Chapter 337: Going to the meeting alone

That night, I slept with Chun'er. Chun'er was in poor health these days, so Chen Ao couldn't disturb her. So she squinted her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

When I woke up the next day, the sky was clear and cloudless. Chen Ao stretched out and went to work after breakfast.

This kind of life is a bit boring. It was said that early in the morning, Xichun Bridge was already crowded with people, and there were many household registrations in Hangzhou. In addition, many people bought Hangzhou Shizisheng. Gambling and joining in the fun, no one was willing to fall behind.

Under Xichun Bridge is a small river, with a strange name. However, although the river is taken in a small character, it is not small at all. The two sides are long raised, rows of willows caressed gently in the wind, and the river water is turbulent and clear. Behind the willow trees are rows of attics, street shops, wine flags, and tea flags fluttering in the wind.

Xichun Bridge is the most famous Xuanjin Cave in Hangzhou. On the left side of the bridge are rows of wine shops and gambling stalls. After crossing the bridge, there are brothels. Today, the girls in the brothels woke up early and pushed open the window facing Xichun Bridge. They saw that the people were crowded down, constantly throwing their eyebrows and eyes to the attic. These are all low-level brothel girls, real geishas and famous prostitutes disdained to show up, but they would also pass a layer of bead curtain in front of the window, and watch the excitement through the bead curtain.

Wanhua Tower is not on the right side of the bridge, but on an isolated island downstream of the river. The isolated island is actually made up of river mud and sand. The Wanhua Tower in the island is five stories high, and the bottom is a rock base paved with huge rocks. Although it only has five floors, it looks very tall from the river embankments on both sides of the river.

To get to Wanhua Tower, you need to go to the river to take a pleasure boat. However, on the bridge today, there was a young man wearing a paper fan and guarding him with a few strong men. The young man was so slutty that he looked at him. He looked more and more energetic and handsome, but he had powder on his face, showing some morbidity.

In fact, the use of powder by scholars is also a fashion in Jiangnan. It was popular in the Jin Dynasty. In today's Northern Song Dynasty, many poems always describe the word "blue face" when they were young.

In the wine shop next to the river bank, it is particularly quiet. There are already many wing soldiers and servants guarding it. The top floor is a wing room with a wide view. Looking down from here, the countless attic ridges are connected together, giving a sense of pleasure from a high place. Everyone here has already arrived, and there are quite a few people coming, from the comforting envoy Lee Coco, followed by the transfer envoy Jiang Bing, and there are also the execution envoy Jin Shaowen and the audition envoy Zhou Wen. These four people are the biggest figures on Liangzhe Road. They sit at the best position. You can see the full picture of Xichun Bridge by the window.

Then there are the Bureau of Construction, the Maritime Bureau, the Hangzhou Prefectural Office, and the two county government offices. There are a wide range of officials at all levels, either standing or sitting. Fortunately, the room is spacious enough, otherwise I am afraid that officials at the county magistrate level will not even have a place to stand.

Everyone held their breath, was surprisingly silent, with their own worries, using tea to cover up the embarrassment.

The Song Dynasty established the Four Divisions and managed the whole country, and had the intention of decentralizing power. There was inevitably some dirty things among the chief officials of each division. Therefore, these four adults rarely get together. On the surface, they are happy, but in fact, they have their own wishful thinking in their hearts.

For example, the fortune transfer commander Jiang Bing and the comfort commander Coco Lee had been dirty. The comfort commander should be the chief officer all the way, but who is Jiang Bing? He is the nephew of Empress Dowager Qinci, a royal relative, and is in charge of the Suzhou Yingfeng Bureau, the Hangzhou Construction Bureau and the Hangzhou Maritime Bureau. How could he even see Coco Lee's expression? Besides, in the eyes of the emperor, Jiang Bing is a first-class celebrity, so what is Coco Lee? His status is extraordinary in the entire Jiangnan. Even if he enters the court, who dares to show his face to see him?

This situation made Coco Lee's position a bit embarrassing. Although the Liangzhe Road Pacifier was good, he was suppressed by this fortune envoy, and was very uncomfortable, and it was inevitable that he was a little dirty. It is well known that these two major yamen competed secretly. Although they just smiled and saw the courtesy, they each showed a cold face as soon as they sat down.

