In March, Xuanwei Mansion is full of flowers and willow green, the scenery is particularly beautiful, many rich families and literati will choose to go to the suburbs in this season, and the local Niulan River is the best spring outing place for Xuanwei Mansion people.

Although the name of the Niulan River is vulgar, the scenery here is beautiful and moving, because most of the banks of the Niulan River are steep and the water level is low, and it is not convenient to divert water for irrigation, so the embankment and vegetation here are very well protected.

On this day, a group of people and horses appeared on the official road along the river, and in front of them were five young people riding a spring horse and dressed as scholars, walking gracefully.

In the middle is a large carriage with luxurious decoration, and when you look at the exterior of the carriage and the horses pulling it, you can know that the people sitting in the carriage are either rich or noble.

At the back of the procession was an ordinary carriage, on which grooms and cooks sat on the wheels, followed by eight or nine servants on foot, trotting to keep up with the procession.

Sitting in the middle of the luxury car is the owner of the largest jewelry store in Xuanwei City, Song Yuanwai, who traveled with his beautiful relatives today, and specially invited several students from the school to go together.

Shengyuan, also known as Xiucai, is a famous scholar, although he was invited by the Song Dynasty to travel, but he still wanted to maintain the demeanor and integrity of the scholar, one by one riding on the spring horse, holding his head high, as if this trip could not make them happy.

Song was not angry, firstly, the businessman was broad-minded, and secondly, he had other purposes for this trip.

Song Yuanwai invited these students to go with him, just to have more contact with the literati, so as to show that he was not only a businessman friend, but also had a wide range of friends in Shilin.

Besides, if you have a good relationship with these talents, if they go to high school in the future, you will have a few more friends who are officials, which will definitely be good for future business, and if you don't make friends with them in advance, the cost will be higher in the future.

Even if they don't get a higher reputation in the future, they may come out to make money as they get older, so that they can invite them to work in their own stores, and they will kill two birds with one stone.

Song Yuanwai poked his head out of the carriage window and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, you will arrive at Wanshuidu in front, where the terrain is flat and the water flow is slow, you can set up a tent, have a small picnic, and there are boats and bamboo rafts at the ferry, which is suitable for boating on the river and watching the scenery." ”

The five Xiucai in front of him just hummed, and no one specifically answered him, Song Yuanwai didn't think it was wrong, and after a while, everyone arrived at Wanshuidu.

This is really a good place for spring camping, I saw that this place is surrounded by green trees, the grass is like a mat, the Niulan River is not far away, the river water is crystal clear, it is a good place to play.

After Song Yuanwai and his entourage arrived here, they stopped, and Song Yuanwai hugged two beautiful concubines and accompanied the five Xiucai to the riverbank to watch the river scenery and mountains.

The two grooms led the horses of the cart and the five talented horses to the river to drink water and graze.

The servants unloaded a large amount of spring travel materials from the latter wagon, which was dazzling and numerous, and soon piled up a large pile on the grass.

The four servants quickly set up two tents, and each spread a large cloth on the ground in front of the tent, and all kinds of prepared fruits, pastries, cold dishes, and other meals were quickly arranged.

Ten zhang away from the downwind of the camp, the chef of the Song Mansion had already set up a temporary stove and a large pot rack, and then a servant stuffed the dry firewood brought from the car into the hearth and lit it, and the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, as well as various ingredients that had been cut and marinated in advance were also taken out.

With the help of a few servants, the chef quickly prepared four or five dishes.

When everything was ready, there were servants who went to invite the master and the five Xiucai masters to come back for dinner, and the five Xiucai occupied a dining cloth, and Song Yuanwai and his two beautiful concubines also occupied a dining cloth.

The remaining chefs, servants, and grooms had no tablecloths, and had to sit on the grass beside them.

Song Yuanwai took the lead in raising his glass and raised his glass to the five talented masters: "Ladies and gentlemen, Song is fortunate to be able to travel with you today, I am really happy, I will give you a glass first." ”

Song Yuanwai got up, took the wine glass, bent down to the five Xiucai, then took the wine glass and drank it all, and turned the wine glass over for everyone to see.

After all, Zhong Xiucai had a short mouth at this time, and his attitude was not as arrogant as just now, so he also raised his glass politely, and then drank the wine in the cup.

Song Yuanwai was extremely enthusiastic, and specially sent his two beautiful concubines over to pour wine and make up for the talents, and when he was halfway drunk, he asked the two beautiful concubines to play the piano and the other to dance, mobilizing the enthusiasm of the five romantic talents.

