Chapter 35 The Eighth Session of Buskers Performing Illusions During the Banquet

Hu Manzi planted the melon seed into the flowerpot as he spoke, and then ordered Hu Manzi to water it.Hu Manzi was sloppy, and he picked up the bucket and was about to dump it on the flowerpot. "Wait!" Hu Xun shouted anxiously, raised his hand and dug a chestnut on Hu Xunzi's head, and cursed viciously, "You want to drown the melon seeds, don't you? How many times have I told you that you can only use your hands?" Hold it and pour it, and when it is completely moist, pour another handful." Hu Xunzi looked aggrieved, with two bubbles of tears rolling in his eyes.Wei Xuezeng knew that this was all "closed", so he didn't answer, just staring at the flower pot.Hu Xunzi carefully poured a handful of water on the flowerpot, and Hu Xunzi squatted beside him, and recited b Allegro seriously:

Master wants to eat melons, I planted it with a catfish.  Pour a handful of water first,   waiting for you to bloom.  Strange to say, in a short while, I saw a green bud trembling out of the soil in the flower pot. "Pour another handful of water, lightly." Hu Jin ordered. .Hu Xun stared at it with both eyes, and flapped his hands once and for all, signaling that the green shoots would grow quickly.While doing this, he was still chanting aloud: a good melon seedling, Long in the center of the basin.  Pour another handful of water,   I beg you to grow quickly.

Hu Xingzi poured another handful of water, and saw the green melon seedlings suddenly jump up to a height, and the waiter in the shop smacked his lips in surprise. Hu Jin touched the melon seedling with his finger, and said: "You are sensible, melon seedling, put the vines on the master's side." The melon seedling seemed to really understand Hu Jin's words, and slipped down The flower pot, a vine grew towards the wine table like an arrow.In an instant, Gua Man climbed onto the wine table and stopped motionless beside the lacquered box containing smoked pork head. Seeing that the two masters were dumbfounded, Hu Jin blinked slyly, and asked deliberately: "Should I let this melon grow faster or slower, please speak to the two masters." "Naturally, hurry up." Wang Xilie hurriedly replied, at this moment, his heart was completely hooked by this melon seedling.  "Okay, please watch the master."

Hu Man slapped his hands, making Hu Manzi pour another handful of water, and then he recited to the melon vine dormant next to the wooden box in an orderly manner. "Mantra": Melon Man Melon Man My good obedient Congratulations on your hard work to climb to the table Now listen to me calling the password, I shouted to three You will bloom happily After reading this, Hu Jin suddenly stopped again, seeing the two masters staring at Guaman together, their eyes wide open, he felt very proud, and couldn't help but raised his voice and shouted: "I'm going to count. "" Count." Wang Xilie responded without raising his head. 

 "One——" Hu Jin dragged his voice and shouted.  The waiter in the shop was teased by this shout and forgot his identity, and he even leaned forward with a duck neck stretched out like a goose neck, wishing he could grab the melon vine.  "Two—" Hu Jin shouted again.  Wei Xuezeng and Wang Xilie also unknowingly leaned over.   "Three!" The yell was short, and before the words finished, the melon vine on the table raised its head, and a flower actually burst out.  "It's amazing!" The shop waiter got carried away, danced and shouted, suddenly caught a glimpse of Wei Xuezeng's gloomy face, realized his gaffe, hurriedly covered his mouth, and retreated to stand by the door with an embarrassed look on his face. But said that the yellow flower on the table was as big as a chicken egg in an instant, Hu Man pointed to the flower and asked: "Master, is this flower real or fake?"

