Ordinary clear day

Chapter 141 Half a Year
In the 33rd year of Kangxi, late spring and March.

Shu Ning finished painting the last few peach blossoms, put down the brush, looked at her own painting, then looked up at the Zhenxia Pavilion and the forest opposite, and nodded with satisfaction.Although the brushwork is still immature, the house is the house, the pavilion is the pavilion, the flowers are the flowers, and the water is the water. There is no crooked railing or blurred colors. As a painting of a 14-year-old girl, it is worthy of everyone’s lady name.

However, this also requires comparison.Shu Ning glanced at the painting scroll next to her, opened it and took a few glances, then sighed.It was the painting that Tongying left when she came to live for a while a few days ago, and it depicted the same scene.Although he claims to be mediocre in other kinds of painting subjects except for figure painting, he has solid foundation after all. The lines, strokes and color techniques alone are not the same as her work, let alone the exhibition. She couldn't compare to the aura coming from her face.

Why can someone with such a speechless temperament be able to draw such a good painting?Shu Ning silently rolled up the scroll, threw it aside and ignored it, just admired her own work over and over again, feeling smug in her heart.

Speaking of which, in September last year, with the help of their family, Tongying successfully entered the palace to face the saint, and there was no news for a long time after that.They didn't know what happened that day until he visited Fangshan Bieyuan again a month later to retrieve the items hidden in Taoran Cave.

The emperor scolded him for being bold and reckless, but rewarded him for his act of fleeing thousands of miles to bring back important military aircraft information.But this is just a statement on the surface, and it is difficult to say it in private.The emperor rewarded him with a lot of good things, and specially sent people from the imperial hospital to take care of his body, and allowed him to continue to live a leisurely life of studying painting, but this time he changed his master. I heard that he was not only a court painter , or a Qin Tianjian facial features, named Jiao Bingzhen.

I didn't say much about the title, but later Tongying painted a few paintings that were said to be good, which aroused Long Xin's joy, and raised his title to the position of Duke Feng Enfu, but he hasn't raised it so far.

As for Prince Jian's wishful thinking of Jifu Jin, although several harem ladies were moved by her, the emperor said that the girl from the Ma Jia family (Ling Xue) was mediocre in learning and not suitable for Tongying, so she should do it separately. Get married.So that Ji Fujin had no choice but to admit his failure, and turned his mind to other powerful children.

I don't know what Tongying has done in the past six months. His relationship with his father and brother has improved.Moreover, Prince Jane and his eldest son's recent work style has gradually restrained and become more and more stable. Last month, Yaerjiang'a was praised by the emperor for his honest work and was able to return to his post.Now, facing his brother, although he is not as close as he was when he was a child, he is not as estranged as he was two years ago.

Although Tongying's situation at home is much better, but there is still a stepmother and a bunch of younger brothers in the house, and the elder brother's wife and concubine are not at peace, and there is even a "cousin" who refuses to give up, so he is entangled almost every day. When going out, sometimes I will play the sign of "Caifeng" and come to Fangshan Bieyuan for a day or two.But when he comes again, he will not live quietly in the Zhenxia Pavilion in the garden, but directly in Duanning's courtyard.At first, Tong felt that it was inappropriate, but Tong Ying reluctantly agreed after repeated persuasion.

After going back and forth, Shu Ning also got acquainted with Tong Ying. Although she was often angry with him, she considered herself an "adult" and couldn't get angry with a "little boy", so she endured it.But after getting along for a long time, she also knew that the other party was just expressing her love for others in a unique way, so gradually, she also treated him as another elder brother.

However, Tongying didn't come to Fangshan many days after all, he still had to learn painting from his teacher, and his father and brother would look for him from time to time, so most of the time, he would try to stay in the capital as much as possible.In order to accommodate this friend, Duanning shortened his stay in Fangshan and often stayed in the Earl's Mansion.Tong Shi also knew that it was impossible for her son to stay by her side all the time when she grew up, and she didn't stop her. She just sent the people around him back to the Earl's Mansion to serve him.

In fact, there is another consideration for Tong's willingness to let go.Their family has to observe filial piety, which is said to be three years, but in fact it is only 27 months, and it will be fully obedient by October this year.Duanning was nearly nineteen years old by then, and it was almost time for him to become an official.Although according to Duanning's meaning, he hoped to become an official through the imperial examination like his father Zhang Bao did, but according to their family background, this is not necessary.Tong didn't know when the imperial court would have an Enke, but now the subject is not in the turn, and it will take too long to wait for the next one, so it's better to simply win the favor.While Duanning was in contact with Tongying, he also often made friends with the children of the rich and powerful, maybe when he would get a chance?
In the end, it really made Tong's wish come true.When Duanning and Tong Ying went to Zongxue to visit the past professors, they met the emperor who "visited privately in micro-service".Although there were not many people present, but the word spread, everyone said that the Fourth Young Master of the Earl's Mansion was outstanding in character and learning, and would be promising in the future.

