Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 56
Sunlight shines through a clump of green bamboo into the carved lily shell window, and falls on the Yixing Lingbi stone placed on the desk. Heat is rising from the Yixing purple clay pot next to the stone. The steaming clouds and glowing clouds make the small room look like a fairyland.

This is a study room in the inner residence of the Wu Mansion, and Wu Mengwen, the fourth brother of Master Ren Wu, is making tea.

The life of the gentry in the late Ming Dynasty was extremely artistic, and the tea ceremony was also very particular in the late Ming Dynasty.Not only must the tea be fine and dry, the water must be clean, but the environment must also be quiet. Even if it is not in an ancient temple in the snow cave, and there is no famous spring and bright moon to accompany it, at least it must have a bright and clean window.

Wu Mengwen is forty years old this year, the same age as his father Wu Youfu's concubine Ma.When he was young, he also wanted to take the imperial examination, but he had mixed interests and could not settle down to study the art of eight-part making. In the end, he could not even pass the examination as a boy, so he had to inherit the fictitious title of Jin Yiwei Baihu.

This is the place where he studied when he was young. In the early years, the bookshelf was filled with the Four Books and Five Classics and Cheng Wen's Dharma Notes. But now there are only a few business travel books such as "The Return of Travelers", "Illustrated Notes of the Unified Journey", and "The Examination of East and West". The books were all put away by him at this moment, so as not to get involved in the tackiness of the books.

Wu Mengwen was a tea fanatic. He would never let anyone else make tea, and he would not allow his servants to come in and disturb him.The tea he is brewing now is called Lanxue, and its preparation method comes from the hand of Shanyin Zhang Zongzi, the most tasteful playboy in the late Ming Dynasty. It is a new variety he has recently tinkered with.

This tea is an improved version of the famous tea of ​​the Song Dynasty, Rizhu Tea. It will be popular in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty in a few years, but it is still circulated in a small circle in Shaoxing Prefecture.Rizhu is the name of a mountain in Shaoxing. According to legend, it was the place where the King of Yue forged swords. The original tea of ​​Lanxue Tea is grown on Rizhu Mountain. It is said that the tea leaves have the spirit of gold and stone.

Wu Mengwen likes this. He has been in charge of Wu Mansion's business for nearly 20 years. He is rarely free from mundane affairs. Even if he occasionally calms down to enjoy tea, he also likes it to have a murderous atmosphere.

At this time, he had brewed the pot of orchid snow and poured it into the Qingfei cup produced by Cheng Kiln.To taste Orchid Snow, you need to use plain porcelain to achieve the same effect as the tea set. Wu Mengwen brought the Qing Fei cup to his nose and quietly felt the murderous aura of gold and stone coming out of the snow-like pure tea.

There was a clang, and the study door was pushed open. Wu Mengwen turned around angrily, and just as he was about to scold him, he realized that the person who came was his first wife, Mrs. Wang.

This Wang family is not simple. In fact, what the little brother said is not entirely correct. If we really want to talk about it, the father-in-law of Fourth Master Wen is the most noble among Wu Youfu's disciples.After all, the "juege ministry" means that the jue is in the front and the cabinet is in the back. Zhu Geng's bachelor cannot be passed down to the family, but Wang Chengxun's new uncle is a spyke.

Wu Mengwen's first wife, Mrs. Wang, was Wang Chengxun's legitimate daughter, and Wang Chengxun married Wu Youfu's third sister. In other words, Fourth Master Wen and his wife were cousins, and their union was a close relationship.Under the Ming Dynasty, the princes and ministers were in the ranks of military generals. The Xinjian Prince family did not have the aloofness of scholars, and they did not care much about Wu Meng's lack of fame.

Not only that, Wang Chengxun's eldest son Wang Xianjin also married Wu Youfu's eldest daughter, the biological sister of Wu Mengwen's first wife. The two families can be regarded as a lifelong marriage.

