Chapter 19 big birthday banquet

Because of this, although Mrs. Snail's mood was the same as that of Hu Xueyan, different from previous years, she still put on a strong spirit, put on a smiling face, and lived a lively year.Then he was very busy for Mrs. Hu's birthday. Her birthday was on the eighth day of March, and the invitation card "Jie Zhi Tao Shang, welcome to come" was sent out years ago.In mid-February, messengers from central Beijing and various provinces came to Hangzhou one after another, and the Hu Mansion sent special personnel to receive them.The gifts given are all light and heavy, because Hu Xueyan has the title of "God of Wealth", so giving any valuables is tantamount to "nothing". of.

There are seven birthday halls, the most important one is not in Yuanbao Street, but Yunlin Temple in Lingyin.When laying this birthday hall, Hu Xueyan took Qing Ke and presided over it in person. A plaque with a gold book on a red ground hung high above the center: "Shu De Chang Wen", and an imperial seal was inscribed on it: "The Treasure of Empress Dowager Cixi", inscribed on it. Book: "Give Zheng Yipin Fengdian Chief Envoy the title of Zhu Shi, the mother of Hu Guangyong's alternate Taoist priest in Jiangxi Province".Under the plaque, who should hang the scroll, but it took a lot of consideration.

It turns out that in Beijing, apart from princes and nobles, who never socialize with high-ranking officials and common people, all six departments and nine ministers, from the bachelor's degree to the minister of military affairs, have given birthday gifts.Li Hongzhang, like Zuo Zongtang, also has a couplet and a scroll, and when it comes to official positions, Li Hongzhang, a scholar of the Wuying Temple, has been the chief assistant for a long time, and the head of a hundred bureaucrats should be in the middle.But Hu Xueyan insisted on respecting Zuo Zongtang, so a clean-up man named Zhang Aihui from his lover Yide offered to persuade him.

"Mr. Da, the imperial court is the most important. Li Hefei is the chief assistant, and Zuo Xiangyin is a scholar of the Dongge University. The qualifications for joining the cabinet are very low, so I have to be wronged. Such a big scene, the order is wrong, and it will be criticized. It would be too senseless if there are any good officials who criticize and say that Mr. Da messed up the rules with his personal affairs and caused some unpleasant things." "Your words are good. However, Xiangyin thinks highly of me like a man carrying a man in a bridal sedan chair. When encountering such a situation, I don't praise him, but demote him to the second place. I feel that I can't justify it in my conscience."

"That's not what you said. Mr. Da, if you follow the rules, Xiangyin will definitely forgive you." "Even if he forgives, I can't forgive myself. Mr. Zhang, you should come up with a reason, how can you take Xiangyin as the center." "There is no reason." Zhang Aihui said again, "Mr. Da, you can't offend Li Hefei for no reason." Hu Xueyan remained silent, the situation seemed to be going to a deadlock, and Mr. Wu who often came and walked around suddenly said: "There is a way, as long as the next payment is changed." "How to change the law?" Hu Xueyan asked happily.

"Just add the title." It turned out that Zuo Zongtang sent the birthday scroll, the first one was "Aunt Hu's Liuzhi Jin Jiu Rongqing", and the second one was "Baldhead" "Zuo Zongtang's Blessing". Mr. Wu advocated adding the title of Zuo Zongtang to become "Kejing Hou Zuo Zongtang worships", which can be ranked above Li, because Li Hongzhang's next paragraph adds the full title "Wuyingdian University Scholar Beiyang Minister" "Su Yibo", the governor of Zhili, was the second-ranked marquis, and he had to be second to Zuo Zongtang.

Mr. Nawu is a temple wisher, just because he is Mrs. Luoshi's "mother's family", Hu Xueyan loves Wu and Wu, and has always regarded him as one of the Qing guests. "But Mr. Da, I still want to be presumptuous and come up with an idea. If Zuo Xiangyin is in the middle, Li Hefei's scroll has to be hung on the east panel wall. It is more appropriate to hang the couplets of Zuo and Li separately on the upper and lower heads?" Hu Xueyan saw that Mr. Wu was good at keeping the general idea, so he asked him to take care of Lingyin, the most important birthday hall, and to take care of one of his nephews, Zhang Anming. steward.

