[Red House] Ban'er's Road to Imperial Examination

It is now June, and the lotus in the garden is blooming just right. The pink buds gradually change from light white to rose red. In the center of the blooming lotus, you can see yellow stamens and tender green lotus pods. The lotus leaves are also growing just right. , Slim, exudes a touch of fragrance.

Under the lotus leaves are the newly grown water chestnuts, which are sparse and spread flat on the water surface. Because they have not yet grown up, the small leaves shrank on the water surface, looking tight, as if they were being bullied, and appear Especially pitiful.

The weather in June was already hot and dry, especially now that it was close to noon, and the sun was particularly hot. Wang Yue and Zou Cheng chose the Huzhong Pavilion.

A vintage honeysuckle tree was planted beside the pavilion. The thick roots entangled in the ground beside the pavilion, and the old branches extending out densely knotted the top of the pavilion. In the pavilion, you can't feel any heat at all, but it's shady and cool, which is very comfortable.

At this time, the honeysuckle blooms just right, the white petals open towards the sky, the green flower buds shyly hide behind the leaves, and the light yellow petals that are about to bloom still try their best to emit fragrance. The aroma of honeysuckle is very warm. Even at noon, there are still many bees attracted by the fragrance of flowers, buzzing hard to gather nectar.

As soon as the two of them sat down, the maids and women of the palace prepared wine and dishes and brought them over.

Zou Cheng smiled very attentively: "Young master, come and have a taste. The chef invited by the Wang family is a chef from the south. His craftsmanship is very mouth-watering, especially the drunk crab and the wine stuffed meatballs. His signature dish."

As Zou Cheng spoke, a maid serving Wang Yue stepped forward to serve Wang Yue. Yue naturally knew what Zou Cheng was planning, so she followed the trend, pretending to be very interested, she picked up the chopsticks and tasted it, and then she looked very interested. He said with admiration: "Sure enough, it is a good craftsmanship, especially this wine, which is clear and mellow, and must be made of high-quality mountain spring water."

"Exactly, the wine used in the cooking is all made by the chef with the family's craftsmanship, and it can't be easily tasted outside."

As Zou Cheng spoke, he introduced other dishes. The little maid who was in charge of serving Wang Yue must have been signaled. Three or four times out of ten times, the drunk crab and wine glutinous rice balls were served. But after a while, Wang Yue's His cheeks turned red, and there was a little confusion in his eyes.

Zou Cheng reckoned that the fire was almost ready, so he signaled the serving maids and women to retreat, and then he smiled and said in a coaxing tone: "Just now, what you heard from the young master seems to be serious about Mr. Jia, but Jia My lord has offended the young master, but I am still familiar with him, and I can speak a few words in front of him, is there a misunderstanding? Do you want me to lead the young master to resolve the misunderstanding."

Zou Cheng saw a trace of impatience on Wang Yue's face, but he still held it back, so he continued his efforts and said, "Speaking of which, Master Jia was picked up by the master, and the young master is a relative of the master. Family, if there is any misunderstanding, it is better to solve it."

"Hehe, what's there to say about that kind of ungrateful person? Mr. Zou is uncle's confidant, so it's better to persuade uncle to stay away from this kind of ungrateful person."

Zou Cheng was taken aback, he could say such words with such certainty that it was not out of thin air, it is possible that Jia Yucun really had something to hide from his boss.

"Where do you start with this? From what I've seen, Jia Yucun's eyes are full of righteousness and grandeur, and he's not as ugly as the young master said?"

"He's used to putting on airs. He looks like a gentleman on the surface, but he's actually a real villain inside."

"Is there... is there something hidden in this? Please tell me in detail, young master."

As he spoke, Zou Cheng picked up the jug and poured another glass of wine for Wang Yue, and brought it in front of him. Wang Yue accepted it with a smile, poured it down in one gulp, and then blushed even more.

Seeing that Zou Cheng's attitude was very sincere, Wang Yue became even more proud. He said: "I don't know much about the secrets. I also have a classmate. Many members of his family are small officials in the government. You can Don't look down on them, although their grades are not high, they know a lot of things in the yamen, and they also know the private affairs of many chief officials. I got it from that same window, but he has already told me , don’t tell outsiders, I’ll tell you today, don’t just say it outside.”

Zou Cheng nodded quickly. He saw that Wang Yue's words were very reasonable, and although he was Wang Ziteng's staff, he usually helped Wang Ziteng with some government affairs. He naturally knew that those small officials in the government should not be underestimated. He already believed Wang Yue's words to three points, and secretly thought in his heart that although he didn't find out the details of Wang Yue today, if he could find out the secrets of Jiayu Village, it would be a worthwhile trip.

