Di Ming

Chapter 40 Filial Piety
Upon hearing the rent figure, Qi Jiguang's face flushed slightly. He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the setting sun, and said calmly:
"Fourth brother, let's forget about the rent. Bohu is my adopted son, and your sworn brother..."

“Bohu? Adopted son? Him?” Qi Baoguo looked at Zhu Yin with a look of astonishment, his voice weak.

How long has it been, and Father has already adopted Zhu Yin as his godson?

Is it me... who's not good enough?
"Yes," Qi Jiguang said with a smile. "I adopted Zhu Yin as my godson and gave him the courtesy name Bohu."

Qi Baoguo wiped the sweat from his forehead; it was probably from the heat.

"Father, please don't joke around." As Zhu Yin's biological son, Qi Baoguo was not as polite.

"Are you serious? Let's not even talk about him having a courtesy name at such a young age. I'm already fifteen and I don't have one yet."

"Just one point. Although Tang Bohu was famous and known as the number one talent in Jiangnan, his life was also full of hardships and misfortunes."

"This is bad luck from the start. If your birth chart isn't strong, you won't be able to handle it and will bring disaster upon yourself."

"Besides, if Zhu Yin uses his courtesy name and it's not as good as his, it will make people laugh. But if it's better than his, he will inevitably suffer a loss."

Qi Jiguang was taken aback, but surprisingly nodded and said, "That's right. Fourth brother, you're right this time."

Only then did he realize that choosing the courtesy name Bohu had been too casual.

After a moment's thought, he pondered and said, "The name Yin is really difficult to find the character 'beauty' in. Hmm, you are young, but you are like a tiger cub, already showing the spirit to devour an ox."

"You're an only child, so you can be both a grown man and a young child. Let's call you... Chick Tiger!"

Qi Baoguo laughed and said, "Childhood Tiger, that's a little tiger. This one is good, better than Bohu."

The little tiger... Zhu Yin was speechless.

His Jurchen name is Little Tiger.

But the name Zhihu is indeed more suitable for him than Bohu.

Yes, my dog's name is Black Tiger...

Qi Baoguo's smile faded as soon as he finished speaking.

"Father," his voice tinged with resentment, "Zhu Yin is only nine years old, isn't he? He already has a courtesy name, but I..."

Qi Jiguang picked up his cane and walked away, leaving behind the words: "As for you... we'll talk about it after you come of age."

Qi Baoguo wiped his sweat with his sleeve and said to the old man's back, "I'm not collecting rent, but we're out of rice to cook."

Qi Jiguang said without turning his head, "With a filial son in the family, what is there to worry about in terms of food?"

Qi Baoguo nodded, looking at Zhu Yin thoughtfully.

Zhu Yin pointed to himself, "My younger brother is a filial son. As long as my younger brother is here, filial piety will be there."

"Fourth Brother, I'll bring you some silver in a bit."

After saying that, he took off running with his short legs.

"Hmm? Zhihu, you..." Qi Baoguo couldn't help but laugh as he watched Zhu Yinfeng run away like the wind.

It's so good to be a child.

"This young man is truly filial. Isn't his father blessed?"

"I just don't know how much his filial piety really weighs."

Qi Baoguo sighed.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice.

He plopped down on a blue stone in the garden, looking at the setting sun swallowed by the green mountains, his eyes filled with confusion.

What will happen in the future?
At only fifteen years old, the boy had already tasted the bitterness of sorrow.

In previous years, he had enjoyed a life of wealth and luxury.

However, ever since my father was demoted to the position of General of Guangdong, even before he was officially dismissed, our family's situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

First, the creditors, having heard rumors, came to collect the debt.

They wouldn't have dared to do that before!

In order to compensate his dead and wounded subordinates, my father bribed powerful figures to allow his troops to train freely. He not only spent his own salary and emptied the family treasury, but also took out debts.

This is why his stepmother, Lady Wang, broke ties with his father.

The stepmother said that the father was a spendthrift who only cared about the common people who were not related to him, and only cared about being loyal to the emperor and serving the country, but did not care about his wife, children and elderly parents.

Without you, Qi Yuanjing, would the Ming Dynasty have perished?
Even if the country falls, it won't be your problem alone.

Why do you have to take it so seriously?

The Ming Dynasty belongs to the Zhu family and to all the ministers, not to a military general like you!

When others become officials or generals, they are like money-making rakes or oil-stealing rats, lining their own pockets to make money and skim off the top.

In the Ming Dynasty, military officers, let alone governors-general, were all incredibly wealthy, even those who were just lieutenant colonels or guerrilla commanders.
But what about you?

You, Qi Yuanjing, have risen to the rank of first-grade official and commanded an army of 100,000. You also have the strong support of Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun in the court, yet you are becoming increasingly poor!
My mother watched helplessly as a dignified Junior Guardian sold his fields, sold his land, and pawned his belongings.

You squandered a perfectly good family business, leaving it destitute and heavily in debt.

Marrying you is the worst thing that could have happened to me in eight lifetimes!
Qi Baoguo recalled his stepmother's previous complaints and didn't know who was right and who was wrong.

But seeing the fate of the Qi family and the cruelty and ingratitude of the emperor and his officials, he increasingly felt that perhaps his stepmother was right.

