Chapter 73: From the same school
Ouyang Xiu has been evaluated quite well in history.
If we have to say something negative about him, it is that he, like other literati, does not look down on military generals.
Di Qing was "blackened" by him, and he was one of the factors that led to Di Qing's death.
Apart from this, there are no other faults worth discussing.
However, neglecting and suppressing Di Qing was the political correctness of the political arena at that time. No one could escape it. The most you could do was not participate or oppose it.
Even Grand Tutor Pang Ji, who once admired Di Qing, began to be "hostile" to Di Qing after Di Qing became the Privy Councilor.
Of course, these are all the history of Lu Sen's previous life. At this time, Di Qing had no tattoos on his face. He was also discussing with the Prince of Runan about resigning from the post of Privy Councilor and getting more of what he wanted.
For example, the right to participate in the conquest of Western Xia.
Seeing Ouyang Xiu's helpless expression, Lu Sen smiled and said, "Ouyang Xiu, don't worry. You can't rush. Why don't you sit down and eat something to rest... Come on, have some fruit first."
As if by magic, there was a pear in Lu Sen's hand.
Ouyang Xiu's eyes lit up, and he sat down. He then generously took the pear from Lu Sen's hand and said with a smile, "It is said that the immortal fruit in Master Lu's home can make people energetic and prolong their life. I haven't eaten it yet, so I'll try it now."
After saying that, he finished the pear in a few bites. After a while, he felt much better all over.
I feel light and refreshed, as if I have returned to my youth.
Of course, youth is an illusion.
Yang Jinhua, who was standing next to him, was a little puzzled and couldn't help asking, "Counselor Ouyang, I have sent two baskets of fruit to your wife. Have you never seen the fruit in my house?"
"Yes, I did." Ouyang Xiu said rather embarrassedly, "But my mother and son are not in good health, so I let them share the food."
I see.
Lu Sen had also heard of Ouyang Xiu's mother, who was one of the four great virtuous mothers and quite famous.
After eating the pear, Ouyang Xiu wiped his hands and asked, "Does Master Lu have a place to stay tonight?"
"not yet!"
"There is an empty yard behind Hangzhou Mansion. It's quite big and can accommodate more than a dozen people."
As he spoke, Ouyang Xiu stood up and continued, "It just so happens that I also need to go back to the mansion to review official documents. Can we go together?"
"Let's go together." Lu Sen shouted to the side, "Waiter, pack up."
"Sir, all right."
Yang Jinhua and Zhao Bilian were carrying the lunch boxes given by the restaurant... The hotel they had just stayed in was not cheap, so giving them one or two simple and cheap wooden lunch boxes was no problem at all.
Lu Sen and Ouyang Xiu walked side by side in front.
At the same time, Ouyang Xiu was complaining to Lu Sen.
There are now a lot of pedestrians on the streets of Hangzhou, many of whom are outsiders, and some of are brought by merchants who are preparing to set off with the imperial fleet.
After all, the larger the ship, the more people are needed to operate it, and another group of people are needed to do other chores.
Even act as combatants when encountering the enemy.
These are all people from the Song Dynasty. There is no reason for Hangzhou to stop them from entering the city.
Moreover, after the ship anchored outside the port, the ship owner sent his men to the city to purchase basic ocean-going supplies, among which "food" was the largest item.
Dried meat, soybeans, mung beans, and brown rice that can be eaten raw are all hard currency for them.
Especially soybeans, which are easy to get sepsis after living in the ocean for a long time with almost no raw vegetables to eat.
The Song Dynasty sailors didn't know what sepsis was, but they knew that soybean sprouts could suppress the symptoms of sepsis, and that was enough.
These ocean-going goods were moved onto the ships one cart at a time. There were more than a thousand ships outside.
Even if Hangzhou has a huge cargo volume, it cannot withstand such turmoil.
Fortunately, Hangzhou had developed water freight, and Ouyang Xiu urgently mobilized officials and businessmen to purchase goods from surrounding cities and then ship them back, which barely prevented prices from soaring to an outrageous level.
It is still within the acceptable range of the people.
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ouyang." Lu Sen bowed.
"It's not that I'm tired, I'm just worried that the prices in Hangzhou won't hold up." Ouyang Xiu led Lu Sen to the back of the Hangzhou government office and pointed to the courtyard surrounded by red walls: "No one lives in it for now, there's no shortage of furniture, just a few beddings."
"Thank you." Lu Sen bowed slightly.
As soon as I arrived in Hangzhou, Ouyang Xiu helped me find a place to stay. Although there was no banquet, it was considered a welcoming ceremony and there was nothing wrong with that.
Many times, favors are owed in this way.
"I have official business to attend to, so I won't bother you any more." Ouyang Xiu bowed and said with a smile, "Anyway, please ask Master Lu to quickly build the immortal ship and get those people at the port to leave. There are too many merchants here, and the Xishizi of Hangzhou feels tainted by the smell of money and vulgarity."
