A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 891 Yu Sisters

In the blink of an eye, Lu Cheng had been in the Hanlin Academy for half a month. Although he had been copying and writing during this half month, the content of his copying was gradually changing.

From some simple imperial edicts and memorials at the beginning, to the later floods and droughts in various places and the court's response measures, the conditions of the Jiangnan salt industry and grain transport, it covers all aspects of the court's government affairs, big and small.

In the Forbidden City, inside the Yangxin Hall.

After finishing his official duties for the day, Emperor Changtai put down the memorial in his hand, rubbed his brows, and asked casually, "What time is it now?"

"Your Majesty, it is already three quarters past noon."

"Pass the meal around."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Banban, how has Lu Cheng been doing in the Hanlin Academy these past two days? Is there anything that makes you impatient?"

"Your Majesty, since arriving at the Imperial Academy, the top scholar has been copying imperial edicts and memorials. He only takes one hour a day to complete the work, and spends the rest of the time reading books."

Emperor Changtai nodded upon hearing this and said: "It seems that it is time to meet this new number one scholar."

"Your Majesty, the class at the Imperial Academy should be over by now. Do you want to send an order to have Lu Cheng come over?"

"No need. After the court meeting tomorrow, we will go to the Hanlin Academy."

At this time, Lu Cheng had just returned home from work, and Jia Lian came to his house again to invite Lu Cheng to visit him.

When Lu Cheng followed Jia Lian on horseback to Ningrong Street and passed by the gate of Ningguo Mansion, he saw a maid leading two beautiful and graceful young women walking out of Ningguo Mansion.

The two young women had some similarities between their eyebrows, so they must be sisters. The old woman seemed to be the mother of the sisters.

The older sister was of slender figure, fair skin, two long and thin willow-leaf eyebrows, a pair of affectionate peach blossom eyes, a nose like a hanging gall bladder, lips like red vermilion, and she moved with light lotus steps, like a willow swaying in the wind, charming and graceful.

The younger sister has a beautiful face, with a pretty complexion and a bit of baby fat. However, there is a sense of heroism between her brows. She is beautiful but not vulgar, charming but not coquettish, like a thorny rose in bud about to bloom.

Seeing Lu Cheng take a second look, Jia Lian introduced them casually, "Brother Cheng, that's the mother and two younger sisters of Jia's eldest sister-in-law Zhen, Second Sister You and Third Sister You. What do you think? Aren't they two stunning beauties?"

Lu Cheng looked back at Jia Lian, and saw a lewd smile on Jia Lian's handsome face, which all men understand.

At the same time, Yu's mother and daughter also noticed Jia Lian and Lu Cheng.

You Erjie immediately pushed her sister and said, "Little sister, look, isn't that the top scholar in this year's exam?"

When Third Sister You raised her eyes and saw Lu Cheng, her face lit up with joy and she couldn't bear to look away.

Seeing this, Old Lady You couldn't help but say, "Third girl, I tell you to stop looking. What will happen if you keep looking? Can you still marry him? In my opinion, you might as well follow your eldest brother-in-law. If you can enter this Duke's Mansion, isn't it better than following the number one scholar? There will be a number one scholar every two or three years, and this Duke's Mansion is a hundred-year-old duke's family."

Third Sister You saw Lu Cheng walk away and enter the Duke of Rong's Mansion, then she turned back and said, "Humph, I don't care about the Duke's Mansion, let alone that wretched old guy. Second Sister, am I right?"

You Erjie also stared at the direction where Lu Cheng left. After being pulled by her sister, she turned back: "Ah? I...I don't know."

"What a pair of troublesome girls."

After arriving at the Duke Rong's Mansion, Lu Cheng simply greeted Jia Zheng and exchanged a few words, then went to see Li Wan's son, Jia Lan.

This child is a down-to-earth person, unlike other children in the Jia family, he is willing to study hard. However, the overall environment of the Jia family is not very good, and there is no decent teacher in the clan school. There is only an old scholar named Jia Dairu who has no official title.

Lu Cheng asked a few simple questions, confirmed Jia Lan's learning progress, gave him an annotated book, and encouraged him a few words. The little guy then excitedly ran to read.

