Seeing off the gentry who came to the meeting, Yu Dengshui breathed a sigh of relief, turned around with a smile from the entrance of the hall, raised his hand to Ma Erzi and Dou Guangnai, and said, "It's a loss to you two!" Otherwise, today's piece of iron that is not red has to be beaten - in this room, empty, full of phlegm traces of melon seed skin, go, go to the West Flower Hall to sit, warm and bright. I also have a jar of old Huadiao 40 years old, let's talk while eating...... Zhao Tiangui, Master Ma, have they come back? He told the two of them to get up, and turned to the official who was carrying the teapot.

"Nope!" The official named Zhao Tiangui replied with a smile, "It's snowing so hard this time!" Don't eat wine and enjoy plum blossoms somewhere......" Yu Dengshui was stunned for a moment, and said somewhat disappointedly: "I calculated that they should have come back a long time ago." In this way, I don't dare to accompany the two of you in the yamen. In this way, the snow is big anyway, people don't stay guests, Lao Ma accompanies Lord Lan Qing in the flower hall just eats and drinks and talks, I go out for a walk, let's invite a few friends to have a night of joy tonight. ”

Dou Guangnai is a person who doesn't like to socialize, and he is just perfunctory in the world, because he said with a smile: "I came from Hongqiao Lingdi Temple and ate more than a dozen crispy Yangzhou spring rolls, and I was not hungry at all." Since adults have official duties, why bother with the yali again? It's better to disperse, Nanjing Ji Zhongtang sent a letter, asking me to go over to introduce me, just bother your government to collect the books they lent, pack them, and prepare to send them to Beijing, and I have nothing else to explain. "Say goodbye. Ma Erzi asked, "In this kind of weather, what is the matter with Fuzun going out?" ”

"I look at this snow-" Yu Dengshui turned his head to look out, "Yangzhou hasn't met in ten years, right?" The heavy snow closed the door, to prevent the desperate households from freezing to starvation, and some houses could not afford to blister and snow pressure, Master Ma and a few of them went out and didn't come back, I was a little worried, I had to go out for a walk. Ma Erzi smiled and said: "Your mansion really loves the people like a son - I mean, there are still officials like you now?" Yu Dengshui said: "There is also a private intention stirred in it, and the prince has already arrived in Yangzhou, and the provincial feudal department and the secretary of the school have come to greet him, and there are the guards and eunuchs who have stepped on the border defense in advance, and the Shangshu waiters of the department are all in the city, and the last one missed, and the reputation was immediately heard of ninefold!" Dou Guangnai said: "No matter who comes to Yangzhou, this is your mission, you go and do your business - we are also scattered." ”

Here, the fish boarded the water and went out from the main hall, and Ma Erzi pulled Dou Guangnai to the east stable, but it was Zhao Tiangui who guided him, in order to avoid the snow, not from the patio, and used the key to open the lock of the east wing of the Qinzhi Hall and came out of the hall, and it was next door to the tea furnace room in the east stable. Zhao Tiangui went out to greet Ma Erzi's pannier and Dou Guangnai's donkey. Ma Er's nephew saw that the donkey was brought with his big mule, as small as a big black dog, and said with a smile: "You have already released the supervision of the imperial history!" Now that the prefect is sitting in a sedan chair when he goes out, you ride such a dog like a donkey! Let's sit in my pannier - lead Lord Dou's venerable horse to follow! Dou Guangnai hesitated for a moment, and saw that the snow on the ground had accumulated half a foot, and the snow was still dancing and falling wildly, falling endlessly, and then riding a donkey was not only invincible, but also that "riding a donkey to appreciate the snow" Yaxing may not be able to mention it, such weather, sitting on a large sedan chair with glass curtain felt like Ma Erzi, and enjoying the snow through the window is really useful, but it is a pity that it is Ma Er's nephew......

"Let me tell you a word," Ma Erzi seemed to guess his thoughts, and said with a smile, "No matter the officialdom literary mall, it can be said to be Vanity Fair." Which field is also the clear self-purity, the turbidity of the turbidity. You debated with Wang Pingle (Wang Wenshao) in the Hanlin Academy, and said that 'gentlemen and villains are divided, and there is only one heart'. That's there, right? With just these few words, Dou Guangnai felt that he could be in the same sedan chair with this person, and said with a smile: "Don't think that I am deaf and blind, aren't you also a Texas salt road - I will teach the observation road to patrol and watch the wind, and the emperor has a decree on the record, which is not known for the time being, you don't want to say it when you meet people." ”

