"You plate, you plate." Huai'an knew that he had said the wrong thing again, so he covered his mouth and continued to listen to his father's story.

After all, Shen Yu is not a private school teacher, and he doesn't stick to any teaching methods, as long as he can make Huai'an remember, it is a good method. For example, while other Mengtong children need to repeat and recite repeatedly, Huai'an needs someone to explain the meaning and allusions.

And sentences like "The Son of Heaven is heroic, the article teaches Ercao, everything is inferior, only reading is high" in "Prodigy Poems", it seems that there is no need to explain, and he will also have a mocking smile.

Do I still need to advertise for the civil service recruitment examination?

"Shen Huai'an, what's your expression?" Shen Yu asked him.

Huai'an was stunned all of a sudden, and hurriedly smiled: "I'm deeply encouraged, I'm deeply encouraged!" ”

……

In the blink of an eye, spring returns to summer, and the lotus flowers in the pond in the back garden gradually bloom. Master Shen has also passed a hundred days. Although the family is still not allowed to feast and drink, it is no longer as lifeless as before.

It is extremely rare to live in the township of Beijing, not to mention the noble lord of Hanlin, relatives, friends, old friends, and local gentry rarely have to express themselves, but they have been hindered by the new funeral of Master Shen, and the Shen house is closed to welcome guests, and it is impossible to visit.

Now that the 100 days have passed, when the guests come to the door one after another, Shen Yu will also choose the most important meeting.

Sometimes he also took Huai'an to let him meet people, intending to change his sometimes doggy habits. Fortunately, Huai'an is not timid in front of people, but is very lively.

Without him, just because these guests looked more normal, most of them were pot-bellied and loyal and kind old men, neither brilliant celebrities nor prodigies, and talking to these people made him clearly feel that he was an ordinary person...... Not mentally retarded.

Later, I learned that there are many well-informed people among these people, but because of the identity of their father, they deliberately hide their clumsiness, so they are just humble.

The so-called "Talking and laughing have a great deal of Confucianism, and there is no vain exchange." "That's it.

Huai'an beat his chest and feet, looked up to the sky and roared, this day can't be lived!

Shen Yu couldn't guess his son's rich expression changes every day. Of course, he didn't have time to guess, Xu Tinglan showed her pregnancy at a speed visible to the naked eye, her mood was good and bad, and it was too late for him to coax his wife.

Before the Dragon Boat Festival, the family came, and Zhao Pan from Zhao Zhi County came.

Shen Yu was a little surprised when Zhao Zhixian ordered his son to visit on his behalf.

Zhao Chun, the county magistrate of Anjiang, is known for his uprightness, jealousy and hatred, and never engages in flattery, and is famous for his uprightness, which is a rare stream of water in today's officialdom. Such a person would even send his son to visit him, a mourning Beijing official?

Under careful questioning, the child is not yet seven years old.

Shen Yu secretly scolded himself for being amorous, and called Huai'an over: "Did you come to find you?" ”

Huai'an nodded yes.

He and Zhao Pan were classmates in a private school, and the relationship was the best, when Huai'an just crossed, he was still recuperating in bed, Zhao Pan came to see him many times, and then because of the funeral at home, he didn't come to the door again.

Huai'an ran to the door of the hall, turned back again, and asked his mother: "Can you bring him to the back house to play?" ”

Xu Tinglan said: "Of course you can, how you played in the past, how you still play now." ”

I heard my mother instruct Tiandong to prepare melons, fruits and snacks, and then prepare a sour plum soup to cool off the heat.

Huai'an's heart warmed, and he ran out with a smile.

Perhaps because of the hormone level in his body, his behavior and mentality have always been like a child, he sees everything novelly, and he is willing to play with friends of the same age, Zhao Pan is his most compatible friend of the same age in this life, and he has not seen each other for more than three months, so he is naturally happy.

Zhao Pan is one year older than Huai'an, half a head taller, still studying in a small private school in the south of the city, and unlike those outsiders who come to visit, he comes alone, carrying a big round watermelon in his hand.

Out of courtesy, Huai'an took his friends to meet his parents first.

Zhao Pan was also quite knowledgeable, came to the middle hall, and greeted Shen Yu and his wife steadily.

Shen Yu looked at him, with a small Chinese face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a slightly dark complexion, but he was dressed up in ......

It is normal for a child not to wear a long shirt, but he is too frugal, a coarse cloth shirt washed white, and half-worn round cloth shoes. Thrown on the street, who would dare to believe that this is the small yachi of the dignity of a county?

If Anjiang County is a barren land where no grass grows, it is reasonable, but Anjiang is located in the main waterway of the south of the Yangtze River, and the transportation is prosperous.

