263, Dinner with colleagues
263, Dinner with colleagues
The group arrived at Yipinxuan and went up to the private room on the upper floor of Yipinxuan.
The space inside the box is very large, with small tables placed around it, and a space in the middle for the pianist to play the piano and music.
"Please sit here, Master." Fu Lianxin invited the Master to sit in the seat of honor.
After the dean sat down, he also called the students he led to sit next to him, "You sit here."
"Yes, dean." Fu Lianxin bowed and asked everyone to take a seat. He then sat down next to the dean.
The rest of the adults found their seats and sat down in pairs.
Lu Mingfei and Zhang Lingxuan were both newcomers, so they consciously found a seat in a corner and sat down.
After they sat down, a graceful girl with her face covered entered their box. After greeting the guests present, she sat on a low stool in front of the xylophone, placed her hands on the xylophone and began to play it.
The pleasant sound of the piano was heard, and a servant came in with delicious food and wine.
Looking at the woman playing the piano, Lu Mingfei somehow remembered Prince Zhao who played the piano for him in Xingchun Garden that day. He couldn't help but find it a little funny and actually laughed out loud.
"What are you laughing at?" Zhang Lingxuan noticed that his friend suddenly started laughing while watching the girl playing the piano. How should I put it? This laugh was a bit strange.
"Can't I smile even though I'm happy?" Lu Mingfei asked, suppressing the smile on his face.
"Are you happy seeing the girl?" Zhang Lingxuan raised his eyebrows and asked.
"...No, I just thought of something funny. It has nothing to do with the girl." Lu Mingfei quickly shook his head. If the jealous person at home knew that he was laughing at another girl, he would definitely be extremely jealous.
Fu Lianxin watched Lu Mingfei and Zhang Lingxuan sitting together, whispering to each other. They seemed to be very close, which made him feel a little envious. However, he didn't want to see them whispering in front of him. He picked up the wine glass in front of him, stood up, and said, "This first glass of wine is for the dean and all the gentlemen present."
"I am fortunate to be able to enter the Hanlin Academy and study under the Dean and the other masters. If I do anything wrong in the future, I hope the Dean and the other masters will point it out."
"Editor Fu, you're too polite."
All the Hanlin scholars present here know that Fu Xiubian, who has just entered their Hanlin Academy, is the grandson of the old Taifu Fu.
This Editor Fu had a grandfather in the imperial court, and the Fu family also had numerous members serving in the imperial court, many holding important positions in the six ministries. Now that this Editor Fu had joined the Hanlin Academy, he was being personally mentored by their dean. It was clear at first glance that he had a promising future.
Therefore, when they saw Fu Lianxin stand up to toast them, everyone present, except the dean, quickly stood up with their glasses in hand.
At this time, Lu Mingfei and Zhang Lingxuan were also holding wine glasses and standing with everyone.
Meeting Fu Lianxin's gaze, Lu Mingfei nodded to his promising colleague. He felt fortunate that Fu Lianxin was a gentleman, not one to be jealous of others. Otherwise, if he had outperformed Fu Lianxin on several exams, it would have been enough for him to use his connections to crush him once he entered the Hanlin Academy.
However, who says that scholars don’t understand the ways of the world? He thinks that these old Hanlin scholars in the Hanlin Academy are quite knowledgeable about the ways of the world!
After everyone had a glass of wine, they sat back in their seats.
At this time, everyone had been in the Hanlin Academy for a whole day. It was a rare occasion for someone to invite them to dinner. With a beautiful woman playing the piano and fine wine and delicious food in front of them, all the old Hanlins relaxed, listening to the pleasant piano music, drinking fine wine, eating delicious food, and chatting with their colleagues next to them.
Lu Mingfei knew that in their time, the imperial court did not restrict or prohibit officials from drinking wine and visiting prostitutes. Many scholars and scholars even considered it a beautiful thing to do. However, Fu Lianxin's dinner party today had not been held at a brothel. Apart from the zither player, there were no other beauties in their private room, only a few servants pouring wine for them.
Last time they also went out to eat with Fu Lianxin. When this man invited them to dinner, he really invited them to dinner, not to drink or visit prostitutes.
From this he could see that Fu Lianxin was indeed a well-educated young man from a noble family.
***
“Knock knock—”
Just as they were eating and drinking in the private room, someone knocked twice on the door from outside, and then pushed the door open.
Seeing the door of the box being pushed open from the outside, everyone subconsciously looked towards the door.
The second prince and the third prince stood at the door of the box and walked in together.
Facing the gazes of the crowd, the Second Prince smiled and said, "My third brother and I came here to have dinner. We heard that the scholars were also having dinner here, so we came over to say hello. I hope we won't disturb you all."
"No, no." The dean was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up and bowed to the two princes who came in, saying, "Your humble servant greets His Royal Highness the Second Prince and His Royal Highness the Third Prince."
