In December of the third year of Baoyou, Zhao Jiaxin, the eldest son of Zhao Zhizhuo, the governor of Qingyuan Mansion (Ningbo), got married. Zhao Zhizhou has no great achievements in Qingyuan Mansion, nor does he have any bad deeds. The relationship between the upper and lower levels is so-so, and the connections in the court are stable. All kinds of gifts and congratulations made the Zhao family's mansion crowded.

After sending off a large number of people, Zhao Zhizhuo sat in the flower hall a little tired to rest, and his wife also went to the flower hall a little tired. The husband and wife sat opposite each other, and Zhao Zhizhuo struggled to find out the words, "How have you been doing in the past few years?" ”

Mrs. Zhao smiled, "What's good or bad, just live day by day." ”

Zhao Zhizhuo hesitated for a moment before continuing: "Jiaren has been admitted to the Jinshi, you are only afraid of being lonely if you stay in Quanzhou alone, otherwise you should come to Qingyuan Mansion." ”

"Huh." Mrs. Zhao looked at her husband and laughed a few times, "If I come, your concubines will need to be dismissed." Are you willing? ”

Zhao Zhizhuo didn't know how to answer for a while, and his wife's words seemed to accuse Zhao Zhizhuo of being lustful. God pity the man, this is completely unjust. Zhao Zhizhuo was also admitted to the Jinshi in his twenties, and then got married. The relationship between the husband and wife is not bad, they have been married for ten years and have five children. It was a very prosperous family.

However, after giving birth to Zhao Jiaren, Mrs. Zhao told the CD government judge Zhao Zhizhuo, 'I don't want to have any more children'. Then Zhao Zhizhuo took his eldest son, second son and eldest daughter to continue to serve as officials in other places. Mrs. Zhao returned to Quanzhou with her second daughter and third son.

has been separated for more than ten years, and they also met in the middle. Zhao Zhizhuo's eldest daughter and second daughter got married, and there were three times when Zhao Zhizhuo was in office during the Chinese New Year, and the family reunited at least five times. It is not uncommon for a big man with three children to be an official in a foreign country, and to find a few concubines. This also became an excuse for Mrs. Zhao to be reluctant to come to Qingyuan Mansion. Zhao Zhizhuo felt that Mrs. Zhao just didn't want to run around.

This topic couldn't be talked about, so Zhao Zhizhuo reluctantly found another topic, "You have raised Jiaren well." ”

Among the people who came to congratulate this time, everyone naturally mentioned Zhao Jiaxin's marriage, and most of them mentioned Zhao Zhizhuo's third son, Zhao Jiaren. In just one or two days, Zhao Zhizhuo mentioned the name of his third son, Zhao Jiaren, many times more than the sum of the past fifteen years.

"There's nothing to do in Quanzhou, and I'm very happy to raise him." At the mention of her son who was following her, Mrs. Zhao had a smile on her face. Then Mrs. Zhao sighed: "This child has been like you since he was a child, he is good at being an official and doing things." I went out alone when I was so old. ”

Zhao Zhizhuo can understand his wife's feelings, but he can't have a common sense of happiness. The long separation made him too separated from his two children. When he got married this time, he was repeatedly reminded of the existence of his third son, Zhao Jiaren, and Zhao Zhizhuo did not have a strong sense of pride as a father, but made him feel confused. His rationality knew that Zhao Jiaren was his son, but he was too emotionally weak. Zhao Zhizhuo knew in his heart that if his eldest son Zhao Jiaxin was admitted to the Jinshi, he would be even happier.

Weddings can't go on forever, and the process will be completed in a few days. Zhao Zhizhuo sent his in-laws, who were officials in Lin'an, back to Lin'an. As soon as the in-laws opened their mouths, they talked about Zhao Jiaren, "I wonder if Brother Zhao has any errands that you want me to recommend for Jiaren?" We are in-laws, so there is no need to hesitate to do such things. ”

Hearing his in-laws mention this, Zhao Zhizhuo sighed. The officialdom talks about the old days of relatives and friends, teachers and students, and the officials of the Great Song Dynasty need to be recommended after the grinding is over. If there is no backstage, it does not mean that there is no official to do. Zhao Jiaren was excellent in the first two years of evaluation, and he will inevitably be promoted after grinding. But a good official position must be given to people with a background first, and the end is often very bad.

