Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 316: Compradors and Lecturers

That night, both father and son were left in the other courtyard for the night.

Because Zhang Yanling was there, Li Zisheng did not arrange any special "programs" for the father and son. He just let them listen to operas, which basically meant that as long as they were willing to listen, there would be operas to watch all night long.

In the private room on the second floor of the pavilion, the father and son sat in the elegant seats by the window, and the stage was 20 meters in front of them. Behind them stood a beautiful maid who was responsible for pouring tea, and the rest of the people were sent away by Pang Qing.

"Boom!"

Pang Qing came upstairs and took the initiative to explain to the two of them: "The Taoist has to meet guests from all over here today, and he doesn't have the leisure to accompany you all the time. I feel bad about it, so I asked me to come and apologize on his behalf."

"nothing."

Zhang Luan shook his head and then asked curiously, "Minister Li is so busy, is it because of the appointment and dismissal of local officials?"

Pang Qing smiled but did not answer.

Pang Qing would not tell Zhang Luan exactly who Li Zisheng wanted to meet or what he wanted to discuss.

Even though Pang Qing respected the Zhang father and son, at least he knew in his heart that everyone should serve his own master.

Pang Qing stayed for a while and then went downstairs to get busy. Zhang Luan turned around and said to the maid, "You can leave first. I will call you when I need you."

The maid responded and left the room, closing the door. Zhang Luan went behind the door and listened for a while before returning to his seat. He handed a plate of snacks to his son and asked in a low voice, "Yanling, tell me, do we have to take on this job?"

"We don't have a choice!"

Zhang Yanling ate the fragrant cracked pine nuts and replied, "There is no good or bad thing in itself, and I didn't expect that the emperor would let Li Zisheng do this, and Li Zisheng actually entrusted the task directly to you."

Zhang Luan asked curiously, "What do you mean?"

Zhang Yanling said: "I suspect that Li Zisheng wants to use this incident to achieve some purpose, but I haven't figured out what it is yet."

Zhang Luan laughed and said, "Is there something in this world that you can't figure out?"

"Dad, I'm not a god, how can I understand people's hearts completely?"

After Zhang Yanling finished complaining, he continued, "I didn't think too much about it. I just accepted the job. It wouldn't cost me anything. But when I mentioned who I wanted to sell the things to, Li Zisheng's attitude changed significantly. He looked like he was panicking because someone had seen through his inner thoughts. From then on, I knew that he actually had other plans, and his goal was definitely not the small amount of money he earned from selling the tribute."

"Does it matter who I sell it to?"

Zhang Luan couldn't think clearly for a moment.

Zhang Yanling asked: "What do you think is the difference between selling to the princes and nobles and selling to ordinary merchants?"

"This……"

Zhang Luan had no answer.

Zhang Yanling said, "We must not be the leaders in selling tribute. At most, we can act for Li Zisheng... Since Chen Gui is coordinating, you can ask Chen Gui directly if you encounter any trouble."

"That eunuch Chen shouldn't be too greedy, right? I won't give him a benefit for every item I sell." Until now, Zhang Luan still cares most about whether he can complete the task smoothly and hand in the full amount of money.

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Anyway, you just said you can't sell it, especially the ones that are extremely expensive. Let Li Zisheng introduce you to some customers. Then we'll know what he's thinking."

……

……

Early the next morning.

Zhang Luan, feeling refreshed, saw Li Zisheng again. At this time, Li Zisheng had a pair of dark circles under his eyes and looked like a thief. He was very haggard and it seemed that he did not sleep well last night.

"Laizhan, what do you think?"

Li Zisheng was in a bad mood and yawned frequently.

Zhang Luan said solemnly: "Since it is an important task, it is my duty to help Your Majesty."

"That's good."

Li Zisheng smiled bitterly, "In fact, you are also doing things for the prince... In fact, you should know that His Majesty is very concerned about the emptiness of the inner treasury. What if the prince finds out that the inner treasury account is empty in the future... No matter what he does, he won't be able to get the money... Hehe."

This is to remind Zhang Luan that our Majesty is a man of dignity after all.

He had emptied the treasury himself, but he couldn't just say that it was all Liang Fang's fault and then distance himself from the matter. Otherwise, history books would still record him as a wasteful and incompetent monarch.

