When Mrs. Zhao heard his words, her eyes were turning red, and she said distressedly, "Yes, yes, a husband does not suffer from lack of wife... ahem, he does not suffer from lack of money! Then, I think the window paper in your house should be changed, the shed, The walls should be covered too. My family owns a paper shop, and I have that first-class white mulberry paper, so I’ll ask Zhao Kui to send you a few rolls of paper to paste the walls and windows.”
Cui Xie held back a smile and bowed his head to thank him, "Thank you, Grandma Zhao. When Uncle Yuan comes back, let him send money to your house."
Mrs. Zhao couldn't help but patted his arm and said with a smile, "I have a small paper workshop in my house. These papers are all produced in my own workshop, and the windows and drawers are also messed up by servants. It's not worth your special thanks. Speaking of which, my paper shop is doing a good job, and I also borrowed a lot of light from your lord!
She raised her hand to cover her mouth in a serious manner, and told Cui Xie in a low voice, "If your master had not passed the jinshi exam, raised the feng shui of this street, and made the house code and Wang Xianggong a monastery, how could there be so many Scholars come to us to buy a house or rent a house? My family’s paper is sold to them, otherwise there are so many paper shops in the city, this old man and my eldest son can’t do business, how can we make a family business Come."
As he was about to find a place to go to school, he asked casually, "Oh? Are there scholars living nearby? Are they all Mr. Wang's former disciples, Confucian boys or students? Do the two old people know how well they are knowledgeable and can they teach their disciples? ?"
This grandma Zhao didn't understand, so she had to look at her husband a few times.
Zhao Yuanwai picked up the cup and sipped the cooked water, put on a shelf in front of his old wife, and squinted to talk about the ancients: "If you talk about the scholars here, you have to start from the year when Mr. Langzhong became a jinshi. Because he became a jinshi. , moving into the capital, people say that he is because of the good feng shui of the house. After moving in, he can win two rankings and become a high-ranking official in Beijing. Therefore, there are scholars who want to rent the yard in our street, and there are rich students who study in the family. Households are willing to pay a high price to buy them—to tell you the truth, if my family had two unworthy grandsons studying, I would like to ask him to borrow Feng Shui, and I would also like to give away the house code."
It turns out that there was a school district room in the Ming Dynasty, and it was very popular. He lives in the feng shui treasure land in the center of the school district. Do you want to rent a few rooms to earn some rent
Or make some things for scholars and open a small shop in the outer courtyard to make money
Now is not the time to think about this, he put the thought aside for a while, and asked humbly: "To tell you the truth, the junior is planning to take the exam in his hometown, and he needs to find a gentleman to study the scriptures and composition seriously. I don't know which gentleman here has good knowledge. I can still figure it out right now, as long as I learn the real knowledge."
Zhao Yuanwai frowned and said, "This... After Mr. Wang left, he transferred the students to a family with the surname of Lin. My second grandson studied there, saying that he was not as good as Mr. Wang before. Others didn't teach students. In previous years, there were a few who were selected, and most of them were trying to select officials, and they had no intention of granting guests. You have studied with Mr. Jingli, and these local sour scholars who have opened a library may not be as good as you. "
Cui Xie smiled helplessly: "Where. I was raised under my grandmother's knees since I was a child. Since my grandmother fell ill, I have spent a lot of time in sickness and less time in serious study. Now I haven't even read the Five Classics. My uncle Juren, who was studying, was elected two years earlier..."
Zhao Yuanwai asked in a daze: "His uncle Liu's uncle took the exam? Wu Juren?" After speaking, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped his mouth lightly, frowning and said, "I was wrong, Liu Qianhu. The family was transferred to Yulinwei in the early years, how can I teach you in Beijing... That is the brother of the later wife? How difficult is it to choose an official? It's not for your father's sake that he can be elected to the county magistrate. Teaching you to read is really not a human being!"