The two of them didn't speak, and the rest of them dared not speak. However, Zhou Wen was determined to liven up the atmosphere and deliberately joked, but no one laughed. Zhou Wen was unhappy and stopped talking.

As for the envoy Jin Shaowen of the Tixing envoy, he didn't know what he was thinking about, and no one was going to provoke him.

After half an hour of silence, I drank a few cups of tea. The people who were watching the fun on the downstairs were impatient and said in a noisy manner: "Why didn't County Magistrate Chen come yet? Could it be that he is timid?"

"What a talented man in Bianjing? Humph, I'm afraid he's scared now."

When there were many different opinions, I heard someone say, "There is a man! Here is a man!"

While speaking, Chen Ao rode an old horse, with a boy behind him, and came slowly; everyone along the way gave him a way out, and Xichun Bridge was already in front of Shen Ao's eyes.

Chen Ao was wearing a regular dress with a Confucian ribbon on his head and appeared with a smile. He took a shower today. His clothes were made of ice blue silk, with snow-white piping embroidered with elegant bamboo leaves and the mutton fat jade hairpin on his head, cleverly setting off the extraordinary figure of a graceful noble man.

Seeing so many people supporting him, Chen Ao smiled slightly, and the smile was quite a bit of a romantic young man's frivolous chin raised slightly, revealing a hint of arrogance.

Humph, aren’t you very crazy? My buddy is even more crazy than you!

As for the boy behind him, it was the little monk Shi Xiaohu. Shi Xiaohu had grown his hair now and his face became more and more cute, but there was a temperament that was inconsistent with his age between his eyebrows.

The two of them arrived under the Xichun Bridge in front of everyone, and then fell down and went up the bridge. The pink-faced scholar who was shaking the paper fan stopped Chen Ao. The two strong men clasped their fists behind the pink-faced scholar, making a gesture of being idle.

The pink-faced young master gathered his fan, saluted Chen Ao, and said seriously: "Is the person coming to Chen Ao Chen County Captain?"

Chen Ao didn't look at him at all, showing the difference between him and his identity. His eyes fell behind Xichun Bridge and said lightly: "I am the one."

Seeing Chen Ao's attitude, the pink-faced young master was ashamed and angry as he suppressed his anger and said with a smile: "Does Chen County Magistrate know that he wants to cross this bridge, but there is a name for him? It is important to know that the famous prostitute Xue Fangfang died here. Since then, every day, today, there have been poets coming to mourn her to miss this strong and powerful woman. Since Chen County Magistrate has been on the bridge and is at the same time, why not write a poem to open the eyes of the students?"

Chen Ao smiled slightly: "I don't know what the topic is?"

The pink-faced young master said seriously: "How about the topic of Xichunqiao?"

Chen Ao nodded and fell into silence; the most needed thing to write this poem that suits the situation is urgent wisdom. Chen Ao does not lack this point. His IQ is not low. In addition, he has the lowest poetry of later generations, and sometimes he can use some good words to apply it. Moreover, after reading books for so long, he finally has some experience in writing poetry, so there is no need to copy the poetry of later generations.

When everyone saw him frowning, they burst into laughter and said, "It seems that this first level has made the county magistrate stump. Haha, the number one talented man in Bianjing is not as good as the last talented man in Hangzhou."

Chen Ao ignored their nonsense, thought for a moment, and chanted loudly: "The water outside Xichun Bridge is like the sky, and I will watch the ferry boat for five days. I will pour the wine and drink it half drunk, and the hairpin head is red and pink is Zhenyi."

The first half of this poem is about the scenery of Xichun Bridge, which is about the beautiful and lively scene of Xichun Bridge. The third sentence reveals the sound and color of Xichun Bridge, but the last sentence suddenly changes. The red pink hairpin refers to the famous prostitute who committed suicide. A four-character short poem tells the history and scenery of Xichun Bridge. This poem is naturally not as good as the poem that has been passed down through the ages. However, as a poem that meets the scene, it is considered superior. After all, the time is short, which is extremely rare. Even if Li Bai resurrects, he may not be able to write poems in a short time.

