Evening Shaohua in the Red House

After the Lantern Festival, Jia Lan began to pack her bags and prepare for the exam in Jinling.

Li Wan had carefully inquired about the rules of the examination before. The county examination is generally presided over by the county magistrate. There are five examinations in total, including eight-legged essays, poems, scriptures, rhymes, and policy theory. Four villagers and one are required. You can take the exam only if you are recommended by a famous scholar.

Shen Yi, the recommender for the test, has already helped Jia Lan to take care of it. Li Wan can't get involved in these matters, so he only cares about Jia Lan's basic necessities of life. The conditions of the examination room are simple, and it is rainy in the south of the Yangtze River. I made rain curtains to cover the rain and Korean oil paper to cover the roof. Thinking of the cold night, I prepared a bed made of wolf fur, a blanket, and a thin velvet felt.

In February, the weather has not yet warmed up, but the rule in the examination room is to wear only single clothes, so Li Wan asked someone to add cotton to make some quilted singles, and the shoes and socks were also filled with thin cotton.

In addition, I also prepared various commonly used pills, two sticks of ginseng, several boxes of pastries packed in lotus, two tea legs, four salted ducks, four catties of fine tea food, two bags of green japonica rice, and two cans of eight-treasure vegetables.

The rest of the test preparation basket, small brown broom, folding bench, silver charcoal, copper choke, roll bag, wax bag, wax table and other practical things were also purchased by Shen Yi himself, and Li San, the chief escort, was sent to accompany him. Seeing that Jialan's two servants were very young and inexperienced, he personally selected eight stable and reliable servants to serve and take care of them all the way.

It turns out that Li San followed Shen Yi since he was a child, and he also followed the scientific examination back then, and he is very familiar with related matters.

The rest of the families also got the news, and they all gave gifts. Lin Ruhai sent two old servants who were familiar with Jinling's personnel affairs. Besides food, Daiyu also had two sets of clothes, shoes and socks, which were all made of fine cotton cloth. Wear thin cotton.

Yinglian, Yan Hui, and Mrs. Gu sent food everywhere.

Gu Zhan also sent a set of pens and inks for the end, eight catties of silver silk charcoal, and four boxes of other snacks.

Jiang Yan also gave four catties of good oil candles, two hams and two boxes of various side dishes.

On the 21st day of the first lunar month, Jia Lan went to various places to resign, and set off with everyone early the next morning. Although Li Wan was very reluctant, he couldn't help it. Fang went back to the room.

As soon as Jia Lan left, Li Wan felt that the house was much deserted. Daiyu knew her heart well, and often came to keep her company and chat with her to relieve boredom. In addition, occasionally Yinglian would bring some needles and thread to eat and visit, so the days were easy to pass .

In a blink of an eye, winter is over and spring is back, and the back garden has been remodeled according to Li Wan's wishes.

Go, built three arrow halls, which are spacious and neat. In front of the halls, more than a hundred books of top-grade peonies and peonies of various colors, as well as various exquisite chrysanthemums and drunk hibiscus were planted. , and two golden osmanthus and two magnolias.

Around it, a curved-foot fence was woven with fine bamboo, and there were all kinds of roses, roses, red □□ group, golden lotus, treasures, etc. on the net.

There is a white wall on the east side of the fence, and a flower shed was built against the wall, with various flowers and vines such as wisteria, gold and silver vines, and roses. There were no stone tables and benches under the flower shed, but a swing was hung. Reading books and tasting tea on the swing stand, life is very leisurely.

Before I knew it, I arrived in Shangsi, the weather was warm, everything was revived, and all kinds of flowers in the garden were competing to bloom. All kinds of vanilla along the wall behind the house were as lush as green screens, and the wisteria, gold and silver vines and roses on the wisteria trellis bloomed one after another. The hue is wrong, tired and cute.

Hundreds of peonies and peonies in the garden are also blooming fragrantly, intertwined in five colors, and the peony flowers with a large bowl mouth are layered with layers of petals, gorgeous and gorgeous, just like a brocade.

It was a fine day and the warm sun was slightly drunk. Li Wan leaned on the swing and read the letter written by Jia Lan. In the letter, he said that several exams went very well, but it was a pity that he missed the first place and only got No.2. The winner is a young man surnamed Zhang, who is only thirteen or fourteen years old this year;

The other second uncle, Jia Lian, has arrived in Jinling with the people from the Rongfu. He was ordered by the master and wife to help take care of the examination matters. Apart from studying books every day, he doesn't have to worry about anything. Mother don't forget to wait.

