Wang Gongchen stood outside the gate, holding his hands and looking up at the crackling firecrackers that were still flashing with fire and black smoke. It wasn't until the cannon was finished that he lowered his head and said to Xu Ping beside him: "This is a good thing, put it up and celebrate." My brother's family has no shortage of manpower, why don't you open a shop specializing in selling firecrackers? After the winter solstice, it will be the New Year's Festival soon, and it will be a good business! ”

Xu Ping smiled: "Why is there no shortage of manpower in my family?" It's so lacking! When this house is built, plus the fields in Zhongmu, there is no suitable person to take care of it. By the way, don't you always say that you don't have wine or meat at home, anyway, your three younger brothers are idle at home, why don't you just follow my family to open a store? Earning some money doesn't have to be so hard. ”

Wang Gongchen shook his head: "I'm the eldest brother, how can I do that?" It is to save food and save money, but also for the three younger brothers to study hard, and get a reputation in the future, so that they can get ahead. Let them be in business, not just gossip. ”

Xu Ping sighed, and it was hard to say anything. There is an era of customs, Wang Gongchen, a person who has read books, especially cares about the sound of his family, and would rather eat bran vegetables than let his younger brother engage in business.

It should be said that this era does not discriminate against businessmen very much, but some people discriminate against the profession of business.

According to the memory of Xu Ping's previous life, there is a kind of person named Qingliu among officialdom and scholars. He used to wonder why he didn't feel it, but it wasn't until he returned to the capital as an official that he slowly felt the influence of this thought.

The reason for their emergence is difficult to explain in one sentence, but is the result of the comprehensive effects of ideology, politics, culture, economy, society, and so on. It is manifested in the fact that they look down on businessmen, military officers and soldiers, and officials, and even when they are officials, they look down on the prison officials who have complicated matters, and even the most basic prison officials are also looked down upon. It would be considered an insult for a civil official to be appointed as a supervisor, because the affairs of Kaifeng Prefecture were too complicated, and there were various chamber officials, and the literati and doctors did not bother to do it, and in the end it was not done.

This is not just a sentence that can be explained by emphasizing literature over martial arts, but a strange social trend of thought that has slowly evolved from "everything is inferior, only reading is high" after it became the mainstream thought of society.

At least in Xu Ping's era, Qingliu has not yet become the mainstream of officialdom, but it has begun to form a huge social opinion. Wang Gongchen is a very realistic person in the officialdom, and he still prefers to have no food in his life and not let his family engage in cheap work.

Xu Ping understands very well, but Xu Ping himself doesn't want to be this kind of person. To be an official is to be an official, but it is not a sin to live a comfortable life.

The smoke cleared, and Xu Ping and Wang Gongchen entered the gate.

Wang Gongchen took a pair of big fish from the green donkey and handed it to Xu Chang: "A little small courtesy, not a respect, let the cook burn the wine for a while." ”

Xu Chang took it and said, "The officials are polite, why bother to break the bank." ”

Wang Gongchen laughed and walked inside with Xu Ping.

It seems very rude to bring gifts without gifts on this kind of festive day, but Wang Gongchen can't afford expensive gifts. In this season, the fish from the surrounding counties are transported to Kaifeng City to sell, the price is not high, and it is also magnificent.

Xu Ping's parents lived alone in a small courtyard, and the two went to meet in the past, so they went to the back garden of today's banquet.

As soon as he entered the back garden, Wang Gongchen exclaimed: "It's so warm, has spring come in this garden?" ”

Xu Ping smiled on the side.

Now that I have time and a place at home, I invite these colleagues and friends to come today, just to let them open their eyes and see what it means to live a comfortable life that is determined by man.

The completed back garden is not large, and the larger site outside is still under construction.

The garden is a typical northern garden in this era, the place is empty, planted with strange flowers and plants, different bamboos and trees, pavilions and pavilions and other artificial buildings are not much, and there is no decoration such as rockery Taihu Lake stone. Compared with the gardens of the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations, the gardens at this time paid more attention to the natural taste and the majestic atmosphere, and did not have the grace and elegance of the literati of later generations, and did not have the rich and delicate atmosphere represented by the rich merchant gardens in the south of the Yangtze River later.

Wang Gongchen shook his body and walked into the verandah on the side of the garden. The steaming heat rushed to his body, and the cold he had received along the way was forced by the heat, and he disappeared without a trace.

"It's hot! It's hot! ”

Wang Gongchen shouted while looking curiously at this verandah in the cold winter but like being in spring. After two glances, Wang Gongchen saw the clue. The ground on both sides of the verandah is noticeably dryer, and the temperature is noticeably higher than in other places, especially the two small waterways, where the water temperature is warm to the touch.

Wang Gongchen turned his head and asked Xu Ping: "Could it be that you are burning a fire underground?" ”

Xu Ping said: "How can that work?" Underground is the fire tunnel, and on the other side of the wall is the furnace, burning coal, and the heat comes in through the fire passage until it goes out in the distance. In this verandah, it is hot near the stove, and if you don't feel it is suitable, you can feel comfortable farther away. ”

"Burning coal—oh my God! How much charcoal to burn at the end of such a day! You are a county marquis, and you are really not the same person as a petty official like me, a rich and noble family! Now that the price of charcoal has fallen, the charcoal will also weigh sixty wen, and your home will be burned like this! I burned it like that—"

Wang Gongchen shook his head as he spoke, and he didn't know whether to envy or envy in his heart.

