Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 85 Eldest Brother’s Marriage

Seven or eight miles west of Yangzhou City, there is Zhangjia Village. This Zhangjia Village is quite famous near Yangzhou.

According to legend, the ancestor of Zhangjiacun was Zhang Ruoxu, one of the "Four Scholars of Wuzhong" in the early Tang Dynasty.

This name may seem unfamiliar to many people, but when it comes to one of his poems, many people are not unfamiliar with it.

That is "Moonlight Night on the Spring River", which has the reputation of "overwhelming the entire Tang Dynasty with its single story".

As for whether Zhangjiacun is the descendant of Zhang Ruoxu, hundreds of years have passed, and due to the frequent wars in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, there is no way to verify it.

However, there is indeed an ancestral hall dedicated to Zhang Ruoxu in Zhangjiacun, and many scholars will come here to pay their respects.

This morning, Zhang Xingrong, who lives in the east end of Zhangjia Village, led his wife and two sons to stand at the door of their home.

A forty-year-old woman held a handkerchief in her hand and was talking to Zhang Xingrong and his wife from time to time.

Just as she was talking, the woman saw a donkey cart coming in the distance. She took a closer look and said with a smile: "Zhang Yuanwai, people are here."

After a while, the donkey cart stopped seven or eight steps away. A woman who was close to Wu Xun got out of the cart and went up to negotiate with the woman.

Li Nan and Mrs. Liu got out of the car and stood there with some restraint.

Li Ping lowered his head and did not dare to look around.

Li An was fine and looked around.

This family was the one Liu asked the matchmaker to help introduce.

I heard from the matchmaker that the Zhang family has hundreds of acres of fertile land and is well off. Both sons are studying and they have only one daughter.

The Zhang family girl is the second eldest child in the family, has a gentle temperament, is knowledgeable and courteous.

Li An didn't really believe what the matchmaker said. After all, the essence of a matchmaker's introduction to a marriage was the same as selling goods. It was definitely better.

In order to follow him, he pestered his mother for a long time before Mrs. Liu agreed to take him with her.

Although marriage in ancient times was the order of parents and the matchmaker, in addition to family acquaintances, there was also the step of meeting each other.

To put it simply, the man's matchmaker brings the man to the woman's home as a guest, and then arranges for the woman to meet the man, which is also called a marriage visit.

Of course, men and women must not meet each other before they get married. When the Zhang family girl comes out, she will send Li Ping away.

The matchmaker invited by Mrs. Liu was named Wu. She negotiated with the matchmaker for a few words and then came back.

In fact, it is to tell the female matchmaker the identity of the man coming, so that the female matchmaker can introduce it to the woman.

The female matchmaker went back and said a few words to Zhang Xingrong's family, and then led the Zhang family forward.

Here Li An's family also followed the matchmaker.

The two parties got to know each other under the introduction of the matchmaker, and Zhang Rongxing greeted the Li family to come in.

"Mom and dad, you go in, I'll take a walk outside." Li An said.

Upon hearing this, Ms. Liu glared at Li An fiercely and said to Zhang Xingrong, "I'm sorry, Zhang Xingrong, but this kid is ignorant."

"Haha, it doesn't matter. Zhen'er, take the two brothers from the Li family for a walk around the village."

Zhang Rong said excitedly to his eldest son.

The Zhang family is in good condition. Although the Li family has a shop and a good business, there is no telling how much money the Li family can make every year.

To marry the Li family, Zhang Xingrong must have inquired about the Li family. The Li family had only one shop and only five acres of land given when the family was divided.

To be honest, he didn't like this kind of family very much. The reason why he agreed to meet him was because Li An worshiped Liu Xuewen as his teacher.

To put it bluntly, Zhang Rongxing is optimistic about the future of the Li family.

If Li An can pass the imperial examination and become an official in the future, he will definitely take care of Li Ping, and their family will also benefit from it.

To put it bluntly, even if Li An fails the exam, with Liu Xuewen's connections, it shouldn't be a big problem to arrange for a minor official in the future.

In the past year or so, the conditions at home have improved, and he has three meals a day. Not only has Li Ping become much taller, but he has also become much stronger.

In addition, Li Ping gives people a very honest feeling, Zhang Rongxing is quite satisfied.

Since Li An wanted to visit the village, he could take this opportunity to send Li Ping out, and then call his daughter out for Li Nan and his wife to meet her.

