Zeng Yu walked out of the flower hall, stood by the second gate and waited for Steward Rao to lead the horse out, and found that there were women peeping at the door of the west courtyard, and when he turned his head to look, it was vaguely the few wandering beauties he had seen in the mountain stream and depression behind the garden that day, but Pei Lin, who was pushed into the water by Lu Miaoxiang, didn't see it-

Zeng Yu thought to himself: "These young women are so hungry and thirsty, Yan Shifan is here, they all dare to show their heads and flatter their eyes, hey, this garden can't be lived, and it will be stable in Jieqiao Village." ”

Rao steward led the horse out, the two went on the road, Zeng Yu still rode the Mongolian horse named "Black Bean", this horse was originally the companion of the Yan Mansion, and now it is owned by Zeng Yu, "Black Bean" is good at bearing hardships and standing hard work, and because Zeng Yu brought out the donkey from Ishida is called "Black Treasure", so Zeng Yu also loves this "Black Bean".

Riding a horse on the field to Jieqiao Village, Zeng Yuyouran remembered Fan Chengda's autumn idyll:

"Autumn is only afraid of the rain falling, and there are no clouds in Jiazi. After the rice is finished, the grain is dried and the grain is cleared until the time of the warehouse

The mud mirror surface of the new construction field is flat, and every family takes advantage of the frost and sunny rice to threak rice. There was a light thunder in the laughter and singing, and the flail sounded until dawn all night.

On the way from Jichang Garden to Jieqiao Village, Zeng Yu saw this kind of scene, drying grain and rice, grabbing wheat and beans, planting mulberry and building fields, losing rent and storage, the busiest January of the year is about to pass, some farmers with good family backgrounds began to organize a harvest banquet, and took the daughter who married out of Lu back to her parents' house for reunion, which is the so-called frolic.

Of course, Zeng Yu saw that this faction of Tian Jiale is only a superficial phenomenon, since Jiajing, forced labor, taxes have become heavier, farmers have worked hard for a year, and the remaining grain after paying the rent is often not enough to support the family, especially in Jiangxi, the proverb of the eunuch has a cloud "fate is low, get three wests", the so-called "three wests" refers to Shaanxi, Shanxi and Jiangxi, relatively speaking, Jiangxi land is barren, and there are few fields and many people, so Jiangxi people travel and eat a lot of food, Kanyu, astrology, medical Bu wheel, Zijiang, this is the main occupation of Jiangxi people to go out to make a living, For example, Zeng Yu's ancestral hometown of Xingguo Sanliao, a village has more than half of the adult men are feng shui masters, traveling around the Ming Dynasty, Beijing, and thirteen provinces, not caring about children and mothers, and eating with bare hands-

Zeng Yuxin, who was riding a horse, said: "I have nine carps to be a companion to the children of the powerful, which is not a good job. And thought: "I have always thought that a whip law is the Wanli Dynasty Zhang Juzheng pioneered, now I know that the nine years of Jiajing has begun to implement, a whip law is a milestone in the development of the ancient Chinese tax system, the tax from the kind to monetization, compared to other tax systems are more fair and simple, the silver on behalf of the peasants have more freedom, the late Ming Dynasty commodity economy flourished and this tax system has a lot to do with it, but a whip law seems to touch the interests of the gentry and landlords, so the resistance is great, Yan Song as an important minister of the Jiajing Dynasty, It is obviously impossible to implement a whip law without Yan Song's support, and the gentry class has a lot of opinions on Yan Song, could it be related to this?

Zeng Yuxin said: "Anyway, I don't know what kind of big crime Yan Song has committed, is it a big crime to write green words to welcome the emperor, Xu Jieqing is better than Yan Song, and Xia Yan was killed?" Shen Lian? Yang Jisheng? The political struggle is life and death, Shen Lian and Yang Jisheng impeached Yan Song for ten major crimes and fifteen major crimes, if Yan Song doesn't fight back, will he be tied to death? are all feudal dynasty dictatorship, Yan Song's guilt is mostly for Emperor Jiajing, but Yan Shifan's unscrupulous behavior is too hateful, and Yan Maoqing is also a big corrupt official, I glanced at the gift list given to Yan Shifan casually, and saw that there were two golden unicorn pots, six golden dragon amphorae, twelve pairs of gold ingots, and a long list behind, and also aimed at public power, three words, presumably Yan Maoqing collected Liu Gongquan's calligraphy scroll - Yan Song's defeat is mostly because of this son. ”

Steward Rao rode a horse and followed Zeng Yu, and when he saw that this young man Xiucai didn't talk much all the way, he looked for something and said: "Zeng Gongzi, I don't see that maple forest, it's called Maple Bay." ”

Zeng Yu looked in the northeast direction of Steward Rao's finger, under the autumn sun in the afternoon, the large maple forest was as red as the morning glow, yellow as red gold, gorgeous and abnormal, there were about dozens of acres of land, thousands of tall maple trees, the murmuring Jiexi flowed around Jieqiao Village to here, through the maple forest to Yuan Shuihui, the stream was clear, and was not dyed red by the maple forest, but sometimes there were fallen leaves floating with the water-

