One day before the Lunar New Year, a teacher came to Xun Mansion in Qingchai.
The Xun Mansion is located in the middle of Qingchai County. Just talking about the location, it is more expensive than other large families and the county government. In fact, everyone knows very well that the prime minister of Shang Qi is also named Xun, so it makes sense. It’s just that I don’t know what bad luck happened to Qingchai. He moved to Qingchai, far away from the capital, and took root in Qingchai. It took more than ten years.
At this time, the concierge and servants of Xun Mansion were very worried. The teacher was waiting at the door of the mansion at dawn, saying that he was in need of an apprentice. The steward came up to ask, but he didn't answer. The head of the Xun family went out to visit relatives and friends and was never at home. Now the only one who can really take charge of the affairs in the family is the Xun family master.
At this moment, Mr. Xun was wearing a fox fur and playing with a porcelain vase. The porcelain glaze is warm and smooth, just like caressing and playing with mutton-fat jade. Although it is the coldest month of winter, it does not feel cold at all. The body of the vase is cyan, and there are no landscapes or poems by famous writers. There is only a plum blossom with a random shape, outlined with a few strokes, full of charm. The only drawback is that the bottle has numerous cracks, as if it had been broken and glued together.
Touching the porcelain vase with his hand, the young master was slightly in a trance. When he was feeling uneasy, he heard the noise downstairs, so he simply put away the porcelain vase and went downstairs to take a look at the excitement.
The Xun Mansion Building has three floors, which is a fairly standard layout of the Shang Qi Kingdom. The palace is divided into four floors, so regardless of the size of the official position, private residences throughout the country must be one floor lower than the palace, except of course pagodas or observatories. After all, it is a place for religion and divination related to national destiny, and it is natural for it to be aloof from the world.
The Shang Qi Kingdom was at peace. For a hundred years, there were no natural disasters such as earthquakes, thunder and fire, and few man-made disasters such as arson and house fires. Therefore, most of the buildings were made of wood and were riveted together. They were very sturdy and kept warm in winter and cool in summer. Wealthy people prefer sandalwood, and over time the wooden building will also be filled with a faint scent of sandalwood, mixed with the unique smell of wood, giving it a unique flavor. The cornices are streamlined and suddenly rise up after the slope. This rise is like Jiao'e's thrush, which is completely natural. Such a house, even if a villager in the mountains has lived in it for a long time, still has a poetic and picturesque atmosphere.
The stairs are even more special. They are not straight up and down, but wind around the outside of the building and run in sections. Every time you go downstairs, you have to walk through a long corridor along the edge of the building. As for the reason for this, it is probably the so-called beauty of complexity in the minds of literati.
Slowly going downstairs, with the sound of wood kicking and tapping, Mr. Fox Qiu looked at the horizon in the distance, where the light snow was scattered like broken jade.
Eating rabbit meat on New Year's Eve has long been a custom in the town. After all, most of our ancestors were ordinary farmers with their backs to the loess. A fat rabbit symbolizes fertile soil, and we hope that the land will be prosperous in the coming year.
At dinner time, hare was simmering on the stove in the teahouse. The boy and the shopkeeper carried the Eight Immortals table from upstairs, carefully removed the accumulated dust, and sat down to drink, shoulder to shoulder.
"What are your wishes for the coming year?" the shopkeeper asked with a breath of wine.
The little drunkard held his head with one hand, maybe because the wound from the tiger's mouth had not healed, and then he put down his hand and counted with his fingers, "Chop firewood, go to school, fish in the river, catch cicadas for Li Da, and send letters to dad." …”
"That's all?" "What else can I do? I'm also hungry for chivalry and righteousness. The ax given by the shopkeeper really doesn't show off my heroic demeanor. Carrying it to do chivalry and righteousness is too cheap."
The shopkeeper was so angry that he raised his hand and gave the young man a shudder on the forehead. "Didn't I give you a sword?"
The young man's eyes were full of whites: "I don't believe that thing can be called a sword. It has more rust than the axe. It is extremely difficult to chop wood with it. According to this situation, my bowl of wontons will be completely uneatable."
"Shopkeeper, you are considered wealthy in this town. You are not looking for a wife at your age. You only care about these old things. That shabby old ax cannot give birth to children."
Wu Shuang finally understood how to deal with young people. This kid is quite dull and reserved towards strangers, but once he gets familiar with him, he can talk dirty and dirty things, which is enough to make several gods angry to death.
Half an hour later, when the rabbit meat was just cooked, Wu Shuang filled it up and quickly placed the plate on the table, his palms red and he jumped up and down cursing. It's not that I don't want Yun Zhong to do it for me, but I'm afraid that when I take off my chopsticks, I'll find that the rabbit's legs are missing. This guy is very thief.
