Prison Dragon

Chapter 27

After going to court, Shang Luo took the initiative to stop Yang You.

Yang You just got acquainted with his colleagues while doing business on weekdays, but he has not yet reached the point of deep friendship. He was a little surprised when he suddenly received an invitation from Shangluo.

"My lord," Shang Luo rolled up his sleeves and said, "I heard that your lord takes good care of the crickets?"

Raising crickets is Yang You's old profession, but he doesn't know that his reputation is far and wide, even people outside the palace know about it.

"Don't dare to dare, it's just some small tricks that can't be put on the stage." Yang You said modestly, a veteran like Shang Luo probably doesn't like his type of dude very much.

Unexpectedly, Shang Luo said: "I've been raising autumn insects for some time, my old man. The people in our yard have some knowledge, and they want to gather at my house tonight. I wonder if the prince will show his respect and come over?"

Everyone in Taichang Temple has a gentle attitude towards Yang You, and will take the initiative to teach him some official affairs. Yang You has always been very grateful, but they don't seem to want to have a deep friendship with Yang You. The people in the temple are a small group, headed by Shangluo, and they are excluded.

Now that Shangluo personally invites him, does this mean he wants to accept him?

How could Yang You not agree, he was worried that he couldn't find an excuse to break into the courtiers.

"If that's the case, then I'm bothering you." Yang You replied.

Shang Luo waved his hand, "Then let's meet friends with insects tonight, what does the prince think?"

"Natural nature."

Speaking of fighting crickets, Yang You is an expert.

Every year in mid-July, it is the time when crickets mature. There are white hemp heads, jute heads, crab scorpion greens, pipa wings, plum blossom wings, and bamboo whiskers, all of which are capable of fighting.The best crickets can cost several gold.

Famous worms not only have to spend a lot of money to buy, but also have to be raised in blue and white clay pots, and a pair of good pots cost dozens of gold.

Yang You had no acquaintances outside the palace, so finding crickets was more difficult than others, so he simply caught crickets from the imperial garden and raised them in Qingfang Palace, and he harvested many good insects every year.

Yang You deliberately picked out a steady black dress at night, dressed very seriously, and matched with his pretty face, Ruifang couldn't help admiring: "Our Highness is going out, that's the best in the capital." figure!"

Yang You smiled and accepted her praise.

He brought his crickets to the Shangluo mansion, and all the officials from the Taichang Temple arrived, as well as several people from other government offices. Shangluo introduced them to him one by one.

After drinking for three rounds, I started to make friends with insects.

Shangluo sits on the bank and lets them start betting on winning or losing.Literati's elegance is not for money, so some people bet on poetry, some on moon cakes, and some on anthologies.

Those who were able to be officials in the court were either the top three in the first class or the second-class Jinshi. In terms of poetry and prose, Yang You couldn't compare at all.Fortunately, the ministers were very interested in his crickets, and Yang You happened to have a few good ones, so he bet on one.

Yang You came here with the intention of making friends, and he didn't play hard. After winning a few rounds, he surrendered.The crickets in Shangluo showed great prowess and were dubbed the title of general.After fighting the worms, everyone ate and drank for a while, and the host and guest had a good time, very happy.

After that, Yang You could feel that Taichang Temple seemed to recognize him, and he talked more with his colleagues, and they would go out for drinks from time to time.

Of course, the most grand event is the Fighting Bug Conference held every ten days in Shangluo.

Life is going on as usual, and many things have gradually become different from before.

Li Fei no longer restricts his actions, nor orders his life.

And the brother Yang Xiu who had been friends that day, because he was in charge of the inner guard, he was not allowed to have an affair with the prince and courtiers, so the two talked less and less.

Many things that the inner guards do are shady jobs, and Yang Xiu devotes full enthusiasm to manage them. The dragon sees the beginning and the end, and sometimes Yang You suddenly thinks that the last time they spoke was a long time ago.

