The next day, Zhang Yue and He Qi came to Wu Mansion at about the same time.
The two met the library manager, but when they saw him, he already had a smile on his face.
"The two gentlemen are here."
Zhang Yue and He Qi looked at each other and each saluted, "It's time to be polite."
The steward of the library opened the door and said: "You two are the distinguished guests of the Dalang Lord. We were a little neglectful before. It's really because I didn't greet you well enough."
Zhang Yue was a little strange.
But when He Qi heard the words, he said: "As for the manager, we have the temerity to disturb you here and have caused you a lot of trouble. This is what the two of us feel sorry for."
The steward smiled and said: "He Qilangjun is really good at talking, please come in!"
The two of them immediately entered the house.
But I saw something different in the library today. There was a charcoal basin next to the desk where the two copied, using smokeless charcoal, and a copper incense burner was placed not far away.
"This is?"
He Qi couldn't help but be surprised, he didn't get such treatment yesterday.
The steward smiled and said: "The eldest man has told you to greet you two well. These are the things our Wu family uses every day."
After saying this, the steward bowed and left, closing the door without leaving any trace of the two of them.
Zhang Yue put the book box on the desk without much thought, then went upstairs to get the books, put them on the desk, and continued yesterday's copying.
He Qi walked around for a while and couldn't help but said: "This fragrance is from Hainan. A little bit of it is worth ten thousand yuan. This is a top-grade fragrance!"
"Ten thousand dollars, so expensive!"
He Qi shook his head and said: "Don't be surprised. Although this agarwood incense is valuable, it is just ordinary in the eyes of the Wu family. It is fitting for someone of such a family to use this incense. Someone saw you making such a fuss, It’s meant to be a joke.”
Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother He, for the tip. Brother He is really awesome. I just think this fragrance smells really good, but I don't even know the name of the fragrance."
He Qiwei smiled and said: "That's natural. In this dynasty, from the official family to the ordinary officials, everyone loves fragrance. If you study and become an official in the future and cross this threshold, you will naturally know That’s all. Understanding these knowledge is much easier than reading scriptures and writing articles.”
Zhang Yue cupped his hands and said: "I see, thank you Brother He for the pointer."
"Not worth mentioning."
He Qi thought to himself that the Wu family suddenly improved their treatment of the two of them. I wonder if they value them?
While the two were talking, Zhang Yue heard a knock on the door and saw that He Qi had returned to his desk in the blink of an eye, sitting upright.
But I saw two beautiful maids coming to the library each carrying tea bowls on tea trays.
He Qi and Zhang Yue didn't dare to peep, they just sat there with their eyes and nose in mind.
"Thank you, little lady."
Zhang Yue thanked the beautiful maid who was serving him tea. She smiled and said, "How can I be called a husband as a slave? Just call me Fu Ye."
Zhang Yue smiled and said to himself, this young lady is quite pretty.
The beautiful maid served Zhang Yue tea and then said: "The master's ink is dry. If the master doesn't mind the slave's clumsiness, let the slave add water to the master to polish the ink!"
Saying this, he helped Zhang Yue polish his ink without waiting for Zhang Yue's permission.
The tip of Zhang Yue's nose smelled the faint fragrance of the woman mixed with the fragrance of agarwood in the study. He couldn't help but feel a little dazed. After a while, he calmed down and started writing again.
Another maid also helped He Qi add water to his ink.
During this time the incense burned out.
The beautiful maid beside Zhang Yue stood up to add incense, but saw that the other party first burned the special small pieces of charcoal thoroughly, then placed them in the incense burner, then filled the charcoal with fine incense ash, and then poked some holes in the incense ashes.
Another maid placed porcelain, mica, money, silver leaves, and sand flakes on the incense ashes to block the fire, while the fragrant cake was placed on the fire block and baked with the charcoal under the ashes.
Soon the fragrance will evaporate lightly.
The two maids alternated left and right, extremely skillful and beautiful. They had been used to burning incense for a long time. Seeing this refreshing scene, Zhang Yue couldn't help but think to himself, rich people really know how to play. When I become rich in the future, how many kilograms of Jubi will I have to buy? Come and use it as firewood.
Zhang Yue saw He Qi chatting with a woman beside him about burning incense. The other woman was very eloquent and spoke eloquently, showing his extraordinary knowledge. The two maids couldn't help but nod frequently, and even the maid next to Zhang Yue listened intently.
Zhang Yue didn't think too much and continued to copy and write.
What He Qi said just now makes sense. If you study and become an official and cross this threshold, you will naturally understand these things. Is the knowledge of burning incense more difficult than reading the Bible and writing articles?
The elk moves to the left without blinking its eyes.
The beautiful maid next to Zhang Yue listened to He Qiyan's eloquent words and nodded frequently. Then she glanced at Zhang Yue and thought, this young man seemed a little dull.
At around noon, the steward of the library came and said, "The elder gentleman invites the two younger gentlemen to have a drink."
Drinking during the day? Is this possible? In the county school, if a student is caught eating and drinking during the day, he or she will be put in jail.
Although he is not in the county school at the moment, Wu Anshi, who is also a student in the county school, is somewhat aware of the law and breaking the law.
Zhang Yue said: "I've already caused a lot of disturbances here, how dare I take it as a good intention?"
When the steward heard this, he said: "Dalangjun has such good intentions, Sanlang can't deny it."
He Qi had already stood up and said: "That's right, Sanlang. Let's borrow Da Langjun's treasured land to copy books. Since Da Langjun invites us to do so, we won't refuse."
Now the steward invited the two of them to a courtyard.
