introduction

Sidu Tangwei Village, which is surrounded by mountains and rivers and has a picturesque scenery, has an old house with a history of more than 150 years, covering an area of more than ten acres, consisting of two courtyard wells and eight-character groove doors. Mr. Feng Shui said that the feng shui of the house is good, the green dragon on the left, the white tiger on the right, the vermilion bird in the front, and the Xuanwu in the back.

The Houlong Mountain of the courtyard is called Jinpenling, it is rumored that the parents of the family have died, if they are buried in the place of the dragon's den, even if the descendants of the family do not come out of the emperor, they will produce a general or a civil official with higher taste, and the people are prosperous and talented.

According to Grandma, the mansion was built by Grandpa's grandfather (great-grandfather), and when she first stepped into the mansion, the courtyard had been split in two, and Grandpa only occupied half of the mansion.

Great-grandfather's father is also his great-grandfather Bi Shenggong, he is a great wizard, knows martial arts, is very business-minded, and his greatest wish is that his son can take the "official career" and bring good luck to the family. There are more than 150 descendants in the line of my great grandfather, and by my father's generation, plus eight cousins, it has become the "new eight families", which is a very famous family in Tangwei Chong.

Every time I go back to the old house and sit on the stone pier in front of the eight-figure trough door, I think of my kind grandmother. On a starry summer night, my grandmother lay on a long bench, gently shaking the fan, while telling us the family history and the anecdotes she knew, such as Nuwa creating people, praising her father and chasing the sun, Dayu controlling the water, Jingwei reclamation, demons and monsters, etc.

Once, when my grandmother talked about the topic of Emperor Qianlong making grains and Emperor Xuantong making clothes, several of our brothers and sisters listened to it with relish and couldn't stop admiring, grandma was knowledgeable, Emperor Qianlong was so great, he actually invented grains for the benefit of the people (later I went to school and learned history, only to know that Qianlong was a bastard, a hedonistic emperor who did not divide the grains).

Of course, grandma talked the most about the grandfather who was not angry, he couldn't even keep the inheritance of his ancestors, the courtyard was dilapidated, and he didn't repair it, and the other half was sold to his cousin by his grandfather, who was addicted to gambling, to pay off his gambling debts.

That half is the old house, there was once a big man who lived there for more than ten years before he made a fortune, and the big man and his grandfather's grandfather were cousins, and his grandfather's grandfather had four brothers, two of whom were away from home with the big man in their teens, fought on the battlefield, put down the rebellion, became famous, and returned home......

01

In front of the house of the Zhu family compound. Di Sheng (Xiucai who was exempted from forced labor) Zhu Qimu rode a yellow and white colt, and the servants returned from Linxian Wuyou and stood at the door of the house for a long time.

This is the third time he has participated in the selection examination of the Baocheng Fuxiang Examination, and once again he has fallen to Sun Shan, and he is full of economic wealth, he is disheartened, and he feels that his career is slim, and he can't stop sighing. He slowly got off his horse, raised his hand and tried to knock on the door, but he held back.

Recalling the day the list was released, the talents were crowded together, and the crowds were crowded. One by one, their eyes widened, their necks stretched, and they couldn't wait to scan the list of each admission on the yellow list, as if they were afraid that they would miss their names. Zhu Qimu looked at the list thoroughly, but he couldn't find his name, hey, it's been a waste of time again. After more than ten years of hard study, is it just for the fifth son to enter the department and seek an official position?

This imperial examination is really brain-burning! The 300,000-word "Four Books and Five Classics" should be read and recited by heart, and any sentence of the exam questions should be selected, and then the questions should be answered in eight steps, and candidates cannot express their opinions at will. For this kind of stiff and rigid "eight-strand text", Zhu Qiwu was very disgusted. Originally, he didn't plan to participate in this selection exam, not because he didn't have talent and was afraid of the eight-share exam, but because he had fulfilled his father's wish for many years.

The old father who opened a money village and a shop wanted his son to be Jackie Chan, saying that none of the three generations of his ancestors had become an official, and no matter how powerful the Zhu family was, no one was an official in the government, and it was becoming more and more difficult to do business in other places. Therefore, the old father has high hopes for Zhu Qi's room, and the glory of the ancestors will look at him.

However, his daughter-in-law Liu is very open-minded, even if she can't pass the imperial examination, she is not ashamed, and there is no big deal. A dignified seven-foot man, and a martial artist, as long as he has a flexible brain and is kind to others, opportunities to get ahead abound.

If you don't be an official and have a good character, you can still mix well, live a chic life, and win the respect of others. If you really want to be an official, you can spend some money to buy a position, and there is no shortage of money at home, isn't a five-grade official donating 10,000 taels of silver?

In the Zhuqi room at the entrance of the village, I heard that the Liu family had been back to visit relatives at her parents' house for several days, and I couldn't help but feel a little melancholy. Life is unsatisfactory nine times out of ten, Liu has been married to the Zhu family compound for four or five years, and he has not given birth to a man and a woman to the old Zhu family......

02

Thinking about it, suddenly the door opened, and the old father was about to go out with a pipe of dry cigarettes, humming a little tune, and bumped into Zhu Qi's room. The father looked at it fixedly, it was his son who had rushed to take the exam, and from his dejected expression, he immediately knew the results of the scientific examination. This time he didn't spray his son, after all, the taste of falling off the list was not pleasant.

