He Nansheng was stunned when he heard this: "When it's time to forget this, just follow your aunt out... Shouldn't your uncle go and give me a greeting?"

Shen looked at the sky outside the window, shook his head and said, "No need, right? At this time, we are outside again."

He Nansheng just said it and didn't force it. He just said: "Forget it, just go and visit tomorrow morning."

Both uncles and nephews are the second sons of the patriarch of the clan, and take care of the family's common property. They usually meet in social situations, and often have drinks together. They are less reserved than ordinary uncles and nephews.

"It's already the ninth lunar month, why is the second uncle still going out?" Shen asked.

"Go to Suzhou Mansion to meet a friend." He Nansheng said with a smile.

Shen was overjoyed when he heard this: "Second uncle is also going to Suzhou? That's great, he happens to be traveling with his nephew."

He Nansheng laughed "Haha": "Are you thinking about uncle's carriage? Come and sit with uncle tomorrow. Having you chatting with me will save me the boredom of being alone."

Because of this little incident, the next day there was an extra carriage and seven or eight healthy servants in the Shen family.

He Nansheng was an in-law of the clan and a cousin of Shen and Shen Jue's brothers. He came over to visit before departure. Mrs. Xu still saw her and exchanged a few words. Although her expression was light and not warm, it was acceptable for her identity to go like this. The process was already a matter of honor to the He family.

He Nansheng felt at ease. Seeing Shen Rui and Shen Jue together, he greeted them with a smile and said, "Brother Rui, Brother Jue, do you want to come and sit in the second uncle's car?"

He said it naturally, but Shen Rui just smiled and watched Shen Jue answer. If you want to be an uncle, you should wait until Xiao He comes in.

Shen Jue hurriedly waved his hands and said: "I won't bother my uncle anymore. My nephew and brother Rui want to listen to brother Quan San's lecture."

When He Nansheng saw that they didn't come, he didn't force them and asked Shen to get in the car.

When Shen Jue pulled Shen Rui to Shen Quan's carriage, he saw Shen Quan pointing at the carriage and smiling helplessly.

Shen Jue didn't react for a moment, the car curtain had been opened, and Shen Zhu was sitting in it: "Brother Quan, why don't you come in?"

"Ah?" Shen Jue looked at the carriage, somewhat confused as to why Shen Zhu was here.

Shen Zhu looked at Shen Jue with a smile and said: "Brother Jue, what's wrong? His tongue was bitten by a cat? I want to endorse it with Brother Quan San, you go to find Brother Qin, Brother Bao is playing. It's hard for Brother Quan, all day long Staying with you little sticky teeth"

Shen Jue gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Zhujiu, everything has to be done on a first-come, first-served basis."

Shen Zhu smiled brightly: "Brother Jue is right. Brother Ninth, shouldn't I be here first?"

Shen Jue's eyes widened: "Brother Rui and I came yesterday."

Shen Zhu looked puzzled: "Yesterday is yesterday, today is today, is Brother Jue just staring in a sleepy state?"

Shen Quan, who was standing by, saw the two men facing each other and quickly winked at Shen Rui.

Shen Rui suppressed his laughter, stepped forward and pulled Shen Jue away, heading to Shen Jue's carriage.

Entering the carriage, Shen Jue wailed: "Ugh, Sange Quan's five-foot carriage just belongs to someone else. I can't even lie down on the road again."

Shen Rui rolled his eyes: "I sat all day yesterday and I didn't see you lying down for a quarter of an hour."

Although the carriage was spacious, the carriage was so bumpy that it made me feel uncomfortable while sitting there. Lying on the carriage, the rumble of the carriage was even more noisy.

Shen Jue still made a plaintive gesture, and couldn't help but laugh out loud as he did so: "Haha, it's so funny, when Brother Zhujiu is still such a scumbag. If you want to get close to Brother Quansan, just say it, and also say that you want to endorse it, in the carriage The place is empty, where can I find books?"

