"Really? I don't remember. ”

Shen Kan secretly screamed that it was not good, and quickly snorted, got up and slipped away.

"When you come back, I won't finish yet."

"Gee, I have one more thing to do, let's talk about it tomorrow."

Shen Peiwei looked at the back of her brother slipping away and asked, "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing." Shen Peiwen shook his head suspiciously, "The fifth brother has changed really a lot these days, as if he has completely changed a person." ”

"When I grow up, I naturally become different, and I was just ignorant before." Shen Peiwei said indifferently.

"Perhaps." Shen Peiwen couldn't help but shake his head again.

Early the next morning, after Shen Kan got up, he opened the window first, and a ray of sunlight rushed into the house, and the overcast weather finally cleared.

The winters of this era were much colder than those of later generations, and even in Suzhou, there were often rain and snow in winter, and occasionally the temperature was even below freezing. Shen Kan speculated that in addition to the Xiaoice climate analyzed by scientists, the size of population cities may also be one of the important reasons, that is, the greenhouse effect.

The sunny day is indescribably pleasant, the sun is warm, a few sparrows are jumping happily on the fence, and the plum blossoms on the trees are even more lovely, such a fresh morning scene, Shen Kan completely forgot Shen Peiwen's suspicion last night.

Leaning on the window railing with both hands, he recited a memorized verse: "Vote for my peach, and repay it with Qiong Yao."

At the thought of learning the Four Books and Five Classics, Shen Kan suddenly lost interest. At this time, I heard the sound of subtle footsteps, the figure flashed, and Cai Dong jumped into the yard.

"Young master, there is a guest at home."

"Who is it?"

"A few aunts and grandmothers who married out of the clan."

"Oh."

Anyway, he didn't know anyone, Shen Kan didn't bother to care, closed the window and turned around and sat down.

Cai Dong came in and fetched him water first, prepared washing utensils, stood aside and said: "The lives of those three aunts and grandmothers are not good, although they are married to scholars, but one has a dead husband and lives with his in-laws; A husband who has been a prisoner for many years, after the death of his father-in-law, the whole family returned to his hometown, but he and his wife lived in Suzhou City, waiting for the township test; There is also a father-in-law who is an official who has died, and her husband is just a deputy list, and he has not been an official in Nanjing, and he has just come back for the New Year, and the life of the three families is hard. ”

Shen Kan said disappreciably: "That's better than the poor family, I don't know how many times."

"Coincidentally, it's the daughter of Dusheng." Cai Dong handed over the towel and said, "But I can't afford to hire a nurse, so I can only breastfeed myself." Just now I heard the eldest lady say in the Peony Pavilion that she wanted to teach her sisters to read in person. ”

"Big sister wants to teach?" Shen Kan became interested when he heard this, "I'll go over and take a look now, you can eat breakfast by yourself." No, I have to go in with me. ”

Early in the morning, the second uncle, Shen Jiamo, would never go to his niece's boudoir. With the winter, you can avoid gossiping.

When I arrived at Shen Peiwen's Peony Pavilion, standing outside the window, I heard someone in the room say: "We are literate, and we also want our daughter to be literate. If Peiwen is really willing to be wronged and be a Xixi, I am afraid that our family will not be able to take out the restraints, alas!"

"What else do you talk about?"

Shen Kan looked in from the window, and it was the eldest sister Shen Peiwen who spoke, and when he saw her, he said: "Don't hide it from the aunts, because my mother and the fourth aunt are entangled in all things, it just so happens that my second sister and I have nothing to do all day long, and I can't get by, so I plan to teach my sisters to read this year."

So it turned out, Shen Kan thought that she didn't want to get married, and was determined to find her own way out and teach others for a living.

Women teach women, this is a tradition in the Shen family, and it is not uncommon in ancient society. Interestingly, in the era of respect for men, women had to follow Confucian rules when teaching.

Sending children to apprenticeship must be given a bundle, that is, tuition, which is a very important etiquette, and it is also a source of income for teachers to live on, so even if the student's family is poor, they must find a way to send something.