"Yes." Zhang Zhen responded. Zhang Rongxing greeted Li Nan and his wife into the house, leaving only brothers Zhang Zhen and Li An at the door.

"I'm a little older than you two, so I asked you to call me brother. Where do you want to go?" Zhang Zhen said with a smile.

"Excuse me, Brother Zhang. Just take us for a walk."

If the marriage was settled, Zhang Zhen would become his uncle. Li Ping felt a little nervous and was speechless.

"Haha, my eldest brother is reserved and a little nervous. I heard that there is a Zhang Gong Temple in the village. Brother Zhang, please take us there for a walk." Li An said with a smile.

"Zhanggong Temple is not far from here. My two brothers, come with me."

Zhang Zhen led the two of them to the north, and took the initiative to find a topic to chat with the Li An brothers on the way.

Along the way, I met some people from Zhangjia Village and greeted Zhang Zhen one after another.

Everyone in the village knew that Zhang Rongxing's family looked at each other today, and they were relatively polite to the Li An brothers.

Zhang Zhen responded with a smile and took the Li An brothers to Zhang Gong Temple.

Zhang Gong Temple is not big, with only a courtyard and an ancestral hall enshrining a statue.

The temple looks a bit shabby, but it is cleaned very quickly. The entire poem "Spring River Flowers and Moonlight Night" is carved on the wall on the left.

According to Zhang Zhen's introduction, the poems carved on the wall were engraved according to Zhang Ruoxu's manuscript. Li An didn't know whether it was authentic or fake, but the handwriting on it was indeed very good. Even if it was not engraved according to Zhang Ruoxu's original handwriting, it was still written by a famous artist.

Li An and Li Ping put on the incense sticks, admired the poems on the wall, and then left Zhang Gong Temple.

"There is a river not far away. It's early spring now and the scenery is pretty good. Do you want to go for a stroll?" Zhang Zhen said.

"Next time, we've probably finished seeing each other over there, so let's go back first," Li An said.

He proposed to take a stroll in the village, originally hoping to learn from the villagers about the Zhang family's situation.

Zhang Zhen followed, and he had no way to deceive him. However, through chatting with Zhang Zhen along the way, he felt that Zhang Zhen was a good person, and he did not show disgust because Li Ping was nervous and stuttered.

He speaks with thoughtful manners, and I think his sister should be no different.

Zhang Zhen didn't say anything after hearing this, and took the Li An brothers back home.

When Li An and the others came back, Li Nan, Liu, and Zhang Rongxing were chatting happily. It seemed that Liu and the others had already met the Zhang girl and had a good impression.

At noon, the Zhang family prepared a sumptuous lunch for the Li family.

After chatting for a while after the meal, Li An's family left.

Regardless of whether he likes it or not, he will not express his position immediately.

Instead, he told the matchmaker after he returned and communicated through the matchmaker hired by the two families.

After leaving Zhangjiacun, Wu Matchmaker smiled and said: "How about it, I didn't speak plainly, did I?"

"Well, the girl from this family is really good. Not only is she good-looking, but she also looks generous." Ms. Liu said with satisfaction.

"So, you're in the right frame of mind?" Matchmaker Wu said happily.

Since the woman agreed to let the man visit her, she must have inquired about the man's family situation before agreeing.

Generally, as long as there are no problems on the man's side, the marriage will be successful.

"I have no problem here. Please ask Matchmaker Wu to go back and see what the woman's family says." Mrs. Liu said.

"Haha, no problem, I'll ask tomorrow." Matchmaker Wu said happily.

Li didn't interrupt. He could interfere in this kind of thing at home, but he couldn't talk about it outside.

When he was approaching the city gate, Li An heard the sound of horse hooves from behind. He turned around and saw Gu Tingye riding a horse with two followers, carrying a bow and arrow.

After Gu Tingye approached, he bowed his hands to Li Nan and Liu on his horse, said hello, turned to Li An and said, "Ziqian, I hunted some game. Come to my house to have a drink with me."

"Okay, I'll be there in a moment." Li An said.

"Then I'll leave first!" After Gu Tingye said hello to Mrs. Liu, he rode away.

　Thanks to Xinyu Fengxue, Liu Dinghui, Flying Pig 123xk, and Book Friends 20180602150343309 for their monthly support.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)