Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 22 Head of the Attendant's Office

When Xu Jing shouted out the auction price of thirty thousand taels, everyone in the Royal Expo looked at him in shock.

How rich does one have to be to spend thirty thousand taels of silver in one go to buy a glass night pearl?

The entire Royal Fair became very quiet, and the bustling Chessboard Street suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao stood up. He really wanted to see which rich man was so stupid as to spend 30,000 taels to buy a glass luminous pearl that cost less than one tael at his Royal Industrial Company.

Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao had the same idea, but he still looked at Xu Jing with a hint of appreciation. After all, the fat Confucian scholar in front of him who shouted out a high price of 30,000 taels was equivalent to the God of Wealth giving him 600 taels of silver!

"Which young man is so bold as to steal my business? I admire him!"

Gu Dayong also asked loudly with a smile. He was naturally happy. After all, he also had shares in the Royal Industrial Company. He even hoped that there would be more such suckers.

The other people looked at Xu Jing with suspicion.

Some people also think that he is very wealthy and can afford to pay a high price of 30,000 taels to buy the glass night pearl.

But some people think that Xu Jing is smart. He knows that this thing is valuable, so he buys it at a high price and then makes money. Some people even envy Xu Jing.

This even caused some wealthy businessmen among the people to regret their decision and wonder whether they should have bargained for a higher price to get the treasure.

But because thirty thousand taels was too high, few people dared to do it like Xu Jing.

Wei Bin, the personal eunuch of the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao, personally welcomed Xu Jing and asked with a smile, "May I ask your name, my friend?"

"Nanzhili Juren Xu Jing greets this eunuch." Xu Jing smiled and returned the greeting, and hurriedly took out the banknotes: "This is a bill of exchange from Taichang, one for 20,000 and one for 10,000. Please check it, eunuch."

Xu Jing saw that the Emperor and several eunuchs were looking at him with curiosity, as if they were looking at the girls in Mingyue Tower, so Xu Jing felt a chill on his back and hurriedly took out the silver bills.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Now that you are on the stage, you have to pay your respects to His Majesty! Right, Mr. Xu?"

As Wei Bin spoke, he grabbed Xu Jing's hand and walked towards Zhu Houzhao. Xu Jing quickly pulled his hand back and smiled awkwardly, "I am just a juren, and I don't deserve such courtesy from you, eunuch."

As he said this, Xu Jing kowtowed and paid his respects to Zhu Houzhao.

"Stand up. So your name is Xu Jing. Do you know Tang Bohu?"

Zhu Houzhao remembered that during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty there was a man named Xu Jing who was involved in the imperial examination fraud case together with Tang Bohu. He also knew that Xu Jing came from a wealthy family, so he couldn't help but ask one more question.

Xu Jing was indeed the person Zhu Houzhao had guessed. He was a good friend of Tang Bohu, and now they could even be considered close friends who had shared weal and woe.

Therefore, when he heard the Emperor mention his good friend, Xu Jing did not hide anything: "Your Majesty, I know Tang Bohu, and now he is my sworn brother."

"Then write to him and tell him to come to the capital. I want to use him. I heard that he is good at painting, especially at painting erotic pictures. I am very interested in him."

Zhu Houzhao then said, "You don't have to leave in a hurry. Are you interested in being the head of the attendant room beside me and holding the title of Imperial Academy reviewer?"

Zhu Houzhao had always wanted to recruit some court writers, especially down-and-out writers like Xu Jing and Tang Bohu who had experienced setbacks and were dissatisfied with the powerful. This was because they had sharp pens and were certainly full of a sense of struggle. In the future in the public opinion circle, he would inevitably have to engage in verbal battles with civil servants, so he had to train a few "war generals" who were good at writing in advance.

Although Xu Jing did not know what the official position of the Director of the Imperial Secretariat was, he knew that the Reviewer of the Hanlin Academy was an official position that could only be obtained after the top three Jinshi were selected as Shujishi and stayed in the academy.

