Zhen Fei rises up in the Red Chamber

The weather in Beijing and Suzhou is very different. A group of people who have already taken off their big woolen clothes and started to wear jackets, when they entered Tongzhou, they all involuntarily put on a big cloak. Zhen Hui, who was walking into the city, thought for the first time that his father was actually working very hard. Come to think of it, it's the end of March and the beginning of April, and the capital is still so cold, so what about February?Wouldn't it be colder?Taking the exam in such weather, especially the exam requires only single clothes to enter the exam room, such a cruel exam, if you can not be carried out because of frostbite, cold and fever, it must depend on your own luck plus Only perseverance can do it, otherwise, if the hands are shaking from the cold, I won't be able to finish the paper.Not to mention getting relatively good grades in the exam, it really wasn't easy, it wasn't easy.

Think about what modern people say, if you are admitted to a university, you are a Jinshi in ancient times. Thinking about it now, Zhen Hui thinks that it is simply putting money on his own face, not talking about anything else, just talking about the admission rate at this time, There are only 100 candidates in three years, that is, only 2000 candidates are selected in a year. This can directly retreat the modern college entrance examination competitions to a corner. Think about the modern universities that almost cover all cities in the country, or even a single city. There are a dozen schools, even if there are only [-] students in one school, how many students do you think can be enrolled in a year with so many schools?Quantity may not necessarily replace quality.Not to mention the remuneration after the exam, he is directly qualified to be an official, at least a county-level cadre, or the kind of county magistrate and county party secretary.In modern times, it’s unemployed after graduation. It’s tears to say, even Zhen Hui, who has never been to college, knows that their hometown has also been admitted to college. peers, but what was the result?After a month of hard work, it is not enough to buy a square meter.

Calculating carefully, the so-called Jinshi is almost at the same level as modern doctoral students. Even so, he can't say that this doctor can compare with the treatment of Jinshi in this era. After all, officials, As a person in an official country, the attraction is too great.Just look at the civil service examinations that go on and on every year. These so-called civil servants, in this era, are no different from the clerks in the yamen.

Thinking of this, Zhen Hui couldn't help but smacked his lips. These days, the hierarchy of officials and officials is more terrifying than modern times. This is an era of peak power. As for himself, the real second generation of officials, then It is the privileged class.How come the more you think about it, the more beautiful it becomes, and it is even more seductive than the second generation of officials in modern times.

In Zhen Hui's wild thoughts, the carriage finally passed through the city gate and entered the capital city wall. At this time, the capital city is distributed and exquisite. The middle part belongs to the imperial city, which is where the imperial palace is located. There are also some places that belong to public places, such as Gongyuan, Guozijian and so on.This is the so-called inner city.

After leaving the inner city, the people in the whole city are divided into four parts, east, west, north, and they are clearly divided according to their status. The east is noble and the west is cheap, the north is rich and the south is poor. The mansions of high-level ministers, such as the Lin family, are on the east side, because their family is a marquis, and it was the mansion bestowed by the emperor when the country was founded.It is extraordinary and close to the inner city.Therefore, where you live is actually a reflection of your identity. Don't think that it is so easy to live in the capital.

To the west are some low-level sites, such as some flower streets and willow alleys, opera yards, vendors, and small shops, most of which are in this generation, so this forms a weird situation. The east is basically a quiet mansion gate, which is the street. There are not many, because each family occupies a very large area, almost dividing the site into small fortresses.As for the west side, it is the busiest place, where business is prosperous and people flow like weaves.

The north is the site of the rich, most of the people living there are imperial merchants or big merchants, and of course there are some officials. Most of these officials are not qualified to live in the east, or they entered the capital later and became the four of the capital officials. The officials below the middle level who have a taste of it are not that these officials are willing to squeeze together with these merchants. It is natural that Qingliu and the merchants are not at odds. Even if you love money in your heart, you must be more reserved for the sake of reputation.

And the reason for this strange situation that is not in line with the state of confrontation between the two sides is also very simple, that is because the houses here are large, although they are not comparable to those in the east, but there are also four-entry and five-entry houses that can be bought. I realized that this is the key. After all, officials and eunuchs are still very particular about their houses, and it is not okay to be too shabby.Of course, for the sake of face, in order to distinguish them from those merchants, they carefully and almost tacitly divided the northern territory equally with the merchants. The part of the northeast that is close to the nobles in the east became the range of these officials' residences. In the northwest, those close to the bustling commercial areas are the favorites of merchants.

As for the south, it is almost the territory of the poor or common people. The houses here are relatively small, generally no more than three entrances, the one closest to the city wall is also close to the west. In the southwest corner of the entire city, those It is even more simple like a slum, although it is not difficult to see thatched houses, but most of them are the simplest wooden houses, which are the lowest existence in the entire city.It’s just that in the south of this area, not all civilians are there, there are still officials, or the existence of low-level officials in various ministries, but most of them put their houses in the southeast, for the same reason as those in the north. As for the expensive site, anyway, it can be regarded as a bit expensive.