It's just that the king was childless first, and died soon after his father passed away.As a result, his two younger brothers are vying for the title, and they are trying to stump each other and make up dirt. Up to now, the court has not decided on a new candidate for the new uncle.The title earned by a generation of sages through military exploits has no one to inherit it.

"I heard that the Haojing maritime merchant has arrived. I asked Lao Wu to go see Yi. Is that what he said?" Wang stood outside the door like a fighting cock, and Wu Nong's whisper made her angry.

"I also said that you bumped into General Five, and you were so panicked that it turned out to be because of this." Wu Mengwen glanced at his wife and cousin, and continued to leisurely sniff the boiling tea like snow waves.

Mrs. Wang snatched his plain porcelain cup and said in a sharp voice: "Your Wu family, our Wang family, and my second sister-in-law's Zhu family, all of them are focusing on the maritime business for their meals. Do you know how to cut it?" "Then? So what, are you still worried about not being able to eat? I have been involved in the family business for 20 years. I am tired and want to take a rest." Wu Mengwen still had a calm expression on his face, "The eldest brother and the second brother have been working as officials outside all year round. The sixth child is only 12 years old, who else can I look for besides the fifth child?"

When Mrs. Wang heard this, she didn't mean what she said. She knew her husband must have a reason, so she returned the plain porcelain cup to Wu Mengwen, sat down on the stone couch and said, "I don't believe it, don't try to trick me. "

Wu Mengwen said with a smile: "Why am I coaxing you? Ever since the old man was not in good health, hasn't Lao Wu been jumping up and down trying to take care of things? This time I really stopped and even handed over the business in Dengzhou to him. Reason, now his cousin Ma Cong is in charge of Liaodong, isn't that good?"

"Are you going to hand over the business in Dengzhou to Lao Wu?" Mrs. Wang stood up suddenly, "I know that the old man is not well, and now we are about to separate the family and live their own lives. At this juncture... "

Wu Mengwen interjected: "It is precisely because we want to separate the family that we let Lao Wu take care of it. Do you think this maritime business is fun? Not to mention that Hao Jing, whose surname is Lin, is not clear with the Japanese pirates, let's just talk about the Liaodong stall. , that’s a business of confiscating homes and beheading people, why should I be responsible for this?”

Wang said disapprovingly: "Scaremongering."

Wu Mengwen snorted: "Women have long hair and short knowledge. Back then, your father was the Admiral of Water Transport, Xinxin Bo, and your second brother's father-in-law was a bachelor of Shofu University. Can you compare with him now? You forgot that just after Mr. Zhu passed away, the old man Xiong Tingbi sent him home with a magazine."

Mrs. Wang curled her lips and said, "It's just a dismissal from office. If our business will continue in a few years, why would we confiscate our homes and behead our heads as you said?"

Wu Mengwen sneered and said: "If the temple hadn't saved the face of Mr. Zhu who just passed away, would you think that the old man could come back with his beard and tail intact?"

At this time, the orchid snow tea in the cup was no longer boiling. Wu Mengwen took a sip and continued: "What's more, back then we only used imperial warships to sell contraband to our vassal countries. Now we are not only doing business with Koreans, but also Jiannu, most of Liaodong was occupied by this gang of killers."

Wang was not an ignorant woman from a small family. Hearing this, she said nervously: "How about we stop doing business with this slave?"

"How can a pirate ship just want to be launched?" Wu Mengwen smiled bitterly, "Do you know the price of food over there? A bucket of grain is six taels of silver, which is two hundred times that of the Ming Dynasty! If you don't do business with the Jiannu, you Ask the governor of Denglai if he agrees? Ask the Gungun princes in the court if they agree?"

Wu Mengwen let out a long sigh and continued: "In addition to Denglai, there are also Dongjiang Town and Liao Town. Where is there no one competing to sell food to the slaves? The world is full of winds and people's hearts are not ancient. Our Ming Dynasty has no one from top to bottom. Sucks."

(End of this chapter)