Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 232 High integrity
The carriage left the city and took the people out of the city.

Qin Zhao then went to see Zhang Yanling in person and told him the news truthfully.

"Do you really need to trouble Master Qin to come and tell me this? Just send it over. It's just a temporary arrangement. There's no need to worry so much, right?"

Zhang Yanling acted as if he had no deep intention and was just helping out voluntarily.

Qin Zhao showed a knowing look. Now she no longer regarded Zhang Yanling as an ordinary child.

The young man in front of me is more like an old fox who is good at dealing with many things.

Not to mention his scheming, he even understands the rules of the game in the adult world. How can we treat him as a child without any understanding?

Qin Zhao smiled and said, "After sending them there, I learned that Mr. Chai's younger sister was living there, so I sent two more maids over to serve her. This time, I came here to give you the indenture..."

As he spoke, Qin Zhao handed over the indentures of the two maids.

"what is this?"

Zhang Yanling took it and was a little uncomfortable for a while.

Is it involved in slave trade so early?
Although in this era, hiring a few maids to help out is not a big deal, and the number of maids in the family will definitely not be small in the future, but after all, the Zhang family has not yet risen to power, and he, the so-called second young master of the Zhang family, has no power at all. Qin Zhao's move is quite intriguing.

Qin Zhao smiled and said, "They were brought here from Jiangnan. They are not very old, about the same age as Miss Tian and Miss Chai. They are very suitable to serve by your side and do some chores. Besides, the two maids are of the best appearance and can serve as a present when necessary."

"Ah? How can this be so embarrassing? When doing business, how can we not distinguish between public and private?" As he said this, Zhang Yanling pushed his hands away, as if he was going to hand back the indenture.

Qin Zhao quickly introduced the situation: "Although the two girls are not yet old enough to be enlightened, they have learned to read since childhood. Not only are they good at reciting poems and composing essays, they have also learned the skills of playing the zither, chess, calligraphy and painting. If they can do something entertaining, they will not be ambiguous at all."

"Yangzhou skinny horse?"

Zhang Yanling almost blurted it out.

Qin Zhao was confused at first, then said puzzledly: "I really don't understand what the second young master meant."

Zhang Yanling smiled.

The skinny horse business has existed since ancient times, but it began to form a complete industrial chain in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. It also flourished with the rise of Huizhou merchants, especially the rapid development and growth of Huizhou salt merchants, and gradually became popular in the Jiangnan area.

The Chenghua period was when Huizhou merchants emerged, while the real rise of Huizhou salt merchants came after the salt law was changed during the Hongzhi period.

Even though skinny horses have not yet become a systematic industry, the practice of Huizhou merchants raising slaves and using them to make friends with high-ranking officials has begun to gain popularity.

For a family like the Qin family, which knows how to curry favor with the powerful, it would be perfect to raise a group of girls with both good looks and talents and send them out as maids when the time is right.

And today, Zhang Yanling, received such a gift.

Zhang Yanling smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "I will accept that person for now, so that I can take care of Miss Tian...Master Qin, is there anything else?"

Qin Zhao asked hesitantly: "As for Zheng's..."

"Oh, someone will spread the word soon."

Zhang Yanling's face was calm. "It's just a matter of a few days. The Zheng family will be in big trouble. Since they want to use the powerful to seek personal gain, it is reasonable that they will be retaliated by the power... Since they have chosen this path, they must face it bravely and cannot blame anyone."

Qin Zhaoxin said, Second Young Master, you are quite good at reflection.

Why does it sound like he is summarizing the gains and losses for the Zheng family?
Or are you plotting against others and trying to alleviate the guilt in your heart by saying this?

……

……

Liang Fangfu's residence.

Wei Xing was complaining again.

"…The Huihui prince of the Kingdom of Mecca is now living in the Sifang Pavilion. However, there are too few people in the Ming Dynasty who can speak Mecca, and we need to translate it, which is very troublesome. I estimate that there will be a translator available in the next two days, and then you can meet him."

Liang Fang said angrily: "Why would we meet a foreign prince for no reason? Have you forgotten what we asked you to do?"

"I asked and even showed the blueprint to that damn prince, but he said he had never seen it before and had never heard of it." Wei Xing's tone was filled with sadness.

It seems to be saying that we are completely helpless in this matter now.

