The man's voice is sweet and full of twists and turns.
Xie Shu lowered his eyebrows and smiled gently: "I was wrong, I should call you husband."
Yu Chuxi's long eyelashes trembled slightly, her eyes moved, and she said no more to him. She directly asked someone to bring all the utensils needed to make tea.
Ordinary families usually use tea to entertain guests, and brewing tea is even more of an elegant custom.
There is an extremely complicated way to make tea, which is to grind the tea cake into powder, mix it into tea paste, and then brew it with hot water. This is called making tea.
Of course, not everyone knows how to make tea. How can ordinary people have the time to be so particular? Only wealthy and leisurely people or scholars would delve into it.
Yu Chuxi would naturally know how to do it, but he just didn't have much thought about it.
But when Xie Shu mentioned it today, Yu Chuxi also felt a little more interested.
After a while, Feng He brought a set of tea utensils. The tea-making process is so complicated that utensils are indispensable.
The most authentic tea-making utensils consist of twelve sets in total. Although Xie Shu had seen Wang Jing using them at his teacher's home before, he still couldn't help but marvel at the exquisiteness and ingenuity of the utensils.
Yu Chuxi said casually: "The key to this tea is nothing more than the quality of the tea leaves, the water quality, the fire and the teaware. Let's talk about the tea leaves first. White tea is the top grade tea."
As Yu Chuxi spoke, he opened the tea cage that stored the tea balls and took out the tea cakes inside. The tea cakes were just as Mr. Lang had described, covered with white hairs, as white as snow. Xie Shu also recognized it as the rarest of white teas, the Silver Needle Baihao.
Then, Yu Chuxi picked up the tea hammer and pounded it into small pieces, then used a small stone mill to grind it into powder, and finally took out the Luohe for sifting the tea powder to filter it again. When he did this, his movements were light and slow so that Xie Shu could see clearly.
Xie Shu sat aside and looked at Lang Jun straight. Before, when Xie Shu watched Wang Jing making tea, he just felt that his movements were smooth and natural. However, when he saw Lang Jun today, Xie Shu realized that there was another kind of movement called light clouds covering the moon and flowing wind returning snow.
When Yu Chuxi finished grinding the tea, he saw Xie Shu staring at him intently, and he couldn't help but smile and said, "Why don't you try it too?"
Xie Shu shook his head and said seriously, "No, my dear. The tea powder you grind is as fine as snow, but I am afraid that the powder I grind will be as rough as wheat grains, which will tarnish your reputation. After you finish making the tea, can you personally point it to me?"
How can you say that about yourself?
Yu Chuxi was amused by him and smiled brightly. In the floating candlelight, her hair was like clouds and shiny.
Then Yu Chuxi continued, "The finer the tea powder, the better. This way, when you make tea, it will float lightly in the water, with a glossy surface, showing the color of the tea leaves themselves. This is good. As for water quality, mountain water is the best, river water is the middle, and well water is the worst. So it is best to use mountain spring water for making tea, but mountain spring water is inconvenient to use, so in general, well water is used. But even better than mountain spring water is natural spring water. As the saying goes, light water is more valuable. For example, the snow water that fell on the plum blossoms the previous year is very good."
There is such a saying.
Xie Shu looked at the sky-blue small jar that Lang Jun took out, and realized that this was the snow water that Lang Jun mentioned. In ancient times, the environment had never been polluted, and both mountain spring water and well water were very good, but in people's eyes, none of them were as clean as the natural spring water, which is the "rain, dew, snow and frost".
Snow is condensed from low temperatures, is pure white and is also the lightest.
Yu Chuxi used a wooden ladle to take out half a cup of snow water, put it into the teapot, heated it with fire, and waited for it to boil. At the same time, he took out a black teacup and poured the tea residue into it. When he held up the teacup with his fingertips, he raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "This is a teacup made by my Yu family, called 'Jianzhan'. The tea is white and the cup is black. This cup has fine and delicate patterns like jade. It is made with a special method. It stays hot for a long time and is hard to cool down. What do you think?"
Xie Shu naturally nodded in praise. Her husband's taste has always been the best and there is no need to doubt it.
