(This book was first published on the Let's See Literature Network, referred to as the Literature Network, please support genuine subscription to protect the rights and interests of the author.) ）

Zhouzhuang is located in the southeast of Suzhou City, southwest of Kunshan, and was known as Zhenfengli in ancient times. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Zhouzhuang was the fief of the young son of King Wu, and was known as Shake City in history.

"The town is Zeguo, surrounded by water, close to each other, all must be boated! The fairyland is nothing more than that, and Zhouzhuang really lives up to its reputation. After passing through several stone bridges, Shang Yu followed Shen Tong, the housekeeper of the Shen family, to the front of the Shen Mansion after following the two sedan chairs, but secretly praised the layout of Zhouzhuang Town in his heart.

"Shen Tong, for this subordinate named Song Thirteen, first change into suitable clothes, and then take him to the Chengzu Hall, this is the person given to me by my aunt, I will come to see him later." After Shen Tong got out of the sedan chair, he instructed Shen Tong, and pointed to Shang Yu with his hand.

Shen Tong immediately asked with some surprise, "Young Master! Are you sure you want to meet this person at the Chengzu Hall? "That Chengzu Hall is only used by the master of the Shen family when welcoming important male guests, and Shen Fu's behavior really surprised him a little.

"Not necessarily? Hey, I'm going to meet my aunt in the inner hall with my mother, Song Thirteen, you can go with Shen Tong. Shen Fu glared at Shen Tong and then flicked his sleeves and left.

After Shen Tong looked at Shen Fu leaving, he turned his head and looked at Shang Yu carefully, no matter what, Shang Yu was just a slightly handsome young man, and his identity was only a person under his name, and after thinking about it for a while, he finally thought of a reason that he could agree with: "It must be that the young master wants this Song Thirteen to be responsible for cleaning up everything in the ancestral hall, it must be so." ”

"Song Thirteen, come with me." Shen Tong said to Shang Yu, but there was a contempt in his eyes, and after speaking, he walked from the front yard to a laneway on the left.

After hearing this, Shang Yu bowed lightly and said, "Yes, butler." Then he followed behind Shen Tong.

From Shen Tong's eyes, Shang Yu could see the other party's contemptuous expression, but he didn't care in his heart, at this time, all he was thinking about was Li Yanhong's words that despised him, and what he had missed about Lu Wan these days, but the little boy was melancholy in his heart.

But after following Shen Tong out of the alley on the left, he passed through several small courtyards, and finally Shang Yu felt as if he was walking towards the center of the house again.

Along the way, he met some maids of the family, and when he saw Shen Tong, they all saluted respectfully, and secretly he was also very curious about Shang Yu, a new young man.

Later, Shen Tong took Shang Yu to change into a brand-new homely costume in the courtyard of the treasury, and after combing his hair, the whole person seemed to have changed, and he seemed to be much more energetic, and the bright eyes and the slightly immature appearance formed a great contrast, which made Shen Tong more and more curious about Shang Yu's past.

When Shen Tong deliberately asked some questions on the way to the main house in the center again, Shang Yu said vaguely that he was taken in by Li Yanhong halfway, but as for the family background, he sighed and signaled that he didn't want to say any more, Shen Tong was not reluctant, and he was almost in the courtyard of the main house when he spoke.

"Steward Shen, the little one who was ordered to build the Earth Water Hall encountered some difficulties!" A big man dressed in water clothes hurriedly ran over and shouted to Shen Tong.

Shen Tong was about to take Shang Yu into the main hall, when he heard the voice, he immediately turned around and said with some displeasure: "Master Dou! The young master gave you double the salary this time, which is to let you complete the construction around the first month, but you have repeatedly delayed the construction period, and now it has passed the first month, if you wait until the spring business season and put on hold the business in the young master's business, can you afford it? Say, what happened this time? ”

The big man surnamed Dou sighed and said: "According to expectations, the land of the ship should be three zhang square, but when we dug the waterway, we found that the foundation of the partial wing houses on both sides of the courtyard will be affected, if the few partial wing houses can be removed, it will not affect the construction period, and the water hall of the Shen Mansion will definitely become the crown of Zhouzhuang." ”

"But this involves feng shui surveys, the last time we shifted the waterway by half a foot and stopped the construction period for half a month, we invited a feng shui master from Suzhou, and this is the first five days to restart, but at this time we have encountered such problems, and I hope that the housekeeper will help us think of a way, whether you can directly demolish the side rooms on both sides without the magician's inspection?"