Zhang Anming was naturally ordered to be cautious, so he invited Mr. Wu to have a drink on the same day, and sincerely asked for advice, "There is something, I wonder if Mr. Wu has any good ideas?" He said, "Although there are seven birthday halls, there are too many congratulators with different identities , squeezed together, messed up, must be improved." "There are seven birthday halls. Do birthdays also last for seven days?" "That's right. Mr. Da said that the rule in the palace is 'three first and four last', and it takes seven days." Zhang Anming replied softly, "However, it is inconvenient to tell the outside world, only the old lady's birthday needs to be 'beat seven', so I started He is also seven days."

"Da Qi" is to set up an altar of water and land, which is the most solemn ceremony in Buddhism.The rituals of fasting can be divided into simple and complex ones. The seventy-seven and forty-nine days of repentance are called "Dashuilu". "There are seven birthday halls, and the congratulations are divided into seven days. They can be divided into different categories, and the congratulatory guests are staggered. The reception is easy, and the banquet will not be wasted." "That's a good idea. Let's divide him up." So after careful discussion, we decided to invite officials from the officialdom on the first day. Civil and military officials above the third rank and civil and military officials below the fifth rank occupied four birthday halls. There are one miscellaneous official of the committee and one civil and military alternate, and one is reserved for officials who arrive from other places temporarily to celebrate their birthdays.

The next day, the mall, silk, tea, salt, code, money, medicine, and silk are invited to separate seven places.The third day is the secretary of each yamen, and the book office of the sixth division of civil servants, soldiers and criminal workers. The fourth day is the day for monks. The fifth and sixth days invite relatives and friends. ".The seventh day is the birthday day, so it is naturally lively and lively among our own people. After such an arrangement, I went to ask Hu Xueyan for instructions, but he was not very satisfied. "My own people are lively and lively, and there is no need for seven birthday halls. Moreover, it is only our own people, and it will not be lively." He said, "I think we have to think about it. And I have a lot of foreign friends, and when they are here, where do I go to celebrate my birthday?"

"That's good, let's save one day for foreigners." Mr. Wu said, "From March to April, many people come to visit the West Lake. Mr. Da simply invites a guest. On this day, foreigners, whether they know it or not, just come here. Birthday greetings, please drink birthday wine." "Foreigners can't handle chopsticks." Hu Xueyan said, "If you want to treat yourself, you must treat yourself to a big dish." "I'll ask Mr. Gu to discuss this." Gu Yingchun was invited to plan.Due to the differences in language and eating habits of foreigners, fortunately, there are seven birthday halls, and each of the seven countries of Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, Russia, and Belgium occupies one place. "Ying Chun," Hu Xueyan said, "These seven receptions are all up to you. The chef of the dishes is up to you to go to Shanghai to invite them." "Okay." Gu Yingchun said, "To fix the date, when I go to Shanghai, I will ask friends from "Zi Lin Xi Bao" to publish a news article, and then foreigners will naturally come." "Wonderful!" Zhang Anming laughed, "For grandma's birthday, foreigners pay homage to her birthday. I'm afraid only grandma has this blessing for old ladies from ancient times." Sure enough, Mrs. Hu was very happy to hear that.The close relatives and friends of the Hu family even took this incident as news to spread the word, and they were all eagerly waiting to see the foreigners praying for their birthdays. The spring in Hangzhou this year was extraordinarily lively, the weather was warm, and naturally there were more pilgrim boats, and that was the second thing. The main thing was that Mrs. Hu celebrated her birthday, and the legend of how luxurious and rich it was, attracted many people to watch the fun.What's more, just counting the number of people who came to pay their birthday wishes from other places, at least several thousand people have increased. On the first day of the celebration, there were lights and festoons in four places in the city and three places outside the city, and around the birthday hall where the name of "Qingyin hall" was carefully played, there were noisy cars and horses, plus idlers watching the bustle and cooked food vendors. The peddlers are so crowded that it is impossible to move an inch.Only Lingyin is an exception, because the three major constitutions are coming to pay homage to their birthdays. In addition to the guards from Renqian and Qianxian counties, "Fubiao" also sent out soldiers wearing new jackets. Starting