Xu Ping smiled: "What do you want." This verandah will only be hot when there are people, and it will burn all day, or ten charcoals, where is it as exaggerated as you say. ”

Ten titles, six hundred wen, and it is only eighteen times in a month, of course Xu Ping's family doesn't care, but for Wang Gongchen, this is a lot of money.

After walking around the verandah for a while, Wang Gongchen sat down on the stool and asked Xu Ping casually: "Why are there still two small streams of water in the verandah?" You should draw two rivers out of the garden and build a great lake......"

"Don't think about it, you have to wait until the garden outside is repaired, apply for Kaifeng Mansion, and bring water from the Bianhe River. The current two small water streams are because the corridor is dry and hot, and people sit in it for a long time and feel uncomfortable, so they are dedicated to increasing the moisture. ”

Almost every official literati thinks that one day they will be able to have a garden at home that suits their own wishes, and they can sit in it to read and write, drink tea and play chess in their spare time. But for lower-level petty officials, I don't know when they will have that opportunity.

The Song Dynasty officials' principle of being heavy on the top and thin on the bottom, the treatment above the waiting system was good, and the lower ones were significantly reduced, and when it came to the order book, the lieutenant was very low, barely able to support his family. And where is it easy to get a waiting system? According to the regulations, the deputy envoy of the third division has completed the promotion system, Xu Ping will have a few years, and Wang Gongchen doesn't know when he will wait. He is the champion, as long as there are no major mistakes, he can wait for that day sooner or later, but the days before him were difficult.

Not far from where the two of them were sitting, several peonies were revealing flower bones, delicate and beautiful. This was prompted by Xu Ping in Zhongmu with a greenhouse, and he originally wanted to use the garden built there, but now he is building a mansion in the capital, so he moved one or twenty pots over.

Wang Gongchen quietly looked at the peony that was about to bloom, and sighed after a while: "A cluster of dark flowers, ten households are endowed." Brother, although there is no gold and silver inlaid in your garden, and there is no splendid barrier, if you talk about wealth and wealth, you don't know how high it is compared to those mundane things. ”

Xu Ping said: "It's just a strange look, but it doesn't cost much." ”

"I'm afraid that others don't think so. I'm afraid that by tomorrow, the whole capital will spread, this cold winter season, there are still big red peonies in the mansion of the Marquis of Yongning, and the wealth is boundless! As for what is going on in the house, which one will go to the heart! ”

"So what? I don't steal, I don't rob, I don't greed, I don't blasphemy, I raise a few pots of flowers to see, and I'm afraid that people will gossip? ”

Wang Gongchen listened, turned his head, and asked Xu Ping seriously: "Since returning to the capital, does my brother think that his career is smooth?" ”

Xu Ping saw Wang Gongchen's appearance and replied cautiously: "I haven't suffered a little, but there have been fewer chores recently." ”

"So that's what my brother thought. Do you know what other people say? ”

"How?" Xu Ping saw Wang Gongchen's appearance, and knew that he was afraid that there would be nothing good to say.

Wang Gongchen said slowly: "Although the Marquis of Yongning County has made contributions in the local area, it has been more than half a year since he entered the court, and he has nothing to do, just mediocre. The young man of the county marquis ascended to the first place, and in less than ten years, he became the deputy envoy of the third division, and he was only ******** every day, and he had no useful words for the country's major policies, and he was deeply grateful to the country. ”

"What do you mean?"

Xu Ping listened to Wang Gongchen's words, and his mind couldn't turn all at once. When he returned to the capital, he also raised the danger of inflation and calmed down the storm of soaring carbon prices, so why did he become mediocre?

Wang Gongchen said: "Brother still doesn't understand? Since you entered the court as a judge and a deputy envoy, everything you have done is only the daily affairs within your duties, but you have never said a word of usefulness to the government and the ruling minister. Although this is just a private gossip of some officials, the fact that it can spread shows that many people think so. ”

Xu Ping looked at Wang Gongchen, and after a long while, he said, "We are officials, shouldn't we do what we need to do well?" The things he handles are a mess, but he points out the country every day, is this a good official? ”

"We are officials, not officials. As an official, you should have the world in mind and pay attention to the court, if you deal with some chores according to the routine every day, what is the difference between it and an old official? ”

In Xu Ping's consciousness, he didn't think from the bottom of his heart that officials should be like this, what kind of officials should be, and they are all different from doing the work that should be done? But from Wang Gongchen's words, Xu Ping realized that people in this era do not see it this way. An official is an official, an official is an official, and he can only work according to the department, and he can only be a capable official, which seems to be a little far from the requirements of the official.

Xu Ping asked Wang Gongchen: "What do you think?" ”

"Well, what's the use of what I think? The point is that others think so! ”

Xu Ping said in a deep voice: "I serve in the Third Division, so that the country's finances are not lacking, and the people's livelihood is not bitter, is it not a good official?" ”

Wang Gongchen sighed: "Brother, it's only been a few years since Ding Wei was demoted from the court!" Our own gossip, I have something to say to you, in the future as an official in the capital, you should make friends with Shilin, pay attention to the government at any time, and just bury your head in things is not enough! (To be continued.) )