Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 691

Imperial City, the main hall of the House of Internal Affairs.

After hearing the news from Jiang Jian, Cao Yong said with a smile: "There is a severe drought in the capital, and there is a lack of payment in the northwest. It is reasonable for the court to accept donations. I have been looking forward to it for a long time, and finally I have some eyebrows."

Jiang Jian nodded and said: "Yes, he has been thinking about it. He stayed in the capital because he couldn't explain to the old man when he went back."

According to the later novels, Li Wei is a disciple of the fourth elder brother, and he was released to become an official.

Now it seems that although Li Wei has nothing to do with the fourth elder brother, the little ink in his stomach is not someone who can pass the imperial examination and become an official.

Besides Li Wei, there was also the person in front of him.

"What about Feilin? I have been in the local yamen for many years, do you have the heart to become an official? If you want to, take this opportunity to donate together with Youxuan, and it will be considered cheap." Cao Yong said after a little thought.

After Jiang Jian heard this, he quickly waved his hands and said, "My lord, there are still many shortcomings for the students to enter the curtain, and they really don't have the intention to become an official."

He usually doesn't talk much, but he rarely shirks with lies.

Since he said it so frankly, he really didn't have that thought.

After hearing this, Cao Yong didn't say much, and said: "Is there any trust in the time for donating? Many people's children don't want to go to other countries, so they wait for Beijing to donate. I'm afraid they will squeeze their heads when the time comes. There are vacancies outside. I don't know if Youxu has such a convenient plan. Looking at his usual appearance, he is not like other people, thinking about scratching the ground."

Jiang Jian nodded, and said: "It's only now that there are rumors that if the donation is not made at the end of the year, it will be after the Wanshou Festival next year. Your lord is right, and you have a very loyal temper. Being a Beijing official has your lord's protection. In the past two years, he has been in the yamen for two years, and he also knows some official taboos. When he arrives in the local area, it may not be a blessing. Now the corruption of the local officials has reached a heinous level. The government officials above are corrupt, and the officials below are not cheap. When a new official takes office, even if he intends to do a few practical things for the people, it will be difficult for him to move forward if he is constrained by the upper and lower levels.

If the donation is made before Halloween, even if the Longevity Day is not celebrated with great fanfare, it will leave a rumor for the outside world to collect money and waste money.Kangxi is the most famous, and the officials of the imperial court will follow suit, so they will not offend the bad luck of that "holy lord".

"Well, since this is the case, let people pay more attention to it. You have longed for it, so you have to help him." Cao Yong said.

The two chatted a few gossips before turning to business.

I don't know if it was because the sixteenth elder brother's audit in May scared everyone, or Cao Yong's bidding at the beginning of the year cast out all the lucrative errands, which made the Ministry of Internal Affairs extraordinarily calm.

The repair project of the Changchun Garden is progressing smoothly, and Elder Seventeen's condition is almost the same. Now the Ministry of Internal Affairs is preparing various food, rice, melons and fruits for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The tribute of the top must be sent to the outside of the pass by the imperial driver.Others include those in the harem, as well as the palaces of the major princes in the capital and Baylor's mansion.

After finishing the errands at hand, Cao Yong came out from the Yamen when it was almost time.

This is the advantage of Sheng Jia not being in the capital, the atmosphere in the Yamen is much more relaxed, and life is quite comfortable.

Cao Yongyuan is not used to leaving early, thinking about staying up.But if he didn't leave, the officials below him wouldn't be able to retreat either. If he came and went twice, it caused a lot of dissatisfaction.

It was Dong Dianbang who said a few words mildly, and Cao Yong began to follow the trend.It's just that he knows that there are still people staring at him in Baobuqi, waiting to catch the pigtails, so he takes the golden mean.

Unlike other yamen, they left after noon; nor did they stay until dusk like before.

When Cao Yong was about to get home, he saw two fully loaded mule carts entering his mansion from the sidecar.

When he arrived at the gate of the house, Cao Yong turned over and got down, and the porter came forward to lead the horse.

Cao Yong handed over the reins and said, "What's the matter here?"

"If you go back to your lord, it's lord Dong who has arrived." The porter leaned over and replied.

"Master Dong?" Cao Yong was quite surprised when he heard this.

There are quite a few officials surnamed Dong in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but Dong Dianbang and Dong Changhai have contacts with Cao Yong.

After entering the yard, I saw Wu Sheng standing in the yard holding the list, directing a few servants to unload the goods on the truck.

Seeing Cao Yong coming in, everyone stopped what they were doing and bowed down to pay their respects.

Cao Yong waved his hand, telling everyone to keep busy, then looked at the car twice, and said: "What are they all?"

Wu Sheng presented the list with both hands, and said: "Master, it's mostly fresh, it's rare to have such a big shad and a few baskets of lake crabs."

