The pleasure boat approached the pavilion in the middle of the lake, and someone at the window asked, "Is that Prefect Yang?"
Everyone's eyes turned towards the pavilion in the center of the lake. Yang Yuanchen was one of the examiners during the provincial examination, and the students all recognized him.
"I invited Lord Yang here." Shao Zhong said with a smile, "Since we are holding a poetry gathering, we should have a decent person to host it. With Governor Yang as the judge, you brothers can show your talents."
Since he could even invite the prefect, everyone couldn't help but look at Shao Zhong with a higher regard.
In the pavilion in the middle of the lake, Yang Yuanchen was not wearing his official uniform. Sitting next to him were Gu Yun and Liu Ziqi. Both of them were dressed in ordinary clothes, but their looks and demeanor made it difficult to ignore them.
Xiao Ning left Qingzhou Prefecture last night and went to Xuanhua.
He has served as the governor of Xuanda for many years, and the guards in Xuanhua are all trained and promoted by him. As long as he returns to Xuanhua, it will be difficult for the emperor to capture him and bring him to the capital.
Liu Ziqi and Gu Yun originally planned to go to Changkui today, but Yang Yuanchen said that the students would hold a poetry reading at Bibo Lake this fall and invited him to host it. He strongly invited the two of them to come and watch the fun.
Gu Yun was very playful and insisted on dragging Liu Ziqi over to join in the fun, so Liu Ziqi decided to postpone his trip to Changkui for a day.
In fact, Gu Yun was not interested in the poetry written by these sour Confucian scholars at all. He just didn't want Liu Ziqi to be too tense, so he took him out to relax.
The boatman moored the pleasure boat at the quay, and all the scholars on the boat went ashore, walked along the corridor into the pavilion in the middle of the lake, and each of them respectfully stepped forward to greet Yang Yuanchen.
Yang Yuanchen nodded slightly and said with a smile, "Don't be restrained, everyone take a seat."
This pavilion in the middle of the lake is called Zhuolian Pavilion. It was originally just a small pavilion. Later, as the number of tourists from the south of the city increased, the old structure was added to several times and expanded several times. Now it can accommodate dozens of people.
It is surrounded by water on all sides and is equipped with benches and railings where people can sit.
Some students did not live in Qingzhou and were anxious to return home after the provincial examination. Some did not want to attend the poetry meeting, so there were less than twenty scholars who came this time.
Shao Zhong had already arranged for people to decorate the pavilion in the middle of the lake for this poetry gathering he led. There were low tables placed at the seating area, with cold dishes and snacks, as well as drinks on the tables. There was plenty of space for two or three people at each table.
After Yang Yuanchen spoke, everyone took their seats.
Yu Jinshu originally wanted to sit closer to Yang Yuanchen, but he was standing a little far away, and there were already people sitting on the railings on both sides of Yang Yuanchen, so Yu Jinshu had to sit with Yu Jinyan.
Yu Qizhe and Yu Zhizhou sat at the same table. Yu Zhizhou sighed in a low voice, "With such a generous gesture, the Shao family must be really rich. No wonder he can arrange a marriage with the daughter of Prefect Yang."
Yu Qizhe did not respond. He looked out from the railing. There were so many pleasure boats on the lake, and their layouts were almost the same. It was really difficult to tell which pleasure boat belonged to Yu Jiao and the others.
As soon as the scholars got ashore, Yang Yuanchen's eyes fell on Yu Qizhe. That day at the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall, he did not have a deep impression of Yu Qizhe, but he could still recognize his appearance.
This young man is indeed handsome. No wonder Yan Jie'er wanted to marry him just after seeing him once outside the Imperial Examination Hall.
Yu Jinshu noticed Yang Yuanchen's gaze and sat up straighter. He whispered to Yu Jinyan, "Prefect Yang has been looking at us. Could it be that he recognizes us?"
Yu Jinyan looked towards Yang Yuanchen, who had already withdrawn his gaze and was talking to the two young gentlemen sitting beside him. Yu Jinyan glanced at Yu Qizhe who was sitting beside him and said, "Hasn't the fifth brother spoken to Lord Yang? Lord Yang should still remember the fifth brother."
