Chapter 39 Refuge Garden

Fushui Villa is located in the northwest suburb of Changshu City, between the southern foot of Yushan Mountain and Shanghu Lake, not far from Qian Mansion, there is a waterway.Although the preparations for the outing had been made in the first two days, the family members of the Qian family still delayed going out until Chen Shi.The Qian Mansion was passed down from one generation to the next, and the population was originally small, but with a few temporary guests and a large group of servants, the number was quite considerable.Now, all the personnel are divided into four large ships. The first one is Qian Qianyi, Ji Cheng, Gu Ling, Sun Yongzuo, and the newly hired teacher He Yun; I took the second boat; Liu Rushi originally wanted to take the second boat, but because she wanted to accompany Huixiang, and in her words, she was happy to be quiet and spacious, so she was willing to be wronged, with red, green, and a few people. The old lady took the third boat; the fourth boat was carrying equipment and sundries.As for the rest of the male and female servants, they are arranged to wait on each ship according to their different identities and responsibilities.

When the fleet swayed through the emerald green river and slowly swayed out of the city one by one, the beautiful scenery of "ten miles of green hills and half in the city" unfolded before people's eyes: the green Yushan Mountain, like a The long screen is placed horizontally on the city wall.On this side of the city, there are thousands of tiles, billowing smoke, and criss-crossing streets and streams of pedestrians. It looks like a moving picture engraved on a screen.When the ship left the city, the scenery became even more fascinating: a fertile and flat field stretched from the foot of the mountain, and the huge, half-moon-shaped Shang Lake shone in the distance.In this background, there are green rice fields like a checkerboard, interspersed with clumps of green trees, and villages one by one; cattle and sheep wander on the river bank, and white clouds float in the blue sky... This piece of land is blessed by nature. , the vitality is indeed amazing.Just last year, it was severely hit by severe drought and locust plagues, but since the beginning of spring, it has recovered unexpectedly quickly after a few drenched rains and a few south winds, and hastily regained its beautiful appearance.If the farmhouses on both sides of the strait were not so low and dilapidated, and the farmers working in the fields were not so ragged and haggard, the impression it gave people would definitely be a little better.Fortunately, the hostesses and hostesses on the Qianfu boat did not affect You Xing.They didn't notice this at all, and they were still pointing and watching with great interest, enjoying the dedication of this piece of land that belonged to them calmly and heartily...

On Qianfu's boat, the most exciting thing now is Ji Cheng.This is not only because of his experienced and keen eyes, he immediately found that this area with mountains facing the lake is really an ideal place to build a large garden, but also because he is very poor now and needs to undertake one or two large-scale projects. Project to accumulate a sum of money.In fact, as a highly accomplished alpinist, he has been employed by wealthy families for decades and has been responsible for building many gardens.Wuyuan Wuyuan's Duyuan Garden, Yangzhou Zheng Yuanxun's Movie Garden, Yizheng Wangji's Wuyuan Garden, etc. are all his masterpieces.However, although he became famous for this, he did not become rich because of it.For example, he had long hoped to buy a piece of land and carefully build a small garden for himself as a home for his old age, but he just couldn't come up with the money.He also knew a lot of wealthy customers, and he was quite friendly with some of them, but no one had ever seriously cared about his wish.It wasn't entirely because they were not generous enough, but they probably didn't think that Ji Chengzhen had such an idea at all. He should also have his own garden, although generally speaking, he can only be regarded as a poor man.Ji Cheng knew the rules, so he had no choice but to continue to keep his wish in his heart.But recently, perhaps because he is already over sixty years old, this desire has gradually become stronger and more urgent. "Anyway, I'll try to save some money and start a garden myself, even if it's a small one!" he thought.Just at this time, Qu Shixu sent someone to send him a letter of appointment asking him to repair the garden.Ji Cheng was very happy and rushed to Changshu immediately.Then he heard that Qian Qianyi also wanted to ask him to be in charge of rebuilding Fushui Villa, and he was overjoyed.He admired Qian Qianyi's name and thought it was a rare honor for him, "I just don't know how much he is willing to pay? He is undoubtedly very rich! Of course, I shouldn't think of this all at once, especially for Such a famous person should not! But..." Along the way, Ji Cheng was very excited and a little uneasy by this thought.He dealt with everyone courteously, and at the same time secretly watched his master's expression.When he found that his master respected and trusted him very much, this anxiety turned into shame and gratitude.

