The Road to the Imperial Examinations of Farmers in Ancient Times

This day was the birthday of the old matriarch of the Zhen Guo General's Mansion, and the Zhao family invited many officials from the court and people from major families in the capital to attend.

This was the first time that General Zhen Guo's Mansion held such a grand wedding banquet.

The Zhao family is a family of generals, and all the adult men in the family went to the border to guard the country, and those who stayed in Beijing were the family members.Unlike some other high-profile families, the female family members in the General's Mansion have always been very low-key in Beijing and rarely show their faces outside.However, this does not mean that the Zhao family's status in the capital is insignificant.

Now that the new emperor is enthroned, the Zhao family is the one who supports the new emperor. Zhao Zhuo's eldest son, Zhao Xiangyi, accompanied the emperor when he was the prince, and is the new emperor's right-hand man. Now he is named General Jinwu and establishes a new mansion.Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Zhao Zhuo and his son have become more powerful in the court, and the status of the Zhao family in the capital is higher than before.

This time, General Zhao Zhuo and Zhao returned to the capital under the order of the sage, and the fourth master Zhao and Zhao Liulang of the Zhao family returned to the capital together. It can be said that this is the first time that the Zhao family has had such a large number of men in the capital for so many years. complete.It just happened to be the old lady's birthday, and the people in the family proposed to celebrate the old lady's birthday, which is the origin of today's grand birthday banquet.

There are two big stone lions standing at the gate of the General's Mansion, red lanterns are hung on the gate, and lanterns and festoons are decorated everywhere in the mansion.

"People from all the families in the capital will come to attend the old lady's birthday today. You all cheer me up and work hard. There is no room for any mistakes in the house." This is Wang's right to take back the housekeeper from the master. , the biggest wedding banquet held since he was in charge of the government, and it was the old lady's birthday banquet, so Mrs. Wang felt a little nervous, fearing that something might go wrong, and repeatedly told the people below.

If something goes wrong, what she loses here is not her own face, but the face of the general's mansion, so there can't be any mistakes.

"Yes, ma'am, the slave/servant is taking orders." The old maids and maids around Wang cheered up each and every one of them walked in a hurry, doing things according to their wives' orders. its job.

The maid who followed Wang's side came forward and said, "Madam, Sister Hui is here and has gone to the old matriarch's side."

Sister Hui is the only daughter of Dafang Huo's family, and she married the legitimate son of the Shangshu family of the Ministry of War as his wife.In the early days, the family was always headed by Dafang Huo. It wasn't until the second room got back the power of the family. Wang asked people to check the accounts and found out that there were serious problems in the accounts. It was almost time to evacuate Zhao's family to subsidize her daughter, but Zhao Hui knew where the money came from, and spent it with her natal family's money.

Because of this matter, the General's Mansion and the Minister's Mansion of the Ministry of War had some gaps in private, and the two families were a little unhappy about it.This matter is obviously because Huo's mother and son did something wrong. Huo is from the Zhao family, and Zhao Hui has married into another family and is the daughter-in-law of another family.So when this kind of thing happened, neither of the two companies could say it on the bright side, and dealt with it in an extremely low-key manner.

But because of this, the Huo family's position in the general's mansion became extremely awkward, and Zhao Hui's life at her husband's house was not easy.Mrs. Wang heard some things from the servant girl below and told her when she came back, otherwise she would not have noticed these things.

As for Dafang Huo, who has been telling the truth about her in front of the old lady all these years, Wang can't even like Huo.

"I'll be back when I come back. Today is the old lady's birthday. She should come back." Wang's current affection for Zhao Hui has been completely wiped out after that incident.

Not long after, Mrs. Wang went to the old lady's place and saw Zhao Hui sitting beside her mother Mrs. Huo.The old lady didn't let Sister Hui sit next to her as before. It can be seen that the old lady also hated the two people in the big house. Wang smiled in her heart and didn't even give it away Dafang mother and daughter glanced at each other.

The distinguished guests in the house come and go, the men in the family receive the guests outside, and the female relatives are in charge of receiving the wives and young ladies who come to the inner courtyard

Men.

This day was Mrs. Zhao's birthday. Zhao Xiangyi had greeted him early and even prepared gifts for him. Naturally, Li Wen wanted to come, but they didn't go together.Before Zhao Xiangyi went, he followed behind, and today he deliberately came a little earlier.

It took only a few minutes to walk from Liuyuan Mansion to the General's Mansion, so Li Wen simply walked over.

The carriages and sedan chairs in front of the general's mansion were almost full, and the road was almost impassable.

Today there are many guests at home, and there are many things to do, so Zhao Si and the housekeeper are responsible for receiving guests at the door.When Zhao Si saw the little apprentice coming, he asked his nephew to bring the apprentice in. He was so busy here that he couldn't get away, "Xiaoyi, you take the three treasures inside. Three treasures, follow Xiaoyi in, I'm too busy here to take care of you, you Make your own arrangements."

