Baozi River is not a river, but a depression in the southeast corner of Chongwen Gate, rainwater accumulates, forming several long lakes of large and small sizes, many high and weeping willows on both banks, the lake water is clear and fresh, the forest is bright and beautiful, there is a pleasing scene all year round, the rich gentry of the capital are happy to build villas and gardens here, Zhang Lianfang spent eight thousand taels of silver two years ago to build a mansion on the north bank of the Baozi River, it is completely the architectural style of Shanyin, the hall is three, the steps are Langlang, the old trees are forested, the cloister rockery, the painting pavilion is hazy, the gold is painted and dyed, the carving is exquisite, At this time, although it is the middle of winter, the pavilions and pavilions are hidden among the ancient cypresses of the bamboo and bamboo, and they are still beautiful and deep.

Near noon, Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan took a car to the bank of the Paozi River, and saw that there were people on the frozen lake who were dragging ice beds and playing, Zhang Dai said with great interest: "In the afternoon, we will also play on the ice, this fun is not something we have in the south of the Yangtze River - Jiezi, you won't worry about the country and the people so that the amusement is free, right?" ”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "It's fun to be happy, what's the use of I'm just worried about death, how much ability to do as much as I can, the disaster situation in Shandong is for now, I have tried my best, if you insist on a three-year-old child with a sledgehammer, it will hit yourself." ”

Zhang Dai praised: "Jie Zi is like a mirror in his heart, Uncle Zhong is too worried. ”

Zhang Yuan asked, "What is Uncle Bao Sheng worried about?" ”

Zhang Dai said: "Uncle Zhong said that if you raise a child, don't do too much, the edge is too strong and people are jealous, Uncle Zhong is worried that you can't control the situation of Fu Que Shangshu, but now it's very good." ”

The two brothers entered the mansion of Uncle Zhong Zhang Lianfang, and Zhang Yuan turned back to Mu Zhenzhen and said, "Follow me." ”

Mu Zhenzhen's body was tense and a little nervous, she had just heard that Dong Qichang and Dong Zuchang's father and son also lived on the bank of the Paozi River, what did the young master mean by telling her to follow closely, could it be that the people of the Dong family would be unfavorable to the young master here?

Mu Zhenzhen followed Zhang Yuan and lifted the curtain into the hall, and suddenly realized that it was two worlds, the water outside the curtain was dripping into ice, but the inside of the curtain was as warm as spring, and he suddenly understood that the young master didn't want her to wait stupidly outside to be frozen-

The house is full of friends, full of laughter, Zhang Lianfang likes to make friends, and has money, the house is often full of guests, the wine in the bottle is not empty, seeing Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan coming in, Zhang Lianfang got up and asked a little about the joint disaster relief, nodded, turned to the friends in the hall and said: "Everyone, look at my Shanyin Zhang's junior talents, Jiangnan is unparalleled, and there is no boasting." Smiled and motioned to Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan to introduce themselves.

Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan Tuantuan said:

"Shanyin Zhang Dai and Zhang Zongzi have seen all the sages."

"Shanyin Zhang Yuan and Zhang Jiezi have seen you all first."

There are a total of seven literati and Confucian scholars here, all of them got up and returned the salute, not daring to claim to be their predecessors, Zhang Lianfang's two nephews were only weak and had already raised people in high school, and they may be young jinshi two months later, how dare they hold it up, not to mention that Zhang Yuan's current reputation can be said to be like thunder, often walking by the Baozi River, how could he not know that Dong Qichang was disgraced by Zhang Yuan and avoided from Songjiang to the capital, and two of these seven people have a close relationship with Dong Qichang-

Zhang Lianfang introduced his seven friends to his second nephew, these seven people are not famous people who are good at poetry, calligraphy and painting, or masters in music and Go, and they are all members of the "Gimmick Society", which is a society formed by Zhang Lianfang in Beijing.

