Although the boat is moving slowly, the days on the ship are quite leisurely. ｗｗ．．

The second floor is isolated from the upper and lower floors, and Zhang and Zhao Xiu only live on their floor every day, and occasionally go downstairs to talk to the Guangping Wang and his son, take a look at Zhao Wei, and sometimes Gao Zhen and Zhao Wei will also go upstairs to accompany them. There was nothing to do on the boat, except for practicing calligraphy and needlework, that is, getting together to chat. If it weren't for the fact that I brought a lot of books with me this time, and the people on the same boat were also familiar with each other, such a day would have been quite boring.

Without a word, the fleet arrived in Tianjin in the afternoon of the second day. The fourth master of Tianjin, the prefect of Tianjin, got the letter early and took a group of subordinates to the dock to greet him. Among them, only Master Jiang Si and a few high-ranking figures got the opportunity to get on the boat to meet King Guangping, and the others only had a shadow from afar. Zhao Xiu and the others didn't go downstairs, they just hid behind the window to take a look at the scenery on the shore, and asked the girls to help pay attention to the situation on the lower floor. The king of Guangping did not intend to go ashore and enter the city, so they stayed in Tianjin for one night and left.

After all, Master Jiang Si is a royal prince, and he also has a friendship with Zhao Wei, and after the other officials left, he stayed to talk to the king of Guangping. After a short time, the prefect's yamen escorted the prefect's wife and young lady to come and get on the boat to meet them. This line of work is a family ceremony.

At this time, the local officials left, Zeng Shilang also returned to his ship, Li Yi and the two gentlemen took leave, and brought their entourage ashore to hang out, there were no idlers on the main ship, and the king of Guangping simply ordered someone to invite Zhang and Zhao Xiu downstairs, and everyone sat together to meet each other. As the host, Master Jiang Si specially ordered the cook at home to clean up the two tables and send them to the boat to make dinner for everyone. Zhao Xiu and the others sat at two tables for men and women, she and Jiang Wen sat next to each other, and when Zhang and Mrs. Jiang Si gossiped, they chatted happily below.

After Zhao Xiu left Jiang Wen. The new gossip in Beijing has sued her, and the scandal between Qiu Yuan and the eldest prince of Anyang Bofu is naturally the top priority, and the news of the queen's resurgence has not been missed. Jiang Wen didn't care much about the queen's affairs, and said: "There are two princes and a princess here, and she and the emperor are married to each other, so it is impossible for the emperor to really snub people for too long." It's about the same for a few months. The queen went through this. I think I will be much more cautious in the future. As long as she stops working against the Queen Mother, our family will recite Amitabha. ”

However, regarding Qiu Yuan's scandal, Jiang Wen's attitude is completely different. She inquired about the details with Zhao Xiu with great interest. Then he said: "Maybe there is Mrs. An Yangbo's handwriting here." Who told Qiu Yatou to provoke my sixth sister? She was originally a unforgiving character, her heart was very small, and the second aunt was also a powerful person, but she just looked at kindness on her face. Who is bad for Qiu Yatou to calculate? I want to calculate it on their heads. My second aunt is bent on finding a good family for her sixth sister. Qiu Yatou dared to ruin the reputation of the sixth sister in public, and the second aunt did not put people to death. Even if she's lucky! Now it's just borrowing the hand of Mrs. An Yangbo to teach Qiu Yatou a lesson, and it doesn't hurt. This is already to give face to the queen. Otherwise, if you really tell what the queen told Qiu Yatou to do that day, the queen is afraid that she will be sick for a few more months. ”

Zhao Xiu actually guessed that those rumors were written by Mrs. An Yangbo. Because a lot of news came from Anyang Bofu, as the mother of Anyang Bofu, if she had the heart to stop it. Some are means to restrain the people in the family, and will never let the rumors spread all over the capital. But the eldest prince was not her own child. She still has a son herself, and she must be very angry that her half-brother has a reputation and a bad future, right? Put some rumors, that's trivial. If she can please the Jiang family, maybe she can hug the thigh of the queen mother's mother, which will be beneficial to her son. …

