Hearing Chen Xiang's words, Zhang Yue also had some feelings.
When I was feeling complacent about earning two thousand guan, and then I heard about Huang Haoyi's dowry of 5,000 guan, was there a moment when I didn't want to work hard?
Zhang Yue once asked his senior brother a question?
If you meet two girls on a blind date who have similar conditions, one is very beautiful and the other is average, and they both fall in love with you at the same time, then which one should you choose?
The senior brother said decisively, choose the beautiful one.
Why? Because a beautiful girl pursues so many people, but she just chooses you.
If it's just average, you may be the only one she can choose.
So choose beautiful ones.
At that time, Zhang Yue understood the truth and planned to apply it in practice. Later, through a blind date, he discovered that first of all, there must be a girl who can like you, but as for two, he couldn't even think about it.
In the Song Dynasty, men and women did not meet each other, and marriages were all decided by the parents. According to the matchmaker, the marriage between two families or even two families was definitely not decided by the beauty of the woman.
However, Chen Xiang advised him not to look at the woman's dowry, but to marry a virtuous wife.
"When Cai Taishou (Cai Xiang) learned about Fuzhou, he made an announcement: What is the meaning of marrying a wife? If you want to pass on an heir, how can it be for wealth. This statement is very reasonable."
"When I look at so many marriages, when they care about the funeral utensils and are greedy for temporary wealth, the woman often takes advantage of her wealth. There are few women who don't underestimate their wives and are proud of their uncle." Chen Xiang said seriously.
Zhang Yue put down his chopsticks, stood up, walked to the table and bowed to Chen Xiang: "Student, remember."
Chen Xiang said happily: "But just keep it in your heart because of your petty remarks. Sit down and eat, otherwise the food will get cold."
"Thank you, sir."
Zhang Yue and Chen Xiang were finishing their meal in the hall when servants came to clean up. Zhang Yue was just about to leave when he heard someone outside calling directly: "Is Mr. Gu Ling here?"
After speaking, a middle-aged man walked out of the screen wall under the leadership of an old servant.
Zhang Yue took a look and saw that the man's appearance was very solemn.
After Zhang Yue came to the Song Dynasty, he had met many famous people such as Ouyang Xiu. When he saw this man, he couldn't help but wonder, who is this man?
But when Chen Xiang smiled and stood up from the table and walked to the court, Zhang Yue also stood up and followed Chen Xiang.
The two of them bowed to each other in the court, and Zhang Yue followed suit. The other party smiled and said, "Mr. Gu Ling still eats so early."
Then Chen Xiang said with a smile: "It's natural. In the past, when my family was poor, I couldn't eat enough breakfast, so I ate dinner early, and then lay in bed to rest, thinking that I would not be hungry when I fell asleep, but I didn't know There is even talk of waking up hungry in the middle of the night."
Both of them laughed, and Zhang Yue also laughed twice.
Chen Xiang smiled and said: "Zi Gu, let's go inside and talk."
Zi Gu and Zhang Yue were stunned after hearing this. Could it be that the other party is...
"Okay." The other party nodded and looked at Zhang Yue, and couldn't help but ask: "Who is this?"
Chen Xiang smiled and said, "This is my new student to learn some poetry."
Zhang Yue bowed and sang.
The other party said: "It turns out to be Zhang Sanlang-kun."
Chen Xiang said: "Yes."
Then Chen Xiang said to Zhang Yue: "This is Zeng Zigu, a native of Nanfeng. He became famous in the capital with his articles when he was twelve years old. You should ask him for more advice on articles and how to establish himself in the future."
Zhang Yue suddenly realized that he really had met the second member of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties.
Zhang Yue remembered that Zeng Gong's reputation was not prominent among the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. Some people even said that he bought seven and got one free.
But in fact, he misunderstood Zeng Gong. There are a total of 316 articles among the eight great writers of the Tang and Song Dynasties, of which Zeng Gong alone has 128 articles.
Zhang Yue said with some excitement: "I once heard Scholar Ouyang mention that Mr. Zeng 'has passed through hundreds of thousands of people in my family, and I am only happy to meet him.' Now Yue finally meets Mr. Zeng."
