Zheng Haizhu looked away, looked at others, and saw the Gu family's little daughter-in-law, Li, looking at this side with interest.

Yes, this drama grandma is about to start performing again. Zheng Haizhu thought.

Sure enough, Li's eyebrows were raised, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he said with a smile: "Oh, Old Master Kong said that you don't get tired of eating, you don't get tired of eating finely, and others clean up the food carefully, and send it directly to your mouth, which is comfortable." But there are three things, but I peel them while eating them, which is the most interesting. One is melon seeds, one is water chestnut, and the other is ......"

"The other one is crabs," the eldest grandmother Shen scrubbed her fingers in the chrysanthemum bowl, and smiled lightly, "Every time the third daughter-in-law eats crabs, she has to bury me with this." Everyone has their own creation, my finger is the inconvenience brought by the mother's womb, and it will be done calmly, do I eat and drink my mother's, and still find her fault? ”

"Well, what the third daughter-in-law said is really wrong, and the sweet potato is also peeled and gnawed at the same time, which is interesting." Gu Shouqian's mother, the second grandmother Lu, spoke in a soft voice, and then turned her head to the next person, "This crab is delicious, but after eating two, I feel cold in my stomach, you go and see, is the sweet potato brought by Grandma Xu steam ready?" ”

The second grandmother Lu is a gentle and kind person, but she is not stupid, and she is usually used to diverting the topic to ease the atmosphere.

The mother-in-law who was serving on the side hurriedly continued: "The sweet potato has been steamed until the core is thorough, just waiting for the old lady and grandmother to order it to be served." ”

"Bring it up." Old Lady Miao said with a smile.

After a while, the servant brought a large pot of blue and white lotus petals, which was squeezed with sweet potatoes like crimson radish, and in the cracked skin, a golden pot like the rising sun was revealed, and the hot air was billowing, sending bursts of sweet fragrance into everyone's noses.

Shen reached out and took a two-headed one and presented it to Miao: "Mom, this is so white, like an ingot." Serve hot. ”

After Miao took it, she also picked a long one herself, kneaded the skin and peeled it off, and ate it with relish.

Miao kindly beckoned all grandmothers and ladies to take sweet potatoes in their hands, and said to Xu Guangqi's daughter-in-law: "When I used to be on an errand in the palace, Long live the lord and the mother, I loved to eat steamed pea yellow in the small shop outside. This sweet potato, fragrant and glutinous, is a little sweeter than beans and chestnuts, and if you think about it again, you can also make a more delicate snack. Therefore, this imported thing does not necessarily have to be laughed at. ”

The little daughter-in-law of the Gu family, Li, is actually not really stupid, she knows that in the delicate rounds of the past, she can't hold back the meanness that she wants to release at any time, but she collapsed her own stage, so she also wants to make up for some face in front of the Dong family, the Han family's daughters and Mrs. Huang.

She then leaned into the old lady's words and said, "Mom is right, the Western clock and the glass lamp are very good." Daughter-in-law of the Xu family, if you change the foreign religion that your family believes in, if it is changed to make us understand better, maybe more people will believe it. ”

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a crisp voice sounding on the table: "Miss Zheng also told me the same way, for example, around the cross, you can embroider birds and phoenixes, and for example, Mater dei (referring to the Virgin) can stand on a lotus flower, like Guanyin Bodhisattva." Miss Zheng's ideas are so wonderful, I think about it carefully, and many of the teachings that Grandpa and Auntie said to me can also be consistent with the Confucian classics I learned from my husband. ”

The little girl who opened her mouth was Xu Guangqi's granddaughter, Xu Huizhen.

Since the opening of the banquet, Xiao Huizhen has always eaten quietly, and at this moment she suddenly started to talk eloquently, and her words were quite orderly among scholars, not at all like a seven or eight-year-old girl, everyone couldn't help but be a little surprised, and the atmosphere was suddenly quiet for a while.

It was her mother Gu Lanjie who came to her senses first, turned to Zheng Haizhu, and said with a little appreciation in her pleasant face, and said: "Miss Zheng, no wonder Fang just came all the way, Ah Zhen is sticking to you, and you two are very compatible." ”

Han Ximeng has always had a bit of the temperament of a golden horse sword, and when he heard someone else boasting about the maid in his house, he was not pretending to be modest, and said generously: "Young Grandma Xu, Bai Lotian said that although the acquaintance is new and has an old relationship, Azhu and Sister Zhen can see each other at first sight, also because her two brains are aura." ”

Zheng Haizhu hurriedly leaned over and said: "Grandma and Miss are falsely praised, it is Miss Huizhen who is pious and intelligent, and in just a few words, I understand that Mater dei is the same as Guanyin Bodhisattva, both are goddesses of mercy and rescue, so I don't take the liberty to say a few words." ”

Xiao Huizhen was actually tired of the boring conversations of a few Gu family aunts at the dinner table, so she seized this opportunity, stood up and said respectfully to Miao Shi, who was seated: "Ah Tai, Huizhen has finished the meal, and there is no waste." Can you please allow Wai Chun to leave the table and ask Ms Cheng for advice on Danqing Kung Fu? My mother and I are going to embroider some hanging pictures for the church. ”

Mrs. Miao was happy: "Go, little girl." Mrs. Zheng also gave you a trick, you and Miss Zheng pondered how to live around that cross, and then painted grains, by the way, don't forget, there are also sweet potatoes that your grandfather introduced to Songjiang. The people take food as the sky, and whoever feeds the people will believe him. ”

……

Heming Tower, a high-end restaurant that only receives the city's gentry and female dependents, knows the habits of the guests best, so there is also an Accord on the east side of the main building.

