Royal Palace, Upper Study.

Cao Hao was still a little worried, afraid that when he first arrived here, someone would jump out and give him a dismount. When I arrived, I found that I seemed to think highly of myself, and those companions were all children of the Eight Banners family, and even the clan, and I was the son of a foreign official who couldn't be called weighty at all.

When he first sat down, someone probed his head to ask about his father's official title, and heard that he was the son of a third-rank official, and his father's title was only a second-class man, and the other party's expression immediately became cold.

Cao Hao was secretly funny in his heart, these little children, all of them are not very old, and they are all so sophisticated. However, it's okay like this, no one pays attention, and I just can't stop accompanying the sixteenth elder brother for a while.

In general, the smell of gunpowder in the upper study is still very strong, but it is concentrated between Honghui and Hongsheng. Honghui has a thirteen-year-old brother Hongjin in the upper study, although Hongsheng has two younger brothers, but one is seven years old and the other is six years old, which is too young. Two-on-three, plus a few people to read, the after-school time is a big show.

During the recess, the sixteenth elder brother went to Cao Hao's side, and while introducing him to the royal grandchildren, he watched the excitement with him, which was very bad. In fact, those princes and grandsons are also easy to distinguish. In addition to the three princes, the ten royal grandsons are from the knees of the four elder brothers. The prince and the fifth elder brother each have two, and the third elder brother and the seventh elder brother each have three. The fifth elder brother was raised by the queen mother, and the seventh elder brother was disabled in his early years when he accompanied Hu to fight against Geerdan, and both of them consciously or unintentionally avoided the battle for succession. Their sons are also low-key and quite fatherly. In contrast, the sons of the prince and the third elder brother are more flamboyant.

When he was a quarter of an hour away, Kangxi came to the upper study. After everyone greeted him, he lovingly asked a few young emperors and grandsons about their homework, and finally said a few words of exhortation before going out. Cao Hao was a little strange, because he found that this old man seemed to look at him several times, and even seemed to smile at him.

At the beginning of the morning (seven o'clock in the morning), I went to the study and got out of the morning class, which was the time for everyone to have breakfast. Breakfast is provided in the dining room of the palace, whether it is the prince and grandson, or the companions of the reading, there is a certain amount.

At this time, the sound of drums was clearly heard not far away, and Emperor Kangxi listened to the government in the early dynasty of Qianqingmen.

After breakfast, at the second quarter of the first day of the Chen Dynasty (half past seven in the morning), Master Han came to teach, and the learning content was the "Four Books", "Five Classics" and "Zizhi Tongjian". Cao Hao had studied these contents for seven or eight years when he was in Jiangning, and he was already familiar with them. Because the accompanying teachers are all Hanlin of the Hanlin Academy, there is a different flavor when it comes to talking about books, and the course is not boring. It's just that the class time is too long, and it doesn't end until noon (12 o'clock at noon).

The fifteenth elder brother and Honghui were both fifteen years old, and they stayed up until the beginning of the afternoon (eleven o'clock at noon) and left, which aroused the envy of the sixteenth elder brother.

After lunch, the master changed again to teach everyone calligraphy and poetry. This class was half an hour, and before the second quarter of the first day (half past one in the afternoon), Cao Hao finished the study class.

and the sixteenth elder brother followed to the elder brother's office, and then Cao Hao himself followed the route of coming in the morning and left the palace from Donghua Gate.

*

Xiao Man, Wei Hei, Wei Bai and two other long-term followers named Wu Mao and Wu Sheng led their horses to guard outside the Donghua Gate, and when they saw Cao Hao coming out, they all came forward. Wu Mao and Wu Sheng are also brothers, they are not very old, one is seventeen and the other is fifteen, and they are the sons of Caofu. Their father was a steward of the Cao family in the capital, who died of illness a few years ago, leaving only orphans and widows in the family.

After Cao Hao entered Beijing, the chief housekeeper Cao Zhong chose him as a long-term follower, and because he remembered the honest duty of the Wu brothers, he picked them out. The two didn't talk much, and Cao Hao was more satisfied. Wei Hei and Wei Bai, two brothers, also have a good impression of these two honest children, and they point out and point out their fists and feet in their spare time.

When Cao Hao walked out of Donghua Gate, he couldn't help but stretch his waist, except for half an hour for breakfast and dinner, he took four hours and eight hours of class, which was really not easy. The homework in Jiangning's family studies is not a weight at all compared to going to the study.

Cao Hao saw two blue satin wrappers hanging on the side of the Wu brothers' saddles, one larger and one smaller, and asked Xiaoman: "That was sent by your sister Amethyst?" ”

Xiao Man replied: "Well, Sister Amethyst said that the uncle explained, and the small bag is a wedding gift for Ma Ye; The big bag is a variety of medicinal herbs brought from the south. ”

Cao Hao took the reins from Xiaoman's hand, got on the horse, and did not go back to Caofu directly, but went to the Mafu located in the east forty strips. This is the residence of Ma Yan, the chamberlain of the Ministry of Rites, and it is Ma Jun's uncle's house, and Ma Jun lived here after entering Beijing.

A few days ago in the VIP building, because of the encounter with the scholar Cao Yin, the interest of everyone was swept away, and finally everyone said a few words of gossip and dispersed.

