The three of them helped each other out of the car.

After Tang Haitang got off the station and stabilized, he took a closer look at the appearance of the horse mansion. The gate courtyard is similar to the nearby people, and it is not a particularly tall gatehouse, there are two majestic stone lions at the door, but the size is smaller, because the door is facing the river bank, and there is a big road in the middle that can walk the car, so the place at the gate is very tense, put such a team of slightly smaller stone lions, and do not affect the driving, but also play the role of façade decoration, but also very suitable, not abrupt and uncoordinated at all.

The door panel is two wooden doors painted with bright oil, this era can also use oil on the door panel, it is already not rich or expensive, generally the oil on the door is the best walnut oil, in the era when ordinary people eat fat meat and refining their own oil, can afford to use walnut oil map door panel, it is a big family. On the door panel, like ordinary people's homes, there are portraits of a pair of door gods pasted on the regular side.

There is a plaque hanging on the lintel, on which there are two large characters inlaid with metal "Mafu", and the two sides of the door frame are also hung with two couplets in a regular manner, the upper link is "the door has an ancient pine court without chaotic stones", and the lower link is "autumn is suitable for the bright moon and spring is the wind"

"It's kind of interesting." When Tang Haitang saw this couplet, he felt funny and laughed.

"Sister, what are you laughing at? There's nothing special about this couplet.,It's just an ordinary eight-character couplet.。 Qian Yingying asked her puzzled, and took two steps forward in person as she spoke, and read it carefully. I didn't think there was anything special, shook my head and walked back to Tang Haitang or something, I don't know why, what did she think?

"I didn't laugh at this couplet, I just liked it, take a look." Tang Haitang felt that his behavior was a little abrupt, and hurriedly explained.

She just felt that she was able to see the couplet format of the Tang Dynasty with her own eyes, it was really a blessing for Sansheng, and she didn't expect to be able to see it with her own eyes today. I still remember seeing a fragment on a tree that introduced the development of couplets.

The couplet originated in the Qin Dynasty and was called the peach fu in ancient times. Regarding the earliest couplets in China, she remembered that she had seen Mr. Tan Chanxue's article in a modern publication, and Mr. Tan had written an article in a certain issue of "Literature and Historical Knowledge" pointing out that the earliest Chinese couplets appeared in the Tang Dynasty.

Couplets originated from the symmetry of Chinese characters and phonetics, and appeared before the Zhou Dynasty, with the development of papermaking and calligraphy, which made couplets an independent genre. From the perspective of literary history, couplets have gradually evolved and developed from the dual sentences in ancient poetry and rhetoric. This development process has gone through about three stages. They are the dual stage, the coupling stage, and the rhythmic stage.

Today, I can see the literary elegance of the ancients with my own eyes, and I am also eye-opening, my eyes are flowing, and I have a rough look at this courtyard again, I didn't expect Ma Xiaotian to have such a good Yaxing, this private house is cleaned up in a low-key and elegant style, and there is no sense of vulgar jewels at all, which is completely inconsistent with his martial arts temperament.

When several girls were whispering together to discuss the Ma family's union, Xu Qingfeng had already stepped forward to knock on the door and call people. After a while, there was the sound of the deadbolt being pulled on the door, and one of the doors opened inward, and the door opened smoothly without a sound at all, indicating that the door was well maintained and not deformed at all.

I saw the door open, and inside the door was a young man dressed in gray plain clothes, he was standing in the threshold, and he saw a smile on his face, but before he could speak, the smile had already made the stranger have a good impression of his husband. The little guy opened the door and saw an old man standing in front of the door, and when he saw the three good-looking "young men" behind the old man, he already knew it in his heart, but he still asked with a friendly attitude: "Where does the guest come from?" ”

"The old man came from the barracks outside the city, may I ask the little brother, this is General Ma's private residence?" Xu Qingfeng found it according to the address given by Ma Xiaotian, although he had confirmed that the Ma Mansion on the lintel was correct just now, he still had to confirm it with the little guy at this time, so he could rest assured.

"But Mr. Xu? My master has returned from flying a pigeon and has ordered me to wait for you here. As soon as the little servant heard that he was from the barracks, and matched the few people mentioned in the master's letter, he asked with a smile, and opened the other door as he asked, stepped out of the threshold, and stood beside Xu Qingfeng respectfully.

Xu Qingfeng heard that Ma Xiaotian had already passed the book to him, so he took out the handwritten letter handed over to him by Ma Xiaotian from his arms and handed it to the little maid: "This is the handwritten letter handed over to you by your master, take a look." ”

The little servant respectfully took the letter with both hands, opened the seal of the letterhead, took out the letter inside, read it carefully, put away the letter with a smile, and politely said to Xu Qingfeng and the three girls behind him: "Mr. Xu, the things that my master asked me to arrange have been done, and I also invite Mr. and a few girls to come in and talk." ”

Xu Qingfeng nodded yes, turned around and asked Tang Haitang and the three of them to go in with their luggage first, while he went to unload the carriage, pulled the horses to the side of the horse stake, and bolted the horses before following in.

A few people followed the little guy into Ma Xiaotian's private house, waiting for the little guy to close the door behind him, and ran to the front to lead the way for a few people, the little guy walked, while introducing: "The villain's surname is Ma, called Ma Hu, is the Ma family responsible for taking care of this house, my master said in the letter, Mr. Xu will bring three girls to come, we have just cleaned up the rooms of several girls, I will take Mr. Xu to the hall to rest first, a few girls first with another maid Xiaofeng to see the room arranged for a few of you, If there is anything else needed to treat the items in the room, I will arrange it as soon as possible. ”

On the way to the hall with a few people, Ma Hu introduced in detail, he arranged it in great detail, from the door to the front hall, a lot of flowers were planted in front of the court, and between the east and west wings and the north room, there was a gallery to connect the houses on three sides. In front of the west wing, a grape trellis was erected, which was covered with grape seedlings, and a small swing was made on the shelf, and in the shade of the grape trellis, a stone round table was placed, and four stone round benches were placed around the round table.

The courtyard in the front hall is very interesting, and it is not at all depressing. Qian Yingying saw that she liked the swing very much, so she stepped forward and touched the rope on the swing, and there was a stool with soft cushions tied under the red rope. It's as if no one has used it for a long time, and although the mat is not dusty, it is mottled by the wind and sun.

"That's what my young lady asked me to arrange to put on, usually Xiaofeng and I live here, so no one has used it, if you want to play, I'll change the mat for you later." Ma Huo saw Qian Yingying's thoughts, the swing had not been used for a long time, and he was afraid of falling to her, so he reminded Qian Yingying, and she could play when he maintained it.