Only then did the old lady understand it, and she said in surprise: "Hey! He can't teach you to read? He's so cruel, there is a sister who fills the house for others, and the younger brother is not a good thing. son!"
Zhao Yuanwai hurriedly patted her hand and scolded: "Look at what you are doing, Hu Qin! This kind of instigation is good for small officials!"
Mrs. Zhao was also anxious: "That's not what you said first! Your mouth is the most unobstructed..."
The two disagreed and quarreled again, and Cui Xie looked at his nose and heart, but pretended not to hear. They were arguing and suddenly remembered that it was someone else's house, and the victim was sitting next to them.
It is still Zhao Yuanwai who has stronger psychological qualities. He rubbed his collar and started talking about the business again: "If you really want to find a good teacher, you'd better go to Fucheng. My eldest grandson was lucky enough to go to school two years ago, and he is in Fucheng. There are many students there, and the knowledge is good, and there is a Lonely Bamboo Academy outside the city, which was handed down from the time of the great sages, Boyi and Shuqi, and came from the place of the sages!”
Fucheng? Cui Xie pondered for a while and shook his head.
They only had thirty taels of silver in their pockets, and if they moved to Fucheng, they would have to pay more than ten taels of rent a year, and the remaining money was simply not enough to live on, let alone study.
What's more, they were thrown over by the original owner's father. The Cui family can care about his clothing, food, shelter, and transportation, whether it is life or death, but they will not let him leave at will. Even if he really went to Fucheng, as long as the Cui family said a word, he would have to move back obediently, otherwise it would be unfilial, and it would be a big crime to ruin his future.
Let’s take it step by step. Anyway, there is a gentleman here. Let’s talk about the quality of teaching. It’s enough to teach him to write eight-part essays.
When Zhao Yuanwai saw that he didn't agree, he knew that the statement of the mansion just now came in, and he patted his head and said, "I think I'm left, after all, you are young, and you may not be at ease living in your hometown, so how can you make your own decisions? Just moved outside. Then you might as well lay a foundation at Mr. Lin's house first.
"Next year will be the year of autumn. The talented scholars are now preparing for the autumn exam. They can't find anyone. When the group of scholars come back after the exam, they will be eager to find a museum, and then they will ask my family to recommend it to the world. The one with the most solid knowledge, our two families will be invited back together, and it will not cost a few taels of silver!"
Cui Xie thanked him for his kindness and asked how much money it would cost to study with Mr. Lin.
Zhao Yuanwai also has experience in this area, so he explained how to pay his grandson's grooming, boxing, and lecture fees for teaching the scriptures, and quietly taught him: "The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, you can go to the teacher after the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a good way to save two coins for the boxing ceremony. If you are not in a hurry, you will save a fortune after waiting for the birthday of the twenty-seven Confucian sage."
Cui Xie nodded again and again, and silently memorized the amount of money and the day when he needed to give the boxing gift. He wasn't afraid to go to school later, because before the official study, he had to find time to memorize the books that Yuanshen knew, and then imitate the characters of Yuanshen. Even if it took a month, it would not be enough.
While talking, the Zhao family's maid came over and delivered a new order of walnuts, pine nuts and orange cakes to make tea, accompanied by a basket of mutton stuffed willow leaf dumplings and a plate of fried naan sprinkled with powdered sugar as a snack.
After talking for an afternoon, Zhao Yuanwai was thirsty and hungry. He took a sip of tea and picked up his chopsticks to let Cui Xie eat snacks.
Mrs. Zhao didn't speak for a long time, and finally caught someone who didn't talk about reading, so she ordered her: "Go home and get a few large rolls of paper pasted on the walls, a stack of paper pasted on the windows, and two newly pasted gauze drawers, And hang up the curtains that our family's grass beads are wearing. See if there is enough water in the yard, and then ask Zhao Kui and the others to fill it up here..."
Cui Xie hurriedly stopped him: "My family, Cui Yuan and Ping Yan, have already gone to buy things. They will buy them back. They don't dare to favor the things of Zhao's house."
