I come to see Bai Yujing today

Chapter 3 The High Prince and the Ants on the Ground

there is always a solution to a problem.

Chen Zhian already understood in his heart that the reason why the young master of the Zhou family summoned him here was not just for a portrait.

But ever since his memory came back, he had gotten used to it and didn't feel any anxiety or fear in his heart.

He followed Zheng Yuan into the room.

The house is not big, but the furnishings are very exquisite. Several chairs and tables are made of cyperus truncatum wood, exuding a natural fragrance. There are a few big characters written on the north wall of the hall - a hundred craftsmen are waiting to be revived.

It goes without saying that this is probably where the government workshop is located.

The workshop among the six departments of the government office is in charge of all the workers in the government office, and all the Huangmen are subordinates of the workshop.

In addition to the Huangmen, the workshop also has three other gates: agricultural science, construction, and water conservancy.

In an ordinary county government office, the workshop is just doing hard labor, but this is the Sunan Prefecture government office, the most prosperous place in Suzhou and Wuzhou. Sunan Prefecture has a population of millions, and it is in charge of the construction of water conservancy projects by hundreds of workers in the prefecture. One can imagine how great the power of this workshop is.

When Chen Zhian entered the room, he saw a short, thin, middle-aged man with a slight goatee sitting in the main seat.

Chen Zhian naturally knew that this person was the workshop foreman Zheng Liu. Zheng Liu had come to the painting academy for inspection on weekdays, and Chen Zhian remembered his appearance.

In addition to Zheng Liu and the young master of the Zhou family, there was another person that Chen Zhian was more familiar with, that was the chief of the Imperial Household, Wu Peilin.

At this time, Chen Zhian walked into the room, and Zheng Liu, Wu Peilin, and Zhou Xiujing all looked at him.

Chen Zhian took a deep breath and saluted to the three people: "I, the art academy worker, greet Master Zheng and Master Wu."

"This young man is Chen Zhian from the Painting Academy." Wu Peilin is older than Zheng Liu and is already in his fifties.

At this moment, he looked calm and smiling, completely different from when he usually came to the painting academy to scold and give orders.

Zheng Liu nodded, and then said to Mr. Zhou beside him: "It seems that there are some capable people in my workshop who can actually arouse Mr. Zhou's interest."

Zhou Xiujing was wearing an exquisite silk robe embroidered with golden cloud patterns, and had an emerald green jade pendant tied around his waist with an exotic flower engraved on it, making him look very noble.

When Mr. Zhou heard what Zheng Liu said, he turned around and smiled and said to the workshop supervisor, "I just found out about this worker in the painting academy by chance. I heard that he can draw portraits very quickly and vividly with charcoal pencils. In addition, something happened yesterday that caused a lot of controversy. This worker's luck has come. I was curious and asked you to summon him. I wanted to take a closer look at what this lucky man looks like."

The workshop manager and the yellow door manager immediately became interested.

Zheng Liu looked at Chen Zhian and asked curiously, "I wonder what luck Mr. Zhou is talking about?"

Chen Zhian lowered his head and his expression could not be seen clearly.

Zhou Xiujing smiled and replied, "Yesterday, Miss Xu Xiyue of the Xu family sent out a bouquet to recruit a husband, and this Huangmen servant received the bouquet. He will soon become Xu's son-in-law. This is considered a great change. Although he is still covered in mud, he will finally see the light of day."

The workshop supervisor was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Most of the prominent families and dignitaries in Southern Jiangsu knew that Zhou Xiujing, the son of the Zhou family, had repeatedly expressed his feelings for Xu Xiyue, the daughter of the Xu family.

It's a pity that Miss Xu is arrogant. Even when a man like Mr. Zhou expressed his feelings to her, she ignored him and instead came up with such a ridiculous idea as using a ball to find a husband.

It was impossible for Zhou Xiujing to go to Xiqing Street to snatch the hydrangea, and he would never give up his identity as a son-in-law of the Zhou family and marry into the Xu family. Perhaps that was why the painting academy worker got the chance.

The eunuch rolled his eyes and naturally understood why Zhou Xiujing summoned Chen Zhian to the yamen workshop.

Zhou Xiujing had long considered Xu Xiyue and even the entire Xu family as his own, but now he was being taken advantage of by this lowly art academy worker. How could he not be angry?
"Is this a way to vent your anger?"

The eunuch smiled in his heart and said, "This Miss Xu is really ridiculous. With her beauty that shocked the Sunan Mansion and her rich family wealth, she could find any kind of husband she wanted. But she actually found such a eunuch?"

When Zheng Liu heard this, he naturally understood that his subordinate Wu Peilin had the idea of making friends with this young master of your family.

So he also said: "The master of the Xu family is seriously ill and unable to manage the Xu family's medicinal materials business. He has no male heir, so he can only let the young lady of the Xu family manage the business of the mansion.

Therefore, it is better to choose an ordinary or even incompetent son-in-law. If you choose a talented one, I am afraid that the Xu family will no longer be named Xu in the future.

Mr. Zhou, don't worry. With your talent and martial arts, you will definitely find a good match in the future."

"These two old guys." Chen Zhian felt a little helpless and a little surprised.

He naturally saw that his immediate superior, Chief Huangmen, was trying to curry favor with the young master of the Zhou family, which was not surprising.