Wang Xilie stretched out his hand to touch it, and said, "It's true, Hu Man, when will it fruit?" Hu Man bent down to look at the yellow flower carefully, and then shook his head. Said:  "This flower can't bear melons." "Why?"  "This is a male flower," Hu Jin said with a dejected look on his face, "I have been busy for a long time, and I let melon seedlings wipe us down." Then he pinched the flower. Wang Xilie chuckled and said, "Well, you Hu Jin, that's not how you sell Guanzi, can melon seedlings still tease people?""Why not," Hu Jin winked and answered pretendingly Said, "The melon seedling said that whoever buys melons for money will bloom a female flower, otherwise, it will only bloom a male flower." "After a long time around, it turned out that it was asking for money." Wang Xilie told the waiter in the shop Said, "If you can really produce melons later, you can take the Human down and ask my housekeeper to give you a reward of a penny." 

Hu Man no longer kept his secrets, and only yelled at the melons on the table: "Bloom!" Another small yellow flower bloomed brilliantly.  "How long does it take to make melons?" Wang Xilie asked.  "Kung fu for drinking a cup of wine," Hu Jin replied, suddenly his expression changed, and he pointed to the wall behind Wang Xilie and said, "Master, do you think that is a gecko?" Except for the corner lighting, the huge white wall is as clean as new without even a black spot. Where is the shadow of gecko?Wei Xuezeng realized that he was being fooled, and turned his head quickly, only to see a golden melon growing on the melon vine.  "How about it, master, is it enough to have a glass of wine?" Hu Jin said proudly. Wang Xilie suspected that Hu Jin quickly moved a melon on the table when everyone turned their heads, but when he reached out to touch the melon, it turned out to be growing firmly on the vine.Knowing that there was a fraud in his heart, but he couldn't find any flaws, he couldn't help but marvel: "Hey, this is amazing!"

"Masters please try something new." As he spoke, Hu Jin took out a small knife from his waist, cut off the vines, and cut the melon in half, and handed them to Wei Xuezeng and Wang Xilie respectively. Wei Xuezeng took a bite, it was really fragrant and crispy.I was already thirsty, so I was not polite, and I ate up half of the melon.  "Master, is it delicious?" "Delicious," Wei Xuezeng was rarely happy, and asked with great interest, "What kind of magic is this?"Hu Jin said again: "This trick was passed down to our ancestors by Shennong. It has been passed down from generation to generation to Xiaoke."  "You nonsense!" Wei Xuezeng retorted with a smile, "I know you are an illusion, and you rely on it to make a living." "Since the master made the point, Xiao Ke also admitted that this is indeed an illusion."  "Tell me, how did this melon grow?" Wang Xilie also ate the melon and asked with a full belch.  "This volume can be kept secret."

"Brother Ruding, why do you ask this? Maybe you also want to learn this trick and go to the rivers and lakes?" Wei Xuezeng asked with a sneer.  "I'm just curious." Wang Xilie struck up a conversation with a smirk.Then he ordered the waiter in the shop to lead Hu Xun and his son downstairs to collect the reward. Hu Xunzi packed up his bag and went downstairs with the waiter in the shop, but Hu Xun stayed in the private room and did not leave.  "Why are you dawdling?" Wang Xilie asked.  Hu Xun changed his expression of philistinism, and asked Su Rong: "May I ask you, who is Mr. Wei?" Looking again, he asked, "Who are you?"

"We are just an entertainer running the rivers and lakes. We have been entrusted with a letter to Mr. Wei." After saying that, Hu Jin took out a small cloth bag from his waist, opened it, and took out a letter After handing it over, Wei Xuezeng took a look, and couldn't help being surprised, he was too familiar with the handwriting on the letter cover.He didn't open the letter in a hurry, but asked Hu Jin cautiously: "How did you get this letter?" Hu Jin glanced at Wang Xilie who was present, but hesitated to speak.Wei Xuezeng understood what he meant, and said: "You don't have to worry too much. This is an old friend for many years, so it's okay." Ke and Gaoge, an old fellow, are also from Xinzheng County, Henan, and his housekeeper, Gao Fu, is our distant relative.”“Gao Fu handed this letter to you?”

