The first thousand one hundred and sixty-three chapters of poetry and music
In the afternoon, Bai Juyi came to the newspaper as usual. He wrote an article about civil bellows last night and was going to hand it over to the chief editor Du Chong for review today. Du Chong is the chief editor of the newspaper and is also responsible for the people's livelihood column. The reason is very
Simple, the King of Jin and the imperial court attached great importance to this column.
Du Chong had a separate room. Bai Juyi knocked on the door and said, "It's me who is the chief judge!"
"come in!"
Bai Juyi pushed the door open and walked in. Du Chong was immersed in a pile of manuscripts and was busy reading them. "What's the matter?" Du Chong asked without raising his head.
"I have an article about the bellows, and His Highness the King of Jin hopes to promote it in the newspaper as soon as possible."
Hearing that it was His Highness the King of Jin's intention, Du Chong raised his head, stretched out his hand and said, "Show me the manuscript!"
Bai Juyi hurriedly handed the manuscript to him, "Yesterday I went to visit the Taixue Hydraulic Power Station, and I happened to meet His Royal Highness the King of Jin. He hoped that the bellows would be promoted for civilian use as soon as possible."
Du Chong looked at it carefully, thought for a while and said, "Let's add a picture!"
The illustrations are of course simple woodcuts. Such woodcuts cannot be reused and cost a lot of money. They are usually decided by the chief judge.
Of course Bai Juyi also hopes to have pictures, otherwise no one will be able to understand it just in words. With pictures, everyone will understand it at once.
"This kind of new thing really needs to be accompanied by pictures, otherwise it will be difficult for people to understand."
"Well! Leave the manuscript with me first! I'll look at it carefully later. Lao Sun will discuss with you how to describe it and try to get it published in the newspaper the day after tomorrow."
Bai Juyi bowed and exited the room. When he returned to his seat, a colleague smiled and said, "Xiao Xue was looking for you just now! He looked very anxious."
Bai Juyi was startled. What was Xue Qing looking for in a hurry?
Just as he was talking, Xue Qing came running like a gust of wind, "I'm looking for you everywhere!"
"What's going on?" Bai Juyi was stunned.
"What's the matter? Oh my god, come with me quickly."
Xue Qing dragged Bai Juyi out of the lobby, stared at the suspicious Bai Juyi and asked, "Have you really forgotten?"
"Forgot what?"
Xue Qing lightly punched Bai Juyi's shoulder with his fist, "Didn't you go to Tianlai Music Studio?"
Bai Juyi's mouth opened wide. He had been writing the manuscript all night last night and had completely forgotten about it.
Xue Qing said jealously: "It's really unfair. I ran there with my heart in mind, but my name was not there. You kid forgot it, but my name was ranked first. It's totally unreasonable."
Bai Juyi blinked and said with a smile: "Otherwise, I'll sell you this spot! Five dollars."
"Go! Is Miss Shi's invitation worth only five dollars? I will definitely tell her when I have the chance and see how she teaches you a lesson!"
"Why are you teaching me a lesson? I have never met her and have nothing to do with her. What reason does she have to teach me a lesson?"
"Stop being pretentious. You looked so lost when she sang yesterday, and now you are actually pretending to be noble. Can you hide it from others, including me?"
Bai Juyi's face flushed slightly, "Thank you for telling me. If there is nothing else, I will go back."
"Nonsense! Come and buy clothes with me quickly. You can't wear this to the poetry and music concert!"
Bai Juyi looked at his green cloth cotton robe, "I bought this new one, a fine linen cotton robe. It's so thick and costs a lot of money! Isn't it possible?"
"I'm really impressed by you. Your cotton robe is too thick... Hey! Look what Wang Zhubi is wearing?"
The main writer, Wang, is responsible for the beauty column, various makeup, clothing, etc. His pen name is Wan Niang. Many female readers think that he is a soft and delicate woman, but in fact he is a dry old man in his fifties.
Bai Juyi glanced through the crack in the door and saw that Chief Writer Wang was speaking impassionedly and waving his arms. It felt like he was deliberately showing off his newly bought fox fur coat.
"You wouldn't ask me to wear that! Like a weasel."
Xue Qing laughed out loud, "Pfft!" The thin Wang Zhubi put on the fox fur coat and really looked like a weasel.
"Don't underestimate my fox fur. I bought it for fifty dollars. You don't want to wear something so exaggerated, but at least wear a thin satin robe! How about I lend you one?"
"Forget it, I'll just wear this, I may not have time to go there tomorrow!"
Seeing that Bai Juyi refused to change into new clothes, Xue Qing had no choice but to give up.
...........
Poetry and music gatherings are actually small gatherings among circles. There are many small gatherings like this in Chang'an, but they are only hosted by the beautiful woman Shi Hongxiu, and have been expanded infinitely by good people.
