The day before the Great Cold was the last of the old year. Because the Ministry of Household will officially announce the state of the treasury of the year at the court meeting on this day every year, some people call this court meeting "household recitation". It is also because there are always people who choose to publicly pick on the announcement of the household department at the court meeting on this day, so some people jokingly call it "household lawsuit".

Shang Cheng did not need to participate in this kind of court meeting. He was a general in the army, and there were very few court meetings that required him to attend, except for a few bills involving major military issues, he only needed to participate in such a hundred official dynasties as the Zhengdan Dynasty, the Shuori Dynasty on the first day of the fifth month, and the Winter Solstice Dynasty. The main purpose of the gathering of hundreds of officials is to congratulate the Son of Heaven, and then the Son of Heaven sets up a banquet to celebrate the festival with the officials, expressing the meaning of congratulating with all the people in the world. Only these three court meetings in a year are called the Great Pilgrimage Meeting, and the combined name of the court meeting and the banquet.

On this day, Shang Cheng was still as usual, and he got up before the hour. This is a habit gradually developed in long-term life, as long as you hear the rooster crow, no matter how heavy you sleep, you will wake up; Even if he is idle in Beijing now, he doesn't have as many affairs as he had when he was in Yanshan, so he doesn't have any at all every day from morning to night, but the habit of getting up from the rooster crow can never be changed. When he got up, he usually kicked and punched in the backyard with a few guards for a while, tossed a hot sweat before he stopped, and then went back to the house to clean up and wash. After breakfast, he is usually reading, waiting for the doctor to give him acupuncture around noon, and then accompanying the two doctors to eat and take a nap, and then get up to read. At present, several bookshelves in the two study rooms are almost full, some of which he "borrowed" from other places, some of which he bought, and some of which were given by others. There are all kinds of books on the shelves, including the legends of the Tang Dynasty and the wild legends compiled by the people of this dynasty, as well as the singing books and drama books of artists, which can be found on the shelves. He doesn't pick and choose from books, he reads whatever he grasps, even miscellaneous volumes such as "Chronicles of Goods and Colonies" and "Astronomical Chronicles" in history books. Sometimes he would hold a book and read it over and over again, and he would walk around and think. But unlike other readers, he always likes to record his experience of reading. He only reads and does not write. Sometimes he would also write a few strokes. But no matter how well it is written, it will end up being burned in a brazier.

But today is the day when Wang Yi got married, and he wants to go to the palace to congratulate. As early as two days ago, he had a few carts of gifts sent over, and today he went mainly to watch the ceremony; Of course, he still has to sit at the table at noon. So after breakfast, he only sat in the study for a while, and when he heard the bell ringing on the bell and drum tower in the distance, he went out with two or three guards.

It was still early for the auspicious time to get married, and he was not in a hurry, and rode slowly towards the Yiguo Mansion in the southwest of the inner city.

I haven't been out for a few days, and this market has suddenly changed its appearance. There are three days to the New Year's Day, and the archways of high and low are erected on each street, and the eaves of the archway carry strings of lanterns. Because the Great Zhao Liguo takes fire as his virtue, he is still red and purple, and the people mostly use white as the mourning color, so most of the lanterns are covered with crimson and jujube satin; There are also dark yellow or light green. There are also some people's archway stands exceptionally tall, more than a dozen dozens of lacquered logs support the two or three layers of the spine, several long slippery red lanterns spread down one after another, as if the red silk is used to pinch the red edge of the archway, at a glance you know that this is the real rich and noble home. There are also words on the archway, "Guanguo Mansion", "Wuguo Marquis Mansion", "Xu Guozi Mansion" and so on. There are also differences between these words, some are imposing, some are free and easy, and some are a little afraid to shrink their hands and feet and not be imposing enough.

Walking out of the two markets, Shang Cheng smacked his lips several times. He couldn't help but admire Chang Xiu. He came all the way and saw that several archways were full of Chang Wenshi's fat characters......

He frowned, looked at a frozen pond on the side of the road and asked Li Feng, "Our family didn't build an archway this year?" "It's really strange, how can it always be Li Bong who has been spinning around in front of his eyes in the past few days?

"Pricked!" Li Feng said, "At the north end of Chongyifang Street, the first archway is ours. ”

Shang Cheng nodded. After a while, he asked again: "Who did you ask to write the font size?" ”

Li Feng was a little surprised, and said casually: "Of course, it was also written by Lord Chang, the waiter of the Ministry of Works." After a pause, he added, "The font size was originally written by Steward Du in the bookstore, and after reading the paragraph, he said that he was not heroic enough, so he asked Lao Du to find someone to rewrite it." I still can't look at the paragraph when I write it again. Later, Lao Du said that Chang Daren was the best at calligraphy in the capital, and it would be good if he could beg him to write a font. But there are too many people who beg Chang to write every year, and Chang is busy with official business, so it is rare for someone to ask for his ink treasure......"

Shang Cheng was still wondering what was going on with the pond on the side of the road. He remembered that when he went to dinner with Wang Yi a few days ago, there were still people building a wall by the pond, as if they wanted to enclose the pond, why was there no shadow of even the half of the wall built in a blink of an eye? He looked back on horseback. A few steps back is the house of Shaoqing Peng Qu of Dali Temple, which must be here. He grinned. This Peng Qu is really an interesting person, he built the wall in three days and demolished the wall in two days, but he didn't have to worry about the people in the family being idle. followed Li Feng's words and asked casually: "What did you do with that paragraph?" ”

"Duan Tou said that he knew Master Chang, and asked someone to pull two carts of things over, and when he came back, he brought Lord Chang's words."

