It was snowing heavily on the streets of Bianjing. Zhang Yue looked at the bustling crowds around him. Zhang Yue thought that he was still alone, and the feeling of loneliness could not help but come to his mind at this moment.
After all, Zhang Yue is no longer the young man who came to Bianjing with nothing. He has accumulated some wealth by carving seals and has a shop.
But even so, he is just a snowflake in the sky, a person in the vast sea of people in Bianjing City, nothing special.
Zhang Yue comes to gather for the month of fasting.
This set of Yuezhai is not far from Taixue. Zhang Yue has passed by it before and didn't think it was any different. He only knew that there were many donkeys, carts and mule carts parked there on weekdays. It wasn't until he walked inside that he realized that there was something special.
Jiyuezhai is no ordinary teahouse. There are famous calligraphy and paintings on the facade, flower stands on the left and right, and exotic pines and junipers. There is even a view like "Xiandong Xianqiao" inside, which can be used as a private room. Many ladies in the tea house did not even cover their faces, but openly sat in the tea house drinking tea.
When Zhang Yue entered, he felt the eyes of several women looking at him.
After all, the atmosphere in the Northern Song Dynasty was relatively open. Generally, women from the families of scholars and officials were seen in public a lot.
Neo-Confucianists such as Sima Guang and Cheng Yi also strongly advocated that women should not peek into the middle door, and must cover their faces when they leave the middle door. Only in terms of promotion, the trend has not yet fully spread.
As soon as Zhang Yue arrived, a waiter came up and greeted him: "What kind of tea will your guest have? We have Qibao Leicha, steamed buns, scallion tea, and clear tea. If you don't want tea, you can also have a bowl of salt drum soup."
Zhang Yue thought to himself, he was quite considerate.
Zhang Yue asked: "Is there a place that sells tea?"
"Of course there is."
"I wonder what kind of tea your guest wants to buy?"
"Herbal tea."
"Yes, sir, please come this way."
Zhang Yue followed the waiter as he walked away, while the ladies eating tea on the side looked away and murmured to each other.
Although it doesn't sound true, there are often words like "襕shirt, scholar, and imperial student".
Zhang Yue walked to the tea shop and saw a pleasant-looking maid serving him.
Now when I take a closer look, I see that there are more teas sold inside, most of which are herbal teas, many of which are tea cakes, and most of which are Beiyuan tea from Jianyang.
Zhang Yue asked: "Is there any herbal tea with the scent of jasmine?"
The maid smiled and said: "My guest is really an expert. This tea has just been consigned here, but not many people in Bianjing know about it."
The other party took out the tea, Zhang Yue sniffed it and looked at it. It was indeed made according to what he had explained to Ouyang Fa.
Zhang Yue immediately bought some under the gaze of the beautiful maid.
When he was about to finish his shopping and leave, he bumped into someone and said, "Isn't this Mr. Shozaburo-kun?"
Zhang Yue looked familiar to the other person. He smiled and said, "Sanlang Jun, I am Wu Dalangjun's subordinate. When I came to Bianjing from Pucheng, I had a close friendship with Sanlang Jun."
Zhang Yue suddenly realized that this was the case.
"Sanlangjun, please sit down for a moment. Dalangjun will be here soon."
Zhang Yue didn't expect to meet Wu Anshi here, so he said: "That's fine."
Zhang Yue went to the inner room to have tea, and soon Wu Anshi arrived.
The two smiled and bowed.
"Sanlang, why haven't you been at home lately? Is it because I've been neglectful? We are friends in times of adversity."
Zhang Yue murmured in his heart, only you can bring up the topic of sharing weal and woe. If you bring it up yourself, it will become a high ranking issue.
"I've been busy with schoolwork lately, so I'll definitely pay a visit to the Dalangjun's house another day."
Wu Anshi nodded and looked at Zhang Yue. He did not expect to meet Zhang Yue here.
