On a bustling street on the north side of the Yongjiang River in Ningbo Port, Zhou Zhong took Wu Shan and a few others to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the street while walking. This is the residential area of the port, and the streets are lined with shops of all kinds, where pedestrians come and go from time to time to buy goods for their own homes, and occasionally some children run by, adding a bit of innocence and vitality to the bustling streets.

This bustling street is called Yongjiang North Street because it is close to Yongjiang River and on the north side of the river, as the name suggests, there is a Yongjiang South Street on the opposite side of Yongjiang River, these two streets are the most prosperous streets in Ningbo Port, both sides of the street are not only full of shops, but also live in the small alleys on both sides of the street, most of the residents of Ningbo Port are also inhabited.

Zhou Zhong led people along Yongjiang North Street all the way to the west, and when they came to a small alley called Sanqing Lane, they stopped, and then Wu Shan inquired about a small vendor selling scissors at the mouth of the alley, and finally determined that this was the place they were looking for.

"Sanqing Lane, this name is weird, how does it look like the name of a Taoist temple?" Zhou Zhong looked at the name of the alley engraved at the mouth of the alley, and couldn't help muttering to himself. The New Year is coming soon, today is already the twentieth day of the lunar month, it happens to be the tenth day, the Ming court is allowing officials to rest on the tenth day of the month before and after the New Year, so it is rare not to go to work today.

Speaking of the Ming Dynasty, it is the most harsh dynasty for officials, this is mainly because Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a poor family, and he hated officials in his bones, but he had to stop officials to govern the world, so he formulated a series of harsh conditions for officials, such as not only the lowest salary in all dynasties. Moreover, the ten-day rest system of the Tang and Song dynasties was abolished. It can be said that in addition to holidays such as the New Year and the winter solstice. Officials have to go to work all year round.

However, no matter how harsh the system is, it cannot stop the corruption of officials, and since the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, the mountain that pressed on the officials immediately relaxed, for example, in terms of vacation, not only the number of days off on holidays has increased a lot, but also in the month before and after the Chinese New Year, the imperial court has also restored the system of ten-day rest. In addition, it is much easier than before to ask for leave.

Although Zhou Chong has been in Ningbo for a long time, he does not plan to spend the New Year in Ningbo, but plans to take a boat to Shuangyu Port on the day before the New Year, after all, it is his home, and Jinxuan and Bang'er are also waiting for him at home. However, in this way, he was inevitably a little calm when he rested on the tenth day, so he simply did not stay in the place where he lived, and called Wu Shan and a few others to go out to visit friends.

"My lord, Lord Tang lives in this Sanqing Alley, which is said to have been a Taoist temple in the past. It's just that it fell later, and somehow it became such a small alley. The name of the Taoist temple has also become the name of the alley. Hearing Zhou Chong's words, Wu Shan said with a smile at this time, don't look at his five big and three thick, but in fact, his heart is as careful as hair, Zhou Chong goes anywhere, as long as he has time, he will inquire about the local situation in advance, so as to avoid any accidents.

"I see!" Zhou Zhong was dumbfounded when he heard this, he remembered that in the original history, after Tang Bohu escaped from King Ning, he sighed that the world was unpredictable, and his will was extremely depressed, so he gave himself the name of "Liuru Jushi", which is said to come from the Diamond Sutra of Buddhism, and Tang Bohu does like Buddhism, but he didn't expect that he, a Buddhist, actually lived in the Taoist temple, which is really interesting.

When he first met Tang Bohu in the City Shipping Division, Zhou Chong already had the intention of visiting each other, but at that time, both of them were on official business, and the occasion was not right, so Zhou Chong just asked Tang Bohu's residence and planned to visit another day, but later the City Shipping Division was busy taking over the taxes of Ningbo Port, and Tang Bohu was the first brother in the officialdom, and he had a lot of things to learn, and he didn't even rest for the previous ten days.

The alley of Sanqing Lane is very narrow, only five adult men can be parallel, Zhou Zhong they entered the alley before and after, and soon came to a house in the innermost part of the alley, when Wu Shan stepped forward and knocked on the door, the empty sound was very eye-catching in the alley.

"Who?" I heard a crisp woman's voice in the door ask, followed by a sound of footsteps walking towards the door.

"In the next week, it's Lord Tang's colleague in the officialdom, and I'm here to visit today!" Zhou Zhong personally replied that he knew that when Tang Bohu came to Ningbo to take office, he specially rushed to Suzhou to take his wife Shen Jiuniang and daughter Taosheng to Ningbo, and now their family of three lives here.