Lu Sen had no choice but to nod and agree: "We should be able to start tomorrow."
Ouyang Xiu bowed again, turned and left.
After Ouyang Xiu's figure disappeared around the corner of the street, Lu Sen took Yang Jinhua and others into the yard, walked around, and then went into the small building to take a look. They were all very satisfied.
The yard is quite large and has some landscape arrangements. The small building is divided into two floors, with three large rooms upstairs and five medium-sized houses downstairs in addition to the kitchen and bathroom, which is enough for Lu Sen and others to live in.
At this time, Pang Meier stood at the gate of the courtyard, bowed and said, "Master Lu, I will go to my relatives' home first. Thank you for your care along the way. "
"You're welcome." Lu Sen shook his head indifferently.
"Wait a minute, Mei'er, Bilian and I will go with you to meet your grandmother." Yang Jinhua suddenly said.
Zhao Bilian nodded repeatedly.
"Why don't you two take a rest first?" Pang Meir asked, feeling a little touched.
"We were either sitting or lying down the whole way, how could we be tired?" Yang Jinhua stepped forward and took Pang Meir's hand: "We are like sisters. Your grandmother is my grandmother. It is my duty to go and see her. Besides, this small building still needs bedding. After visiting grandma, Bilian and I will go to the street to buy some daily necessities."
Pang Meir thought about it for a while and nodded in agreement.
At this time, Yang Jinhua walked to Lu Sen and whispered, "Sir, can you allow me two or three fruits?"
"for you."
Lu Sen took out three peaches from the system backpack and placed them in Yang Jinhua's white little hands.
Lu Sen would store two or three fruits in his system backpack every day. Over time, he had stored five or six hundred fruits.
There were also a lot of green vegetables and more than twenty bottles of honey.
It can be said that even if there is no food, just eating these things would be enough for them to consume for a long time.
"Let's go, let's go see grandma." Yang Jinhua took Pang Mei'er's hand, and then called Zhao Bilian: "Hurry up and follow."
In the past, Pang Meir was the hidden "leader" of the three best friends, but now, Yang Jinhua has begun to control the situation.
Obviously calmer.
Pang Meir looked at the peach in Yang Jinhua's hand. Although there was no expression on her face, there was obvious gratitude in her eyes.
During this period of time, Yang Jinhua sent three baskets of fruit to the Pang family in the name of visiting Pang Meir, but Pang Meir only ate a loquat, and the rest of the fruits went into the mouths of the elders who were not in good health.
And it’s very effective.
The elders who ate the fruit had significantly fewer illnesses and felt much more energetic.
Pang Meir knew that these three peaches must be given to her grandmother.
Some time ago, she always felt that Yang Jinhua and Bilian marrying the same man at the same time was a betrayal to her, and her mood would fluctuate sensitively at the slightest action of Yang Jinhua. But now she has calmed down a lot, and when she looks back at Yang Jinhua, she finds that she doesn't seem to have changed much.
It was just a change of identity, from the youngest daughter of the Yang family to Yang from Aishan.
The same goes for Zhao Bilian.
I love to get angry too much.
Lu Sen watched the three women leave and saw that the atmosphere between them was much more harmonious than before. He smiled. He was sincerely happy for Yang Jinhua and Zhao Bilian.
It is difficult to find a true friend in life. The relationship developed with friends who grew up together is more sincere and more valuable.
As for the safety of the three people, Lu Sen was not worried.
Yang Jinhua is very powerful, and Pang Meir is accompanied by two masters. Under normal circumstances, no one should be able to hurt them.
Lu Sen asked Heizhu and Ringo to clean the small building, while he took out a fence from his system backpack and surrounded the small building.
Just like the last time he came to Hangzhou, he also cleared out half an acre of space in his system home so that he could feel more at ease when he slept at night when he was away from home.
And the effects don’t stop there.
Although it is still spring, it is still very cold in Hangzhou.
The kind of damp cold that seeps into your bones.
Now that the home system has been put in place and enclosed, the temperature of the entire building has immediately warmed up to an extremely comfortable level.
Heizhu and Lingqin, who were working in the small building, began to sweat after a while. They immediately took off their thick coats and continued to work.
After Lu Sen had put up the fence, he was about to go into the small building to help, but he saw four men walking hurriedly in front of him.
The leader was a young man dressed as a scholar, not very old, probably only fourteen or fifteen years old at most. He came over with three other men, clasped his fists when he saw Lu Sen, and asked, "Excuse me, is this Master Lu from Aishan in Bianjing City?"
Lu Sen looked at the young man and felt vaguely familiar with him.
He clasped his fists and replied, "I am Lu Sen. May I ask your name, young man? Is there anything I can help you with?"
In fact, Lu Sen looked like a handsome young man in his early sixteens, but he was married. When one gets married, his generational status will automatically increase.
Children will often call you uncle.
Lu Sen is in the same situation now, so he can calmly call the person opposite him who is about the same age as him "young man".
