The third master's words not only shocked Shen Qin, but also Shen Rui was a little confused.
Accepting a nephew as a student? Why did the third master come? You must know that Shen Qin's qualifications are only mediocre among the Shen family members.
Although Shen Bao was surprised, he reacted quickly. He tugged on Shen Qin's back and whispered: "Second brother Qin, why don't you thank third uncle quickly?"
"Ah?" Shen Qinfang woke up and said with excitement: "Uncle Run, nephew...nephew..."
The third master smiled and patted his shoulder and said: "But it's agreed, third uncle, my energy is limited, and the time I can teach you is only a year and a half. When Brother Bao returns to his hometown, you will go back with him. That's it. If you are determined to take the imperial examination, you must not be tempted to take the exam, it is the most fundamental thing to pass the first grade of the boy's exam."
Shen Qin nodded hurriedly, looking at the third master with bright eyes and a grateful face.
Before he came out, his parents had taught him to be a guest and not to have any thoughts. Because he was not surprised that he was not destined to have an heir, but it was an unexpected joy that the third master was willing to accept him as his student.
He knew that he was probably in Shen Bao's favor. The student that the third master really wanted to accept was Shen Bao, but Shen Bao already had a teacher.
No matter what, Shen Qin was overjoyed to be able to stay in the capital with Shen Bao and have an uncle as a teacher.
Everyone was a little groggy due to the "magic stroke" of the third master, but they immediately became more energetic.
The sound of firecrackers coming from all directions outside is getting louder and louder, and midnight is approaching.
Mr. Xu, his second wife, and his third wife came over from the west. The gentlemen and their wives took their seats again.
When the child's hour passed, some maids put down brocade mats on the ground. Starting from the eldest Shen Zhu, the five sons of the Shen family kowtowed to their elders one by one and paid their respects to their elders.
Several gentlemen and ladies here have already prepared purses containing gold and silver coins to distribute to everyone as lucky money.
Everyone is one year older, and the elders often say some words of encouragement. Even the second wife, although her eyes are a little red, she also has a loving expression towards her nephews.
This is the end of staying up late on New Year's Eve.
Here, the third master, being watched by the eldest master and the eldest wife, wrapped himself in a thick hooded mink cloak and went back hand in hand with the third wife; the second master and his wife also joined the eldest master and the Xu family after their maids sent away the young men. Say goodbye.
Since coming to Daming, Shen Rui has always gone to bed early and gotten up early. Except for the night before Sun's funeral, he felt sleepy before staying up so late.
Seeing Hao's mother bringing Dong Xi and Liu Ya waiting for him, her eyelids were trembling, Shen Rui returned to the guest house and sent them to rest.
The room was lit with candles, and Shen Rui was lying on the kang in his middle coat, but he couldn't sleep.
The third master left Shen Bao and wanted to take over Shen Qin. It seemed that he was trying to win over the seventh and eighth houses of the Shen family.
Why does it have to be so complicated?
With the eldest master and the second master here, what does it matter whether there are any favors from the Matsue family?
In addition to the elders of the clan in the seventh and eighth rooms of the Shen family, the younger brothers in the second and third rooms are studying constantly and have promising career prospects, so others dare not look down upon them.
But compared to the Shen family's two, seven, and eight bedrooms, it's nothing.
According to Erfang's early style, wouldn't it be better to involve as few relationships among the same clan as possible? Now, not only are heirs required, but also disciples, and more and more clan leaders are involved.
Even though the third master speaks a little straightforwardly, he is definitely not a fool, and there must be a purpose in his actions.
Is it for...the way of balance?
Shen Rui thought of this inexplicably, trembled, and sat up all of a sudden.
I heard footsteps coming from the yard, and someone asked through the doorway, "Has Brother Rui rested?"
It was Chen Zhu's voice.
Shen Rui frowned, stood up, pulled on his shoes, put on some clothes, walked to the door and opened the door and said, "Brother Zhujiu, why are you here at this time?"
