Yuan Rui is going to the ancestral hall today to worship his ancestors, which is also the tradition of the Yuan family, every time he comes back from studying outside, he must report to his ancestors, regardless of whether he is admitted or not. If you win, you will make your ancestors happy, and if you don't, you will ask for sin, and do self-reflection in front of your ancestors.

Yuan Rui walked slowly, and Uncle Wang followed behind with his things, which was not very far, and he arrived at the door of the ancestral hall after a while. From afar, he saw the eldest brother Yuan Du and the fifth uncle Yuan Ting waiting for him at the door, according to the family tradition, he came to the ancestral hall to tell the ancestors, and the grandson of the long gate was his own family as the chief complainant.

Yuan Du and the fifth uncle Yuan Ting are both dressed in formal robes, especially the eldest brother, who has studied for a few years and has not been in school, whether it is image or temperament, they are like honest elders, in recent years, as the agent of this branch, he has handled a lot of tricky things in the family very well, although he has just reached middle age, but those elders in the big family value him very much, and even have the intention of cultivating him as the head of the big family. Yuan Rui hurriedly stepped forward to give a salute, he still respected this eldest brother very much, was loyal, and treated the elderly and brothers and sisters in the family fairly and closely.

The three of them said a few words, walked into the ancestral hall together, and wanted to finish the sacrifice before talking.

Ancestor worship, Yuan Rui did it completely in accordance with the process, there is no place for him to speak on this occasion, he will do whatever the fifth uncle and eldest brother say. A place like the ancestral hall was originally very solemn, and according to the established process, Yuan Rui suddenly felt the pressure, and he understood why the ancients respected and feared the family so much.

Especially in front of his father's spiritual seat, Yuan Rui had mixed feelings in his heart. Originally, he may not have had any other thoughts, after all, for so many years, no one has ever said that his parents were murdered by others. But now Yuan Rui doesn't think like this, he is familiar with history and thinks deeply about some things, as far as the current situation is concerned, his biggest suspicion is that there may be problems with the death of his parents.

When he came back in the past few days, Yuan Rui also asked Uncle Wang from the side, and there was nothing suspicious at all, but the more this happened, the more Yuan Rui felt that there might be something wrong in his heart.

The three uncles and nephews came out of the ancestral hall and chatted as they walked.

"Xiyan, you are still young, don't think too much, besides, this time you have a bad stomach, it's just an accident."

"Fifth uncle, I was about to tell you about this."

Yuan Rui looked at the eldest brother and the fifth uncle, and still felt that he should discuss it with the two principals. But you can't say too much, so as not to worry them, and there is no need.

"Fifth uncle, eldest brother, there are some things to discuss with you, this time I went to Fucheng to hear some rumors."

"Something to do with the New Deal?"

"Fifth uncle, there are rumors here in Tonghai?"

"Why not, your sister also said it last time when she came back with Lu Gongzi."

Yuan Rui is alone, and the fifth uncle is talking about his daughter and son-in-law. The fifth uncle's family has three children, the eldest is a daughter, named Yuan Qing, the second and third are sons, the daughter is four years older than Yuan Rui, and the two sons are ranked after Yuan Rui.

Yuan Qing married Lu Ming, the eldest son of the Lu family in Tonghai, five years ago, and has already been promoted, and should participate in the Beijing examination next year.

"Lu Gongzi said that the new inspector in Yangzhou is likely to be recommended by Yu Gong, and it is related to the implementation of the new policy."

"Fifth uncle, didn't the seventh uncle write a few days ago that the situation in Shuzhou is very bad now."

"Your seventh uncle came from Shuzhou last month to talk about the situation in Shuzhou, and now Shuzhou has become a mess because of the new policy. It is not enough that the rich and officials are not satisfied, and now the people are also very dissatisfied and suffer even more. ”

"Fifth uncle, according to this policy, there shouldn't be such a big repercussions, some officials have too many tuntians, but if you change the way, everyone is divided into small families, and the family of 100 people is at least 10,000 acres," After managing such a large family, the eldest brother saw the focus of the contradiction at a glance.

"Yes, that's what your little uncle said, now the chaos in Shuzhou is at this point, and Tan Zongwang, the inspector of Shuzhou, is also a person from Yu Gong, but this person doesn't understand the new deal well enough, and he didn't find out the situation when he arrived in Shuzhou, so he was rigid and tough, causing resistance from both officialdom and the people, and he couldn't do it anymore in Shuzhou."