Zhao Xiu whispered to Jiang Wen: "Rumors are actually rumors, I see that Meishan Bofu seems to be quite calm, except for going out to socialize less, I didn't panic much." Not long ago, when the queen 'recovered' from her illness and summoned outsiders into the palace, Qiu Yuan went there several times. I really don't know if the queen mother knows about Qiu Yuan's rumors, but even if she doesn't know, Qiu Yuan was involved in that incident, and she summoned people into the palace as usual like no one else, so she wasn't afraid that the queen mother and the emperor would be angry? ”

Jiang Wen pursed her lips and said coldly: "Maybe she doesn't know yet, she is in the palace, and no one may tell her about the rumors outside." It was the Xie family of Qushui Bofu, and for some reason they didn't speak. Thinking about coming to his house, he is busy with other things now, and he can't take care of the people around the queen mother for a while. ”

Zhao Xiu felt that she had something to say and wanted to ask more clearly, but Jiang Wen didn't mention it again, and opened the topic: "I remember that your family seems to have participated in shares and engaged in foreign business, isn't it?" That year, it was a Western businesswoman named Gwynie who carried your brothers and sisters to Beijing with the emperor and the prince of Guangping, right? Her family's merchant ships have come to Tianjin several times since then, the most recent of which has just left. The one who took the lead was the little brother-in-law of the Gwynneff family, and everyone here called him Little Wells. ”

Zhao Xiu hurriedly said: "It's called Gwyneth." I remember that she came to Dachu to find her deceased husband, and after finding it, she took revenge, so she escorted the coffin back to China, and the business house was handed over to her husband's relatives to take care of. Since the person who escorted the ship to Tianjin was also surnamed Wells, it must be someone from his family. ”

Jiang Wen nodded and smiled: "He seems to have just come from the West, and he has brought his wife, he is very young, beautiful and beautiful, his eyes are as green as jade, and his hair is blonde, shining in the sun." She changed into our Da Chu's clothes, sat in a sedan chair to visit my mother, and gave me two pieces of Western jewelry, which were inlaid with many small gems, colorful and very beautiful. It's a pity that the style of jewelry is not what we are used to on weekdays, so my mother asked someone to send it to the silver building to re-play. I haven't sent it back yet, and I'll show it to you when you return to Beijing from the south and pass through Tianjin again. ”

Zhao Xiu agreed with a smile, but he was thinking about it in his heart. Wells looks like a newcomer has arrived, but I wonder if he has brought books or other interesting objects? Now that she is idle, she can't help but remember her old interests, and she really wants to collect more Western books, even better if there are related topics such as science, economics, sociology, etc.

In Europe today, the level of scientific development does not seem to be very high, and there are still many theories that have been proven wrong in later generations. But it's better to have a foundation than to be poor and white. And those works in the field of economics, foreign trade. It can also help the local people to be vigilant against foreign invaders. She got more books and translated them into Chinese, so she didn't have to worry about no one reading them. There is a ready-made bookstore in her house now, and if you stuff the books into the library, there will always be people who know the goods to notice. The people who will go to the Mingzhi Library to borrow books to read are all students who are interested in scientific examinations, and they will also be the central force in the imperial court in the future. As long as one of them has read her translated Western books. Be vigilant. If she can make relevant decisions in the future without making mistakes, it will be in vain for her hard work.

After an overnight stay in Tianjin, the fleet set off again the next morning. Zhao Xiu took the gift from Jiang Wen. and the letter entrusted to Fang Renzhu, and once again marched south with his grandmother, brother, King Guangping, Gao Zhen and others.

