Chapter 905: The reception banquet
"Master Gao, Master Zhang, please stay."
Zhu Ping'an said goodbye to Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng who were sent out the door, and turned towards his office room.
I visited Gao Gong today and the effect was ideal.
When he entered, Zhu Ping'an knocked twice but was ignored; when he left, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng sent him out the door.
Refuse in advance and send in later.
It can be seen from the comparison of the attitudes of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng that Zhu Pingan's visit was quite effective.
When Zhu Ping'an came out of Gao Gong's office, it was already past half hour. The reception banquet will begin in about half an hour. There is not enough time to visit other colleagues in Prince Yu's Mansion. The office hadn't been tidied up yet, so after Zhu Pingan came out of Gao Gong's office, he went directly back to his office.
As for other colleagues, it is not too late to visit them after the reception banquet.
He returned to his office in a familiar way. After returning to the office, Zhu Pingan found that there was a lot of greenery in the office.
There are eight more potted plants of different sizes in the room. The tallest potted plant is Podocarpus, which is placed on the old stems. The branches and leaves are whirling, old and delicate, and the posture is moving. The other potted plants are smaller, mainly Different varieties of chrysanthemums and black bamboo.
The breeze blows, and the greenery in the room is slightly rippling, which is very pleasant.
“I don’t know what kind of bonsai you like, so I decided to choose some for you based on the preferences of most people in the house. If you don’t like anything, I’ll ask someone to give it to you. Replace the bonsai." Manager Liu bowed to the side and asked.
“No need to replace it, it’s very good, I like it very much, thank you Manager Liu for taking the trouble.” Zhu Ping’an looked around with satisfaction, and thanked Manager Liu with his hands.
"You're welcome, sir." Manager Liu said quickly.
Then, Manager Liu arranged for someone to move several furnishings and some living utensils to Zhu Ping'an's room.
"Sir, please rest first, and I will not disturb you. If you find that there is still something missing in the future, whether it is the four treasures of the study or daily necessities, etc., you will send someone to give instructions, and the little one will be the first to do so. I've got everything for you," Manager Liu said before leaving.
"Haha, thank you very much, Manager Liu. Please don't find me troublesome in the future, Manager Liu."
Zhu Ping'an agreed with a smile, and was no longer polite. After all, it belongs to Prince Yu's Mansion. , and I work for King Yu, so I don’t need to be polite in both circumstances and reasons. Besides, the Holy Emperor has deducted so much salary from me. It’s reasonable for my father to repay my son’s debt.
"Why is it troublesome? Being able to serve adults is a small blessing." Manager Liu shook his head quickly.
"Haha, it should be the blessing of peace." Zhu Pingan said with a smile.
"My lord is joking. Please take a rest first. When the reception banquet begins, I will come back to inform you."
Manager Liu bowed and left, closing the door behind him.
"Thank you."
Zhu Pingan watched Manager Liu leave, and then walked slowly around the outside and inside of the office.
The area is sufficient, the functional partitions are excellent, office supplies are complete, daily necessities are complete, and the sun is bright and green.
My first independent office, all kinds of satisfaction.
The lounge was very organized. Zhu Ping'an didn't tidy up too much. He mainly tidied up the outside room. According to his own habits, he rearranged the desk, classified the books on the bookshelf, and then used Wipe the tables, chairs and other items with a wet rag.
It took about twenty minutes.
After finishing cleaning up, Zhu Pingan opened the doors and windows for ventilation. He sat in front of his desk and put pen, ink, paper and inkstones. He took a copy of "Lanting Preface" from the bookshelf and opened it on the desk. Reciting silently, I practiced calligraphy with my pen hanging from my wrist:
"In the ninth year of Yonghe, when I was in Guichou, at the beginning of late spring, I gathered at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji, to repair the evil spirits. All the virtuous people arrived, and the young and old gathered here."
"Preface to Orchid Pavilion" Wang Xizhi's proud work when he was 51 years old is "Travel in China" The first post of the book. When he was just sorting out the bookshelf, Zhu Pingan discovered this copy of "Lanting Preface". Zhu Pingan was fascinated by the calligraphy sage Qiu Jian's elegant calligraphy, so he copied this volume of "Lanting Preface" while practicing calligraphy. Open it and try to imitate it.
There are twenty zigzags in the main text of Lanting's preface, plus one zigzag in the signature, making the whole post a total of twenty-one zigzags. Twenty-one characters, twenty-one brushwork, and twenty-one senses of beauty, each with a different body and sense of beauty, none of them are repeated, and there are no empty ones under the great reputation of calligraphy sages.
Zhu Pingan had just finished copying the "Preface to Orchid Pavilion", and as soon as he put down his pen, Manager Liu came in to announce that Zhu Pingan was invited to a banquet - a reception banquet prepared by His Royal Highness King Yu.
After Zhu Pingan washed his hands, tidied his clothes, and then followed Manager Liu towards the address of the Jie Feng Banquet.
The reception banquet of Prince Yu's Mansion was placed in the garden, next to the lotus pond. The servants of the Prince's Mansion built a huge pergola to block the sun. It was said to be a pergola, but in fact the design was not vulgar at all. The pergola was designed to look like a pavilion. The style is full of elegance and nobility.
The pergola is made of high-grade Xiangfei bamboo and can be rolled or unfolded for ventilation. Curtains are hung around the pergola. On the one hand, the curtains can block the sun, and on the other hand, they can also leave gaps for ventilation. The curtains are also made of mottled bamboo and Xiangfei bamboo, with exquisite landscape patterns woven on them, which is very elegant.
Eight refrigerators are lined up in the center of the pergola. The refrigerators here are not modern refrigerators, but ancient refrigerators.
The refrigerator placed in the pergola is similar in style to a large tripod. It is made of bronze and stands on four legs, more than 20 centimeters above the ground. There is also a bottom bracket below and a dragon head copper ring on each waist. , easy to carry. The lid of the refrigerator is made of a thick jujube wood board. There is also a bronze brick pressed on the thick board. Ninety-nine and eighty-one small holes are drilled in the thick board. The cold air emitted by the ice cubes flows out through the small holes. Achieve cooling effect. Of course, compared with modern air conditioners, this is far behind.
The ice cubes in the refrigerator were specially purchased from outside today by the steward of Prince Yu's Mansion.
In fact, it is said that the royal family has a special production office responsible for the royal family's summer ice routine. Every winter, the construction office has specialized ice harvesters who are tasked with picking ice from the Yuhe River. They cut the ice in the Yuhe River into cubes of specified sizes and pull them into a royal ice cellar outside Xiyuan to wait for summer. For royal use.
As the prince, King Yu can receive the ice order directly from the manufacturing office.
However, just as King Yu’s welfare benefits for the prince are stuck by the Ministry of Household Affairs and other departments, so is King Yu’s ice routine. Every time someone from Prince Yu's Mansion is ordered to go to the Manufacturing Office to collect the ice certificate, they will be stuck by the Manufacturing Office for various normal or abnormal reasons, such as the key is broken, the ice cellar is being repaired, the day for issuing the ice certificate has not come, etc. The official in charge of the ice order went to Xiyuan to deliver the ice and so on
The ice cubes received by Prince Yu's Mansion from the production office every ten days were less than one in ten. Ten ice orders could only receive one point. The ice cubes received were barely enough for Prince Yu and his concubines in the backyard. As for ice for large summer banquets and other places, Prince Yu's palace could only spend money to purchase it from outside.
The ice used for this reception banquet was specially bought by the steward of Prince Yu’s Mansion. (End of chapter)