Qing Yao

Chapter 427 Paying New Year's Greetings to the Grand Secretary

To the people in the palace, Zhao An's specially made New Year's money was just a reward given by the old master out of joy; it was just one extra one anyway.

Some more astute individuals connected this matter with Heshen, guessing that it was the old master's affection for Heshen extending to his servants, thus allowing even the good lackeys to share in the joy.

During the Chinese New Year, what we really want is a joyous and lively celebration.

Of course, the "lackey" himself also performed admirably; didn't you see how he made the old man beam with joy last night?

The only unhappy person in the hall was Prince Jia, Yongyan, who had been talking to his younger brother Yonglin. However, no matter how unhappy he was, Yongyan still smiled as he looked at the flattered Zhao An. It is estimated that he had a long talk with his master Zhu Gui after the party last night.

The Aisin Gioro family banquet lasted for less than two hours. The old master, who had been working hard for two days, couldn't hold on any longer. Heshen, who had been organizing the New Year's Eve party, the grand court assembly, and the emperor's family banquet in succession, also couldn't keep up. Zhao An noticed that Heshen yawned several times in the middle of the banquet.

Fortunately, it will be Heshen's turn to take a vacation in the next few days, and the old master will also need to rest well for a few days.

It was already dark when he left the palace. He thought the staff member from the Imperial Household Department who had brought him there would have already gone home, but to his surprise, they were waiting for him at the palace gate. They said that they had been ordered to send Lord Zhao back.

"Thank you!"

After getting into the car, Zhao An rubbed his hands together and breathed on them to warm them. Then, he took out the specially made gold coin that the old man had given him and stroked it repeatedly as if it were a priceless treasure, feeling quite proud of himself.

The old master giving New Year's money might not be uncommon in the capital. Everyone present knew that Zhao An benefited from the connections of Heshen and Fu Chang'an. But when this matter reached the ears of local officials, especially in the Liangjiang officialdom, it was an absolute bombshell. It could deafen the ears of the governor, provincial governor, provincial inspector, education commissioner, circuit intendant, and prefectural governor.

It was worth it! This trip to the capital was definitely a more prestigious experience than returning from overseas!
It doesn't matter if you don't acknowledge me, Father Emperor, the important thing is that I acknowledge you.

What? You don't recognize your son?
Yellow riding jacket, double-eyed peacock feather, Ebilun sword, specially granted the title of Jinshi (a high-ranking scholar), calligraphy of the auspicious characters for fortune, prosperity, and longevity, and New Year's money.
The evidence is irrefutable, my dear father!
Based on these things, Zhao An believed that as long as he could use the White Lotus Rebellion to bring out the Huai Army, then when his father raised his braid, he could raise his arms and call out in the two rivers, and his brother Jiaqing would dare not let his younger brother lead the Huai Army in white clothes and white armor to the capital for the funeral.
With a wide grin, he put the gold coins back into his bag when he suddenly remembered that Prince Yongxing had given him a lucky bag. Curious, he opened it to see how generous the prince was. If it was silver notes, it must have been at least a thousand taels.

After all, he was the top official in Anhui, a powerful figure in the local government.

If Yongxing truly intends to seize the throne, he will definitely try to win over and befriend Zhao An, a young man with great potential for advancement.

Upon opening it, they found only three pieces of silver inside, weighing probably less than three qian (a unit of weight in traditional Chinese currency). If we consider the price of silver in later times, which was a few yuan per gram, that would only amount to a few dozen yuan.

"So stingy? What a piece of trash! No wonder your father doesn't like you!"

Zhao An thought to himself, unable to understand how a prince could be so stingy. Little did he know that Prince Rencheng was a notorious miser in the capital. He not only stipulated that his family members could only eat simple vegetarian dishes at each meal, but when they occasionally ate meat, he would order the cook to cut the meat into extremely thin slices, "slices as thin as paper, so thin that you could see the light through them," in order to save money.

As a prince, Yongxing should have been dressed in fine clothes, but this man often wore patched old robes, and even his court robes had not been replaced for many years. His family members were also required to wear coarse cloth clothes and were forbidden from all luxury, making the dignified Prince Cheng's mansion look like a small rural landlord.