"You actually know Bachelor Ouyang... Yes, you are Zhang Ziping's kinsman, Zihou's younger brother." At this point, Zeng Gong looked at Chen Xiang, the look on his face clearly meant that he was yours. student.
Seeing this scene, Chen Xiang smiled and said: "Sanlang, Zigu and I still have something to talk about. You can go back first! Learn poetry and calligraphy according to the method I taught, and hope that the sun will come back here again."
"Students remember!"
Zhang Yue immediately said goodbye to Chen Xiang and Zeng Gong.
Zeng Gong looked at Zhang Yue's back, nodded appreciatively and said, "The nephews and nephews of the Zhang family are really like the descendants of famous families!"
Chen Xiang smiled and said: "Zigu, although Sanlang is a descendant of the Zhang family, unlike Ziping, Zihou is actually from the Han family."
"What's going on with the Han family?" Zeng Gong said disapprovingly, "Aren't you and I also born in Han Confucius?"
Chen Xiang smiled and said: "That's true. Although this boy comes from a humble family, he is actually a man of talent."
Zeng Gong's father, Zeng Zheng, was a doctor from Yi Guan to Taichang, and Zeng Gong's grandfather, Zeng Zhiyao, was an official to the Ministry of Personnel.
But Zeng Gong called himself Hanru because his father had been dismissed from office long ago and was in poor health. After the death of his eldest brother, although Zeng Gong was the second son, he took on the responsibility of raising four younger brothers and nine younger sisters. As a result, his life was very poor for a time, and then he failed in the imperial examinations one after another, which was a huge blow.
Zeng Gong was once discouraged and told his teacher Ouyang Xiu that he planned to give up his career. Fortunately, Ouyang Xiu persuaded him to stay.
However, things turned around in the second year of Jiayou. Zeng Gong, his brothers Zeng Mou, Zeng Bu, cousin Zeng Fu, second brother-in-law Wang Wujiu, and sixth brother-in-law Wang Hui passed the Jinshi examination together.
This incident made scholars all over the world know about the Nanfeng Zeng family.
However, Zeng Gong's ranking was not good. He was ranked in the C Division, which was the fifth-level Jinshi.
The fifth-level Jinshi cannot be appointed immediately and must remain selected. The so-called "selectors" and "selectors" must go through the examination and selection of the Ministry of Personnel, and those who pass the selection will be appointed as officials.
Also receiving the same treatment as Zeng Gong was Su Shi's younger brother Su Che, and later Zhu Xi was also among the top five Jinshi.
Therefore, Zeng Gong is now in Bianjing, waiting for the official examination and appointment. During his free time on weekdays, he goes to visit Ouyang Xiu, Chen Xiang and others at their homes.
Zeng Gong's sixth brother-in-law, Wang Hui, was from Fuzhou and happened to be a student of Chen Xiang. Zeng Gong came to Chen Xiang's house as a guest that day, and happened to see Zhang Yue.
When Zeng Gong heard Chen Xiang's praise of Zhang Yue, he couldn't help but said: "Scholar Ouyang also praised this boy in front of me. With Mr. Gu Ling's knowledge of people, this boy is definitely not a thing in the pool."
Chen Xiang asked curiously: "Brother Zigu, why do you have such inquiries about me?"
Zeng Gong said: "To be honest, I just entered the house and saw this handsome, upright, well-behaved and well-mannered man. I wanted to ask after he left, but I didn't expect that he knew my identity. Now my family has seven mothers and eight mothers. Jiu Niang is not yet married."
Chen Xiang suddenly said: "What a great Zeng Zigu, it turns out that your plan was my student's idea."
Zeng Gong said solemnly: "How dare you not sacrifice your life for what your father and brother told you before they died? If I don't have a place for you, I won't be able to sleep peacefully."
Chen Xiang glanced at Zeng Gong and admired him sincerely.
After Zeng Gong's father and brother died of illness.
As the eldest man in the family, Zeng Gong trained all his younger brothers to become talents, and also chose excellent marriages for his younger sisters.
