Chapter 1: Nongmen Tianjiao【10】
After Yuan Jia received Zheng Chi's invitation, of course, he was very happy to go to Zheng's house to meet Zheng Chi's father, who was the left servant of the Ministry of Rites. It would be beneficial to leave a good impression on him in the future.
Father Yang jumped up in shock when he learned that his son was going to visit the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, and hurriedly gave Yuan Jia a gift for the visit.
Yuan Jia stopped this. Giving generous gifts was suspected of bribery, and the Yang family was not rich, so giving gifts from their families might not be attractive to the Zheng family. It would be better for him to paint a picture himself and send it, which is more expressive.
I heard Zheng Chi say that his father likes calligraphy and painting, and Yuan Jia has to be good at this.
Yuan Jia took a painting he painted before and other gifts to visit Zheng Mansion. Zheng was waiting for him sooner or later. Hearing that he was coming, he quickly came out to greet him: "Brother Yang!"
Yuan Jia entered the manor with Zheng Chi and went to the study to meet Zheng Shilang, the father of Zheng Chi.
Zheng's father is a middle-aged man who looks very refined and upright. His appearance is at least six points similar to Zheng Chi's, but compared with Zheng Chi's youthful spirit, Zheng's father is more calm and steady.
Yuanjia said to Father Zheng, "Student Yang Yuanjia, meet Mr. Zheng!"
Father Zheng stroked his beard and said with a smile: "No need to be more polite." He looked very approachable, and his tone was gentle and friendly, which made people unconsciously relax.
Yuan Jia presented the gift.
For those ordinary gifts, Father Zheng didn't even look at it, he just looked at the painting and asked, "What painting is this?"
Yuan Jia replied: "The students listened to what Brother Zheng said, Master Zheng loves painting and calligraphy, so the students drew a picture of a horse and gave it to the master. I hope you don't dislike it!"
Father Zheng thought that Yuan Jia was giving him some famous calligraphy and paintings. After all, his preference is no secret. Those who visited him basically chose famous calligraphy and paintings as gifts. Although he felt that Yang Yuanjia, a poor student who gave him famous calligraphy and paintings, was deliberately trying to please him and was too digging, but he was still looking forward to what kind of paintings this was.
As a result, Yuan Jia said that he painted it himself. Father Zheng glanced at Yuan Jia's young face, and his expectations disappeared, and he opened the scroll at will. However, as the scroll slowly unfolded, his inattentiveness turned into shock: "This...is this what you drew?"
I saw the five horses in the painting neighing with their heads raised, lifelike, as if they could rush out of the picture at any time and gallop away. The artistic conception of the galloping horses can be felt by anyone with eyes.
Yuan Jia replied with a smile: "It's the student's humble work!"
Zheng's father was overjoyed: "My nephew is too modest, so good to draw! Good to draw!" There was also an inscription on the side.
Zheng Chi saw his father, who used to be indifferent to his anger and anger, was staring at the painting obsessively with a smile on his face. He was very curious, and he stretched his neck to see what the horse picture that made his father collapse. Just like that, but just glanced at it, Father Zheng carefully rolled up the horse map carefully and did not show it to him.
Then Zheng Chi found out that he had been ignored by his father...
Father Zheng took Yuan Jia to discuss painting and calligraphy, and he shouted 'virtuous nephew' one by one in an affectionate and warm way. Let Yuan Jia not be polite and just call him 'Uncle Zheng'.
Yuan Jia naturally climbed up the pole, as if the two were relatives and nephews, but Zheng Chi, his own son, was treated coldly by the side.
Zheng Chi's talent in poetry is outstanding, but he is mediocre in painting and calligraphy. He is neither as talented as his father, nor has his father's love for painting and calligraphy. Therefore, listening to the two discuss painting and calligraphy, some of them can't talk.
Father Zheng drove his son away in disgust: "Go, go, don't get in the way, go and ask your mother to prepare a luncheon, and today I want to have a good drink with Yuan Jia for my father!"
Zheng Chi reluctantly left the study and went to see his mother.
"Son's greetings to mother!"
Zheng Chi saw a young girl with bright eyes and kind eyes sitting next to his mother, and said with a smile: "Why is my sister here?"
Zheng Xiang teased in a brisk tone: "Why do you want to come to my mother, brother Xu, and not allow me to come?"
