On the second day of the first lunar month, a wide carriage slowly stopped in front of Ouyang Xiu's house, Fan Ning had already sent someone to send a prayer post to Ouyang Mansion the day before, this is a normal practice of etiquette, if the other party happens to have something at home, he will send someone to return the gift to explain the situation, and the two sides will make another appointment, and it is very taboo to come uninvited, or not come according to the agreed time.

Think about it, when it comes to the appointed time, the family is waiting for you at the door, but you are an hour late, or people are receiving important guests, but you are uninvited, embarrassing the host, so it seems very rude, from ancient times to the present, the etiquette of guests is similar.

Although Ouyang Xiu had already admitted Fan Ning's son-in-law, he was still a little embarrassed in his heart, but he wanted to give his daughter face, and he couldn't offend his wife and daughter too much, otherwise he would have a hard time.

And Fan Ning published his poetry collection, and gave him 20% of the sales as a manuscript fee, and the result was very popular, Ouyang Xiu's first manuscript fee income exceeded 8,000 yuan, and after calculation, his poetry book can bring him at least 30,000 yuan.

This will greatly improve the financial constraints of his family, and it is completely due to Fan Ning, so it is reasonable that Ouyang Xiu will personally go out of the mansion to welcome the arrival of his son-in-law's family.

Fan Ning got out of the carriage first, then helped his wife out of the car, and then hugged his daughter down, this detail still made Ouyang Xiu nod secretly, from this point it can be seen that Fan Ning respects his daughter very much and treats her as a wife.

Maybe it's because of his good mood, Ouyang Xiu's eyesight has recently recovered, in the case of sufficient light, he can see people and objects three feet away, and he can also read newspapers, but Ouyang Xiu only reads "Hong Kong Economic Daily", out of hatred of Qian's, he never touches "Tabloid and Chaobao".

Fan Zhen'er ran up to hug her grandfather first, and Ouyang Qian reluctantly greeted the Xue family, so that Fan Ning and Ouyang Xiu could meet, and Fan Ning bowed and saluted, "Son-in-law Fan Ning see my father-in-law." ”

Ouyang Xiu finally showed a rare smile on his face, "Back then, Xiwen said that I would become his junior sooner or later, and I had a fight with him at the time, but now it seems that he was really right, A-Ning, this is the fate between you and Qian'er, I won't say more." ”

Fan Ning took out another slap brocade box and handed it to Ouyang Xiu, "Inside is a piece of the best Tian Huangshi, ranking third in the world, second only to the two private seals of the first emperor, which are gifts from the son-in-law to the father-in-law, I hope the father-in-law likes it." ”

Ouyang Xiu's slightly cloudy eyes suddenly lit up, as a literati leader, he also loved stones as his life, but his financial resources were limited, he couldn't afford to buy precious stones, but the students gave him some high-grade ornamental stones, and he also had a piece of Tianhuang stone in the study, which was given to him by Zeng Gong, but it could only be regarded as a high-grade stone.

Hearing that his son-in-law gave him a piece of the world's third-ranked best Tian Huangshi, he couldn't help it, and hurriedly opened the box, and a piece of Tianhuang stone, the size of a duck's egg, yellow like clotted fat, appeared in front of him.

Ouyang Xiu was so surprised that his breathing was about to stagnate, his hands trembled slightly, and at this time, Xue Shi stepped forward and asked with a smile: "Master, this must be very precious!" ”

Ouyang Xiu suddenly realized that this was a gift from his son-in-law to him, and he couldn't measure it by its preciousness, he put away the box, smiled and nodded, "I like it very much, thank you A-Ning for your kindness." ”

Ouyang Qian saw that her father liked it, so she happily grabbed her father's arm and said, "Daddy, my husband also gave my father a set of official kiln Ru porcelain and ten catties of dragon tea, which can't be bought outside." ”

Ouyang Xiu smiled bitterly: "Your husband is indeed a wealthy family, and these treasures have not had a chance with your father for many years." ”

Fan Ning gave the gift to Ouyang Qian's eldest brother Ouyang Hua, who was also a Shangpin Tian Huangshi and a set of official kiln Jun porcelain tea sets, Ouyang Hua thanked again and again, he was an eight-grade petty official, even if his father was a celebrity, he had no chance to get official kiln porcelain.

When he fights tea among friends, he has always been envious of other people's tea sets, and now his brother-in-law actually gave him a set of official kiln Jun porcelain, how can he not be pleasantly surprised.

Ouyang Qian also distributed gifts to her younger siblings, sisters-in-law and nephews, one pearl per person, worth a hundred times, and even the Xue family, who did not dare to count on gifts, also got ten high-grade lake silks and a set of gold jewelry, and the family was very happy, welcoming the Fanning family into the mansion.

Ouyang Qian went to get together with her sister-in-law and younger siblings, while Fan Ning sat in the study with her father-in-law Ouyang Xiu and eldest brother Ouyang Hua and talked.

Ouyang Xiu sighed and said: "The death of the Son of Heaven is grieving, and everyone is grieving, and I am no exception, but I am more concerned about the future of the Great Song Dynasty, and the relationship between the virtuous son-in-law and the new emperor is very good, what do you think of the development of the current situation?" ”

Although Fan Ning's other father-in-law, Zhu Xiaoyun, is also a high-ranking official, because of his position, Fan Ning and him rarely talk about current affairs at length, on the contrary, Ouyang Xiu has a deep relationship with his cousin and grandfather, and is a staunch supporter of Qingli's reform, Fan Ning and him have some common language, and after all, they are father-in-law and trustworthy.