Of course, this situation will inevitably lead to another situation, that is, more people come to propose marriage.The daughters of these families are almost all unselected show girls, unable to match the real nobles, so they focus on the promising children of various noble families.

Tong's family doesn't like these people.It's not that she is so partial to Zhenzhen who is still in Guangzhou, but that the daughters of these families are all unsatisfactory.Failure to be selected in the draft means that either the appearance is mediocre, or there are some defects or diseases in the body, or the character is not good, and the person is vulgar.Let’s look at the wives married by the three cousins ​​of Duanning. The Li family is pretty good, but their looks are not outstanding; She is a beautiful woman with a decent family background, but she is notoriously savage and willful.

Having such an excellent son as Duanning is the most proud thing in Tong's life. How could she allow such an excellent son to marry a mediocre wife to go home?Therefore, Zhenzhen became the top choice.

Moreover, a letter came from Guangzhou last month, saying that General Wu Dan's three-year term will expire this summer and he will return to Beijing to report on his duties.At that time, the whole family will come back together.Tong Shi had already made up her mind to take this opportunity to settle the marriage between Duanning and Zhenzhen.

In a letter written by Mrs. Wen last fall, she vaguely mentioned that Jiang Youliang, the governor of Guangdong at the time, had a son who was about the same age as Chongli, who seemed to have a good impression of Zhenzhen.This news made Ms. Tong very nervous, but at the end of last year, Jiang Youliang was dismissed for committing a crime and the whole family left Guangzhou. Ms. Tong was relieved, and secretly decided that the engagement should be made as soon as possible to avoid long nights and dreams.

Let's talk about the other family members.

Zhang Bao is now over 40 years old, and he is living a comfortable life, so he has gained weight, but with his goatee, it adds a bit of majesty, and he is more and more able to control the scene.

Tong's age is nearly forty, but with proper maintenance, she still looks like 32 or [-] years old, with a rounder chin, which is a bit different from her husband, but she gives people a more amiable impression.

As for Mrs. Liu, she is always smiling and smiling all day long. I don't know if it is because she has gotten fat after being with Zhang Bao and Mrs. Tong for a long time, so she often visits other yards or even other people's homes to increase the amount of exercise.

Xianning has started to study "The Analects of Confucius" formally now, but he is out of temper and always can't settle down to read the book, which makes Mr. Yang very headache.Seeing that he was more interested in learning martial arts, Zhang Bao asked Master Cheng Kun to teach him more riding and shooting.Duanning also gave him all the military books he had read, and even took him to see Ji Yuanzhou, an expert next to Tongying, from time to time, and asked him to give him some advice—of course, it was just the basics.

Xiaobao is much calmer, and he is also very attentive in his homework.Mr. Yang puts most of his energy on him now, and the effect of teaching is quite obvious.Xiaobao has now read half of "The Analects of Confucius" and started to learn how to solve the problems.On the other hand, he has also made great progress in riding and shooting, and his small body is getting stronger and stronger. Compared with the bean sprouts when he first came to their house, it is completely different.

As for our Shu Ning, of course there have been many changes.She has always insisted on drinking goat milk, and she takes a walk in the garden every day, rides a horse, shoots an arrow, and goes out from time to time. In just half a year, her height has increased a lot.According to calculations, she should be about 1.6 meters now, which has already caught up with her height before crossing.Sometimes she can't help but laugh secretly, she is already 14 meters at the age of 1.6, so it is possible for her to grow to 1.7 meters in this life?

The growth of age and height also means that another stage that women must go through has begun.After a lapse of more than ten years, she faced the monthly pain again. Although she found it troublesome, she dealt with it calmly.Su Xin felt very surprised, her girl didn't panic at all at that time, she calmly told her what happened and asked her to prepare the necessities.She mentioned it to Dongqing privately afterwards, and she couldn't help admiring it.

Shuning didn't take her admiration seriously, so why panic?It's not that I haven't experienced it.But at the beginning, she thought those cloth bags and plant ashes were awkward, and she often missed modern hygiene products.But after using it a lot, she gradually got used to it.At least, these things are much more environmentally friendly than modern supplies.

To say that what satisfied her the most was probably the good hair and skin quality now.Her hair is Sui Tong's, black, voluminous and shiny, and soft and easy to manage.As for the skin, she finally knew what it meant to have firm skin and rosy skin, and the most rare thing was that she didn't have a single pimple.Although she knew that the skin of a girl of this age was mostly moist and tender, she still couldn't help being smug.

