Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 873
Since Cao's mansion hired Zheng Xie as teacher, Qian Chenqun finally got away and was able to concentrate on preparing for the exam.

Xu had stayed at Cao's house for a long time, Qian Chenqun was not as cautious as Shang Ke, and did not insist on moving to the guild hall.Cao's family has a house in the city and a garden outside the city. According to Cao Yong, Qian Chenqun chooses one to live in, so as not to rent a house to live in. Everything is not cheap.

Qian Chenqun lived in Haidian Garden, liked the cleanliness there, so he told Cao Yong to move there.Cao Yong also asked the housekeeper to prepare 200 taels of silver as a gift.

Before parting, Qian Chenqun met Zheng Xie.

At this time, Zheng Xie was just a poor scholar with a difficult life, and his reputation was not obvious; Qian Chenqun was a great talent and learned man who became famous in his youth.

Zheng Xie, known as the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" by later generations, was respectful and polite, and did not behave out of line at all.

Seeing this, Cao Yong was secretly satisfied.

Although he was a little curious about this well-known Kangxi and Qianlong celebrity, he didn't want his son to be taught to be a "little monster".To live in this society, it is not difficult to abide by the rules of behavior of this society.

Qian Chenqun didn't bring his family with him. The place where God blessed them to study earlier was in the guest house where he lived.Now, Zheng Xie came with his wife and children, and it seemed a bit chaotic in the same courtyard.

Cao Yong asked people to clean up the three wing rooms opposite the side hall of the second entrance courtyard, and made them the home school.

On August [-], Cao Yong set up a table as a farewell to Qian Chenqun.

The children all came over to pour wine for Teacher Meng, and Niuniu and Hang Seng's eyes were red, showing their reluctance.

Qian Chenqun's demeanor became more calm.

With his talent and learning, he should have passed the examination, but something went wrong, and he lost his name to Sun Shan.

After the farewell banquet, Cao Yuan, the chief steward, personally led people to send Qian Chenqun out of the city.

Zheng Xie's family moved into Cao's Mansion on the first day of September.

Wu Sheng took the two wives and a few servants to pick him up.The family used to rent a house in Dajiang Hutong outside Qianmen, and what they rented were two wing rooms.

The ancestors of the Cao family have been in official positions for several lifetimes, and now the earl's mansion is married to the royal family, which is very rich.Even though Cao Yong, the head of the family, is not good at extravagance, he is not stingy when he stays. He will give the servants of the mansion a monthly payment according to the treatment of other families in the capital.

Even the servants of the mansion are better off than the ordinary people outside.

It was the first time for many people to see someone as embarrassed as Zheng Xie's family.

Even Wu Sheng, who was connected to others, thought in his heart, the uncle hired such a shabby teacher, don't let the young man feel shabby.

The two women who came with them originally got the errand to pick up people, and they were all very happy, thinking that they could get some rewards.Unexpectedly, when he entered the rented courtyard of the Zheng family, he was dumbfounded.

In the narrow courtyard, there were two rented rooms in the east wing. The yard was full of chicken manure, and there was a yellow dog tied to the corner of the yard, barking non-stop when people came in.

The old lady of the landlord's family heard the news and saw that it was for the Zheng family to move, so she stopped in front of Wu Sheng and asked him to settle the [-] Wen arrears of the Zheng family's rent for three months, and the Zheng family's two shi on credit. Sorghum four hundred wen, a total of three thousand and one hundred wen.

There was no basis for her words, and the old lady took out two pieces of paper from her sleeve, which were clearly written in black and white.

Wu Sheng raised his head and saw that Zheng Xie's face was flushed and he didn't object, so he knew that what the old lady said was true.

He already regretted it in his heart, if he had known this, he should have asked the uncle to send this wife some repairs first, to clear up the debt, so as not to cause such embarrassment.This is still in front of the servants of the mansion, and it has lost the face of the master for nothing.

He took out a piece of silver from his purse, handed it to the old lady, and said, "Ma'am, this is five taels of silver. Except for the rent and rice money owed by Mr. Zheng, the rest of the money is for tea. Thank you for your kindness." Look after."

Although it's impolite for the old lady to block the way and ask for money, in the boundary of the capital, if the tenant can let the tenant default on the rent for three months, and can also give the other party rice on credit, it is considered a kind person.

When the old lady took the money, she was not afraid of breaking her teeth, she brought it to her mouth, and only after making a tooth mark, she put it into her bosom with a smile.She stepped aside, her eyes glued to the two housekeepers behind Wu Sheng, she just felt that it wasn't enough.

The two women were careful about the chicken manure on the ground, while looking at the two low and dilapidated wing rooms in front of them, they were already stunned.

Since we already knew that we were moving today, Zheng Xie's house has already been tidied up.

For a family of four, there are only three blue cloth bags, one umbrella, a few sets of bowls and chopsticks, two tin basins, one iron pot, and half a load of firewood.

As a talented lady, Zheng Xie's wife, Xu Shi, was dressed in commoner clothes, and the only jewelry on her body was thin copper and gilt earrings.Maybe it's been a long time, and the golden color on the outside has faded, revealing the copper color on the inside.

