Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 587 Being rich doesn't necessarily mean having a high IQ
On the sixth day of October in the 11th year of Chongzhen, when the vegetation in the north was withered, the bustling Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas were still full of green trees and safflowers. Most people still wore various single clothes and skirts. It doesn't look like late autumn is approaching.

At noon on this day, in the inner garden of a mansion compound covering an area of ​​more than [-] mu in the south city of Songjiang Prefecture, dozens of beautiful maidservants wearing bright skirts of various colors carried trays containing various food and utensils to and from the stove. In the lower and flower halls, the footsteps are light, the rings on the body jingle, and the surrounding exotic flowers and plants, green water and strange rocks set off, people can't help but feel refreshed when watching and listening.

This mansion is the home of Gu Shenqing, a local tycoon in Songjiang Prefecture.

Gu Shenqing, who is over fifty years old, took in a sixth concubine last year. This concubine who just turned 16 just added a fat boy to him a few months ago.

Today coincided with her son's [-]th birthday, so Gu Shenqing posted a post to invite old and new friends to come to the house for a banquet, in order to add more popularity to this precious son.

Gu Shenqing has a reputation for raising people, and some of her ancestors have served as magistrates, doctors, and officials. She is a standard family of officials and gentry.

In the generation of Gu Shenqing's grandfather, the originally prosperous literary movement began to show a trend of decline. For decades, only one person passed the test and three people won the exam, including Gu Shenqing.

In fact, his fame as a public servant was also bought with money 20 years ago, in order to have a passable identity when interacting with a group of officials and gentry.

Gu Shenqing's family knew about his own family affairs, and with his talent, he might be able to barely pass the exam. The mid-term exam is directly impossible, because his interest is not above school, and doing business to make money is his greatest hobby.

As early as the Wanli period, the young Gu Shenqing had already set foot in maritime trade. After 20 years of unremitting perseverance and hard work, and through the use of various relationships and means, the Gu family is now the leader of the four major merchants in the south of the Yangtze River: Gu, Lu, Zhou, and Xu. , The family property has reached millions.

"Since I am here today to congratulate Nongzhang, I don't know what kind of food brother Duansu wants to treat me? Hehe, the color of the Xiyi dancer outside this hall is actually a bit more gorgeous than my Daming lady. Brother Duansu really People with unique tastes! After the banquet is over, I want to bring a few people back home to enjoy, but I don’t know if Brother Duansu is willing to part with you? Hahahaha!"

The one who spoke was Lu Maocheng, the second roommate of the Lu family, one of the four great merchants. Because the head of Lu's family, the house owner, was not feeling well in the past few days, after receiving the invitation from Gu Shenqing, he was specially appointed to come to Gu's residence for a banquet.

"Brother Lu said this, Lao Gu is famous all over the world, not to mention a few dancers, even if you bring the whole team back to the mansion, Lao Gu will not even frown, what do you think, Lao Gu ?Ha ha!"

Another big businessman wearing a brocade gown with a big belly and round waist, Liu Guan, followed Lu Maocheng's words and booed aside.

"I said, Xiao Lu, the last time you sent me a copy of Huai Su's post was robbed by the church. My heart hurts like a knife cut! I heard that you still have a copy of Mi Fu's original handwriting." , look, can we have a discussion, can I exchange something with you?"

The last one to speak was Xu Sheng, one of the four great merchants. His greatest hobby, which has never been interested in female sex, was to collect calligraphy and paintings of celebrities. If you get it in your hands, you won't hesitate to spend a lot of money for it.

In fact, it’s not just Xu Sheng. As they gradually get tired of fine wine, food and beauty, many wealthy people in the south of the Yangtze River turn their attention to antique calligraphy and painting, especially the calligraphy and painting of celebrities in the past. Many people often spend a lot of money in order to get their favorite treasures.

The direct consequence of this is that the prices of calligraphy and painting antiques have risen. More than 2000 taels.

But the rich have money, but they may not have the corresponding taste.

The rich merchants at that time liked to "talk about Xuanhe Bogu, books and paintings", but they had no eyesight and did not know how to pretend to understand. Treasure", was passed down as a joke by scholars.

Under the flickering of antique dealers, these "noble sons and rich men" were dizzy while spending money like water, "drinking Mongolian sweat medicine every day, and it was as sweet as sugar."

As a result, local tyrants who love to collect but are easy to be fooled have greatly spawned a counterfeit market for calligraphy, painting and antiques.

In the Suzhou area at that time, there were countless fake works of "Wen, Shen, Tang, and Qiu" Ming Dynasty, and Zhuanzhu Lane in Suzhou was even famous for forging antiques of calligraphy and paintings.

In Songjiang, a clever antique dealer compiled a handbook of famous ancient masters called "Bao Hua Lu", which contained forged works of Gu Kaizhi, Lu Tanwei, Zhan Ziqian, Zhang Sengxuan, etc., to lure local tyrants They pay big bucks for it.

"Yes, since Brother Xu loves it, the younger brother will give it as a gift with both hands. As for the exchange, you also know, Brother Xu. The younger brother loves nothing but food and beauty. As long as Brother Xu buys the younger brother two stunning beauties Send it to the mansion, and the authentic work of Mi Fu will belong to my brother!"

Lu Maocheng is much younger than Gu Shenqing, Xu Sheng, and Saturday Guan. He is self-proclaimed suave and not interested in calligraphy, painting and antiques. After hearing Xu Sheng's request, Lu Maocheng immediately agreed and made his own request.

"Okay, okay, tomorrow I will ask the housekeeper to go to Yangzhou to buy you two stunning skinny horses, the color will ensure your satisfaction!
But the words are coming again, Xiao Lu, I want to persuade you a few words, this color is a bone-scraping steel knife, you are only [-] years old, you must know restraint when it comes to female sex, your body is not made of iron, Brothers don’t want to come to your door early to pay homage to you, hahahaha! "

"Thank you for your kindness, brother. I have figured it out a long time ago. In life, enjoyment is what you should enjoy. If you just want to live a long life, then you might as well go to the temple to become a monk. What's the fun in living for hundreds of years?

The true meaning of life is to be happy in time, the younger brother loves this, and the same reason as the older brothers love this, don't you think? "

Seeing that Lu Maocheng didn't take his persuasion seriously at all, Xu Sheng stopped talking, but shifted the topic to the music class and dancer outside the flower window.

"I said, Lao Gu, since Xiao Lu opened the mouth, you have to be a good host, are you willing to give these Xiyi girls away? I heard that last month, in the back house of the mansion There is already one more Xiyi peerless beauty, needless to say, this must have been sent by you, Gu, what's the matter, are you willing to give it to Xie Futang, and not to Xiao Lu? Haha!"

The Saturday view, who was as long as a ball of dough, laughed again and joked with Gu Shenqing.

"Chengchengcheng, why don't you give up on this? I was just thinking about the matter that needs to be cleaned up in the past, so I didn't hear Brother Lu's request at all. It's just a few girls. What does Brother Lu like?" A few, just take them away later!"

Standing in front of the flower window with her hands behind her back, Gu Shenqing seemed to be watching the singing and dancing, but in fact she was thinking about something on her mind. She turned around and sat down on the rosewood chair. After taking a sip of hot tea, she said with a nonchalant smile.

"I said, Lao Gu, that matter is extremely secretive. It can be said that God and ghosts don't know about it. Why worry? Could it be that you heard something wrong?"

　Thanks to book friends 161212205255554 for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)