfully, took the prayer, and began to preside over the ceremony of worshiping Kuixing with a solemn face.

Having been in this era for a long time, and having experienced it personally, Chu Zhen naturally knows all kinds of sacrificial etiquette in his mind, and his every move is accurate, especially when he recites the prayer of "Yin", his voice is clear, and he is full of rhythm, especially when he stays in Kaifeng for a long time, he is unconsciously affected, and his mouth is full of pure official words, which makes some people secretly envious.

After bowing and bowing eight times, after the sacrificial ceremony was completed, Fan Zhongyan took the lead in "inserting" a baby's arm-thick incense candle into Fang Ding in front of the statue of Kui Xing, and then experienced people took a few steps out of the way, and at this moment, Fang Ding's incense burner was immediately surrounded by everyone, only to see countless pairs of hands holding incense candles hanging above the incense burner, leaving no gap.

Even if they were smoked by the cigarette smoke to tears, and burned by the falling incense sparks, they could not extinguish their enthusiasm, and after a while, Dingzhong was already full of incense, and everyone spread out a little, worshipping respectfully, and secretly prayed to Kuixing in their hearts, hoping to be able to go to high school in the coming year.

There are a few very pious people, their eyes are slightly closed, there are words in their mouths, as if there is no one around, gradually enter the realm of selflessness, wake up after a long time, but find that there is no "swing" and "swing" around them, and most of the people are suddenly missing, and they are shocked, and they hurriedly look around, but find that these people have boarded the boat heading towards the center of the West Lake.

At this time, a few people suddenly woke up, worshiping Kui Xing is just a formality, there is no real meaning, the real purpose of today's gathering is to display their talents in front of Fan Gong and a group of officials and gentry and the common people, and make a name for themselves, and squirmed their lower lips in annoyance, as if they were cursing something, or complaining about themselves, and then they didn't dare to delay, and hurriedly looked for ships at the dock.

As a result, they were greatly disappointed, word of mouth, who didn't know that there was a grand event on the West Lake today, smart people had already set the boat, the clever and inferior to the people, expensive in a precursor, when a few scholars and literati were still worshipping Kuixing, people did not join in the excitement, but looked for a boat.

Like this kind of semi-official and semi-private "sexual" nature of the party, if the scale is small, the official may send someone to entertain, but also responsible for the pick-up, but now it is a large gathering, there must be no such good thing, the gentry and the like, rich wealth, living in the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, the family big boat or not, but there must be a few small boat workshops, naturally do not worry, of course, if some large families, have to take some big boats and dragon boats out to show off is understandable, who makes the family rich.

As for ordinary people, there is no capital, but if you really want to see this lively, you can also invite three or five friends, raise funds to rent a small fishing boat, while chatting with friends to change their minds, while watching the excitement, if you can have a few drinks, this is also a bit interesting, so on weekdays, the West Lake corner of the boat painting workshop leisurely passing by, but now it can no longer be seen, the eye search, not to mention the big pier, not even a floating plank, only these people who did not have time to get on the boat on the shore shouted endlessly, but at this time, But no one responded.

I saw dozens of boats of all sizes, seemingly chaotic, trying to collide with each other, but in fact, they rowed towards the center of the West Lake without incident, and the shore gradually drifted away, leaving only some shadows.

The boat is flying, the colorful flags are fluttering, a group of officials and gentry stand on the deck, looking at the waves of ripples in the lake, the waves of frost and snow, the lake is shining, the mountains are bright, and the beautiful scenery of the West Lake is in full view, although more than once I have seen such a scene, but the officials on the ship still have the feeling of never getting tired of seeing it, and they are amazed loudly, at this moment, someone seems to have found something surprising, and hurriedly pulled the sleeves of the person next to him and pointed there. Attract more people to look at the past.

"What's that?"

"It looks a bit like a plank."

"No way, have you ever seen a plank that big."

Hearing the sound of everyone's discussions, Chu Zhen felt a little proud in his heart, but heard Fan Zhongyan say softly: "Chu Zhixian, didn't you say that you have dredged the West Lake to ensure that the boat can move unimpeded, but now there are foreign objects blocking the way ahead, what is your explanation?" ”

didn't wait for Chu Zhen to answer, but he heard someone else suddenly shout: "There are still people on the board, waving to us." ”

As he spoke, the boat slowly slowed down, and everyone on the boat also saw vaguely what it was, but they were even more surprised, but saw a wooden board floating in the middle of the calm lake, saying that it was a wooden board or not very accurate, mainly this wooden board is too big, rectangular, thirteen or fourteen meters horizontally, more than thirty meters longitudinal, from time to time with the waves slightly floating, there are indeed people on the floating board, and there are quite a few, there are actually tables, chairs and benches, see the officials on the boat, wave again and again.