"Well, master, I'll go in." Li Wen knew that his master was busy here, and he couldn't help, so he followed Zhao Xiangyi in.When you meet people you know or don’t know on the road, if someone greets him, Li Wen will always reply with a polite

smile.

Li Wen asked the man beside him, "Are you busy today?"

"Well, it's okay." Zhao Xiangyi looked at the young man with a little unconscious tenderness in his eyes, the two of them looked at each other, and he led them inside.

When this kind of birthday banquet is held at home, the outside guests are all brought in, and those who know each other are brought together. Those who can be invited to the general’s mansion to participate in the birthday banquet today are all ranked first in the capital. The rich and powerful families in the court are not considered low-ranking officials, and most of them know each other.

Zhao Xiangyi brought Li Wen here, and he will go out to help the elders in the family later, he can't stay here for a long time, worried that Li Wen will be bored here alone, Zhao Xiangyi said, "I will go to help the fourth uncle later Please, you are here alone, can you?"

"Brother Chen has been talking about you for the past two days, why don't you go to Brother Chen?" He asked.

Among these people were those who knew and those who didn't. Li Wen had to deal with several officials who came to say hello, and after only a short while after he came in, he felt that his face was going to freeze from laughing.

Hearing Zhao Xiangyi's words, Li Wen naturally did not disagree. What he feared most was dealing with other people's affairs, and there were not many people here who were particularly close to him.Wang Xiaojiang followed King Jianning to inspect the place, and he might not be able to return to the capital after going for a year or so. Otherwise, Wang Hao would definitely come in a day like today.

Nowadays, with his status, there are many people who come to curry favor with him, and what Li Wen dislikes the most is dealing with people.If you can go to other places, it is of course better.Li Wen said, "It just so happens that I haven't seen Brother Chen for a while, where is Brother Chen? You take me to meet Brother Chen."

A smile flashed in Zhao Xiangyi's eyes, he called Zhao Kui over and gave some instructions, and said to Li Wen, "Let's go, you go to my yard, there is no one in my yard. Brother Chen will take it over here." Brother Chen is the only one in the family who has the most leisure time because of his young age, so he doesn't need to come out to entertain guests. It just so happens that the younger brother can come in handy at this moment, Zhao The little general unceremoniously took advantage of the younger brother.

"That's kind, I just went to see the place where you used to live." Li Wen has been to the General's Mansion several times, but he really hasn't visited the courtyard where Zhao Xiangyi lives.

The corners of Zhao Xiangyi's mouth curled slightly, obviously he also thought of this, and said, "Actually, there is nothing to see, it's just a place to live. But if you want to see it, I'm naturally willing to take you to see it. "

Although he moved to live in the new mansion bestowed by the emperor, the courtyard where he used to live in the general's mansion was still reserved for him, and everything inside was exactly the same without any movement.Except for the wine hidden in the cellar, and the ones given to his fourth uncle, he got the rest to the new mansion.

They greeted the people who came over, and Zhao Xiangyi led Li Wen to the courtyard where he used to live.

Although no one lives in the small courtyard, there are still people cleaning it every day. The inside is clean and has not changed much from before.The layout of the general's mansion is straight and straightforward, just like the style of a family of generals.The courtyard where Zhao Xiangyi lived was also very simple, there were no flowers and plants in it, and a small open space was left in the courtyard as a training ground. He pointed to this open space and said, "This is the place where I used to practice martial arts, in the General's Mansion There is also a bigger training ground, sometimes I don’t go there, I just practice swords in my own courtyard.”

"Oh." Li Wen looked at this place, as if he saw a miniature version of Zhao Xiangyi practicing martial arts here. Knowing that this is the place where Zhao Xiangyi lived since he was a child, he felt quite novel, "You used to live This yard is pretty big." It was a little empty, and he didn't say the last sentence.

They went all the way into the house, and the servants who served them brought tea.

The two sat down and talked for a while, then they heard footsteps running towards them. As soon as Zhao Ruichen received a message from his elder brother, he ran towards the yard where his elder brother lived.Seeing Master Li, his eyes lit up, he ran up to Master Li, and called out "Master Li", his happiness could be heard from his voice.

It was belatedly that I remembered that my elder brother was still standing behind me, and I recovered from my neck, saluted and said, "My little brother has seen my elder brother."

Brat, he is so big that he can't see him standing here?But it's a pity, the Master Li you like is already mine! Zhao Xiangyi raised his hand and touched the child's head, glanced at Li Wen, then looked down at his little brother, and said, "I won't call you Master Li anymore, change it Call second brother.

I am your elder brother, Master Li is your second elder brother, you can call Master Li your second elder brother from now on. "