from Jiulisong, they sent out sentries along the road to suppress them, leaving a lot of people behind. The wide road leads directly to the gate of Lingyin Mountain. From the mountain gate to the birthday hall, the birthday scrolls were hung all over the road. In addition to Hu Xueyan and his nephew, who were waiting there to thank them, four other gentlemen were invited as "knowledge guests" in the birthday hall.One is Chen Yigong, a cabinet bachelor who asked for leave to return home to support his relatives, and he specially accompanied Liu Bingzhang, the governor of Zhejiang; A tailor was ordered to make a tailor-made gift. Near noon, Liu Bingzhang rang the gong and shouted, and arrived at Lingyin.The two divisions, Fan and Standard, had already arrived, and greeted them in front of the birthday hall. As soon as the sedan chair stopped, Chen Yigong rushed forward, clasped his fists and said, "The host is very grateful for the presence of Chengxiantai. Please, please!" Su Ke went to the hall, and after finishing the ceremony, Liu Bingzhang looked up at his birthday preface, which was hung on the front of the west wall, facing a birthday couplet sent by the great scholar Bao Jun, which was a sign of respect. He nodded slightly, Express satisfaction. At this time, Hu Xueyan, who was leading his nephew and nephew to answer the salute, stood up from the red felt strip and thanked him with a smile: "Thank you, old grandpa, Laobu, I dare not take it." The name "Old Grandfather" was also thought up by Mr. Wu.Because Hu Xueyan is a Taoist with the title of chief minister, and his mother is a first-class official, she feels that her status is not inferior to that of a governor. If she wants to be called "Master", she is unwilling to call him "Master". Zhong Weng", and he thought it was too aggressive.Talking about this small problem with Mr. Wu, he suggested simply using the title "Old Grandpa". Local officials are the so-called "Parent Officials". "In this way, as a tribe member, on the one hand, he respects the governor, and on the other hand, he is neither arrogant nor humble, but retains his status. Liu Bingzhang naturally called him "Snow Old Man", and said something to compliment Mrs. Hu's good fortune. Chen Yigong invited him to the guest room on the east side of the birthday hall to have tea. Sixteen brand-new golden fruit plates on tall legs reflected Liu Bingzhang's face. All yellow. Sit down for a while, please go to the table.The birthday banquet is held in Qingyi Xuan, west of the abbot.This open pavilion is three feet and six feet high, with a total of six rooms. There is a very elegant stage set up on the south side, about two feet in front of the stage, and three seats are arranged side by side. Around the table, distinguished guests sat facing the stage, accompanied by Chen Yigong and Hu Xueyan, and there were four other seats in the back, which were reserved for those who had errands.There are only seven tables in the huge hall, and there are no more than thirty people accompanying guests, but the attendants holding bags are all standing behind. After the seat was over, the singing on the stage stopped for a while, and a "official official" in a red robe, black gauze, jade belt around the waist, and a mask in his mouth was played on a small gong, and he walked to the front of the stage with three steps and "" Jump plus official".This is a tribute to wishing the honored guest "a high rise in the future" and "one product in the dynasty". As usual, the person with the highest official position present should give the reward, but as long as Liu Bingzhang tells him, the host has prepared a large amount of freshly made money and put it in the In the bamboo basket, when they heard the word "reward", four healthy servants, carrying the bamboo baskets, stepped forward quickly, lifted them up together and splashed them on the stage, only to hear the sound of "clap la la" full of money on the stage, the momentum was astonishing . Next came the head of the theater troupe, wearing a red tasseled hat, walked to the banquet, knelt on the ground, held up the playbook and said: "My lord, please order a play." "Dianxi" is quite knowledgeable.Because the name of the play is auspicious and the reality of the play is ominous, there are many plays that do not match the name and reality. If you don’t know how to make jokes, or the plot in the play just violates the taboo of the host or some distinguished guest, it is no different if you order such a play. It is also heard from time to time that people who openly expose people's privacy and thus become indissoluble enemies.Liu Bingzhang decided to hide his clumsiness from other experts, but fortunately there are other experts, so he immediately ordered: "Master De, please order." He was referring to Dexin, the vassal sitting in the east. He was a banner man, born in a rich man, and he was the best in opera. It was "War Wancheng", Zhu Yunqiu who played the role of Zou, nicknamed "Wool