Let's say that Li Xianzhi took a small boat to leave Pinghu Lake and go north, passing through Jiaxing City. According to the rules of officialdom, he handed a piece of speech to the government office.

At this time, Governor Hao was camping around for his eunuch status and what he did on weekdays, looking for a way to exonerate, so he naturally had no time to see him. The film was handed in, and the family came out to spread the word "Tao is lacking".

Li Xianzhi didn't want to see him, but he was just in the way of officialdom. Now that there was a lack of road inside, he fulfilled his wish, and immediately resigned from the city, but still boarded the ship. A few days later, he turned to the canal and took a big boat to Beijing.

There is nothing to do all the way, and there is naturally nothing to say. Not in January, to Tongzhou Wharf at this time, it has passed the New Year, to the first month of the first year of Chongzhen on the tenth day.

Li Xianzhi paid for the boat, and the two guys helped Han Chuan and Jin Shun carry the luggage ashore. As soon as the foot touches the ground, a handlebar grinning greets him to solicit business. Li Xianzhi was not verbose, so he hired his car to enter Beijing.

Because Li Xianzhi did not send a piece of paper to Beijing when he set off from Zhejiang, no one knew when he would arrive, so he crashed into the huge city of Beijing. But seeing that the street lanterns had already been hung out, it was full of color, and the sound of firecrackers was auspicious. Rounding around, I found the left side of the imperial city and found an inn to stop.

Early the next morning, Li Xianzhi first handed the film to Zhou Langzhong's mansion. The family inside replied: "Zhou Langzhong is still in the ministry and has not returned." ”

Li Xianzhi suddenly realized: "At this time, it is the time to liquidate the eunuchs, so naturally we have to be busy." After thinking about it, he said to the family: "Wait for Lord Zhou to come back, and Li Xin has come to visit." Then he wrote the address of the apartment and gave it to him.

Li Xianzhi went to the Zhou Mansion more than once three years ago, and his family knew that he had a close relationship with his master, so he naturally agreed to it. Li Xianzhi still went back to the inn and waited. Sure enough, early the next morning, someone from the Zhou Mansion invited Li Xian to meet him before.

Li Xianzhi made a little preparation, put on his official uniform, and went to the Zhou Mansion with his notebook. When I arrived, I was led by my family and went straight to the second hall.

As soon as I entered the second hall, I saw Zhou Langzhong sitting upright on the Taishi chair. Li Xianzhi hurriedly stepped forward to bow down and greet each other with a teacher's salute.

Zhou Langzhong hurriedly left his seat and leaned over to help. After the salute, give up your seat. Li Xianzhi sat on the second seat in the west of the hall. Zhou Langzhong asked his family to toast tea, and after a while, the tea arrived, and after drinking, Li Xianzhi said: "The student came to visit rashly and disturbed the teacher's business, I am really sorry." ”

Zhou Langzhong flicked his hand and said, "It's okay." The Holy Majesty decreed to screen the eunuchs, so busy. However, Han Ge always thought that he could not be implicated too widely, so he only put the first offender in prison. In this way, there is nothing to do. ”

Li Xianzhi listened to it and said secretly: "In this way, it is consistent with history." At this time, except for a few people who committed suicide, the rest of the notorious 'Five Tigers and Five Biao' must still be at large. ”

Zhou Langzhong said again: "The day before yesterday, I read the examination of the hundred officials in Zhejiang, at the state and county level, you are listed at the top of the list, you can be called a virtuous official." ”

Li Xianzhi hurriedly said: "I live for one term, but I don't dare to be virtuous if I want to live up to the people." ”

Zhou Langzhong said: "If you can be diligent in serving the people, you should be worthy of the word 'virtuous'." Now is not the time for the eunuch party to be in power, the saint is wise, and he must always measure the virtue and use people, you have such a performance appraisal, hand over a guarantee fold, and you can always give a deployment, and in the future, regardless of inside and outside, they will all serve the court. ”

When Li Xian first arrived in Beijing, it was difficult to say that he had no intention of officialdom, so he was silent for a while.

Zhou Langzhong never saw the clues, and talked endlessly about officialdom, and Li Xianzhi had no choice but to blindly claim yes.

After talking for a long time, Zhou Langzhong asked again: "Have you ever been to the ministry?" ”

Li Xianzhi said: "Students want to visit the teacher first, listen to the teachings, and then go to the ministry. ”

Zhou Langzhong listened, and was very relieved in his heart, and said: "I don't have much to say, and most of the officials in the court today are people from the same way as you and me, and I won't be embarrassed by you. ”

Li Xianzhi said this, but he gave priority to respecting the teacher, but he didn't expect Zhou Langzhong to diverge his meaning, thinking that he wanted to borrow himself to go further. I wanted to explain, but I was afraid that the more I described, the darker it became, so I said some polite gossip and quit. Before leaving, he inquired about Zhuang Jichang, the examiner of the meeting, and Yu Huang, Huang Jingfang, Zhang Fengyi, Chen Shiqi, etc. in the same year.

