The days have passed in a hurry, the Zhongyuan Festival of the sixteenth year of Qingzhi is coming, the streets and alleys of Chang'an have begun to be lively again, the Zhongyuan Festival is the July Half Ghost Festival of the later generations, it is the day of the sacrifice to the ancestors in the middle of the year, this is a big festival in the Tang Dynasty, every household has to prepare sacrifices.

At noon that day, Zhang Huan returned from the inspection of Daming Palace, and he was just about to enter the gate of the East Inner Garden, when he heard someone behind him calling him, "Go sick!" ”

Zhang Huan stopped his horse and looked back, only to see a low-grade official in a light green court uniform running not far away. He laughed, jumped off his horse and greeted him, and the person who came was his former best friend Song Lianyu.

Both punched each other at the same time, and both burst out laughing.

Zhang Huan looked him up and down, and couldn't help but smile and said: "You kid has changed when he puts on an official uniform, and he almost can't recognize it, tell me quickly, what kind of official did you get?" ”

"Aren't you the same? It's still Sipinbo. ”

Song Lianyu said sourly: "I am now in Guanglu Temple, and I am a petty official of the eighth grade, and I am 108,000 miles away from you!" ”

"Shame's order?" Zhang Huan smiled slightly and said, "I don't feel like it, but I think you are a vinegar order!"

Seeing that he was about to release the court, Zhang Huan didn't feel that his throat was itching, so he grabbed Song Lianyu and said with a smile: "I'll invite you to drink, and by the way, tell me about everyone's situation." ”

Song Lianyu's face was embarrassed, but she couldn't stand his drag, so she had to go with him.

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The two rode slowly towards Danfeng Gate, Song Lianyu thought of the changes in the past six months, he couldn't help but say with some emotion: "A few months ago, we were in high spirits, and we all came to Chang'an for our lofty ambitions, but in just half a year, each of us went our separate ways. And I was admitted to Tanhualang, and I also ranked third in the official selection test, but I could only start from the bottom and work hard to get promoted year after year, but I was much luckier than Zheng Fatzi and Lin Zhiyu who returned to their hometowns. ”

"What about Zhao Yan? Where did he go? Zhang Huan was silent for a moment and then asked.

"Him!"

Song Lianyu smiled bitterly and said: "It's really funny to say, his father is just a small official, he has no favor in Beijing, and the selection of the officials is barely passed, and he was originally put in a small county in Lingnan as the main book, but his sister-in-law somehow actually made a friendship with Chu Shangshu of the Criminal Department, Chu Shangshu greeted the Ministry of Officials, and Zhao Yan turned around and became the master of Jiangdu County. ”

Sister-in-law? Zhang Huan thought about it as soon as he thought about it, it was Pingping, he knew in his heart that Chu Xingshui was probably still looking at his face, he smiled and asked, "What about Pingping!" Did she also return to Shu County? ”

"Nope! Her mother wanted her to marry, and I heard that she fled to Jiangdu. ”

Speaking of this, Song Lianyu hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice: "Go sick, I'm already married." ”

"Really?" Zhang Huan was very surprised, he patted Song Lianyu's shoulder and smiled: "Then congratulations, I'll make up for you when I go back!" ”

"He Yi, forget it!" Song Lianyu was not too happy and seemed a little depressed.

Zhang Huan glanced at him, slightly surprised in his heart, at this time the two had already walked out of the Daming Palace, and came to the light house shop diagonally opposite the Danfeng Gate, there were many restaurants at the entrance of the fang, all of which were for the business of officials.

Generally speaking, the business of restaurants near the official mansion will not be very good, but the Tang Dynasty is an exception, drinking and eating are out of their own pockets, and the court does not care too much, even if there is a loophole to include the wine money in the official expenses, the ministers generally disdain it, if they are caught by political opponents, so they are impeached and lost to office, it is called more than worth the loss.

However, the Tang Dynasty has been thinking about it for a long time, and the imperial court advocates thrift for hundreds of officials, so these restaurants are too luxurious to arrange but have no business, so the restaurants are desperately making a fuss about elegance, or digging a bright moon pool in front of the building, and then building a three-step bridge; Or plant a few clusters of green bamboos at the back of the house, and ask the celebrities to play the clear sound under the bamboo.

Zhang Huan and Song Lianyu came to a restaurant called Shuxiang Mendi, this restaurant is located in the corner, there is a mile from the door of the fang, the location is partial, so the officials are too lazy to run away, near noon, other restaurants are full of guests, but this shop has only five or six small officials sitting in the lobby to eat noodles, and the business seems to be very cold.

Seeing that Zhang Huan and the others had the intention of entering the store, the shopkeeper who had been on time for a long time rushed out like a whirlwind as if the tail had been burned, and welcomed the two into the store with a very enthusiastic and humble attitude.