"Dad, I'm ......," Zhu Qimu called out weakly.

"Bh. Room, go into the house quickly, put the bookcase in the room, and follow me to collect the bills. Father said with a smile.

"Where are you going to collect your debts?" Zhu Qimu said as he walked with the bookcase on his back.

"You'll know if you go with me." The father stopped.

"It's not going to Baishui Gong's house, is it?"

"By the way, it is Gong Wenjing's family, they have owed us 5,000 taels of silver for more than a year, and there has been no news until now."

"Dad, I heard that the Gong family lost money in the salt and iron business, and owed a lot of debts, and we went in vain."

"Who did you listen to?"

"Langshi Fort Deng Yuanwai. When I passed by his door, he mentioned Wen Jing, the young proprietor of the Gong family, and learned that the remnants of Lu Chuan's Red Lotus Sect had robbed the Gong family's shop in Chong'an, robbing all the silver taels and salt and iron, but fortunately there were no casualties. ”

"Didn't the Red Lotus Sect rebels be exterminated by Emperor Tianyun for more than ten years? How can there be a remnant of the party? ”

"I don't know the specific situation, now that the Gong family is in trouble, we will go to collect the debt, so we can't get over it."

"Hey, son, hearing is false, seeing is believing. If the Gong family really has no money, don't they still have a mountain forest in Wenjing that can be used as collateral? ”

"Dad, have you taken a fancy to their family's mountains and forests?"

"You're a clever kid, can't you?"

"That mountain forest is too far away from our Tangwei Chong, it is difficult to manage, and it doesn't make much sense to ask for it."

"Son, there will be a serious shortage of irrigation water for our crops every summer, and the source of the river water is within the jurisdiction of the Gong family's mountains and forests, why do you want to say that the mountains and forests are useless?"

"The child only reads the books of the sages, and he will not be able to grow or prosper, and his brain will be difficult for a while."

"When you go to the farmland, you understand how important water is to the farmland. The people live on food, and only when there is water can there be a good harvest. ”

"The child understands, it's just that the mountains and forests of the Gong family are not worth 5,000 taels of silver, unless they ......"

"Unless what?"

"Wen Jing has a fifteen or sixteen-year-old sister Lan Ping, who looks pretty good, I met her once, she is a wangfu xiang. My daughter-in-law Liu happened to have no children, so it was better for us to marry the Gong family, and we could justifiably ask for the stream in the mountains and forests as the dowry of the Lanping girl. In this way, when the dry season is scarce, the people of Tangweichong have the priority to go to the upper reaches of the river to burst the embankment and release water. ”

"Son, you've got a great idea. Kelanping is seven or eight years younger than you, she married into Lao Zhu's family to be a side room, are people willing? ”

"Men and women are noble. Dad, your son and I are talented, as long as I make a move, I will know if there is one. Qi Room shook his arm, and a white crane stood with bright wings, "Besides, it is normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines, Liu is reasonable, and has repeatedly persuaded me to marry a concubine as soon as possible to continue the incense." If I don't have children, I won't be able to hold my head up in the family in the future......"

"Let's get down to business, call a few family members, prepare a sedan chair and go to Baishui immediately." The father puffed out a puff of smoke.

"Isn't there a five-flowered horse in the stable?" Kaimuro asked.

"The horses are too bumpy, so it's better to sit in a sedan chair." Father kept waving his hand, "Keibao, are you there-"

A family member hurriedly ran over: "Hey, boss, I'm here, what do you command?" ”

"Go and call a few palanquin drivers and take me to Baishui Village." My father put away the dry tobacco pouch.

"Owner, today is the day when the young grandmother comes home from a visit, and we will have to pick her up." Qibao's face was embarrassed and he didn't move.

"No need—" Liu's silver bell-like voice came from outside the door. A few people looked out the door, and several palanquin drivers carried a sedan chair into the courtyard leisurely.

"Yinyue, you're back so soon?" Kai Room stepped forward and lifted the curtain of the sedan chair.

"Hmm." Yinyue carried the hem of her skirt and jumped down on a small stool, "I was very bored at my mother's house, I accompanied a few aunts to play dominoes every day, my luck was really good, and I won more than 100 taels of silver, so I hired a sedan chair and came back by myself." ”

"Aren't you non-dominoes?" Kai asked with a smile.

"Yes. But it was difficult to be enthusiastic, and there was a lack of one, so I had to go into battle. Yinyue bent down and took out the heavy burden from the sedan chair, "Dad, where are you going in such a hurry?" ”

The old father Bisheng didn't like this daughter-in-law very much, mainly because he didn't have children, he was almost fifty years old, and he didn't hold his little grandson, he was very unhappy, so he pretended not to hear it, and buried himself in his cigarette pouch.

"Dad, Yinyue called you." Kai Mu bumped his father Bi Sheng with his elbow.

The old man replied slowly: "Yinyue, Dad is a little behind the ear, I didn't hear it, I'm sorry." What did you just say? ”

"Dad, are you and Kai Room going out?" Silver Moon had to repeat it.

"Yes, yes, go to Baishui Village to collect a debt." Bi Sheng laughed, smiling reluctantly.

"It's not the end of the day, it's a bit far, so you father and son go and go back quickly." Yinyue said as she paid the sedan chair man and went into the house to pour water for a few of them.