The Red Mansion Big Liar.

Chapter 439: Two Sides
Zhongshun Wangfu.

After listening to Zhang Yunyi's report of the details of the audience with the emperor, the King of Qin patted him on the shoulder and said solemnly: "Good! Good! If I can inherit the throne, you will be the first to be credited!"

Zhang Yunyi quickly said modestly: "Thanks to the great help from the prince, the elders and the gentlemen, I dare not take credit for it!"

His goal has been achieved. Eating alone is not the way for an official.

"My dear ministers, there is no need to be so modest. You are all my loyal subjects!"

Everyone's spirits were lifted. Zhang Yun逸 glanced at everyone present and then looked at the position that should have belonged to Li Congwen.

The officialdom is sometimes so realistic. If you miss out when entering the game, who would be willing to share the credit with more people?

As for the Minister of War Li Congwen who was excluded, everyone tacitly did not mention him.

King Qin took a deep breath, looked at Gu Dashou and said, "Is there going to be any problems in Jiangnan?"

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Even if Jia Yucun retreats, we have a backup plan."

Gu Dashou sighed and said, "There is no other way. Although Minister Zhou is more suitable, if we send him, Prince Ning will definitely object. After all, Jia Yucun has a relationship with young friend Yun Yi and knows the emperor's intentions well. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, we can only settle for the second best. I hope he is a smart man..."

The emperor, the King of Qin and the King of Ning are like an impossible triangle. It is impossible to choose a candidate that satisfies all three parties.

Gu Dashou also grasped the emperor's intention, and took advantage of the emperor's strength and chose Jia Yucun, who had some connection with Zhang Yun逸.

King Qin nodded and said, "It is especially important to be careful with words and actions at this time. I have been out for a long time and must return as soon as possible. Don't send me off. Have fun!"

It was only when Zhang Yun逸 arrived that he realized that in order to conceal their tracks, the King of Qin had delayed their arrival by several hours and arrived at the palace earlier.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but Zhang Yunyi always felt that when the King of Qin said he had a great time, he glanced at him meaningfully.

There were so many people around that it was inconvenient for everyone to see him off outside, so they just went to the side hall to see him off.

After the King of Qin left, Gu Dashou clapped his hands and said, "I didn't expect it! I didn't expect it! There is actually such an unexpected surprise!"

Originally, I just wanted to give Prince Ning some advice, but I didn't expect that the emperor would actually have the idea of ​​abdicating.

Who wouldn't choose a side in advance just to get the credit of being a dragon's follower?
For men, power is the best medicine.

Seeing success just around the corner, he became more and more confident, but he did not care about the projects that he would like to discuss after dinner and started talking about them.

Zhang Yun逸 complained bitterly, but he had no choice but to chat with them and fill in the gaps.

It was not until the third watch that Gu Dashou said, "The craftsmanship of your bamboo paper is indeed quite good. Although it does not absorb ink very well, it is perfect for printing. Several shops in the capital have already put up new ones. Once this matter is settled, it will be time to roll it out across the board."

As a leader in the literary world, Gu Dashou had run a bookshop for many years and had many people who were skilled in typesetting and printing.

He is responsible for all printing matters.

"With the elder watching over us, we can all rest assured. It's a good opportunity to take some time off."

"Ha... yawn..." Gu Dashou yawned and said with a smile, "The Yangtze River's new generation is pushing the old generation out, and it's useless when you get old..."

Seeing this, Zhang Yunyi quickly suggested, "It's getting late. Since you are tired, why don't we just go home?"

Xiangling was still waiting at home. If she kept wasting time, it would probably be dawn soon.

Although they would not be delayed for long on the popular project, Zhang Yunyi could not come down for the time being.

He was still occupying someone else's concubine, and it was difficult for him to leave her.

I was so excited about the conversation just now that I forgot the time. If I delay any longer, I’m afraid I won’t be able to get back before four o’clock.

Others were fine, but Gu Dashou was too old to handle it, so he quickly took advantage of the situation and said, "Then let's go!"

……

The show at Prince Zhongshun's mansion was over, but the villa of the Zhen family in Jiangnan was filled with singing and dancing.

Dozens of Yangzhou skinny girls with pretty faces and charming figures were posing and flitting among the guests like butterflies.

