After studying like this for three or five days, Mrs. Zhuang packed up everything and asked the old lady to teach the three girls piano skills a few afternoons every month. Old lady Sheng refused at first. Afraid of tiring others, Mrs. Zhuang made a very arrogant promise, and Mrs. Sheng had no choice but to agree. Minglan, who was catching up on her sleep in the pear blossom cupboard at the time, heard this and suddenly realized, no wonder Mr. Zhuang’s tuition is so high, she really gets what she deserves. It’s worth it, so buy one and get one free.
But usually the gifts are not necessarily good. Mrs. Zhuang is harder to fool than Mr. Zhuang. Mr. Zhuang doesn’t have to hand in homework or memorize and answer questions. It’s enough to write two articles when she has time, but Mrs. Zhuang is so stubborn. Yes, there was a seven-stringed guqin in front of each of the girls. The master taught the girls one finger at a time, and even took the exam within a time limit.
After going through Gong, Jiao, Shang, Zheng and Yu, Minglan felt dizzy and her ears were ringing. She finally understood that she didn't have any artistic skills in her body. No wonder the teacher rejected her Guqin when she took music as an elective in college. Ru Lan also suffered a lot in class. She was not as patient as Ming Lan. She could break the strings five or six times in the morning. Mo Lan was a natural talent. She could play it as soon as she got started. She could play it fluently and was praised by Mrs. Zhuang. After practicing it a few times, I became more and more diligent in practicing. Within ten feet of Linqi Pavilion, the birds were frightened.
However, the guqin usually has high-pitched music and few people. In this era, the ultimate goal of most people is just to have enough food and clothing. It is estimated that there are not more ancient people who can understand and appreciate the qin than the ancient pandas. Minglan considered her position as a sixth-rank official and concubine. status, thinking that as long as the future husband is not a loyal listener of Shibamo, he snickered, how dare he ask others to understand such high-end products.
About a month later, Hualan sent back her first letter home from the capital. Mrs. Sheng’s eyesight was blurred and she could not see clearly. Mr. Wang was illiterate. There were some private words in the inner house that were not meant for boys and maids to know. In the end, it was still the same. Lan and Minglan worked together to finish reading the letter.
This is a letter of peace. It probably means that her married life is very happy. Yuan Wenshao is also very considerate to her. However, the two original wives in the house are girls who have served her since childhood, which makes Hua Lan feel very uncomfortable. However, since After getting married, Yuan Wenshao never paid attention to them again. Her father-in-law, the old man from Zhongqin Mansion, liked this lively and lovable new daughter-in-law very much, but her mother-in-law was indifferent and only doted on the eldest daughter-in-law. Later, she found out after asking, It turns out that the eldest daughter-in-law is the daughter of the uncle's wife's cousin, so no wonder she can't get involved. However, because Yuan Wenshao is quite successful outside, he is quite popular in the low-key uncle's house, and the ladies in charge of the house don't dare to look down on him. After leaving Hualan, life was pretty good.
While Ming Lan was reading, she thought it was good. After all, her father-in-law was the real person in charge of the uncle's house. It was a good thing that he liked her. Generally speaking, it was a good thing that her father-in-law liked his daughter-in-law as long as she didn't like to go to Tianxiang Tower!
After Wang heard everything, she let out a long breath. She knew that Hua Lan was always picky, and she would only praise a good thing if it was a good thing. Now that she said it, it must be that her life after marriage was quite nourishing.
"It's normal for parents to rely on their eldest son, and it's even more normal for parents to value their eldest daughter-in-law. Tell the eldest girl not to take it personally, just live your own life, be filial to your parents-in-law, and serve your husband..." Mrs. Sheng couldn't help nagging.
Mrs. Wang sighed and said: "I know this is true, but Hua'er has been the first in the family since she was a child, and has never asked anyone to cover her. Now...hey, it will be fine after we separate the families. Anyway, the uncle's house Returning to the big house, Hua'er and his wife can live a good life on their own, and Kuang's son-in-law is also a capable person."
Normally, Old Mrs. Sheng would certainly say something like "parents should not separate their families when they are together", but after all, she felt sorry for Hua Lan, whom she had raised since she was a child, so she passed by with a heart and said: "In front of the elders, It's good to learn some rules. When you separate the family and live alone, you will have rules and regulations. But it is more important to have good news earlier..."
