My father-in-law is Kangxi

Fu Ming talked about the recipe of millet noodle tea. If it is not sticky, you can also mix rice flour into it.

Mr. Zhang Liu was very moved after hearing this.

After chatting, everyone became a little familiar, and the topic turned back to the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination.

Fu Ming told what he knew, how much the Eight Banners Imperial Examination quota would be.

After hearing this, Mr. Zhang Liu sighed: "There are few people participating and there are more quotas. It's great."

The ratio of the number of applicants to those admitted is about ten to one.

You must know that the competition for candidates who pass the Jiangnan Township Examination is the most fierce, with the admission ratio reaching 50 to 1, and the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination is more than 30 to 1.

Fu Ming glanced at Zhang Ying who was sitting at the top and said: "Xiang Zhang lives in the countryside and teaches my brother personally. It is only a matter of time before he becomes famous."

However, Mr. Zhang Liu knew himself and shook his head: "My qualifications are limited, and my homework is not as good as the previous brothers. I am even worse than my younger brothers. I am still building a solid foundation. It is still early for me to end the game. I don't know what will happen in the future." how."

When he grew up hearing about his father and brother taking the exam, he didn't think it was difficult. However, after returning to Tongcheng to study, he realized that the imperial exam was not that easy.

Some people are old boys or scholars all their lives.

After hearing this, Fu Ming had a good impression of him.

At this age, when face is most important, it is rare to be able to admit shortcomings.

Fu Ming only said a few more words and said: "The Eight Banners Imperial Examination seems easy, but now that there is no war in the country and there are more people studying in the Eight Banners, the exam is not as easy as it was in the early years. For example, I signed up for this year's provincial examination. , it’s just a formality and some experience. If you want to be on the list, you have to study for a few more years and see your luck.”

The two looked at each other and felt a bit like confidants.

None of them have outstanding talents. Even if they study diligently, their grades are only average.

Compared with those who are good at reading, it is really powerless.

It seems that I have exhausted all my strength and have no confidence at all. I can go up or down, hoping for good luck.

Fu Song sat under Zhang Ying and mentioned to Zhang Ying the flood in Gyeonggi Province last year.

The scene of Zhang Tingyu moving in embarrassment is still vivid in his mind.

Now Zhang Tinglu is going to Beijing to prepare for the exam. She is arriving in June and it is the rainy season. Nancheng is not a suitable place to live.

"The eldest brother is now in the position of Xiao Jiuqing. The next step is the Jingtang. It is more convenient to live in the inner city. When he is promoted to the Jingtang, I guess the emperor will give him a mansion to live in the imperial city. It is the second brother's side. Now We are still renting a house in Nancheng, which is a lot of inconvenience. The third brother has to go to Beijing to prepare for the exam, so living with his brother and sister-in-law is probably very inconvenient. My nephew has a private house in the Imperial Academy, which was given to him by his sister the year before last. It is also close to the prince's palace. It's less than a mile away. It was repaired last year. It's good for the third brother to live there to prepare for the exam. It's quieter and it's convenient to go to the eldest brother's place..."

Fusong told about the yard he had prepared for his uncle and uncle from the Zhang family.

He couldn't understand why the Zhang family didn't buy a house in the capital.

If you can’t buy a house in the inner city, why can’t you buy a house in the south city?

As a result, after the gifted house was vacated, the sons could only rent a house to live in.

Just looking at the children and grandchildren of the Zhang family, not just one or two will go to Beijing to take the exam, but they should also find a place to stay.

After Zhang Ying heard this, he did not refuse directly, but looked at Sanzi.

He knew that Fu Song meant well. Zhang Tingzhan was the eldest son and eldest brother, so it was his duty to take care of his younger brother. However, since the eldest daughter-in-law was a step-mother and was not much different in age from her brother-in-law, it was a bit inconvenient.

As for Zhang Tingyu, she refused to renew her marriage, which was even more inappropriate. She had no decent female relatives and no one to take care of Zhang Tinglu's daily life.

Zhang Tinglu said: "The second brother wrote and mentioned that he had booked a courtyard in the Lotus Pond. Many students studying in Beijing live there. It is not far from the guild hall and is more convenient."

If you live in the inner city, it will be clean, but there are also inconveniences.

Zhang Ying nodded and said to Fusong: "Since your second brother is ready, I won't trouble you this time. There will be a long time to come."

Fu Song was kind enough to help and was not reluctant.

Although he had only been in contact for a long time, he could tell that Mr. Zhang's character was similar to Zhang Tingyu's, a little reserved and pedantic, and not as open-minded and interesting as Zhang Tingzhan.

It doesn't matter to Fu Song, they are just relatives. If they don't have the same temperament, just stay away.

