The Lord who use immortals as food

"When I was 21 years old, I resigned from my marriage and went to Beijing. It was the most confusing time for me."

Qi Zhaohua walked along the railing with a chair, and Pei Ye leaned on the railing next to him and listened. Looking down from this, the small landscape garden was completed into a flat painting.

"You know I can't practice. In the past many years, I read and wrote lyrics, and earned a high reputation in Bowang City. People said that I was the most talented woman, and I was quite proud of myself. I read and write in anthologies every day, and talked with scholars and senior officials. "Hou Sing, I think I'm completely different from the daughters who are waiting to be married."

"I spent my entire youth like this."

"Until the Qi family was very happy and proud to tell the matchmaker that the daughter could only be married to the son of the Chamber of Commerce, but now she can be matched with the governor."

"."

"So when the invitation was given to me, I seemed to wake up from a dream." Qi Zhaohua smiled, "It turns out that I am still a flower, just framed with a layer of pure and elegant colors. A rich family."

"I don't hate the young master, but even if there is no Jiang Hong waiting for me, I have always thought highly of myself since I was a child. I always thought I would do something great in this life." Qi Zhaohua said slowly, "This matter has given me a great deal I was devastated and came to Shenjing alone. At that time, I looked at this strange and prosperous metropolis, with its majestic palaces and hundreds of squares. However, I felt that my future was uncertain, my life was confused, and I had nothing but ambition and stubbornness. "

Qi Zhaohua paused for a moment, then turned his head and looked quietly out the window, as if thinking of that time.

"At that time, I was wandering on the streets of Chang'an every day, and carriages passed by, and I didn't know which noble official was sitting in them. I grew up in a not-so-poor family, but at that time I was quite envious and often stood there in a daze. I stared at them as they drove into the inner city, wondering which yamen they would drive into," the woman recalled, "so I worked hard in the sacred capital, delivered letters everywhere, went to banquets and composed poems, and visited Qingzi. Gradually, It’s true that there is such a number one person as ‘Qi Zhaohua’.”

"The feeling I had when I was in Bowang is back again, respect, attention, admiration, yearning, and some malice for different reasons. I have long been used to dealing with these, almost like a fish in water." Qi Zhaohua was quiet for a while, looking at the moon, "But that The confusion lingers.”

"Every day I feel that what I am doing is a waste of life, but I don't know what I can do. God has given me a good appearance. I have learned poetry since I was a child. This is my sharpest and most beautiful thing. The most useful weapon."

"Until I met my benefactor at a poetry gathering."

"That was four years ago. It was the highest-level banquet that I had been searching for for half a year before I could enter. I heard that there were ministers, famous scholars, and nobles from aristocratic families like Prince Zheng in this poetry gathering. I At that time, I really wanted to see what the 'top' of this big city looked like, and I couldn't help but fantasize about getting someone to take notice of me, and then I would rise to the top."

"I made a lot of preparations for that poetry meeting, and in the end I really won the applause of the whole house with my exquisite Qilu. That was my biggest success since I came to Beijing alone. In a place like Shenjing and with such a standard, Being sought after at the poetry banquet, the benefits that can be exchanged are unimaginable," Qi Zhaohua said, "I really got what I dreamed of in one banquet - Zheng Zhaochen, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the general after the banquet. I invite you to the small courtyard behind the garden, and I am willing to recommend you to be an official under the Zheng family."

"Only a small request came with it, that I sleep with him for one night."

Pei Ye turned her head in surprise. The slender woman was still leaning against the railing, her cheeks slightly rosy after drinking.

She turned her head and pursed her lips for the first time: "I really thought about it seriously at that time."

"."

"That made me even more irritated."

"I actually realize that my luck is a little bit bad this time - this Zheng Zhaochen has some rumors. If I had been appreciated by the minister or the elder in the literary world, I might not have such disgusting things. But you know What is it that really makes me feel like it’s all meaningless?”

She looked at the young man beside her: "I suddenly discovered that the humble scholar who was ranked second at the banquet actually wrote much better poems than me."

"."

Qi Zhaohua turned his head and looked at the white moon in the sky quietly for a long time.

"There is no moment that makes me more confused than that night. On the Phoenix Terrace after walking out of the small courtyard, the night rain was a bit cool. I lay on the railing and stayed in a daze for who knows how long. I have come to Shenjing to pray for years, but I still feel Standing there. That night I thought that I had left my hometown in order to cut off my original self. However, when I arrived in Shenjing, I still relied on poetry and appearance to cross these thresholds, write poems and lyrics to attract people's appreciation, and put on makeup to attract people's love. , what’s the difference?”

