Chapter 1992: Fame 2
But Bai Shan still insisted and asked, "Why do you want so much money?"
Zhao Liulang chuckled and said, "It's okay to tell you. This Mid-Autumn Festival, ten Jiangnan opera singers will come to Beijing to perform. I want to meet them."
Bai Erlang exclaimed in shock, "You're a prostitute!"
Zhao Liulang covered his mouth and said, "Shut up! Is that called whoring? I call it appreciation. Besides, the Jiangnan Ten Operators are here to perform. They sell their art, not their bodies, don't you know?"
Bai Shan: "...Isn't this too expensive? One thousand taels for just one meeting?"
Zhao Liulang glanced at him and said, "What are you thinking? It's not just a thousand taels. I just prepared a little extra to be on the safe side. And if you like, shouldn't you give him some gold and silver jewelry as a reward?"
Bai Shan said: "Brother Zhao, you have a sister-in-law."
"It's okay, I'll take her with me later."
Bai Shan and Bai Jilang: ...
Zhao Liulang whispered, "Are you guys going to agree or not? It's not very nice to keep standing on these steps."
Bai Shan calculated in his mind and said, "It's not difficult for us to come up with one thousand taels if we pool our money together, but Brother Zhao, you have to think carefully, this is one million yuan."
Zhao Liulang didn't think one thousand taels was a lot, but when he heard Bai Shan convert it into money, he felt a little distressed.
But it was only a moment, like an ant bite. He waved his hand generously and said, "It's only half the price of my father's horse."
Bai Shan nodded when he heard his bold words and said, "Okay, but you have to write me an IOU. I don't want your interest, but you have to promise to pay me back within two years."
Zhao Liulang nodded with a smile and said, "Simple, simple."
So the three of them walked downstairs arm in arm, smiling.
Bai Dalang got a pot of Zhuangyuanhong wine, which was just brought up by the waiter. He was planning to pour it for some good friends and classmates to have fun together. Just as he picked up the pot of wine, he saw his silly brother coming down from upstairs happily, pulling him to ask for some wine.
"Brother, let's go up to the third floor to drink."
Zhao Liulang also said with a smile: "Brother Zhengjian, this pot of wine is also due to our contribution. If it weren't for our encouragement, you would not have written poetry, so you should share a cup with us."
Bai Dalang smiled and asked the waiter to bring them new wine glasses and pour them wine.
Zhao Liulang stopped them, "It's boring to drink down here. Let's go upstairs and drink. How about some of you fellow students join us?"
If everyone thinks about it carefully, although Zhao Liulang is now a classmate of Bai Shan and Bai Cheng, he entered the Imperial College earlier than them, so he is really their senior.
So everyone agreed and surrounded Bai Dalang and went up to the third floor.
Naturally, many people saw the commotion here. When I went up to the second floor, I met many classmates from the Imperial College. After a simple greeting, everyone went straight to the third floor.
After they disappeared, some people began to discuss in hushed voices, "Bai Zhengjian? I haven't heard much about him before. But the two who just came down from the third floor are Zhao Xiaoguojiu and Bai Shan."
"Bai Shan? Bai Shan from Longzhou?"
"Yes, that's Bai Shan, the one who sued the King of Yizhou in front of the emperor to avenge his father. He's now the crown prince's companion. I saw his papers and essays from the Imperial Academy in the bookstore last time. He's quite a man of character."
"That's it. I heard that his family went to Mianzhou a long time ago to seek refuge with an uncle. This person should be his eldest cousin. Doesn't he have a fellow apprentice named Bai Cheng? I guess he's the one who called me big brother just now."
"The poem Bai Zhengjian just wrote wasn't bad either."
"Three brothers from one family, that's a good story."
"I wonder what his name is?"
Someone who knew something interrupted and said, "It's just a single character, Zhi."
Someone thought for a moment and said, "A thorough understanding will certainly correct a wrong, which is a correct view. Although the person who named him simply took characters from Shuowen Jiezi, he had good intentions. I wonder what kind of person he is."
Wei Chen, who was sitting nearby, couldn't help but interrupt and said, "The name suits the person."
People at nearby tables couldn't help but look over. Seeing that the people sitting at his table were all young men around eighteen or nineteen years old, all dressed like scholars, they clasped their fists and asked with a smile, "Where do you study, brother?"
Wei Chen said with some reserve: "I am studying in the Imperial College."
He glanced at his friends and said with a smile, "We are all from the Imperial College."
Everyone was surprised. Although they knew that there were many students from the Imperial College in the Zhuangyuan Building, they didn't expect that they would actually talk to each other, so they happily started chatting with him.
Wei Chen was a talkative person. He was not familiar with Bai Zhi, but he was familiar with Bai Cheng and Bai Shan. Besides, they were his friends' brothers, so it was always right to praise them in a good way.
So he praised Bai Zhi as having outstanding literary talent, being filial, friendly, upright and kind. In short, he used all the good words he could to describe him.
Not to mention Ji Hao standing by, even Wei Ting and the others were extremely embarrassed. After he exchanged names and postings with someone, he found an excuse to drag the person to the toilet in the backyard. "Don't be so exaggerated when praising someone. Didn't you only meet Bai Zhi once?"
"Birds of a feather flock together. Bai Zhi and Bai Shan are in the same company as Zhou Man. How can they be bad people?"
Wei Ting: "...Why didn't you go up and say hello to them just now?"
Wei Chen waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Don't you see they're busy? They're with the young prince. It would be inappropriate for us to go up now. We can visit them later when we have time."
Wei Ting: "...Ji Hao said that since they entered the palace, they have rarely interacted with their classmates from the Imperial College, let alone us classmates from the Prefectural Academy."
"That's because Ji Hao doesn't have a good relationship with them, but I have a very good relationship with them," he said. "Besides, they're not the kind of people who despise the poor and love the rich. Could it be that they will abandon their old friends just because they've become rich? You're overthinking it."
Wei Ting couldn't argue with him, so he could only say, "Okay, let's go to the toilet first."
Wei Chen held his breath and felt it for a while, then turned around and said, "Forget it, I'll go back and drink two cups of tea before coming back. This toilet smells so bad, it would be a waste to go in now."
Wei Ting: ...
He was so angry that he was speechless.
Bai Shan and the other two took Bai Dalang and his three classmates to the third floor. They happily drank two glasses of wine and sat down to talk about poetry and essays. They stayed there until the sun set and the sky gradually darkened. Then they crowded around the eight windows and looked down at the lanterns slowly lighting up Chang'an Avenue.
The lamp doors and lamp holders at the entrance of the inner city lit up little by little, and a phoenix with its wings spread out, ready to fly, appeared in the dim night sky. Manbao exclaimed "Wow" along with everyone else, marveling at the sight.
I feel that the moment when Chang'an lights up is even more shocking than that of Yongzhou City.
Manbao looked at the fire phoenix in the air with sparkling eyes and pointed, "Look, its two eyes are red, and the rest are all yellow and other colors!"
Bai Shan nodded repeatedly, "Not only are they similar in appearance, but also in spirit."
Even Zhao Liulang sighed: "The Ministry of Industry is much better than last year."
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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