Below are several juniors. Sitting at the west end are Fan and Qi Niang. Sitting at the east end are Zhang, who recently married Zhang Dun, and Qi Niang's handkerchief to Zhang.
Everyone chatted for a while, Yang looked at Shi Qi Niang and smiled at Li Shi: "Your Qi Niang looks really good."
Ms. Li smiled faintly and said, "It doesn't matter how good she looks, but she has a bad temper and lacks discipline. Last time I heard, she even bumped into her in-laws."
Mr. Yang smiled and said: "There is no conflict. The Seventeenth Mother is outspoken and outspoken, which is in line with my temperament. She is now at the age of discussing marriage."
Mrs. Li smiled and said: "After the New Year, you will be fifteen, and you can get married. But my master said there is no rush, so he will take his time. It doesn't matter how outstanding he is, as long as he is a young and talented person, even if his family is poor.
It doesn’t hurt to have some.”
Yang’s eyes narrowed.
On that day, Zhang Heng was a guest at her house and told her that the Wu House seemed to be planning to negotiate a marriage for her concubine. At that time, they invited many unmarried young talents to the house, and Zhang Yue was one of them.
one.
Hearing this, Yang couldn't help but think about it.
I thought it would be great if I could help my nephew and see if I could resolve the conflict between the two families.
It happened that the Wu Mansion invited her to reminisce about old times. She had been in poor health before, so she refused half-heartedly. However, the Wu Mansion actually invited her twice more, and even asked Zhang Dexiang's granddaughter to come over, so she
Only then was he convinced of the sincerity of the Wu family, so he brought his wife here to show that he was serious about it.
Yang looked at Shiqi Niang repeatedly, but saw that she was sitting cautiously aside, but she was silent and very well-behaved.
Seeing her looking over her, Shi Qi Niang looked a little apologetic.
Yang thought to herself, this girl is quite nice.
But because she is a concubine, she doesn’t want to bring any dowry, so she wants to find a descendant of the Han family? If she becomes prosperous in the future, she will also be able to get a helper for the Wu family in the temple.
It is not unreasonable to have such a crush on the third brother.
Yang thought so.
But it seems that this girl really has no choice. I just don’t know if she has a bad temper. If she gets married and relies on her family background to dominate... In this way, it will harm the third brother.
Thinking of this, Mrs. Yang smiled and said: "Whatever my family is, even a poor family can produce a noble son these days. As for the future, to use Ma Shaobao's words, it is not something we, the ladies, know."
When Lu Yijian was young, his father Lu Mengheng served as the county magistrate in Fuzhou. Minister Ma Liang saw Lu Yijian and was surprised, and wanted to marry his daughter to him.
His wife Liu Shi said angrily: "Do you really want to marry your daughter to the son of a county magistrate?"
Ma Liang said with disdain: "That's not what you know."
As soon as these words came out, Mrs. Li's smile faded, and Mrs. Fan interjected from the side: "It's not that Ma Shaobao's daughter can't get married, but that she really likes Mr. Lu's talent."
Yang said and glanced at Shiqi Niang, but she saw that the other party's smile was still the same as before, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
Yang said with a smile: "That's the truth. Didn't the in-laws also fall in love with the in-laws at the beginning, but now he is also a high official in the border area."
At this point, everyone laughed.
The atmosphere has improved a lot. The Li family originally favored Wu Chong, who had gone through twenty years of officialdom. Now he has become the envoy to the west of Beijing and has become a high official in the border area. This also confirms the Li family's original vision.
Yang thought to herself, but to be more careful, although the Wu family has become prosperous and wealthy in recent years, they have been slow to educate their children in their careers, and they have acquired many habits of wealth, at least they were from a scholarly family at the beginning, and all their daughters were educated.
He is extremely virtuous and intelligent.
These seventeen mothers are definitely not the domineering daughters of high families, so I can rest assured, otherwise the three prime ministers like Ouyang Xueshi, Xia, Lu and Wen would not marry them.
Such a woman takes it easy for wealth and honor to appear to her like a cloud, but she is afraid that her good dancing skills will encourage her husband to fight for power and position.
Yang had a rough impression of Qi Niang when she saw this.
She looked at Mrs. Li, then at Seventeen Niang, and thought to herself, no matter how low-key and restrained this woman may be on the outside, the ambition in her eyes cannot be concealed.
This point follows her nominal mother Li's. Yang does not dislike a woman's ambition, but it depends on who she marries.
Everyone chatted again and then went to the banquet.
Mr. Yang walked up to Seventeenth Niang, held her hand and said with a smile: "As the saying goes, three generations of virtuous women prosper, and Seventeenth Niang will definitely be a virtuous wife in the future."
The Seventeenth Mother was stunned when she heard this, and then she bowed in shock and said, "My family is too well-received."
After the banquet, Mrs. Li was drinking fragrant tea. When she saw Mr. Fan, she asked, "Have you all gone back?"
"Yes, they are all sent out. One of their cars broke down, so I asked Liu Quan to drive the car and send them off on their behalf."
"Very good." Li took another sip of tea with approval.
Li said to the left and right again: "You should step back first."
The old ladies serving in the room bowed and said yes, and then all of them withdrew.
Fan said: "Mother, Mrs. Zhang's words are that she wants to make decisions for Mr. Zhang Sanlang, but my daughter-in-law knows that Mr. Zhang Sanlang is not on good terms with his brother."
Li said: "I don't know, but I have asked about it. The eldest husband of the Zhang family is still respectful to her. Sanlang ignores the second husband, but still obeys the eldest husband's words. In other words, she can still say
People who can be talked to will not be able to get around it in the future anyway. Even if we don’t let people get things done, that’s it, but we can’t let people do bad things.”
