"Then what happened tonight, didn't you ask Liu Yiyi? Didn't she tell you the reason for abandoning the competition? Did she also hide it from you?" Liu Sheng said angrily.
Shen Fang sighed: "What are you asking? She just said that her skills are inferior to others and she doesn't want to accept this oiran for nothing. What can I say?"
Liu Sheng sneered and said: "After all, it's still your problem. You can't control a brothel girl, so why let this family come to the competition? This is great, I'll give you a good look on the spot. It's not that you and this Liu Yiyi Are we on a good relationship? Why? Magistrate Shen is usually too affectionate and cherishes her, so he allowed this prostitute to lose his temper and not care about your face, Magistrate Shen? It's really sad."
Shen Fang was ashamed and annoyed, blowing his beard and shouting: "Master Liu, please don't talk nonsense. I, Shen Fang, am not like you. I act very barbarically. When I govern the Jiangning Mansion, everything is discussed and discussed. Even ordinary people cannot be oppressed by the official status. I will not force them to do anything. Liu Yiyi is the leader of my Jiangning flower world. Fengyuelou’s participation in the competition is expected by the public, but it is not my forced decision. Besides, who knows What could happen?"
Liu Sheng sneered and said: "You want to be a bitch and build a memorial arch at the same time, which sounds nice. Don't you just want a good reputation? But what about now? You will be laughed to death."
Shen Fang retorted: "Mr. Liu, don't just criticize me. Your Yangzhou family entered the playoffs last, so what? Didn't you just get kicked out of it? Lin Jue was the only one who asked you to invite him. Then everyone is defeated, and the most embarrassing one is you, Yangzhou Mansion."
Liu Sheng said angrily: "Shen Fang, are you blaming me? If Feng Yue Lou had not abandoned the oiran for no reason before, how could anything happen later? If you want to blame it, it's your Jiangning Mansion."
Shen Fang opened his mouth to retort, but suddenly he heard someone slam the table, and the whole candle flickered several times. Only then did Shen Fang and Liu Sheng realize that there was another person sitting next to them. The two of them were so quarreling that they almost forgot. He did.
"My lords, are you here to blame each other when things go wrong? I don't see you blaming yourselves, you blame others. This is what I, the Zhou officials, are best at, and you two have mastered it to the best of your ability. "Wu Chunlai raised his handsome eyebrows and said sarcastically in a cold voice.
"Master Wu, please forgive me for our rudeness. It's just that we are unwilling to accept this. It's not that we are trying to blame each other. Do you think we were wronged tonight or not? Alas, after so much effort, we actually couldn't win. ." Shen Fang hurriedly cupped his hands and said.
Wu Chunlai waved his hands lightly and said: "It's just an Oiran competition, so what does it matter? So what if you win? So what if you lose? I, the person who sold face for you and hired people to help you, didn't complain, but you complained yourselves. Get up. So what if Hangzhou gets this oiran? You just lost some face, are you going to lose your head and lose your official position?"
"You can't say that. It's precisely because we are bound to win this time, and we invited so many people, but still lost, that we find it difficult to accept. It's not that we feel uncomfortable, but that we feel ashamed of Master Wu and even... Prime Minister Lu." Liu Sheng said.
Wu Chunlai smiled slightly and said: "Prime Minister Lu? Do you think Prime Minister Lu cares about these trivial matters? How many big things does Prime Minister Lu have to deal with in a day, and he still cares about who wins the oiran in the southeast? You are taking this matter too seriously. Of course, your mood It's understandable. It's okay if you want to compete with Yan Zhengsheng. It's really a pity to lose. But if you lose, you lose. You can't afford to lose. No matter what means others use, they always win. Besides, we also If you are not necessarily innocent, what qualifications do you have to accuse others?"
Shen Fang and Liu Sheng looked at each other with embarrassed expressions. Wu Chun was telling the truth. Prime Minister Lu and Wu Chun came to help beforehand. They had invited many talented people. Prime Minister Lu helped and even invited musicians from the palace. Come. And they also used some tricks, coercion and inducement to block the helpers of Qunfang Pavilion and Wanhualou, leaving the two participating brothels in Hangzhou with almost no one to help. In this case, they still lost, which is strange. who.
And what they didn't know was that the help they received didn't stop there. Lu Zhongtian hinted that they didn't know about Yuan Xiandao's fuss in the judgment. Otherwise, their frustration would have been even stronger.
"What Mr. Wu said is true. We made full preparations but still lost. How can we blame others? To be honest, that Lin Jue is really surprising. I don't know where such a person came from, so that we can't blame others." People are completely confused." Shen Fang frowned.
"That's right, when the last poem came out, I almost fainted. How could this guy write such good lyrics? It's really puzzling. I have to find out if someone is helping him behind the scenes." Liu Sheng also said.
Wu Chunlai nodded and said: "Yes, check it out. This little junior brother of mine is indeed strange to people. He suddenly appeared and became known to the whole world. In fact, I have heard about him since the Mid-Autumn Festival last year. Last year, this person helped Hangzhou Wangyue Tower and single-handedly brought the unknown Wangyue Tower to the position of oiran. He defeated Qunfang Pavilion and Wanhua Tower this year. At that time, Yuan Xiandao returned to the capital and brought back one of his songs The lyrics of "Ding Feng Bo" are also a masterpiece. However, later the literary world learned that he was only an eighteen-year-old boy, but the poem "Ding Feng Bo" was written in an open-minded and sophisticated way, which was really inconsistent with his age. This aroused a lot of suspicion. Because of this, many people thought that he had plagiarized other people's works, so he failed to become famous in the capital."