Among these seven people, Zhang Yuan has heard the names of two people, one is Shen Defu, the word Huchen, who wrote "Wanli Ye Gets Compiled", and has a wide range of knowledge, and the other is a year of literature, the word Bailing, the first master of Go in the late Ming Dynasty, and when he was eleven years old, he was instructed by Bailing for a few days in chess skills-

Shen Defu is short in stature and has witty words, while Guo Bailing, who is in his twenties, is a person who sits in a blank manner, and looks out of place in a group of scribes who are full of jokes, but he is just a person in the gimmicky society, Zhang Lianfang said to Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan: "Don't look at Brother Bailing, he is often a blockbuster." ”

Zhang Dai said: "Wait a minute, let Jie Zi and Mr. Guo play a game of chess, Jie Zi chess is strong." ”

Zhang Yuan hurriedly said: "How dare you, Mr. Guo is a national player, and he is just having fun in his spare time." ”

Zhang Lianfang knew that Guo Bailing's chess skills were not something that ordinary people could understand, and they and Guo Bailing had to accept more than five sons, and said: "The first master in the capital is Lin Fuqing, Bai Ling has always wanted to challenge him, but Lin Fuqing ignored his high status, thinking that the young Bai Ling wanted to borrow him to become famous, I want to become Bai Ling, and prepare to set up a gambling color pattern silver one hundred taels in Longfu Temple next year, so that Bai Ling will challenge Lin Fuqing, Lin Fuqing will definitely agree to the game for the silver, every game, five games in a row, who do you think can win?" ”

Shen Defu and they know that Lin Fuqing is powerful, he has been in the capital for 30 years, facing famous players from all over the world, no one is invincible, and he is a rising star, but after all, he is still young, I am afraid he is not Lin Fuqing's opponent, because of his face, he did not answer with a smile, only Zhang Yuan said with certainty: "It must be Mr. Guo's victory." ”

Guo Bailing glanced at Zhang Yuan in surprise and said, "Zhang Xie Yuan will be in high school next spring." ”

Zhang Lianfang laughed and said, "The two of you have praised each other - serve wine and start a banquet." ”

At the beginning of the banquet, everyone sat down, Zhang Lianfang saw the beautiful Hu maid following closely behind Zhang Yuan, so he asked Zhang Yuan who this woman was?

Zhang Yuan said: "It's the concubine of the little nephew." ”

Zhang Dai added: "Strong martial arts and loyalty. ”

Zhang Lianfang said with a smile: "Since it is the concubine of the original nephew, then go to the inner courtyard to have dinner with my concubine." "If it's a maidservant, she can only go to the kitchen to eat, Zhang Lianfang's concubines are in groups, and they are jealous every time, which is very lively.

Mu Zhenzhen looked at Zhang Yuan with dark blue eyes, Zhang Yuan smiled: "Go, don't be afraid of people laughing at your large amount of food, just eat." ”

Mu Zhenzhen blushed and followed a little maid into the back hall.

Here Zhang Yuan and Uncle Bao Sheng and his friends drank and joked, and before two moments, Mu Zhenzhen came out, Zhang Yuan asked her if she had eaten, she nodded, and the little maid who came out with her covered her mouth and smiled, Zhang Lianfang asked the little maid what she was laughing at?

The little maid said: "This sister went in, and the ladies talked around her, but this sister didn't know what to say, so she just ate the vegetables, hehe." ”

Mu Zhenzhen burped again, and his face was so red that he was about to drip blood.

