On this trip, I still went to Suzhou. Although we had to return, my father did not go home immediately after handling the matter. Instead, he took us to Hangzhou specially. After arriving in Hangzhou, we stayed in Qingzhiwu. The scenery there is beautiful, with dense bamboo forests and a very quiet environment. What's even more rare is that in midsummer, both my hometown and Hangzhou are extremely hot, but Qingzhiwu is extremely cool. My father took my second uncle outside to collect medicine, and asked me to take my younger brothers to visit the West Lake. I was also happy to go and visit. On the beautiful West Lake, Baoshu Pagoda and Leifeng Pagoda echo each other from a distance, and Su Causeway and White Causeway watch quietly. The most beautiful one is undoubtedly the lotus. The overflowing fragrance and the clear water and blue sky made us linger for a long time. I even soaked my feet in the West Lake without any scruples. In the evening, we specially ate West Lake Vinegar Fish by the West Lake. Although it has a long-standing reputation, the taste is far inferior to that made by our grandfather. Maybe it was because we were out, which made us miss our grandfather.
My father specifically told me that I must take my brothers to visit the Yuewang Temple at the foot of Qixia Ridge. Of course I know that King Yue is Yue Fei, King of Hubei in the Southern Song Dynasty. There are the tombs of him, his son Yue Yun and his general Zhang Xian. Yue Fei was a hero who fought against the Jin Dynasty. He defeated the Jin Kingdom many times and had the opportunity to make a Northern Expedition and attack Huanglong. Unfortunately, after the Song and Jin Dynasties negotiated a peace, he recalled the Yue Family Army with twelve gold medals. What was even more hateful was that Song Gaozong and Qin Hui conspired to charge him with trumped-up charges. Yue Fei was killed. It is said that when Yue Fei died, he said eight words: The sky is clear, the sky is clear! Everyone in the world knew that Yue Fei was wronged and hated the imperial court for destroying the Great Wall. After Qin Hui's death, people began to cry out for Yue Fei's grievances. Later, the court still defended Yue Fei. Although it was very late, it was more or less easy to deal with.
The Yuewang Temple was built by a local official of the Ming Dynasty. A kneeling statue of Qin Hui, his wife and his party members was specially built in front of Yue Fei's tomb. People came here to worship Yue Fei, and they always hit those people involuntarily and angrily, spitting and scolding them. A dirty word.
I led my brothers to follow the flow of people here. First we knelt down and worshiped the statue of Yue Fei in the front hall, and then went to the backyard to worship Yue Fei's grave. Although we don't know much about national affairs, we still have full respect for the loyal Yue Fei.
Back at Qingzhiwu, my father and others have returned, and three guests have arrived. My father introduced them as Uncle Zhou, Uncle Ping, and Uncle Kang. I greeted them politely. The three uncles looked at me and sighed: "Time It goes by so fast, Yinger has grown up!" Then he said to me: "We hugged you when you were a child, you were such a naughty guy, you peed on each of our heads!" Everyone laughed, and I But he doesn't take it seriously. Who can remember things from childhood? These adults are just annoying and always talk about embarrassing things from childhood. Father motioned for us to exit and closed the door. I faintly heard them talking about the elixir.
The next day, my father led us back. I haven't stopped for ten days in a row. Summer in the south is different from that in the north. The south is soft and beautiful, while the north is rough. Especially after crossing the Huaihe River, this difference is even more obvious. When we finally got home, I never dreamed that my life would change in an instant.
When we returned from our trip, we still walked for many days on the road, but it was a little slow. My father still hung up his sign as a traveling doctor and still treated people. However, I found that many strangers secretly came to see my father at night. Often my father would I talked with them in secret, and I always respected my father, a man of few words, who only spoke a lot when he was seeing patients, and then, talking to strangers. And I often know that someone is coming, but I don't have the energy to listen to what they have to say. The young people only think about sleeping, and no one is thinking about tomorrow. In this way, we walked around and spent most of the month slowly passing away. When we returned to our hometown, we suddenly found that the surroundings of our home were already full of people!
These people were wearing colorful clothes, carrying machetes at their waists, and looking around with sullen faces. Twenty or thirty horses were tied to the roadside, gnawing at the crops with impunity. A gorgeous sedan stopped at the door of the house, and several adults from the local county government had long lost their usual air and stood respectfully by the roadside. We didn't know what was going on. My father looked serious and asked us juniors to hide first, and then the adults walked over carefully. We watched from a distance. As soon as my father and uncles came nearby, a group of people pulled out their swords and gathered around them. They asked for their identities in a stern tone. My father politely handed over his hand and explained. These people withdrew their swords and one of them waved his hand. Let them in. We didn’t know what was going on at home. It was the first time we saw so many people wearing beautiful clothes. We were just very quiet and felt very strange.