On a winter night, a generous plate of rabbit meat braised with chili peppers was the most delicious thing in the world. It was so fragrant and refreshing that the two of them were sweating profusely after eating it. When he was lighting the lamp, the young man said he was worried about the stove still burning at home, so he said goodbye to the shopkeeper and went home. The shopkeeper waved his hand and the young man wandered away. As the New Year is approaching, some children have become impatient, lighting incense on the stove and lighting firecrackers when going out. In the quiet town, firecrackers sounded from time to time, one after another. Opposite the teahouse is a tofu shop, which the couple runs diligently. The man is honest, the woman is shy, and the tofu is solid. Whenever the women can't think of a dish, they are willing to bring two pieces of tofu from this restaurant, mixed with green onions, which is light and delicious, so the business becomes more and more prosperous.
The couple had a six or seven-year-old son, who was lighting a firecracker and hurriedly ran to the door to watch. The firecrackers were loud, and Wu Shuang also went out to watch with a wine flask. He accidentally saw several strings of bacon hanging by the door, and one of the strings of bacon was missing a corner, as if it had been forcibly pulled off.
"Maybe I really should find a wife."
Amidst the sound of firecrackers, Wu Shuang looked at the young man's back on the road and felt a little drunk.
Mr. Xun was a little surprised when he invited his husband to the second floor. Usually, there are not a few scholars visiting the Xun Mansion, and they are all those who are looking for a price in the hope of a successful career. The most inferior ones are those who carry a torn parcel with a thread on their back, take out two of their own calligraphy paintings, and want to sell them for a few taels of silver. But this man in simple clothes did not follow the behavior of the rotten scholar. Instead, he proposed to sit in a game of gambling with Mr. Xun. As for the matter of accepting disciples, we would wait until the final decision was made. You must know that chess, music, calligraphy, and painting are also known as the four arts. Any literati with some ability has dabbled in it to some extent. As a branch of a prominent literary family, the Xun family is not weak in chess skills, not to mention Xun, who has been unforgettable since childhood. The son of the family.
So when he heard that the man wanted to sit back and make a bet, Butler Ding felt a little contemptuous. My young master has read the endgames written by chess masters of all ages. At the age of fourteen, he can accurately review the game and reverse the movement ideas. He is praised by today's chess masters as a broad and horizontal chess player with a very sharp edge. How can this be compared to a sour show who doesn't know his origins?
Unexpectedly, after the middle-aged man took advantage of the black and took Tianyuan, the calm-looking Mr. Xun frowned in a rare way. Golden horns, silver-edged grass belly, the same number of hands in the four corners of the chessboard, the advantage gained is huge, few people use Tianyuan as their first move. There was once a rookie in the chess world who liked to make the first move of Tianyuan when playing black. Then he was defeated by a master. In shame and anger, he quit the chess world and never played with anyone again. It can be seen from this that Tianyuan's opening is not a sure loss, but it is not a common method.
However, the man opposite him played chess wildly and recklessly. He did not follow the rules of chess and move the pieces according to common sense. He often lost his pieces. Mr. Xun had to think for a long time before he could move hesitantly. This strange feeling made him feel uncomfortable even when facing a master of chess. Never tasted it. The white chess piece in the man's hand was like a silver dragon, shattering the entire black star board. When it came to the middle of the game, the white chess piece had been killed and had no way to recover. Mr. Xun could only throw in his pieces and admit defeat.
The young master was unwilling to give in, but he still insisted on saluting, "Student Xun Yuantuo, pay homage to the master."
The middle-aged man patted his cotton robe and turned a blind eye to the young master who was saluting in front of him. Instead, he looked at the broken porcelain vase. He was silent, and Xun Yuantuo kept bowing and saluting. A long time passed before he heard him speak. Said: "It's cold, and then I know that the pines and cypresses will wither. We are the three friends of the cold. You have gained seven or eight of the winter plums, but the frost and snow are hard, and you have too little experience. You still lack a lot of the quality of the pines."
"The ice-cracked bottle is named after the glaze surface is like ice cracks stacked on top of each other, as if someone broke and stood up again, but how have you ever let go of your pride? Being proud of your talents and things is not a compliment after all."
The man's voice became warm and gentle, "As I get older, I tend to like to say a few words. I will learn from you next week. From now on, follow me and learn calligraphy and painting strategies."
The sallow-skinned old Mr. Zhou leaned forward, pushed his apprentice's broken hair away from his forehead, and said teasingly: "Not to mention his character and temperament, in terms of appearance, he is almost as good as I was back then."