Shen Zhu didn't bring anyone with her. She was holding a lantern in her hand. There were some snowflakes on her cloak. She smiled and said, "I'm disturbing Brother Rui."
In the wing room, when they heard some movement outside, someone held a lamp. Seeing this, Shen Rui raised his voice and said, "Brother Zhujiu is here. You can rest on your own. There is no need to come over."
Someone in the wing responded and turned on the light again.
The night wind blew and snowflakes hit his face. Shen Rui shuddered and hurriedly moved Shen Zhu into the house.
The water in the teapot was still warm, so Shen Rui mixed half the pot of hot water, poured a cup each for himself and Shen Zhu, and invited Shen Zhu to sit on the Kang.
Chen Zhu put out the lantern, flicked the snowflakes on her body, took off the fox fur cloak she was wearing, put it aside, and sat down on the kang.
Shen Zhu held the tea cup, took a few mouthfuls, and said, "The snow is getting heavier and heavier, and even the tops of my feet are gone... This is the first time I've seen such heavy snow..."
"Auspicious snow heralds a good year," Shen Rui said with a smile: "I only saw it in books earlier, but now it's not true."
The North Zhili region has always suffered from drought nine times out of ten, and unlike the south of the Yangtze River where there are many waterways and heavy snowfall, it is always good for people's livelihood.
"The stewards from each family who came to greet the elders of the second house and give gifts should be here soon." Shen Zhu said thoughtfully.
Shen Rui calculated the distance in his mind. Those people who took the land route would not be much slower than them. How could they reach the capital before the fifteenth day? He nodded and said: "After all, it has the name of giving gifts, so it should be in time for the first lunar month." Fifteen years ago.”
Shen Zhu stroked the cup and whispered: "Brother Qin and Brother Bao will stay in the capital after being invited by Uncle Run. If you and I, brothers who were not invited, should go back with the housekeeper when he comes... "
When Shen Rui heard this, he thought of offering sacrifices to Mr. Sun.
I don’t know when Mrs. Xu and the elder will arrange for him to pay homage to Mr. Sun.
Regarding his own grandfather, Shen Rui didn't feel any affection for him when he thought of him. Instead, he always felt a vague sense of disharmony.
Mr. Sun couldn't have jumped out of a crack in the stone. How come not even a single member of the Sun family has heard of it, and even left the funeral affairs to his friend, Mr. Third? Are the father's family, the mother's family, and the wife's family all dead?
Not to mention the ancients, even people five hundred years later are all about "returning the leaves to their roots". Since Mr. Sun was from Wenzhou Prefecture, why did he place the blessed land in the capital?
Shen Zhu kept Shen Rui silent and did not answer, thinking that he was also worried, and said: "Can you tell me when will Brother Rui pay homage to my grandfather?"
Shen Rui shook his head and said: "It's hard to talk about this on New Year's Day."
Shen Zhu hesitated for a moment: "Brother Quan San and Brother Jue will come over tomorrow to pay New Year's greetings, right?"
"That's natural. The uncles and uncles in the second house are all elders, so the brothers naturally want to come first to pay New Year's greetings." Shen Rui said.
In this way, the clan brothers can save a lot of trouble. They don't need to go to the clan brothers' homes anymore. As for Shen Rui, they only need to pay New Year's greetings to Wang Shouren's family. As for Shen Li, the eldest brother of the clan With the eldest brother in the fifth house, it is inevitable to go there with the clan brothers for a small gathering, but the specific time depends on the arrangements of each family.
Several clan brothers mentioned this before leaving the day before yesterday. As for Shen Li, they originally said they wanted to take Shen Rui over, but then they changed their words for some unknown reason and said that they would wait for him to pay homage to Mr. Sun before he could go there for a while. .
Shen Zhu felt a little uncomfortable when he heard this and laughed at himself: "My second cousin is also in the capital. I'm afraid he doesn't even know where the gate of the Vice Minister's Mansion opens."
Shen Rui didn't answer. He was also surprised. He had heard Shen Jue mentioning the clan members in Beijing not only the clan brothers who came the day before yesterday, but also Shen Ling from the third room. However, no one mentioned it when he arrived in the capital.