Finally, the fleet docked at the pier.The manager of the villa, Qian Dou, a fat old man with a round face and gorgeous clothes, is already waiting on the shore with two deacons.So Qian Qianyi got on the big sedan chair carried by four people, while the rest of the female family members and guests took the small sedan chair instead. An umbrella driver wearing a felt hat and a red vest carried a big yellow light silk umbrella in front of him. Opening the way, the rest of the servants picked and picked, and picked and picked, and followed behind one after another. Now, the procession moves slowly across fields of swaying rice seedlings.Because the Qingming outing season has already passed, there are not many pedestrians on this road.Occasionally, a few farmers and women who carried baskets were scared to dodge when they saw this mighty team; only one or two ignorant little shepherd boys were attracted by the guard of honor of the team and left their cows behind. , ran over from afar, biting his fingers, staring wide-eyed, standing by the side of the road watching curiously.

After walking through the fields, the team climbed up an earth embankment built by the stream.The stream meanders from the foot of Yushan Mountain in the north, turns a corner at the foot, and flows straight to the west.On this side of the stream are willows and peach trees, and on the other side of the stream are dense green bamboos.Based on his experience, Ji Cheng knew that the villa should be within the green bamboo.Sure enough, soon the sedan chair team stopped in front of a restaurant.Qian Qianyi and the male guests got off the sedan chair.As for Mrs. Chen and Liu Rushi and other female relatives, it was inconvenient to mix with the male guests for a tour, so they didn't stop the sedan chair and went straight to the gate of the villa.

Standing in front of the sedan chair, Ji Cheng looked up and saw a three-room bungalow facing him.A long pole protruded from the eaves, with a blue wine flag floating on it.There is a counter and a dozen tables and chairs in the bungalow.A few tourists were drinking there.Behind the bungalow stands a two-story red building.There is a black lacquer horizontal plaque hanging upstairs, on which are written "Huaxin Building" in three large golden characters. Against the backdrop of green bamboos and poplars on both sides and Yushan Mountain in the distance, it is quite picturesque. "Mr. Ji, the name of this long embankment is 'Yuedi Yanliu', and the name of this building is 'Restaurant Huaxin'. They are the second of the eight scenic spots in our village. It is a ridiculous name that the students came up with in their spare time. Great!" Qian Qianyi came over and introduced in a tone that sounded casual.

Ji Cheng applauded, but before he could speak, Gu Ling interjected beside him, "Mr. Ji, you don't know that the eight sceneries of the villa mentioned by Mr. Mu are so precise that they cannot be changed! Apart from the two scenes in front of you, there are still There are "Qiuyuan Coupling", "Meipuxitang", "Jinfeng Qingxiao", "Xiangshan Wancui", "Spring Stream Viewing Waterfall" and "Shuige Yunlan". The scenic spot of the villa was actually given to him. It's all over!" Sun Yongzuo also nodded his head and said: "That's right, Mr. Mu also wrote poems for each of the eight sceneries, all of which are handed down by Gao Hua and Junshuang. I remember that one of the poems titled 'The Letter of Flowers in a Restaurant' is 'Flowers pressing high-rise wines'." Pan 卮...'"

He wanted to keep thinking about it, but seeing that everyone had already moved, he had to temporarily shut up and followed everyone towards the wine shop. It turned out that the restaurant was next to the stream, walked across a stone bridge above it, entered the east corner gate, and inside was a small courtyard with sparse flowers and trees, which was the real location of Huaxinlou. Since the appearance of this building gave Ji Cheng a good impression just now, he pays special attention to observe it at this moment.He found that the layout of this courtyard is very ordinary, nothing more than square pools, stone mountains, and small corridors.In the middle is the building, next to the building is a pear tree, which is four feet high.Although the flowering period is coming to an end, the snow-white, five-petaled flowers are still densely covered with branches, almost covering half of the buildings.Ji Cheng thought: "This pear blossom is really hard to come by! It's just that the courtyard wall is too low and there is no shelter, so all the voices from the wine shop come in. If the courtyard wall is raised by one foot, and a few rows of green bamboos are planted by the stream, then The voice from outside can still be heard, but it has become indistinct, and the meaning is quite different!" However, out of caution, he decided not to point it out for the time being. "Although the owner intends for me to preside over the reconstruction of the villa, it will always hurt his face to criticize the original building in front of so many people," he said to himself.

At this moment, everyone has climbed to the second floor of Huaxin Building and stepped into a west-facing hall. "Hey, as soon as I climbed this building, I reminded people of the poem by the old man again. It's really a wonderful saying-'Hua pressure the tall building, wine is full of wine, go upstairs...'" Sun Yongzuo began to chant again.Obviously, he has been a little reconciled to not being able to finish reading the poem just now. But Qian Qianyi interrupted him again. "Mr. Ji, look at the scale of our village, how should we change it?" He excitedly walked to the window and asked.

