It is unprecedented for a young white boy to attend the dinner of the county magistrate. If it were not for Wang Siren's face, Magistrate Hou would not be so condescending. Moreover, Zhang Yuan was a defendant before holding the lamp, but now he is his guest, Hou Zhihan. Worried about being criticized——
Wang Siren said: "Brother Tianyin, is there anything regrettable about the case just now?"
Hou Zhihan said: "No."
Wang Siren said: "Then why should you be worried?"
Hou Zhihan laughed, bowed and said: "Thank you, teacher, for your enlightenment. Students are always so hesitant, so they haven't made any progress for many years - please, teacher, please, brother Wang, please, brother Zhang."
In the late Ming Dynasty, those with meritorious status were called seat masters, and the son of the master of the house was called the elder brother.
Hou Zhihan knew Wang Siren's taste. The banquet was simple and elegant. They were all local specialties of Shaoxing. The wine was Shaoxing bean wine. There were eight dishes, including Po Tang bamboo shoots, Dushan water chestnuts, river crabs, Sanjiang Tun razor clams, Toushi River anchovy, Hunan There are water shield vegetables, ten-spiced salted soybean and fresh soup, as well as Shaoxing’s most famous white rice.
There are two seats at the Sheshe dinner, one for two people. Naturally, Hou Zhihan and Wang Siren share a seat, and Zhang Yuan and the young man named Wang share a seat.
Wang Siren originally thought that one person would have one seat, but unexpectedly, County Magistrate Hou was quite frugal, which made Wang Siren a little embarrassed. He looked at his son or daughter and wanted to say something but did not say anything. He just said: "Children are not allowed to drink alcohol."
Hou Zhihan said with a smile: "Teacher is a local. Don't you know that this Shaoxing bean wine is not intoxicating? It doesn't hurt to have a few cups, brother."
Then a boy in green clothes came to pour wine for Zhang Yuan and the young man named Wang. Wang Siren just looked at it and said nothing. He talked with Hou Zhihan about some affairs between the government and the public, and between scholars.
As twilight fell, the outside of the mansion gradually became dim, and the lights in the room became brighter. The aroma of wine was faint, and several famous Shaoxing dishes made Zhang Yuan move his index finger. He raised his glass and said: "Brother Wang, please."
The young man surnamed Wang was a little displeased with Zhang Yuan for not listening to his advice in court just now. He pretended not to hear and just picked out the anchovies, looking very attentive.
Zhang Yuan drank a cup and stopped asking the boy to pour the wine. When he saw that the boy named Wang had eaten one shad and put chopsticks on another, there were only two shad in the plate, so he smiled and said: "Brother Wang, save one." Give me the fish tail."
The young man surnamed Wang blushed slightly and retracted his chopsticks, but Zhang Yuan said: "You can eat it if you like. This shad is thrown into the river in front of my house. I can often catch it."
The boy named Wang finally spoke and said softly: "What do you usually do besides studying?"
Zhang Yuandao said: "Young people play all kinds of games, such as playing chess and fighting insects, playing Cuju and singing, fighting cocks and horses, fishing and archery. I know a little bit about it. What does Brother Wang usually play?" He thought to himself: "Is it embroidery?"
The boy surnamed Wang lowered his eyelashes, looked at his hand holding the chopsticks, and said, "It's pretty much the same, they're just for fun." He looked up at Zhang Yuan and asked, "I heard that you dreamed about some big bookcases with strange things in them. There are tens of thousands of books, you read them all in one night, and you remember them all when you wake up, really?"
Zhang Yuandao: "Are there tens of thousands of volumes? I didn't say tens of thousands of volumes. It's just a thousand books. It's not a strange book. It can neither help the world nor benefit the people, nor can it gain fame. It's just an idle book. My great-uncles wandered around the forest like this. The taxi is very windy.”
The young man surnamed Wang said: "I just love to read idle books. Tell me, what idle books have you read in your dreams?"
Zhang Yuan thought to himself: "Of course you just like to read leisurely books. You don't have to take the exams for children's students, scholars, civil servants, and Jinshi. I am very tired."
Zhang Yuan is now basically sure that the person sitting opposite him is not a boy named Wang but a girl from the Wang family. She should be Wang Siren's daughter. Why did Wang Siren take his daughter to wander around? Was the atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty so open?
