The gate of the Shen Mansion is a brick carved gatehouse that has been very popular in recent years, and both the style and the carved ornament are extremely delicate and delicate, but it is not ostentatious at all.

Looking down from the top, under the butterfly tile and the truss is six groups of two buckets and three liters of brick carving card family, there are five different sets of decorative shapes and five different fonts between each two groups of card families, which means "five blessings".

Not surprisingly, the cries of the eldest young master and the second young master were endless. Soon, the family members enthusiastically surrounded Shen Shi and Shen Hua brothers into the house, and the door was instantly empty.

Shen Kan smiled helplessly, and was not in a hurry to go in, but raised his head with his hands behind his back, and once again carefully studied the interesting Fu characters above, and found that from left to right, he used the book inkstone, the crane turtle, Yunzhi Tuanshou, the bamboo Shou peach, and the sword chessboard as the background.

It seems that most Suzhou people like to have copper coins and silver ingots, while the Shen family uses cranes and turtles instead, so there are more auspicious meanings of family heirlooms and longevity.

The upper fang of the gatehouse is a fan, a flute, a fish drum, a jade board, and the lower fang is a sword, a flower basket, a lotus, a gourd, and it is the dark eight immortals.

Five quaint characters in the middle: "Mengxi Wuxing"

The gatehouse is made of local granite to make the door frame, with two very thick black lacquered doors, the door is pasted with clear water fine bricks, riveted with iron nails, can prevent thieves and fire.

When it comes to celebrities with ancestral surnames Shen, it is natural to count the Northern Song Dynasty scientist Shen Kuo, who wrote "Mengxi Writings", so Wujiang Shen took "Mengxi" as the county wangtang.

In order to distinguish the clan of his hometown, the old man added the word "Wuxing".

In the area of Suzhou, where there are some large families, the main entrance is generally very inconspicuous, at most the decoration is more complex than ordinary houses, and the courtyard of the deep house is hidden in the quiet small streets and alleys.

Because the Shen family is located in the countryside, the main gate is much taller than that in Suzhou City, in the past, it was to prevent bandits, but now it is probably to take precautions, and to prevent rampant robbers along the coast.

The layout of the building is completely in line with the traditional Confucian ethics, that is, the old and the young are orderly, men and women are different, there is a distinction between respect and inferiority, the upper room and the lower room, the main road and the side road, the front alley and the back river, a total of seven or eight entrances, can be described as a heavy door stacked households.

It is surrounded by high walls and patios, and it is a completely enclosed deep house compound.

The center of the whole mansion is the main hall, the place of all etiquette such as entertaining guests, the location is the most prominent, the decoration is also the most exquisite, and the style of the Forbidden City is the same, the layout is regular, symmetrical, and the central axis is very clear.

Directly opposite the gate is the wall, and the left and right are the gate house and the tea room, where outsiders can rest and drink tea. Walking in, the first courtyard is a tea hall on the left side, and a sedan chair hall on the right, which is a place for guests with status and a sedan chair man.

The second building is a spacious and bright main hall, which covers a large area, flanked by a study, a living room, a women's hall and an ear room, and further away is the annex room where the people live.

The inner house is blocked by two high walls, there is a deep alley in the middle, and the center is the Zhengluo of the head of the family, the same boxy, and the left and right patterns are quite different, and there is no direct door, in short, if you want to enter or walk out of the Shen family's mansion, you must pass through the Zhengluo entrance of the head of the family's living.

Such a layout undoubtedly reflects the idea that the head of the Suzhou family does not want the descendants to have a separate family, in fact, it is useless, even in ancient times, the first-class parents died one after another, in addition to the long house, most of the people with a little achievement will choose to move out and set up another door.

And after the death of their parents, some brothers turned the world upside down over the real estate, and as a result, the lawsuit was lost and both sides were defeated, and finally outsiders were cheaper.

Each entrance to the Shen family's mansion is composed of a group of halls, wings on one or both sides, a gatehouse of different shapes, and a patio.

Over the past ten years, it has been repaired, granite slabs have been laid on the ground, many trees have been transplanted everywhere, and many wells have been hewn out of granite or bluestone.

It is impossible for the deep house in Suzhou to be without a garden, and the garden is the most ingenious, which is generally arranged at the back of the inner house. There are also smaller gardens on both sides of the Shen family.

The laneway in the south of the Yangtze River is called Bei Lane, and the buildings are separated by Bei Lane, which is not only the passage of the whole house, but also the link between the houses, and regulates the rigorous pattern of the main house, emphasizing the prominent position of the positive and falling axis.

The garden of the Shen family took a lot of effort from the old man, the pavilions and pavilions in the garden, the winding corridors, the ponds and rockeries, the flowers and trees and the house are integrated, condensing the nature of the mountains and rivers, even if you don't go out, you can enjoy the Confucian artistic conception of living in the dust and coming out of the dust.

The most talked about by Suzhou people is that being in the street is just like living in the countryside, and they can enjoy the mountains and forests without leaving home.

