Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 392: The Division of the Royal Family
"Brother Yuansu, it seems that His Royal Highness Prince Gui is really courteous to the wise."
"Yes , I just felt very happy when I was with His Royal Highness the Prince of Gui yesterday. After a conversation, His Royal Highness the Prince of Gui also showed great interest in my scholars from Nanyue."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"Haha." Yuan Chonghuan wiped his beard complacently and said, "I talked to His Royal Highness the Prince of Gui about the way to govern the country, and I saw His Royal Highness nodded repeatedly. Later, he said that he only regretted that the prince was not talented enough and could not invite more Guangdong scholars to participate in his poetry meeting." At this point, Yuan Chonghuan said to Chen Zizhuang, "Brother Jisheng, His Royal Highness the Prince of Gui mentioned you many times and was very sorry that you could not attend the poetry meeting."
As soon as these words came out, the lively atmosphere suddenly became awkward. The other Guangdong scholars looked at Yuan Chonghuan like he was a fool. And Yuan Chonghuan also reacted immediately.
Oh no, I just boasted too much and got a little carried away!
In fact, at yesterday's poetry gathering, Gui Wang Zhu Changying not only ordered a Cantonese takeaway for Yuan Chonghuan, but also asked him how many scholars from Guangdong came to Beijing to take part in the imperial examination this time, who was the champion of this session, and expressed the hope to have the honor of meeting the champion.
That's all, no more words.
It’s not that Zhu Changying looked down on him, but the imperial examination hasn’t even started yet and it’s difficult for everyone to say anything clearly.
Zhu Youdong's policy was very clear: current officials, clerks, and even runners were not allowed to directly serve in foreign vassal states. One of the implicit restrictions of this policy was that those who passed the imperial examination were not allowed to serve in foreign vassal states.
So, if you really want to serve in a foreign vassal state, then don't take part in this examination. Or, think seriously about serving in a foreign vassal state after you fail this examination.
Therefore, Zhu Changying's poetry meeting was more of a way to establish good relations with the scholars: Now we can all get to know each other, and if one unfortunately fails the exam, this place of mine can be a good place for him to go.
The rules of this game are actually well known to everyone. In fact, there were indeed quite a few scholars who attended the poetry gathering yesterday. But they were basically of average age, and their writing skills were only considered average among the candidates in the province, so they had little hope of passing the imperial examination.
According to this rule, it was normal for Yuan Chonghuan to go. He had found a place to go in case he failed the exam, and the King of Gui was willing to be the backup. But he should never have advocated for himself at this time and replaced Zhu Changying to recruit Chen Zizhuang.
Who is Chen Zizhuang? The champion of this Guangdong provincial examination! If he performs normally in this examination, he will at least be a second-class candidate! Moreover, this champion is only 23 years old. Even if he performs poorly and fails, he still has many opportunities. In short, no matter what, Chen Zizhuang will not consider recruiting these foreign kings.
In this awkward atmosphere, Chen Zizhuang was a kind man. He smiled slightly, stood up and shouted, "Little Second Brother!"
"Hey, sir, what do you want me to do?"
"The dishes here are indeed authentic. Bring us the menu and some more dishes. Also, bring us another pound of wine."
"Okay... eh?"
Just as the waiter was smiling and preparing to respond loudly, a quarrel suddenly broke out at the door of the shop downstairs below the table.
The waiter looked from the handrail on the second floor. After a while, anger quickly appeared between his brows. He turned around and said to Chen Zizhuang and others, "Dear guests, please wait a moment. There are some housework to be dealt with in the restaurant. Someone else will come to serve you more dishes later. I will leave now."
"Huh?"
The curiosity of the scholars was immediately aroused. They all stood up, walked to the railing and looked at the lobby downstairs.
The waiter ran downstairs like the wind. He tore off a middle-aged man wearing an apron who looked like a cook and was trying to persuade a young man at the door. Then he started to curse at the young man.
"Zhu Shengpang, you lazy bastard, how dare you come to our place again! You gambled away all the thirty-five silver dollars the emperor gave you, and you also have the thirty-five from Zi'er. Are you also missing the ten silver dollars my father gave you a few days ago? Did you lose them too? Ah!"
"Zhu... Zhu Shengmiao! You ignorant bastard! I am your biological elder brother, and you dare to call me by my name? Do you believe that I will report you to the clan house and have you imprisoned in Fengyang?!"
"Hmph! You dare to talk about the clan house? Go, go to the clan house and sue me! Let 's whether the clan leader will arrest you or me! The emperor has been kind to us, the lieutenants of Fengguo, who are hungry and cold on weekdays, and have found jobs for ourselves, and have also given us capital. So many relatives are honestly trying to support their families. Only a few shameless people like you are idle all day long, hanging around in gambling houses and fireworks. It doesn't matter if you want to die, but don't implicate others! You are my eldest brother, so what? You said yourself that since the opening of this small shop last year, in addition to stealing money from the account, you have been begging for money from my father and mother. If you weren't such a bastard, how could your son, my son, not be able to go to school? You forced your sister-in-law to hang herself and you still don't reflect on yourself. Now are you going to force the whole family to hang themselves?"