Across the group of officials, the eyes of the two met by chance in the air.

Yang Xiu's eyes were still clear, a little less relaxed, and more things he couldn't understand.

What Yang You could know was that many officials had been invited to the inner guard for tea recently, and some of them were detained in the inner guard before they could go home, and they were directly dismissed.

This is by no means the case for normal changes in the positions of court officials, and it is by no means to judge whether to stay or not based on one's own selfishness.

But Yang You also knew that if Yang Xiu dared to do this, there must be the emperor's order behind him.

He couldn't make any judgments about his brother and father.

This is harming Chao Gang with insidious means. The two of them may not know it well, but they are willing to use each other.

He knew what Yang Xiu was thinking.

As long as you have supreme power, you can eliminate what you don't want and get everything you want.

Human life and strength are limited.

Only the highest power is the only infinity that the world can reach.

No one seems to be able to resist it.

Compared with Yang Xiu, Yang You couldn't see clearly the Seventh Prince Yang Lun.

Yang Lun has a gentle personality, to put it mildly, he is cowardly.If Yang You were to evaluate him in one sentence, Yang You would think that Yang Lun is a timid and good person.

Sometimes Jun Yang would stand behind the emperor and go up to the court, and Yang Lun would stand at the foot of the steps and watch them, not knowing how he would feel.

In this palace, there always seemed to be some distorted emotions arising.

And no matter what kind of emotion it is, it will eventually corrode and fester, and mutate from the root until it becomes invisible to people.

No matter how puzzled Yang You is, Qi State has its own unique way of running Qi State. It has to be said that Qi State has survived for so many years in Yang Ting's hands, which shows the profound foundation of the ancestors.

The court maintains a strange balance in the battles between the various factions.

In addition to the various factions gearing up for political affairs, there are also a large number of silent officials. They are either pretending to be deaf and dumb, or eating a vegetarian meal, or stirring up mud, but they just dare not do business.

Yang You watched it a lot, and only then did he realize that the people in the court who did nothing serious were their Taichang Temple.

Of course, Taichang Temple didn't have many serious things to do.

With such a monarch on the stand, the ministers are not very enthusiastic about discussing politics, and they will be suppressed by various parties.

Those who dawdled in Taichang Temple thought Shangluo, the minister of Taichang Temple, was the best among them.

Shang Luo's personal experience is very legendary. He is one of the few talented people who have won three consecutive awards since the founding of Qi State.When Yang Ting first came to the throne, he entered the cabinet, but was squeezed out by Concubine Xian's father, Lin Ge, the grandfather of the second prince Yang Ti.Shang Luoshi is one of the few capable officials in this dynasty, so he was dispatched to Taichang Temple. Yang Ting did not enshrine Mount Tai.

He used to write a lot of national policies in the early years, but now he can only write soft and waxy words, leading Taichang Temple further and further in the direction of dawdling.

Yang You didn't know whether they really liked to fool around or pretended to like fooling around. In short, in order to get into the officialdom very quickly, he fooled around with them as he liked.

He walks birds and listens to music all day long, which can be said to be "like-smelling" with the officials of Taichang Temple.His little lady is the most beautiful bird in Taichang Temple, and Shang Luo directly asked him to hang the little lady under the eaves of the Taichang Temple Office for people to admire.

The crickets he raises are also the most vicious crickets, and the reputation of constant victories has been passed down among officials for a long time.

Qing Shangluo of Taichang Temple, Shaoqing Yang You, Prime Minister Xu Kaiji, doctor Jiang Ling, chief secretary Zhuo Xinhong, and Fengli Lang Pang Chao soon became famous in Lidu, known as the Six Gentlemen of the Cricket.

Shangluo is now fifty and four, just the age of knowing his destiny, and he probably will spend the rest of his life in Taichang Temple. He has already passed the age of longing for fame, so he is fine.The remaining few people are all young people under the age of 30, and without exception, they are not ashamed but proud of the nickname "Six Gentlemen of Crickets". .

