Chapter 061 Why do you also call me sir?
Zhao Zhen stretched out his chubby hand, took out a peach from the fruit basket, looked at it over and over again, and said, "Indeed, this peach is freshly picked, and the sap is still flowing from the broken part. It's late autumn now, and it's really rare to have fresh peaches."
Liu Chuanzhi bent over and said with a smile, "Master Lu just gave us two baskets of fruit, and the servants shared one basket. It should not be poisonous."
"It's for you, not for me." Zhao Zhen shook his head helplessly: "I guess I have the least prestige among all the emperors. If you want to refuse an imperial edict, you can refuse it. If there is something delicious, you won't think of giving some to me first."
"Your Majesty, you can't say that." Liu Chuanzhi said hurriedly, "This is a sign that the people of the Song Dynasty respect and love you, and are not afraid of you. Since the Yan and Huang emperors, there have been countless overlords, but your Majesty is the only one who is 'benevolent'. I guess you will be the only one in the future for thousands of years."
“Hahahahahaha.” Zhao Zhen was very happy when he heard this. He pointed at Liu Chuanzhi and said with a helpless smile, “Flattery!”
Liu Chuanzhi bent over and laughed dryly.
Zhao Zhen put the peaches back into the basket.
Liu Chuanzhi asked curiously, "Why don't you eat peaches? Don't you often have headaches?"
"Since it can cure all diseases, bring it to Xiaoyao to eat. He has a weak body." After saying this, Zhao Zhen picked up the fruit basket and walked towards the inner palace, while saying, "Go and ask two imperial doctors to come over for me."
"Yes, sir." Liu Chuanzhi bent down and walked out quickly.
After Lu Sen delivered two baskets of fruit, he continued his previous regular life.
In fact, he had already anticipated that his fame would spread to the palace.
This is inevitable as I come into contact with more and more people. It's just a matter of sooner or later.
He had already thought about rejecting the imperial edict.
Under normal circumstances, there would be no danger in refusing Zhao Zhen's edict in the Northern Song Dynasty.
But it is better to be safe than sorry. What if something is not right with Zhao Zhen in this time and space?
With this idea in mind, Lu Sen, who had always been a lazy guy, began to secretly dig a hole with Heizhu and Ringo.
There is no need to worry about the dug soil being discovered by others. With the special abilities of the wooden shovel and pickaxe, the soil can be directly turned into earthen bricks and then stored in Lu Sen's backpack.
Before digging, Lu Sen also made a plan. How many vents are needed? Where should they be placed to be safe and hidden? Then he made relatively detailed rules for the number and position of the supporting columns.
But it is only relative, because he did not study architecture, he just played architecture games and knew a little bit about it.
So Lu Sen and others lived a very fulfilling life afterwards.
During the day, Lu Sen practiced calligraphy and breathing exercises. At night, he spent three hours digging holes in the mountain with torches.
Heizhu and Ringo went to school during the day and practiced qigong, and at night they followed Lu Sen to dig holes in the mountain.
It seems to be very tiring, but this intensity of life is just an easy job for Kurozhu and Ringo.
In fact, most of the digging work was done by the two of them.
Lu Sen was responsible for planning and monitoring the progress of the project and avoiding excessive errors.
As time went by, the imperial edict came about every half a month, and Lu Sen rejected it every time.
As a result, Lu Sen's fame grew. After all, anyone who dared to refuse the imperial edicts so many times was generally a person with some abilities.
In addition to Zhao Zhen's edict, the Cao brothers and Zhe Sanlang often visited Lu Sen.
In fact, they don’t care whether you take raw vegetables and fruits back or not. They just want to maintain the relationship and have no other intentions.
Compared with the Cao brothers, Zhe Sanlang seemed much more at ease in Lu Sen's yard.
Because now he is considered half a relative of Lu Sen. After all, "a matchmaker is better than a relative" is a saying that has been followed since ancient times.