"Yes, I sent this letter to Beijing on a special trip. Gao Fu said, this letter is very important, and he asked us to deliver it to Master Wei in person.""How long have you been in the capital? "  "It's been three days, and Gao Fu also told us that the situation in the capital is complicated, so don't send this letter directly to Mr. Wei's house, let alone go to the official office to look for you. It's hard for Xiaoke, and I wandered around for a few days , I couldn’t find a way to send a letter. Thank God, I finally got to do this job in Xunfeng Pavilion tonight.” After Hu Jin finished speaking, he cupped his hands and was about to say goodbye. Wei Xuezeng rushed to ask again: “Are you here? Have you seen Mr. Gao Ge in your hometown?"  "No, Mr. Gao Ge returned to his former residence and closed the door all day. There are always some dubious people wandering around his yard. Folks They said that this is a secret agent of the government. Although Gao Ge has been demoted for the people, the emperor still has no confidence in him."  Hu Jin's tone was very aggrieved for Gao Gong, and Wei Xuezeng didn't say much, just said: "This place It’s inconvenient to stay for a long time, strong man, you’d better go quickly.”  “Yes, Xiao Ke bid farewell to the two adults here.” Hu Jin gave a deep bow, stepped out and left.  After Hu Xun left, Wei Xuezeng got up and closed the door, and then came back to open the envelope and read the letter.The letter only has two sheets of paper, and the petty words are written in a sloppy manner, which reflects the writer's down-and-out state of mind.After reading the letter, Wei Xuezeng kept silent, his already dark face became more and more livid and ugly.  "What did the letter say?" Wang Xilie asked cautiously.   "You can read this letter." Wei Xuezeng handed the letter to Wang Xilie as he spoke.Wang Xilie's expression changed drastically when he saw it.It turned out that both of them had interests in what was stated in the letter.But Gao Gong left Beijing in embarrassment that day, and Zhang Juzheng rushed to Jingnan Post to hold a farewell banquet.Before leaving, he returned the three original land deeds that Li Yan had bought for Gao Gong, but Gao Gong tore them up in a fit of anger.When I returned to my hometown and thought about it, I felt that there was still a huge disaster hidden here.Zhang Juzheng only gave Gao Gong three land deeds. Does he have any more important evidence than the land deeds?Because from the analysis of the situation that Han Yi and Du Huazhong, the doctor of the driving department of the Ministry of War, there must be a lot of yamen officials in the capital who have received bribes from Li Yan. It happened that these evidences also fell into the hands of Zhang Juzheng just like the three Tian deeds. Wouldn't this provide him, the new chief assistant, with a wonderful opportunity to cut out his dissidents?Gao Gong thought to himself that he had already stepped down anyway, if Zhang Juzheng made another murderous move, at worst he would be killed.But he couldn't bear to see the power he had cultivated with painstaking efforts over the years destroyed, so he wrote this letter to Wei Xuezeng to tell the truth, hoping that he would discuss with others to take precautions as soon as possible in case of accidents. The appearance of this letter made the two of them feel more tense after relaxing.Wei Xuezeng took the letter from Wang Xilie and burned it with the flame of the candlestick on the table.He still remembered that Gao Gong specifically discussed this matter with him a few months ago, he thought that once Li Yan died, everything would be settled, but he didn't expect that the old quarrel would resume again, and there was a storm coming.He cleaned up the paper ashes left by the burned letter, looked at Wang Xilie who had been in a daze, and said, "Ru Ding, this matter should not be careless. At that time, Elder Xuan was worried that if this matter was revealed, people from all the yamen in the capital would go to it." The building is empty, so I tried every means to prevent it, but I didn’t expect that there would be a problem in the end. What should I do in this situation? What advice do you guys have?" Wang Xilie himself had received bribes from Li Yan twice, so he read the letter