After the two young men downstairs quarreled for a while, the people upstairs finally understood what was going on. Chen Zizhuang turned around and called another waiter in the store.
"Little brother, how come the owner of this store is a descendant of the Chu king's lineage?"
"Hey, as soon as I heard the names of the two people quarreling below, I knew they were from the lineage of the King of Chu. The guest is indeed a scholar."
"Haha, Meng Jijun is glorious and brilliant, and his talent is magnificent. This is the generation name of the Chu royal family. Sheng is right next to the word water, and with the addition of the word Zongrenfu, it's natural to hear it."
"That's not what I meant, sir." The waiter pointed at Zhu Shengpang, who was standing outside the door, with disdain. "That guy comes here often, and he often quarrels with the young master. But you can tell the origin of this shop just by the name. Although you are not the first one, you are at least in the top three."
"Hahaha." Turning his head to look at the curious faces of the scholars around him, and also wanting to reverse the awkward situation, Chen Zizhuang simply pulled the young master to his group's table and said, "You've worked hard, young master. Anyway, the kitchen can't add more dishes right now. Take a break, have a drink, and tell us what's going on."
"You are too polite, sir. Even if you did not ask for this, I would still like to tell you about it in order to restore the reputation of our master and young master."
After saying this, the waiter bowed to the many guests on the second floor: "Everyone, the owner of this restaurant is called Zhu Yunkeng, and he is the seventh-generation grandson of Prince Yong'an Yijian. Of course, according to the court etiquette, the descendants of the prince cannot inherit the title of the prince, and the title must be reduced every generation. So when it comes to the owner, it is the lowest lieutenant of Fengguo. A few years ago, the court was in trouble, and the salary of the royal family could not be paid even by the prince, let alone the lowest lieutenant of Fengguo? So our owner had no choice but to hide his identity and ran to Shunde, Guangdong to work as a kitchen helper. Later, relying on his simplicity and hard work, he slowly became the chef of a restaurant.
Last year, after the emperor ascended the throne, he promulgated a new policy for the royal family. The owner no longer had to work for others in secret. So he came to the capital, relied on the silver dollars given by the emperor and his early savings, and borrowed some money to rent this store and opened a Cantonese restaurant. The owner's cooking skills were superb, and he was kind, so the business quickly became popular. Unfortunately..."
The second brother shook his head and said, "The boss has two sons. The one who was serving just now is the second son, named Zhu Shengmiao. The young boss is very good at studying. Last year, the emperor said that the descendants of the Zhu family could participate in the imperial examination. The young boss passed the provincial examination last year. Even though he became a scholar, the young boss still served chores and bought various dishes downstairs of the restaurant.
But the eldest son, the one lying at the door and acting arrogantly, is called Zhu Shengpang. This guy is simply a scoundrel. He didn't get involved in the store's affairs at all. At the beginning, he was clamoring to split up: In order to buy this store, our boss not only used the subsidy from the emperor and his own savings, but also borrowed money from the Royal Bank. Zhu Shengpang himself had a subsidy of 35 yuan from the emperor, and his son also had some. When he opened the store, he was unwilling to take out the money, so he clamored to split up. Hey, you say split up, then split up, after all, the father and son have 70 yuan, and the family of three can survive for two years if they spend frugally in the capital, right? But this guy actually spent it all in gambling houses and brothels within a month of the separation. Then this guy came to the store begging for money.
At first, the boss thought that he was his own son, and there was also his eldest grandson, so he still gave him a dozen yuan. But the frequency of the money was getting higher and higher , and later he simply robbed the money from the account. The accountant was in a difficult situation! Dear guests, our restaurant is rented from someone else, and the monthly rent is a heavy burden. And now the loan has not been repaid... How can we afford it for such a long time? Moreover, this guy took the money and didn't care about the mother and son at home, but continued to have fun in gambling houses and brothels. In the end, he simply lost his wife at the card table, and then the boss's sister-in-law hanged herself... Our boss had no choice but to bring his nephew to the store to raise him. In this way, Zhu Shengpang's son was saved."
"Dear guests." The second brother spread his hands and said, "Please judge for yourself. Even if he is our dearest brother, is there anything wrong with what our young master has done?"
“Yes!”
"well done!"
"That's right. Although your young master is the second oldest, he is loyal and righteous. He is truly worthy of the title of young master!"
"Yes, when the emperor promulgated the new policy for the royal family last year, I was still wondering how he could be so heartless to his own relatives. Now it seems that I have to say that the emperor did a good job and was right! Such a waste should be left to fend for itself. Why should we use the people's blood and sweat to support such a heartless bastard!"
"You're right. People with conscience and ambition can live well without support. How can I support a bastard like Zhu Shengpang? I might as well feed him to a dog than give him a rotten meal!"
The diners on the second floor were talking about this. Yuan Chonghuan and the others looked at each other and could only shake their heads and smile bitterly.
Chen Zizhuang, on the other hand, was silent for a while, then he slammed the table and yelled, "I'll kill you, this loser, brothers, let's go down and beat him up, and then send him to the clan house!"
