Naturally, a servant woman stepped forward to pick up the fruits outside, took them to the bottom to clean up, and prepared to make a fruit tray and send them up.

The cabin hall was covered with dark blue lichen, and there were seven pineapple chairs, one in the center, three in each row on each side, and several cases in between.

Lao Siniang and Wu Shi had already gotten off the boat to visit Xie Mansion, and at this time, in addition to Ji Mo and other boatmen, there were only two servants who came with Ji Yuan.

Chen Wenchang thanked the tea and sat down with her on the chairs in the cabin hall.

She sat in the center, and he sat in the first chair on the left.

"It's hot."

He said again, took a sip of tea and put it down, and looked at her with a smile, "After we go back, we will discuss with my uncle and find a day to get married, right?" ”

As he spoke, he took out an inconspicuous small brocade bag from his arms and gently placed it on the table at hand.

"This is from my mother."

“……”

She smiled in the veil.

The jewelry brocade bag was a little half-old, and it was also embroidered with the ancient characters of Hua, and I knew that it was the dowry brought by Chen Wenchang's mother, Mrs. Hua, from her mother's family.

Listening to the voice, it should be a rare ancient jade or something like that, something that will be given to her after getting married.

She also knew that he meant that she could take off the veil and not have to be so careful.

"Since you have the meaning of respecting your mother, after you go back, you will pass the engagement ceremony first, right? Saburo has already returned to Ji Yuan. ”

She also felt that it was a little stuffy to wear a hat and veil around the room in April.

"I heard that the Song people pay attention to this ceremony."

If the engagement is done in a hurry, it will only take three or four days, and Zhao Deyuan and Ji Er are good examples. She also took advantage of the engagement to set the address and steward of the Tangfang Workshop in Mingzhou.

After the engagement, it will be at least a few months before the wedding ceremony, and she can still wait for Ji Hong's news.

"Okay."

Chen Wenchang heard her dryly, and nodded with a smile.

In her words, of course, she will not care about the fact that the shares of Ba Zhen Zhai in the dowry are too small.

In Mingzhou City, by rebuilding the Tangfang Workshop, she mostly managed to open a few more warehouses, turning Bazhenzhai's business into an empty shell, and taking over most of the business.

As long as her child's surname is Chen, it will do.

She stood up and turned around, and was about to raise her hand to pick the hairpin from her hat, thinking about it for fear of messing up her hairstyle, she withdrew her hand, turned to him, and bowed to him, indicating that she would retreat to the back.

She had to find two pins and unwrap the veil off her hat and pin it to the brim.

Chen Wenchang stood up and said with a smile:

"I'll pick the ...... for you"

As he spoke, he heard a bang in the harbor outside, and firecrackers soared into the sky.

Then there was the sound of gongs and drums, and he and she looked sideways at the same time, and they also laughed dumbly.

The men all withdrew, the hatches were wide open, and the three large hatches were of course open, so that you could see the bustle of the harbor at a glance.

It's something they're all used to.

In the temple of Xu Daoshi, donated by the maritime merchants in the port, two long rows of yellow-robed gossip Taoist priests came out.

They sang Taoist songs, recited incantations, and neatly boarded the two ships of Jiangsu and Zhejiang that were going to go to sea.

The two immortal masters set up an altar at the bow of the boat at the same time, rattle the bell and dance the card, and ask the Sea Dragon King to descend and bless the safety of the trip.

"Qingniang, come and see."

Chen Wenchang heard the singing and dancing outside, and stood up with a moving expression.

He walked to the window, Ji Qingchen also walked over, and saw two tile troupes invited by the boat owner on the ferry bridge.

"This song "Jinghai Peace Dance" was written by Lin Xingshou when Lord Lou was in Quanzhou City two years ago."

Suddenly, hearing Chen Wenchang talk about Lou Yun, Ji Qingchen's heart jumped, he looked at him sideways, and said with a smile:

"This song came from Quanzhou City to Taizhou, in order to show merit to Lord Lou?"

