Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 326: Know how to do things and be able to do things (ask for monthly tickets)
The next morning, Li Zisheng entered the palace with three mirrors.

After entering the palace, go straight to the Qianqing Palace.

When Zhu Jianshen heard this, he immediately put down what he was doing and personally went out of the gate of the Qianqing Palace to greet him, giving Li Zisheng enough face.

"Li Qing, you got it so quickly?"

Zhu Jianshen had a look of surprise on his face.

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission."

"Okay, bring it in, bring it in."

Zhu Jianshen was like an impatient rookie, and quickly asked someone to bring up the mirror.

After placing the mirror flat on the table, Li Zisheng introduced: "There are three mirrors in total. One is relatively large, about the same size as the one given to the Queen, and the remaining two... are smaller."

"Someone is coming."

Zhu Jianshen said, "Send this big one to the Concubine Chen."

"Yes."

Someone came over immediately to move the mirror.

Li Zisheng immediately reminded: "Although it is wrapped with a frame, you still have to be careful. This thing is easy to break. And the glass slag is very sharp, so you must be careful."

Zhu Jianshen looked at the remaining two mirrors and liked them more and more. He said, "Leave one of these two and hang it in my bedroom. This way I can look at myself every day."

Qin Chang stepped forward and said with a smile: "Such a good thing is rare in the world. I didn't expect that it would be in the hands of Master Li, as if it was easily picked up. Master Li is really powerful! I wonder where this treasure came from?"

"Yes, Li Qing, where did you get it from? Did you really get it from Zhang Luan?"

Zhu Jianshen also asked curiously.

"Exactly."

When Li Zisheng said this, he frowned slightly, looking a little aggrieved.

Zhu Jianshen frowned upon seeing this and said, "Could it be that he gave you the cold shoulder? If so, this Zhang Luan is a bit tactless, especially since he impeached you before. It is really difficult for you to come to my house in person this time. I will..."

I wanted to punish him right away, but when I thought about it carefully, he just gave me a mirror, why should I punish him now?

Can being an emperor allow you to be so unscrupulous and unreasonable?
"Your Majesty has misunderstood. It is easier to talk to him if you come to see him."

Li Zisheng hurriedly said, "Besides, I have some personal relationship with him, so this visit to seek advice went smoothly."

Qin Chang thought to himself, you really don't need to hide anything, you can even say something like this directly?
Zhu Jianshen was puzzled and asked, "Does that mean he doesn't want to give it to me?"

Li Zisheng looked evasive and glanced at Qin Chang, implying that there were outsiders present and there were some things I couldn't say.

"You step back first."

Zhu Jianshen turned his head and said to Tan Chang.

Qin Chang felt furious.

You can talk about your business, but why did you ask me to leave?
I am the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, how can I not be trusted?
But he had to bow and leave.

Wait for someone to leave.

Li Zisheng then stepped forward and whispered, "Your Majesty, didn't you ask me to sell the tribute from the palace? I will give this task to Zhang Laizhan."

"Ah."

Zhu Jianshen nodded, then asked, "So what?"

Li Zisheng said: "I don't know what he was thinking, but he suddenly came up with a clever sales pitch, which is to give away glass mirrors with tributes. Or maybe he knew that the mirror caused a huge sensation during the Kunning Palace's birthday celebration."

Li Zisheng tried his best to prevent the emperor from thinking that Zhang Luan was greedy for money, but in fact, what Zhang Luan did was to help the emperor sell tribute.

Without anyone to guide him, Zhu Jianshen naturally would not think about anything else. He asked, "So, you bought the tribute in exchange for this mirror?"

"Ah."

Li Zisheng nodded and said, "I bought a piece of yellow coral and spent three thousand taels of silver. He only wanted to give me a mirror, but I told him that it was impossible to give him just one. Just give me as many of your best mirrors as you have. He had no choice but to give me these."

"Hahaha……"

Zhu Jianshen laughed loudly upon hearing this. "Li Qing, why do you act as if you are controlled by him when you ask him to do something for you? Is there anyone in the court who dares to plot against you?"

Li Zisheng said: "Since we have given him the job, he should follow the rules. He asked for three thousand taels, and I am embarrassed to bargain. Besides, this money is sent to the palace to enrich the inner treasury, so it is worth spending this money."

