Because the place is big, everyone sits at a table alone.

The position is determined by official rank and reputation in the literary world. The higher the official position, the greater the reputation, and the closer to Zhao Kai, and vice versa.

Hua Ju is now a third-rank official. Among these people, his official rank is only slightly lower than Cai You, because Cai You, in addition to being a bachelor of Xuanwen Palace, also has a second-rank Jiedu envoy.

Therefore, according to the seating arrangement rules, Cai You's position is first on the left, while Hua Ju is first on the right, just opposite Cai You.

Cai You had fully recovered after resting. He walked to his seat and sat down, staring at Hua Ju opposite him as if he were looking at the enemy who killed his father.

Hua Ju did not avoid it, but also stared at him with mocking eyes.

Everyone else also walked to their own seats and sat down.

Zhao Kai saw that there was no one at the table under Huaju and asked, "Why hasn't Li Langzi come yet?"

Wang Anzhong, who was sitting under Cai You, stood up and said, "He has something to do and will come a little later. Let me tell the prince not to wait for him."

Zhao Kai nodded and said: "In this case, we won't wait for him. Come, let's serve food and drinks."

The maids filed in, each holding a tray with a dish in their hands.

There are not many dishes, only five, but the dishes are very particular and the combination of meat and vegetables is also very appropriate, three meat dishes and two vegetarian dishes.

After the food was served, Zhao Kai raised his glass and said, "Come on, I'll give you a toast."

"To your lord."

Everyone had a drink with Zhao Kai, and the maid standing behind them with a wine pot immediately stepped forward to pour the wine.

Zhao Kai was about to have another drink with everyone, when someone came in from outside.

This man was a man, probably in his early forties, with handsome appearance and elegant demeanor, but he had an air of dissoluteness.

"I'm late, I'm late, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

As soon as this man came in, he held up his hands and apologized to Zhao Kai. Although he was apologizing, he had a cynical smile on his face, and he obviously didn't take being late seriously.

Zhao Kai seemed to have a good relationship with this man, and he did not blame him. He also said with a smile: "Since you know you are late, you can punish yourself with three drinks."

"The wine the prince has here is the finest wine in the world. Not to mention three cups, even thirty cups will be fine. Why don't the prince simply have the wine jar brought over and let me drink from the jar."

What the man said made Zhao Kai laugh heartily and said to everyone: "You see, this guy has been trying to cheat me out of drinking since he had a drink at my place. He has defrauded me of how much money he has."

He is still thinking about it, I suspect he came late on purpose today to drink a few more glasses of wine."

The man said with an exaggerated expression: "Your Majesty is so smart. You guessed it right away. I came late just for the sake of Your Majesty's wine."

Then the man clasped his hands and bowed to Zhao Kai: "Since the prince has seen through my plan, for the sake of my hard work, I will give you a few more bars, so that I can make my heart happy."

The wine bug quenches its thirst."

During the entire banquet, except for Hua Ju, everyone including Zhao Kai laughed heartily.

Hua Ju looked at these people and felt puzzled, because he really didn't know what was so funny about them.

"Okay, okay, stop pretending to be pitiful. I will just give you two altars when I leave. Sit down quickly." Zhao Kai said with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After saluting, the man was about to return to his previous seat, but when he turned around, he found Wang Anzhong sitting in his seat, and he couldn't help but be startled.

In addition to being a Hanlin bachelor, Wang Anzhong was also Minister Youcheng, a fourth-rank official. In the past, except for Cai You, he had the highest official position, so he sat opposite Cai You.

Today, because Hua Ju's official rank was higher than his, he could only sit below Cai You.

"Li Langzi,

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Where is your position?" Zhao Kai pointed to the lower part of the beech tree and said.

Li Langzi turned around and took a look, and found that the person sitting above him was actually a young man he had never seen before. He couldn't help but feel suspicious: "Who is this young man, and why can he sit in this position?"

With doubts, Li Langzi walked to his seat and sat down. The maid served him wine and food, and he punished himself by drinking three glasses in a row.

"Play music and dance." Zhao Kai shouted.

A group of female musicians holding various musical instruments walked in, saluted Zhao Kai, and then walked to the special playing area behind the guests on the left to sit down.

Follow a group of dancers in dance costumes to the middle of the guests, stand each other, and start dancing when the music starts.

These dancers all came from the palace and were carefully selected. Not only did they dance gracefully, but they also had charming looks. Their every frown and smile made men's hearts beat. Cai You, Li Langzi and the others were so fascinated that they couldn't wait to go there.

Dance with them.

Zhao Kai was very happy when he saw everyone being fascinated by the dancer. This was the effect he wanted.

Because he knew very well that if he wanted people to seek the throne for him, he had to give them some benefits first, and beautiful women were an irresistible temptation for all men.