Pen", was Dexin's most admired female role, and when she acted in "Thinking of Spring", it was really like writing Zhao Mengfu's characters with a "Wool Pen". Disappointing. Just as Dexin was concentrating on the stage, a "Goshha" in luggage quietly walked up to him and handed him a letter saying, "Master sent someone to deliver it." Master Chen is Dexin's confidant, so sending someone to deliver the letter at this time is of course an extremely urgent matter, so he opened it for reading at the banquet, and saw him with a look of surprise on his face, and waved his hand to send "Geshha" away. Instead of focusing on the "wool pen", he looked towards Liu Bingzhang from time to time. He was paying attention to Hu Xueyan's movement, saw that he left the table temporarily, then walked over, handed the letter over, and said softly, "I just got news from Shanghai." After reading the letter, Liu Bingzhang just blinked his eyes and thought about it. After a while, he handed the original letter to Chen Yigong: "Brother Nian, look, the news is unfortunate. It seems that it is not appropriate to publicize it on this day." "Yes!" Chen Yigong said after reading the letter, "This will inevitably lead to some small changes in the political situation." "Yes." Liu Bingzhang turned to Dexin and said, "Brother, please hold on to the situation here, I have to go to the city quickly." Dexin also wanted to go back to the Yamen, but upon hearing Liu Bingzhang's explanation, she could only agree: "Yes." So Liu Bingzhang turned around and waved, called his attendant and said: "Pick up the sedan chair." Then he bowed his hands respectfully to Chen Yi, and when he was about to ask him to say goodbye to his master, Hu Xueyan came back. "What?" he asked, "Is the old grandpa going to change?" "No!" Liu Bingzhang said apologetically, "Xue Weng, I don't have the good fortune to enjoy such a good show and banquet. It's really urgent and I have to go back to the city to take care of it." "Uh, uh." Hu Xueyan was inconvenient to ask more questions, and only followed Liu Bingzhang, and then asked Dexin after being sent to the sedan chair, "Why is Liu Zhongcheng in such a hurry? What is the urgent matter?" "It's not convenient to talk about it here." Dexin and Hu Xueyan have a very close friendship, and they are called brothers, "Brother Hu, there is some news that I can't announce today, but the news is not bad." Hu Xueyan nodded and remained silent, returned to the banquet, waited until the end of the song, and then invited Dexin to a meditation room he borrowed to ask him what happened. "Why can't we announce it today?" Dexin said, "Mrs. Li passed away in Wuchang." The deceased was the mother of the brothers Li Hanzhang and Li Hongzhang.Mrs. Hu celebrated her birthday, so it was naturally inconvenient to announce such an inauspicious news.But this time, the Li brothers Ding You guarded the system, and Zuo Zongtang temporarily went to a political opponent. Of course, it was beneficial to Hu Xueyan, and it could be said to be a happy event, but he could only be happy in his heart. "Suddenly there are two governor-generals who are vacant, and the chief officials in the frontier are about to take over. I don't know which one will be connected to Zhili and which one will be connected to Huguang?" This question just speaks of Zhong Dexin's thoughts.When there is a vacancy for the governor, the governor is usually promoted. If there is a vacancy, the feudal officials can compete. Liu Bingzhang and Dexin have their own plans, so they are eager to go to the city to inquire about the news.However, Dexin had both the governor's order and the friendship of the Hu family, so it was inconvenient to say goodbye, so she thought why not just talk to Hu Xueyan about her concerns. "Huguang, I think Tu Langxuan will pick it up nine out of ten, and I don't know about Zhili." Tu Langxuan is Tu Zongying, the governor of Hunan. Governor, it is a matter of course. "Then what about the Governor of Hunan?" Hu Xueyan smiled and dropped a sentence, "Does your Excellency really care?" "I'm afraid someone else will get there first." "That might be." Hu Xueyan thought for a while and said, "You have to make up your mind before you can figure out a solution. If Big Brother doesn't have this intention at all, then you don't have to waste your time thinking about it." "Water flows to low places, and people climb to high places, how can it be unintentional. But it's beyond the reach of the whip, and it's useless." "It's up to people to plan things, but it's up to God to make things happen." Hu Xueyan said, "I'll send a telegram to Wang Weixian, asking him to find Mr. Sen to explore the 'handicap'." , so he dictated it, let Dexin write it, and told Wang Weixian to go to Baosen immediately in the telegram, and asked him to ask Baojun for advice. Dexin wrote carefully, finished writing in lingo, read it once and said, "Baozhongtang and his brothers are at odds, and Mr. Sen may not be able to speak. May