But I saw winter plums planted all over the courtyard. It was the time when the plum blossoms were blooming, and they were a riot of purple and red. It was really enchanting and beautiful.
Wu Anshi invited the two of them to set up a banquet in the pavilion facing the courtyard, where they could enjoy the plum blossoms and eat wine at the same time.
Seeing that the table of wine and food was extremely rich, and obviously showing great respect, He Qi said happily: "Wine with plums! Dalangjun is really a gentleman!"
Wu Anshi waved her hand and said with a smile: "My wife likes to appreciate plum blossoms, these are just her handiwork. We just borrowed them for drinking."
Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Wu Dalang, I am not good at drinking. Can you drink less?"
Wu Anshi smiled and said: "Sanlang, it doesn't look like he has a low drinking capacity, but it doesn't matter, Sanlang is doing what he wants."
Zhang Yue breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, Mr. Dalang."
Soon a maid came forward to add wine and food to the three of them.
"I don't dare to do the work, I can do it myself." Zhang Yue declined.
Wu Anshi smiled and said: "Sanlang is not as calm as Qilang. That's all. Even if it's inconvenient for you, just let it go."
The two maids beside Zhang Yue leaned over, smiled and then stepped back.
But I saw the other maids placing dishes on the table and placing them in bowls for two, like butterflies in flowers. Anyway, Zhang Yue's first few dishes were enough.
Zhang Yue was a rare guest at the dinner, and He Qi toasted. Zhang Yue stopped drinking after a few drinks, but He Qi and Wu Anshi drank opportunistically, one drink for you and one for me, which was less than two triangles of wine.
He Qi had a good drinking capacity, but he was also a bit drunk.
Wu Anshi said to He Qi: "Brother He is young and has been elected to the state by the county school. I wonder if he is married?"
He Qidao: "Reporting to the Dalang Lord, I have never been married."
Wu Anshi smiled and said, "No, Brother He is almost twenty."
He Qidao: "My father and mother have very high expectations for me. They once said that we were not allowed to discuss marriage before I was in high school. Therefore, I have been studying hard at home without being distracted at all."
"I admire you, I admire you, but does it mean that Brother He is lonely around you? Is there a pink beauty who can explain it?"
He Qi said seriously: "I have never had this thought before. I only have books written by saints and sages in my heart. I don't dare to be a family member until the article is completed."
"What about Saburo?"
Zhang Yue put down his chopsticks and said, "Not really, but when I read the Analects of Confucius and read 'Beautiful eyes are looking forward to it, and a clever smile is beautiful, I always think it is gorgeous', I can't help but think about what a beautiful woman she is!"
He Qi and Wu Anshi couldn't help but laugh.
"My fair lady, it is only human nature that a gentleman likes to be mischievous." Wu Anshi ended the topic with one sentence.
After the two drank, they returned to the library and continued copying books.
Zhang Yue didn't drink much, so he was fine. Although He Qi drank a bowl of hangover soup, he was still listless.
After dark, Zhang Yue and He Qijie left.
In the Wu Mansion, Wu Anshi, Qi Niang, and Fan were listening to the steward's report and drinking tea.
Then Fan said: "Seventeenth sister, it seems like you haven't tried this idea for a long time?"
Seventeenth Sister didn't say anything, Wu Anshi smiled and said, "I kind of understand what Seventeenth Sister means."
"Stop playing charades."
Seventeen Niang said to the steward: "Steward, I won't ask any other questions. I only want to ask Zhang He how much each of them copied today. How does it compare with yesterday?"
The steward said: "The Zhang family's copy is similar to yesterday's, but the He family's husband only copied one-third."
Fan said: "Seventeen sisters, we are trying to find out the virtuous and the unworthy. Why do you ask them to copy the books?"
Wu Anshi said: "This is the truth what the Seventeenth Sister said. When she sees the red sleeves with fragrance, she will talk about it. After a few drinks, she will think that she has made friends with my Wu family. How can such a person become like this?"
Fan said: "Is this the intention of Seventeenth Sister?"
The seventeenth mother said: "Sister-in-law, you can't see or hear the difference between a virtuous person and an unvirtuous person. If you can do things well, you are a virtuous person. If you can do things to the extreme, you are a little bit unvirtuous. , it doesn’t matter.”
"A prime minister who can stabilize and govern the country must be a virtuous prime minister. These two people came here in the name of copying books, and they didn't even do their job well. No matter how nice they sound, they are useless."
The steward said: "Here are two pieces of paper, which I left behind while they were copying the books."
When everyone looked at it, they saw that the copied words were all scattered and scattered, with several words connected in one stroke. It was worse than cursive writing, and it was really hard to read.
The writing in another article is meticulous from beginning to end, and the font is extremely upright and generous, which is pleasing to the eye at first sight.
Mrs. Fan held up the piece of paper with nice and neat handwriting and said, "This must have been written by the young man of the Zhang family."
The steward nodded and said, "The mistress has a wise eye."
Fan took another piece of writing and sighed: "He Qi is not here to copy the book. He is just using it as an excuse."
"On the other hand, this young man from the Zhang family has such beautiful handwriting. He couldn't have written it without being extremely calm. He seems to want to grow into a big tree and not compete with the grass."
"Sister Seventeen, what do you think?"
Seventeen Niang took this page and looked at it and said: "The calligraphy of Zhang Jialangjun was learned from Zhang Boyi, and he used seal script as regular script. If you practice hard and unremittingly, you will have some achievements in more than ten years."
"Sister Seventeen, this is too much."
Seventeenth Mother said: "Sister-in-law, just watch."
Lewen