This time there is a gap in the court, and the boss seems to intend to promote Jia Yucun. If Jia Yucun is really as ungrateful as Wang Yue said, then he still has to persuade the boss to think twice before acting.

Wang Yue said again: "This Jia Yucun was originally from a poor family. Although he did a good job in learning, he didn't even have the money to go to Beijing for the exam! He stayed in a gourd temple in Suzhou, and made a living by writing letters to others and selling calligraphy and paintings. , there is a family next to the gourd temple, named Zhen Shiyin, whose family property is quite rich. Seeing that Jia Yucun is very talented, he admired him very much, so he gave him silver and asked him to go to Beijing to take the exam. After Jia Yucun entered Beijing, he really If you pass the exam, you will be released as an official. But Zhen Shiyin did good things with all his heart, but he didn't get any good results."

"Oh, did Zhen Shiyin suffer from some natural or man-made disaster?"

Wang Yue couldn't help shaking her head and sighing when she said this: "Natural disasters and man-made disasters have all happened together. This Zhen Shiyin is over half a hundred years old and has only one daughter under his knees, named Zhen Yinglian. One Lantern Festival, a servant of the Zhen family held this The youngest daughter of the Zhen family went out to look at the lights, but she was accidentally abducted by a kidnapper. Seeing that something was wrong, the servant of the Zhen family ran away. This made the Zhen family very anxious, and sent People went out to search, but they couldn't find anyone. Who knew that misfortune never comes singly, and the child has not been found yet, but it was unexpected that once misfortune fell from the sky, the gourd temple was caught on fire, and half the street was burned down. The Zhen family is next door to the Calabash Temple, so naturally they couldn't escape the fire, and their huge family business was reduced to ashes overnight."

Hearing this, Zou Cheng couldn't help sighing: "This is really a good man's reward!"

"No, Zhen Shiyin saw that his home was on fire, and only the land was still in his hands. Fortunately, his family was fine, so he took his family and went to his father-in-law. Zhen Shiyin wanted to do good, but he was a little naive. His father-in-law coaxed him to pay for the land, but he spent a lot of money, but all he bought was inferior land. It didn't take long for the money in his hand to be lost, and his father-in-law refused to take care of him anymore. , For a while, I was a little disheartened, and left home with an old Taoist, leaving only a wife, who made a living by doing needlework for others."

"This... oh!" Zou Cheng sighed, and he couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic to Zhen Shiyin's experience, but after thinking about it, he felt that this disaster might not be due to him, but if it was him, even though his family suffered a disaster , but still has money in hand, it is not impossible to make a comeback, but Zhen Shiyin blindly believed in others and ruined Nuo Da's family property.

"I remember that Mr. Jia was in the Suzhou and Hangzhou area when he was released. Since the Zhen family is Mr. Jia's benefactor, Mr. Jia should pay attention to it from time to time. He should have extended a helping hand at that time. Could it be that Mr. Jia actually treated the benefactor who helped him back then?" , turn a blind eye?"

When Zou Cheng said this, he suddenly remembered that when he sent someone to investigate Jia Yucun, he heard that Jia Yucun had helped his benefactor. It is said that Jia Yucun's current wife is the maid of his benefactor's family back then. At that time, she was very down and out, but this servant girl had eyes for heroes, so after Jia Yucun became an official, she married her as a concubine, and after she was dismissed from office, she was not bound by those etiquette, and made this concubine her main wife.

Thinking of this, Zou Cheng's eyes became a bit ambiguous. If Wang Yue wanted to make a fuss about this matter, it would be a wrong idea. Back then, he personally sent someone to investigate Jia Yucun, and he couldn't hide the news from him. Well, if Wang Xue's idea is to confuse the audience and frame people, then he's going the wrong way!

But it stands to reason that Wang Yue has no grievances with Jia Yucun, so he shouldn't take the risk to frame Jia Yucun. Could it be that the people he sent back then didn't do good things?

"I'm not talking about this, but about Zhen Yinglian, the daughter of the Zhen family who was kidnapped."

Wang Yue didn't intentionally frame Jia Yucun in front of him, which made Zou Cheng feel better about him. At least, although Wang Yue was tactful in his work, he hadn't been infected with the aura of using unscrupulous means to achieve his goals in the officialdom. He may be such a person in private, but he can still tell the truth in front of him.