Zhou Langzhong said: "Lord Zhuang was dismissed and returned to his hometown because of his disobedience to the eunuch party. A few days ago, I heard news from the inner court that I wanted to recover, but I didn't see the clear text. The rest of them are still officials in Beijing. "Let's just write the addresses to Li Xianzhi one by one.

The next day, Li Xianzhi arrived at the ministry, and it was a squire who sat in the hall that day. This squire is a good official, Li Xianzhi just went in to salute, reported his name and resume, and the squire lifted the pen and ticked it on a roster, and then leaned on the back of the chair to close his eyes and recuperate. A messenger next to him sang loudly: "Send off!" ”

Li Xianzhi still knelt on the ground, waiting for Shangguan to show him, and after hearing this, he hurriedly got up and said goodbye. From beginning to end, the old man's eyelids never lifted.

Coming out of the lobby of the ministry, I felt bored, and I wanted to find the old people to talk about, but I felt abrupt for a while.

After another two or three days, it happened to be the Lantern Festival. Li Xianzhi was planning to write a post to meet Huang, Zhang and others and swim together. As I was writing, suddenly a man came in. The man entered the door and said, "Master Li has done a good confidential thing!" ”

This sound startled Li Xianzhi, and when he opened his eyes, it was Zhang Fengyi who arrived in person.

Li Xianzhi hurriedly got up, saluted each other, and said, "Brother Zhang arrived in person, and he was very unwelcome." ”

Zhang Fengyi smiled and said: "Brother Li can return to Beijing from Zhejiang without saying a word, why can't I find this inn?" ”

Li Xianzhi also joked: "I am the one who has stepped down, how can I disturb the official affairs of all the Beijing officials?" After that, they each laughed, and said, "How does Brother Zhang know that I'm back?" ”

Zhang Fengyi said: "When the officials wrote, we all knew that you were coming back, but there was no exact date. Yesterday, when Brother Dongya went to the Ministry on business, he accidentally saw the clerk of your ministry, and only then did he know that you were back, so he told me. I don't think you will see us, but you will definitely meet Zhou Langzhong, so I asked the address before coming here. "The east cliff here is Huang Jingfang's number.

Li Xianzhi pointed to the half-written prayer post on a few and said: "I also asked Mr. Zhou for the address to go to worship you, but unexpectedly, Brother Zhang came first, I am really ashamed." ”

Zhang Fengyi smiled: "It's okay, it's okay. Now that the clouds are clear, the sky is clear, it is the time for us to serve the court together, and the day after tomorrow will be a long time, will we not be able to see each other? ”

Li Xianzhi also said: "It's extreme, it's extreme!" ”

Zhang Fengyi said again: "Brother Dongya came to me yesterday and wanted to hold a banquet for Brother Li. As he spoke, he took out a guest order from his sleeve and let Li Xianzhi see it.

Li Xianzhi took the guest list and read it, which read:

On the fifteenth day of this month, the Lantern Festival, the holy monarch is gracious, and the world is peaceful. Specially borrow the treasure land of Woyun Garden in Dongcheng for a while, congratulate Mingjun on his country, and celebrate the great festival in the world. Looking forward to the meeting, don't be stingy!

Respectfully listed on the left:

The former Pinghu Zhixian added six titles to be sealed by Master Jian Li, and the word was envious;

Hanlin Academy revised Yu Daren Yinhuang, known as Gongxun;

Hanlin Academy, Ji Shi Huang, Lord Yin Jingfang, East Cliff;

Chen Daren Yin Shiqi, a member of the Zhongshu House, is a member of the Ping People;

Zhao Daren, the director of the Ministry of Officials, Yin Sanyi, is called Shi Weng;

Ji Youju Liu Yin Ruozai, number retirement;

The new imperial examination is a person who is a member of the history of the Imperial Examination and is a neighbor;

Foolish brother Zhang Fengyi worships.

