Under the south window, there are two Huang Nanmu bookcases, Lu Tao and Zhang Ruoxi are one person, although the twenty-five-year-old Zhang Ruoxi is already the mother of two children, she still maintains the habit of developing when she was a pavilion girl, and she has to write a few big characters every time, Zhang Ruoxi is good at Han Li's "Huashan Stele" and Zhao Songxue's regular script - the two Huang Nanmu books are not put together, but separated by a few feet, there is an ebony dwarf in the gap, and there are two Xuande flowers on the several, respectively inserted begonias and Ganoderma lucidum grass, between the two flowers, there is a two-foot-high Taihu Lake stone, Lone Peak towers, although it is small, it has the state of Lingyun - Zhang Ruoxi saw his younger brother looking at this Taihu Lake stone, and said proudly: "My sister has a good eye, this Taihu Lake stone was selected by me when I traveled to Taihu Lake with Lu Lang the year before last." ”

Zhang Yuan praised: "My sister has always had an excellent vision. ”

Zhang Ruoxi smiled, poured some water on the inkstone, pinched the ox tongue ink and grinded, and said: "Sister grinds the ink for you, you will say that if you want to participate in the literary meeting, you have to bring a few of your own eight-strand essays, and then you have to write on the spot." ”

Lu Tao on another bookcase said: "Jie Zi copied the two articles of the county test and the eight shares of the fight against Yao Xiucai, and said that he would take it with him. ”

Zhang Ruoxi asked: "Is the cultural meeting still held in the Narcissus Temple?" ”

Lu Tao nodded and said: "Yes, there is a garden pavilion in the Narcissus Temple, and there are few people who burn incense, and there are many literati gatherings, didn't you go there last time?" - I can't take you there this time, my father is angry, don't brush the tiger's beard. ”

Zhang Yuan sat on the circle chair, watched his sister grinding ink, and asked, "What did my sister do last time I went to the Narcissus Temple?" ”

Zhang Ruoxi said: "That time is the Narcissus Temple Flower Notice, the Narcissus Temple is the Taihu Temple, the birthday of the Taihu God, as usual, the acting is done, the glass lamp is set up at night, the bottle is listed by the lamp, the flower arrangement, to win or lose, I pretended to be Lu Lang's cousin, helping to arrange the vase of flowers, but no one recognized me as a woman." ”

Zhang Yuan smiled: "That sister must be the first." ”

Zhang Ruoxi shook his head and smiled: "Qu is high and widowed, and his name is Sun Shan." After grinding the ink, he handed a Wuxing rabbit pen to Zhang Yuan, and said, "My sister is going to test you again, see if you have grown into words?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Didn't I write a letter to my sister last year, and my sister replied to praise my pen for making great progress - don't hide it from my sister, the letter was dictated by me and written by Xiao Wu." ”

Zhang Ruoxi couldn't help but smile and feigned: "Don't be wordy, hurry up and write." Standing behind Zhang Yuan, watching Zhang Yuan write down the four small block characters of "although he has not learned", the pen is mellow and beautiful, and he has grown better than the letter he wrote to her at the end of last year, and he can't help but be happy, he stood and looked at it for a while, his feet were a little sore, and he sat on the side of her husband Lu Tao and smiled at her brother to record the eight strands of the text, and recorded a good one, she first took it and looked at it again and then showed it to Lu Tao, and asked in a low voice: "Does Lu Lang think that the word meson can still be seen?" ”

Lu Tao knew that his wife was not asking for his opinion, but wanted to hear him praise Zhang Yuan, so he lowered his voice and praised it loudly, Zhang Ruoxi smiled with joy, but said: "Don't praise him like this, he is still young, he can't stand praise, Lu Lang's calligraphy is excellent, you have to guide him more." ”

Lu Tao said: "The way of practicing the words of Jie Zi is very right, there is no vulgarity, the difference is the accumulation of many years, and in the future, we must visit the famous family law and figure it out, and it will go further." ”

