Early morning.

The morning light poured down from the thin and detached branches, and the birds chirped in the branches.

Shen Rouning walked unhurriedly on the road under the shade of dead branches.

Seeing Fourth Master Shen coming from a distance, Shen Rouning's eyes narrowed slightly, and Fourth Master Shen's face fell on her eyes. She knew what to expect, so she smiled and greeted her.

"Daddy." Shen Rou Ning saluted.

"It's Ning'er."

Shen Si Master walked quickly, his face was a little flushed, and he could see at a glance that he was very excited in his heart, and he didn't look like he was as leisurely as before. He had been thinking about his thoughts, and when he heard Shen Rouning say hello, he saw her, and immediately said, "You didn't go to the clan school today?" ”

The Shen clan has genealogy.

All the children of the Shen family who have reached the age of six must enter the clan study as enlightened. The Shen clan has such conditions, and they will never allow their own people to be illiterate and blind, whether male or female. It's just that after these children have learned a certain level and reached the master's approval, the requirements for girls are obviously much more relaxed, and they are no longer required to be there every day.

Shen Rouning was only ten years old.

Several of her classes have long passed the level of enlightenment, but she is still following her uncle to paint red, and occasionally learn some music and poetry. She is very smart, she can get a little, but she fishes for three days and dries nets for two days, which is not diligent at all, which is a pity.

Fourth Master Shen knew this, but he never forced Shen Rouning.

――The girl's family does not participate in the imperial examination, so what do you do hard? It's better to have fun doing something you like. Besides, isn't Shen Rouning not naughty, but a little lady who likes to read very much?

Thinking so, Master Shen Si almost let his daughter go, and was extremely lenient.

Therefore, when he asks this, it is purely a casual question, and he has no other meaning.

Shen Rouning also knew this, and after saying "um" without any guilt, she raised her head and looked at Shen Siye, her big clear eyes were full of curiosity and doubt, and she asked in a coquettish voice, "Daddy, where did this come from?" ”

"Oh, I went to find your great uncle." Shen Si Lao paused for a moment, reached out and touched Shen Rouning's little head, and it was difficult to hide the excitement in his gentle tone, "Didn't you say yesterday that you wanted to enter the capital?" Well, after I have asked your mother, we can go. ”

"Daddy is really going to the Spring Festival?" Shen Rouning's eyes lit up.

"If your mother doesn't object."

In the heart of Shen Si, his wife is always above everything. To participate in the Spring Festival, you must prepare in advance. It will take at least two or three months until there is a result. Fourth Master Shen was reluctant to leave his wife for so long.

So he said, "We're all going as a family." ”

It can be regarded as fulfilling her daughter's wishes.

In fact, Shen Si treats his two children very well.

Shen Rouning smiled sweetly when she heard this, and said, "After Ning Er went to the eldest aunt to say goodbye, she went back and waited for the good news from her father!" ”

"Yes, go ahead." Fourth Master Shen waved his hand.

He also had to think carefully about how to talk to his wife about this decision.

Shen Rouning stood on the side of the road and sent Shen Si Ye away, took a casual walk, and estimated that Mrs. Shen had finished handling the trivial matters, and then turned a corner leisurely. After a while, I stepped into the Wanggui Hospital.

"Four girls." A servant woman saluted Shen Rou, but she didn't have any intention of stopping her.

Shen Rou Ning came to the hospital, almost as much as she went to find Mrs. Shen Si.

What's more, because Mrs. Shen Si is too cold, even if Shen Rouning will talk a lot in front of her, and if she doesn't respond, she won't be able to speak for long. Therefore, relatively speaking, Shen Rouning stayed by Mrs. Shen's side for a longer time.

Mrs. Shen gave birth to three sons in her lifetime.

The only daughter, but she just landed and was gone.

Therefore, she looked at the delicate and well-behaved Shen Rouning, and remembered the indifference of Mrs. Shen Si, so she was particularly partial to Shen Rouning. She had mentioned more than once that it would be nice if Shen Rouning was her daughter. Unfortunately, it's not.

If Shen Rouning is not the eldest daughter of the fourth room, she may be able to mention the succession. But obviously, there is only one son and one daughter in the fourth room, so he will not give away his eldest daughter.

Then again.

When Mrs. Shen saw Shen Rouning, her eyebrows suddenly calmed down, and she beckoned to Shen Rouning with a smile and asked her to come and sit beside her.

"Did you meet your father?" Mrs. Shen pushed the plum blossom cake in front of her, she was in a good mood, and said, "He just came over and told your uncle that he wanted to go to Beijing for the scientific examination." ”

"It's true!" Shen Rouning was also happy: "Just now my father said that he would take his mother, Ning Er and Brother Rong to Beijing, but Ning Er still can't believe it!" ”

"Auntie, the capital...... What is it like? Is it lively? ”

"The capital...... It's really lively. Mrs. Shen said, "It's much more lively than in our small village...... There are people on the streets day and night...... The singing and dancing on the boat never stops......"

Mrs. Shen has also been to the Deng Mansion in the capital several times over the years.

She really thought for Shen Rouning, so she tried her best to describe the scenery of the capital to Shen Rouning, so that she could have an impression. Originally, she didn't approve of Master Shen Si taking his wife to Beijing, and she was going to persuade him to let Master Shen Si take the imperial examination seriously.

But at this time, she looked at Shen Rouning, who was listening quietly, and quietly changed her mind-

Even if it's a daughter's house, it's good to go out and see it.

so as not to act crampedly in the future, it doesn't matter if people laugh at it, and I will gradually become cowardly.

"Thank you, auntie, for telling Ning'er this."

Shen Rouning knew the scenery of the big city in the hinterland of the Central Plains, but she didn't know what a Kyoto located in the land of fireworks in the south of the Yangtze River would be like.

"It's just the eldest aunt...... Shen Rouning asked, "Do you know what the situation is like at Ning Er's grandfather's house?" She saw Mrs. Shen's face change slightly, and said, "If we enter Beijing, we will always visit our grandfather's house...... Isn't it? ”

Shen Rouning knew that the fourth wife, the Chen family, was the daughter of the official eunuch in the capital, and she also knew that when Mrs. Shen prepared the New Year's gift to Beijing every year, there was also Chen's share. But she once asked Master Shen Si and Mama Fan, but she didn't get an answer.

Mrs. Shen taught her a lot, and she never mentioned Chen's mother-in-law.

It seems that Chen's maiden family cannot be mentioned.

In the past, Shen Rouning felt that she was young and couldn't go out if she stayed in a small village, so she didn't have to figure it out. But now, seeing that she can go out, and the ten-year-old age is no longer seen as an ignorant child, Shen Rouning opened her mouth again.

Others may not know.

But Mrs. Shen, as a clan wife, should know the inside story.

Shen Rouning didn't think that her mother's background would be an explicit forbidden thing to avoid words.

"That's it." Mrs. Shen hesitated for a moment and sighed, "You're right. When you go to Beijing, you naturally want to visit the Chen family. There is not much to hide. ”