Chapter 36: The Fruit (Part 1)

  "General Pan is preparing to send troops to Binzhou, but Mrs. Tian did not agree, saying that after a while, the children of both families are not too big anyway. However, Zhang Dalang is talented in both literature and martial arts, handsome in appearance, and elegant in demeanor, which has moved Mrs. Tian's heart." Han Chongxun said, patting Song Jiu's shoulder with his large hand.

  To be honest, he and Zhang Zhao Yun are not of the same kind, they are all descendants of military generals. Why bother with book learning? Even when speaking, it's all about being polite and courteous. But Song Jiu is still good, even if he is a scholar, he doesn't usually sell out his poetry and literature. But can others do that? Look at their arithmetic skills, accounting skills, and ability to compose small tunes. This is the true gentleman, even if it's a real little man, it's true.

  But to be honest, he didn't think much of Song Jiu either.

  The gap between the two is too big.

  Song Jiuxu walked back and forth, Pan Mei's trip to the south this time would take several years before he could return to the capital. The southern region is very bitter now, why did the imperial court let Pan Mei stay for so many years? He suddenly thought of a rumor from his neighbors. After Zhao Kuangyin entered the palace with his troops, he saw Chai Rong's two children and asked everyone what to do. Zhao Pu said "go" which meant killing them. Everyone agreed, including Guo Wei's son-in-law and Chai Rong's brother-in-law Zhang Yongde, no one opposed it. This was orthodox, for the sake of the Song Dynasty's future, killing those who could understand was acceptable. Only Pan Mei remained silent, Zhao Kuangyin asked if he thought it was inappropriate? Pan Mei still didn't speak, Zhao Kuangyin said "as a person in this position, to kill someone's child, I couldn't bear it."

  Zhao Kuangyin was a far-sighted person who also considered the future of his descendants. At that time, he had thoughts of killing Chai Rong's son, but even his trusted generals did not agree with him, let alone the outside officials and generals. So he spared Chai Rong's two sons. Pan Mei then said: "I and Your Majesty both served Emperor Taizu, if I advise you to kill them, it would be disloyal to Emperor Taizu; if I advise you not to kill them, you will surely suspect me." In the streets, there was a rumor that Pan Mei was still uneasy and had adopted one of Chai Rong's children as his own son, naming him Pan Weiji. Another official, Lu Xuan, secretly adopted Chai Rong's youngest child, Chai Xian. Unlike Pan Mei and Zhao Kuangyin who were close friends, Lu Xuan was afraid that Zhao Kuangyin would harm him and Chai Xian, so he first adopted the child and then escaped to Zhejiang under the pretext of retirement. One day when Emperor Taizong was drinking wine, he asked Pan Weide about it. Pan Weide was furious and said: "What does this have to do with me? There is a Pan Weiji, who is actually the biological son of Pan Mei's older brother, Pan Chu." But as for Lu Xuan's affair, Pan Weide was not clear about it.

  In a big way, one thought makes Buddha, one thought makes demon. If there was no Pan Mei, if Zhao Kuangyin really killed several sons of Chai Rong, it is possible that there would not be the relatively gentle Northern Song Dynasty later on.

  But was Zhao Kuangyin really happy? If he was happy, this treatment is unfair. If not, in the future, he would not let his second daughter marry Song Zhenzong, and a younger daughter married someone who was not prominent, that is the famous general Cao Wei! Of course, the good looks of the Pan family were also part of the reason.

  The affairs of the big shots have nothing to do with themselves, he is thinking of Pan Mei because Pan Mei has been in the south for a long time and is familiar with the south. Later, let Pan Mei conquer South Han. If Pan Mei doesn't come back, will Pan Weide brothers not marry their wives when they get married? With just one letter, this marriage was settled.

  Something's not quite right.

  "Alright, Jiulang, I think you'd better go drown your sorrows in wine." said Luogui.

  It has nothing to do with you, it's just looking for trouble on your own.