In his heart, Liu Ji was the ideal choice for Seventeenth Mother. As for Zhang Yue, he felt that apart from his good looks and talents, he did not dare to make any claims about the future.
However, a few days ago, Wu returned home and told his mother and wife that Zeng Gong had fallen in love with Zhang Yue. At first, he didn't care because the Zeng family's family status was obviously not as good as his Wu family's.
But Wu Anshi then thought about it, who was Zeng Gong?
Ouyang Xiu's most proud student, although he had the burden of Xiang Ping, he managed the family well. When his sisters got married, they all had good homes.
Wu Anshi regretted it a little. He thought carefully about Zhang Yue's vision and knowledge even though he was young, not to mention that he had mastered the Eleven Classics at the age of fifteen.
Chen Shengzhi, Ouyang Xiu, Chen Xiang, who are good at fortune-telling, all think highly of him, and now even Zeng Gong does.
At present, it seems that apart from not being good at writing poems and poems, Zhang Yue is indeed a talented person among the Han family's children. Zeng Gong's interest in Zhang Yue was known to the whole family, but Seventeenth Mother was the only one who kept it secret.
At this moment, Wu Anshi no longer dared to treat Zhang Yue as an ordinary Han family member, but smiled and said, "Sanlang, what have you been doing lately?"
Zhang Yue truthfully told him that he was studying poetry at Chen Xiang's place.
When Wu Anshi heard this, he glanced at Zhang Yue and thought, the second brother said that Sanlang didn't understand poetry, but if he followed Chen Xiang and learned it, it was hard to say what his future would be like.
Wu Anshi regretted that it would be better if she had another sister.
Come to think of it, Zeng Gong really has an advantage. There are still three girls who are not married, so even if the bet is wrong, it doesn't matter.
This is really ruining the market.
However, the Zeng family used to be so poor that they could hardly afford to pay for the exams in Beijing. Although several brothers have been awarded Jinshi, the family is still quite poor, which is not as good as this.
Zhang Yue said: "I wonder where Dalangjun's jasmine tea came from?"
Wu Anshi immediately said intentionally or unintentionally: "I don't know about this. My wife's servants usually take care of it. I forgot to mention that this teahouse is my wife's dowry. My Wu family has a shop like this in Bianjing." There are twenty or thirty rooms.”
Zhang Yue nodded and said: "Da Langjun is really a great family and a great business."
The meaning of Wu Anshi's words was very clear, but if he had known what Chen Xiang warned Zhang Yue, he would definitely not have said that.
In a nutshell, how can it be a good marriage if it is not the right family?
No matter how much the dowry is, it is still the wife's belongings. Although the laws of the Song Dynasty stated that the amount of property in a household was registered in the name of the head of the household, if the wife's property belonged to the dowry, it must be stated in the household registration document, so that it would be convenient to divide it in the future.
A husband secretly uses his wife's property. Although this kind of thing rarely comes to court, it will be condemned in public opinion.
The eldest brother Zhang Shi can eat Lao Taishan without any worries to support himself and his second brother in studying, thanks to a sister-in-law who doesn't care about him. It's just that his father-in-law and uncle both despise his eldest brother.
Ordinary rich people are like this, but if you go up the ladder, officials like Liu Jiancheng are already good people. It is obvious that the other party has denied others, but in the end the bad name is given to Huang Haoyi.
Not to mention one step higher than Liu Jiancheng. The higher-end the carnivore class, the more careful they are about budgeting. Even if their children have some playboys, they don't really have any knowledge at all. Having no money and no background, and being self-righteous and scheming with others, the outcome is not good.
Even if you are married, you will have to be manipulated by your father-in-law or wife in the future. Marrying a daughter-in-law becomes just a job, which is really boring. It would be better to marry someone from Xiaojiabiyu. Even if you are not rich, it would be nice to be able to know the cold and heat and live a peaceful life.
