A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1225: My Wife and Children Ask Why You Are Coming Back So Late

In front of the gate of Xuanyangfang,
The Wu family is already here waiting for you.

As soon as Wu Huaiyu and his father appeared, the housekeepers and servants of the mansion hurried forward to greet them, some handed them cloaks, some handed them copper stoves to warm their hands, and some even asked Wu Huaiyu if he was hungry and if he wanted to eat something.

"Go home first."

Seeing that more and more people were gathering in front of the gate, all vying to catch a glimpse of this Chang'an headline figure, Wu Huaiyu quickly asked them to leave.

It was the end of the year. Xuanyangfang, as a district in Upper East City, was adjacent to East Market. After the district wall was demolished, the streets here became a street with many high-end commodities, including Official Hat Street, Silk Street, Gold and Silver Street, etc. At the end of the year, the streets were crowded with people.

More and more people gathered around.

Fortunately, after Wu Huaiyu returned to the capital, the emperor sent him imperial guards and entourage, and together with the Wu family's servants, they quickly fended off the crowd.

Quiet, majestic,
The two men who shouted at Wu Bai took long poles to clear the street and finally prevented Prime Minister Wu from being blocked by the people at the gate of the town.

After two years, I finally returned to Wu's house in Xuanyangfang.

The 22-foot-tall Wutou gate,

There are two stone lions standing at the door, lifelike and majestic.
Sixteen halberds are displayed inside the gate.
The Wu family's status is getting higher and higher.

The gatehouse has three rooms and five frames, and the doors are painted with gold, animal faces, and tin rings.

Generally speaking, among the aristocratic families, the Wu family is even higher than the wealthy families. The Wu family has a gilded door, commonly known as the Huangge by the Tang people. This is a level of treatment that only the three highest officials and the prime minister can enjoy.

The gate of the Duke of Song's Mansion, which was rarely opened,
Today the central door is wide open as well.

Welcoming the owner's home.

Wu Huaiyu had just dismounted.

A hunchback suddenly jumped out from the gate of the mansion.

Wu Tuozi, the Wu family's doorman, has followed Wu Huaiyu for sixteen years and has always been serving as the Wu family's doorman. Now his son has become a Jinshi and is working as a county magistrate in Jiangnan, but he is still willing to stay in the Wu family as the doorman.

In his words, the seventh-rank officials in front of the prime minister and the purple-gold ministers who came to the military palace had to nod politely when they saw him, and those in red robes of the fourth and fifth ranks were even more polite. As for the green robes of the sixth and seventh ranks, the blue robes of the eighth and ninth ranks, and the inferior crimson robes,
They had to be respectful to him.

His son studied with Wu Jia Sanlang and passed the imperial examination. With the help of the Wu family, he was only selected and appointed as a county magistrate of the ninth rank.

After more than ten years of hard study, he is not as free and easy as the doorman.

Wu Cheng really likes life in the Wu family. In the past, he could not survive in such a humble way and had to become a slave. Now, he faces the nobles of Chang'an all day long, and they have to be polite to him.

The Wu family treated him well. He had been a free man for a long time, had a good salary, and received many annual rewards. As an elder of the Wu family, Wu Huaiyu had long ago even asked the hunchback to invest his spare money in the Wu family shop. The profits were considerable, and after more than ten years of accumulation, he had a large sum of money.
The Wu family also helped him buy several hundred acres of land in his hometown of Changshouyuan in Sanyuan and built a house for his retirement. In fact, when he returned home, he became a landlord and a local celebrity.

But Wu Tuozi liked to stay in the Wu family and even refused to restore his original surname.

He often said that he was a member of the Wu family when he was alive and a ghost of the Wu family when he died.

"Ah Lang, you are back,"

The hunchback circled around Wu Huaiyu, "Ah Lang has lost some weight."

"You seem to have gained some weight. Is your waist feeling better?"

"My waist is just like this. I have a lot of free time this winter and I have gained some weight." Wu Tuo replied with a smile, "The madam and the others have been waiting for a whole day. Ah Lang, please come home quickly."

The servants and guards at the gatehouse were envious of Uncle Tuo's closeness to the master. They often heard Wu Tuo talk about how he recognized the master of the family at first sight, who was just a money-grabber, and that he would be a prince or general in the future, so he took the initiative to become a slave and follow him, how he had been loyal and conscientious over the years, and how the master of the family treated him well.
After hearing it so many times, everyone was skeptical. Many people thought that Uncle Tuo was bragging, especially some newcomers.

But after they had been there for a while, they discovered that the owner of the house was indeed very good to Uncle Tuo, the doorman, so they began to believe it, and of course they couldn't help but admire Uncle Tuo.

After chatting with Wutuo for a few words, Huaiyu went home.

Wu Huaiyu was really nice to Wu Tuo, and after a while, he really treated him like a family member. Wu Tuo was reluctant to leave, and Wu Huaiyu got used to the hunchback figure who would come out to greet him every time he came home.

The Wu family treats people kindly. Although there are many rules in the Wu family, as long as you abide by the rules, you will be treated well in the Wu family.

Former slaves like Wu Tuo are now small landlords. Even his son studied in the Wu family school and passed the imperial examination and was sent to become a county magistrate. This is not an isolated case.

The original shopkeepers, assistants and even apprentices of the Wu family are now doing well. Even many children of the former slaves of the Wu family have been trained by the Wu family. Some have joined the army to fight for fame and fortune, while others have studied at the Wu family, participated in the imperial examinations, won fame and entered the officialdom.
Some of them became officials, while others are still engaged in business.

The fact that the Wu family has built up its current fortune in just sixteen years is inseparable from Wu Huaiyu's method of employing people.

