Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1615: Incognito Visit 3
After listening to Ye Chen's introduction, Ye Mingsheng pondered for a moment and said:
"Ye Chen, go in and see if Ye Yu is home?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Chen immediately walked into the courtyard. After a moment, he returned and said:

"Your Majesty, Ye Yu is at home!
Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng immediately looked at Zhang Hu standing beside him and said:
"Do you have the staff's token with you?"

"Your Majesty! I have all those tokens with me!"

Hearing this answer, Ye Mingsheng nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Very good! I am Zhang Tai, a senior investigator of the General Staff, investigating the post-war resettlement of retired soldiers. You are my entourage. Do you understand?"

The guards around him were all old men who had followed Ye Mingsheng for many years, so they were no longer surprised by Ye Mingsheng's incognito visits and nodded their heads. Jingxuan and Jingren also became excited.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Ye Mingsheng pushed open the courtyard door and led a group of people into Ye Yu's home.

Although the courtyard looks a bit old from the outside and has a history of several decades, as soon as Ye Mingsheng entered the door, he felt that the inside of the courtyard was full of life. It was obvious that Ye Yu's family lived here very attentively. At this time, a middle-aged man in his early thirties also appeared in front of Ye Mingsheng.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng and his group appear, the middle-aged man seemed a little alert. At this time, he spoke to Ye Chen, whom he knew:
"Ye Yu, don't be nervous! This is Mr. Zhang Tai, the senior investigation specialist of the General Staff. I came to your house today just to learn about your post-war resettlement..."

As soon as Ye Chen finished speaking, Zhang Hu took out the token representing the General Staff from his arms.

At this time, Ye Chen continued:
"I just checked whether you were at home or not, and wanted to see if we should invite Master Zhang over. If you were at home, Master Zhang would be able to understand the situation with you. If you were not at home, we would go to the next house!"

Listening to his brother's words and looking at the token in Zhang Hu's hand, Ye Yu, a middle-aged man in his early thirties and former head of the Fengwu Army, no longer had any doubts in his heart. He immediately bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"I, Ye Yu, the reserve firearms instructor of Yijing, pay my respects to Master Zhang!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly, and the next second Ye Yu invited Ye Mingsheng, who was using the alias Zhang Tai, into the room. Looking at the two children behind Ye Mingsheng who were very interested in his home and looking around, Ye Yu's eyes flashed with surprise, but he didn't say much. He just asked his wife Wang to serve tea to Ye Mingsheng and others.

After a brief greeting, just when Ye Mingsheng was thinking about starting today's main topic, Ye Mingsheng discovered that Wang was actually stealing glances at him from time to time. Ye Mingsheng also subconsciously glanced at Wang.

Although Wang Shi was average looking and could only be considered good-looking, for some reason, she exuded a kind of energy in her gestures. Ye Mingsheng was too lazy to think about what this energy was, so he asked Ye Yu directly:
"Coach Ye, I have just told you why I am here. I was ordered by the General Staff to investigate the post-war living conditions of you veterans. I want to see how you are doing and whether you need any help..."

"I will ask you some questions next. Your answers will be recorded. At the end, you will have to sign. I hope you can answer truthfully without any exaggeration or minimization. Do you understand?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng's formal look, Ye Yu became a little nervous, but still nodded repeatedly:

"Master Zhang, I understand! Please feel free to ask!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng glanced at Zhang Hu, and Zhang Hu immediately picked up a piece of paper and pen, as if he was about to take notes.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng also formally asked:

"Coach Ye, I saw in your file that you were promoted to sentry leader for killing three enemy soldiers and capturing one enemy soldier during the battle in Hebei and Henan. Is that true?"

Ye Yu nodded without hesitation and said:

"Your Majesty, I am so grateful! I made great contributions in Jiyu and was promoted to sentry leader by Your Majesty!"

"I looked at your file. You were seriously injured and broke two ribs during the attack on Yujing, so you retired after the injury, right?"

