Zhang Yue couldn't help but be a little confused about the identity of the other party. If the other party was the old party boss in history, he would have already become an official at this moment, but how could the servant call him a scholar?
If it weren't for the fact that Sima Twelve in the signature looked like the opponent's ranking in history, Zhang Yue would not have looked at the opponent as an official. He had no official air at all, and had the arrogance of a scholar.
But Zhang Yue couldn't help but ask: "Is my father-in-law an official?"
But seeing that Sima Twelve and the merchant were both smiling, the other side smiled and said: "Master Sanlang, why are you asking this?"
Even the businessman on the side laughed and said: "I have known Mr. Sima for many years, but I never knew he was an official."
Zhang Yue thought to himself, "That's not right. The other party is Sima Twelve and also called Jun Shi, so why not?"
Seeing Zhang Yue's doubts, he even said to the servant at the side: "Sanlang Jun has misunderstood. My gentleman is a scholar and has never been an official."
Zhang Yue saw that the servant's honest face did not look like a liar, and he wondered if he might have made a mistake.
Zhang Yue thought to himself that it was possible that the other party did not want the merchants and himself to know that he was hiding his identity, but there was no need to hide it even from his own servants.
What's more, the other party is a famous honest person in history. He has a famous saying that "the main thing is to be sincere and not to deceive." He should not lie to himself.
But Zhang Yue had no intention of exploring the identity of the other party. Taking money and leaving was the only way to go. There was no need to not accept money from him just because of who the other party was.
Otherwise, where will the money come from to buy pens and ink? Are you going to burn Zhu Yuan for corruption in the future? Now in Bianjing, you have to spend money everywhere. Even if the officials of the Song Dynasty come to buy their own seals, they still have to pay!
I just agreed not to add more money, which was a great honor.
“I see, I asked too much.”
The other party also laughed and said: "Is there any official who can't afford to wear silk clothes? I am really just a commoner."
Zhang Yue asked Sima Twelve: "I am not as skilled at engraving with a knife as the seal maker. I wonder why my father-in-law has such a favor?"
Sima Twelve said: "Although Sanlang's carving techniques are not as skillful as those of the craftsmen, it is because he has no real knowledge and only does it with intention, so he has no craftsmanship."
"Although the craftsmen's carvings are upright, they lack morale. Saburo's carving method is simple and ancient, and has the charm of Han seals. It is not about the shape, but the emphasis on the seal script and poetry in the heart. I just observed your
Seal script, it is known that based on this, no one in this world or in the future will be better than you."
Having said this, Sima Twelve somewhat blamed himself and said: "I say this as if I am asking for your seal, so I am willing to give you a generous amount of money. Sanlang hopes not to take it to the bottom of his heart, just pretend that I did not say these words."
Zhang Yue nodded, this man could be said to be sincere.
The other party's argument is somewhat similar to Dong Qichang's theory of the Northern and Southern Schools. This theory states that the painting by literati is different from the painting by craftsmen, although the skills are not as good as the artistic conception.
Is there such a saying in seal cutting?
"I just saw that Sanlang's seal script and seal cutting are different, and it seems that there is something that has not yet arrived." Sima Twelve suddenly said.
Zhang Yue said: "However, my father-in-law has a keen eye. Sanlang's seal script is a seal script and seal cutting is a seal cutting. It is difficult for the two to be the same. I only hope that practice will make me perfect in the future, so that the seal cutting will be successful."
“Practice makes perfect,” Sima Twelve asked, stroking his beard and tasting it. “This is quite new. I wonder where it comes from?”
Zhang Yue thought that this word did not exist at this time, so he said: "It probably comes from Ouyang Gong's "The Oil Seller", and Zi Wei is familiar with it."
Sima Twelve looked pleased when he heard this and said: "So that's it. The one who exerts more force will get farther, so it's said that practice makes perfect. It's really a good word."
Sima Twelve picked up the pen and jotted it down on a small note he brought with him.
Zhang Yue said curiously: "My father-in-law is no longer confused, but he is so eager to learn!"
