Prime Minister

Chapter 128 Eating Crabs (Thanks to Canned Winter Melon Tea for Being the Leader)

Zhang Yue followed Ouyang Fa to the side hall to wait, and the two chatted for a while.

Zhang Yue, Ouyang Fa waited for Ouyang Xiu for a while, at this time someone told that when Ouyang Xiu was changing clothes, Empress Cao's younger brother Cao Yu sent someone to the house.

Zhang Yue heard a lot about Empress Cao in the public. Although this Empress Cao is the main palace, she is not liked by Song Renzong.

Especially two years ago, the emperor was seriously ill, and he shouted unconsciously, "the empress and Zhang Mao are plotting a great rebellion".

Zhang Mao, who was a servant, planned to hang himself to prove his innocence. It was Han Qi who came forward: "The official is sick and talking nonsense. You just died like this. How can you let the queen treat herself like this?"

Anyway, the discord between the official family and Empress Cao is well known in the government and the public, but it seems that the relationship with the ministers is not bad.Because Empress Cao came from a prominent background.Empress Cao came from the Zhending Cao family and was the granddaughter of the founding general Cao Bin.

Uncle Guo sent someone over to the house, he had something important to do, so he interrupted Zhang Yue's meeting with Ouyang Xiu.But Zhang Yue knew that Ouyang Xiu's current position must be busy with business, and it was very rare for him to take time to see him today.

Zhang Yue and Ouyang Fa were chatting about engraving gold and stone seals, when a maid served them osmanthus tea.The more he is familiar with this tea chapter, the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus reminds him of the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus when he went to Nanfeng Academy to study.

"This……"

Ouyang Fa took a sip and said with a smile: "This osmanthus tea must be presented by my wife. She knows that Saburo is also from Pucheng, so she treats guests with tea from her hometown."

Zhang Yue sighed and said: "As the saying goes, family letters are ten thousand gold, but this osmanthus tea has aroused my homesickness, and I don't know how my family is doing? Thank you, Madam."

Ouyang laughed and said: "It's not worth mentioning. My wife knows that Sanlang and I hit it off, so I don't treat you as an outsider with this tea. Come, drink tea!"

Zhang Yue picked up the tea and took another sip, but felt the taste of the tea was sweet and refreshing, and he was deeply impressed by Wu's thoughtfulness. Then he suddenly said: "This sweet-scented osmanthus tea must be freshly brewed, but this year the sweet-scented osmanthus has not bloomed, it must be Picked last autumn."

Ouyang laughed and said, "Of course, it was Shiqi who brought her to Beijing. I forgot to mention that Shiqi is the youngest sister of my wife. Although she is a concubine, she is very favored at home."

"She loves peonies very much, and the prosperity of peonies in the world lies in Luoyang, so the Wu family sends fast horses to fetch peonies from Luoyang every year for her to enjoy."

"Horse luck?" Zhang Yue was surprised.

Ouyang Fa nodded and said: "There are six stations from Luoyang to Tokyo. In previous years, no flowers were brought in. Since Li Xiangdi from Xuzhou stayed in Luoyang, he began to use stage horses to carry peonies to Yuqian."

"Nowadays, not only officials, but also dignitaries in Bianjing like to appreciate peonies. Then Luoyang people filled bamboo cages with vegetable leaves, and then covered them so that they would not shake on the post horse. They also sealed the flower pedicles with wax, and even counted The sun never sets, and you can change your fast horse and gallop from Luoyang to Bianjing, and you can get there in one day and one night. In this way, the rich and noble people in Beijing can enjoy the beauty of Luoyang peonies."

Zhang Yue shook his head and said, "How much money did you spend to reward a peony? It's too extravagant."

Zhang Yue's implication is, 'Who can afford such a woman from such a family! '

Ouyang Fa took a sip of tea and said with a broken smile: "There is nothing wrong with Guochao now, Bianjing is happy to enjoy this peaceful and prosperous age, just take this tea as an example, waxed tea flourishes in Jianjian, grass tea flourishes in Liangzhe. As for herbal tea, the number one is Hongzhou Shuangjing Baiya. It is especially refined in recent years, and the outer bag is covered with red yarn, but the number is only one or two liang. The nobles in Beijing usually raise it with ten catties of regular tea. Use the air to ward off heat and dampness. If Saburo has a chance, you and I will taste it."

