Mao Gui and Wang Qing are outstanding, but their qualifications are still shallow, and when they heard that the Queen Mother was sent, they were overjoyed, and they did not wait for darkness to hire a carriage from the Xuanwu Gate and went straight to the lamp market.

Although the chamberlain is a person who has purified his body, the man's affection is still there, and many chamberlains form a "pair of food" with the palace maid in the palace, and some even marry wives in a house outside the palace.

At the beginning, Wang Qing moved the idea of marrying Qiu Niang, the dancing girl of Qixian Tower, and Qiu Niang also nodded, but half a year ago, the eunuch Xi Ning, the eunuch of the imperial prison seal, snatched love with a knife and forcibly married Qiu Niang, Wang Qing was sad for several months, until now he has relieved himself.

The carriage was very bumpy. Mao Gui glanced at Wang Qing, his buttocks were squeezed over there, one hand was on his shoulder, and he said with pity: "I said Brother Wang, your arms can't twist your thighs, so you will forget Qiu Niang." It's a pity that Qiu Niang, who is like a flower, has become Xining's wife! ”

Wang Qing's eyebrows were raised, his chest was on fire, and he wanted to jump up and scold: Do you know how to persuade people! Lao Tzu finally forgot eight or nine points, and you came to expose the old scars again, isn't this a intention to make Lao Tzu uncomfortable!

Wang Qing snorted coldly and said angrily: "What if you can't forget?" I don't have a good field and a beautiful house given by the emperor like others, how can I afford to marry Qiu Niang? ”

Mao Gui shook his head and said: "The middle house in the suburbs of Beijing is not worth much silver, and there are many brothers in the palace who buy houses in the suburbs of Beijing to marry wives, I said Brother Wang, you don't even have this bit of silver, right?" ”

Wang Qing's heart was dripping blood, the corners of his mouth twitched a few times, and he glared at Mao Gui and said, "Where is there no grass at the end of the world?" I also have a good look, Miss Aling of Caifeng Building, a recognized beauty! A hint of pride immediately appeared on his face.

"Don't mention that merry girl, she's not a fuel-efficient lamp! You are a clean person, if you marry her, in case that girl goes out of the wall, then you have to cuckold every day? ”

Wang Qing's eyes were on fire, and after enduring it for a long time, he turned his head and yelled at the coachman: "Do you know how to drive?" Lao Tzu's bones are scattered! ”

The coachman was shocked, the hand holding the reins pulled hard, the horse neighed and stood up, the carriage immediately leaned back, Mao Gui and Wang Qing shook a few times, and rolled to the ground.

The two of them got up in embarrassment and dusted off their bodies.

The coachman trotted in front of the two of them, desperately trying to compensate.

Mao Gui saw Wang Qing's expression of wanting to eat people, so he instructed the coachman to return to the carriage, and said to Wang Qing with a smile: "Brother Wang, you and I are on an errand for the Queen Mother, if you can please the Queen Mother, you will definitely serve as the celebrant in the future, don't you want the wind to be windy, and you want to be rainy?" If you are lucky, within ten years, you will become a eunuch in the court, and at that time, in addition to the emperor and the queen mother, who else dares to make Brother Wang uncomfortable? ”

This piece of cake was painted at the right time, but I saw Wang Qing's face a little pale, snorted lightly, and was dragged back to the car by Mao Gui.

The coachman rode his horse carefully along the way, and the carriage did not reach the entrance of the light market until nightfall.

Shangyuan night lantern began in the early Tang Dynasty, when only one night of lamp, in the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong added two nights around the fifteenth day of the first month to burn the lamp, became a three-night lamp, called "Jin Wu Chi ban, open the market to burn the lamp, forever for the style". Tang Xuanzong wanted to "Yongwei style", the Great Song Emperor did not buy it, the Northern Song Dynasty Qiande five years, Song Taizu issued an edict: "The court has nothing to do, the year valley is repeated, and the Shangyuan can increase the seventeen or eighteen two nights", so the Shangyuan lamp became a five-night lamp. In the third year of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty set the thirteenth day of the first month to "pre-release the Lantern Festival", which was increased to six night lights. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was even more generous, and he ordered to put the lights on for ten days! The lantern market began on the eighth day of the first month and ended on the seventeenth day of the first month.

Dong'anmen lamp city has a total of three rows and four columns, in the words of the Ming Dynasty, it is "the business travel of the province, the treasure of the barbarian Fujian, the bone Dong of the three dynasties and eight generations, the five and four people's takes, all set", "the opening of the nine cities, the goods are divided with the team, people are not careful, the car is not rotated, the city of Khotan is overflowing, and the side stream is Baidian".

The 10-day lantern market is flourishing on the eve of the new year. But I saw colorful lanterns hanging high everywhere, like flowers; From time to time, there are fireworks, and the stars and moon are not shining; Many music classes and juggling classes occupy the scene for the play, and the audience is like a cloud; The boy beat the drum with joy and continued all night.

Ordinary people flow in the market, and nobles, eunuchs, and wealthy families set up bead curtains on the city tower to view from afar. There are also literati and scholars gathered in the teahouses and restaurants around the lamp market, that is, the scene is full of poems.

