An old lady's life

On the way back, Hongye and Ai Cao were in a carriage. Zhang Ying and Zhang Li had been playing all over the mountains and plains for the past few days, and the sky was still covered with snow, so they didn’t feel cold. The two of them opened the curtain and looked up the mountain. Zhongman is full of reluctance.

"I don't keep you guys under control, haven't you had enough fun?" Hong Ye joked, these two little girls often went out to play when they lived in Zhang's house.

Ai Cao smiled and said, "The little girl is like me, and I also like to play."

Zhang Ying pursed her lips, patted her sister, and quickly lowered the curtains. The carriage was driving slowly on the wide road. There was a thin layer of snow on the grass on both sides. The road was also very slippery. The speed of the carriage was not at all Can't get up soon.

Hongye glanced at the two granddaughters, they were much more sensible than the favored girl.During the few days in Xiangshan this time, Hongye and her group will naturally not be the only ones, others can also come to Xiangshan, and there are many scholars among them.

"Does Ying'er and Li'er have anything to say to grandma?" Hong Ye sighed. No wonder the sinful relationship between the scholar and the daughter of the daughter in the story book is in the temple. Isn't the temple a high-risk place?It's not that Zhang Ying and Zhang Li haven't met Mr. Pianpian. When they went out to the banquet, most of the sons and daughters in Beijing had met him. But why did Zhang Li treat a poor scholar differently?

The two sisters immediately sat upright, Zhang Li was very flustered, and secretly looked at her grandmother, Zhang Ying was more stable than the younger sister because she was the older sister, but no matter how stable she was, she was still a 14-year-old girl, just the age to be curious about men and women, However, the upbringing of the elders on weekdays suppressed those ready to move, so she could treat the young masters she met on weekdays rationally.

Ai Cao didn't speak. It's not that she disapproves of free love, but there were no conditions in ancient times, and boudoir girls under the care of their parents can survive on their own without their parents?

After a while, Zhang Li drooped her head, Zhang Ying bit her lip, and knelt down on the wooden floor with a plop, "Grandmother, please punish me, I didn't take good care of my sister."

Seeing this, Zhang Li knelt down beside her sister, lowered her head and cried, "It's not my grandmother, it's my fault, and it has nothing to do with my sister."

Hong Ye Fu forehead: "Okay, did I say that I would punish you? Grandma is so unreasonable? If I wanted to punish you, I would have asked someone to lock you up in the house earlier."

The sun was still out now, and the snowflakes floating in the air were shining brightly under the reflection of the sun. A gust of wind blew by, and the wormwood rolled up the curtain of the car, only to see one mountain surrounded by another, and the top of the mountain was still shining with white light.

Ai Cao smiled and said: "We all come here at this age, little girl, young and fond of Ai, it's human nature."

The faces of Zhang Ying and sisters flushed immediately. If they had been lucky just now, they would be ashamed now. Shameless.

"Li'er, tell me why you look at that scholar so differently?" Hongye naturally knew the name and background of the scholar. Of course, she hadn't checked it out, but it was what the scholar said when he introduced herself. He had a good impression, and even the old abbot was full of praise for him, praising him as a dutiful son.

Zhang Ying and Zhang Li are twins. The two sisters look exactly the same, but Zhang Ying is more stable and Zhang Li is more playful. This is the difference between an older sister and a younger sister.

Zhang Li blushed weakly and said: "Grandmother, I have nothing to do with him, we just had some conversations. His smile is beautiful and clean, just like the sky after the rain in summer."

Ai Cao held her chin and looked at the two little girls thoughtfully. Naturally, she had also seen the scholar. Why didn't she see the quality of cleanliness and clarity in that smile?She only saw that the scholar withdrew his smile after Zhang Li turned around, with a lonely and gloomy expression on his face?But that scholar is quite knowledgeable, he has never missed Zhang Ying and Zhang Li.