Zhang Huan swept around the door and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper, why is today's business even worse than yesterday?" ”

"The market is not good, how can there be business?" The shopkeeper sighed and hurriedly invited the two upstairs.

"I love the quietness here!"

Zhang Huan found a private room by the side of the road, he smiled, and then turned back to a few soldiers and said, "You go and order food yourself, and I'll settle the account later." ”

The two sat down, and the shopkeeper served them wine first, Zhang Huan took a sip of the wine glass and said with a smile: "Tell me about it!" Whose daughter did Tanhualang marry? ”

At the mention of his marriage, Song Lianyu's eyes immediately flashed a trace of gloom, he sighed lightly and said: "On the night of the Qujiang banquet, the eldest grandson of Guanglu Temple found me, saying that his daughter had taken a fancy to me and was willing to recruit me as a son-in-law. ”

"What does the old man's son-in-law have to do with you?"

Zhang Huan saw that his expression was gloomy, so he smiled and patted him on the shoulder and persuaded: "A manly husband works his own, as long as the husband and wife are affectionate, what does her father and mother do!" ”

"But, but..."Song Lianyu said two buts in a row, he couldn't say any more, he sighed, drank the wine in the cup, and couldn't help but burst into tears, "A wrong thought, cast into eternal hatred, hate!" ”

With a sigh, he took the flask and drank it one by one, and never said a word again.

Marriage is like wearing shoes, the size of which is only known to the wearer himself, Zhang Huan saw him so painful, he didn't know what kind of woman he had met, and his curiosity was great, but this is a private matter between husband and wife, and he didn't want to ask more.

The two drank a few more glasses of stuffy wine, and Song Lianyu suddenly remembered something, so he smiled bitterly and said: "I am sick and now famous in the Tang Dynasty, my father-in-law didn't know where to learn about the relationship between the two of us, so I asked me to invite you to a family banquet tonight." ”

Zhang Huan picked up the wine glass and smiled slightly: "Is it that your father-in-law still has a daughter who is not married?" ”

"Yes! And this time he took out his concubine. ”

Zhang Huan drank all the wine in his hand, glanced at him and said with a smile: "You kid got on the thief ship, why do you want to pull me up again?" ”

Song Lianyu hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I'm just passing on a word, it's up to you whether I go or not." ”

Having said that, Song Lianyu couldn't help but say more: "Actually, that eldest grandson is okay, you might as well take a look." ”

"Let's talk about that later!"

The two drank more than a dozen glasses, Song Lianyu borrowed wine to drown her sorrows, and finally fell drunk on the table.

"Why is it that the amount of alcohol is not good." Zhang Huan smiled and pushed him, but Song Lianyu only muttered a few words, but did not wake up.

Zhang Huan saw that he was sleeping soundly, and pushed him not to move, so he smiled helplessly and helped him up.

'Smack! Song Lianyu dropped a booklet, about the size of a palm, which was cut and sewn from hemp paper, Zhang Huan picked it up, and saw that it was full of dense small characters, and the handwriting was quite sloppy.

There is no need to open it, only read the first page, Zhang Huan couldn't help but shake his head, it read: 'The lady is above, for her husband committed ten major sins yesterday, and he repents as follows: 1. I didn't return home at noon, and the sin is unforgivable..... and finally added a line of annotation, 'The tone is not sincere, I'm afraid I can't get through, so I have to rewrite.' ’

"What kind of lady did you marry, why do you have to go back even at noon?"

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Huan was puzzled, he drank a few more glasses of wine by himself, and then pushed the table and stood up, "Little Er, check out!" ”

shouted twice, but there was no movement, Zhang Huan walked quickly to the staircase, he was about to shout again, only to see a few more people walking into the lobby, and Xiao Er was greeting them respectfully.

"Cui Xiong!"

Zhang Huan was suddenly surprised to find that the person who walked in the front was actually Cui Xiong, who risked his credit at the beginning of the year, and the person next to him was Zhu Jun, the lieutenant general of the Longwu Army.

Seeing that they were about to go upstairs, Zhang Huan quickly walked back to the elegant room and closed the door behind him.

"Why did you take me here to drink, it's cold and there are no women, it's so uncomfortable, why don't you go to Pingkangfang?"

"Da Lang still have to be careful, the head of the family has been paying attention to you a lot these days, the location here is remote, it is not easy to be bumped into by others, I will invite you to Pingkangfang at night."

"Huh! Or are you thoughtful. The footsteps came from far and near, and gradually walked away, they went up to the third floor, and heard Cui Xiong's laughter from a distance, "It's really good that you gave me that woman yesterday, thank you!" It's just that I've been a little tight lately, can you ......"