Zhang Lianfang said with a smile: "My concubines are also good, I married them all in Yangzhou, Datong, and Yanjing, and these Jiangbei ladies bully us Shaoxing people are countrymen." ”

Talking and laughing, after the banquet, Zhang Lianfang had a lot of tricks, and asked the servant to carry up a big stone that he bought for fifty taels of silver in Wang Gongchang, weighing more than thirty pounds, oval, without sharp edges, just like ordinary riverbed gravel, solemnly placed on a piece of iron pear wood natural table, Zhang Lianfang smiled and looked at everyone-

Zhang Dai knew Uncle Zhong's vision, Uncle Zhong did not do business in Beijing, did not buy land, did not put money in prints, but there was an endless amount of silver, why, with his brilliant vision to identify calligraphy and painting antiques, the wealth was rolling, Uncle Zhong spent fifty taels of silver to buy such a big stone is by no means like Yanke crazy and indiscriminately making money, there must be his reasons, and immediately joked: "Uncle is generous, and it costs fifty taels of silver to buy a piece of Taihu stone." ”

"Is there such an ugly Taihu stone?" Zhang Lianfang laughed and said: "When I bought stones in Wang Gongchang, another person fought with me, I paid twenty taels, he paid twenty-one taels, I was too lazy to rub my tongue with him, and directly mentioned fifty taels, and the man said You buy it, you buy it, I will buy it-did the people here laugh at me Zhang Baosheng is a fool?" ”

Shen Huchen said with a smile: "How dare you, Brother Baosheng is a bit of a stone into a golden hand." ”

Guo Bailing looked at the stone and said: "In my hometown of Wuxi, this stone can be used as an urn to make pickles. ”

The crowd laughed.

Zhang Lianfang asked the servant to carry the iron pear wood table and the expensive big stone to the courtyard outside the hall, it was the end of noon, although the weather was cold, but the light was direct, a little warm, everyone looked left and right, this stone reflected the color and there was nothing strange, Shen Huchen said: "I didn't see the jewelry, Brother Baosheng, hurry up and order it, it will become a gold." ”

A bucket of water had already been placed on the side of several cases, Zhang Lianfang picked up a ladle of water and said, "Everyone, take a closer look. He poured water from the ladle on the stone and asked, "Do you see anything?" ”

Everyone shook their heads.

Zhang Lianfang poured another ladle of water and asked, "Did you see anything?" ”

Everyone still shook their heads, isn't it just a stone, could it be that flowers will grow when watered, Shen Huchen said with a white breath: "The stone is about to freeze." ”

Mu Zhenzhen whispered in Zhang Yuan's ear: "Young master, the moment the maid saw the water flowing from the stone surface, the crack in the stone glowed green. ”

Zhang Lianfang heard it, his eyebrows moved, and he said with a smile: "Good eyesight, your little concubine has good eyesight, it is this bit of green light, such as the green of the parrot and grandmother's gemstones, I dare to conclude that there is a good jade in this stone, which is worth no less than three thousand gold." ”

Everyone said "wow", the stone bought for fifty taels of silver was worth three thousand taels of silver in a blink of an eye, and Zhang Baosheng had a way to make money.

In the face of everyone's amazement, Zhang Lianfang remained silent, that is, a jade worker came in, opened the stone on the spot to take the jade, Zhang Lianfang intended to show off in front of everyone, the jade worker was waiting for a long time, not half an hour, a piece of water jade with a stone skin of seven or eight catties appeared in front of everyone, Zhang Lianfang said: "I will carve a dragon tail and a cup, three thousand gold is more than enough." ”

Everyone admired Zhang Baosheng's eyesight, this thirty-pound stone is really thirty pounds of gold.

Although Zhang Yuan was also amazed, he said in his heart: "The late Ming people were extravagant, and many useless things were sought after at sky-high prices, and the rich people didn't know where to use their money. ”

Zhang Lianfang and Shen Huchen went back to the hall to drink tea, Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan took Feng Hu and Mu Zhenzhen out of the back garden, Zhang Lianfang's garden is a long and narrow lake about 50 zhang long and about 10 zhang wide, at this time the lake is frozen, a large piece of solid ice is crystal clear, there are two ice beds dragged by manpower, sliding quickly on the ice surface, dragging a round trip from south to north for only six yuan, a group of children are competing to ride, this is also the poor people in the winter to earn some money to support their families, Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan take an ice bed together, let people drag and run two back and forth, Zhang Yuan was not happy to sit on the ice bed, and tied a non-slip bristle strap on his leather boots, he dragged Zhang Dai to run for a while, Zhang Dai laughed, and let Zhang Yuan sit on him to drag the ice bed, and asked Mu Zhenzhen and Feng Hu to also come to play together, played for half an hour, skated countless wrestles, and did not feel cold at all, Zhang Yuan thought that Ming called Jinglan and Jinghui sisters to come here to play-

