Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 821: Gift of Gold
Zhang Shou certainly didn't care that a studious Italian boy at home was in dire straits. Didn't he try to find ways to ask for advice in Jiuzhang Hall? Didn't he flip through the Latin version of Geometry in class and copy his calculations while thinking hard? Now I give you a teacher who is proficient in languages. If you still dislike his strictness, what do you want?
Zhang Shou was not at home, and Zhu Ying happily went to the girls' school to be her own inspector. Wu was the only one in Zhang Garden who did not want to be in charge but had to be in charge. On this day, she, who was not old at all but was respectfully called Lao An, received a message from someone at the door in a hurry. The imperial concubine of Yonghe Palace sent another cart of things.
Wu thought she was used to the palace's rewards since she and Zhang Shou came to the capital, and she was even more used to it when Zhu Ying married into the family. But the day before yesterday, Zhu Ying brought back two carts of furs and clothing materials from Yonghe Palace, and when they were put into storage, she was specially asked to sort them out, and asked her to keep any she liked. She was almost dazzled.
And now they are sending it? Although Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying had already told her that before giving birth, Concubine Yu had asked to give Zhu Ying the books of strange and mysterious stories and various weapons that she had collected for many years, she still couldn't help feeling a little panic. When she hurriedly stood up and prepared to go out herself, she didn't forget to ask, "Is there anyone delivering things with the car? Who is it from Yonghe Palace?"
"The person who came here claims to be Xiaoyue, the senior maidservant of the Imperial Concubine." Mother Jin, who came to report the news, did not stop Wu directly, but followed her closely. "Although the Imperial Concubine does not have female officials like Shang Gong and Shang Yi, she has transferred two female historians since she took over the palace affairs. However, the Imperial Concubine did not promote the palace maids around her to be female officials of the Six Palaces Bureau."
If Zhu Ying was here, she would understand the implication of this, which was why the person who came this time was not a palace lady. However, Wu was limited in her knowledge, so she did not quite understand the meaning. But she remembered what Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying had told her before, which was that if she did not understand something, she should just nod and not express her opinion.
However, Wu understood one thing, that is, the person who came was not a palace lady, so she did not need to go to the main gate to greet her, and she only needed to meet her in the small hall. But even so, when she saw the person coming in and bowing respectfully, she hurriedly stood up and gave him a helping hand.
Seeing that the man was not too old, she was unsure how to address him, so she simply avoided the topic and said with a smile: "Your Majesty has given me so many generous gifts. My whole family is really honored and uneasy."
"The queen is still pregnant, otherwise she might have come in person. If it weren't for Master Zhang and the eldest daughter accompanying her that day, the queen would have finally relaxed. Who knows how much suffering she would have suffered. The queen said that even if she moved a mountain of gold and silver, she would not be able to express her gratitude and affection for these things that she would never need again."
The other party spoke so sincerely, and even repeatedly said in the name of the imperial concubine, Wu finally didn't know what to say. She was not very good at speaking, and she was suddenly speechless.
Fortunately, Mother Jin, who was following by the side, was good at filling in the gaps and immediately said, "My young master and young mistress often say that the queen treats them as her own children, and it is their duty to do something for the queen. After all, they can have what they have today, not only because of the queen, Madam Zhao, but also the late Taiyi who risked her life, but also because of the many years of raising them by Old An."
This time, because Jin Mama spoke on behalf of Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying, even Wu was a little uneasy. Xiaoyue, who came from Yonghe Palace, couldn't be too humble on behalf of her master. So, Wu only saw Jin Mama and Xiaoyue exchange some polite words, and then Xiaoyue smiled and left.
She wanted to stop him but didn't know if it was appropriate. She felt very uncomfortable. When she saw him leave the house and turn around, she turned her head to look at Jin's mother beside her with great anxiety. As a result, she saw him take another step forward and whisper in her ear.
"An Ren, Miss Xiao Yue is just here to run an errand for the Imperial Concubine and pass on a message. Anyway, our family cannot refuse this matter. If it could be refused, the Young Master and the Young Madam would have refused it long ago."
Wu hesitated for a moment, and finally had to accept this result. However, when she actually came forward to receive this batch of gifts and the corresponding list, she found that she had thought too simply - because it was not just the books and weapons mentioned by Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou, but also...