Afterwards, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, but he still had a sense of luck at this time, and he said after consideration: "From my point of view, Zhang Juzheng may not have the list of bribe-takers in his hands." "How can you tell?" ? " "Li Yan keeps three land deeds, which are proofs of land purchase, and of course they must not be lost. But he is also an old official after all, and he understands that the taboo of being an official is to give gifts to others and leave evidence. Everyone knows Once this evidence falls into the hands of political opponents, the consequences will be disastrous." "That's the truth, but don't be afraid of 10,000, just in case!" Wei Xuezeng's mood was like fifteen buckets fetching water, ups and downs, an ominous premonition that couldn't be shaken off.Seeing his appearance, Wang Xilie thought to himself: "As the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, I got five thousand taels of silver from Li Yan. This is because Li Yan wanted to ask his mother for an order. This matter is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, so I secretly sealed it." Give me the bank note. This Wei Dapao is different. He is the second official of the Ministry of Officials, and he has won the trust of Gao Ge. His power and reputation surpass the other five ministers. How much money did I send. Compared with him, my little bribe is nothing." After such a speculation, Wang Xilie was not only calm, but even had a bit of gloating. He tentatively asked: "Qi Guan, what happened so far? There is nothing to hide anymore, tell the truth, how much money did Li Yan give you?" Wei Xuezeng never thought that Wang Xilie would ask such a question, he felt very contemptuous in his heart, and wanted to tease him Wang Xilie stretched out a hand, spread his five fingers and shook it, and said, "So much?""How much is this?" "Five thousand taels." Wei Xuezeng shook his head.Wang Xilie stretched out his hands again, spread his fingers apart and said, "That's so much?""How much is this?" "Ten thousand taels." Wei Xuezeng still shook his head and said, "Guess again." "Twenty thousand?"  "No!"  "Thirty thousand?" "Still not right!" Wang Xilie gasped, leaned closer, and asked mysteriously, "Qiguan, how much did you earn?""To tell you the truth, it's so much." Wei Xuezeng stretched out his right hand, and bent his thumb and index finger into a circle.Looking at his strange expression, Wang Xilie asked in puzzlement: "How much is this?" "Zero." "Zero?" Wang Xilie suddenly smiled, shaking his head like a peddler, "I don't even believe what you say, Li Yan came to Beijing to bribe, besides Mr. Gaoge, you should be the first thing that comes to mind."  "He How do you think it's his business, anyway, I didn't take a copper coin from him." Wei Xuezeng spoke resolutely, and Wang Xilie also knew that he was never greedy for money, but he still didn't believe that he was so clean.Therefore, he said half-jokingly and half-sarcastically: "In the officialdom, there are already the censor of planting flowers and the minister of raising birds, and now you have an additional number zero servant." "Brother Yu deserves this title," Wei Xuezeng simply agreed Come down, and then asked, "Ru Ding, you asked me for a long time, now it's my turn to ask you, how much did you take?" "Me," Wang Xilie replied falteringly, "Others eat meat, I don't want to eat meat." I just drank a little soup."  "Damn it, it's not soup, it's poison."  "Even if it's poison, what can I do now that I've drank it in my stomach?" Wang Xilie replied angrily. Wei Xuezeng let out a long sigh, and said to himself with his fisted forehead: "Ruding, it seems that you are doomed." Seeing that Wei Xuezeng looked very serious, he didn't seem to be trying to scare people, Wang Xilie's heart suddenly mentioned again. On the throat.  "Qi Guan, why did you say that?" Wei Xuezeng took a look at Wang Xilie, and asked briefly: "Ru Ding, do you still remember Zhang Juzheng's third move I mentioned before Hu Xun came in?" Yes," Wang Xilie patted his forehead and asked, "You said that Zhang Juzheng's third move was vicious, what kind of move is it?" "The emperor will make an announcement tomorrow morning." "Announce what?" "Two words," Wei Xuezeng stretched out two fingers and said word by word, "Jingcha."