Infrastructure masters in the red building

Soon it was time for Jia Fang to check and accept the various facilities of the Hongxiang Garden, and to test the reception capacity of the Grand View Garden again.

On the third day after the end of the Chuanlu Ceremony, Meng Youde, Kuang Renshan, and Lin Ruhai, the first-ranked Jinshi in high school, have completed many necessary procedures such as crossing the street, meeting with the teacher, and exchanging worship with the same year. Invite me to Rongguo Mansion to attend the Hairpin Banquet.

Also came with most of the guests from the last imperial tour of the park. Except for His Majesty the emperor, two, three, four, five were all invited. Shui Xian, Dongping and Xining were also invited, and there was a A very unpleasant and unpleasant guest—Xia Shengshen, the prince and Taifu.

But there is no way, this is the tradition of the Hairpin Banquet, the "flowers" worn by the first and third persons at the Hairpin Banquet must be bestowed by the master, so Xia Shengshen must be present.

In order to prepare for this hairpin banquet, Jia Fang checked the preparations of the Hongxiang Garden early to make sure everything was safe.When the Hairpin Feast comes, the Grand View Garden will open its doors to welcome the guests.

Usually when outsiders come to the Grand View Garden, they can only see at first glance that it is a garden full of flowers and plants and exquisite pavilions. clever.

The main venue for the Hairpin Banquet is Hongxiangpu. The three-room open hall is fully opened to the sun and becomes a bright hall. There are three banquets for guests to sit in.In addition, on the side of the peony column in the Hongxiang Garden, that is, next to the big stone of "Xiangyun Mian Shao", there are seats for banquets in the open air-after all, the hairpin banquet is for on-site hairpin flowers, so the seating is designed in this way Mr. Xia Xingshen got up and "clicked" the peony, which was also cheaper.

A modern washroom is built behind the Hongxiang Garden. In addition to the modern bathroom equipment, there is also a sink with a faucet installed. As long as the faucet is turned on, the gurgling spring will flow out automatically.

This kind of facility is commonplace to the guests who have lived in Beijing for a long time, but for the top pick Meng Youde and the second place Kuang Renshan, they almost dropped their jaws.

Meng Youde was from the south, he was not short, but he had dark skin. He walked on the street like a farmer who had worked for many years, not like a top scholar in modern science.Kuang Renshan is the son of an official family. He used to run around with his father and grandfather in office, so he can be regarded as a well-informed person.

When the two saw the tap, they both made the same movement, following the pipe behind the tap to find the source of the water.But seeing that the other end of the long copper pipe was buried below the ground, Meng Youde immediately asked: "Could this be an underground sweet spring? Is there a spring above this? Can the spring be controlled by man?"

Kuang Renshan sighed: "My little brother has been to many places, and I have never seen such a wonderful scene."

Jia Fang had no choice but to introduce the two of them: "Actually, this copper pipe leads to a nearby house, where we have installed a reservoir in advance. The reservoir is next to a sweet water well. Every morning someone Draw water from the well and fill the reservoir. The water will automatically flow here due to the water pressure, and the water will come out as soon as the faucet is turned on."

Meng Youde and Kuang Renshan suddenly realized: "So it is!"

Immediately afterwards, Jia Fang talked to them about the benefits of running water in urban life, and both of them listened with gusto.

Seeing that Jia Fang was chatting happily with the No. [-] Scholar and No. [-], the Prince Jian Guo also came over to listen, and immediately made a decision: "As Zi Fang said, the whole city in central Beijing will build this 'tap water'."

Jia Fang: ...It's easy for you to make a decision!

He changed the subject and talked about the complexity and approximate cost of building a water system and centralized drainage pipelines for the entire city.The Prince Jian Guo heard: so much money?It's still so complicated...forget it.

So the prince laughed, and changed his words: "This matter is easy to talk about, Zi Fang and I will discuss it slowly, and discuss it later."

A few people talked about the various facilities of the Hongxiang Garden, but Xia Shengshen sat in front of the Hongxiang Garden quite bored.

