Step by step lotus flower

Chapter 63 Intersection (9)
So at this moment, on a rare holiday, Lu Mingxuan did not take a rest, but was standing in front of the gate of the "Nine Provinces Building", a library built between the inner courtyard and the outer courtyard of the Duke's Mansion, but Mr. Lan was exhausted. After dealing with her, he simply sent her to the library and asked her to find books to read by herself. He also suggested that she read more historians' transcripts, classics, and Neo-Confucianism, saying that "reading history books can make you wise."

So Lu Mingxuan came.

Regarding Dingguo's mansion, which is famous not only in the circle of nobles, but even in the royal family and even in the entire capital, the famous library Jiusheng Building, although Lu Mingxuan lived in the mansion for six years in her last life, she has never set foot in it once. , I only know that the Jiusheng Building is very famous, and there are many books hidden in it, but when the founding emperor of this dynasty broke the city, all the generals were only concerned about grabbing property, but the ancestors of Dingguo's mansion didn't know what to think. In the imperial city, they went straight to the imperial study room and carried away many ancient books and rare books. Later, after the founding emperor was firmly seated on the throne, he took back most of the property from the generals and filled it into the treasury with some discernment. The ancient books and orphan copies carried away by Ding Guogong were not in the book, so they were not asked to go back. They have become the treasures of Jiushenglou today, not even the Royal Library.

The Jiusheng Building is called the Lou, as the name suggests, naturally the building is indispensable, it is a building with three entrances and three floors, the first entry has the most books, from the classics and history collections to the poetry, calligraphy and painting albums to the unofficial history and story books, it can be said that it has everything that one expects to find, and the management is also the best. Loosely, from the masters of the Duke’s Mansion to the servants of Qingke and other servants, and relatives and friends from outside, they can go in and borrow books at will. If they want to borrow books, they only need to leave their names and signatures. Just press your thumbprint.

On the contrary, the management of the third party is the strictest. Apart from the old Duke and the current Duke Lu Zhongmian who are entitled to come and go freely, even Mrs. Lu and the eldest son and future eldest son Lu Wenting are not allowed to set foot easily.

The remaining second entry is between the first entry and the third entry. Although it does not contain all kinds of rare ancient books and family secrets like the third entry, it is relatively free to enter and exit. People and servants cannot enter, but it is open to the masters and guests of the Duke's Mansion at any time; there are not as many books as the first one, but the value of the collection is generally higher than that of the first one. For example, the first collection of calligraphy and painting is rubbings, and the second collection is the original copy. For example, the first collection has scriptures published by the bookstore, and the second collection includes scriptures with annotations by famous people.

After getting a preliminary understanding of the structure of the Jiusheng Building, Lu Mingxuan set her destination as the second courtyard, where she can come and go as she pleases, without too many people, it is a good place for studying.

Lu Mingxuan stood quietly in front of the grand and elegant gate of Jiusheng Building for a long time, and then she came to her senses amid the urging voice of Dan Qing who came with her, "Girl, there are people coming and going here, why don't we go in first?" , walked into the Jiusheng Building.

The two masters and servants did not stay in the first courtyard, but just casually glanced at the surrounding environment, then meandered along the smooth cobblestone paths of different sizes, and went straight through the hall into the first courtyard. Second into the yard.

In order to prevent the masters of the younger generation from coming to visit and borrow books, the first and second yards of Jiusheng Building are all elderly mothers, from stewards to gatekeepers, and each of the two yards is assigned a five-year-old mother. Ten of the male clearing customers, but to register which books the borrowers have borrowed, and how many old nuns can read and write?
Therefore, as soon as Lu Mingxuan's master and servant entered the second courtyard, two old nuns came out to welcome her. After bowing their knees and saluting, they respectfully led Lu Mingxuan to the front of the main building.

Lu Mingxuan signaled to Danqing to give the two of them a purse before dismissing them. Then she stepped forward and opened the heavy carved pine door, and there was a faint scent of pine. The wood is made of pine wood, although it is expensive, it is very useful in preventing moth and moisture, so the books in Jiushenglou have been intact for dozens or hundreds of years.

Lifting her feet and stepping into the door, Lu Mingxuan couldn't help but silently sucked in a breath when she saw the entire arrangement of books in front of her, with no end in sight. She was already mentally prepared that there would be a lot of books in Jiusheng Building , but still did not expect it to be so many. This is only the first floor of the second courtyard, and one-ninth of the entire collection of books in the Jiusheng Building. Finish half of these books?

But she can read as much as she can, and she does not read for reading, but to learn more things. Didn’t some sages say that “half of the Analects of Confucius governs the world”? Patience and perseverance, so it doesn't matter if she can't finish reading Jiushenglou's books, as long as she can understand and read all the books she has read, that's enough.

After Lu Mingxuan made up her mind, she didn't delay any longer. She picked up a book nearby and opened it. However, she saw that the paper inside was a little yellowed, and there were comments written in small letters everywhere between the lines, some of which were about a certain sentence in the article. Some of them are rebuttals to the opinions in the text... This is a book that I randomly picked up nearby, but after reading it, Lu Mingxuan couldn't let it go. She flipped through the pages and couldn't help admiring the annotations. The unique sharpness of the people's point of view really benefited a lot.

Before she knew it, it was nearly noon, and Lu Mingxuan put down the book she had finished flipping through, closed her eyes and savored it carefully, her heart was clear.

Since that day, Lu Mingxuan has been completely immersed in the sea of ​​books. Whenever she has free time, she will go to Jiusheng Building, not only reading there, but also borrowing books that she can't finish reading back to Kongcui Pavilion to continue reading. She almost never forgets to eat and sleep. , to the point of staying up all night.

As a result, Lu Mingxuan naturally has no time to take care of the people and affairs in the house, but fortunately Danqing is indeed a capable person with a lot of misgivings in her heart, and somehow, she made Banxiang and Banqin no longer exclude her from wanting to... She was strong, and when Lu Mingxuan wanted her to serve her, she no longer tried her best to get close to Lu Mingxuan, but would avoid it wisely, leaving a space for Lu Mingxuan and Danqing to talk alone.

Dan Qing didn't tell Lu Mingxuan exactly what she did, and Lu Mingxuan didn't ask, as long as she knew that she had read the right person, it was enough for her to finally have a useful confidant.

The big maids got along harmoniously, and Nanny Duan was in charge of the house, even Mama Hang didn't dare to say anything. After the Chinese New Year, Lu Mingxuan was worried that Mrs. Lu would marry Nanny Duan and Nanny Sang. Mammy called back from Kongcui Pavilion, and she had to think a lot about it, what should she do to make Mrs. Lu keep the two of them?

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Lu summoned two nuns to go, and said to them in person: "There are two nuns in the girl's room next to the mansion, but Fu girl and Xuan girl are the same. I look at the past few months. You get along well, so why don't you stay in their house from now on and take care of them for me, and they will have a bright future in the future, so naturally they won't forget your kindness."

(End of this chapter)