Ma Jun set to leave Beijing on the second day of October and went to Changsha County, Hunan Province to serve as the county commander.

Cao Haoming'er was going to the study, and he didn't have time to see him off, so he went to the house today to see off the journey. Because everyone knew that the Cao family was short of money at the moment, Cao Hao, the gold and silver thing, was exempted, and only Amethyst was allowed to find some good medicinal materials. There is a lot of humidity in Hunan, and the climate is not as pleasant as Jiangning, so it is appropriate to prepare more medicines. In addition, when Ma Jun got married, Cao Hao didn't catch up outside the plug, and this wedding gift was also made up, which was some fine objects prepared by Amethyst for the two brides. In duplicate, it does not appear to favor one over the other.

*

East Forty Strips, Mafu.

Ma Jun heard the report from the porter and knew that Cao Hao was coming, so he went out to greet him in person.

When the two arrived at the living room, Ma Junming said that he had to get up early and hurry, and his bags and belongings were ready.

Although the Ma family is not a banner person, but the poetry and books of the generations, the grandfather's generation entered the court as an official, to Ma Jun's father's generation, both brothers are from Jinshi, among which Ma Jun's uncle is still Tanhua and first. There are two brothers, one is a Beijing official, the other is a foreign official, and now one is a second-grade waiter, and the other is a fourth-grade Daotai, which is also prominent among Han officials.

Uncle Ma Jun had not yet returned from an errand in the ministry, and when his aunt heard that his nephew's best friend had come, she asked someone to come out to spread the word and ask the guests to stay for dinner. Cao Hao and Ma Jun wanted to speak, so they didn't shirk. Although I ate some at noon in the palace, those meals were just decent, and they were really unappetizing. However, from this detail, it can also be seen that the Manchu and Han rules are different. The housewives of the Manchurian people do not avoid outsiders, and the etiquette of the Han family is stricter.

There is a saying in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty: "Three lives are unfortunate, and the county is attached to Guo; Three lives do evil, attached to the provincial city of Guo; The evil is full of evil, attached to Guo Jingcheng. Among them, "Zhixian attaches Guo" refers to the same city as the prefect and the prefect; "Attached to Guo Provincial City" is the county, the prefect and the governor are in the same city: "Attached Guo Jingcheng" is Jing County.

Ma Jun was a bit of a scholar, and he was reluctant to use his uncle's relationship when he was seeking a vacancy, and as a result, he ended up attached to Guo Zhi County. However, looking at his spiritual head, he is really very confident. He has been in the Shilang Mansion for several years, and he is far from what he used to be called Amon, and Cao Hao has nothing to worry about him. The Ma family is a lone seedling, and of course the elders can't stand idly by. There are people above who are good officials, not to mention that the one above is a second-grade Beijing official. Even for the sake of Uncle Ma Jun's face, I believe that those officials in Hunan will never dare to make things difficult for him.

After dinner, Cao Hao and Ma Jun talked a few more words, looked at the second quarter of the first hour of the hour (half past three in the afternoon), and thought that Ma Jun had a lot of affairs on his long journey, so he said goodbye and went home.

Not long after leaving the Ma Mansion, someone rode over on the opposite side, but it was familiar, it was Zhao An, the subordinate brought by the Li family from Jiangning, and Huixin's husband.

Seeing Cao Hao and the others, Zhao An dismounted and beat a thousand, but what he said made Cao Hao startled: "Uncle, someone is coming to the palace, the big housekeeper sent a servant to ask you to go back!" ”

Cao Hao raised his eyebrows: "Is the sixteenth elder brother here?" "But I wondered in my heart, can't the prince go out of the palace at will? What reason did this little sixteen find to come out?

When Zhao An heard this, he hurriedly shook his head: "It's not the prince's elder brother, it's a young father-in-law, who came with a holy decree!" ”

Kangxi's will? Cao Hao was a little surprised, and nodded at Zhao An: "Got it, go home!" ”

*

West of the city, Cao Mansion, living room.

A twenty-year-old waiter sat and ate tea with a smile, and the chief butler Cao Zhong stood next to him and talked.

In the back hall, Amethyst and Zhuang Xi both looked a little dignified. The dispute in the VIP building, Xiao Man went home and told the two. The Cao family is in an embarrassing situation, and now both of them are hanging in their hearts, not knowing whether this so-called holy decree is a blessing or a curse. Thunder and rain and dew, Gu is the grace of heaven, where does the Cao family have room for maneuver?

When Cao Hao returned home, he saw the waiter, but there was a little more smile on his face, he was an acquaintance, and he hurriedly hugged his fist and said: "Father-in-law Wei, I haven't seen you for seven or eight days, it's good to look good!" ”

The person who came was Wei Zhu, a eunuch from the Qianqing Palace, and Cao Hao saw him several times, all of which he brought in.

Wei Zhu got up and said with a smile: "Guard Cao is now in the study, and it will be common in the future, so let our family finish the errand first, and then let's gossip!" ”

In the hall, Cao Zhong, who received the order, had already prepared.

Cao Hao stood with his back to the door, Wei Zhu turned his back to the north, raised the holy decree in his hand, and said loudly: "Cao Hao, the first-class light car captain and the third-class guard of the Qianqing Palace, receives the order!" ”