The Chief Huangmen was the chief of the Huangmen, but he was just a worker in the yamen's workshop. Although he made a lot of money, he could not be considered a high-ranking official.

Although Zheng Liu, the head of a prefecture's workshop, had no rank, he had enormous power, equivalent to the leaders of major powerful departments such as water affairs, housing and construction, and natural resources in a provincial capital in later generations.

Although the Zhou family is a big family in Sunan Prefecture, in today's Dayu, the weight of the merchant family is much lighter than that of the aristocratic family and the government. The head of the workshop in a prefecture would not try to please a merchant son like this.

Unless there is someone in Zhou's family serving as an official in the court this year.

Chen Zhian thought this in his heart, but his face remained expressionless and he remained silent.

Zhou Xiujing chuckled, shook his head and said, "The young lady of the Xu family is a real lady from a famous family. She is different from ordinary girls waiting to be married. She once practiced martial arts in Mount Qixia and has the cultivation of [Spiritual Essence]. With this background, she is considered a genius. She can also support the huge Xu family business. It is not something that a eunuch like you can reach."

"How about this, I'll give you some silver, and I think the Huangmen Wu Peilin in front of you will also give me some face. From today on, you may be able to work as the main worker of the Huangmen Painting Academy and receive a monthly salary of three taels of silver.

Don't worry, the money I give you is enough for you to live a rich and comfortable life for the rest of your life, and even your father who has no official title can live a good life..."

Zhou Xiujing spoke slowly, his tone revealing some confidence and...arrogance: "And you just need to reject the Xu Mansion... that's it."

Upon hearing this, Wu Peilin, the chief of the Yellow Gate, turned around. The expression on his face gradually became solemn, and he finally became the strict chief of the Yellow Gate as before.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Chen Zhian, saying: "Of course I will give face to Mr. Zhou. A noble family like the Xu family is not something that an ordinary worker like you can marry into. Even if you force yourself into the Xu family, you will have to endure the cold stares of more than a hundred people in the Xu family. As far as I know, you are the only son of the Chen family. If you become a son-in-law, your Chen family will have no descendants... What's more, even if you marry into the Xu family, the wealthy and powerful will naturally conflict with an ordinary child like you. If you get infected with some evil disease, I don't know how long you can live.

In my opinion... Young Master Zhou is willing to give you money, so just take it. Why bother getting involved in such a mess?"

The workshop supervisor did not say anything, but just picked up the cup on the table and took a sip of tea.

A wisp of tea fragrance wafts away, not ostentatious, but flowing in the air, rich and fragrant, elegant and pleasant.

But when he drank tea, his eyes were still on Chen Zhian, with naked scrutiny.

Chen Zhian finally raised his head, his eyes scanning the three people above.

Zheng Liu was a little surprised that this eunuch didn't seem nervous at all.

Wu Peilin frowned and was about to scold him, but Chen Zhian finally spoke...

"Master Zhou, if I don't want to accept your money and the monthly salary of three taels of silver, and I want to marry into the Xu Mansion as a son-in-law, I don't know how Master Zhou will treat me?"

Zhou Xiujing also looked at Chen Zhian carefully. He probably had never thought that Chen Zhian would ask such a question. For a moment, he could not suppress his expression, and a trace of gloom flashed across his fair and handsome face.

He turned and looked at Zheng Liu.

The workshop supervisor smiled and said to him, "Mr. Zhou is my honored guest at Zhengliu. I invite you to come for tea. Since you have honored me by coming here, you can speak whatever you want. You don't have to worry about me and the eunuch."

Wu Peilin on the side also nodded hurriedly.

"Weddings in the palace are always very particular and have a lot of etiquette. Even if everything is kept simple, I'm afraid it will take more than a month."

Zhou Xiujing picked up the cup on the table and blew on it gently: "There are many things in the world that can be saved and many things that cannot be saved. In a month or so, both can happen.

The matter of the hydrangea can be undone, but if something irreversible happens... For example, you fall into the water like two years ago, or if the bandits from West Penglai enter the city and happen to run into you... These things are irreversible, and if they really happen, I'm afraid you will regret it too late. "

It was already the hour of Hai and the sky had long since darkened. A moon was faintly visible among the dark clouds.

The moonlight shone through the clouds, some of it was black and some was white, and it looked like a hideous face.

It was clearly spring, but a gust of wind blew into the hall, like an arrow piercing the heart, making Chen Zhian feel particularly cold.

“He wanted to kill someone.”

Chen Zhian thought so in his heart.

Wherever his eyes fell, Zheng Liu was still drinking tea, Wu Peilin's sinister eyes collided with his, and the Zhou family's son Zhou Xiujing had a calm and composed look, revealing a sense of superiority.

It was as if... he, Chen Zhian, was an ant on the ground, and this young master of the Zhou family was just a passerby.

People passing by lowered their heads and teased the ants.

If he doesn't want to be teased anymore, just step on him and he will be crushed to pieces.

——He really didn’t like this feeling.

"What an unexpected disaster." Chen Zhian cursed in his heart.

Just at this moment, he vaguely felt that in the Kunlun Lake in the [Map of Jade Capital in Heaven], the ginger planted last night grew out from the mist, and the strange fragrance made him feel refreshed.

(End of this chapter)