"Meet His Royal Highness the Second Prince and His Royal Highness the Third Prince."
Everyone in the box stood up and saluted the two princes.
Lu Mingfei and Zhang Lingxuan were standing right at the door, so at this moment they were the closest to the two princes.
At this time, they were bowing their bodies and lowering their heads.
Lu Mingfei felt a gaze falling on him, and he suspected it was the Second Prince. Last time at the Qionglin Banquet, they had only met the First and Second Princes. That time, the Second Prince had helped him out, allowing him to avoid the First Prince's harassment. However, he had not seen the Second Prince since then. Could it be that the Second Prince still remembered him?
The Second Prince's glance did not linger on Lu Zhuangyuan. With a smile on his face, he said to everyone, "Everyone, please excuse your formalities."
"Thank you, Your Highness." Everyone responded and then stood up straight.
Fu Lianxin extended an invitation to the two distinguished guests who had come to their private room: "We are honored today to invite Your Highnesses to have a drink with us before leaving."
"Third brother, are you in a hurry to leave?" the second prince asked his younger brother who came with him.
"Don't be in a hurry." The third prince quickly opened the fan in his hand and waved it.
After getting his brother's consent, the Second Prince finally agreed, "Since Editor Fu has invited us, we will shamelessly stay."
The seats in their box were all full, so Fu Lianxin asked someone to move the seats he and the dean sat on a little further away and add a table next to them for the two princes to sit at.
Soon, the second prince and the third prince also sat down in the seats assigned to them.
Lu Mingfei and Zhang Lingxuan also sat in their seats.
He looked up at the two princes and unexpectedly met the Second Prince's gaze. Seeing that the Second Prince smiled at him, Lu Mingfei realized that he was greeting him and smiled back.
It was obvious that His Royal Highness the Second Prince still remembered him.
He had already met the eldest and second princes last time, and this was the first time he had met the third prince, who sat at the same table with the second prince. It must be said that the three princes he had met so far all looked different.
No wonder the old saying goes, A dragon gives birth to nine sons, each one is different.
Each of these princes has a different appearance, and even when they sit together, you can't tell that they are brothers.
However, this is not surprising. The emperor has so many wives and concubines, and each son is born to a different wife. It would be strange if the sons looked the same. It is normal for them to have different appearances.
After sitting down, the Third Prince, who had been silent the entire time, asked, "Is that the top scorer in the Gold Examination, Lu Mingfei?"
"I am Lu Mingfei, your humble servant, meeting His Royal Highness the Third Prince." Lu Mingfei, who was called, had no choice but to stand up and salute His Royal Highness the Third Prince, and also bowed to His Royal Highness the Second Prince beside him.
The Third Prince looked at Lu Zhuangyuan who had stood up not far away and said with a smile, "The last time you were chosen as the top scholar by our father, we saw you from afar in the hall. I heard that our top scholar Lu is only eighteen years old this year?"
"According to folk calculations, I am already nineteen years old this year." Lu Mingfei was referring to his age in lunar years.
"Haha, our Champion Lu is really interesting. He's afraid that others will say you're young, so he deliberately says he's one year older." The third prince laughed. He really thought that Champion Lu was an interesting young man.
After asking about the top scorer in the imperial examination, the third prince asked, "Who is the third place winner?"
"I am Zhang Lingxuan, your humble servant, honored to meet Your Highness." Zhang Lingxuan also stood up and bowed to the two princes.
This time, before the Third Prince could speak, Fu Lianxin, who was sitting beside him, couldn't help but ask, "Third Prince, you asked about the top scorer and the second place winner, why didn't you ask who the second place winner was?"
"Do you even need to ask?" It was obvious that the Third Prince and Fu Lianxin were old acquaintances.
"You ask, I deserve it and I'm happy." Fu Lianxin said.
The Third Prince couldn't help but burst into laughter and said to Fu Lianxin, "I think you are deliberately trying to make us laugh. I'll punish you by giving you a drink."
The second prince was also looking at Fu Lianxin and smiling. They had known each other since childhood, so how could he not recognize Fu Lianxin?
But Fu Lianxin didn't want to drink the penalty drink, "I made you laugh, shouldn't we have a drink together?"
"How about we toast His Royal Highness the Second Prince and His Royal Highness the Third Prince?" Fu Lianxin turned around and asked the others in the box.
"Yes, yes, it's what we should do." An adult responded.
The Second Prince raised his wine glass, looked at Fu Lianxin and the Dean behind him, and said, "It's rare to meet here, let's have a drink together."
"Your Highness the Second Prince, Your Highness the Third Prince."
Everyone present raised their glasses and stood up to toast the two princes.
At this moment, Lu Mingfei, who was toasting the two princes in the box, did not know that there were two people sitting next to them on the wall.
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