"Two cars of things will be changed back to one font size? One by one, Chang Wenshi wrote a few words for us? ”

"'Shang Yingbo's Mansion' is one and four words!"

Shang Cheng was silent for a moment before he said sourly: "Chang Wen really has the ability, and two words can change a car of things......"

When he arrived at the Yiguo Mansion, the entire street was already crowded with carriages of guests who had come to congratulate him. The Wang family is not a big family in the capital, but the Yiguo Gong of the past dynasties has held important positions in the army and participated in almost every large-scale war of Dazhao, so he has a deep influence in the military and has received many favors from the Wang family. I heard that Wang Yi was going to get married and renew the strings, no matter whether he received an invitation or not, he rushed to come, and if he couldn't make it, he also notified his family or relatives and children to go on a trip to congratulate him.

There are still two arrows away from the street where the Yiguo Mansion is located, and the horses can't move their legs. On the street that can accommodate two large carriages in parallel, the carriages that greet the salute are one after another; Both sides of the street were full of people, congratulatory guests, gift-giving servants, and people watching the excitement, crowded to the point of overflow, even more noisy and lively than the inner city east city that Cai Shangcheng had walked through. The whining and humming exclamation has long overwhelmed the joyful song blown by the curtain, and only when the human voice falls back slightly can it be taught to hear it slightly. Occasionally, there is a rapid and slow sound of drums, and the air is long and tom-tom, which seems to remind the newlyweds not to delay the auspicious time, and it seems to urge the guests to hurry up to send blessings to the newlyweds. The sound of the jingling dong gong is flickering in the vocal instrumental music, like the gurgling stream in the long mountain stream, which makes people wonder and yearn for it......

Shang Cheng jumped off the horse, handed the reins and whip to Li Feng, and said, "You can't ride a horse on this road." You and them go back first. At noon, when I finished drinking the wine, I went back by myself. ”

The guards were in a quandary. Li Bong said, "You...... If we don't follow, we'll be punished again. ”

"Duan Si himself has not seen a figure all day long, why should he punish you?" Shang Cheng ignored Li Feng, who had a bitter face, and said, "If he dares to find a fault with you, you can come and tell me, and I will clean him up." He walked a few steps away from the crowd, suddenly remembered something, and turned back upside down. I almost forgot about it again! Which of you has the money? ”

Li Feng is almost his personal guard now, carrying gold and silver barley on his body at any time, and with a sad face, he handed him a bulging small black cloth bag. Shang Cheng pushed the cloth bag into his arms, pulled away from the crowd and left......

He had a good plan. He is a good friend of Wang Yi, and he will definitely be able to go to the main hall to watch the ceremony, and he can sit at the second table without sitting at the main table, and then find an opportunity to pull Wang Yi to a nonsense, so that this guy will lie in the bed at night and snore until dawn. But people are not as good as the sky, and people in the capital have a different set of customs. His status is too high, and none of the current Wang family can come forward to receive him, so Wang Yi's elder uncle has to come forward on his behalf. This uncle himself is also a guest, and he is just a pillar country with the founding marquis, although he is acting on behalf of the lord's family, after all, he is not the real master, so when Shang Cheng was welcomed into the inner hall, the two of them humbled back and forth for a long time for who sat on the head. As a result, Shang Cheng insisted on sitting in the guest seat, and Wang Yi's uncle did not dare to sit on his main seat, so he also sat in the guest seat. When the two of them sat down, they realized that something was wrong, there were only two guests in the huge hall, and none of the main family could see it, and those who didn't know would definitely think that the Wang family was snubbing the guests. But after sitting and sitting, trying to change seats can only be more embarrassing, so Shang Cheng said polite words in a few words, and immediately said that there was still an important matter to be done in the military department, and he had to hurry over.

Of course, Wang Yi's uncle knew that he was making up a reason, and he didn't stop him, so he immediately stood up and thanked the master's family, and said, "Official business is important, don't dare to delay Uncle Ying." I have thanked Uncle Ying for my ancestors; Another day, Xiande will definitely come to the door in person to thank you. After speaking, he stretched out his arm and put on a posture of sending off guests.

When he went out, Shang Cheng asked a little curiously: "If the guests from other families, I mean, such as the Marquis of Poyang or Lao Agni, also come to congratulate them, what should you do?" "It's not like that, is it when they come? He gave two or three carts of gifts, but he didn't even drink a few sips of tea.

Wang Yi's uncle said with a smile: "They all know the current situation of the Wang family, and they only sent close sons and nephews to congratulate them. The eldest son of Poyang Hou and the eldest son of Yang Guogong are both in the front hall at the moment. "Except for you, who else doesn't know that the Wang family is a little depressed at the moment? In the entire Yiguo Mansion, except for Wang Yi, there was not even a person who could be on the scene, so everyone only sent their sons and nephews over, neither publicizing nor alienating; How can you be as eyeless as Shang Yanshan.

Shang Cheng muttered, and then stopped talking. Knowing that this was the case, he sent Duan Si over. Wang Yi, this guy is not authentic. He must have known the twists and turns in this for a long time, but he didn't remind himself of it, so that he was happy in vain......

He squeezed out of the street, stood on the corner of the street and looked at the crowd in a daze. Look at the sky, that is, around noon, morning or evening...... Simply, go to the East Market to find a restaurant to solve the noon first, and then find a carriage and horse shop to rent a horse, and it is not too late to go back slowly. I remember that when I came, I saw a big restaurant at the corner of the East Market, and that was it!

He had a little discerning the direction of the person, then shook off his long legs and headed straight for Dongshi......