Hongye raised her eyebrows: "The two of you have so many opportunities to go out with Mrs. Zhang and the others. I have met many young masters in Beijing. No matter how upbringing or teaching those people are, they will only be better than this scholar. Don't you think so?" Someone who can see?"

The two sisters were immediately discouraged. After a while, Zhang Yingcai said, "They only look down on our family background and father's official position. In fact, those people look down on us."

Facing the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful families, the two sisters themselves were a head shorter and lost first in terms of momentum.Teenagers and girls are the purest and cruelest age, so the two never thought that their marriage would fall into a wealthy family.

Hongye nodded: "So, can you find a sense of superiority in that poor scholar?"

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the two sisters suddenly changed, especially Zhang Li.

"Since we have talked about this issue, now tell your grandmother what you think of your marriage? What kind of husband and son-in-law do you want to find? If the family is rich and powerful, the first son or the second son of a high family, you still need to be capable. Good manners?"

The two sisters kept silent, and their expressions were particularly in a trance. Hongye didn't force it. Today was just a reminder.

Afterwards, Hongye and Ai Cao looked at the sky and scenery outside the curtain, and they talked about interesting things in Beijing, usually heard by Ai Cao, who had a wide range of contacts and knew a lot.

Originally, I thought I would enter the city after noon, but I didn’t expect that today’s weather is good and the road is much easier to walk. I just passed the carriage at noon and entered the city gate. After entering the city, I stopped at a place, and Ai Cao sat on the back of the Lin family He ordered the driver to go to Lin Nuan's drug store, and Hong Ye went straight back to Rong Mansion.

Hongye didn't ask about the affairs of the mansion, since the mansion affairs were entrusted to them, she didn't intend to intervene, she teased her grandson for a few moments before talking to Mrs. Zhang and Mrs. Wang.

There is still nothing special in the mansion these few days, but there are some special things in Beijing, that is, King Xiangjun was finally released because of concubine Zhen and the Zhen family's constant good words, and he was released together with King Gong. He was released from confinement. Naturally, Emperor Changping couldn't treat one more favorably than another, and Prince Gong was also released.

There is also a happy event in the prince's backyard. The side concubine Zhen in the backyard of the king of Xiangjun is happy again. Because of the previous accident, the concubine of Qinjun was once unstable and almost miscarried several times. After several months of confinement, the concubine of Qinjun Finally, the fetus in the womb was saved.

Now every household is discussing in private when this Princess Zhaojun will be pregnant. After all, she married into the royal family in the same year as Princess Qinjun, not to mention that there is no side concubine in the Prince Zhaojun's mansion, and some people are ready to move.

King Zhaojun is not in a hurry, he is only 19 years old, he is in good health, and the princess has no health problems. It will be a matter of time before he has children, but he can't guard against other people's sloppy mouth, and it has attracted Emperor Changping to look at King Zhaojun frequently. Not a physical problem?Would you like him to bestow some beauties?

King Zhaojun couldn't help but look black. Any man who is suspected of this problem will be black-faced.

"Thank you, Father, for your concern. My son knows that the son is still young, and sooner or later there will be a child. Instead of caring about his son's backyard, Father should care more about the affairs of the court."

Emperor Changping couldn't help laughing, seeing his son's face getting darker and darker, he had no choice but to stop laughing.

"Okay, I just care about you, why should I show my face?" Emperor Changping smiled, "I am actually very happy if I can not be moved by external things and can bear patience."

Emperor Changping didn't care about how many women there were in his son's backyard, nor did he care about the issue of heirs. Of course, this was because his son was still young and not yet eager for heirs. Before the concubine gave birth to a child, she began to worry about the issue of offspring, begging side concubines one after another.Of course, begging for a side concubine is just a name, just to win over some courtiers. He was also the prince who came here back then. The methods used by his sons are all used by him before. I have to say that they are very useful, but now he can't see Just use this method.