Zhang Yue felt extravagant when he heard that one or two taels of tea could be grown with more than a dozen catties of ordinary tea.

At this time, Zhang Yue couldn't help thinking of the jasmine tea that he loved to drink in his previous life. The Northern Song Dynasty didn't seem to have invented the scenting method, so he said to Ouyang: "Tea is good at absorbing other flavors. If you stuff jasmine and sweet-scented osmanthus with new tea, wait for the fragrance of flowers. After the tea is stuffed, the dried flowers are sifted out, and the scented tea produced in this way must have a strong fragrance."

Ouyang Fa patted his legs and said, "San Lang really has an ingenious idea, I will definitely give it a try."

At this moment, Ouyang Xiu, who was wearing a swallow suit, entered by chance, and said with a smile, "Why are you two talking so happily?"

Ouyang Fa immediately talked about Zhang Yue's method of making scented tea, Ouyang Xiu was also refreshed and said with a smile: "Sanlang is really amazing, he can even think of such an exquisite method."

Immediately the maid brought the dishes to the table, Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Fa chatted with Zhang Yue about the tea ceremony, and then sat down.

Zhang Yue couldn't help sighing that making friends with scholar-bureaucrats is really troublesome. If it weren't for Jianzhou's rich tea, he had heard a little about it on weekdays, and with some knowledge of tea in his life, he wouldn't even be able to get involved in such a chat.

But it is said that Ouyang Xiu's four sons, the second son Ouyang Yi, is in Yingzhou.It turns out that Ouyang Xiu didn't buy a house in Bianjing, but he had already made up his mind to return to Yingzhou in the future.

Ouyang Xiu finally bought his first house in Yingzhou when he was 42 years old, and he has been buying it all the time. According to historical records, Ouyang Xiu bought more than 100 houses in Yingzhou in his later years, and then rented them to others. To the landlord's leap.

The second son, Ouyang Yi, now lives in Yingzhou Shouzhi to study (charter public).

The third son, Ouyang Fen, was studying in Taixue, and the fourth son, Ouyang Bian, was still young, so they couldn't help each other.In addition, there is a daughter who has already married Pang Yuanying, the son of Pang Ji.

After the three sat down, the most conspicuous thing was a large plate of bad crabs.

But seeing Ouyang Xiu said with a smile: "When I knew Yingzhou, I lived by the West Lake. This Yingchuan mutton is not cheap and not as fresh as the capital, but this crab is a must. After I return to hiding, I must live by the West Lake. Eat fresh crabs when there are fresh crabs, eat bad crabs when there are no fresh crabs."

It seems that Ouyang Xiu is a crab eater.

Ouyang laughed and said, "Daddy is famous in Beijing for his love of eating crabs. I don't know any official in Song Dynasty who is like Daddy."

Zhang Yue remembered that Su Shi also liked to eat crabs. The famous saying that one crab is not as good as one crab came from Su Shi.But Zhang Yue definitely couldn't mention Su Shi, but Ouyang Fa said that no official in the Song Dynasty loved crabs like Ouyang Xiu, Zhang Yue said: "I think of one person who also loves crabs."

"Oh?"

"Qian Kun, the grandson of Qian Miao, king of Wu and Yue, was the prefect. When the officials asked him where he was going to be an official, he replied, but he must be sentenced to nothing!"

Speaking of which, the three of them laughed together.

This is a peculiar joke that no one knows without some background knowledge.

Soon others brought wine, Zhang Yue accompanied Ouyang Xiu, and Ouyang Fa drank a few cups.

Ouyang Xiu's drinking capacity is really as rumored... It's bad, it's not a lie that Shi Zai drinks less and gets drunk.But Ouyang Xiu became a little drunk after only a few cups, and Zhang Yue also said that he was really obsessed, how dare he call himself a drunkard with such a drinking capacity?

