After all, it’s impossible to not worry about traveling a long distance with dozens of people in your family.
I have to say that the benefits provided by the imperial court to new scholars returning home are really good.
When the ship docked at Fucheng Pier yesterday, Lin Yuanqiu and Lin Sanzhu were not in a hurry to go home. Instead, they went to several restaurants in the city.
The wedding of Chunyan and Chuncao was approaching. According to Lin Yuanqiu's idea, he planned to buy some properties for his two sisters as dowries. This was better than giving them money directly.
…
Chapter 148 Roast Rabbit
Although there were only twenty days left until Chunyan and Chuncao were to get married, when it came to buying property, Lin Yuanqiu did not rush into buying everything.
He had already made plans to supplement the dowry of eight hundred taels of silver for each of his two sisters.
According to the selling prices of houses and shops here in Fucheng, eight hundred taels of silver can buy each person a small house with two entrances and two shops, plus about 20 acres of paddy field, and this is still a lot of choices. With plenty of room.
I have to say that prices here are indeed much cheaper than in the capital.
However, it is not easy to buy so many properties at once. It is not that there is a lack of money, but that you cannot buy so many suitable properties at once.
No, the father and son visited almost all the dental stores in Fucheng, and in the end they only bought two stores.
Other shops are either too far away or not large in appearance. As for the houses, they are all older and look a bit shabby.
In line with the principle of erring on the side of shortage, the father and son finally selected only two shops with good locations and good looks.
There are two shops, one costs 150 taels and the other costs 156 taels. There is almost no difference in price.
When he went to the Yamen to transfer the house, Lin Yuanqiu directly asked the clerk to write the names of Lin Chunyan and Lin Chuncao on the house deed. It was good to have one person per person.
"Dad, in a few days, we will take time to visit the town and county. My son thinks it is better to buy a house and paddy fields closer to home."
The Zhou family lives in the town, and the Wang family's ancestors are all in the county. However, the house and the land themselves do not have to be bought in places with a lot of traffic like shops.
What's more, buying the house and the fields closer will make it easier to take care of them in the future.
Lin Sanzhu nodded after hearing this, thinking that this arrangement was good. Chunyan's paddy fields and house were bought in Hengxi Town, while Chuncao's were bought directly in the county town.
As for the remaining shop, buy it nearby, so that if the girls want to open a shop and do business on their own, it will be more convenient.
If you buy a shop in Fucheng, you can directly rent it out and collect rent.
When it comes to managing the property, the father and son have already discussed and plan to give Chunyan and Chuncao each a servant, so that someone will help take care of it so they don't have to do everything themselves.
…
After more than a year, when they returned home, Lao Lintou and Mrs. Wu, as well as the rest of the family, all clearly felt the difference in Lin Yuanqiu. In Wu's words, it was the added majesty of a high official.
The consequence of this is that the family members are a little cautious when facing Lin Yuanqiu, especially when talking to him.
Lin Yuanqiu was a little helpless, but he knew that this must be the reverence everyone has for officials. After a few days, they will feel comfortable.
Sure enough, not even three days had passed since the family started shouting "Far Autumn Far Autumn" again.
As usual, Mrs. Zhou started to eat the braised fish that her nephew loved to eat.
Every time I see my nephew eating a big bowl of rice with fish, I feel indescribably happy. The little nephew is still the same little nephew. Even though he has become a high official, he still does not dislike the dishes cooked by his auntie.
Early that morning, Lin Yuanhuai and Lin Yuanbai took Lin Yuanqiu to the mountain to see the trap they had set.
Now is the time when pheasants and hares love to run out to look for food, so they should be easily trapped.
After checking the noose and seeing that a hare was indeed trapped, the three people happily carried the rabbit to the yard on the mountain to prepare roast rabbit meat.
"Third brother and fourth brother, why don't we go to the thatched shed and bake."
Seeing the cleaned rabbit, Lin Yuanqiu suggested.