Seeing him praising her in such a sincere tone, Yu Chuxi felt her ears burning slightly. She continued, "The most difficult thing is the timing. If it's not enough, the tea leaves will float up. If it's too much, the tea leaves will sink down. Just after the second boil is the best."
After a while, indeed, only a thin air flow began to appear above the water surface, and some small bubbles appeared from time to time, but Yu Chuxi still held his breath and did not move, only tiny water droplets appeared on his face due to the hot air.
After another moment, bubbles began to bubble up along the edge of the teapot like a spring. Yu Chuxi's eyes lit up. He immediately scooped up a spoonful of boiling water, poured a little bit of it into the tea powder he had just prepared, mixed it into a paste, and then began to make tea.
However, the way Langjun makes tea is completely different. He gently shakes and whisks the tea whisk while pouring in hot water. After a while, the floating tea foam becomes misty and rises up. When the mist slowly dissipates, the tea patterns and water veins change and disappear, and finally only the milky white tea powder is seen like auspicious snow, and the patterns are like sparse stars and a pale moon.
Yu Chuxi's eyes were bright, and after a slight breath, he smiled and said, "This is the skill of dividing tea."
Xie Shu's gaze was fixed on the teacup, and then returned to Yu Chuxi's face. If it weren't for her husband's demonstration, Xie Shu would never have thought that it was really as described in the book. When the skill of making tea was brought to the extreme, the reaction between tea powder and boiling water could be used to draw such a wonderful scene with tea patterns and water veins.
Yu Chuxi glanced at him and said in a gentle voice, "If you learn how to divide tea, you can compete with others in tea-drinking. I heard that you scholars like to hold tea parties to compete with each other in tea-drinking. If you know how to divide tea, it's not difficult. But there are very few people among you who know how to divide tea. Don't you think this is strange?"
When Xie Shu heard Langjun teasing him like this, his smile didn't diminish, but became even more intense. He couldn't help but hold Langjun's hand, squeezing it back and forth, and whispered in Langjun's ear: "This is actually not surprising. Langjun, you don't know that there are very few people as smart as Langjun in this world... and I am even more dull, I hope Langjun will have mercy on me and teach me hand in hand..."
Yu Chuxi had never seen Xie Shu like this before. He even used the word "pity" as if he was bullying him if he disagreed.
But how can I teach you step by step...
In the end, Yu Chuxi did not break free from his hand, but gently held it back.
Xie Shu looked at him with a smile, and his heart had never felt so satisfied.
So this is the harmony of wind, flowers, snow, moon and music.
After a few days, Xie Shu began to plan the arrangements for the literary gathering.
In this era, literary gatherings and poetry gatherings were very popular, and people often gathered with friends to express their feelings through literature, which was considered elegant.
However, Xie Shu discovered that most of these gatherings would become pretentious, especially when some gatherings were held on cruise ships or in restaurants, with a variety of entertainment, including acrobatics, singing girls and actors, in the name of discussing poetry and literature, but in reality they were just for enjoyment.
Xie Shu didn't like this kind of atmosphere, and since he wanted this literary gathering to become famous, he naturally had to be different.
Xie Shu thought for a long time and came up with the theme of the literary meeting.
Before that, Xie Shu still needed to choose a location to hold the literary meeting.
I don't know whether I should sigh or not, but literary gatherings in Jinling seem to attach great importance to the environment. If the venue is elegant and luxurious, such as the poetry gathering held by Gu Yuanke last time in West Garden, it will attract many people to flock to it, praise it, and regard it as a grand event.
But Xie Shu didn't intend to do so. As long as the environment was elegant, he didn't need to show anything to others.
But finding a suitable location is not easy.
Fortunately, his lover solved his urgent problem for him. The Yu family had a teahouse called Huifu Tower, which had always been popular among Jinling scholars. Because there was a plum forest planted in the courtyard, in mid-winter in November, many people gathered in Huifu Tower to cut snow and make tea.
However, due to its high price, not many people come and go in Huifu Building on weekdays, so it is just right to use Huifu Building as the venue for this literary gathering.
With her husband's help, Xie Shu was no longer worried and started to make the invitations.
