As mentioned above, Zhang Hui returned home from Nanjing Mingyang Academy, worshiped his elders, relatives, and talked about his family, all kinds of circumstances have been indicated, and I will not repeat them at this time. However, do you still remember that on that day, Zhang Huizhang returned to board the boat offshore, and his classmates in the academy drove straight to the dock, and they were bound to go to Changzhou with him without saying any reason, and they also came to the door of their home? Zhang Hui took the car to Zhang's house, but here Xie Kai said goodbye to his friend, and walked through the streets and alleys alone, and went to his uncle Gu Chong Gu Wenling's house. So this time, let's start with the karma of the Gu and Xie families.

This Gu Wenling's surname is Gu Mingchong, and the word Wenling is the son of Gu Ling, the old man of the former cabinet. Gu Kang has gone through two dynasties and has been a secondary assistant for fifteen years, and he is good at scheming, fair and generous, and is not only favored by the emperor, but also deeply respected by the ministers. At the age of sixty-five, he resigned from the position of first assistant, returned to his hometown, bought a farm house in Zhongshan, set up a manor, ran an ancestral business, and raised his children and grandchildren. This Gu Chong was born to Gu Yan's aunt, the third in the family, but he was smart by nature, cool and good at reading, and he was a jinshi at the age of twenty-two, ranking in the second class. In the past 20 years, he has served as nine local governors, although only two of them have completed their terms, but whenever they go to a place, they will be clear and clean and live with the people, so the official reputation is excellent. At the age of fifty-one, his biological mother Zhang died, and within a month, his mother-in-law went again, so Gu Chong went to the table and begged to return; first kept filial piety in Jinling, and after three years of filial piety, he moved to Changzhou with his wife and daughter - just because he was the prefect of Changzhou, he loved this side of the water and soil deeply, and he governed the government with his heart for two years, and won the love of the locality. Gu Chong was nostalgic in his heart, even if he told the villagers and gentlemen who sent him off, he would return to old age in the future, and now he really practiced his words.

Gu Chong first married a wife, Wei, unfortunately died early, and the two did not have anything, and then married Fan, who was also from the Jinling family, and followed him to successive positions, and the husband and wife supported him, which was very affectionate. It is a pity that one of the sons born to the Fan family died of smallpox before he was one year old, and the two sons born to the concubine also died at the age of three and five respectively. Gu Chong had no children in his life, and he was helpless, and he had three daughters growing up. At this moment, the eldest daughter and the second daughter have all left the cabinet, and there is a young daughter who has reached the age of ten by his side.

However, he said that although Gu Chong was a concubine, he was motivated to study, and he was the most happy among the brothers. And Xie Kai's biological mother, Mrs. Gu, has also loved to read since she was a child, and she was quite able to teach him and guide literature and ink when she was at home. Therefore, although they are brothers and sisters, their friendship is deep, but other brothers and sisters cannot match. Because of this, Xie Kai is also the closest to Gu Chong among the uncles of his maternal grandfather's family. It's just that since Gu Chong moved from Nanjing to Changzhou, the uncle and nephew rarely see each other, although there are often letters coming and going, but they don't often worry about it. But this will be reminded by Zhanghui, he naturally remembers the corners and corners together, and has to explain the address and portal in detail, not to mention, he should immediately go to meet according to the etiquette of the younger generations of his relatives.

Xie Kai said goodbye to each other in the same chapter, and according to his instructions, he raised his eyes first and saw the river crossing the boss of an archway. Then cross the bridge, turn west to the archway, see an alley along the riverbank, the road surface is not very open, just the stone blue and white neat, very clean. At the entrance of the alley, a small pavilion at the four corners is erected, a stone tablet stands in the pavilion, the square top is the forehead, and the stele is engraved with three words "Zaokefang" - such a posture, but it is not a general place name. Although Xie Kai is bent on looking for relatives, he can't walk slowly as usual, and when he goes to a place, he will investigate it in fact, and everything is carefully studied for the sake of the origin, but the origin of his son's son, and he has traveled several times to study, and his vision is not ordinary.

It turns out that this "Zaoke Fang" is named from the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is Huo Chaolong, the grandson of Huo Duanyou, who was the champion of the champion, ascended to the Jinshi at the age of eighteen. As the saying goes, "everything is inferior, only reading is high", this reading and imperial examination were originally the fashion of Yanling, and they were also listed by the imperial court, and the style of writing was self-explanatory. It has been circulated for hundreds of years, and now where this area lives, the official eunuchs and wealthy families are still second, and the first and most are the scholars. People often say that "there are poems and books in the belly", but in fact, everything in the world is like this, and how can the flow of dwellings be exceptional? Because it is no wonder that Xie Kai noticed the difference. It's just that although he senses the difference, he doesn't care much, and his eyes only roam the doors of each house.

After a while, Xie Kai really saw the word "Gu Fu" on the lintel. Under the door sat an old man, wrapped in a robe, basking in the sun. Xie Kai was overjoyed, hurriedly stepped forward in two steps, casually reported his name, and was about to enter. I didn't want the pale head to roll his eyes, and as soon as he stretched his arm, he immediately stopped him, and asked him to write down the name of the token.

