Prime Minister

Chapter 123
Zhang Yue walked into Zhang's mansion.

This place is very large, with an area of ​​four or five mu.

Under the twilight, the courtyard is covered with pines, cypresses and ancient locust trees, the courtyard of the deep house is actually the style of an official's family, not inferior to Ouyang Xiu's house.

Zhang Yue also asked: "Old capital officer, did your uncle buy this house?"

Old Duguan said with a smile: "Yes, it cost a lot of money. The landlord also sold the house in Suzhou and raised a lot of money to settle in Bianjing."

Zhang Yue once again lamented that the house price in Bianjing is really expensive!

But seeing that there is a half-acre square pond in the backyard of the house, there are pavilions and waterside pavilions beside the pond, and the pond is full of lotus flowers. Zhang Yue, who lives in the inn, deeply feels that it is good to be rich. It is impossible to have a house of several acres in the third ring road of the capital.

After being led by the old governor, Zhang Yue walked to a side hall, but saw a middle-aged man with a good manner peeling oranges.

Zhang Yue thought to himself, isn't this the season to eat tangerines? They are so shriveled and still eat?

But the man said to the servant: "The tangerines brought here this spring are sweet and full, but they are not good to eat now. But don't throw them away. Leave the kernels and plant them in the backyard. After more than ten years of planting, there will be such oranges again." Eat the sweet and plump tangerine."

The servant looked like he wanted to laugh, but he didn't dare to laugh, but he saw that the middle-aged man peeled a few of the out-of-season oranges, ate them, vomited the pits and put them on the plate, saying: "I can eat it, and you can too." Eat it, give it to the people below to eat, and then plant the seeds in the yard."

Speaking of this, the middle-aged man looked at Zhang Yue and smiled: "Most of these servants are laughing at me from the bottom of their hearts, saying that at my age, after more than ten years, I'm afraid I won't be able to wait for the day when the tree will bear fruit. , I can’t even eat this tangerine.”

"Don't you know that Liu Zongyuan was demoted to Liuzhou and planted [-] yellow tangerines. He didn't necessarily expect the citrus trees to bloom and spray snow, and the pearls to pluck the fruits, but said that if you teach me to sit and wait for the forest to grow, the taste will be as good as an old man. How open-minded!"

Zhang Yue hehe from the bottom of his heart, not to mention rewarding such shriveled tangerines to his servants, and collecting the cores to plant citrus trees, Zhang Yue simply called 666 from the bottom of his heart.

Being stingy is stingy, and even put money on his face, and said a lot of truth, really shameless enough!

Zhang Yue said: "This is "Planting Tangerine Trees in the Northwest Corner of Liuzhou City" written by Liu Zongyuan when he was demoted to Liuzhou."

Zhang Yue chanted: "Plant [-] yellow tangerines by hand, and the new leaves are all over the city in spring. Fang Tong Chuke pities the emperor tree, and does not learn from Jingzhou Limunu. How old are the flowers and smelling the snow, who picks the real weeping pearls? If you teach Sitting and waiting for a day in the forest, the taste is as good as being an old man. But there is a sentence in Liu Zongyuan's poem that I don't agree with."

"Oh? You questioned Liuhe East?"

Zhang Yue said: "Exactly, if you don't learn from Li Munu of Jingzhou, you can say that you are Li Heng, the prefect of Xidanyang."

"Li Heng, the prefect of Danyang, was a clean and honest official. In his later years, he planted thousands of orange trees in Sizhou, Longyang, Wuling, and left them as property for his descendants. Before he died, he told his son, I have a thousand wood slaves in the state. It's enough."

"As a prefect, Li Heng is honest and self-sufficient. He doesn't manage his family and manage money. He only leaves thousands of citrus trees for future generations. How can such a good deed be described by Li Munu. You can get a few acres of citrus groves and sit for shelter from the rain, but they will be fruitful. , the best of both worlds, isn’t it bad? It’s not a gentleman to speak out about righteousness!”

The middle-aged man smiled when he heard this.

The old man at the side reported: "Qi report to the Lord, this is Mr. Zhang Sanlang."

Zhang Yue was 'surprised' and said: "I didn't know that uncle was here, so I talked nonsense for a while, please forgive me, uncle."

There is a kind of lying called, I am lying, you also understand that I am lying, and I also understand that you understand that I am lying.But I lied anyway.

Zhang Yu waved his hand and said: "It's okay, what you said makes sense. I heard that when you were in Pucheng, you were ignorant, eating, drinking and having fun all day long. I was really worried, but seeing that you have become a talent now, I let go of one of my worries. .”

Speaking of this, Zhang Yu said with a smile: "Otherwise, you can't even make sense of the words, isn't it not beautiful."

"Uncle asked the boss to ask me what advice I have? Please also make it clear that my nephew will also visit the night scene of Bianjing in a while."

Zhang Yu nodded, indicating that the old man should take care of it.

Zhang Yu said: "Sanlang sit down, you and I are uncles and nephews, and I am far closer to your parents than you think, so you don't have to guard me like outsiders. You just arrived in Bianjing for the first time. How about witnessing its prosperity?"

Zhang Yue sat down and said: "I have been studying in the inn for the past ten days, and I haven't had time to go shopping yet."

Zhang Yu praised: "You turn a blind eye to the prosperity of Bianjing, but you can study in an inn. This can be called a blind eye. With such determination, I also understand why you can enter Bianjing in just two years. coming."

"I still remember that you and Du Guan said that although the mountains in Fujian are high, they are not as high as the sky. Now you have come here by your own ability."