Sima Twelve put the small note he had memorized close to his body, and then said: "I am slow to read as I get older, and my memory is not good. Only hard work can make up for my slowness. Yes, listen to Sanlang's accent, does it sound like a Wu person?"
Zhang Yue said: "People in Xia Pucheng, but the local accent sounds like Wu Yue, and others often mistake me for a Wu person."
“Sanlang is from Fujian.” Sima Twelve nodded.
Zhang Yue looked at Sima Twelve's face and said, "Twelve feet long, what do you think of the Fujian people?"
The other party hesitated for a moment, and then said: "I dare not hide it. It seems that many of the Fujian people I have known in my life are cunning people. To tell the truth, it would be the same for other people."
Zhang Yue was unhappy after hearing this. This man seemed gentle and well-educated, but he was actually a regional black man?
I hate it most when the area is black, especially when I am black.
Zhang Yue said calmly: "I've invited you for twelve feet. The engraving will be delivered to you in three days. You need to deposit three guans first!"
"You are not barking randomly..." The other servant was about to speak, but Sima Twelve stopped him.
He said: "Okay, just take the money."
The servant took out the money from his purse and put it together and said, "You are a scholar, but you are short!"
The businessman smiled and said: "If it's short, it's short. Mr. Junshi is our regular customer. Can't you rest assured?"
Zhang Yue said calmly: "I met Sima Twelve for the first time. If you don't see the seal after three days, don't blame me."
The businessman heard this and said, "Sanlang, please be accommodating."
The servant said: "You are just a talented scholar. It's just a seal. We don't want to buy it. This guy is so young that he can't tolerate others at all."
Sima Twelve said: "Don't be rude. Sanlang's move is also reasonable. This chapter was given to a close relative by me. He happened to like this gold and stone thing and would leave the capital in a few days, so the three-day period was set.
"
“I wonder if I can ask Sanlang to wait here. I live very close to here. I just need to go home and get some money to make up for it. If you still refuse, I won’t force you anymore.”
Zhang Yue had no intention of causing trouble and lost a big customer. The merchants here also have him to blame, but he was just venting the black evil breath of hell.
So Zhang Yue said: "That's all. I'll accept the money first, and I'll collect the seal in three days."
Sima Twelve said: "Thank you very much, Sanlang."
After saying this, Yue collected the money, raised his hand and said goodbye and left.
Zhang Yue left the house and wandered around Zishengmen. He bought a valuable ancient book and some apprenticeship gifts. Along with the pen and ink he bought during the day, he immediately packed them up neatly and headed to Chen Xiang's house.
.
Chen Xiang is now Dr. Taichang, the school manager of the Secret Pavilion, and the judge of the affairs of the Shangshu Temple.
Dr. Taichang was a stipend official, the thirtieth rank of civil servants who was born as a Jinshi, two ranks higher than Zhang Heng, who was appointed as the craftsman supervisor at the beginning of the imperial examination.
And the Secretariat School Manager is a post, and the post represents the literary high school selection.
There is a bachelor's degree in the post office, which is the best. For example, the bachelor's degree in Guanwen Palace is exclusive to the prime minister.
The next level is the bachelor of the various pavilions.
The third level is the post of the Secret Pavilion of the Three Pavilions, and the School Manager of the Secret Pavilion is the last post of the Secret Pavilion of the Three Pavilions. The salary is that you can receive ten guan of post office money every month.
However, with a post, you can jump up the ranks and transfer to another official in terms of promotion.
For example, Chen Xiang's current salary official is Dr. Taichang, and based on his background as a Jinshi, he would be promoted to the rank of Yuanwai Lang.
However, if you hold the post of leader, you can be promoted directly to the ancestral minister, wailang.
And if the officialdom is punished, he will be a member of the Ministry of Water, and generally speaking, the official position will end here. As for those with mixed backgrounds (non-Jinshi, from the government department) who are members of the Ministry of Food, and those who are from Enyin and are members of the Ministry of Yu, they must
Promotion is also much slower than that of officials with Jinshi background.
The last step is to send out orders and judge the affairs of the Shangshu Temple.