"That's right! I was serving under Lord Yuan in the First Army. When they were attacking the city, I was hit by rocks from the Ji-Yu Army and fell off the ladder. But I was lucky enough not to die. I only broke two ribs!"

"After this battle, my health deteriorated and I could no longer serve in the army, so I retired from the army and joined the reserve force as a musket instructor!"

"Can you tell me about your salary as a reserve musket instructor for one year?"

"There are regulations on this. The annual salary of a firearms instructor is seven taels of silver, plus a winter subsidy of one tael of silver, and a performance bonus every year. I received a bonus of one tael of silver last year!"

"In addition to this, we also distribute some rice, flour, cloth, salt, vegetables, meat and other things on weekdays. They are all distributed in accordance with regulations and are all recorded..."

"So you rented this courtyard?"

"No! I bought this!"

“Can you share with us how you bought it?”

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Ye Yu frowned slightly. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"Master Ye, you don't have to think too much. I am just following orders. Just do as you say!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Ye Yu looked at Ye Chen who was standing aside. Feeling the gaze of this fellow brother, Ye Chen could only say:
"Whatever Lord Zhang asks you, just tell the truth! Just say what you need to say!"

Seeing that his brother said so, Ye Yu no longer hesitated and said:
"After I made merit in the Battle of Hebei and Henan, the higher-ups promoted me to sentry commander and awarded me ten taels of silver. In addition, I had saved up some silver in the army before, about seven or eight taels of silver, so the total was eighteen taels of silver. I spent fifteen taels of silver to redeem my wife!"

Hearing Ye Yu say the word "redemption", Wang's expression became ashamed and annoyed. She looked at her husband, as if blaming him for telling everything. At this time, Ye Yu was still busy reporting his account:
"After I injured my ribs, I thought about marrying my wife, and then returning to serve in the army..."

Hearing him say this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but ask:
"Coach Ye, didn't you say that you retired because of your poor health after you injured your ribs?" "That was what happened at the time. After I redeemed my wife, I didn't have much money left. So even though I was not in good health at the time, I still wanted to stay in the army for a while longer. After all, I was already a sentry leader at the time, and I could get seven taels of silver a year as salary, and there were bonuses for fighting in the war!"

"Besides, I was already a sentry leader at that time. If I had made any meritorious contributions, I might have become a commander if I was lucky. A commander is a seventh-rank official, the same level as a county magistrate, and that's a high-ranking official!"

"So I was still thinking about working for a while, but my wife was pregnant with my daughter at the time, and she didn't want me to go out and risk my life again. She wanted me to stay at home with them, so I was a little hesitant. Besides, I didn't have much money at the time, and I didn't know what I could do if I left the barracks!"

"But later, the eldest lady, who is now the queen, was truly kind and righteous. After learning that members of the Ye family were injured while serving in the army, she specially sent us consolation money and some other things. She also gave me three taels of silver. I had five taels of silver in my hand at that time!"

"My wife wanted me to do some small business in Yijing at that time, so that I wouldn't have to fight on the battlefield. She didn't want her child to be fatherless after he was born!"

"I think she's overthinking it. Our Fengwu Army is invincible and unstoppable. Most of the enemies died on the battlefield. I think I'm lucky. I didn't die after falling from Yujing City. But she's afraid and she doesn't want to!"

"Just when we had different opinions, the First Army had some vacancies for transfer to the reserve force, so I..."

Before Ye Yu finished speaking, he heard his wife Wang coughing as if her throat was uncomfortable. Then Wang came to Ye Yu and muttered:

"Master Zhang asked how you bought the house, so you just need to tell me how you bought the house. Why are you talking so much?"

Ye Yu preached somewhat innocently:
"Aren't I starting from the beginning?"

Seeing that her husband hadn't reacted yet, Wang was speechless. She hit her husband and said directly:
"Just tell Mr. Zhang that you borrowed thirty taels of silver from your best friend!"

