On the same night, on the shore of Qiu Lake, a Wu boat swayed gently on the surface of the lake in the spring breeze.
Suddenly, a hurried bell rang, and a ray of light from the cabin shone on the deck. There was a thin rope tied to the side of the ship, and there was a bell hanging on the thin rope. At this moment, the thin rope was stretched taut, and the other end was far away in the water. The bell kept ringing along with the rapid trembling of the thin rope.
"Hahaha … It's hooked!"
With a burst of old and loud laughter, a short and fat old man wearing a round neck robe and barefooted hurriedly ran to the deck with a book in his hand. When he saw the urgent ringing of the bell, he hurriedly threw the book to the side and hurriedly pulled the rope from the water.
Two more people came out from behind him. One was a strong, dark, skinny man, who ran forward to help him pull the rope. The other was a pretty girl dressed in green. She rolled up the bamboo curtain unhurriedly and tied the rope to the frame of the cabin door. The cabin lights illuminated the bow of the ship.
With the help of the man, the old man pulled the rope to the bow of the ship, and a lively big grass carp was pulled onto the ship by him. This big grass carp weighed about thirty to forty pounds, and it jumped with all its might, almost pulling the fat old man down.
The fat old man saw that the big fish was already on the ship, and there was no need to worry about it escaping again. He laughed and said complacently, "How is it? How is it? What did I say? I said we can catch fish without fishing gear, right? Hahahaha … "
The old man put his hands on his waist, which was so fat that it was almost impossible to see his curves, and laughed complacently. The big grass carp slapped under his feet, and the strength was so great that it made the cabin slightly shake.
The light shone on the fat old man's face. His hair and beard were already eighty percent white, and he had a round, slightly dark face. His face was plump, and his eyes were full of spirit, giving people a gentle and generous feeling. He didn't know how to trim his beard, and it matched his fluffy and slightly crooked hair bun. He was completely slovenly.
"Haha, Ah Lang really has a way to catch fish like this."
The lean man grabbed a clothes-hammering rod and hit the fish's head hard a few times. The fat grass carp finally stopped jumping around. He then bent down and deftly untied the rope. He took off the 'fish hook' and the bell, rinsed them with water and handed them to the fat old man. He then excitedly picked up the big fish.
The fat old man picked up the bell, shook the water inside, and handed it to the girl in green, saying, "Chan Juan, the bell is back to you."
The pretty girl in green took the bell from the fat old man's hand, squatted down, rolled up her trouser leg, and hung it back on the bell. The old man also pulled a thin rope from the side of his collar. There was a small loop at the end of the rope. The 'fish hook' in the old man's hand had a hook, and as soon as it was hooked onto the iron loop, it was stuck. Nobody knew what it was for.
The old man rubbed his hands, and smiled as he urged the thin man, "Ah! Ah Sheng, quickly clean up the fish and stew it for this old man to drink! Chan Juan, quickly go and make the fire bigger, this old man is almost drooling. "
The pretty girl in green pursed her lips, smiled, and went back into the cabin. The strong man called Ah Sheng pulled out a sharp knife from his waist, and began to slaughter the fat fish at the bow. The fat old man squatted at the side like a child, as if Ah Sheng could immediately clean up the fish if he didn't blink.
Ah Sheng slaughtered the fat fish and muttered, "The Empress is summoning Ah Lang back to the capital. This is such a big matter, why is Ah Lang not in a hurry? We've been walking and stopping along the way, and only now have we arrived at Haiyang County. There's still a long way to go before we reach Luojing."
The fat old man glared at him and said, "The Empress is summoning me back to the capital, and I'm not even in a hurry. Why are you in such a hurry?"
Seeing Ah Sheng skinning the fish, the old man sighed again, looked up at the direction of Luoyang, and murmured, "The weather is going to change!"
Ah Sheng buried his head in slaughtering the fish and said, "It can't be? The weather looked very clear in the evening, and it shouldn't turn cloudy. "
The old man ignored him, stroked his beard, and said leisurely, "When the weather changes, there will be a storm of blood. If we arrive a few days later, we will have less of the fishy smell on us. What's wrong with that?"
Ah Sheng looked up and saw the old man stroking his messy beard. He couldn't help but say, "Ah Lang, you haven't washed your hands when you caught the fish just now, and now you've stroked your beard."
"Ah? Sure enough! "
The fat old man was shocked, and quickly ran to the side, picked up a wooden bucket with a rope, went to the lake, and filled a bucket with water, and then washed his beard.
By the time he finished washing his beard, Ah Sheng had already packed the fish and sent it to Chan Juan.
The fat old man's face was covered in water, and there were still droplets of water dripping down from his beard, wetting the front of his shirt. He ignored it, and only leaned on the side of the boat, looking into the distance, thinking about something.
Ah Sheng walked to his side, followed his gaze, and looked into the distance. There was nothing to see, so he leaned on the side of the boat, and said to the fat old man, "Ah Lang, the Empress has summoned you back to the capital. Is there a big use for you?"
The fat old man made a "heh" sound, but didn't say anything.
Ah Sheng scratched his head, and said, "Since Ah Lang isn't in a hurry to return to the capital, why are we hanging around Lake Qiu? Zhongli is not far from here, and Ah Lang has a cousin who lives in Zhongli. Why don't we go there and be guests for a few days?"