Before the Lunar New Year, a big joke happened at Prince Cheng's mansion. Because the prince was reluctant to feed the horses, several of the fine Mongolian horses in the mansion's stables died of prolonged starvation.

The prince, who couldn't bear to bury the horse, led the way in eating horse meat. How could anyone eat horse meat?

As a result, everyone in the Prince's mansion suffered terribly from eating horse meat.

Back at the examination hall, Zhao An said a few words to Xiao Shuan and Xu Lin before going to sleep. He really couldn't stay awake any longer, but he didn't forget to tell Qian Wenming, the person in charge of the examination hall, to wake him up on time the next morning.

Why?

Because I had to pay my respects to Heshen for the New Year.

In the morning, I paid New Year's greetings to Heshen; in the afternoon, I paid New Year's greetings to the Four Fools.

The New Year's gift prepared for Heshen was 30,000 taels of silver, while the gift for the "Four Fools" was 10,000 taels. Other important members of the Heshen faction each received 5,000 taels.

These are necessary expenses. It's a rare trip to Beijing, so we can't be stingy. It's okay for Zhao An to lose face, but we can't lose face for the 20 million people of Anhui!
I slept very soundly and peacefully.

The next morning, Manager Qian woke Zhao An up. After washing up and having breakfast, Zhao An asked Xu Lin to take six guards and ride with him to Mancheng.

The reasons for riding horses were twofold: firstly, there were no sedan chairs available, and secondly, riding a horse made one appear more spirited.

Zhao An cultivated an image of being both a scholar and a warrior, capable of governing and leading troops. This naturally left a deep impression on Heshen and other bigwigs in the capital, so that when the Qing army couldn't deal with the White Lotus Rebellion, they would naturally think of him.

As soon as I stepped out of the examination hall, the air was filled with the sulfurous smell of burning gunpowder, and the streets were littered with firecrackers. The entire capital was enveloped in a particularly authentic New Year's atmosphere. Blessings such as "Happy New Year" and "Wishing you prosperity" echoed through the streets. Adults and children alike were all beaming with joy, and even the beggars who hadn't frozen to death had expressions of longing for a better future.

The location of Heshen's residence was told to me by the Imperial Household Department staff who brought Zhao An back last night. It's right on the shore of Shichahai Lake. I heard that it was originally the residence of Mingzhu, a famous prime minister during the Kangxi era. Heshen used various methods to buy it from his descendants and spent a lot of money to renovate it. It is now the famous Prince Gong's Mansion, which was a tourist attraction in Zhao An's previous life.

The area around Shichahai is home to princes and nobles, and ministers of no lower rank than the second grade. It's a truly auspicious place, where every inch of land is incredibly valuable.

Zhao An got up very early, but when he arrived at the He family mansion, he found that there was already a lot of traffic. Various official sedan chairs and carriages lined up from the alley entrance all the way to the corner of the street. Officials wearing various rank badges were breathing out white breaths and rubbing their hands in long queues, just to hand their name cards to the powerful He Zhongtang.

There were bannermen and Han officials, but most of them were of low rank, mostly below the fourth rank.

The gatekeepers at the Hefu Mansion were as busy as the reception desk at an international conference center, with the official invitations and gift lists they had received already piled up into a small mountain.

However, very few officials actually got to see Heshen, because the officials queuing up were of such low status that they weren't even qualified to meet Heshen's chief steward, Liu Quan.

These officials were aware of this, so most of them would hurriedly leave their visiting cards and gift lists as if they were rushing to complete a task before heading to the next high-ranking official's or minister's residence.

Another form of "running department".

In a perfectly legitimate way, officials in Beijing are either "lobbying" for government departments or waiting for others to do the same for them, working non-stop like a grand event.

You have to run. The adults may not know what gift you gave or who you are, but they definitely know who didn't give a gift.

Because the line of officials paying New Year's respects to Heshen stretched for a mile, Zhao An and his entourage had to abandon their horses and walk. They were not recognized, since officials who stood in the cold wind and dealt with the gatekeepers were not qualified to attend the New Year's Eve party and the grand court assembly. Thus, they were unaware that a rising star in the Qing Dynasty's political arena was passing them by.

