In the northwest corner of Kaifeng City, in the north of Youguo Temple, there is a small courtyard into the quadrangle, the door to the outside world is open in the southeast corner, the door is facing the east wing, in the courtyard, a middle-aged woman wearing a sky blue shirt with two three or five years old children is shouting to the west wing.

"Baozhu, do you want your mother to help you?"

The furnishings in the west chamber are extremely simple, and the north and south are against the west wall is a stepping bed, surrounded by green cloth; In the north room, by the window, there is a long desk, and in front of it sits a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl.

The girl is the jewel in the mouth of the woman outside the window, the name Zhang Yan, born on the sixth day of October in the 35th year of Wanli, this year is fifteen years old, and the ceremony was held last month when the word Zu'e.

When the call from outside came, Zhang Yan was reading the "Kaifeng Mansion Chronicles" brought by her father from the county school, and she hurriedly closed the book and replied, "It's almost good, I can do it myself." ”

On the case, the cover of the book has small characters such as 'Volume 22, rebuilt in the thirteenth year of Wanli, transcribed by Shi Kefa, a student', and she was reading that Li Fu's two daughters committed suicide in order to avoid humiliation because of the invasion of the rogue.

The incident happened in December of the seventh year of Zhengde, when Liu Liu and other thieves from Beizhi attacked Kaifeng.

Li Fu has two daughters, the eldest daughter is eighteen, the second daughter is fourteen, all of them are in the boudoir, fearing that they will be tainted by thieves, the eldest daughter put the white practice belt in the sleeve, the second daughter saw it and asked why, the eldest daughter replied, "This is not a loss of body plan", the second daughter suddenly woke up, and also hid the silk in the sleeve, and warned each other not to tell their parents. Later, Li Fu ascended the city to defend it, his wife went to give money, and the street falsely rumored that the city had fallen, and the two daughters were all hanged to death.

This matter has been more than 100 years ago, and Zhang Yan had mixed feelings when she read this, and she didn't know whether to blame the second daughter for being rash, or praise her nobility, or blame the world for being unfair to women......

Zhang Yan opened the door of the west chamber and saw that in addition to her stepmother Chen, there were also her biological father Zhang Guoji and two younger siblings in the courtyard. ”

Zhang Guoji, who is over forty years old, is a county student, wearing a Confucian scarf, a shirt, and his hands in his sleeves, looking at his daughter in front of him, as if dazzled.

Zhang Yan combs her double butterfly bun, wears a mink and a rabbit, her eyebrows are beautiful and great, her eyes are like autumn waves, her mouth is like a cherry blossom, her nose is like a hanging gall, her teeth are fine, and her neck is long and white. She was wearing a white silk shirt and walked out slowly, walking like a light cloud out of the distance.

"Daddy......"

The sound is as clear as heaven.

"Ah," Zhang Guoji came back to his senses under the gentle tugging of his wife Chen, stroked his beard and smiled, "My son has grown up, and he has the style of your mother." ”

"It's a pity that my mother can't see ......"

"You two are really good, since you passed through the door, you have served your father and daughter everywhere, and you have always regarded the jewel as your own...... Now they turn a blind eye to me, a big living person. Seeing that the father and daughter did not take themselves in their eyes at all, the Chen family felt aggrieved in his heart, and stretched out his hand to Zhang Guoji's waist and twisted it, "It is said that the stepmother is difficult, and the ancients did not deceive me." ”

Zhang Guoji felt a heart-piercing pain in his waist, "Ahem, I heard that Gonggong Liu is going to Huaifeng and other places in the south, but today is the last day of Kaifeng." ”

Zhang Yan naturally saw her stepmother's small movements, pretending not to see it, walked up to her younger brothers and sisters, patted the dust on their bodies, and reprimanded, "Look at what you guys have done, my sister and my father and mother have something to do, don't run around." ”

"I know, the eldest sister is going to the queen." The two clapped their hands and spoke in unison.

Zhang Yan stretched out her hand and nodded on the heads of the two, "Jing Blind said, my sister is afraid that she doesn't have that blessing." ”

Chen helped Zhang Yan up, and easily pulled the two children behind him, "Baozhu, don't get your clothes dirty, you have to leave a good impression on the nobles in the palace, hurry up." ”

So, the three of them went out of the courtyard gate in turn, and let Zhang Yan board the small sedan chair that had been waiting outside the door for a long time and head south.

Zhang Guoji, who was accompanying the sedan chair, seemed to see the glory and wealth within reach, and his steps became extremely brisk. And Zhang Yan, who was sitting in the sedan chair, seemed to be unaware of the importance of this trip, and was as quiet as water.

