In the evening, Xu He and the other three took a carriage to Ma's house not far from Dongguan.
Ma's house is in Qujia Lane, not far from the old city gate.
As soon as he arrived at the door, Xu He discovered that the Ma family did not seem to be simple.
It's not that the Ma family's gate is grand. Compared to the Shen family, the Ma family's gate is not even as good as the Shen family's garden in Huai'an Mansion.
However, the exquisitely carved wooden railings in the middle of the colonnade reveal the director's low-keyness and luxury.
Wu Decao came to the door and handed over the post. The door saw that the guests were invited by his young master, so he did not dare to neglect and quickly invited the three people into the house.
Most of the gardens in Yangzhou are small and exquisite. They are different from the exquisite gardens in Suzhou and Yangzhou gardens.
Suzhou gardens require a garden to have mountains, water, pavilions and pavilions. The garden should be small but complete, and everything that should be included must be arranged.
Yangzhou gardens are different. For example, Ma's courtyard pursues a completely different direction from the gardens in Suzhou. It emphasizes a simulated natural interest, with winding paths leading to secluded areas, and making it feel like you are in a mountain forest.
After walking around the bamboo forest, it suddenly became clear not far away, and a bright hall stood among the trees.
There were already many people in the hall.
When Xu He and the three of them were introduced into the hall, they found that there were indeed many familiar faces.
Xie Liangcai was the first to come up to him and said with a smile: "Liangsheng, you're here!"
Xu He looked around and said, "Where is the master's house?"
Xie Liangcai said: "Ma Cong? He and Ma Luo were just called out by their families and should be back soon!"
After speaking, he looked at Qi Jiguang behind Xu He and asked doubtfully: "Who is this?"
Xu He introduced: "This is the son of the late Lieutenant General Qi of the Great Ningdu, my uncle Xie's student Qi Jiguang and Qi Yuanjing!"
When Xie Liangcai heard that Daning Dusi was the son of a deputy general, he didn't show anything on his face. But when he heard that he was Xie Kun's student, he looked solemn and said: "It turns out that he is the disciple of Mr. Beiming, disrespectful!"
Xu He introduced Qi Jiguang with a smile: "This is Brother Defu, the son of Duke Yiling, the minister of Dali Temple!"
Xie Liangcai rolled his eyes at him and said to Qi Jiguang with a smile: "I call Liang Sheng's mother aunt! We are all our own people, so don't be restrained when you come!"
Qi Jiguang was really stupid. He couldn't figure out how Xu He, a young student, had such a wide network of contacts.
He worshiped so and so from the Marquis family of Ning Guo, and became brothers to the young masters from the Qing family of Dali Temple...
After the two met, Xu He looked around and said, "Where does this Ma family come from? Why does it feel like it's not an ordinary family?"
Xie Liangcai led everyone to a secluded corner and said: "The Ma family was originally from Huizhou Prefecture, but Ma Cong's grandfather became an official as the Minister of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, so the family moved to Jinling."
"Ma Cong's father and Ma Luo's father were cousins. They partnered in the raw silk business in Yangzhou and were also involved in the salt industry, so the two families took root in Yangzhou."
It's no wonder that the ancestors were high-ranking officials and ran the most profitable business in Nanzhi, so the lintel was built in a low-key and luxurious manner, in line with the status of an official and a wealthy family.
At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door. It turned out to be the Ma brothers and a middle-aged man walking towards Mingtang.
Behind them were many scholars dressed as scholars, obviously members of the Ma family's literary community and teachers.
As soon as they entered the door, the leader smiled and said: "We are all the top scholars in Yangzhou. Because I am grateful for the care you have given to my nephew and nephew of the Ma family, I waited until the annual examination was over to invite you all to come and get together in my humble home!"
After hearing this, everyone knew that the person speaking was Ma Cong's father.
Xie Liangcai whispered: "The Ma family also has a big family who is the chief envoy to Jiangxi, so I don't know who passed through it to get into the official list. Now it has surpassed Zhang Hengyuan's family and has become the largest salt merchant in Yangzhou."
I underestimated him, but I didn't expect that Marlowe, who was eating braised vegetables in the studio and studying hard, had such a profound background.
Isn't this the King of Juan? The family conditions are good, life can endure hardships, and studies are still progressing.
We promised to be rich for no more than three generations, but what if we are a fool and a loser?
This banquet was probably a semi-literary banquet organized by the Ma family to win over people.
Except for Qi Jiguang, almost everyone at the banquet was full of students and officials.
Ma Cong's father first welcomed him and then went out on the pretext that he had something to do.
But all the literary friends and teachers from the Ma family stayed.
The banquet began, and everyone was a little nervous at first.
But as the wine started to drink, the atmosphere became more lively.
At this time, a literary friend named Xin Li from the Ma family suggested that simply drinking wine was too boring, and it was better to practice drinking with wine orders. There was a roar of applause during the dinner.
When he heard that the drinking order was going to be held, Qi Jiguang's face became unnatural.
His family was poor since he was a child, and he had not read a book for a few years, although he could almost read.
But in front of scholars, I still feel a little timid.
In particular, he had never played the games played by scholars. When the officials in the guardhouse were drinking, they would only play "Same Number", which was the guessing game of later generations.
Even banquet games suitable for military commanders, such as pot throwing, were no longer popular in the country.
Xin Li, who suggested the drinking order, smiled and said, "How about we just do the flying flower order?"
There are thousands of wine orders in ancient times, but Xu Hegang's heart is bottomless.
It would be quite embarrassing if he were to play a drinking game that he didn't know how to do.
Fortunately, Feihua Ling is relatively simple compared to others.
It's actually a poetry game.
For example, ask the host to recite a poem: "The flowers bloom and must be broken!"
And it is said that the word "花" should be used as the word "花" for Feihua Order.
Then the next person will answer: "The fallen flower man is independent!"
Because the second one is the character [花].
By analogy, the third one reads: "I feel the flowers and shed tears!"
Until the end: "Spring City is full of flowers!"
This is a complete flying flower order process.
Of course, if you can't answer the question, you'll have to drink and the game will start again, choosing another word as the word "花".
However, Feihua Ling has another way to execute the order:
During the "Flying Flower Order", the number of characters in the poem is "花", and everyone drinks in a certain order.
Those who have read Ba Jin's "Home" will probably remember this description: "Shuying said, 'We will meet you again when the flowers fall,' and it was time for Shuhua to have a drink."
Why does Shuhua drink?
Because she sat in the second position under Shuying, and combined with the rules of Feihua Order, it was naturally Shuhua's turn.
By the time we were half drunk, everyone heard that something fun was coming, so they all became interested and were ready to start.
There was already shouting at the main table. When we arrived at Xu He's table, there were twelve people at the table. Xie Defu was taken to the table of familiar scholars. In other words, only Xu He, Wu Decao and Qi Jiguang knew each other at the table. No one else has ever seen it.
But when the banquet just started, everyone introduced each other.
Of course, Xu He, as a star of the imperial examination in Nanzhili, was naturally praised by everyone as soon as he named him.
But not everyone buys Xu He's fault.
For example, a white-haired scholar sitting in front of Xu He saw everyone being polite to Xu He, and the table became very lively. However, he poured a glass of wine himself and said: "Now that I am the boss, I often feel embarrassed when I see the ministers being unfair." So. How can you follow the heat and look at people's brows and push them away with hope?"