King Zhaojun glanced at his father strangely, with a stark/naked question in his eyes, "Is there anything else my father can do? My son recently found two new vegetables and is trying them out. After trying them, there is no problem. The son will offer it up again."

It has been two years since King Zhaojun opened his mansion. He has cultivated a group of his own team and recruited some disciples, who were introduced by others. For a while, he had quite a few people under his command. Two elder brothers who have been in the family for many years.

Emperor Changping immediately became interested, and quickly asked: "What new dish? Where did you find it? What is the yield per mu?" Dafeng is still a country dominated by farming, and Emperor Changping is also ordering Huangzhuang to test how field crops can increase the yield per mu. production, and is also looking for new species, but after so many years, the effect is not very good.

King Zhaojun immediately said: "There are two kinds, one is called sweet potato, and the other is called potato. They were filially brought up by the people below. It is said that after a county magistrate in Yue County, Chongzhou discovered it by accident, he first planted it on his own farm. , This year, due to the drought, the harvest of these two crops is not bad, helping the people of Yue County to tide over the difficulties. It’s just that few people planted it, and there is no definite result yet.”

Emperor Changping's interest suddenly increased, and King Zhaojun hurriedly offered it, and he could judge by himself.As a last resort, King Zhaojun had to ask someone to go back home to take two catties of sweet potatoes and potatoes, and save the rest for seeds. He planned to try planting them on Zhuangzi after the spring.

The subordinates soon brought two catties of sweet potatoes and potatoes into the palace, and saw that the two round things were covered with mud. King Zhaojun wiped off a large area of ​​mud with his own hands. Emperor Changping didn't dislike it, and weighed it Look, it's a little small, but it still has weight.

"Because of the drought this year, these two crops are small in size, but the people below say that if they are raised well, each can weigh a catty, and the yield per mu is also unpredictable. The magistrate of Yue County was in some places last year. I found these two crops, and then tried to plant them on my farm last year, and the harvest was good, and this year they will be promoted in the whole county, but there are still not many people who plant them, I don’t want this year’s drought, and the yield per mu has not met expectations.”

The father and son spent the whole afternoon researching on sweet potatoes and potatoes. In the end, Emperor Changping allocated a Huangzhuang to King Zhaojun, asking him to urge Huangzhuang to experiment with these two crops. If the harvest is good, they will be promoted in Dafeng.

Naturally, the king of Zhaojun would not refuse. He originally planned to do so. Since his father left Huangzhuang, he would not use his own Zhuangzi.

"Who is the county magistrate of Yue County?" The order went on, and it was natural to ask the person who first discovered these two crops.

King Zhaojun had no choice but to focus on his subordinate Wang Minglang, who was standing outside the royal study and winking with the prince. He still didn't know who the county magistrate was or what his identity was.

"Wang Minglang came in to answer." Emperor Changping saw it in his eyes and secretly smiled in his heart, hoping that the seventh son could always maintain this purity.

Wang Minglang half-kneeled and replied: "My Majesty, the county magistrate's surname is Zhang Mingshuo, and he is a child of Zhang's family, the old lady Zhang in the middle of Beijing. , The Duke of Rongguo, who married his wife and passed away, gave birth to a second daughter as his wife. After Mr. Zhang passed the Jinshi examination, he was released as an official and has been serving as the county magistrate in Yue County."

Emperor Changping's face turned serious, and King Zhaojun's expression remained unchanged. The sweet potatoes and potatoes were not presented to him by Zhang Shuo, but by his disciple, and that disciple was brought to him by his friend from Yue County. , the doorman felt that there was something novel and at the same time keenly discovered the problems, so he dedicated two crops to him.

"How is Zhang Shuo's ability?"

Wang Minglang said again: "I'm not too ambitious, and I'm not a greedy person. In the past few years, Mr. Zhang has done nothing in Yue County, but this year, after Mr. Zhang promoted sweet potatoes and potatoes, the people of Yue County have had a hard time. Difficulties, the evaluation of him will get better."

