The king behind the empress

Chapter 140 Shen Qisheng

After the two sat down, while Shen Qisheng was making tea, Xue Wanche noticed that Shen Qisheng was wearing a Confucian robe, so he asked curiously, "Boss Shen is still a scholar?"

"Well, that's right."

Shen Qisheng was concentrating on pouring water, but he just made a fuss, and after filling the teapot with water, he smiled at Xue Wanche and said, "Shen is not talented, he was Jie Yuan in the third year of Tianyuan, it's a pity that he doesn't know much. Shen, after being admitted to Juren, he failed several times in the general examinations, so he had to give up his official career and go home to inherit the family business."

"It's just that Shen is a scholar after all, and he can't let go of his identity as a literati. In addition, it is very convenient to do many things with the identity of a scholar, so this Confucian robe has become Shen's standard equipment."

Speaking of this, Shen Qisheng laughed at himself and said: "However, for a person like me who smells like copper, wearing this Confucian robe also feels nondescript, but it makes me often feel ashamed of my master's teachings."

"Boss Shen is too self-effacing. You can run such a big business as Qisheng Bank, but who has the right to say that you stink of money?"

Xue Wanche first comforted Shen Qisheng, and then he couldn't help but feel a twitch when he thought of the third year of Tianyuan. Tianyuan was the reign name of the old emperor, and it has been more than 20 years since now.

Looking at Shen Qisheng's age, he was at most in his early 40s, that is to say, he had already been admitted to Juren when he was a teenager.

The most important thing is that it is a very special year for the third year of Tianyuan, and the reason why it is special is because of the imperial examination in that year.

The old emperor, that is, Mo Zizai's grandfather, when he was in power, he was regarded as a model of a benevolent monarch, with light corvee and light taxes. All lightly.

If he is not the emperor, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a good old man.

But just such a good old man was completely angered in the third year of Tianyuan. He chopped off two of the six ministers, and the rest of the officials even withdrew.

The fundamental reason is that there were major frauds in the imperial examinations that year, and almost all of the more than 600 candidates admitted were from aristocratic families.

Common people, merchants, and even those from poor families could hardly obtain fame in that year, but Shen Qisheng was able to get No. 1 in the provincial examination as a merchant in that year, which shows his gold content.

As for the reason why he failed to be admitted to Jinshi later, Xue Wanche knew it well. He was implicated by the fraud case that year, because all the people who were admitted to Juren were from aristocratic families, and the emperor could not offend all of them, so he did not directly They canceled their identities as Juren, but they were directly blacklisted in secret.

Are you not cheating?All right, I’ll give you a job, but if you want to take the Jinshi exam, there’s no one for you. As long as it’s a job in that class, no matter how good the essay is, none of the examiners will dare to admit it.

If you dare to admit, the old emperor dares to kill you, and by the way, he will directly punish the whole family for the crime of fraud.

So Shen Qisheng failed repeatedly, it was really normal.

"Boss Shen is really...too unlucky."

Xue Wanche, who wanted to understand the cause and effect, looked at Shen Qisheng sympathetically, and then asked in a strange way: "But, Boss Shen, after the first emperor succeeded to the throne, why didn't you try to obtain fame again?"

After so many years, Shen Qisheng is naturally very clear about the reason why he failed the ranking back then. For Xue Wanche's sympathy, he just smiled and didn't say anything.

After hearing Xue Wanche's question, he said flatly: "I'm getting older, and I don't have the drive I had back then."

"What's more, after so many years, I don't think there's anything wrong with being a businessman."

Xue Wanche squinted his eyes slightly to look at Shen Qisheng, and told him intuitively that Shen Qisheng must have not told the truth, but the two of them had no friendship, and since everyone said so, it would be obviously inappropriate for him to ask further.

So he picked up the teacup and took a sip. After a while, his eyes lit up slightly, and he said in admiration, "Good tea!"

"Shen has no other hobbies, but loves tea, so when an old friend came from Meizhou, he brought Shen some Meizhou Que Tong tea."

Shen Qisheng laughed, and said: "It's rare that Master Xue also likes it. When Master Xue leaves, Mr. Shen will pack half a catty for Master Xue."

"Add the stove to cook the sparrow's tongue, and sprinkle water to clean the dragon's beard."

After Xue Wanche took another sip of tea, he sighed sincerely: "As expected of a sparrow tongue, the aroma is really strong."

"However, it's fine to take it away. With this little salary of the old man, it's really not a blessing to enjoy this kind of precious tea."

"Master Xue is so virtuous, Shen admires him."

Shen Qisheng silently observed Xue Wanche, and found that he was not pretending to evade, so he stopped insisting, but changed his words and said: "Since this is the case, Shen can't force himself to be strong."

"However, if your lord is fine, you must come to my Qisheng Bank more often. If you drink such a treasure alone, it would be too boring."

Shen Qisheng's words were quite sincere, as if he really lacked a friend who would sit and drink tea, which made Xue Wanche, who was planning to refuse, hesitant for a moment, and then thinking of the rich aroma of Que tongue tea, he couldn't help but subconsciously nodded, " If this is the case, it may be inevitable to bother Boss Shen a lot in the future."

"Sitting and tasting tea is a happy thing in life, why bother to talk about it."

Shen Qisheng raised his teacup to Xue Wanche and said, "Master Xue, please."

"it is good!"

Xue Wanche raised his teacup, slowly drank the remaining tea, and at the same time secretly thought in his heart, if there is a chance in the future, it would not be a bad thing to come here more.

However, the premise of all this is that Shen Qisheng can escape this catastrophe, otherwise, let alone come to drink tea, it's hard to say whether he can still see the whole Shen Qisheng.

Xue Wanche put down the teacup, and while Shen Qisheng was pouring the tea, he said: "To tell the truth, Boss Shen, this old man is here on official business."

Shen Qisheng poured the teacups of the two of them to [-]% full, then put down the teapot, and said very simply: "Master Xue, please tell me, as long as Shen can do it, I will never refuse."

Seeing Shen Qisheng's straightforward attitude, Xue Wanche didn't feel the slightest waver in his heart. Someone said this to him before, but after he asked for money for a while, he took out a total of 100 taels, and it was all loose money. Even Xue Wanche There was no stool under his buttocks before, and Xue Wanche was so angry that he almost hit him on the spot.

So this time, Xue Wanche didn't expect much in his heart for a long time, and directly said that His Majesty was short of money and wanted them to collect donations from businessmen.

"The treasury is short of money..."

After hearing Xue Wanche finished speaking, Shen Qisheng frowned, held his teacup in thought for a long time without speaking, the atmosphere in the quiet room became silent all of a sudden.

(End of this chapter)