Zhu Jianshen smiled and said, "Let's not talk about anything else. I will give you these three thousand taels, and give you some extra rewards."

"Your Majesty, please don't do this." Li Zisheng hurriedly stopped him and said, "I am definitely not heartless about the money. I just played a little trick..."

"Oh, tell me!"

Zhu Jianshen became interested.

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "I told him that three sides would not be enough, so I asked him to find some leftovers and make some for me so that I can take it back to make my wife proud. Hey, he really gave it to me, but it was only the size of a palm, not impressive enough, so I didn't send it to the palace.

"Look, I have also benefited from following your majesty. I spent three thousand taels of silver to buy priceless yellow coral and a mirror... Now the tigress at home is also very satisfied, and the inner house has become stable. This time... I have made a lot of money."

"Li Qing, you are a loyal minister who always thinks of me. I really feel bad for you. Alas, the reward I gave you is still too little. You have been running around for my affairs and you are already very tired. I still add burdens to you regardless of your actual situation. I was wrong, very wrong."

When Zhu Jianshen heard what Li Zisheng said, he began to blame himself.

Li Zisheng said quickly: "Your Majesty, please don't say that. I failed to live up to your Majesty's expectations and failed to do the job well. I will definitely do my best."

Zhu Jianshen looked at Li Zisheng with an indescribable feeling of emotion in his eyes. He nodded slightly and suddenly smiled again.

It seemed that the king and his subjects had reached a consensus through this smile, and they trusted and relied on each other.

……

……

When Li Zisheng left the Qianqing Palace, Qin Chang deliberately followed him for a while.

"Master Li, it's not that we have to ask, but if you have something going on, why can't we, who are disabled, know about it? Don't we even have the most basic trust in each other?"

Tan Chang was very angry.

When we fought Liang Fang, we were a team. It was impossible for you, Li Zisheng, to accomplish it alone. Now that we've succeeded, you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor alone. Even to talk to the emperor, you have to be summoned alone.

What? Are you going to destroy the bridge after crossing it?
Li Zisheng whispered, "Eunuch Tan, that was just a gesture."

Qin Chang pondered the meaning of "attitude" and asked, "You mean... there are some things that Your Majesty doesn't want outsiders to know? Rather than you intentionally covering it up?"

Li Zisheng asked with a smile: "Do you know what Zhang Laizhan is doing now?"

"he……"

Qin Chang was silent for a moment.

How could he have the time to inquire about what the prince's father-in-law was doing all day?
"Do you know that he went to the mansion of Earl Ryan, the Queen's brother, to sell yellow coral?"

Li Zisheng asked again with a smile.

Tan Chang understood instantly and said, "You mean, this matter is your majesty..."

He couldn't continue speaking halfway through.

"Eunuch Qin, you see, His Majesty has never told anyone about this matter, and this is also a matter of respect for the whole nation."

Li Zisheng said, "Why else do you think Zhang Laizhan wanted to make a glass mirror? It was simply to make it easier for him to sell tributes... Now what he is selling is just yellow coral, and the next step may be other treasures in the palace.

"Alas! What a pity! I spent three thousand taels of silver to find a few mirrors for your majesty, and I only bought something useless to display at home."

Qin Chang frowned and asked, "With your prestige today, you can just ask Zhang Laizhan for it. Is it necessary to do this?"

Li Zisheng was very surprised and asked, "Eunuch Qin, do you think that people in our court are so unruly? He is the father of the Crown Princess after all. If I go and ask for it directly, will he still sell the tribute?

"Do you think he wanted to sell the tribute himself? He was doing business for the palace, and the money from the sale went directly into the inner treasury... If I broke the rules first, it would ruin your majesty's plan, and my crime would be unforgivable!"

Qin Chang thought about it and thought to himself that Li Zisheng, you are really good.

But when I thought about Zhang Luan’s methods... Qin Chang suddenly felt angry. What happened? Liang Fang fell. Shouldn’t my only enemy be Li Zisheng?

How come a father-in-law who is the prince suddenly appeared?
"Eunuch Qin, how about you go and buy a piece of yellow coral? It is said that this shop will disappear once you miss it. I guess a lot of people will come to his house in the next few days to inquire about buying yellow coral." Li Zisheng asked with a smile.

