The daily life of the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, thick black

Chapter 79 Shameless

Zhang Tingyu saw the expression on her face when she came in, and knew that Gu Huaishu was unhappy again.

When she got up early in the morning, she heard people say that she had gone to Ye's house next door, and now she came back with a sad face, as if she had suffered a loss.But Gu Huaixiu suffered a disadvantage?Zhang Tingyu wouldn't believe it even if he was killed.

When did Gu San suffer?
But I'm afraid that she will let others suffer, and she will show her face to others.

"Like returning from victory?" Zhang Tingyu teased her nonchalantly.

Gu Huaishu was almost blown away by the shamelessness of the family next door, so she just sat down on the mahogany bat-patterned round stool next to her, and she sneered: "If I had known that there were such bad neighbors here, I might as well have found a neighbor." They come to live in a different courtyard. They claim to be a big family anyway, and a girl fell in love with you at first sight, and they are eager to make you a concubine."

Zhang Tingyu laughed happily, "Then you agreed?"

Gu Huaishu rolled his eyes at him: "If you want me to agree, I'll go back right away, but I just brought back a dead man, you remember to have a wedding night with him as well."

"Dead?" Zhang Tingyu was just joking, but it was a little strange to hear Gu Huaishu say that.

Gu Huai was picking his fingernails indecently, with a leisurely expression and light eyebrows: "Isn't that girl suffering from lovesickness? Since ancient times, I have heard of a secret recipe from my natal sister-in-law. Medicine, I prescribed it to her."

Zhang Tingyu frowned and thought for a moment, and then he had the answer: "Xiangsizi?"

"As expected of being familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, the second master's brain turns very fast." Gu Huaishu tapped on the table with a disgusted expression, "Grind seven or forty-nine acacia seeds, decoct them in one go, and go if you don't die Her half life. Pretend, let her pretend!"

If you want to come in as a concubine, you have to look like a concubine.

Gu Huaixiu thought to himself, although it is impossible for her to take the initiative to accept Zhang Tingyu as a concubine, if you want to come in as a concubine, you must at least respect her as the wife of the wife.

If you want to come, just tell me aboveboard; pretend?If you can pretend, I, Gu San, can pretend even more!
I'm afraid that Mrs. Ye in front thought that she was virtuous and would definitely be able to accomplish this beautiful thing of "love at first sight", but Gu Huai opened her sleeves and threw out a vicious trick, and then walked away. I don't know what kind of chaos is going on in Ye's house Woolen cloth.

Zhang Tingyu sighed: "If you have the guts to break up with your neighbors casually, the two families will definitely turn against each other later."

Gu Huaishu couldn't bear it, and he couldn't bear this matter either.

She just said: "If people don't offend me, I won't offend others. People are going to bully me. Can I not fight back? Let's see what they have to do next. My life is boring. If they want to fight, then fight." Let's go."

Being arrogant and unreasonable, there are many tricks that should be used, and all the scoundrels that should be dumped should be piled up.

Gu Huaishu was thinking that when his girl made another move next time, he would find a better way to block her back.

"Fighting the sky, the earth, and the people, you will have a lot of fun, just don't hurt yourself."

Zhang Tingyu was alert to her, and advised her not to lose her composure, but finally asked: "The prescription of Acacia, is it really effective?"

Gu Huaishu raised his eyebrows, rolled his eyes, and said with a smile: "This is really what Sun Lianqiao said, what does Second Master want to do?"

"If it really works miraculously, why don't you make a paste for me and teach me to take it? It's better than I miss you all day long, but you are indifferent to me? You have a heart of stone."

In this way, lovesickness can be solved.

He looked at her with a smile, but somehow Gu Huaixiu's skin became thinner, his cheeks flushed, but he laughed and scolded him: "You are very thick-skinned, you won't blush when you say such love words in broad daylight."

Zhang Tingyu said happily, "Your cheeks are already flushed, why should Tingyu blush?"

I knew that this person had a thick skin, but I didn't expect it to be this thick.

Gu Huaishu was too lazy to talk to him, and quickly changed the subject: "I've been here for a few days, and the ancestral house in Longmian Mountain has been cleaned up. You said yesterday that you were going to take a look, but Zheng Bo outside has already asked someone to prepare for it. Nice car."