I ask shopkeeper Wang to check his tone again?" "Good! I agree." So Dexin corrected the telegram script, and Hu Xueyan called in his personal attendant A Xilai, who specially kept a western leather bag for the master to take with him when he left home. There was a coded telegram book in it, and Hu Xueyan and Dexin did it himself After deciphering the password, the sun has already set on the mountain. "I didn't intend to go to the city, but now I have to go back." Hu Xueyan said, "The telegram will be sent to Shanghai. I will send an appropriate person there and tell him to wait for the telegram in Shanghai. If it is 20,000 to 30,000 silver , I'll cover it for you first. If there are too many, you won't be able to make it." "Yes, yes. Please do everything, thank you very much." So Hu Xueyan and Dexin went to the city together, the two were of the same rank, but Hu Xueyan once wore a yellow mandarin jacket, so Yicong was more prominent than Dexin, the current feudal official, but his "high-legged card" was only for display Yes, travel is just a sedan chair team with one horse in the front, four horses in the back, and eight sedan chairs. I heard the girl shouting: "The master is back, hurry up and fetch water to wash your feet." Although it is a good job to carry the sedan chair for Hu Xueyan, it is very difficult, because it must be fast and steady, fast enough to follow the top horse, and steady enough The tea on the handboard in the sedan chair will not be spilled.Therefore, even though the two started at the same time, Hu Xueyan's sedan chair took the lead at the start and quickly left Dexin far behind. Returning to Yuanbao Street, one can see festoons and festoons from afar, but the birthday hall is quite quiet, because the birthday celebration date has been scheduled, except for a very few close relatives, no one will rush to the hall.Hu Xueyan got out of the sedan chair, exchanged pleasantries in the birthday hall, and then started to deal with Dexin's search for an official. While calling the competent family members to explain, I saw Mrs. Snail approaching quietly holding a little girl's shoulders. Seeing that Hu Xueyan was busy, she sat down on a velvet easy chair from a distance. "You leave early tomorrow morning, wait for the news in Shanghai, and come back as soon as the call from Beijing arrives. The sooner the better." When the family agreed to leave, Mrs. Luosi got up and approached, and asked, "You are not in Lingyin to accompany the old lady, why did you come back to the city?" "If there are two vacancies for governors, there will be two vacancies for governors. De Xiaofeng wants to get one, so I have to go to the city to take care of him." Speaking of this, Hu Xueyan noticed that Mrs. Snail's expression was different, and he looked closely. After a while, he asked, "What, have you cried?" "Don't talk nonsense! It's a good day for the old lady, why am I crying?" Mrs. Snail asked immediately, "Are there many guests?" "Everyone who is due to come has come." Hu Xueyan said, "There are not many officials above the third rank, and they will be busier every day from tomorrow. I am most worried about the day after tomorrow. Everyone says they are going to watch the excitement. What kind of jokes will come out?" The original birthday celebration date has been rescheduled, and it is the turn of foreign guests on the third day. The sound of the four words "foreigners' birthday greetings" makes people curious. They all say that they don't know what foreigners' birthday greetings look like, whether they kowtow or bow?Do you use chopsticks when eating birthday noodles?The fork can't be forked, I'm afraid I have to grab it with my hands.Discussions such as waiting to see a joke unavoidably made Hu Xueyan uneasy, afraid of losing face by making a joke. "Oh," Mrs. Luoshi was reminded, "Here is a gift, you should take a look." Then she called out the window, "Come on!" He had already heard Mrs. Snail's words, so he entered the door and said, "The gift from the foreigner has been sent to the master's study." Hu Xueyan thought to himself, I don't know how many birthday gifts he has received in the past few months, but this gift was sent to his study, so it must have a source, so he immediately asked: "Who gave it?" "I don't know either." Mrs. Luoshi said, "It was sent by the Gongchen Bridge Customs. I don't think it's someone from a foreign firm, but a foreign official, so I asked them to send it to the study. When you come to see it, I have a full share." Post it there, and you’ll know it when you look at it.” "Okay! I'll go to the study to see." "Yes! It's time for a banquet outside, and I'm going to take a face-to-face interview. How about you? Where are you going to eat?" "Too tired, can't eat anything, let's have some porridge." "The old lady's birthday noodles must be eaten." Mrs. Luosi turned her face and ordered, "Ruixiang, please tell the small kitchen to order a bowl of silver noodles with chicken soup. The chicken soup