King Zhaojun raised his eyebrows: "This is a bit interesting."

Emperor Changping glanced at his son and nodded: "Lao Qi pay attention, if he is really good, he will be promoted to a level next year to see how far he can go."

King Zhaojun naturally obeyed everything, and then he and his subordinates withdrew from the imperial study. Emperor Changping had a serious expression on his face, and the chairman heaved a sigh of relief, as if he had made a decision in his heart.

Since his son was still young, he thought it was a coincidence, but in Emperor Changping's view, such a thing could not be a coincidence.

"Ji Yang, check it out."

Ji Yang responded in the corner: "Yes, Your Majesty." Then he walked out of the imperial study room, and came back after a while.

The sky is getting dark very fast now, and the dinner table in Rongfu is steaming hot, Hongye feels that in such a cold day, eating hot pot can make people warm up from the bottom of their hearts.

Under the steaming mist, there are smiling faces, and adults and children eat very happily.

After dinner, Hongye left her son and daughter-in-law for a conversation, Zhang and Wang took their children back to their respective yards, while Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng stayed behind.

Hongye first asked how Jia Zheng was studying, and what difficulties did he have recently?Can a solution be found?

"My son is very good, but my son has finished the test paper you gave me, mother." Jia Zheng said with some shame, "The last test paper is a bit difficult, and my son only scored 85 points. Mrs. Zhang said that it usually takes [-] points or more to pass the exam. Scholars."

The test paper has scores, so it is naturally the test paper produced by Hongye. Every question has a mark on it. Jia Zheng gave it to Mr. Zhang to correct the test paper. After seeing the full score, Mr. Zhang can give Jia Zheng’s answer a score in his heart After such a whole test paper, Jia Zheng only scored [-] points, which is the test paper he scored the least these days.

Of course, Yu Qiu and Zhou He were not much better. Yu Qiu only scored 78 points more than Jia Zheng, and Zhou He scored [-] points.

Hongye nodded: "The last test paper is indeed the most difficult. Have you mastered that knowledge now?"

Jia Zheng shook his head: "I haven't fully grasped it yet, I only know half of it." These days he can be described as forgetting to sleep and eat, and spend another hour less with his son every day, which caused his son to complain to him endlessly.

Hongye nodded: "Then keep working hard." Jia Zheng's topic ended, she looked at Jia She, who sat lazily aside, since he entered the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, Dafeng's mother Don't test him anymore, anyway, he deals with it every day.

"What about you? How are you at the Ministry of Criminal Justice these days? I heard that you also returned home drunk a few days ago?" As soon as these words came out, both Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng blushed.

Jia She said in her heart, it's a good thing her mother wasn't at home, otherwise she would have seen his ugly face, but fortunately, Jing Shu said that he didn't cause any trouble, but in the future, it's true that he shouldn't drink too much wine, it's a waste of time.

"Ahem, mother, I'm just drunk, but I didn't make trouble, I'm fine." Jia She said plausibly, and quickly changed the subject, talking about interesting things about the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

"Zhen'er is with me, he's a fish in water in the Ministry of Criminal Justice." However, my nephew is not good at learning, after taking the exam for so long, he still only knows a little bit about the Dafeng Law, and he always bothers him with trivial matters.

The mother and son talked for half an hour, and then they dispersed. Seeing the overlapping shadows of the two brothers on the ground, and listening to their noise, Hongye smiled. Don't be too obvious!

The next day, Hongye woke up early in the morning, and saw that the yard was filled with fog, and the visibility was exceptionally low. She had just washed up and was eating breakfast, when a servant girl from Rongxi Hall came to report that the second aunt had sent someone back to Beijing to deliver the New Year gift.