The girl from the Wang family asked again: "Tell me, what books have you read in your dreams?"
Zhang Yuandao: "There are many, many, many. I don't remember the title of the book very much. I only remember the stories in it. Hey, let's not talk about these. Eat vegetables, eat vegetables." He buried his head in peeling river crabs.
The Wang family girl hesitated to speak, so she had no choice but to eat vegetables.
At the next table, Wang Siren raised his voice and said: "Zhang Yuan, come here, the county magistrate wants to test you."
Zhang Yuan said "uh" and almost choked, thinking: "Take the test, the teacher's magic weapon, I can't escape having to take the test in my two lifetimes." He took the handkerchief from the waiter's hand, wiped his hands, and asked the Wang family
The girl nodded, stood up, walked to Wang Siren and Hou Zhihan's table, bowed and asked, "What does the county magistrate want students to test?"
Hou Zhihan had just heard that Wang Siren had some kind words for Zhang Yuan, so he said that he wanted to test Zhang Yuan. At this time, he looked at Zhang Yuan carefully. Well, he has sparse eyebrows and bright eyes. He looks good, and his demeanor is calm and generous. He doesn't look like the first person.
Once I met an official and asked, "Mr. Suzhi, is your elder father?"
Zhang Yuandao: "He is my great-uncle."
Hou Zhihan said "Oh" and thought: "So he is not Zhang Rulin's direct descendant." He then asked: "Have you ever participated in the county examination?"
Zhang Yuandao: "The students have not yet entered social studies."
Hou Zhihan said: "That must be the origin of family education."
Zhang Yuandao: "My father has been away for many years, and the students have not been formally enlightened. My sister only taught me a few words in her spare time."
The county magistrate Hou Zhihan felt a little helpless. Such a young man who had never even entered social studies and had no one at home to teach him poetry and calligraphy could have any knowledge! But Wang Siren clearly praised this young man and said that his future was limitless. Hou Zhihan
In order to give Wang Siren face, he had to pick some easy ones to test Zhang Yuan and asked: "You must have learned the couplets before. Can you correct the first couplet from this county?"
Zhang Yuan thought: "I really haven't learned any couplets. I do remember some famous couplets from ancient and modern times, such as lotuses, monks, calligraphy and Hanlin scripts with Chinese characters, etc. But who dares to guarantee that the county magistrate will definitely learn from the couplets I know?"
We can't arrange the question in advance, it's not acting." But if he shows weakness and says no, he will be a loser in the eyes of the county magistrate, and it will be too embarrassing for Wang Siren, not to mention the people around him.
There is also a girl from the Wang family watching.
Zhang Yuandao: "Your Majesty, the county master, couplets are a small skill for children's enlightenment. Although students are not sensitive, they have learned them. I thought of a couplet a few days ago, but I still haven't gotten it right yet——"
"Oh." Hou Zhihan became interested: "Tell me and listen."
Zhang Yuandao: "The first couplet is: Smoke locks willows on the pond."
Hou Zhihan smiled and thought: "The artistic conception of this five-character sentence is quite good, but there is something difficult about it. You have to think about it for several days -" After thinking about it carefully, his expression changed. This five-character sentence has the meaning of "gold and wood".
The radical "water, fire and earth"!
When Wang Siren heard the sentence "Smoke locks willows in the pond", he also began to think about the couplet. He thought about it and couldn't find a suitable one. It is not difficult to match it based on the artistic conception of the sentence, but it is too difficult to coincide with the five elements.
Thinking that the wine was cold and the dishes were cold, the two Jinshi could not think of a couplet. Naturally, Magistrate Hou forgot to write a couplet to test Zhang Yuan. In fact, it was not that he had forgotten, but that Zhang Yuan thought of the first couplet himself.
It's so difficult to get it right, which shows that he is a master of couplets. Hou Zhihan couldn't think of such a wonderful first couplet like "Smoke Locks Pond Willow" to test Zhang Yuan, so he couldn't get it right and wanted to get it right.
The second couplet of "The Smoke Locks the Willow in the Pond".
Well, after a clever transformation, he is now Lord Zhang Yuankao.
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Book friends, have you ever felt the protagonist's yd wind blowing against your face? Haha, in the late Ming Dynasty, this is what you have to do.
Rushing to the top of the list, "Ya Sao" must be the first, log in, click, recommend, book friends, please do your best.