There are officials such as Langzhong and Yuanwailang in the ancestral temple department, but these are all officials who send salary and do not actually serve in the ancestral hall department.
As for the affairs of the temple department, Chen Xiang, a doctor of Taichang, was the one to ‘judge the department’.
This shows how miserable the official position of the Song Dynasty was.
It is a leisurely difference between the ancestral tribute. On weekdays, the ancestral sacrifice is on the day of vacation.
Historically speaking, when Su Shi was Dr. Taichang, he was sent to Beijing as a supervisor to sue the Court and also to judge the Shangshu Ancestral Department. In other words, as Dr. Taichang, Su Shi served as an errand in the Official Sui Yuan here and as an errand at the Ancestral Temple Department there.
Zhang Yue brought the gift to Chen Xiang's house.
Although a Beijing official of Chen Xiang's level is given a monthly allowance of ten guan as a subsidy, it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the housing and commodity prices in Bianjing.
So Chen Xiang also lives in a "public rental housing".
Public rental housing is under the management of the inn housekeeper, like Chen Xiang's mansion, which costs only three to five hundred yuan a month. If the house is broken down on weekdays, the inn housekeeper's wing shop house repair director will send someone to repair it, and every month the money-grabbing marriage officer will come to the door.
Collect rent in one trip.
If you rent a private house instead, the same house will cost at least five or six times the price.
Such public rental housing was also used by the emperors of the Song Dynasty to accommodate the "migrant workers" who came to Bianjing. If you can't even afford the public rental housing for shopkeepers and housekeepers, it doesn't matter. There is also Futian Court, which does not charge a penny and is specially designed to accommodate the lonely elderly.
Or orphan.
By the time of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, similar social relief systems were further expanded, and official education was further popularized in prefectures and counties.
Zhang Yue knocked on the door and entered.
Chen Mansion is very small, with a small courtyard at the entrance, a living room after that, and three rooms after that.
When Zhang Yue arrived with gifts, Chen Xiang was having dinner with his family in the hall.
Chen Xiang put down the bowl and came to see Zhang Yue. After being greeted by Zhang Yue, Zhang Yue presented Ouyang Xiu's letter as a gift. Chen Xiang looked Zhang Yue up and down, then nodded and asked, "I'm sorry, my family is a little early for dinner.
Sit down together and use some."
Chapter Yue saw that the food was very simple, just three dishes and one soup, and he had already eaten nearly half of it, so he said, "The student just had some snacks."
Chen Xiang smiled and said, "Sit down and don't look outside."
Speaking, he asked the old servant to serve Zhang Yue some rice, and Zhang Yue also brought the bowl to the table.
Zhang Yue Jiancai was just eating rice.
Seeing this, Chen Xiang put a fish in Zhang Yue's bowl and asked, "When you came to the house, why did you just deliver the letter and then leave?"
Zhang Yue said: "Mr. Gu Ling is busy with political affairs, so students don't dare to disturb him too much."
Chen Xiang said: "I have been an official in Pucheng for several years, and you and I are both from Fujian. You really shouldn't be so polite to me."
“Yes, sir. I heard from Mr. Hu from the county school that Mr. Gu Ling wrote to me asking about my homework?”
Chen Xiang said: "Indeed."
Zhang Yue said nothing and continued to take big mouthfuls of rice with his chopsticks.
Chen Xiang thought when he saw this, he is actually an honest person.
Zhang Yue finished his meal, scooped out a bowl of clear soup and poured it into his stomach together with the remaining rice, not even a grain of rice was left.
Chen Xiang saw it in his eyes, nodded and said, "Let me test your homework."
After asking some questions, Chen Xiang said: "Your Confucian classics are very solid. Since you want to learn poetry from me, I will also share with you my experience."
Zhang Yue immediately looked like he was listening attentively.
“When I first learned poetry, I just wanted to master the words and expressions. When I reached my middle age, I began to have little understanding of it. I gradually got a glimpse of its grandeur, and I had some proud poems.”
