The two brothers drank until late at night, and it was very late that Zhang Jian got up to say goodbye. Shen Yi was also drunk, so he could only ask his third brother Shen Ling to take the county official back to the county government for him.
The next day, Shen Yi slept until the sun rose high before getting up from the bed. Because he drank a little too much last night, he got up and washed his face, then sat there for a long time before he woke up.
When he woke up, the Shen family's home, which was not big or small, was already crowded with people.
After he washed up, Shen Zhang took him to the main hall of his home. The main hall of Shen's house was already full of people. At a glance, there were at least thirteen or four people.
Shen Zhang took Shen Yi and introduced them one by one to Shen Yi.
Most of these people are named Shen, who are members of Shen Yi's family.
There are also some people from Shen Yi's mother's clan, that is, relatives on his mother's side.
The direct descendants of the Shen family are uncle Shen Hui's family, so usually no Shen family members come to take care of their four branches, but now, they are already rushing to visit.
As for Shen Yi’s mother clan…
His mother died early, and his maternal grandfather and grandmother also died early, leaving only two uncles. In addition, the mother's family was not from the city of Jiangdu, so Shen Yi had no contact with the mother's family after he was seven or eight years old. .
After all, Shen Zhang was not in Jiangdu, and the mother clan did not expect the brothers Shen Yi and Shen Heng to send anything to them during the holidays.
But now, people from the mother clan also came to congratulate him.
It's not that they have any evil intentions, nor that these people are following the trend. After all, when people come to congratulate them, they may have good intentions.
Shen Yi no longer recognized most of these relatives.
However, Shen Zhang recognized them. He pulled Shen Yi and introduced them to Shen Yi one by one.
Shen Yi was also very considerate, nodding and smiling.
After everyone introduced him, Shen Zhang took Shen Yi and sat down in front of a gray-haired old man.
This person is Shen Zhang's third uncle Shen Xiu, who is also Shen Yi's third uncle. The third uncle is already in his early sixties this year, but he is still in good spirits. He held Shen Yi's hand and couldn't help but praise Shen Yi.
"Since your uncle, our Shen family has not had a candidate for more than 20 years."
The third uncle said with a smile: "At last, with the blessing of our ancestors, the Shen family has another elected member. It can be said that they are still polite."
The old man said with a smile: "I heard from your father that you have already gone to the ancestral hall to offer incense after returning to Jiangdu, but winning the imperial examination is a big deal, and you must pay homage to your ancestors grandly during the Chinese New Year."
As for going to the ancestral hall to worship ancestors, Shen Zhang took Shen Yi with him after he came back, but depending on the old man's wishes, he would have to do it again in a month or two.
Shen Yi had no objection to these matters. After all, respecting Heaven and Fazu was the traditional thought of the descendants of the Xia Dynasty. He smiled and nodded in agreement.
The third uncle looked at Shen Yi again and said with a smile: "I heard from the fourth child that Qi Lang will take the Chunwei exam next year?"
Shen Yi nodded and smiled humbly: "I'm going to take the exam, but I'm young, so I just give it a try, and I may not win."
The third uncle's face was full of smiles: "My Qi Lang won the Asian Yuan at a young age. When he became a master, it was a literary star coming to the world. Even if he doesn't win next spring, he will definitely win the next spring."
Having said this, the third uncle looked around the main hall of the Shen family, and then sighed slightly: "After your family was divided, most of the family property was distributed to the eldest son. These years, the fourth uncle has not been in Jiangdu. As an elder, I I haven’t come to your house to see him either.”
"I never thought that the fourth child would have such a difficult time."
Shen Zhang, who was sitting next to him, lowered his head slightly with a look of shame on his face.
This is his biological uncle, and he has to listen to whatever he says.
At this time, Shen Yi had heard some clues. He glanced at the old man, and then said with a smile: "Uncle, although our family has not been rich and powerful in recent years, we have lived a pretty good life, and my father has not treated me badly. Our brothers, I am studying, my younger brother is also studying, so it is not very difficult."
The Shen family, or Shen Zhang's family, is indeed not considered poor in Jiangdu City, but a serious middle class. After all, a family that can support two scholars cannot be said to be "difficult".
Hearing Shen Yi's words, the third uncle sighed.
"You juniors have not experienced the prosperity of our Shen family back then, so you don't feel that life is miserable now."
He said rather sadly: "Your great-grandfather was a member of the imperial court back then. Our family is one of the largest in Jiangdu."
"When I was young..."
At this point, he sighed again, shook his head and said, "That's all, it's all old stuff, so don't mention it."
Old Shen looked at Shen Yi and said with a smile: "Fortunately, with the blessing of our ancestors, the Shen family has another scholar. One day, Qilang, if you become a Jinshi, the Shen family will prosper again."
At this point, the third uncle's face became serious, and he said slowly: "Our family has been established in Jiangdu for more than a hundred years. It has always been a family of farming and studying, and the most important thing is scholars. Now that you, Qilang, have won the imperial examination, what about the rest of us?" As elders, you can no longer sit idly by and ignore your family’s situation.”
The old man looked at Shen Zhang on the side, then at Shen Yi, and said with a smile: "Before yesterday, my uncle discussed with some of your elders. What we mean is to separate two branches from our family's land. Hundreds of acres of fertile land will be placed under your name, Qilang."
"With these two hundred acres of land, life will be much easier for the three of you, father and son. After all, Qilang, you will have to take the Chunwei exam in the future, and Xiaojiu will also study in the academy, so money is needed."
The third uncle said softly: "When Qilang was sleeping just now, we discussed it with your father. We just need to wait for you to nod. We have all the land deeds with us. We can go to the county office with you in the afternoon and transfer these lands to your name." .”
After hearing what his third uncle said, Shen Yi couldn't help but frown.
He looked around at his relatives and saw that they were all looking at him, but no one spoke.
Obviously, they had already discussed this matter and were just waiting for him to wake up and inform him again.
There is no such thing as a free banquet in this world, let alone a windfall!
According to the current land prices in Jiangdu Prefecture, the price of one acre of good land should be around 20 taels. Some particularly good land can be sold for more than 30 taels of silver. Calculated based on the lowest price of 15 taels of silver, two hundred An acre of land could be sold for three thousand taels of silver before!
Romance bar free reading
Three thousand taels of silver was enough to get through the province in this era. It was already considered a huge sum of money!
And no one would give three thousand taels of silver to Shen Yi for no reason.
This kind of behavior of giving away fields has a unique term in this era.
Weird post!
The so-called false transfer means falsely reporting one's own land in someone else's name in order to avoid taxes and servitude.
Because Shen Yizhong was elected, he had the privilege of being exempted from taxes. According to Chen Guo's standards at this time, the amount of tax exemption for an elected person was exactly 200 acres of land, no more, no less.
Shen Yi's uncle Shen Hui was also a Juren, and he also had many fields in his name. These fields played a lot of role in allowing Shen Ling and his wife to live peacefully in Jiangdu.
In the late Ming Dynasty in another world, the court was unable to collect taxes. Part of the reason was that large-scale land flowed into the names of privileged people, causing the court to lose a large amount of tax revenue.
Thinking of this, Shen Yi stood up silently. He first looked at his father, then at his third uncle, and then spoke slowly.
"Elders, I have a headache, so I'll excuse you for now."