"How can this be true? How can this housekeeper allow you to demolish the house without authorization, wouldn't that damage the Feng Shui of the Shen family? You have temporarily suspended work, and I will report this matter to the young master later, but your wages will be reduced to a quarter of the original place according to the agreement! Shen Tong immediately changed color and said.

"Steward Shen! This thing does not blame us, it is really that the buildings in the Shen Mansion are too dense, and this kind of construction of waterways should have been built at the same time as the mansion when the master was alive, at this time we have tried our best, you can't reduce those wages again! We didn't have a good Chinese New Year this year, and we did hard work every day in the new waterways. The big man stood there and said with some grievances.

At this time, Shen Tong took Shang Yu from this transitional patio into the central main mansion, and no longer paid attention to what the big man said, but the big man also knew the rules and did not dare to follow up in the main house.

Shang Yu had looked back at the big man before, and he felt a little sorry in his heart, and thought: "I will also get some of the skills that can be tested in Feng Shui, which is the method of combining Zhou Yi's principles and techniques, but I don't believe in Feng Shui's words, and I am only Song Thirteen at the moment, but I can't control this matter." ”

"Song Thirteen! Only the stewards and the owners of the family can enter the main house directly from the main entrance, you must remember in the future, do not break into the main house from the main entrance at will, otherwise you will be dealt with by the family law! Shen Tong took Shang Yu into the Chengzu Hall before staring at Shang Yu and instructing.

After entering the main house, the most central position is the main hall in the main house, Chengzu Hall, this hall is an important place for the Shen family to welcome distinguished guests and officials, at this time, Shen Fu greeted Li Yanhong and only entered the back hall to meet his mother Li Yinzi, and did not meet in the Chengzu Hall, because women are not allowed to enter this hall at all, so Shen Tong was so surprised by Shen Fu's arrangement.

Shang Yu nodded, bowed down, but thought in his heart: "The rules of the Shen family are similar to those of the Lu Mansion, but there is an extra rule that female guests are not allowed to enter the main hall." ”

Seeing that Shang Yu's expression was very respectful, Shen Tong nodded with a little satisfaction and said, "Then you will wait for the young master in the hall, any item placed in the hall is an incomparably precious thing, and it must not be touched!" I still have to arrange a luncheon for my mother, so I can't accompany you. ”

After that, Shen Tongtong glanced at Shang Yu again with a lofty look, and then pushed the door and left, and closed the door outside.

Shang Yu breathed a sigh of relief at this point, and after he moved his body, he began to look around at the furnishings in the Chengzu Hall.

"Zhouzhuang stone pot? Here are the best Yishui Huizong stone carved out of the tea drinking utensils. Shang Yu was not surprised by the famous calligraphy and painting on the wall, but he let out an amazed when he saw the stone pots and stone cups placed on the black pine table of the Song Dynasty Curved Bridge.

Yishui Huizong stone is a folk saying, this is the Song Dynasty Huizong Emperor in Yishui travel inadvertently found on the bank of the Yishui River, its stone toughness is very strong, and the color is white and translucent, the best Huizong factory if you look carefully with your eyes there is still a faint fog in the stone, the folk only faintly spread famous.

This kind of stone is extremely rare, and it comes down to the fact that it can be used to make utensils with uniform color quality, and these stones used to make stone pots are obviously superb, and their value is even more amazing.

Shang Yu bent down and looked at these stone pots and cups carefully, and couldn't help but be amazed.

"With the best natural stone and high-energy craftsmen carving, if these pots are in Quanzhou Treasure Street, the price will be at least 100,000 taels of gold! It's rare to have eight sets of the same texture and color here! ”

Shang Yu watched in this ancestral hall, he was the only one in the hall, and after seeing these stone pots and drinking utensils, he turned his head to look at those famous calligraphy and paintings.

And outside the hall, there is always a person outside who peeps at Shang Yu's every move, it is Wu Sanxin, a henchman recruited by Shen Tong, to keep an eye on Shang Yu and prevent him from running around in the mansion, a newcomer can be so valued by a young man, how can Shen Tong rest assured that he is left alone in the most important hall of the Shen Mansion.

No matter how beautiful the item, or how expensive the item is, it can't suppress the hunger in Shang Yu's stomach after an hour and a half, not to mention that Shang Yu has been tied up for several days, only eating two meals a day, at this time it is already three quarters of an hour in the afternoon, since the morning, Shang Yu has not eaten water, but out of politeness, he can't leave this place, besides, he is not familiar with the Shen Mansion, if he goes to the wrong place, it is not what he wants.