With her current appearance, even if she is not as beautiful as Wanning, she is still a delicate little flower!If it is in modern times, even if it is not high enough to be a school flower, the class flower can always be regarded as a class flower, right?

Tong also noticed that her daughter looks better as she gets older, and she has received more and more "feminine appearance" training, covering everything from makeup and hair combing to clothing and accessories. Recently, even the color matching of clothes and what to wear in different seasons Jewelry has begun to teach.Although Shuning sometimes doesn't like certain makeup "skills" taught by her mother, and she also finds it troublesome to comb certain hairstyles, but she likes the jewelry that her mother gives her from time to time.That is genuine ancient jewelry!Not to mention their actual value, just the exquisite craftsmanship makes people love it.Even if she doesn't need many of them now, just looking at them makes her feel happy, doesn't she?
Of course, apart from the external changes, Shu Ning has also improved a lot in terms of talent cultivation.Now, she has learned some of the four things of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Although except calligraphy is not bad, the other three are mediocre, but at any rate she can barely handle it.

======================== I am going back to the dividing line at the beginning of this chapter ===================== ====
Shuning drew for a while longer, and seeing that it was getting late, she packed up her things.Tang Yuaner from the upper room came to invite her, saying that Mrs. Tong let her go, so she handed over the rest of the work to Dongqing, and followed Tang Yuaner back to the courtyard.

When Tong saw her daughter, she happily called her over, saying: "I just received a letter from Zhou's family. Your Aunt Zhou and Sister Zhou will leave for Beijing tomorrow and will spend the night with us. I think it will be another seven or eight days." Today is the old man's memorial day, why not simply go with them, so that there will be someone to take care of you on the way."

Shu Ning was very happy. The last time she saw Zhou Yinlan was more than a month ago, but she had some doubts: "Although the weather is much warmer now, there will still be some cold wind from time to time. Aunt Zhou's health has not recovered yet. Right? Such a long journey, can you bear it? Also, the imperial examination has just ended, so Uncle Zhou must be busy in the yamen, right? Why don’t you come to Beijing again in a few days?”

Tong said: "Your Uncle Zhou will stay in Baoding for the time being, and you will ask for leave later. Your Aunt Zhou, mother and daughter went to Beijing for your sister Zhou's marriage. The son of the Fan family, I heard that Jinke High School is a second-year student. Jia Chuanlu has been selected to be edited by the Imperial Academy. The Fan family intends to let him get married before he officially takes office. Both big and small will be admitted to the imperial examination, so as to get a double happiness. Although your sister Zhou is reluctant to part with her parents, you Zhou Auntie feels that her health is not bad, and she wants to deal with her daughter's major affairs first, so as to avoid any further twists and turns."

It turned out that Mrs. Zhou's family had been ill since she went to Baoding with her husband. At first, she thought it was a small cold, or she was not acclimatized, but she didn't take it seriously. In winter, it got worse, and people even passed out.Zhou's family panicked, guessing that the doctor was useless, so they hired a famous doctor from Beijing at a high price, only to diagnose that Mrs. Zhou had a heart disease. drawn out.

The disease was intractable, and the previous doctor was incapable, which delayed the opportunity. The doctor could only take medicine to hold off the disease, but hinted that the Zhou family might not be able to survive the winter.Zhou's father and daughter were distraught.Zhang Bao and Mrs. Tong heard about it, and took their children to Baoding to visit several times. Mrs. Tong even brought a century-old ginseng from her family's collection there.

It may be that Zhou Wenshan is a good person on weekdays, so good people get rewarded.There was a local Juren with a large family but no means of livelihood. His family was poor and unable to go to Beijing to take the exam. Zhou Wenshan kindly helped him with some money so that he could take the whole family through the winter, and he had some money left over for travel expenses and other expenses. Accommodation fees.The Juren knew that Mrs. Zhou was seriously ill, so he specially invited a Taoist priest he knew to treat her.

The Taoist priest turned out to be a famous doctor, and he had practiced medicine for generations before he became a monk.There is an ancestral prescription in his family, but it is specially used to cure heart disease.He said that Mrs. Zhou's symptoms were discovered early, and she could barely control them. She should be able to last seven or eight years if she rested carefully in the future, but it was impossible to completely cure them.Knowing that Mrs. Zhou's life was saved for the time being, the Zhou family was overjoyed, so what more could there be?

Mrs. Zhou has improved greatly now, but she is not too tired.Therefore, Shu Ning concluded that she had to walk slowly on this journey, maybe it would take two days to reach the other courtyard.

Sure enough, one evening later, the Zhou family's carriage stopped at the gate of the other courtyard.

(A very trivial chapter... In other words, I recently found that there are more and more bugs in me, so I have to comfort myself, I wrote in vain, and then I wailed with my hair~~~)

(End of this chapter)