"This is Lord Lou's contribution to the official family."

Chen Wenchang smiled heartily, "Jinghai is safe, of course, it is the credit of the official family." ”

This time, Ji Qingchen also understood, this was Lou Yun filming the official's sycophants - as long as Chen Wenchang didn't avoid talking about Lou Yun, of course she was not afraid, lest people think that she had a ghost in her heart.

"Lord Lou, should he be regarded as an old official family?"

She thought about all the rumors she had heard in Mingzhou City these days.

"Naturally."

Chen Wenchang stretched out his hand and pulled half of the lattice window, blocking her figure.

Neither he nor she saw that on the official road connected to the wharf, there were several fast horses galloping close from the direction of Mingzhou City, and Lou Yun was still three or four miles away.

Chen Wenchang stretched out his hand to lift the green veil on her face from both sides and hung it on the horizontal hairpin, revealing her smiling and staring face.

She looked at him in all directions, and her heart was still cheering, and since she was not sorry, of course she had to resolutely look at him to the end.

She was staring at Chen Wenchang with round eyes above, and the hand hanging down below suddenly felt a gentle touch.

Chen Wenchang touched her fingertips through his sleeves, and when he saw her surprised, he covered his lips and smiled, with a faint blush on his cheeks, he also laughed, took her hand through his sleeves, and walked slowly in the cabin.

Although it's not good to go out like this, it's always okay to go around the cabin a few times, right?

The servants and servants outside retreated far away.

'Lord Lou -- I heard that when he was in the Jiangbei Border Army, he was under the command of the Wuning Army. Before the official family ascended the throne, he once entered the crown prince, and received the false post of Wuning military festival envoy in the capital. ”

He said with a smile as he walked, Ji Qingchen heard him talk about Lou Yun, of course, he had to prevent him from suddenly asking about suspicions, so he listened carefully and listened to him:

"That year, I was angry with my father and mother, and I happened to travel to the capital. Because the emperor treated the emperor harshly, I participated in the knocking on the book with Taixue, Guozijian, and the scholars who rushed over from several nearby provinces. The official family was still a prince at that time, and he was ordered to drive us out. The Privy Council was asked to transfer troops. The Privy Council envoy was arguing with the emperor and refused to obey the edict. He also had no real military power, so he could only turn over the roster of the Wuning Army and transfer the Wuning officers and soldiers who returned to the capital to take turns to rest in front of the palace gate. Among them is Master Lou. ”

"That's ...... so"

When Ji Qingchen heard this, he knew that Lou Yun could of course not listen to the prince's conscription order at that time.

According to the Great Song system, all orders for the transfer of troops should be issued by the Privy Council, and the prince, an empty shelf envoy, does not have the right to do so.

However, whether Lou Yun had left a good impression in front of the future official family long before the imperial examination because of this incident in the first place, she is not very concerned now.

She was now speculating about what Chen Wenchang meant by this.

Did he and Lou Yun know each other for a long time?

Or was he once in front of the gate of the Beijing Palace, and was beaten by Lou Yun, a Wuning officer, because of the knock?

"If Lord Lou comes to Ji Yuan to ask for ......"

Chen Wenchang said this suddenly, and she was taken aback by surprise. She subconsciously cut off:

"I didn't—"

Before she could figure out how to justify, Chen Wenchang still smiled and sat down on a chair.

"It's not your fault."

He held her two hands with both hands, looked up at her standing in front of her, and said with a wry smile:

"It's too strange that he and the county lord of Shunchang quit their relatives. The county lord has been standing outside the sect for six years since he was a child, and he has listened to Master Sun's class for half a year. Master Sun scolded Lou Yun bitterly. He did not listen to my persuasion and wrote again to impeach him. So I went back this time and really inquired about the meeting of the county lord of Shunchang at the Fan Merchants Conference the year before last. I heard from an Arab merchant that her daughter was under the porch and saw the lord wearing a green lychee hat ......"