Cao Yong took the list and simply scanned it. There are quite a few items, including melons, fruits, meat and vegetables.Melons include late-ripening watermelon and cantaloupe. Fruits include persimmons, grapes, and red dates. Meat includes shad and crab, as well as pheasant and venison. Vegetables include water bamboo, water chestnut, yam, ginger, and lotus root.

Cao Yong closed the form, handed it back to Wu Sheng, and said, "Where is Mr. Dong?"

"Returning to uncle, Mr. Dong was led by the housekeeper to the living room for tea." Wu Sheng replied.

The only one who can send things over is Dong Changhai, a member of the construction department.

Since returning to Beijing, he has visited the door more than once.It's not that he bribed Cao Yong, but was selected by the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a messenger to deliver things to Cao's house.

It is well known that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a lot of oil and water.

Except for the money left by various errands, these are the rest.

When Huangzhuang from all over the country sends fresh food to the capital according to the season, whoever dares to send it according to the share in the regulations.Always pay a few percent more, so as not to suffer losses on the road and not be able to pay the errands when we arrive in Beijing.

Even if it is ten to ten things, the men of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are staring at it, wondering how to spend a few percent, let alone the extra, and naturally regard it as filial piety from outside.

There are "welfare" to be divided almost every month, and it has become the practice of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Even the sixteenth elder brother and the seventeenth elder brother did not raise any objections, so naturally Cao Yong would not be bored and engage in "anti-corruption and honesty".

Dong Changhai still had a few other families to run away. When he saw Cao Yong, he said a few words with him and got up to leave.

Cao Yong called the housekeeper to send him out of the mansion, but he entered the second gate and went back to the inner courtyard.

Passing by the gate of the Orchid Courtyard, Cao Yong wanted to greet Mrs. Li, but before he entered the courtyard, he heard the laughter of Tianyou and Hengsheng brothers from inside.

Entering the yard, I saw a wooden basin under the corridor. Tianyou and Hengsheng squatted beside it, stretching out their little necks to watch.Behind their brothers are Little Walnut and Xiaoxie.

"Brother, big fish..." Hang Seng stretched out his hand and probed into the water basin.

Seeing this, Xiaoxie hurriedly stretched out her hand to stop her, and said, "Second Master, don't be naughty, he's so dirty, Mrs. Xie said carefully."

Hang Seng was obedient, pointed his little finger inside the wooden basin, smiled and said, "Brother, the one is the biggest..."

Tianyou stood up and said, "Brother, I heard that there are crabs and pheasants in the kitchen, let's go see that?"

After hearing this, Hang Seng nodded hurriedly.

The two brothers turned around, met their father, and hurriedly stood up to greet him in a dignified manner.Little Walnut and Xiaoxie also bowed down to greet Cao Yong.

It happened that a servant girl, Xiu Que, came out from the upper room and also squatted down.

Cao Yong waved his hands and said to Tianyou and Hang Seng: "Go and play." After speaking, he said to Xiuque: "Is your wife there?"

Mrs. Li heard Cao Yong's voice in the room, and raised her voice: "Yong'er is back? Come in."

On the embroidered bird's side, the door curtain has already been raised, Cao Yong entered the upper room sideways, and saw Chuyu come out from the back room to meet him.

The husband and wife entered the house together, and Mrs. Li had already got up from the edge of the kang, and said to Cao Yong with a smile: "I came back early today, let's eat here. Our mothers haven't eaten yet."

"Yes, mother." Cao Yong responded and said: "The son will go back and change his clothes first, and come back later to accompany his mother for dinner."

Mrs. Li nodded, and said: "Go, go." Speaking of this, she said to Chu Yu: "I heard that the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent crabs, but I haven't eaten crabs in the mansion this year, so I asked the kitchen to clean it up." , steam some."

Chu Yu responded, came out to give orders, and then went back to Wutong Garden with Cao Yong.

Cao Yong was bending over to wash his face when he heard Chu Yu say: "Master, the second wife sent someone over in the morning, and invited the wife to come over."

Cao Yong stood up, and Chu Yu had already delivered the towel.

"What happened again?" Cao Yong took the towel and said while wiping his face.

"Second Wife asked my wife to go to the General's Mansion to see the Prime Minister. She has already placed a small order, and she also said that on August [-]th, she will make a big order at the General's Mansion." Chu Yu replied.

Cao Yong thought he was a servant, so he put down the towel and asked, "Who are you going to? Xiaoding? The General's Mansion, which General's Mansion?"

"It's the previous family, General Yongquan of Fengguo." Chu Yu replied.

Hearing this name, Cao Yong thought of the appearance of Yongquan kneeling and crying a few days ago, and felt chills in his back.

"What's going on? The second wife stared at her in a daze, and she still wanted to say that Yun Gege is a daughter-in-law?" Cao Yong only felt a burst of anxiety in his heart, and asked in a deep voice.

Cao Yong told his wife about the reasons for the disharmony in the East Mansion, and even asked Chu Yu to ask her to help find out who has a similar girl.In order to save Zhaojia's random marriages when he has a whim.