Xie Shu did not plan to write the invitation by hand, as it would be too time-consuming and laborious, especially since he wanted to invite quite a few people this time.
Xie Shu had learned from his teacher before that woodblock printing already existed, but it was not commonly used. Fortunately, the Yu family had an industry doing this, so Xie Shu began to design it.
Just like modern invitations, Xie Shu plans to divide the invitation into a cover and inner pages.
On the cover, Xie Shu drew a simple picture of the exterior of the building. He used fine brushwork to carefully outline the rubble of the house, and the square stripes were clearly visible, as if he was tracing it. At the same time, Xie Shu added a few bunches of plum blossoms at the corners of the picture. Plum blossoms have always been known as one of the four gentlemen, symbolizing noble character, so plum blossoms should be thin, with well-arranged branches and white space left where the flowers are, which is the most wonderful.
As for what to write on the inside pages, Xie Shu has already thought about it.
After Xie Shu finished writing, he checked it before handing it to his husband.
Yu Chuxi asked curiously, "Your invitation is very thoughtful. I have never seen it before. This painting is very lifelike and vivid. I suddenly have an idea. I want to print a few copies of this painting. If there are guests coming to the painting building, how about giving one copy?"
At this point, Yu Chuxi shook his head again and said, "The plum blossoms in your painting are so noble, I shouldn't have thought of this act of attracting customers..."
Xie Shu smiled softly and said in a gentle voice: "My dear, I am so happy that you like my paintings. You have helped me a lot, and now I hope I can be of some use in some way.
Your idea is very good. You can carve this thing and give it to the guests as a souvenir. This way, the teahouse will be impressed..."
When Yu Chuxi heard him say this, a light arc appeared on his lips. Although he had never heard what Xie Shu meant by "souvenir", he understood what he meant. He was praising himself again.
After the more than one hundred invitations were made, Xie Shu asked Ximo to arrange for someone to deliver them to the Jinling Academy and to the hands of other talented and famous people in Jinling.
Of course, the people Xie Shu mainly invited this time were those from Jinling Academy. As for those talented and famous people, he was just following the courtesy. After all, these people were arrogant and would not come easily.
The reason why Xie Shu chose Jinling Academy was not only because the only few people he knew were here, but also because all his classmates were here.
Jinling Academy was the official school in Jinling. It could be said that all the young Confucian scholars in Jinling gathered here. Most of them passed the examination for scholars, and even if they were not so good, they had passed the examination for students.
In addition, it is also related to the theme of this literary meeting.
Before hosting the literary gathering, Xie Shu was thinking about what kind of theme to come. If the literary works were too ordinary, Xie Shu was worried whether others would be willing to come.
In fact, Xie Shu knew very well that apart from winning the first prize at the poetry competition last time, he had nothing else to be proud of. These days, he had been staying at home and rarely went out. If he had not become the teacher's disciple, he would have been forgotten long ago.
His sudden decision to hold a literary gathering and send out so many invitations was actually a very abrupt move. Many people would probably guess his intentions and wait and see, so he had to come up with a reason that would force people to come.
Soon, Xie Shu's invitation was delivered to them.
Because some people in Jinling Academy, such as Zhang Enshi, Xu Shengkai and others, lived in the side rooms of the academy and seldom went home, it was best to send the invitations to their homes, so Xie Shu asked Ximo to go to the academy first to deliver theirs.
Before class that day, Zhang Enshi and Xu Shengkai heard that someone had sent an invitation to the academy, and it was for them, and they couldn't help but feel surprised.
It was a pity that although the state would give food subsidies to these children from poor families every year, it was no more than four taels of silver a year.
These four taels of silver are indeed a huge sum of money in the eyes of ordinary people. However, the cost of studying is much greater than imagined. Which of the ink, paper, books, and four treasures of the study does not cost money?
So these children from poor families really live a poor life.
Jinling Academy already recruited many sons of wealthy landlords or local officials. Although these people were not good at studying, they paid a lot of silver, so the academy accepted them all.
These people usually have a wide range of friends and often go to places like restaurants and teahouses.