is too thick, so skim off the oil." So the three masters and servants separated, and Hu Xueyan walked alone through the long corridor that was usually lit along the road, bright and easy to walk, and came to his study Jingshen Pavilion. This Jingshen Pavilion is a victory in the garden. It faces Pingchi in the front and leans against the rockery in the back. When you go up the stairs, the handrail is made of iron rods as the core. , there is a huge mirror brick in the pavilion, which draws the flat pool outside the pavilion, the mandarin ducks in the pool, the red bridge on the pool, and the weeping poplars by the pool into the mirror. It is built on a scale, but it is more delicate. Hu Xueyan entered the pavilion and stood in front of the mirror brick for a while, looking at the pavilions in the distance and the corridors nearby, all hung with birthday celebration lights, reflected in the pool, reborn in the mirror again, there is a mirror in the mirror, and there is a shadow in the shadow , Doubtful, suspicious, completely unclear.Just when he was looking at it, he heard a delicate voice: "Master, the door is open." When Hu Xueyan looked up, the little girl seemed to have seen it before, so he asked, "What's your name?" "My name is Xiaomei." "Oh, are you new here?" "No! I've been here long ago." "Here for a long time? Why don't I see you often?" Hu Xueyan said as he stepped into the study, seeing a lot of presents, he didn't care about talking to Xiaomei, and looked for the full post first. The full post is signed "Jiao Yudi He Lubin".It turned out to be the British Hurd of the Chief Revenue Department.This person has been in China for more than 20 years, speaks an excellent Beijing accent, knows Chinese, admires Chinese culture, and is a respected guest of the imperial court, so using the pronunciation of his English name, he created a Chinese language. The name is "Helubin". In addition to the full post, there is a gift list.There were four birthday presents, Quanxi Fine Porcelain Tea Set, a large silver bowl containing candy, a whole bolt of woolen cloth, and another sable sleeve for the elderly. "come!" In his mind, the two girls Qiaozhu and Qiaozhen who are in charge of the Jingshen Pavilion are the two big girls who came here, but it was Xiaomei who came. "Two coincidences and one coincidence." Xiaomei replied, "Both went to Lingyin with the old lady." Hu Xueyan saw that she was smart and expected to be able to do things, so he said: "You are the same. You go find two people, move these four things outside, and ask them to send them to Lingyin to show the old lady immediately. Say yes -" It would be too trivial to say that He Lubin is Hurd, and this "foreign man" is also wearing a red hat. I was afraid that the person who sent the message would not be able to explain clearly, so I stopped. "What does the master want?" "I want to write." When Xiaomei heard about it, she immediately walked to the desk, lifted the lid of the inkstone, poured a small ladle of water, and grinded the ink carefully.Hu Xueyan sat down, picked up a pen and dipped in ink, and painstakingly wrote six words on the whole post, "that is, Chief Taxation Secretary Hurd". Because the ink was still wet, Xiaomei picked up the full paper, pouted her mouth and blew on the words.When it was blowing vigorously, Ruixiang came. Seeing this scene, she was taken aback for a moment, and then scolded Xiaomei: "Get out! You also got this place?" It turns out that the Hu family has also learned a set of rules from a wealthy family, and the servants are divided into different classes. A little girl like Xiaomei who "does rough living" cannot walk in front of her master, otherwise she will be overstepping. This Ruixiang usually considers herself to be Mrs. Luosi's confidant, she has no eyes and is not popular with her. Xiaomei doesn't accept her very much. At this time, she is innocent and feels wronged. She has a sharp mouth and immediately retorts: "Qiaozhu, Qiaozhen." Not here, the master is here, could it be that I won’t serve you? It’s not that I’m just flattering you, so why are you yelling at me?” She said, “Everyone is a humble person, to show off your prestige as a daughter, to whom? ?” "Ah!" Ruixiang's face turned pale with anger, "What are you chewing on?" As she said, she ran up and was about to hit her. Xiaomei didn't show any weakness, and said quickly and anxiously: "It's a good day for the old lady, you dare to hit someone?" Ruixiang was frightened, she finally let go of one hand, and cursed through gritted teeth: "Don't look at the good life of the old lady, and watch that I don't tear your little x! Wait there, and watch if I don't clean up you .” Now Xiaomei was frightened. Naturally, she recognized Ruixiang's majesty. In desperation, she knelt down to Hu Xueyan, "Master, look." She said, "Master, please decide." "Okay, okay!" Hu Xueyan persuaded, "I told her to grind the ink. Don't look at the monk's face to see the Buddha's face, so don't tell