"Let's go over there this afternoon."

When Zhang Ying was in distress in her early years, she lived in seclusion in Longmian Mountain, and that place was also quiet.

Longmian Mountain is not very high. It is a hilly area in the south of the Yangtze River, surrounded by mountains and water, but it is a place of beautiful scenery.

In the morning Zhang Tingyu talked to Gu Huaishu, and in the afternoon the carriage left the Zhang family's mansion and headed for Longmian Mountain outside the city.

Tongcheng is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and it also produces tea. It is the time of picking tea after the Qingming Festival. Many tea farmers in simple clothes can be seen at the foot of the mountain, busy picking tea on the mountain.

Gu Huaishu opened the curtain, and seeing this scene, he was suddenly taken aback.

She turned to look at Zhang Tingyu, but saw that he was also looking outside.

The two of them thought of driving up the price of tea by coincidence. In order to look more legitimate, they must lower the price of the tea when it was collected from the tea farmers.

Zhang Tingyu only said: "Those who achieve great things don't care about small details."

Gu Huaixiu was silent when he heard the words.

On the way, the mountain road was difficult and the bumps were too high, so I had to come down and walk.

The boys following behind were dragging things in the carriage, so they could only slow down and follow behind.

Tongcheng is not a very prosperous place, especially in the area of ​​Longmian Mountain. Although the tea production is abundant, most of the tea farmers are from poor families.

After all, although Tongcheng produces tea, its reputation and output cannot be compared with other famous tea producing areas.

On the way, I met a tea-picking girl, carrying a small basket on her back, humming a beautiful folk song, Gu Huaishu stopped and listened for a while.

She turned her head to look at Zhang Tingyu, but said, "How about tea from Tongcheng?"

"It is said that 'the tea on Longmian Mountain, the water from Zilai Bridge', the local small orchid tea in Tongcheng is quite famous. Every year after the Qingming Festival, the tea merchants have already come down. This year Qingming has passed, and I heard about tea a while ago. Shang has already arrived in Tongcheng, and the tea farmers will send a respected tea farmer to negotiate the price, and after the negotiation, everyone will sell the tea together. This year, it will be no exception."

Zhang Tingyu said calmly, passing by the side of the mountain road, he met two old men who were walking towards him.

The two were talking about something, looking sad.

"Last year's tea was paid one cent eight, but this year it has already been reduced to one cent three. How are we going to live this day..."

"Looking at the good tea production this year, this incident unexpectedly happened."

"I don't know how to talk about what you said to collect money from the river."

"Wait for the news from the old man, pick off the tea first."

"Right……"

They walked over, looked up at Zhang Tingyu who was walking on foot, and suddenly stopped: "Is it the second son of the Zhang family in Tongcheng?"

When Zhang Ying lived in seclusion in Longmian Mountain's ancestral house in previous years, she had a good relationship with these people, and it was not uncommon for them to know Zhang Tingyu.

Zhang Tingyu stopped to listen to them, and interjected: "I heard that the tea in Songjiang Mansion can be sold for three renminbi per catty, but listening to the old men, it seems that it is less than half of it?"

"The price of the tea outside is from the hands of the tea merchants. We are thankful that the tea from Longmian Mountain can reach the normal price. In previous years, it was [-] cents. This year, it's only [-] cents. After working so hard these days, if the price of tea is this year... Alas!"

One of the old men sighed heavily, while the other shook his head repeatedly.

Both of them looked worried. If the price of tea was at this price, the tea farmers would have no way to make a living.

Zhang Tingyu has already understood what the two said. Tongcheng is not the main tea production area, but he doesn't know what other places are like now.

He said: "When I came back this year, I crossed the Grand Canal all the way. I saw that all the merchant ships had paid for crossing the river. A big ship carrying a thousand taels of silver had to hand over 200 taels of silver all the way. The more money you have, the more you want to do this..."

"It's all the work of those grandsons on the Cao River!"

They also heard about this from the tea merchants, "At any rate, they are all tea merchants who have cooperated with us for many years, so they wouldn't lie to us about such trivial matters, alas...resign to fate..."

