Xie Chuanzhong tasted the top-grade stone flowers with twenty guan notes and one tael, and asked with a smile: "Autumn is almost here. Have you prepared all the New Year gifts for the Duke?"
"There are still two things missing. Master, don't worry. We won't miss the time and you don't have to worry about buying things. It's just that the top quality is hard to find. I'm worried about it!"
A pretty woman responded with a smile and walked up to him in a graceful manner.
This woman was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with willowy eyebrows and apricot eyes, a graceful figure, and fair and rosy skin. Her whole body was like a ripe breast, and water would flow out with a gentle pinch.
This woman was originally a popular girl from the "Bichuntang" in Beijing. Her maiden name was Xunran. She was later redeemed by Xie Chuanzhong and adopted as Xiaoxing. The girl there was considerate and good at serving others.
The brothel welcomed Lao Xie as if Zhu Bajie had eaten ginseng fruit, and his whole body felt comfortable. The red girls in the brothel were all good at poetry, painting, and good at managing money. From then on, they not only became Lao Xie's bedside pet, but also
Many things in the business were also left to her.
Lao Xie knew that he was illiterate and had a rough temperament. According to his taste, the festive gift he prepared for Yang Xu, the auxiliary prince, was not worth it at all, so he handed the matter over to Xun Ran, despite the fact that he was from a brothel.
She knows everything about music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, poetry, and poetry. She is a truly talented woman, and she is not far behind many young ladies from wealthy families.
"You damn old man, you just have some spare money and you can burn it!"
Mrs. Huang walked in, and when she heard her husband's instructions, she said angrily: "The Duke of Guo happened to come to Beijing a few days ago. How nice would it be if you came to meet him at his door and express your feelings in person? It's better.
We are preparing to send people to Jinling just before the Chinese New Year, and it is a waste of time!"
"elder sister!"
Seeing his wife coming in, Xunran quickly took away his hand from Xie Chuanzhong's shoulder and obediently bowed to Mrs. Huang.
Even though Xie Chuanzhong dotes on her, she would not dare to be rude in front of Xie Chuanzhong's first wife. Don't look at the palace fight drama in which the ladies fight happily. In fact, few concubines dare to challenge the wife of the wife. For thousands of years,
After development, social families have their own set of perfect order. Concubines can be favored, but it is impossible to endanger the status of the main wife. On the contrary, if the first wife wants to rectify her, there are many ways. Especially for the woman in the brothel, find a good person.
It’s not easy to be a good person, let alone be proud of being favored.
Mrs. Huang rolled her eyes at her and said, "You are also following the master's mischief, and you don't know how to persuade him!"
Xunran was a little aggrieved, but he didn't dare to contradict, so he had to lower his head.
Xie Chuanzhong glared at his wife and said: "What do you know? The Duke of Guo is in Beijing to pay homage to the Emperor. I have free time to talk to you, eh? You give the gift to the Duke of Guo, and he will take it to Liaodong?"
Furthermore, when the Duke of Guo arrives here, how many pairs of eyes are staring at him. Why are you going to cause trouble to the Duke? There are many doorways here. If you don’t get the idea of giving gifts, isn’t that flattering the horse’s hooves?
"
Xunran wanted to laugh after hearing this, but she didn't dare to laugh out loud in front of his wife. She only suppressed a blush on her pretty face, like two newly blooming peach blossoms.
After hearing this, Mrs. Huang felt that what her master said made sense, so she stopped arguing. She sat down on the chair next to her husband, thought about it, and suddenly said: "I said, it turns out that the Duke of the State gave it to us.
Our family's business is much more than it is now. Most of the goods from Liaodong go through the hands of our Xie family. But things are different now. Most of the goods from Liaodong go by sea, so our family makes less money. Was it when we went to Jinling to send gifts?
Tell me about this..."
Xie Chuanzhong straightened his face and said, "Another bad idea! I can't let you take all the benefits, right?"
He subconsciously looked around, leaned slightly, and said in a low voice: "I heard that the ships from Shandong going to Guandong are all surnamed Peng. That is the ship owned by Mrs. Qi's family, so the Duke of that country can only take it.
All these benefits are given to our Xie family? Speaking of which, the Peng family is the father-in-law of the Duke of Guo, so they are much closer than us, right?"
Mrs. Huang sighed and said: "That's true! Hey, you said that our eldest daughter's daughter will be thirteen this year. What if..."
Xie Chuanzhong's nose was almost crooked with anger, and he said angrily: "What's wrong with me saying that you are obsessed with money? With your granddaughter's appearance, is she worthy of the Duke of the country? Even if she is, she can't! Mrs. Fei
That is our sister-in-law, your granddaughter..., what kind of seniority is this!"
Xunran couldn't bear it any longer and hurriedly knelt down to salute the two of them: "Master and madam, let's chat first while Xunran goes to check the accounts!"
After walking out of the house, Xunran covered her mouth with her sleeves and chuckled.
At this time, the old steward of the Xie Mansion rushed over. When he saw Xun Ran, he quickly stood up and said hurriedly: "Mrs. Ran, the Duke of Guo has arrived at our house!"
This meaningless sentence made Xunran stunned, and said in a daze: "Who are you talking about?"
The old steward said: "My lord, my lord, our aunt Xie's husband will serve as my lord!"
Xunran was startled and said quickly: "Then why are you still standing there? Hurry up, hurry up and open the door to welcome us in! Ouch!"