Naturally, they couldn't afford to go to such a place, and at the same time they looked down on these people for neglecting their studies, so the resentment between the two sides deepened.
The other party laughed at them for being poor scholars, but every year there were always a few of them who could pass the imperial examination and avenge their previous shame.
At this time, Zhang Enshi and Xu Shengkai suddenly received the invitation. They were surprised. When they heard that it was sent by Xie Shu, they were even more stunned.
The poetry reading held half a year ago is still vivid in everyone’s mind and remains indelible.
Whether it was the prosperous scenery of the West Garden or the peach blossom poem that Xie Shu wrote in one breath and amazed others, it was far beyond their imagination.
Before this, they never knew that during the three years of Xie Shu's silence, he had unknowingly honed such a skill.
Even Xu Shengkai was convinced and changed his impression of Xie Shu. However, at that time, both Xu Shengkai and Zhang Enshi felt envious and sour towards Xie Shu, so when they saw that Xie Shu had no contact with anyone else, they did not get close to him again.
Not long after, Xie Shu became Jiang Hong's disciple.
At this moment, there was already a huge gap between Xie Shu and them. A person as brilliant and promising as Wang Jing was no longer something they could approach, so even the feeling of envy disappeared.
However, what they didn't expect at this time was that after several months, Xie Shu would suddenly send them an invitation!
They couldn't help but look at each other with complicated expressions, and were quickly attracted by the cover of the invitation.
The cover depicts a teahouse depicted in fine detail, with clear green bricks and tiles, a crisscrossing courtyard, and a few bunches of red plum blossoms nearby, all vivid and lifelike, jumping off the paper.
Although it was of a single color, it was something new and elegant that they had never seen before.
Moreover, the paper of this invitation is thick and smooth, and it is painted with gold and silver. Nowadays, most of the paper on the market is straw paper or bamboo paper, which is either uneven or brittle and easy to break. Such exquisitely crafted paper cannot be bought anywhere else and is worthy of collection and appreciation.
Seeing these poor students holding the invitations with strange expressions, those people in the college who usually didn't get along with them couldn't help but come over. They didn't appreciate the painting at all, but they recognized at a glance that the teahouse in the painting was clearly the Huifu Building.
This Huifulou is one of the top teahouses in the whole of Jinling. Could it be that someone invited them to that teahouse?
This was like a stone that caused a thousand ripples. Everyone was excited and rushed over to see it.
Under the urging of those people, Xu Shengkai felt awkward but also subtly happy, so he opened the inner page of the invitation.
There was an inscription in clear and steady handwriting on it, inviting him to attend a literary gathering in Huifu Building on the 15th day of the month, which was a day off. The theme of the gathering was "taking the exam."
During this period, anyone with real skills and knowledge can come up and talk about anything related to the exam, and as the host, he will also come forward to share his lectures.
Signed by: Xie Shu.
When seeing this part, Xu Shengkai's eyes widened. He never thought that Xie Shu would do this!
As the saying goes, those who excel in study will become officials. Nowadays, the imperial examination system is very popular, and all the scholars in the world aim to pass the examination and gain official position.
This is especially true for the students in Jinling Academy. Next year will be the provincial examination year, and the students need to prepare and strive to pass the examination. But how many people can pass the examination each time? Only a few.
Even so, no one will give up.
Everyone knows that Xie Shu now has Jiang Hong as his master. Three months ago, when people heard that Jiang Hong had arrived in Jinling, everyone was jealous.
This is not only because Jiang Hong was once the chief academic officer of the Imperial College and taught a disciple like Lu Shuo, but also because of his high reputation and he is the most famous Confucian scholar of the contemporary era.
Being able to have a great scholar as a teacher is something that countless people dream of, because once you become a disciple of a great scholar, you have already stood out from the crowd.
Great scholars are known for their love of learning and their wide knowledge of both internal and external books. Before that, there is also a prerequisite, which is that they have a collection of tens of thousands of books, so most of them have a family background in learning.
The vision and knowledge of great Confucian scholars are unimaginable, so they can have a comprehensive view of the world situation and be well-versed in classics. On this basis, the imperial examination is no longer a problem for them.
