Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, it is the twentieth year of Jiajing, in mid-December.

Although it is already December, this year's Daming is only dry and cold, and there is no snow. Such an abnormal climate makes the Ming people sitting up and down like pins and needles.

As the saying goes, the snow is a good year, for the people, there is no snow this winter, and the harvest of the next year is almost certain, and it must be bad.

As far as officials are concerned, the absence of a good harvest means that it is difficult to collect national taxes, which will inevitably affect the treasury revenue and expenditure in the coming year. Once the national situation changes, whether it is a natural disaster or a military disaster, it will catch Daming off guard.

Among them, the most troublesome person is Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi. No snow in October, and wait. There is no snow in November, and I am restless. No snow in December...

In the same month, three consecutive edicts were issued one after another.

But even so, God doesn't give any face, and the snow still doesn't fall.

Now it is already the end of the year, in order to show that he is a poetry and book heirloom, the Yan Mansion on Qianmen East Street hung a brand-new lantern, and the inscription on the red lantern is "Happiness", "Qing'an", "Shunhe", etc., all of which are written by Yan Song, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

Yan Song's words are good, how good is it? The official documents of the Ministry of Rites, as long as they are presented to Zhu Houxi, must be transcribed by Yan Song himself. In other words, in the entire Ministry of Rites, only Yan Song's words are favored by Zhu Houxi the most.

Qianmen East Street is a gathering area for the first rank of the imperial court, and the families of officials who come and go have opened the curtain of the carriage to watch the lively scene of the Yan Mansion.

Passing by this carriage, there was a long line of numbered blue draped sedan chairs, which entered the gate of the Yan Mansion in order.

Zhao Wenhua turned over and dismounted, and his own servants from the Yan Mansion came to lead the horse, and the housekeeper of the Yan Mansion stepped forward and greeted him with a smile: "Lord Zhao." ”

Zhao Wenhua smiled kindly and said, "As soon as I reported to the East Building, it was said that the twenty beautiful girls from Shanxi Road had arrived." ”

The butler hung his head and said yes, and turned to report it.

After a while, Yan Shifan tidied up his clothes and greeted him out of the door.

Yan Shifan smiled lightly, bowed slowly, and said warmly: "Big brother is here." ”

Zhao Wenhua returned the salute and asked, "How is the godfather?" ”

"My father is still in good health, and Brother Lao is worried."

Zhao Wenhua looked back at the servant beside him and said, "Bring something." ”

"Yes." The servant waved his hand again, and the four servants held the generous gift in both hands and handed it to the people of the Yan Mansion.

Since Zhao Wenhua worshiped Yan Song as his godfather, every time he came to Yan's mansion, he would inevitably give a big gift, to Yan Song, to Ouyang's family, to Yan Shifan, and even more than 20 concubines of Yan Shifan. In this regard, this god-young master's popularity in the Yan Mansion is very good.

Yan Shifan straightened his belt again and said with a smile: "Big brother is too polite." ”

Zhao Wenhua teased: "Which lady will serve the East Building so elegantly?" ”

Yan Shifan didn't blush, and replied loudly: "Nineteen, somehow I changed my soft language to Wu Nong, and it was wonderful to call and call." ”

Zhao Wenhua smiled in a low voice and said, "Do you know that there is a Jinshi this year, and now he is in the pedestrian department, and he is in charge of the Hajj and asks his name is Yan Maoqing?" ”

"Ahh Yan Shifan seemed to have heard someone mention it, but he was not very familiar with it, and replied: "I have heard of it." ”

Zhao Wenhua replied: "It's meaningless if you haven't heard of it, but Yan Maoqing is a fellow practitioner." I just heard Donglou mention that Mrs. Nineteen had recently changed Wu Nong's soft language, and I remembered that he had mentioned it to Brother Wei that a little lady in his room had learned a palace accent, haha, it was also wonderful. ”

Yan Shifan turned his eyes and thought about it, this is a new way to play. He smiled and said, "I'll see him another day." ”

Zhao Wenhua nodded.