"But the youngest daughter of the Zhen family was found?"

"I heard from my classmate that when Jia Yucun first arrived in Jinling as the magistrate, he handled a case. It was said that a son of a rich family fought with a son of a squire over a little girl. This son of a rich family came from A famous family, the family is quite powerful, so they do things a little lawlessly. In a moment of enthusiasm, they even connive at the servant and beat the squire's son to death. The family who was beaten sued him to the yamen, but the family did I'm going to be disappointed, this Jia Yu Village is also protected by officials, and they used their power to let go of that big family boy."

Speaking of this, Zou Cheng felt that this matter was a bit familiar, and when he thought about it carefully, he still didn't understand that the son of the rich family that Wang Yue was talking about was his nephew Xue Pan.

But isn't the relationship between the Xue family and Wang Yue quite good? What is Wang Yue's intention in talking about this matter in front of him?

Zou Cheng endured the doubts in his heart, and asked pretending to be puzzled: "Even so, it's just him bending the law for personal gain, and he can't be considered ungrateful."

"Mr. Zou hasn't heard yet, the little girl who was fought over by those two men is Zhen Yinglian, the lost daughter of the Zhen family!"

"This..." Zou Cheng frowned and thought for a while, but he still didn't believe it. He asked, "Even if that little girl is really the lost daughter of the Zhen family, and Jia Yucun recognized her, Lord Jia is sure I won’t be foolish enough to say it outside, how did the young master’s classmates know about it?”

Speaking of this, Wang Yue deliberately lowered her voice and leaned into Zou Cheng's ear and said, "Because it was discovered that the little girl who was vying for by the two families was Zhen Yinglian and not Jia Yucun. There was a fire in the Gourd Temple back then. Some monks among them had no temple to return to after escaping the fire. Many of them chose to leave Buddhism and return to the secular life. One of them became a small disciple of the prefect of Jinling. He recognized the little girl in the hall. It was Zhen Yinglian, who knew the details of the rich family and wanted to please Jia Yucun even more so that she could gain a future by virtue of her old friend's identity, so she boldly told the story in front of Jia Yucun, and reminded Jia Yucun not to offend the rich family. "

Speaking of which, Wang Yue purposely kept it a secret and didn't go any further, but Zou Cheng couldn't guess the result. The little girl who was robbed is now working as a slave in the aunt's house, and she wants to come to Jiayu Village to listen. Not only did that disciple not offend the Xue family, but he deliberately pretended to be ignorant and allowed the benefactor's son to step into the pit of fire.

Thinking of this, Zou Cheng felt chills. The reason why Zou Cheng chose to be Wang Ziteng's staff instead of going into an official career was because he was born in a poor family and had no influence behind him to rely on, but more importantly, he didn't like officialdom. Ethos, not willing to go with the flow.

Otherwise, with his ingenuity, there may be no way to think about it. From this, it can be seen that Zou Cheng's impression of people who don't care about anything in order to get promoted and get rich. Hearing that Jia Yucun may be the person he despises the most, he immediately felt a surge of emotion. There was a wave of disgust.

However, he still needed to ask again to see if there were any flaws in Wang Yue's words: "It seems that Mr. Jia is pretending to be deaf and dumb in the way he chose, and it's no wonder the young master hates him so much."

"Jia Yucun's pit is not only his past benefactor, but also his current benefactor."

"The current benefactor?" Zou Cheng's heart moved, and he immediately thought of his employer. Immediately, he felt anxious and asked, "What else did Jia Yucun do?"

Seeing that Zou Cheng had already entered his rhythm, Wang Yue resisted the drowsiness caused by the alcohol, pulled himself together, and said in a mysterious way: "I'm afraid Mr. Zou doesn't know. The reason for being afraid of his family's power is more because this family has something to do with the big shots who recommended Jia Yucun. Logically speaking, Jia Yucun naturally wants to take care of the aftermath of that dude, but I don't think Jia Yucun has a lot of scheming and wants to keep him. It’s a trick to leave a way out for myself, so the aftermath is not very clean, and it’s not good for that big man to pull it out in the future!”

The author has something to say: the duck I ate at noon today was raised at home, rinsed with water, added some salt and ginger slices, and no other seasonings were added, boiled for a whole morning, it turned into milky white, and the oil in the bones was boiled out. Very fragrant.When eating, add a handful of vermicelli, add some chopped green onion, and serve with white rice, it is super delicious!