After Li Wan watched it, he couldn't help shaking his head with a smile. The child's tone of voice when he talked about the young man surnamed Zhang was rather unconvinced. It seemed that this time he really met his opponent.

That's fine, but you need to know that there are people outside the world, and there is a sky beyond the sky. This child has been used to a smooth journey since he joined Mr. Shen's family. Mr. Gu also loves him very much, and the masters of the academy often praise him. After a long time, he is inevitably a little complacent. It wouldn't be a bad thing to dampen his arrogance this time.

Li Wan read the letter several times, and Fang handed it to the embroidered bamboo to put it away, and said: "Keep it carefully, and put it in the box carved with red sandalwood on the dressing table."

Xiuzhu agreed to go, but suddenly a woman came back and said: "The magistrate's wife sent someone to deliver something, and Miss Danju sent me to ask grandma for instructions."

Hearing this, Li Wan hurriedly changed his clothes and came to the flower hall, where he saw a servant girl who often came and went to Jiang's family talking to Danju in the hall. When she saw Li Wan, she hurriedly greeted Li Wan and presented some delicate fruits to explain her purpose of coming. yes

Yan Hui invited her to go to Panxiang Temple to offer incense.

The daughter-in-law smiled and said: "Tomorrow is the Shangsi Festival. Our grandma said that the Avalokitesvara lottery in Panxiang Temple is the most effective. One is to invite my aunt to go to the incense and ask for a lottery, and the other is to go out of the city for an outing, strolling around the mountains and rivers to relieve boredom."

Li Wan was feeling bored staying at home, so he smiled and said, "I must go, but I don't know if your grandma has invited anyone else besides me? Will sister Lin go or not?"

The daughter-in-law hurriedly laughed and said: "Besides grandma, there is also the old lady of the Gu family, and our girl will go too."

Li Wan laughed and said: "Go back to your grandma and tell me that I will be there on time tomorrow morning."

The daughter-in-law agreed to go.

In the early morning of the next day, Liu Youfu prepared the car and sedan chair, and Li Wan washed up, then took Danju and others to the Lin residence, and met Daiyu before setting off.

Walking to the city gate, from a distance, you can see a group of chariots and horses waiting at the gate of the city, more than a dozen people in sedan chairs, mighty and mighty, it is Yan Hui and his party.

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone set off again.

Leaving the bustling streets, the field of vision will open up. Walking out of the city, you will see willows and pinks, and a hundred flowers blooming. If you look around, you will see endless fields and green hills. Although they are not very big, they are full of trees and lush.

Looking from a distance, the color of the ground was like washed that day, the ground was mossy and moist, and some peach, plum and apricot trees were planted here and there.

Li Wan looked at everything in front of him, and felt that the air he breathed through his nose was fresh and cool, which made him feel refreshed.

Li Wan was enjoying the scenery in the sedan chair, when he suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes behind him, looking back, it was a young man who came with a few servants on horseback, he was puzzled when he heard the servants calling him Third Lord Zhan, It is known that this young man is Daiyu's fiancé-in-law, the young son of the Gu family.

Although Li Wan has been to Gu's house twice, he has never met Mr. Gu. He was quite curious and couldn't help but stare at him. He was fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing moon white arrow sleeves and a sky blue mink cloak. , born pure and graceful, with starry eyes, like Zhilan Yushu, he nodded secretly in his heart, this young master of the Gu family is outstanding in appearance and extraordinary in bearing, and he and Daiyu are really a perfect match.

He walked up to Daiyu's chariot, took a box from his entourage and handed it into the chariot, said something in a low voice, then beat his horse and left.

After walking for more than a mile, a servant of the Gu family came to pass the message: "The old lady told: 'The next place is ahead, please go and have tea with Grandma Jia.'"

The mother-in-law who was following the car repeatedly agreed that she would not go for a long time.

, After crossing a big stone bridge, I came to a farm, I saw the trees were shady, the springs and valleys were quiet, and it was quite interesting.There is a small river outside the gate of the villa, and willow trees line the bank, and the willow shade is all around. Turning over the small bridge, you will see the gate of the villa.

