No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 7 Rich Woman
Seeing Zhang Chulan coming, Su Ze secretly had a headache. At the same time, he also thought that the people of the Northern Song Dynasty were indeed open-minded. Unmarried women could still run around the streets, which was almost impossible in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

This is also reflected in marriage. For example, the current emperor's queen, Cao, was divorced once and then chosen as queen by the ministers.

By the way, there is also Princess Fukang who lost her cat. Su Ze remembered that in history, this princess also had a very unhappy relationship with her husband's family. She even knocked on the palace gate at night to ask for a divorce. In the end, Renzong was helpless about this beloved daughter and tacitly allowed her to separate from her husband and live in the palace.

Zhang Chulan looked at Su Ze and was equally angry.

Su Ze's family is poor, but her Zhang family is not a snob who only cares about money. The two families have an old relationship.

But Su Ze is so unmotivated, how can his parents let him marry him?
The reason why Zhang Chulan urged Su Ze to study was that she hoped he could pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi, so that she could propose to his family.

By then, even if he is ranked low, he can still get an official position thanks to the financial resources of the Zhang family.

However, he did not expect that Su Ze would go in and out of brothels with his bad friends all day long, and often made wild remarks to offend other scholars, which made Zhang Chulan's father have a worse impression of him.

Zhang Chulan's little thoughts may not be understood by her previous incarnation as a crazy scholar, but Su Ze, who has lived two lives, can see it clearly.

"You won't let me in?"

Zhang Chulan raised her eyebrows, and Su Ze had to open the gate. He saw a little maid hiding behind Zhang Chulan, holding a food box in her hand. It turned out that despite scolding her, Zhang Chulan still brought him food.

The reason why my predecessor didn't starve to death despite being so lazy and gluttonous was that this childhood sweetheart fed me.

Entering the room, Zhang Chulan saw Yan Zhixue lying on the desk, and asked with bright eyes:

"Aze, have you hired a cat?"

Su Ze didn't know how to explain Yan Zhixue's origins, so he could only nod and say:
"There were too many rats at home, so I asked someone to hire one."

Zhang Chulan looked around and said:
"The mice in your house would starve to death, so how could there be a rat infestation? This cat is so cute, please don't let it die! How about that?"

"No! I hired this cat, you can hire one yourself if you want to keep it."

Su Ze flatly refused. This Rouge Snow was lost by the princess. Although the paint on its body had fallen off, it would still cause a lot of trouble if recognized by someone. Su Ze planned to keep it at home for the time being and wait until the storm died down.

Zhang Chulan pouted but didn't ask for anything. She just thought about bringing some dried fish next time, so that Su Ze wouldn't kill such a cute cat slave.

The maid placed the food box on the table, and Zhang Chulan said:
"My mother's sweet-scented osmanthus porridge is your favorite, isn't it? I asked her to make some more and put it in the upper food box. The lower box contains the roasted duck from Qionghua Tower, which is also your favorite."

Zhang Chulan took out two more books, handed them to Su Ze and said:

"This is a collection of poems by Little Fan Laozi. I heard from my father that the emperor likes Little Fan Laozi very much and he may be appointed as a prime minister in the future. If you imitate his poems, you may be able to pass the imperial examination."

Su Ze smacked his lips, thinking that this young lady thought too highly of him.

Who is Xiao Fan Laozi? He is a frequent visitor to Chinese language textbooks during compulsory education and is also one of the top literary masters of this era.

Learn his poems yourself?

Zhang Chulan added:

"There's also a book of Liu Sanbian's recent poems. Aze, you can also study it."

This time Su Ze couldn't help it, he said:
"Lady Lan asked me to learn Liu Sanbian's lyrics because she was afraid I would fail the exam?"

Zhang Chulan said quickly:
"Of course that's not what I meant. Aren't Liu Sanbian's words bad?"

Su Ze held his forehead. "Liu Sanbian," he thought, "is Liu Yong, another textbook example." "Liu Sanbian wrote well, but the emperor disliked his style. A minister once recommended him to the emperor, but the emperor said, 'Just write lyrics.' He's been on tour in distant provinces for the past few years."

Zhang Chulan said aggrievedly:

"How would I know this? My sisters all said that Liu Sanbian's lyrics were good. If you don't want to read it, I'll take it back."

Su Ze held down the two books and said:
"Keep it."

These two books are beautifully bound and are obviously not ordinary goods. If they are not sold well, they can be sold for money. Liu Yong's new collection is very popular in the brothels of Bianjing, and many courtesans are willing to pay high prices to buy it.

Zhang Chulan continued to talk about some words of encouragement. After she finished speaking, Su Ze asked:
"Do you sell seeds in your store?"

Zhang Chulan was stunned. Her family did run a grain store in the past, but it had not been sold for many years.

She said:
"My family hasn't sold grain for a long time. Aze, you want to buy vegetable seeds? You have to go to the market. If you want grain seeds, it's hard to buy them in the city."

Come to think of it, in the city of Bianliang where every inch of land was valuable, some people did find ways to grow vegetables, but forget about growing grain.

If all else fails, I can just grow some vegetables. Su Ze decided to go to the nearby market in the afternoon.

My predecessor hadn't paid attention to the changes in my childhood sweetheart's family over the years, so Su Ze asked curiously:
"What kind of business is Mr. Zhang doing now?"

Speaking of her own family, Zhang Chulan said with her hands on her hips:
"My father's business is huge now. Our Zhang family is now a royal merchant!"

Su Ze was surprised. No wonder his Uncle Zhang didn't like him very much. He didn't expect that the Zhang family's business was so big.

Zhang Chulan said:
"My family is related to Zhang Xiuyuan in the palace, which is why I was chosen as the imperial merchant by the emperor."

Hearing this, Su Ze immediately understood.

Zhang Xiuyuan, known in later generations as Concubine Zhang, was the most beloved woman of Emperor Renzong and was canonized as empress by Renzong after her death.

Overall, Zhao Zhen was worthy of the title of "Benevolent" because he was indeed an emperor with great self-control.

But perhaps because Empress Dowager Liu was in charge of the government at the beginning of his reign, and after he took power he was restricted by the powerful scholar-official class of the Song Dynasty, this Emperor Renzong was very willful only in the matter of the harem.

The Empress Guo designated by Empress Dowager Liu for Renzong was deposed shortly after Renzong took power. Then, at the insistence of his ministers, he married the divorced Empress Cao.

The reason for choosing the Cao family was naturally because the Zhending Cao family was a descendant of the founding heroes of the Song Dynasty and was one of the four major families in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Both of his queens were controlled by others, so Emperor Renzong could only pursue love from other women.

The most favored among them was Zhang Xiuyuan.

Since the Zhang family can find Zhang Xiuyuan as their backer, there is really no problem for them to become an imperial merchant.

I didn’t expect that my childhood sweetheart is actually a rich woman!
After saying this, Zhang Chulan suddenly jumped up and said:
"I told my father I was out inspecting the store. If I don't go now, it will be too late! Aze, study hard and don't hang out with your bad friends anymore!"

After saying this, Zhang Chulan rushed out of the yard in a hurry.

Su Ze's stomach growled and he couldn't wait to open the lunch box.

(End of this chapter)