Just when Li Lu took Constantinople and walked to the pinnacle of his life, Li Dingguo, who was ordered to supervise the country, was very busy, on this day he finished handling government affairs, came out and stretched his waist, just wanted to call Qin Sheng over, which Cheng thought that Qin Sheng was not there, so he asked the guards beside him: "Why didn't Qin Sheng come?"
”The guards hurriedly replied, Qin Sheng asked for leave to leave the palace today.Li Dingguo also wanted to hear about the new news outside the palace, so he ordered to go down and let Qin Sheng see him as soon as he came back.It wasn't until dusk that Qin Sheng hurried back to the palace and asked Li Dingguo for peace first.Li Dingguo saw his dusty appearance, so he asked him why he had to go out of the palace.Qin Sheng said with a smile that he heard that a water chestnut tree had grown in Xinliang's hometown, and he thought it was strange, so he went to see the excitement.When Li Dingguo heard this, he laughed: "Water chestnut tree?
It's also so unusual.Tell me what the water chestnut tree you see looks like. ”Li Dingguo knew that water chestnuts grew in water.He remembered that Emperor Jianwen of the Liang Dynasty, Xiao Gang, composed a "Lotus Picking Song", which mentioned water chestnut."
The evening sun shines on the sky, and the lotus is harvested at night.The wind rises from the difficulty of the lake, and the lotus is not rare.The hibiscus fell, and the boat moved the egret to fly.Lotus wraps around the wrist, and the water chestnut is far away. ”If the water chestnut grows on a tree, how can it run into the water and hold the clothes of the lotus girl?
Qin Sheng didn't laugh, and spoke seriously.He also felt unbelievable when he heard this rumor, so he rushed over to see the excitement.When he arrived at his hometown, he really saw the water chestnut tree.It was strange to see that the trees were covered with water chestnuts.Li Dingguo took a pen and paper and asked Qin Sheng to describe the appearance of the tree, and he drew it.When the tree was finished, he copied another one, but removed all the water chestnuts from the tree.He carefully looked at the tree on the painting, turned his face and asked Qin Sheng, "Have you ever seen such a tree?"
”Qin Sheng thought for a while and said, it seems that he has seen such a tree in the Imperial Garden.Li Dingguo nodded, saying that he had also seen this kind of tree in the imperial garden, but not anywhere else, so he was curious and asked the gardener specifically.The gardener said that this kind of tree is called bitter pear, which is used for grafting fruit trees, and if it is not grafted, the fruit will be sour and astringent, and it cannot be eaten at all, so no one grows it, and it is naturally difficult to see.Qin Sheng suddenly understood a little, the big bitter pear tree grew on the barren beach outside his hometown town, and no one paid attention to it, so it was able to survive.Li Dingguo secretly thought to himself: How did such a bitter pear that no one wants to see become a strange water chestnut tree in a blink of an eye?
He didn't feel that his interest had increased greatly, and quietly asked Qin Sheng to get ready, and leave the palace early tomorrow morning.The next day, as soon as the sky was bright, Li Dingguo quietly took Qin Sheng out of the palace.They came to Qin Sheng's hometown and found the water chestnut tree, but the water chestnut tree had been guarded by the tolerances, and no one was allowed to approach.Li Dingguo stood on tiptoe and looked from afar, but saw a bitter pear tree full of water chestnuts.After all, it was far away to see how those water chestnuts grew into the trees.He quietly stuffed a few dollars to the tolerance and asked him to find a convenience.The man put away Li Dingguo's bribe, but waved his hand with a smile and said, "Today, a great prefect is coming to worship the water chestnut tree, and the county magistrate has ordered that no one can come close."
When the prefect leaves, I will definitely let you go over to see it. ”At this moment, two firecrackers sounded on the official road, followed by the sound of drums.Li Dingguo turned his head to look, but saw a few horses unhurriedly under the water chestnut tree, and several officials got off the horses, among which the biggest official was Qin Songming, the prefect of Broken Leaves.Li Dingguo was afraid of being recognized by Qin Songming, so he hurriedly hid in the crowd.I saw a group of officials hugging Qin Songming to come under the water chestnut tree, Qin Songming respectfully incense on the ground, kowtowing, and chanting words in his mouth, Li Dingguo could understand.It turned out that Qin Songming entered Beijing to take the civil service examination, was robbed by robbers on the way and entangled, begged all the way to come here, starved here, fortunately the water chestnut was ripe, a few fell to the ground, he picked it up and ate it, so he barely had the strength to hurry, and was admitted to the list in one fell swoop, so he has today.When Li Dingguo heard this, he didn't feel secretly funny.This nerd, I don't know which farmer rushed to sell water chestnut at that time, and left a few when he was resting under the tree, and he picked it up and ate it, he thought that the water chestnut was grown on this tree, which was really pedantic.What's even more annoying is that he has been the prefect of broken leaves for several years, but he still doesn't know that this water chestnut grows in the water, I really don't know how he is the prefect, doesn't he know that the clear pond to the west of the broken leaves produces water chestnuts?
But just like that, some people say that he has outstanding political achievements, and they want to ensure his promotion.Li Dingguo held back his anger, and then watched Qin Songming's clumsy performance.After Qin Songming sighed, he composed two more poems.The officials on both sides clapped their hands vigorously, and Yu Desheng, the magistrate of the county, refused to let go of this opportunity to curry favor with the prefect of Qin, and hurriedly called the staff and asked him to write down the two poems, engrave them on the tablet, and stand next to the water chestnut tree.It is also necessary to fence the fence and protect this water chestnut tree.Yu Desheng said with a flattering smile: "The water chestnut produced on this tree tastes average, but since you have passed by, it has been stained with your talent, and it is also extraordinary, and the taste is extremely delicious, which is not comparable to other trees." ”Qin Songming was also pleasantly surprised: "Is this the case?
”Yu Desheng hurriedly took off a water chestnut, peeled it off and handed it to Qin Songming.Qin Songming took a bite and nodded vigorously.Yu Desheng immediately ordered the tolerance to pick the water chestnut and let the Qin prefect take it away and taste it.Qin Songming finished worshipping the water chestnut tree, and the group left in a beautiful manner.Li Dingguo leaned under the water chestnut tree and looked up, but saw that the water chestnut on the water chestnut tree had been picked clean, and he was a little disappointed.The man who had received the money came over with a smile and said, "I see that this gentleman of yours is the same as those who are officials, and he is also stupid in reading."
How can the water chestnut grow on a tree?
”Li Dingguo pointed to the water chestnut tree and said, "I saw that this tree was full of water chestnuts just now, is it fake?"
”He leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Don't tell you, sir, we hung the water chestnuts on this tree." ”Li Dingguo asked the root cause carefully, and only then did he tell him that Yu Desheng started to make an article on this tree in order to curry favor with the Qin prefect.A few days ago, he ordered his henchmen to go to Atami County, bought dozens of catties of fine Qingchi water chestnuts at a high price, and secretly stuck them to this tree in advance.Li Dingguo shook his head slightly and said: "The prefect of Qin is not a fool, you stick water chestnuts on the tree, can he see it?"
”The tolerance smiled and said that since the Qin prefect believed that the water chestnuts grew on the trees, how could he see that these water chestnuts were glued?
As he spoke, he also took out a few water chestnuts from his pocket and handed them to Li Dingguo, saying that these were the ones he was too lazy to stick to the tree and quietly left.Li Dingguo bit a water chestnut, and it was even more shocking, the water chestnut was still cooked.He was so angry that he threw the water chestnut to the ground, turned around and left.