The crown prince and Taifu had long wanted to criticize the extravagance of the Ningrong Second Mansion, and that the Xiang family's hometown had been repaired for more than a year.But after entering the garden, Xia Sheng saw the various buildings and scenery in the garden. They may not be so gorgeous, but they are mostly imitating the natural scenery, and even built a "vegetable field" in the garden.

Xia Xingshen couldn't afford to criticize even if he wanted to, so he could only sit in front of the flower garden and drink tea alone.

When Jia Fang was chatting with the No. [-] Scholar and others, Jia Zheng also came over at the right time, first saluted the prince as a courtier, and then said hello to Meng Youde and Kuang Renshan.

Originally, Jia Zheng was not eligible to participate in the "Hairpin Banquet", but he was the only "fresh student" in the master's family who took part in the examination of this subject and the imperial examination, so it might not be appropriate not to allow Jia Zheng to participate.

Seeing Jia Zheng, Meng Kuang and Meng Kuang were very friendly, only the prince asked Jia Zheng whether he was No. 70 or [-]th in the second class this year, so he didn't care much.

Jia Fang took the opportunity to ask Jia Zheng to greet the guests for him, and he got out by himself to look for the traces of Shui Xian and Lin Ruhai in the Grand View Garden.Not long after, I saw these two walking slowly from the Xiaoxiang Hall.

Shui Xian was as calm as ever, while Lin Ruhai was weird—this person's mood seemed to change all the time, for a while there was a smile on his lips, and there was a burst of ecstasy in his brows and eyes; Disappeared without a trace, with an expression of worrying about gain and loss.

When Shui Xian saw Jia Fang, he immediately spread his hands and said, "Come and ask Ru Hai——"

Jia Fang had no choice but to step forward, took Lin Ruhai from Shui Xian, and asked in a low voice, "Have you met my...fourth brother?"

Lin Ruhai nodded.

Jia Fang asked, "How?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head: "I don't know."

Jia Fang got angry: These two people——

It seems that he has to quickly find an opportunity to make up his mind with his sister. If Jia Min has a good impression of Lin Ruhai, he can inform the Lin family to come to propose marriage as soon as possible. The only scholar who was not yet married said that the marriage was about to break the threshold. If the Lin family didn't let out any rumors about the marriage, they would soon offend the official Shilin family who had daughters of the right age.

Unexpectedly, Lin Ruhai added another sentence, saying: "Ling... Brother Ling left me an address, No. [-], Little Scissors Lane, a family surnamed Wu, and said that if you have a letter on weekdays, you can hand it to that household."

Jia Fang clapped his hands immediately, and clasped his fists: "Congratulations, Brother Lin!"

Lin Ruhai: ...?

Jia Fang chuckled and said, "Perhaps we should change our words soon."

He and his sister had discussed that if Jia Min was interested in Lin Hai, he would leave him an address. In the future, the two of them could send letters to each other, so as to increase understanding, exchange ideas, and get to know each other better.Now the address of the Little Scissors Lane given by Jia Min is exactly the house of Jia Min's wet nurse Wu.Mrs. Wu is someone Jia Min can absolutely trust.

In addition, based on Jia Fang's understanding of Lin Ruhai and Jia Min, he knew that if the two of them corresponded, the letters would definitely not be just those intimate words, but would probably be looking at the world, talking about the world, this life... ...If you can't even talk like a couple like this, then no one in the world will believe in love.

Jia Fang gave Lin Ruhai a reassurance, and Lin Ruhai felt overjoyed from the sky, with a smile on his face, but he grabbed Jia Fang's sleeve and stammered, "How should I ask your government? Now go to see your father..."

Jia Fang had never seen Lin Ruhai look so foolish, he immediately smiled and said, "You should go to the hairpin banquet now as if nothing had happened, after that, it's inconvenient for you to come forward, let our friends worry about it for you. "

Shui Xian's face remained unchanged at this moment, and said: "I have already made an appointment with Mr. Rong to meet you tomorrow."

Lin Ruhai was surprised: "What?"

Shui Xian: "I will be an iceman for you."

Jia Fang: "Don't tell me you don't know..." Knowing that Lin Ruhai and his younger sister Jia Min must have a good impression of each other and fell in love at first sight—even he, who really foresaw a part of the future, hesitated for a long time nah!