Of course, to be able to think this way, you need to be capable or someone who sees things very clearly.
Just like this kind of family business, you can earn it yourself, so why bother to look at other people's faces all your life.
If you have a hang-up, you can do whatever you want.
Zhang Yue sat next to Wu Anshi and chatted for a while. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but he didn't ask any more questions from beginning to end, and then stood up to leave.
After Zhang Yue left, Wu Anshi sat for a while and then realized that when she mentioned her family wealth, she had offended others with her words.
When Zhang Yue came to gather for the monthly fast, he originally wanted to find out who made the jasmine tea, but now he felt that he was overthinking it.
Just behave normally, girls won't like you anyway.
When he arrived at Chen Xiang's house, he gave the jasmine tea he bought directly to the teacher.
Chen Xiang is from Fuzhou and is accustomed to jasmine. Now when he saw someone actually inserting this flower into tea, he suddenly found it wonderful.
Chen Xiang was full of praise, and it also evoked a little homesickness.
Zhang Yue thought to himself that even if he sent gold and silver, he would never make Chen Xiang so happy, but this jasmine tea was the right gift.
When giving gifts, you have to find out what the person's preference is.
"These teas cost a lot of money, I'll tell you how much they cost."
Zhang Yue said: "The student was also a gift from others. I don't know how much it will cost."
Chen Xiang took a deep look at Zhang Yue and said, "That's it, I'll accept it."
Chen Xiang continued to teach Zhang Yue poetry.
Zhang Yue handed over all the poems and poems he had written during these days.
All in all, poetry still needs to be accumulated in life, and the interest should be cultivated in daily life, but when you have thoughts and feelings, you should write them down.
The method Chen Xiang taught him before was indeed effective.
Zhang Yue wrote more than a dozen poems this time and handed them in. They were all written with emotion on weekdays. He even took a bath and wiped half of the poems with soap, but unexpectedly he felt inspired to write poems and went to write them down immediately.
It can be said that 'emotions are moved in words and expressed in words'.
Chen Xiang took a look, nodded slightly and said, "Finally there is some improvement."
Zhang Yue thought to himself that he still got the word Shao Zi. I didn't put so much effort into reciting the Nine Classics back then, so it seemed like I was really not talented enough.
Chen Xiang said: "But there is a fallacy in your poem. You use east wind to refer to summer. 'The north wind is winter, the south wind is summer, the east wind is spring, and the west wind is autumn.' You don't use the common sayings of spring, summer, autumn, and winter when writing poems." .These formats are discussed by later generations. When it comes to the examination room, I am afraid that some examiners will not like it, so it has become a convention."
"Students will remember it," Zhang Yue said humbly.
"Okay, let's eat!" Chen Xiang said.
Zhang Yue saw that Chen Xiang had little conversation with him about poetry today, but he was used to his teacher's routine of studying poetry and classics and talking about life during meals.
Sure enough, Chen Xiang said, "Zeng Zigu had many compliments for you after he left."
Zhang Yue heard: "Is this serious?"
Seeing the solemn look on Chen Xiang's face, Zhang Yue quickly said: "Mr. Zeng praises you so much, but the students cannot afford it."
Chen Xiang laughed and said, "You don't have to be like this. Last time I told you that it was time for you to discuss marriage. How did you consider it?"
Zhang Yue said: "It is as good a match as Mr. said. However, I have often heard that one will not marry before he has achieved fame, so I would like to discuss marriage later and find a good match after he has achieved fame."
"But my brother told me before I entered Fujian. Now I am in the capital and I have to make my own decisions. As a student with little experience, how can I have any ideas? Marriage matters are the orders of my parents and the words of the matchmaker. Both Bachelor and Mr. Ouyang are mine. Elders, please ask the two elders to make the decision."
Chen Xiang looked delighted after hearing this, but he wanted to ask, "Don't you ask your second brother what he means?"
Chen Xiang hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not say anything.