"What a maple bay, good scenery" Zeng Yu praised and asked: "Is this maple woodland Yan Ge's hometown?" ”

Steward Rao said: "This piece of land was bought by the old lady's ancestor Uncle Fang, and it is owned by the family, and there is a family temple on the side of the stream. ”

Zeng Yuzhi Yan Song's ancestor Yan Mengheng was a jinshi in the Yongle period, and the official went to Sichuan to make a political envoy, and there were two jinshi in such a small Jieqiao village in a hundred years, and they were divided into the Yan family, but he listened to Rao's steward and added: "Aunt Thirteen and Miss Yingzi live there now." ”

Zeng Yu asked: "Who is Aunt Thirteen, is it Miss Yingzi's aunt?" ”

Steward Rao said, "Exactly." ”

Zeng Yu has always wanted to inquire about the whereabouts of Lu Miaoxiang and Ying Zi, but it was obviously very inappropriate for a young man from outside to inquire about Yan Shifan's daughter, so he kept holding back and didn't ask, thinking that sooner or later he would always know, but he didn't expect the news to come without any effort, this Rao steward said it casually, but calling Lu Miaoxiang the thirteenth aunt made him a little uncomfortable, and asked: "Miss Ying Zi, didn't they live in Jichang Garden before, why did they move here?"

Steward Rao said: "The thirteenth aunt resolutely refuses to let Miss Yingzi get engaged to the son of the Songjiang Xu family, this thirteenth aunt is amazing, at the beginning-"

Speaking of this, the steward paused for a moment, and changed his words: "The thirteenth aunt was forced by a hunger strike, and Miss Yingzi also followed the hunger strike, and she didn't eat or drink for four days and four nights, and the lord couldn't resist the two of her, so he returned to the Xu family for the time being during the filial piety period, and there was a small nunnery on the side of the Yan family temple in Maple Bay, which was originally the place where the old lady's late second sister practiced Buddhism, and the thirteenth aunt took Miss Yingzi to live in the small nunnery, and the old man was angry and said that he would starve to death for the two of them, but he still sent someone to send rice, grains, fruits and vegetables on time, and the old man had dozens of concubines, There are only five famous people, and the thirteenth aunt has no name, and she has hurt the master, but she is the most favored by the master, which is really a miracle

Zeng Yu was silent, at the beginning, he hinted to Lu Miaoxiang that Yan Shifan would be defeated, and wanted Lu Miaoxiang and the girl Infant Zi to make a plan as soon as possible so as not to be implicated in the Yan family's raid in the future, but it was easy to wake up, it was really difficult to do, two weak women who were helpless, and there was no other way than to fight to the death-

At this moment, Zeng Yu made up his mind that he must help Lu Miaoxiang and Babyzi, as long as it is skillfully arranged, it should not be difficult.

The road to Jieqiao Village passes half a mile south of Maple Bay, and the maple leaves, which are as red as fire and as bright as gold, have a strong attraction to Zeng Yu, but it is better to rush by on horseback.

Less than three miles past Maple Bay is Jieqiao Village.

Jiexi murmuring, ancient Zhangsensen, walking on the stone road, when hearing the sound of books, this small Jieqiao village literary style is quite prosperous, Yan Song's fame inspires Yan's children to study hard, except for the only son Yan Shifan, Yan Song did not give much care to the family, like his nephew Yan Shifang, himself is a student of the school, if Yan Song is willing to help, go to the country to study for two years, can't you choose a county official, it is not difficult to do the five-grade prefect under the promotion, but Yan Song let Yan Shifang rely on his own ability to seek fame, and he refused to recommend favoritism, if he is loyal, It's really intriguing.

Yan Shifang, who was tall and thin, was very surprised when she saw Zeng Yu and asked, "Why is Zeng Sheng here?" Hearing what Zeng Yu said, he nodded and said: "Since you are here, then study here with peace of mind, you are also a student of the government, how dare I be your teacher, you only care about your own reading and composition on weekdays, you don't need to care about anything else, the reason why my cousin wants to ask you to be the companion of Shaoqing and Shaoting is to let the two of them have an example, see how you study hard, you have good academic character, and you can be a model for the two of them." "After that, I ordered the servant to summon Yan Shaoqing and Yan Shaoting to meet Zeng Yu-

Zeng Yuxin said: "I came all the way here to study, but it's not bad, Yan's collection of paintings and calligraphy must be very large, I can feast my eyes, I don't know if those paintings and calligraphy are here, if they are all in Beijing, it will be boring." ”

Zeng Yu proposed to Yan Shifang that he must return to Shangrao for the New Year, Yan Shifang said: "Needless to say, how can you not get together with your old mother and young sister for the New Year, how can you be so unkind." He also said: "Today is the seventh day of the ninth month, you are here to study for three months, and the eighth day of the lunar month will send you back to your hometown, how about it?" ”

If you ride a horse, you can return to Shangrao in ten days, and it is quite convenient, Zeng Yu thanked Yan Shifang, and said a few words, Yan Shaoqing and Yan Shaoting brothers entered Ruizhutang.