Chapter 252: A frustrated restaurant

The imperial examination case in the fifth year of Tianbao fell quietly. Scholars from all over the country packed their luggage in melancholy and began to leave Chang'an, which made them feel sad. Some people went back to study hard in order to come back next year. Some people thought they had seen through the darkness of the officialdom, and from then on they only talked about the wind and moon, and stayed away from the power place. But many people were inspired by this. They either visited relatives and friends, or lived in Jingzhao County, trying every means to stay in Chang'an, with the purpose of finding a powerful backstage in the court and laying the foundation for their future. Therefore, the farce of the imperial examination case had just ended, and countless comedy and ridiculous dramas emerged in Chang'an.

Dongshi, Qianjin Yijiujiujiu, this is an extremely ordinary restaurant, with three floors, two floors of lobby, and the third floor is an elegant room. The floor is old and dilapidated. The vermilion paint on the floor has been peeled off for a hundred years. There are many restaurants like this in Dongshi, but there are not many restaurants with prosperous business than it. The only advantage here is wine, the authentic Cuitao wine, which makes countless old wine customers linger.

That morning, the restaurant had just opened, and the shopkeeper went to urge him to pay a credit. A black, fat and greasy woman sat at the counter. She was the shopkeeper's wife. Her face was covered with white powder and she couldn't tell her age. However, from the fact that she was breastfeeding the child with her heart, she should be quite young. When she saw a guy walking down from the upstairs proudly, she couldn't stop the hatred in her heart, and said angrily: "Have the drunkard who has killed thousands of people gone yet?"

The guy slapped a piece of jade on the table and said disdainfully: "This is taken from his hat, which can be worth half of the wine."

The shopkeeper stretched out her carrot-like finger and hooked it skillfully. The jade fell into her palm. Her angry face immediately smiled. Suddenly, she seemed to think of something, and smiled and asked again: "Wang Si went to find his friend, is there any news?"

"It should be no problem. Calculate the time, I'm coming back soon."

"That's good!" The shopkeeper's wife raised the jade high. Through the sun, she saw the jade crystal clear and gentle. She couldn't help but smile at the little girl in her arms and said, "This jade is good, I will leave it to you."

There were more than a dozen people sitting in the lobby on the first floor, most of whom were businessmen doing business in the East City. It was the end of April, and the air was getting hot. These people all chose a place to ventilate by the window. At the bottom, there were four or five scholars sitting around a small table. Although it was morning, the atmosphere of their drinking was quite warm. Perhaps because they were all locals in Chang'an, they were not afraid of attracting officials, and they could drink and chat in the hotel without restraint.

"What a wine! I won't get drunk after a hundred cups."

A man who was born with a sad face drank the wine in his glass in one breath, slapped the wine glass on the table, shook his head and sang: "There are April days on earth, and the fallen flowers are colorful, and the lotus trees are full of dreams......"

His voice was squinting, and several companions next to him all applauded and laughed, but scared the little kid in his arms and choked on his face, and started crying. The wife of the shopkeeper was dissatisfied and tapped the table with her knuckles to protest.

A flat-headed scholar turned around and found that the shopkeeper's wife was actually feeding her breasts with her clothes open. He couldn't help but be stunned. He secretly glanced at the shopkeeper's wife's plump and black breasts, licked her tongue and smiled, "Brother Huiqi, you look excited, but Yang Shenjin is willing to accept you as his disciple?"

"Brother Bo Ming is so unaware of it. Do you only know Yang Shenjin?"

The worried man curled his lips disdainfully and sneered: "What's the point of passing the imperial examination? The key is to be awarded an official in the future. That is the way to go. Isn't it that I heard about the latest official market in the Tang Dynasty, one, two, two, three, four, four, and five, and four, and four, and five, and these people have the chance to get a good and low official position or actually lack it."

The flat-headed scholar touched the back of his head with sparse hair, and his eyes quickly stared at the shopkeeper's chest, swallowed, and smiled at everyone in a self-deprecating tone: "Look at my memory, I really forgot this!"

"A few saints and disciples have invited me!" A very fat middle-aged man at the next table stood up and bowed to them and smiled.

Hearing him call himself a disciple of the saint, several scholars were very helpful in their hearts, so they quickly stood up and gave a gift, "I dare not take it! What do you think of me?"

The middle-aged man smiled and took a step forward to sit among them, saying, "In Ma Yuan, Xiashazhou, I came to Chang'an to do business. I like to make friends the most. Today, I will treat you to someone's wine."

Several scholars looked at each other from each other, but they wanted to treat each other without knowing each other. How could such a good thing happen in the world? He must have asked for something. They sat down slowly and looked at Ma Yuan, Shazhou, with serious eyes.

"Oh! It's me that I'm a little abrupt." Ma Shangren rubbed his hands embarrassedly and explained: "Although I have come to Chang'an countless times, I only bought goods and left. I never cared about the political situation of our dynasty. I just heard this guy mention the official market, such as Yang, San, Zhang, Si, Pei, Wu and Li. I want to ask, is this Qing Li Qing, our former parents official in Shazhou?"