your wife." The master came forward to intercede, Ruixiang finally regained face, let out a sigh of relief, and immediately shouted: "You are still kneeling here to ask for a reward, don't you, I will give you a meal of 'stir-fried bacon with bamboo shoots'! Get out!" Seeing Xiaomei burst into tears, Ruixiang warned again, "Today is a good day for the old lady, how dare you cry!" Xiaomei really didn't dare to cry, she backed out with two tears in her eyes.Hu Xueyan couldn't bear it, but it was inconvenient to comfort Xiaomei in front of Ruixiang.However, there is a ready-made plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain, which is to arrange for that birthday gift to be sent to Lingyin. When Ruixiang went down to the pavilion to call someone, Hu Xueyan walked to the corridor and said softly, "Xiaomei, don't be afraid, don't be sad, I will tell my wife tomorrow to promote you." When Hu Xueyan said his wife to his servants, he probably meant Mrs. Luoshi, "I don't want it." Xiaomei replied, "How can I live a good life under Ruixiang's hands?" When Hu Xueyan was about to ask again, she didn't want Ruixiang to come so fast. It turned out that when she got out of the pavilion, she saw one of the four housekeepers of the Hu family, Ertai Yang, who was in charge of inspecting the garden. She personally lit a palace lantern and led Gu Yingchun to see her. Owner.So Ruixiang changed errands with her, and they each turned their heads, one went to find someone to take care of He De's ceremony, and the other led Gu Yingchun into the cabinet. "Why are you back?" Hu Xueyan asked. Gu Yingchun was originally scheduled to stay in Lingyin, and was going to receive the British who came to pay their respects to the birthday the next day. He came here just to get the news that Hurd had suddenly arrived in Hangzhou, so he rushed to find out what happened. "I didn't know it was Heard just after reading the greeting card, here," Hu Xueyan pointed to the four gifts and said, "It is about to be sent to Lingyin, please go and have a look at the old lady." So Gu Yingchun enjoyed the gift, nodded and said, "According to foreigners, this gift is very heavy." This is naturally the reason why people value it. Hu Xueyan couldn't help but feel complacent. He thought for a while and said, "I don't know where he lives? It's too late today, and I will go to visit with you early tomorrow morning. This is what we as hosts should do." Makes sense." "He lives at Mei Tengsar's place." Mei Teng is a British priest and also a doctor. He went to Hangzhou to preach and opened a hospital in the middle city of Dafangbo. There is a bridge in the place of Dafangbo, which was called Guangji Bridge in the Song Dynasty, so the title of this hospital uses a pun. Guangji" word. When Mei Teng Geng opened Guangji Hospital, Hu Xueyan donated a large sum of money, so he and Mei Teng Geng were old friends, and immediately said: "Since you are staying at Mei Teng Geng's place, I will send someone to inform him and ask him Tell Hurd that we will see him tomorrow morning, and ask him to ask Hurd when it is convenient." "There is no need to ask anyone to go. Fortunately, it is not presumptuous to go to see a doctor at night. It is safer for me to go there by myself." "Alright! Hard work, hard work." Hu Xueyan asked, "Have you eaten yet?" "I was so busy that I forgot to be hungry. I'm really not hungry." "I'm not hungry either, I'll wait for you to come back and eat together." "it is good!" "Ruixiang, send the old man down." Hu Xueyan suddenly asked again, "When did you send this gift?" "At the end of the year and at the beginning of application." Rui Xiang replied, "Dean Mei sent someone to send it." "At that time!" Hu Xueyan frowned and said, "It is reasonable to send the banquet." "I didn't give the table." Ruixiang said, "I sent a first-class pot, four kinds of snacks, and a basket of peaches. My wife asked me to wrap a reward envelope and send it to someone, asking him to tell Dean Mei that our master is here." Lingyin, so I don't know the identity of this foreigner, but he is a good friend of our master. Dean Mei is like one of his own people, please take care of him to entertain him. When our master comes back tomorrow, we will thank him face to face. " Rui Xiang and Card Card quacked and explained the matter clearly. Hu Xueyan felt that Mrs. Luo Shi handled it quite decently, and said with satisfaction: "Fortunately, I didn't ask her to go to Lingyin. Otherwise, no one can take care of it. " "It's also fortunate that there are no weak soldiers under the strong general." Rui Xiang heard that she was praising her, smiled at Gu Yingchun, and then turned her head away.Gu Yingchun also laughed, so that two crow's feet appeared at the corners of his eyes. When Ruixiang sent Gu Yingchun back, she said to Hu Xueyan: "I don't want to come here. I have already taken care of the small kitchen and prepared a few delicate and refreshing dishes. Please show me where to serve the meal?" "Just