Leaking the second drum, the moon is close to the middle of the sky, the white embankment, the broken bridge on the singers and drunkards are more and more interested, bamboo and meat are together, singing and drinking, it seems that it will not disperse until the second half of the night, Zhang Ruoxi is worried that he will be sleepy, and the wind on the lake is cold, so he ordered to return to the boat, the big boat is in front, the small boat is behind, crossing the West Lake, the sedan chair is still waiting on the east bank, lanterns and torches, crowded into the city-

Zhang Ruoxi gave her bedroom to Zhang Yuan and Shang Ran to live, the bed was new, Yun Jin and another maid waited for her aunt and Miss to go to bed, put down the gauze tent, knowing that her uncle didn't like to turn off the lights, Yun Jin only dimmed the copper bull lamp a little, and then closed the door and went outside to rest, but remembered something, pushed the door back, and said crisply in front of the bed: "Uncle, Miss, Miss Ruoxi just instructed that Uncle should cherish Miss, if you are pregnant, you can't have sex." ”

Zhang Yuan smiled and said in his heart: "My sister is really more hearty than my mother." "But it's right to think about it, my sister is afraid that their young couple will be ignorant and hurt the fetus, this is not a trivial matter, it is necessary to remind it.

Shang Ran was covered with his head, and laughed so much that the gauze trembled slightly-

The little maid Yunjin was still standing in front of the bed waiting for a reply, Zhang Yuan coughed lightly and said, "Okay, I know, you can go out quickly." ”

The small room outside was squirming for a while, and finally it was silent, and the whole small building also fell silent, at this time it was already the third watch, Zhang Yuan put his arms around Shang Ran sideways, and said: "Don't laugh, it's bad to laugh and hurt your stomach, my sister will definitely scold me." ”

Shang Ran laughed again, and Zhang Yuan hurriedly changed the topic and said, "Tan Ran, tomorrow morning, I will find a doctor to see you what tonics to eat." ”

Shang Ran stopped laughing, put his face on Zhang Yuan's chest, and said, "Let's wait until I get home." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Hangzhou is a metropolis, and it is more convenient to have a doctor who specializes in treating the relatives of the official gentry. ”

Shang Ran let out a "hmm".

Zhang Yuan reached into Shang Ran's small clothes, gently stroked her smooth lower abdomen, and sighed: "It's amazing." Suddenly, he got into the quilt and kissed it on the belly of the little life, and then kissed Shang Ran on the lips, and said, "Mother is the greatest." ”

Shang Ran smiled slightly, feeling a different kind of tenderness in his heart, he originally wanted to talk about Wang Wei, but at this time he felt that it was unnecessary, curled up, rested his head on Zhang Yuan's arm, and asked softly: "Does Zhang Lang like to give birth to a boy or a girl?" "Every pregnant woman asks her beloved man like this.

Zhang Yuan said: "Boys and girls like it, they gave birth to me, how can I not like it, well, give birth to a few more, and there are groups of children." ”

Shang Tanran ate and laughed, and after a conversation, she fell asleep in Zhang Yuan's arms sweetly, and she was indeed sleepy-

Zhang Yuan couldn't sleep for a while, lowered his head and kissed the smooth forehead, the copper bull lamp on the small case at the head of the bed was as bright as a bean, the wick was too short, and it didn't take long to extinguish, the moonlight penetrated through the west window, blending with the yellow light of the oil lamp, the moon was white and yellow, the scene was like a dream, and the pillow listened quietly, and the drum beat the three watches-

Will be a father, Zhang Yuan feels that the mood is different, there is a heavy sense of responsibility to calm his heart down, ambitious, long and long, more need to be cautious, October will enter Beijing, he will face greater challenges, will try, party strife, Liaodong war, all kinds of natural disasters [***], contradictions and entanglements will follow, tonight with the wife and concubine of the lake I am afraid there will not be too much, Jiangnan, Jiangnan, "Tao'an Dream Memories" and "West Lake Dream Search" in the memory of the beauty, is what he wants to strive to cherish to make it last forever-