He prefers Zhang Ruolin.

In addition to Aiwujiwu, Zhang Ruolin is also a son of Xiaofu. He is less picky and more kind-hearted.

Zhu Liang said little, but he was also paying attention to the people at the table.

Third Master Zhang, Fourth Master Zhang and Third Auntie are all relatively silent, and less close to Fu Song.

Zhang Liuye and Zhang Qi, who are not yet adults, act more freely.

The three Fusong brothers were all grown up, and rice wine was also served at the banquet.

It's just that neither the guests nor the host are good at drinking, so everyone just orders it.

There was a banging sound outside, it was time to watch, and everyone dispersed...

*

When the three Fusong brothers returned to the guest room, Fu Ming said: "Just looking at Mr. Zhang Liu's temperament, you can tell that Mrs. Yao is really generous. The Zhang family has a good family tradition..."

Although it is the fault of a son not to teach his father, when it comes down to it, it is his mother who teaches him first since he was a child.

If there is no big wrinkle, there will be no trouble for Fusong, the sister-in-law and brother-in-law in the future.

Fusong thought about the Zhang family members he had met for a while and said: "The third master Zhang and the second master Zhang have similar temperaments. They are both common problems among scholars. They think too much and are not as simple as uncle Zhang. The fourth master Zhang may be in poor health." Because of this, there is a bit of resentment, but it should have nothing to do with us, and there is nothing rude in looking at it; Zhang Ruolin Xiao’s father, such a prosperous family, such a kind-hearted person is just right to be the head of the family..."

Zhu Liang said: "That Aunt Yao is not very old, but he is full of twilight and lacks energy."

Fusong said: "He passed the boy's examination at the age of fourteen and was chosen as the son-in-law by the Zhang family. He wanted to get married in one go and pass the examination, but he failed in two subjects. After he got married, he was dismissed three or four times, but he was not even ranked in the deputy list. I’ve never been hit before, so I’m short-tempered.”

Nowadays, Mr. Yao's parents died early and his family is in decline. Living with his wife and children in his in-law's family is not a happy thing for a man...

*

In the main room, Zhang Ying and Mrs. Yao also rested.

The old couple is also talking about their little son-in-law.

"Brother Fusong has restored his clan status, and his descendants have stopped taking the imperial examination. The dowry prepared for the fourth sister will be somewhat insufficient..."

Mrs. Yao said.

Ever since the two families got engaged, Mrs. Yao had sent letters to her children and grandchildren, asking them to copy books while studying, and use them to make dowries for the fourth girl. They are a scholarly family. Their family has lived in Tongcheng for three hundred years, and they have been a gentry for more than one hundred and fifty years. They have a collection of books in the family, not to mention tens of thousands of volumes, but that's about it.

Especially since the fifth generation ancestor, the lintel has been changed and it has become a scholarly family. The examination books have also been passed down from generation to generation.

Selecting and copying such books can be a good thing that can be passed down to children and grandchildren, and it can also be used as a decent dowry.

When the first three daughters got married, they also prepared similar things. When the makeup came out, every family could only praise and envy them, and several in-laws were also very satisfied.

If Fusong had not restored his clan status and planned to let his children and grandchildren pass the imperial examination, this kind of dowry would be just right.

Now with this change, it is no longer appropriate.

Zhang Ying is not a stereotype person and knows that dowry is a woman's face.

Whether it's Beijing or Tongcheng, they all marry generously.

When the time comes, the daughter's dowry will be thin and she will have no confidence, and the capital will be a place of wealth.

He thought of his third daughter who was called home to live by him, and thought that his son-in-law's family only had a few acres of thin farmland, which was not enough for the family's livelihood, so he felt compassion and said: "Then give the fourth sister a village. Now I can't There is a shortage of land, but there are some who are rich, but her three sisters didn’t have it at the beginning, so it’s not good to leave it to her alone, but also to give it to her sisters.”

Zhang Ying had been an official for more than 40 years, and he had been working in Jingtang for nearly 20 years. His life in Beijing was not extravagant, so he saved a lot of money.

He doesn't buy property in the capital, nor does he buy antiques and treasures. Most of them are sent back to Tongcheng to buy land.

Over the past few decades, the land under the Zhang family's name has increased several times.

The son is flesh and blood, and the daughter is also his own. Zhang Ying has accumulated such a large fortune and is willing to use part of it to subsidize his daughter.

The Zhang family has a total of four daughters, all of whom are born to Mrs. Yao. Naturally, Mrs. Yao has nothing to be reluctant to part with.

Now the eldest daughter and the second daughter are working abroad with their husbands, and their lives are barely getting through. Only the third daughter is having a hard time, with no future in sight.

