Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 320 The Secret of Gift Giving

Inside the Duanjing Hall.

Zhu Youtang has been preparing for his stepmother's birthday. Although Queen Wang has never been favored in the palace and is even a dispensable existence, the problem is that the title of Queen is firmly hanging on her head. As the Queen of the Ming Dynasty, her status is naturally incomparable to other women in the harem.

"Yu'er, do you think I should wear this? It's not too formal, but it's not impolite either. My father once told me not to dress too formally all the time, as it would make me look like I'm meeting ministers anytime and anywhere. That's not good."

Zhu Youtang seemed very unconfident when he said this.

Because Zhu Jianshen disliked his son, he was usually very picky and had some unusual requirements for Zhu Youtang's daily dress and behavior.

Zhu Jianshen himself said that he didn't take these words seriously, but the problem was that Zhu Youtang was a person who cared very much about his old father's opinions. As a result, Zhu Youtang now appeared to be very unconfident in what he said and did, and he always lived under the eyes of others.

At this time, Zhang Yu was checking the letter written by his younger brother. After reading it, a sly smile appeared on his face.

"Yier, did you hear what I said?"

Zhu Youtang was very curious. Why was his wife looking at the letter and grinning?

"Prince, come and take a look."

Fortunately, Zhang Yu immediately made him feel relieved.

Zhu Youtang immediately ran to his wife, leaned over, and read the letter from Zhang Yanling with his wife.

Zhang Yu said, "Yanling said that he has carefully prepared a generous gift for us. To be exact, there are two gifts, one for the Queen Mother and one for the Grandmother. But someone needs to bring the gift into the palace. The gift is a bit large and fragile, so it needs a special person to transport it. It may be a bit troublesome when passing through the palace ban."

Zhu Youtang asked in surprise: "Is it the same mirror as last time?"

"Ah."

Zhang Yu pointed at the letter and said, "Look, Yanling said on it that the mirror made this time is very large, almost as tall as a person. The big one is for the Empress Dowager."

"Oh, he is really thoughtful. Where did he make it? I heard from my wife a few days ago that there are other mothers and concubines in other palaces asking if they can buy a mirror from the market and send it to the palace. I wonder... maybe someone knows that my grandmother and father have this thing, so they are thinking about it?"

Zhu Youtang was like a megaphone, he didn't have many opinions of his own on these matters.

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Who doesn't like good things? But I don't know how much of this thing my second brother has. We can't just give it away easily, right?"

"That's true."

Zhu Youtang said, "There are so many mothers and concubines in this palace. I can't give one to each of them. Besides, I don't even know how much this thing costs. I hope it won't bring too much pressure to your family."

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and said to himself, "I don't think it should be too expensive, right?"

Zhu Youtang shook his head. "I heard from my wife that it is almost impossible to make high-purity colored glass on the market now. If the colored glass reaches the tribute level, it is worth at least several dozen or a hundred taels of silver. And if it can be used to make mirrors, it must be... priceless."

Zhang Yu took his glass mirror in his hand and examined it for a while, then asked curiously, "Is this thing valuable?"

"hey-hey."

Zhu Youtang was amused by his wife's naive appearance. He gently touched his wife's beautiful dimples with his hand, but Zhang Yu glared at him, so he immediately withdrew his hand.

"Not serious."

Zhang Yu pouted and said, "I have something serious to tell you."

Zhu Youtang smiled happily, "Yu'er, it's great to have you. I'm very happy when you accompany me. And your family can help me from time to time. I didn't plan to bring any gifts to congratulate my mother on her birthday. If I send her a big mirror, I think my mother will be very happy."

Zhang Yu said, "I think that doing this will make your mothers and concubines extremely jealous... They themselves can't get it, but you gave it to the Queen Mother. But after all, the Queen Mother is the Queen. No one cares about their birthdays, and they don't need us to give them gifts."

"Ah."

Zhu Youtang nodded and said, "I only attend my mother's birthday every year. For other people... I have never heard of anyone holding a birthday banquet with great fanfare, and my father never lets me go."

Zhang Yu stood up, looking a bit like a future queen, and said with her head held high: "Then let them know who is the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. The crown prince has good things in his hands, but they can see them but can't get them, which makes them very anxious..."

Zhu Youtang laughed and said, "Yu'er, you are so mean. What if the mothers and concubines get angry and come to me to ask for it?"

"If you don't give it to them, what else can they do to you?"

Zhang Yu was not as easy to talk to as Zhu Youtang, and he seemed very imposing, "You also said that the thing is priceless, and we don't even have much of it.

"It took a lot of thought for my family to send this thing to me... Prince, please find someone to bring it to the palace as soon as possible. Be careful to prevent anyone from interfering. If the mirror breaks, it will have a bad meaning."

"Yes! I'll get someone to do it right away!"

Zhu Youtang nodded in agreement, and then ordered Tan Ji and other attendants of the Eastern Palace to go to Zhang's house to move things.

……

……

Queen Wang is about to have her birthday.

The Wang brothers were also discussing giving gifts to their sister, but Wang Yuan, Wang Qing, and Wang Jun were three poor guys and it was hard for them to make a living in the capital. It was extremely difficult for them to bring some decent gifts to the palace to help their sister or to bring honor to her.