And most women are careful and sensitive, and even if they are close, they don't want to be favored by others.

Shen Kan listened to them fighting, and several strange 'aunts' had to make up some tuition fees, and finally the eldest wife Zhou made a decision: "Okay, okay, you don't have to worry about it." Although I am poor, I can still afford this little money, not to mention what does Peiwen Peiwei want money for? Two meals a day, books, paper and ink, etc., are all spent in the public account. In fact, their sisters can't teach for long, and they are about to leave the cabinet. ”

Several aunts thanked each other repeatedly, and then the topic changed, talking about getting married, Shen Kan didn't want to listen to it anymore, so he turned his head and was about to leave.

At this time, Shen Peiwen, who escaped because of shyness, found him and said, "Don't go, I'm looking for you."

Shen Kan pretended to give a deep salute and said with a smile: "I've seen Mr."

"Don't be a fool." Shen Peiwen walked closer and said with concern: "I heard that you are helping Master Gu design the garden?"

"yes." Shen Kan nodded.

Shen Peiwen said: "Then didn't you pay attention to feng shui? If you are rash, you are not afraid that something will happen to others in the future, and you will be blamed?"

"Feng Shui ......?" Shen Kan was surprised and realized that he had been negligent.

In his opinion, the study of feng shui certainly belongs to feudal superstition, but the ancient Chinese feng shui auspicious art is indeed a kind of civilization heritage, which is profound and difficult to understand.

Shen Peiwen saw that he looked confused, shook his head and said: "I know that you don't understand this, just take the relocation of the capital as an example, many people continue to criticize, even Emperor Taizu dares to talk about it, let alone you?"

Shen Kan hurriedly said, "Please ask my sister for advice."

At this time, Shen Peiwei said: "I know this, they say that the mountain shape of Jinling does not gather, the river flows away without staying, and the Qinhuai River is a westward note, which does not correspond to the 'sand lock on feng shui', so it is not suitable to be the capital of the emperor at all." Although some people disagree, they have to admit that the feng shui of Jinling City is based on the strength of the water, and the layout of the city is a little thin, which is indeed not as majestic and thick as Beiping City. ”

"Really?" Shen Kan became more and more incomprehensible, he only knew that Jinling's purple qi had been cut off, so it was like being cursed, and almost all dynasties that had their capital here were short-lived.

Now I know that there is such a statement, in fact, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital, although the reasons are very complicated, but there are indeed feng shui considerations, but the various so-called feng shui arguments and statements of the corporal Lin are nothing more than to prove the correctness of Zhu Di's relocation of the capital.

If Feng Shui was so effective, the Ming and Qing dynasties would not perish.

Of course, the ancients attached great importance to feng shui, and Shen Kan couldn't help but be cautious.

Historically, the Ming and Qing dynasties have deliberately protected the feng shui of the north and the capital, for example, the northwest of the city is the feng shui vein of the imperial court, so the upstream of the Yuquan River was ordered to be protected, and it was forbidden to dig stones and kilns in the west mountain.

There is also Kaifeng City in the early years, it is said that the whole city is like a lying cow, so it is called the Lying Cow City. There is a Xinglong Bridge in front of the gate of the Zhou Wangfu in the city, and there are two long streets on the left and right that are said to be dragon's whiskers, and there is a mountain in the inner street of the West Gate, a mountain at the corner of the claw, and a mountain in Yishan, which is called "three mountains are not obvious" in feng shui.

In addition, the whole Kaifeng City, the east gate is northern, the middle gate is southern, the south gate is western, the west gate is upright, and the north gate is eastern, which is called "the five gates are wrong".

It is said that when Xue Lu, the Marquis of Yangwu, was ordered to build the city, the monks around him were proficient in the art of geography, and they paid great attention to feng shui in the construction of Kaifeng City.

