After the rain, the sky is clear, the air is exceptionally fresh, and a looming rainbow can be seen in Xuan'an City.

The lighting in the small courtyard on the outskirts of the city is not very good, and only a trace of sunlight leaks into the atrium due to the obstruction of the surrounding trees in the courtyard.

There was a sound of wooden planks shaking, Zhong Lixuan was sitting in the faint light washing her clothes, the sun was shining on her face, perhaps because of some dazzling eyes, she curled up slightly with her right fist dipped in water to cover her forehead.

Although Situ Xi and Whisper didn't let her do the laundry herself, she said that it was boring to be idle, so she insisted that Whisper carry a wooden bucket to the stream to fetch water for her.

A gust of spring breeze blew, gently picking up the paper on the stone table like a bird, and the rice paper tumbled in the air several times, and finally fell to Zhong Lisu's feet.

Getting up and straightening his slender hands, Zhong Lixuan wiped the water from his hands on his lap slightly, then bent down to pick up the paper on the ground, and looked at the handwriting on it curiously:

"I was trying the wine in a single clothes, and I was scared of the guests, and the time was wasted. May spring stay temporarily, and spring returns like wings. Gone without a trace. ”

"In order to ask where the flowers are, the wind and rain come at night."

"The night comes in the wind and rain, and the burial ...... Isn't it done yet? At this point, the words on the paper come to an abrupt end, leaving only a few small ink spots on the rice paper, as if the lyricist had lost inspiration and was wording.

Still, it's amazingly talented.

Recited the half of the poems on the paper again, Zhong Lixuan had an inexplicable look in her eyes, she knew how to read and was courteous, and she also loved to read in her heart since she was a child, although she was twenty-nine years old and married a woman, but in the end, she had just taken off the title of a girl.

Most sentimental women love beautiful poetry, and Zhong Lisu is the same, but she herself doesn't seem to have a special talent in writing poems and lyrics, so she looks forward to those talented women even more.

In the morning, Situ Xi just sat in the courtyard for a while, but he didn't expect that such a masterpiece would be born under the wave of pen and ink, although it was only half written.

Speaking of which, what kind of person was Xianggong before? What kind of prince is he in Zhaoguo?

When her thoughts came to this, Zhong Li was a little sad, she was lucky, this time of getting along gave her a preliminary understanding of Situ Xi, but how long will such a peaceful life last? Zhongli was stunned.

"Miss, the slave and maid have filled this barrel too much, and it is a little heavy, and it has spilled a lot along the way."

Seeing Whispering coming in with a bucket with both hands, Zhong Lixuan hurriedly and quickly picked up the papers scattered on the ground, arranged them neatly and placed them on the table and pressed them with an inkstone, and then walked quickly to Whisper's side to carry them together, and chuckled:

"Who called you greedy?"

……

Xuan'an City, Yupan Street, sake restaurants.

"Old Zhangtou, is it really not open today?" The door of the restaurant was closed, and there was only one customer in the hall at this time.

"Lang Jun, you have to put your heart and soul into everything, this is what you said, the opening of the Spring Food Party is imminent, and Lao Zhuo also plans to develop a new dish or two with the little girl before the meeting." A somewhat obese middle-aged man sat opposite Situ Xi, smiling, he claimed to be clumsy, but he was not very old.

This restaurant was discovered by Situ Xi a few days ago when he was passing by, he went out for a stroll that day, and on the way back to the house, he smelled a strong fragrance, and followed the smell to find this restaurant.

Yupan Street is a more famous snack street in Xuan'an City, but most of the shops here are small and medium-sized shops, and Xuan'an's famous catering and entertainment "enterprises" are all opened on Lezhen Road, but behind those restaurants are more or less supported by some dignitaries.

The Spring Food Party is an event to be held in two days, led by the government and with the participation of many merchants, aiming to select some of the best foods to eat in Xuan'an City this spring.

Those who place high will not only be rewarded with silver coins, but will also receive some additional favors, such as being able to set up a stall on Yupan Street, or allowing these merchants to use some marketing tactics that are prohibited on weekdays before the end of the Spring Festival.