  Fu Zhao Shou patted Song Jiu's head: "This kid is beyond salvation."

  "Go, don't gloat over others' misfortunes, I want to ask three of you for a favor."

  "Tell you what, we can't even kidnap a bride."

  "Cut it out, what's with the kidnapping... I just want to trouble you to go to the Pan family and get Pan Dalang to take out his family letter for me."

  "This is someone else's family letter, written from Hunan, what right do you have to give it to him! This child, really can't be saved," said Luo Gui shaking his head.

  "Don't meddle, I'm talking about serious business. When it comes to Hunan, I think of one thing - wasn't it easy for General Li Chuyun to pacify Hunan? But in the end, how many troubles arose? Now General Pan is dealing with the Miao and Yao peoples, which is even more difficult. Pacifying the easy and governing the difficult, I have an idea in my mind. However, being far away from the river, news is not readily available, so one must take a look at his family letters to gain some understanding."

  "How about you?"

  "Don't underestimate people, I can even build a flying bridge with confidence, what's difficult about coming up with a small idea?"

  The three princes were suddenly suspicious and suddenly believed.

  Han Chongxun said: "Alright, you must treat us to a drink."

  "It's settled, but it has to be after tomorrow. I have to get the math problems done in these two days and also teach my child, things are busy."

  Three people talked with Song Jiu for a while and left, walking and laughing along the way, saying that Song Jiu was determined to eat swan meat!

  Song Jiu's idea was not a small one, but he didn't know if Pan Mei could accept it, so he asked for Pan Mei's family letter. In the Song Dynasty, marriage was arranged by parents and matchmakers, with romance but no freedom to love. This is a two-pronged attack from top to bottom. Song Jiu gritted his teeth and muttered to himself: "This damn era."

  No one asked, but Pan Lian'er was not very old either. In this era, it's not possible to get married at the age of 20 or later. Zhu San's marriage had been arranged, and he wanted to take the imperial examination and pass with honors before returning home in glory. The wedding preparations were underway, but the bride's family was not pleased, so they sent someone to urge his parents, who then urged Zhu San to return home and get married as soon as possible. The Zhang family was the same way. In fact, Song Jiu didn't have such a narrow mind. The young girl was 17 years old and wanted to get married, which is a normal psychology. Some parents even went so far as to marry off their children when they were just a few years old, raising them together from a young age, this is what's called true "childhood sweethearts"!

  If it were three years later, or even two years, I would have more confidence, but these are the fatal two years! This damn early marriage era!

  I wonder if Pan Mei would observe me if I wrote a letter to her myself...

  Thinking of this, I didn't have the heart to build a house, so I entrusted the craftsmen and scholars with it, and returned home to write the explanation. If placed in later generations, the three types of question explanations would be written very quickly, but who would understand them if they were written that way? Therefore, it is necessary to write down the origin of these formulas on the side.

  One explanation is three or four thousand words, plus more than fifty relevant formulas and a dozen diagrams. As soon as the writing began, Song Jiu thought of his beloved fountain pen, but unfortunately, it was not enough to write four thousand words, so he spent more than four hours writing with a brush, which was too slow.

  But that's the way it is, Song Jiu doesn't think many people in the capital can really understand, those who do understand a bit are only half-understanding. Never mind, as long as he can prove himself not to be a scammer, that's enough.

  Song Jiuyi's education was quite humanized, not only did he take them to build houses and do various internships, but also went to the dock to calculate accounts for the coolies. There were holidays and class breaks, but under the exploitation of Zhang Yan and two doctors, class breaks became less and less.