The servants, cooks, and coachmen sat on the ground, ate some vegetable soup, and then waited quietly for the master's orders.

After three rounds of drinking, the talents were not as reserved as they were at the beginning, everyone became dissolute, "obscene" two crooked poems from time to time, and then told a few crooked jokes that were not included in "Xiaolin Guangji", and laughed at the beautiful concubines outside the Song Dynasty.

All this fell in the eyes of Song Yuanwai, he was not angry, and silently thought in his heart: "It seems that there is no scholar in this world who does not succumb to wine and wealth, and this is easy to do." ”

This picnic activity has been going on for more than an hour, and after they are full of wine and food, the talents shouted that they wanted to go boating on the river, and Song Yuanwai naturally wanted to accompany them.

When they had gone, the servants hurried up to clean up the mess of cups and plates, and the meadows, which must be cleaned up before they returned.

The talents cheered and ran to the ferry wharf, only to find that the boat and the captain who usually carried passengers on the river were not on this side of the river, and there was only a lonely boat tied to the dock opposite, but the captain was nowhere to be seen.

Although the Niulan River is only more than ten zhang wide, but the water depth is three or four zhang, there is no ferry boat and the captain, no one can enjoy the beautiful scenery on the river.

The showmen began to think that the captain had gone to the other side to relieve himself, but after waiting for a quarter of an hour, he didn't see the captain appear, and they couldn't help but be a little impatient.

They are all young people who have drunk alcohol, and when they are in an unhappy mood at this time, they naturally point to the other side and denounce them, Xiucai scolds people in a variety of ways, and they don't have much dirty words, and the scolding is very civilized.

After listening to a few words, the two beautiful concubines outside Song Yuanwai thought it was funny, and couldn't help but laugh, I really didn't expect these scholars to scold people, and they were so unmoral.

The talents saw that the two beautiful concubines were happy to hear it, and they scolded even more happily, racking their brains to renovate the scolding bridge, so as to show that they were good at learning.

It took a long time to scold a stick of incense, and the showmen were tired of scolding, but the captain still didn't appear, and just when everyone thought that they were going to return in defeat today, three figures appeared on the other side.

Walking in the front was a tall, handsome sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man, dressed in a well-fitting yellow coat and a scholar's scarf on his head, which was eye-catching from afar.

And he was followed by two servants, the one in front was a thin middle-aged man in gray, nearly fifty years old, with a narrow face and an eagle nose, a weathered face, and blind in one eye, he didn't look like a good person, but looking at his respectful appearance to the young man in front of him, it was estimated that he was the young man's housekeeper.

Walking at the end was an eight-foot-tall man in Tsing Yi, with big ears and vigorous steps, carrying a large package on his back and a cooked copper stick in his hand, which seemed to be a housekeeper and bodyguard.

When the talents saw the three people opposite, they hurriedly waved their hands and shouted, "Young man, are you going to cross the river?"

The yellow-clothed young man in front of him replied loudly, "Yes, why are you asking this?"

The tallest of the talents came out and asked, "Young man, since you want to cross the river, quickly row the boat over there, and we will wait for this boat to enjoy the river view?"

The young man in yellow looked at the boat on the ferry, frowned, and said, "This should be the owner's thing, I won't tell you to take it, isn't it a bit excessive?" Why don't we wait for a while, and when the master comes, we will cross the river." ”

Gao Daxiucai said with an unhappy face: "You young man, we are for your good, we have been waiting for two quarters of an hour, and we haven't waited for the captain to come back, it is estimated that something has gone home, if you wait, I don't know when to wait." ”

The young man in yellow looked at the sky, the sun had just passed in the middle of the day and said: "It's just past noon now, why don't we wait for a while, look at all of you dressed up as scholars, you should be well versed in the truth of 'gentleness, courtesy, and frugality', why are you so anxious?"

Gao Da Xiucai was not happy: "Young man, it seems that you are a person who has studied for a few years, don't you know how to respect teachers? You dare to show off in front of the five talented masters, I have already told you clearly just now, the captain is not here, if you don't row the boat over, you won't be able to get over, and it's not for you to harm others and benefit yourself, why are you so pedantic?

The young man in yellow smiled: "Oh, it turns out that a few of them are talented masters, it's really disrespectful and disrespectful." I don't know if I'm hurting others and benefiting myself by rowing the boat now, but I do know how to cross the river without rowing. ”

Gao Daxiucai immediately sneered and said: "Although this Niulan River is not a big river, it is also more than ten zhang wide and three or four zhang deep, young man, are you ready to swim over? I advise you not to take risks, it is not easy for your parents to give birth to you, you gave your life when you first came out to practice, your parents will be sad!"

