Chapter 179 Travel Notes of Water Source (Part 2)
The poor water quality in the capital has always been a heart-wrenching problem for the powerful and noble gentry. Even the emperor cannot let people carry water from the sweet and clear Jiangnan every day.
In order to obtain high-quality water sources, the powerful people in the capital also racked their brains. Some families tried to filter the well water, while others swept the winter snow in the jar and stored it before taking it out to enjoy it in the summer.
But what really solves the problem is based on mountain spring water. There is a low hill south of Bianliang called Qifenggang. The hill is about fifty miles long and several miles wide. There are hundreds of small hills, large and small on the hills.
Since the Later Zhou Dynasty, the imperial court has strictly prohibited the people from logging and hunting in Qifenggang and dozens of miles around, and even harvesting firewood was not allowed.
After hundreds of years of mountain closure and forest cultivation, the entire hills have become lush and the valleys are deep.
In winter, this place becomes one of the famous scenery in Bianliang. In Baigang, people in the capital will come out to enjoy the snow with their families.
The strict protection of the hills ushered in a harvest, and the sweet mountain spring water finally appeared, which made the royal family and the high officials ecstatic.
Currently, there are five mountain springs in Qifenggang, and a garden is built in the ground pool of each mountain spring, the most famous of which are Meiyuan and Liangyuan.
Plum Garden is a royal garden, and the mountain spring water here has the best water quality, generally dedicated to the royal palace and royal family.
Every morning, there are special people driving ox carts and donkey carts come to the Mei Garden to get water. They are guarded by soldiers and ordinary people are not allowed to enter.
The second is Liangyuan. The water quality of the spring water in Liangyuan is slightly inferior to that of the plum garden, but the amount of water is much larger than that of the plum garden. The court officials can enjoy it for free and are also sold to major teahouses in the capital. Of course, the alum building is exceptional, and the alum building is specially approved to fetch water in the plum garden.
To the south are Chenyuan, Chaiyuan, and Jichunyuan. These three gardens belong to the government, and the water quality of the pond water inside is a little worse. Of course, it is much better than the well water in the capital.
Common people can come here to get water for free, but there are special people guarding you. You cannot destroy the water quality, and you are not allowed to take more. Each person is allowed to get only one pot of water.
The water sold on the street mainly comes from the mountain spring water in Jichun Garden. It flows out of the garden and forms a stream and flows into the Bian River. Water sellers take water from the stream and sell it to the capital in the early morning every morning.
More than an hour later, a ox cart slowly stopped at the door of Liangyuan. A wide cart had already been parked at the door of Liangyuan.
Zhu Pei's carriage was fast and had already reached one step ahead. She couldn't sit so many people in her carriage, so only Cheng Yuanyuan and the little maid came with her.
Fan Ning, Su Liang and Cheng Ze took a ox cart to go there.
"Is this Liangyuan?"
Cheng Ze jumped out of the ox cart and looked at the garden in front of him. It was a garden covering an area of hundreds of acres. It was along the mountain and surrounded by high walls. There were hundreds of exquisite pavilions and towers distributed within the high walls.
A mountain stream is flowing down a rock cliff, and the sound of flowing water can be heard outside the garden.
Fanning also got out of the ox cart and saw that the door was open and more than a dozen workers were repairing the somewhat dilapidated door posts.
He looked at the carriage in the distance again and said to the three of them: "They should have already entered!"
At this time, the little maid Du Juan ran out and bowed and said, "Two girls are resting in the teahouse inside, please come in!"
“There is a teahouse here?”
Cheng Ze widened his eyes and said in surprise: "Can anyone go in?"
Su Liang next to him smiled and said, "I heard that there is a door in the place where the water is fetched, so I guess there is a strict control there."
The three of them walked into the garden gate and saw a two-story shop at a glance. Above the shop was a banner with a yellow bottom and black edges, with four big words "Liangyuan Teahouse" written on it.
By the window on the second floor, Fan Ning vaguely saw Zhu Pei's figure, and the three of them quickly walked into the teahouse.
The teahouse is filled with a faint tea fragrance, and is decorated very elegantly. The small tables of four people sit around and tables and chairs with exquisite workmanship. The lobby is very quiet, and there are only two old men sitting opposite each other and drinking tea in the corner.
A guy came up and smiled and said, "Three officials, please come with me!"
The three of them followed the guy to the second floor. The layout of the second floor and the first floor was similar, but there were a lot of screens. The exquisite screens separated the teahouse into an independent space.
"Why did you come? We have been waiting for a long time!" Zhu Pei stepped forward and complained.
Fanning spread his hands, "We can't do anything to the horse's legs!"
"Then you can't run over by yourself?"