Ma Erzi laughed when he heard it. But see the two sedan chair men set the saddle, pull off the shelf legs where the pannier is placed, the sedan chair driver on the side of the willow concave sedan bar behind the side, aimed at a groove in the middle of the pannier saddle to embed the leather rope in, and lift the front bar, but only three feet long sedan bar, the mule is thousands of training, automatically retreat to the leather rope sleeve, the sedan chair man let go of his hands, the sedan chair has been steadily stopped. A small guy braved the snow to pick up the lion rolling hydrangea cotton curtain of plywood cotton black market cloth, but there were two seats in the front and back, and there was a set of tables in the middle car window. Ma Erzi took the first step into the front seat, stretched out his hand to let Dou Guangnai sit in the back seat, and said, "Get up!" The pannier sedan chair slid out as if it had been gently pushed by someone in the snow. Ma Erzi was very blessed, first handed Dou Guangnai a hand stove, and shook off the hot towel simmering outside the hand stove, "Lan Qing, wipe your face with a hot towel." He took out a silver bottle with a cotton sleeve tightly covered from the corner of the seat, poured a cup of hot tea and put it in front of Dou Guangnai, and shook open an oiled paper bag, and there were a few small packets inside, and unfolded, what sauce beef strips, marinated mouth strips, fennel beans, osmanthus plum loaf cakes...... It was all available for drinking. Ma Erzi spun a bottle of "Taohechun" wine, smiled and said to Dou Guangnai, who was stunned: "Lan Qing, you are a noble person. You and I are not all the way. I eat the food I earn, and I eat the food that I earn. You are a phoenix, you don't live in the sycamore, you don't drink in the spring, and you don't eat the yellow 'neem food'. What about me? To help the world is to steal the water of the spring, and you will drink it by pinching your nose. Originally, 'the Tao is different and does not conspire with each other', we have no fate. In your heart, you may not be able to afford to look down on me, who is another 'imperial businessman', and pays for a Taoist platform under the guise of it. Today, heavy snow has squeezed us under this sedan chair. Pack a ticket with you, although this meat and this wine are people's fat and people's cream, but it is also bought with the clean money of the hard operation of my shopping mall - eat wine on the sedan chair, enjoy the snow through the glass and win, this Qingfu is only afraid that the most elegant celebrities in Yangzhou may not be able to enjoy it! …… Just eat, drink, and enjoy, let's go around the city, and the fate of getting off the sedan will be over. You still go to be your Qing official, and I still go to tinker with my porcelain antique silk tribute, how about it? ”

"I'm not a 'phoenix'." Dou Guangnai laughed secretly in his heart by what he said, leaned firmly on the felt cushion of the car, looked at the confused sedan chair, his eyes were a little confused, and he raised a cup of Tao Hechun handed by Ma Erzi and swallowed silently, as if he was tasting the aroma of wine, and seemed to be spicy with strong wine, pursed his lips and said, "It's just that the fox society rat in the city is too fierce." If you are a little more decent, you will be regarded as a rarity. Compared with Guo Xiu back then, the kind of Zheng Zheng style, who dared to criticize the dragon scales in public in the Ming Hall of the Son of Heaven, and argued with a Ming monarch like the Holy Ancestor, I can't compare at all, and I don't see anyone with such a famous minister's style. I have read all the twenty-four histories, and it seems that the current situation is not similar to any other dynasty. The multiplication of life and industry is unprecedented, and the merger of land and land without a place to stand is unprecedented. The wisdom of the Lord and the ability of the Superior Minister are unprecedented, and the corruption and bribery in the dark are rampant, and the flies and dogs are in a mess, which is also unprecedented. The world is unprecedentedly peaceful, and the Taiping world has repeatedly raised troops and been defeated, which is still unprecedented! I can't get a hook...... Everyone is a scholar and comes out to be an official. If you become an official, you will become a group of ghosts and ghosts - my master's four books, my master's spring and autumn righteousness, don't they all work? ”

Ma Erzi held the wine glass and half-knelt on the sedan chair without saying a word. But seeing the wind and snow outside the sedan car is even more blurry. The water vapor on the glass condensed and beads fell down in rows. The scenery outside is vague and unclear. After a long time, he sighed lightly and smiled: "I have also read a few history books. I'm not afraid of you laughing, fourteen into school, fifteen middle school, "Lisao" can be solved, "I Ching" can be read, and the pre-Qin Zhuzi articles and sentences can be read and broken, and the same can't see through today's world. Since the dynasties, only the land and grain taxes have been talked about, but now it is Asia and Europa, clocks and watches, porcelain and spices, and foreign countries have heard that there are railways and trains, and I have also seen steamships! This is something that was not seen in ancient times, and it is unpredictable, and it is like a kaleidoscope. You think, the book of Sage Confucius doesn't talk about how to practice in a kaleidoscope. The silver of the white flowers flowed through the sea under the black eyes, how many of them could be held like Yan Yuan and Zeng Shen, and how many men were like Liu Xia Hui, who were not messing up? Come, drink – whatever! Don't you hear that 'the water of the waves is clear, and you can wet my hair; The water of the waves is turbid, you can wet my feet'! Come ......"

The sedan chair shook for a while, the mule in front seemed to have encountered some difficulties, and stood suddenly, the mule behind did not know, arched hard, and the wine in the cup spilled out, Ma Erzi was stunned, picked up the felt curtain and stretched out his head to go out and scolded with a smile: "Your grandmother's!" How do you get a mule? When Dou Guangnai turned to wipe the water stains off the glass, two or three mules had already arrived in front of the sedan chair and were moving something. Ma Er's nephew's eldest follower had already come over to reply, wiping the snow on his head and face, and said: "If you go back to your master, one has frozen here, and the snow has covered it." Fortunately, it was a mule sedan chair, and if it was a sedan chair, it would have been cut off at waist length...... This person is really, everyone else is lying on the edge of the road, and he just pouted straight into the ruts on the road......" Ma Erzi didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and jumped out of the sedan chair with the curtain. Dou Guangnai also followed.