Yan Shifan smiled and said, "How is the show girl in Shanxi Dao?" ”

Zhao Wenhua smiled, his palms struck each other twice, and a row of twenty sedan chairs was pulled open one by one by the servants standing outside.

One by one, the show girls took small steps, stepped off the sedan chair, and stood in two rows in a neat and orderly manner.

Zhao Wenhua pointed to a petite girl in the second row and said, "That, surnamed Zhou, named Chaolu, is good at dancing." ”

is good at dancing, and her figure is softer than that of ordinary girls.

Yan Shifan's mouth was dry unconsciously, and he straightened up, and said, "It's her." ”

"Zhou Chaolu." Zhao Wenhua shouted.

This girl surnamed Zhou didn't understand what was going on, and she was already taken away by the messenger around her. On the other side, a messenger brought an alternate show girl from outside and stuffed it directly into Zhou Chaolu's position.

Yan Shifan said in a low voice: "Yesterday, Xia Ge Lao made another article about Fu Shou Ning Shu, Your Majesty was already worried about the lack of snow, but Xia Ge Lao's green words became more and more perfunctory, and Your Majesty's anger can be seen. ”

Zhao Wenhua chuckled and replied, "Foolish brother, I'll go and send blessings to Your Majesty." As he spoke, he glanced at the twenty sedan chairs. Then he said: "The East Building should also hurry up and make a green word, and come to respond to Xia Ge Lao." ”

"Haha." Yan Shifan laughed and bowed his hand: "The younger brother sent the eldest brother out." ”

"Good!"

Twenty palanquins filled with fresh life were lined up in a row, going to the deep palace that sucked their lives.

The merchant women in the capital market looked at them with envious eyes, but the old woman selling tea on the side said: "I don't know if this batch is going to be widowed or to enjoy happiness?" ”

Zhao Wenhua left the Yan Mansion and went straight to the palace, he was overjoyed. Now that he has the Yan Mansion as his backer, his official position is getting bigger and bigger, and his financial path is getting wider and wider, so it is not difficult to be an official.

The eunuch Qin Fu, the eunuch who was in charge of the seal, counted the names of the show girls according to the genealogy of the text, and returned the official document to Zhao Wenhua, and Zhao Wenhua's errand for this trip was over.

Qin Fu looked sideways at Chen Hong behind him and asked, "Gonggong Chen, are you going to report the good news to Your Majesty?" ”

Chen Hong snorted secretly, but his face was full of smiles, and replied: "Your Majesty has been bored for many days, and there is finally a happy event. ”

Listening to Chen Hong's words, Qin Fu smiled, as if to show his broad-mindedness, and said like a charity: "Father-in-law Chen, go with our family." ”

"Yes, Father-in-law Xie Zhangyin." Chen Hong lowered his head, Qin Fu crossed him and walked out of the door, Chen Hong raised his eyes slightly and looked at him, his eyes became colder and colder, he snorted lightly, straightened his sleeves, and followed.

Qin Fu came to Zhu Houxi's dormitory and saw Huang Jin guarding outside the palace gate.

The two of them shook each other, Huang Jin said: "It has not snowed since the beginning of winter, Your Majesty is alone in the palace burning incense and fasting and praying for snow, and my heart is not happy, if it is not a good thing..." ”

Qin Fu nodded and replied, "It's Zhao Wenhua who came back from Shanxi Dao." ”

"I see. It seems that the troubles of the displaced people in Shanxi Province in August have passed. Hey, too many people have died this year. ”

Qin Fu raised his eyes to look at the door of the hall and said, "Your Majesty is meditating, I will wait here, and then go in when I have time." So he stood quietly and waited.

Huang Jin looked up at the dark and oppressive sky, seeing that the New Year is over, I don't know when the first snow will come, God bless it.

Ay.

Huang Jin sighed, the hot breath exhaled out of his lips, turning into mist and rising and dissipating in mid-air.