Chapter 37 37 Entering Zhang Mansion for the First Time
The carriage team entered the city and soon entered a large house after twists and turns.
After everyone got off the bus, Wei Guangde followed his parents and eldest brother, and followed his uncle into a courtyard gate.
At the entrance of the hospital, two well-dressed middle-aged men were waiting there. After hearing his uncle's greetings with them, Wei Guangde knew that these two were Zhang Shigui and Zhang Fugui, the sons of Zhang Qing, the commander of Jiujiang Guards.
They are Wu Dong's uncles. After Wu Dong saw the ceremony, Wei Wencai and Wei Guangde also stepped forward and called "uncle".
"Okay, Wu Shuang's son, hey, he's a very talented person."
Zhang Shigui looked at the two brothers who came forward to greet them, patted their shoulders cordially, and showed great enthusiasm.
Then he smiled at Wei Meng and said, "Brother Wei is so lucky. He has two sons, one dragon and one tiger. Just wait and enjoy the blessings."
"By the way, brother Wei, has your boss's marriage been decided yet?"
At this time, Zhang Fugui also stepped forward and said: "I just heard Zhankui mention that his two nephews are good. I just met them today. The young man's appearance is also first-class in Jiujiang Prefecture. If he doesn't get engaged, , I’ll help you take a look when you turn around.”
"Fugui and Wencai have already made a marriage arrangement. She is Liu Qianhu's daughter."
Wu Zhankui said at this time.
"Liu Cheng? Not bad. Although I haven't seen his daughter, but with Liu Cheng's appearance, my daughter should be pretty as well, so she is a good match."
Zhang Fugui said with a look of regret, as if it was a pity not to be the matchmaker.
"Okay, everyone, let's go in, dad is still waiting for you inside."
Then he said to the little sister Wu Zhang next to him: "Go and kowtow to dad first. Mom will miss you too behind." ’
As everyone entered the house, Mrs. Wu Zhang, her daughter and son kowtowed to Zhang Qing and Zhang Tongzhi. Wei Guangde stood behind, watching a large group of people lining up in front to salute, and took the time to look around the room.
Even though the Wei family is an official of one hundred households, his uncle Wu Zhankui is also an official of one thousand households, but after all, it is like that. Compared with this family, the family is really shabby.
It was dark, so Wei Guangde didn't look carefully outside, but the room was different. There were many candles burning around, making the room brightly lit.
The house had obviously been renovated years ago, and the four walls had been repainted, making it look clean, and the doors and windows seemed to have been repainted, making the whole room look like new, except for the carved beams. A trace of mottled color can tell that this house is still an old one.
When Wei Guangde entered the room, he smelled a faint scent of sandalwood. It was the fragrance emanating from the two copper stoves on both sides of the lobby. It made people feel very comfortable.
In the main hall where Zhang Tongzhi is sitting, there are two Taishi chairs. In the middle is a large Eight Immortals table. At the bottom are neatly arranged chairs and coffee tables. I don’t know whether they are made of red sandalwood or huanghuali. They must be made of fine wood. .
There is also a small table placed at regular intervals against the wall, with potted plants placed on it.
There are not all kinds of things that show wealth in the room. It is very simple and clean, which reflects the way the owner of this place behaves.
Finally, it was the turn of the two Wei brothers to follow their father and salute Zhang Tongzhi.
Wei Guangde didn't want to fight back and forth, but that's how it is in this era.
Having no other choice, Wei Guangde followed his elder brother and the others to kowtow to Zhang Tongzhi to pay New Year greetings. Speaking of which, Zhang Tongzhi was his uncle's father-in-law, so he was naturally his elder.
After the salute was completed, Wei Guangde also retreated to the back. At this time, he also looked at Zhang Tongzhi carefully.
He is an old man in his sixties, with a dry face and deep wrinkles on his face. He is similar to the old men in the health center, except that his skin looks whiter. After all, he is not exposed to the sun and rain often, so he may have taken better care of himself.
While they were talking at the front, Wei Guangde was sitting near the door doing nothing.
A supporting role is always a supporting role. Wei Guangde sat below for a while and saw his cousin coming from behind. After saluting his grandfather, he said, "Grandpa, grandma asked me to bring the Wei brothers in to meet him."
"Then you take them."
At this moment, Zhang Tongzhizheng was talking to Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng, and waved his hands indifferently.
So Wei Guangde followed his cousin Wu Dong to the backyard again to salute Mrs. Zhang. Along with him was a boy from the Zhang family. He probably saw that his grandfather and uncle were chatting happily outside, and he had nothing to do. , I could only talk to the two Wei brothers below, but after all, they were not familiar with each other and it was the first time they met, so I might as well follow them into the house.
When Wei Guangde was in the outer room before, he saw that the Zhang family seemed to have only one grandchild. He looked younger than his eldest brother Wei Wencai. He was about fifteen or sixteen years old. His name was Zhang Hongfu.
Before, they were just chatting casually outside. Now when they arrived in the backyard, Wei Guangde noticed that there seemed to be not many people under the two Zhang brothers.
My mother and aunt are sitting under the old lady now. My two cousins are on the old lady's side, and there are two girls next to them. Wei Guangde blindly guessed that you should be a girl from the Zhang family.
In Mrs. Zhang's place, Wei Guangde only saw one grandson, Zhang Hongfu, and the remaining two were granddaughters. It seemed that the fighting power of these two brothers was only as good as that of his uncle, who also had one son and two daughters.
In the impression, it seems that these two people are already engaged, and they are both from gentry families in Jiujiang Prefecture.
After the salute, Wei Guangde stayed with him to watch the people above talking and joking, but now the main target was his elder brother Wei Wencai, who was talking about the marriage he had just made.
Well, the women in the backyard probably like to say that the east is long and the west is short.
Wei Guangde's hair was not even fully grown, so naturally no one said anything to him. He just made fun of him and occasionally spoke a few words.
After waiting for a while, a servant came to announce that the banquet was ready.
I finally had a good meal. I didn't have much good food at my uncle's house this morning. There was no big fish or meat for breakfast. I had lunch directly on the boat, which wasn't very good either.
Anyway, they treat him as a little transparent at this moment, and Wei Guangde is also enjoying it, just eating food without drinking.
However, he also listened to their conversation with open ears, and he also roughly learned some information about the Zhang family, which was similar to what he blindly guessed.
Zhang Shigui, the eldest son of the Zhang family, has a son and a daughter who are also preparing to take over the official position, so they follow their father Zhang Qing in the officialdom. The son is Zhang Hongfu.
Brother Zhang Fugui has only one daughter and is obviously not energetic enough. However, he did not study for the imperial examination. Instead, he went into business and managed a lot of the Zhang family's affairs.
Although he is not in the officialdom, it seems that Zhang Fugui is more familiar with Jiujiang. After all, in business, he has to deal with all three religions and nine streams, so his contact area is actually wider.
After the banquet, Wei Guangde and the others were taken to the wing to rest, but Father Wei was called to the study room with Zhang Tongzhi and his uncle Wu Zhankui. Zhang Shigui was also present.