One hundred taels of silver is a lot of money in this era, and it is also a huge amount of money for Shen Kan, so he really wants to earn one hundred taels of Old Man Gu in his hands.

In the face of everyone's laughter, Shen Kanhun didn't care, and said: "Uncles, don't laugh, since I dare to recommend myself, at least give me a chance to prove it, right?" The three of them walked together with my teacher. ”

Zhou Lian laughed and said, "Good, good, ambitious." Then you can talk about it, and our uncles will listen to you. ”

"Then I'll say it." Shen Kan's expression was very tidy, "This person can't live without a house, just like he can't wear clothes on his body, and clothes are expensive in the summer and warm in winter, and the house is the same." Some halls are several feet high, and the eaves stretch out far away, looking very spectacular, but they are only suitable for summer and not winter. For example, the house of the wealthy dignitaries, when you enter, it is often chilling, although it shows the power of the owner, but the tall public cave built in the house will always give the guests a bad feeling. ”

As soon as this remark came out, the big guys were surprised, although the words were plain, they were not nonsense.

Zhou Lian agreed: "It makes sense, if the host wears a thick leather jacket, but the guest is thinly dressed, of course it is rude."

"Keep talking, keep talking." Master Gu said hurriedly, Shen Kan's words really inspired him.

Shen Kan said with a smile: "The small house is simple and simple, but it is only suitable for the host to live, not for receiving guests. If you want to visit the home of a poor person, you will be infected by the low cramped house, which will make people sigh worry-free, even if the host can endure the cold, but it is not good to make the guests also lonely and cold. ”

"Exactly, exactly." Master Gu patted his thigh, "My house is too simple, it's not a way of hospitality, it's the old man who plans to repair it."

Shen Kan smiled secretly in his heart and continued: "I am young, so I can not stick to the old rules, I will personally design every place, and I will be ingenious. Of course, the construction of civil engineering, the most taboo luxury and waste, not only the common people should advocate frugality, but also the princes and nobles should also take thrift as a fashion, because the house is expensive in the exquisite rather than the gorgeous. ”

"That's not bad, you've really made a lot of progress." Shen Jiaji was very pleased, "Can you explain carefully, what is expensive in exquisiteness and not in gorgeousness?"

"If you want to learn how to plow the fields, ask the old farmers, and ask the women if you want to learn how to weave." Shen Kan's voice was lang, "I'm just an ordinary person, I only know shabby things." I think that the house should be built elegantly and innovatively, and those who like the opulent style do not really like the opulence only, but do not know how to be different at all except for adding gold and silver. For example, if two people wear two new clothes, one is gorgeous but ordinary silk satin, and the other is simple but novel and no one has ever seen it, who will attract everyone's attention? So what I'm good at is saving money and effort, even if it costs a little, it's not as good as one percent of the carving and whitewashing of those laymen. ”

"Really? Little Five, do you have such ability? The old man was not stingy with a hundred gold rewards. "Master Gu's eyes lit up, who doesn't want to spend less money and be able to decorate with a novel and chic?

Shen Jiaji said: "The words are good, but do you have real talent and real learning?"

Shen Kan chuckled: "If you don't believe it, you can ask."

Anyway, he is determined to be a top garden designer in the Ming Dynasty, and make money with this.

Master Gu preemptively asked: "The old man has always been quite distressed, how should I repair my house in order to have momentum?"

"Master Gu is talking about the undulating momentum of the garden, right?"

"Yes, yes."

"Hmm." Shen Kan thought for a while, "Houses are indeed taboo to be built like plains, not only the garden should be undulating, but the house should also be like this." However, the front and the bottom are high, and the back is high, which is a general truth, but the terrain of each house is different, and it is reluctant to do so, and it is also guilty of sticking to the problem of rigidity. ”

"So what do you say?" Old Master Gu asked.

Not only was he anxious to ask, but others also wanted to see Shen Kan's method, and urged him to speak quickly.

Shen Kan didn't make a fool of himself, and said directly: "Naturally, there are ways to adapt measures to local conditions, such as building houses in high-lying places and building buildings in low-lying places, which is a way. Or in the low-lying place stacked lake stone to make rockery, in the high-lying place to drain the pond, waterfall, this is another way. There are also places that can be made taller, such as building pavilions and mountain peaks on steep slopes; Or make the lower place lower, such as digging a pond and sinking a well in a low-lying and damp place. In short, there is no fixed law for the way of architecture, it all depends on personal comprehension, which cannot be taught by others. ”

"Makes sense." Master Gu nodded frequently when he listened, and then muttered: "Jiangnan Garden is the first to borrow the scenery, the old man sincerely asks for advice and advice, if you say it well, then I will ask you to host it now."