Before she could finish her words, she realized that as the Duke of the country, there was no reason to break in without the head of the family to greet her, and immediately ran back in a hurry, rushed into the house, and shouted: "My lord, madam,
Hurry up, hurry up, come to the house to greet us, the Duke of Guo has arrived at our house!"
Mrs. Huang just said displeasedly: "You are yelling, what are you..." After hearing the next sentence, she stood up suddenly and exclaimed: "What did you say?"
When Xunran said it again, two whirlwinds immediately blew up beside him. Xie Chuanzhong and his wife Huang were running forward as if they were racing.
The lady greeted her from behind...
"Okay, okay, let's just take the Duke into the house. Go, go, everyone is gone!"
Seeing a large family surrounding Xia Xun, which made Xia Xun smile bitterly, Xie Chuanzhong immediately felt something was wrong and hurriedly pushed the family out and ordered: "Xunran, please serve tea to the Duke of Guo!"
"Yes, sir!" Xunran agreed and hurriedly followed him out.
When the room was empty, Xia Xun couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. The large family of people, old and young, gathered around him, which was really overwhelming.
Xie Chuanzhong asked Xia Xun to sit down, half-bent in front of him, and said humbly: "My lord, what are your orders? Just say hello and I will go over. How can I help you to move here?"
Xia Xun smiled and said: "Hey, we are a family, there is no need to be so polite."
As he said that, he looked around the flower hall. The carved door, the hall was magnificent, the doors, windows, tables, chairs, tables and screens were all elegant and generous. On the white walls were hung several scrolls of freehand landscapes, a table and a chair, and a vase.
The candlestick is an expensive thing, but it only looks graceful and graceful. I can't see the nouveau riche temperament that I used to have to hang all my belongings on my face. I couldn't help but smile and said: "The current layout of this hall is very good!
"
Xie Chuanzhong smiled and said: "The Duke of Guo praised me. This was all arranged by Chuanzhong's concubine Xunran."
Just as he was talking, Xunran brought the tea tray and walked into the hall. Xie Chuanzhong hurriedly said: "Oh, it's her!"
Xia Xun glanced at the woman who brought the tea in and nodded lightly. Xunran knew the rules and brought the tea in. She glanced secretly at this important man whose name she had heard for a long time but had never met, and then gently
Withdrew.
Xie Chuanzhong glanced at his wife Ru with satisfaction, then approached Xia Xun and said, "My lord, what are your orders for your visit this time?"
Xia Xun looked solemn and said: "Chuanzhong, sit down and speak slowly!"
Xie Chuanzhong was included in the Xie family genealogy of Chen County. In terms of seniority, he called Xie Yufei his aunt. Xia Xun was Xie Yufei's husband, so naturally he could be called by his first name.
When Xie Chuanzhong saw his expression, he felt uneasy in his heart. How big of a deal must it be to make a prince feel a headache and to personally visit him to find out what he had entrusted to him?
Xie Chuanzhong sat down on the chair with his butt half crotched, leaned forward and said: "Master Guo, please tell me!"
Xia Xun coughed and said solemnly: "Chuan Zhong..."
"exist!"
"Back then, you...invited many celebrities from the North to verify your family's lineage and origin, right?"
Xie Chuanzhong's heart skipped a beat, and his expression suddenly changed. In the past few years, he had long forgotten about this matter. He even regarded himself as a descendant of the Xie family in Chen County. He had money and status, and his children and grandchildren were filial.
, I have nothing to ask for in this life. Today, the Duke personally came to visit, but suddenly asked about this matter. Could it be that he noticed something was wrong and came to investigate for my aunt?
Xie Chuanzhong quickly stood up and said, "Yes, back then Chuanzhong..."
Xia Xun only heard the word "yes", so he breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Okay! Find these people for me. Since they are all experts in this industry, no! Not only these people, but also through
They, continue to inquire, if there are any talents who are good at geography, clans, and population research, find them all for me, I will be of great use!"
Xie Chuanzhong was stunned for a moment after hearing this: "The Duke's tone does not sound like he is looking for trouble with me. What is the Duke doing? Oh..."
Xie Chuanzhong suddenly realized that he looked at Xia Xun with a somewhat ambiguous look. No need to ask, this must be because he is the Duke of the country and has the most powerful title. He also wants to find a great ancestor for himself to show off. It's normal, it's too normal.
Even Emperor Taizu of our dynasty had someone help him get acquainted with Zhu Xi, a famous scholar of the Song Dynasty. If the Duke of Guo wanted to find a famous ancestor, it would most likely be the general of the Yang family...
Xie Chuanzhong was thinking wildly and nodded in agreement.
Xia Xun didn't know that Xie Chuanzhong was comparing his feelings with others and actually came up with such a strong reason for him. He just saw a Xie family's shop on the road and suddenly thought of Xie Chuanzhong's old story of attaching himself to the Xie family of Chen County. This incident
Later, Xie Xie once told him from beginning to end that he knew everything. Xie Chuanzhong was a local snake in Beijing. Those people he found who specialized in understanding the local customs, geographical changes, population flows, and helping wealthy families find their ancestors were not just
Is he the best helper in litigating a lawsuit?
Xia Xun said: "This matter is urgent, very urgent! If some people are proud of their status and refuse to come in a pretentious manner, you can tell me my name and say that I am the auxiliary of the country. At this moment, you can't help others."
Put everything aside and start handling this matter immediately. I will give you two days, only two days. During these two days, whether you coax, persuade, rob or steal, you can do your best to me.
Please come back to these people, I will come to see them in two days!"