Zhao Kai picked up the wine glass and looked at Hua Ju subconsciously. He found that he was not watching the dance, but was concentrating on eating, and he couldn't help but frown.

"Wenshan, what do you think of these dancers like me?" Zhao Kai asked proactively.

Hua Ju raised his eyes, nodded and said, "You danced well."

Zhao Kai saw that his answer was perfunctory, and felt a little unhappy. He thought to himself: "This Hua Ju, others are fascinated by these dancers, but he is completely unmoved. After all, he is young and doesn't understand."

What about your style, or are you just pretending to be serious?"

In fact, it's not that Hua Ju doesn't know the style, nor is he pretending to be serious, but he really doesn't like the dancing girls in front of him.

Because the dancer is just a dancer when she talks about being nice, and what she says when she talks badly is just that. It is completely a tool used by the master to win over people. He has dealt with so many people, and he doesn't want to touch such a woman.

"Since it's good, you can choose one of them and I will give it to you." Zhao Kai said it naturally, obviously this is not the first time he has done this kind of thing.

Hua Ju waved his hand gently and said: "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. However, a few years ago, my mother asked a wise man to help me tell my fortune. He said that my fate is very difficult and I should not be near until I am twenty-three years old."

Woman, otherwise your life will be in danger, so my mother has repeatedly warned me not to act against God's will, so I have no choice but to live up to the prince's good intentions."

"Is there such a thing?" Zhao Kai looked at Hua Ju and asked.

Hua Ju put down his chopsticks and said solemnly: "How dare I deceive the prince? It is absolutely true."

People at this time were very superstitious and believed deeply in fortune-telling. Zhao Kai himself often asked people to tell fortunes, so he believed what Hua Ju said. Otherwise, at his age, he would never have seen such a beauty.

Stay ahead without being tempted.

Li Langzi, who was sitting under Hua Ju, was watching the dance with his eyes, but his ears were listening to the conversation between Zhao Kai and Hua Ju. He wanted to know Hua Ju's identity from their conversation, but in addition to hearing Zhao Kai call out "Wenshan"

, nothing was heard.

"Wenshan, I have never heard of this name. Could it be that he is the son of that powerful family?"

After the dance, the whole hall was cheering.

Then these dancers retreated, and another group of dancers came up and started another dance.

During the entire banquet, the two teams of dancers took turns performing twelve different types of dances.

By the time the last dance was over, it was completely dark outside and the banquet was over.

"Come here, light up the elegant garden." Zhao Kai ordered.

For a moment, the entire Graceland lit up.

Hua Ju looked outside. At this time, the wind and snow had stopped temporarily, and the entire Yayuan was covered with snow.

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Pine oil torches were lit, at least hundreds of them, illuminating the entire Graceland as brightly as day.

"Put down the desk, pens, ink, paper and inkstones." Zhao Kai ordered again.

After a while, desks, pens, inks, paper and inkstones were placed everywhere in the entire Yayuan. They were placed in front of the stone forest, in the garden, in the bamboo forest, and almost everywhere where desks could be placed.

Hua Ju has also attended a poetry meeting held by classmates from Qingyang Academy before. Everyone found a quiet place to express their feelings and write poems and lyrics. Then they reviewed all the poems together and finally selected the top three.

But it was his first time to participate in a poetry meeting like this, and he didn't know what the particularity of it was.

"Wenshan, have you participated in a poetry meeting before?" Zhao Kai suddenly asked.

Hua Ju replied: "Back to your lord, I have only participated in poetry gatherings between classmates before. I have never participated in a poetry gathering like this."

Zhao Kai said: "When participating in a poetry meeting here, you can walk around as you like. When you get inspiration wherever you go, you can immediately write down the poems on the spot. Later, someone will send the written poems to each of you.

On individual desks, when the allotted time is over, everyone can come back and comment on the poems."

"It's really interesting." Hua Ju nodded and said.

"Come here, light the incense."

The servant lit a special incense stick and put it in the incense burner. Zhao Kai pointed to the incense stick and said to Hua Ju: "As long as this incense stick is burned out, when the time is up, no matter how many times you write, you must stop.

Pen."

Hua Ju nodded lightly. Zhao Kai saw that he had understood and said: "Okay, time is limited, let's start. I wish everyone can write a masterpiece that will be passed down through the ages."

Everyone dispersed, some went into the water pavilion, some into the bamboo forest, and some into the stone forest and woods.

Hua Ju walked around slowly as if taking a walk, completely admiring the scenery, with no intention of writing anything.

In fact, it's not that he doesn't want to write, but that he is simply not good at writing poems and lyrics.

So I can only walk around, recall the poems I have learned before based on the surrounding environment, and see if there are any suitable ones that I can use later to replenish my vocabulary.
To be continued...