Although Ye Yu's reaction was a little slow, after his wife's reminder, he also reacted and said:
"Yes! That's exactly what happened. I retired from the army and joined the reserve force, where I served as a firearms instructor. That's where I settled down in Yijing. My wife was pregnant with my daughter, so the whole family had to have a place to live. I wanted to rent, but my wife said that houses in Yijing would be valuable in the future, so she asked me to borrow money from Tiege. I was already troubling Tiege, so I was embarrassed to go, but my wife forced me to go!"

"I had no choice but to go again. I originally only wanted to borrow ten taels of silver, but Brother Tie was really kind. After hearing about my family's situation, he insisted on lending me thirty taels of silver so that I could buy a better house in Yijing! Brother Tie didn't even ask for the interest, and told me to pay him back whenever I had the money!"

“I will remember Tiege’s kindness all my life! Although Tiege is not my biological brother, I always treat him as my biological elder brother…”

After saying this, Ye Yu seemed to feel that he had gone off topic, and immediately changed the subject:
"Although the houses in Yijing were not cheap at that time, they were not as expensive as they are now. However, I bought this yard for more than 20 taels of silver. Now, let alone 20 taels of silver, even 30 taels of silver cannot buy this house of mine!"

Ye Yu's face was full of pride when he said this, and it was obvious that he was very proud of owning such an asset.

After listening to Ye Yu's situation, Ye Mingsheng smiled and asked:
"Are you familiar with Ye Tie?"

Ye Yu nodded without hesitation and said:

"Yes! Tiege and I grew up together. Tiege has taken good care of me since I was young. Later, Tiege went to Luoan to protect His Majesty. I haven't seen Tiege for a few years. After Tiege returned to Fengshan, I saw Tiege and I joined the army as soon as possible!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly. He had learned about Ye Yu's family situation and immediately said:
"Master Ye, I have learned about your family's situation. Thank you for your cooperation. We will not disturb you now!"

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng was about to leave with his men, but at this moment, Wang's voice came from behind him.

"You are His Majesty, right?"

Everyone present was shocked when these words came out. Ye Mingsheng turned around and glanced at the woman, then smiled and said:
"Ma'am, this joke is not funny!"

"I'm not kidding! You are His Majesty! I've seen your portrait, and Brother Chen is a royal guard. I've heard that His Majesty likes to go on incognito visits..."

Ye Yu, who was originally so shocked that he couldn't speak, looked at Ye Mingsheng in disbelief, then turned to look at Ye Chen as if he wanted to see something.

Ye Mingsheng was also a little surprised at this time, but looking at this clever woman, Ye Mingsheng said lightly:
"Madam! Your joke is not funny! I also advise you not to joke with His Majesty!"

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng turned around and walked out of the room without waiting for Wang to say anything, while Zhang Hu glanced at Ye Chen.

Although Ye Chen felt helpless, he had to stay and deal with this mess.

Ye Mingsheng walked out of Ye Yu's house and shook his head. He really didn't expect that he could be discovered. It seemed that everyone in Yijing knew that he liked to go incognito!

At this time, Jingxuan opened his mouth and asked Ye Mingsheng:
"Dad, where are we going today?"

Ye Mingsheng did not answer directly after hearing this, but asked:

"What do you think of Ye Yu's family's situation?"

Jingren said without hesitation:
"Dad, I don't think it's that great. His house is old and run-down, and it can't be compared to the palace!"

Hearing Jingren say this, Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything but just smiled, and at this time Jingxuan said seriously:

"I think his family is well off! My mother told me that houses in Yijing are very expensive. Even if an ordinary person works hard in Yijing for a lifetime, it is difficult to buy a house in Yijing. So for a family of four like him to have a house of their own in Yijing is already a very happy thing!"

"Besides, Ye Yu is also the fire gun instructor. In addition to various benefits, he can earn nearly ten taels of silver a year. The minimum wage in Yijing is five taels of silver. He earns almost as much as two people. The most important thing is that he still has a stable job..."

(End of this chapter)