Liao Zhai alchemist

Chapter 221 Gifts
In October, the first snow arrived as scheduled.The last mule cart convoy left Tianmen County and headed south.The caravans leave with loads of furs, and the following spring they return with plant seeds.

Tianmen County had no choice in the past, but now due to the increase in labor force, the population of planters has increased greatly, and the demand for plant seeds has suddenly increased.

Zhang Wei, on the other hand, thought of cotton as a crop.

The land here is sparsely populated, which is very suitable for growing cotton. No matter what era it is, mulberry, cotton and hemp are important economic crops.When thinking of cotton, he thought of the mulberry trees on several hills in his home.

Now relying on the fruit of the silkworm flower tree, the silkworm eggs of the Zhang family are very good. Relying on this piece, the Zhang family's annual income is quite rich.

However, it is not suitable to promote silkworms here. The winter here is long, which is not conducive to the development of silkworms.

But cotton is different. The cotton is harvested in autumn, and the whole winter has time to spin the cotton into thread and weave it into cloth. Cotton cloth is much more comfortable to wear than linen.

What's more, cotton is a good thermal material.People here still rely on fur to keep warm. Once they have cotton, they can make quilts.

Zhang Wei wrote a letter to Taoist Songzhi, asking him to help tame several high-yield and high-quality cotton seeds.This Taoist is good at farming, that should help.

In order to show respect, Zhang Wei asked Xiao Jin to bring letters and gifts.Xiao Jinfei can go back and forth in about three to five days at a time.

After the snow fell, the people in Tianmen County became idle immediately.However, due to the road closure due to heavy snow, their activities have also been reduced a lot.

On this day, on the empty streets of Tianmen County, two masters and servants came.

There are two masters and servants, the older one seems to be a foreigner, and the young man behind him is tall and strong, but he is carrying a burden, and the two ends of the burden are wooden boxes made of mahogany.

When the two of them came to the gate of Zhang's mansion, the master took out a greeting card and said to the porter: "An old friend from my hometown is visiting, please let me know."

This family is also from the Zhang family. When he heard the Jiangnan accent, he felt a lot closer to him. When he heard that he was an old friend from his hometown, he quickly said: "Please sit inside, and I will inform the master right away."

He smiled and didn't refuse, and then the two sat in the porter's room to warm up by the fire.

Menzi asked someone to report, but he himself asked, "I don't know who are the two masters?"

The man said with a smile: "I have an old friend with your master, this time he recommended me."

Menzi smiled, what's the difference between saying it and not saying it?But if the guest doesn't want to say it, there's nothing he can do about it.

Not long after, someone announced: "This guest is invited inside, and the master has invited you."

The man nodded and walked in with his servants.

At this time, Zhang Wei was reading with a greeting card.The owner of this greeting post is called 'Qinggui Furen', and the introducer is Xiongji, the water god of Wushui.

This is what Xiong Ji guaranteed and introduced to Zhang Wei's friends.With this level of relationship, it is not considered rude to pay a visit.Of course, it would be even better if the introducer brought it to the door in person, but now that the distance is thousands of miles away, there is no way to do it.

Not long after, Zhang Wei saw this noble and blessed man.

The visitor clasped his hands and introduced himself: "Hello Zhang Daoyou, I am Li Qinggui from the Overseas Sanshanduxiangsi. The Taoist name is Qinggui Furen."

Zhang Wei bowed his hands to him as a salute, then thought for a while and said, "Fellow Daoist is a heavenly official?"

The man smiled and said, "Just being a quiet fairy official in the idle yamen."

He is not self-effacing, but this overseas three-mountain capital Xiangsi is really an idle yamen.There are many idle gods in the Heavenly Court, and many of them only take their salaries but do nothing.

For mortals, this is a wonderful life.Just play chess, visit friends, drink tea every day, and get a salary. This is not what noble enjoyment is.

The Overseas Sanshan Duxiangsi is a department set up to receive salary, and there is nothing to do.This person is here for the sole purpose of receiving a salary.

At this time, Bai forehead Zhu sent fragrant tea.The two had a sip of tea, and at this moment Zhang Wei asked, "I don't know why Li Tianguan came to me."

Li Qinggui smiled, but didn't speak first, but nodded to the servant next to him.

The servant immediately carried the two mahogany boxes that had been picked out, and then opened the boxes in front of Zhang Wei.

In an instant, jewels and treasures rushed towards him.

Gold, pearl, red coral.Agate, crystal, suet jade.One of the boxes was full of these belongings, which made people dazzled.