There is also a whole box of gold and silver bars!
Rather than a box, it was more like a box about one foot long, half a foot wide, and five inches high. Because it was filled with gold and silver ingots, it was so heavy that she had to work very hard to move it. When she opened it, Wu couldn't help but gasp, and then she instinctively shouted, "This... How can this be! Mother Jin, are you going to get Miss Xiaoyue back?"
Mother Jin was just flipping through a thick stack of lists. After all, the list listed the name of each book. God knows how Concubine Yu collected so many strange and bizarre books in the palace. Some of the more famous ones, such as Hong Xian, Hong Fu, and Nie Yinniang, were fine, but there were many names she had never heard of at all!
Therefore, it was not until she turned her head to look because of Wu's reaction that she discovered the box of gold and silver ingots. She no longer had the time to read the list carefully word by word, and she flipped through it to the end in a few seconds. After a slight pause, she quickly handed the page to Wu and even poked the last line with her finger.
"Anren, look, it's clearly written here. One hundred taels of gold and one hundred taels of silver. It's not a lot, but it's not mentioned."
Wu didn't usually come into contact with such physical gold and silver - after all, there were money houses nowadays, and a lot of money was transferred through them. She only saw a number, and most of her daily expenses were in banknotes. The copper coins she gave as rewards were all strung together with ropes and then put in baskets. After all, even the wages of servants were sometimes not paid in copper coins.
Otherwise, with so many people, how many baskets of coins would be needed?
As for gold and silver... she had never seen so much. After all, when she and Zhang Shou were in the countryside, clothing and other sundries were provided by the Duke of Zhao's mansion, and the rent paid by the tenants was either in coins or in kind. When Zhu Ying married, she might have brought a lot of gold and silver as a dowry, but she was not a mother-in-law who would look through her daughter-in-law's dowry.
At that moment, she even thought that was what was mentioned in the old play, something like one thousand taels of gold and silver...
Of course, when Mrs. Wu heard what Mother Jin said, she had already reacted. If it was really one thousand taels of gold and one thousand taels of silver... that would be two hundred kilograms, right? There was no way such a small box could hold it all! But even so, she counted with her fingers and still felt that the reward from Yonghe Palace was too heavy. The most important thing was what Mother Jin said. She didn't say that in advance!
So, she made a prompt decision and said, "Well, pick two people to go to the public school and the girls' school separately and tell Zhang Shou and Yingying about this. As for the things, you can send them to Yingying's room and let Mama Li and the others over there help count them."
When Zhang Shou, who was at the public school, learned that in addition to the box of things that Concubine Yu, he and Zhu Ying had agreed upon, there was actually a box full of gold and silver in the Yonghe Palace, he was somewhat surprised.
This amount of money is not a lot, after all, one hundred taels of gold and one hundred taels of silver, added together according to the market price, is less than one thousand strings of cash, and no wealthy family lacks this little money; but it is not a small amount either, because the food, clothing and expenses of the concubines of this dynasty are paid through the inner treasury, and ordinary outsiders naturally do not know about it, but there are people like Zhu Ying who are familiar with the situation in the palace.
Apart from food and clothing, Concubine Yu used to have only 360 strings of cash a year, and now after being promoted to a noble concubine, she only has 600 strings of cash, two-thirds of which are in the form of coins, and one-third are in gold and silver. Even if Concubine Yu saves all the gold and silver and doesn't spend a penny, it will take her eight to ten years to save the hundred gold and silver. What will Princess Yongping and the fifth prince think if he gives all of them to him?
"Do you want me to go to the eldest lady and ask her what she says?"
Hearing these words suddenly, Zhang Shou turned his head and saw Ah Liu standing beside him quietly. He shook his head thoughtfully: "Mom must have sent someone to tell Yingying, so there is no need to ask her specifically... Besides, I can ask her at night. It won't hurt to wait a little longer. This matter is a bit strange, let me think about it..."
Since Zhang Shou said there was no need to tell Zhu Ying, Ah Liu immediately prepared to leave - in fact, if someone from his family had not come to report the gift from Yonghe Palace, he would have come in to take a look because he was worried after hearing that there had been no response from the school hall for a long time. Otherwise, he would never have interrupted in such a matter where he had no idea what to do.