Looking at the glass in the sedan car, the flying flowers outside are like velvet and falling, and when you come out, you will know that the cold and warm world inside and outside are very different. The two warmed up the sedan chair and drank wine, warmed up and got off the sedan chair, a cold wind blew on their faces, and the snow on the top of the sedan chair was wrapped around their necks, all of which were shivering all over their bodies. Ma Erzi squinted, looking at the distant mountains and near the outline, the lakes, rivers and ports are all dazzlingly white ice and snow worlds, the streets and villages are covered in snow, and the hazy scenery is not very clear, and he couldn't help but say, "It's a cold day-", because he saw that Dou Guangnai had leaned over to inspect the frozen body, waded through the snow, and asked, "How to cook this?" - You see, I've seen a lot of this, at least six hours have passed—poor one, in his early twenties! ”

"I wonder if there is a temple around here?" Dou Guangnai hopelessly let go of the corpse's arm, and stood up with a sigh of relief, "Send him to the temple, and then inform Yu Taizun, and let him settle it." "Now the big temples in Yangzhou are renovated, and we must prepare for the royal drive." Ma Erzi said, "Those monks may not have this compassion, and accepting these dead bodies is unsightly...... Only miscellaneous temples such as the Land Mountain Temple, the Mawang Temple, and the Shiwang Temple can be pinned on these frozen and starving corpses. A mule driver next to him smiled and said, "The adults are kind-hearted." Like in our township, it is not uncommon to go out to run business in this kind of weather, and meet three or five a day! Here the post road goes up the north slope, there is a ruined Wutong Temple, and some are empty houses. The master will wait here for a while, and the little ones will carry him in, and when they come out, we will continue to send them to play. ”

Ma Erzi spat and sighed with a smile: "Treading the snow to find victory, who knew that I would bury a corpse in the snow - I was defeated." Dou Guangnai smiled and said: "You are a rich sedan chair, sit in this sedan chair to enjoy the scenery in the snow, it is a bit of a taste of burning the piano and boiling the crane - although this Wutong Temple is an obscene temple, the place is well chosen, the left leans on the remaining veins of Shugang, and the right is close to the shore of the Slender West Lake. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he pointed to the west wall of the Wutong Temple and said, "- Look at that plum!" As he spoke, he lifted the corner of his robe and stepped on the soft snow beside the road. Ma Erzi then followed. A few mule drivers put the dead body on the back of the donkey, and the head and foot were supported by the road, but they followed the road to the west and then to the north, and staggered to the Wutong Temple.

This is a very large courtyard, the main hall and the mountain gate have been burned, have been almost razed to the ground, under the base of the seven halls, neatly arrange twelve large snowdrifts, round, like fermented snow steamed buns, the remaining east wall is blackened by the smoke and fire, and the murals of gold and green interlacing are vaguely like. Enter the temple from the main hall, the shadow wall behind the temple has also collapsed, the empty courtyard is not quiet, the two rows of wing rooms are almost intact, and the first few rooms in the north of the east chamber seem to still have people. Even the window paper was tightly pasted. In the emptiness and silence, the voice of human speech can be faintly heard. The five or six rooms in the south of the west chamber were burned down, and the remnants of purlins and broken eaves were scattered and scattered, and they all fell with thick snow covers. The snow echoes in the wind, giving people a feeling of abandonment of the world of emptiness and loneliness, only the huge incense stone trough in the center of the courtyard, and the tall black and swarthy broken iron ding in the north of the trough seems to tell people about the prosperity of the year.

Ma Erzi's eyes were not good, it seemed to be color blind, and when he entered the temple, he still couldn't see the clumps of Maomei under the West Wall, and while following Dou Guangnai, he smelled the cold plum fragrance of Qingfen, and asked: "Where is the plum?" Where is May? - Why can't I see it? ”

"Isn't that true?" Seeing him looking around, Dou Guangnai couldn't help but laugh, leaned over and folded a branch and handed it over, saying, "You, like a cousin of mine, can't distinguish the color of Yanmei." Everyone shared apples to eat, and he picked up the green and sour ones to pick up the ...... "Ma Erzi only then paid attention to his feet, the short wall went north along the wall, and the bushes were gray and covered with plum trees, and they took the flower branches and sniffed greedily next to their noses, and said with a strange smile: "I don't know the color at all." The plum blossoms are white, and the snow is also white, so it depends on the confusion-" Before he finished speaking, Dou Guangnai had already laughed so hard that he fell to his feet, snatched the plum branch with his hand and said, "Is this a 'white' plum?" Xizi Salt-free[1]

I'm going to make a mess of you! He stroked it gently with his hand, the plum branch was divided into two, like a cocktail and like a zombie worm, stretching out more than three feet, on the rouge-like flowers, on the buds that did not bloom, there were wax frosts, and the petal core in the wind and snow was quite cold and fragrant, and it looked like a double spirit.

Seeing him suddenly, Ma Erzi smiled and said, "Lan Qingfeng is elegant, there must be poetry." Dou Guangnai smiled bitterly, and said after a pause:

Fen is lonely, clean and sad;

The fragrance is not glamorous to the snow, and Angzang is on the east wind.