Get off at the door.After entering the door, Zhuangtou's daughter-in-law greeted everyone early and greeted everyone. Only then did Li Wan know that the farm was the property of the Gu family.

Zhuangzi has about seven or eight mu, with trees planted all over the place. There are three open rooms in the south as the main house, an octagonal pavilion in the east, surrounded by bamboo curtains, two first and three side rooms, and a few weeping willows outside the flower wall. The frame is full of vermilion vines, with a strong fragrance. Although it is in the village, the decoration is very elegant.

The daughter-in-law and mother-in-law sent by Gu's mansion to run errands have already laid out and everything is ready.

After enjoying it, everyone entered the hall and sat down in order after seeing the ceremony.

Please say hello to each other. Sister Li Wan and Yan Hui have not seen each other for many days, and they are very affectionate.

Gu Zhan stepped forward to meet Li Wan, and Li Wan ordered Dan Ju to present him with a gift, a pair of Ruyi pen ingots and golden scorpions, at both ends of the gift.

Gu Zhan accepted after thanking.

Daiyu also went to see her aunt to say hello, Mrs. Gu was full of joy, she pulled her to sit next to her, and she was very affectionate.

Gu Zhan glanced at Daiyu, seeing that she only turned her head to talk to Yingxue, and didn't even give him a look, he couldn't help being a little disappointed, so he had to back out with his things in his hands.

Seeing this, Li Wan secretly smiled.

The daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law set out various refreshments, Yingxue took two sips of tea, got up and opened the back window, couldn't help being startled, and couldn't help calling Daiyu over: "Sister, take a look at the scenery here, it's really beautiful. "

Daiyu walked over and looked, and was stunned for a moment. She saw that there were rice fields outside the window, and the clouds and mountains overlapped in the distance, the bamboos and trees were blurred, and the peaches and willows were uneven.

There is a flower wall, woven with bamboo fences, and roses and other flowers of various colors are wrapped around it. A small stream several feet wide flows through it. It goes south along the bamboo bridge. Two are tall and large, and there are fifty or sixty dense and small ones.

Facing the small pavilion, there are also a few plants on both sides, with strong fragrance and dense leaves, very like Zhan Tan.

There are cauliflower flowers all over the place, and the sun shone brightly after the new rain. A few rural women walked hand in hand with bamboo baskets, and a few young girls who had only grown their hair were playing with colorful ropes. There was a shepherd boy in the distance. Riding a water gun ox, he turned around from the stream.

Daiyu was full of admiration, and said: "This scenery is no worse than the Peach Blossom Spring that Tao Gong saw."

Yingxue laughed and said, "My younger sister is very good at painting, and I will be able to draw it tomorrow."

Daiyu shook her head and smiled after hearing this, "This spring scene is only beautiful when drawn with meticulous brushwork.

Limited, if you try to paint it, you will have form and spirit, but it will not be beautiful, so it is better not to paint. "

Everyone knew Daiyu's temperament, and they all just laughed when they heard it, but Gu Zhan remembered it in their hearts.

After tea, Yingxue took Daiyu to the village to play.

Mrs. Gu glanced at her grandson, couldn't help shaking her head, and said, "Zhan'er, take your two younger sisters for a stroll. The peach blossoms over there are blooming well, so go and pick some branches to put in the bottle."

Gu Zhan's eyes lit up, he quickly agreed, and looked at Daiyu with a blushing face.

Daiyu's face turned red, she lowered her head and said nothing, and finally was dragged out by Yingxue.

Li Wan and Yan Hui looked at each other and smiled, and everyone else was also smiling, tacitly knowing that Mrs. Gu deliberately let this young unmarried couple cultivate their relationship. Ding, crossing Ming Road is not considered as overstepping the rules.

Li Wan was secretly happy for Daiyu, seeing the situation today, Gu Zhan was very attentive to her, Mrs. Gu was also very open-minded, not a pedantic person, one can imagine that Daiyu's life in her husband's house would not be sad in the future.

The three of them came to Taolin, they were silent for a moment, Yingxue glanced back and forth at the two of them, seeing that both of them were blushing, you peeked at me, I peeked at you, couldn't help but burst out laughing She came out, waved her hand and said, "I was the only one talking all the way, and I was so tired. I'll go over there to have a rest, and you go and fold flowers yourself." After saying that, before Daiyu could react, she ran away.

The author has something to say: the next update is on Tuesday, good night~