With a hundred thousand guan tied around his waist, he rode a crane down to Yangzhou.
Yangzhou has been synonymous with prosperity since ancient times, and this was also true in the Zhou Dynasty.
Adjacent to the Yangtze River, with a canal running through it, the unique geographical location and convenient water and land transportation made Yangzhou an important water transportation center in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and also created a metropolis between the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers.
In the evening of this day, the north gate of Yangzhou City was still bustling with people, with an endless stream of merchants coming and going.
Suddenly, two rows of government officials came from a distance, lined up to control the city gate, and loudly asked passers-by to please take a detour.
Seeing the signs of "Yangzhou Tongpan", "Avoid" and "Quiet" displayed by the leader, the noisy crowd cursed in a low voice and wisely turned around.
After a while, a carriage was escorted by the government servants to the city gate. After it stopped on the outskirts of the city, the carriage curtain was opened, and the couple walked out hand in hand.
The man is about thirty years old, with a fair face and a strange appearance. With the wide robe and big sleeves on his body, he looks like a man from the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
The woman is about the same age as the man, and her facial features are just average, but her clothes are luxurious and her bearing is graceful, making her look like a lady from a distance.
This man and woman are naturally Sheng Hongsheng, the general magistrate of Yangzhou Prefecture, and his wife Wang Ruofu, Wang Ruofu's wife.
The couple chuckled and chatted, and came to a pier on the shore. After waiting for a short time, they saw several large ships approaching in the distance.
Wang Ruofu stood on tiptoe and looked around. When he saw the "Sheng" flag on the bow of the ship, he couldn't help but jump for joy. He pointed at the fleet approaching the dock and excitedly turned around and shouted: "Look, sir, it's our family."
The fleet is coming!"
Sheng Hong forced a smile on his face, but deep down he was quite dissatisfied with his wife's noisiness.
He glanced around calmly and saw that the area near the pier had been cleared by the government officials and no one else was passing by. Then he waved his sleeves with relief and walked forward to greet them.
When the Shengjia fleet approached the shore, the bow of the boat faced the current, slowly swung toward the pier, and then landed steadily on the shore.
After the ship stopped, a dozen servants got off first, carrying several thick long wooden boards, placed them between the deck and the pier, and fixed them firmly with nails and ropes.
When everything was ready, the rest of the people on the ship disembarked one after another.
The first person was a middle-aged man, who looked somewhat similar to Sheng Hong, but had more of a merchant spirit. This man was naturally Sheng Hong's cousin, Sheng Wei, the head of the Sheng family. p>
Two teenagers, one on the left and one on the right, followed Sheng Wei. After the three of them got off the boat, the steward of the Sheng family behind started to greet people to unload the cargo.
There are five ships in the fleet coming from Youyang to Yangzhou this time. The first two ships are carrying people, and the last three ships are full of gifts brought by Sheng Wei.
As soon as Wang Ruofu came over, he saw dozens of large boxes covered with red silk being unloaded from the cargo ship. He almost laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth.
Some time ago, in order to save a generous dowry for his eldest daughter, Wang Ruofu's small treasury was severely damaged, but now it can finally make up for the shortfall.
Unlike his wife, who is simple-minded, Sheng Hong felt very uncomfortable when he saw his cousin bringing so many gifts.
Shengjia Winery suffered a disaster not long ago. As the backer of Shengjia Trading Company, Sheng Hong did not want to cause trouble for the sake of his own future, so he decisively rejected Sheng Wei's request for help.
Later, although the winery matter was successfully resolved, it was Sheng Wei's own way and asked outsiders to help. Sheng Hong, a member of his family, was not able to help at all.
After this incident, Sheng Hong's face was filled with shame. He thought his cousin would be angry with him for a long time, but he didn't know that instead of being angry, Sheng Wei even brought three large ships of congratulatory gifts.
What is open-mindedness!
This is called magnanimity!
When Sheng Hong saw this scene, he felt even more ashamed. When he greeted Sheng Wei, he unconsciously lowered his posture and shouted "Brother" from the bottom of his heart.
