Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 41 Douhua
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhu Shenzhui summarized and organized the information he had collected since their last meeting. After careful consideration, he decided that it would be more appropriate to start from within the Liu family.

Since we are going to do this, we have to find out the situation of the Liu family. The more detailed the information we collect, the better.

But it is not so easy to achieve this. It is not difficult to find out some ordinary information, but it is very difficult to find out the internal information of the Liu family and meet Zhu Shenzhu's requirements.

In the past few days, Zhu Minfeng and the other two have been working on this, but the results are not very significant. After all, some news in the Liu Mansion is difficult for outsiders to know.

That day, Zhu Shenzui got up early, practiced boxing in the yard, and then went out. Anyway, he had nothing to do, so he decided to go to Liu's house for a visit.

It took Zhu Shenzui some time to get to the place, walking instead of riding a car. The location of Liu's mansion and Zhu Shenzui's courtyard were halfway between Pingyang Prefecture and were quite far away.

This is also very normal. After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he divided people into four classes: scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans. In addition, he also set up special classes for military households, artisan households, and slaves.

According to Zhu's classification of classes, merchants belonged to the lowest category among the four classes of people, only slightly better than the lowest class.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, strict regulations were imposed on merchants. The merchants' residences, clothing, etc. were all distinguished. The political status of merchants was very low. No matter how rich your family was, you could not wear silk clothes, let alone be an official.

However, these rules were set in the early Ming Dynasty. It has been more than two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and many of the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang have long been ignored.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the rule that merchants could not become officials was broken by the policy that the children of merchants could participate in the imperial examinations. It was even more common for officials' family members to engage in business, and the rule of clothing restrictions had long been in name only. During the Wanli period, merchants wearing silk clothes were everywhere, so who would care about this matter?

But even so, the restrictions on merchants cannot be said to be completely lifted, one of which is the merchants' residence.

If you live outside the city, it doesn't matter. No one cares how you live. You can even build a manor. But in the city, especially in a prefecture like Pingyang Prefecture, these are quite particular.

Zhu Shenzhui was a member of the royal family, and the status of royal family members was naturally noble. Among the four classes of people, namely scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, the status of royal family members was higher than that of scholars.

According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, the residences in the city were also divided into different areas according to this level, so the areas where Zhu Shenzhu and other royal family members lived were different from those where ordinary people lived. In the words of later generations, it was the difference between high-end communities and ordinary communities.

Old Beijingers all know that there are differences between the South City and the North City, as well as the East City and the West City. Where the dignitaries live and where the ordinary people live are clearly divided, and the same is true for Pingyang Prefecture.

Just like Zhu Shenzhu's family, even though they were poor, they still lived in the best area of ​​Pingyang Prefecture. And Liu Shancheng's family, no matter how rich they were, could not move their yard to the area where Zhu Shenzhu and his family lived, and could only build a house in the city where ordinary people lived.

Zhu Shenzhui didn't come here very often, because this was not his usual area of ​​activity. But since they were all in Pingyang City, Zhu Shenzhui was not unfamiliar with this place. In addition, Liu Shancheng was quite famous in Pingyang, so it was easy for him to find the location of Liu's mansion.

When we arrived at the place, although it seemed a little messier than Zhu Shenzui's residence, it was also more popular.

The rules for ordinary people are not as strict as those for royal family members and high-ranking officials. Ordinary people can do whatever makes them comfortable. Besides, the people in Jingshi are busy struggling for their lives every day, so it is very lively here early in the morning, and you can see all kinds of people coming and going.

The Liu family is located here. The Liu family compound is quite large. In comparison, Zhu Shenzui’s small courtyard cannot be compared at all.

The entire Liu family occupied almost half of the street, and the high walls and large courtyard looked quite impressive. If it weren't for the fact that the Liu family was a merchant family, and the courtyard, including the gate and the gate wall, were limited, someone who didn't know about it might have thought it was the mansion of that adult when they came here for the first time.

The main gate of the Liu family was usually closed, and one could not see what was behind the high wall. However, a small door on the side was open, and servants of the Liu family came in and out from time to time.

It was unknown whether Liu Shancheng's family was at home. To find out, he had to visit them in person. However, Zhu Shenzhui had no such plan. Although he could visit them in the name of a royal family, he had no such idea. He wanted to investigate Liu Shancheng in order to target the Liu family, but he did not want to show up in front of the Liu family's owner. If he did so, it would not only have no effect, but would alert the enemy.