Shen Kan said: "Yes, the most wonderful garden is often the most particular about borrowing scenery, the so-called 'Mount Meru is hidden in mustard seeds', with a limited pattern to magnify the infinite scenery. I will make a kind of virtual window to enjoy the mountain view, called 'size window' or 'unintentional painting', the mountain can be used as a painting, and the painting can also be used as a window, but it only costs a few taels of wages. ”

"Wonderful!" Old Man Gu thought about it for a while, and suddenly made up his mind, "Then this time I will bother the virtuous nephew." ”

"Slow." Shen Kan waved his hand, "I'm just good at modifying and designing, and building a house brick by brick is not my specialty, so I have to invite experienced craftsmen." ”

"Haha, that's nature." Old Man Gu laughed, "The old man is very much looking forward to the ingenuity of the virtuous nephew. ”

Zhou Lian smiled: "If it's really everyone, then I will also invite Brother Mu to ponder for my family."

"It's a kid after all, don't be surprised if you don't cultivate well." Shen Jiaji hurriedly reminded.

"Not really." Old Man Gu had a long beard in his hand, "I can say so insightfully with just one sentence, I believe that Brother Mu is a genius in this regard." ”

"I hope so." Shen Jiaji couldn't help but smile bitterly, he didn't believe that Shen Kan would repair the garden, but he just wanted to imitate the old man.

At this time, Mr. Li walked in from outside, wearing a corrugated hat crookedly and carrying a whip to drive a donkey in his hand. As soon as he entered the door, he arched his hand to everyone and sat on the upper seat.

No one felt rude, because they knew each other too well. This Li Zongjia has been living in Shenjia Village, and his daughter is married to Zhou Lian's son, who is nosy and diligent by nature, and was jointly recommended by the squire to be the town's chief Jia last year, so the whole family moved to the town.

"Wine and meat monk, unsaddle my donkey, take more beans to feed, and I have to rush to the city overnight."

After instructing the monk, Li Zongjia hammered his waist and said, "We are not as happy as you are farming now." Which of the three classes and six rooms in the Yamen of each county in the New Year did not send a post? Why don't I go to celebrate the holidays? I rode that donkey all day long, and just now I was blocked by a blind guy, and I didn't wipe it for a while, and this waist was about to fall apart. ”

Zhou Lian said: "On the third day of the Lunar New Year, I prepared a banquet and planned to invite my in-laws, I think it was too late?"

"Difficult." Mr. Li, who kept beating his waist, bared his teeth from time to time, "It's not the New Year yet, how can I have an idle day for more than ten days in a row?"

Shen Kan went out to help the great monk bring in the refreshments, set up two tables, and then heard Shen Jiaji ask, "How did you spend this year?"

Li Zongjia said: "This year's harvest of grains, every family in the county and village is raising dragon lanterns, how can the county have the time to look around to see a few lanterns?" Live your own life behind closed doors, and spend less money. But I said that you must not build Ao Mountain, and provide more sesame oil to the gods and Buddhas, so that your Shen family's great cause will naturally be more, and the rest of your families will be done. ”

Everyone nodded, the expenses of the New Year could not be saved in any way, so Shen Jiaji made half of it on behalf of the Shen family, and the rest of the families also paid the silver, a total of thirty or forty taels written on the paper.

After discussing the business and eating tea, Zhou Lian said: "The child is older, the Mengxue Hall is not suitable, I want to invite a gentleman this year to make a school in this temple."

Several villagers chimed in, "We also have children who want to go to school, so it's great to be able to study in the village." ”

Shen Kan listened quietly, similar to the Shen family, the Ye family, and the Sun family, basically have a set of family education methods, to put it bluntly, it is a way of learning to specialize in imperial examination articles, not only have famous teachers and parents, but even the woman who is a mother also has a high level of cultural accomplishment, and the whole family is a university hall, and the general scholarly family obviously does not have.

Historically, the Wuxing Shen Ye family not only produced generations of literati, but also the prosperity of talented women, under the words and deeds of their parents, they promoted the erudition and versatility of the children of the two families, and also formed a virtuous circle from generation to generation.

Education costs money, and famous teachers need luck, and if you have a free famous teacher at home, if your father unfortunately dies, and your mother and even your sister-in-law and sister-in-law, you will win at the starting line.

The ancestral teachings of the Shen family, you can see between the lines that the ancestors have earnestly taught and worked hard for their children and grandchildren, repeatedly emphasizing the importance of reading and educating future generations to the development of the entire family, no matter what talent the children and grandchildren are, they should be educated, of course, all this is for the final imperial examination to become officials.

Shen Kan didn't know that many prominent families since the Song and Yuan dynasties had precepts passed down from generation to generation, as well as many mysterious articles on the imperial examination, which were secretly passed down from generation to generation.

The Shen family has such a thing, several generations will study for a lifetime, participate in the process of participating in the imperial examination, summarize all aspects of experience, and leave it to future generations to learn, which is equivalent to leaving a precious game cheats.

In short, there is such a phenomenon in almost all cultural families, and all the knowledgeable families in Jiangnan attach importance to education, so that future generations can hold a certain degree of Confucian knowledge and cultural literacy, so as to rely on the accumulation of family knowledge, their own efforts and abilities, the imperial examination is admitted, and then continue to maintain the status of the family.