Fan Ning pondered for a moment and said: "The reason why the first emperor chose the Son of Heaven to inherit the unification, the most important one is the character of the Son of Heaven, forge ahead, seek innovation and change, in fact, the first emperor has been haunted by the failure of Qingli innovation, he personally told the Son of Heaven, hoping that he can complete his unfinished will, so the new emperor ascended the throne, the change of law is inevitable, and the use of troops in Western Xia and Liao is also inevitable, in the next twenty years, the Great Song Dynasty will undergo drastic changes. ”

Ouyang Xiu's face changed, "Is it a change for the better, or a worsening side?" ”

Fan Ning smiled: "It's hard to say, but I personally have confidence, although the Son of Heaven is young, but he is not ignorant of the world, he and I jointly implemented the Jingdong Road Xiang Army Change, he knows the difficulty of it very well, when he found that the change will touch the vital interests of every middle-level general, he finally had to choose to compromise, he personally told me that the change must be compromised, compromise part of it, and then harvest the other part, and finally the Jingdong Road Xiang Army became the elite Shenwu Army, he himself has a deep understanding, and the following Minister of Change Law does not want to fool him. ”

Ouyang Hua next to him exclaimed: "At a young age, he understands this." ”

"He is indeed extremely smart and has a very high comprehension, as long as he does something, he can quickly comprehend it."

Ouyang Xiu sighed and said: "Back then, your grandfather changed the law, but he didn't know how to compromise, and he took strong medicine at the beginning, which provoked a strong backlash, and he failed in only one year. ”

Fan Ning shook his head, "Father-in-law, in fact, I am not optimistic about the new emperor's change, in Ying Tianfu, he trusts Wang Anshi very much, if as expected, Wang Anshi will inevitably ascend to a high position and raise his arms to radically change the law, I will not directly participate in his change, but I will remind the Son of Heaven, what are the consequences of doing this?" ”

"Could it be that the virtuous son-in-law opposes the change?"

Fan Ning pondered for a moment and said: "I can't talk about opposing the change, since the first emperor, I have been a staunch reformist, and I will appear sooner or later, but before that, I will support Wang Anshi to a limited extent." ”

"You just talked about war," Ouyang Xiu asked tentatively again.

"War is inevitable, I can't be sure about Liao, but the campaign against Western Xia is inevitable, the first emperor wanted to launch a war against Western Xia a few years ago, but his body did not allow it, of course the war will not come so soon, at least not for ten years."

As he was talking, Ouyang Xiu's second son, Ouyang Ming, hurriedly ran over and said, "Father, your students have all come to pay New Year's greetings. ”

"These bastards!"

Ouyang Xiu slapped the table angrily, "I told them that the eldest son-in-law is coming today, let them come tomorrow to pay New Year's greetings, why are they disobedient and come here?" ”

Ouyang Hua smiled meaningfully: "Father, the drunkard doesn't mean to drink!" ”

Ouyang Xiu suddenly realized that his students were all coming for his son-in-law Fan Ning.

After a busy day, Fanning took his wife and daughter back after dinner.

Ouyang Xiu sat in the study and admired the gift that Fan Ning brought him, while Ouyang Hua sat on the side with a sad face, a set of Jun porcelain official kiln tea sets given to him by his brother-in-law had been put on the table by his father, and it was estimated that it was unlikely that he could get it back.

He secretly complained to Fanning, why did he send his father to the Ru porcelain official kiln? Is it bad to send the same Jun porcelain?

My father has Ru porcelain, of course he will not let go of his Jun porcelain.

Ouyang Xiu ignored his son's bitter face, he personally fried a pot of tea with dragon tea, and the room was full of tea aroma, which was simply intoxicating.

Ouyang Xiu tasted it while playing with the best Tian Huangshi given to him by Fan Ning, he couldn't put it down, and compared the top-grade Tian Huangshi that Zeng Gong gave him, and made a judgment, the Tian Huangshi sent by Zeng Gong was simply miserable, and Fan Ning's Tian Huangshi was extremely delicate, a hundred times more eye-catching than topaz, just like frozen chicken fat, pure in color, without a trace of flaws.

Ouyang Xiu sighed in his heart, it's really good to have such a son-in-law!

As soon as he looked up, he saw his son staring at the tea set on the table, and suddenly said with some dissatisfaction: "This set of Jun porcelain will be used for me for a few years first, and I will leave it to you after a hundred years." ”

"Daddy, the tea cup is a set of two, why don't you evenen me one first! Tomorrow is just going to fight tea, and the child's tea cup in the folk kiln really can't be used! ”

Ouyang Xiu glared at him, "You have to put your mind on your career, don't go to those things that are going through the wind and snow, look at your brother-in-law, you are only twenty-five years old, you are already a third-grade Golden Purple Guanglu doctor, you are now thirty years old, and you are still an eight-rank petty official, what do you want me to say about you." ”

"Daddy, the child has been turned into a Beijing official, and he will be promoted soon."

"You are counting on qualifications, how can you be promoted if you don't do things, your brother-in-law has already spoken, and you will be promoted to Changzhou County, Pingjiang Prefecture, which is the hometown of Fan Wenzhenggong, with a large number of talents, and running a school is the easiest place to make political achievements, whether you can go one step higher depends on your performance in the past few years."

Although Ouyang Xiu was angry, he still gave a Jun porcelain teacup to his son, "This teacup is for you, and Tian Huangshi, who Zeng Gong gave to his father, will also be transferred to you, you have to work hard, if there is anything, write more to your brother-in-law to communicate!" ”

Ouyang Hua was overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked him, "Father taught, the child remembered!" ”