Shen Fang nodded and said: "That's true. All the famous people in Jiangning Mansion also think so. That poem definitely doesn't look like it was written by an eighteen-year-old boy. Everyone agreed at the time that someone was behind his back to help him become famous. It was more unanimous. The opinion is that it was done by his teacher Fang Dunru. Fang Dunru wanted to make his student famous, so he secretly helped him."
Hearing Shen Fang mention Fang Dunru's name, Wu Chunlai's face froze for a moment, then returned to his natural state, shaking his head and saying: "That's absolutely impossible, Fang... Dunru is definitely not that kind of person, he will not stand for his disciples It was a fake to gain fame. However, the connotation of that poem does seem to be written by Fang Dunru. The interesting thing about the matter is not whether this poem was written by Lin Jue, but that this young man actually helped Wangyuelou win the Oiran. , this is the interesting part. You two adults must know whose property Qunfang Pavilion and Wanhua Tower in Hangzhou actually belong to, right?"
"Of course I know, this matter is not a secret. It is the property of Prince Liang's house. Prince Liang was afraid of people gossiping, so he deliberately let others manage it for him. However, this is just a cover-up." Liu Sheng said.
"It makes people speechless to say it, but the dignified Prince Liang's palace wants to open a brothel business. It really damages the royal dignity. I don't know what Prince Liang thinks. It's really inexplicable." Shen Fang twisted his beard and said in a low voice.
Wu Chunlai sneered and said: "What else can you think of? It's nothing more than making money. Hangzhou is the largest capital in the southeast, a place that people in the world yearn for, and the flower world is also famous all over the country. This is the most profitable business, and it can be said to be a huge profit. Listen. It is said that Prince Liang’s palace is as rich as the country, with hundreds of millions of money. The two gifts given by Prince Liang’s palace on the Queen Mother’s birthday last year were worth seven or eight hundred thousand taels. Of course, I heard this from hearsay, so you two don’t need to take it seriously or spread it blindly.”
Shen Fang and Liu Sheng's mouths were already open enough to hold a fist. A gift of seven to eight hundred thousand taels shows how rich Prince Liang's family is. I'm afraid it's not just as simple as opening two brothels. Behind the scenes, I don’t know how many industries have been opened here.
Wu Chunlai continued: "At that time, Lin Jue actually helped someone to seize the Oiran. At that time, I felt that Prince Liang's palace might not be able to spare this person. But the strange thing is, how did this person suddenly change and become a guest of the palace? Later he returned He offered his plan to suppress bandits, assisted the officers and soldiers in suppressing the pirates who had been entrenched on Taohua Island for so many years, and received a commendation from the Holy One. Only then did I really feel that this person was unusual. But to be honest, I still felt that he just had some luck. It's just courage and courage. This time in the Oiran Competition, I saw what he did with my own eyes, the magnificent scene, and the two poems that followed. I realized that I still underestimated him. If I had known this earlier, I should have punished him. Winning them over. No wonder Liang Wang is serious and they are not panicking, they look like they are confident. They should know Lin Jue's abilities better than we do."
Shen Fang and Liu Sheng nodded slowly, but they also understood that it was useless to say this at this time. Even if the time went back a few days, they would not think that Lin Jue was the key to winning the Oiran Competition, because they did not realize it at all at this point.
"Master Wu, what should we do next?" Liu Sheng asked.
Wu Chunlai said with a smile: "What should we do? Are you two still unwilling to give up? The result has been decided, this time you two will go home in defeat. Why don't you two return home tomorrow morning? Are you still thinking of being here? Can’t we ask for an explanation here?”
Liu Sheng said awkwardly: "Master is joking, we will not do this. In this case, we will leave tomorrow. Will Master Wu go with us?"
Wu Chunlai shook his head and said: "I am here on official business. I want to inspect the public sentiment in the south of the Yangtze River, so why don't I leave in a hurry. This Oiran Competition is just a coincidence for me, and it is not the purpose of my coming here."
Liu Sheng and Shen Fang looked at each other, seemingly confused.
Wu Chunlai stood up and cupped his hands and said: "My lords, it's time to go back and have a rest. Tomorrow morning I'll excuse you and Qichen, but I can't go and see you off."
Shen Fang cupped his fists and raised his hands, but Liu Sheng hesitated to speak.
Wu Chunlai smiled and said, "What? Do you have anything else to say?"
Liu Sheng mustered up his courage, stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Sir, Sir Shen and I have something to ask. I don't know if it's rude or not."
Wu Chunlai smiled and said: "Whatever you two adults want to ask, feel free to ask. I may not be able to give you a satisfactory answer, because I don't know if I know your questions."
Liu Sheng smiled and said: "Thank you, sir. That's it. Sir Shen and I heard the news that Yan Zhengsheng will be transferred to the capital in the near future. We heard that he will join the political affairs hall and become the deputy prime minister. We don't know whether this is true or not. .”
Wu Chunlai frowned and stared at the two people in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "You two are very well-informed. These things are just rumors, but you two are just trying to catch rumors. So what if it is true? So what if it's not?"
