Song Mingyue

Chapter 204
In a flower hall shaded by pomegranate flowers, the sound of the piano is melodious and melodious.There was a gentle fragrance from all around, and a few pretty maidservants walked by lightly, their body hairpins collided with each other, making a sound like wind chimes.

In the west of Beijing, where hunger is everywhere and thousands of miles away, this place is so elegant and clean that it is not like the world.An old man in his sixties, wearing a thin shirt, was leaning on the bed, with two maidservants behind him shaking cattail fans, making the originally shady hall feel more cool.There were fresh lychees on display on the desk, and the old man picked one up and put it in his mouth, but his pair of cloudy triangular eyes looked at the beautiful figure behind the piano desk who was stroking the strings without blinking.

The woman playing the qin, her hair was loosely tied with blue hair, hanging down her shoulders, her light could be seen, and the waves of light flowing in her beautiful eyes made her look very charming.

This woman is none other than Miss Wuyue, the oiran of the Emerald Building, and the most famous and expensive brothel girl in Luoyang City, she must be invited out by Baiguan.

The old man is the No. [-] grain merchant on Northwest Beijing Road, the No. [-] richest merchant in Henan Mansion, the in-law of her husband, Cai Jing, and the current head of the Cheng Mansion, Cheng Jie.

"Report to the old officials, the imperial envoy asks you to see me."

Although Cheng Jie was sixty-four, but in some respects his sword was not old, he was staring at the Wuyue girl in a daze, and suddenly heard the housekeeper's call, and the lychee in his hand fell on the table without paying attention.

However, he came here in a storm, and he regained his composure in an instant, and asked in a cold voice, "Old, or young?"

There are two imperial envoys, Zhao Hao is the main one, and Xu Churen is the deputy, so they can be regarded as imperial envoys.

"It's the little imperial envoy."

Cheng Jie was startled, but said calmly, "This little imperial envoy is not particular..."

The housekeeper asked hesitantly: "The old official means you don't see him?"

Cheng Jie said with displeasure on his face, "You have no wink... If other people come, you may not see him. This little imperial envoy is a member of the imperial family, so you must see him. As a distinguished guest, please enter the main hall."

Seeing the housekeeper turned and left, Cheng Jie waved his hand again and said, "Let's all leave."

When there were only a few confidant domestic servants left in the hall, Cheng Jie's expression became serious, and he murmured: "This little imperial envoy is willing to condescend to come to visit, either he is extremely difficult, or he is ignorant of the world... ...Du Gong asked the old man to beware of this person, it seems that the former is more likely."

……

Although Cheng's mansion is not as large as Du Gongcai's mansion, it is full of flowers, trees, stones, clear water pavilions, everything that one expects to find, just like embroidery, the structure is exquisite and beautiful.

Following the steward's guidance, Zhao Hao, surrounded by Fang Baihua, Liang Hongyu, and a group of Jinyiwei, walked through several pavilions, waterside pavilions, rockery, and emerald greenery, and came to the living room of Cheng's mansion.

Before reaching the entrance of the hall, an old man with rich clothes came out of the hall to greet him, and he said with a smile on his face: "I don't know if the imperial envoy is here, so I am far away to welcome you. Capital crime, capital crime!"

Zhao Hao gave the old man a cold look, as if he saw a mature old fox. Although he was smiling all over his face, it was the kind of fake smile, full of philistine hypocrisy, with a bit of Contemptuously, he frowned slightly: "You're welcome, old man."

Under Cheng Jie's warm welcome, he followed him to the entrance of the living room. There was still a distance of two or three feet from the hall door. The four hall doors in the middle that were closed were silently and slowly opened, and a cool air rushed towards him. Zhao Hao felt refreshed all over his body, especially after walking under the scorching sun.

Zhao Hao was also polite, and stepped into the hall first.I saw that the hall was very grand and spacious. When I looked up, I saw a large plaque with a green background, with four gold-plated characters "Zihua Fugui" written on it, followed by a line of small characters: "Zhenghe six years, the book is a gift to my in-laws Cheng Gongjie." The strokes of the characters are like broken gold and cut jade, and the skinny gold body of Zhao Ji is almost like Zhao Ji. The signature is Cai Jing, the husband of the dynasty.

Under the plaque is a large red sandalwood carving case, and on the ground floor are two rows of sixteen nanmu chairs, with a valuable cashmere carpet in the middle.As for the decorations, they are all inexplicably precious.Large blocks of ice were placed in the four corners of the room, making the originally shady hall even cooler. This feeling may be comparable to the air-conditioned rooms of later generations.