……

The next morning, Zhang Yuan personally went to Qingbo Fang to invite a doctor to give Shang Ran a pulse, this doctor is in her fifties, chattered and asked a call, and gave Shang Ran's left and right hands a pulse, so he congratulated Zhang Yuan, saying that Duchess Xie Yuan was two months pregnant, and told Shang Ran to pay attention to keeping warm and not feeling cold, not to drink wine and tea, and it is best not to have intercourse, so he begged for consultation money and happy money to go back-

Zhang Yuan went to the front hall to officially report the good news to his brother-in-law Shang Zhoude, Shang Zhoude was both happy and a little worried, and said: "If I knew that my little sister was pregnant, I would never bring her to Hangzhou——"

Zhang Yuan said: "It's okay to take the boat, it's only two days, it doesn't matter." ”

Before noon, Zhang Dai, Qi Biaojia, and Wang Binglin came to visit Shang Zhoude, and asked Zhang Yuan why he was going to return to his hometown?

Zhang Yuan said: "Today is the sixteenth day of the eighth month of the leap month, and the nineteenth day is said to be let's go back together." ”

These two days, Zhang Yuan accompanied Shang Xiangran to Lingyin Temple to incense, which was specially instructed by Zhang's mother Lu, and went to play Leifeng Tower, Liuyi Spring, Geling and other scenic spots, Shang Xiangran was in a sedan chair most of the time, Zhang Yuan and Mu Zhenzhen took care of it, and they had a lot of fun-

On the morning of the 19th day of the eighth month of the leap month, Zhang Ruoxi and Wang Wei arranged the affairs related to the Shengmei Cloth Village, and returned to Shanyin with Zhang Yuan, and Zhang Dai, Ni Yuanlu, Qi Biaojia, Huang Zunsu, Zhou Menong, and Wang Binglin on the same road, a total of four white-canopy boats crossed the Qiantang River, and Shang Zhoude suddenly patted the side of the boat and shouted: "Strange thing!" Marvel! ”

Zhang Yuan asked, "What strange things did the second brother see?" ”

Shang Zhoude said: "On July 28, you set off from Shaoxing to take the exam, it was the seven of you, right, all of them were lifted, and three of them were still Jingkui, isn't this a miracle!" ”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "That's why there are rumors that my Han Society gathered 18,000 taels of silver to bribe Qian Hanlin." ”

Shang Zhoude laughed.

This incident was then compiled into a song by storytellers in eight counties of Shaoxing, and there were different teachings of "one county and three classics, and seven people on the same boat." ”

……

Four white canopy boats passed through Xiaoshan, Xiling, Qianqingyan, 21 days at dusk to Huiji, Wang Binglin disembarked at the Xinghuasi wharf, Zhang Yuan arched his hand and said: "The little brother will come to kowtow to Mrs. Wang in two days." ”

Shang Zhoude did not get off the boat in Huiji, only let a servant go back to the house to report the news, he wanted to send the little sister back to Shanyin, he was the one who picked up the little sister from the Dongzhang house in Shanyin, and naturally he had to send it back, and it was also wonderful to go to Shanyin to feel the festive atmosphere of Xie Yuanlang's homecoming, and the little sister was pregnant, which was also a great joy-

At the Shanyin Canal Wharf, Huang Zunsu and Ni Yuanlu said goodbye to Zhang Yuan and Zhang Dai, and the two of them were also like arrows, and they wanted to return to their hometown by boat overnight, and meet again in early October-

At the head of the Bashi Bridge in Shanyin City, as soon as the boat of Zhang Yuan and others docked, a sharp-eyed person at the bridgehead saw Zhang Yuan and immediately shouted: "Zhang Jieyuan is back, Zhang Jieyuan is back!" ”

Suddenly, the guys, residents and pedestrians passing by the bridge on both sides of the bridge hugged together, congratulations were endless, although Shanyin is a big county of the imperial examination, but Xie Yuan is rare after all, Shanyin has not been Xie Yuan in the past hundred years, this is the glory of Shanyin people, for a while, the Bashi Bridgehead was overcrowded, Qi Biaojia They wanted to go ashore and had no place to stand, only Wuling first squeezed ashore and went back to Dongzhang to report the news-