Liang Fang stood up and paced back and forth. After a while, she stopped, looked up, closed her eyes, and looked sad: "Now that things have come to this, can we just admit defeat?"

"Master, Minister Li wants to see you."

Just at this moment, the savior arrived.

"what?"

Liang Fang opened his eyes, turned around, and asked in surprise: "Minister Li? Is it Minister Li from the Yintai Department?"

"Exactly."

The servant reported back.

Wei Xing rolled his eyes and asked in confusion, "Why is he here? Isn't he here just to laugh at us? Who gave him the courage?"

Liang Fang frowned, "We have to meet him no matter what. Even if we have to ask someone to intercede for him in front of His Majesty, we have to use him. Apart from him, I really can't think of anyone more suitable... I guess he still remembers what I said. Concubine Shao intends for the Fourth Prince to worship him as his teacher. Maybe this is the reason why he came to see me."

……

……

Liang Fang did not dare to neglect Li Zisheng, who was now a popular figure in front of Emperor Chenghua, and personally went to the gate of the mansion to invite the distinguished guest in. But he saw that Li Zisheng was followed by Pang Qing, the chief steward, and a large group of people behind him, who seemed to be carrying a large number of gifts.

Liang Fang keenly felt that these people all had murderous aura. If nothing unexpected happened, they should be thugs hired by Li Zisheng, who could die in place of Li Zisheng if necessary.

It seems that Li Zisheng was very cautious when he visited him this time. He was probably afraid that Liang Fang would play some dirty tricks, such as detaining people by force. If they turned against each other, they could fight their way out and cover Li Zisheng's retreat.

"Eunuch Liang, this is just a small gift. It's not a token of respect, but I hope you will accept it... Can I have a word with you?"

Li Zisheng said with a smile.

Liang Fang thought to herself, seeing your fake smile, I feel a chill in my heart for no reason. If I say no, are you going to bring people to beat me up?
Could it be that this guy has bad intentions and is showing off in front of me?
Liang Fang then invited Li Zisheng to the main hall.

Li Zisheng raised his hand and signaled Pang Qing to take out the brocade box he was carrying and hand it to Liang Fang.

“This is…?”

Liang Fang didn't dare to open it easily.

Who knows what's inside? What if it's dangerous?

"Eunuch Liang will know once you see it."

Li Zisheng had a defiant air about him and said with a sinister smile.

Liang Fang couldn't help but glance at Li Zisheng, and then looked at Pang Qing who was also staring at him eagerly, before opening the brocade box in his hand. When he opened the lid and took out the things inside, his arms couldn't help but tremble slightly, and he asked anxiously, "What is this...?"

"telescope."

Li Zisheng answered.

Liang Fang was horrified: "Your Majesty has already sent all the telescopes to the border. Could it be that Master Li got them from a general on the border? This... this is a crime of deceiving the emperor."

"hehe."

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "Eunuch Liang, do you think I would do such a shameless thing?"

Liang Fang wanted to ask, what kind of quality are you, Li Zisheng, a mere alchemist? If I hadn't recommended you to His Majesty, you would still be cheating people in the capital, how could you be so successful today?

Moreover, seeing that you came here with such a threatening attitude today, you don't look like a good person at all. Even if you stole weapons privately, it is not difficult to understand.

Li Zisheng explained: "This was a private gift from a Huizhou merchant. I had no use for it, so I thought of giving it to Eunuch Liang...

"I heard that Eunuch Liang is looking for someone to use colored glaze instead of Huangshan mica to make a telescope recently, but there seems to be no progress. If we have this sample, can we study it carefully and get twice the result with half the effort?"

Wei Xing, who was watching the whole process, looked at Liang Fang with astonishment, as if to say, this Minister Li is really a kind person who comes to help in times of need!
Who else would come to help you at this time and even give you a telescope selflessly? Who else could it be but him?

Liang Fang was still somewhat doubtful and said cautiously: "We dare not accept such a sacred object. If Your Majesty knew..."

Li Zisheng shook his head and said, "This is made from leftover mica from Huangshan. You can tell at a glance that your majesty will not be surprised!"

"Oh, then where did you get it? Why...we can't find it even after searching so hard?"

Liang Fang felt relieved when she heard that the telescope in her hand was made of leftover Huangshan mica.

Looking more closely, the object in my hand really looked like a semi-finished product, and even the lens barrel was made extremely crudely.