It's only been a few days since he was so angry that he was half-dead, and he's calmed down again, and he still wants to marry Yong's family?

"It's not Yungege...it's her niece, Yongquan's eldest daughter, Chunhuagege...It is said that Yungege was sick and sent to a nunnery outside the city to practice. They didn't want to break off their marriage, so they begged Yu The third wife of the Shifu came to say good-bye. The second wife, for some reason, accepted the marriage again..." Chu Yu replied: "My wife is also worried about this, and I can't bear the second wife's nagging for a long time. Help me After putting Chunhua Gege on it, I started to regret it when I came back, and I was afraid of complaining in front of the master. Although the banner people say they are relatives and there is a saying that they don’t pay attention to seniority, but our family has always followed the rules in the south. The niece married on behalf of the master. It doesn’t sound good to say it.”

Cao Yong was really speechless, he didn't know whether he should blame Zhao Jia for his insanity, or blame Yongquan for being despicable.

Now that Xiaoding has been made, from the outside, it seems that the "benevolence and righteousness" of the general's mansion did not have the cheek to send the sick Gege over, and changed the identity of Chunhua Gege who was no less than Yun Gege to marry.

In this way, if the Cao family mentions the matter of retiring their marriage again, they will be "putting their noses on the face", "not knowing what is good or bad", "arrogant and rude"...

*
The front yard, across the yard.

Li Wei couldn't sit still when he heard the news that the imperial court was going to make donations.

"The donation has been started, the donation has been started. Haha..." He grinned, dancing Jiang Jian said: "At last I have some hope, my old lady now sends a letter every three to five days, urging me to go back. Being a parent I really miss my son, and being a son is not hard-hearted, I have long thought of something promising, so I took the old couple to the capital and followed suit."

Seeing that Li Wei was blindly happy, Jiang Jian had to remind him, saying: "You Jie, you should think carefully. If you want to donate to a Beijing official, you can only go to a regular fifth-rank doctor, and there are more wolves and less meat. It's not like a foreign official, you can donate Go to Daotai. Those families who don’t want their children to go abroad to endure hardships all have the idea of ​​donating to the officials in the capital, and the price of this shortage will be high at that time. Since you have this thought, you will start to prepare money.”

When Li Wei heard this, a smile froze on his face.

When he finished dealing with the shop at the front door, he had some spare cash on hand.But he is generous by nature, and he is usually extravagant, he seldom caress about money, and he spends about the same amount of effort in more than a year.

"It's time to sell land again." Li Wei sat down, and said awkwardly: "It's really a waste of time, men in their 30s, and they have to ask their parents for money. When I first came to Beijing a few years ago, I sold two land. Chu Zhuangzi only came here. Since he couldn’t find a proper way to go, the money was almost spent, and there was no benefit at all.”

Hearing this, Jiang Jian said: "I have been working as a curtain all these years, and I have some savings. I just send people back to my old mother in the country to keep them. If I need to use them, I will send people back to pick them up. And this year, I will work as an errand with the adults. Xiang Run's capital, and the respect of the officials in this hall can also be combined."

After hearing this, Li Wei clasped his fists and laughed, "I appreciate Feilin's kindness. It's just a momentary feeling, not worrying about money. If my old man knows that he has a promise this time, let alone sell the land, he will just sell it." I am also happy with the house. Besides, the old man has saved land all his life, even if he sells two more farms, there will still be a lot of land left."

"You Jie, I see that you are not obsessed with fame and wealth. If you are promoted, you will be like Wei Wuye, and you will not have to worry about official duties. Being a wealthy and idle person is not less comfortable than making money. My official salary is low. Even if you become a fifth-rank doctor, the annual salary is only a few dozen taels of silver." Jiang Jian hesitated for a while, and persuaded.

Li Wei shook his head after hearing this, and said: "Fei Lin was wrong. I, Li Wei, am also an ordinary person. How can I transcend the world. If I didn't have the desire to seek fame and fortune, I would not have left my hometown and wandered in the capital. For several years."

After hearing these words, Jiang Jian hadn't woken up yet, when he heard Li Wei go on to say: "I'm just a reckless man in the country, I don't have much knowledge. Leave a name. I, Li Wei, also hope to have a good reputation, so I hope to become an official, and I want to be called "Master Qingtian" twice. If there is no profit, I will naturally seek profit. It's just that yellow and white thing , thanks to the blessing of my old man, enough food and drink to support his wife and children is enough, we don’t bother to bother to get that. This profit is for others. Because I am an official, build roads and bridges, and let others benefit , that is 'li'..."

After hearing these words, Jiang Jian stood up, with seriousness on his face, bowed to Li Wei, and said: "The common people are very lucky that Youjie can go out of office with such a heart of 'fame and fortune'. He will surely soar into the sky, Leave a name in history...

(End of this chapter)