"That's right! It's him." The sad-faced scholar named Huiqi asked again when he saw Ma Shangren, so he finished speaking for him. "Yiqing refers to Li Qing, the Minister of Revenue and Minister of the Taifu Temple who holds the financial power of the Tang Dynasty. His subordinates are all oil and water officials, and the two cities are also under his control. You merchants must curry favor with him."

Hearing that Li Qing was in charge of the two cities, the Ma Shangren showed a look of yearning on his face. The sad scholar secretly despised him and then said: "The second Yang refers to Yang Guozhong and Yang Shenjin; the third Zhang refers to Zhang Qiu Jianqiong, Zhang Yun and Zhang Yi; and the fourth Pei refers to Pei Kuan, Pei Zunqing, Pei Shiyan and Pei Mian. In fact, the fourth Pei Mian is just making up the numbers. He has little energy, so I won't mention it for now...."

The sad scholar showed off his skills as if he had known it, and finally he said leisurely: "What is the backstage? Only those who are favored by these powerful people are called the backstage. Like those Kings of Qing and King Yong, although they are princes, the real power in their hands is probably not as good as a doctor, Hanlin."

"You can hear your words on the streets, so don't talk nonsense about the court, be careful of being arrested by the officials."

At this time, a weak man appeared at the door. He was about thirty years old, with melancholy eyes, thin and pale face, his high cheekbones showed his arrogance in his bones, and his forehead was as smooth and full as a woman. This meant that he had a sensitive and delicate heart. He was wearing a flat scarf and a long white-washed gown. This person was Du Fu, who failed this imperial examination.

Du Fu resigned from Li Lin's house two months ago to prepare for the exam. He thought that it would be no problem to become a Jinshi with his own strength, but unexpectedly, an imperial examination case appeared, depriving him of his opportunity, and even had the idea of ​​living in seclusion in the mountains and forests. He was found by the shopkeeper of this restaurant today. A friend who said he had been drinking for four days and four nights here, drunk and wanted to take him back by himself. Based on his intuition, Du Fu guessed that it was very likely that Li Bai was drinking here because recently, because Li Bai lost his official position.

When several scholars heard that there were officials outside, they were so scared that their faces looked like earth, and they did not dare to say another word.

When Du Fu saw that they knew their mistakes, he corrected them. He smiled, then slowly walked towards the counter and said lightly: "I am the one you sent to find. I heard that a friend of mine was drunk here, so I can take me to see it!"

The shopkeeper suddenly noticed that there was a greedy gaze in the scholar staring at his naked chest, his face turned red, and he subconsciously pulled his clothes into the middle, covering his breasts, and found another guy and ordered: "Take this master to the drunkard's room, hurry up!" The guy responded and led Du Fu to the third floor.

When I opened the door, a strong smell of alcohol came to my face. I heard a man laughing wildly in the drunken state, and then turned into a low moan. His voice was low and sad, "Those who abandoned me should not stay yesterday's day, and those who disturbed my heart today would be more worried."

Du Fu sighed secretly. It was indeed Li Bai. He took two steps, opened the curtains, and pushed open the window. A large area of ​​sunlight suddenly shot into the room. The fresh morning breeze washed away the turbid alcohol smell in the room in a moment.

The room was in a mess, with several wine jars falling from place to place, and the plates were messy, with wine stains everywhere on the table and the ground. A man leaned against the wall with his hair disheveled, his eyes and cheeks turned red, his eyes were confused, and he was holding a wine bowl and singing softly:

Draw a knife to cut off the water and flow more, and raise a glass to eliminate sorrow and sorrow.

Life is not satisfactory in the world, and the Ming Dynasty was emitting small boats.

He was Li Bai. Since he was presenting poems on the Peony Pavilion, Li Bai thought he was successful and acted more debaucherously, commenting on the government affairs arbitrarily. He visited King Yong several times without any care. Finally, he was caught by the prince-in-law Zhang Ye, and joined hands with some Hanlins who were jealous of his talents to write a letter to him. Li Longji also took the opportunity to take the boat and shouted for regrets several times. Unfortunately, he gave him gold and returned home. After a few days of frustration, Li Bai was drunk here for a few days. Seeing that his bag was gone and he had no money to make a payment, he asked the shopkeeper to find Du Fu.

"Zimei, Lao Li has fallen and has no face to see anyone!"

Li Bai drank the wine in the bowl and smiled madly: "I have the whole world, but he regards me as an actor. It's better not to be a Hanlin! It's better not to be a good person!"

"Brother Taibai, we searched for you everywhere and didn't see you. I thought something had happened to you, but I didn't expect you to come here to hide here. Let's go! Go to my house first."

Du Fu took out a ingot of silver from his arms and handed it to the clerk behind him and said, "I'll pay his account!"

The guy hesitated to take it and suddenly asked, "He, is he the famous Li Taibai?"

Du Fu glanced at him and smiled coldly, "He is not, he is just a poor poet."
Chapter completed!