Zhang Yuan, Zhang Dai, Qi Biaojia, and Zhou Menong, the four new imperial examiners, stood at the bow of the boat, waved to the fathers and villagers on the shore, and said in unison: "Thanks to the blessings of the fathers and elders in my hometown, the four of us will return to our hometown, and it is incumbent on me to benefit my hometown in the future." Naturally, there was a burst of applause, and some people "crackled" behind the crowd and set off firecrackers, and a few people on the shore were almost squeezed into the river.

Zhang Yuan arched his hand and said: "Fellow villagers, please give way, so that we can go home first." ”

There was laughter at the head of the Bashi Bridge, the crowd retreated, and divided into a road, Zhou Monong, Qi Biaojia and Zhang Dai, Zhang Yuan said goodbye, and when they returned to their homes, some onlookers followed these two new imperial examination people, and more people surrounded Zhang Dai and Zhang Yuan brothers and went to the direction of Fuxue Palace, Zhang Ruoxi, Shang Ranran, Yi Ting, Wang Wei and several female dependents followed in a sedan chair, Shang Zhoude and Zong Yishan led a group of maids to escort——

In the cross street, Zhang Dai returned to Xizhang, Zhang Yuan returned to Dongzhang, and the people who followed Zhang Yuan's side accounted for the majority.

I saw a tall stone archway erected in front of the door, although the sky has darkened at this time, but the archway on the "Xie Yuandi" three big characters are clearly visible, last year Zhang Yuan made up the staff to break the door wall built up and knocked down and rebuilt, the wall door four, the wooden bone horizontal plate, fine flowers, gilt tin nails, very gorgeous——

Lai Fuxing said happily: "Young master, look, when the young grandmothers left Shanyin to go to Hangzhou on the twelfth of this month, the archway and the door wall had not yet been built, and now they have all been completed, which is great." ”

Zhang Yuan frowned and said, "Who let this archway be built?" ”

Without waiting for Laifu to answer, someone on the side replied: "This is built by the people of Liu County's engineering house, and the craftsmen must be built before Zhang Jieyuan returns to his hometown. ”

Zhang Yuan frowned, and asked again: "Who built this gorgeous door wall?" ”

"This is funded by a few squires in this county, and it can be regarded as a blessing to me-"

Zhang Ruiyang, who had half-white hair, walked out with a spring breeze on his face, followed by five or six people dressed as slaves, Zhang Ruiyang bowed his hand to the villagers and asked Zhang Yuan: "What about it?" ”

Zhang Yuan saluted his father and said, "Ran and my brother-in-law are in the back, and people can't get by." "Look at the five servants beside my father, he doesn't know any of them.

Zhang Ruiyang said loudly to the onlookers: "I said that I would hold a banquet and invite all the villagers to drink, so let's disperse for the time being, and let my father and son talk well." ”

The crowd of onlookers was full of congratulations, this one said, "Mr. Yuquan teaches his son to be a model for us", and the other one said, "Mr. Yuquan accumulates virtue and does good deeds, and the blessings are profound", and the flattery is endless-

Zhang Yuanli was silent under the archway of "Xie Yuandi", and the strange servants stepped forward to salute him, calling him young master and son with a smile on his face, he was expressionless and had no reaction-

Of course, Zhang Yuan knows that the status of the people is not comparable to the students, and the number of students participating in the township examination is limited, and they can participate in the examination indefinitely, until they are admitted or take the test until they die, if they do not want to take the exam again, they can become officials after going to the Guozijian prison, and they can become officials after they go to the prison, and they have a higher status than the tribute students, and they are well-known squires who stay in the local area.

can be called a brother and a brother with the magistrate, his status can be imagined, Zhang Yuan just didn't expect that he would encounter this scene when he returned to his hometown after half a month: the archway was erected, the door was new, and the slaves who were dedicated to him hugged each other, and his father's complacent expression was undisguised-

How can this work?

(To be continued)