After a while, the boat slowly docked at the edge of the pontoon, and the man of "sex" hurriedly jumped out of the boat, carefully examined the flat pontoon under his feet, and found the mystery of it, which turned out to be made of many boats of the same size, connected together, and then made of wooden nails.

After a while, the officials on the ship sat on the tables and chairs on the floating board, leisurely tasting the sweet and fragrant tea soup, because except for a few celebrities and scholars, others were not qualified to sit here, enjoying this privilege, the mood was naturally extraordinarily happy, and when they learned that this was Chu Qian's idea, they praised it endlessly: "Ingenuity, talent." ”

After being humble for a moment, seeing that the boats in the middle of the lake were almost all together, after Chu asked for instructions, he waved his hand gently, and the official received the order, and immediately beat the big drum, and the drum sounded through the sky.

Only then did the sharp-eyed person find that in the lake not far in front of the floating board, there was a long pole with brocade hanging on it, and he suddenly understood that these dragon boats were going to win the championship.

Knowing what's going on, with the sound of gongs and drums, the tube is in a hurry, and the people on the boats on the four sides of the floating board have cheered for the dragon boats competing in the lake with spring thunder-like cheers.

Closer, everyone clearly saw that rowing the dragon boat was a group of shirtless and strong men, only to see them out of their mouths out of the neat trumpet, arms propped up the oars, suddenly force back and forth, condensed sweat beads in the bright sun flashing light, this is a combination of strength and beauty, let people see the heart swaying, the spirit is excited.

In an instant, several dragon boats have arrived before the benchmark, the head of the boat, bowing lightly, eyes staring at the front of the brocade, both hands want to try, and the first two boats, quickly consistent, side by side, can not tell who is fast and who is slow, at this time who can compete for success, then it depends on the skills and reaction of the person who wins the brocade.

In an instant, the dragon boat swept over the pole, the brocade disappeared, the winner was the dragon boat on the left, side by side, the person on the left won the bid stretched out his right hand, and the person on the right stretched out his left hand, did take advantage of some advantages, the winning bid was successful, the dragon boat did not stop, but ran directly to the distant waters, until it disappeared.

The dragon boat went away, but the drumming did not stop, and after the dispatch of the officials and scribes, the boats that came to see the excitement also occupied the position close to the floating board, the big ship anchored, the small boat stopped oars, and discussed the dragon boat competition that had just begun and ended, and everyone felt that there was something unfinished.

Of course, such a grand event, the arranged performances must be more than this, and I don't know who discovered it first, pointing to the two tall ships that quietly appeared: "Look, there." "I saw that on the masts of the two ships, a rope of ox tendon with the thickness of a bowl was joined together, and the rope was so tight that it seemed that some strange little planks were hanging.

"I've seen it, and that's a water swing."

Recently, after some people's push, everyone has heard of the water swing, and some people have experienced the taste of it, and now looking back, I feel a little dizzy.

"Somebody climbed up."

Someone exclaimed, and saw two boats slowly approaching, and there were three or five young men, climbing along the rope to a few swings, standing upright on the swing board, smiling and waving to the crowd, and to the accompaniment of the drums and flutes, they "swinged" on the dangling ropes.

At the beginning, there seemed to be some moderation, but later, the more "swinging" faster, the more "swinging" higher, until the swing "swinging" to the level of the swing frame, then suddenly took off the swing rope with both hands, and flew into the air, in the exclamation of everyone, instantly, in the blue sky and white clouds turned over a few somersaults, like a light swallow into the water, rippled waves, after a while, the lake returned to calm, and the heads of several young men were "exposed" out of the water, and the smile on their faces became more and more brilliant.

"Okay." The applause is thunderous, resounding in the sky, one after another applause one after another, close to know the thrilling excitement of the performance of the water swing, watching a person fly high in the air, helpless, immersive, thrilling, and then like a bird, playing somersault in the air, and suddenly plunging into the lake, people are shocked, and feel that its performance is unforgettable, and the aftertaste is endless.

In bursts of cheers, a few guys in the companion pulled, climbed on the deck again, and climbed the swing along the rope, at this time the excitement began, the Song Dynasty water swing activities, in fact, are still relatively monotonous, just the "swing" swing and diving combined, but with Chu Zhi's guidance, naturally can play more tricks.

Forward flip, back flip, double jump, and then play a few relays, just like playing acrobatics on the flat ground, as long as Chu quality can say, under the heavy reward, these tricks dare to try, of course, due to the short practice time, the skills are not skilled enough, there are many complex movements must be some can not be done.

And the simple skills are also a little rusty, but for the people of Hangzhou, it is the first time to see such a fresh and rare performance, which is enough to amaze them, where will they find bones in eggs.

Seeing that Fan Zhongyan was also attracted by the performance in the lake, a faint smile appeared on his face, and Chu Zhen's mood was also a little joyful, especially when he heard the high-fives of the onlookers, he felt that his hard work in the past few days had not been in vain.

