"Changbai, I have asked your mother to clear out the row of houses in the backyard. I have invited several nephews to live at home. After they move in, if you have time, take more care of them."
When it was time to eat in the evening, Sheng Hong said to Sheng Changbai.
"Father, some of the younger sisters at home are getting older, so it wouldn't be good for a few foreign men to live in the backyard, right?"
Although Sheng Changbai knew that Sheng Hong let several people live in the Sheng family so that they could observe closely.
It is convenient to choose one, two or three suitable sons-in-law.
Otherwise, the Sheng family moved to the capital, had already passed the imperial examination twice, and had the son of an old friend from the same year. After arriving in the capital, they visited Sheng Hong, and there was no sign that Sheng Hong had left anyone else living at home.
But if these three people live in the Sheng family, the risk of being "stolen" is too high.
"There's nothing wrong with it. Just seal the door leading to the backyard and let them enter and exit through the back door of the house. They are either young people favored by their father or family friends. At this time, we will arrange for them to live at home and give them It is also necessary to create a good reading environment."
Because spring is approaching, a lot of people are crowding into the city of Tokyo. Although there are not as many people as before the imperial examination in previous years, the Yi Zhan Guiguan Inn in the city should be full or full, and the price should increase greatly.
In addition, the reception capacity of these places is limited to begin with, and they do not have the ability to receive more than 10,000 people.
This year, because all entertainment venues are closed, the capital's ability to accommodate the foreign population is even more insufficient.
Therefore, it is indeed common for scholars who come to Beijing to take exams to seek refuge and stay in the homes of relatives and friends.
These are all old friends of Sheng Hong, sons of the same age, and it is indeed appropriate for Sheng Hong to make arrangements.
This reason was hard for Sheng Changbai to refute, so he could only accept the matter of closing the door.
"Then let me arrange this."
Without any preparation, Sheng Changbai simply added a lock to the door and it was over. Such a simple measure could not stop a "meaningful person" at all.
Although the Sheng family is not yet a wealthy family, its current family status is definitely enough for a poor family to be concerned about.
Sheng Changbai directly ordered the door to be nailed shut, thus giving up this path.
Whether these borrowing students mind the Sheng family's precautions depends on them.
A gentleman is magnanimous, but a villain is always worried.
People who don't have any wrong ideas can naturally understand the Sheng family's approach to improve the reputation of the women in the family.
By making the yard independent, these sub-doors can be more comfortable.
Independent and secluded courtyards are now a hot commodity in Bianliang.
Ordinary people just want to rent, but they can't rent a yard with such conditions.
Most people do not have this financial strength, and many people who do have financial strength do not have such connections and status.
The yard that Sheng Hong left to his sons was further behind the Sheng family's garden.
To tidy up, just clean up and arrange the necessary furniture.
After finishing, Juzi checked out of the inn rooms one after another and moved in.
The first one is Wen Yanjing, Sheng Hong's favorite candidate.
He returned to his hometown in Hebei, took the state examination, and once again passed the qualifications, he returned to the capital.
Wen Yanjing's family is indeed the most ordinary family of farmers and students from a poor family.
The total land assets of the family only amount to a few hundred dollars.
In normal times, Wen Yanjing still rented a house in the capital. However, as the imperial examination was approaching, the rent increased sharply.
For Wen Yanjing, renting a house has become the biggest burden.
The family's economic conditions are very average, and they belong to a poor family where if they take a few more imperial examinations, they can bankrupt the family.
After receiving Sheng Hong's invitation, he quickly moved here.
Later, three sons of Sheng Hong's old friends who were of the same age also moved here.
Although these are not the only people who visit the Sheng family, not all of them have closer relatives and friends in Bianliang.
For various reasons, these three people came to stay at Sheng's house.
The last one is Li Yu, the son of an in-law and old friend of the Sheng family.
Li Yu and Chang Wu, the eldest brother, were cousins. They originally lived in Chang Wu's home. After receiving the invitation from the Sheng family, they moved from Chang Wu's home to live in the Sheng family.
Compared to the family of a military general like Chang Wu, a scholar's family like the Sheng family is obviously more suitable for studying and preparing for exams.
Not only are there candidates who are taking the imperial examination together for easy communication, but there are also Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai, two seniors in the examination room who have already passed the imperial examination, for easy consultation.
The Sheng family alone has a collection of tens of thousands of books, and there are not many private libraries in Bianjing.
Li Yu can be regarded as a talent from Youyang's hometown of the Sheng family. From a geographical point of view, he is naturally suitable for the Sheng family to cultivate and cultivate him into his own wing.