Now that the grinding survey is about to begin, even Zhao Zhizhuo's in-laws have taken the initiative to intervene in this matter, but Zhao Jiaren has not moved. Zhao Zhizhuo was perfunctory to his in-laws on the surface, but in his heart he was unhappy and thought, 'Why is this kid's behavior the same as his mother?' ’

The first month of the fourth year of Baoyu came, and according to the regulations, the government took seven days off. By the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Great Song Dynasty was immersed in the atmosphere of New Year's Day. After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Zhizhuo finally couldn't stand the resigned style of his third son Zhao Jiaren. He called Zhao Jiaxin.

Hearing that his father was going to Fuqing to bring his younger brother to Qingyuan Mansion by himself, Zhao Jiaxin thought that something was wrong at first. After Dad finished explaining the reason, Zhao Jiaxin smiled: "Dad, I don't think there is any need to worry about this matter. Didn't you say that the third brother has a backer behind him? ”

Seeing that the boss was also disapproving, Zhao Zhizhuo was even more unhappy, and he taught: "You Taishan talked about Lin'an, and Ding Daquan and Dong Huai fought very fiercely. Jia Ren wants to continue to follow Ding Daquan's path, do you think it's that easy? If Ding Daquan can win Dong Huai, then it's okay to say. If Ding Daquan is defeated, your brother will inevitably be impeached by the imperial envoy. After all, your father and I have been officials for more than 20 years, and we are not all out of options. Our own affairs need to be done by our own families! ”

Zhao Jiaxin felt that what his father said made sense, but he didn't want to run to his brother like this. If his younger brother Zhao Jiaren was not prepared for a few months, Zhao Jiaxin may feel that his younger brother was unprepared. Now that things have reached the threshold, Zhao Jiaren still hasn't moved. Zhao Jiaxin felt that his younger brother must have a plan.

"Dad, we might as well wait a little longer. At this time, the imperial court had just finished assessing, and it would take time to grind and survey. The third brother has to go to Lin'an at this time, and he will inevitably pass through Qingyuan Mansion on the way, and it will be too late to find someone at that time. Zhao Jiaxin gave his father a suggestion. After getting along with his younger brother for so long, Zhao Jiaxin found that he trusted his younger brother more.

Zhao Zhizhuo also felt reasonable, he asked Zhao Jiaxin, "What happened to your second brother, I think he can really calm down when he studies recently." ”

Hearing this question, Zhao Jia's confidence suddenly became unhappy. He bluntly told his father about his second brother's lack of seriousness and fear of hard work in the flower field. Regarding the second brother's departure from the flower field, Zhao Jiaxin told his father that he had tried his best to persuade the second brother Zhao Jiali.

Zhao Zhizhuo knew about his second son's experience, and he couldn't help but nod his head again and again, "Your second brother can suffer some real hardships, only to know that everything is inferior, only reading is high." In the past, he didn't know how hard it was, he just thought it was fun. ”

After saying this, Zhao Zhizhuo felt that he used inappropriate words in his heart. In fact, the eldest son Zhao Jiaxin's character, intelligence, and knowledge are not bad. He doesn't have Zhao Jiali's frivolity, and he is calm and persistent. Originally, he should have been admitted to the lintel of Jinshiguang Gate first, but Zhao Jiaxin had an indescribable mismatch for the imperial examination, and he always couldn't get it. Zhao Zhizhuo felt that Fang Cai's evaluation of his second son seemed to be a criticism of Zhao Jiaxin.

In order to ease the atmosphere, Zhao Zhizhuo asked Zhao Jiaxin, "Are you really ready to farm?" ”

Zhao Jiaxin did not react violently to Zhao Zhizhuo's words, he smiled: "With my father and my third brother, I am not afraid that anyone will dare to make things difficult for my own family." Dad, what I'm growing now may not be profitable, so let me try it. ”

Zhao Zhizhuo knew that his eldest son Zhao Jiaxin didn't like to talk, and he dared to say that he might be able to make money, probably just make money. Just earn more and earn less. In the Great Song Dynasty, reading and becoming an official was naturally the highest, and reading and farming were also valued. He didn't mention it anymore.

After another half a month, Zhao Zhizhuo estimated that his son Zhao Jiaren should also go to Qingyuan Mansion (Ningbo). Seeing that his family hurriedly brought in the servants of his in-laws, Zhao Zhizhuo was taken aback. He thinks something has happened to his in-laws.

The servants of the in-laws looked at it and hurried away, looking like a dusty servant. handed a letter to Zhao Zhizhuo, Zhao Zhizhuo opened it and looked at it, and two sentences were written on it: "The official family is under Qin En, except for Zhao Jiaren, Fujian Road is a little prison." Lin'an shook. ”

After reading the letter, Zhao Zhizhuo's hand shook violently, but fortunately he grabbed it instinctively again, so that the letter paper did not fall to the ground.