Lu Ming

Chapter 671

The scorching sun hangs in the sky, the warm wind patrols, the cicadas sing and the birds sing, and the lotus shakes the lotus pendulum.Hangzhou City in August is the hottest season of the year.

Although since Emperor Chongzhen came to the throne, the seasons and solar terms in various places in the south of the Yangtze River have always been inconsistent, and the heavenly gods have repeatedly failed.But right now is a great heat, even though it is slightly cooler than in previous years, it can't relieve people's annoying heat.

Fortunately, there are also fine wine and soda in the pavilion, which will relieve your worries.

In the afternoon, outside Hangzhou, Zao Garden.

The algae garden covers an area of ​​more than [-] mu and is located on the side of the West Lake.This place is backed by mountains and water, surrounded by the moon and the lake. There are not only small bridges, flowing water, red doors and purple gates, but also spring, stone, flower and tree elements such as rockery stalagmites, bright corridors and dark lanes, willow dikes and fish ponds. It is a good place for wealthy families to cool off the summer heat.

It is said that the world of Zaoyuan did not exist in the first place.The original site of this place was two small gardens by the lake, with a jingshe and a nunnery outside.

I don't want a big family to sell last year, or buy or trade, first of all, I will sell a few properties.Afterwards, the big family brought in rare stones, Cordyceps, flowers and trees from all over the country, dispatched many craftsmen, sprinkled a lot of money, started working day and night, and built an antique algae garden with an antique flavor and every inch of land.

And today is the third poetry meeting held after Zao Garden was completed last month.

Since it is a poetry club, the participants are naturally scholars.Because the grade of Zaoyuan is relatively high, there are almost no children of this level among the visitors today. The main guests are scholars and supervisors from Hangzhou Prefecture.

In addition, as the judges of the poetry meeting, several retired officials, as well as senior scholars who have their own names in the Hangzhou cultural circle, have already taken their seats at the guest-of-honor seat by the flower pond.

So far, the poetry gatherings held by Zaoyuan are top-level standards in terms of scale and grade, and their internal quality is very high.

The most important thing among them, of course, is that the participants, from scholars and supervisors to retired veteran cadres, belong to the relatively influential group in the circle.Many of them have real talents and learning, and are the backbone of Shilin.

As for why the high-profile cultural figures are so keen to join the host’s family in taking the opportunity to visit the famous Zao Garden, it is only one aspect. The biggest reason is the host’s enthusiasm for spending money and the treatment that the participants can enjoy.

The world is invincible, nothing is invincible, only a silver bullet can be broken.

Following the three crisp chimes of glazed chime, the guests who had been scattered in the veranda by the pool suddenly fell silent.As you all know, the master is about to show up.

The next moment, a gentle middle-aged man in royal blue lake silk dress at the guest-of-honour seat stood up. According to the rules, he first saluted the students in all directions, and then gave a few opening remarks enthusiastically.Afterwards, amidst the compliments of the guests, the poetry meeting began.

Gu Long once said that the most important thing in this kind of activity is not poetry, but wine.

I happen to have wine, and you have poetry.

So the next first act is to serve wine.

Soon, groups of male and female servants in silk came forward.

However, different from the traditional model, this time the servants first "carried" up, but not wine. It was ice.

As early as the Tang Dynasty in China, there was a theory of ice storage in summer.By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the use of ice cellars to store ice in winter had already become a mature industrial chain.For example, in the city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, there were not only special ice cellars in the palace, but also "official cellars" made of bricks and stones in the city, as well as dozens of earthen pits and private cellars.

The service objects of these ice cellars range from princes and aristocrats to officials and wealthy businessmen, bringing a precious touch of coolness to the people in the hot summer.

But this does not include that the traditional ice cellars in Hangzhou basically appear in the north, ending at the Huaihe River.Further south, the climate is mild enough to store ice.

In other words, in the Middle Ages, southerners could not see ice in summer.

But today, at the bank of West Lake, the scorching sun testified: the servants brought up the really milky white ice cubes exuding a tempting chill.

These ice cubes are well-regulated and huge in size, uniformly made into rectangles, each one is half a meter long and one foot thick.

The ice cubes on the beautiful red enamel plate were first carried by a few big and round servants to the table in front of the guests with great effort.

With a surprised expression and secretly stunned, the maid carrying a full set of glass wine sets placed a row of small flat-bottomed transparent glass bowls on the ice, and then poured plum wine and rice wine into the bowls one by one with a transparent wine jug. , barley beer, etc.

The wines of various colors in the bowl wall complement each other, and the condensation beads slide off the bowl wall.At this moment, in the cold air that almost turns the emptiness into reality, the light refracts and the smoke is dense, making the viewer feel as if they are in a fairyland.

The next moment, amidst the sound of congratulations, all the guests got up with the wine and couldn't wait to drink the first glass with the host.

"Good wine! Have fun!" Du Shaowei sighed contentedly after finishing the cold beer in the bowl in one gulp.At the same time as he put down the wine bowl, he stretched his feet, and then repeatedly urged the servant girl who was waiting on the side: "Full up, full up!"

"Brother Qinzhu, just stop for a glass, but are you letting loose?"

It is his good friend Ji Xiang who calls Du Shaowei in Biaozi.

Du Shaowei and Ji Xiang are both scholars in Hangzhou.The two belonged to the same class, and both came from wealthy families. They had nothing to worry about eating and drinking, talked a lot about romance, and had a lot in common.

"Ha, today is considered Chinese style, I don't think the Liu family has any knowledge."

The fair-skinned Du Shaowei stretched his collar, picked up a bottle of orange soda from the ice cube, skillfully opened the bottle cap with a screwdriver, and took a sip: "Ice is hidden in summer, could it be that the Liu family really Set up an ice cellar? What a great skill!"