But before he left, he suddenly heard Zhang Shou shout "wait". When he turned around, he saw Zhang Shou smiling and gently punching the boxer. The confusion on his face just now disappeared. "I'll write a note, you go give it to Yingying! You don't have to come back to tell me after you give it to her. Just do what you need to do!"
Although he didn't know why Zhang Shou suddenly changed his mind, Ah Liu was still very willing to be such a messenger. He didn't even think about why he was asked to deliver a note instead of a verbal message.
On the way to deliver the letter, even though it was just a note folded into a cross shape without even an envelope, he did not open it out of unrealistic curiosity. Instead, he delivered the item to the girls' school and handed it to Zhu Ying.
Zhu Ying had also received a message from her mother-in-law before, and her entanglement and hesitation were no better than Zhang Shou's. After all, it was understandable that Concubine Yu gave her all kinds of things, but why did she send money? Fortunately, Princess Yongping was busy with the affairs and didn't care about Zhang Yuan's message at all, otherwise she was not sure how people would react after knowing it.
So, holding the note that Ah Liu had solemnly handed over, she did not open it, but stared at Ah Liu and asked, "What did Ah Shou write?"
Ah Liu immediately pointed at the note in confusion - if you want to know what it is, can't you read it yourself, Miss? As a result, his action caused Zhu Ying to mutter: "If I were the one delivering the letter, I would have opened it on the way to see what it is!"
"The master didn't let me see it!"
You really listen to Ah Shou too much! Zhu Ying wanted to say this, but then she thought, she trusted this young man almost as much as Zhang Shou did, because he never compromised when carrying out orders? She smiled slightly, but when she unfolded Zhang Shou's note and easily read through the few lines, she was stunned.
After a long while, she suddenly slammed the table hard, not caring whether Ah Liu next to her was frightened by her action, and started yelling: "Why didn't I think of this! I told you that the queen shouldn't be such a cliché... No, I want to go to the palace!"
Ah Liu didn't have time to say anything, he just saw Zhu Ying running out excitedly. He thought for a moment and ran after her, but when he got out of the door, he saw Zhu Ying standing there waiting for him: "I have enough people around me, you don't need to follow me, don't worry, I will go to the palace and ask everything clearly!"
Seeing Zhu Ying immediately called out to Liu Yin who had come out with her today, and then went out to call the guards, Ah Liu could only return home suspiciously - a real return home. After all, he now had an additional task to urge the little ones in Zhang Yuan's family to study hard. However, even though Zhang Shou had always told him that he didn't need to go back to the public school to pick them up after returning to Zhang Yuan, he still did it.
So, in the evening, after school, Zhang Shou saw Ah Liu standing in front of Jiuzhang Hall with an umbrella. He looked up at the sky where snow was falling again, and then he walked towards him leisurely. Seeing that Ah Liu had opened all his umbrellas in his direction as usual, he knew that he couldn't persuade this kid to stop running around, so he asked directly, "What did Yingying say after the letter was delivered?"
"The eldest lady said she would ask for everything clearly and thoroughly."
This was obviously an answer that fit Zhu Ying's personality very well, so Zhang Shou immediately laughed. Although he could wait until he got home to tell Zhu Ying about his guess, in that case, this impatient young lady would probably not be able to hold back and go to the palace overnight. He might as well tell her earlier, so that at least he wouldn't have to stay alone in the empty room during this long winter night...
Sure enough, when Zhang Shou sat in the warm carriage and returned to Zhang Garden, he learned from the door that Zhu Ying had not returned yet. He was not surprised by this result, but after meeting Wu, he was sent to see the things sent from Yonghe Palace today.
Because he had received the news in advance, he seemed very calm about the books, weapons, and the box of gold and silver. However, this calmness only lasted until Miss Zhu Ying appeared in front of him like a warm sun in winter, and then several guards came in one after another, each of them placed a box in front of him, exactly the same as the one sent from Yonghe Palace before.
"What does this mean?"
Seeing Zhang Shou dumbfounded, Zhu Ying coughed and said, "When I went to Yonghe Palace to ask the queen today, the Imperial Noble Consort and the Virtuous Consort were there, and the queen actually said it in front of them. I heard that the queen wanted to give you the little private money she had saved up before to see if it could be of some use, so they immediately took out all their private money, and then the queen mother also came..."