"The poems of Li Taibai and Du Gongbu are like the Master's wall, which has several walls and cannot be entered without the door. It is hopeless and beyond reach. The poems of Bai Letian and Yuan Zhen can be glimpsed by the door."
“Poetry is one of the six arts and should not be trivial. Therefore, if you want to learn poetry, you must first familiarize yourself with the poems of the Wei, Jin, Han and Tang Dynasties, and memorize them one by one until you are thoroughly familiar with them. However, no matter how familiar you are with memorizing, you will not be able to reach the level of the ancients.”
Speaking of this, Chen Xiang said about his collection of poems: "You have already read the poems of the Tang Dynasty. These books are all written by recent people. Although they are not as good as those of the Tang Dynasty, you might as well have a few good works. Once you have memorized them,
Come back here next month on the first day of the new year, and I will teach you how to compose poetry."
Zhang Yue accepted the book, stood up and said, "Thank you, sir."
Chen Xiang said: "Take these gifts back, I don't need them here."
Zhang Yue said: "How can this mean that the saint teaches his disciples to take the bundle and practice it? This is the courtesy that disciples should have."
After declining for a while, Chen Xiang only accepted the apprenticeship ceremony and asked Zhang Yue to take the rest of the ancient books and pens back.
Chen Xiang smiled and said: "My hall here can only rotate horses, and the vegetables are only in season. Doesn't Sanlang think that I, a sixth-rank official, are a bit shabby?"
Zhang Yue said: "Sir, you are so diligent and thrifty, how can you say that you are shabby?"
Chen Xiang said: "My ancestor lived in Guling in his previous life, and later moved to Taxiang. He was a young orphan just like you. He was able to pass the Jinshi examination and become an official. It was all thanks to the elders in the clan who raised and cared for me with his elder brothers and lived frugally to provide for me. Reading made me what I am today."
"Now that I am an official, I spend most of my salary to go back to my hometown to support my brothers and elders. As for daily expenses, it is enough for food and clothing. So it is not that I am frugal, but I am just repaying the kindness."
Zhang Yue said: "The kindness of a drop of water is repaid by a spring of water, not to mention the kindness of nurturing. I really envy you, sir, to have such relatives and brothers."
Chen Xiang glanced at Zhang Yue and chanted: "The two sons are riding in the boat and looking at the scenery. I would like to express my thoughts and thoughts about my son, and nourish them with my heart."
"The two sons took a boat and passed away. I would like to say that I think about my son, without any flaws or harm."
What Chen Xiang said comes from The Book of Songs, The Second Son Riding a Boat.
It is said that the two brothers left in a boat, and the family members reluctantly said goodbye.
After Zhang Yue listened to Chen Xiang's chant, he couldn't help but think of the scene when his brother bid farewell to him in Xianxia Ridge.
“When I said goodbye to my hometown and went to Beijing to take the exam, I went upstream along the Min River. At that time, the elders of my clan bid farewell by the river. I will never forget this scene for the rest of my life.”
Chen Xiang's eyes were a little moist, as if he was remembering the past.
Zhang Yue said: "Thank you very much, sir. Apart from my brother and sister-in-law, there is no one else in Sanlang's family who can repay my kindness. I am very touched to hear this from my husband."
Chen Xiang said to Zhang Yue: "Well, when it comes to poetry, there is a difference between a gentleman and a villain. The villain's poems and prose are carved with seals, seals, seals, and verses in order to please people's ears and eyes. What's more, there are those who have friends who are traitors and hypocrites." "Those who are good in appearance are harmful to good people, and those who speak out need not be virtuous. Therefore, the world is corrupt and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be."
"However, a gentleman's poems and essays are based on the performance of achievements and achievements, and the rest are articles. Therefore, the poems of emperors and generals in ancient times did not intend to be essays but they were able to work on their own. But if there is no practice, a gentleman should write with virtue first and essays first. To supplement it, I occasionally feel something, and when the emotion comes, the writing comes."
Zhang Yue understood that Chen Xiang was not talking to himself about the principles of life by talking about poetry.