Zhao An certainly wouldn't obediently queue like these low-ranking officials. He led Xu Lin and the others, squeezing through the crowd to the gatehouse, where he took out his name card and handed it to the "counter": "Excuse me, please inform them that we are from Anhui."

Before Zhao An could finish speaking, Bai Tang'a, a member of the Imperial Household Department maintaining order, pointed at him unhappily and said, "Where did you come from? Don't you know the rules? Do you know where you are? Go, go, go, go to the back and line up! If everyone acted like this, it would be chaos!"

The reason Zhao An lacked discernment was that he was wearing casual clothes; otherwise, the double-eyed peacock feather alone would have been enough to intimidate Bai Tang'a.

"Why are you yelling at me? Do you know who my parents are?!"

Seeing the gatekeeper acting so arrogantly, Xu Lin was furious and prepared to go up and argue with him.

Zhao An would definitely try to stop him; even a seventh-rank official is subject to the prime minister's authority, let alone during the New Year.

With a forced smile, he handed over the visiting card and said softly, "Please inform him that Zhao Youlu is paying his respects to His Excellency!"

Along with it was a silver note of one hundred taels, commonly known as a "door bag". The price of a door bag varied among local magistrates, but the starting price was five taels.

Heshen was the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty, so his family naturally had far more influence than a county magistrate.

"Zhao Youlu?"

Na Baitanga clearly didn't know Zhao An's identity. He casually took Zhao An's name card and threw it on the table. "I don't care who you are. Go to the back of the line. If you cause any more trouble, I'll have someone throw you out!"

He accepted the hundred-tael silver note, but instead of putting it in his own pocket, he tossed it into a copper basin, which already contained quite a few door bags.

The money earned from door-to-door service, after deducting the gatekeeper's share, had to be handed over to the accounting office. The He family's annual income from door-to-door service alone amounted to hundreds of thousands of taels!
How could we possibly let those gatekeepers divide it up for themselves?

Taking money without reporting it is a bit against the rules. Zhao An frowned slightly, guessing it was because his accent made him sound like he was from out of town. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to reveal his identity, hoping that the prestige of a second-rank acting governor would intimidate this lowly watchdog.

At this moment, the small side door next to the main gate suddenly creaked open, and an old man wearing a silk cotton robe, a melon-shaped hat, and carrying a hand warmer walked out. He looked shrewd and capable.

After the old man came out, all the gatekeepers stood up without exception and respectfully greeted him in unison, "Second Master!"

"Okay, you guys are busy, you guys are busy."

The old man, addressed as "Second Master," walked over with a smile. Then, he suddenly slapped Bai Tang'a, who hadn't informed Zhao An, across the face. Afterward, he cupped his hands to Zhao An and said with a smile, "Master was just saying that Lord Zhao would surely come today, so he instructed me to wait here. As soon as Lord Zhao arrives, he should be invited in immediately, so that Lord Zhao won't have to endure the cold!"

Who is the old man?

Before Zhao An could figure it out, the officials queuing at the door were already wide-eyed: the head steward of the Grand Secretary’s mansion had come to greet him personally. Who was this Zhao fellow?
The old man was none other than Liu Quan, the person Heshen valued and trusted most.

Relying on Heshen's power, Liu Quan became a very wealthy man in the capital, even able to influence the appointment of officials of the third or fourth rank. Even high-ranking officials in Manchuria had to respectfully address him as "Second Master".

The officials were filled with envy. No matter how long they queued in the cold wind, they were not even qualified to see Liu Quan. They never expected that this man surnamed Zhao would not only be remembered by the Grand Secretary, but also have his own chief steward Liu Quan come to greet him personally. What a great honor!

The two officials who were close to Zhao An couldn't help but recall what Zhao An had called himself, but they couldn't remember for a moment.

Zhao An must have guessed the old man's identity by now, so he quickly returned the greeting respectfully. Liu Quan smiled and exchanged a few polite words before personally leading Zhao An into the mansion through a side gate.