Because of this last sentence, all the thousands of words that Ji Qingchen wanted to defend were blocked in his mouth, and he couldn't spit it out.

Chen Wenchang stretched out his hand, stroked the green veil on her cheek, and sighed:

"I counted the days, and that morning he saw people at the meeting of the merchants. That afternoon, you were waiting for me on the street outside Chen's house. You were wearing this green lychee hat at the time. And your younger brother Ji Chenhu didn't also occasionally mention that you had been to the Fan Merchants Conference before. ”

He also let out a long sigh at this time,

"I inquired about this, and I couldn't help but guess if he had made the wrong person, so I quit the county lord. In this way, the things that were previously doubtful are figured out. He left Zhang Shuzhi behind to protect the media. That's right, and it's not necessarily impossible for my uncle's sake. But he actually left Junmo behind, that is his body......"

“……”

She knew that Chen Wenchang was a smart person, and listening to him say it in a logical manner, of course, there was no room for her to say more.

She lowered her eyes, wondering whether to continue to look at him, or to say something to show her heart?

And when Chen Wenchang saw that she was silent, he knew that he was right.

"Since he has withdrawn from his marriage, he is going to ask you for marriage."

Chen Wenchang held her hand and looked down at the snow-white sleeves of her cloud silk, as well as the embroidery of light red folded branches on the cuffs, "I heard that you were going to pick me up, I was originally worried." I thought you were here to discuss with me, and the two of us don't count, but ......"

Ji Qingchen was slightly stunned, quickly shook his head, and said:

"Not really. I want you to move to Mingzhou City and go to the capital to find a job, so I want to ask you, is your Master Sun also going to be transferred to the capital? You know, I originally went back to the Great Song Dynasty to do some business and make some money, so that my two younger brothers in the family could marry a daughter-in-law, and the people of the family could settle down and live—"

She hesitated slightly, looked at Chen Wenchang's eyes staring at her, and still gritted her teeth and said honestly,

"But your Master Sun is so powerful, I'm afraid that there are too many people in our family who will offend us, and we won't be able to do business in the future......"

Doing business is about human relations, if he Chen Wenchang also goes to offend people, she can really only drink the northwest wind.

"I've been out and traveled for several years, and I've suffered a lot, and my temperament is not as angry as before."

Chen Wenchang groaned slightly and laughed,

"Master Sun is going to be transferred to the Imperial Historical Observatory, but I'm different from him—"

When Ji Qingchen heard that Sun Zhao was going to be transferred to the Yushitai, he secretly complained in his stomach.

Isn't it reasonable and legal to be a royal historian and scold people every day, so that all the officials and rich people in the world are offended by him?

Marrying the Sun family is simply a loss-making business.

If she had been in love at the beginning, she was facing Wang Shiqiang, which prevented her from making money, and she would have quarreled with him a long time ago.

Now she knows that she wants to quarrel with Chen Wenchang, doesn't that force him to feel that he has to stick to the marriage with the Sun family?

By the way, she Ji Qingchen is regarded as a businessman who forgets his righteousness.

-- If there is no clear stream like Master Sun to defend the Dao of Gangchang and the courtesy, righteousness and shame in the world, wouldn't the Tao be the Tao and the country would not be the country?

She could only euphemistically:

"What if...... If your Master Sun also intends to ask you to work in the yamen, this is also a good thing. Good for your future. It's just that I'm a foreigner who does business, will it affect your Master Sun's name? ”

Chen Wenchang, you really respect Sun Zhao, don't bother him!

“……”

Chen Wenchang looked at her and chuckled.

"Makes you anxious. It was my fault. ”

He squeezed her hand and groaned,

"Although I am a bit stubborn, I don't like to quarrel with people openly. Master Sun asked me to go to the Yamen of the Imperial Historical Observatory to do clerical work, but I have already declined. ”

When Ji Qingchen heard this, he burst into tears. R1152