On the morning of July 21, Zeng Yu brought silver to Wu Village, and Wu Chunze's cousin Wu Daoming invited Wu Village, the Wu family, and several close neighbors of the house outside the north gate to the Wu clan ancestral hall to discuss the transaction of the house—

"Da Ming Law" once stipulated that "all those who buy a field house without tax deed, flog fifty, and still chase half of the price of the field house into the official", that is to say, the sale of land and real estate must be filed with the government and pay the deed tax, but after Hongzhi, this law is often not implemented effectively, most of the private land and house transactions are carried out privately, and do not go to the government for the record and pay taxes, tax evasion is one of them, and the fear of Xu officials making it difficult and extortion is the second, so the transfer of private land houses is probably to invite the elders and neighbors to have a meal of wine as a witness, and both parties sign and draw the pledge even if the transaction is completed. There are risk loopholes in this kind of transaction, not to mention that there will be enemies to sue the official, but there is a possibility that both parties to the transaction will renege on the contract, and it will be impossible to say that there will be a mess of debts-

Zeng Yu wanted to buy this house at a cheap price, it was necessary to take into account the possibility that Wu Daoming would be instigated by others to regret and find trouble in the future, and everything was foreseen and not foreseen, so he proposed to go to the county household office to file and pay taxes, and the transfer deed tax of the field house in Jiajing was very low, and the tax of one hundred and fifty taels of silver only needs to be paid one or two or five dollars of silver, and perhaps a few dollars of silver for the hard work of the officials, Zeng Yu said to Wu Daoming: "Today's banquet Uncle Wu, please, I will pay this tax silver." ”

Since Zeng Yu is willing to bear the tax and silver, Wu Daoming has something to say, Zeng Yu is a talent, and Zeng Yu came forward to ask the Shangrao County Household Branch Office to handle the transfer of the field house, and he didn't have to worry about being harassed and blackmailed, so Wu Chunze accompanied Zeng Yu to the Shangrao County Household Branch Room, and invited two Xu officials to look at the house outside the north gate-

The old man was from this county, and he had heard of the poor feng shui of this house, so he didn't say much about the sale of the fifty taels of silver, and the Zeng Xianggong who bought the house was said to have won the appreciation of the Lin Mansion.

Wu Daoming did not have a deed for this house, only the land deed when he bought the field and built the house, so he set up another house deed, and transferred it to Zeng Yu's name together with the field deed, after the matter was settled, the banquet was drunk, the two officials drank all over the face red, ate with a mouth full of oil, and got a small red envelope when they went back in the evening, and the house covering an area of four acres outside the north gate has since been returned to Zeng Yu, and Zeng Yu is going to start changing feng shui and repairing the house.

Without further ado, the day after the deed was transferred, that is, on the 22nd day of July, Zeng Yu invited a few villagers to cut down the two ancient willows facing the gate with a few axes. Then let people carefully dig out the big jujube tree in the courtyard of the entrance hall, tear down a few feet of side wall, and transplant the jujube tree to the south side of the back garden.

Lingxi in front of the house in the turn of the blunt bay, Zeng Yu hired twenty strong people to widen according to the position he designated, the almost right-angled fold of the bay into an arc, this in the Yang Mansion has a particular attention, called the jade ribbon shape Mingtang, Daji, believe it or not, according to the topography of Kanyu to do, at least can make people feel at ease, and the bay is changed to an arc, the water is stretched, this section of the stream has no deep water area, there is no whirlpool, and the water will not drown, the house is not ethereal, it is implemented here.

It is obviously not possible to dig the river without permission, Zeng Yu passed the gas to the engineering room warden of the Rao County Ya in advance, and the warden came to take a look, so that it is better to change, the water flow is gentle, and this warden knows the name of Mr. Shaking Long, and learned that Zeng Xiucai is the heir of Mr. Shaking Long, so he admires and begs Zeng Yu to help him take a look at the house, Zeng Yu took time out of his busy schedule to go to the east gate for the warden to make a house, and instructed the warden to let people fill the puddle in front of the door, and the warden was very grateful, and in the name of the river worker, ten people were recruited to help dig together, The progress is significantly faster -

At the same time of opening up the river bay, Zeng Yu asked people to demolish the gate of the house and choose the Rili gate again, because he heard Wu Daoming inadvertently say that when the house was built, because the stone of the gate arrived first, the gate was built first, which is a reversal of the main and secondary things, and it should be corrected

By the 19th of August, the widening of the river bay was completed, and the painting, painting, and replacement of the decayed doors and windows in the inner house were largely completed, and on the 20th the gate was sealed with bricks, and two heavy red pine gates were installed.

Great-mother Zhou's love of flowers, Zeng Yu also put a lot of effort into the back garden, let people build two stone flower columns, in front of the fence to the stream stone base mountain folded several folds, quite picturesque, bought dozens of kinds of flowers and trees, intricately mixed, shade and dense, spring, summer, autumn and winter, each has its own feelings: spring poppy, poppy, mountain orchid, frangipani, peony, purple orchid; In summer, there are Luoyang flowers, Jianlan, hollyhocks, jasmine, and pearl orchids; In autumn, chrysanthemums are the mainstay, and there are autumn yarns, okra, monk shoe chrysanthemums, longevity hibiscus, begonias, wild goose red, and dwarf cockscomb; In winter, narcissus is the mainstay, Changchun Sazhi, and other woody such as purple and white lilacs, green calyxes, jade saucers, wax plums, planted in the corner of the wall, so that there are flowers blooming in the house all year round -

On the 21st, great-mother Zhou came to see the house again, the inside and outside have been renewed, some daily furniture has been moved in, couches, chairs, square tables, tables, cabinets, cages, footstools, everything, great-mother Zhou is very happy, her son is very good at doing things, and asked: "It cost a lot of silver, is the money enough?" ”

Zeng Yu said: "Widening the river bay is the most expensive, using more than 40 taels of silver, and the rest of the repairs to the house and the purchase of daily household goods are only 50 taels. That is to say, this mansion has spent a total of nearly one hundred and fifty taels of silver from the purchase to the renovation of it, which is a huge amount of money, and the one hundred and forty taels that Zeng Yu brought back from Yuanzhou have all been spent.