The state of Chu has very strict control over merchants, and even the common methods such as discounts and hunger marketing have detailed restrictions, not to mention the likes of guanpu.

"Actually, you can look for Zhang Xiucai like those shops around, he has the same surname as you, and maybe he will give you some discounts." Situ Xi took a sip of hot tea, looked at the squinting fat man in front of him and said.

Not everyone can participate in the Spring Food Festival, and it not only requires the store to reach a certain scale, but also has to go through the "audition".

The food vendors on Yupan Street will also be divided into two days, but they must not only report to the officials on the street, but also prepare the corresponding "recommendations", and the prepared dishes and recommendations will be sent to the judges who participate in the tasting.

Through the communication in the past few days, Zhang Fatzi knew that the young man in front of him was a scholar, and he frequently came out of his mouth, so he moved the idea to entrust Situ Xi to write this recommendation for him.

"Lang Jun, are you really clumsy? Most of the dozens of restaurants on this street are looking for the same Zhang Xiucai, how can this be different from them? Besides, although the old man doesn't know a few big words, he also invited a husband for his daughter. She still recognizes the four words 'delicious in the world' written by Zhang Xiucai for the noodle shop next door, and she will charge five taels of silver for the four words, and she will also be 'delicious in the world', and she has failed to take the township test five times, so she really thinks that she has become a high-ranking official? ”

"Daddy!" A handsome woman walked out of the back kitchen at this time and said angrily.

Fortunately, the store was closed early, otherwise his father would be chewing on the root of his tongue again, Xiucai is Xiucai after all, but it is not something that they can talk about.

This woman is dressed in blue and white, about 1.6 meters tall, thin and slender waist, slightly coquettish in appearance, and speaks with the unique soft charm of Jiangnan women.

"Okay, I also brought you this recommendation, you see, but let me say it first, in addition to the deposit, if you really win the ranking at the Spring Food Meeting, the income will be divided into 30% of me." Situ Xi greeted the woman, then took out the paper in his hand and handed it to the two.

Looking at the rice paper with neat handwriting on the table, Zhang Fat immediately smiled, not to mention anything else, this character looks much more upright than that Zhang Xiucai.

"Yu'er, don't hurry up and add wine to Xige'er!" Zhang Fatzi carefully folded the rice paper and put it in his arms, and quickly got up and brought a few plates of hot dishes to Situ Xi from the back kitchen, and then pulled his daughter up to the second floor, estimating that she should have asked her to "translate" the recommendation for herself.

Looking at the food on the table, Situ Xi was very satisfied, and he decided to help the father and daughter not only to make some spare money, but also because their craftsmanship is really good, and they dare to innovate and integrate their whimsical ideas into the ingredients.

In particular, Zhang Yuer's acacia leaf cold pottery and shrimp cakes are absolutely top-notch.

This shrimp cake should be her own idea, and the record of shrimp cake in later generations is also in the Qing Dynasty's "Suiyuan Food List".

One bite down, the outer layer is not greasy, the inner shrimp meat is tender, and this meal does not charge money, Situ Xi feels in a good mood.

After a while, Lao Zhang Tou walked downstairs with Zhang Yu'er, the smile on his face was a little bigger, Zhang Yu'er kept her head down, and secretly glanced at Situ Xi from time to time, the surprise in her eyes couldn't be hidden, and when Situ Xi looked at her, she stared at the ground and stopped looking up.

"Brother Xi'er, don't talk about a lot of clumsiness, even if you come to my restaurant to eat during the Spring Food Party, I have covered all the meals, and there is also this silver, don't be too little, Yu'er and I have bought a lot of ingredients recently, and we don't have a lot of money on hand......" Lao Zhangtou took out a heavy bag of packages and handed it to Situ Xi.

Situ Xi took the money bag and did not shirk, telling the two of them to prepare well, believing that as long as they played normally, they would at least be able to get out of Yupan Street.

"Then I will take my leave, thank you for your hospitality, and wait for your good news." Situ Xi picked up the steamed cakes and shrimp cakes packed for the two of them at home, and waved away.

When he went out of the store, he opened the money bag in his hand, and counted it carefully, there were fifteen taels of silver, and he couldn't help laughing.