Shui Xian: "I planned it at first. If it doesn't work out, I'll just say I'm sick tomorrow and not go to see Rong Gong. Wouldn't it be over?"

Lin Ruhai was overjoyed. King Bei Jing came forward and was willing to be a matchmaker for him, and came to propose marriage. This marriage seems to have great promise.

"You... you three, the feast is about to begin!" Fourth Prince Zhou Dezhang greeted from afar.

From the Hongxiang garden in the distance, the aroma of various dishes on the banquet was also transmitted.The Prince of Jianguo did what he said, he did not let the Rongguo Mansion handle the catering, but brought the royal chef from the palace, cooked a wonderful dish, and immediately placed it in the red incense garden, waiting for everyone to sit.

The crown prince counted the number of people there: "Teacher has already entered the table, and here is the No. [-] winner... Our brothers have the fourth and sixth brothers. The fifth brother is sick and didn't come today. Why didn't the third brother come?"

The prince secretly said that it was a fluke, fortunately, the three kings who were in Beijing among the four kings were brought here in advance to make up the number. Now that the third prince and the fifth prince have not arrived, but the banquet is not too ugly.

It was time to start the banquet, and under the auspices of the prince, Meng Youde, Kuang Renshan and Lin Ruhai entered the table one by one, and visited Xia Shengshen one by one.

Xia Shengshen personally cut off three peonies with a pair of golden scissors, and prepared to wear them as hairpins for the three of them.

After the fourth prince saw the flower shape and color of the peony, he let out a "huh" and said, "Could this be 'Golden Belt Wai'?"

Jia Fang stood at the head of the fourth prince, and replied loudly: "Exactly!"

What Shuangwen cultivated for this Hongxiang Garden is all the famous peony species from Hengwu Garden.This kind of peony called "Golden Belt Wai" has four flowers on one branch, and the upper and lower petals of each flower are red, with a circle of golden stamens in the middle, so it is called Jindaiwei, also known as Jindaiwei. Famous products.

At that time, Shuangwen just thought that the flower bloomed beautifully, so he planted it in the peony column. He didn't expect that the hairpin banquet held in the garden today would be quite suitable for the occasion.

The prince laughed and said: "In ancient times, there was an allusion of 'four-phase hairpin'. Could it be that several people in the garden today are going to be prime ministers? "

Others immediately joined in the fun: "In ancient times, Han Qi was the hairpin of Wang Gui, Wang Anshi, and Chen Sheng. The four of them shared the hairpin in the 'Golden Belt Circle'. Later, all four of them were officials and prime ministers. Today, Meng Zhuangyuan, Kuang Bangyan, and Lin Tanhua , plus Mr. Xia, the four of you correspond to the number of four flowers on one branch, Mr. Xia, you should also wear this one."

Xia Shengshen indeed cut a whole branch of gold belt to surround it, and there were four peonies on one branch, which bloomed just right.He listened to other people's advice to him to wear this peony, and immediately said with a wry smile: "Old minister... If you can become the prime minister, hehe, hehehe!"

He has already reached the position of crown prince and grand tutor, but the chance of becoming a prime minister in the future is very small, and it can be said that he is hopeless in this life.Besides, after the hairpin flower banquet, Xia Xingshen was still ready to wrestle with the emperor to the death, and gave back the relevant content of the first and second questions in the hall test. Even prepared to be dismissed from office and exiled.

He thought to himself that it would be better to give this auspicious omen to the young people instead of making people laugh at him at the hairpin banquet.

But Xia Shengshen looked around at the banquet, and saw that only one and three people were suitable for hairpins, and the others were either members of the royal family or kings with different surnames, and none of them had anything to do with the position of "Prime Minister".

He suddenly remembered: "Isn't there also a scholar in this house who won the second class?"

At that moment, someone pushed Jia Zheng out: "Master Xia, this Jia Cunzhou is the second son of Lord Jia of the Rongguo Mansion, and this time the winner is the second best."

Jia Zheng looked at Xia Xingshen, he couldn't help but feel a little awkward: "Master Xia is showing love..."

