Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Shen House.

The news that Shen Zheng was going to accept a disciple today spread throughout the mansion for some reason. It was not until Shen Zheng questioned the person who was responsible that she found out who the culprit was - Fang Ziyan.

In the courtyard, in the pavilion.

Fang Ziyan was eating the palace milk skin pastry and was so delicious that he didn't know what the world was.

What's more, he has a good mouth and it's easy for him to spread some real news.

"Zhao Qi, this is really delicious..." With milk skin sticking to the corners of his mouth, he kept asking Pei Zhao Qi to eat some too. "Cui Jinyin is really generous. The ice cream she bought that day was also delicious. She also said that she would take the chef from the mansion to Tongan County so that we can have the chef teach Uncle Lai the craft. Then we can eat milk skin pastry every day!"

The delicious palace pastries turned into street cabbage in his mouth.

Pei Zhaoqi ate a piece and stopped, leaving the rest to him, and said, "Uncle Lai's cooking skills are very good, and the food he makes is very delicious. It should be no worse than the chef of Xu Mansion."

"You think so highly of Uncle Lai." Fang Ziyan was surprised for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, Uncle Lai's cooking is delicious too. I don't mean to dislike Uncle Lai, I just want to try more local dishes. Zhao Qi, please don't tell Uncle Lai."

Pei Zhaoqi smiled and nodded, then poured him another cup of tea.

"Why are you still in Zhenliuyuan?" Yu Nanshu's voice suddenly came.

She and Yu Jiusi each held an umbrella and entered the yard one after another. They asked, "Cui Jinyin and her uncle will be here soon. Don't you want to go and see them?"

She'll have to watch it carefully later.

Look at Cui Jinyin kneeling before Sister Shen, and then "serving tea and water".

Just thinking about it makes me happy!

"No." Pei Zhaoqi shook his head and said, "We will be leaving Beijing soon. I want to sort out some commonly used books and come up with some math problems to leave for Sister Mu Qing and the others."

Fang Ziyan exclaimed "Ah" as he handed the milk skin pastry to Yu Nanshu and her brother.

"Zhao Qi, you're not going?" He looked at the almost empty snack box and said shyly, "But I promised Cui Jinyin..."

"You're just too greedy!" Yu Nanshu spat at him, then turned to persuade Pei Zhaoqi: "Let's go, I'll help you sort it out after we're done. This is Sister Shen's first apprentice, don't you want to see him?"

Fang Ziyan chimed in: "I have to see it, I have to see it!"

Pei Zhaoqi had never been able to do anything to them, so he said helplessly: "Then... let's go."

On the way to the front hall, the rain stopped and raindrops dripped down the willow branches like delicate beads.

Several people put away their oil-paper umbrellas, but Yu Nanshu, unusually, began to feel melancholy. "It's a pity that Qianzhi and Cheng Yu are busy today, so it's just the few of us."

Fang Ziyan also quieted down and sighed with her: "Since entering the capital, you have all been very busy. You and Zhao Qi teach people to read, Qianzhi follows Grandpa Li every day to see the world at the Imperial Medical Bureau, and Cheng Yu also follows Grandpa Qiao and deals with people from the Ministry of Works..."

If you think about it carefully, it seems that he is the only waste among these people.

"Haven't you found your target, too?" Yu Nanshu teased him deliberately, "Aren't you going back to Tongan County... to raise frogs?"

Hearing this, he felt even more bitter: "Now the court doesn't allow me to raise her... Nan Shu, you are just saying this on purpose to make me sad."

Yu Nanshu laughed and stopped teasing him. Instead, she said seriously, "We are still so young. You just haven't found what you like yet. You will slowly discover it in the future."

Fang Ziyan thought about it carefully and realized that besides sleeping, what he liked most was eating.

Sleep and eat...

Thinking about it this way, I feel even more confused.

Ugh.

Life is such a long journey.

......

At the beginning of the afternoon, all preparations at the Shen residence were complete.

A moment later, the sound of horse hooves and noise came from outside the mansion gate. Nanny Gu dressed up appropriately and went out to greet them.

Xu Zhijie was wearing a purple official robe and a jade belt around his waist. The sunlight shone on his black gauze hat, casting a faint halo.

Today, Cui Jinyin was not wearing any gold or silver jewelry. Instead, she wore a plain robe and only a wooden hairpin on her head. However, this hairpin was considered to be of great value to those who knew about it.

Carriages lined up neatly behind them, attracting many people to stop and watch. Some people even followed them all the way to Yintai Street.

The accompanying servants went back and forth between the carriage and the main gate of the Shen Mansion, carrying gift boxes wrapped in red silk one by one into the Shen Mansion.

The onlookers were surprised: "Purple robe, who is that sir? With such a grand ceremony, is he here with his daughter and betrothal gifts to ask for Lord Shen's hand in marriage?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the man was kicked hard.

"What nonsense are you talking about? That's Lord Xu, the Minister of Personnel. He has a wife and daughter, so how could he possibly ask to marry Lord Shen? You're such a liar, I'm telling you, be more virtuous with your words!"

The man was embarrassed by the scolding and scratched his nose and said, "I don't know him, I'm just guessing..."

"Just because I don't recognize you, you can't say anything?" A woman couldn't help but say, "If Master Xu were a few years older, he could be Master Shen's father. Your random guesses like this aren't just ruining the reputations of both masters."

The others nodded in agreement.

But some people also said, "But I see that Lady Shen is not young anymore, in her twenties, and should have been married long ago. This time when she returned to the capital, she didn't seem to have found a suitable husband. Could it be that none of the young men in the capital are to her liking?"

Someone hissed and continued, "Master Shen's standards are too high. He keeps picking and choosing, and in the end he'll be an old maid in her thirties and still have no place to go. That's really pitiful..."

"Pitiable? How can you see Lord Shen as pitiful?"

The woman who had spoken earlier rolled her eyes. "What do you mean by home? Lord Shen is already an official, how could he not need a man like that? If he wanted to find one, what kind of handsome young man could he not find? He would appear at the snap of a finger! It's you incompetent people who are worrying about it and talking nonsense about him behind his back. Do you dare to say such words to Lord Shen's face?"

Many men were so embarrassed by her scolding that they could only whisper that she was "rude" and "unfaithful to women."

But the women all blushed and looked envious when they heard this.

If you think about it carefully, a powerful man can have three wives and four concubines, but what about powerful women?

Lord Shen is so lucky...

With a "bang", the door of the Shen Mansion closed from the inside, isolating the noise outside.

The onlookers were still confused and were still discussing as they left - why did Lord Xu send such a high-profile gift to the Shen family?

......

Shen Mansion, main hall.

Early this morning, Nanny Gu took people to clean up the main hall.

The armchair at the north end of the hall was covered with brand new silk, and it was Shen Zheng's seat.

There was only a pearwood chair on the west side for Xu Zhijian to sit on.

On the east side there is a low stool, which was used by Cui Jinyin to perform the ceremony of becoming a disciple.