Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 236: Letter to Zhang Qing
If he were buying vegetables, Zhang Shou would be happy to take advantage of a seller who took the initiative to lower the price. However, now that he was choosing his future home, he encountered a seller as generous as the emperor, and his mood was really complicated. After all, he was not very polite when he killed the eldest prince.
Therefore, when he saw Zhu Ying running towards him happily like a unique colorful butterfly in winter, followed by Zhan Jin Liuyin, he smiled and asked, "Yingying, what do you three think of this house?"
"This peony garden is great!" Zhu Ying first praised the peony garden, and then added, "Don't be fooled by the fact that it's bare everywhere in winter. Not to mention flowers, even leaves can't be seen. But in spring, when the flowers bloom, they will be absolutely beautiful!"
She paused, and then continued, "When Hu Anshan built a garden, he never liked to be petty, nor did he just pile up rockery and small bridges and flowing water, but he paid attention to spaciousness and liked a kind of remote beauty. As long as we make a few small changes, we can move in and live here. It is indeed much easier than building a house. Ah Shou, just buy this place! If you don't have enough money, I can lend you money!"
Zhang Shou didn't expect Zhu Ying to be so direct and proactive. He was stunned for a moment and then smiled and said, "Yingying, didn't you just say that you wanted to buy this place before, but your grandmother and your father didn't give you money? How come you have money now?"
"I was just thinking about it before. If I really want to buy such a big villa, will I use it as a dowry in the future? Who knows if it will be given to an ungrateful person!" Zhu Ying blurted out habitually, and then realized that she had made a serious mistake. She immediately said embarrassedly, "How could I know that my father had already arranged a marriage for me, and you, Shou, are so perfect... So now I have to buy it even if I have to sell my jewelry!"
Zhang Shou was a little surprised when he heard the word "ungrateful". He thought that Zhu Ying, a girl who was held in the palm of his hand, would always be optimistic about the future, but he didn't expect that she had such a pessimistic view.
Perhaps, it was because her father, Duke of Zhao Zhu Jing, and her mother Jiu Niang had been at odds with each other for many years, which made her more worried about the future?
But when she said that she would sell her jewelry to buy the house with him, Zhang Shou laughed and repeated what Ah Liu had just said. At this moment, Zhu Ying, who had been frowning, suddenly showed her joy and almost shouted "Long live the emperor".
However, Zhang Shou poured cold water on her excitement: "That being said, I cannot take the emperor's generosity for granted. So, I want Ah Liu to tell him that even if the emperor sells this villa to me at a low price, 5,000 strings of cash is still a reasonable price, but 50 strings of cash is too much. However, I plan to use 250 acres of cotton fields and 2,500 strings of cash to pay for it."
"After all, it's true that I made 10,000 strings of cash, but a small portion of it was deposited with me by Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu, and Lu Sanlang. I can't just use their money to show off."
Zhu Ying was about to object, but when she saw Zhang Shou's determined look, she was slightly startled, then nodded and said, "Okay, if you only pay fifty strings of cash, it will be like the emperor rewarding you with this villa in disguise. If you pay five thousand strings of cash, it can only be regarded as buying this place cheaply, and you won't owe the emperor such a big favor... But your loom is almost done, and then the emperor will probably have a headache!"
When they realized that the first half of the young lady's words were about being ungrateful, which was too explicit, Zhan Jin and Liu Yin were sweating, fearing that the son-in-law, who was as elegant and talented as a fairy in the sky, would be angry. But when they heard the second half of the young lady's words, which seemed to express her true feelings and said that she wanted to sell the jewelry, they both felt relieved. But the facts proved that they were not frightened enough.
At this time, hearing the word loom, Liu Yin subconsciously asked: "Miss, what loom? Didn't Mr. Shou give you the blueprint of a spinning loom before? Spinning loom and loom don't seem to be the same thing!"
Zhu Ying smiled with eyes curved and an extremely proud look on her face: "Who is Ah Shou? Since he has invented a spinning machine, he should improve the loom! I just went with him to see it, and there should be results soon. When that happens, I will find a sucker to slaughter, that would be great!"
Zhang Shou was immediately amused: "Yingying, do you think you can keep it a secret that the eldest prince was stabbed? This kind of thing can only be done once, it will be useless the second time."
"Then you're going to lose a lot, aren't you?" Zhu Ying's brows suddenly raised. "If that's the case, we'll buy this house for fifty strings of cash, otherwise the emperor will get all the benefits !"