He bowed and said: "Everything you said, sir, is full of wisdom and wisdom. The student has memorized it."
After saying this, Zhang Yue said goodbye and left.
Chen Xiang's old servant carried a lantern and sent Zhang Yue to the door. It was already dark by this time. Zhang Yue turned around and saluted again in the hall, and then left Chen Xiang's house.
Zhang Yue originally thought that Chen Xiang would mention Zhang Dun in front of him today, but he did not expect that the other party would not say a word.
But thinking about it, the Sima Twelve and Chen Xiang he met today left a deep impression on him.
Zhang Yue returned to Taixue. Before he entered the Zhaishe, he saw Huang Haoyi wandering in front of the Zhaishe. As soon as he saw Zhang Yue, he immediately came up to him and said, "Sanlang, no matter what, you must help me."
Zhang Yue frowned and said, "What's the matter?"
Huang Haoyi would never stay overnight in Taixue on New Year's Day. How could he be in Taixue today? This must be a big deal.
Seeing Huang Haoyi's eyes about to shed tears, Zhang Yue said: "Are you going to borrow money from me again?"
Huang Haoyi was stunned, and then said: "Sanlang, do you already know?"
Zhang Yuexin said, is there any need to say this?
Huang Haoyi often borrows money from himself on a daily basis, but although he borrows money, he has one good thing: he always pays back the money he borrows, and never defaults on the debt.
But Huang Haoyi's frequent borrowing of money also gave Zhang Yue a headache. Why are you so short of money?
Zhang Yue said: “How much more will we borrow this time?”
Zhang Yue has a net worth of more than ten thousand yuan after these days of seal engraving and gifts from Ouyang Xiu and his son.
“Sanlang, can you lend me twenty strings first?”
"Twenty guan?" Zhang Yue couldn't help but asked, "Where do I have this money? Why did you tell me in advance?"
Huang Haoyi said: "Sanlang is like this. His family arranged a marriage for me in Beijing..."
Zhang Yue thought to himself, good, the marriage will be settled so quickly.
“Where are you from?” Zhang Yue still felt a little jealous in his heart at this moment.
Huang Haoyi said: "She is the daughter of Liu Jiancheng, the capital water supervisor."
Zhang Yue praised: "Okay, Sanlang, this marriage is really good!"
Huang Haoyi said sheepishly: "His family is a Yinguan. He usually eats his salary. He has no servants and nothing to congratulate. He is neither a high-ranking official nor a downtrodden."
Zhang Yue knew that due to the serious redundancy of officials in the Song Dynasty, a large number of officials were not assigned to work. These officials also lived in the capital, went to the imperial city on weekdays, and even took a long leave. Anyway, the court did not give you a formal official position.
I won't argue with you either.
However, as a scholar, Huang Haoyi could marry the daughter of an official family, which was still a pretty good marriage. In the eyes of most scholars, it was at least better than marrying a merchant family.
"Do you mean we are well matched? You are already burning incense."
After being scolded by Zhang Yue, Huang Haoyi also smiled.
“Then why do you want to borrow money? Is the bride price not enough?”
Zhang Yue knew that the tendency of marriage comparison in the Song Dynasty was very serious. As the saying goes, "When you are going to marry a woman, you should first ask about the amount of money and clothing; when you are going to marry a girl, you should first ask about the amount of wealth."
Anyway, sky-high betrothal gifts will kill people wherever they go. If it were really a question of betrothal gifts, Zhang Yue, considering the friendship between his fellow villagers and classmates, would have to be more generous if not more. The same goes for other classmates in the studio, they just help more and less.
The problem.
Huang Haoyi said with a depressed look: "That's not true. My brother and sister-in-law have helped me arrange the money for the bride price. It's just... it's just that the woman's family knew about me raising an aunt outside."
Hearing this, Zhang Yue really hated the iron in his heart, and immediately cursed: "Silang, I have told you before, raising a daughter outside without marrying a wife is a matter of ruining your reputation. You and I can save it one by one."
Don't worry, what happened now? It's up to you to take care of this matter. I'm sorry that I can't do anything about it."