The three brothers sat together that day to discuss what gifts to give to their sister. Giving three gifts was impossible, so giving one gift together was considered good.

Wang Qing asked, "Brother, I heard that the prince's father-in-law Zhang Hanlin came to your house two days ago and tried to sell you something?"

"Ugh!"

When Wang Yuan heard this question, he couldn't help but sigh, "I don't know what Lai Zhan was thinking. He actually said he wanted to sell me a piece of yellow coral. When I asked the price... Wow, three thousand taels of silver. I almost fainted. Even if I sold all my property, I couldn't buy such a thing."

Wang Jun asked, "Did he find the wrong person?"

Wang Yuan shook his head, as if he didn't want to mention it.

Wang Qing said: "Big brother, third brother, please don't slander him first. I think Zhang Hanlin is an extraordinary person. He is the father of the Crown Princess. He has been in the court for only two or three months, but he has been promoted to the Minister of the Honglu Temple and even served as an official in the Imperial Library. I heard that he is also a lecturer in the Eastern Palace. How can his ability be underestimated?

"This time he came to my brother's house to talk about selling yellow coral. Could it be that he wanted me to buy it and give it to my sister as a birthday gift?"

"Do you think it's possible?"

Wang Yuan said helplessly, "Even if it is, we can't afford it. And after he left, I heard people talking about how this thing has an unknown origin and it is very likely not owned by Zhang Laizhan. Maybe it is a treasure circulated in the palace. If it is something from the palace, and we buy it and then send it back, wouldn't that be a joke?"

Wang Jun asked, "My two brothers, do you think the palace is short of silver? Why are you suddenly selling off the royal treasures?"

Wang Qing seemed very cautious and said, "Please don't say anything nonsense. This is just a rumor and speculation. What should we give to my sister now?"

Wang Yuan sighed, "For example, in the past two years, our families have had a hard time. The Queen has been very worried about this and has been helping us all the time. For example, she is going to celebrate her birthday now, and there is nothing we can do to help her. But fortunately, my sister is pure and simple, so she probably doesn't need to be managed."

What he meant was that his sister was not favored to begin with, and she imitated the empress dowager in worshiping Buddha every day. With such a lukewarm temper, she didn't need to consider bribing the emperor's attendants in exchange for a chance to be favored, and probably didn't need to spend any money.

As for expensive gifts, it’s not that they don’t want to give them, but that they can’t afford them.

Wang Jun said: "Well, it would be nice to give my sister some face."

Wang Yuan sighed, "We brothers don't have that ability, so let's not dream about it. Maybe my sister will give it to us as a gift after her birthday. When it comes to this, I can't even raise my head, especially when the news of what happened in my house spreads outside, I feel... embarrassed to go out."

Wang Qing smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "Sister originally asked us to interact more with Zhang Hanlin. It seems that when he interacted with us, he had no idea of ​​our situation and thought we were living a life of wealth and glory. It's really... incomparable."

……

……

Li Zisheng was busy all day and returned home in the evening, looking exhausted. He immediately asked Pang Qing to prepare a carriage for him as he wanted to leave the city immediately.

"Master Dao has some expectations."

Pang Qing said with a smile.

Li Zisheng said: "People from Longhu Mountain sent gifts to me, saying that they want me to return to Taoism... Hey, do I need them to help me?
"But recently I have found a new beauty. I only met her briefly before and didn't have time to take a closer look. Today..."

Pang Qing asked in a low voice: "Could it be that Taoist nun?"

Li Zisheng stood straight and asked coldly, "Can you speak?"

"Oh, I should ask, is it the nun's daughter?"

Pang Qing asked again in a different way.

"It sounds strange to ask that, but it's her anyway."

Li Zisheng said, "Today I want to sit down and discuss with her."

"Master Dao, you also said that she was a beauty. It's boring to talk about Taoism with a beauty." Pang Qing said in a joking tone.

Li Zisheng rolled his eyes at him and said, "Who said I can't sit down and discuss Taoism with her? Am I the kind of person who is impatient? If I thought she was very knowledgeable and had profound insights into the Way of Heaven, I would have personally sent her to the palace. You fool, hurry up and say something, or I'll be gone if you're late."

Pang Qing said, "There is indeed an incident, which is about the Zhang Banxian going to the Rui'an Earl's Mansion to sell yellow coral. Now it has become a laughing stock among the common people."

When Li Zisheng heard this, his brows knitted tightly together and he sighed, "Laizhan is so confused!"

"What do you mean, Taoist?"

Pang Qing asked with a smile.

"Can ordinary people own yellow coral? Most people don't know this, but any official's son should know that this thing is deeply related to the imperial palace.

"You are the father-in-law of the Eastern Palace, and you go out to sell this stuff openly. Aren't you afraid that others don't know where it came from? Maybe some people think that this is a reward from His Majesty to the prince, and the prince is short of money, so he asked his father-in-law to sell it." Li Zisheng shook his head.

Pang Qing asked: "How about we give him some pointers?"

Li Zisheng said: "If he can't sell it, he will come to me for advice. I can show him a way out. There are only a handful of people in the capital who can afford this thing.

"Come and see him... well, if you have time, you can go over and remind him not to take care of everything by himself, and come and talk to me more often. It's not shameful to ask me for help.

"How uncomfortable is it to have something on your mind?"

(End of this chapter)