He still remembers the scene when he was a child, everyone gathered around the thatched shed, roasting dried fish and eating chestnuts together.
After hearing this, Lin Yuanbai and Lin Yuanhuai couldn't help but pat their heads. Why didn't they expect that the open space was the most suitable place for barbecue?
Thinking of this, Lin Yuanbai picked up the rabbit and said, "Let's go there now. That thatched shed is repaired every year."
With that said, Lin Yuanbai picked up his feet and walked out.
Lin Yuanhuai also moved quickly. He bent down and picked up the bamboo basket containing charcoal from the ground, and then quickly followed out.
Lin Yuanqiu, on the other hand, was holding a charcoal basin stand in one hand and a small bamboo basket in the other hand, following closely behind the two of them. In the bamboo basket was a small clay pot filled with salt.
Roasting rabbit meat is not a difficult task for the three cousins. After inserting the meat with an iron fork, it can be placed directly on top of the charcoal basin.
The charcoal basin was hot, and Lin Yuanbai's face turned red, but he kept turning the iron fork in his hand. The rabbit meat made a sizzling sound from time to time, and then sprinkled with a few grains of salt. Soon, the whole thatched shed was filled with barbecue. Crispy and fragrant.
Lin Yuanqiu couldn't help but swallowed. He remembered that the last time he ate roast rabbit was when he was in Zhuangzi in the winter last year. After more than half a year, the smell made him greedy.
The same goes for Lin Yuanbai and Lin Yuanhuai. Now they have a long list of radish heads at home, and every time there is something delicious, they fathers always want to give their children a taste, but they rarely put it in their own mouths. When stuffed.
Therefore, Lin Yuanbai and Lin Yuanhuai had already decided that they would have a good meal before going down the mountain no matter what today.
With this thought in mind, Lin Yuanhuai moved quickly and took off the fragrant roast rabbit from the iron fork, then broke off one of its hind legs and said, "Here, fifth brother, the legs have the most meat, let's give it to you."
Lin Yuanqiu was not polite, he had long wanted to taste it.
Smelling the tangy aroma, Lin Yuanhuai and Lin Yuanbai quickly each took a piece of rabbit meat in their hands.
However, before the three cousins brought the rabbit meat to their mouths, before they started to bite, a clear child's voice sounded, "Hey, it smells so good here!"
Before he finished speaking, Lin Moxuan, who was sniffing with his little nose, walked in quickly.
The little guy was shocked when he saw his third uncle, fourth uncle and his younger brother sitting in the hay shed. When he saw the uncles holding a large piece of meat in their hands, Lin Moxuan's little mouth immediately opened and he said how delicious it is here.
Before Lin Moxuan's surprise was over, more children came in one after another. First it was five-year-old Lin Mohao, then seven-year-old Lin Wanying, and finally eight-year-old Lin Wanqing holding hands with three-year-old Lin Wanxue.
After seeing Lin Yuanhuai, Lin Wanxue immediately let go of her eldest sister's hand, then ran over with her butt twisted, "Daddy, daddy, daddy."
"Hey!" Lin Yuanhuai's eyes were full of doting. After squatting down and picking up his precious daughter, he dangled the rabbit meat in his other hand in front of his daughter, "Xue'er, do you want to eat the delicious roast rabbit?" Meat?"
Lin Wanxue hasn't nodded yet.
Lin Moxuan and Lin Mohao, who were sipping their saliva on the side, could not wait to speak, "Third uncle, Xuan'er (Hao'er) also wants to eat delicious roast rabbit!"
Lin Yuanqiu looked at his eldest niece and second niece, and saw that the eyes of the two little girls were also full of longing.
Ahem, he always looked like he was caught stealing something. Lin Yuanqiu felt a little embarrassed, and then handed the rabbit leg to his two nieces.
In the end, the barbecue in the straw shed ended with the children eating with their mouths full of oil.
Among the five children, Lin Mohao has the sweetest little mouth, "Uncle's grilled meat is the most delicious!"