Ma Erzi nodded when he heard this, and sighed: "It shows the wind festival." It's hard to be sorry for this sentence 'keep clean and mourn red'! - Hmm...... However, the word "Angzang" is more generous, and the plum blossom is a daughter's mood, so it is better to use "sorrow to the east wind". Dou Guangnai said: "'Angzang' is a bit overbearing, that's what he said. The scenery turns at will, there is no worry at this time, and you can't force it to say that you are worried, but it is better to 'smile at the east wind', and look generous and calm. Ma Erzi said: "I'm talking nonsense, where do I know what poetry?" Last year, he drank with Ji Xiaolangong, and he said that the poems of Yongmei in ancient and modern times were overdone, and it was the most difficult to come up with new ideas. He also scolded the plum blossoms on behalf of the peach blossoms, what 'bamboo gentleman, Doctor Song, plum blossoms have no name', and 'every plum fragrance is a slave' or something, which made us laugh for a while. Dou Guangnai smiled: "He's joking." This person loves Tang Tuxizi's portrayal of no salt, and his mouth is full of nonsense. ”

While he was talking, several mules had already placed the dead bodies, rubbed their hands in the snow, and came over laughing. Dou Guangnai looked at the footprints in the courtyard and knew that he had been sent to the West Wing, because he asked, "Didn't you alarm the people who live here?" The head of the sedan chair man smiled and said: "This is not a rented house, who cares who!" Someone in the east compartment looked at it, didn't say anything and closed the door again. When Dou Guangnai was about to ask, he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps on the road outside the temple, as if someone was chasing after him, and someone shouted loudly:

"Stinky cunt - wild girl, stop! You don't want to live anymore - your grandma! Where to run? ”

Several people were stunned, and in an instant, they saw an unkempt girl running up the temple steps, only twelve or thirteen years old, such a cold bone marrow day, wearing only a tattered and lost green cloth coat, and the legs were wrapped and scattered, dragging a yuan-colored belt and twisting the little feet Linglingding and running up, and even the shoes ran away. She ran to the temple monument, looked around with a white face, desperate, and saw the north head of the East Chamber, the water drawing well next to the original abbot house of the Wutong Temple, the well of the black hole hole was particularly conspicuous in the snow, hesitated for a moment, rushed to the step, did not prevent the foot belt from dragging behind him, wrapped around a broken purlin nail, only a drag, "swooped" a horse on the ground, straight out of the zhang Xu to come far!

When Dou Guangnai and Ma Erzi hurried up to help the girl, the grass curtain in the north room of the east chamber moved, and two young men dressed up called Huazi rushed out, both of them were smiling, and they couldn't help but say that they set up the girl and entered the house, and heard someone in the house shouting: "Find her a dry cotton robe - yes, wrap it in a quilt first - how can she dress like a horse in this weather - wash her face with hot water!" But it was an authentic Beijing accent, and the son's brother ordered his subordinates to kiss.

At this time, there will be a caller from Beijing? Dou Guangnai and Ma Erzi were both stunned, and retreated to the side of Da Tieding in surprise to watch.

The group of people chasing after the girl had already swarmed into the temple, there were about twelve or thirteen, all of them looked like Zhuang Ding, but their clothes were very mixed, all of them were dressed in short shirts and cotton jackets, and their mouths were full of white breath. A man in his thirties glanced at Ma and Dou, and yelled at the house: "Dead girl, get acquainted, come out quickly!" Several Zhuang Ding also shouted and scolded, but their tone was very frivolous:

"Come out, Wang Lao Wu is going to be in a hurry!"

"If you want to sit in a sedan chair and be a bride, what are you jumping into the well? It's really - there is a way in heaven that you don't take, and there is no way to get in hell! ”

"In the end, it's a girl who comes out of everyone's **, and she's still ashamed!"

"This girl is a water spirit, she can't complain that Lao Wu is on fire, and she will give the two points of tea and mountains to Ge Er Shao to ransom her——"

"Everyone's girls are so standard--ten times more handsome than Grandma Ge's-I don't know what the young lady looks like?"

"That must be the appearance of a sinking fish and a goose, and the appearance of a shy flower in the closed moon!"

"Mouth! Watch a few plays and you'll be Mr. Sven! ”

…………

In the midst of the discussions, Wang Lao Wu shouted loudly: "Listen to the people in the house, release them quickly!" Otherwise, Lao Tzu will break in! ”

"Who's going wild here?"

As soon as the straw curtain moved, a young man flashed out, but he was also dressed as a beggar, about fourteen or fifteen years old, he was already an adult, with a pair of filthy black catfish old cotton-headed coarse cloth boots under his feet, an old sheepskin robe with oily twist on his body, and the white flowers were greasy and greasy in his hair, and he couldn't see what pants he was wearing inside, and a ridiculously big six-in-one felt hat pressed his eyebrows and eyes very low, and his face was full of smoke or mud, and he stood with his legs spread across his waist, and he looked funny and full of spirit in the snow- For a moment, Dou Guangnai felt déjà vu, but he couldn't remember when or where he had seen this person. Ma Erzi didn't say a word, his eyes just looked at the young man carefully, and he glanced at the two beggars who came out from time to time.

The young man didn't pay attention to everyone at all, stared at Wang Lao Wu with a frown, and asked unhurriedly, "Who are you this girl?" ”

"My wife!"

"Wife?" The boy seemed a little surprised, his eyes widened and he asked, "How old are you this year?" ”

"Thirty-five!"

"What about her?"