This meant that as long as he agreed, he could instantly change his fate of being able to serve as an official (he was sentenced to be a minor official due to a cheating case in the imperial examination in the 12th year of the Hongzhi reign).

So Xu Jing bowed deeply again: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your appreciation!" "You should call yourself a minister. Tell your sworn brother to come to the capital to see me as soon as possible. Otherwise, you can no longer be the head of the attendant room, but only an attendant!"

Zhu Houzhao asked Xu Jing to leave and then ordered Liu Jin to continue to preside over the auction of luxury goods at the Royal Expo.

Xu Jing had already received the receipt from Wei Bin, and then personally directed his servants to carry back the glass luminous pearl that was bought with 30,000 taels of silver.

Xu Jing did not think that he was stupid for doing so, because his original intention was actually to use this opportunity to build a relationship with the emperor. However, he did not expect the emperor to be so generous and indeed rewarded him with a position as a reviewer in the Hanlin Academy. Thinking of this, Xu Jing felt that it was worth it even if he spent another 30,000 taels.

So Xu Jing hurriedly ordered his servant, "Go to the store and get a bill of exchange for 100,000! I need to buy more, sir!"

Here, Liu Jin has ordered people to carry out the second luxury item produced by the Royal Industrial Company - the Crystal Lotus-Sitting Guanyin.

The so-called crystal sitting lotus Guanyin is actually also made of glass, but the production cost of the crystal sitting lotus Guanyin is a bit higher, almost two taels of silver. This is mainly because it requires the sculptor to quickly carve out the crystal sitting lotus Guanyin with a knife before the glass liquid is completely solidified into glass.

Because once the glass solidifies, even partially solidified, it will cause the production of Crystal Lotus Guanyin with this piece of glass to fail. Once the glass solidifies, it will be very hard. Although ordinary glass is brittle, it has high hardness. After all, the main component is silicon dioxide, and generally requires diamond cutting to cut.

Therefore, the carving needs to be completed before the glass liquid solidifies. Therefore, the production of this crystal sitting lotus Guanyin consumes a lot of glass, so it is worth two taels of silver.

Zhu Houzhao originally set the starting price at 10,000 taels, but because the glass night pearl was successfully auctioned at a high price of 30,000 taels, he asked Liu Jin to change it to 15,000 taels.

Here, Liu Jin pointed at the crystal lotus-sitting Guanyin held by two eunuchs and said, "This is the royal collection version of the Tang Dynasty crystal lotus-sitting Guanyin. It has been consecrated by Master Xuanzang. You see, this luster is the Buddha's light. The owner will be free from disease and disaster, have many children and be blessed!"

What ordinary people pursue is nothing more than being healthy, free from disasters, having many children and being blessed with good fortune. Therefore, as soon as the crystal Guanyin sitting on a lotus started to be auctioned, it was fought over by the people in the audience.

"Seventeen thousand taels!"

"Eighteen thousand taels!"

"Twenty thousand taels!"

Finally, with Gu Dayong's speculation, the price directly rose to 28,000 taels!
At this time, Xu Jing shouted again: "Thirty thousand taels!"

Gu Dayong decided to raise the price again: "35,000 taels!"

"Forty thousand taels!" Xu Jing raised the price again.

"Forty-five thousand taels!" At this time, a monk also shouted. It can be seen that this kind of Guanyin statue is also very attractive to monks.

"Forty-six thousand taels!"

"Forty-seven thousand taels!"

"Fifty thousand taels!"

There were still many people scrambling to buy it, which was enough to show that there were still many devout believers in the Ming Dynasty. They scrambled for it because of their worship of Guanyin, or perhaps because they regretted not having bought the glass night-shining pearl. After all, they saw with their own eyes that Xu Jing was promoted to an official position after buying the glass night-shining pearl, which could be said to be a successful career. This meant that if one got the royal crystal Guanyin sitting on a lotus, one would be free from illness, have many children, and be blessed with many fortunes.

"Go away, my old lady wants to offer 60,000 taels!"

At this time, a sedan stopped in the middle, and someone began to exclaim: "Isn't this the old lady of the Prime Minister's family?"

(End of this chapter)