The reason why Sheng Changbai didn't see Li Yu when he went back to Youyang was because Li Yu was studying abroad.
Youyang cannot be said to be a place of cultural prosperity, and it is still difficult to cultivate talents for Jinshi in the local area.
Probably just waiting for Sheng Hong to retire and return to his hometown to live.
Only by devoting yourself to education in your hometown can you make culture and education flourish in Youyang.
…
"Bai'er, I've been in contact with some of them for a while. Among these exams, who do you think is most likely to succeed in this subject?"
When Sheng Hong allowed several people to live at home, it was not out of pure kindness, but because he was mainly looking for a son-in-law for himself.
Even Wang Ruofu is not a generous person. He allows several people to live at home and take care of him in all aspects.
I also think that the son of an old friend of Sheng Hong was a son of an official from a well-to-do family.
As an alternative to Ru Lan, Wang Ruofu entertained these people with all his heart and courtesy.
Not only were they provided with a house to live in, servants to serve them, and three meals a day, they were even provided with winter clothes and carbon stones.
It was a free day today, so Wang Ruofu called Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai discussed these moves.
"Mom, I see that all of my brothers are of good character, talent, and knowledge. They all have a good chance of winning the exam in this subject. Let me talk about it first. My father has been in high and low officialdom for more than 20 years, and he has more knowledge about people than my children. Already."
After Sheng Changbai gave a formal compliment, he asked Sheng Hong to speak first.
Those who have the confidence to come from other places to take the scientific examination certainly have some hopes for success.
His own abilities are not too bad, and it can be said that he is better than Sheng Changfeng in basic aspects.
"Wen Juzi has made the most progress in his studies during this period. If he continues to improve at this rate, he will have a good chance of winning the first place by next spring."
Even if there are other candidates who are similar to himself and have a good basic impression, Sheng Hong is most optimistic about Wen Yanjing.
Wen Yanjing was not the best in the original, but Sheng Hong was able to single out the advantage of Wen Yanjing's greatest improvement.
Compared with Sheng Hong's three old friends, they were born in official families and had experience in the imperial examination room.
Songshan Academy, where Li Yu was born, had great Confucian teachings and was able to continuously teach Jinshi scholars. It also had no shortage of academic experience.
In this case, Wen Yanjing, who lacked experience in imperial examinations, would certainly make the fastest and greatest progress after receiving experience from Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai.
"Changbai, don't use clichés to deal with your mother. If you think which one is better, tell your mother the truth, or let your mother choose the one with more outstanding talents for your fifth sister."
After Sheng Hong finished evaluating Wen Yanjing, knowing that Wang Ruofu looked down on Wen Yanjing, this was the candidate Sheng Hong had prepared for Mo Lan, so he continued to talk to Sheng Changbai.
"Mom, I'd rather be better than Li Yu. Regardless of family background, character, talent, or education, Brother Yu is a reliable person."
Seizing the opportunity, Sheng Changbai strongly recommended Li Yu to Wang Ruofu.
It was also during this period that Minglan and He Hongwen were developing very smoothly. It seemed that if it weren't for the death of the old emperor, they might have decided to get married.
There was really no need to keep Li Yu as a spare tire, so Sheng Changbai arranged for Li Yu to be given to Ru Lan without hesitation.
"Bai'er, brother Wu and brother Liu are talented and knowledgeable, but their character is bad, aren't they?"
Wang Ruofu still couldn't put aside his face, and he still wanted to marry Ru Lan into an official family.
"Mom, brother Wu Shixiong and brother Liu Shixiong are naturally good in talent, learning, and character. In this imperial examination, there is certainly a good chance of getting in the middle. But after all, the Wu family and the Liu family are both official families, and they are from rich families. , there are inevitably more rules in the house, and the fifth sister will inevitably not be able to escape this restriction."
Another reason is that after Wu Sanlang and Liu Dalang became Jinshi, if their rankings were good, they would not be willing to marry Ru Lan.
If her ranking is poor, Ru Lan will inevitably have little future if she marries such a man.
Sheng Changbai didn't necessarily want to find a promising man for Ru Lan.
A man who can pass the Jinshi examination is already the best among scholars in this era, and he is already good enough.
As long as you are a Jinshi, you can say that Pei Rulan is more than enough.
But if the ranking in the imperial examination is not good, a man's official career will inevitably be wasted in the selection stage.
Throughout his life, he was promoted to officials in various places, joined the army, taught Yu, became a county lieutenant, and became a county magistrate.
After twenty years of wandering around, it would be difficult for him to return to the capital and become an official like Sheng Hong.
