After spending the Lantern Festival with his family, Shen Yi left Jiangdu and rushed back to Jiankang the next morning with his wife, three maids, and Shen Ling and his wife.
Before leaving, Shen Yi told his father, Shen Zhang, to take care of his health, and also pulled Shen Heng aside and told him some things.
Mainly about scientific examinations.
Because this year, Shen Ling will start taking the county examination. If everything goes well, in two years' time, in Hongde's tenth year, he and his brother Shen Yi will be able to stand in the court together.
However, Shen Yi told him not to be anxious.
Shen Yi's meaning is obvious. The fourth branch of the Shen family already has a Shen Yi, which is enough for their little family to not face any pressure for a long time.
In other words, when Shen Heng takes the exam, he doesn't have to sharpen his head and study hard like Shen Yi did. He can take every exam calmly because Shen Yi has already supported the family.
If Hongde fails in ten years, he can wait until Hongde's thirteenth year, Hongde's sixteenth year, or even Hongde's nineteenth year.
Shen Heng is fifteen years old this year. Hearing this, he smiled at his brother and said, "Brother, don't worry, I'm not anxious at all. I'm happy to be a candidate this year, but also happy if I don't win."
Shen Yi smiled and nodded, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "That little girl from the Chen family works in our house and does laundry and cooking for you on weekdays, but you can't treat her like a human being, and treat her harshly."
"Um."
Shen Heng nodded and said: "Brother, I know her family affairs and will not bully her."
"I have a good time studying. When I have some free time, I go back to the city to see my father."
Having said this, Shen Yi paused and continued: "Also, if you are in the academy, go to my father-in-law's place if you have nothing to do. He lives alone in the academy, so he will inevitably feel lonely."
"Follow him and walk around more. If you win the prize this year, you will also become a disciple of Master Lu."
Shen Zhang has been in the capital these years. Not much at home, the two brothers depended on each other in Jiangdu, so Shen Heng listened to his elder brother in everything. Hearing this, he nodded quickly and said: "Brother, don't worry and go to Jiankang. I will visit the mountain chief often."
Shen Yi doesn't talk much on weekdays, but when facing his own brother, he can't help but talk more. After the two brothers talked for a long time, Shen Yi waved to his father and younger brother. Saying goodbye, the carriage slowly climbed up the official road and left Jiangdu.
"The Sword Comes"
At this time, the heavy snow that fell a year ago has melted to a large extent. Even though there is still some snow on the roadside, the white color is no longer visible on the official road, and the road is already easy to walk.
Shen Yi and his party had a total of three carriages. Because the official roads were easy to navigate, the journey only took a little more than three days. By the afternoon of the 19th day of the first lunar month, they had arrived at the foot of Jiankang City.
When he arrived at the gate of Jiankang City, Shen Yi signaled for the carriage to stop, and then he stood at the city gate and waited for a while. About tea time, he finally saw a few knights hanging far behind them, and they also rushed to the city. door.
It was during these days that Zhao Ge and other internal guards had been escorting them along the way.
Shen Yi stepped forward, raised his hands to the several internal guards, and said sincerely: "I've worked hard on you all these days, and I'm really sorry that I can't go home for the New Year."
Among these people, only Zhao Ge was familiar with Shen Yi. He jumped off his mount, smiled at Shen Yi, and said, "I am here to do something under orders. Shen Sizheng is no need to be polite."
Shen Yi asked: "This trip back to Jiankang, do you guys have to do business?"
Zhao Ge nodded: "Most likely, the details will depend on the arrangements above after I go back to recover."
"After the business is over, I invite you to invite Yue Lou for a drink."
Several internal guards looked at me and I looked at you, but they didn't dare to speak. Zhao Ge, the captain, shook his head and said: "Shen Sizheng, it's not suitable for me and other internal guards to go too far with a civil servant like you." close."
"There is no need to be taboo about this."
Shen Yi smiled and said, "I'll go tell Eunuch Gao and report it for you."
In fact, the leader of the inner guard is not Eunuch Gao, but the commander of the inner guard.
