You want to, or you don't want to
The dinner is there.
Even if Zhu Ping'an was reluctant to attend the banquet, he still followed the Hanlin Academy with the Hanlin scholars after the sun went down. He had to go because his monthly salary had been paid in advance! He had to get back some of the costs anyway.
I don't understand why the Ministry of Revenue is so easy to talk to. They just sent a month's salary to all the new members of the Hanlin Academy! Tonight is said to be a welcoming banquet for Zhu Pingan and his new members, but the wine money depends on these salaries!
I finally figured out why my eyelids twitch at noon! A month's salary is gone just like that!
The restaurant selected by the Hanlin Academy looks very inconspicuous from the outside, just like a very ordinary courtyard with a peeling paint sign, but after entering, you will find that the inside is very different. The first entrance is just ordinary decorations and not even a star rating, but the decoration and decoration of the second courtyard are definitely rated as four stars. This second entrance connects several courtyards and is very spacious. There are rockery bonsai small gardens, and service staff in uniform. It is a different world.
This should be a place frequented by people from the Hanlin Academy. The shopkeeper is familiar with Li Chunfang and the others. They always call each other "master". Many people from other government offices also eat here. Li Chunfang and his friends would occasionally meet acquaintances and say hello to them and introduce them to Zhu Pingan and the others.
In addition to the Hanlin Academy, officials from the Imperial Medical Service, the Ministry of War and the Embroidered Uniform Guard will also be dining here today, but the specific locations of the meals are different.
Li Chunfang and his team led Zhu Pingan and his team into the courtyard they usually stayed in, the Ximo Pavilion. This was an independent small courtyard with two private rooms, about three meters apart. One of the rooms was already occupied, with several people from the Imperial Hospital. When the people from the Imperial Hospital saw Li Chunfang and his team, they took the initiative to stand up and greet them, and asked the shop assistant to send two jars of good wine to the people from the Hanlin Academy, which would be charged to their account. Li Chunfang also made a few polite remarks, while Yuan Wei just coughed twice in arrogance and impatience. The other Hanlins also nodded and passed by.
Through this scene, Zhu Pingan also truly understood that in the feudal Ming Dynasty, the status of doctors was not like that of modern times. Here, the status of doctors was still very low. Although he was an imperial physician, he was still looked down upon in the eyes of feudal bureaucrats.
When these imperial doctors came to greet him, Zhu Pingan noticed that there was another person sitting at the table in the Imperial Hospital without moving. He was a young imperial doctor, sitting there calmly drinking the tea in his hand. He was not like the other imperial doctors who were trying to curry favor with the powerful.
This was an interesting imperial physician, and Zhu Ping'an took note of him.
After entering the private room, the guests and hosts sat down according to their official positions. Li Mo did not come, saying that he had something to do in the Ministry of Personnel. Li Chunfang was a little older and had a higher official position, so he sat in the main seat. Zhu Pingan also sat a little closer to the front because his official position was there. Zhang Siwei and Zhu Pingan were separated by several seats.
Not long after Zhu Ping'an and his friends sat down, two more people came in together.
One of them appeared with a greasy smell of powder. He was very handsome, and Zhu Pingan also knew him. He was Zhang Juzheng, who made Zhu Pingan want to sing "Curry to Gay" when he first met him. He was so handsome, but he also put on makeup and perfume. He really left no way for an ugly person like himself. In addition to makeup, Zhang Juzheng's clothes also complemented each other, clean and bright, spotless and without a single wrinkle.
The other person, Zhu Ping'an, was unknown to him. He was not much more handsome than himself, but his face was full of arrogance, which seemed to be much more serious than Yuan Wei's. That was true. The one who could come with Zhang Juzheng was not an easy person to deal with. Zhu Ping'an was full of curiosity about this person.
"Suqing, Shuda, you are finally here. If you were a little later, you would have to drink a penalty drink." Yuan Wei stood up and smiled, inviting the two to take a seat.
Anyone who can be treated like this by someone as arrogant as Yuan Wei must be someone who is strong enough to be looked up to by Yuan Wei. Such a person must be a famous person in history. Su Qing? Whose name is this? It looks so familiar.
Zhu Ping'an seemed to be thinking about something.
"Haha, Prince Yu has just moved to the mansion and has been studying for a short time. It was difficult for him to get away for a while, but fortunately, with the help of my uncle, I have time to get away today." The man called Su Qing by Yuan Wei said with a smile.
Prince Yu? Su Qing? These two words popped up at the same time, reminding Zhu Pingan that Su Qing was the courtesy name of Gao Gong in history! Gao Gong, it turned out that this person was Gao Gong. No wonder he looked so arrogant. It was not surprising if it was Gao Gong.
In history, Gao Gong was a conceited genius with an arrogant personality. Just like his name, he was tall and difficult to be proud of. According to historical books and unofficial records, Gao Gong was also a child prodigy of the Ming Dynasty. He could write couplets at the age of five, recite the preface at the age of eight, and won the first prize in the village for "Book of Rites" at the age of seventeen. This also cultivated Gao Gong's arrogant personality. He was conceited and talented, and often looked down on people around him, whether they were superiors or colleagues, not to mention subordinates. His catchphrase was: You bunch of idiots... .
Thinking of this, Zhu Ping'an looked up and saw the contempt hidden in Gao Gong's eyes when he was joking.
Haha, that's interesting. As he tried to figure out the personalities of the two people, Zhu Ping'an sat there and couldn't help but imagine the mental journey of Yuan Wei and Gao Gong.
Yuan Wei: I look down on them as a bunch of idiots. I only like you, Su Qing and Ju Zheng.
Gao Gong: I don’t even look down on someone as stupid as you!
After the greetings, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng both took their seats. Coincidentally, Zhang Juzheng sat below Zhu Ping'an.
Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang, and Zhang Siwei, they will all be the prime ministers of the Ming Dynasty in the future... Four people who will become high-ranking officials in the future sat at one table.
The world is really wonderful. I actually sat down and drank with the four prime ministers of the Ming Dynasty!
When Zhu Ping'an thought of this, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips.
Four prime ministers at one table
Maybe, who can tell for sure in the future
But speaking of the future, about 500 years later, a painter named Xu Beihong painted a picture about the Hanlin Academy's welcoming banquet, named "The Banquet of the Prime Minister". Five hundred years later, the painter Xu created this "The Banquet of the Prime Minister" based on historical records, because no other banquet table had more people sitting at it than this one, because no other banquet table could gather so many prime ministers of the Ming Dynasty, especially one of them pushed the Ming Dynasty to a height that no other dynasty could reach. Because of the cleverness of Master Xu Beihong's material selection, wonderful interpretation, and outstanding painting skills, this painting has become a classic among classics. Especially a hundred years after Master Xu Beihong, this "The Banquet of the Prime Minister" made history at an international auction, and the transaction price was 10 million US dollars more than the historical religious masterpiece "The Last Supper", becoming the highest at the time. (To be continued.)