Ji Cheng nodded apologetically to Sun Yongzuo, then walked to the window, looked out, and found that the villa was quite large.It is close to the foot of Yushan Mountain, with a flat field in front of the gate, and the vast Shanghu Lake not far away.A looping stream surrounds the villa with a radius of tens of mu.As usual, there are some ancient pines, ginkgos, sycamores, sweet-scented osmanthus, weeping poplars and other trees planted on the village.Those buildings and pavilions are hidden among the trees.Although it is far away, the details are not clear, but with Jicheng's experienced eyes, he still immediately found that the villa was obviously founded in a rough way. Although it was remodeled later, it lacked a comprehensive plan, and it was divided into several times. Construction, so there are many problems with the layout.He pondered for a while, then arched his hands and said: "Baozhuang is surrounded by mountains and facing the lake. However, the students are not talented, and they dare not speak nonsense unless they have conducted field investigations."

Qian Qianyi listened attentively, and took another deep look at Ji Cheng, as if he understood Master Die Shan's subtle intentions.He nodded and stopped asking.So everyone followed Ji Cheng's words and talked for a while about the various advantages of building gardens in the mountains and forests, compared Hengyun Mountain Villa with Fushui Villa, and went to the North Hall to see the use of Fushui Rock as a borrowed scenery. , and set off downstairs together. On the left side of the courtyard downstairs, there is a Bayeux-style corner door.Out of the corner gate, there are two bifurcated stone roads, one to the north and the other to the west, each winding among the flowers and trees.Qian Qianyi suggested to go to see Fushuiyan first, so everyone took the road to the north and walked slowly. Now, the voices of people on the embankment can no longer be heard.It was quiet all around, only the breeze blowing the trees and making a rustling sound.A group of gray sparrows were perched on the railing of the promenade. When they saw someone approaching, they hurriedly flew into the rose bushes and disappeared.Across the stream, there was the sound of cattle whining... Because this villa is privately owned by the Qian family, ordinary people are not allowed to enter without permission.On weekdays when Qian Qianyi wasn't here, the huge villa was closed, and only Qian Dou led twenty or thirty servants to take care of it.Two days ago, when I heard that the owner was coming, I cleaned it again and unlocked all the doors.Ji Cheng followed everyone to see several pavilions, terraces and pavilions, some of which he thought were okay.However, he has avoided public criticism throughout, and instead picked out one or two distinctive places and really praised them.His humble attitude obviously won the master's great favor. "Old Mu, this corridor is very impressive. Compared with the corridor of Gui Pavilion in Shicai Tuan, it is not interesting!" Ji Cheng said.At this time, they were turning out of Meipuxi Hall and walking on a long corridor.The corridor first slanted to the left, then slanted to the right, and then slanted to the left again, forming a "zigzag" shape.The scenery outside the corridor is constantly changing with each turning point, sometimes with clusters of flowers and trees, sometimes with clear water and distant mountains, sometimes with towering strange stones and exquisite pavilions... "Ah, Mr. Ji praised this gallery?" Qian Qianyi seemed a little surprised. "That's right! You can see that it curves according to the shape, according to the situation, or on the mountainside, or lingers on the water, passing through flowers and crossing streams, winding endlessly, making tourists dizzy and interesting. !" Qian Qianyi squinted his eyes and listened.At the end, he smiled slightly: "It's a joke. I asked them to modify this corridor. It turned out not to be like this, it turned out to be straight—a curved ruler shape. But a young friend came a few days ago, and he said The curved ruler shape is an ancient system, so if it is changed like this, it will have no ancient meaning at all." "The ancient curved corridor is indeed in the shape of a curved ruler." Ji Cheng said earnestly, "The curved ruler shape is more than enough for classics, but not enough for spiritual changes. "The shape of the characters is good. For example, the "Zhuanyun Gallery" in Yizheng Wuyuan is based on this style, and everyone who knows it calls it!" "That's right, that's right!" Qian Qianyi nodded again and again, excited, "I haven't had the chance to visit Wuyuan yet, but after Mr. Jing said this, my doubts as a student have disappeared!" After saying this, for a while, Qian Qianyi stopped and looked at Ji Cheng without saying a word, his eyes flickered, as if he was thinking about something. At this time, Sun Yongzuo, who stood aside for a long time without speaking, suddenly