…
Time flies, the Sheng Mansion is peaceful and sound, Mrs. Sheng is slowly sorting out the rules in the house, and Mr. Wang has gradually taken back the power of the housekeeper. Everything is done according to his personal level. If he has any doubts, he will ask the old lady. See Sheng Hong The house was in good order, and the servants and women in charge were all obedient and very satisfied. Only Lin Qige was complaining. Sheng Hong remembered Aunt Kong's words and forced herself to ignore Aunt Lin. Even Brother Feng and Sister Mo interceded, showing off With a stern father's face, he scolded them one by one.
How could Aunt Lin give up? She had been used to doting on her for more than ten years, so she resorted to various means, sometimes getting sick, sometimes resenting, sometimes crying, sometimes provoking, but Sheng Hong ended up sharing the same bed with her. For more than ten years, the same tricks have been used again and again, even the best ones have become old. Sheng Hong has developed strong antibodies. On the contrary, the kindness that Mrs. Sheng treated him when he was young comes to his mind from time to time. , the more she felt that she was unfilial, and when she remembered the reason why mother and son were born, a domino emotional effect occurred, so she hardened her heart, coldly treated Aunt Lin, and turned her enthusiasm to work.
He encouraged farming and weaving, and deployed merchants. In just two or three years, he managed Dengzhou, which was rich and prosperous. He paid a lot of taxes and made good political achievements. In addition, he was a good man, and his acquaintances in the local capital often took care of him. He was appointed every three years. At the expiration of the term, he once again received excellent performance in the evaluation, was promoted to the fifth rank, and was re-elected.
Being proud of his official career and having a smooth career, Sheng Hong didn't pay much attention to the mood of Aunt Lin, who was always getting into trouble. Instead, he got used to vomiting in front of Mrs. Wang, who had a bad temper, and quarreled with Mrs. Wang from time to time. A few words, because he is now very upright, Wang has no excuses. Whenever she does something inappropriate, Sheng Hong will catch her and stab her. What's "unfilial", "disrespectful", "disrespectful" and "unvirtuous" is a big one. With the hat off, the Wang family had no power to fight back, and Sheng Hong came back victorious again and again. On weekdays, he would go to the young and beautiful Aunt Xiang and Aunt Ping to cheer up his mood, and provide guidance on his children's academic conduct, and his life was quite leisurely.
As soon as Aunt Lin saw that something was not right, she resorted to extreme gentleness and did not dare to ask for any more support. It took a lot of effort to coax Sheng Hong back, but she was now much more honest.
Ming Lan stayed in the Ji'an Hall and played with Mrs. Sheng. The old and the young got along very well with each other, they were in harmony and laughing constantly. Every time Sheng Hong came to greet him, he felt that the atmosphere of the Ji'an Hall was very comfortable and comfortable, and he relaxed his mind. , the more I chatted with the old lady, the more comfortable I became. Sometimes I would scoop up Minglan's failed embroidery works, tease and pamper her, and with Mo Lan Rulan's fun, Changbai Changfeng could be considered successful in his studies, and his wives and concubines had also calmed down. At first glance, the family seems to be living in harmony, and Sheng Hong almost feels that the country is peaceful and the people are at peace.
Mrs. Zhuang had another guqin class in the afternoon. Minglan had been feeling pain in her fingers since the morning, but Mr. Zhuang kept talking. If the class continued like this, there would be no time to rest at noon. She looked up sadly and found that besides
Outside of her and Chang Dong, who was practicing calligraphy, everyone else was in high spirits and engaged in academic discussions.
The most lively topic in the capital right now is the struggle for the throne between the third prince and the fourth prince. The third prince has taken in many new concubines and works day and night. He is so tired that his eyes are filled with stars, but he has sown so much that he has failed to reap a good harvest. So far, he has not given birth to a son. In the palace,
The Taoist priests and monks were all invited, and they burned incense and prayed every day, which made many officials and censors who were originally waiting to watch unhesitatingly. However, the only son of the fourth prince grew up vigorously and started to learn to speak. The fourth prince had a broad heart and a fat body, but he had a bad temper.
Okay, surrounded by Japanese people.
The emperor's health was getting worse day by day, and the debate on the candidate for the throne had become heated. People on both sides were waving flags and shouting, quoting scriptures at every turn, and the quarrel was very exciting.
Mr. Zhuang talked about "Confucius' Family Sayings. Quli Gongxi Chiwen" today. There is a sentence in it: "Gongyi Zhongzi's legitimate son died and his younger brother was established." As a good teacher, he usually combines theory with practice to explain the text. In addition, this gentleman
He has a bold and unconventional temperament, so he raised this topic and let the students discuss it individually - should we establish a direct descendant? Should we establish a virtuous person with talents? Which one is better?