Afterwards, Lu Cheng said to Jia Lan's mother Li Wan, "This child does have some talent for studying. If we can hire a teacher to teach him well and if he works harder, he will have a chance to pass the imperial examination in the future."

Li Wan was also delighted when she heard this and bowed immediately: "Thank you, Cheng'er, for your guidance. I will definitely tell him to study hard."

Li Wan's father is the chief academic officer of the Imperial College and comes from a family of scholars. It shouldn't be a problem for him to find a reliable teacher for Jia Lan. It just depends on whether Li Wan is willing to spend the money.

In the Rongguo Mansion, although Wang Xifeng is in charge of the family's finances, Li Wan's monthly allowance is twice that of Wang Xifeng's. She is also reluctant to spend money and must have her own little treasury.

Otherwise, after the Jia Mansion was ransacked, Li Wan would not have been able to raise her son alone and cultivate a juren.

"Don't worry, sister-in-law. I will talk to Duke Cun Zhou later and ask him to pay more attention to the child."

After speaking briefly with Li Wan, Lu Cheng went to see his sister Lin.

This time, Zijuan took Lu Cheng directly to where Daiyu lived and entered the study.

As soon as he entered the study, Lu Cheng saw the painting he had drawn himself, which seemed to be framed and placed on the table. There were several other paintings beside it, all of which were of Lu Cheng, and Lin Daiyu was sitting there, painting attentively.

Zijuan was about to open her mouth to remind her but was stopped by Lu Cheng. Then she walked over quietly and stood behind Daiyu, watching her paint quietly.

It was not until Daiyu finished the last stroke and put down the brush that she noticed someone behind her. She turned around and saw Lu Cheng standing behind her. Her face immediately blushed: "You... why are you here? When did you come? Zijuan, why didn't you tell me?"

Lu Cheng reached out and pressed Daiyu's shoulders, letting her sit on the chair. He then pulled up her arm and said softly, "You must be tired after painting for so long. Let me massage it for you."

With Lu Cheng holding her arm, Daiyu did not dare to move. She turned her head shyly and let Lu Cheng rub her arm.

Zijuan and Xueyan had already left the room and were standing guard outside the door.

It was inevitably a little hot on a summer afternoon. Daiyu had been painting for a long time and beads of sweat were still oozing out of her forehead.

Lu Cheng rubbed Daiyu's arm, then picked up a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off her forehead: "It's so hot, why are you staying in the house? You should go out for a walk. Why is there no ice jar in the room?"

Nowadays, wealthy families all have ice cellars. They store ice in the winter and take it out for use in the summer. They break it into pieces and put them in ice jars specially used for cooling down.

The Rongguo Mansion naturally has its own ice cellar, where a large amount of ice is stored every year.

In addition, in the late Tang Dynasty, people discovered that saltpeter could be used to make ice cubes. In the Song Dynasty, this method of making ice with saltpeter became popular.

However, saltpeter is not cheap, and as it is the main raw material for gunpowder, it is also a controlled item and is not allowed to be sold in large quantities. Ice made directly from saltpeter tastes bitter and is harmful to the human body, so it needs to be isolated in certain containers.

Therefore, only large families can use this ice to relieve the heat.

Daiyu shook her head: "I am not a weak girl, I can still endure this heat."

"Just wait, I'll have someone send you something good next time."

"Ah."

The two of them exchanged a few brief private words. Daiyu suddenly remembered something, looked up at Lu Cheng, but hesitated to speak.

"Junior sister, what do you want to say? Just say it directly, why are you being so shy?"

"Nothing, grandma wants to see you later, maybe she wants to give you a special gift..."

"Oh? What's that gift?"

"You will know when the time comes."

"So, Junior Sister, do you want me to accept it? Or do you want to refuse?"

"It's a gift from your grandmother, so just accept it..." Although Daiyu said this, her expression looked a little reluctant.

Lu Cheng laughed: "If my sister doesn't want to, I won't accept it."

"Since it's a gift to you, just keep it, so that others won't say that I... Oh, you're laughing at me, you're bad, you're bad..."

As she spoke, Daiyu punched Lu Cheng's chest with her little fist.

Feeling the fierce fists, Lu Cheng accepted it calmly...