“I see. Mother is really thoughtful.”
Li said: "What's more, I heard that after Ouyang Xueshi asked Dr. Chen (Chen Xiang) to teach Zhang Sanlangjun poetry and poetry, Mrs. Zhang's son even came to see Dr. Chen, and seemed to ask him to take care of him again and again.
After all, Dr. Chen was also his original teacher."
Mrs. Fan suddenly said: "My daughter-in-law understands."
Li said: "Now we have to figure it out first, and we have to wait for the master to return to Beijing from Luoyang before making a decision, so as not to be hasty in the future and blame us for not making arrangements in advance."
Fan said: "My mother really thinks about everything first."
"It's too late. Who would have thought that the Zeng family would take a fancy to it first. Otherwise, I really want the master to come back to Beijing before talking about it."
Mrs. Fan also said: "My daughter-in-law is not willing to give in. But my daughter-in-law heard that the Zeng family came from a scholarly family, and Zeng Zigu's younger brothers were all highly motivated. When the family was in decline, his sisters worked as prostitutes at home to supplement their income."
To support their family, I helped them raise money to go to Beijing to take the exam... I know they are all virtuous. I'm always afraid..."
Li said: "We can't make up our minds about this matter. There were so many talented people coming to our house, but he only asked Mr. Zhang Sanlang to come and talk to him alone. He didn't even take a fancy to Liu Ji. But the master is from a family.
My lord, I have been an official in the court for so many years, I have a good eye for people, and no one is as good as him when it comes to fortune-telling. You all listen to his arrangements in this matter."
"But now that the imperial court is in turmoil due to the appointment of the crown prince, I originally thought that Prime Minister Wen returned to stay with me in Beijing, but unexpectedly he suddenly paid a courtesy call to the west of Beijing as the transfer envoy, which delayed Zhang Sanlang's visit.
"
Fan said: "That's right. If Zeng Zi is attracted by it, he will take the first look for us. Isn't it fair to say that my father and mother's original vision was good? Anyway, our attitude is to pass it over first. As for whether it succeeds or not, we still have to wait and see.
Family fate. But I think Madam Zhang’s family seems to like Shiqi very much, and she seems to have fallen in love with her at first sight.”
Li Shi smiled slightly and said: "There is no reason why I fell in love with him at first glance. Who doesn't know how to say nice things? Now that his official is still at home, there is no guarantee that he will come to visit me in the future."
Fan said: "Mother, Mrs. Zhang has looked at Shi Qi repeatedly and looked at her many times. I don't think she is just being polite."
Ms. Li finally smiled and said: "Although I have little education in Seventeen, I have made some progress after being with her sisters for so many years. But Mr. Yang is not bad, and I think her daughter-in-law is also one of the best."
Fan laughed softly when she heard this.
Mrs. Li also smiled and said: "You usually think that I seldom praise Shiqi, and even show preference. Yes, parents always have preferences. These children have a preference. Shiqi is not my biological child, but our parents govern No matter who you are partial to in your heart, your family will always have a bowl of water to bring peace to your family. This is the long-term way to run a family when everything is in harmony."
Fan's face froze when he heard this, and he suddenly felt ashamed.
Mrs. Li seemed to have no intention of hitting Mr. Fan with these words, and said instead: "But as for the Zeng family... Just use a few words. Zeng Gong is a scholar. Such a family can confide in you even when there is no one to argue with. , once someone starts to argue, he will stand aside aloofly."
Mrs. Fan couldn't help but said: "Is it too much trouble for my mother to do this? My father has not yet decided whether he wants to be Shozaburo-kun."
Li Shi said: "Do you know why I am like this?"
After thinking about it for a while, Mrs. Fan suddenly realized that this is what Li just said, "Parents should not be partial".
It’s the end of the year in a blink of an eye, and the New Year is about to begin.
Some time before the Chinese New Year, there will be the Taixue Public Examination.
This time the imperial court appointed a famous minister Hu Su to supervise the public examination of Taixue. It was rumored that Hu Su would be a tribute examiner next spring, so the students of Taixue were getting ready for the exam.
But he said that Zhang Yue had been studying poetry and poetry with Chen Xiang these days.
The level of poetry finally changed from "difficult to read" to "appreciable". As for Chen Xiang, he also revealed to him that Zeng Gong invited him to be a guest at his house.
Zhang Yue agreed immediately.
But after Zhang Yue agreed, Zeng Gong never heard anything from him. Zhang Yue didn't know what went wrong.
Zhang Yue also asked Chen Xiang, but Chen Xiang looked unclear.
This makes Zhang Yue feel melancholy. Among the eight great families of the Tang and Song Dynasties, who doesn’t want to see it so that he can brag with his descendants in the future?
However, Zeng Gong suddenly didn't call him, as if he was afraid of disturbing his public examination, and it seemed that it was for his own good.
It is true that Zhang Yue has a public examination coming soon, so he has no time to distract himself from other things.
Zhang Yue now took the time to go to Chen Xiang's house in addition to the Imperial College. He hired a man himself to sell the seals he carved there.
Later, someone also asked him for calligraphy, and Zhang Yue agreed. He asked his clerk to write it down, and after he finished it, he sent it to Shuzhu Zhai.
Calculated, the income and expenses are balanced. Excluding the cost of hiring people or renting a shop, I actually make a little less than I originally made from engraving and consignment.
However, Zhang Yue also knew that he had not put in enough energy yet. When the public examination was over, he would start the collection workshop and get on the right track.