Sheng Wei responded cordially to his brother, and exchanged a few polite words with Wang Ruofu. The two brothers chatted and laughed, quite a bit like brothers and sisters.
After the elders had finished greeting each other, Sheng Changbai slowly came to Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu, bowed and saluted: "Children, meet your father and mother."
Sheng Changbai was wrapped up tightly, but his face was still blue in the biting cold wind.
Wang Ruofu felt terribly distressed and quickly pulled up his son: "Bai'er, don't talk so much, let's go home quickly. I've cooked your favorite lotus seed soup at home. You can have a bowl of it when you get home soon. It'll be warm."
Warm yourself up."
"Mother, don't worry."
Sheng Changbai stood there, refusing to move, and pushed someone out from behind: "Father, mother, this is my best friend I met in Youyang, Brother Wei Xian."
Wang Ruofu had just focused his whole body and mind on his son, and had no time to care about other people. At this time, after being reminded by his son, he noticed the young man beside him who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old.
The young man was not very tall, but he was very handsome and agile, with red lips and white teeth, warm eyebrows and clear eyes, and he exuded an elegant and scholarly aura.
The most important thing is that, like Sheng Changbai, he actually wears a 襕shirt, which represents the scholar's reputation, and also wears a square scarf on his head.
Combined with his son's letter a few days ago, Wang Ruofu already knew the identity of this young man.
"Is this what you said in your letter, Wei Xiaoniang's clan member who is even a small and middle-aged person?"
"Exactly." Sheng Changbai smiled and nodded.
Wei Chen walked smartly and came to Wang Ruofu: "Wei Chen, a student in Jiangning, pays homage to Tongpan, Mrs. Tongpan."
Regarding the issue of how to call Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu, Wei Chen thought about it for a long time along the way. He could call Wei Shuyi, who was not related by blood, his aunt, but he couldn't take it for granted and call her uncle Sheng Hong, let alone Wang Ruofu.
Aunt.
In that case, I'm afraid he would have offended both the host and hostess of the second room of the Sheng family as soon as they met.
In the final analysis, Wei Shu meant that the Sheng family was just a concubine, and Wei Chen could not be so bluntly related to the Sheng family.
Therefore, Wei Chen simply pretended that he had nothing to do with the Sheng family and greeted the two of them the way a normal student would meet a Shangguan.
"It turns out to be Xingyun's nephew. I've heard from Bai'er that my nephew was chosen as a student at a young age, and he's still a rare Sanyuan in decades. He's really young and promising!"
The one who spoke was Sheng Hong. He had just noticed the young man walking with his son. He felt that this young man had a certain manner and was quite extraordinary. He immediately guessed that this young man was Wei Chen.
Last year, Wei Chen rose to fame with his poem "Bamboo and Stone" and attracted the attention of Jiangnan literary circles. He was known as a child prodigy. Even Sheng Hong heard about it and used this poem to inspire his son Changbai.
And this year, Wei Chen has published many famous works such as "On Poetry" and "On the Return of the Perfect Jade to Zhao". The list of questions for the imperial examination was not only sold in Jiangning, but also in Yangzhou, hundreds of miles away.
When it came to the college examination, Wei Chen shocked everyone's attention, breaking the record of Jiangning Prefecture's decades of failure to produce a mistress, and becoming the youngest mistress in the history of Jiangnan Province.
At this point, Wei Chen's achievements are enough to impress Sheng Hong, but they are far from being treated as equals.
After all, no matter how powerful Wei Chen is, he is still just a student, while Sheng Hong is a court official who was born as a Jinshi. The two sides are not on the same level.
But when Sheng Hong knew that there was a big shot like Jiangning Magistrate Shen Du standing behind Wei Chen, the situation suddenly changed.
In the wine shop incident, Shen Du fought against the governor's office so that Wei Chen could fight against him. Although he did not confront Governor Liu head-on, but only dealt with two minions under his command, it was enough to prove that Shen Du and Wei Chen had a close relationship.<
/p>
In short, Wei Chen himself is amazing in talent and learning, and with the backing of Shen Du, he will become a great talent sooner or later. Even though Sheng Hong is a dignified official of the court, he must be treated with caution and not take it lightly.