"The emperor didn't just use the new spinning machines in the royal weaving and dyeing bureaus, but planned to promote them throughout the country. So, not only did the emperor not make any money, but he actually lost a lot. After all, it's clear that even the emperor himself likes this villa very much." Zhang Shou smiled as he spoke, and then said calmly, "Besides, even if I don't cheat the fool, I can still make a lot of money from the loom."
Zhu Ying immediately became curious and asked immediately. When Zhang Shou looked at her mysterious expression, she couldn't help but feel itchy. Then she suddenly thought of another question: "Oh, since the loom is almost done, Ah Liu brought us out to see the house today, and Zhu Hong and the others are in the mansion, there must be no one guarding it, right?"
Zhan Jin suddenly came to his senses: "Yes, what if there are bad guys like the eldest prince and the second prince who have bad intentions? Master Shou, you are too careless!"
Zhang Shou chuckled, then turned his head to look at Ah Liu. Zhu Ying, Zhan Jinliuyin and the other two immediately followed his gaze and stared at Ah Liu. Facing such a gaze, the young man seemed calm and composed.
"There's a madman!"
Hearing these four simple words, Zhu Ying breathed a sigh of relief: "So Uncle Hua is watching over there. No wonder you, Liu, were so determined to accompany us. I'm relieved now! When Uncle Hua gets angry, he's more powerful than a ghost. Anyone who wants to do that would be wrong!"
"But when did Master Hua Qi become so easy to talk to?" Liu Yin was very surprised, and then he whispered, "Master Hua Qi is usually lazy and doesn't care about anything, but he actually went out this time. It's really a blessing in disguise. The spinning machine made by Master Shou is so valuable, so the loom this time must be very valuable too. Maybe it was Madam Tai's personal order that made Master Hua Qi go to watch it."
The corners of Ah Liu's mouth curled up, and Zhang Shou saw this hidden change in his expression, but he knew that this kid was mocking Liu Yin for misunderstanding him. Ever since Ah Liu told him that Hua Qi was personally watching near the house that served as both a blacksmith shop and a carpenter shop, he realized that it must be the emperor's intention. And since he had never intended to make a fortune in silence, he was naturally happy to see this happen.
Therefore, he was not worried at all that Hua Qi would see through the transformation that did not have much technical content, and then the emperor would make the thing first. Because after several rounds of dealings, he had already concluded that the emperor was not the kind of person who was greedy for profit. In addition to being independent, he was also a rare open-minded person.
With such a monarch, if nothing else, he at least felt that life as an official was not difficult.
He immediately smiled and said, "Okay, now that we have seen the Peony Garden, let's go around the other parts of the villa. Let's all think about what the various houses can be used for, so that we can pool our ideas."
Since they had decided to buy this former Luwang Mansion, the five of them had to take a good walk after leaving the Peony Garden. They saw a winding stream behind the Peony Garden, an octagonal pavilion to the south of the stream, a few trees next to the pavilion, and a clump of crabapples. At the end of the stream, it flowed into a stone wall, next to the stone wall was a thatched pavilion, and next to the pavilion stood two large stones.
The materials of these two large stones are quite peculiar. One of them is inscribed with the words "Inner Court" and the other with the words "Zhengguo". Zhang Shou originally thought that this was because the original owner was the current emperor's younger brother, Prince Lu. But when he identified the seal, he found that the four words on it were "Mingren Hall Seal". If it was something else, he might not recognize it, but he remembered that Mingren Hall Seal was one of the small seals of Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Ying's eyes widened. "Isn't this the stone guarding the entrance to the inner treasury? I heard that Prince Lu went to visit the inner treasury and fell in love with this thing. He begged the empress dowager to move it back to his own villa. The emperor also turned a blind eye."
Prince Lu was truly willful and arrogant to the extreme, no wonder he ended up like that.
Zhang Shou thought so in his heart, and couldn't help but take a closer look, then smiled and said: "This is something from the time of Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty. Prince Lu has a good eye. Since it is something from the palace, we can return it as it is. Anyway, I don't have any interest in or research on this kind of decorative stone. I just think that the seal on the stone should be from Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty. Of course, Yingying, if you like it..."
Zhu Ying was a little interested at first, but when Zhang Shou mentioned Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty, she immediately frowned: "If it was something from the Tang or Song Dynasty, it would be okay, but Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty... Haha, who would want something from a king who lost his country!"