Zheng Chi hurriedly apologized: "No, no, I'm just wondering why my sister didn't go to Mr.'s class today."
The house has invited a female gentleman to teach Zheng Xiang. Every day, Zheng Xiang has to learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting and female red with the female gentleman.
Zheng Xiang pursed his lips and smiled: "Mr. gave me a day off today, so I'll come and talk to my mother."
Mother Zheng looked at her children with a smile, then turned to Zheng Chi and asked, "Didn't you say you want to bring your friends back today?"
Zheng Chi remembered the business and said, "My friend was left in the study by my father to discuss painting and calligraphy. My father sent me out. He said that he would have a good drink with Brother Yang at the luncheon today."
Zheng Xiang has often heard his elder brother praise that Young Master Yang recently, but he has not paid much attention to it. Now that he heard that even his father values him, he asked curiously, "Brother, is this Young Master Yang good at painting and calligraphy? Can you discuss painting and calligraphy with your father?"
"It should be very powerful!" Zheng Chi recalled the change in his father's attitude before and after seeing the horse picture in the study, and nodded again and again, "If I hadn't discussed with Brother Yang first, I'm afraid my father would not recognize Brother Yang now. For the 'good nephew', I recognize him as a new year's friend!"
Zheng Chi has a deep understanding of how deeply his father's obsession with painting and calligraphy is. When he was a child, he was rummaging through his father's collection of paintings and calligraphy in his study, and then he was discovered. The father who sneered at this sentence was so angry that he hung him up and beat him, and he beat him smoothly. He felt that there was some truth in the sentence 'a dutiful son emerges from the stick', and then he became sad.
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"What?" Yuan Jia almost doubted his ears when he heard what Zheng's father said.
Just now, Father Zheng asked his family in a chatty tone. Yuan Jia had nothing to hide, so he told the truth. Then Father Zheng knew that he was still a single dog at this time, so he proposed to betroth his daughter to him.
Yuan Jia was immediately stunned. Is it really appropriate for us to recruit me as a son-in-law when we meet for the first time today?
Father Zheng's too easy attitude to marry his daughter made Yuan Jia a little suspicious. Could there be some reason why Zheng's daughter couldn't get married, so Father Zheng couldn't wait to find someone to marry his daughter out?
Of course, Yuan Jia didn't think he was 'anyone', but he couldn't bear it today when he came to Zheng's house for the first time. Father Zheng probably didn't know much about him, so he offered to marry his daughter. Yuan Jia felt that Father Zheng's attitude was very casual. .
Yuan Jia said blankly: "Uncle Zheng, we met for the first time today, are you not afraid that the student is not a good person?"
Father Zheng laughed: "Just say this to you, you are worthy of my betrothal of my daughter to you!"
Of course, Father Zheng is not someone who would marry his daughter so easily. He had investigated the situation of the Yang family as early as when his son Zheng Chi met Yang Yuanjia, and met with Yuan Jia today for a detailed chat. He had a good relationship with Yuan Jia in terms of his life and conduct, and he had a great time talking with Yuan Jia in painting and calligraphy, so he decided to tie this talent to his Zheng family.
Anyway, his Zheng family doesn't need a daughter to marry, so what's wrong with making his favorite younger generation his son-in-law?
Father Zheng thought it was simple, but Yuan Jia was a little stunned.
The details of the Zheng family quickly emerged in Yuan Jia's mind. The Zheng family has several generations of scholars and has a profound background, but the Zheng family is not the kind of people who form a party for selfishness, and there is nothing to avoid. After thinking about it, he feels as if he is married to Miss Zheng family. It's him who has taken advantage of it, and he doesn't seem to have any reason to refuse.
But it's not so easy to agree so casually, so Yuan Jia replied: "Marriage matters should be decided by the parents, and the students have to go home and report to the parents of the Ming family!"
Father Zheng nodded: "It should be so!"
From Father Zheng's point of view, Yuan Jia did not refuse, which means he agreed. After all, how do you think it is a good thing to be the son-in-law of his Zheng family? For a student from a poor family, who has no foundation at all, how much help it is to marry a lady from a famous family!
After Yuan Jia attended the luncheon at Zheng Mansion, he left.