At first, both Changbai and Changfeng objected, thinking that discussing the government affairs indiscriminately would bring disaster. Mr. Zhuang waved his hands and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Nowadays, even a teahouse in the capital often discusses this, not to mention those princes, princes, uncles and senior officials.
Officials, it’s okay to talk about it secretly behind closed doors. Besides, what we are discussing today is the establishment of direct descendants and the establishment of virtuous people, which has nothing to do with government affairs. Let’s discuss it!”
This proposition is also of great practical significance in Shengfu. Since the teacher said this, the students immediately joined the discussion enthusiastically; the two sides of the debate were very clear. Changbai and Rulan were the natural heirs, while Changfeng and Molan were the instinctive ones.
Among the meritocratic faction, Minglan Fishing and Changdong abstained.
Changbai first implicitly pointed out that Hu Hai, the second emperor of the Qin Dynasty, was the first bad emperor, explaining that failure to follow the line of succession could ruin a good dynasty. Changfeng quickly used the example of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to refute - Liu Xiaozhu ranked among the sons of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.
More than ten. Chang Bobi Changfeng of the Classics and History Collection had read it thoroughly. He immediately pointed out in a concise and concise manner that no matter how much Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty favored Liu Xiaozhu, he first established Wang Meiren as his queen, thus smoothing things over in terms of etiquette and law.
The fact that the little pig ascended the throne of the prince just illustrates the principle of succession by direct eldest son.
Chang Feng's heart skipped a beat, and Mo Lan followed up, gently bringing up the famous fool Emperor Jin Hui, and said softly: "...all the civil and military officials in the dynasty knew that Emperor Hui was stupid, but he still stood up for his eldest son.
Without him, Jia Nanfeng's dictatorship and the Eight Kings' Rebellion would not have happened in the future. If another young prince had been established at the beginning, the Jin Dynasty would not have settled in the south. Big brother, what do you think?"
Ru Lan lacks theoretical weapons, but she is more powerful than others: "How many fools are there in the world like Emperor Hui of Jin? Is it possible that the fourth sister regards all the eldest sons in the world as fools?"
Here they cited the extremely bad example of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, who abolished elders and established young ones, and painfully described how much disaster Yang Emperor's tyranny brought to the people. The other side immediately used the example of Li Shimin to counterattack, and boasted about the prosperous era of Zhenguan.
This shows that the second son may not be as inferior to the eldest son. The two sides argued very closely and were evenly matched. However, with Mr. Zhuang calming down, it did not hurt the harmony. Everyone spoke politely, but there was a constant undercurrent.
After talking for a long time, everyone was thirsty, and then they realized that Minglan was still leisurely on the side. They immediately focused their fire and asked Minglan to express her position. Minglan's eyelids jumped. This was asking her to take sides! But if she pretends to be cowardly at this time, she will be in trouble in the future.
Miss Yingchun's ending of being gradually and automatically excluded from the ranks of equals among siblings, being too cowardly to dare to stand out, and being cowardly at every turn has been well explained by Miss Yingchun.
Of course, this is not in line with Minglan's character. She thought about it, then smiled and said to her brothers and sisters and Mr. Zhuang: "I have a problem in my heart, but I am stupid and can't explain it. Why don't I put on a scene and let everyone take a look?
It’s a bit of fun, okay? But for a while, no one is allowed to speak.”
Mr. Zhuang was the most nice person and nodded happily, as did the others. Minglan immediately called Danjue in, lowered her head and gave instructions in her ear. Danjue agreed, and after a while she brought three people with their hair combed
The little maids came in, one of them was Yancao who was newly assigned to Minglan, and the other two were Ru Lan and Mo Lan's little maids.
The three little maids stood timidly in front of the hall, kowtowed to their master, and then stood stiffly, looking at each other in confusion.
Minglan said warmly to the three of them: "Mr. Zhuang was giving a lecture to us just now. He just commented on the quality of our three sisters. Mr. Zhuang came to the house not long ago. We can't praise ourselves, so we just talked to you three."
Pi Ling will tell you, who can say it best, Master?p
Stop?p
Yancao looked up at Minglan in surprise, and the other two went to see their master. The three ladies nodded, and they believed it. Minglan smiled and turned to look at the audience, and then looked at the three maids.
