fifth form

"I don't know what situation Shen Peigong is targeting?"

Tunnels cannot be dug in a day. Even if Kong Zhong and others have relevant magic assistance, it will be troublesome to safely dig a tunnel under Chang'an City for Shen Peigong and others to pass.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that he might not be able to join in the fun.

In the Confucius Temple, the memorial ceremonies for Zhao Wan and Wang Zang began to go too far, and the time for the King of Huainan to go to Chang'an City was gradually coming to an end, and he might return to Huainan after the New Year.

"If a particularly handsome young man comes to return that black stone, you should entertain him!"

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't make the trip, so he had to tell Rong Tianding to pay attention to Kong Anguo's return of Kong Shengling.

The Kong family is not only generous, but also relatively honest. They rarely regret anything they do.

Zhang Xuezhou was not worried that Kong Anguo and others would not return Kong Shengling. He was just afraid that these people would be beaten to death.

It's almost time to return to the real world, and Zhang Xuezhou doesn't wander around.

He and Rong Tianding had spent the past few days celebrating the New Year, and had cleaned up and down the house. Then they saw Rong Tianding being provocative without knowing what he was capable of, and was beaten by his concubine, and taught him about Bigu Technique.

Yi Yan's practice of Bigu Jue still amazed Zhang Xuezhou, but it was no longer astonishing as it was at first.

When Bigu Jue progressed from beginner to proficient, the number of acupoints increased sharply, which also made Yiyan fall into repeated overturning and sorting out. It was no longer possible to rely on past knowledge to complete it again.

But compared to Zhang Manqian and others' practice of poison-proofing techniques, Yi Yan's practice speed is still unparalleled, second only to super-memory people like Zhang Xuezhou.

Zhang Xuezhou's specialness is difficult to replicate, but Yi Yan's practice can be replicated.

Zhang Xuezhou only waited for Yi Yan to enter the bottleneck period caused by practicing the Bigu Jue before recommending him to practice the Poison-proofing Jue.

He had some small plans in mind, but not too many.

When Zhang Xuezhou was about to go back to bed and prepare to return to reality, Zhang Xuezhou saw a knocking sound at the door.

"Cousin, it's your...that..."

"Zhang Cigong!"

"Come in quickly, why are you so polite and bring so many gifts? Where did you get rich?"

Rong Tianding, who was in charge of the care, opened the door to welcome the person. When he found out that it was Zhang Xuezhou's fellow villager, he opened the door to welcome the person, and then greeted Zhang Xuezhou who was about to go back to his room and lie down.

"Second bow!"

"Master Dongfang, on the order of the king, I came here to wish you a happy New Year!"

Zhang Xuezhou greeted, and Zhang Cigong looked at the coachman and servants behind him who were holding gifts. He had no choice but to communicate in official language, and then motioned for everyone to send the gifts into the house.

These gifts include fresh meat, dried fruits, pottery bowls, and cloth. Although the gifts are not expensive, they are close to life and are all necessary things in life.

Moreover, the gifts given by the King of Huainan were quite generous, such as more than a hundred catties of fresh meat and more than ten catties of dried fruits.

For ordinary wealthy families, this is considered a new year's gift.

"King Huainan is too polite to send me New Year's greetings." Zhang Xuezhou thought for a moment and asked, "Is my situation common? Has King Huainan given New Year's greetings to others?"

"The king will send people to give gifts to officials who are involved in the imperial court and have a salary of more than one thousand dan. Officials with a salary of more than 2,000 dan will be personally escorted by important retainers," Zhang Cigong said.

"Then my salary is not even thousands of stones," Zhang Xuezhou said in astonishment.

The officials of the Han Dynasty had complex names and were responsible for different things.

Except for the leaders of departments such as Sangong and Jiuqing, it is difficult to tell who has a higher official position in other official positions. Different departments are involved, and there is a lack of reference for superiors and subordinates.

For example, the imperial city's chariot commander is also a minor official with a salary of six hundred shi, but this kind of official can even govern the prime minister and others in a specific area.

But no one said that the official position of Sima Ling of the official carriage was higher than that of the prime minister. Correspondingly, some people use salary as a measure of official rank, which also avoids the embarrassment caused by the conflict of official functions in different fields.

Thousand stone salary is undoubtedly a more important watershed.

Zhang Xuezhou was below this watershed and was one of the incompetent officials in the court.

For a moment, he could not imagine the significance of the gift given to him by King Huainan for such a low-level official.

"Maybe the king has met you and still remembers you," Zhang Cigong guessed.

"I wasn't called Dongfang Shuo at that time. When I met him, I was still called Dongfang Bubai!"

Zhang Xuezhou muttered.

But he was not so noble that he refused to accept the gifts that came to his door, and the King of Huainan gave gifts collectively with the help of New Year greetings.

Regardless of whether there is something wrong with these gifts or not, as long as the people involved are wide enough, they will basically not be held accountable, and low-level officials like Zhang Xuezhou will not be used as a typical example.

"please!"

Zhang Xuezhou invited Zhang Cigong into the lobby to drink water.

After the coachman and servants were greeted by Rong Tianding, Zhang Cigong's face lost the sense of restraint.

"Don't worry about using the things. There will definitely be no trouble," Zhang Cigong whispered.

"I'm not afraid that these things to eat and drink will corrupt my soul." Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile: "It's just that King Huainan is spending money like water these days. This is indeed too much for the family's business!"

"Maybe he wants to pave the way for us, so that everyone can give us some face," Zhang Cigong guessed.

"My lord?"

"The princess is the king's daughter. I heard that the princess wants to find a suitable husband in Chang'an City. Perhaps because of this, the king spared no effort to send gifts in Chang'an City!"

"This prince is really a rich man!"

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but exclaimed.

Although I don’t know what other ideas King Huainan has, the reasons on the surface of King Huainan are obviously very sufficient.

Money is the most reliable way to pave the way. No matter what the princess looks like, she will be the one that many outstanding young people are willing to meet.

If the secular world were more utilitarian, Zhang Xuezhou felt that it would not be strange for him to have thoughts.

"The King of Huainan is only forty years old. Even if the princess is older, she is only twenty-three or four years old." Zhang Xuezhou joked: "Ci Gong, if you want to find a shortcut to success, you can consider it!"

"I...I think so." Zhang Cigong hesitated for a few times and then said helplessly: "But how could the princess like a retainer who trains horses!"

"When you become more capable, you can tame a dragon to propose marriage. I'll definitely be interested in you!"

"Hahaha!"

Zhang Cigong felt that Zhang Xuezhou had changed. He could talk and laugh freely among the big shots. He also bought a house in Chang'an City and became an official.

But Zhang Xuezhou didn't change in the end. It was no different than in Zhangjiazhuang. Zhang Xuezhou still liked to fool around and brag, and the other person was still someone he was familiar with.

Zhang Cigong had been wandering around for many years and suffered all kinds of hardships. He even lost the hearing in one ear. It was not until Zhang Xuezhou took him to the Huainan Palace that he temporarily stabilized.

It was rare for him to be so happy to brag with Zhang Xuezhou.

The two boasted to each other for a long time. Zhang Cigong listened to Zhang Xuezhou's introduction of the tips he had learned over the years on how to flirt with girls, and his heart couldn't help but feel moved. He felt that the princess who he looked up to in the past and dared not look directly at him did not seem to be as unreachable as he imagined.