Grandma Zhao said with a smile, "It's all my own stuff, and it's not worth anything. You have so many houses in your house, even if you buy too much, you can't put them down. Just be prepared." Then she instructed, "Put the pot of jasmine under my window. Bring it as well, and let Xiao Xie smoke the house. When you come back, you can cook dinner, and let Aji cook for our family."
The maid agreed, and went back and brought flowers to put under the window, and brought a servant to install a curtain for his bedroom. The window lattice was covered with a layer of oiled paper, and the gauze drawer was fastened from the inside. It's just that the house is too old, the ash and paper on the walls have fallen off, and the wallpaper will not be pasted for the time being.
Cui Xie was a little embarrassed, but he still accepted it. He thanked the two old people and said, "My house is going to clean the well in the past two days. If people come in and go out, I'm afraid it will disturb the neighbors, and I have to ask Grandma Zhao to help me. I sue the neighbors, and when we settle down here, I also want to invite all the neighbors over for a drink and talk about the closeness."
Zhao Yuanwai and his wife are people who like to be lively. After a few polite words, they said with a red face: "This is all a small matter, and it's all covered by our old couple. You move in alone, and everything at home is pointed at you alone. Come on, why are you busy with so many things! Why don't you leave the banquet to us, we will definitely help you do it decently, and you won't need to spend more money."
Cui Xie quickly got up and thanked them, and solemnly entrusted these matters to them.
The couple chatted contentedly, and they took up the big event of holding the Wenju banquet. They were anxious to go back and plan. After sitting for a while, they got up, leaving only a servant girl to help him cook dinner.
In the evening, when Cui Yuan and his son came back, they saw that the house was very different from when they left: there was a fire in the stove, half-warm vegetables were placed in the pot, the boxes, cages, tables and chairs inside and outside the house were shiny, and the windows were fastened with green gauze. Drawers, new bead curtains hung on the door, and finally it looks like a family.
Both of them were a little worried that Cui Xie had done something inappropriate at home, so they hurriedly unloaded the car and went in to see him. But he didn't want to enter the room and saw him very honestly closing his eyes and resting, not even reading a book.
Cui Yuan nodded in satisfaction and asked, "Master, why is the house so clean? Who sent these screen windows and bead curtains?"
Cui Xie first asked them to go to the kitchen to get food, and during the meal, he told about the visit of the Zhao family. Cui Xie put down his chopsticks and said sadly: "Young master, this is not right. You only talk about us, why do you make up the family affairs? Let the master hear this, see He doesn't want people to beat you hard!"
Cui Xie smiled and said, "If we don't talk about it, people won't be surprised that I am the son of a fifth-rank Beijing official. Why did I bring only two people and drive a small broken car back to my hometown? The family is not poor, only we are poor, That is the discord between the father and the son, is it the unkindness of the master or the unkindness of the wife
Seeing that Cui Yuan was speechless, he couldn't say anything to refute, so he smiled and said, "I'll make a bet with you that one day someone from the family will come to send the monthly money, and he will definitely walk in and say how difficult it is to live in Beijing, and he won't be able to squeeze out the money. We, do you dare to bet?"
Holding the inkstone, he said in a low voice, "I don't know if anyone has come to see him off. Who in the back house is not trying to curry favor with the madam..."
Cui Yuan tapped on the back of his head, but he couldn't help but sighed and said in a low voice, "We are not afraid of a crooked shadow. The neighbors can see what kind of person the young master is and won't talk nonsense." When he saw that Cui Xie didn't lift his eyelids, he knew that he didn't think there was anything wrong with him arranging his father's affairs indiscriminately.
Alas, since the young master was beaten, his temper has changed a little, so he will not really be apart from the master, right
He didn't dare to ask Cui Xie about this, nor could he tell his son, so he could only hide it in his heart and ate in a dull mood.