As expected of the home of the world's richest man, Heshen's mansion was just as luxurious as the imperial palace. The garden was filled with strange rocks, interspersed with ancient pines and cypresses, and exquisite palace lanterns hung under the corridors. Even the paving stones underfoot were so shiny they could reflect a mirror.

The servants and maids Zhao An saw along the way were all dressed in fine clothes, not only were they smart and good-looking, but some of them were even eunuchs who were only used by the royal family!

It's probably because Heshen's daughter-in-law was the Tenth Princess; otherwise, even if Heshen had ten times the courage, he wouldn't have dared to use eunuchs privately.

This is a crime almost as serious as rebellion.

Liu Quanren was a shrewd and experienced man. He knew that Zhao An was deeply favored by his master and also had the emperor's favor. So he chatted and laughed with Zhao An all the way, making it seem as if they had known each other for many years.

In the end, Zhao An was taken by Liu Quan to a warm pavilion called Jialetang to wait.

The room was warm and cozy, with thick Western Region carpets on the floor and paintings and calligraphy by famous artists that Zhao An did not recognize hanging on the walls. A Western clock also hung on the wall, and the antiques and jade artifacts displayed in the display cases made Zhao An's heart flutter.

However, Zhao An was not alone in the warm pavilion; there were already four people waiting there.

These people, like Zhao An, were dressed in casual clothes. Their exact rank was unknown, but their eyes were full of friendliness and curiosity as they looked at Zhao An. Clearly, they had seen Zhao An's "debut" at the New Year's Eve party.

The only awkward thing was that everyone was just pretending to drink tea without actually talking to each other.

Since the other person wouldn't talk to him, Zhao An was naturally too embarrassed to strike up a conversation. He pretended to be appreciating a painting while holding a teacup.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a very handsome-looking boy came over. After glancing at the waiting crowd, the boy bowed respectfully and said, "Please come with me, Lord Zhao."

Zhao An hurriedly agreed and followed the boy to Heshen's study, Xijinzhai. This study was modeled after the Ningshou Palace in the Forbidden City and was the core of the entire Heshen residence.

Only important people are allowed to enter this place.

"This humble servant, Zhao Youlu, greets Your Excellency!"

Before even stepping inside, Zhao An slapped his sleeves and bowed.

"No need, get up."

Heshen, also dressed in casual clothes, sat behind a large sandalwood desk, toying with a jade ruyi in his hand.

When Zhao An got up, he also noticed the jade ruyi and guessed that it might be the ruyi that Heshen specially gave him after he learned that Jiaqing was the crown prince.

"sit."

Heshen pointed to the embroidered stool and laughed, "It must be lively outside, right?"

"Returning to the Grand Hall, it was very lively, with carriages and horses everywhere. This servant had a hard time squeezing in, which shows how high the Grand Hall's prestige is and how loyal all the officials are!"

Zhao An sat down with half of his buttocks resting on the embroidered stool, just like he had been in front of Old Ding, the county magistrate, back then.

"The talk of officials winning my heart is just a mundane formality. Those people outside are either begging me or afraid of me; there's no question of them winning my heart."

After setting down the jade ruyi, Heshen looked Zhao An up and down and asked, "You are now famous in the capital. What are your thoughts?"

Zhao An hurriedly stood up: "Everything this servant has was given to me by His Majesty and the Grand Secretary, so this servant only knows how to serve the Grand Secretary and His Majesty, and has no other thoughts!"

Seeing Zhao An's reserved demeanor, Heshen couldn't help but smile and shake his head, saying, "It's good to be cautious, but you don't need to be like this with me in the future."

He paused, then said meaningfully, "You should keep that coin the Emperor gave you safe; it might just become your lucky charm in the future."

"Yes, I understand."

As Zhao Angang sat down again, he heard women laughing and talking outside the door.

Immediately, a woman with an extremely elegant and noble demeanor walked in, surrounded by maids. Behind her were two young women, one with beautiful features who looked only seventeen or eighteen years old, and the other who looked delicate and lively, about fifteen or sixteen years old.

The two young women gave Zhao An a vague sense of familiarity; one seemed to resemble the old man, while the other looked very much like Heshen in front of him.

(End of this chapter)