Lunar New Year's eve.
Zhang Yueshen spent his first New Year in Bianjing.
The students in Taixue each went home to celebrate the New Year, and only those who had nowhere to go stayed in Taixue during the New Year.
However, Ouyang Xiu and Chen Xiang both invited Zhang Yue to their homes for the festival.
Zhang Yue was happy and troubled at the same time.
This is a happy trouble. Ouyang Xiu and Chen Xiang's sincere invitations obviously treat themselves as their nephews, but whose house should they go to celebrate the festival?
Zhang Yue thought about it and decided to go to Ouyang Xiu for lunch in the morning, find a reason to leave before dinner, and then have New Year's Eve dinner at Chen Xiang's house.
On New Year's Eve, Zhang Yue and Liu Zuo said goodbye to Qi and Huang Haoyi.
Huang Haoyi's elder brother Huang Haoqian was celebrating the New Year at home, and Liu Zuo also went home. As for Xiang Qi, he thought he had Zhang Yue with him, but he stayed alone in the studio.
Zhang Yue brought gifts to Ouyang Xiu's mansion.
Ouyang Fa saw Zhang Yue carrying a bunch of things in a small bag, and pretended to blame him: "Sanlang, I have already said that this place is my home. Why buy these things? I won't do this next time."
Zhang Yuezuo smiled sheepishly.
Sometimes you don't need to say too many words, a 'sorry' expression is worth a thousand words.
Ouyang Fa immediately took Zhang Yue to visit Ouyang Xiu and his female relatives.
Even if you invite them to your home to celebrate the New Year, it will be a good way to get together with the family, so you can meet the female relatives.
Zhang Yue went to the hall to meet Ouyang Xiu and his wife Xue. Xue is Xue Kui's fourth daughter.
Xue Kui was also a good judge of people. Fan Zhen, Pang Ji, and Fan Zhongyan had all been recommended by him.
Xue Kui had appreciated Ouyang Xiu's talent very early and wanted to marry his daughter to him. However, after Ouyang Xiu became a Jinshi, another minister, Xu Yan, got the first chance to marry his daughter. This made Xue Kui very upset.
However, Ouyang Xiu's first wife, Xu, unfortunately died of illness. This time, Xue Kui did not miss Ouyang Xiu and married his fourth daughter to Ouyang Xiu.
As for Xue Kui's other son-in-law, it was Wang Gongchen who had robbed Ouyang Xiu of being the first scholar.
Ouyang Xiu had excellent literary talent at that time and was recognized as the number one scholar, so he made a red robe to wear when he was the number one scholar. At that time, Wang Gongchen and Ouyang Xiu were studying at Guangwen Hall. They saw that Ouyang Xiu's robe was very good, so he borrowed it and wore it and told everyone: "I won the first prize!"
Later, Ouyang Xiu's ranking in the palace examination plummeted, but Wang Gongchen became the number one scholar.
Wang Gongchen acquired Xue Kui's third daughter, but she died of illness soon, so Xue Kui quickly married his fifth daughter to Wang Gongchen.
So Ouyang Xiu took the opportunity to write a poem to ridicule Wang Gongchen, saying, "The old son-in-law is the new son-in-law, and the uncle is the younger uncle."
Zhang Yue went to the hall to pay homage to Mrs. Xue and paid homage to his son-nephew. Mrs. Xue carefully looked at Zhang Yue's appearance and couldn't help but praise her: "You are really beautiful. No wonder I want to propose marriage to you."
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Xiu glanced at Zhang Yue meaningfully, but his face was speechless.
Ouyang Fa said: "Mother, this is natural. When Zeng Zigu met Sanlang that day, he praised him very much. I remember that Zigu had three younger sisters waiting to be taken to his boudoir."
Xue Kui smiled and glanced at Ouyang Xiu but did not express his position.
Ouyang Fa was very enthusiastic and said to Zhang Yue: "The Zeng family is a scholarly family, and it is also a poor family. A woman from such a background must be able to run a family and not be domineering. As the saying goes, marry a virtuous woman, and a woman from the Zeng family is A good match. Dad, Zigu is your most proud student..."