Then Father Zheng told Mother Zheng that he wanted to recruit Yang Yuanjia as his son-in-law.
Mother Zheng was immediately shocked, and her inner thoughts were the same as Yuan Jia: "Master, how could you decide on Xiang'er's marriage so casually?"
Zheng's father said, "How can I be free? This Yang Yuanjia is very talented. Although his family is a bit poor, he has the ability and the support of my Zheng family. It will not be a problem to earn a name for Xiang'er in the future!"
Mother Zheng was so angry that although this dynasty still had the custom of catching her son-in-law, those people who brought in the Xinke Scholars also used concubine daughters. As a result, her master was so good, he even gave his only daughter-in-law to a Juren casually! It is still unknown whether Yang Yuanjia will be able to take high school in this session!
But Zheng's father's words are allowed to go out, what can Zheng's mother do? If Yang Yuanjia is about to go back and regret it, Yang Yuanjia only needs to spread the word, and his daughter's reputation will be completely ruined!
Mother Zheng was so angry that she looked ugly, she went back to hug Zheng Xiang and cried, "My Xiang'er! Your father is so confused!"
After Zheng Xiang learned of the situation, her face suddenly turned pale. Although she was curious about her brother's poor friend, she never thought of marrying into a poor family!
And there are so many people participating in the exam, how many people can get high school jinshi? After winning the jin shi, how many poor jin shi can get ahead? Zheng Xiang didn't want to stay up for more than ten years and still be a petty official's wife, and he would bow his head and salute when he saw the handkerchief in the future.
So Zheng Xiang begged his mother to help find a way to turn off the marriage.
Mother Zheng didn't know what to do. This marriage was promised by Father Zheng.
Zheng Xiang suddenly had an idea: "Mother, my father only said that he would give his daughter to that Yang Yuanjia, but he didn't say whether he was a direct daughter or a concubine!"
Mother Zheng was stunned for a moment, and then she reacted, yes, her husband also has a concubine!
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Yuan Jia returned home and discussed with his parents about Father Zheng's proposal to marry a daughter.
Father Yang immediately said excitedly: "Of course you have to agree! This is a great good thing! Your father is useless and I can't help you, but you have such a father-in-law, and you will have someone to help you when you enter the officialdom in the future. "
Yuan Jia didn't care about marrying a wife. In ancient times, it was impossible to fall in love freely. They were all blind and dumb, and they didn't even see each other before marriage. He is the only son of the second house of the Yang family. If he says he can't be his biological son, I'm afraid that Yang's father and Yang's mother, who value incense very much, will be mad.
Since he had to marry a wife, it would be good to marry a wife who was helpful to him when he first entered the officialdom.
Therefore, Yuan Jia asked his parents to come forward and ask a matchmaker to go to Zheng's house to propose marriage.
At this time, Yuan Jia didn't know that there was a big mess in the Zheng Mansion.
Father Zheng looked at Mother Zheng angrily: "It's ridiculous! It's ridiculous! I trust you so much, yet you still hide such a big thing from me!"
Father Zheng found out today that he still has a teenage concubine on Zhuangzi, or because his wife was unwilling to let the concubine marry the person he liked, and proposed to marry off the concubine, so that he knew this time. Yes.
When Mother Zheng knew that she had spoken out, Father Zheng would be furious, but for the sake of her daughter's happiness, she had nothing to do.
"Master, the concubine body was only found out later. The servants of Zhuangzi lied and made the concubine think that the child died of illness. Only then did the concubine tell the master about her death, and later found out that she was still alive. The servants of Zhuangzi were afraid. If you were punished, you concealed the news…”
"So you are also afraid that I will blame you, so you don't let me know that I still have a daughter alive?" Father Zheng asked angrily.
Mother Zheng didn't dare to speak.
In fact, she was not afraid of Father Zheng's censure, but she hated the prostitute and was not willing to let the prostitute go back to the mansion, so she hid the news.
At that time, Zheng Lan, the concubine of Zheng's father, was relatively favored. Later, she contracted smallpox at a young age and was sent to Zhuangzi to recuperate. Due to her serious illness, she fell into a state of suspended animation. The servants of Zhuangzi thought that Zheng Lan was dead and reported the death .
Later, it was found that Zheng Lan was breathing again, and the servants on Zhuangzi hurriedly told Mother Zheng about this.
