Wang Keyue and Xiao Hongyu came to the door of the courtyard. There was a large vermilion wooden door at the door, with a unique and simple ring-shaped door buckle. There was no plaque on the door, and there were no stone lions at the door. Everything seemed very ordinary and low-key.
Wang Keyue stepped forward and knocked on the door. Three moderate knocking sounds were heard. Seeing that there was no echo inside, Wang Keyue knocked several times in a row. Finally, a young man's voice came from inside.
"Wait a minute, it's coming! Who is it?" The voice was confident and polite, giving people a good first impression.
The wooden door was opened, and behind the door was a young boy of thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a blue long-sleeved cotton coat and a white cotton coat, with a scholar's hair.
The young man looked at the two young men in front of him who were older than him and were holding tall horses, with a confused look on his face: "Excuse me, your Excellency, this is..."
"Brother, excuse me, may I ask if this is Zhang Jingyuan's home?" Wang Keyue asked.
"Hey, yes! Who is your Excellency?" the young man asked doubtfully. Zhang Jingyuan is the name of his grandfather.
"I am the grandson of your Aunt Zhang, and I came here to see you!" After Wang Keyue finished speaking, she was afraid that the other party would not be clear, so she added, "My grandmother is Zhang Liniang."
When the young man heard that it was Zhang Liniang's name, he suddenly came to his senses, and then a look of ecstasy appeared on his face.
It turned out that the other party was actually his cousin, "Quick! Quick! Please come in, please come in!"
The little boy hurriedly opened the door and opened the two doors widely, making it easier for the two of them and the horses behind them to enter the yard.
After the two of them entered the courtyard, the little boy anxiously ran into the main room of the courtyard.
Not long after, Wang Keyue and Xiao Hongyu were invited into the living room.
The living room is still relatively clean and tidy, and the decoration is extremely simple. There are only some calligraphy and paintings hanging on the surrounding walls. It can be seen that the entire Zhang family has completely abandoned martial arts and embraced literature.
Just as the two of them were looking at the calligraphy and paintings around them, a woman wearing a navy blue cotton-padded jacket slowly walked in carrying a teapot and a cup.
The woman looked to be in her forties, her face already showing signs of aging, but her manners were dignified and decent. It seemed that she had been taught good etiquette since she was a child.
"You guys drink tea first, father-in-law will be here soon!" The woman made tea for the two of them and said softly with a slight smile without saying much.
Sure enough, not long after, when the two of them took their second sip of hot tea, there were hurried footsteps outside the door.
An old man in his sixties with white hair was being supported by a young boy. He walked into the living room with trembling steps. Behind him were seven or eight men and women.
"You...are you Liniang's grandson?" This old man must be Wang Yue'er's second uncle. From the looks of it, he must be seriously ill.
Wang Keyue smiled and nodded, stepped forward to help the old man, and helped him sit on the main seat. Then he went to his hometown to do as the Romans do, knelt down and kowtowed obediently and said: "My great-nephew Wang Yue, pay my respects to my second uncle!"
"Okay! Okay! Good boy, get up quickly! Let the second uncle and grandpa take a good look at it!" Zhang Jingyuan excitedly took Wang Keyue's hand, helped him up, looked at him carefully, and couldn't help but burst into tears and said: "Your grandmother is now Is it okay??”
"Thanks to my second uncle and great-uncle, my grandmother is in good health now, but she is always thinking of you!" Wang Keyue replied.
"Then...then about the exile from the General's Mansion...?" Zhang Jingyuan hesitated to speak. The Zhang family has long been in decline. Last year, he heard that his sister's family, the General's house, was confiscated and exiled. At that time, he would be so grief-stricken that he fell into a coma. My body has not recovered yet. He had originally planned to let his children and grandchildren go look for his sister and her family when the weather got warmer this spring, but he never expected that the surprise would come so quickly.
"Second uncle, don't worry, that was all a matter of the previous dynasty. Now our Wang family is under the governance of the new emperor and lives in a small mountain village. Although we are not rich and powerful, we are still stable and peaceful." Wang Keyue did not want to think about it. Telling his current identity, what's wrong with living such an ordinary life?
Wang Keyue sighed repeatedly after hearing this. Then the family introduced each other.
My great-uncle died relatively early, leaving only a son and a daughter. The two children have already started their own families, and occasionally they come here with their families to visit their second uncle and grandpa.
The second uncle's grandfather's house is more lively. He has two sons and two daughters. The daughters are both married. Now they live in the big house and the second house in the yard.
My uncle Zhang Ankang is a humble and honest man. He studied for more than ten years and passed the Tongsheng test. Now he is still a tutor in a small private school. The woman who came to serve him tea just now is his aunt, and she also comes from a scholarly family.
They have three sons, and the young man who opened the door for them just now is their youngest son.
The second uncle, Zhang Anshu, was smooth and sociable, although he was not very good at reading. I didn’t get any honors, but I was good at speaking, writing and calculating. I work as a shopkeeper in a cloth shop, and my second aunt is the shopkeeper's youngest daughter. Although this second aunt is a bit snobbish and petty, she is not a very evil person. They had a son and two daughters.
Of course, there are no children in the yard today. There are seven or eight descendants of the fourth generation of the Zhang family, big and small. It's cloudy and cold, and the little ones are still asleep on the kang.
After Wang Keyue met with everyone, she distributed the gifts she brought one by one. The gifts were not very expensive, they were all daily necessities.
Exquisite white rice, fine white noodles, bacon sausages, and all kinds of sun-dried mountain products. In addition, there are exquisitely packaged tea leaves for the men, and embroidery products from the women of the villa for the women.
A lot of embroidered clothes, embroidered shoes, embroidered fabrics, and winter cotton coats and trousers are also prepared.
The four treasures of the study were prepared for the young man, and the children were relatively simple. In addition to clothes, they were candies and snacks, and a dozen small red envelopes were also included.
Later, when the little ones woke up and came to see Wang Keyue dressed up, they received small gifts and red envelopes from this cousin.
The little ones were so happy. No one thought that the New Year had already passed and they could receive so many gifts. They were jumping happily in the yard one by one.
During lunch, a large family sat at two tables. They were all family members, and there was no need to distinguish between men and women. There was only one table for adults and one table for children, which made it easier to talk. After a meal, the whole family was in harmony.
Now that she knew about her uncle's life and that he was living a good life now, Wang Keyue had nothing to worry about. The two of them planned to leave early the next morning.
Of course, the second uncle and grandpa were not willing to let the two of them leave in such a cold weather, but he heard that the two of them still had urgent things to do, and he couldn't interfere too much, so he had to hurriedly prepare some specialties and gifts stored at home. On.
Wang Keyue couldn't refuse too much, so she left a thousand taels of silver notes in the guest room where she lived, said goodbye to the Zhang family, and left in a hurry.
By the time the Zhang family found the banknote, the two of them had already disappeared.
Lewen