Shang Yu was really tired of standing, so he chose a chair leaning on the side and sat down, waiting for Shen Fudi to arrive.

But he sat there, and after a while, he slowly fell asleep.

A map was placed on the table, Shang Yu lowered his head to look at it, and said in surprise: "Huh! It turns out that my Central Plains business road map is so accurate? ”

I saw that the map was constantly enlarged in front of his eyes, and the image of the ground in it made Shang Yu's face more and more ugly, and he saw countless iron horses galloping on the land of the Central Plains, and those men and horses were constantly slashing and killing the people in a town, and then hanging their heads on the streets and alleys.

"Seventy percent of the people of my Central Plains were slaughtered like this, Yu'er, this is the reason why my father and your mother avoided the disaster of Lijia Village!" A familiar voice came.

Shang Yu was suddenly overjoyed, and called softly: "Dad! Is that you? He turned his head and saw a majestic figure falling into the quicksand, sinking into the desert with a smile on his face.

Shang Yu immediately rushed forward, but the desert suddenly disappeared, and in front of him appeared the slightly worried face of his mother, Shang Mei.

"Yu'er, if your father comes back, our family of three will go to Chuzhou to join the rebels, and that is the most stable source for the people."

After saying this, Shang Meishi said again: "Yu'er! If you can be a housekeeper or steward in a rich family, it is your greatest blessing, you must not join any army, my mother does not want you to have any mistakes! ”

Shang Yu immediately had an impulse, and said in a choked voice: "Mother! I listen to you. At this moment, the scene suddenly changed again, and a dangerous cliff appeared in front of Shang Yu, on which there was a pair of young men and women, and heavy rain was constantly falling from the sky.

Shang Yu fixed his eyes and saw that the two people were himself and Lu Wan, and under the cliff, there were more than a dozen soldiers with colored eyes slowly coming upward, and the Persian scimitar flashed brightly.

"Heaven is a matchmaker, and the earth is a new house! Xiao Wan, we will become husband and wife, can you blame me? I saw that behind the cliff and boulder, Shang Yu took Lu Wandi's hand and said.

"Why do you blame you thief? It's just that if I can become husband and wife with you before I die, it's not in vain to be a ghost. Tears fell from the corners of Lu Wan's eyes, and a dazzling lightning flashed in the sky at this time, followed by a burst of rolling thunder.

After that, Shang Yu saw himself jump off the cliff, and then all the images disappeared.

"Xiao Wan!" Shang Yu woke up from his sleep with a soft sigh, only to find that it was just a nightmare, and there was a lot of sweat on his face, those experiences were too heavy for him, and he was really the only one who felt fear.

Shang Yu wiped the cold sweat on his face with his sleeve, and then calmed down, and at this moment, the door of the Chengzu Hall was pushed open, only to hear Shen Tong's voice say: "Young Master! Please, Song Thirteen has been waiting for you inside and has not left. ”

"Okay, Shen Tong, take Wu Sanxin to me far away from the main hall, I have something to say to Song Shisan alone, and idle people are not allowed to approach!" Shen Fu walked into the hall from the door as he spoke.

I only heard Shen Tong answer outside: "Yes, I will order it immediately, and no one will disturb the young master." ”

Shang Yu hurriedly stood up, bowed and saluted, "Young Master Cousin! ”

When Shen Tong entered the Chengzu Hall, he put his index finger on his lips, made a silent gesture, then turned around and slowly closed the door, and looked outside before latching the door, and then turned around and walked towards Shang Yu with confidence.

"Brother Shang Yu! You won't die this time, this is really God's eyes! I have mentioned you to my mother many times, and I have arranged for Ding 17 and Mu 13 to be sent to Xiyu Village by me, and they told me that you fell off a cliff to save your cousin, but I didn't expect you to be alive. Shen Fu stepped forward and said with some excitement.

"Young Master Cousin, I'm just a subordinate! You don't have to call me a brother. Seeing that Shen Fu cared so much about him, Shang Yu couldn't help but say in a panic.

"You are not a subordinate person, you can be said to be half of my master, the content of your book is written by you, just by virtue of your young age, you can analyze the affairs of business in detail so thoroughly, it is enough to be worthy of my brother, the handwriting in that book, Ding Shisan and others can see at a glance that it was written by you, how long do you want to hide me?"

