In the last few days of the year, because he didn't have to go to work, Shoufu Shen Shixing was finally able to sleep until he woke up naturally every day. There is not much to do except receive visitors and attend parties.

A few days later, on the twenty-ninth day of the Lunar New Year, Shen Shoufu suddenly felt that there was something missing.

He called his eldest son Shen Yongmao and asked, "Has Lin Tailai come to the door to entangle him in the past few days?" Have you ever gotten into trouble? ”

Shen Yongmao replied, "No." ”

Shen Shoufu said suspiciously: "With Lin Tailai's character of not giving up until he reaches his goal, he gave up so easily? He doesn't want to promote his literary name anymore? ”

Shen Yongmao carefully took out a piece of paper from his arms, "He should be thinking of another way." ”

Shen Shoufu took the piece of paper, but the action was a bit big, and Shen Yongmao shouted: "Father, be careful, don't tear it up!" ”

Shen Shoufu was a little puzzled, what is there to feel sorry for a piece of broken paper?

Then I looked up, and saw a poem printed on it, and the preface was: "Yu Lin Tailai guest residence in Beijing, make five miscellaneous feelings at the end of the year." ”

Shen Shoufu chuckled a few times, it seems that after Lin Tailai was rejected by the official banquets of various government offices, he began to be anxious to distribute small leaflets to spread poetry.

See also the text is: "First, the feast of the official pavilion of the year is opened, and the snowflakes come with the spring." However, the court added a jade tree, so Lin Xiu made Yaotai.

Xie Jiazheng will be on the verge of singing, and Liang Yuanning will be annoyed to give Jian urging. Yingqu is called Song Yu for a long time, and there is no talent for the old time. ”

It can be seen from the first sentence "The banquet of the official cabinet of the year is opened" that this is a description of the recent phenomenon of public banquets of officials of all sizes.

But from the sentences such as "Therefore Lin Xiu made Yaotai", Shen Shoufu saw a strong sense of irony.

And the sentence "There is no return to the old talent" is a satire of a large number of old bureaucrats who are obsessed with being officials and have lost their talents, and the former champion Shen Shoufu feels offended.

As a person who hopes to become the "Prime Minister of Peace", Shen Shixing does not like this kind of poetry that satirizes current affairs.

Shen Yongmao said: "I think it's okay? This poem is still very popular among young scholars and officials, and everyone likes this kind of yin and yang poetry. ”

"Only villains and women are difficult to raise!" Shen Shixing said: "Just printing a few poems to promote your fame is simply wishful thinking. ”

If you can become famous by printing poems and distributing them, then all the bookstore owners are famous poets.

did not have an influence in the upper class, did not arouse the heat of discussion, and no matter how much it was printed, it could only be used as toilet paper.

Shen Yongmao smiled: "It's not that simple, there is a line of words at the back, father, you take a closer look." ”

Shousuke looked at the results again and found that there was a line of words printed at the very end of the paper:

"A collection of five poems in this group is called a collection of five blessings. Those who collect the five blessings before the Lantern Festival can get Lin Tailai's daughter. ”

Shen Shixing: "."

It is no wonder that there is only "one" on this piece of paper, and there is no "two" to "five".

If you make up enough five poems, you can exchange it for a promise from Lin Tailai? Now young people's gameplay is really incomprehensible.

Shen Yongmao carefully took the manuscript back from his father's hand.

Looking at the movements of the big man, Shen Shixing asked in surprise, "What?" Do you want to make up five articles too? ”

Shen Yongmao replied in the affirmative: "Of course, I now have one, three, and five, and I still lack two and four.

Lin Tailai, who killed a thousand knives, must have printed very few of the two and four, I asked all my friends, and no one was willing to give away the two and four at the same time. ”

Shen Shoufu asked again: "Many people are very enthusiastic about this matter?" ”

"Idle is idle, everyone is trying to figure out how to make five, just have some fun!" Shen Yongmao said.

Shen Shoufu questioned, "What do you have to pursue?" What can Lam's promise do? ”

For a Shoufu's son, what is there that his father can't do but Lin Tailai can't do?

Shen Yongmao thought about it and said, "I have a colleague who sneers at me at every turn, but you will only make me patient, father. When I gather the five blessings, let Lin Tai come and beat him! ”

Shen Shixing snorted coldly: "It's just grandstanding!" The wise do not do it. ”

I don't know if it's Lin Tailai or Shen Yongmao.

At noon, Shen Shoufu went to the Hanlin Academy to attend the public banquet, and the cabinet and the Hanlin Yuan were one family in the system, and the public banquet was also together.

At this time, before the banquet began, Shen Shixing first went to the champion hall in the west wing of the atrium to rest.

As the name suggests, the champion hall is a special place for the champion office in the Hanlin Academy to show honor.

Twenty years ago, when Shen Shixing first entered the officialdom, he started from the Champion Hall.

At this time, there were only two "young men" in their thirties and forties in the champion hall, who were talking from ear to ear.

One is Zhu Guozuo, the champion of the eleventh year of Wanli, and the other is the champion of the Tang Dynasty in the fourteenth year of Wanli.

When the two saw Shen Shoufu, they hurriedly got up and saluted, calling them "seniors".

Shen Shoufu looked around and sighed: "The industry is withering, there are only two newcomers left, I don't know who the next newcomer is?" ”

In front of Shen Shixing, the three champions in a row died young at the age of forty or fifty, and it would not be so easy for Shen Shixing to take over.

I have to say that Shen Shixing, who was promoted to the cabinet by Zhang Juzheng in his forties and began to be the first assistant after Zhang Juzheng was liquidated at the age of forty-eight, is also a son of luck in a sense.