After the other box was opened, there were sealwort, ginseng, and Ganoderma lucidum.Wood pith, stone milk, cloud flowers.This box is full of precious medicinal materials, with a strange fragrance.

"This is...?" Zhang Wei asked strangely.

"This is a gift for you." Li Qinggui said unabashedly.

"You don't get rewarded for nothing, why is that, Fellow Daoist?" Zhang Wei was even more surprised.

At this time, Li Qinggui waved his hand, and his servants left, closing the door of the living room by the way.

When there was no one around, Li Qinggui spoke up.

"To be honest, I have something to ask for."

When Zhang Wei heard it, he immediately understood.This is probably to seek pills, but seeking pills is like this, is it to treat some unspeakable hidden pills?
Then I heard him say: "Friends of Daoism expand the territory, and more lands can take over our gods. This is a great thing. It's just that there are many gods in the sky after all, which always means that there are more wolves and less meat."

He paused, and continued: "This time, I am here to seek the post of Lake God of Tianmen Lake."

So it wasn't for Dan!Zhang Wei was a little surprised.But why did you ask God to find him here?Zhang Wei was a little confused.

So he said: "Fellow Taoist may not be entrusted to others. I don't know anything about the God of Tianmen Lake. Besides, I can't get involved in the affairs of the gods in the sky."

The man smiled and said lightly: "It's not easy for fellow Daoist Zhang to intervene in other matters, but this matter just happens to be decided by fellow daoist Zhang."

He continued: "Tianmen Lake is a large lake that appeared after you expanded your territory. This lake is not small. According to calculations, it can support a third-rank loud god."

"The Heavenly Tai Chi Hall is arguing over the position of the Lake God, and even the True Lord Tai Chi is angry."

Speaking of this, he smiled meaningfully and said: "This god wants to get out of the matter, but this god can't be left in the air. Therefore, you, the Yang official in charge, have a decisive vote."

When Zhang Wei heard this, he finally understood a little bit.

The god in front of me is here to run for an official position!

He said lightly: "If Zhang Daoyou can recommend me to be the Lake God of Tianmen Lake, in addition to these gifts, there will also be generous rewards."

Looking at the two large boxes of presents, Zhang Wei suddenly shook his head and said, "I'm afraid I can't agree to this matter. I don't even know what's going on."

Li Qinggui continued: "Of course, this matter will be informed to you by a man of God. I will be one of several candidate gods. You just need to give me a lift, and this will be done."

What he meant by saying this was actually a kind of notification.I will know the things you don't know yet, which means that the people behind me are not small.

Zhang Wei thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I still can't agree to this matter, fellow Taoist, let's take the gift away."

After speaking, he served tea to the guests.

At this time, Li Qinggui also knew that he should not mess around, so he stood up and said: "This gift is a meeting gift, even if this matter fails, I, Li Qinggui, am very willing to make friends with a talented person like Zhang Daoyou. There is no reason to take back the gift I gave. "

After finishing speaking, he cupped his hands to Zhang Wei, and Zhang Wei also stood up and cupped his hands, sending him outside the door.

The gifts were finally placed in the living room, and Zhang Wei looked at them.Needless to say, those yellow and white things.

Those medicinal materials are all good medicinal materials for hundreds of years, and they are all the best products that can be used to make alchemy into medicine.Zhang Wei put these things away, still thinking about Li Qinggui's words in his heart.

After noon, Zhang Wei was dealing with official business in the Yamen, suddenly his heart moved, and then he saw a burst of golden light outside.

He went out and saw that a road paved with golden light descended from the sky.

All the people in the yamen were startled, and the arresters started to move in an instant, rushing over with swords, guns and bows.

"Protect the magistrate!" Li Guanghu roared, and immediately jumped in front of Zhang Wei.

But at this time, the golden light receded, but a Taoist boy appeared in front of everyone.This boy is five feet tall, handsome and cute, with double buns on his head, wearing black and white Tai Chi Taoist clothes, and holding a white jade wat board in his hand.

When he first landed on the ground, he saw so many people waiting in front of him, he smiled and said, "Everyone, don't be alarmed, I am the boy sitting down from the Taiji Zhenjun of the Taiji Palace in Tianting, and my name is Baoyang. Please see Tianmen County if you have anything to do." Respect Master Zhang Wei."

The others breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, but someone still shouted, "Since it's a request for an interview, why didn't you post a post at the gate of the county government office, instead, you ended up in the county government office. How can you be so rude?"

The person who spoke was Wen Huaiyou, the pawn in the ceremonial room, an old scribe, a child of his life.