"Clap!"

The head of the Zhen family, Zhen Yingjia, who was sitting at the top, suddenly clapped his hands. The thin horses who were smiling and talking just now suddenly held their breath and focused. The Jiangnan nobles present also looked sideways. Zhen Yingjia cleared his throat and said, "Although you have suffered some losses this time, you have also harvested a lot of good land, which finally made up for the loss."

In good years, the prices of grain and land are stable. Even if ordinary people have difficulties, they can just sell one or two acres of land to make ends meet.

But once a disaster happened, grain prices rose and the value of land plummeted, and the people could only sell their land at a low price to the wealthy and powerful.

Not to mention poor fields, even the best paddy fields can't be sold for more than a few melons and dates to make a living.

As the saying goes, the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish. Just like in the past, financial crises are often the time when capital snowballs.

The same is true in ancient and modern times. These wealthy families have faced disasters many times before, and they are very familiar with it.

However, in previous years when this situation occurred, the Zhen family took the lion's share and they could only follow suit.

This year, because the Zhen family was in charge of the guano business, they knew they were in the wrong and voluntarily withdrew from the purchase. Instead, they got the benefit and made a lot of money.

"It is all thanks to Brother Youzhong that we can achieve this!"

"The Zhen family is so righteous that we will always remember it in our hearts!"

"Come on! Let's toast to Brother Zhen!"

For a while, the flattery was endless in the field.

Facing the flattery of the crowd, Zhen Yingjia accepted it calmly, raised the wine glass in front of him, drank it all in one gulp and said: "Let's encourage each other!"

Suddenly, someone in the crowd said indignantly, "That Jia Yucun is so proud of himself. When he was in office in Jinling, he couldn't even enter Youzhong's house. Now he dares not give me face by using a chicken feather as a token of authority!"

Zhen Yingjia's courtesy name was Youzhong, but there were only a handful of people in the entire Jiangnan region who could be called that.

The prefect of Jinling was also a fourth-rank official, so it was a bit of an exaggeration to say that he couldn't even enter the Zhen family's door.

However, it is not difficult to visit, but it is impossible to meet Zhen Yingjia, and this is not an exaggeration.

Zhen Yingjia, who was sitting at the top, raised his hand and made a gesture of pressing down. The crowd suddenly became quiet. When the crowd was silent, he said calmly, "Okay! He is an imperial envoy after all, so he has to act in an official manner. I don't need his face. As long as he doesn't provoke me, I don't need to give him this face!"

"Who the hell does he think he is! How dare he come and provoke the Zhen family?"

"Hey!~ It's better to be low-key!"

Although Zhen Yingjia says he is low-key, his actions and attitude are not at all low-key.

The people below flattered him: "Brother Zhen is so generous!"

"Only a man as magnanimous as Brother Zhen can tolerate such an arrogant person!"

Zhen Yingjia arched his hands towards Beifang and said with a haughty look, "I can't cause trouble for the Imperial Concubine and His Royal Highness Prince Ning."

He paused, then continued, "Besides, I heard that he is related to the Jia family. After all, the Jia family is an old relative, so we should give him some face. I sent someone to Zhejiang a while ago to pick up Duke Cun Zhou. According to the date, he should be here in the next few days. If he doesn't give me this face, he should at least give some face to his uncle who is related to him, right?"

"I see! Brother Zhen really has a plan for everything!"

"With his uncle coming out, he won't be disrespectful!"

"I heard that Zhang Yunyi, who is now very popular in front of the emperor, is the nephew of the Jia family..."

"So what if I'm extremely popular in front of the Emperor? Can I be more popular than the Imperial Concubine and His Highness?"

"That's right! Don't forget, the words 'Old Man of Our Family' written by the Emperor himself are still hanging in Brother Zhen's house!"

"Right, right, right! I made a mistake, so I'll drink a glass of wine as punishment. Please don't blame me, Brother Zhen!"

“Hahaha!” Zhen Yingjia shook his sleeves and laughed loudly, “Keep playing the music, keep dancing!”

As he suddenly waved his hands upwards, the field suddenly became lively again.

It seems that those displaced victims do not exist.

……

(End of this chapter)