"I'm just sorry for the Dongpo monk, your old man's poems, boy, I only sold them for about three thousand yuan this time."

……

Minghe Palace, here is the place where the Chu Emperor approves the folds and deals with political affairs, but at this time there are only two people in this huge hall.

The palace maids and eunuchs who served were all removed, and Emperor Chu was sitting on the palace chair in front of a red sandalwood desk, staring at the old man kneeling in front of him, with no joy or anger on his face.

"Chen Zhitong's own excerpt, why did you hand it over to me?"

"Back to the Holy Lord, the counselor Xu happened to see that the minister was summoned to the palace, and besides, his performance also had something to do with the minister's stargazing academy."

The old man was the chief bachelor of the Stargazing Academy, in charge of the astronomical meteorology of Chu Kingdom, and his white hair showed that he was old, and he should have seen through the red dust, but his voice at this time was actually a little trembling.

"Read it." Don't worry about him, Emperor Chu's voice is neither salty nor light.

"Yes." The old man listened to the order, opened the fold he was holding with both hands, and began to recite.

"Spring and Autumn Prophecy" has clouds: the sky is casting, the world is resentful, and the sea is in turmoil. A few days ago, it rained heavily in the capital Xuan'an, after the rain, Changhong ran through the sky, this is a bad omen, please Your Majesty, this ......"

Reading this, the old man's hands trembled, and he raised his eyes apprehensively to observe the holy face, and some did not dare to continue reading.

"Go on." Emperor Chu squinted slightly, and the old man didn't dare to look at him.

"Changhong runs through the sky, this is a bad omen, and please ask Your Majesty to examine yourself, go to inferior virtues, and do good deeds, and I implore Your Majesty to condemn your own edict and save yourself to quench the wrath of heaven."

The voice became smaller and smaller, and the old man had already buried his head on the ground after reading, prostrate and waited for the thunder to come.

Who knew that Emperor Chu was not only not angry, but laughed out loud:

"Wang Aiqing, you are really old. The older this person gets, the less daring he is, and he looks up at me. I remember that when the emperor was there, you were also in the stargazing academy, and you were in high spirits at that time. ”

"The old minister is old and useless." The old man's voice was already crying.

"The stargazing courtyard can't live without you, get up, it's cold on the ground." The Emperor of Chu held it with one hand.

"Thank you, Your Majesty! Minister, panic! The old man buried his head lower and deliberately used an accent on the word "old".

"Get up. Let's talk about the nursery rhyme sung on the street. Emperor Chu used a commanding tone, and the old man stood up.

Speaking of nursery rhymes, the old man sorted out his thoughts and said:

"Your Majesty, there is a hidden evil intention in that nursery rhyme, and it must have been deliberately done by someone with ulterior motives. After Wechen sent someone to investigate thoroughly, he really gained something, according to several country children, it was taught to them by a masked woman. ”

Silver knee, black hammer arm, a dark arrow in the clouds. This is a hint that there is a fear of a mutiny in the state of Chu.

The mutual transfer of the universe means that heaven and earth are exchanged, and Ziwei Star is the master of the number of buckets.

"Oh? That's a lot of guts. You are doing a good job, I will send someone to check and ask your people to cooperate. "Emperor Chu was finally angry, this matter had touched his bottom line.

"Wechen takes orders." The old man bowed and saluted, and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, it seems that he has survived today. Chen Zhitong, Chen Zhitong, in order to repay your favor, I almost took my old life.

"Stand down."

Hearing the three words of Emperor Chu, the old man listened to the fairy sound, and after giving a salute in a panic, he tiptoed out of the Minghe Palace.

"What has Huai Minggong been busy with lately?" When the scholar of the Stargazing Academy withdrew from the palace, Emperor Chu casually threw a stack of books in his hand on the table, and asked in a lazy tone towards the empty palace.

As soon as the words fell, a man in regular clothes walked out from behind the curtain on the side of Emperor Chu, and he bowed slightly and replied:

"Back to the emperor, Duke Huaiming lived in a simple house, drank and had fun at home, and he hadn't left the Guogong Mansion for ten days."