While talking, the two old men bid farewell to Zhang Tingyu, saying that they were going to Tongcheng to find out the news.

Zhang Tingyu stood on the mountain path with his hands behind his back and didn't speak for a while.

He looked back at Gu Huaishu, and said: "You once told me that great things can only be achieved with a thick face and a dark heart. At that time, I didn't think so, but now I realize... I am indifferent to all of this?"

In his eyes, the life and death of the tea farmers was insignificant.

Or rather, too light.

Because his vision is so far away that he can see the ups and downs of the court, and these things at the moment can only be regarded as some small things that make up the situation.

Gu Huaishu went up to hold his hand, and the two walked forward holding hands together.

"Even if you don't come up with that strategy, things will be unstoppable sooner or later. Now the tea merchants are taking the initiative to lower the price. After a while, they may have to suppress it. The result is the same, but sooner or later."

The words are nothing but consolation. Zhang Tingyu came up with this idea, so he naturally thought about what will happen now. Now that he saw it, he only went his own way.

The mountain road is still long, and after passing a few bends, when you see the Longmian Water paved in the mountain, you know that the ancestral house is near.

Almost all the tea farmers in Jiangnan were frightened by the tea prices offered by tea merchants this year.

Tea farmers from all over the country started to make a fuss, but tea merchants from all over the place did not let go, insisting that they would pay the money across the river, and if they did not lower the price here, selling tea would not be profitable at all.

West Lake Hangzhou is full of public dissatisfaction. If you don't sell the new tea picked this year, it will be worthless if you keep it at home.

There has been no accident in harvesting tea every year, so there are so many moths this year.

Someone gritted his teeth, sold a batch of low-priced new tea, and traveled all the way north through the waterway. From south to north, the price of tea rose all the way.

Originally, the tea that was originally sold for three renminbi a catty arrived in the capital, but was sold at a high price of two taels of silver, which frightened countless tea drinkers in the capital.

The change in the price of tea spread to rice cloth and other things along the way, and along the two sides of the Grand Canal, chaos broke out within a few days.

Tongcheng is some distance away from the Grand Canal, and is not on the edge of the Yangtze River, so it was affected very late, so that Zhang Tingyu only heard about the tea merchants coming to collect tea.

Originally the matter was so serious that the tea merchants should suppress the matter anyway. How did they know that the tea merchants from all over the place not only did not increase the price for the tea farmers, but also continued to lower the price, saying that the cross-river money for north-south transportation had increased again.

Tea, this is a trivial matter, if you don't drink tea for a day, you won't die, right?It is mostly related to the life and death of tea farmers and tea merchants.

But rice is different, Shen Tie's calculations are extremely powerful, once he was persuaded by Liao Fengyuan, he immediately contacted the leaders of the rice line cloth shop and other businesses.Merchants from all over the river have been suffering from the money for crossing the river for a long time, especially this year, they can't bear it anymore.

There was a Shen Yang who came out to take the lead, although he was only from the Buxing side of the tea shop, but he had a good reputation, and everyone followed suit.

Regardless of whether you are a big business or a small business, you are all tossing around right now.

The tea farmers below are making trouble, the silk farmers are making trouble, even the serious farmers are also making trouble!
Not to mention the merchants in the middle, who repeatedly stood up to argue with the government.

It hasn't been two days since Zhang Tingyu went back after sweeping, and the news outside has exploded.

Chaos has already broken out in the Jiangning mansion, and a group of people who don't know where they came from suddenly smashed the rice shop and the cloth shop, almost killed several tea merchants, and finally even surrounded the yamen on both sides of the Caohe River. Seeing the huge momentum, they didn't dare to stop them, and even half of the yamen gate was smashed to pieces.

There was such a mess during his tenure, the magistrate originally wanted to suppress it, but he couldn't suppress it anyway, and I don't know who suddenly brought up this matter, and the matter suddenly became a big issue.

The Changchun Garden in the capital city is still quiet.

Before going in today, Zhang Tingzan whispered something to Zhang Ying. When Zhang Ying heard it, he was really surprised.