"Hmph, there is an ice cellar. However, his Liu family doesn't have such skills."

Ji Xiang, with a square face and a blue silk shirt, has someone in his family who is engaged in maritime trade business, so he is more informed: "The reputation of this ice cube has been spread for the first time in Zao Garden the day before yesterday, and many people have inquired about it. They were all wrapped in quilts and shipped from Zhang Sutan!"

"Zhang Sutan!?" Du Shaowei was taken aback for a moment, and then his face revealed a look of astonishment: "I said, even if Liu Yaozu and Mr. Liu do business in the capital, he can't transport ice to Hangzhou."

"It really is the method of the Southern Barbarians!"

After Du Shaowei took another sip of the cold beer, he murmured.

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The owner of the Zaoyuan banquet today is none other than Mr. Liu Siwei, the son of Liu Yaozu, a wealthy businessman in Hangzhou.

It is said that Yaozu is also an old friend of the time-traveling crowd.As early as Cao Chuan's first crossing, he walked out of the mountains and came to Hangzhou. The person in charge of receiving Cao and his companions from the Pingfengzhai bandits was the wealthy businessman Liu Yaozu.

Afterwards, relying on the care of the Liu family, the people who traveled through were able to gain a foothold in Hangzhou and developed a small force in the early stage.

Afterwards, the cross-travelers sent doctors to treat Liu Siwei, the eldest son of the Liu family, with pneumonia with imported drugs, and by virtue of this incident, Liu Yaozu took action to calm down part of the rebound and sequelae caused by the beggar gang incident.

After this series of events, Liu Yaozu, who had a preliminary understanding of the time-travelers, saw the opportunity contained in it, and began to deal seriously with this group.

As time goes by, Liu Yaozu, who is betting more and more on the time-traveling forces, cooperates with the time-traveling people in all aspects, and finally gets rich returns.

A few years later, the Liu family has become the general distributor of Nanfang Shipping Timber in the Jiangnan area, and the president of the timber trade.Liu Yaozu single-handedly controlled the shipping log business from Yizhou, Annan, Luzon, and even Siam and Tianzhu.

With the backing of the time-traveling forces, the Liu family's business grew bigger and bigger, and even the capital and Tianjin had Liu's stockpiling factories and furniture factories.Including the purchase of large ingredients in the palace, people must be sent to contact Master Liu in Hangzhou.

This situation reached its peak at the beginning of the previous year: a piece of Tianzhu fragrant white sandalwood, which was hugged by 12 people and was rare in a thousand years, was transported whole by a large ship to Zhangsutan Bulk Cargo Terminal.

After hearing the news, the Buddhist circles in the south of the Yangtze River launched a fierce competition for this big tree.Super-big companies, including Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou and Shengyin Temple, have spent a lot of money, and at the same time mobilized believers to raise huge sums of money.

During that period of time, the whole city was noisy.Liu Yaozu, Chairman Liu, who is on the cusp of the storm, seems to be able to travel around with ease and has reached the pinnacle of his life.

However, afterwards, the shrewd and discerning Liu Yaozu summed up the gains and losses, and suddenly realized a fundamental deficiency: After all, the Liu family still has a shallow foundation and lacks an heir who can hold the balance.

Having seen through this point, Liu Yaozu spent nearly half a year observing and thinking.In the end, at the beginning of last year, Mr. Liu made up his mind, so he went to Zhangsu beach several times secretly to meet Xiong Dao, the station chief of Jiangnan station.

No one knew the content of the secret talks between the two parties, but they also knew that Zuo was just a routine of showing loyalty and confessing to private owners.

After that, in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, it was the Jiaxu Ke Township Examination in the seventh year of Chongzhen.

The eldest son of the Liu family, Liu Siwei, who had been saved by the time-traversing crowd, took part in the test for the third time.

It is said that Comrade Liu Siwei has original literary talents, and he was awarded the title of scholar in his early years, which is the hope of the Liu family.

However, Liu Siwei's literary talent could not handle a national examination of this level.What's more, Mr. Liu is going to fight with the world's most powerful Jiangnan schoolmasters in the world's most tragic Jiangnan examination room.

This is also the reason why Mr. Liu failed twice before.

But this time, the sound of Lun came from the sky.

In the dark, Mr. Liu heard the sound of wind, rain, and the murmuring of the old master who was in charge of counting the shipping documents at Zhang Sutan Port in the examination room.

The erratic voice sent an article into Mr. Liu's eardrums.

After hearing this, Mr. Liu smiled in the narrow examination booth: the pearl of rice grains actually works.

Ten days later, in front of the gate of Liu's mansion, Baozi hugged a large ingot of silver, trembling all over, and shouted hoarsely: "Successful news that Mr. Liu's mansion taboo Sisi High School No. 7 in the Zhejiang Provincial Examination, Beijing News won the yellow armor!"

For the Liu family, everything is enough for the No. 7 provincial examination in Zhejiang Province.Mr. Liu doesn't need to go to the capital to take the national exam, nor does he need to go to a county thousands of miles away to be a secondary official to scrape land.

Mr. Liu only needs to keep the family business honestly, that is the inexhaustible wealth for several generations.

Of course, the Liu family knew very well who brought all this to them.

Therefore, after winning the exam, the Liu family "followed the instructions" and spent a lot of money to build Zao Garden in the name of celebrating the eldest son's winning the exam. With the good result of Mr. Liu's No. 7 in the rural examination, he began to make friends with Jiangnan literati. Spread fame and secretly screen friends and enemies.

(End of this chapter)