Xia Shengshen shook his head, "Although His Majesty the Emperor came up with the questions for the imperial examination, I don't quite agree with it, but since you were able to pass the exam, this old man agrees that what you have learned in your chest is enough for the country to use."

This is probably the first time that Xia Shengshen made public that he had a disagreement with His Majesty on the questions of the imperial examination. As soon as he said this, the prince was quite embarrassed, but seeing that Xia Shengshen recognized Jia Zheng's results, the prince still Quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"The four scholars of Jinke High School at the banquet, this is also fate, let the old man wear this 'golden belt' for you four, which means auspicious omen, and hope that you will do your best for the country in the future." Xia Shengshen said finally.

So Master Xia cut off these four peonies with golden scissors, and wanted to put them on the heads of the young scholars in front of him one by one.

First came Meng Youde, then Kuang Renshan, then Lin Ruhai, and finally Jia Zheng.

Xia Shengshen was just about to put the peony in his hand on Jia Zheng's temple, but someone in the distance stopped him: "Lord Xia, wait a minute!"

"The third child?" The Prince Jian Guo clearly saw the person coming from a distance.

This sound scared Jia Fang on the side, because Jia She always called him like this, and when the prince made a sound, he had to react for a while before he realized that it was not Jia She who was calling him, but the prince was calling the third prince... Prince If you call him, he will probably be called Lao Liu.

"Third son, you didn't say anything about your late arrival, and you just disturbed Mr. Xia's hairpin, why don't you come over and punish him with three glasses of wine?" The prince laughed.

But several people around the prince, Shui Xian, Jia Fang... all felt something was wrong.The third prince also brought some servants and quickly entered the Grand View Garden. The people who came in were all wearing official robes. Among them were civil officials, and there were also Shuntian government servants in official uniforms. There were even a few who looked like Wucheng soldiers. Masi people.

These people...wouldn't be all here to participate in the hairpin banquet!

I saw the third prince rushing over, stopped the old man who was about to wear hairpins, and said softly: "My lord, the reason why I stopped you is to save you from regretting, and to put hairpins on someone who shouldn't be." This one is 'Golden Belt Wai'."

As soon as he said this, Jia Zheng didn't know what was going on, and Jia Fang next to him had already changed his expression—the third prince's words meant that Jia Zheng shouldn't have put this peony on his hairpin. He is not eligible.

But there are only three people in the first class, but the golden belt circle is a branch of four flowers, and one of them must be brought by Xia Shengshen to the person who wins the second class, and Jia Zheng is the only one on the scene, and the winner of the second class man of.

So, what does the Third Prince mean——

Jia Zheng is not qualified to be selected by the top two?

Jia Fang immediately understood that this must be the incident in Wanqing Building that day.Gao Shida, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, would not be so kind as to send the test questions to Jia Zheng for no reason.Although Jia Zheng was honest, he didn't open the box, and didn't peek at the test questions, but the problem was that, apart from Jia Zheng, only Jia Fang and Shui Xian knew the truth.

Jia Fang was anxious, when someone grabbed his wrist suddenly, and then let go.Shui Xian only whispered two words in his ear: "Calm down!"

Jia Fang suddenly remembered that this person had promised him, asking him to pretend that this matter had never happened, not to ask any questions at all, and to leave everything to Shui Xian, and he would definitely have a result.

He immediately took a deep breath to keep himself calm, even like everyone else, he looked at the third prince who brought others to show off his power with puzzled eyes.

And he suddenly remembered what he said to Jia Min earlier: there will be someone in this world who will always understand him, understand him, know that he may lose his sense of control for a while, and know to remind him in time—tell him in the most concise words He, don't panic, I'm always here.

At this moment, Shui Xian is indeed expressing to Jia Fang with practical actions that "everything is up to me". The young Wang with a different surname only took half a step forward, and has already used half of his body to block Jia Fang behind him.

At this time, the flamboyant third prince had brought a large group of people to the Hairpin Banquet. He pretended to be unfathomable, and his eyes slowly looked around from Meng Youde to Lin Ruhai, and finally fell on Jia. political face.He said in a triumphant tone: "Everyone, this king is here to arrest someone!"