Rulan, who has adapted to the prosperity of Yangzhou and Tokyo, is not a person who can endure hardships.
Going to a remote country for a few years, and men's local status is not high, how could Ru Lan adapt to such a life for a long time.
Sheng Changbai's personal experience is that in the short term, marriage can rely on love, and it doesn't matter if it suffers a little, but in the long term, it is still inseparable from daily necessities.
"Madam, Bai'er is right. I think Brother Yu is also a very good boy. We are from the same hometown. Even if Ru Lan is married, it will be convenient for us to go back and forth."
Sheng Hong was a more rational person, knowing that Ru Lan lacked education and had a wild temper, and could not adapt to the strict rules of a wealthy official's family.
Although the Li family is also a well-behaved family.
But the Li family were only local merchants after all, and Li Yu needed the help of the Sheng family for his career.
He would be tolerant to Ru Lan no matter what, and given the close relationship between the two families, Ru Lan would not be too harsh.
The Li family does not accept Pinlan, who has the same personality as Rulan. It is the Li family who married Pinlan, which will not bring any benefits to the Li family.
Ru Lan has a father who is a fourth-rank official and a brother who is a seventh-rank official. It is not difficult for the Li family to accept Ru Lan and treat Ru Lan well.
"Brother Li, is he really as good as you say?" Wang Ruofu asked hesitantly.
Although the Li family is just a businessman, they are rich after all, and having money can make Wang Ruofu accept it more easily.
If you marry your daughter off, even if you are not a noble person, it is still not difficult to achieve wealth.
"Mom, Brother Yu's every aspect has been approved by the old lady. If you can't believe the vision of our father and son, can you still not trust the old lady?" Sheng Changbai continued.
Regardless of whether he liked the old lady or not, Wang Ruofu still recognized the old lady's vision.
When it comes to looking at people, the old lady has only failed twice with Sheng Lao Tanhua and Lin Zhishuang.
Once caused the old lady a lifelong unhappy marriage.
Once there was a gap between the old lady and her cheap son and daughter-in-law.
The result of looking at someone wrongly twice was very profound and painful.
After that, the old lady became much more cautious when looking at people, and she really had the ability to recognize people.
After Wang Ruofu went to the old lady again to confirm, the three orchids in the family temporarily had a candidate.
Sheng Laosi Mo Lan is betrothed to Wen Yanjing, Sheng Lao Wu Rulan is betrothed to Li Yu, and Sheng Lao Liu Minglan is betrothed to He Hongwen.
Of course, this is the result of a unilateral agreement by the Sheng family. The three candidates are still in the investigation stage of the Sheng family.
Even between Minglan and He Hongwen, who are developing the fastest, the two families only have a tacit understanding and have not made things clear.
After the selection is made, of course, the candidate should be given some opportunities to make contacts.
Although there was no music or drinking, there were still more banquets.
It's hard to say what kind of banquet it is, but the Sheng family would often invite a few people to come over and have dinner together.
We will also hold some small-scale cultural gatherings at home.
The reason why things can't be too explicit is that we can't invite Wen Yanjing, Li Yu alone, or all of them.
After letting these people come into contact, the effect is not very satisfactory.
Because the system of parents' orders and matchmaker's words cannot be considered perfect.
No matter what era, as long as this system exists, children's resistance will always exist.
Wen Yanjing can be considered excellent in all aspects except his family background and financial resources.
But Mo Lan still looked down upon Wen Yanjing.
Sheng Hong had clearly told Mo Lan that Wen Yanjing was the one chosen.
Mo Lan was still quite indifferent to Wen Yanjing, but on the contrary, she was quite enthusiastic towards the brothers Wu and Liu who came from an official family.
In order to prevent Mo Lan from doing something irrational, Sheng Changbai still prepared to do some ideological work on Mo Lan.
Of course, there are differences between men and women when it comes to marriage. Although the two have the same father, they are not the same mother, and their relationship is not close. It is still difficult for Sheng Changbai to talk directly to Mo Lan.
Fortunately, Hai Chaoyun had already entered the door, and Sheng Changbai also had someone to entrust with this matter.
If you want to say anything, just let Hai Chaoyun convey it to you.
Moreover, Hai Chaoyun is also a wise woman, and she can also give some advice to Mo Lan.
Hai Chaoyun, a woman who was better than Mo Lan in all aspects, could accept marriage, so why would Mo Lan refuse to accept it?
"How is it? How is the fourth sister's attitude? Doesn't it look very good?"
Seeing that Hai Chaoyun's face was not very good after returning from Molan Thought, Sheng Changbai asked.