Most people become disciples of great scholars and learn the secrets, but they keep them to themselves and never share them or give lectures on them.
For a moment, Xu Shengkai didn't know what to feel. What on earth was Xie Shu thinking?
But in less than a moment, Xu Shengkai came to his senses. He and Zhang Enshi looked at each other. They both saw the determination in each other's eyes. They had to go.
They are already in their twenties. If they fail to take the provincial examination next year, they will have to waste their time. If they are older, Jinling Academy will not accept them. At that time, they will either return to their hometown to open a private school or find a job as a legal advisor in the county government. They will have no hope of a career in officialdom in this life.
So there is a little hope that they must grasp. What if it is true?
The others were also amazed and excited at the same time, not only because of the reputation of giving lectures, but most importantly, Xie Shu is no longer the same person he used to be. The Yu family is the most prominent wealthy family in Jinling. This time they are responsible for building a palace for His Majesty. Who knows what kind of wealth they will have in the future.
They are lectured by adults every day, so they must remember it in their hearts. Besides, they have to go to a place like Huifulou.
Unfortunately, the invitation was not sent to me. The others could not help but scratch their heads, wishing they could have one too.
Seeing this situation, only Wan Tianyun felt disdainful. He didn't know what Xie Shu was up to. He invited these people to some literary gathering. He had been silent before, so why did he suddenly become active and hold some "examination" literary gathering?
Is Xie Shu some kind of saint? Is he really that kind-hearted? Is he just trying to gain fame?
But it has nothing to do with me.
It’s just a pity that no one knows his true face, even his father often praises him!
Wan Tianyun originally wanted to vent his frustration to a few friends, but when he saw that they had no intention of listening to him, he gave up.
As soon as he got home, Wan Tianyun heard his father asking him to come over. He had no choice but to go see Wan Linming first. He began to wonder in his heart whether he had done anything wrong in the past few days.
When he saw Wan Linming, he saw that Wan Linming had a rare smile on his face and was stroking his beard as he looked at him.
Wan Tianyun couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling. Why did his father behave like this?
Before he could say anything, Wan Linming took out an invitation and said, "This morning, Xie Shu sent you an invitation to the literary gathering. I didn't expect that you two have such good relationships. Will you go?"
Wan Tianyun took the invitation stiffly and couldn't say "no" under his father's "kind" gaze.
However, Wan Tianyun suddenly felt a little puzzled. Xie Shu even invited him. He was really... creative.
On the fifteenth day, more people came than Xie Shu had imagined. Not only did people from Jinling Academy come, but even some famous talents in Jinling came.
This surprised Xie Shu a little.
In fact, the reason behind this is very simple. These talented people are indeed arrogant, and Xie Shu's fame is not enough to qualify them to be present.
But Xie Shu is Jiang Hong's disciple after all. Jiang Hong's reputation has always been well-known, and everyone admires him very much.
Furthermore, the theme of the literary gathering organized by Xie Shu was actually examinations. As the former chief academic officer of the Imperial College, how could Jiang Hong not be clear about the imperial examinations?
Even though some of these talented people had already achieved the title of Juren and were proud of their status, they were afraid that others would come. And how many people could tolerate their "competitors" being one step ahead of them? So even if they were unwilling to come, they were there anyway.
Of course, there is another point, that is, the Huifu Building chosen by Xie Shu is very elegant, and the invitation he sent out is unique and has a noble temperament. Some people are not interested in imperial examinations, but admire his talent, and some people use this as an excuse to come.
It was the first time for Xie Shu to be the host and entertain so many people. Fortunately, they made friends through literature and there was no need for much conversation between the host and the guests.
After Zhang Enshi and Xu Shengkai, two people he knew, arrived, Xie Shu asked them to help together, which saved a lot of effort.
During this period, Zhang Enshi and Xu Shengkai seemed to be hesitant to speak, but in the end they did not ask. Xie Shu actually knew why they did so, and he would be able to answer their questions during the literary gathering.
When most people had arrived, Xie Shu went in to preside over the painting and literary gathering.
The entire teahouse was packed with guests, her sackcloth clothes were whiter than snow, and everyone's eyes were focused on her.
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