here." Hu Xueyan said again, "I didn't know you were so fierce! Women are powerful, you can be fierce, you can't, you will suffer." "When a wife is in charge of the house, there must always be someone who will be the villain for her. Could it be that the wife will be the villain herself, and we will speak good things for others?" Hu Xueyan felt that her words were irrefutable, thought for a while and said, "Just being a villain doesn't make you feel stupid, what's so small, isn't it small, is it bad or not?" Ruixiang blushed, and wanted to argue, but there was really no reason, so she froze there, looking at a loss. Hu Xueyan dropped another sentence, "'People must insult themselves and others will insult them.'" He said, "If people answer you, I am 'small' and you are 'big'! Hold, hold on?" People in Hangzhou called Miao Nian girl "Da Qing Niang". At the time when she was the most sentimental, Rui Xiang was ashamed and remorseful, her eyes were red, and she was about to cry. "Hey, hey, hey!" Hu Xueyan was very surprised, "You tell people not to cry, but you are about to cry yourself. Why? Could it be that I have spoken too seriously." Hearing this, Ruixiang stopped her tears immediately, took out a handkerchief with a white silk embroidered with a Daphne flower under her arm, blew her nose and said, "Which one is crying?" "It's best not to cry. You bring the tooth card and go to the front to see how the seats are sitting?" Ruixiang agreed, took out a box of tooth cards, poured it on the mahogany square table, and then got out of the cabinet.Hu Xueyan used the tooth card to "pass five passes" to pass the day by himself, and when he couldn't get through a few times, he changed a few times and asked about his future. So according to the verse of the tooth card magic number, "the whole set of tooth cards is opened one word, how many openings are there in the middle, and three times in a row are clearly recorded, and the upper and lower sides are cut in the middle." There are twenty-one openings, but the third time there is only one pair and one pair of split phases, a total of six openings. Hu Xueyan is familiar with it, and he can count it as "upper, upper, middle and lower".I can still remember the poems roughly, but I have to find a book to read "Xie" and "Buan". I found "The Number of Tooth Cards" in "Langui Qingwan", and opened it. The poem is: "Smooth sailing and rising in time, steady sailing for thousands of miles in Jingchuan. If you go to the place where the sails turn with Hunan, the downhill horses will be harvested early Rein." While reading it, I thought to myself: "It's interesting." Looking down, "Xie said, don't worry about what you do, the fulfillment is in front of you, there is no disadvantage in doing what you do, and you have to deal with it everywhere." Seeing the last sentence, I couldn't help but slapped the table suddenly, and said loudly to myself: "Today, this number is amazing!" At the end of the speech, someone interjected: "What are you doing?" When she looked up, Mrs. Snail in front of her was stepping in with her hand on the little girl's shoulder, followed by Ruixiang. "The customers dispersed?" "Not yet. But there are people at every table." Mrs. Snail said, "I heard that the seventh brother-in-law came and went out. I don't know if there is something important, so I came to see it. "He went to Mei Tenggeng's place, and he came back as soon as he said a word." Hu Xueyan then looked down at the "broken" after "resolved". "Duan said: The evening fragrance of the yellow festival, the preciousness of the Qing festival, the echo of the passing water, and the brave retreat of the torrent." Hu Xueyan understood the last four words, and this was exactly what his old mother inside and his good friend outside told him repeatedly.At this moment, I unconsciously thought about it carefully. Mrs. Luoshi also often watched him count, but she was not as serious as she is now, and she seemed to be on her mind, so of course she was deeply concerned. "Ruixiang, go and make a glass of rose mint dew, I'll hangover." Then, he sat down opposite Hu Xueyan and asked, "Tell me what you counted." "The number from today, the more I think about it, the more reasonable it is." Hu Xueyan said, "Let me first say that my sailing is smooth, but I will close the awning at that time. When will it be?" ' Literally, it refers to Lord Zuo, and when Lord Zuo is no longer the governor of Liangjiang, I will 'take the rein of the downhill horse early'." "anything else?" "There are also these two sentences, which are also very accurate, 'There is no disadvantage in doing what you do, and you have to deal with it everywhere.' Paving the road with money will naturally lead to no disadvantages." "anything else?" "That's 'quick retreat bravely'." Mrs. Snail nodded, took a big sip of rose mint dew and said, "I think only the word 'quick retreat' is the best. It's 'downhill' and 'horse', you can't hold back the rein even if you want to. "