Now the place where Zhen Hui and his family are going is the southeast, where Mr. Zhen has bought a three-entry house, or two, three-entry houses that are connected together to form a house. , although in this way, there are no houses with four or five entrances that look tidy, but Zhen Hui understands his father's thoughts, that is a man with a bit of bookish spirit, he would rather be with clean civilians, He also didn't want to have too many entanglements with those merchants that he thought were tacky, not to mention that there were imperial merchants there.

The unique class in the merchants of the Imperial Merchant is the strangest class in this era. At least Zhen Hui thinks so. His previous history is not very good, but he knows what he should know. Why didn’t he know this? How could the ancient imperial merchants still hang around like this?The only imperial merchant he can know is perhaps Hu Xueyan, the red-capped merchant, who is known through TV dramas, and the ending of this red-capped merchant does not seem to be very good. Anyway, it is the existence of tragedy. Such a family, is it worth being proud of?He really didn't understand what they were thinking, one by one, they just felt superior, as if with the word 'Emperor', they could be invincible.

In Zhen Hui's eyes, or in other people's minds, no matter how you put it bluntly, they still do not belong to the official class, but are still merchants. With such an embarrassing status, I don't know what they can be proud of.Maybe it's inferiority complex, maybe it's lack of self-knowledge, anyway, most of these imperial merchants are a little arrogant or some people don't know their identities, they always like to use some of their own connections to make friends with those who are above the fourth rank, despise the lower officials, and also Don't think about it, he said in the end, he is still a merchant, a scholar, a farmer, a businessman, the lowest status.Even the scribes at the bottom of ordinary yamen, to put it bluntly, are nobler than them.

It is precisely because of this reason that most officials do not have a good impression of the imperial merchants, and they subconsciously disregard their relationship with them. Master Zhen is also one of these people, thinking that these imperial merchants who can enter and leave the official's house can actually be regarded as an official. He considers himself a person who has defiled the entire scholar class, and he doesn't even want to live close to them, preferring to come to this common people's place.

Master Zhen has been somewhat sure of entering the Imperial Academy since the exam, and it is precisely because of this that the people who followed him began to look at the house very early, and prepared to move the family to live in Beijing. , Jingcheng residence, it is not easy, even buying a house is difficult to find a suitable house, in the end it was the Lin family who came to help, and with the help of the Lin family's housekeeper, they bought this suitable house.

The house faces south and north, which is what Mr. Zhen is not satisfied with, but who made it face the southeast, facing the imperial city, this layout has long been fixed, and he can't do anything about it.The gate of the house is opened to the north of the three entrances from the west, and the first one enters the reverse seat. Except for the room for the janitor on duty at night and a small courtyard in the west for the housekeeper, he cleans up the other three rooms on the east. It became a small flower hall for receiving guests, and the second entrance is the main hall, which is used to receive distinguished guests, deal with daily affairs, and his room (in these days, the house of the hostess is called the main room of the inner house, while the hostess is in the outer house. , there is also a main room, which is absolutely reasonable, and it is also a unique arrangement of two main rooms in a family formed under the situation of polygamy. It is strange if there is no one, even monogamy, as a decoration, it is also needed, not to mention In addition, those literati like to come to talk at night by candlelight, and it is in this kind of room).The left and right wing rooms are arranged as guest rooms and study rooms. Let's put it this way, the entire second entrance is the territory of Mr. Zhen alone.There is also the last back cover room that is divided into two, half of which is used as a kitchen and utility room, and the other half is the place where the long-term followers live.

Of course, there are not many people who followed this time. It is very simple to stay here. Including the butler, there are only fifteen servants who serve, and they are all death contracts from the Zhen family. A servant or a servant, that is to say, this is the most caring and hardcore servant combination of the Zhen family.Either the children's nannies, the personal maids, or the men's personal servants, among them three family servants accounted for ten people's quota.According to Mrs. Zhen's thinking, if there are not enough people, wouldn't it be possible to find people in the capital to buy people.If it doesn't work, you can still use deeds of living, such as washing women and so on. It's easier to find them now, and it's much faster than bringing someone here.

The three entrances on the east side and the one and two entrances in the front have been opened up to form a large courtyard. This is the main courtyard he prepared for his family of five to live in. There are three main rooms with two ears and three rooms on the left and right. The wing room, and the five upside-down rooms, are enough for the family to live with their maids, and the last room in the east is the residence of the maids and mothers.It's strange to say that these days, there are always more servants serving in rich families than men.

Not to mention these nonsensical things, anyway, in Zhen Hui's opinion, although the house cleaned up like this is small, it is very compact. Although it is not as spacious as their old house in Suzhou, he is already very satisfied with being able to house so many people Well, I followed my old lady all the way into the main courtyard, looking at this obviously different style of building from Jiangnan, the first thought in my mind was: I heard that there are hundreds of millions of courtyards in the capital now, so what is my house in modern times? price?

Zhen Hui, why are you always out of tune, always thinking about money at the first moment!Too unmotivated.