Outside the window of Xiaoxuan, banana leaves and hibiscus, rockery and beautiful stones, the house is arranged into a study, with a few long tables, pen and ink, rice paper, and pigments all available, for the guests to chant poems and make ink in dance.

Zheng Haizhu spread out the paper on the desk.

Xiao Huizhen, who was in high spirits, moved the inkstone with polished ink in front of her, and then knelt on the round table and stared at the rice paper.

Zheng Haizhu looked at her sideways, and felt that the little girl was staring at two round eyes, her cheeks were bulging, cute and smart, and she couldn't help but think of the two cats she raised in modern times in her previous life. On those nights when the literature and thoughts were exhausted, the manuscript could not be handed in, and the two cats were by their side like this, looking at the keyboard or the screen, cheering and cheering.

But at this moment, Zheng Haizhu does not have the painful feeling of Kavin in his previous life, but writes like a god.

Zheng Haizhu woke up from Longxi County, Zhangzhou, and found that he could draw line drawings of gongbi and line, which was not much different from the local painting master who weaved Zhangrong. And I have the accumulation of modern people's knowledge of Chinese and foreign art history, as well as the broad-minded and divergent thinking, which greatly blesses this originally simple golden finger.

In the days when Han Ximeng studied Japanese ukiyo-e, Zheng Haizhu did not hesitate to draw a reduced version of Katsushika Hokusai's "Phoenix" for the hostess.

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese ukiyo-e painter more than 100 years later, and naturally I don't know whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Toei people in this world. Han Ximeng has never seen such a different phoenix, tangible, and invisible, see that the phoenix is not a phoenix, ethereal and chaotic, surprise in the study, Zheng Haizhu only said that he had seen a few paintings during the day, dreamed of some outlines at night, and added his understanding of the random needlework that Miss was good at, and he made a phoenix sketch.

Once the mind is touched, the mind opens up the situation, and the same is true for the current conception of Catholic paintings and embroidery.

Even without the encouragement of Mrs. Miao and Gu Lanjie, Zheng Haizhu firmly believed that it was feasible to localize the foreign religion that Xu Guangqi believed in the propaganda materials.

Because in the real history, many unearthed picture scrolls and books in later generations show that the spread of Catholicism in China in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties borrowed a lot from the legends of local religions.

And the profit from this popular material, posters and embroidery, will be one of the sources of funds for her school.

Therefore, today's God-given opportunity to invest in the Xu family cannot be missed.

Zheng Haizhu first drew the outline of Dehua white porcelain Guanyin, which is most familiar to Fujian people, and stepped on the lotus.

Then, she recalled the various statues of the Virgin Mary and the Son she had seen when she visited the Western Art Exhibition, she painted a peacock blue robe with gold trim for Guanyin, and then stuffed a white and chubby little doll with slightly curly hair, never painted a belly pocket, and painted two gold circles like Guanyin, looking like Guanyin sending her son, and like the Virgin Mary holding Jesus.

Then, Zheng Haizhu thought of the early ukiyo-e lines of Mount Fuji that he asked for from Yan Siqi, and painted them behind the portraits, adding cranes, phoenixes, and golden pheasants. In the foreground of the portrait is a parody of Katsushika Hokusai's "Kanagawa Waves", which depicts a wave of waves.

Xu Huizhen looked at this place intently and said curiously: "Sister Azhu, where are these mountains and water?" ”

Zheng Haizhu said: "Is there a classic you teach called the Bible? Is there a story in the Bible called Exodus? Mention of the Red Sea in it? In Buddhism, is there a mountain called Mount Meru? Miss Huizhen, you see, we, the people of the Ming Dynasty, whether you preach Catholicism or Buddhism, talk about the Red Sea, talk about Mount Meru, they may not be able to understand. But as soon as you talk about the fairy mountain of the Queen Mother of the West and the South China Sea of Guanyin, everyone has been familiar with it since childhood, and you must understand it in seconds. ”

"What is a second?" Xu Huizhen had a question mark on her face, but soon realized, "Are you talking about a very short time?" My grandfather taught me that in the kingdom of Mr. Tessie (referring to Matteo Ricci), timekeeping does not need hours, moments, and rests, but hours, minutes, and seconds. So, understanding in seconds means that it is easy to understand? ”

Zheng Haizhu grinned and praised the correctness, and said in his heart, sure enough, the best school district room is the parents' study.

Xiao Huizhen did not look proud, but stared at the layout of the line drawing, and carefully pondered what silk threads and stitches were used in various areas.

When the two of them were holding the embroidery bandage and drawing it on the sketch, they only heard the creak of the window behind them.

Zheng Haizhu and Xu Huizhen looked back and saw a young woman in a green dress and a blue dress, using her hands and feet together, hurriedly climbing into the house from the windowsill.

"You ......"

"Miss Zheng, it's me! Ru Leek! ”

Before Zheng Haizhu's eyes were full of confusion, the young woman had already reported to her home.

Zheng Haizhu took a closer look when she heard the words, and recognized that she was the girl in the fireworks alley by the Yue River in Fucheng.