On the way, they passed through several places such as Cangzhou and Dezhou, and whenever they arrived, the local officials and gentry would always come to visit the king of Guangping. Sometimes you have to stay there for two more days, and the trip is naturally slow. However, Zhao Xiu also got the opportunity to go ashore to play. I saw the scenery of various places, tasted the local food, and collected a lot of special products, which I put away and prepared to take back to Beijing as a gift. …

Every time she goes to the shore to play. There are a lot of people around you, and you are not afraid of any danger. Sometimes Zhao Wei or Gao Zhen are free, and they will accompany her on a trip. Help carry some small things, talk and laugh with you. Let her experience a lot of the fun of traveling.

In addition to shopping, she will also go to the local places of interest to have a look, if it is a particularly famous place, even Zhang's will be tempted, special people to bring the car brought by Beijing to the shore, she took her granddaughter and the girl to take a look at the car, sometimes also bring the smoke, smoke and rain two.

Their ancestors and grandchildren are low-key, and they never alarm the local government when they go ashore to play, but if people are interested in stammering, how can they hide it? After a few visits, someone found out and specially invited the wives and daughters of local officials, or the daughters of gentry to accompany them, say a word, make a fun, offer incense, worship a Buddha, drink tea, have a meal, and talk about interesting allusions. Zhang's has always been coaxing, and he quickly became familiar with others. Before leaving, people want to give a gift, and she can't refuse.

Zhao Xiu had to strictly check it, as long as it was not too valuable, or something too obvious yellow and white, there was no entrainment, and the giver did not make any bad requests, she reluctantly accepted the thing. If she encounters a gift giver with an ambiguous purpose, she will ask Gao Zhen in advance, and he will accept it if there is no problem, and refuse it directly if there is a problem, which is really a lot. But Rao is like this, their ancestors and grandchildren have also gained a lot, and they have begun to worry, if they continue to receive gifts all the way like this, before they go to their hometown, will those two ships really have enough space to put them?

The fleet walked slowly, and the weather became colder and colder. Although they were heading south, it was late October, and winter was already in place in all parts of the north. The day before, they had encountered the first snow since the beginning of winter this year, thin, white on the deck, and the eaves and flagpoles on the upper floors of the cabin were frozen. The servants of the royal palace hurriedly swept the snow into the river, so as not to burden the boat. Zhao Xiu and the others live in the second-floor cabin, and they have not dared to open the window to enjoy the scenery for many days. Only when people are not in the room do they dare to open a window crack to ventilate. In the cabin, there was also a hand stove and a soup woman early. For fear of causing a fire, they did not dare to use charcoal basins. Because it was too cold outside, Zhang simply didn't even go downstairs, and only nested in his own room. Zhao Wei came upstairs every day to greet her, often worried that her body would not be able to stand the cold weather.

Zhao Xiu said: "Don't be afraid, I ask people to prepare soup to ward off the cold and warm up every day, and my grandmother drinks it, and her body is not cold." If you really feel uncomfortable, the imperial doctor is downstairs, and we will go to ask the prince to invite the imperial doctor to come up and check the pulse of my grandmother. ”

Zhao Wei was a little relieved, but still instructed his sister: "Good life to take care of grandmother, if you lack anything, just come and tell me." We brought a lot of things with us, and if we didn't have enough, we went ashore to buy them. ”

Zhao Xiu agreed, hesitated again, and said to his brother in a low voice: "When I was talking to my grandmother this morning, I heard her say that Linqing is about to arrive, and I have the heart to go to worship, but I am afraid that that the place is not a big port, and it is not easy to talk to the prince." There is also Zeng Shilang in front, and this time my brother came with a mission, and there is no reason to delay official business for private matters. But if she can't make a sacrifice, my grandmother probably won't feel good. ”

The section of the river near Linqing is the place where Zhao Zhuo and his wife died, and Zhang took Zhao Wei to the capital to visit the injured King Guangping, and also went there to worship on the return trip. Zhao Wei still remembered it very clearly in his heart, and he was silent when he heard the words, and only said after a while: "I'll go and discuss it with the prince." (To be continued)