This commander is very mysterious. Shen Yi has never seen what he looks like. He only vaguely remembers that his surname seems to be Xie.
Several internal guards bowed their hands to Shen Yi and said, "If that's the case, I will definitely bother Sizheng when the time comes."
After some polite greetings, Shen Yi said goodbye to the guards, then got on the carriage and went all the way to Shen's residence in Jiankang City.
At this time, more than a dozen peach trees have been planted in the open space in the back garden of Shen's house. However, because it is still winter, the peach trees have not sprouted branches yet, so they look a little bare.
After returning home, Shen Yi said hello to Shen Ling and his wife, and then accompanied Lu Ruoxi back to their bedroom.
Since no one had lived in the house for several months, there was a lot of dust in the house, so several maids began to busy cleaning it.
Shen Yi took his wife back to the bedroom, pulled her to sit down, and then said with a smile: "When we got married in Jiangdu, we heard many people gossiping behind our backs, saying that Shen Qi didn't even have a decent house. He has just become an official and does not have much salary. Miss Lu will definitely suffer for many years following him."
As he spoke, Shen Yi took out a wooden box from a secret compartment beside the bed. After opening the wooden box, a house deed was revealed. He placed the house deed in front of Lu Ruoxi and said with a smile: "How do they know? Why? My husband also has a second-level house in Jiankang."
Lu Ruoxi took the wooden box.
She had known that the emperor had rewarded Shen Yi for this house, otherwise she would not have let Shen Yi plant peach trees in the yard.
Hearing what Shen Yi said, the newly married Mrs. Shen chuckled and said, "You don't carry such a valuable thing with you. You just put it in this room, so you don't have to worry about others stealing it."
"What are you afraid of?"
Mr. Shen said calmly: "This is a reward from the emperor. If anyone steals this house deed and takes it out to file a lawsuit with us, it will be the same as seeking death."
Lu Ruoxi hummed softly: "You lost the emperor's reward, aren't you seeking death?"
After the two brothers had a conversation, Lu Ruoxi opened the door and walked out. She turned around and smiled at Shen Yi: "I'm going to find my third sister-in-law. I won't talk to you anymore..."
A family of seven or eight people worked together for more than an hour, and finally cleared out the house. The two maids were busy in the kitchen, preparing for the evening meal.
At this time, Ding Man also came to the Shen family, followed by four or five young men, and brought several pieces of fine silk, chicken, duck, fish, etc. to the Shen family.
Ding Man couldn't speak. After putting down his things, he kowtowed to Shen Yi and turned around to leave.
Although he didn't say anything, Shen Yi knew in his heart that this was a little bit of Xu Fu's thoughts and it was considered a "New Year's gift".
With these things, there is no need to go out to buy groceries, and several maids immediately started working in the kitchen.
But tonight, Shen Yi and his wife are not planning to have dinner at home.
As the afternoon approached evening, the young couple picked up some gifts brought from Jiangdu and bought some on the street. In the evening, they arrived at the door of Zhao Shangshu's house.
Both of them have some connection with Zhao Shangshu, and Zhao Shangshu presided over the engagement. Now that they are married, they naturally want to come and kowtow to Zhao Shangshu.
However, because the new year has just begun and the court has only been working for two or three days, the beginning and end of each year are the busiest times for the Ministry of Household Affairs. Shen Yi arrived at the Zhao family at dusk and waited until after dinner, but did not wait for Zhao Shangshu get off work.
If Zhao Shangshu doesn't come back, the Zhao family won't be able to have dinner.
Mrs. Zhao simply took Lu Ruoxi to the back room to eat snacks and talk.
It was like this until it was completely dark before Zhao Shangshu's sedan landed at the door of his house. Shen Yi and the two Zhao brothers went to the door to greet him.
After Zhao Changping got out of the sedan, he immediately saw Shen Yi in front of him, and a smile quickly appeared on his tired face.
"When did Ziheng come back?"
"Just arrived this afternoon."
Shen Yi bowed his hands in salute and said with a smile: "I just came back, and I shamelessly came to my uncle's house to have a meal."