He gestured to Zhang Tingzan, telling Zhang Tingzan to back down first, then he took two steps forward and caught up with Li Guangdi in front.

Although these two Hanchens often have political disagreements, they both serve the country and the people and have a common language.

Zhang Ying went up and told Li Guang about it, and Li Guang frowned: "It really happened?"

"It's absolutely true." Zhang Ying was very serious. He had received news about this matter a long time ago, and he had been thinking that it would happen sooner or later, but he never expected that it would happen immediately this year. This is too strange a coincidence. up.

But this matter is quite serious, and there is no doubt about it.

After the two talked about things, they immediately went to Qingxi Bookstore.

The emperor is still listening to the government here today, calling all the ministers to go in for questioning.

Suo'etu, Nalan Mingzhu and other important ministers had already arrived, and Zhang Ying and Li Guangdi automatically took their places when they came up.

Lord Kangxi had just approved a paper, and when he saw everyone coming, he said, "Today is not busy with political affairs, and there is nothing wrong with the rest of the world. After a while, we, the ruler and ministers, will have fun together and go have tea."

Zhang Ying and Li Guangdi looked at each other, but said nothing.

Lord Kangxi got up by himself, threw down the booklet, asked San Dezi to take it with him, and went to Guanlan Pavilion together, and asked the maids to serve tea.

Everyone thanked Emperor Long En, and then sat down.

Zhang Ying was holding a bowl of tea, Li Guangdi was also holding a bowl of tea, and Suo'etu who was opposite was still holding a bowl of tea.

Li Guangdi flirted with Zhang Ying, but Zhang Ying pretended not to see it. Li Guangdi was in a hurry this time. The old boy couldn't sit still, so he coughed softly, wanting to ask Zhang Ying when he would talk about it.

That old god Zhang Ying was there, so he ignored Li Guangdi at all.

This time, the person who was tricked became Li Guangdi.

When Kangxi rolled his eyes, he saw Li Guangdi: "Li Guangdi..."

Li Guangdi's neck broke out in a cold sweat, and he suddenly remembered the scene when he was caught watching the Western clock frequently. He quickly put the tea bowl away, stood up and replied, "My minister is here."

"What are you doing watching Zhang Ying all the time today? What are you two talking about, keeping it from me?" Kangxi laughed.

Zhang Ying also got up quickly and said, "I don't dare."

Now is an excellent opportunity, Li Guangdi is not completely confused, he just deliberately hesitated: "Long live, you don't know, when I came, I told Mr. Zhang that we must ask for a bowl of tea today, or Let Long Live Lord give you a few taels of tea back home..."

"You still dare to ask me for something?"

Kangxi was surprised, "You two ministers have been idle all day long, just thinking about how to ask me for tea?"

Zhang Yingdao: "Long Live Lord, you can't say that. The ministers and others have no tea to entertain guests at home. They are already stretched and poor."

Several Manchu officials didn't understand the meaning of these words, even Suo'etu, who was part of the prince's party, didn't care at all, and only sarcastically said: "Han Chen is Han Chen, looking poor. Our Long Live Lord gave you salary , you are still rushing to ask for this and that, you really know people and face but don't know your heart!"

Li Guangdi was not happy, and crossed his hands in front of his body, he said in a strange way: "Master Suo is not worried about running out of tea at home, how do you know the suffering of Master Zhang and me? The price of tea outside has skyrocketed, and my monthly salary You may not even be able to afford ten catties of new tea, alas... life is hard..."

Kangxi was still cheerful when he heard it before, but now he immediately recalled it.

His expression darkened for a moment, he glanced at Suo'etu, then at Zhang Ying and Li Guangdi standing there.

Everyone sitting here now knows that things are going to go bad.

Some things are fine when you don't talk about them, but when you talk about them, big things happen.

Just now in Qingxi Bookstore, the emperor happily said that "there is nothing wrong in the world", but Li Guangdi told Zhang Ying that the two of them couldn't afford tea anymore, and it was also true that they came to the emperor crying poorly. ability.

How dare you say that the world is all right?
The officials below have always liked to advocate peace in the world, but this time they overblown the cowhide and poked a big basket.