"She ......," Wang Lao Wu hesitated, "probably...... Probably...... Fourteen or fifteen years old! ”

The boy was stunned, then laughed. At this moment, Ma Er's mind flashed with lightning, and he had already recognized it, and whispered to Dou Guangnai: "This is Qiao's pretending to be Huazi." This young man is not small, he is Fu Juexiang[2]

's second son, called Fukangan......" Dou Guangnai's heart suddenly suddenly, no wonder he was familiar, it turned out that the image of the two masters was confirmed in one place, but he was confused after thinking about it, and shook his head again. Hearing the young man laugh and say, "How can there be such a husband in the world, he can't even tell the age of his wife!" You're thirty-five, she's thirteen, and you're her husband? You're supposed to be her grandfather! ”

"Is it my husband or grandfather's relationship with you?" Wang Laowu's crops were on fire, his neck tendons swelled and he stomped his feet, turned around and rushed to the door and jumped over to open the straw curtain, and the middle-aged beggar guarding the door took a step forward, only used his hand to pull his shoulder, and said with a smile: "Breaking into people's houses and robbing people, you have lived enough." Wang Lao Wu only took this lightly, and his body spun around a few times, and he staggered back a few steps. As soon as he stood still, the little beggar at the door had already arched over with a hammer, and Wang Laowu's huge body "plopped" and leaned on his feet in the snow with his feet facing the sky, splashing snowflakes up.

"Good boy, dare to do it!"

Seeing that Wang Lao Wu was suffering, everyone shouted, and rushed to the young man. The little beggar dragged the young man back, and the middle-aged beggar stood in front of him, smiling and not very busy, and when the first few people came to him, he suddenly squatted down, grinding a bar like a sweeping leg, and three or four people fell in one place like a grain man who was suddenly attacked by the wind. The people behind were frightened back by his hand, and then rushed over with shouts, but they were caught by the middle-aged beggar and grabbed one straight out, and knocked down another one. Although there are many Zhuang Ding, the middle-aged beggar is not kicking the mortal hand, and the figures are interspersed in a trance, knocking down one and running to the other. The young man was also nimble with his hands and feet, but when he approached, he struck his elbow with his palm, and he was either lying on his stomach or staggering as if he was drunk. The little hairy beggar was even more slippery, bouncing around the crowd like a flea, kicking this one, hammering that one in the back, and slapping someone from time to time. For a while, the snow and dust flew, and the shouting and shouting fell to the ground and the slapping sounded. Dou Guangnai and Ma Erzi glanced at it for a moment and it was already clear that although Wang Lao Wuyi was a powerful person, he was not the opponent of these three people at all. A group of melee in the second room of the East Chamber also came out of a few big men, all of them were heroic and mighty, but they were not beggars, they seemed to follow the appearance, they all stood with their hands crossed, and looked at this group with a smile, as if they were watching the handles of the rivers and lakes on the street.

For a while, Zhuang Ding had been overturned by five or six, but the strange ones seemed to be twisted by the middle-aged beggars, and they rolled on the ground in pain with their hands on their knees and ankles. Wang Lao Wu's face was purple, he was so tired that he was panting, and Wu Zi and the middle-aged beggar desperately supported me, shouting: "Let's go together-surround this kid and beat him to death!" ”

"Stop, listen to me!" The young man stood in front of the stone slab of the well, and shouted loudly as he beat the people who had pounced on him. A few elders standing under the eaves saw that everyone didn't listen to the greetings, and they were still pestering, and they all got started. In a blink of an eye, the Zhuang Ding were all knocked to the ground, holding their feet and covering their stomachs, and their parents screamed angrily. The two elders set up Wang Lao Wu, dragged him to the young man, kicked him in the knee socket, and knelt down. Seeing him struggling, a long follower slapped him in the face and scolded: "Wild mud foot pole, be honest, listen to this master!" ”

Wang Lao Wu is stubborn and simple, and he has knelt down and refused to give in. The little beggar rolled up his sleeves and stretched his palms to beat, but the young man waved his hand to stop, stepped forward and asked, "To be honest, did you snatch this girl?" ”

"No, I bought it!"

"Who's the seller?"

"Official sale!"

"Hmm! - Is she a slave to sin? ”

Wang Lao Wu was stunned and said: "She looks upright - her mouth is not at all hard - what are you talking about!" Release me! The young man couldn't help but grin and said, "It's no coincidence that she can't write a book today, she is my distant cousin, and she came here for help." Can I leave it alone? Wang Lao Wu, I see that you are also an honest farmer, and I don't want to embarrass you. It's not easy for you to marry a daughter-in-law, don't say that the ransom is a certain amount of geometry, you make a price, and I will make you find another woman of the same age. This girl is actually still in the middle of a child, she didn't trample on her, and she also hurt your pubic body, can you say it? Wang Lao Wu only half-understood what he said, looked the young man up and down, and said, "You are like a child, so big!" I finally sold the tea mountain, and I bought it for eight taels of silver - to marry a daughter-in-law, who will marry me without sixty dollars? Do you have one? ”