And Zhe Laoqi really did a good job.
He was asked to take care of all the three books and six ceremonies, and Lu Sen only needed to show up at the Yang family occasionally.
At this time, there were still five days before the wedding date.
Yang Jinhua was sitting in her boudoir, and opposite her was Zhao Bilian, who was crying.
"You said you would give me an answer in five days, five days and five days. Now you are getting married in four days and you still haven't given me an answer." Zhao Bilian glared at Yang Jinhua: "Whether you want me to marry you or not, you should give me a definite answer now."
Yang Jinhua was helpless.
Which woman would be willing to share her future husband with others, even her best friends?
She was just thinking about the conditions she had heard from the Prince of Runan before. Once she was willing to accept Zhao Bilian as a maid, not only would the Yang family get two good properties, but the dowry would also be covered by the Prince of Runan's Mansion. And if her elder brother had military merits, the Prince of Runan would help speak for him in the court.
The conditions offered were extremely good, and the Prince of Runan also lowered his profile very low, giving the Yang family enough face.
But... Yang Jinhua just felt unhappy.
So he pushed the reply date to now, thinking that once Zhao Bilian's passion had passed, she would no longer be willing to be a dowry maid.
After all, a princess-level person would not be willing to suddenly become a maid.
However, she didn't expect that Zhao Bilian's desire to get married was much stronger than she had imagined.
"A maid who comes with someone's dowry has no status." Yang Jinhua said calmly.
"I know."
"I also have to serve tea and water to people, help them dress and wash their feet."
"I'll wash your feet now." Zhao Bilian stood up and went to the inner room to get warm water.
She came to Yang's house very often and was very familiar with it.
"Alas." Yang Jinhua sighed deeply, turned sideways and grabbed Zhao Bilian's hand: "Forget it, I promise you."
"real?"
Yang Jinhua nodded.
"Then I will go back immediately and ask my father to prepare."
Zhao Bilian stopped crying immediately. She wiped away her tears, gently hugged Yang Jinhua, turned around and left the room.
Yang Jinhua sat in the room, motionless for a long time.
After a while, Mu Guiying pushed the door open and came in. She sat opposite Yang Jinhua, holding her daughter's hands, and said with a sad face, "Just now I saw Bilian went out happily. It seems that you agreed to her."
Yang Jinhua nodded.
"You don't have to be so wronged." Mu Guiying touched Yang Jinhua's hair and said gently , "Neither the old lady nor I have any intention of forcing you."
"My daughter knows." Yang Jinhua lowered her eyelids slightly, "But my daughter also knows better that the Yang family is not the same as before. The old lady is under pressure from the outside world and dares not relax for a moment. Mother, you are always on guard. My eldest brother is fighting in the northwest border army, not afraid of life and death, just to help the Yang family win some fame and reputation. Only my daughter can't do anything and can't help the family."
Mu Guiying smiled and said, "Silly boy, you are the most useful person right now. You like Lu Xiaolang and successfully married yourself to him. This is the best foreign aid for our Yang family."
"My daughter married Lu Lang not to help the family. She didn't have that intention."
"Mother knows." Mu Guiying smiled and said, "But you really helped us. You also saw the betrothal gifts sent by Lu Lang. Those five ornaments, as long as they are used a little, can bring great support to our Yang family. What's more, Lu Xiaolang will be our son-in-law in the future. We are a family. Before anyone wants to deal with our Yang family, they have to consider Lu Xiaolang. Whether they can afford to provoke him or whether it is worth provoking him."
Hearing this, Yang Jinhua asked with some inferiority, "Will Lu Lang think that your daughter wants to marry him because of this?"
"Of course not. Lu Xiaolang is a decent and generous person. He would not think of such a roundabout way. My daughter is willing to marry him simply because she is attracted by Lu Xiaolang's face."
Yang Jinhua felt a little shy when she heard this and nodded slightly.
