"Brother Huaiyuan, you are just joking. That is the daughter of an academic politician. How can I reach such a high level?"
Bai Gui took a sip of red wine from the goblet. He woke up well and tasted mellow.
Wu Mansion’s Cultural Salon is not only held in a venue that combines Chinese and Western styles, but also caters to different guests in terms of food. There are Chinese meals and Western meals. The luxury of Wu Mansion is revealed everywhere.
Academic Affairs, the full name is Admiral Academic Affairs, commonly known as Xuedai, is in charge of the education and scientific examination of a province. There is no fixed grade, they are all Jinshi, and they must be two-rank Jinshi. If the Academic Affairs is taught by the Minister, it is from the second grade.
If a doctor teaches a scholar and a politician, he will be of the fifth grade.
This official is not a local official, but an official appointed by the emperor himself, similar to an imperial envoy.
So the status is respected.
"Since ancient times, there have been people who want to catch a son-in-law, and academics also like heroes. Brother Bai's knowledge and talent are enough..."
Wu Huaiyuan's words are concise and concise, and his meaning is pointed.
What he said is true. There is a big gap between scholars and scholars. For example, Baigui, a capital city that is only one step away from achieving the title of scholar, has a bright future and the possibility of studying abroad. Although it is a bit different compared to the daughter of a scholar.
Not enough family status.
But family status is not absolute...
Bai Gui smiled and said nothing. Just listen to these words. If you really take it seriously, it is possible, but the process is often unsatisfactory. The end result of forcing yourself to climb a family is definitely not a good one.
However, he also carefully looked at the girl standing next to the piano. She was luxuriously dressed in a long blue dress. She was about fourteen or fifteen years old. Her appearance was a bit mediocre. She was not outstanding among the noble ladies, but she had a good temperament and must have been full.
I was raised by reading poetry books.
While he was talking, the sound of the piano suddenly stopped, and these noble ladies came over.
In the feudal era, women often did not have much free time, so activities such as outings, travels, or poetry gatherings were often used to select husbands. This cultural salon also has such meaning...
In the living room of the Wu Mansion, there were not only the three people sleeping with Bai Gui, but also other young people who had been invited, about twenty people, all of whom were the sons of politicians, businessmen, celebrities, and gentry. They were young and in their prime.
Leaning on the counter in the corner, drinking and chatting.
Soon, when the academic daughter of a political family came over, her eyes lit up, she said a few words to the girls who were traveling with her, and then walked straight over.
"Brother Huaiyuan, this is your bedmate, the head of the palace this term?"
The academic daughter gave a slight blessing, then asked with a slightly shy face, pink face.
After completing the Chinese etiquette, she put on long-sleeved gloves made of lace and gestured for a handshake.
Bai Gui was stunned for a moment, and then he realized what he was doing. He stopped the handshake and quickly stretched out his hand to shake it. Western etiquette must be taught in women's schools. They were all wearing suits in the salon at the moment, so the handshake was not so strange.
.
What surprised him a little was that he thought the academic daughter was interested in him, but he didn't expect that after saying hello to him, he started chatting with Wu Huaiyuan, and they seemed to be very familiar with him.
After listening for a while, he understood roughly.
The academic daughter and Wu Huaiyuan have known each other in the past few years, and the academic daughter also has a crush on Wu Huaiyuan. After all, he can be adopted by Zhou Ying as his adopted son, so his appearance is not bad.
It's a pity that the man is ruthless, but the concubine is interested.
Bai Gui secretly cursed Wu Huaiyuan for being unreasonable and actually trying to get him and the academic daughter to escape from this matter. Fortunately, he didn't take the blame just now, otherwise... this would be embarrassing.
However, this incident was like a ladle of cold water poured on his forehead, which made him sober up a lot.
Seeing that Wu Huaiyuan was chatting with the academic daughter, Bai Gui and Liu Mingda looked at each other and felt that they were a bit intrusive here, so they nodded in unison, moved a little away, and came to the side where the piano was placed just now.
During this period, some noble girls showed affection for him, but they were from lower family backgrounds and were the daughters of wealthy families in provincial cities. He declined them one by one without saying a word.
People are very realistic!
Bai Gui sighed softly in his heart.
He was in a calm mood and did not care about these trivial matters. While talking to Liu Mingda, he talked about some interesting things in history and life, or discussed with each other about the news published in the newspaper, while observing the surroundings.
At first, the boys and girls in the cultural salon were very restrained, but after a while, they began to speak freely. It seemed that he and Liu Mingda were a little lonely.
As for Liu Mingda, her family has already arranged a marriage to a young lady from the south, a Jiangnan woman, and she will not consummate the marriage until she returns to China after studying in Japan.
"I think Goethe's poem is very interesting, 'It is a living object, divided into two parts within its own body, or two lives merged together, and we see it as one body.'"
Bai Gui sighed and softly recited Goethe's famous poem "Ginkgo Biloba" with amusement in his eyes.
Liu Mingda couldn't help but laugh out loud. This poem contains biological knowledge and is the mitosis of botany. It was discovered by Fleming of Germany in 1882 and was taught by Shiwu Zhai of the Normal School a few days ago.
The atmosphere of the cultural salon in the living room now is somewhat consistent with it.
"Brother Bai really doesn't use curse words when he curses!"
Wu Huaiyuan walked over with a look of embarrassment. He happened to hear Bai Gui's song of Goethe's poem and smiled bitterly.
"I'll be the host another day to make amends to Brother Bai."
he apologized.
"Then you have agreed, but you are not allowed to go back on it."
Bai Gui quickly agreed, raised his glass and touched it with Wu Huaiyuan.
However, at this moment, Bai Gui suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure passing by the moon gate through the mosaic glass window of the living room. The man was wearing a Taoist robe, Quanzhen dress, a Hunyuan scarf on his head, and Shifang shoes on his feet.
.
"It's Taoist Zhang..."
Thanks to his good memory, Bai Gui could recognize at a glance that the Taoist just now was Taoist Zhang Zhishun, whom he had met before at Bailu Academy.
"He?"
Wu Huaiyuan also looked up and said: "He has been to my mother several times these days, but I don't know what we talked about. Every time I see him come out dejected..."
When Bai Gui heard this, his face showed surprise, and then he thought for a while, and then he cupped his hands with a trace of solemnity on his face, "Brother Huaiyuan, please take me to see Daozhang Zhang. He has an old relationship with my husband..."
Zhang Daozhang's character is such that he could come to the Wu Mansion and then leave dejectedly. He must have something to ask for. Otherwise, if a Taoist priest goes to see a widow many times, it will inevitably be affected by Zhou Ying's reputation...
In addition, he has benefited from Mr. Zhu's kindness many times. He can't pretend not to have seen this kind of thing. This is because he doesn't know the kindness. Besides, he also wants to meet with Daozhang Zhang to understand something...
"Okay, let me ask..." When Wu Huaiyuan heard this, he had no reason to refuse. Although he didn't know what Bai Gui wanted, it was not difficult to handle. It was not a request. He called
A servant came and asked Taoist Zhang where he was waiting to meet his wife, and then asked the servant to take Bai Gui to the small courtyard where he was waiting.