Zhang Ruoxi said to Zhang Yuan: "If you hear it, don't be proud, you have to continue to work hard." ”

Zhang Yuan responded: "I heard, isn't my sister going back to Shanyin to live for a long time this time, and urge me every day in the future." ”

Zhang Ruoxi smiled: "What, I'm afraid that my sister will take care of you when she goes back to Shanyin!" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "How come, never pretend to have stomach pain or eye pain - tsk, I wrote a wrong word." ”

Zhang Ruoxi hurriedly said: "Concentrate on writing first, don't speak." ”

The three eight-strand essays are more than 1,300 words, and they were recorded for more than half an hour, and it was already night after they were written.

Lu Tao looked at Zhang Yuan's three articles and said: "This kind of article, in Shanyin, you have to take the head of the case, and you have to take the head of the case in Qingpu, and Ming said that Jiezi wants to write the whole audience." ”

Zhang Ruoxi really wanted to see her younger brother raise his eyebrows in the crowd, but her husband Lu Tao just said that he couldn't take her there, so she didn't want to mention it again.

Zhang Yuan understood his sister's intentions, when his sister was a girl, he often took him to the City God Temple and Dashan Temple to play, and his sister was actually more playful, so Zhang Yuan pleaded with Lu Tao on his behalf, and Lu Tao was embarrassed: "Father Yan is in the hall, if it is known, I am afraid that he will be angry." ”

Zhang Ruoxi didn't want to embarrass her husband, and said: "I'm not going, just come back and tell me about Wenhui carefully." ”

…… Early in the morning of the sixth day of the first lunar month, the matter of the Shuixian Temple Literary Society has changed, and the principal Yang Xiucai sent a servant to inform Lu Tao, saying that the literary meeting will be postponed for two days, saying that the comrades of the Suzhou Fushui Mountain House Society will come to Qingpu to meet friends with literature, presumably to absorb the Qingpu Cultural Society into their Fushui Mountain House Society - Lu Tao said to Zhang Yuan: "It is better to stay for two more days, the Fushui Mountain House Society is the largest literary society in Suzhou, and there are many talents in the society. ”

Zhang Yuanxin said: "More than ten years later, Zhang Pu established the Fu Society, which was to continuously absorb small societies and grow up, and the beginning of the Wanli period was a small group formed by local scholars to figure out the literary atmosphere of the time, which is equivalent to a reading club, and the goal is the imperial examination. He nodded and said: "I can afford to wait for three or five days, I have a post delivery small survey card, and it only takes seven or eight days to return to Shanyin from here." ”

Lu Tao thought that Zhang Yuan's survey card was borrowed from the uncle who was an official in Xizhang, so he didn't ask much.

That Lu Zhaoshen said yesterday that although he said that he would not let his son Lu Tao celebrate his birthday, but Lu Tao is a child, and he still has a certain status in the county, classmates, relatives and friends handed over the greetings and sent congratulatory gifts early, of course Lu Zhaoshen has to put wine to celebrate, and the seventh birthday of the first month is said to be called after the guests gather, that is, so-and-so wishes Lu Xiucai the thirtieth birthday, one by one, this is to let the guests know which people have sent birthday gifts, with the meaning of showing off, all the guests heard the name of Shang Zhou De, and they asked who Shang Zhou De was, did he come to the banquet?

Lu Zhaoshen also felt that he had face, and said to the guests: "Shang Zhoude is the younger brother of Shang Zhouzuo, the Shaoqing of Taifu Temple, and the Huiji Shang clan has an in-law relationship with my son Lu Tao's brother-in-law——"

The guests heard that the Kuizhou stone pillar Xuanfu sent Ma Qiancheng a congratulatory gift, and they were all strange, when did the Qingpu Lu family have dealings with the eastern Sichuan Tusi? The Xuanfu envoy is a four-grade official, although the person did not come, but there is a congratulatory gift that is also very face-saving for the Lu family, but this is not Lu's bluff, talking to himself, there is no toast to give gifts at all? Lu Zhaoshen has suffered a big loss from the Songjiang Dong family recently, and wants to take this opportunity to save a little face?