Hearing Zhou Chong's answer, the footsteps of the woman inside seemed to pause, and then immediately sped up her pace to the door and opened the door, and when she saw Zhou Chong, she immediately saluted and said, "Tang Shen greets Lord Admiral!" ”

Zhou Zhong couldn't help but be a little surprised when he saw the beautiful woman who opened the door, and when he heard the other party's self-title, he immediately woke up, it turned out that this woman was Tang Bohu's wife Shen Jiuniang, although this woman was born in Hongchen, but she was a strange woman who dared to love and hate, Tang Bohu was able to recover under the blow of the fraud case and his wife's departure, almost all of them relied on the woman in front of him.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chong couldn't help but show a kind of respect for Shen Jiuniang, and immediately replied: "It turned out to be Mrs. Tang, Zhou Mou came to visit Lord Tang today as a private person, so don't mention the title of Lord Admiral, Mrs. just call me by my name." ”

"Gongzi Zhou is polite, Xianggong is painting a portrait of the little girl, please follow me to the living room for a while!" Shen Jiuniang is also a person with seven tricks, and when she heard Zhou Chong's words, she immediately understood, of course, she didn't dare to call Zhou Chong's name directly, so she was called a son.

Zhou Zhong heard that Tang Bohu was painting, and he was also very interested at the moment: "I have long heard that Lord Tang is a poet and painter, but I didn't expect to meet him painting today, I don't know if Zhou can enter the room to take a look, but Mrs. Tang rest assured, we only watch and don't speak, and we will definitely not disturb Lord Tang!" ”

Hearing that Zhou Zhong wanted to watch his father-in-law paint, Shen Jiuniang thought about it for a while and finally nodded and said, "That's it, Gongzi Zhou, please come with me, Xianggong and his little girl are in the study!" ”

Although the courtyard where Tang Bohu lives is not big, but it is very exquisite, the yard is also very clean, and there are a few bamboos and Yueji planted in the open space in front of the right wing, although it is winter, but because the climate in Ningbo is warm, it is still vibrant. It can be seen that Shen Jiuniang is a woman who is very good at running a family, and it is a great blessing for Tang Bohu to meet her.

The so-called study is actually the compartment on the west side of the main room, Zhou Zhong followed Shen Jiuniang into the study, and immediately saw Tang Bohu, who was dressed in civilian clothes, standing behind the desk, engrossed in painting, and opposite him, a little girl with two pigtails was sitting on a chair playing with a wooden pony, looking extremely well-behaved and cute.

Tang Bohu was extremely attentive when painting, and he didn't notice that there were a few more people in the study, but the little girl saw Zhou Chong and them, but she came in with Zhou Chong and her mother, so she didn't make a noise, Zhou Chong looked at the little girl's cuteness, which reminded him of Duo'er at home, so he also winked at the little girl, causing the other party to "giggle" and laugh.

Zhou Zhong was afraid of disturbing Tang Bohu's painting, so he walked around the desk lightly, stretched his neck to watch, and found that a lively and lovely little girl had appeared on the good drawing paper on the table, and it was about to be completed. In later generations, Tang Bohu was most famous for his portraits of ladies, although now he painted only a little girl, but he also had eyebrows, showing the style of a generation.

Zhou Zhong actually doesn't know how to paint, and even his appreciation level of paintings is very low, the reason why he is so anxious to come forward to appreciate Tang Bohu's paintings is nothing more than curiosity, after all, Tang Bohu's paintings in later generations are so sought after, but absolutely no one has seen Tang Bohu paint with their own eyes.

Tang Bohu focused on painting, and the speed of painting was also extremely fast, and after a while, he added the last few strokes of the little girl on the painting, and the result made the little girl on the painting seem to come to life all of a sudden, and the charm was exactly the same as the little girl playing with the wooden horse in front of the table.

"Good painting, I have long heard that Master Tang's painting art is unparalleled, and today I saw it really extraordinary!" Zhou Chongyan watched Tang Bohu write an inscription for the painting at the end, and finally said that he didn't know how to paint at all, but since this painting was from Tang Bohu's hand, it must be no worse.

As soon as Zhou Chong spoke, Tang Bohu was startled, and when he turned around, he found that there were a few more people in the room, and it was Zhou Chong who was the leader, which made him startled again, and immediately threw a paintbrush and bowed and said: "Subordinate Tang Yin see Lord Admiral!" ”

Seeing that Tang Bohu was so polite, Zhou Chong said with a smile: "Lord Tang is too polite, Zhou has already told Mrs. Tang before, this time Zhou came to visit in a private capacity, don't mention those titles in the officialdom, and Lord Tang and Jiayue are old friends, and Tang is still Zhou's elder, so it should be Zhou to salute Tang Daren!" ”

As soon as Zhou Chong's words fell, he heard Shen Jiuniang next to him suddenly laugh, and then said: "Zhou Gongzi keeps saying that he doesn't mention the title in the officialdom, but why does he call the prince an adult?" ”

"Huh?" Zhou Chong was also stunned when he heard this, he patronized and said that others had forgotten himself, but he didn't blame him, Tang Bohu was Wang Lun's friend, and he was his elder, but the other party was actually only in his thirties, so Zhou Chong didn't know what to call him for a while?

Tang Bohu is also a free and easy person, hearing the conversation between Zhou Zhong and his wife, he also smiled at the moment: "Since Lord Admiral said so, I don't think it's as good as this, Tang Mou is the same as Jiuniang, calling the adult Zhou Gongzi, and the adult doesn't have to care about my friendship with Brother Wang, let's talk about it, and the adult will just call me by my name!" (To be continued......)