While talking, Mrs. Zhang came in with a list of New Year's gift and a wooden box to ask her how to deal with it. The red leaves didn't care about the New Year's gift, she took the wooden box, which contained some jewelry and a letter in the bottom compartment.

"These jewelry will be used by Yinger and Lier." Hongye took out the letter and pushed the wooden box to Zhang Shi, "Look, here are two pieces of the latest jewelry in Beijing, the two girls are better dressed in more delicate clothes .”

Mrs. Zhang agreed with a smile, because there is no girl in the family, these latest jewelry and clothes can be brought by the two nieces, of course not too much, so as not to make them feel like comparing each other.

After Mrs. Zhang left, Hongye opened the letter and saw that the content was ordinary, but only Hongye and Ai Cao could understand the information hidden in it.

The current time of Dafeng is actually the time of the Qing Dynasty, and it has been almost 100 years since the founding of Dafeng. Potatoes and sweet potatoes should have already flowed into Dafeng, but they have not attracted any attention.And Hongye ordered the manager of the Rongfu to go around the business to help her find it. The manager was found near the East China Sea. After that, Hongye handed it to Zhang Shuo to test and promote it in Yue County, and then find a suitable opportunity to send it to Zhaojun. before the king.

Rongfu doesn't need this credit because Rongfu's current location is very good and there is no need to go any further.As for the choice, only Zhang Shuo, who is an official in Yue County, is more suitable, because among the relatives of Rong Mansion, he is the only one who is an official outside, and others such as the Lin family and Baolinghou's Mansion have nothing to do with farming.

In the three caves of the cunning rabbit, Hongye still has another idea in her heart, but she is just waiting for Jia She and Jia Zheng's further growth, so the Rongfu's position in the court does not need to be too high.

Simply because Zhang Shuo is a little bit ambitious, and he wants to fight for his children for a few more years, just because of his lazy appearance, in fact, he is not suitable for officialdom at all.

Jia She came back from get off work, and Hong Ye told him about it, Jia She nodded, "Father lost sight of Qi Frame, but the second brother-in-law is fine."

"You really don't want this credit? This credit has been diluted, and Zhang Shuo's income is limited. If it came from our family in the first place, maybe your title can be promoted to a higher level." Hongye asked with raised eyebrows.

Jia She smiled shyly and approached his mother, saying, "Too greedy and indigestion, isn't this what mother taught me? I'm still waiting for the greater benefits that mother said."

When Hongye discussed with Jia She, Jia She was not as calm as now, he was actually tempted, but Hongye suppressed him, and Hongye promised him a bigger benefit, so he reluctantly agreed.

Hongye nodded: "Okay, but I'm still thinking about the feasibility, and I have to wait for a while."

Jia She was itchy in his heart, but it was a pity that his mother didn't tell him now anyway, so he had no choice but to give up.

"Has anyone in our family ever gone to sea? I know that foreign goods can make money. Which of these merchants are going to sea now?" Hongye turned to this topic again.

Jia She was in a fog, wondering why her mother jumped to the topic of going to sea?If you don't want to tell him, you don't want to tell him. Why is it so obvious?

"Our family has never done business in going out to sea, but those big businessmen have organized merchant ships to go out to sea." Jia She thought for a while, and said: "The things my grandmother left me, I found out in the ledger that my grandmother invested in merchant ships before. That time I invested 20 yuan in goods, and I made a profit of [-] taels in exchange for things overseas."

Jia Amnesty glanced at his mother cautiously, because the relationship between his grandmother and mother was not good, which made his sandwich biscuit have a bad life.

Hongye nodded: "Take some time to find out about this matter, and see if we can get a share in going out to sea, or if someone's merchant ship is not doing it, let's take it over and continue to do it."

Jia She's heart trembled twice: "Mom, what are you going to do?"

Hongye glanced at him faintly: "What do you do? Do business and make money. In the future, there will be more and more children and grandchildren in the Rong Mansion, and the assets will not be enough. Why don't I make more money in advance?"

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