She sneered, and then said excitedly: "Prince Lu might have been killed by this kind of thing that destroyed his country. If this house belongs to us, I will definitely return this stone myself... Hey, there seems to be flowers over there!"
Seeing Miss Zhu leave the two strange stones behind and run towards a bunch of colorful flowers faintly visible over there like a gust of wind, Zhan Jin and Liu Yin hurriedly caught up with her. Zhang Shou couldn't help but feel a little strange.
You know, this is the capital. If it hadn't warmed up today and there was sunshine before, he wouldn't have invited Zhu Ying to come out and look at the house. Unexpectedly, after a day of shopping, the sky started to get cloudy in the afternoon, and it seemed like it was going to snow... But no matter what, how could flowers bloom in such a cold winter? Moreover, a bunch of colorful flowers, what a rare species!
Zhang Shou thought about it and hurried over. When he got closer, he found that it was not a flower, but colorful paper strips tied on the branches. From a distance, it fluttered in the wind and looked a bit like a flower, but when he looked closer, its true form was revealed.
Zhu Ying angrily took off one of the yellow slips, and when she looked down, she found that there was writing on it, which surprised her. After taking a closer look, she couldn't help but burst out laughing: "I thought this was a sacrifice to the flower god, but shouldn't the sacrifice to the flower god be during the Grain in Ear season? I didn't expect that this was a note left by the emperor for you, Shou!"
It turned out to be a note left for them by the emperor?
Zhang Shou was also stunned by the emperor's strange idea, and then he burst into laughter. Zhan Jin and Liu Yin looked at each other in bewilderment, and Liu Yin muttered to himself: "Isn't this too much of a joke? What if the eldest lady and Mr. Shou didn't see it?"
"The emperor did this because he knows my temper. It's so cold, and there are dozens of colorful pieces of paper tied to a bunch of flowers. I will definitely be curious and go over to see what's going on!" Zhu Ying said as she smiled and untied all the pieces of paper one by one, and then stuffed them all at once to Zhang Shou, "A Shou, come and take a look, what did the emperor say?"
Although it was unexpected, Zhang Shou was indeed very curious about what the emperor was up to. When he looked down at the first note in his hand, his expression suddenly became extremely strange.
"I gave it to Mr. Zhang. Because of me, no one has dared to buy the Prince Lu's mansion for more than ten years. As time goes by, the inner treasury has invested countless money in repairs every year. Now that I know that Mr. Zhang is about to get married and Yingying is about to get married, I use this house as a gift to celebrate. This is not a gift from the emperor, but a gift from the elders. The fifty strings of cash I mentioned to Ah Liu was just a joke."
Zhang Shou didn't know if it was a coincidence or if the emperor wrote every note like this. He quickly looked at the second note, but saw that it was introducing the "Untitled Hall" that he had entered before. The two words "Untitled" were not written by Prince Lu himself, but by the current emperor. He savored the handwriting on the note and the plaque in his hand again and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
The emperor gave the main hall of Prince Lu's villa two words "Untitled". The emperor was as willful as Prince Lu. I wonder if Prince Lu was angry .
While he was complaining in his mind, he continued to read other notes. All of them were introducing the various buildings in this courtyard. For example, what materials the pavilion was made of and how much labor it took to build it; what kind of trees they were, when they were planted, or where they were transplanted from; when the bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest were the freshest; and the origins of the pond, pavilions, halls, and gardens next to the flowers...
Zhang Shou initially read the notes with a joking mood, but after reading seven or eight of them, his indifference disappeared completely, and was replaced by a sense of melancholy.
Whether the emperor paid close attention to the garden when it was first built, or visited it frequently after Prince Lu died and the garden was nationalized, and inquired about the details of its design and construction, it can be said that it was not just out of reluctance and malice to have his beloved thing taken away by his younger brother. Perhaps the emperor could never forget Prince Lu, his only younger brother.
"A Shou!"
Hearing this sudden voice, Zhang Shou immediately looked up and saw Zhu Ying looking at him with sparkling eyes - and the sparkling thing was clearly water. Knowing that Zhu Ying, who knew more about the old palace affairs than he did, might have also understood the inside story, he smiled at her.
"Go home. Since you've chosen a good house, you should tell the Madam, Aunt Nine, and your second brother first!"