The emperor must have wanted to make his own imperial finances look better, even if it was just leaving some property to his son to make him look good.

"Then I will send someone to your house in the next two days." Li Zisheng said, "I will tell Eunuch Chen later to let you get up wherever you fell, and start selling the yellow coral first. As far as I know, there are three pieces of yellow coral in the palace. You can just choose the price and sell them when the time comes."

Zhang Luan asked in surprise: "Yellow coral?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Luan instinctively felt a little resistant.

It can be said that this was the first time that Huang Shanhu felt what it felt like to be cheated. He originally had a good impression of Peng Mianfu, but when he returned home, his son told him that he was completely cheated by Peng Mianfu.

Later he found out that Peng Mianfu was Liang Fang's man, and he was determined to trick him. It was a precision attack.

"A piece of yellow coral is worth at least one or two thousand taels of silver. You can just tell others that it belongs to your family. No one will doubt it. After all, when the royal family came to your house to pay the betrothal gift, they gave you a lot of precious treasures."

Li Zisheng reminded again, "You must remember that you must not tell anyone about this unless it is absolutely necessary. This is something that leaked out of the palace, so you should treat it as your own. Do you understand?"

"But the question is, how could others not know?"

Zhang Luan smiled bitterly and said, "Even if you don't know, but what does yellow coral represent? I think anyone with a normal mind would think about it. Who would dare to get involved with something used by the emperor?"

Li Zisheng smiled and shook his head: "Yellow Coral has no necessary connection with the royal family, otherwise Liang Fang and his followers would not spend money to buy it. If it is according to your statement, if someone has this treasure at home, wouldn't it be better for his people to go and rob it in the name of offending the royal family?

"In addition, the palace's treasures are unknown to the public. The real heirlooms will not be sold. The items you need to sell are mainly acquired in recent years, mainly various rare stones, jewelry, jade, and exotic flowers and plants. The value... is not too high."

Zhang Luan originally thought that any item in the palace would be a treasure worth thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Such as unique pieces, masterpieces of calligraphy and paintings by famous artists, etc.

Only then did he realize that no matter whether the palace had those treasures such as handed-down calligraphy and famous paintings, it was not his turn to sell them. What he wanted to sell were the "treasures" that Liang Fang had brought back a few years ago.

To put it bluntly, when the emperor had money, he bought a lot of flashy things and used them to play with them. Once his wallet was empty, he wanted to cash in these things...

On the way back, Zhang Luan said bluntly: "Your Majesty sounds no different from the ordinary dandies. Think about it, who would use their own money to buy so many useless things?"

Zhang Yanling asked in return: "What is useful and what is useless to the emperor?"

When this question came out, Zhang Luan was dumbfounded and couldn't answer for a long time.

……

……

The next day, Zhang Luan entered the palace as a lecturer for the first time.

He didn't know where to go to meet the lecturer of the Eastern Palace, so he simply followed his son's instructions and waited in front of the left gate of Chang'an. When Xie Qian and others arrived, he followed them into the palace.

On the way, he wanted to talk to the officials of the Eastern Palace, but found that no one was willing to talk to him.

Xie Qian deliberately slowed down his pace and reminded quietly: "After entering the palace, you must walk slowly and keep silent. These are the rules. Although we are only going to the Wenhua Palace, it is no different from going to the Fengtian Palace."

"understood."

Zhang Luan was disappointed.

I finally met this group of elusive lecturers from the Eastern Palace. I wanted to establish a good relationship with them as my colleagues from the Hanlin Academy, but it turned out that they all looked down on me.

have to.

Anyway, I am not a Jinshi, I am just here to make a living.

Just watch you guys pretend.

……

……

Inside the Wenhua Hall.

On that day, Xie Qian specially introduced the new lecturer, Zhang Luan, to Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang looked calm and asked, "Mr. Xie, didn't you say you would invite Mr. Ni to come and give a lecture today? Why didn't you see him?"

Previously, Ni Yue was transferred to the Eastern Palace to be a lecturer. As a result, he already had other main duties, especially the position of Vice Minister of Six Ministries. Usually, he could only be treated as a special guest and come to give lectures at specific times... It was a bit like Zhang Luan's situation.

Xie Qian said: "I have not received any detailed information, so please forgive me for not being able to answer the prince's questions. Please prepare the books, as you need to write an article today and give your comments."

"it is good."