In terms of quality, Chen Ao's poems are naturally not as good as those famous poets, but when it comes to quick poetry, they are also considered masters. Agile thinking is the same potential that art thieves possess, not to mention that Chen Ao is familiar with the past and present, and has a much broader vision than those of the people of this era.

Chen Ao wrote a poem, and the ridicule immediately silenced, but there were a few people who started to scream.

The young master of pink chewed Chen Ao’s poem and was silent for a moment. He first smiled bitterly, and then said to Chen Ao: "The county magistrate is a talented person, and he is showing off his skills. He has no idea about Mount Tai. I hope he will forgive me and ask the elders to cross the bridge."

After saying that, the pink-faced young man winked at the two strong men behind him. The two strong men immediately separated and made a gesture of inviting Chen Ao.

Chen Ao walked across the bridge, and said to a person who was looking around the road: "I wonder how to get to this Wanhua Building?"

Chen Ao was a county magistrate after all. Although the man wanted to see Chen Ao's jokes, he did not dare to be arrogant in front of Chen Ao. He quickly pointed to a simple trestle bridge on the river bank and walked: "After crossing the trestle bridge, climbing the pleasure boat, and going down the water, you can land in Wanhua Tower."

Chen Ao walked to the pier. The pier was very simple, but had a kind of dilapidated beauty. The wooden stakes entering the water were covered with a lot of moss, which made people see, and had a unique poetry. There was indeed a pleasure boat at the end of the pier. However, just as soon as he approached here, Chen Ao found that someone was blocking his way.

This man was about thirties and was wearing a black long gown. The long gown was a bit messy and his hair was greasy. He put a small case under the willow tree by the pier, and black and white chess pieces were placed on the case. His eyes fell on the chess game and remained motionless.

Chen Ao immediately understood that this was the second level. He walked over and said, "If you don't play chess with you, can't you cross this pier?"

The man suddenly didn't move. After waiting for a moment, he slowly fell down a dark spot. Then he shook his head, raised his eyes, and looked at Chen Ao. His eyes were pitch black, and the ancient well was nodded as if he had regarded Chen Ao as air. He nodded in his head and said lightly: "I would like to ask the county magistrate for advice."

The crowd was in agitation and said, "Even Mr. Liang was shocked, haha, Mr. Liang took action, this Shen Ao will definitely not be able to get on the pier."

Chen Ao only understood Go a little, but his level was limited. When he heard those people praise him for this person named Mr. Liang, he understood in his heart that he was afraid that Mr. Liang’s chess skills were very good! He would definitely lose the game against him. What should he do?

Chen Ao's bright eyes rolled quickly, then laughed and said, "Mr. Liang, I don't have much time, so I won't play chess with you. Why not do this? I will set up a chess game for you to crack. If you can't break this chess game, you will lose. Is it okay?"

Seeing his arrogant look, Mr. Liang didn't look at him directly, but his face was still motionless and he didn't care at all. He looked at Chen Ao with dark eyes and slowly said, "Then, please give me advice."

Chen Ao smiled and then started placing chess pieces. After a moment, a delicate game was set up, and the fan was pulled out from his waist, and he said leisurely: "Please crack it by Mr. Liang."

Mr. Liang first watched the game of chess. At first, he didn't care, but then he frowned again. He thought that the game of chess was not that simple. Later, he exclaimed, as if he had lost his soul. A hint of horror flashed in his eyes, and his whole body and mind were trapped in this exquisite game.

Chen Ao handed the fan to Shi Xiaohu and said to Shi Xiaohu: "Come on, fan the wind."

Shi Xiaohu pouted: "I promised that I will only be your book boy, why do you still have to fan the wind?"

Chen Ao glared at him: "Do you want to eat candied haws?"

Shi Xiaohu immediately took the fan and carefully fanned Chen Ao.

Chen Ao raised his legs with a smile, looking at Mr. Liang, without any worry on his face; the chess game he made was a chess game developed by later generations based on the ancient chess book "Fayang Lun", in which the tricks such as "golden rooster independent" and "rat steal oil" were linked together, and the biggest "removal of boots" in history were also designed. This chess game was discussed in later generations by many advanced chess players for several days and nights before they finally broke; no matter how smart the chess players in this era were, it was impossible to find a way to crack it without ten days and half a month.
Chapter completed!