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "Eunuch Liang, since they said this thing is made of Huangshan mica, of course we should ask people from Huizhou for help. Do we have to go to Yingtianfu? That's going in the wrong direction, isn't it? Haha. Actually, I find it hard to understand why Eunuch Liang didn't go to Huangshan to look for it?"

When Liang Fang heard this, she became furious and turned her head to glare at Wei Xing, meaning, is this what you did?

I've been searching for so long, but I'm not as good as Li Zisheng who just looked for it casually?

How are you going to explain this to me?

Wei Xing tried to save his reputation: "I sent people to talk to the merchants in Huizhou earlier, asking them to hand it over as soon as they got it. I thought they wouldn't dare to keep it privately. Besides, which merchant in the world doesn't want to curry favor with you, Eunuch Liang... Who would have thought that there would be such a traitor among them?"

Li Zisheng said: "Eunuch Wei is wrong. In fact, they are not disloyal, but they don't have much contact with Eunuch Liang. Even if they want to offer treasures, don't they need a way?"

Wei Xing was speechless for a moment.

After thinking about it, I felt aggrieved again.

The connection you, Li Zisheng, are talking about couldn't be me, right?

Are you blaming me for being mean to those Huizhou merchants, so that they kept the money for themselves instead of giving it to me?
Huh? Why is Eunuch Liang looking at me so strangely?
Listen to my explanation!

It’s definitely not what Mr. Li said.

Liang Fang said with a dark face: "We thought that since we have common interests with some people, he would work hard for us, but we never thought that he is just a fool."

Wei Xing was extremely upset when he was scolded, but he finally held it in.

Li Zisheng pointed at Pang Qing and said, "Tell me in detail the news you just got."

Pang Qing stepped forward and said seriously, "This is just right. I just got a piece of news that someone in the capital is making colored glaze on a large scale."

"I know, Deng Changen."

Liang Fang took the initiative to continue, "My family asked him to make it... Deng came to see me and said that he could use colored glaze to replace Huangshan mica. At that time, I really believed his lies.

"This guy always talks big and empty words. He has been firing blanks for a long time, but he never follows through... It seems that I have to trust you, Immortal Li, and never have any contact with Deng again."

Pang Qing said with a smile: "Eunuch Liang, when it comes to making colored glaze, that Taoist Deng is at most a layman, not worth mentioning at all."

"What do you mean?"

Liang Fang frowned.

Pang Qing said, "The person who made the colored glaze I mentioned is an insider of the Huizhou merchants. I heard that even the soap was made by him. I can't ask for the specific reason. After all, my Taoist master doesn't want to be too involved. I'm afraid you can only go and take a look in person."

"what?"

When Liang Fang heard this, she was almost stunned.

Then he roared at Wei Xing angrily: "Is this the result of your careful investigation over the past half month? You are always one step behind others, and you can't even catch up with the hot shit..."

At this moment, Wei Xing wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

I've heard of people insulting others and exposing their shortcomings, but I've never seen anyone so merciless.

Are you trying to push me into a dead end?

Li Zisheng stood up and bowed with a smile: "That's all I have to say. I still have a lot of things to do, so I won't bother you any more, Eunuch Liang."

"Farewell, Master Li."

Liang Fang directly promoted Li Zisheng's title.

He is directly called "Tianshi", which is a title only given to the person at the helm of Longhu Mountain, equivalent to an imperial decree.

Liang Fang's purpose in doing this is very clear. What she means is, if you help me this time and I can get through the difficulties successfully, I will help you become a heavenly master. We will benefit from each other.

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it! I'll take my leave first. Eunuch Liang and Eunuch Wei don't have to see me off. I think you should hurry up and find out the truth. Go and get busy first."

……

……

Liang Fang did not dare to neglect Li Zisheng at all and directly sent him out of the house.

After watching the sedan go away, Li Zisheng wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked back.

Wei Xing stood behind him with his head down, looking as if he admitted his mistake.

Liang Fang tapped his forehead with her finger: "Usually you don't like to hear people say you're not doing your job well, but look at what you've been doing recently!"

Wei Xing said indignantly: "That Mr. Li, he didn't even say who the family was from before he left..."

"Go away, do you really want me to tell you everything? Is it really that difficult for me to just check it out? Hmm?"

"It's not difficult, it's not difficult... I'll go right away, father-in-law, please calm down and don't get yourself hurt by being angry."

(End of this chapter)