The fat old man shook his head lightly, and said sadly, "The Empress is in power, and Li Tang's royal family is declining day by day. I, Di Renjie, as a minister, can't support Li Tang's legitimacy, and I'm not willing to resign to show my noble aspirations. My cousin, Fangzheng, is not good, and is quite dissatisfied with me. Why should I go there and ask for trouble?"
So this person was Di Renjie. When he said this, this old man, who had been like an old urchin with a pure heart, from the moment he rushed to the bow of the boat, had a hint of heaviness and desolation in his tone, and a hint of seriousness in his expression.
He was silent for a moment, and suddenly laughed. He pointed to the flickering silver snakes in front of him, and asked, "Ah Sheng, do you know what is the strongest thing in this world?"
Shu Sheng didn't waste his time thinking, and directly answered, "I don't know."
Di Renjie looked into the distance, and said in a clear voice, "It's water! The hardest thing is easy to break, and the best is like water. Water lives in a good place, and its heart is kind. With good people, it speaks with good words, governs with good governance, does things with good ability, and acts with good timing. On the surface, it looks very weak, but its goal has never changed. No matter how many twists and turns it takes, it will eventually reach the place it wants to go! "
Shu Sheng said, "Water actually has so many tricks?"
Di Renjie sniffed, and said, "Not only that! Water can also be used to clean the beard! It can also be used to stew fish. This old man can already smell the fragrance, quickly bring out the jar of Jiannan Roasted Spring that Envoy Liu gave to this old man! "
After a moment of desolation, Old Di's face revealed an optimistic and cynical expression. He pulled out two thin ropes from under his collar, and tied them around his ears. Two silver hooks hung down, and then he separated his beard and hung it on the hooks. So the hooks he used to fish were actually his beard hooks.
…
By the riverbank of Yi River, Wu Zetian was half lying on a bamboo couch, and a fishing rod was fixed to the side of the bamboo couch. Above her head was a yellow umbrella, providing shade for her, and the warm sunlight shone on her legs.
The dark green water was very calm, and occasionally, a light breeze would blow, and a fishing float would float on the surface of the water.
The noble princess hurried over with small steps. Hearing the movement, Wu Zetian opened her eyes slightly. Seeing that she had arrived, she lazily said, "My dear daughter, what have you been doing so early in the morning? We have already caught three fish, and you have only just arrived."
The noble princess laughed, "Aiyo, even if I had rushed to fish last night, I could not have caught more than the Heavenly Empress."
She sat on the bed beside the couch, and leaned forward, and said to Wu Zetian, "Yesterday, didn't the Heavenly Empress say that she wanted to find a suitable husband for Taiping? How could I dare not to take it seriously? Yesterday, when I went back, I asked people to pick out all the men in the capital who are qualified to support Taiping. Didn't I choose them all morning?"
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Wu Zetian sat up with great interest, and said happily, "Have you chosen?"
The noble princess said, "I have carefully chosen all morning, and have chosen five men. Heavenly Empress, please listen and see which one is suitable."
Wu Zetian laughed, "Alright, alright, alright. Speak!"
Saying this, she waved her hand, and the pretty maid serving her, Tuan Er, quickly presented a bowl of fermented rice. Tuan Er was Empress Wu's trusted maid, and she took care of Empress Wu's daily needs. With just a look from Wu Zetian, she would know what Empress Wu needed, and thus, she was the most favored by Empress Wu.
Wu Zetian drank a mouthful of fermented rice, and said to the noble princess, "Tell me, I want to know which family's son has this good fortune."
The noble princess said with a smile, "The first one is the Minister Counsellor of the Shangshu Province, Ni Ming. He is only twenty-seven years old this year, and is already a Secondary class, sixth rank official. He works in the Shangshu Province, and is young and promising. This Ni Ming originally had a wife, but because he did not have any children, he divorced her, and now he is still single. "
Wu Zetian frowned slightly, and said, "Ni Ming, surnamed Ni? It doesn't sound like he is from a noble family? "
The noble princess hurriedly said, "Yes, this Ni Ming is from an ordinary family, but he is talented and learned …"
Wu Zetian waved her hand slightly, and said unhappily, "No, how can my beloved daughter marry a commoner from a poor family? Who is next? "
Wu Zetian placed great importance on one's family background. Although when she was in power, in order to fight against the Shandong Great Families and Guanlong Great Families, she had promoted some of the children of the concubines. However, this was only for political purposes. Wu Zetian, who was born into a noble family, looked down on the poor people of the concubines.
In the beginning, when her beloved daughter, Princess Taiping, married Xue Shao, Wu Zetian even despised Xue Shao's two sisters-in-law, who were of humble birth, and did not deserve to be her daughter's sisters-in-law. She issued an edict to force Xue Shao's two elder brothers to divorce their wives. Fortunately, Xue Shao's two elder brothers were deeply in love with their wives, and could not bear to abandon them. They hurriedly 'verified' that their wives came from a noble family in Jiangnan, and only then did they let it go.
Even her daughter's sisters-in-law came from a poor family, and she was not willing to accept it, so how could she let her daughter marry a commoner? Therefore, the noble princess only said half of what she wanted to say before she was vetoed.
The noble princess awkwardly said, "Aiya, these people that you have chosen, in terms of appearance, character, and learning, they are all flawless, but their background …"
Wu Zetian said, "Could it be that the five people that you have carefully selected are all from poor families, and not a single one is from a noble family?"
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