Li Xianzhi looked at it, needless to say a few old friends; Zhao and Liu didn't know each other and didn't care; Just seeing Shi Kefa's name made him feel shocked. Without waiting for him to ask, Zhang Fengyi explained: "This Lord Zhao is the same year as me, and he is also the owner of this Woyun Garden. Liu Huizhai and Shi Daolin are the sons of the Beijing Entrance Examination, and they are extremely famous, especially this Brother Shi, who is a disciple of Zuo Cangyu Gong, and is quite a teacher, which is very respectable. ”

When Li Xianzhi saw such a famous figure in history, he naturally wanted to make friends, so he said: "I am very grateful to have Brother Lao Zhang take such a painstaking role. ”

Zhang Fengyi said with a smile: "Brother Li's words are serious, borrowing Brother Li's face, it is also a great pleasure for us to have this meeting." Your Excellency must have arrived at this point, so let's go with us. With that, he pulled Li Xianzhi out.

Han Chuan and Jin Shun hurriedly took a piece of velvet from the hanger and were about to follow. Li Xianzhi took Dayu over and said, "I'll go with Master Zhang, don't wait, you two will guard the luggage in the stack." Then he went out with Zhang Fengyi, got on a wide mule cart, and headed for Woyun Garden.

But when I heard the sound of the car, after a while, I arrived at Woyun Garden. The first two family members rushed in to report. After a while, a short and fat middle-aged man with a fox fur came out and greeted him and greeted Zhang Fengyi first. then gave it to Li Xianzhi, and Li Xianzhi also owed it and gave it away, which was regarded as a return gift. Zhang Fengyi introduced it, and knew that this person was the owner Zhao Shiweng.

Zhao Shiweng said: "Your Excellency has arrived, waiting for the two of you." With that, he led the two inside. At this time, the flower hall was already full of guests, and when they saw Zhang Fengyi and Li Xianzhi coming in, they got up one after another to greet and sit down.

Li Xianzhi glanced around, and a group of acquaintances were all there, except for Yu Huang. There are two others: one is about thirty-four or five years old, with a yellow face and a long beard, and his appearance is not good; The other was short, with a short black face and a short beard, and his eyes were fierce.

Zhang Fengyi pointed to the older one and said: "This is the retreat from fasting, Bo Gu and the present, can write and paint, and write good articles." ”

Li Xianzhifu stepped forward to salute him again, and said: "Long admiration!" Long admiration! Then he arched his hand at the black-faced man and said, "This must be the neighbor brother." ”

The black-faced man said: "It's not a good history." ”

Then the two said "long admiration" to each other and saluted.

Zhang Fengyi and Zhao Shiweng gave up their seats one after another.

Li Xianzhi and everyone sat down separately and asked, "Why didn't Yu Gongxun arrive?" ”

On the other hand, Huang Jingfang sighed and said, "Speaking of which, it is because of the turmoil caused by Brother Yu's champion name. Previously, the eunuch party framed the Donglin Yishi, so they planned to compile the "Three Dynasties Classics", and when they came down, they had to go to the Hanlin Academy. Brother Yu is a top talent, and the eunuch party will definitely want him to participate. Brother Yu was naturally unwilling, but the eunuch party forced him to use life and death matters, which was unbearable for him, in fact, the compilation of the book has its own group of flattering people, and Brother Yu did not exert much effort, but when the book was completed, it was just signed by a name. Now that the eunuch party has fallen, some people have made arrangements for this matter. We all know that Brother Yu was forced to do so, and the emperor did not blame him, but Brother Yu himself was ashamed, closed the door, invited several times, and refused to come out. ”

Zhang Fengyi answered: "Brother Yu is like this, it is also common, if you come out to show off, you will inevitably cause gossip again." We don't have to worry about him for the time being, just have fun, and then visit Brother Yu's door when we are done. After that, he said to Zhao Shiweng: "You have been sitting for a long time, and your stomach is empty, so please serve the food and start the banquet." ”

Zhao Shiweng immediately got up and ordered his subordinates to do it, and then invited the adults out of the flower hall, led through the middle entrance, went around the backyard along the verandah, and passed a corner gate, and there was a garden in front of him. At this time, it is the killing season, and the plants and trees in the garden are withered.

A group of adults walked along the path, and there was a study hidden among the rockeries. When you enter the room, it is fragrant and warm, and it is pleasant. The main hall is equipped with bookcases, bookshelves, tables and chairs, as well as names, famous paintings, and plain pianos, which are very compatible.

Zhao Shiweng let everyone into the side hall with a large round table. The table, bowls, chopsticks, cups and plates are all ready, and not far away there is a hot charcoal fire in a stove, on which a copper pot is "hissing" and steaming, and a large pot of wine is hot in it.

Everyone hugged Li Xianzhi and sat in the first place. Li Xianzhi wanted to be humble, Zhao Shiweng said: "Today, we are waiting for Brother Li to catch the wind, so naturally we have to sit in the first place, don't be humble." ”

After Li Xianzhi sat down, Zhao Shiweng sat on the main seat, and the rest of the people pushed each other to sit down.