He said seriously: "Tell me first, among the four sisters, the fifth sister and me, which of the three girls is the most virtuous, smart and good-tempered?"
After all, the little maids were still young and the city was not rich enough, so they talked about it one by one. One said that Lan practiced calligraphy every day and was filial to his parents; the other said that Mo Lan recited poems and composed poems every day, showing the style of everyone; Yancao explained that Lan practiced hard day and night.
They often do embroidery, and at first they spoke rather reservedly, but Minglan couldn't help but encouraged her with all her strength, adding a few words from time to time, and increasing the reward, so they became more and more enthusiastic as they talked.
, started to get anxious, gradually turned red in the face, pointed at the other person and said it was nonsense, and even turned into some personal attacks among the maids.
Minglan quickly waved her hand to stop them before they started arguing, and asked again: "Let me ask you again, which one of our three sisters is the eldest?" Now the three little maids had no objection, and after a while, they all
Ru Lan muttered that it was Mo Lan; Ming Lan heard a noise behind her, ignored it, and asked again: "Which one of our three sisters was born to my wife?" This time, Ru Lan's maid said loudly: "It's our girl.
." Others can't argue.
Minglan turned back and smiled at everyone. Mr. Zhuang showed some approval in his eyes and nodded slightly towards her. Minglan knew that this was considered a compliment. She turned her head happily and unexpectedly saw Brother Changbai looking at her. Their eyes met.
Brother Changbai smiled at him like a fairy from heaven, and Minglan was immediately horrified.
Sheng Changbai is an outlier in the entire Sheng family. He is taciturn by nature, strict in his behavior, young and mature, and feels mature in both study and work. He is completely opposite to the talkative, cheerful and well-rounded Sheng Hong. It is said that he is more like the Wang family's grandfather who has passed away long ago.
She often looks like a dead mother to her biological mother Wang.
I guess even my younger sister, Ru Lan, has never enjoyed this smile today. Minglan rubbed her cold neck.
At this time, Chang Feng couldn't help but said: "Sixth sister, it's inappropriate to do this." Everyone went to see him, and Chang Feng raised his eyebrows and said: "These little girls have just come in, and they haven't learned all the rules yet. How can they tell the difference?"
Xianhui, smart and good-tempered? Of course they quarreled over protecting the Lord." Changbai didn't say anything, but raised the corner of his mouth slightly. Minglan said, "What the third brother said makes sense, let's change it to someone who can tell the difference.
."
Then she turned around and asked the three little maids again. Minglan said with a serious face: "You are young and don't understand the rules, but you all have eyes. Let me ask you, among the three girls here, which one is the prettiest and the most beautiful?"
How can a shameless flower make people look more delicate and beautiful than a fairy? This is the total score."
Minglan finished speaking in one breath. As soon as he said this, everyone burst into laughter. Mr. Zhuang was shaking with laughter while holding the case, and everyone else burst into laughter. Changbai also smiled and shook his head, but among these sounds
, there was a soft laughter that obviously did not belong here, coming from behind the screen behind Mr. Zhuang. There was a back door there. Could it be that some ignorant servant got in.
After laughing for a while, everyone looked at the screen with confusion. Changbai said in a deep voice: "Who is behind? How do you break into this place without permission?"
The next moment, a young man walked out from behind the screen. He was wearing a cross-collar long coat embroidered with silver threads and plain tulle patterns, and a light blue jade-embellished belt around his waist. There was a blue edge on the belt.
The moon-white gourd-shaped purse is decorated with a shining blue tourmaline bead as a buckle. The young man seems to have just come in from outside. There are some pink peach petals falling on his shoulders, and his black hair like crow feathers is decorated with jade.
Fasten the crown loosely.
When Mr. Zhuang saw him, he smiled and said, "Yuan Ruo, why did you come here? Where is your wife?"
The young man walked up to Mr. Zhuang's case, bowed his hands, stood up and said loudly: "Sir, how are you? I'll say goodbye to you in the capital. I'm lucky to see you again today. My wife asked me to wait outside, but I kept waiting, and the class never ended.
, the student was impatient, so he sneaked into the back hall without permission, please don’t worry about it, brothers and sisters.”
After saying that, he raised his hands to the sons and daughters of the Sheng family. The young man had a warm smile, red lips and white teeth, bright eyes and beautiful eyebrows, and a body as delicate as a clump of tall green bamboos. He had the look of a famous flower, and everyone knew it when he saw it.