It would have been better if Yu Jinyan didn't mention it. As soon as he spoke, Yu Jinshu thought of asking Yu Jiao to introduce him to Prefect Yang yesterday. He immediately became furious. He turned around and glanced at Yu Qizhe, and snorted coldly with a faint expression.
"The young man in the dark blue gown is Miss Yu's brother." Yang Yuanchen turned his head and said to Gu Yun and Liu Ziqi beside him.
Upon hearing this, Gu Yun and Liu Ziqi both looked towards Yu Qizhe. Gu Yun quickly looked away, seemingly not interested in Yu Qizhe.
He was curious about Yu Jiao's mysterious medical skills, but he was only interested in Yu Jiao. As for her brother, it was none of his business.
Liu Ziqi smiled and said, "Looking at her young age, her calm and steady demeanor is somewhat similar to Miss Yu."
Perhaps because of the presence of Yang Yuanchen, most of the scholars in the pavilion looked reserved, but Yu Qizhe was enjoying the lakeside scenery in a leisurely manner, with a kind of calmness that was inconsistent with his age.
Seeing that everyone had taken their seats, Yang Yuanchen cleared his throat and said, "Today we are meeting friends through poetry, regardless of status. I will ask the Grand Master to be the drinking officer. How about we first give a refined order and then compose a poem?"
Naturally, everyone had no objection. Besides, writing Yaling was easier than writing poetry, and one could also recite poems by previous people.
If we are talking about performing elegant music, we can’t do without Feihua Ling. Yang Yuanchen said, “Let’s use the seven-character rhythm as the basis and start from my left hand.”
Shao Zhong was sitting in the first seat on Yang Yuanchen's left. He pondered for a moment, his eyes lit up, and he said, "The flowers and ornaments are scattered on the ground and no one picks them up."
The man sitting next to Shao Zhong continued, "These flowers and leaves complement each other."
The person behind him thought for a while and said, "Seeing the pear blossoms with the moon at night."
They were all people who had studied poetry and books since childhood, and they had memorized a lot of poems by famous scholars of the past. The people sitting in the front sang smoothly, but with each sentence of Feihua Ling, the position of the word "Hua" had to be moved back one place until it reached the last position, and then started again with the word "Hua" at the beginning.
Gradually, some people couldn't keep up and had to drink three cups as punishment.
The people at the back who had already thought of a good poem had to drink a glass of wine as someone in front could not continue. The word "flower" had to be changed, so they had to think of a new line. After a round of flying flowers, four or five people had already been fined.
At this moment, there were many pleasure boats docked around the Lakeside Pavilion. They all came to watch the fun after hearing that students were holding a poetry reading at the Lakeside Pavilion.
Then another cycle began, and there were fewer and fewer poems of the predecessors that could be recited, so many people had to bite the bullet and compose on the spot.
It was Yu Jinshu's turn. He looked at the pleasure boat on the lake, thought for a moment, and said with a smile, "The boat can pass through the deep lotus pond."
Yang Yuanchen nodded slightly. Although there were no lotus flowers on the lake, it was still a good view.
Noticing Yang Yuanchen's admiring gaze, Yu Jinshu couldn't help feeling a little elated.
Then, Yu Jinyan also improvised, "The green flowers are thick and the autumn water is thin."
He turned his head and looked leisurely at Yu Qizhe beside him.
"The flowers in the Xiangxie shadow bloom in the water." Yu Qizhe said slowly without showing any deep thought.
"Good poem." Yang Yuanchen praised lightly.
Yang Jiyan, who had just asked the boatman to dock the pleasure boat beside the waterside pavilion, also heard this poem and smiled at Yu Fuling, "Your little brother is really talented. Even my father praised his good poetry. It's rare."
When Yu Fuling heard her praising Yu Qizhe, she felt proud and lay down by the window of the painting boat, looking towards the pavilion curiously.
When it was Yu Zhizhou's turn, he was unable to catch up. He picked up the wine on the table and drank three glasses in a row.
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