Hearing this, Baoyang looked a little embarrassed.What does this speaker mean?Blame me for being rude?Still questioning whether I am worthy of being a fairy?
At this time, Zhang Wei came out and said, "Since it is an envoy from heaven, please invite me from inside."

After finishing speaking, he said to the people below: "Serve tea!"

Baoyang snorted, flicked his sleeves, and followed Zhang Wei into the room.

Entering the room, Zhang Wei said: "I am the magistrate of Tianmen County, I don't know why the distinguished guest is here?"

Baoyang bowed to Zhang Wei, and then said: "My lord said that the new Lake God of Tianmen Lake is still undecided, and I would like to ask County Magistrate Zhang to give me a suggestion to choose someone."

Zhang Wei's heart moved, did this happen?He said calmly: "Why is this? The heavenly court appoints the priests, do we still need our Yang officials to make the decision?"

Bao Yang said: "I didn't let you make a decision, but asked for your advice. After all, Tianmen Lake is in the territory under your jurisdiction."

At this time, someone brought tea, but both of them remained silent.Zhang Wei thought about it for a while, and then said: "But I don't know anything about the candidate, do I act on intuition?"

The Taoist boy smiled and said, "It's okay for a practitioner to act intuitively. However, we still have the documents of each candidate for your reference."

After he finished speaking, a golden light suddenly flew out from the wat board in his hand, forming several scrolls in front of Zhang Wei.

After finishing these, he bowed his hands to Zhang Weigong and said: "This is my mission. After the selection is made by the adults, I can directly write it to the heavenly court."

After speaking, he turned and left.Zhang Wei sent him out, but after Zhang Wei left, he glanced at the county government office and said, "I am a majestic god, there is no reason for you to insult me ​​casually!"

Then he waved his hand lightly, and Wen Huaiyou, who was working in the ceremony room, suddenly felt an itchy nose, and couldn't help but sneezed!
..................................................................

There are five scrolls in front of Zhang Wei. When he opened one of them, there was a portrait of a god-man drawn on the scroll. Below the portrait was his biography, just like a job application resume.

Zhang Wei took a look, and sure enough, among the five people, there was information about Li Qinggui.

This Li Qinggui became a god 320 years ago, he practiced in Duji Mountain before, and he was a monk of Quanzhen Taoism.His resume is mediocre, but he only introduced his Taoism, the number of years he has become a god, and what position he currently lives in.

For this kind of resume, if it's not that the job seeker really doesn't have much experience, it means that the job seeker has too much experience, but he can't see the light.

Becoming a god has not achieved anything for more than 300 years. Could it be that he has been playing the horse crane for 300 years?
Looking at the resumes of other gods, there are at least some records of where they served as priests and what they did.

The most eye-catching one is a fairy named Ci girl.This goddess started as a small river god, and after 350 years, she became the genus of Huaihe Water Lord.During her reign, she actively dredged the river, protected the operation of the Grand Canal, and assisted the Huai River Water King to control the water, and she was very popular among the people.

As for the other three gods, the impression given to Zhang Wei is just to make up the numbers.

Don't ask why, just intuition!
This is actually quite normal. In many cases, some candidates are just used to make up the number, and there are only one or two people who can really be selected.

Sure enough, when Zhang Wei came home at night, he was asked out again.

That night, a white mist suddenly appeared in the courtyard, and together with the white mist, it was either a god or a ghost.Not long after, a golden light lit up in the white mist, and a treasure ship emerged from the white mist. Several beautiful women got off the boat and shouted to Zhang Wei: "Is it Mr. Zhang Wei Zhang? We are ordered by Princess Huai'an." , invite you to the banquet."

Zhang Wei felt curious for a moment, so he asked: "I have never met Princess Huai'an, why did she invite me to the banquet?"

At this time, a woman suddenly stepped out of the boat, this woman is Miss Jinxiu.The girl bowed to Zhang Wei and said, "Grandfather, do you still remember me?"

When Zhang Wei saw it, he smiled and said, "Isn't this Miss Jinxiu? Why are you here?"

Miss Jinxiu smiled and said: "Your Majesty heard that I have an affair with Engong, so I specially asked me to invite you. Your Majesty is the daughter of Lord Huaishui, and she specially invited you to the banquet. I also hope that Engong will show respect."

Zhang Wei pondered for a while, then finally nodded and said: "Since she is the daughter of Lord Huai Shui, and she has come all the way to invite her, it's not good to lose face."

So he said to Gouzi Huangdou: "You take care of my body, I will go to a banquet."

After finishing speaking, he went out of his body and boarded the lucky boat.

(End of this chapter)