It can only show that Zhao Zhixian is really worthy of the name and is incorruptible to an extreme extent.

Looking at the big watermelon in Zhao Pan's hand, this is not an ordinary watermelon. As a Shangguan, being able to eat a bite of the watermelon given by Zhao Chun is probably the only one for the government and the opposition, and this is still stained with the light of his youngest son.

Xu Tinglan didn't have her husband's twists and turns, as long as it was a polite and educated child, she liked it, so she ordered the maid to take a wet handkerchief to wipe Zhao Pan's face and hands, and asked someone to soak the watermelon in the well water, and the words were full of intimacy, which made people feel like a spring breeze.

Huai'an took Zhao Pan to the West House to play, and after not seeing his friends for a long time, Zhao Pan pulled him excitedly to talk about the interesting cases that happened in the county office.

Yun Ling sent a plate of watermelon, not the one sent by Zhao Pan, it was soaked in the well water the night before, it was cold and sweet, refreshing.

The two nibbled on watermelon, drank sour plum soup, held broom seedlings, and lay barefoot on the carpet to fight crickets.

Seeing that the two crickets were in full swing in the jar, and it was difficult to distinguish the winner, Huai'an said very generously: "I gave you the black general, you take it with you, there is almost no opponent in this piece." ”

As he spoke, he asked Hao's mother to find a new cricket cage.

"No, no, no." Zhao Pan hurriedly shook his hand and said, "If my father sees me playing this and not doing my job, he will kill me." ”

He rolled his eyelids and imagined for a moment, shivering in the heat.

Huai'an had no choice but to give up: "Then I'll help you raise it." ”

Zhao Pan nodded with a smile, and said: "My mother and grandmother also said that when you get out of the service, you will go to the county government to play, and let my father give you stewed meat to eat." ”

The Zhao family likes Huai'an very much, and even Zhao Zhixian, who has a stiff face, will personally cook and entertain him when he is free.

"Good! I love Uncle Zhao's stewed meat. ”

Huai'an complained about the tragic experience of not eating meat for a hundred days.

Zhao Pan just smiled, in fact, he rarely eats meat at home. The officials of Daqi are meager, and Zhao Chun is honest and honest, and he has to rely on his mother's wife to weave cloth to subsidize the family, and open up a vegetable plot in the county government's back house, raise chickens and grow vegetables, and be self-sufficient.

Zhao Zhixian is still a workaholic, he can close dozens of case files a day, since he took office, he has been frugal and pragmatic, purged officials, and reorganized the tax law, so that the people under his rule are all grateful to Dade, but his colleagues have complained.

Huai'an respects such a principled person, but when he sees Zhao Zhixian's old mother, wife and children suffering from poverty, he will feel confused.

When Zhao Chun left, he cautiously ran to ask his father: "Dad, you won't be a corrupt official, right?" ”

Shen Yu almost sprayed a sip of tea on his face.

Xu Tinglan couldn't cry or laugh.

It's a question that goes straight to the soul. Although the future of the Hanlin Academy is immeasurable, it is a real Qingshui Yamen, if you become an official of the six departments in the future, the annual "ice and charcoal respect", various common practices, and etiquette will not be less, some can not be accepted, and some have to be accepted, this is the unspoken rule of officialdom.

It is difficult for the two to explain to a child the truth that "when the water is clear, there are no fish".

Shen Yu wiped the tea at the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, and asked him as usual: "With your mother making money to support the family, why should your father be a corrupt official?" ”

Huai'an was stunned, so the difference between dad and Zhao Zhixian is how much his wife earns? Isn't this pure soft rice and hard food!

"Hey!" Huai'an held his little hands behind his back, shook his head, and sighed: "The world is declining, and people's hearts are not ancient......"

Shen Yu and his wife looked at each other in surprise, where did this child learn the words?

Huai'an smelled a hint of danger, and ran away, but he stumbled because his legs were too short, and his mother grabbed his ear.

"Say it again." Xu Tinglan asked with a frown.

Huai'an grinned in pain, and said with a smile: "I, I, I, I say...... Uncle Zhao didn't let Zhao Pan play with crickets, it's better for my father, my father is good! ”

Chapter 11

Shen Yu patted his wife's back: "Forget it, it's unlucky to beat the child during the holidays." “

This is true, the next day is the Dragon Boat Festival, and wicker, mugwort and gourds are hung on the doors of the house.

Huai'an's two married aunts went back to their parents' house to "avoid drugs" and talked about Chen around them.

Huai'an followed his parents and brother and came to the upper room early in the morning to say goodbye. Chen took out a small basket, which was a five-color rope that she had braided by herself, tied them to the wrists of her grandchildren one by one, rolled up the talisman with the five poisons, and inserted the hairpin into the bun of the two little girls, and recited "Seek good fortune and avoid evil, be safe".