Zhu Youtang immediately took out his textbooks and notes.

Next to him was rice paper that had been prepared long ago for him to use to write articles.

……

……

Although Zhang Luan was a lecturer in the Eastern Palace, he was actually just there to join in the fun, and there was no content for him to explain.

In fact, he also wanted to go up to the podium and say a few words, but unfortunately the lecturers in the Eastern Palace did not like him. No matter if he was the Minister of the Honglu Temple, no matter if he had impeached Li Zisheng and Liang Fang before, or if he had a reputation as a loyal official, at least in a place like the Hanlin Academy, he, who had no education, no qualifications, and no connections, was just a vase. Not even a vase.

But to Zhang Luan, it was extremely precious, because listening to the lectures of great scholars was also a supreme enjoyment for him.

Who said I was here to teach others?
I'll be a student, okay?

You talk, and I'll listen. I'm as humble and eager to learn as the prince... I'll definitely be able to steal the knowledge in your heads and become a famous teacher...

The ideal was beautiful, and at first he really enjoyed the lecture process.

But soon, he found that he could not calm down.

His mind couldn't help but start thinking about wine, sex, money and power, and he even started thinking about how to sell the tribute from the palace next... When he regained his composure a little, he was hit by a sense of guilt and wanted to beat his chest and stamp his feet.

But then I thought, I have more important things to do now, so what's wrong with being absent-minded occasionally? Suddenly I felt much more peaceful and continued to daydream.

Just as Zhang Luan was daydreaming, someone next to him patted him on the shoulder gently. Zhang Luan looked sideways and was shocked to see Qin Ji's old face already in front of him.

"this……?"

Zhang Luan didn't dare to speak loudly, but just looked at him to ask what you meant.
Qin Ji leaned close to his ear and said, "Zhang Hanlin, this way please."

Zhang Luan looked up at Zhu Youtang and saw that Zhu Youtang was writing furiously there.

He looked at the other lecturers, they were all preparing their lessons attentively, no one was paying attention to him... He thought he might as well just go out for the bathroom.

People have three urgent needs, can you stop me?
So he stood up and walked out of Wenhua Hall with Tan Ji.

……

……

"call."

After leaving Wenhua Hall, Zhang Luan breathed in the fresh air and suddenly found that the sky was so blue and the scenery was so beautiful. His mood suddenly became relaxed.

In contrast, Wenhua Hall is a closed and depressing ghost place.

fortunately.

Zhang Luan thought to himself, at least I can go to the palace three or four times a month. If I come every day, I will be depressed to death.

"Zhang Hanlin, first of all, congratulations on your promotion to the Eastern Palace Lecturer. I hope you can take good care of me in the future."

Tan Ji said with a smile.

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Zhang Luan said carelessly, "I don't know how I got promoted to lecturer. Actually, my official position has not changed much. I am still the fourth-rank official of the Honglu Temple. But after taking up the position again, I haven't been back to the Honglu Temple to check it out. I will probably report to the government office tomorrow."

Tan Ji smiled and said, "You are very busy."

Zhang Luan intentionally guided the conversation and asked, "Eunuch Tan, is there anything I can do for you? Actually, even if I am in the palace, I have nothing to teach the prince. After all, compared with those first-class Jinshi and Shujishi, I, a student of the Imperial Academy, feel ashamed of myself."

"Zhang Hanlin, you are so direct."

Qin Ji smiled and said, "It's like this. The Crown Princess knows that you are coming to the palace today, so she specially informed the Crown Prince and said that she would like to invite you to have a simple meal at Duanjing Palace at noon... What do you think?"

"what?"

Zhang Luan was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that he was not a stranger in the palace, but his beloved daughter was also in the palace.

“Is this appropriate?”

Zhang Luan asked hesitantly.

Tan Ji also spoke frankly: "To be honest, it is not in accordance with the rules, but the Crown Princess has not met her family for several months and she really misses them.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince dotes on His Royal Highness the Crown Princess, so as long as the request is reasonably reasonable, the Crown Prince will agree to it."

Zhang Luan asked, "What do you think, Eunuch Tan, should I go?"

Qin Ji leaned over and whispered, "In my opinion, it's better not to go. You should talk to the prince about this. People like us... can't make suggestions casually."

The implication is that you are the family, and I am just an errand boy.