For example, the eldest sister's husband, Guan Jinghui, was from Shanyin, Zhejiang Province. Although he was not a Jinshi, he had outstanding literary talent.
The third brother-in-law, Wang Anguo, was from the Wang family in Linchuan and was the younger brother of his close friend Wang Anshi.
There are two other people, Guan Jingyi and Wang Yanshen. Although they are not outstanding in literary talent, they are also gentlemen with good conduct.
Zeng Gong was outstanding in both raising his younger brother and choosing his brother-in-law. More importantly, his writing was excellent.
Zeng Gongben fell in love with Zhang Yue at first glance, and he was praised by Ouyang Xiu and Chen Xiang, and he immediately became interested.
Chen Xiang saw that Zeng Gong had inquired in such detail and couldn't help but smile and said: "It is such a big deal to choose a sister-in-law. Zigu, I advise you to be cautious and don't listen to my one-sided words. If anything goes wrong in the future, don't blame me."
Zeng Gong said: "When choosing a sister-in-law, you should be very cautious, but you should also be decisive. There are always many men pursuing women from IKEA and Yishi. Of course, the same is true for this young talent. There may not be anyone who can be one step ahead of me, so I should make my decision early. It's better to make an early decision. Besides, I can definitely trust the judgment between you and Bachelor Ouyang."
Chen Xiang said with a smile: "As the saying goes, 'When an official reaches the third rank, he doesn't read photo books, and he recognizes noble people because he has read a lot.' At the beginning, it was also Academician Ouyang who recommended this boy to my family. I regard Academician Ouyang's vision and will He was accepted into his sect. But since Zi Gu said so, I won’t say more. But there is one sentence at the beginning. Even though this boy has broad talents, his writing was insufficient when he took the examination. I am afraid that there will be something wrong in the exam. If you waste too much time, a child from a poor family cannot make a single mistake."
Hearing this, Zeng Gong said: "I was like this at the beginning. I was not good at applying for the imperial examination, so I failed in many tests. I was lucky enough to get the Jinshi. As for my sister-in-law, I can't get it, as long as the person is of good conduct.
"As for the girls in my Zeng family, when their parents' family was in difficulty, the sisters would sit together to weave, embroider, sew, etc. They must be diligent and frugal when they get to their husband's family."
"When it was difficult to maintain a vegetarian diet at his parents' house, Yan Ran lived there calmly and did not covet prosperity. When he got to his husband's house, he would be willing to remain poor."
Chen Xiang praised: "Zi Gu's tutoring is so good, no wonder there are so many talented people. It's really admirable."
Zeng Gong smiled and said: "That's ridiculous."
A few days later.
At Ouyang Xiu's house.
Ouyang Fa's wife, Mrs. Wu, was watching Weaver Girl Red by the window, while her son was studying hard at his desk.
At this time, Ouyang Fa strode over, as if he had something to say. Wu waved his hand when he saw it, indicating that the other party should be gentle and not disturb his son's reading.
Mrs. Wu quietly closed the door, and the two walked to the back room. Ouyang Fa said to Mrs. Wu, "I was serving dad in the study just now, and Zeng Zigu happened to come. Do you know what he said to dad?"
While Wu was knitting red needlework, she said casually: "What else could it be? Isn't it just a matter of discussing the art of writing?"
Ouyang Fa shook his head and said: "Madam, you never thought that Zeng Zigu came to ask dad to find out the news."
"Who are you asking for information from?" Wu said without raising her head.
"It's that Mr. Zhang Family Sanlang!"
"Oh?" Mrs. Wu immediately put down the girl and said, "Why is Zeng Zigu asking about Mr. Sanlang?"
"You are still to blame for this."
"Blame me?"
Ouyang Fa nodded and said: "That's natural. When my father asked me to ask you to find a good match for Mr. Zhang Sanlang among the girls from a good family in Bianjing, now more than half a year has passed and you haven't even heard from you."
"It's good now. Zeng Zigu has fallen in love with Mr. Zhang Sanlang. I think now I'm trying to find out the news. In a few days, I'll ask dad to arrange a kiss."