But think about it, the second brother has contacts with the clan, and the elder brother of the clan is an errand in the Sixth Department, so it makes sense that he has contacts with the second brother. Shen Li is in the Hanlin Academy, and he and the second master are in the same yamen, so there is no reason for them to be strangers.
Even if the fifth brother had no contact with the second brother before, it was understandable that he started to interact with the second brother because of Shen Li's relationship.
On the contrary, Sanfang, even when he arrived in the capital, was still doing business. Capital and Songjiang were different after all. In Songjiang, Sanfang was able to expand his business with the support of the Shen family, but when he arrived in the capital, it could only be regarded as a small business.
Even if they wanted to rely on the second house earlier, there was no way, so they must have found another place to stay.
Seeing Shen Rui being so dull, Shen Zhu was a little bored. She thought of something and said, "Uncle Yuan accepted the betrothal gift years ago. I wonder when the wedding is scheduled? When we go back, I wonder if we can make it in time?"
Shen Rui thought of Miss Sun who was gone, Miss Zheng who was gone, and Third Sister Zhang and Fourth Sister who were sold. She had no ill feelings toward Xiao He who was about to come in. He just felt that another flower had cow dung in it.
It is also interesting that Shen Zhu wants to have the words "want to stay" engraved on her face, but she keeps mentioning the matter of returning to Songjiang.
Shen Rui then smiled and said: "It's cold in February, and there aren't many people holding weddings. The fastest it will be in March... If we leave Beijing after the Lantern Festival, we should still have time to catch up..."
Shen Zhu felt that Shen Rui was smiling heartlessly and frowned: "Why isn't brother Rui worried when stepmother comes in?"
Shen Ruiyi was innocent and naive: "What are you worried about? The uncle of the clan is acting as a matchmaker, and he is talking about the cousin of the uncle of the clan, not someone else.
Shen Zhu hated the iron and said: "If there were kind stepmothers in this world, the second wife would not have caused a human tragedy back then. You are the legitimate son of Uncle Yuan's wife, even if there is Brother Jin in front of you. But he has grown up, and there are How can it be easy to scheme with fame and fame? When your stepmother comes in, the first thing she won't tolerate is if you marry a girl with a foreign surname. Forget it, Brother Rui has been wronged and can still ask for protection from the elders of the clan, but since your stepmother is the clan member The eldest master’s aunt, if others care about the clan, who will stand up for you?”
Shen Rui somewhat understood Shen Zhu's intention, his face became pale, and he lowered his eyelids and said: "A stepmother is also a mother. As a son, filial piety must be the first priority."
Shen Zhu shook her head: "I usually think you are smart, but you are so clueless? Since Aunt Cang has a deep relationship with Aunt Yuan, and you have arrived in the capital, aren't you just asking for Aunt Cang's pity? You, and Brother Bao , Brother Qin is a good student. It is a good thing to follow the rules in front of your elders, but you must also learn to be likeable."
In Shen Zhu's opinion, there is a high probability that Shen Rui will adopt the eldest son's second wife, but for some reason the eldest man and his wife never tell Shen Ruiming. Shen Zhu is willing to take a trick and sell it to Shen Rui. Okay, be a good brother.
It doesn't matter if Shen Rui is the eldest child. There is an order of birth and birth. He is older than Shen Rui. When he becomes the second child, he will also be Shen Rui's cousin. He already has the reputation of being a scholar, and will be one step ahead of Shen Rui in his official career in the future. From now on, the second and third generation of the Shen family, who will be the head of the family? I really can’t say
Thinking of this, Shen Zhu was a little happy and a little uneasy.
What makes me happy is that the candidates for heir are finally short of Shen Bao and Shen Qin. What makes me uneasy is that Shen Quan and Shen Jue will be back tomorrow. I wonder if there will be any changes.
Judging from tonight's New Year's Eve dinner, the second master is very kind to him. He often chats with him when he is young, but he is not warm to other people.