The young man in yellow said: "As the so-called 'travel thousands of miles, read thousands of books', although you have obtained the fame of Xiucai, but I don't see any real talent and learning, so I will be lonely and unheard, I am willing to bet with you, I do not use the power of the boat, nor do I use the method of swimming, I have at least three ways to cross the Niulan River." ”

This time, before Gao Daxiu spoke, a Xiucai behind him couldn't help but interject: "What a crazy boy, you don't take a boat or swim, and there are no tall trees on the bank of the river to give you strength, you dare to boast that you have three ways to cross the river, I don't believe it, I'm willing to gamble with you!"

"I do, too!"

"I do, too!"

The young man in yellow said: "Okay, five taels of silver chips per person, there are five of you in total, and we will also give twenty-five taels, so I will fight the victory by crossing the river, if I can cross the river in three ways, your silver will belong to me, if not, our silver will belong to you." ”

Gao Da Xiucai laughed and said: "Is this true? Recently, I was worried that there was no silver to spend, so someone came to the door to deliver the silver." ”

After speaking, Gao Daxiu took out a silver ingot of five taels from his arms, and looked back at the four companions, these four people also felt that this gamble was a sure win, and immediately took out four ingots of silver and slapped them in Gao Daxiucai's hands.

Gao Daxiu raised the silver ingot in his hand and said, "Young man, our gambling funds have been collected, what about your gambling funds?"

The young man in yellow turned his head to look at the housekeeper behind him, and the housekeeper looked reluctant, took out a large silver ingot from his arms, and also held it up and shook it.

Gao Daxiu swallowed and foamed, it seems that this young man is also a solid family, knowing that he will lose the gamble, and it is so simple to take out twenty-five taels of silver.

Gao Daxiucai said: "It's too far away, I can't see clearly, there are very few twenty-five taels of silver circulating on the market, I don't know if it's true for you?"

The butler glanced at him with disdain, turned around and threw the big silver in his hand to the big man in green clothes behind him, the big man took the big silver, weighed it, aimed at the opposite bank with his eyes, and then took a step back, waved his arm hard, and threw the silver ingot in his hand over.

It was nearly twenty zhang from where the big man was standing to the shore, but the twenty-five taels of silver ingot flew over like a meteor and smashed accurately on the wooden plank of the dock where the tall Xiucai was standing.

The huge impact almost smashed through the plank under the feet of the tall Xiucai, and the Xiucai was so frightened that he sat on the ground.

The other showmen hurriedly came up to help, some helped people, and some went to pick up the ingot of silver, but the person helped it up, but it took three showmen to pull it out.

Seeing the big pit on the wooden board, the five Xiucai looked at each other a few times, knowing that the other party's family Ding was strong in martial arts, it seemed that this young man dared to bet with them, and he was somewhat sure.

Gao Da Xiucai hurriedly gave one of them the most ghostly one of them, and the Xiucai immediately understood, and he turned back to the other side and shouted:

"The young man on the other side, we almost fell for you just now, this bet does not have a specified time, if you cheat, when the dry season comes, wouldn't it be easy to come? ”

The young man in yellow said, "Okay, then how do you think it's fair?"

The clever Xiucai hurriedly said: "Be fair, for a quarter of an hour, you are not allowed to use a boat, you are not allowed to swim, and the three of you cannot use the same method, even if you cross the river, you will win!"

The young man in yellow smiled and said, "This condition is not harsh, but a quarter of an hour is a little more, and it is not used at all." ”

The clever Xiucai immediately said: "Okay, it's just a cup of tea, if you can't come, we'll take this ingot and leave!"

Song Yuanwai and the two beautiful concubines on the side couldn't help laughing, these shows are too bad, in such a short time, how can the three people on the other side get by, if they are in a hurry to come and regain the silver, then they can only take a boat, and they will naturally lose by boat.

Song Yuanwai wanted to take advantage of the situation to help a few Xiucai, and said to the servants in the distance: "Lead the horses over, prepare the carriage, and we are ready to go back to the city." ”

The servants in the distance hurriedly answered the promise and quickly got to work.

At this time, I only heard the young man in yellow on the other side of the river say: "Okay, the time for a cup of tea is enough, you lose, don't pay the bill!"