In this way, Yang You became famous in the capital.

Although Yang You is the prince, he has no airs at all, and he is very pleased with Shangluo.Shang Luo often warned him to be cautious in his words and deeds in court, and taught him to recognize the forces of various factions.

Today's Taichang Temple, thanks to the hard work of the Cricket Six Gentlemen, has become a model for officials in the DPRK and China to mess around.

In the past, they didn't dare to dawdle blatantly, at least they had high officials and emperors on their heads.

Now that Yang You is here, all the ministers hope that he will mess around every day, and the emperor will not blame him.Led by Yang You, a large net of "hooligans" including young officials from the Qi State gradually formed.

In the beginning, Yang You didn't think about this at all. Every day, he and Ao Chen were thinking about when the third prince would take care of the fourth prince. Ao Chen wanted to wait until the winter clothes were distributed to the soldiers before making a big fuss, but Yang You wanted to make a big deal out of it at the beginning. Just curb the behavior of the third prince and sell favors to the fourth prince.

Ao Chen made no secret of his sarcasm: "It's a beautiful idea."

Yang You really had a good idea, he had never been educated by an heir, what he heard and saw was all about the twists and turns of the harem, and the principles he learned by himself were all outlines, he was still at a loss and at a loss if he really wanted to do anything.

Real political affairs and real people are far more complicated than those in books.

Before he noticed the movements of the third prince Yang Ren, Shang Luo found him.

Previously, Shangluo was well-known for its worm clubs, so it urged Yang You to set up a cricket fighting organization among officials. He is a prince, and such a thing needs a high-status leader.

Shang Luo solemnly drew a sketch of the future for Yang You. He wanted to standardize the ranks among crickets, not to allow big crickets to beat small crickets, and to stipulate that only honest officials should participate, and that they could not renege on their debts.

Nor can it be like Concubine Wu Hui's nephew Du Wei Wucong, who trampled Shangluo's love bug to death because Shangluo's cricket defeated his cricket.

In short, this is a thing that sounds interesting but is actually ridiculous. How can officials take the lead in enjoying it?However, with the support and enthusiasm of all the staff in Taichang Temple, Shang Luo wrote the [-]-character Ode to Autumn Insects with his brilliant literary talent, which made Yang You take out his wallet and go down to Danyang Tower, the number one restaurant in the capital. For three days in a row, all the officials were invited to drink Dadan, and the first grand event of fighting crickets in Lidu was held.

Yang You's money was spent, and I don't know if the officials looked down on them or vented in advance. Jiang Ling personally wrote the invitation to ensure that every official was delivered, but only three small officials of the seventh and eighth rank came to Danyang building.

Fortunately, they are all cricket lovers, and they don't care much about fame, and have in-depth exchanges on various matters of raising crickets.In line with the principle of the prince's treats, Pang Chao invited Bai Yusheng, the No. 1 prostitute in the capital, to sing a song.

Nine people had a good time in Danyang Tower.

It's just a pain in Yang You's wallet, and almost lost the money to buy pastries for Ao Chen.Taichang Temple was not a fat job, and he didn't want to ask others for money, so he tightened his belt and spent half a month suffering.Ao Chen watched him lose a few catties, and couldn't help feeling distressed: "Why don't you go talk to Concubine Li and ask for some money to survive the end of the month, when the end of the month you will have salary and taxes."

Yang You gritted his teeth and didn't dare to ask Concubine Li for money. Concubine Li asked him for money.Life was so hard that even Shangluo couldn't stand it anymore, so he raised 30 taels of silver at Taichang Temple and lent it to him, and asked him to pay back 90 taels.

A penny beats a hero, and Yang You had to accept this humiliating loan because of his livelihood.

Unexpectedly, within a few days after getting the 30 taels, Ruifang bought a bunch of famous wine with it.