The two sat down on the grand teacher's chair in the middle of the living room, one on the left and one on the right, and two graceful maidservants came forward to serve tea.He backed away without a sound.

Cheng Jie smiled slightly and said, "Longjing daughter red before the Ming Dynasty, a court tribute, and a treasure of grass-roots people, please use it slowly."

The tea leaves are flat, smooth and straight, bright green in color, fresh and tender in aroma, fresh and mellow in taste, and the bottom of the leaves are tender and flowery.The Longjing tea picked before the Ching Ming Festival is called Mingqian Longjing tea for short, also known as Nurhong. It is the best of the West Lake Longjing tea.

Although Cheng Jie was smiling all over his face, his tone was obviously flamboyant.

Zhao Hao smiled indifferently, took a sip, and said, "Good tea, really good tea. This Marquis has been away from Jiangning's hometown for nearly a year, and I haven't drunk Mingqian Longjing for a long time."

Cheng Jie was stunned, and suddenly remembered that this man's house was a wealthy businessman from the south of the Yangtze River, and he was the only son. Although the dragon well was extremely precious in the Ming Dynasty, it was nothing in Zhao's house.

Embarrassed, he hurriedly picked up another iced lychee, and was about to say something, but saw Zhao Hao also picked up a lychee, and said with a smile: "A concubine riding a red dust laughs, no one knows it's a lychee, it really is a lychee The best of the best."

Cheng Jie choked on half of his words, and his face suddenly changed. At this moment, he suddenly realized that showing off his wealth in front of this guy is really not a good thing. The wealth and strength of Jiangning Zhao's House is probably even worse than that of Cheng's House.

However, the embarrassment was only fleeting. Cheng Jie lifted the lid of the teacup, took a sip, and said in a calm and unhurried manner: "Master Imperial Envoy really has good eyesight. This lychee was transported from Qiongzhou on a fast horse. Come, I will use ice cubes to keep them cold on the way, and change them every half a day, which will cost a lot of money. Except for the imperial envoy, only my in-laws, Mrs. Cai, and my brother-in-law, Dazai Yugong, are willing to use them for entertaining, haha..."

Zhao Hao was noncommittal, just smiled slightly, and gave a faint "Oh."

Cheng Jie glanced at Zhao Hao out of the corner of his eye, and said in another cadenced voice: "My Cheng family can be regarded as a descendant of a famous family, one of the 24 heroes of the former Lingyan Pavilion, Cheng Gong and Cheng Zhijie are the ancestors, and it has been passed down to Caomin. .12 generations. The ancestors did not dare to insult the ancestors' family style, and they have been good for generations, and they have told their children to study hard. Now they have three sons, except for the eldest son Yugan who is a grassroots businessman. The other two sons have won Jinshi. The second son now knows Taiyuan , the third son entered Yushitai, which is considered to have not insulted the ancestors. There is only one daughter under Caomin's knees, and the third son who married her husband became an in-law. Therefore, the officials of the court also looked at the old man highly, he was regarded as His Royal Highness King Jia, and treated the grass people with extra courtesy. The King of Jinkang and the grass people are even close friends, and every time they come to Beijing, they are invited to play in the mansion for a few minutes I was willing to let him go... The imperial envoy is also a son of the clan, and it is really radiant to visit the humble house today."

Zhao Hao's eyes flickered, and he listened carefully to this bragging, suddenly his expression changed, and he said with a smile: "The old gentleman is indeed destined to be related to my clan, and I am dissatisfied with the old gentleman saying that this time, the Marquis has nothing to do but go to the Three Treasures Hall. It is the old gentleman who has something to ask for."

Cheng Jie was taken aback for a moment, and then he laughed and said, "Master Imperial Envoy was originally a son of the clan, a nobleman, and before he was a weak crown, he was already a third-rank official, and he was named a marquis. He was rich in Jiangnan and born even more He is an outstanding talent, as elegant as jade, and now he is even more expensive as an imperial envoy, patrolling hunting on behalf of the sky, just to get rich, to be expensive, to have power, to gain power, I don’t know what the grassroots can help... But the imperial envoy Don't worry, my lord, but if your lord gives an order, the grass people will go through fire and water, and they will do whatever they want!"

Zhao Hao said with a smile: "Going through fire and water can't be said. To the old man, it's just a trivial matter... This Marquis wants to buy food for disaster relief. The old man is the number one grain merchant in the west of Beijing, so I ask for it."