The two daughters, the eldest is five years old and the youngest is three years old, both are thin and small, wearing half-worn clothes.Holding Xu's clothes, he looked at the crowd timidly.

Xu's mother and daughter are dressed in shabby clothes, but they are also washed clean. It is not annoying to look at.

These two women are sensible, knowing that no matter how shabby Zheng Xiucai is, after entering the mansion and becoming the husband of a young man, his status is unusual, and his face softened. They called "Grandma Xu" and stepped forward to help Xu carried the burden.

They wanted to persuade Mrs. Xu to throw away those pots, pots and bowls, but seeing that she had put away her chopsticks and the paper her husband had written on was not left behind, they swallowed their persuasion again.

Mrs. Xu only knew that her husband had found a restaurant, but she didn't know who it was. Now seeing the grandeur of the woman and the carriage, she just felt uneasy.

The old lady of the landlady didn't know whether she was watching the excitement or she was really reluctant to part with Zheng Xie's family. She walked to the door and said to Xu with a smile, "Amitabha, Mr. Zheng is well-developed now. Grandma Zheng's baby will have a brother, and it will be a twin." Congratulations."

Only then did the two women realize that Mrs. Xu still has twin bodies, but the moon is not enough, and she has not yet shown her pregnancy.

Mrs. Xu took her two daughters and blessed the old lady of the landlady, speaking softly in Wu language: "Thank you for taking care of me these past few years, my niece and daughter-in-law brought the granddaughters, thank you so much for my aunt."

The old landlady came forward to help her, wiped her eyes twice with her sleeve, and watched her get into the carriage...

Cao's children rested for a day because of the absence of their master.

I heard that this time the master brought his family, Li Shi and Chu Yu have prepared a gift, waiting for people to come in.

When Cao Yong was free, he went to Lanyuan to talk with Li Shi, and talked about his origin with Zheng Xie.Mrs. Li stayed with her son in Hangzhou for a while and met Zheng Xie.

Hearing from her son that the wife who came back this time is Zheng Xie, she said it was fate, and ordered Chuyu to arrange the kitchen and add some Huaiyang dishes to welcome Zheng Xie's family.

Chu Yu was also quite happy to hear that the new wife was a fellow student of her husband.Ai Wu Ji Wu, during the years of marrying into the Cao family, she is very fond of her husband's big characters, and even copied them in her spare time.

Thinking about the children, even if it is not the father who taught them, it is a good thing to learn good calligraphy from the new master.

After all, in a family like theirs, children study not for the imperial examination, but for being sensible and polite.A beautiful handwriting, whether it is an official or an imperial examination in the future, will be helpful.

Wu Sheng had only been out for more than an hour, and the carriage that picked him up returned to the mansion, and a young man reported to the second gate.

Cao Yong paced out and met Zheng Xie in the front yard.

The courtyard where Zheng Xie lived was the one Qian Chenqun lived in before, and the furniture and furnishings were replaced with new ones.

Thinking that there are family members here and they want to start a business, a full set of pots and pans are placed in the side room.

When Zheng Xie's family moved in, they didn't need to add anything, they could live directly.Another little girl, a rough envoy, and a young servant were arranged here to wait in the yard.

The two pick-up women sent Xu's mother to the courtyard and went back to the inner house to do business.

There was really nothing to clean up, but within a quarter of an hour, Mrs. Xu had settled all the moved items, and Zheng Xie invited Cao Yong to serve tea in the hall.

Cao Yong saw that they were almost cleaned up, so he asked someone to go to the inner house to pick up Tianyou and them to meet the master and mistress.

Chu Yu also came with him, thinking that he was the sons' teacher and treated him as a courtesy, so he brought the children over and invited Xu's mother and daughter into the inner house along the way.

After meeting and performing the ceremony, Chu Yu invited Xu's mother and daughter into the inner house.

Mrs. Xu had already heard from her husband that there was a widowed old lady in this house, and the elders should go to see her, so she took her daughter and went with Chuyu as promised.

On Zheng Xie's side, there were seven or eight students coming, the older ones were in their teens, and the younger ones were five or six years old, and they were worried about the mischievous young ladies from wealthy families, who were not easy to teach.

Unexpectedly, when it comes to answering, everyone looks knowledgeable and reasonable.He glanced at Cao Yong sitting next to him, wondering whether these children were so honest in front of their parents.If it has always been like this, then the Cao family's family education is really admirable.

However, Zheng Xie thought that when he met Cao Yong when he was a child, the child who was one year younger than himself was like a little adult, and Zheng Xie felt that it was a family tradition.

Looking at these children, Zheng Xie felt quite emotional.

Previously, after Cao Yong agreed to hire him to sit in the hall, Cheng Mengxian told Zheng Xie about the situation of the juniors in Cao's house.

In this school, there are eight students, only three of them are Cao family's flesh and blood, and the remaining five are Cao Yong's adopted son, adopted son, son of the family, and daughter of Xixi.

In other families, the son of a different surname is mostly just a companion.