"When I was in Quanzhou, if you hadn't helped me figure out the answer to that test, how could I have left Quanzhou in anger and avoided the disaster of the Lu family in Quanzhou, and no one in the family could merge the Lu family and the Zeng family's industry, and it would not have made me Shen Wansan what I am today! Receiving you in this ancestral hall this time, it is really my Shen Fu who wants to worship you as a brother, and I hope you will not refuse to be a brother. Shen Fu said with excitement flashing in his eyes, and held Shang Yudi's shoulders and looked down at him.

Shang Yu couldn't help but end up for a while, he didn't expect that after Li Yanhong took him to the Shen family in Zhouzhuang, Shen Fu would treat him so kindly, and he actually wanted to worship him as a brother?

"Young Master! I've only been your scholar for a few days, but I don't dare to bow to you! Besides, your aunt won't allow it! Thinking of Li Yanhong, Shang Yu couldn't help but tremble, this mother-in-law despised him the most, and only regarded him as a subordinate in his eyes, how could he be allowed to ascend to the sky in one step, not to mention that Shen Fu's other identity was a descendant of the Minyue royal family, and he was also the illegitimate son of the same clan who was unusually intermarried in the Central Plains tradition, but even so, Shang Yu didn't dare to imagine that Li Yanhong would allow such a thing to happen.

"My aunt has left Zhouzhuang, she won't care about this matter, not to mention that my mother heard about you, and she also hopes that I can take you to meet her." Shen Fu immediately said with a smile.

Shang Yu was even more taken aback when he heard this, and said in his heart: "Count the hours, this mother-in-law just left after lunch, what is the origin of the Iron Shirt Gate?" The young master of the cousin, that is, the mother of the Shen family, also wants to see me? And why is that? Could it be that a big family would really take a fancy to me? ”

"Brother Shang, since you can't use your original name, if you are commensurate with my brother, you can change your name to Shen Yu, or you can be called Shen Thirteen, so that it is much easier to enter and exit, and it also saves a lot of trouble, do you think it's okay?" Shen Fu saw that Shang Yu didn't answer, so he pressed Shang Yu back into his seat and asked.

At this moment, a strange "grunt" sound sounded between the two.

"Strange, what's that sound?" Shen Fu couldn't help but ask strangely.

Shang Yu blushed and said, "Young Master! That's my stomach growling. ”

Shen Fu suddenly said: "It's all to blame for my brother's land, I actually forgot that my brother hasn't eaten yet, so you will go to the back hall with your brother to see your mother, go there to eat some snacks first, and after meeting your mother, I will take you to dinner, and in the afternoon, I will take you to Xiyu Village to see Ding 13 and them, if they know that you are still in the world, they will definitely be very happy." After that, no matter how Shang Yu reacted, he pulled Shang Yu and walked outside.

When Shang Yu heard that he would go to see Ding Shisan and the others in the afternoon, he immediately made up his mind, those family members would not die, and they were the same people in the Lu clan as he was, and the few people who bought the house sounded like they were all there, and said in his heart: "The young master will bow to me, but I can't be too proud of this!" In any case, I'm just a person under my name, and I can see Ding Seventeen and Mu Thirteen and others in the afternoon, and I don't know if they are doing well? ”

Shen Tong, who was waiting outside, wanted to get closer to hear what was being said inside, but he was afraid of being discovered, and when he was hesitating, he saw the gate open ten meters away, and Shen Fu took Shang Yu's hand and walked towards the back hall with an excited face.

"Strange! Don't let me get close, and the young master and this Song Thirteen are holding hands again, so close, isn't it that the young master has the good of Longyang? That's a big deal! Shen Tong muttered in surprise.

Wu Sanxin, who was beside him, heard Shen Tong's words, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Great butler, you just said that Longyang is good, what is that?" ”

Shen Tong immediately stretched out his hand and knocked on Wu Sanxin's head, and then scolded angrily: "What's the matter with you, you quickly take a boat to Suzhou and invite that feng shui calculator to come, the price of silver taels is easy to say, as long as you can come quickly." ”

Wu Sanxin was about to cry out in pain when he heard this, but when he heard this, he immediately agreed and said, "I'll go right away!" Rubbing his forehead, he hurried out.

Shen Tong had a hint of doubt on his face, and muttered, "No matter what! I also want to find out, where is this Song Thirteen, it will make the young master pay so much attention to it, and he simply doesn't regard it as a subordinate, if there is such a subordinate in the mansion, it is very likely that he will ride on my head in the future, and this matter has to be guarded against. ”