  The students were dismissed from class and ran outside to take a look. Unfortunately, their study time was too short, and although Song Jiu had briefly lectured on algebra and geometry, these few thousand words were still like a fantasy to them. The crowd of onlookers continued to grow, and the alleyway became increasingly lively. Not only did people often come over to try to poach Song Jiu's students, but some curious individuals also came to listen in outside the Song family gate. As long as Song Jiu opened the door at dawn and closed it at dusk, he didn't mind anyone entering. The latter wasn't scary; what was scary was the former, whose methods were becoming increasingly cunning. With only a hundred or so students, how could they possibly be chosen by the imperial court? So, Song Jiu went to extremes, forcing his students to sign a one-year contract with him. Within that year, they had to study diligently and take an exam at the end, with their scores posted on a public bulletin board outside the wall. While it wasn't ideal to determine victory or defeat solely by grades, it was also a necessary measure to prevent students from thinking there was an easy way out and becoming lazy in their studies. Still, some merchants continued to come over to try to lure away his students.

  Three math problems came out and caused a small stir, saying that Dr. Zhang got the answers, but how he did it was unclear to everyone. Now they are finally written on paper and hung under the eaves of the outer wall. So people come over together to watch, then pretend to think deeply. But there were a few who understood, so don't take it seriously.

  Song Jiuzhen was also preparing something. There is a recreational activity called fishing, and there is a clever wrist action also called fishing...

  The impact of the three questions continued to expand, and Song Jiyou did not expect such a consequence, that is, human curiosity. In fact, whether there are people who can fully understand it is questionable, but due to detailed annotations, a very small number of people seem to be able to understand it, and with the trial near Pan's residence, many people come to see this new and curious arithmetic.

  Song Jiu opened the big gate in the morning.

  Tokyo city began to have developed night markets, but it was not yet open day and night, mostly closing doors at the third watch, causing a small number of people to start reversing their days and nights. But that was for the wealthy, Song Jiuyuan originally didn't have much money in his hands, now he had money, and there were many places where he could use it. So at night, he would read books or occasionally go out for a stroll, resting after blowing out the lights at the second watch, and thus developed good sleeping habits.

  But summer has arrived, and it's also the most unbearable time.

  Rich people will be better off. In the 19th year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin's expedition to Goguryeo ended in failure and he returned. Chen Yuantu, the magistrate of Yi State, built a special greenhouse, burning fires day and night to grow out-of-season vegetables for Li Shimin, but was dismissed from office instead. It wasn't just the out-of-season vegetables that Li Shimin disliked, but also this extravagant style. Therefore, in Chang'an, Tang Dynasty, as soon as the sun set, all the gates of the wards were closed together, and the streets were empty, without even a ghostly figure. Without mentioning right or wrong, Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin were just the opposite, encouraging business development.

  After the Chen Yuanying incident, planting out-of-season vegetables became a taboo topic in the Tang Dynasty, but it was no big deal in the Song Dynasty. In early April, a pair of early eggplants could be sold for dozens of guan outside Donghua Gate, which was equivalent to the price of a horse! Out-of-season vegetables were extremely expensive. An ordinary cucumber that could only be sold for one or two wen during summer would cost one guan in snowy weather, a thousand times more. However, various technologies, including greenhouse vegetables, were very backward.

  In this atmosphere, many people also used their brains to get rich. In the winter, they hired people to chisel down ice blocks and put them in their own large ice cellars. Song Jiuzhen had seen a segment of "The Legend of the Condor Hero" that told a romantic story about an ice cellar, but in fact, many households already had similar ice cellars as early as the Song Dynasty, with some being quite large in scale. In the summer, they would take out the ice and mix it with various ingredients to make sweet bean soup, coconut wine, mung bean water, pear juice, plum juice, ginger honey water, melon juice, fragrant water, lychee syrup, bitter water, golden orange balls, snow bubble spleen drink, fragrant schisandra drink, purple perilla drink, white sugar cool water, soap water, sweet bean sugar, green bean water, spleen drink, plum juice, river tea water, five lotus powder, large sequoia powder, lychee syrup, snow bubble plum blossom wine, and rich family summer heat medicine ice water... The names were numerous and dazzling, more than the cold drink menu of his previous life. Some wealthy households would even place ice blocks in their rooms to create a primitive air conditioner to ward off the heat.