Oh, Father, why take it so seriously?

Now our family owes so much money, and you've lost your salary, yet you're unwilling to sell weapons, horses, and books.

When the creditors come knocking again, where will you hide? Will you still go fishing at the beach?

When the time comes, you'll become a "turtle fisherman at sea," and won't it be my brother and I who have to deal with the creditors?

Alas, you've come to this point, why don't you write a letter to your old subordinates in Ji and Liao and open your mouth?

They won't just stand by and do nothing.

The more Qi Baoguo thought about it, the more he felt he had no will to live.

...Biyun Courtyard is a small courtyard covering an area of ​​one acre. It was originally the residence of Shen, a concubine of Qi Jiguang.

Several years ago, Wang, the legal wife, drove Shen away on the grounds of poverty.

Shen, along with her son Qi Changguo, angrily left the Qi residence and went back to her parents' home to make a living.

The courtyard was then left empty.

With all the servants dismissed, the courtyard was extremely quiet. Not only were weeds overgrown, but stray cats and dogs also roamed around.

Currently, this almost abandoned courtyard has been "rented" to Zhu Yin and eight others.

The main house, Xieyi Studio, which spans three bays, was naturally where Zhu Yin and the Ning sisters lived.

It is indeed an exquisite and beautiful mansion.

It seems much more luxurious than staying in a guesthouse.

But the moment you push open the vermilion doors and green windows, a choking cloud of dust stings your eyes.

A stray dog ​​howled, startling Ning Caiwei so much that she turned pale and leaped out, disappearing into the weeds by the courtyard wall.

Fortunately, the house was not only ornately decorated and fully furnished, but it also did not leak.

After Galo and the others tidied up briefly, Ning Caiwei settled in with her younger sister.

The living room was very bright, with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides. But the bedroom at the back was very dark.

It's not dark yet, but dusk is already settling into the bedroom, so we need to turn on the lights.

This is what the ancients meant by "bright hall, dark room".

The ancients believed in feng shui. A person's bedroom is a place for resting at night, so it should not be brightly lit.

This is certainly based on scientific evidence. It's melatonin.

The bed in the middle of the bedroom was actually a traditional canopy bed with elaborate craftsmanship, making it look like a small room.

Even the dressing table is inside this "little house".

This elaborate canopy bed is made of rosewood, decorated with gold and embroidery, and is extremely luxurious and exquisite.

But in the dimly lit bedroom, Ning Caiwei and her sister felt that the bed was a bit eerie and creepy.

It looks like the kind of bed you see in Chinese horror movies.

It gives people a deep sense of nightmare.

Ning Caiwei wanted to light a lamp, but found that the oil in the lamp had long since run out and the lamp was burnt out.

The candles on the candlestick had burned out, leaving only a bare candlestick.

Ning Caiwei rummaged through the drawers of her dressing table for a while, but couldn't find any candles.

Instead, when he looked up, he saw a dim and blurry bronze mirror.

The mirror was also blurry; I don't know how long it had been since it was polished.

Sigh, how did Qi Shaobao become so poor? He was a first-rank official, after all.

Ning Caiwei didn't want to stay in the dark bedroom, so she carried her younger sister to the living room, where she saw Zhu Yin walking in, covered in sweat.

“The Qi family is out of money. Take fifty taels of silver and give them some emergency relief.”

Zhu Yin would ask for money the moment he met her.

Ning Caiwei nodded, handed the baby, which looked like a hand warmer, to Zhu Yin, and then went back to her bedroom to get the money.

Ning Caiwei only slowly emerged from inside after Zhu Yin had been holding Ning Qingchen and was sweating profusely from her heat.

She held several silver ingots in her hand, all of high-quality snowflake silver, which could be cut with a single snip.

“Exactly fifty taels.” Ning Caiwei sat down by herself.

"Renting a house definitely won't cost this much. This is to help them out. I'll give them more if it's not enough. In short, we can't let Qi Shaobao worry about money."

As she spoke, she fiddled with the silver ingot, seemingly reluctant to let go of it.

"But we don't have much money. After paying for the boat, we only have 1,300 taels left. We need to bribe the county government tomorrow, which will cost us again."

"These are all valuable initial capital."

Zhu Yin frowned. "President Ning, what you said makes sense, but could you please bring her over first? Holding her like this feels like holding a little furnace."

Holding a child during the hottest days of summer is too hot.

Ning Caiwei laughed and said, "Just hold me a little longer. I've been holding you for ages, and I'm all sweaty."

"Mosquitoes love to bite her, so you have to hold her and shake her at the same time."

Zhu Yin's face fell.

I'm shaking the yarn.

it's too hot.

Ning Caiwei fanned herself with her small hands, "I smell terrible, how am I going to take a shower tonight?"

"There are no lights, no place to shower, lots of mosquitoes, and no mosquito nets."

"Ugh."

Zhu Yin could only place Ning Qingchen on the table, wipe the sweat from his forehead, and sit down.

Ning Qing's lips trembled, and she felt like crying again.

They don't care about me at all!
Why don't you find me hot in the winter in Northeast China?

I got bitten by a mosquito! Can't you see it?

woo woo woo woo…

(End of this chapter)