Zhang Yue thought to himself, I am also climbing the wall there, waiting with eyes wide open. As for Brother Fa, do you want me to take the initiative?
Ouyang Xiu smiled slightly and said: "I heard that the seventh mother of the Zeng family will be nineteen after the Chinese New Year. She is much older than Sanlang."
"It doesn't matter if you get older, you may have good fortune and longevity, but..."
Ouyang Fa was about to continue talking when someone kicked him in the leg. Ouyang Fa knew that it was his wife Wu who had kicked him, so he immediately stopped talking and said, "That's right, San Lang might as well wait a little longer."
Mr. Xue smiled and said: "Sanlang is so talented and good-looking, why worry about not being able to match a good woman? I don't know which girl in Bianjing City is so lucky."
Zhang Yue hurriedly said with sincerity and fear: "The old lady is so complimentary."
Mr. Xue said with a smile: "I never praise others easily. One sentence is the truth."
Mrs. Wu smiled and said: "My daughter-in-law can testify that among the children who came to our family, my mother has never praised anyone like this."
Zhang Yue was very happy in his heart and said hurriedly: "I'm scared, but I don't know what to say, so I have to thank the old lady."
Mr.
Soon after Zhang Yue left first, Mrs.
Ouyang Xiu smiled and said: "Xiu already understands that if Xiu has a daughter, he will definitely marry Sanlang early."
Everyone laughed.
Although Ouyang Xiu said it as a joke, while Wu laughed, she still had some concerns in her heart.
Nowadays, it’s hard to find a young man with good looks and talent anywhere.
With a family like the Wu family, they didn't like to wait for their young husband to become a Jinshi before coming to ask for a hand in marriage. They were like those merchants who wanted to catch their son-in-law, and they had lost their status.
Speaking of which, she married Ouyang Fa, but found that Ouyang Fa was talented, but he did not pay attention to his career. He only knew about studying epigraphy and playing with ancient artifacts, so that he repeatedly failed in the imperial examination.
As for Shi Qi... among their sisters, Fifteen Niang and Shi Qi Niang are the most spirited.
It's just that the fifteenth mother is exposed and the seventeenth mother is hidden. After fifteen Nianggao married Wen Yanbo's son, everything was harmonious, which made her tense heart feel relieved. Now she was thinking about Shi Qi's marriage, but later she learned that her father might have fallen in love with Zhang Yueshi.
Although Wu felt that this young man had good looks, he came from a poor family after all, and felt that he was much worse than the husbands of other women in the Wu family. But now it seems that this Zhang Yue should not be underestimated.
She grew up with Qi Niang. Although they love each other as sisters, no matter how good the sisters are, they always have a sense of superiority and inferiority. If Zhang Yue wins Jinshi in the future, Ouyang Fa still fails. In this case... he will be at the bottom.
Wu glanced at Zhang Yue. Maybe after seventeen days, the one who will get married best among the sisters will be the one?
Zhang Yue found an excuse to leave after lunch. After all, Ouyang Xiu's family still had female relatives, so it was inconvenient to stay overnight.
Zhang Yue immediately went to Chen Xiang's home.
Zhang Yue also prepared a copy of Chen Xiang's gift and put it in his studio. Now he went to Taixue to pick it up and then went to the other party's home.
But seeing a mule cart parked in front of the alley, Zhang Yue guessed who would meet Chen Xiang at this time, but it must be someone very close to him.
The old servant opened the door for Zhang Yue. When Zhang Yue entered, he saw Chen Xiang sitting and chatting with a man in the hall.
Zhang Yue saw this and was about to leave, but at this moment Chen Xiang stopped Zhang Yue and said: "Sanlang..."
Zhang Yue couldn't walk away, so he had to go to the hall and salute Chen Xiangyang: "Sanlang has met Mr."
Zhang Yue faced Chen Xiang but ignored the man.
Yes, this man is Zhang Dun.
Unexpectedly, he also came to see Chen Xiang today.
Ps: My thoughts are stuck today. I will update 5,000 words tomorrow and pay off the debt in one go.