At that time, Mother Zheng was angry that Zheng Lan had stolen the favor of her daughter Zheng Xiang, and wanted her to fend for herself. She thought that Zheng Lan was dead, but she didn't expect Zheng Lan to survive.
But Zheng mother had already told Zheng's father Zheng Lan's death, so she had a move in her heart and concealed the matter, so Zheng Lan, the concubine of the Zheng family, died of smallpox.
Zheng Lan has been living in Zhuangzi all these years, and there is no treatment as a young lady. Zheng's mother just waited for her to survive, but she didn't expect to die for so many years. But Zheng Lan really has no sense of existence, and gradually Zheng mother forgot her.
It was not until she was reminded by Zheng Xiang that Mother Zheng remembered that there was a prostitute like Zheng Lan who could marry her precious daughter.
Mother Zheng can't bear to be blamed by Father Zheng. Anyway, she has both children, and Father Zheng can't treat her like Zheng Chi even if he looks at Zheng Chi's face.
Mother Zheng insisted on marrying Zheng Lan to Yang Yuanjia. Anyway, her daughter was a direct daughter, so she could not marry a poor family with uncertain future.
Of course Father Zheng refused. He said in front of Yang Yuanjia that he would betroth his daughter to him. At that time, he thought he had only one direct daughter, so he naturally betrothed Zheng Xiang to Yang Yuanjia.
It doesn't make sense to replace the direct daughter with a concubine now. Although it was not clear at the time that it was completely possible to do so, Father Zheng couldn't get past the hurdle in his heart.
Zheng's mother's words didn't work anymore. Zheng Xiang was in a hurry, so he went to his father to cry and complain, and even used a hunger strike to force his father to compromise.
In the end, it was his daughter who had been spoiled for so many years. How could he really watch her go on hunger strike and suffer?
Father Zheng reluctantly brought back his concubine Zheng Lan, and then told her about the marriage: "Yang Yuanjia is talented and has a bright future, but if you don't want to marry, you can be a father."
Zheng Lan, who grew up on Zhuangzi, was a little timid and did not dare to refuse: "But my father is the master!"
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When Yuan Jia came to propose marriage, he learned from Zheng's father that the daughter that Zheng's father had betrothed to him was a concubine.
Yuan Jia immediately understood, no wonder Father Zheng offered his daughter to him as soon as he saw him. It turned out to be a concubine, so it's no wonder...
Those wealthy families who attract promising poor students are all attracted by prostitutes. Even if the investment fails, it is a big deal to lose a prostitute. If the investment is successful, it will be a powerful in-law.
Yuan Jia, who thought he knew what Zheng's father planned, didn't mind the identity of his fiancée's concubine. Anyway, he just planned to pull the tiger skin of the Zheng family when he first entered the officialdom, and hoped that the Zheng family would fully support his son-in-law like Zheng Chi. , that's impossible, so it doesn't matter to Yuan Jia whether to marry a direct daughter or a concubine.
When his foundation is complete, the Zheng family will be nothing to him. Yuan Jia asks very little of the Zheng family, so he doesn't care about his fiancée's direct descendant.
On the other hand, Zheng's father felt guilty when he saw Yuan Jia's unrestrained appearance.
Zheng's father really wanted to recruit Yuanjia as his son-in-law. At first, he wanted to marry his own daughter, but he didn't expect a change, so he could only change the candidate based on his conscience.
After the two became engaged, there were some waves in a small area of the capital.
After all, the Zheng family is not a small family in the capital, especially since these years the Zheng family has always said to the outside world that they only have one direct daughter. Suddenly, a concubine appeared, and she also married a poor family, which is curious.
However, after satisfying their curiosity, no one paid attention to this marriage. It was true that neither man nor woman had any status worthy of their concern.
After Yuan Jia and the Zheng family decided to get married, Zheng's father often asked Yuan Jia to come to the house to open a small stove. When Zheng's father participated in the imperial examination, he finally won the second place in the examination, and he did not let go of his studies all these years.
Zheng Lan, who returned to Zheng's house from Zhuangzi, was forced by Zheng's father to ask Zheng's mother to take him with him to teach the stewards.
After all, Zheng Lan has been living in Zhuangzi all these years, and has not learned anything at all. He can only study before marriage and desperately make up lessons.