The nobles of the Tang Dynasty were of the old feudal type, emphasizing personal control. Wu Huaiyu was a time traveler after all, and most of the time he valued efficiency, so his style was heavily capitalist.

When someone bought a slave, they had to listen to them in everything, they had no time to rest, and even their food, clothing and shelter were not guaranteed. Therefore, many slaves in noble families often did not live past the age of thirty.

But in the Wu family, although they were also slaves, Wu Huaiyu would set a task volume when arranging work. As long as the task was completed with quality and quantity guaranteed, they would be rewarded. If they were completed ahead of schedule, they could even have more rest.

Slaves who performed well not only received vacations, good food, and shelter, but also received some financial rewards, such as their own private property, and even male and female slaves of appropriate age. Wu Huaiyu would also arrange marriages for them and start families with them. If they performed extremely well, they could regain their freedom. Or, they could be allowed to redeem themselves or their children.

These are relatively open-minded approaches.

The Wu family's employees, if they performed well, were eligible for dividends from their shares, whereas most Tang Dynasty nobles would only give some dividends to some big shopkeepers, and only a small number would give some dividends to some craftsmen and assistants who possessed important skills.

However, a top-share dividend system as common as Wu Huaiyu's is rare.

But the effect is also very strong. People from the Wu family work hard and they are particularly loyal.

Slaves from other families often escaped, and even if they were caught and beaten half to death, they would still run away if they had a chance. But the slaves of the Wu family, whether they were at home, on the estate, or in the workshop, rarely ran away.

They were treated well in the Wu family and even had hope of regaining their freedom. Some former slaves of the Wu family not only gained their freedom, but also became rich with the Wu family. They married wives, concubines, had children, built up a good family business, wore long robes and long boots, and became Alang.

Walking into the palace,

One could immediately feel the cheerful atmosphere in the mansion. Everyone had a smile on their face. They were all happy for the return of the head of the family. One could even feel that the joy came from the heart and was very sincere.

Fan Xuanfu came to greet them with his concubines and children.

What a big group of people.

I haven't seen my children for two years and they have grown a lot.

Many of Chengsi's peers have grown into grown-ups.

When a husband and wife meet, they have thousands of things to say to each other, but in the end they just smile at each other.

This son patted her head, that girl hugged her,
After a while, he finally greeted his wives, concubines, and children.

There are still some concubines and children who are far away in Luzon, Guangzhou, Ludao and Hong Kong Island, and they still regret not being able to reunite.

"I didn't know you would come back this year. I thought you would still stay in the Western Regions," Xuan Fu said. "If I had known earlier, I would have called Runniang and the others back to Chang'an for a reunion."

Li Qing asked him, "Are you hungry?"

"fine,"

"The elder sister will definitely come soon. She has come two or three times at noon and in the afternoon," Yang Muyun said on the side.

Huaiyu smiled and said, "I'll have to ask my elder sister to cook me some noodles later. They say that dumplings are best eaten when you leave. I haven't eaten the noodles made by my elder sister for a long time. I miss them very much."

Xuan Fu took his arm, "Humph, who would believe your lies? The whole city of Chang'an is talking about how you are so successful in the Western Regions. The Queen of Shule, the Princess of the Turks, the Princess of Kucha, the Princess of Gaochang, the Princess of Shiguo... You are so happy here that you don't want to leave your country, right?"

Wu Huaiyu laughed, "Madam, are you jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous? You men are out there fighting on the battlefield, guarding the frontiers, thousands of miles away in the Western Regions. It's so hard, and you don't have wives or concubines by your side. What's wrong with taking a few women?
But you should also pay attention to the impact. You are the prime minister, one of the three highest officials. If you are short of women, you can just take a concubine or buy a few Hu girls as slaves.
But it is not good to make this queen and that princess known to the whole world and cause a lot of uproar.”

"Madam is really jealous. In fact, the rumors in Chang'an are all nonsense. The rumors about the queen and the princess are all groundless."

"Humph, our Wu family has quite a few people in the Western Regions, and my mother's family, the Fan family, also has many children in the Western Regions. Do you think they don't know anything?"

"Alang, many people from our Hongnong Yang clan also followed you to the Western Regions."

"There are also many descendants of the Longxi Li family there."

The wives and concubines were in an uproar, talking about the Fan family, the Li family, the Yang family, the Yun family, the Qiu family, and the Duan family. They all said that their children had gone to the Western Regions.

"Okay, I admit, there is, but there is only one. She was originally the daughter of the Turkic Khan Dilish, Princess Zhenzhu Ashina Pijia. Later, she married the King of Shule..."

When she talked about her divorce from the King of Shule and then said goodbye to Wu Huaiyu and went to Qianquan, Wu Huaiyu felt a pain in his waist, and his wife Fan Xuanfu pinched his waist and twisted it hard.

"You should bring Princess Zhenzhu back. How can you be so irresponsible?" Li Qing also scolded.

Wu Huaiyu was a little overwhelmed.

The Ten Arrow Tribes of the Turks and dozens of countries in the Western Regions were no match for Wu Huaiyu, but now he is overwhelmed by the women at home.

"Chengsi, go to the neighborhood and invite your aunt over, and tell her that I want to eat the soup noodles made by my sister."

It was the eldest daughter Yingluo who felt more sorry for her father. "It's cold and windy outside. Aye just came back. You should change into warm clothes quickly to avoid catching a cold."

"Oh, they say that daughters are the sweetest cotton-padded jackets of their fathers, and it's the daughters who love their fathers."

Yingluo felt embarrassed by what was said. She had already set the wedding date for April next year. In a few months, she would marry the tenth prince, Prince Ji, Li Shen.

Wu Huaiyu took the opportunity to change the subject, "Yingluo will be married next April. How is the dowry prepared? You must not treat my eldest daughter badly."

(End of this chapter)