Zhu Shenzhui had to do it secretly to deal with the Liu family. Zhu Minfeng and the other two had explained this requirement in detail. Moreover, although the status of the royal family was not low, the restrictions of the court were also strict. If the royal family went to the merchant's house and the local officials knew about it, it would be troublesome. After walking around the high wall of the Liu family, Zhu Shenzhui felt a little emotional. The Liu family was really a wealthy family. Apart from other things, the Liu residence alone was not simple from the outside.

It is no exaggeration to call the Liu residence, which occupies half of the street, a large mansion. Although Zhu Shenzhui has never seen the interior, he can imagine the luxury and grandeur of the Liu residence. All of these are built with money. How can ordinary people afford such conditions?

Not to mention Zhu Shenzui's family, I'm afraid even the general's mansion of General Zhu Minfan is not as good as it.

The area of ​​Liu's residence seems to be larger than that of the General's Mansion. Even though its location is not as good as that of the General's Mansion, Liu Shancheng is definitely richer in terms of wealth.

Zhu Minfan relied on his ancestors' influence, and he had the most wealth among the royal family members in Pingyang Prefecture. He had shops in the city and a lot of real estate outside the city. But the Liu family was a wealthy family, and the money from shop rents and farming could not compare with the money from doing business, not to mention that the Liu family also engaged in smuggling.

Zhu Shenzhui, who traded in salt, knew very well how much profit could be made from smuggling. The income from one trip was probably far more than what the General's Mansion earned in a year. The two were simply incomparable.

After a circle, I returned to the main entrance of Liu’s house.

There are high walls and large courtyards near Liu's house, while on the other side of the street are ordinary houses and shops.

The street opposite Liu's house is very busy, with many people coming and going, and several shops seem to be doing good business.

The shops here are not big. After all, this area is populated by ordinary people, and the shops only sell ordinary things.

After walking all the way and making a circle, Zhu Shenzhui felt a little tired. Just then, a fragrance came with the wind. Zhu Shenzhui looked over there and saw that one of the shops was very busy, with many people sitting and eating, so he walked in that direction.

When he got closer, he saw that they were just ordinary people having breakfast, and what they ate was very simple, just freshly baked pancakes or something. In addition, this shop was a tofu workshop, and they were serving tofu pudding. Zhu Shenzhui, who had not had breakfast today, suddenly felt a little hungry while eating pancakes with tofu pudding and smelling the aroma.

As soon as he found an empty seat and sat down, a young man greeted Zhu Shenzhui enthusiastically.

"My dear old customer, what would you like to eat? We have freshly made tofu pudding and soy milk in our shop, as well as freshly baked pancakes from the neighbor next door..."

"Have a bowl of tofu pudding and a pancake." Zhu Shenzhui said casually.

"Okay! Please wait a moment." The young man responded quickly and brought over tofu pudding and pancakes in a short while.

Needless to say, the pancake smelled delicious when it was just baked, and it was sprinkled with sesame seeds, which smelled very good. As for the tofu pudding, it was a full bowl with stewed sauce and chopped green onions. The white tofu pudding, black stewed sauce, green chopped green onions and red chili peppers were very appetizing.

The young man placed the food in front of Zhu Shenzhui, and then said that there was seasoning on the table. If Zhu Shenzhui felt that the saltiness was not right, he could add it himself. If he had any other needs, he could just let him know.

Zhu Shenzhui nodded to show that he understood. The young man smiled and told him to enjoy his meal, then went on to busy himself with greeting other guests.

He reached out to pick up the pancake, tore off a piece and put it in his mouth. Although the pancake was not a white flour pancake, it tasted delicious. Then he tasted the tofu pudding. Zhu Shenzhui's eyebrows rose after one bite. The pancake was fine, but the tofu pudding was very good. It could be said to be the best tofu pudding Zhu Shenzhui had ever eaten.

The seasonings in the tofu pudding are ordinary, but the taste of this tofu pudding is different. Generally speaking, tofu pudding has a strong bean smell, and if the heat is not controlled well when boiling, it will also have a bit of burnt smell.

But this bowl of tofu pudding is not ordinary. It has a very light bean smell and not a single burnt smell. The marinating technique is excellent, the tofu pudding is neither too old nor too tender, and it is very delicate in the mouth. The smooth taste goes into the stomach in one sip, and there is a hint of sweetness if you savor it carefully.

Zhu Shencui was so happy eating a bowl of tofu pudding that it was the first time he knew there was such a tofu pudding shop in Pingyang Prefecture. After finishing the meal, Zhu Shencui was still not satisfied, so he reached out to the waiter and pointed at the empty bowl to ask him to have another bowl.

(End of this chapter)