For a long time, we were all a little anxious, and then we saw our father coming out, waving his hand towards us, beckoning us all to come out. We brothers walked out relieved. In my eyes, those people in colorful clothes stared at us as if they were evil, as if they wanted to eat us. When we arrived at the door of the house, there was a tall man with a full beard. , had come closer and looked at us carefully, with sharp eyes, which made us brothers look at each other, wondering what was going on. Suddenly a kind voice came from inside and said: "Let them in, my family, don't be so careful!" The man respectfully replied "Yes" and stepped aside, while the father whispered: "It will be over soon." Be honest and don't speak easily. If someone asks you, you must lower your head and answer." We agreed and came in quietly. The yard was also heavily guarded, and those people never took their eyes off us, showing that they were very cautious. I looked at it very curiously, but the other brothers lowered their heads. I also quickly lowered my head and peeked inside with the corners of my eyes. In the living room, my grandfather smiled and talked to a richly dressed guest. The guest was fair and fair, and his voice was very strange. He was dressed in rich clothes, but he was very polite to his grandfather in common clothes. Even to his father, he was very humble. He asked his father to sit down, but his father refused to sit down and insisted on standing behind his grandfather. I looked at him, who looked in his forties, but had no beard, and I was suspicious, who could he be?
Grandfather saw us coming in and said to the man: "These are the old and incompetent grandsons. Please give Eunuch Zhang a gift as soon as possible!"
My father-in-law is a eunuch, we know this. It turned out to be a eunuch, which cleared up my doubts. Hu Haisan told me that eunuchs are men without beards. The other brothers lowered their heads respectfully, but I became very curious. Why did he come to my house? I couldn't help but raise my head and peek at the eunuchs, but my eyes fell on Eunuch Zhang. I didn't want him to see me too.
The man's eyes were kind, and he looked at me looking at him curiously. He couldn't help but smile, stood up, and suddenly touched my head and said, "Good boy! If you are brave enough, what is your name? Come with us." Bar!"
After hearing this, my grandfather looked at the man in surprise. My father looked around alertly, but he was a little at a loss. We didn't understand what he meant. The man still smiled and said: "Uncle, don't worry, our Zhang Yong will not treat him badly!"
It turned out that this person was the famous eunuch Zhang Yong, who was from here. He grew up in poverty and was the second among three brothers. It is said that that winter, my grandfather went out to treat patients. When he came back, he saw the three Zhang Yong brothers who were starving at the door of their home. It was snowing heavily at that time, and the three brothers were dressed in ragged clothes and sheltering from the snow at the gate. Grandfather thought that they were really pitiful, and they were The villagers kindly took them into their homes and gave them a full meal. Zhang Yong seemed to be only ten years old at that time. His eldest brother was eighteen years old, and he had a younger brother who was eight years old. Both his parents were deceased. His grandmother lived in another village. He originally wanted to go there, but he didn't want it to snow heavily, so he had to hide here to avoid the snow. . My grandfather originally wanted to take in the three brothers, but he didn't want them to have any backbone, so he left after eating. Before leaving, his grandfather kindly prepared cotton-padded clothes and food for them, and also gave them a few coins.
Later, we heard that Zhang Yong entered the palace and became a eunuch, but not much news reached our ears after that.
After listening to Zhang Yong's words, my grandfather's face softened slightly and said, "Ying'er is seventeen years old and is your eldest brother's only son. In two years, I plan to find a wife for him!" After hearing this, I quickly shook my head and said: "Whoever wants a wife, I don't want one!" In our children's world, we hate hearing about a wife.
Both my grandfather and father's expressions changed, with panic and nervousness in their eyes. My father, who had always been calm, turned red in the face and reprimanded in a low voice: "Don't talk nonsense in front of your father-in-law!" Even the old uncle with whom I have the best relationship did the same. He winked at me repeatedly, which made me feel at a loss. After hearing this, Zhang Yong looked at us again and started to be a little surprised. His face gradually became embarrassed, and then he laughed so hard that he laughed for a long time. After a long time, he said: "Uncle, eldest brother, You have misunderstood. How can our family allow Zhang Ying to be a eunuch!" It turns out that both my grandfather and father thought that Zhang Yong wanted me to be a eunuch in the palace. My grandfather and father let out a long sigh and wanted to say something else. Zhang Yong suddenly stopped smiling and said, He said: "Come with us and take him to Beijing! We will ensure that he will prosper!" The voice was very stern, completely different from the amiable and affable person just now.
Grandfather stood up, probably because he felt that objecting was asking for trouble. He glanced at me, gave Zhang Yong a courtesy, and said, "Eunuch Zhang, then I will thank you on Ying'er's behalf. I hope you can protect him!" Zhang Yong! He sat down disapprovingly and said, "Uncle, you are too polite. I wanted to come to visit you several times but was unable to do so because of too many chores. This time I accompanied His Highness the Crown Prince on his inspection tour. I had the opportunity to return to my hometown on the way. Please I will never forget your great kindness to me. Our family really wants to find some children to join the capital. It’s just a little effort. This is what our family should do. Zhang Ying, your surname is also Zhang, and you are our children. Look. Those people at the door must be mighty, our family will let you be a royal guard!"
Darling, let me be a royal guard, that is, a person beside the emperor! I felt a sense of joy in my heart. As for the Ming Emperor, my ears were getting numb from hearing it from Hu Haisan's mouth. My grandfather used to tell us various past events of the Ming Dynasty in the dead of night. Although his tone was calm, I could still hear his excitement. Sometimes I was surprised that my grandfather didn't want us to go out to be officials, but he did it anyway. When we talk about so-called national affairs, there are inevitably some contradictions. I have always had differences in my mind. Unexpectedly, today Eunuch Zhang Yong actually asked me to be a royal guard!