Mao Gui and Wang Qing didn't care about the excitement, and ran errands for the Queen Mother, but the two of them worked hard, and in less than half an hour, they ran to more than a dozen market buildings in one go, and purchased all the things listed in the inventory, and only spent a total of 800 taels of silver, which was really cheap and good.

Before leaving, Wang Qing stayed in a city building, holding a string of Yingluo in his hand, and was reluctant to leave for a long time.

The old woman in the shop said expectantly: "This is the authentic Wusi Tibetan Yingluo, rare in the world, the official has hit the luck, if you fancy it, only charge you fifty taels of silver!" The "Wusizang" in the old woman's mouth is the current Tibet, which was the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty at that time.

Wang Qing smiled: "Fifty taels of silver? It's not expensive. ”

At this time, Mao Gui attached to Wang Qing's ear and said: "Today is not an errand for the royal supervisor, if you want to do private goods, you have to pay for it yourself!" Fifty taels of silver is not expensive, only the price of a high-class mansion on the outskirts of Beijing. ”

Wang Qing was stunned for a moment, threw down the Yingluo casually, and said, "The fineness is too inferior, it's not worth five taels of silver!" ”

The old woman immediately lowered her face and sneered at Wang Qing.

The two got into the carriage and hurriedly urged the coachman to return to the Forbidden City as soon as possible.

The more and more people who came to enjoy the lanterns and the market gathered, the carriage really couldn't move, and if you went any further, most of them would be crushed by the surging flow of people.

The two jumped out of the carriage, and Mao Gui said: "It's better to go back to the palace in the dead of night, there will be a teahouse here, you and I just take the opportunity to taste tea and enjoy the grand scenery of the lamp market." ”

Wang Qing nodded vigorously.

The coachman stopped the carriage next to the teahouse, tied the horse, took out a gourd from his bosom, and sat on the low fence to drink by himself.

When the two entered the teahouse, they were disappointed to hear that the private room upstairs was already full, so they had to sit down by the window in the general room downstairs.

After the tea servant served tea, Mao Gui said: "Please pay more attention to the carriage outside the window, I want to steal." ”

Wang Qing replied briskly: "Brother Mao, don't worry, I'm facing the carriage here." Then he raised his eyes and scanned the tea guests, only to see that from his own table, there were two middle-aged Confucian scholars with extraordinary spirit sitting at the fourth table, which was particularly eye-catching. Next to them was a girl of six or seven years old, looking out of the window across the street.

Even if he only looked at the side, Wang Qing felt that the girl was very handsome.

Wang Qing turned his head to look out the window, only to see a magnificent colorful building across the street, which was full of colorful lanterns, which were shaped like fish, insects, birds and beasts, flipped and swam away with the wind. The dazzling bead curtain is like a willow supporting the wind, making a crisp and pleasant sound.

"Hey, which lord is this the city building? It's magnificent! Wang Qing sighed.

Mao Gui was obviously very thirsty, so he just buried his head in drinking tea, and didn't bother to look out the window.

"Hey, those two Confucian scholars are so good-looking!" Wang Qing sighed again.

Mao Gui raised his head and scolded softly: "You kicked the donkey in the head?" Surprised! Reluctantly, he turned his head to look behind him, and then quickly turned his head with a timid expression.

Wang Qing hurriedly leaned his head forward and asked curiously, "What's wrong?" ”

"Shhhhh Mao Gui lowered his voice and said: "These two are Yongle Dynasty Jinshi, today's famous people in Beijing. Optimistic, the older one in the window is Pang Zhe, who was a member of the official worship department back then, and lived in seclusion two years ago. The one in the back window is Lu Xi, the current member of the Ministry of Rites, and he is the literary teacher of Prince Yue. ”

"As for Pang Zhe, I know this person, in the past two years, he has chosen three wastelands to live in seclusion, and has been driven away by wealthy nobles three times, hehe, this Jingshi's heroism is really amazing! In addition to those few pieces of official land, almost all the wasteland in Beijing has been occupied, and Mr. Pang is only afraid that he will go into the deep mountains and old forests in the suburbs to feed the beasts! Hey. ”

"Don't hey anymore! Pang Zhe is a ruthless corner, laughing and scolding are all articles, and he damaged the current eunuch Mr. Wang Zhenwang, the current celebrant and eunuch, at the banquet. He doesn't like us servants the most, but don't let him see us. ”

"However, Lu Xi has always followed the rules······"

Before Wang Qing finished speaking, Lu Xi's laughter came from there: "I follow the rules just because I am not as talented and agile as Brother Pang, if I have Brother Pang's whimsy, I will occasionally deviate from the norm." ”

I don't know why Lu Xi's voice suddenly became so loud, Mao Gui and Wang Qing couldn't help but be stunned when they heard this.

At this moment, the girl walked straight over and walked straight out the door.

"What a beautiful girl!" Wang Qing sighed secretly in his heart, then got up and waved his hand to Pang Zhe and Lu Xi, and was about to speak, but was slammed down by Mao Gui.

Mao Gui turned his back to Pang Zhe and Lu Xi, but he didn't know that the girl was quietly walking outside the door, and thought that Wang Qing wanted to get close, so he said angrily: "Aren't you looking for scolding?" Equinox! ”

Wang Qing was unwilling, but when he saw Mao Gui's stern eyes, he had to shake his head helplessly.

Suddenly, Lu Xi jumped up, looked around quickly, and then walked quickly to the door.