Qin Chang smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "My family is not as wealthy as you, so we can't afford such expensive things."

Li Zisheng nodded and said, "That's right. When other people buy yellow coral, they are considered good if they are given one or two mirrors at most. It was only me who relied on my old face and talked Zhang Laizhan into giving me a few more.

"Alas! You said that I can be strong on the outside but weak on the inside when facing court officials, and even not take them seriously. After all, for the sake of the official hat on their heads, everyone has to curry favor with me. But facing the father of the Crown Princess, I can't be strong at all."

When Qin Chang heard this, he thought, why does what you said make so much sense?
You, Li Zisheng, are used to showing off your power in front of the ministers. Even the prime minister of the cabinet and the six ministers treat you as a national hero.

But Zhang Laizhan is the future father-in-law of the emperor after all, and he will definitely not fall for your threats.

After thinking about it this way, it seems... I really misunderstood you?
"Eunuch Qin, do you have anything else to say? If not, I'll go back first."

Li Zisheng smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Today I can say I have spent money to avoid disaster. Three thousand taels of silver is really... a huge sum of money... Alas!"

After saying this, Li Zisheng sighed and walked away with heavy steps.

……

……

"What is he pretending to be?"

Wei Tai, who was far behind, saw Li Zisheng walking away, so he hurried to catch up with him, stood behind Qin Chang and asked.

Qin Chang was also looking at Li Zisheng's back, and said thoughtfully: "I think he is not pretending this time. He really encountered difficulties."

At this time, Qin Chang certainly could not see the smug smile on Li Zisheng's face. He thought that Li Zisheng was worried about the money and was thinking about how to deal with Zhang Luan.

Wei Tai asked in confusion: "Why do you say that? I think he is at the peak of his life..."

Qin Chang said mysteriously: "I originally thought that he had asked for a few mirrors from Zhang Luan and came to Your Majesty to curry favor. Now I know that he actually spent three thousand taels of silver to buy them..."

"What? Three thousand taels? Just a small amount... Three thousand taels?"

Wei Tai looked surprised and said with a frown, "Hey, how can I put it? These charlatans are rich? They just casually took out three thousand taels, which is a huge fortune that most people can't even dream of. And they just used it to buy a mirror? This is too expensive!"

Qin Chang did not answer but asked: "Do you know why he avoided us and talked to His Majesty alone?"

Wei Tai shook his head.

Qin Chang looked around and whispered, "Zhang Luan is selling off the tribute from the palace. This should be at the instruction of His Majesty. This shows that the expenses of our inner court are too high and His Majesty is short of money. He has started to sell the things that Liang Fang and others brought back earlier to get money."

"This……"

When Wei Tai heard this, he found it unbelievable.

The emperor is rich, so even if he is short of money, would he resort to such means to raise money?

Qin Chang sighed, "It's really hard to understand... Your Majesty hasn't had a lot of money to spend recently, why is he suddenly short of money and even has to sell off the tribute?
"Is there any plan, Your Majesty?"

Wei Tai followed up on what Qin Chang said and asked, "Are you saying that Your Majesty will have a major expense soon? Or one that won't go through the court?"

"not necessarily!"

Qin Chang shook his head and said, "Is there a possibility... that Your Majesty is accumulating some wealth for the Crown Prince? After all, even though Wang Zhi and Li Zisheng have made a lot of money for Your Majesty over the past few years, the expenses of the imperial court are still too huge. The imperial farms and official lands are all managed by a bunch of parasites, who have been complaining about not making enough money. This year... Your Majesty is not in good health, so naturally he would think about... leaving something for future generations."

"Eunuch Tan, Your Majesty wouldn't do this, would he?"

Wei Tai looked embarrassed.

Because from what Qin Chang said, he understood that the emperor was preparing to make arrangements for his final affairs and leave some property for his son.

Of course, this cannot be said openly.

Qin Chang frowned and stroked his smooth chin, saying: "Even if the tribute is sold, how can this matter be related to Zhang Luan? If it is sold, Li Zisheng should be responsible!
"Oh, yes, His Majesty must have given the matter to Li Zisheng, who then handed the matter of selling the tribute to Zhang Laizhan... It is also possible that His Majesty gave this task to the Crown Prince, who had no other choice but to find Zhang Luan... Which of the two possibilities is more likely?"