Great-mother Zhou said: "Spending money is like running water, you have to save some, and you have to marry a wife." ”

Zeng Yu said: "My mother doesn't have to worry about money, my son has a way to make money." ”

The period of housewarming is scheduled for August 24, Zeng Yu entrusted people to report to Ishida's eldest brother Zeng Qian, Zeng Qian arrived in the evening of the 23rd, and Xie Mantang came with him, rich in the mountains have distant relatives, Zeng Yu has not become rich, but only a small show, there are relatives and friends coming in droves, on the day of the housewarming, into the house to return to the fire, warm the room and warm the pot, to congratulate the people to sit full of thirty seats, Zeng Yu's classmates in the school are mostly here, even the professor of the school Zhang Guangtang and the two instructors also deigned to congratulate, drink and celebrate, lively -

In this way, Zeng Yu has his own home.

After the guests dispersed, Zeng Yu's house outside the north gate was restored to tranquility, and Zeng Yu's leisurely day was watched:

Early in the morning of August 28th, Zeng Yu got up and freshened up, went to the back garden to practice a way of swordsmanship and a few punches and feet, at this time the great-mother Zhou and Niuniu also got up and went downstairs to the back garden, an old and a young two tucked the corners of the skirt, hunted and killed the chrysanthemum tiger in the chrysanthemum bush, the chrysanthemum bloomed brilliantly in mid-autumn, the chrysanthemum tiger often bit off the branches and leaves, it is a pest, and the black worm, it is easy to let the flower branches die, Zeng Yu finished practicing his fists and feet, and also helped catch insects and water the flowers, and the great-mother Zhou went to the kitchen to boil water to prepare breakfast, and cleaned the door inside and outside the Sixi door, or was ordered to go to the nearby market to shop-

At breakfast, Zeng Yu said to his mother: "Mother, I will wait to go down to Wu Village or Zhu Village to hire a cook to come over, your old man should enjoy some blessings, and take care of the flowers and plants, this is what my mother loves to do." ”

Great-mother Zhou said: "Wouldn't it cost money to hire people, my mother is forty-six years old this year, not too old, and she still cooks for four people." ”

The ancients had premature aging, and women under the age of 50 like their great-mother Zhou had wrinkled foreheads and gray sideburns, and their bodies were much worse than before the age of 40.

Zeng Yu pressed the back of his mother's hand and persuaded: "Isn't my mother going to find a matchmaker to talk about her son's family affairs, if people say that their mother wants to cook herself, wouldn't it be underestimated, and the daughters of big families won't marry me, hehe, it won't cost a few dollars to hire a cook." ”

Great-mother Zhou now has her own home, her heart is very satisfied, the only concern is her son's marriage, hearing her son say this, very reasonable, said: "Okay, you go to Ruolan to say, let her find a reliable cook in Zhu Village to help." ”

At the end of the hour, Zeng Yu came to Shenlong's "Lanting Collection Preface", so he carried a water urn out of the house, and went to Zhujiajia to see his sister Zeng Ruolan, and said that he wanted to hire a cook, Zeng Ruolan said: "I am also thinking about this, and I have to buy two girls to wait." ”

Zeng Yu smiled: "Don't dare to be too extravagant, take your time, hire a cook first." ”

Zeng Ruolan said: "I will help you inquire, always find an honest and reliable chef who is profitable." ”

Coming out of Zhujiajia, Zeng Yu went to Chashan Guangjiao Temple to draw an urn of Lu Yuquan, chatted with the monks for a long time, carried the water urn back to the house outside the north gate, it was already noon, the mother had cooked a fragrant meal, a fish, a plate of pumpkin, a plate of fried celery, a large bowl of winter melon soup, the four of them ate with relish, Xiao Xi Sixi sat on the side to eat, did not dare to sit with the master, it was like this in Shitian before-

In the afternoon, Zeng Yu read "Zhou Yi" in the side room of the front hall, and when his mother was about to wake up from a nap, he picked up pine branches to cook tea, and talked about some idle things while drinking tea with his mother, and then went back to the study to practice big characters and small characters for half an hour, reading Xie Zhen's "Siming Poems" and some poetry books bought in Huwan last time, and when he was interested, he chanted a small poem, which was recorded in his own poetry collection booklet——

Look at the red sun in the west, then go out to Wu Village to visit Wu Chunze, walk slowly along the Lingxi, meet the village husband Ye Lao, then ask mulberry hemp, japonica rice, the year into a good apology or not, the amount of rain is clearer, when the number of festivals, to Wu Village and Wu Chunze on the eight strands of literature, say some anecdotes of the times, the sun is twilight, Wu Chunze wants to stay for dinner, refuse, resign, but see the purple glow of the West Mountain, changeable, the shepherd boy rides a bull, the flute is long, this pastoral scene, it really makes people want to praise and forget words

When he returned to the house, he saw an errand officer of the government standing by the fence and singing: "Zeng Xianggong, the villain has been waiting for a long time, and the Fuzun commanded, please go to see Zeng Xianggong immediately." ”

The first volume is over, and a new volume will start tomorrow, please continue to support Xiaodao and "Qingke", and at the end of the month, ask for a monthly pass.