Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 56
All the way through the vast fields, Shen Zhezi and his party finally approached Zhu's Manor.

Shen Zhezi was a little curious about Zhu's house built on a slope.

Nowadays, people pay attention to the beauty of the circle when buying a property, and they have a lot of requirements for the environment of the residence. It is the most basic to be able to have green mountains as a screen, green water to surround the wall, see the mountains and green ink from a distance, and listen to the natural sound of the flowing water. The environment is pursued.

Shen Zhezi has also seen some residences of the owners of Wudi Manor, most of which are elegant and elegant.Like the Zhu family, they don't consider the convenience of getting in and out, and don't care about the beauty of the circle. It's really rare to have a house in Gaopo.

Shen Zhezi didn't discover the reason until he got closer.There is indeed a small river flowing around this slope, but at the bend of the river, a dam was built and a canal was built to cut off the small river.As a result, the water level in the upper reaches rises. Although there are canals to divert the flow, once the rain continues, it will cause flooding.

Therefore, Zhu's Manor is located on a high slope, so as to avoid the hidden danger of flooding.As for why the river was blocked and dammed, just look at the water reels and rolling leaves in the lower reaches of the river, and you will understand.

The biggest function of the water pestle is to shell and remove the bran from the rice.There are many processes required to turn rice grains into white and moist rice grains, among which pounding rice is the most important one.If relying on manpower alone, the labor consumption will be extremely high, and it will be very inefficient.But with the water pestle, as long as there is the force of the impact of the water flow, it can be processed day and night.

Shen Zhezi was not in a hurry to go to Zhu's Manor, and stopped under the dam to watch the work of the water reel for a while.He is very interested in this kind of hydraulic machinery in ancient agricultural production. Before diesel engines were used as power in later generations, water reels were one of the most important production machinery!

Pan Yue in the Western Jin Dynasty's "Xianju Fu" has a sentence "pound tax is enough to replace farming". The so-called pound tax is to process rice with water reels to collect processing fees. It can be seen that the use of water power has become an industry comparable to farming in this era.After the Three Kingdoms period, when Wei, Shu and Wu confronted each other, Shui Dui even rose to an extremely important strategic position, which directly affected the rise and fall of national power!

The water reel set up by the Zhu family was a machine-connected reed made by Du Yu in the Western Jin Dynasty. If a large water wheel is used to drive several water reed pits, the greater the water power required, of course.Therefore, dams are built to block the river, and the water level is artificially raised to drive the water reel with the impact force, so the more superior flat living environment is abandoned.It's just blocking the river and building dams. If there is a flood, more than one family will be affected by the disaster.

From this point, Shen Zhezi could see Zhu Gong's pragmatic character.To put it more simply, it is to recognize money but not people, pragmatism.So Shen Zhezi also understood why Zhu Gong wanted to hurt his family, no wonder his father called him a "stingy husband".Talking about family and friendship with this kind of person is also playing the piano with a cow.

After getting on the bullock cart, Shen Zhezi went straight to the outside of Zhu's manor, and asked someone to send a greeting card.Not long after, someone came out from the manor and said: "My master is away from home to visit, and the mistress invites Mr. Xiaolang to meet you in the inner house."

Hearing this, Shen Zhezi felt a little disappointed, the main purpose of his trip was to reveal in front of Zhu Gong that he had already bought grain.But since I have already arrived at the door of the house, I have to pay a visit to the aunt I have never met.

Let the others rest in the vestibule, Shen Zhezi took two servants and followed the Zhu family members into the inner house.Not long after walking, I saw a rich lady with a bun on her head, standing in front of the court with a few maids guarding her, looking at her with a smile.

Seeing this, Shen Zhezi guessed that the woman should be his aunt Shen, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute: "Nephew pays respects to aunt."

Shen walked a few steps quickly, helped Shen Zhezi up, and looked up and down with a smile: "I saw Zhezi last year, and he looked like a baby. This year, he has become a young man with outstanding demeanor. No wonder he can get the favor of Danyang Jiguo. Unlike you in my family A few incompetent cousins ​​still don't let me worry about it."

Shen Zhezi can still talk freely with outsiders, but in front of women, his family's faults are really not his strong point. He met his aunt with a slightly doting look, and said with a smile: "My cousins ​​are all from a high-ranking family. It's me. an example to follow."

After hearing this, Mrs. Shen sneered, and said: "My family's status may not be inferior to that of this rich family. Zhezi, you are Wu Zhongqiongbao praised by Mr. Ji Guo. You are young and prosperous. You are too modest, and others will Take it lightly."

Hearing his aunt's words, Shen Zhezi felt an unusual feeling. It seemed that his aunt was not very happy in Zhu's house.But before he could think about it, Shen took his hand and walked into the hall with a smile.

Shen Zhezi sat across from Shen Shi, coping with the woman's pleasantries, and felt relaxed.Maybe it's because she hasn't gone back to her mother's house for a long time, but Shen's affection for Shen Zhezi is real. After chatting for a while, Shen suddenly stopped laughing, looked at Shen Zhezi and said softly: "Zhezi, you are passing here from Jiankang. ?”

Shen Zhezi nodded, and then heard his aunt sigh and said: "I also know a little about the situation at home. I am a woman, and I want to help, but I can't do anything. However, these days I have raised more than 2000 hu of brown rice. Later you When I left, I took it back to Wukang, it was my little effort."

Shen Zhezi was slightly taken aback when he heard this. More than 2000 hu of grain is not a small amount of money. My aunt raised so much without leaving the house. It seems that the dowry was also generous.It's just that these grains are only a drop in the bucket compared to what the Shen family needs.