"For many years, I have been lingering in literary circles and poetry circles. It's all flattery."

"That's when I met my benefactor." Qi Zhaohua retracted his gaze and whispered, "I don't know when she stood next to me. She was wearing a gray cloak. There were maids on the left and right holding umbrellas. She was holding a small pot of warm water. Sake, catch the night rain with your hands."

"I thought many times later that if I had not walked out of that small courtyard that night, I would not have met her." Qi Zhaohua turned to him and smiled, his eyes a little misty from wine, "No knife can compare to that sigh." It can cut through my twenty years of life more sharply, and I still clearly remember every detail of that fateful spring night.”

"She said, 'Who can you rely on to stand up? You are all beautiful and sexy.'"

Pei Ye's eyes widened slightly, and Qi Zhaohua smiled and said, "Yes, later I found out that this was Enjun's "Congratulations to the Bridegroom·Self-Ode", and it has always been engraved in my heart."

"We talked about a lot of things that night, about each other's life experiences and each other's ambitions. For the first time, I understood why the ancients said that 'it's just acupuncture and moxibustion without medicine. You can talk it out with some wonderful words'."

Pei Ye listened quietly. The woman may have never confided this feeling to anyone, and Pei Ye could feel her relaxation.

At this time, he also understood why Qi Zhaohua said that Xu Chuo's kindness to her was to break the clouds and rescue a person from the outside world and his own predicament. Isn't it this kind of kindness?

But I heard the woman beside me who had calmed down say softly: "But, Pei Ye, do you think this is my fault?"

Pei Ye turned around in shock.

Qi Zhaohua was looking at him: "Why should I go to compose poems and have a banquet?"

"."

"Why can't I let go of this body of 'Yan Skin and Bones'? Why do those half a hundred scholars and I have to practice this body of flattery first if we want to enter those yamen? What did he lose to?" I?"

"."

Qi Zhaohua withdrew his gaze, looked into the empty space and said softly: "My benefactor has shown me kindness, but I am just repaying the favor. It is my ambition to follow you to the death to see the sun."

"She said there are a million people like me in the world."

"."

The two were silent for a long time. Qi Zhaohua called the waiter, took another small bottle of wine, and drank by himself.

"I have never told anyone this, Pei Shaoxia." She lowered her head and whispered softly, "This is the reason why I returned to Shenjing. At that time, I stayed with Enjun for two years, and then I realized that 'Bo Wang could not tolerate me. It was too foolish and arrogant to think that I was there, so I wanted to go back and do something on my own without relying on my benefactor.”

Pei Ye thought back: "That's why we met."

Qi Zhaohua took a deep breath, as if he was completely separated from the hazy memory, drank and said with a smile: "Yes."

Pei Ye suddenly said: "I have actually seen the name of the owner."

"oh?"

"When Feng was still pregnant, it was written in the national newspaper in July that she was the literary leader of the Nanguo Literary Society. It was only three months ago that the saint named her, right?" Pei Ye looked downstairs. , "Doesn't that mean she is only twenty years old?"

Qi Zhaohua paused and smiled: "Absolutely."

Pei Ye couldn't help but frown. He was as old as he was, so why was he still "almost"? But since Qi Zhaohua didn't explain, he had nothing to ask.

So when she met Qi Zhaohua four years ago, she was only sixteen years old.

After a quick meeting during the day, he was indeed very unfamiliar with this museum owner. As far as the word "backer" is concerned, it is somewhat more powerful than imagined, so it is also shrouded in a heavy veil of mystery.

Publicly publishing "The Broken Hero" in the national newspaper, he was promoted to the sacred capital with an order. Even though Xing Zhi and Yan Feiqing could not be said to be her subordinates, they were still surrounding the chariot and putting pressure on Prince Yan's palace. Despite the situation, he was still exchanged out of prison as soon as he came and went. At this time, the out-of-control evil was probably backfired on the person who was operating.

This process must require the in-depth cooperation of Xianrentai, and what role does the Sun Swallowing Society play in this?

Pei Ye already believed in her calm and tough approach, but what he couldn't figure out was. Could the so-called "old lady" have such broad and tough tentacles?

He clearly remembered that the old man had been dead for some years.

When he asked this question, Qi Zhaohua became mute and only sighed: "Young Master Pei now understands the legacy of officialdom. I don't want to lie to you. You will understand it naturally in the future."

"Okay." Pei Ye was not impatient now.

But there is still a more urgent question: "Miss Qi, where will I live in the future?"

"You can live in the Xiuwen Hall. Scholars from other places and benefactors are allowed to have food and lodging."

