The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

w Zhu Shiyong's mansion in the south of Yuema Bridge, every year from the second day of the Lunar New Year, there are people coming and going here like a market. .)

Officials big and small from Luzhou, officials from counties under their jurisdiction, and big gentry from various villages and towns will come to visit Zhu Shiyong one after another from today. From the second day of the second day of the junior high school until the Lantern Festival, it will be here: it still looks like the old days of swimming in Shangyuan, with cars like flowing water and horses like dragons.

On the second day of junior high school, according to the past practice, it was the day when Luzhou city officials and gentry came to visit. In addition to the officials in Luzhou, guests like the Big Three of the Chamber of Commerce were naturally indispensable; There is an endless stream of people who come to visit, all of different heights, short, fat, and thin. Without exception, the attendants behind these people are either picking or carrying gifts of various colors. After exchanging greetings, he was invited into the mansion.

In the magnificent main hall of Zhu's house, there are already full of guests and guests. Everyone is sipping tea and eating snacks, waiting for the visit of the prefect; It is always more devout to come earlier to see you after Sishi.

The sun was rising high, and the carriages and horses in front of the gate were gradually disappearing. When Mr. Wu's sedan chair arrived last, it indicated that today's guests had officially arrived.

Some of the people in the seat were old faces, some were new faces, some were there last year, but have disappeared this year, and some people had not seen last year, but this year they can be among them; Zhu’s hall is not big, but this small However, the hall has already reflected the alternation of official positions and changes of closeness and closeness in the past year.

Amidst the noise, there was a clear cough from outside the back door. Everyone shut their mouths one after another, put down their tea cups as if they had received an order, and stood up and stretched their necks to look at the back door like a nest of curious mongooses.

"Master Zhifu is here!" Zhu's servant girl serving tea called out delicately, and then the thick velvet curtain at the back door of the main hall parted, and Zhu Shiyong walked in with a smile on his face. Before he could speak, everyone in the hall was already bowing and shouting Said: "See Lord Fu Zun."

Zhu Shiyong waved his hands and said, "Sit down, sit down, you are old acquaintances, why should you be so polite."

Behind Zhu Shiyong is the chubby Zhu Tianshun who rolls his eyes, wearing a purple satin gown and a small hairpin with hairpins on his head. If you don't look at his white eyes, he looks very romantic What a suave young master.

"Young Master Ya Nei is so energetic today, with such a demeanor, he is worthy of being the number one student of Yingtian Academy."

The shrewd person lost no time in sending his compliments, and the one who was robbed of the lead quickly followed up and said, "Yes, yes, Mr. Zhu is originally a gentleman, but after half a year of training in the academy, he has become more and more gentle and gentle like a gentleman. Elephant."

Everyone secretly admired, this flattery was patted, and the father and son patted it together, this level is not generally high.

"This is called poetic and scholarly spirit. The magistrate's family taught Jin Su, and the scholar's fragrance passed on to the family. When he came to the son of the Yamen, he will naturally be better than the blue in the future. It can be predicted that after the autumn this year, I will come to drink in the Yamen. Young master's wedding wine."

"That's right, when the time comes, father and son will be the pillars of the imperial court, and it will be a good story through the ages..."

The crowd was full of flattery, and the Zhu family's father and son burst into smiles. Zhu Shiyong naturally understood how important his son was, but his family was just such a single seedling. Even though it was a pile of shit, it was still more delicious , Hearing these words of praise, as a father is always very happy.

Zhu Tianshun was overjoyed, he laughed and said, "Father, you always said that your son is not good enough, now you see it? These people are more accurate than you, saying that I have a poetic spirit in my stomach, and I am full of skills, but why? If you don't believe it."

Zhu Shiyong said softly: "Shut up!" He turned his head and said to everyone: "Sit down, at the beginning of the new year, everyone came to visit Mr. Zhu, Mr. Zhu is very grateful; if you come, replace the rain that Mr. Xia from the capital gave me." Let me give you a taste of scented tea, how do you treat this old tea?"

A maid hurriedly stepped forward and whispered: "Master, the Yuhua tea was taken into the room by the Fourth Madam and hid, so I can't get it out."

Zhu Shiyong's smile froze in embarrassment, and he said softly, "Go and get some, just say I want it."

The servant girl had no choice but to turn around and walk into the inner hall. The person who sat close to her with good ears could already hear her clearly, and hurriedly said: "My lord, there is no need to bring any new tea. I am here to say hello to my lord. I also took this opportunity to get together with my colleagues and friends, not to eat the good tea from the Lord; the Yuhua tea is said to be bred and produced by a famous geothermal mountain, it is extremely precious, and it is a gift from the Master Xia to the Lord. Tasting tea is unbearable at first, and it’s also a waste of good things by chewing peonies.”

Everyone echoed: "Yes, yes, Mr. Fu Zun doesn't need to be polite to me."

