Light Dance Jiajing

"You know all this? Isn't it said that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen? Why are you remembering these?" Meng'er thought, no wonder you are so fat, you must have gone out to eat and drink a lot.

"I also heard about it from others and took note of it. Two of my friends love gourmet food. Whenever a restaurant has new dishes, they will not miss it. If they were not born in official families, they would probably be famous chefs."

"He's a famous chef, but he's just a foodie."

"Hmm? Foodie, this word is new."

"Oh, a foodie, just like you, cousin. You are a typical foodie at first glance. Look how fat you are."

Wang Wei was just putting a piece of shredded chicken into his mouth when he heard this. He stopped, puffed up his cheeks and stared at her, saying vaguely, "I'm just a little fatter than others. What's the big deal?"

Mei'er bulged her eyes as if looking at a monster: "How dare you say that you are only a little fatter? Don't you look in the mirror? I tell you, if you don't lose weight, you will suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, and fatty liver. I am not trying to scare you, I am trying to kill you." Mei'er made a gesture of wiping her neck. Wang Wei curled his lips. Although he didn't understand, he could tell that Mei'er was trying to scare him. He looked unconcerned. Mei'er continued to attack him: "Besides, which girl doesn't like a handsome and elegant man? You will not be able to get a wife if you are so fat."

Wang Wei, who originally didn't care, paused while picking up the food when he heard this. After a while, he muttered, "Nonsense, it's not that serious... Um... Then tell me... How can I lose weight?"

Meng'er laughed: "It's simple, just listen to me and I guarantee you will lose ten pounds in a month."

"Brother Wang, you are here early today. Why don't you go upstairs? Who is this young master?" Meng'er saw a young man of about thirteen or fourteen looking her up and down. He was white and thin, holding a folding fan in his hand, and fanning it habitually with or without wind. He was a pretty boy. He saw Meng'er staring at his fan with a bit of strangeness in his eyes. He also looked at the folding fan in his hand, fanned it twice, and then closed it in a flash. He coughed twice, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Meng'er was most uncomfortable with this kind of sick scholar. She looked at him for a few times and turned her head away. Wang Wei quickly clasped his fists and returned the greeting, "Brother Shu, you are here for the banquet, right? This is my distant younger brother, who is staying in Beijing for a while. I will take him for a walk in the streets, and then I will go back. I will host a banquet for you all another day."

Master Shu was used to Wang Wei. He pulled a chair to the side and sat down, saying, "Why didn't you come to the academy today? Didn't you take sick leave? Haha, you look pretty good. Today Master Meng gave a lecture and he was listening to the Book of Rites until my ears were callused. I just quoted a line, 'It's a pity that the seat in front of me is empty in the middle of the night. I don't ask about the common people but ghosts and gods.' He scolded me for not doing my job. Why didn't he say that his lectures were boring and it was better for him to study at home? I found the Zhuangzi interesting these two days."

As they were talking, two more people came in from outside. When they saw Wang Wei, they smiled and said, "Are you okay, my dear brother? I just thought you couldn't come because you said you were sick today. We were thinking of visiting you tomorrow."

Wang Wei quickly clasped his fists and said, "Thank you for your concern. I'm fine now." Wang Wei smiled bitterly. Didn't these people make an appointment tonight? Why are they all here now? They are classmates. Their fathers and brothers are officials in the court. They all studied in the most famous school in the capital. After getting to know each other, they naturally formed a small circle. When they were free, the young masters often came to this restaurant for a small gathering.

Wang Wei saw them looking at Meng'er, so he had no choice but to introduce her to them, saying that her name was Wang Ying, and that she was a distant relative of his family. Meng'er looked at the two people, one tall and one short, both wearing flowing scarves and Confucian clothes. Regardless of their facial features, their appearance and temperament were quite good. The tall blue-collared young man looked at Meng'er for a long time. Although Meng'er was young, he could still tell at a glance that she was clearly a girl. However, she was not as timid as other girls in the boudoir. Her big black eyes looked at them from head to toe, and the curiosity in her eyes flashed away. The blue-collared young man couldn't help but smile, with some playfulness in his eyes: "Although my brother is young, he has seen the world. I have the honor to sit with you today."