In short, Shen Kan has lived for so long, and he has become more and more aware of Ouyang Xiu's "deep courtyard", and often laughs at himself and says that he is an "otaku".

Slowly dangling to the door of the main house, the family carried things in and out, and the children who dared to frolic on weekdays did not run or jump, and gathered together in twos and threes, excitedly comparing their new clothes.

Shen Kan sighed softly, the time of rare freedom was over.

These days, he hid in the house and 'read', and the elders were happy to see it, but when it came to the festival, there was a lot of everything, and the uncle personally named him.

Entering the courtyard, standing under the porch and tidying up his clothes again, he was much more serious than in front of the county school, and he didn't dare to be sloppy at all.

The little maid Caidong wore a new green skirt, and first grinned at him proudly, and then raised her hand to open the curtain.

The Shen family is not rich, they can only be regarded as a gentry and landowner at the village and town level, and there are not many people in the family, more than seven or eight people per house, and as few as three or four.

When an adult male is thirteen years old, he is no longer allowed to have maids to serve, with the exception of Shen Kan, because there is no mother to take care of him.

Cai Dong is Shen Kan's only little maid, 12 years old this year, a family of four was instructed by Shen Jiamou and his wife to take care of Shen Kan's daily life.

The little girl was thin and withered before she opened, she looked like a yellow-haired girl, and her father Shen Gui took her brother Shen Jie to the capital.

There is only one maid next to the wives of the Shen family, but the old lady has a total of four maids. Everyone was busy working on the winter solstice today, so Cai Dong was called over temporarily.

"Who gave it?" Shen Kan asked.

"Auntie, grandma." Cai Dong made a grimace, meaning that following you, he didn't even have a new dress for the holidays.

"Oh." Shen Kan touched his nose, the eldest aunt and grandmother were Shen Pan, the aunt who married into the Ye family, Ye Kecheng, Ye Ke and the brothers' mother-in-law.

The reason why even Cai Dong rewarded a new set of clothes was naturally because his aunt saw that he and Ye Ke had made a good deal.

At this time, my aunt should have gone home, Shen Kan smiled and said nothing, and walked into the house with her feet up.

The flower hall was overcrowded, the old man Shen Han sat on the Taishi chair opposite, the grandmother sat on the carved chair on one side, the uncle Shen Jiayou sat on the left, the aunt Zhou sat on the right, and the fourth aunt Sun was beside him.

Shen Shi came back from the county, provoking the sisters in the family, the nurse, and the personal girl to all throw down their work and run out of the side hall to watch.

During the holidays, no one will be angry and scold them for having no rules.

Shen Kan habitually stood in the corner, waiting for the uncle to notice him, and go out to take care of the ancestor worship after making a salute.

It is said that he has been ignored by the family since he crossed over, and everyone will feel depressed and unconvinced, and what he said today can be regarded as premeditated, and he wants to use the mouths of his brothers to improve his insignificant status to some extent.

Sure enough, several pairs of eyes looked over with surprise, obviously Shen Shi and Shen Hua had already said it, but the old man didn't even look at him.

After a while, grandmother Gu said, "Okay, okay, let's go over."

With an order, Zhou stepped forward and helped the old lady into the next door, and then a room of women followed.

Shen Kan was a little puzzled, it stands to reason that he has raised the face of the Shen family, at least the old man has to praise a few words in public, right? Why is there no movement?

It seems that in the end, the 'knowledge' is too shallow, and the knowledge is examined every day, and I don't know what to ask, and I don't dare to defend myself, and my grandfather knows his own details too well.

Otherwise, Shen Kan would not have 'saved the country with a curve', he was unwilling to run around like a steward all day long, and the only way to get rid of it was to study.

No one stipulates that you have to be promoted if you read, and you can read books for a lifetime! Then use a lot of free time to do what you want.

Just when Shen Kan was secretly entangled, Shen Shi relieved his heart, it turned out that the fifth brother's knowledge was still the same, what was the use of being able to speak the Tao? I can't even memorize a hundred family names.

After a while, Shen Han finished inquiring about the studies of his two grandchildren, was very satisfied, and said, "Go back to the room and change into new clothes, so that you can rest for a while, and you will worship your ancestors in the afternoon."

"Yes." Shen Shi agreed, took a few steps back with Shen Hua, and turned to leave.

Shen Han, who had white hair, closed his eyes and raised his mind for a moment, and asked his eldest son: "The imperial court has finally come up with benevolent government, the saint is merciful, and the tax has been reduced, but I don't know how much?"

"Probably the least is two buckets and eight liters per mu, and the maximum is three buckets and seven liters**." Shen Jiayou said.

"Good! It has been reduced by more than two buckets. Shen Han was very happy, and suddenly turned his gaze to Shen Kan, "Brother Mu, how much has the levy been assigned by each county?"

Brother Mu is Shen Kan's milk name, Shen Shi's nickname is Brother Jin, Brother Shen Huayin, Brother Shen Weiyu, Brother Shen Zhuoliu, when Shen Kan has nothing to take, the old lady said that he should simply call Brother Mu.