The things from the south of the whole capital are ridiculously expensive, and there is a lot of noise.

Suo'etu originally thought that this matter had nothing to do with him, but when he went out to discuss the matter, he met the prince who came from the east road.

The emperor lived in Changchun Garden, and the prince followed. Suo'etu was the prince's biological mother, the uncle of Empress Xiaochengren, Suo'etu himself, who had always been the prince's backing in the court.Now that the prince heard that the eunuch next to Kangxi came over and said what he had overheard, he almost lost his soul in fright.

When he came, he stopped in front of Suo'etu: "Master Suo, what should we do?"

Suo'etu was at a loss: "What should I do?"

Yinfeng was in a hurry, pulled Suo'etu aside and whispered, Suo'etu's eyes widened: "Confused! Prince, you are confused!"

Yinfeng said: "Where did I expect such a trouble to happen? I don't know that the people below would dare to be so ruthless. It turns out that Wang Xinming failed to keep the position of governor of Hedao, Xin? This Jin Fu who came up is not one of us, but He has a stubborn temper. I originally urged the people below to punish him, and wanted to blame him for these things. When the businessmen passing by below make trouble, Jin Fu will definitely not be able to keep him? Dai Hualing. How could I have thought that these greedy people How could merchants make such a big deal?"

Originally, he wanted to frame Jin Fu, but this man was a thorn in the side, he didn't obey orders, and he didn't form a party for personal gain, so the prince hated him very much.

The south of the Yangtze River is also a place rich in oil and water, how can there be no prince's own manpower here?
Therefore, Jin Fu became a thorn in the prince's eyes, and he had to be pulled out to be at ease.

The people below came up with a clever plan, behind Jin Fu's back, ordered the people below to collect the money from the river, how to make money or how to make money, but Jin Fu was emptied, and if he wanted to control the river, let him do it himself, and others just cared. Fishing for money on the Grand Canal.

In the provinces along the way, who doesn't throw away their arms to make money?

As a result, it's unlucky now, Zhang Ying and Li Guangdi, these two villains, have made such a big mess!

If the matter is so serious, it may not be possible to overthrow Jin Fu as the prince wished.

It was still Suo'etu who was so hot. He understood the cause of the matter, so he stretched out his hand and said calmly: "The prince just wanted to get rid of Jin Fu. This matter has nothing to do with you, the prince. You, You just need to speak to the emperor and please the emperor. This matter, anyway, was done by Jin Fu, and the people below are greedy for ink and randomly collect money from across the river. It has nothing to do with you. You are the high-ranking prince of the capital, how could you have a relationship with those petty officials? Involved in the relationship? If there is, they did it themselves, or Jin Fu ordered it."

Suo'etu's strategy is only one, and he must find a scapegoat.

Although things are getting big now, they are not out of control.

As long as he grasps it properly, he can still put everything back on Jin Fu's body, and his mouth can make money.

His composure also made the prince calm down.

The two talked for a while before saying goodbye.

Prince Yinreng breathed a sigh of relief, then walked back, and met Yinzhen who came out of Guande on the way.

Yinzhen came up to say hello, and seeing the happy expression on the prince's face, he asked what the happy event was.

Yinfeng sneered, and said, "Do you still remember the way you said how to force Jin Fu to death? Now, although things are getting serious, Jin Fu can only die."

Jin Fu, governor of the river, after Wang Xinming corrupted Mo Heyin?The able minister who went up to control the river now seems to have only a dead end.

Yinzhen had nothing to say, but went back to Guande with the prince and sat down to talk.

As soon as the higher-ups began to check, the news spread quickly, and the entire canal suddenly calmed down.

Business and travel exchanges have never been smoother.

When Liao Fengyuan saw it, he could only sigh: "I knew this before, so why bother?"

He handed the envelope in his hand to the people below, and asked people to send it all the way to Tongcheng, Anhui, and then he was going to see Wu Sidao who was teaching in the private school next door.

It was five days after Zhang Tingyu received the letter.

Gu Huaishu stood at the door, looked at the courtyard wall outside, and folded his hands with great interest.

"It's done." Zhang Tingyu laughed. He had two letters in his hand, one from the capital, which was sent back by Zhang Tingzan, and one from Jiangning, which was sent by Liao Fengyuan.