Wei Tai was unable to make a judgement and asked tentatively: "How about we check it out?"

"Of course we have to check."

Qin Chang said seriously, "This mirror incident has caused a lot of uproar in the city. You are not just thinking of investigating it now, are you? What do you do as the commander of the East Factory?"

Wei Tai said helplessly: "There have been so many things going on in and outside the capital recently, how can I care about such a small matter? Okay, I will send someone to investigate now... But even if Zhang Laizhan is the one who took the lead in selling the tribute, he can't make it too public, we..."

"Let's check first."

Qin Chang waved his hand and said, "I always thought that Zhang Luan depended on Li Zisheng for his livelihood, but now it seems that he has formed his own faction, and it seems that Li Zisheng has no good way to control Zhang Luan.

"In that case, we should be careful about Zhang Luan in the future. It's best to send someone to keep an eye on him. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Then Wei Tai took the order and left.

……

……

Qin Changxia returned to his private residence. When he got home, he immediately asked someone to call his nephew Qin Yun.

It had been a long time since Qin Yun had visited Qin Chang's mansion. This time, he had some money on hand, mainly given to him by Zhang Yanling. With the money, he thought of bringing some gifts to avoid being looked down upon again.

When he arrived, the doorman did not stop him and he went straight to the main hall of the Qin Mansion. He saw a servant of the Qin Mansion kneeling on the ground, and Qin Chang was holding a horsewhip in one hand and pressing the armrest of the chair with the other hand, looking angry.

"Tan...Uncle?"

Qin Yun was a little dumbfounded when he saw this scene. He wanted to call him Eunuch Tan, but in the end he still addressed him according to their relationship. His heart was beating fast. Did I see something that I shouldn’t see?

Qin Chang waved his hand and said, "Nephew, you came at the right time... Let me ask you, the last few times you came to my house, I asked you to go to the accounting office to collect your reward. Did you collect it?"

Qin Yun suddenly understood what was going on.

The man kneeling on the ground was none other than the accountant who had troubled him before.

However, with the calmness he had developed while following Zhang Yanling these days and the temperament of a superior he had developed since serving as a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he would naturally not betray others lightly, even if the person's actions did indeed disgust him.

But he couldn't lie, so he just kept silent.

"You are a good boy, and you still want to protect him now? It was only today that we found out that in the past, my house was like a Pi Xiu, only allowing people to come in but not leaving. Even what I say is useless. Then who is in charge of this house?" Qin Chang was very angry.

Maybe he didn't know it before, or maybe he knew it but didn't care too much.

But today, in front of his nephew, he just lost his temper.

Qin Yun thought, this is not such a coincidence, is it? I came here, and you just happened to expose this matter? Are you deliberately teaching your servant a lesson for me?
"Come here, bring all the reward money he owes to my nephew." Qin Chang said.

Soon a servant came in and presented a wooden box. When it was opened, it was full of white silver ingots, weighing as much as fifty taels.

"My humble servant...I dare not."

Tan Yun said hurriedly.

Qin Chang said: "Qin Yun, among the younger generation of our Qin family, there is no one who is capable, only you have some talent. I heard that you are very popular in the Jinyiwei. The people above praise you, and the people below also praise you for your loyalty and righteousness. You are a rare talent!"

"It is all thanks to your glorious protection, uncle, that they are able to..."

Qin Yun hurriedly explained.

"No, they are not trying to curry favor with me, but you really have the ability."

Qin Chang nodded with satisfaction.

Obviously, Qin Chang came to this conclusion only after he specifically asked someone to inquire about his nephew's detailed situation.

Qin Yun thought, isn’t it because I made a little fortune recently thanks to the Zhang family?

Whenever there is something to do, I call my brothers to work together, and we always reap great rewards.

After I made a lot of money, everyone respects me now.

If this had happened half a year ago, who would have taken me seriously?
"All of you get out! I have something to tell my nephew. Please ask the kitchen to prepare some wine and food. I want to have a drink with my nephew today.

"Qin Yun, this is your home from now on. Come whenever you want. I will punish anyone who dares to stop you."

(Continue to ask for the guaranteed monthly ticket, thank you for your generosity!)

(End of this chapter)