Lin Yuanbai: Brat, your fourth uncle is obviously the one doing the barbecue, okay?
As for Lin Yuanqiu, what he was thinking about at the moment was whether he should find a more private place next time he had barbecue.
…
In the past few days, the clan chiefs and clan elders would come to the nobles' homes with great interest. Apart from coming to talk and chat, the rest was to discuss the matter of hosting the champion banquet and building the champion archway.
According to the wishes of Clan Chief Lin and several clan elders, they want to build the Jinshi Archway and the Zhuangyuan Archway separately, so that the Lin family will have three archways standing there.
And the order of arrangement has already been thought out.
Patriarch Lin clapped his fingers and said one by one, "The Zhuangyuan Archway is at the front, the Jinshi Archway is in the middle, and the Huiyuan Archway is at the end. Yuanqiu, is this feasible?"
After hearing this, Lao Lintou and Lin Sanzhu couldn't wait to raise their hands in approval. Such an arrangement is particularly beautiful when they think about it, but it depends on Yuan Qiu's opinion.
Old Lintou and Lin Sanzhu looked at Lin Yuanqiu eagerly.
Of course Lin Yuanqiu agreed. This practice has always been done. Some larger clans, in order to look decent, will build a Jinshi archway into two Gongshi and Jinshi memorial arches.
So it's definitely okay for them to do that.
Seeing that Lin Yuanqiu agreed, everyone in the room almost turned into smiles.
Now that he had made up his mind, Lin Yuanqiu got up and went to the room to get the money for building the archway.
In addition to the archway silver distributed by the Holy Master to each Jinshi, Lin Yuanqiu added another thirty taels and then handed it over to Patriarch Lin.
When Patriarch Lin found out that among the seventy taels of silver in the bag, forty of which were gifts from the Holy Spirit, the hand holding the box couldn't help but tremble because he was so excited.
God, this is the money rewarded by the emperor.
The faces of several clan elders were also glowing at this time, and they thought that when the archway was built, they must engrave on the plaque the gift of silver for the archway from the Holy One.
…
After the clan leader and clan elders left, Old Lintou asked Lin Yuanfeng to bring over the account book for receiving the gifts.
"Previously, when you passed the Huiyuan exam, many people came to our house to give gifts. I couldn't refuse, so I had to accept it. Now that you have won the top prize, even more people came to our house to give gifts. Look, I let you Your elder brother has taken down all the accounts.”
Lin Yuanqiu took the account book and flipped through it page by page.
Cakes, snacks, tea, cloth, and even more silver were given. The amount was generally twenty taels, then there were fifty taels, sixty taels, and eighty taels. The largest family gave one hundred taels. Sixty taels.
In addition to the silver coins, there were several land deeds and two house deeds.
Lin Yuanqiu made a rough estimate in his mind. All these added up, there must be eight or nine hundred taels of silver.
Old Lin frowned. He finally returned all the gifts he had received in the name of courtesy.
And now, their family will soon move to the capital, so they will definitely not be able to return these gifts for a while.
"Yuanqiu, what do you think we should do about this matter?" Old Lintou asked.
During this period, whenever he saw these things at home, he couldn't help but feel annoyed.
Lin Dazhu and Lin Erzhu on the side also nodded. They were naturally worried about this matter. The most important thing for an official is reputation. Although these things are given willingly, who can say what will happen in the future.
Lin Sanzhu smiled and said, "Dad, don't worry, Yuan Qiu has already thought of a plan on the way back."
"What method?" Old Lintou was a little curious. He had been thinking about this matter these days, but he couldn't think of any useful method.
"Master, my grandson has thought about it. Why don't we donate all the money we collected, as well as the house and fields, to the Salesian Bureau in the county."
Salesian Bureau?
When Old Lin heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up. This is a good idea. This is a good idea. Spending the money on the orphans in the Salesian Bureau is a great charity.
"Yuanqiu, when we donate money, are we doing it in the name of giving gifts to others?"
Old Lintou felt that he had probably guessed what his grandson was thinking.