Qin, chess, calligraphy and painting are not very demanding for women, and the most important thing for the wife is the housekeeper.
Mother Zheng also didn't dare to play tricks in teaching the prostitutes. She used to want Zheng Lan to fend for herself, but she didn't plan to marry her, so she just let it go. But now Zheng Lan is about to get married. If she doesn't know anything, and the housekeeper gets married and causes problems, others will only say that her first-class mother didn't teach her well, which affects her reputation.
Zheng Lan is timid, but she also knows that this is her chance, so she is very serious when studying with Zheng mother, even if she encounters difficulties, she forcibly endures it.
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Yuan Jia didn't feel the turmoil in the backyard of Zheng's house. After all, he couldn't just go into other people's backyard to see his daughter's family. So far, he hasn't been able to see his fiancee.
Most of the time he came to Zheng's house was to accept Zheng's father's surprise tutoring in the study together with Zheng Chi.
Zheng's father knows exactly what style of articles the chief examiner likes, and what style of articles other examiners like, and these happen to be Yuan Jia's shortcomings. He had no access to such information before entering the officialdom of.
Days passed, and finally, the meeting came.
Yuan Jia and Zheng Chi entered the examination room together.
There are a total of three exams, and each exam lasts three days. It took him nine days to endure it before he was relieved.
After Yuan Jia's last exam, when he came out of the exam room, he only felt extremely relaxed.
Even if it's not the first time to experience such an exam, but every time I go through it, I feel that people have peeled off a layer of skin.
Zheng Chi was even worse than him. After he came out, he fell ill for a while. Fortunately, it was only a minor illness. After taking medicine for a few days, he was almost fine.
After the test release, Yuanjia High School will meet Yuan!
Jinshi fame is a sure thing! Because the palace test is only ranked second, it will not be able to brush people, and it will be dignified, so it is impossible to fall into the same jinshi in the palace test.
Zheng Chi's ranking this time was probably affected by physical factors, and his ranking was worse than that of the township exam, only ranking 16th, falling out of the top ten.
Yuan Jia came back to Zheng's house after the meeting was released, and found that there was not much joy in the house, that is, Zheng's father expressed his praise and joy to his high school Huiyuan, Zheng's mother pulled a face when she saw him, as if not waiting. meet him.
Thinking of Zheng Chi's ranking, Yuan Jia understood a little, probably because Zheng Chi's cautiousness was stimulated again, especially when his friend younger than himself took the first place, but he fell out of the tenth place. It is the same cram school, why is there such a big gap?
And mother Zheng, who was distressed for her son, naturally felt unhappy when she saw Yuan Jia, the control group.
In fact, what makes Zheng mother even more unhappy is that Yuan Jia's grades are so good, it seems that she and Zheng Xiang's eagerness to push Zheng Lan out is very stupid. If they knew that Yang Yuanjian could meet Yuan in high school, there is no need to let Zheng Lan return to Zheng's house. .
However, Mother Zheng didn't take any Hui Yuan to heart. Good grades in the Hui Exam and a high ranking in the Palace Exam did not mean that her career would be smooth in the future.
Are there still few old champions who have worked up to official positions in the Hanlin Academy?
In the entire Zheng Mansion, Zheng's father, who thinks he has a good eye and a pearl, and Zheng Lan, who has picked up a jinshi husband, are happy from the bottom of their hearts.
Even Zheng Chi was happy for Yuan Jia and had some lemons at the same time. He would inevitably think: If he didn't get sick in his last exam, maybe he would have a chance to compete for the position of Yuan Jia!
However, no matter how much he regrets and annoys, the exam has passed, time can't be repeated, and he can't retake the exam.
The palace exam is coming.
Yuan Jia ascended to Tianzitang, and suddenly remembered the poem "Tian Shelang in the morning, and Tianzitang in the evening".
The imperial examination was really the only way for the ancient poor students to advance.
Today, the saint has been on the throne for more than eight years. And the prince under his knees has not grown up, and there is no battle for the succession, which is the most reassuring time to be a courtier.
You don't have to worry that your immediate boss is a fool, and you don't have to worry about standing in line.
Yuan Jia looked at the questions on the exam paper, thought for a while, and had a draft in his heart.