When Xie Kai heard him ask about the token form, he couldn't help but be stunned: he thought that he had come here on a temporary basis, and when he was on the ship first, he just wanted to borrow a chapter to go home to live, and he didn't even think of a trace of Gufu's shadow, where could he carry any famous thorns on his body? There was no letter from his grandfather in Nanjing, so he was stopped by Cangtou and refused to let him enter the door. Xie Kai was helpless, so he could only repeatedly say his identity, and the relatives of the owner's nephew and uncle, and counted six or seven names and four or five stories as evidence.

When the old man saw that he was talking about the famous family of Jinling, he became more and more solemn and did not dare to slack off. Listening carefully to his words, although he didn't know everything, most of the characters' stories matched, and he couldn't help but be a little more serious in his heart. However, he also saw that although Xie Kai was described well, he was extremely plain up and down, not brocade weaving, and he had nothing else on his body except for a blue fan bag on his waist, so how could he believe that he was a child of the Xie family and a close relative of the head of the family?

Xie Kai is the youngest son and grandson of the family, since he was a child, he was a golden and jade noble, and his elders loved and spoiled him, but he was studying and traveling abroad, and he had his father, grandfather, uncle, and brother who were powerful in the officialdom, and the reputation of the clan was also favored by everyone, so where could he stop this?

It's just that Xie Kai didn't know that the old man was suspicious, but more than half of it was because of the clothes on his body: his body was originally borrowed from him by the previous boat chapter, and he had been wearing it for the sake of fit and comfort, and he had never changed it. This chapter has never worn silk silk, and it is only fine cotton muslin every day, and there are few ornaments, although it has been cut with a lot of care, but it is all the work of the insoles; this one has been worn for another year or two, half new and not old, and it is not conspicuous. And Xie Kai's original few ornaments were matched according to the robe he wore when he went out, which was not commensurate with this cloth, so he also took it according to the meaning of the chapter, wrapped it with the original clothes, and brought it in his hand. If he could remember, he would take out one or two pieces, but if there were some emblems marked, they would be able to show some identity, but he couldn't remember it at all, so he just talked about it in vain. The two of them were arguing and shouting on the doorstep, and after a long time, they finally alarmed the Gu Mansion: the porter saw that this situation was really not like this, so he asked a person to run inside, and reported to the chief steward Pan Hua to come to the door to see.

It is said that such matters involve important relatives, and in ordinary times it is necessary to consult the master immediately, and in the absence of the master, it is necessary to ask the master's mother's instructions. However, the pale head was entangled with Xie Kai, and the other people in the concierge only reported to the steward first, so why was this? It turned out that this Pan Hua was originally the son of the Gu family, and he was loyal to the lord; at the same time, he followed Gu Chong as a child, served day and night for decades, never left, and was well-informed, and the best able to know right from wrong and make decisions. Hearing the news from the door, Pan Hua hurriedly took two young men to the gate. He is the old man of the Gu family, how can he not recognize Xie Kairen at a glance? Suddenly startled, he stepped forward in a panic and reprimanded the cangtou, bowed and apologized repeatedly, and then invited Xie Kai into the mansion respectfully, and at the same time sent someone to report to Fan, the mother of the inner house.

Pan Hua invited Xie Kai to the living room and personally served good tea, and then explained to Xie Kai that today coincided with the regular poetry meeting in the county school every half month, and the owner of the house, Gu Chong, went to the room, and the main mother Fan was at home at this moment. Therefore, please ask Xie Kai to sit in the hall first, and there will be a message in the inner courtyard in a while.

Sure enough, after a while, two mothers-in-law followed a decent daughter-in-law to come over to ask Xie Kai for a salute, saying that the Fan family invited the nephew and young master to meet each other. Xie Kai hurriedly got up and answered, and Pan Hua was led to the second gate, and then led by the daughter-in-law who sent the message to the inner hall.

That daughter-in-law is Pan Hua's family, and she is also the maid of the Gu family, who served Xie Kai's mother Mrs. Gu before, and she was also very close to Xie Kai when she saw her, and she smiled and talked all the way, and poured a lot of words. Xie Kai listened to them one by one, smiled and said a few words, while paying attention to the path under his feet and the left and right layouts. I saw that the house in the house was clean, and there was no luxury at all, and the flowers and trees in front of the court were neat, and the eyes were fresh and full of freshness—it was my uncle's family style. Xie Kai nodded secretly in his heart, and when he arrived at the inner hall, a servant woman picked the door curtain, and someone inside reported that "the nephew and young master have arrived".

When Xie Kai entered the house, he saw that Fan was wearing homely clothes, with a mink Zhaojun set on his forehead, and a silver rat collar, sitting upright in the hall, holding a small bell in his hand, and eating tea in small sips. Hearing the sound of footsteps, he looked up and saw Xie Kai, so he hurriedly threw away the cup, smiled and was about to get up. Xie Kai was so panicked that he took two steps, and while bowing, he said in his mouth: "My nephew has seen my aunt, please say hello to my aunt." ”。