Unlike Yang Jinhua who was nervous, Zhao Bilian was extremely happy.
After all, she is a simple person and doesn't think so much like Yang Jinhua and Pang Meir.
This is also related to her slightly lower IQ.
Of course, this is simply a form of expression, and it all depends on the audience's views and perspectives.
She came back from Yang's house humming a song. As soon as she arrived home, she went straight to her father's study. As soon as she opened the door, she saw her father chatting with a fat man inside.
The fat man was still sitting in my father's seat, while my father was standing beside him.
She was stunned for a moment, then she felt that the fat man looked very familiar. After thinking for a while, she remembered that she had seen his portrait. She bowed slightly and said, "My humble daughter Bilian greets the emperor."
"No need to be polite, niece." Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "I didn't come out wearing a dragon robe. Now I am just your sixth uncle, the elder of the Zhao family."
"I dare not." Zhao Bilian was a little nervous.
"Is there anything I can help you with, Bilian?" asked the Prince of Runan.
Zhao Bilian smiled slightly: "Sir, Jinhua agreed."
Hearing this, the Prince of Runan breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Father understands. You can leave first. I will get everything done tomorrow."
Zhao Bilian nodded, slowly stepped back a few steps, and helped close the study door.
The room fell silent again. Zhao Zhen drank a sip of tea and said, "We finished eating the basket of fruits more than two months ago. Xiaoyao's health is getting better day by day. Several imperial doctors who have examined his pulse have said that Xiaoyao's blood and energy are strong, and he is almost the same as an ordinary person. So, cousin, don't worry that I will snatch Shu'er away again."
The Prince of Runan County smiled bitterly and said, "I dare not think so."
"They say that now it's just family chatting, not monarchs and subjects."
The Prince of Runan County did not want to continue the topic, and slowly said: "Your Majesty, so the reason you came to see me this time is related to Lu Xiaolang?"
"Hmm." Zhao Zhen tapped the tabletop lightly with his fingers: "I heard that Taoist Lu didn't send out many invitations."
"Yes." The Prince of Runan nodded. "I have asked Zhe Laoqi about this matter. It seems that less than ten were issued. It seems that this is because Lu Xiaolang doesn't know many people in Bianjing City."
"You should have it." Zhao Zhen asked with a smile.
The Prince of Runan nodded.
"On the afternoon of Taoist Lu's wedding, I will go with you to the groom's banquet."
At this time, the banquet is divided into two parts, the female part, which is usually held in the morning and starts eating after the bride is sent off.
The groom's banquet is held in the afternoon and will not start until after he welcomes the bride.
Normally, the man and the woman invite their own guests, but some people know each other, so they take the opportunity to make the time of the two banquets miss, so that these people can go to both parties at the same time to have fun.
"That's not good." The Prince of Runan said with a bitter face: "There will be a lot of people there at that time, what if there are bad guys!"
"Cousin, are you kidding me?" Zhao Zhen said with a look of teasing, "As far as I know, the invitations sent by Lu Xiaolang are all from nobles, and there are less than ten households, so where did these bad guys come from? Just tell me, will you help me?"
The Prince of Runan was extremely troubled when he heard this: "Your Majesty, aren't you afraid that when you meet Bao Xiren, he will point at you and spit in your face again?"
"Hey, that day was the wedding day of Lu Xiaodao, and Lu Xiaodao was the lifesaver of Lord Bao's only son." Zhao Zhen said contentedly, "I don't believe it. Even if Lord Bao is stern and strict, he shouldn't spoil the fun of his benefactor's wedding day."
That’s true!
The Prince of Runan thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, if Bao Xiren really wants to curse, I will not help you."
"Forget it. At worst I'll be scolded again. It doesn't matter. I've already lost face anyway." Zhao Zhen said indifferently.
Three days passed quickly and the auspicious day for the wedding arrived.