"Brother-in-law!" the young man shouted happily.
Lu Sen was stunned for a moment, and after thinking for a while, he said, "As far as I can remember, neither the wife Yang nor the concubine Zhao had a brother like you."
"Like Sister Bilian, I grew up outside the palace." The young man smiled happily: "So you are my brother-in-law, that's right."
To put it nicely, he was 'raised outside the mansion', to put it bluntly, he was an 'illegitimate child'.
Lu Sen is different from the ancients. He does not have this kind of discrimination, but he does not believe that the other party is Zhao Bilian's brother.
If someone comes up to him and calls him brother-in-law, he has to recognize him?
Not that stupid.
"Brother-in-law?" Lu Sen looked the young man up and down and asked, "Do you have any proof?"
"Oh, look at my memory." The young man took out a wooden sign from his bosom and handed it to Lu Sen with both hands: "Father sent someone to tell us to make all preparations for my brother-in-law more than a month ago. An hour ago, we heard a strange square river boat coming to the river, and we knew it was you, my brother-in-law. We were thinking about how to find you in the city, but unexpectedly, Councillor Ouyang sent someone to inform us that you were here. Uncle Pan should have come to greet you in person, but he went out of town to transport wood yesterday and it is estimated that he will not be back until tomorrow, so I, your younger brother, can only welcome you back to your brother-in-law."
Lu Sen looked at the wooden sign for a while, then handed it back to the young man and asked, "What's your name?"
"Zhao Zonghua." The young man clasped his hands together and bowed deeply: "Brother-in-law, just call me Xiaohua."
"Well, Xiaohua, come in and sit down." Lu Sen took the wooden sign and made a gesture of invitation.
"You wait outside." Zhao Zonghua whispered to the three strong men, then turned around and followed Lu Sen inside.
After he came in, he saw that the fence surrounding the small building was a little strange, but when he walked into the fence and felt the warm air, he exclaimed in surprise: "Brother-in-law, this is the rumored cave mansion technique, right?"
"Yes." Lu Sen answered casually.
The first floor had been cleaned by Heizhu and Lingqin. Lu Sen asked Zhao Zonghua to sit down, then took out some fruits and placed them in front of Zhao Zonghua, saying, "I just got here too, so I don't have anything to treat you, so I can only treat you to some fruits."
Looking at the fresh peaches, Zhao Zonghua blinked and asked in surprise, "Brother-in-law, are these the immortal peaches grown from the peach tree that you secretly transplanted from heaven to the human world?"
"These are indeed peaches grown in my home, but are they peach trees transplanted from heaven to the human world?" Lu Sen was a little surprised when he heard it: "How could there be such an outrageous rumor?"
"But I heard from people in Bianjing that those who ate the fairy peaches from my brother-in-law's house recovered from serious illnesses without medicine, and even those who only had one breath left could be saved. It's a pity that there is too little fairy energy in the human world, and the fairy peaches in the human world have only 10% of the effect of the fairy peaches in the heaven." Zhao Zonghua shook his head and said, "Otherwise, if people ate them, they should be able to directly obtain the immortal body."
"Oh, that's really outrageous." Lu Sen shook his head and said, "This peach can indeed cure diseases, but it's not a magic pill."
"It's already great to be able to cure the sufferings of the world." Zhao Zonghua looked at the peaches in front of him and seemed very excited. Then he asked carefully, "Brother-in-law, can I take these peaches home and let my mother taste them? She has suffered a lot over the years to raise me, and her body is not in good condition. I want to nourish her."
"Of course."
Lu Sen smiled.
He has discovered that when outsiders get his raw vegetables or fruits, their first reaction is to give them to the elders first, in order to treat their illnesses.
This is true whether it is the Pang family, the Yang family, Ouyang Xiu, or the young man in front of him.
This should be a reflection of the ancient people's emphasis on filial piety.
When the young man heard Lu Sen's agreement, he laughed so hard that he could hardly open his eyes.
At this time, Lu Sen also discovered why Zhao Shihua gave him a familiar feeling. It turned out that his eyes and eyebrows were very similar to those of the Prince of Runan, a younger version.
"Oh, right!" Zhao Zonghua touched the peach with his hand and suddenly remembered something: "Brother-in-law, I wonder if you have heard of the Penglai Shengxian Sect in the East China Sea?"
Lu Sen waved his hand gently: "I am not familiar with the martial arts world."
"Last month, some people from the East China Sea Penglai Shengxian Sect came to Hangzhou to cause trouble, saying that they wanted to take away the position of Wu Cong leader from hero Ouyang Chun. Although they were driven away by the Five Rats of Juyi Hall, I heard that the Five Rats also suffered a little. The moves of those people from the Shengxian Sect are very... magical." Zhao Zonghua lowered his voice and said, "They also said that the East China Sea Penglai is a sect that practices magic, and they are from the same sect as you, brother-in-law, but from a different faction."