The content of the letter is similar.

It's just that Zhang Tingzan seems to suspect that this matter has something to do with Zhang Tingyu in his words. After all, the timing of the incident is too coincidental.

But Zhang Tingyu didn't intend to reply to the letter, he habitually burned the letter, and only asked Gu Huaishu: "Liao Fengyuan invited us to Jiangning, do you want to go?"

Gu Huaishu was still looking at the courtyard wall, and turned around when he heard the words: "Go to Jiangning? I'm afraid you forgot, Jiangning is still investigating the case. Your matter is completed, but the matter on the other side of the river is still being investigated. , It’s very messy, and it will take several months to check if you don’t know, so let’s stay here.”

This is true, if Zhang Tingyu goes to Tongcheng now, it will be troublesome.

He said: "This time, it is likely that the crown prince wants to entrap Jin Fu, the direct minister. Suo'etu is very powerful in the court. It is still unknown who can win the battle between the two parties. If you want to travel around the south of the Yangtze River, I'm afraid We have to wait until this is over.”

Gu Huaixiu came over, brought tea to drink, and said: "The next door has a backbone."

Just now I saw that someone went up and built the wall three feet higher.

From the looks of it, the Ye family felt that Gu Huaixiu had humiliated their family by coming to their house, and even Ye Chaocheng didn't continue to walk this way.

Last night, I don't know what kind of madness, Ye Yuanwai directly called someone to build up the wall, to show that the two families will never communicate with each other.

Now everyone in Tongcheng is talking about this matter, and it is really rare for the two families to turn their faces to such an extent.

Zhang Tingyu said: "What are you fussing about with them? Petty..."

The voice fell silent, and suddenly there was a loud shout from outside: "The girl threw herself into a bag and hanged herself! Come on, someone—"

Gu Huaishu finally couldn't bear it anymore, and threw the gold-painted blue flower tea bowl in his hand to the ground, "Hang yourself, how many times have you hanged yourself in the past few days?! Can't you come up with some innovative ways to die?!"

Before Zhang Tingyu had time to stop him, he saw Gu Huaixiu walking out stepping on the broken porcelain all over the floor.

She stopped in the courtyard and called Ade directly next to him: "Take a pole and poke the craftsman who built the wall for me! It's annoying to watch it all day long! How long did it take us to build the wall? It’s been almost two days. This world is really ugly and mischievous, and I really think I have face for you!"

Ade was completely stunned and didn't understand.

Gu Huaishu turned around and reprimanded him: "Didn't you understand what I said, grandma? Tell him to poke you down with that pole!"

The craftsman squatting on the wall was so frightened that before he had time to get down, Ade had already brought a long bamboo pole and poked him hard. The craftsman kept jumping on the wall like a tightrope walker.

"Hey hey hey - I have something to say, I have something to say, I also use other people's money to do things for others, Mrs. Zhang Er, please forgive me, please forgive me! Ouch, Ouch! Ah!!!"

After saying a long list of good things, Ade finally poked his butt mercilessly, turned over and fell into the next wall.

There was a sudden chaos over there, and everything in the mansion was rushed together.

"The Zhang family, what are you doing there! You are too bullying!" The voice was Mrs. Ye.

Gu Huaishu clapped his hands, and finally let out a breath of anger. Looking at the pitted wall, he sneered: "Didn't your girl commit suicide by throwing herself? Why haven't you seen her being arrested by black and white impermanence? You My daughter has just hanged herself, what are you arguing with me! Hurry up and see your daughter! After a while, people will get tired of this method of committing suicide, and if they want to die by swallowing gold, they will be hard to guard against!"

If you really want to die, hundreds of ways are dead!

Gu Huaixiu has never seen such a cheeky person who insists on being a concubine.

I'm afraid that what I can't get is the best, who is not good to fall in love with her man?
Yo, I'm so sorry, Zhang Tingyu is an unlucky person, and he will never take a concubine in his life!
Want to marry?

Pooh!
Even if you are really dead, the corpse cannot be brought into the Zhang residence!
Two words: Dreaming!

(End of this chapter)