"I just told you, your seventh uncle said, at most two months, he will come back, he will not go to Shuzhou, he wants to come back to see what business is going on at home."

"Uncle Seven used to be in the silk business, and he can come back." The eldest brother agrees very much, it is really not easy to treat a foreign land.

"I heard that when Yu Gong explained the new policy in the court, the most mentioned point is that it can be allowed to be adjusted within the scope stipulated by the imperial court according to the time situation of each state, which means that the policies of Tanzhou, Jingzhou and Shuzhou are different, and the problems are also different. Yuan Rui also thought of this, sometimes it really depends on how to do it, and it is more troublesome if the implementation of good policies is not good.

"Yes, so Yangzhou is very stable now, it's best not to toss."

"Fifth Uncle, what does Grand Master Lu mean?"

"He didn't say much, he just suggested that we sit on the sidelines for a while, and it was better to do nothing."

"On Jijiazhuang's side, our Yuan family is the big one, and we have suffered the most losses from the implementation of the new policy."

"Fifth uncle, eldest brother, is it possible for us to make a little preparation first, such as letting out some of the land, especially some people in the family who are willing to buy land, we can support it, will it work."

"Xiyan's proposal is good, you can understand it first, no matter whether it will have any effect in the future, at least help my brother."

"Fifth uncle, eldest brother, there are some things I still want to tell you," Yuan Rui felt that at present, it was best to explain things clearly to the two principals in the family, "During this time, I thought about it carefully again, and I don't want to take the imperial examination for the time being." ”

Seeing the expressions of the two of them a little surprised, Yuan Rui paused, but continued, "The current situation is a bit complicated, I hope to make more preparations, and arrange things at home." It's best to trouble the fifth aunt to go around to let off steam, saying that she wants to show me and prepare to start a family. After saying that, he laughed.

Early the next morning, Yuan Rui instructed Uncle Wang, announcing to the public that the old illness had recurred, and he would stay in bed at home for three days, and no one would be seen, and when he came, he would say that he had a headache and could not see guests. Here, Yuan Wei also told the patriarch, of course, he couldn't tell the truth, just said that Yuan Rui was unwell and needed to cultivate at home, and he considered not participating in the imperial examination in the short term. The patriarch was indeed surprised, but he knew that if there was even the slightest possibility, he would not give up the imperial examination, and he could understand that in a family as big as the Yuan family, there were too many people who could not go to school.

Another happy is Wang Xiaohe, since Yuan Rui was at home, Wang Xiaohe often went in and out of the study, taking some food, adding some hot water, and letting him tell stories. Uncle Wang scolded a few words at first, but Yuan Rui immediately said that this was the best, which was conducive to his recovery, and Uncle Wang was happy not to say a word. Wang Xiaohe also took Yuan Rui to the vegetable garden, she planted a lot of vegetables in the vegetable garden, what eggplant, cabbage, radish, and even cucumbers, Yuan Rui was pleasantly surprised, I didn't expect the dishes to be so rich now. He was not polite, he directly plucked two small radishes, picked a cucumber, casually poured the water in the bucket, simply washed it, and ate it directly.

Wang Xiaohe just covered his mouth and smiled when he saw Yuan Rui eating a lot, he didn't feel sorry for the radish that hadn't grown up at all, knowing that Yuan Rui liked to eat these dishes, Wang Xiaohe was happy in his heart. Yuan Rui asked while eating, "There is a red vegetable like a persimmon, just like an eggplant, have you ever seen it, it's delicious!" ”

Wang Xiaohe shook his head.

"Then do you know sweet potatoes and potatoes?" Yuan Rui asked her again.

Wang Xiaohe shook his head again, Yuan Rui knew that it should not have been transmitted from Nanyang at this time, which was a pity.

Yuan Rui picked two more eggplants and told Wang Xiaohe that he would make barbecue eggplants for her to eat at night, which tasted good, and girls especially loved to eat them. Wang Xiaohe happily replied that he made cabbage stew at night, and he was good at that dish, but it was fragrant.

Yuan Rui is very satisfied with this era, whether it is vegetables or meat, it is already very complete. This large area in the south of the Yangtze River is also the land of fish and rice, and the people do have no worries about food and clothing, and live a happy and healthy life.