"Some time ago, Zhang Yuanxi's predecessors who had been in Longqing for five years were gone." Zhu Guozuo replied.

Speaking of the champions behind Shen Shoufu, except for Zhu Guozuo and Tang Wenwen, two rookies, as of now, most of them are also quite unlucky, either died or Ding Wei, or Zhang Juzheng's son.

Only one Luo Wanhua was still in the officialdom, but he was too close to the Qingliu forces and was sent to Nanjing by Shen Shoufu.

Shen Shixing reminisced about the past eventful years, and sighed: "Don't talk about those sad things, what are you talking about?" ”

Zhu Guozuo replied respectfully: "Have the old-timers heard of Jiwufu? ”

Shen Shixing: "."

Suddenly he didn't want to talk to these two rookies, Shen Shoufu went out again and found his old comrade Shen Cheng chatting in the middle hall.

Inadvertently, I saw two editors, Li Tingji and Guo Zhengyu, standing under the corridor of the editing hall, each holding a few pieces of paper, discussing something fiercely.

I vaguely hear "If you give me five, I'll only have one less" and "Why don't you give me three?" ”

Shen Shixing asked Shen Yiyi: "Hanyuan Cichen is also collecting five blessings?" Don't care about this senior? ”

Shen Yi was embarrassed to find out a few pieces of paper, "It's nothing, right?" Collecting poems is also an elegant game, but it is quite difficult to get together. ”

Shen Shoufu understands that this thing is a performance art from beginning to end, and Lin Tailai uses himself as a pleasure to attract others to participate.

In normal times, doing so might be seen as grandstanding. But now is the time to celebrate the New Year, and it's not against the grain to have fun together.

And this is a kind of fun that can allow a lot of people to participate collectively, which naturally stirs up the popularity of a few poems.

The crowd has almost arrived, but the table has not yet opened, and everyone seems to be waiting for something with a tacit understanding.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, a celebrant eunuch came to the Hanlin Courtyard and asked everyone to make a poem and present it to the emperor with the title of "New Year".

This is the reserved program of the annual Hallym Courtyard banquet, and only the Hallym Courtyard has such a unique treatment.

Everyone has been prepared for this, but the poems with the theme of the New Year have been written badly from ancient times to the present, and it is not easy to be brilliant.

said that it was too late, and then it was too fast, only to see a rare old man in the Hanlin Academy, who came out of the crowd and was the first to present the poem to the celebrant eunuch.

Whose ministry will be so active? Shen Shixing looked fixedly, and it turned out to be Zhao Zhigao, the right attendant of the Ministry of Officials who was more than ten years older than him.

The public banquet of the Hanlin Academy is not limited to the incumbent Hanlin ministers, but also the senior officials who have served as the ministers of the Hanlin Academy can also come to catch up.

Of course, people who don't mix well are generally embarrassed to come over.

Old man Zhao worked as an editor and waiter in the Hanlin Academy, and revised the "Mu Zongshi Record", and he was born as a minister in the root of Miao Hong, so of course he has the qualifications to come to the Hanlin Academy to reminisce about the past.

After the celebrant and eunuch took away a large number of poems, the public banquet of the Hanlin Academy officially began.

Then the people began to eat, drink, and drink, and exchange the five blessings.

When the evening was about to end, the celebrant and eunuch came from the palace again and announced directly:

"The one who has been appointed as the best in the system, Zhao Zhigao, the right attendant of the ministry! Enter the left waiter and reward fifty satin! ”

This result surprised everyone very much, there are all kinds of talents in the Hanlin Academy, and Old Man Zhao is not too prominent, and he is not good at poetry and writing, why did he come out on top today?

Although it is impossible to complete the journey from the right to the left with just one poem, there must be foreshadowing.

However, foreshadowing only means that it is still in the process, and does not mean that there will be a result.

So probably it was this poem that moved the emperor, completed the door, and naturally criticized Zhao Zhigao for taking the position of Zuo Shilang.

From the fifth year of Wanli to the fourteenth year of Wanli, Old Man Zhao has been mixed up outside to the extent that he is unknown and forgotten by the world.

As a result, there has been a sudden counterattack in the past two years, and there are more than 60 people, and in two and a half years, he has been promoted from an acting Nanjing Guozi supervisor to a left waiter of the Ministry of Officials who is only one step away from reaching the top.

Life is unpredictable, nothing more unpredictable than this!

After sending off the eunuchs, everyone at the banquet passed on Zhao Zhigao's poems, and everyone wanted to understand how this poem moved the emperor.

I saw that it was a song of seven uniques:

"The candle shadow shakes the red flame and is still bright,

Han knows himself and accumulates Qiongying.

The old minister braved the cold and put on his clothes,

Listen to the rooster for the first time! ”

After reading it, everyone felt that although the poem was simple in rhetoric and simple in structure, it was extremely majestic, and the pride of being old and strong came to the face.

And the most important thing is that among the New Year's poems that have been written badly, this poem is very special, very new, and easy to attract attention.

In a large number of superficially gorgeous, but seriously routine New Year's poems, it is the greatest advantage to be special and eye-catching, which impresses the emperor.

But this kind of talent that can be particularly eye-catching and write new ideas is not possessed by everyone.

Shen Shoufu found an opportunity and whispered to Zhao Zhigao: "This song is written by Lin Tailai for you, right?" ”

Zhao Zhigao smiled bitterly: "I still can't hide it." ”

Shen Shoufu muttered: "It's really ghostly." ”

Even if the real body does not appear, it seems that there is a shadow of him everywhere, as long as there is a place where his interests are involved.

(End of chapter)