But seeing Ouyang Xiu picked up the wine cup and chanted: "Hold the wine glass in the right hand, and the crab claw in the left hand, and shoot in the floating wine boat, it will be enough for a lifetime."

Ouyang Fa and Zhang Yue laughed.

After eating, Zhang Yue said goodbye and left.

After Ouyang Fa had some wine and sent Zhang Yue off, he returned to the house, but saw Mrs. Wu sitting in front of the window sill, shaking a round fan gently.

"What is the lady thinking?" Ouyang Fa asked.

Wu turned her head and said: "How about Zhang Sanlang, daddy finished drinking? Come here, get a bowl of noodle soup."

After the maid helped Ouyang Fa to wash and wash, Wu said angrily, "Don't drink so much next time."

Ouyang Fa laughed and said, "I'm happy today, and I only ate two delicacies. Last time I went to Fanlou, I drank more, so I didn't say that."

Holding her fan, Wu said with a smile: "Could it be that if you don't get drunk, everyone gets drunk? That's right, what does Daddy say to Zhang Sanlang?"

Ouyang Fa said: "Daddy is already drunk, how can I ask. But according to my opinion, Sanlang has not studied literature and Fu so I can't tell, but the classics are extremely high. This kind of talent and understanding is really rare."

"How is it better than Zhang Ziping and Zhang Zihou?"

Ouyang laughed and said: "Young lady, you are joking, these two are both geniuses in this world, and Sanlang is still young, so there is no comparison."

"Then you drank all night today, and you didn't see anything?"

Ouyang Fa said: "Isn't it better to be able to drink for a night? Gentlemen meet each other, and their literary talents are only one. From drinking tea and wine to chatting about anecdotes at the banquet, Saburo has always been polite, and he has never made a mistake. Then, isn't this much better than others?"

Wu Shi nodded and said, "It's really rare."

Then Ouyang Fa and Wu talked about the method of scenting tea mentioned by Zhang Yue, and Wu certainly had the foresight to know it immediately.

Ouyang Fa said: "In my opinion, Saburo is not a thing under the pool."

Wu said: "Then don't choose Sanlang."

"How to say?"

"Since it is a thing in the pool, now we have told him about the right marriage. In the future, Saburo will be a Jinshi, so he will not be right. Do you think we will blame us for telling him about the marriage?"

Ouyang Fa was stunned and said, "That's true, so what should we do?"

Wu said: "Marriage is the order of our parents, and the words of the matchmaker. We are half parents and half matchmaker. If we choose this way, Saburo may not be satisfied. It is best that Saburo likes it himself. Tell him, isn't it beautiful?"

Ouyang Fa said: "This is the truth. I also told Saburo, but he said that everything is up to us. What do you think, lady?"

Wu said: "This is difficult."

"It's okay, let's think about it later, yes, Sanlang said today's sweet-scented osmanthus tea has aroused his homesickness. The lady is really ingenious, how could I not even notice when I served this sweet-scented osmanthus tea at that time."

Mrs. Wu also smiled proudly: "It was just a coincidence that the tea was brought from Fujian by Seventeen, so it happened to be given to me. Is Zhang Sanlang really satisfied?"

Ouyang Fa said: "That's natural. That's right, when it comes to the seventeenth, the fifteenth sister's wedding is coming soon, what gift should we give then? But father and Wen Xianggong have known each other for decades, why don't we ask his meaning."

"That's natural." Wu's two sisters married Xia, and Lu's two prime ministers' families, the marriages were not harmonious, and now Shiwu Niang married into Wen Yanbo's family, she was afraid that her sister would repeat the same mistakes.

Ouyang Fa didn't notice that Mrs. Wu was not in the mood, and said again: "After the fifteenth sister, it will be the turn of the seventeenth, but the seventeenth can still wait. Although the girls of the Bianjing Gaomen marry later, they can't live. Eighteen or twenty. But there are quite a few men who get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen."

After hearing this, Wu said: "Official, let me be quiet for a while."

Ps: Thanks to canned winter melon tea for being the No.11 leader of this book.

(End of this chapter)