Zhang Yan is sensible very early, since the death of her biological mother at the age of seven, she has taken on this not a wealthy family, and the things of sprinkling, washing, and sewing in the courtyard are all in charge.

In the early years, Zhang Guoji and his daughter's nephew of the same age used to stay at home, and he originally wanted to be his wife, but later because his nephew had a serious illness, and Zhang Yan himself did not like it, he did it.

But as the saying goes, 'a family of women and a hundred families begging', the Zhang family is no exception. Two years ago, Zhang Yan's appearance became more and more moving, her appearance was peerless, and everyone she saw came to propose marriage, including many rich and talented people. Zhang Guoji is also full of poetry and books, and he also knows the reason why strange goods can be lived, and all those who come to the door to propose marriage are rejected with the words "my son is still young, and the matter of marriage will be discussed later".

Zhang Guoji, as a father, naturally 'hopes that his son will become a dragon and his daughter will become a phoenix', since he learned that he is now at the age of the pole and has not yet been married, he knows that his daughter's happiness and glory and wealth can be expected.

Although he is a student, he is not a pedantic person, knowing that the officialdom is corrupt, and he is distressed by the lack of silver bribes, but after going to the county government to see the selection scene, the stone in his heart has landed, as long as it is fair and just, it is a sure thing that his daughter will pass the primary election.

……

Liu Kejing and others are often in the big house, and they don't know how many beauties they have seen, but this time, except for the first batch of people whose appearance is acceptable, the rest are all vulgar fans, and they can't help but feel embarrassed.

After Liu Kejing arrived at Kaifeng Mansion, many people handed over the post of worship and asked to see him. He knew what everyone was thinking, so he put it up and said, 'The major matter of choosing a concubine and the country does not allow fraud, and for the sake of justice, no one will see ......', so those who seek wealth and nobility will be 'sensible' and send all kinds of gifts. In the end, he never showed up, but he received a thousand taels of silver.

In order not to leave a handle for the officials, he ingeniously invited the local officials to the lobby to participate in the selection, and the winner with the most votes won the election, so that he won all the prizes.

However, Liu Kejing, who was sitting behind the public case in the lobby, was now very annoyed, because Xu Guangqi had never voted from beginning to end, and he didn't know what to say since he and Zhang and I continued to talk to each other.

After passing on the last batch of Shuyuan, Liu Kejing saw Wei Jinzhong, who was wearing a big belt, come to him.

Wei Jinzhong stepped forward and bowed behind him, bowed his head and said, "Gonggong Liu, the little one is here to bid you farewell." ”

"Oh, the errand is done? We really haven't seen it, you're pretty neat. ”

Even if Wei Jinzhong was dissatisfied with Liu Kejing's tone, he didn't dare to show it, and bowed down again and said, "My father-in-law praised it falsely, the errand was not done, and the small one was to prepare to set off for Fujian and Central Fujian, not to return to Beijing." ”

Liu Kejing frowned, "Our family has been pondering, long live the Lord wants to be tambagu, let the local government pay tribute, why do you need to go in person." ”

"Before leaving, Long Live Lord has an edict that this thing is not necessary, and it should not increase the burden of the prefecture and county, so he ordered the small imitation merchant Jia to go to collect and store." Wei Jinzhong didn't explain much, and saw Liu Kejing nodding as if he didn't understand, and then said, "A few days ago, I had scattered people to inquire around, according to the people who came back, Henan planted Tamba Gu few and scattered, even if all the purchases were less than 100 quintals, I heard that it was widely planted in Zhangzhou, Fujian and other places, and it was also sold back to Lusong and other places, so I came to resign." ”

Liu Kejing waved his hand, "That's it, we all have our own errands, and you are not in charge of our family, you are in charge." ”

"Gonggong Xie understands."

When Wei Jinzhong turned around and wanted to leave after speaking, he happened to run into Zhang Yan and others entering the lobby, and suddenly felt a huge threat, and couldn't help but hold his breath.

The selection of Shuyuan is not strict on appearance, but only on the background, family history, whether relatives and friends have committed adultery or imprisonment, etc., similar to political trial.

Liu Kejing, Xu Guangqi and others were all shocked by Zhang Yan's charm, seeing her round and straight shoulders, convex and backward curved, but her dignified appearance without smiling and pleasant face made everyone present feel ashamed of themselves, and then there was a sigh of 'Jun Sheng, I am old'.

Zhang Guoji, who was standing outside the lobby waiting for the summons, saw everyone's reaction from a distance, and knew that the big thing had been decided, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed.