The three young men rode out of the city at dawn, galloping all the way to the farm on the outskirts in less than half an hour. They did not dismount and enter the farm immediately, but rode around the farm for a full week before slowly entering.
"Your servant greets the three young masters." Old man Liu, the manager of the manor, had been waiting twenty meters outside the manor before dawn. When he saw three young men on horseback coming, he hurriedly brought the servants of the manor to pay their respects.
This farm was Xu Wen's dowry farm and had the largest area. Sheng Shu, riding on his horse, asked everyone to stand up: "Everyone, get up." Then he dismounted and handed the rope to the servant beside him, took the reins from the eighth prince, and led the other two into the farm.
"If you come in March or April, this area will be full of peach blossoms, covering an area of three acres." Sheng Shu led the way, taking the Eighth Prince and Yu Jiaxing to visit the manor.
After a quick look, the three of them sat down in the pavilion by the pond to drink tea. After a while, Sheng Shu suggested going fishing together. Eighth Prince Yu Jiaxing nodded in agreement, and soon servants arrived with fishing rods and bait.
Besides the Eighth Prince, Sheng Shu and Yu Jiaxing had all fished before, and they quickly set their hooks. The Eighth Prince watched them bait their own lines, and with a tingling sensation in his scalp, he tried to imitate them. The slippery feel of the tentacles nearly made him drop his bait. After a few tries, he gradually got used to it.
"Oh, it's hooked, it's hooked!" As soon as the bait was put in, the fishing rod in Yu Jiaxing's hand responded. He quickly pulled up the fishing rod, but it was empty.
The other two burst into laughter. Yu Jiaxing rubbed his head and said, "Ah, this fish is really smart."
Sheng Shu, who was sitting on the other side of the Eighth Prince, made a rare joke: "Hmm, maybe we need to learn from Jiang Taigong. It just so happens that your fishing rod is out of bait right now, so why not give it a try?"
Yu Jiaxing, who was baiting his fish, turned around and asked jokingly, "Who wants to imitate Jiang Taigong? Zhongqi?"
The Eighth Prince, who was sitting between the two, shook his head and said, "Forget it. The fish for lunch still depends on you two."
The three of them then chatted and laughed, chatting about schoolwork and the current political situation, then about recent events in the city. Finally, they talked about the imperial examinations. Sheng Shu was calm when talking about them, but Yu Jiaxing said dejectedly, "The Tongsheng exam is tomorrow. Three years and three years. If you don't study hard for ten years, you can't even think about taking the exam."
The Eighth Prince and Sheng Shu, who were sitting next to him, exchanged glances. The Eighth Prince encouraged him, "A good man must study hard to achieve fame. A true man must be able to endure the passage of time."
By lunchtime, only Sheng Shu and Yu Jiaxing had caught any fish. Sheng Shu had landed a three-jin grass carp and several snakehead carp weighing less than a jin. Yu Jiaxing, however, had caught a few crucian carp and a silver carp weighing over a jin.
Seeing that the Eighth Prince had caught nothing, the two were still thinking about how to ease the situation, but the Eighth Prince put away his fishing rod and said, "Today is the first time for me to go fishing. Just enjoy it and don't worry about the results."
Lunch was practically an all-fish feast. Since the snakehead fish was too small to be used twice, they were made into colorful seared fish fillets. There was crucian carp soup with steamed silver carp, and a farm-style stew of grass carp and fish balls. The three of them devoured most of the food on the table, and Yu Jiaxing's stomach was already bulging.
While rubbing his belly, Yu Jiaxing sighed, "Great, the food I cook from fishing is so delicious. I've never eaten anything so delicious before."
After rinsing his mouth, Sheng Shu thought to himself, "You said the same thing after the last two fishing trips." The Eighth Prince listened to Yu Jiaxing's words and nodded, "That's right. A gentleman respects what is within him, and does not envy what is beyond him. This is how he makes progress day by day."
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