Of course, this is also related to the draft. There were too many people who wanted to participate, so we had to make a selection. As a result, it attracted the attention of scholars all over the city.
The poetry and music meeting was still held in Tingqin Xiaozhu, but Bai Juyi was very unlucky today. He happened to be stopped by Gu Kuang, who helped him grade the papers. After finally finishing the papers, he didn't even have time to eat lunch. He was waiting in a hurry
When I arrived, the poetry and music session was almost over.
The person standing guard at the door was the round-faced girl from the day before yesterday. She shook her head and said, "My girl has rules. She will be deemed to have given up voluntarily after half the time. I can't help you."
Bai Juyi was sweating profusely from running. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "Today is really unfortunate. In the morning, I have to be responsible for marking the monthly exams in Hongwen Hall. The owner of the hall will check the results when he comes back in the afternoon. I didn't mean to be late."
, tell me something!”
As soon as he finished speaking, his stomach growled unsatisfactorily. The round-faced girl covered her mouth and laughed so hard that her branches trembled with laughter. After a while, she held back her laughter and nodded: "I'll tell you, see if the girl is willing."
Make an exception."
"Thank you, little lady!"
The girl went in with a smile, and came out after a while and said: "You are lucky, the girl is in a good mood, please come in!"
Bai Juyi quickly adjusted his robe and followed the girl in. Although he was very hypocritical and refused to change into new clothes yesterday, he regretted it at this moment. The robe he wore was indeed a bit shabby. What's worse, he ran all the way.
He came over and was sweating all over. He could feel that the back of the cotton robe was soaked with sweat.
In a lobby, there were two rows of long low tables, with thick mattresses on the wooden floor. There were three young scribes kneeling on each side, all of whom were admirers of Shi Hongxiu.
The host, Shi Hongxiu, is sitting in the middle of the head. She has not applied makeup today, but she is naturally beautiful. Her skin is as crystal clear as jade, her hair is in a high bun, her eyebrows are picturesque, her eyes are like autumn waves, and her lips are a little pink. She is extremely dignified and beautiful. She is dressed in a uniform.
He wears a light yellow jacket, a lambskin jacket, a collar of white fox fur around his neck, and a silver mud skirt around his waist.
They had finished talking about their poems, and there was a piano next to them. It seemed that they had also played the piano. The poetry and music meeting had come to an end, and everyone was drinking tea and chatting.
Bai Juyi walked up to the lobby and saluted: "I'm really sorry for the delay."
Someone next to me snorted coldly, "You're here now, why don't you come at all?"
The speaker was a young man sitting at the top. His name was Wei Min, the third son of Wei Huan, the head of the Wei family. He was today's leader of literati. His poems and articles were all highly praised by Shi Hongxiu, and he stole the show.
.
When Wei Min saw Bai Juyi's shabby clothes and worse clothes than their servants, he felt really contemptuous in his heart. All kinds of dogs and cats came to him.
Wei Min wore a fine cotton robe made of Sichuan brocade, a silver deerskin men's jacket, and a leather belt around his waist. He had a handsome appearance, was elegant and distinguished, and had the posture of a jade tree facing the wind. The other five people were obviously inferior in temperament.
As soon as he made a move, everyone became his foil.
The other five young scholars were either rich or noble, and they were all well-dressed. Bai Juyi's fine linen blue-grey thick cotton robe did seem a bit out of place among them.
Shi Hongxiu's expression was calm, showing no signs of happiness or anger. She said calmly: "Mr. Bai, please sit down!"
The seat at the bottom on the left was empty, and Bai Juyi sat down silently. However, the round-faced maid served him a cup of hot tea, and Bai Juyi bowed slightly to thank him.
Shi Hongxiu didn't look at Bai Juyi. She smiled lightly and said: "We just read today's "Chang'an Express". The people's livelihood column actually recommended a kind of bellows with pictures. The newspaper said that this kind of bellows is very practical. I wonder if anyone has any.
What do you think?"
Bai Juyi raised his head in surprise. Didn't the chief examiner agree to submit the report tomorrow? Why was it submitted in advance today? He hadn't reviewed the accompanying picture yet!
Wei Min coughed slightly, "That kind of bellows is mainly used for smelting! I think it should be placed in the new things column, but I don't know why it is placed in the people's livelihood column? Maybe the newspaper office made a mistake, they often make this kind of mistake
, not once or twice.”
Wei Min's father, Wei Huan, was very disparaging of "Chang'an Express" and found faults all day long. Under his father's influence, Wei Min was also full of contempt for "Chang'an Express".
Some of the other five people also knew the use of the bellows, but because of Wei Min's face, they stopped saying anything.
Seeing that no one had any reaction, Shi Hongxiu cast a pair of wonderful eyes on Bai Juyi and said with a smile: "Mr. Bai seems to have some great ideas, why don't you tell me?"