Zhang Yue said: "I didn't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the words back then, so I laughed at you."

Zhang Yudao: "At the beginning I let you go to Suzhou Prefecture to study, but I underestimated you too much, but when you came to Bianjing, I still asked the boss to invite you here, do you know what it means?"

Zhang Yue said: "It's Brother Dun's business!"

Zhang Yudao: "That's true, Saburo, do you know what I care most about now? At my current age, although my official position and money are not low, it is difficult to go further. As for Brother Dun, I just watched him grow up. But it’s not what I care about the most, so I might as well tell you about it.”

Zhang Yue said: "Then what does uncle care about?"

"I care about the family business! You also know that Brother Dun has a younger brother who was born to my concubine. What I regret the most is that I didn't hand him over to your aunt to discipline him. Now he is very incompetent and stubborn. In the future, the family business Delivered into his hands, it will be ruined."

Zhang Yue said in his heart, of course, or he could be raised by my little mother.

"If he was like Brother Dun, [-]% of the time, or as competitive as you, I would never make such a bad move. My uncle and I have studied for most of our lives, wasted half of our lives, and finally won the Jinshi by luck. How can you be willing to hand over this worthless corruption after accumulating this family fortune as an official?"

Zhang Yue said: "So uncle made this matter a matter of course?"

Zhang Yudao: "It's not a matter of course, but each takes what he needs. Isn't it the same between people in the world, even between brothers? Can you listen to this?"

Zhang Yue said: "Uncle, I can't refute this, but..."

Zhang Yu interrupted Zhang Yue's words and said, "Your aunt and Brother Dun don't know anything about asking you to come today. These words are only between you and me. God knows, you know me, okay?"

Zhang Yue said: "I don't say anything."

Zhang Yudao: "Okay, Brother Dun resigned from his official position last year, and now he plans to take the exam again. He has already entered the Kaifeng government. If it is as expected, the imperial court will open the tribute exam next year, then in a few months, the Kaifeng government will take the exam. Yes. This test is very important for Brother Dun and me. There must be no mistakes."

"But you came to Bianjing at this time. I don't care whether you are taking the imperial examination or demonstrating to Brother Dun. But since you have come to Bianjing, uncle, I only ask you for one thing." , reconciled with Brother Dun!"

"My reunion with Brother Dun, what does it have to do with him solving the test?" Zhang Yue asked.

Zhang Yudao: "Of course it has something to do with it. Some people have said that he can't do anything if he abandoned the order before. If you talk about him again...he changed his residence to my family without notifying his family. Once the word spread, it would damage his reputation." Extremely obstructive."

Zhang Yue said angrily: "I never said that! Even in the countryside, my brother and I covered him up."

Zhang Yudao: "It's good that Saburo doesn't say anything, but what if someone asks you? There are people with sinister hearts in this world! Therefore, the best way is to let you and Brother Dun get back together, so that outsiders can see everything. Rumors are self-defeating."

Zhang Yue stood up angrily and said, "It's not that I don't get back together with my second brother, but that my second brother hasn't even sent a letter home so far. If he sends a letter, even if he doesn't say the original reason , say hello to the family, why is it like this today?"

Zhang Yu waved his hand and said, "I know the reason why Brother Dun didn't send home letters, and I don't blame him for this matter."

"Oh? I asked my uncle to show me."

Zhang Yu sighed: "You also know about Ji's recognition of relatives, that is, at least one family has changed from a name to two families. You are still young, so it's hard to explain the truth to you."

Zhang Yue seemed to understand a little after listening.

Zhang Yudao: "At first I didn't want Brother Dun to still have contacts with your family, but now I have figured it out. Brother Dun has already married, and I plan to give half of the family business to him. As for you It's his own brother who took away... a little bit, so it's okay."

"Of course, you and I have been tacitly aware of this matter. You don't need to report to me. I don't know. It's not easy for you when you first come. It's not easy for you to live in the capital since ancient times. It's good to have brothers to support each other. So today All the words, only you know and I know, there is no need to tell your second brother."

"Besides, you don't have to doubt my sincerity. I've always thought that money is very tight. It's not easy to say that. In the future, if you have achievements, you also have the heart to support you with Brother Dun and help you with that. Incompetent cousin, even if I am under Nine Springs, I will be grateful."

Zhang Yue nodded and said: "Uncle, I understand, this is what you said, each takes what he needs, even between brothers and sisters, is this how they settle accounts?"

Zhang Yu nodded and said: "That's right. You can express your meaning with words when you settle accounts. If you don't think it's enough, I'll make up for you. If you don't think money is enough, there are other things. Brother Dun, as long as you successfully pass the Jinshi exam, you will also be able to do so in the future." But stand firm in Bianjing. I’ve always been a villain before a gentleman, and my words were a bit harsh before, but it’s okay, you can think about it anyway, it doesn’t matter.”

"The most important thing is that you are now helpless in Bianjing. You don't even know how long you can stay in an inn with the money on your body. If you have today and no tomorrow, how can you talk about other things? You are either not deeply involved in the world, or you are young and energetic. , I don't quite understand what I said today, but I am someone who has experienced it, and if I were you, I would never hesitate."

Zhang Yue has not spoken yet.

At this moment, Old Du Guan had already walked in, Zhang Yu said displeasedly: "Didn't I tell you not to disturb me?"

The old man looked a little unhappy and said: "Master, Ouyang's scholar's residence has sent a message... Please come to the residence of Mr. Zhang Sanlang!"

ps: Thanks again to Nanmeng for the 30 reward!

(End of this chapter)