In a garden on the other side, the pale and clear Dong Qichang was draped in a big hat, holding a hand stove, beside him was Dong Zuchang, the father and son looked at Zhang Dai's Zhang Yuan playing on the ice dozens of zhang away through the gap in the fence, Dong Zuchang hated and said: "They are playing hotly." ”

Dong Qichang didn't say a word, squinting at the slightly puffy eye bubbles and just watching.

Dong Zu often said: "If Zhang Yuanchun is proud, then our Dong family is afraid that we will not be able to turn over again, and my father is old-"

Dong Qichang snorted, glared at his son, and said, "You waste, you can't worry about your father at all, you have to go to everything in person." ”

Dong Zu often said: "It's because my father doesn't worry about my son, a few days ago, the Gongyuan people-"

"Shut up." Dong Qichang shouted: "Don't mention it to anyone, do you hear it?" ”

"Yes." Dong Zuchang lowered his head.

……

Zhang Dai heard Uncle Zhong say that the garden on the other side was Dong Qichang's villa, pointed it out to Zhang Yuan, and said, "Teacher Qian's mansion is not far from here, should we visit now?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "I said that there is no preparation for the ceremony today, let's go tomorrow, and Teacher Yang will also go." ”

At the beginning of the afternoon, Zhang Dai asked the carriage to send Zhang Yuan and Mu Zhenzhen back to the East Fourth Archway, and the old servant of the Shang family answered the door: "Aunt Zhang, several people came to visit Aunt Zhang today, the post is here, and there is another person who has been waiting here." ”

While speaking, a person walked out of the hallway and said to Zhang Yuan: "Zhang Gongzi, the little one has been waiting for a long time." It was the little chamberlain I saw outside Chaoyang Gate yesterday, who was not dressed in the palace and pretended to be a scholar.

The old servant of the Shang family said: "This little brother came here before noon and has been waiting for more than two hours. ”

Zhang Yuan hurriedly said: "I went to the household yamen early in the morning, sorry, sorry." He pulled Xiao Gao to the side and asked in a low voice, "Did Gonggong Zhong ask you to come to see me?" ”

Xiao Gao smiled bitterly: "It is Gonggong Zhong who wants the little one to come and invite Zhang Gongzi to meet, no matter what time it is, he has to wait until Zhang Gongzi, so the little one has been waiting here, and it doesn't hurt to wait a little longer, that is, Gonggong Zhong has been waiting in the house by the sea in Shicha, and after leaving the palace for so long, Gonggong Zhong must be very anxious, and he will blame the villain for not being able to do things." ”

Rich and powerful eunuchs often set up a house outside the imperial city, this is not unusual, although Zhong Benhua is not greedy, but he has been the prime minister of the Hangzhou Weaving Department for several years, and has accumulated a lot of savings.

Zhang Yuan said: "I'm really sorry, if I see Gonggong Zhong, I will definitely explain, Gonggong Xiaogao, then let's go now." ”

Before going out, Zhang Yuan looked at the famous posts left by the other two visitors, one was his senior brother Xu Guangqi, and the other was signed by Quanzhou Hong Chengchou.

Zhang Yuan's eyebrows raised lightly, and he said in his heart: "Hong Chengchou, I have been famous for him for a long time, what did he do when he came to see me?" ”

……

Xiao Jinghui heard that Zhang Yuan was back, and rushed out of the second gate, but the old man said that Aunt Zhang had gone out with someone else.

(To be continued)