"Sixty hanging?" The young man blinked, and it turned out that he had never made money, and he did not know how to convert money into silver, so he looked at the little devil-headed beggar. The little beggar smiled and said: "One hanging full money is seven hundred wen, Mao hanging one thousand wen, one hanging seven to one tael, sixty hanging six seven forty-two, plus the conversion of silver fineness, ninety into nine percent of silver, ninety-seven sixty-three ......" He pinched his fingers and counted, the young man was very impatient to hear it, and he cut him off and said: "Ji Bao! When did you learn to chew your tongue? Let's put it simply! The little beggar named Jibao stuck out his tongue and grimaced, and said with a smile: "It should be thirty-five taels and three dollars and foot lines, which is enough for him to marry a daughter-in-law." "I'll give you fifty taels." The young man smiled slightly, clicked with his hand, and a long follower stepped forward and gave him two spindles of Taizhou foot patterns with both hands, the young man took it in his hand and checked it, the honeycomb filament was gray and white, and the two silver cakes that reached the heart, with the body temperature that followed the long, the white velvet-like snowflakes melted as soon as they were dipped, and the white swaying was bright with a dazzling light, and a group of croppers were already stunned. The young man approached Wang Lao Wu, threw the silver in his hand, and said with a smile: "Go back and redeem your tea mountain, and marry a mother-in-law to live your life." Let him go and tell him to go! After saying that, he glanced at Ma and Dou, and without saying a word, he opened the straw curtain and returned to the house. The man named Jibao and the middle-aged beggars who followed him also went back to their respective rooms in a proper manner.

Seeing Wang Lao Wuyi looking at each other, he left the temple with one foot high and one foot low like a fool. Dou Guangnai also woke up from a dream, and said with a smile: "I also recognize it, the Hanlin Academy sent the manuscript to the Sixth Master's Mansion and met this brother." The sixth master's ** children are well-organized, and this young master is not bad-hearted. Ma Erzi said: "This is the sixth master's wife's delicate son, and the preface is also ranked sixth, in fact, the first three brothers did not live, I am afraid that the two sixth masters will be mixed, so they all call him Fu Fourth Master - Fu Kangan - I have procured things for him, and he has already recognized me." No see, let's go in and say goodbye. Seeing Dou Guangnai's hesitation, Ma Er's nephew smiled and said, "Lan Qing has regained his identity as Hanlin again." Fu Siye is also a person with a position, and when he falls into the grass, he is a third-class shrimp [3]

The location is higher than ours! Saying that, he pulled his legs and left, Dou Guangnai was in his realm, and he couldn't help but move and follow in.

The room was very dark, at first came in from the snow, almost nothing could be seen clearly, the halo like a spinning float was spinning around, the two of them were slightly calm, only to see that there were four people, the middle-aged beggar was standing on the west side of the north kang with his back bowed, Ji Bao and another little beggar of the same age were barbecuing a chicken next to the fire on the south side, the water in the tea hanging was rolling, and the house was full of warm and humid air, the little girl sat on the ground with her feet simmering in the quilt and leaning against the wall, holding a big bowl of noodles in both hands, eating with hot sweat, and she had finished eating. He also licked the edge of the bowl with his tongue, looking greedy. Fukangan smiled and watched the girl eat, and when he saw the two of them coming in, he smiled and said: "Old Ma, it's okay - what kind of Qian'er who beat your mother - watching me fight, you actually stood by and watched, and you didn't come to help!" Then he asked, "Your surname is this gentleman, Taifu?" ”

"Back to the fourth master," Ma Erzi smiled hippie, and still stood up, "Old Ma looks at that group of people and is not your opponent alone." This uncle-" He pointed to the middle-aged beggar and smiled, "I don't know it, it's the personal entourage that Long Live Ye pointed out to Fu Xiangye, nicknamed 'Iron Head Jiao', and he is also the inner guard!" If you get in the way, it's only going to get in your way, isn't it the one who loses you? My body, that's called—ah, that's right—called chicken ribs aren't enough to be a fist! Several people in the room laughed. Ma Er's nephew introduced Dou Guangnai again, "This is Dou Lanqing, the old man Dou, we traveled to Yangzhou in the snowy scenery, but we couldn't help but touch the fourth master here with a full martial arts, and the fight was lively, so that the lowly people watched a good show!" ”

Hearing that it was Dou Guangnai, Fukangan immediately changed his appearance and respected, who was originally sitting cross-legged, pitched up and straightened his waist and moved down to the kang, and actually bowed to Dou Guangnai, and said with a smile: "It's very disrespectful, I don't know it's Lord Lanqing." The letter sent by my father in Chengdu, speaking of you, is a great husband! He wiped the dirt off his face, although he was not childish, but his face was full of serenity, with a calm and elegant aristocratic bearing, so that Dou Guangnai said, "I am slightly obedient, just this image, simple and slow." Sitting, Yoshiho, slender. The old horse sits too! ”

"The student had a relationship with the people of Fuda." Dou Guangnai saw that Fukangan was not big, and saw that his eyes were as beautiful and handsome as Langxing, which was not described by the noble sons and daughters of the family, sitting on the broken stool and bowing, and said slowly, "In the past, the Ministry of Rites sent a thank you watch to visit Fu Xiang in your mansion, and Lord Fu was reciting poems under the acacia tree at that time, and it is still in my eyes. Today's adults are generous in their efforts to help the weak, and their benevolence and righteousness are admired by students! Fukangan heard him mention his father, stood up for a while, sat back on the edge of the kang, and said with a smile: "This-why should you be an adult!" Watching people fall into the well and playing with bystanders is for the heart of beasts. If you don't save it later, adults will also intervene. ”