As long as the third son-in-law is elected as a candidate, there is no need to suffer like this. Even if he fails in the exam, he can still run for office based on his status as a candidate.

But he was stuck in the provincial examination. He was a scholar and he was still young, so he had no choice but to take the exam one subject at a time.

She also knew that her husband wanted to add Zhuangzi not only to make the fourth sister's dowry look good, but also to supplement the third daughter's hard life.

If it were not for the purpose of repairing the makeup field, the third son-in-law would not accept it.

She said: "My sons are getting older too. Master, please remember to discuss this with your sons first."

Parents are here, no separation.

According to world conditions, the current Zhang family's property will be divided among the Zhang family brothers in the future.

The couple wanted to allocate some land to their daughter, but they also had to take their son's ideas into consideration.

Zhang Ying nodded and said: "I'll mention it to them tomorrow. It's already been decided so that they can make a new contract..."

*

Early the next morning, when her children and grandchildren came to settle down in the province, Mrs. Yao sent her daughter-in-law and daughter with their children, leaving only a few sons and the eldest grandson of the eldest son.

Zhang Tingzhan is the eldest son and is not at home, so the eldest son's opinion must be heard by Zhang Ruolin, the eldest grandson.

The uncles and nephews of the Zhang family looked at each other, thinking that they were staying because of the reception banquet today.

Yesterday was a small banquet, with only my family accompanying me, so it was not formal enough.

Today I will invite my uncle and in-laws to stay with me and have a formal banquet.

Zhang Tinglu was thinking about advising her not to ask too many guests, otherwise she would be suspected of flattery.

Brother Fusong's status is different from that of an ordinary son-in-law, and the Zhang family must be neither humble nor arrogant.

What Mr. Zhang Liu is thinking is that in addition to the Zhang family in Tongcheng, there is also a Jiangnan Township Examiner named Jieyuan who was born in 1938. He is their cousin. He has come to the Zhang family frequently in the past two years and is familiar with their brothers. , you can also invite us to accompany you.

Zhang Ying had already looked at his sons, and his eyes fell on the youngest son.

The youngest son was born in the 30th year of Kangxi's reign. He is twelve years old this year and is still a child.

But since it involves family property, it’s a good idea to ask everyone.

Zhang Ying said: "You have worked hard in the past few years. Each of you copied one to two boxes of books. It was a good plan. When the fourth sister got married, she directly gave away dozens of boxes of books. Unexpectedly, Brother Fusong restored his clan status. This book used for career development is out of date..."

Having said this, he paused, looked at his children and grandchildren, and said thoughtfully: "Brother Fusong gave a lot of betrothal gifts. In addition to using them as dowry for the fourth sister, I plan to give the fourth sister five hectares of land."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Zhang Tinglu was in charge of the family's general affairs and knew that he had a lot of land under his name. In addition to Tongcheng itself, some of it was outside Fucheng.

Five hectares of land, five hundred acres, doesn't sound like much, but the land here is expensive. Even dry land costs six taels of silver per acre, and paddy fields cost ten taels of silver and upwards.

After one year, the yield from the five hundred acres of land was two to three hundred taels of silver.

It is very dignified to add a dowry field to the dowry.

Mr. Zhang Liu looked at his brothers, then at his younger brother and nephew.

That is the clan master, and all descendants will be clan relatives. In the future, even if the Zhang family's officialdom is ups and downs and things go wrong, they will still have one more noble relative.

This dowry of 500 acres of land is not much. Is it worth telling them?

Seeing that no one from his children and grandchildren answered the question, Zhang Ying looked at his eldest grandson Zhang Ruolin.

Zhang Ruolin was not old, but he was the grandson of the clan after all. He thought more and said, "Then do you want someone to replace the land with Zhili land? In the future, my sister-in-law will be in the capital, and the Zhuangtian here will not be easy to take care of."

Zhang Ying shook her head and said: "No need. When the time comes, my family will help take care of it and just give away the money earned every year."

Zhang Ying looked at Zhang Tinglu again, and Zhang Tinglu said: "My father arranged it just right. The land in Zhili is not as good as that in Jiangnan, and it is not easy to buy. The land in Tongcheng is taken care of by my family."

With this extra makeup field, even if the Zhang family brothers are away from home in the future, they can still keep in touch with the capital, so as not to be isolated from the news and unable to take care of their younger sister.

Fourth Master Zhang nodded and said, "Listen to father."

Zhang Liuye and Zhang Qi also rushed to support.

Zhang Ying took a sip of tea and said, "We are all the same daughters. It's not good to be biased. In the early years, when you three sisters got married, life at home was ordinary, and the dowry prepared was also simple. Let's prepare it for the fourth sister this time." I plan to make up for the dowry for them..."