Although neither of them is very close to Shen Zhu, there is one person in the team who is dying and has a dark face all day long, which is disappointing to see. Now that Shen Zhu has turned around, Shen Rui and Shen Jue are both It’s the result of optimism.

"There are only two days left for you and me to hang out. I can't bear to sit in a car alone and sit there all day long..." As Shen Jue was talking, he heard someone outside the carriage say: "Brother Rui, brother Jue..."

Shen Rui picked up the curtain and saw a nimble mother standing in front of the carriage. She looked kind-hearted. It was Mother Wu who had been accompanying Xu for the past two days.

"Why did mom come here? But did the aunt have any instructions?" Shen Jue asked.

Mother Wu smiled and said: "My wife sent this old slave over to invite the two young brothers to come and sit with me."

When Shen Rui and Shen Jue heard this, they looked at each other and got out of the car to follow Mother Wu.

Shen Jue was afraid of being formal, so she was quite reluctant and winked at Shen Rui from time to time.

Shen Rui, however, had long wanted to see Xu's carriage, and was secretly happy to have this opportunity.

Common vehicles in the world are mostly unicycles and two-wheeled vehicles, but the carriage Xu rode was a four-wheeled carriage with a seven-foot-long body and a sedan as tall as a living room.

As for the four-wheeled carriage, Shen Rui's later generations only read the record in Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Kaiwu", "The capacity can carry fifty stones, and the number of mules and horses can be twelve or ten, and the less can also carry eight grams."

Shen Rui originally thought that there would be no four-wheeled carriages in the Ming Dynasty, and he also thought about getting one when he could make the decision in the future. Therefore, when he saw Wu's carriage, he was very surprised and wanted to go in and take a look around immediately, but he had not had the chance yet.

As soon as the team was almost rested and about to set off, Shen Qin was lying in front of the small window of the carriage looking around. When he saw Shen Rui and Shen Jue getting on Xu's carriage, he was slightly startled, then curled his lips and yawned. , becoming more and more disinterested.

Shen Bao piled a quilt in the corner of the carriage and called to Shen Qin: "Come here and sit sideways, this is a bad thing about choosing a table! I want some sleep-inducing soup at night. It will take a long time to go to the capital." "

Shen Qin leaned over and groaned comfortably: "Why bother? After two days of being sleepy, you will naturally know how to sleep..."

"Creak", "Creak" the wheels sounded, and the motorcade set off.

In Xu's carriage, Shen Jue felt that her eyesight was not strong enough and exclaimed: "Auntie, why does this carriage look like a house?"

The carriage is five feet wide and seven feet deep, just like a living room. Behind it is an Arhat couch. There are fixed benches on the east and west sides of the carriage. In the middle of the bench is a small folding square table. The four legs of the small square table are stuck. on the ground to hold it in place.

Shen Rui stroked the carriage gently, and was also surprised in his heart. Because the carriage of this carriage was made of red sandalwood. Although the carriage was luxurious and clean, if you look closely, you can see that the carriage is not young, and it must be said that it is very old. decades.

The Xu family must have taken a boat to go south, and this carriage must not have come from Beijing, but from Suzhou Prefecture.

The owner of such a majestic and luxurious carriage would not care about anyone except Xu Youzhen, who was in love with the landscape after being dismissed as prime minister.

Shen Rui collected the known information about the Xu family in his mind. Xu Youzhen's ninth daughter, Zhu Zhishan's deceased mother was on the fifth line, Xu's mother was on the sixth line, Wei's mother was on the seventh line, and He Tai's mother was on the ninth line. The one who wrote "Poetry on Cutting Melons", A talented child prodigy who died in his early teens is still alive and who knows where his biological mother is.

Among them, Zhu's mother and Wei's mother married to Suzhou, while Xu's and He's mother married to the capital. It seems that most of the marriages between official families were like this, either while they were in office or in their place of origin.

When the family members had a banquet in the clan house the other day, Shen Rui accidentally heard someone mention that Shen Luo's fiancée was the niece of the Xu family. They were childhood sweethearts. After the two families got engaged, they were taken into the family to be married.