looked around, and then nervously stared at the school teacher He Yun standing opposite him: "Brother Shilong, have you ever read Mu Lao's "Flower Letter in Restaurant"? It's Gao Hua, handsome and refreshing!" "Oh, could it be the one that Brother Zi didn't finish reading just now?" He Yun, who has a surprisingly big nose and a shaggy yellow beard, asked with a smile. "That's right, listen to me, the poem is like this—" Sun Yongzuo said hastily, and then began to chant aloud: After he finished reading, he praised sincerely: "Good poem, really good poem!" Then he stepped aside with relief, and at the same time secretly paid attention to Qian Qianyi's reaction.When he found that the teacher not only did not express his happiness, but frowned, he showed a puzzled expression. "Mr. Ji," Qian Qianyi finally said, "the student wants to discuss something with the master. I don't know if I should?" "Ah, Elder Mu, just give orders!" "Sir's masterpiece "Yuan Ye" was read by the students some time ago..." "Ah, those are late students' scribbled graffiti, unexpectedly they dirty Qingpan, Mr. Shang Xi, Mu Lao pointed out!" Ji Cheng hurriedly answered, his face blushing.Because that book, although it is the crystallization of his life experience in building gardens, was engraved by Ruan Dacheng at his expense, and there is also Ruan's preface on it.He used to be criticized by scholars for this reason, now that Qian Qianyi suddenly mentioned this book, Ji Cheng couldn't help being surprised. "I remember at the end of the book "Self-knowledge", there was a sigh of "I only heard about the current affairs, but I have no secrets, I am ashamed to buy mountains and have no power, and I am willing to be a Taoyuan Xikou person". I don’t know this wish to "buy mountains". Is it over now?" Ji Cheng was surprised again!He did not expect that Qian Qianyi read so carefully and had such a good memory.Yes, he did write such a few sentences in the postscript.He had just finished the manuscript, and he wrote it down on a whim.Now ten years have passed, and his book has already been spread all over the country, but no one has ever noticed his humble wish, let alone helped him realize it. "Then, why did he ask this? What does he want to do?... Ah, could it be, could it be..." Ji Cheng's heart suddenly moved, and then it started beating violently, "Ah, no, no, no!" Negating loudly in my heart, I tried my best to calm myself down.However, his emotions were so shaken that he couldn't immediately answer the master's question. Qian Qianyi glanced at him, and said: "The student now has an impertinent request. He intends to set aside a few acres of land on the side of the village, and asks him to build a garden by himself and move to it so that he can live in it day and night. Ask for advice." I don’t know what to do with the knowledge of building gardens and stacking mountains.” When Qian Qianyi said this, although his voice was not high and he seemed a little hesitant, to Ji Cheng's ears, it was like the sound of fairy music.His face suddenly turned pale, and he stared blankly at Qian Qianyi, almost unable to believe his ears. "Ah, could it be that Mr. doesn't allow it?" Qian Qianyi seemed a little disappointed. "Ah! No..." Ji Cheng said in a weak voice, feeling that tears were about to well up in his eyes.He wanted to say yes loudly, and wanted to throw himself at the opponent's feet, but he felt that out of politeness, he should say a few words of thanks first.Just as he was making up his mind, suddenly there was the sound of hurried footsteps, and Li Bao appeared in the corridor with a nervous expression.Behind him, there are two porters, carrying a shoulder pad. The atmosphere in the corridor was suddenly disturbed.Qian Qianyi and the guests turned their heads in surprise. When Li Bao ran a few steps away from everyone, he stopped.After saluting, he looked at the guests, hesitated for a moment, walked straight to Qian Qianyi's side, and whispered a few words.I saw Qian Qianyi's eyebrows frowned, and his expression became very strange.He looked up at everyone, thought for a while, and finally said helplessly: "There is a small matter at the Coupengtang, and the students have to take care of it. Please trouble the three to accompany Mr. Ji to swim, and the students will come as soon as they turn around." He went to Jianyu, walked a few steps, came back again, and said to Ji Cheng: "Mr. Ji, we will discuss the matter of talents later, and I pray for your consent!" hurried away. Ji Cheng opened his mouth with tears in his eyes, and wanted to tell him loudly that he fully agreed, but he didn't say it out. "Ah, let's talk about it when he comes back, anyway, I'm not busy for a long time, yes!..." He thought with a sigh, and took a few steps forward tremblingly, and looked at Qian Qian with infinite reverence and gratitude. Yi's back, until his father turned a corner among the flowers and bushes and lost sight, then turned around silently.