Moreover, in this era, how much property and dowry a woman has is managed independently of her husband's family, which to a considerable extent determines her status and voice in her husband's family.No matter how poor the Shen family was, they could not search for their married daughter's property to make ends meet.

So he hastily waved his hands and said: "Auntie really doesn't need to do this. I made a detour to visit, just missing my aunt. Besides, the family's predicament has been resolved now. I came from the south of Jingkou, and by the way, I will escort the food raised by my father in the north, which is a total of [-] yuan." There are a lot of dendrobium. There will be a few more batches in the future, although the quantity is not as large as this time, it is still enough for the family to last until next year."

"What Zhezi said is true? But what about Jingkou..."

Shen's tone couldn't help raising her tone when she heard the words, and soon after she saw Shen Zhezi raised her index finger as a gesture of silence, Dang even came to her senses and kept silent, but she was already very happy.She was caught between her husband's family and her mother's family before, and she was in a very complicated and heavy mood. Now that she heard the good news, she was naturally greatly relieved.

Turning her eyes, she saw a maid standing at the door leaning slightly as if she was listening to the conversation, Shen's face changed suddenly, and she smashed the pottery cup on the case at the maid, and at the same time shouted angrily: "Give me this cheap The maid drags it down and whips it!"

Shen Zhezi was shocked when he saw this, he didn't know why his aunt was furious, when a few strong servants rushed out and dragged the maid down to whip him for punishment, there were soon screams begging for mercy in the courtyard.Looking at my aunt again, her face was full of frost, her teeth were clenched tightly, and she looked extremely resentful, as if long-standing grievances were pouring out.

"Zhezi, I really made you laugh. I didn't want to shame my family in front of you, but these bitches don't know who is the master of the house!"

Shen Zhezi originally wanted to persuade his aunt, but after hearing this, he vaguely understood that he had seen the drama of family fighting in the deep house, and probably there was another backer behind the punished maid.This was a skill that he had never lit up, so he fell silent, but his expression was somewhat awkward.

After about half a quarter of an hour, there was commotion outside the door. Shen Zhezi looked around and saw a woman in a beautiful dress walking in a chariot.The woman had a charming face, and there was always a provocative smile on the corner of her mouth.Seeing this, Shen Zhezi knew that the other side of the family fight had appeared.

The chariot was not put down until the door was reached, and the woman stood up and walked into the hall with the help of the maid. She first glanced at the maid who was moaning in the corridor, and then turned to Shen, whose face was already ashen, and said with a smile: "Why is the mistress so violent? If the servant girl really offends you, she can just dig it up and bury it. Why do you need the noisy house to disturb people's dreams?"

"Cai E, my nephew came to the door today, I don't want to quarrel with you. That lowly servant girl is in my door, I should kill and punish me, I have my own opinion, I don't need you to intervene!" Shen Shi glanced at the woman, her expression was even more serious Cold disgust.

"It's no wonder that the mistress is particularly aggressive today. It turns out that someone from the mother's family is emboldened."

The woman covered her mouth and smiled lowly, and looked at Shen Zhezi who was sitting on the side with winking eyes. A trace of contempt flashed in her eyes, and then she sneered: "I heard that the inner bag of the bamboo raft shelf in Wu Xing's Shen family is empty. I just don't know Can the matriarch's aura last until the end of the year?"

Snapped!
Shen Zhezi saw his aunt flying up, and immediately heard a clear slap on the face. Seeing that woman, Cai E, she was already stepping back with her face covered in disbelief.Seeing this scene, Shen Zhezi couldn't help but sigh with emotion that his aunt really deserved to be born in a powerful Wuzong. Although she was well pampered, her skills were still vigorous.

"You lowly maidservant deserves to despise my mother's family! If you don't back down, I will bury you alive today!"

Mrs. Shen pointed at the other party sternly, Cai E wanted to say something, but she lost her momentum after all, she was helped onto the chariot and left in a hurry, but before she left, she spat on the door rail: "See if you can be so wicked!" when?"

Seeing this scene, Shen Zhezi frowned slightly. He could see that although his aunt was not weak, she dared to humiliate even a concubine to take advantage of her. It seemed that her situation in the Zhu family was worse than he had imagined. How bad is it.

After forcing Cai E away, Shen shook her body a little weakly, turned to Shen Zhezi and was about to speak, but she couldn't help shedding tears: "Zhezi, aunt is really disrespectful in front of you today... …Zhu Gong is evil in nature, he is the last son of the Zhu family, and he owes everything to my family to support the current situation. Doting concubine and destroying his wife is just a trivial matter. He knew that my family was in trouble, and he wanted to turn to suck the blood of his kindness, no different from a beast..."

Shen Zhezi is also from her natal family, seeing her aunt so sad, she couldn't bear it, let alone just sit idly by.He stepped forward and comforted Shen and said: "Miss Shen, it is a treasure to be matched with anyone else! Auntie, why do you have to suffer so much, come back to Wu Xing with me. If Zhu Gong doesn't give a satisfactory explanation, he will definitely not let him have it." Have a peaceful day!"

As soon as the words fell, there was another angry shout from outside the door: "Where is that wicked woman? How dare I kill my lover after I leave home for a while? Today I will kill you with a stick, what can Shen Shiju do to me!"

When Shen Zhezi heard this, he was extremely angry in his heart, and made up his mind to be a villain once, so as to make the Zhu family feel uneasy!

(End of this chapter)