Cheng Jie's face darkened, his eyeballs rolled rapidly, he thought for a while, and laughed loudly: "The imperial envoy wants food, why buy it, and besides, the disaster relief is a big deal, although the grassroots are not as rich as Zun's mansion, I will give you three to five thousand shi It is also willing, it can be regarded as supporting the imperial envoy's charitable act of disaster relief."

Damn old fox!
Zhao Hao cursed secretly, his face remained calm, and he said with a smile: "The old man is really straightforward, but three to five thousand shi is just a drop in the bucket for millions of disaster victims. I want to buy 100 million shi!"

Cheng Jie's complexion changed, and he immediately looked bitter, and said with a smile: "The imperial envoy is just entertaining me. Now that there is a shortage of food everywhere, how can the grassroots get 100 million shi? It's empty, and I can't make up 100 million stones."

Zhao Hao's expression became serious, his face became gloomy, and he said coldly: "Mr. Cheng is the number one grain merchant in the west of Beijing, he is also the in-law of my husband, and the brother-in-law of Dazai Yu. The 100 million shi must be collected no matter what!"

Seeing that Zhao Hao's attitude became less polite, Cheng Jie's eyes flashed again and again, and a ray of anger flashed past, then he said haha, with a sad face, and said with a smile: "One million stones, the old man invites you to join us, Gritting your teeth, think of a way, maybe you can get it all together, but the food price... the imperial envoy has been in Luoyang for a few days, you should know that the food price has risen to five guan, for the sake of the imperial envoy, you can get a 100% discount, Think of it as a gift from the Beijing West Grain Merchant to the Imperial Envoy..."

There was no more smile on Zhao Hao's face, so he interrupted him and said in a deep voice, "100 million shi, 150 million guan!"

Anger flashed in Cheng Jie's eyes, and then he forcibly endured it, and said with a smile: "Sure enough, the imperial envoy is here to amuse the grassroots. If it was a good harvest year, the usual grain price of 95 would be reasonable. Now in this famine season, the old man will Even if the family is bankrupt, they can't sell it at this equivalent price. Even if the [-] shi in the old man's hand can be sold at the usual price of [-], the remaining [-] shi must not be lower than the [-] Guanwu, otherwise there will be no way to find so much rice. "

choke~
Zhao Hao suddenly drew his sword out, the room was suddenly cold, and everyone's expressions changed drastically.

Zhao Hao erected the long sword in front of his chest, with a murderous look on his face, and said word by word: "This Marquis never likes to cover up, so today I will open the skylight with the old man to talk to the old man. The old man has 150 million shi in his hand. Hoarding in times of famine is a capital offense! What's more, this grain came from a wrong path, if the old man is wise, he will sell the grain according to his wishes, otherwise..."

Cheng Jie finally got angry, and suddenly raised his voice against the case, angrily said: "Master Imperial Envoy, please don't bully me too much!"

Zhao Hao lightly flicked the edge of the Longquan sword, the body of the sword made the sound of roaring dragons and tigers, and then said in a cold voice: "This sword is Shangfang's sword, if the official comes here, you can cut it first and then play it, and please respect yourself This Marquis will give the old man a day to think about it, otherwise the old man will bear the consequences!"

Cheng Jie laughed angrily and said, "Although your Excellency is a clan, it is no more than a clan other than the five clothes, so is it more noble than King Jia? There are many important positions; although you are an imperial envoy and hold a precious sword, but I abide by the law, do you dare to kill innocent people indiscriminately and persecute loyal people? Although I am a grassroots person, what do you do to me?"

Zhao Hao's eyes became murderous, and he said coldly, "What did you say?"

Cheng Jie laughed wildly, looking completely confident: "Hahaha...what can you do to me!"

On the contrary, Zhao Hao calmed down, put his sword back into its sheath, and shouted to a Jinyi guard Yuhou: "Bring me the gift for Mr. Cheng!"

"Here!"

Just when everyone was stunned, there was a sound of chaotic footsteps outside the hall, and then a team of Jinyi guards carried an object into the hall, and with a bang, they placed the big clock in the hall, and the wooden floor was hardened. A mark was pressed out vividly.

A big clock weighing a hundred catties!
In the hall, there was a sudden silence.

Zhao Hao stopped talking, got up and shouted at Baihua, Liang Hongyu and the others: "Withdraw!"

After finishing speaking, he strode away without looking back, and everyone hurriedly pressed Qinglong's wrong hand knife, and followed closely.

(End of this chapter)