  Too expensive!

  So Beijing's summer is a joy for wealthy families, and has nothing to do with Song Jiu.

  Ready to wash and comb, but unexpectedly Yu Ping came again. Song Jiu rested after the second watch and got up normally in the morning. Yu Ping was forced by life, usually working at night, accompanying wine, singing and dancing, chatting, and since she only sold her art and not her body, her actual work nature is very similar to that of later generations of artists.

  I'd like to go to the river, even if I have to take a horse-drawn carriage, it will still take some time, so I got up very early, with a slightly tired look on my face.

  "Sit down," Song Jiu looked at her, feeling a bit heartbroken. He knew her intentions and didn't look down on her, but this was an unsolvable problem, so the dog-blooded triangular relationship would continue.

  "How come so early?"

  "I heard from Sanlang last time that your wonton noodles are very delicious, and just last night I heard that you wrote out the solutions to three questions and posted them on the wall. I came to take a look and also wanted to try some of your wonton noodles."

  Eating noodles is fake, but Song Jiu couldn't expose it. He said: "Yu Niangzi, today we won't eat wide flatbread, I will make another dish, you wait a bit."

  "Alright." Yubing sat quietly on the stone bench, looking at the tall pagoda tree that made her feel the warmth of home. Cui'er walked back and forth in the two classrooms, imitating Song Jiu's appearance standing in front of the large blackboard, looking at rows of desks and chairs. Zhu San also got up and looked at Cui'er with a smile: "Cui'er wants to be a teacher?"

  "Hmph, what's so great about it."

  "Let's have breakfast," Zhu San said to Song Jiu. This kid's appetite had been spoiled by Song Jiu, and he was so picky that even when they went to Big Sister's wine shop as guests, he couldn't get used to the dishes cooked by the chef invited by Big Sister, and Big Sister had to knock him hard with chopsticks.

  "We're waiting for several guests."

  "Who?"

  Just as Song Jiu looked up at the sun, the guests arrived. However, when Song Jiu welcomed them at the door, he was speechless. Pan Mei's four sons came, except for the youngest who couldn't come out. The other three were all there. This included future brother-in-law, and the more that came, the happier it was. There were also Fu Yanqing's son Fu Zhaoxian, Fu Zhaoshou, Guo Chong's son Guo Shouxuan, Guo Yungong, Han Lingkun's son Han Qingchao, Han Qingxiong, Cao Can bringing his second brother Cao Xuan, and a large group of others. In total, twenty-eight people came.

  "Damn it, I'm going to get screwed."

  Many people he didn't know, but among these people, he didn't see Wang Yan's son. This is normal, last time when drinking wine, Wang Yan's son said that he would follow his father to Shaanxi. According to legend, when Zhao Kuangyin had nowhere to turn, he went to Wang Yan for help, but was rejected. After Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, he summoned his ministers for a banquet and asked about this matter during the wine-drinking session. Wang Yan said, "Can a small cup of water stop a divine dragon?" Your Majesty didn't stay in a small county that day, it was heaven's will. Zhao Kuangyin laughed loudly and put an end to the matter. However, there were two people, Zhao Pu and Zhao Kuangyi, their hearts might not be as broad-minded. Last time when drinking wine, Song Jiu saw some desolation in Wang Erlang's eyes. Also didn't see Zhang Qiong's son.

  The atmosphere was definitely not as harmonious as imagined, and it had nothing to do with Song Jiu. Just then, some students who arrived early said: "Today is a holiday."

  Here comes this large group of young masters, today's classes are cancelled.

  Invite them into the house.

  Pan Weide's eyes stared at Yu Ping, making her feel uneasy and lower her head. Song Jiu said: "Pan Dalang, it's very impolite to stare at people like that."

  "You still know what manners are? With such a pretty daughter, and... and..." He was also thinking of my little sister, Pan Weide was furious, came over early in the morning, so angry he wanted to hit someone, hit Song Jiu.