In addition to what He Taizhi mentioned earlier about his sister being in Suzhou, Shen Luo's unmarried wife is probably the young lady from the He family. Otherwise, how could a young lady in her teens, who is mainly chaste and quiet and waiting to be married in her boudoir, do this? Traveling far away with my relatives and elders.

It is rare for an official family like the Xu family to recruit new members. Now the people who inherit the Xu family's incense are also heirs and grandchildren.

In the carriage, in addition to Xu, Shen Rui, and Shen Jue, there was also a teenage maid.

While Mrs. Xu was talking happily to Shen Jue, she also ordered her maid to prepare food.

There is a drawer under the bench, which is quite complete, including a charcoal stove, food, and various gadgets for playing time, such as nine-ring rings, Kong Ming locks and the like.

"This carriage really looks like it is for a long journey." Shen Jue said with appreciation: "If you take a carriage like this for a long journey, you don't have to enter an inn or a post office, and you don't have to worry about missing Sutou."

Mrs. Xu smiled and shook her head and said: "It's true that this carriage is for traveling, but it can't leave the inn. People are easy to fool, but the horse pulling the carriage must not be confused. It needs to be prepared and the reins must be changed at least twice a day. , it needs to be carefully looked after and fed with enough beans, otherwise it won’t be able to pull it.”

"Is it so troublesome?" Shen Jue said, "It's not as convenient as an ordinary carriage. It turns out it's just a matter of taste."

Xu asked with a smile: "Brother Jue didn't notice any other benefits?"

"What's the benefit? Isn't it just spacious?" Shen Jue asked puzzledly.

Mrs. Xu then looked at Shen Rui: "Does Brother Rui know?"

Shen Rui nodded and said: "This carriage is stable, and it doesn't feel bumpy when driving."

As he said this, Shen Rui had already made up his mind to order a four-wheeled carriage in the future.

Compared with the unbearably bumpy two-wheeled carriage, this four-wheeled carriage is really powerful.

After the curiosity about the carriage passed, Shen Jue thought of Tang Jieyuan, whom Shen Rui had mentioned several times, and Zhu Zhishan and several other cousins ​​who had left the day before yesterday, and asked: "Auntie, how many days will we stay in Suzhou?"

Mrs. Xu shook her head and said: "We are in a hurry. We have already booked an official ship there. We will go directly to Suzhou Pier to board the ship tomorrow afternoon and sail north early the next morning."

Shen Jue was surprised and said: "In such a hurry? No wonder Zhu Cousin and the others want to go back one step ahead."

Shen Rui was stunned when he heard this, but he calculated the days and found that it was already November 23rd. If he wanted to get to the capital before New Year's Eve, he really couldn't afford to delay, otherwise everyone would have to celebrate the New Year on the boat.

For the canal journey, go north with the current and go south against the current. If you go north, it is much faster than taking the land route. However, it is only for official ships. When entering and exiting the lock, the delay is short. When civilian ships enter Beijing, it takes more than two months to travel this waterway.

Because of Shen Rui's admiration for Tang Jieyuan, Shen Jue was afraid that he would be disappointed, so he comforted him: "I missed it this time, so I'll see you next time. Suzhou is not far from Songjiang, so we can always see you. Then let's be shameless and disturb Zhu Biao. Brother and Cousin Wei, can they still knock us out?"

Shen Rui nodded and said, "Well, I'll ask Cousin He for help next time..."

Mrs. Xu was standing by, listening to the conversation between the two brothers, and asked curiously: "Brother Rui admires Tang Jieyuan very much?"

"I have admired his name for a long time and want to see it." Shen Rui said.

Five hundred years later, few people will remember who Emperor Hongzhi is and what the relationship between Zhengde and Jiajing is, but there are still a few people who have never heard of the "Four Great Talents". The joke "Tang Bohu lights up the fragrance of autumn" is as famous as

"The White Snake Yongzhen Leifeng Pagoda" and "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" are familiar to everyone.

Mrs. Xu couldn't help but think deeply and said, "Brother Rui wants to be a talented scholar?"
Chapter completed!