Seeing that the two of them were polite to Dabin, Ma Er couldn't help but smile, and asked beside him, "When did the fourth master leave Beijing?" Madame can rest assured that you will go out on your own - why did you change your outfit like this? ”

"I've been out for a month." Fukangan smiled, "If I obey my mother's words, I should be in the house, from the study to the upper room, and I will always be at ease." Even when she was reading in the study, she had to look through the window a few times—it was like a prison cage. It's 'parents are not far away', and it's 'the son of a daughter can't sit down', the words of the ancient sages and sages only remember these two sentences, and the chatter is a 'not far away' and 'not hanging down'......" Thinking of his mother Tang'er, Fukangan couldn't help but smile again, "This time I came out, I came out by going to Xiyuan to fly and release eagles to hunt." ”

Dou and Ma were both taken aback when they heard this. looked at Fukangan in amazement, and couldn't say anything for a while.

"Don't worry, now I've crossed the road." Fukangan blinked like a child, and said with a smile, "Mother can't resist me, and I can't escape from the palm of my mother's Buddha, and when I go to Tongzhou, I will be intercepted by Shuntianfu." He pointed to Xiao Jibao, who was smiling and adding firewood, "It's this dog who gave the letter." My mother rushed to Tongzhou in person, and when she saw that I refused to go back, she cried so angrily that she was busy writing letters to my father and sending letters to Ji Xiaolan, all of which were attached to the 600 miles of urgent documents and sent out. My father wrote back in Chengdu, saying that I should not be like his son, and asked my mother to let me go out to see the world; Ji Gong also replied, long live the Lord said that I am a guard, the guard can not be like the deer in the deer park, if you have the ambition to come out, you can go by the way to experience the world and observe the people's customs, and come to Nanjing to drive. Mother didn't have anything to say, so she picked out seven or eight more guards to pretend to be with her—" he pointed to the next door, "these people are really like stinky plasters, and they can't be removed by sticking to their bodies—my mother really can't do anything about her!" ”

Several people laughed when they heard this. Dou Guangnai then understood, because he saw that Fukangan was wearing a white-washed gray poplin robe, and deliberately put a few patches in a conspicuous place, and the outer cover was a peel shoulder with a face, revealing a purple slight hairy along the edge, and at a glance it can be seen that it is the "beggar suit" of the extremely valuable ferret Pi Baturu vest restructured to Ying Jing'er, I really don't know how this nephew of the heavenly family, the son of the first Zaifu in the world, and the brother of the guard, came to "beg along the road". The girl had eaten a hot meal and changed into dry clothes, and she had recovered her spirits, and she was obviously confused by Fukangan. Don't dare to disobey him even a word! The two people who came seemed to be nobles, but they sat down with him to apologize, spoke humbly and refused to make a mistake. She listened to the conversation between the three of them in a foggy way. Seeing Fukangan stretching out his hand to take the bowl, he hurriedly stepped forward to refill the boiling water in the tea hanger, dragged the ill-fitting big cotton shoes and soaked three towels with boiling water, wrung them out, and handed them to Fukangan in a hot and fluffy manner, and gave Dou and Ma a piece of each to rub their faces, so they quietly squatted in the corner of the wall and folded messy clothes and bedding.

"I heard that Lord Lan Qing is going to call up the Siku Quanshu." Fukangan said, "I don't know if the ticket from the ministry is going to be issued?" ”

Only then did Dou Guangnai really realize that this noble son really did not travel by virtue of being a child of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and actually had contact with the six departments of the imperial court at any time; It's just that he is so childish, what kind of government affairs can he handle? ——I thought in my heart, and said with a smile: "I only have a rumor, and the ticket plan hasn't come down yet, and I'm still collecting books." Fukangan nodded and said with a smile: "This is not an easy task. The emperor killed the fake third prince of Zhu, Zhang Laoxianggong, and many people were frightened, and they didn't dare to offer any books, I am afraid that they could not blindly coerce. One is a magistrate, and those who hand in books and send them to the treasury should be rewarded, and those who have passed the file examination will be rewarded, and those who donate rare books can be commended or even awarded. Even if there are any words in the book that are contrary to the words, as long as they do not slander the pilgrimage with malicious intentions, they will not be relevant. As for the vain division of Huayi in the books of the ancients, there is no need to pursue it, just delete it. The Siku Quanshu was compiled and fed so many people, and they were all Confucians, this is their messenger. Dou Guangnai listened, at first he laughed in his heart, thinking that the child pretended to be deep and learned to speak adult words, but he listened to them, these words were exactly what he had been thinking about for many days, but by this young man and Pan, he couldn't help but nod and sigh: "How is it not so!" When the adults saw Ji Zhongtang, they could mention it again. ”

"There are things more important than that," said Fukangan, "I've come all the way from Beijing, and I've been beaten by these bastards—" he pointed to Jibao and looked next door, "I've been jailed by these bastards, and I've become a 'brother beggar.'" Wandering around the flowers, I still saw some things that I couldn't see in the capital. The emperor toured the south here, originally to inspect the people's suffering, watch the wind and show compassion for the people. This is the holy act of Yao Tianshun Earth. Along the way, it seems that the hungry people from other places who had been eating in Jianghuai have been forcibly driven away from both sides of the post canal. These people are scattered in southern Lunan and western Henan, stealing, robbing, committing adultery, and doing everything, and the prefecture and county do not dare to declare it. What are these places? One hugging the calf and Meng Lianggu are close to each other, and the other is leaning on the 800-mile Funiu Mountain and the Tongbai Mountain, and the court doesn't know how much effort it took to turn into a silver to quell the bandits, and there is such a group of people who have no food and clothing-there are already those who have smashed rice shops and robbed pawnshops-one person advocates chaos, and it will be ten thousand people, rather than worrying and anxious? ”