All this led to the enthronement of Emperor Jianwen that year, there was one more reason to withdraw the domain, considering that the royal spirit of the Zhou Wangfu was too heavy, the Yin'an Palace was demolished, and several gatehouses were also demolished, and the Donghua Gate of Longshu was also banned, and the residents forcibly moved away and no longer opened.

A series of actions, according to the view of Feng Shui, the destruction of the Yin'an Hall is to remove the dragon's heart, and the destruction of the two bell and drum towers is to dig out the dragon's eye; The four-cornered stone platform is set to restrain the dragon's claws, and the soil that has been smelted by fire is taken from Zhengzhou in order to overcome water, so that the dragon cannot take off.

Donghua Gate is not allowed to be opened, the intention is to shut up the civil officials; Demolishing a gatehouse is to let the generals go to their heads.

Even the imperial court attaches so much importance to feng shui, let alone the people? Shen Kan had no choice but to humbly ask for advice.

Shen Peiwei didn't take the opportunity to make things difficult for him, and said directly with a smile: "The first thing to remember is that the big tree has a god, and the house can be illuminated by the shadow of the ancient tree, then his family will definitely prosper."

"I see." Shen Kan suddenly said, "This is what it means to enjoy the shade under the big tree." ”

"Silly brother, you listen to her coax you, tell you not to study much, in case you are beaten, you can't say a word of injustice."

Shen Peiwen said funny, and then explained: "No matter how exquisite the feng shui technique is, you must first figure out the customs of various places, and you can't do it behind closed doors, otherwise it will be a big taboo." The houses in the north like to plant more trees such as acacia willows, but we in the south pay attention to 'people living and those who go to the wood, the wood is decaying, and the soil is declining, and the soil is sick'. Especially in Fujian, it is most taboo to plant trees in front of the house. ”

"Oh." Shen Kan can be said to have opened his eyes.

For the whole afternoon, he was listening to the feng shui lectures of the two female gentlemen, and fortunately he listened, otherwise he didn't know what trouble would have happened.

The folk of the Ming Dynasty basically believe that every household has a Tai Sui, Tai Sui is the star of the year in the sky, if the Tai Sui is in the east, when the soil is prosperous, then it is not suitable to build a house, this taboo is the same all over the world.

In other words, if Shen Kan doesn't even know this, and it happens that the first business is catching up with Tai Sui in the east, then don't expect to make money from this in the future.

The orientation of the gate is also very important, and it is related to wealth and luck. To build a house, you must follow certain prodities and taboos, where you build a house, you can't build a wall first, because it will form a "sleepy" word; Before the house is built, the pond should never be dug first, because it will cause "discouragement" and make the owner's family lose their money.

If Shen Kan doesn't follow, once something happens to him in the future, he will undoubtedly rely on his head, and the lawsuit will be ruined.

The more Shen Kan listened, cold sweat gradually broke out, and then he realized the truth that interlacing is like separating mountains, but he was still self-righteous before, and almost planted a big heel as soon as he debuted.

Shen Peiwei also told him that when making a patio, he should not accumulate water in the house and pile up stones indiscriminately, because he mainly suffers from malaria, eye diseases and other diseases in feng shui. Willow trees should not be planted in front of the main gate, and big trees should not be close to the pavilion, etc., and so on.

Shen Peiwen also reminded him that Jiangnan people believe that on the day of the start of carpentry, how about divination with wooden sticks? There is the so-called god of carpentry; Others, such as masonry, bricklayers, and lacquer makers, also have their own particularities.

In short, this kind of custom is very popular in Jiangnan, because some ruined families can often find some wooden sticks that indicate disgust when demolishing old houses.

No matter where the house beams are a big thing, in the Ming Dynasty, both rich and poor families attach great importance to the ceremony of the beam, and it is necessary to find a divination person to calculate the best day and hour of the beam, in order to accumulate prosperity.

It's a pity that the second daughter doesn't have much knowledge of feng shui, but just these things, Shen Kan is even more desperate to be a designer, this money is not easy to make, let's think of other ways out.