Lu Zhaoshen also wondered, Shizhu Tu Sima Qiancheng, he hadn't even heard of the name, could it be that his son Lu Tao met during the township test last year?

Lu Zhaoshen asked Lu Tao to call over to ask, Lu Tao didn't know who Ma Qiancheng was, and some of the guests laughed, Zhang Yuan was about to come forward to explain, then Lu Zhaoshen was already annoyed: "Take that congratulatory gift to see if there is a post." ”

Of course, there are worship posts, it is a special worship post for the stone pillar Xuanfu Division, in addition to the tattoo silver six taels and brocade and other things, there is a gold birthday star at the bottom of the box, weighing about thirty or forty taels, from the guests are all exclaimed, this congratulatory gift can be heavy enough, forty taels of gold is worth more than three hundred taels of silver, the stone pillar toast is really bold!

Zhang Yuan didn't know that Qin Liangyu also ordered someone to put Jin Shouxing in the box, so he shook his head with a smile.

The birthday banquet lasts from noon to evening, and some of the guests must be going to the feast for three days.

At three o'clock, the wine was dispersed, Lu Tao sent the guests away, and was about to return to the side courtyard, Lu Yangfang came over and said: "Brother, my father asked Brother to go and have something to ask." ”

Lu Tao was worried in his heart, he didn't know what his father asked him, wouldn't he be angry again?

Lu Yangfang personally carried a lantern and led his brother Lu Tao through the side alley, and when he arrived at the courtyard on his side, Lu Taoqi said: "Why did you come here, father?" ”

Lu Yangfang took his brother's hand and said, "Father is happy today, he drank two more cups, and he has been helped in to rest, it is the younger brother who is looking for a brother to have something——"

Lu Tao is easy-going, and he was not too annoyed by his younger brother Lu Yangfang's fake father's order here, and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Lu Yangfang pulled his brother to the small hall to sit down, and said on his knees: "Brother, my brother has something to ask for, my brother-in-law Zhang Yuan is a servant girl, tall and vigorous, and a suitable man, my brother has no heirs so far, and I intend to accept Zhang Yuan's maid as a concubine, please ask my brother to tell Zhang Yuan, my brother is willing to buy her slave contract for fifty taels of silver." ”

Lu Tao shook his head and said: "This is not good, how can you come to the door from afar to find the truth of other people's maidservants, I will not say this for you." ”

Lu Yangfang sat there with a hippie smile and said, "Didn't I pay for her, brother will fulfill the little brother." ”

Lu Tao said: "That's my brother-in-law's personal maid, how could he sell it to you, I won't mention it again." ”

Lu Yangfang didn't give up, and said: "Then give one hundred taels, Zhang Yuan's family is mediocre, and he will definitely cut his love for one hundred taels." ”

Lu Tao said: "Don't use silver money to oppress people at every turn, Zhang Yuan has exquisite craftsmanship, and he has to make up for the students and lift people, why not send you this hundred taels of silver." Standing up, he said: "Chen Ming defected to the Dong family a few years ago, if you weren't bewitched by Chen Ming, how could Chen Ming get the land deed to go, don't think that no one knows what you did, you have a love affair with Chen Ming's wife, Chen Ming will defect, don't think about the silver desire, do more sericulture, and share the worries of the old father." With that, he brushed his sleeves and left.

Lu Yangfang saw that his brother, who had always been cowardly, did not listen to him, and taught him a lesson with the strength of wine, he was annoyed and angry, and said in his heart: "It was Chen Ming's wife Liu who seduced me, and I fell into the trap of that silver woman!" Hatefully, he swept a tea tray on the coffee table next to him to the ground and smashed it to pieces.

(To be continued)