You are the master and I am the servant. Although it may not sound good, it is most appropriate for you to say it based on the principle.

Although Zhang Luan felt a little regretful, he still said, "Then I... won't go. Please tell the prince that this is my first time to be a lecturer in the palace, and I haven't figured out my duties yet. It's not convenient for me to take time off to eat lunch at noon. It's better to wait until I'm familiar with everything here before going there. Do you think this is a good idea?"

"well."

Qin Ji smiled and said, "Then I will tell the prince this."

"Row."

Zhang Luan smiled.

After the two exchanged a few more pleasantries, Zhang Luan returned to the Wenhua Hall and sat back in his seat in a daze.

……

……

Because that day was the ninth day of the first lunar month, and Zhu Youtang would be arranged to listen to a report on court affairs in the afternoon, the lecturers would disperse at noon, and Zhang Luan did not need to stay and could leave the palace directly.

"Xie Yude, I want to ask you, if you have classes here for a day, where do you have lunch?" Zhang Luan was like a country bumpkin who didn't know the rules. On the way out of the palace, he found Xie Qian and started asking him all kinds of questions.

Xie Qian replied: "You can bring your own food on weekdays."

"Ah? Bring... bring food?"

Xie Qian opened his mouth wide and thought, are the conditions in the palace so harsh?

I come here to teach the prince, and I have to bring my own food?

Xie Qian explained, "In the past, when there were lectures on classics, the palace provided wine and food, but now it is just teaching the East Palace, so the conditions are more ordinary. However, every year during the Spring and Autumn Festivals, or the Crown Prince's birthday, there will be additional gifts."

"So that's it."

Zhang Luan thought, why would I have to travel so far to come to the palace just for that little bit of holiday bonus?

"By the way, Xie Yude, didn't you say that the prince would summon me to the palace when he encountered something and needed someone to consult with him? I heard that the prince will meet with the elders and ministers in Wenhua Palace this afternoon. Will the eunuchs of the Imperial Household be there? Should I go and listen to the meeting and answer the prince's questions?"

Zhang Luan asked expectantly.

Xie Qian thought to himself, you really think you are a dish.

Don't you go to heaven?

Xie Qian also had a good temper. He smiled and shook his head, almost saying "Go wherever you want to cool down".

"Laizhan, I saw Eunuch Tan asking you to leave earlier, but did he have something to tell you?"

Xie Qian raised a question instead.

Zhang Luan said, "Oh, my daughter heard that I entered the palace today, so she wanted to invite me to have a meal together in Duanjing Palace. After all, we haven't seen each other since she entered the palace."

Xie Qian asked curiously, "Then why don't you go to the appointment?"

"what?"

Zhang Luan asked in surprise, "Xie Yude, do you think I should go? But I asked Eunuch Qin, and he said it would be best not to go, as it is against the rules after all."

Xie Qian smiled and said, "That's true, but people are not plants, and the meeting between father and daughter also reflects Confucian filial piety. Even if it gets out, no one will say anything."

"That...that..."

Zhang Luan thought, damn, why didn’t you say so earlier?

I also want to see my daughter. If she knew that I refused to go, wouldn’t she be sad?
"Laizhan, it is truly commendable that you can listen to other people's opinions and take into consideration the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess's stance and situation." Xie Qian praised again with a smile.

Zhang Luan said, "Xie Yude, please stop flattering me. I know my own situation. I don't have any ability to pass on to the Crown Prince. Even I don't know why Your Majesty has assigned me this task."

"Did your majesty arrange this on purpose?"

Xie Qian asked for confirmation, "Are you sure?"

Zhang Luan was stunned.

Thinking that it was Li Zisheng who told him about this, he didn't know whether his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy should know about it.

Although he considered himself to be upright and fair, and shouldn't hide anything from his colleagues, especially a superior like Xie Qian, but at this moment...

"If all this was really arranged by your majesty, there must be a deep meaning behind it."

Xie Qian analyzed, "The prince has now established a family and started to take on responsibilities. As for his studies and learning, he has already learned most of them. It doesn't really matter who teaches him. But for matters concerning state governance, special talents are needed to impart their experience."

Zhang Luan asked: "So what?"

Xie Qian said: "Some truths, if spoken by you, may be more acceptable to the prince. But there are some things that, as ministers... we are not convenient to say..."

(End of this chapter)