"Your Excellency." A servant quietly came to Chu Qian's side and said slightly, "Something happened." ”

His heart sank, Chu Zhen remained silent, continued to watch the performance of the water swing, and said softly: "You retreat first, I will look for you later." ”

The official retreated in response to the order, Chu Zhen did not follow in a hurry, stood for a while, and noticed that the attention of the officials next to him was focused on the water swing, so he quietly took a few steps back, did not alarm others, and walked lightly to the officer, and asked, "What happened, is it serious?" ”

Safety first, before the grand event began, Chu Zhen had already instructed the officials to take more than a dozen small boats, mixed in with the boats, and monitor the surrounding situation at all times, just for fear of any accidents, and if they didn't think of what they were afraid of, they would come.

"It's not serious, it's just capsized." The official hurriedly said.

In fact, some ships that are late, docked at the back, can not see the situation inside, hear bursts of lively cheers, it can be seen that the performance inside must be very exciting, the mood is naturally a little unbearable, there must be some slight gap between the boats.

The big boat is just that, but some small boats rely on their own boat to turn around, just squeeze in, the wind is calm and there is nothing, squeezing in is stuck at most, but I don't know where to come from a dark "tide", a squeeze, there is no place to hide, a wave, the boat capsizes.

The ancients were simple, and when they saw someone falling into someone's place, they immediately carried forward the spirit of saving the dead and helping the wounded, and fished them up, and they knew how to water, and the person was fine, but the problem was that the boat was broken, and naturally blamed the other party, and began to make noise, and when they heard the news, the official immediately came to report.

"It's good that people are okay." Relieved, Chu Zhen was about to wave his hand and ask the officials to send those people back to the shore, and then try their problems after the grand meeting was over, but after thinking about it, the grand meeting was not over so quickly, so it was better to solve this matter as soon as possible, and it was better to give others a warning and resolve possible accidents in the bud.

At the moment, he called a few officials, got on the boat next to him, and quietly walked outside, this water area is indeed very blocked, but Chu Zhen is not stupid, naturally there is a special passage, and the officials are sent to guard it, and non-official ships are not allowed to pass, so the boat is unimpeded and soon comes to the place of the incident.

The people on the floating board, it seems that they did not notice Chu Qian's departure, or they did not make a sound, they still focused on watching the performance of the water swing, after a long time, the performers were exhausted, and there were mistakes, at this time, they naturally could not continue, they could only confess to the Quartet, and the onlookers naturally did not blame, and expressed their feelings with warm applause, and the cheers continued for a long time.

The sound of gongs and drums gradually subsided, and seeing that there was no other movement in the lake, everyone talked with their companions about the water swing performance just now, and at this time, on the deck of the two tall ships, a group of colorfully dressed women suddenly appeared, along the gangway, twisting their waists into the pontoon.

The floating board is 30 meters long, and a group of officials only occupy less than half of the corner, and there is a large area of empty space, and some people are still secretly scolding these officials for being wasteful.

"It's still Chuzhi County that will do things."

A group of young and bright, flower-like girls are in front of them, the breeze is coming, it seems that they can still smell the fragrance, and the tea has also been replaced with fine wine, which makes some officials feel refreshed in their hearts, and they want to praise Chu Zhen for a few words, but they find that they can't find his figure, and they haven't had time to be strange, but they listen to a few dingdong sounds, and the beautiful string music floats into the ears, which immediately attracts people's attention to the past, who will be in the mood to pay attention to Chu Qian.

The girl is moving, dancing gracefully, Hangzhou City is a music division, the banquet between the officials are invited to go to the fun, according to common sense, the dance of the girls should also be accustomed to it, but today, but for some reason, it feels different from the past, it seems, there is something, don't have a little more charm before.

At the end of the song, unlike the applause of the people around them, there was more sincerity in the applause of the officials.

After returning the salute to the Quartet, the dancing girl slowly retreated to the boat, the sound gradually subsided, after a while, I saw a girl wearing a green "color" maid costume holding a guqin, from the boat Yingying to the front of the stage, only to see that she was about sixteen or seven years old, delicate, petite, at this moment she was putting the guqin on a low table, everyone thought that she was playing the qin, but saw her retreat.

At this time, the real protagonist appeared, only to see an elegant woman wearing a plain white Luo skirt, moving from the boat lightly, walking step by step, wearing a veil, which makes people not really see her appearance, but it is more hazy and beautiful, "exposed" out of a pair of water eyes, looking forward to life, a phoenix hairpin on her head, hair shawl, although the dress is a little wide, but her graceful posture can still be seen.

She exudes an indescribable temperament, like a holy white lotus, out of the mud and not stained, although she can't see her appearance clearly, but many people can be completely sure that she must be a stunning beauty, when she came to the guqin, first Ying Ying Yifu, without saying much, sat down elegantly, stretched out ten slender jade fingers, lightly plucked a few strings, played slowly, the aftersound is curling, beautiful and beautiful.