He frowned slightly, as if he was talking to Dou Guangnai, and seemed to be muttering to himself, without any pretentiousness. Even Ma Er's nephew took away the smile on his face, and secretly thought to himself: Fu Heng has a good way to teach his son, and Fukangan is such a yellow-haired and childish boy, and his knowledge is already above that of ordinary court officials. Dou Guangnai had already put away his contempt, bowed down on the stool and said: "This is the words of the old man to seek the country, why don't the young sons write a strip of Chen Shangsheng Ming?" ”

"I'm actually a false guard, and I don't have an official errand job." Fukangan grinned a little helplessly, and a hint of childishness flashed on his face in an instant, "Amma[4]

As soon as I heard that I was talking about state affairs, I reprimanded me, saying that I was a horse and Zhao Kuo, and I had to practice more and talk less. My mother is like an old hen guarding her chicks, never leaving her, staring at me when she eats and sleeps, as if she dozed off and woke up and I would be gone—I was not free. Since the emperor has asked me to come to Xing, I will naturally play it when I am introduced. Ma Erzi asked, "When will the prince leave for Nanjing?" Fukangan yawned for a moment and said, "Tomorrow...... Tomorrow hire a few pannier chairs and go to Yizheng. I have received a letter from Fan Shijie that the emperor wants to stop in Yizheng. ”

Ma Erzi smiled and said, "Yizheng is such a small place, why is the emperor so interested?" ”

"I heard that there is an old locust tree, and the tree hugs the tree and grows a bunch of spring flowers. The emperor's southern tour, this is a good omen. Yizheng County reported it, and the emperor naturally wanted to watch it - there are still forty miles away from Yizheng! Fukangan looked melancholy, looked at the window paper that was blown by the wind, and said after a while, "Yizheng County is really a bastard!" ”

The two of them could not reply, so they got up and took their leave. Fukangan stopped Ma Erzi and asked, "There are still 130,000 taels of silver in the treasury over there in Huaiyang Salt Road, and if you say that you can't use it without you, what is the use?" ”

"The money is in the hands of the household." Ma Erzi said, "Because Gao Heng has already been sealed, and he wants to repair the Old Summer Palace to purchase wood, this envoy was sent to me, so I have this word." ”

"You don't want to buy wood for this silver," Fukangan said, "and use it all to buy rice seedlings and transport them to southern Anhui and northern Jiangsu, where there is an urgent shortage of rice seeds." This snow—" he said, looking forward with clear, crystalline eyes as if they were about to penetrate the wall, "after this snow, the weather will warm up, and the time to raise seedlings and catch up with the farm is more important than anything else. The first thing I saw the emperor was going to say was this. You just do as I say, the ministry is blamed, it's all in my pocket! ”

"Yes!"

"And," said Fukangan, "you can find a way to get a thousand pieces—by the way, a thousand pieces are enough—cotton clothes, and what is the prefect's surname here is fish, and distribute them to the very poor to keep them warm, and the families who are out of cooking will have to share some rations." ”

Ma Erzi glanced at Dou Guangnai and said, "Master Fu is very appropriate!" A thousand pieces of winter clothes are easy to handle, and Ma Yuhe may not be able to support the matter of distributing rations. Because of the general meeting fundraising to welcome the car, he said, "You are ordered to watch the wind, and it is enough to draw one or two hundred thousand yuan from this silver." ”

"That's it!" Fukangan said, "I'm afraid Lan Qing will also go to Yizheng to greet him, Lao Ma, you have to worry about it." The emperor inspected the south of the Yangtze River, and the typical civilization is important, just like the frozen dead in this temple, does it add luster to the emperor's face? To decorate the world is to yearn for the sanctification of the people's hearts, not to whitewash the world. The difference between one word, the difference between cloud and mud - Lao Ma, let me tell you, if this matter is done, I will treat you as a friend, you swallow a tael of silver, you just can't get along with my Fukangan, from now on you will be unlucky, don't think about peace! ”

Ma Erzi couldn't help but smile, got up with Dou Guangnai to say goodbye, and said, "Fourth master, you can rest assured!" Tell the fourth master a word, Lao Ma is also a scholar. This kind of thing does not dare to be reckless. Yu Dengshui - if Yu Taizun refuses to give out the money, I have a way to come out first to do the master's business, and I will lose it, at least I have accumulated yin! ”

"He dares not to give money!" Fukangan frowned, and smiled mischievously, "Fish waiting (boarding) the water, what a good name!" If you don't give money, I will let him die of thirst for this 'fish'! With that, he stood up. Dou Ma and the others quit the dilapidated house.

[1]

Unsalted: A famous ugly girl in the Spring and Autumn Period.

[2]

Prime Minister: Fu Heng was awarded a knighthood for his military exploits, and he was also a Zaifu, so he was honored as a prime minister.

[3]

Shrimp: i.e. guards.

[4]

Amma: Manchu father.