From the present point of view, these children, in terms of their attire, cannot be distinguished from their status.

The oldest female disciple, named "Shu Ping", should be Cao Yong's junior junior sister, even Zheng Xie's junior senior sister.

For this reason, when Niuniu performed the salute to Zheng Xie, Zheng Xie turned slightly and did not receive the full salute.

Cao Yong watched from the sidelines, knowing that this "nephew" was like a mirror in his heart, and he did not forget his "little uncle".

After Zheng Xie asked about the progress of the students' homework and met each other, Cao Yong asked Niuniu to take the children down.

Zheng Xie got up to thank Cao Yong because Wu Sheng paid the rent in advance.

Cao Yong just heard what Wu Sheng said, waved his hand and said: "You don't need to be so polite, I was negligent when I said it. I have already greeted the housekeeper, and let him send this year's Shu Xiu here later."

Zheng Xie thanked again before sitting down to talk with Cao Yong.

Seeing his stern expression, Cao Yong couldn't help laughing and said: "Since he is from the same family and an old acquaintance, Ke Rou will be more comfortable in the future and don't have to be so cautious. Although Shu Ping is the daughter of the family teacher, since she worships under your school, she is Your female disciples have their own opinions."

When Zheng Xie heard the words, he realized that Cao Yong still remembered him, so he hurriedly stood up, but this time he met his son and nephew.

In theory, he is one year older than Cao Yong.

Cao Yong patted his forehead and said: "I just said that there is no need to be too polite. We are about the same age, and it is better to be friends with each other in the same generation."

Zheng Xie is also a free and easy person. Seeing that Cao Yong is not putting on airs and treating others warmly, he no longer alienates himself, and speaks much more freely...

*
Xizhimen, Li's residence.

The housekeeper Qian Zhongrui led the imperial physician into the inner courtyard, and when he heard coughing from the room, he felt heavy in his heart.The third young master has been ill for more than ten days, and he still hasn't recovered. According to the second young master, he coughed up blood last night.

In less than half a month, the third young master was so thin that he lost his human shape.In the early days, I used ginseng to raise it. Later, the imperial doctor said that it was very angry and forbade the use of ginseng. I only drank half a bowl of porridge for each meal.

The imperial physician went in, sat on the edge of the kang, checked the pulse carefully, and asked a few questions about the patient's recent diet and daily life.

After reading it, he went out to the outside room and said to Li Yu: "The patient's lungs have been injured by the invasion of external evils, and now his heart is full of fire, which is quite dangerous. But I don't know why the patient has all these worries at such a young age. It needs heart medicine and medicine, and it is best to solve it carefully, otherwise, if it is delayed for a long time, even if the disease is cured, I am afraid that the root cause of the disease will have to be solved."

Li Yu and the housekeeper looked at each other, knowing in their hearts that there was nothing wrong with them, and that was the failure of the township examination.

After the imperial physician prescribed the prescription, the butler presented the silver seal and sent it out in person.

This imperial doctor was invited by Cao's family envoy Cao Yong's post, and he is one of the few in the imperial hospital.The money from the Li family is also generous, and they are picked up and sent back and forth by horse-drawn carriage.

Li Yu went into the back room, sat on a small stool beside the kang, and looked at his younger brother on the sickbed.

Li Cheng's complexion was dull, his eyes gleamed with water due to his severe cough, he did not have the usual appearance of an adult, he looked a little lonely and helpless like an ordinary child.

Li Yu sighed and said, "You should have heard what the imperial physician said in the outer room just now. You have been smarter than others since you were young, why are you so confused at this time? You are only thirteen, and it's your first time. How many people are 33, 43, 53 outside?" An old scholar, after taking the exam for half his life, he couldn't get a single Juren. Get well soon, find a good husband, and take the exam three years later. He is only 16 years old, and he is still a young Juren. It is the fourth cousin of the Cao family that you often talk about. He didn't win the first time; the fifth cousin of the Cao family also won the exam at the age of 16. You are quick-tempered, and you got angry because of this."

"Second Brother..." Li Cheng's eyes were already red, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Father didn't approve of my coming. It was all because of my self-righteousness. I insisted on doing this, but I lost face to the Li family."

"What's this called? Who said you're going to win? If you think too much, no one will blame you. If you're ignorant, if you continue to be so foolish and let the elders worry about it, it's a big disfilial piety." Li Yu said earnestly. persuaded.

Hearing this, Li Cheng forced a smile on his face, stretched out his arm, pulled Li Yu's arm, and said, "It's still the second brother who loves me and takes care of me these days. If I were the eldest brother, I wouldn't bother to talk to me... "

The two brothers were talking, and the maid took the tray to deliver the medicine.

Li Yu got up, helped his younger brother to sit up, watched him drink the medicine, and then helped him lie down again.

Because Li Cheng loves cleanliness, he is afraid that the kitchen will get smokey if he stays up late, so he boils this medicine in the corridor.When Li Yu came out, there was a little maid pouring out the medicine residue.

Li Yu squinted his eyes, and snorted coldly in his heart: "My concubine, who said that a concubine can't be the head of the family..."

(End of this chapter)