Meng'er looked at Wang Wei and saw that he was in a dilemma. She thought it would be inappropriate to refuse again, so she said to Wang Wei, "Brother, you can make the decision."

The blue-collared young master laughed and said, "Brother Wang and I hit it off today, so I'll make you my friend."

Going upstairs, there was indeed a different world. Walking through the winding corridors, there was a faint fragrance of wood all the way. It was indeed an elegant place. There were nine private rooms on this floor. The Linfengxuan where they often gathered was close to the northwest corner. At this moment, the sun was shining from the west, and it was warm and comfortable. Meng'er walked to the window seat, leaned on the railing and looked out. She could see the street scenes near and far clearly. In the prosperous capital, the pace of life of the ancients was far less than that of modern times. They looked very tired. Meng'er couldn't help but raise a faint smile on her face. Young Master Lanjin also came over at some point. At this time, she heard Wang Wei shouting loudly to the waiter to serve the wine and food. Meng'er came to her senses and saw Young Master Lanjin beside her. She took a half step away a little uncomfortably and turned around to walk towards the table.

Soon another young man in green came in. He was also very young, about the same age as Wang Wei. Meng'er looked over and saw that the oldest of these people, headed by the young man with a blue collar, was only about fourteen or fifteen years old. Not counting her, the youngest, such as Wang Wei and the young man in green, were only about twelve or thirteen years old. The ancients were really precocious. If they were in modern times, they would still be in junior high school. Everyone was not hungry at this time, so they started drinking games and even called a singing girl to liven up the atmosphere. The young man with a blue collar was in high spirits and played a song with the girl on the flute. The girl sang, "I bought apricot flowers, and ten years later the flowers have just begun to bloom. On the west side of the rockery, on the east side of the medicine balcony, the branches were full of red flowers, which bloomed, fell, and became empty..."

Mei'er looked at the woman carefully. She was a beautiful girl of about fourteen or fifteen years old. She wore a purple shirt with a light yellow boa, and had a light powder on her face. Her hair was loose and only tied up loosely with a ribbon. Although her appearance was not stunning, she had a virginal youthfulness that made her very pitiable. Her voice was especially strong and soft, with some of the flavor of a Jiangnan woman. With some lyrics and music that suited the occasion, several worldly-wise young men showed some appreciation in their eyes. After the song ended, the lingering sounds of the zither and flute lingered in the air for a long time. Mei'er keenly noticed that the woman's almond-shaped eyes suddenly glanced at the blue-collared young man, who only smiled slightly. The woman's face was instantly covered with a blush, and she lowered her head tactfully. Mei'er suddenly wanted to laugh, and at this moment the blue-collared young man glanced at her. Mei'er was startled, her eyes tightened, and she hurriedly scooped up two spoonfuls of soup as if nothing had happened.

After the women left, the few of them started chatting about all sorts of things while eating, talking about which elderly man had married a concubine, which family's daughter was promised to whose family's son, which family's son was naughty and unruly, and which family's daughter was ugly and still unmarried. They also talked about the great discussion on rituals that had been going on for several years in the court. A few little kids were acting very serious. Their small circle had six people, all of whom were classmates in the academy. They usually regarded themselves as the Six Gentlemen of the Capital. Their fathers and brothers all followed Yang Tinghe and stood on the opposite side of the emperor. Several people talked about the affairs of the court, and were as passionate as the scholars of the time, but they all cleverly avoided talking about the emperor. They also said that Master Meng had been talking about the Book of Rites all the time today, and whether he had some hidden meaning in it. As they talked, several people picked up on the old master's grammatical errors, and talked about how the old master still wanted to take a concubine at his age. I'm afraid that... Meng'er listened quietly, and suddenly felt a little worried for the emperor. The Grand Secretary led almost all the court officials to oppose him. Was his situation very difficult? Meng'er felt uncomfortable in her heart, and then forced herself to stop thinking about it, and stop thinking about anything about him.