Zhu Pei gave him a blank look, then smiled and greeted Su Liang and Cheng Ze, "Come and sit down and rest, the tea here is good!"
Cheng Ze whispered to Su Liang, "I found that this girl Zhu seemed to have never spoken well to Fan Ning, but she has a good attitude towards us."
Even Su Liang found that Cheng Ze was too interested in Zhu Pei, so he said angrily: "That means that the person has a close relationship. The more polite they are to you, the more unfamiliar they are. Don't understand this?"
Cheng Ze thought about it and had to touch his nose in disappointment, and walked to the table to sit down.
"Anning, you sit here!"
Zhu Pei pointed to him naturally, Fan Ning's face turned a little red, and she sat down in Su Liang's secretly teasing eyes.
Seeing Fanning giving him face, Zhu Pei was happy. He picked up the teapot and filled a cup of tea, handed it to Fanning, and smiled at him, "I also fry a pot of tea, how about you try it?"
The biggest feature of this teahouse is that it only provides water and tea sets, while the guests take the initiative in the tea.
"When did you learn how to sencha?" Fanning asked curiously.
Zhu Pei curled his lips, "I have been doing well since I was a child. I just want to have a good mood and give myself a drink!"
"Then I'm still very honored today!"
"If you want to drink, how can you say so much nonsense?"
Fanning picked up the tea bowl and sniffed it. A fragrant tea fragrance came to his nose. He drank it all and blurted out, "Good tea!"
Zhu Pei immediately smiled and filled Fanning's teacup again.
Cheng Ze, who was sitting opposite, looked itchy and wanted to ask for a cup of Zhu Pei's fried tea to drink. Before he could speak, Cheng Yuanyuan had already filled his tea cups first.
"Brother, try the tea I fried, the water here is OK."
Cheng Ze looked at the teapot in front of Zhu Pei with greed, but Cheng Yuanyuan kicked him under the table.
Cheng Ze had no choice but to pick up the tea, take a sip, nodded and said, "Although it cannot be compared with Mingyuequan in Shugang, Yangzhou, it is much stronger than the water in the city."
Cheng Yuanyuan filled Su Liang with another cup of tea and said with a smile: "Brother Su can also taste it!"
A delicate "Brother Su" made Su Liang's heart melt.
He was flattered to pick up the teacup, smelled it, and praised it exaggeratedly: "Good tea, this tea is only available in heaven, how many times can I taste it on earth?"
Everyone laughed together, and Cheng Yuanyuan's face was shy and gave Su Liang a light glance, but her heart was filled with sweetness.
Su Liang was proud and pretended not to see Fanning vomiting.
Fanning couldn't stand this guy's slut, so he had to get up and walk to the window.
From the window, you can clearly see the pool a hundred steps away. The pool is green and green, and the white waterfall falls down from the cliff in the sky, causing the surrounding water to be mist.
Zhu Pei walked to him and smiled and said, "The water here is pretty good. I heard that the water quality in Chenyuan and Chaiyuan is much worse, so we don't want to go and see it again."
"I heard that the water here doesn't seem to be for sale!"
Zhu Pei smiled and said, "The water here is only for the officials of the court and the top ten teahouses in the capital. If you like the water here, I can use my father's name to get it, and I don't need to spend money."
Fanning didn't really want to use Zhu Pei's father's name, so he asked with a smile: "Is there any other way?"
"Then I have to buy it for money. The teahouse shopkeeper just said that he has to deliver water to the teahouses in the city every day. He can send you five pots of water every day and directly to your residence, but each pot costs twenty cents. Can you accept this price?"
Fan Ning smiled and said, "In fact, we are five people. Let's share it. Each person costs twenty cents a day. I think it's acceptable!"
At this time, Su Liang and the other two went down the teahouse and ran towards the pool. Su Liang turned around and waved to Fan Ning and shouted: "Fan Ning, let's go together!"
Fanning smiled and said, "You guys go first, I'll come here later!"
Fan Ning said to Zhu Pei again: "Do you know why Cheng Ze brought his sister to the capital?"
"I saw it!"
Zhu Pei asked Fan Ning with a smile again, "I heard from Cheng Yuanyuan, have you gone to Yangzhou halfway?"
Fan Ning briefly said what happened in Zhenjiang and finally sighed: "I don't know how to persuade Su Liang now. It seems that he has been completely trapped. I hope this matter can have a satisfactory result. Su Liang's parents can accept Cheng Yuanyuan. If the final result is a good couple, I will be sorry to my friends."
After listening to Fan Ning's narration calmly, Zhu Pei said to the point: "The key is whether Su Liang can get into the boy subject. If he passes the exam, he can say anything. If he fails, Su Liang's parents will definitely think that Cheng Yuanyuan has delayed his son."
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Chapter completed!