Ruifang loses the food expenses that Yang You managed to get together, and he can't help but reprimand Ruifang for not knowing how to manage the family's finances.

Ruifang poked her neck back and said, "Obviously you left a note in the study and asked your servants to go out and buy it."

Yang Youxin said that the current maids are more likely to lie than one another, and he clearly remembers that he has no habit of leaving notes.

Unexpectedly, Ruifang actually found a piece of letter paper, the handwriting was [-]% similar to his.

Ao Chen appeared suddenly, laughing wantonly behind Ruifang.

Seeing Ao Chen smiling happily, Yang You knew what happened, and said helplessly, covering his head: "Okay, okay, you go down, I understand."

Ruifang pursed her lips and backed away, still feeling aggrieved.

Ao Chen held a wine jar in one hand and stuffed the wine into Yang You's arms, "Everyone knows that Jiaodong is a place of prosperity in the world, but who knows that the king of Jiaodong is so poor that he even pays for pennies to buy wine."

"Calm down, ancestor!" Yang You hugged the wine jar and sat on the ground leaning against the pillar. The 30 taels of white silver that he had not warmed up just disappeared, and he almost shed tears.

He swore that he would never listen to old man Shangluo fooling him again!

Ao Chen came over and sat down next to him, their arms touched, Ao Chen held his neck, uncorked the wine, and bumped his head, "What? Treat me to a drink, are you sad?"

It’s fine if he doesn’t say anything, but Yang You gets angry when he mentions it, and can’t help but ask him: “When did you learn how to write from me?”

"Do you think I need to learn? Didn't you write with me when you were a child?" Ao Chen raised the corner of his mouth and swallowed a sip of wine, and said freely, "Drink and drink."

Yang Youmeng wrote with Jiangnan's teacher when he was in school, and he wrote with Ao Chen when he arrived in the palace. The two of them have seven or eight images in their handwriting.

Seeing that Yang You didn't move, Ao Chen simply took the wine jar and poured it into Yang You's mouth. Yang You was dragged by him and struggled, the wine spilled all over his clothes.He was choked to tears by the hot wine, and Ao Chen laughed and murmured loudly: "Why does the master say that you have less money? You have to sell it to the king! Five-flowered horses, thousands of gold, Hu'er will call for fine wine, and you Selling the eternal sorrow together!"

Yang You seldom got drunk in his life, but this drinking was firmly remembered by him, buried in the deep sea of ​​memory, and recalled from time to time.

This is a very ordinary experience, without any excitement, but it is more profound than any memory of high spirits or frustration.

Just when Ao Chen was pondering and drinking with a smile, he saw that pair of eyes that were full of vicissitudes and coldness faded from the chill, burning with a flame called youth.

It seems to have seen the high-spirited Dragon God who conspired with Gaozu back then.

Looking at Ao Chen's body, he could feel the demeanor of a giant dragon, even though he had never seen a real dragon.

The breath of the dragon is like clouds, the wind is like riding on it, the vast ocean is like a world of darkness, the sun and the moon are thin, the scenery is subdued, it feels the shock and electricity, and the gods change.

He looked at Ao Chen's radiant look, and for some reason, he suddenly remembered the poems his master taught them to sing when they were young.He took a sip of his wine and sang in a low voice.

With a Chu accent, singing Li Sao——

I drive the flying dragon for Yu, miscellaneous Yao Xiang thinks it is a car,

How can centrifugation be used? I will be far away from it.

There are thousands of cars in the garrison, Qi Yufu and Mercedes-Benz.

The gentleness of driving the eight dragons, the sternness of carrying the cloud flag.

As he sang, he suddenly shed tears. He didn't know if it was for the beauty in the book, for Ao Chen, for the world, or for himself.

Ao Chen took a sip of wine, smiled and listened to his singing, then gently wiped away his tears.

Yang You no longer remembered how much wine he drank that night, only Ao Chen's cold and gentle eyes like the moonlight that night left a permanent scar on his heart.