"But I'm a warrior and I have a lot of things to do." After all, I feel uncomfortable living in someone else's place. Pei Ye said, now that he has money, he doesn't show any timidity. "I still want to buy a house of my own to make it more convenient."

"That's fine. It's not appropriate to stay in the Xiuwen Hall when visiting friends who live in the capital." Qi Zhaohua nodded, "I know there is a small house near the East Market. The asking price is very affordable, only five hundred and seventy. Two, what do you think?”

"."

"."

Qi Zhaohua was silent for a moment: "That's right. In Chang'an City, the east is rich and the west is rich. You don't want to make friends with officials, and you don't need the mansions on both sides. It's not good under the imperial city in the north. Well, the south is pretty good. A small courtyard with two entrances must cost 200 yuan. How about less than fifty taels?”

"."

"."

"It's okay to go further south. Anyway, there is Zhuque thoroughfare, so it's not difficult to get there. It's also difficult to take care of the second one. As long as you stay in a small courtyard, you can make a deal with one hundred taels of silver."

Qi Zhaohua looked at him quietly, and the young man coughed twice: "Is Miss Qi well-off?"

"Young Master Pei has been in Shaolong Mansion for two days. Have you learned how to drink flower wine?"

"without!"

"What about your money?"

"A total of two hundred taels. I paid thirty taels to Taishan Yaolu. One hundred taels of silver was left to Qing Qing because I thought I would inevitably die. I didn't have time to get it back." Pei Ye said in a muffled voice, "I'll take Jiao Huan now. There are seventy taels stuffed inside.”

It's really not the boy's fault. He sold Fenghuai's house for a total of twelve taels of silver. He thought that the capital was more expensive and he could buy a place to stay with fifty taels. Who knew that this was simply a money grab!

Qi Zhaohua looked at him with some pity: "It turns out that Pei Shaoxia worked hard for two months and earned a lot of fame, but he didn't lose a penny."

Pei Ye silently took her half bottle of wine.

The two drunken people walked downstairs, Qi Zhaohua paid the bill, and Pei Ye took a look - he wanted seven taels of his mother's silver.

This made the young man even more silent. Qi Zhaohua sighed softly: "I'm here to express my ambition, not to make money - the maximum I can borrow is fifty taels, please remember to pay it back."

Pei Ye nodded.

"You go around the city these two days and find a place to settle down by yourself." Qi Zhaohua hesitated, "What's going on with you and the young master now?"

".how?"

"Write a letter to her. Since she's not dead, I want her money back."

"." Pei Ye thought about the last letter he sent her and the words on it, and immediately shook his head in resistance.

Qi Zhaohua rolled his eyes slightly.

But thinking that this young man is only seventeen years old this year and is pitifully clumsy in front of his first love, he can't help but warmly comfort him: "The first love will inevitably accompany you throughout your life. Sometimes the person is wrong, and sometimes the time is wrong. It's always hard to choose. Now that you can't Yes, just practice hard. If you have any sad things that you can't think about, you can come to me for a drink."

"Thank you, Miss Qi."

The wine gradually got stronger, and Pei Ye didn't bother to relieve himself. He took the carriage back to the Xiuwen Hall. Qi Zhaohua gave vague instructions, and the waiter took him into a room.

This was the first night he really came to this city, and it was also the first time in two months that he allowed himself to get drunk and lay down in the house and fell asleep.

One day, after sleeping until noon, Pei Ye opened his eyes lazily.

The black cat was stepping on his chest and calmly patting his face with its front paws.

".What for?" Pei Ye said vaguely.

"Get up."

"It's okay again." Pei Ye put on the quilt with some annoyance.

"Qu Xin is here to take off your pants."

Pei Ye jumped up and looked around warily.

However, the room was clean and there was no sign of that simple girl.

Pei Ye looked back and stared, but Black Cat had no guilt at all: "Now that you're up, let's wash your face. There's still one afternoon left, so it's time to sign up at the Sword Xiu Academy."

Pei Ye yawned, his true energy circulated, the alcohol was gone, and his body became clear. This is also a feeling of vigor that I haven't had in a long time. Holding the sword in my hand, I feel eager to try it again. I don't need any further urging from the kitten to pick up the sword and go out.

This was actually the first time he walked in the Xiuwen Hall. He saw many scholars walking in a hurry by the pond beside the road. There were also people gathering for talks, singing and gatherings. Among them were some people with extraordinary bearing. He looked around and saw the same From time to time, curious eyes would fall on this strange sword-wielding warrior.

Pei Ye greeted every glance with a smile and walked out of the door of Xiuwen Hall.