As for wealthy young men like Tantai Wenwang, they are not very interesting. In Suzhou, a prosperous and rich place, there are many rich young men caught.
Tantai Wenwang responded: "I just asked, the person in charge of tonight's poetry competition is Mrs. Peony."
Mr. Lu suddenly realized, "No wonder Brother Tantai, you look so determined to win. It turns out you want to win the favor of Lady Peony."
Tantai Wenwang chuckled and said, "Brother Lu, forget it normally, but you can't argue with me today."
Mr. Lu smiled and said: "I'm just here to join in the fun tonight, and I don't want to stir up this troubled waters." Then he added: "Don't you know that Mr. Zhao and Mr. Wu are fighting fiercely outside, and even quarreling with each other?
When everyone fights, Chen Dou knows that it is to prevent them from fighting in private, and that's why they come out like this. The one with the highest post will win."
Tantai Wenwang proudly said: "Those two birdmen."
Mr. Lu chuckled, "I'm afraid they won't let Brother Tantai pass easily tonight."
I don't know who shouted: "Master Wu is here."
A young man in gorgeous clothes walked in and greeted everyone he knew with a smile.
Tantai Wenwang sneered in a low voice: "When we were fighting, we were fierce and loud, but now we are acting polite and pretentious."
This brothel is a magical place. Anyone who enters this brothel must pretend to be polite and polite.
After all, a brothel is a place for literary discussion. If the vulgar things outside are used here, it will only make people look down on them. This has developed a consensus.
Moreover, a high-end place like Qin Tower is a place where high-ranking officials and dignitaries often set foot. You, a rich man, may be able to do whatever you want outside, but there is nothing to be arrogant about here. Just abide by the customary rules here.
Mr. Wu followed another Mr. Wu in Confucian attire and sat down at the round table in the middle. He ordered the maid to serve food and wine. The two of them drank and chatted.
Tantai Wenwang saw that Master Wu was very polite to the Confucian Master, and asked Master Lu: "Brother Lu, who is that person? Do you know him?"
Mr. Lu shook his head and said with a smile: "I don't know him. It seems that he is the helper Mr. Wu invited."
Tantai Wenwang asked in surprise: "What kind of helper?"
Mr. Lu smiled and said: "How did I know that if I could invite Mr. Wu to come over, I would definitely have some talent."
Tantai Wenwang groaned, originally he thought that Mr. Zhao was the only opponent, but it seemed that Mr. Wu was also a stumbling block.
Not long after, Mr. Zhao also arrived, but he also brought two "friends". One of them was known to most people, that is, the golden-legged Huang Shaonan of the Benma Club. On weekdays, these young men often hired Huang Shaonan to write.
Even if he writes poems and essays, Huang Shaonan still has a good reputation among these young men.
The name Benma Club sounds domineering, but it is just a private profit-making society in Suzhou that specializes in running errands for others. The word Benma means running around and running errands, saddle in front and horse behind.
The original intention of the founding of Benma Club was just to do chores for wealthy people, deliver letters, inquire about information... chores, etc. With the requirements of the employer, the business expanded to weddings, weddings, funerals, opening of restaurants, showing off power, and group fights.
.
Later, it develops to the point where there are some weird and weird tasks, only tasks you can't do, and there are no tasks you can't think of.
Some literati would use the name of Benma Club to help these young men write poems and compete in the brothel arena, and each would pay for the work.
In this world where books are expensive and paper is expensive, scholars are an extremely rare group. The cost of cultivating a scholar is too high.
For ordinary people, books are even more out of reach. Most people have never seen a book in their lives, and they can't even read a single big Chinese character.
A person who has a certain level of culture and can write a few words is already enough to attract attention and respect.
The four words "scholarly family" are a symbol of wealth and status. A family with tens of millions of books is a kind of invisible wealth.
That is to say, in a prosperous place like Suzhou, the literary style is very popular. In other places, there would be only a few scholars in a town.
Therefore, in Benma Society, such nominal literati are generally classified as silver-legged and golden-legged, while those working men in the market who sell physical labor can only be classified as copper-legged.
Tantai Wenwang also hired Huang Shaonan to write poetry and fight in the brothel arena. Knowing Huang Shaonan's background, he couldn't help but become a little worried, and asked Xie Fu in a low voice: "Can you do it?"
Although Xie Fu's talk about the brothel was sound and logical, in fact Tantai Wenwang had no confidence in Xie Fu at all.
Originally, Tantai Wenwang was just here to join in the fun, but the lucky chance was to meet his dream girl, Lady Peony, so the situation was different. He was bound to win.
Xie Fu smiled and said: "How can a man say that he is not good?"
Tantai Wenwang said angrily: "I'm not a young lady, why are you poor like me?"
Xie Fu smiled, being poor is also a skill. It depends on the relationship. If you are not poor when you are supposed to be poor, that is stupid. If you are poor when you are not supposed to be poor, that is frivolous.
Tantai Wenwang set his sights on another young master beside Zhao Yuanfei.
I saw that this young master's demeanor and temperament were faintly superior to Huang Shaonan's. Who was this person? Could it be that he was also a helper invited by Zhao Yuanfei? Didn't he already have Huang Shaonan, so what other helpers could he ask for.
Young Master Zhao and others sat at the round table in the middle. After ordering the maids to serve wine and food, he chatted enthusiastically with the young Young Master next to him, and actually left Huang Shaonan aside.
When others saw this, they couldn't help but secretly think that this young master seemed to have a good background and his talent and learning should be above Huang Shaonan's, otherwise Mr. Zhao would not favor one over the other.
Mr. Zhao and Mr. Wu occupied the two round tables in the middle. The two round tables were not far apart, but neither of them paid attention to the other, and they talked independently.
Everyone knew very well that Mr. Zhao and Mr. Wu had always had conflicts and had deep grudges. Fortunately, they were in the brothel at this time. If they had been outside, they would have started fighting.
The battle for the top spot in today's poetry competition is also a battle of spirits for Mr. Zhao and Mr. Wu.
Suddenly, the young man next to Mr. Zhao stood up and walked towards Mr. Wu's table. This was embarrassing.
The young master greeted the people around Mr. Wu, "Brother Cheng, why are you here?"
It seemed that the two knew each other, and the people around Mr. Wu also stood up: "Brother Luo, why are you here?"
After saying this, both of them burst into laughter and kept it secret. It seemed that they were both helpers invited by the other party.
After Mr. Luo exchanged a few words with the other party, he returned to sit down next to Mr. Zhao. Zhao Yuanfei immediately asked in a low voice: "Mr. Luo, is that Mr. Cheng also a member of the Tide Poetry Society?"
Mr. Luo nodded and said: "Brother Cheng's poetry talent is no less than mine. I was originally sure of winning tonight's poetry contest, but now I'm afraid I'm only 50% sure."
Zhao Yuanfei said softly, "Mr. Luo, you have to do your best."
Mr. Luo smiled and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao, there is a brothel lady to judge, and I will be able to argue with him."
***The author has something to say***
When a person reaches forty, he is not free. In a blink of an eye, he feels sad in his high hall. The dog still cannot stand in front of the eaves, and it turns all the chaff into salt and oil.
My wife and children complain that it is difficult for me to get together, and summer insects cannot relieve the worries of winter cold. If it were not for two or three taels of silver per year, who would be willing to work hard without hesitation.