With the joint efforts of the Prince of Runan's Mansion and the Zhe family, the streets of the entire Bianjing city were hung with endless red silk ribbons.
Everyone in the city knew that the Yang family was going to marry off their daughter.
The little Taoist priest on the low hill is getting married.
At this time, the Zhe family was the 'male party' to welcome the bride. They had already prepared a sedan chair with eight bearers, as well as a wedding procession, and were waiting at the gate of Yang's house early in the morning.
Yang Jinhua, wearing a red veil, got up early in the morning, put on makeup, said goodbye to the elders, sang a promise, jumped over the fire basin, and went through a series of etiquette. It was around noon when eight bearers came to pick her up and set off.
The welcoming team of nearly a hundred people added a group of people from Yang's residence, and it became the wedding farewell team. They wore red clothes, beat gongs and drums, and the sound of firecrackers never stopped.
Zhe Sanlang also wore a red robe and carried a big bag on his back. Whenever someone came up to congratulate him, no matter who they were, a noble, a commoner, or a beggar, as long as they said congratulations, he would give them a red envelope.
Very generous.
The red envelopes were distributed all the way outside the city, and then the farm children outside the city, hearing the sound of drums and firecrackers, rushed up to ask for red envelopes.
Many people took red envelopes and followed the wedding procession.
Gradually, the tail following the wedding procession became longer and longer.
By the time we reached the low mountain, there were already hundreds of people.
Zhe Sanlang asked the wedding procession to go up first, and then he shouted to the hundreds of people behind him : "Fellow villagers, the place on the mountain is not big, and we can't accommodate many people. If you want to have a buffet, come to my house. The banquet will last from morning to night for three consecutive days. No one will be turned away. There will be fish, meat, and enough rice!"
"The Zhe family is generous!"
When the group of people heard the words they wanted to hear most, they immediately turned back.
Zhe Sanlang wiped the sweat off his face and immediately rushed to the low hill.
Lu Sen, wearing the groom's red robe, was in the yard, watching the sedan chair land in front of the yard.
Then a witch brought out a brazier, placed it in front of the sedan chair, and burned some red paper in it.
Yang Jinhua, wearing a peony flower veil and a dress embroidered with peony flowers, stepped over the fire basin and then, holding Zhao Bilian's hand, slowly walked over.
The witch who was in charge of singing the blessing looked around and saw that it was very deserted here, completely different from the bustling Yang Mansion before, so she quickly walked up and asked, "Are there any rules and etiquette on the man's side? What do you need me to do?"
At this time, Zhe Sanlang had also come up. He walked to Lu Sen and asked, "Brother Lu, are there any rules here?"
"There are no rules." Lu Sen waved his hand: "Bring Jinhua into the house and I will lift the veil."
"This is not polite." The fortune-teller next to her muttered softly.
Zhe Sanlang immediately grabbed a handful of red envelopes and stuffed them into the witch's hand: "Brother Lu is a successful cultivator, so you don't need to pay attention to worldly etiquette."
When the witch heard this, she roughly understood what was going on and stopped talking.
The most important part of getting married is meeting the groom’s elders, serving tea, and worshipping heaven and earth.
Lu Sen doesn’t have any real elders left, so why should he worship them?
So he did not wait for the guests to come and witness it. He pulled Yang Jinhua to sit on the wooden building and asked with a smile: "Jinhua, do you want me to lift your veil now, or wait until the wedding night?"
"Everything is up to you, the official!"
Under the red veil, Yang Jinhua's voice was soft and full of shyness.
Lu Sen said to Zhao Bilian, "Ms. Zhao, can you stay here with Jinhua? I'll go out and greet the guests who are about to arrive."
Zhao Bilian also looked shy, blushing like a flower, and nodded slightly: "I will listen to you, sir."
This made Lu Sen feel a little strange. It wasn't you who was getting married, so why were you so shy?
Also, why do you call me sir?