The children went to play in the yard, and the adults sat around the upper room talking, and Chen said abruptly: "In the past, as soon as it entered May, the girls had to be dressed up beautifully, and a pomegranate flower was planted on their heads. ”

At present, the whole family has not yet taken it, and its eyes are full of plainness, which makes people feel dull.

Huai'an returned to her father and mother during this time, although she still lived in a house, she was not fluttering in front of her every day like before, and Huaiying Huaiwei gradually understood some things, and she wanted to teach them the rules of etiquette, which was a lot colder all of a sudden.

Shen Yu saw it in his eyes, and ordered someone to go to the flower farmer to buy a piece of grass jasmine, a piece of begonia and a few magnolias, and he didn't work as a gardener, but took a few children to hoe and plant the land himself, rolling up in mud.

Huai'an stumbled into the house with a basin of narcissus, tripped over the threshold, and half of the water in the basin was spilled. He wanted to put the flower pot on the table, but he was not yet as tall as the table, so he had to climb into the chair first, and the other half of the water was almost spilled.

Chen was distressed when he saw this, and ordered the maid to come and help him. Shen Yu entered the door and said, "Let him come by himself." ”

The two maids froze in place.

Chen blamed his son and said, "What are you doing? It's not that the family can't be used anymore! and Huai Mingyuan, who didn't let them read in broad daylight, ran to my yard to hoe the ground, you are crazy! ”

Shen Yu patiently added water to the daffodil basin, and his mouth was full of words: "The paper is shallow, and I asked them to experience the hardships of the crops." ”

After speaking, he was scolded out of the hall by the Chen family: Take your son and nephew to farm elsewhere, don't huo my yard!

Shen Yu persevered, and the next day he came with the children with small flower hoes and rummaged in the yard, and Chen didn't bother to scold him anymore.

Within a few days, Chen's window was lush and vibrant. In winter, the insulated Korean paper was torn off and replaced with a cold cloth that was breathable, and the sunlight poured into the room through the shade of the trees and the window lattice, shining on the Qiangong bed where Chen was married, and the mood was also much more relaxed.

After taking care of his mother's yard, Shen Yu continued to fight with his son.

With Huai'an's endorsement in the morning and practice in the afternoon, the content is not much, but it is steady. You can play all day on the first and fifteenth days of each month, because the private school earlier was also closed for these two days, and Zhao Pan sometimes came to Huai'an to play.

After a few months of such a full and leisurely life, I actually gave birth to some emotions of resignation and seclusion, planting mulberry and raising silkworms, fishing and planting seedlings, watering flowers and bringing babies, what kind of family joy is this? It's a pity that he is not a person who covets comfort after all, he is far away from the rivers and lakes, and his heart is still in the temple.

In the golden autumn of September, the osmanthus is fragrant.

Xu Tinglan was approaching the delivery period, her body was getting heavier and heavier, her legs and feet were swollen, and it was quite inconvenient to walk, sit and stand, Shen Yu took the initiative to take on the responsibility of taking care of the baby, and strictly ordered her two sons not to disturb their mother's pregnancy.

Li Huan sent today's newspaper and the letters of his colleagues to the back house, and Shen Yu read it three times, and his face became more and more solemn.

Huai'an was bored during the lunch break, lying on the Luohan bed playing nine rings, unable to untie it, and was about to ask Shen Yu for help, when he looked up and saw his father sitting in deep thought, full of anxiety, and couldn't help but worry about him.

He stepped forward quietly, one small hand supported Shen Yu's knees, and the other stretched out to his forehead, flattening his tightly locked eyebrows: "Daddy, don't always wrinkle like this, you will have wrinkles." ”

Shen Yu's heart softened, and he said to him: "Birth, old age, sickness and death are common feelings, how can people not have wrinkles?" ”

"If you can be a day late, you can be a day late." Shen Huai'an said.

Shen Yu glanced at him, smiled bitterly, and wrote down a sentence with a wave: "The childish man is not familiar with Sang Yu, You Pan knees to show his face." ①”

Shen Huai'an looked at the words on the back of the paper, was silent for a long time, and asked softly: "Daddy is worried about national affairs?" ”

Shen Yu was slightly stunned, and then he smiled a little: "How does Huai'an know?" ”

Huai'an said: "Dad has just passed, and 'Sang Yuwan' definitely doesn't refer to himself." ”

Shen Yu hugged him on his lap and praised: "Wu'er is really a carved jade." ”

Huai'an's heart was full of joy, and he smiled and asked, "What is Daddy worried about?" ”