Zhu Shiyong took advantage of the slope to get off the donkey, knowing that his fourth wife, Ming Cui, was notoriously stingy and savage, and it might not be rewarding for her to put it away by herself, so he smiled and said: "If that's the case, let's put it first, next time Come and drink again; it is said that the longer the tea is aged, the more fragrant it will become, so I am not afraid of losing its flavor."

Everyone rolled their eyes. They only heard that good wine gets better and better with age, but they never heard of tea leaves getting better and better with age. There is nothing to argue about.

"Everyone, I am grateful that you all look up to me and come to see me every year. I am very pleased. What do you want in life? It's not about being rich and powerful, or getting promoted and getting rich, but full of friends and acquaintances all over the world; When the gift comes, it means that the person has received it, but you just don’t listen; when you go back next time, bring all the gifts back, why should we be so vulgar.”

"Your Majesty's words are too serious. I'm just waiting to bring some greetings. According to the customs of the Song Dynasty, there is no one who comes to the door empty-handed after the New Year on Yuanri. Isn't it rude for me to wait?" Wu Tongpan said with a chuckle.

Everyone echoed and said: "Yes, how can we be disrespectful? It's not that we don't know the honor of the government, it's just that these are etiquette, and etiquette is indispensable."

Zhu Shiyong said with a chuckle: "Old Wu, old Wu, you are not allowed to take the lead in making noises, but what everyone said is also reasonable. In the Song Dynasty, etiquette is the most important thing, but I can't teach you how to lack etiquette; in this way, etiquette is reciprocal, and I will call the housekeeper every time." I will wrap a bag of Tongyanghe Ma crisp cakes for you to take back, the cakes are high quality, I wish you all success this year, and it is best that all of you will be favored by the emperor and become the pillars of our Great Song Dynasty."

Everyone applauded repeatedly, and cupped their hands and said: "I also wish Mr. Fu Zun will be promoted every step of the way this year, and all wishes will come true."

Everyone talked loudly, and slandered endlessly in their hearts: "Damn, I came here with a big gift, you old dog sent a bag of sesame crisp cakes worth two cents, you won't even eat this stuff, and you said What kind of gift is reciprocated, I'm afraid it's just because I don't want to let go of the gift.

The crowd re-entered their seats in a lively manner, all of them are officials, and naturally all of them are full of tongues, and the unofficial history of barnyard officials is very interesting in their mouths. Very warm.

Zhu Tianshun was so annoyed when he heard this, he ate several pieces of cakes and drank several cups of tea, and felt more and more meaningless, yawning to the left and right to the side felt very boring; he reached out and secretly reached out to the buttocks of the maid who was standing beside him He squeezed his trousers on the top; the maid blushed and did not dare to hide or make a sound, so she had to let him be frivolous.

Some of the guests saw this and secretly laughed; Wu Tong judged that Zhu Tianshun was afraid that Zhu Tianshun would make Zhu Shiyong ugly, so he asked Zhu Tianshun, "Master Ya Nei has been studying in Yingtian Academy for the past six months, right?" ?”

Zhu Tianshun was feeling aroused, but was interrupted by this person, quickly withdrew his claws, and said dissatisfiedly: "Yeah, what's the matter?"

"It's such a blessing. This old man has dreamed of studying in Yingtian Academy all his life, but unfortunately he never had the opportunity. Is the head of the mountain still Qi Weng?"

"Isn't that old... old gentleman?" Zhu Tianshun almost cursed the word 'old stuff'.

"If there are any interesting anecdotes in the academy, Mr. Ya Nei might as well tell us, and let me open my eyes." Vice President Huang, who had been unable to intervene in the conversation between officials, managed to intervene.

"Academy is the most boring, there is nothing interesting except reading." Zhu Tianshun rolled his eyes in disapproval.

"You bastard! Uncle Huang answers all the questions you ask, how can you be so perfunctory? Yingtian Academy is my number one school in the Song Dynasty, how can it be boring? I'm afraid you are not good at studying every day, so you will naturally find it boring." Zhu Shiyong scolded road.

Zhu Tianshun poked his neck and said, "It's not much fun at first, but there are many things to talk about, none of which I'm interested in."

Vice President Huang said with a smile: "There is nothing left and right, so I just picked two things and talked about them."

Zhu Tianshun rolled his eyes and looked at the top of the sky thinking for a while, then suddenly clapped his hands and said: "Yes, there is one thing that is quite interesting."

Everyone hurriedly said: "Let's listen..."

Zhu Tianshun said: "A month ago, seventeen students died in our academy, and more than 30 people were injured. The dead lined up at the door, and all of them were missing arms and legs..."

Everyone was startled and looked around in panic. Someone asked in a low voice: "So many people died? Is this... what happened?"

Zhu Tianshun pointed at the man with a smile and said, "Look at your timid appearance, isn't it just a dozen dead people? Are you afraid of dead people?"

Zhu Shiyong said angrily: "Stop talking nonsense, why didn't you tell me about this?"

Zhu Tianshun said nonchalantly: "Isn't it too late? It's only been seven or eight days since I came back, and I was busy visiting relatives and old friends, so I forgot about this busy work." m