Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 266: Embarrassing Myself to My Grandma's House (Seeking Support)
Dongsi, Zhang’s Pharmacy.

A medical dispute broke out that day. Someone brought a group of people, together with some ignorant local residents who were looking for trouble, and surrounded the drugstore. Even though the owner repeatedly explained that the drugstore only dispensed medicine according to prescriptions and no longer provided medical consultations, and also explained that all medicinal materials were purchased through formal channels, they were still harassed by the people.

After all, Zhang Luan had just entered the official career, and the Honglu Temple itself was not a law enforcement agency. Even if the government was alarmed, there were powerful forces that issued warnings in advance, resulting in the Bingmasi, Shuntian Prefecture, and Daxing County government offices not daring to investigate further. They only sent people to check the situation and then all the people withdrew.

Manager Song, who was in charge of the pharmacy, was very troubled, but he couldn't contact the Zhang family at the moment and could only deal with it hard.

In a teahouse across the street from the drugstore, Peng Mianfu was handing Wei Xing a gift he had prepared long ago... a stack of Ming Dynasty treasure notes with a face value of fifty strings of cash.

Wei Xingguang was very angry when he saw it, and frowned and said: "Your gift looks unique, can't you give it something more substantial?"

Peng Mianfu said with a bitter face: "Now my father is recuperating at home. The expenses for hiring doctors and buying medicines are extremely huge. It is really difficult to support. I can only rely on a little business to make money. When I make money in the future, I will definitely give you a big reward."

When Wei Xing heard this, he put the treasure banknotes into his arms.

After all, it is ill-gotten gains, so any gain is good. Although the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes depreciated greatly at the end of the Chenghua period, fifty strings of treasure notes could probably only be exchanged for fifty to one hundred wen...roughly equivalent to between one-five hundredth and one-thousandth of its face value...and this also depends on how new the treasure notes are.

Since the treasure notes given by Peng Mianfu were basically new banknotes, he didn't bother to argue about it.

Peng Mianfu said with a smile: "With your help this time, things are much more reliable. Last time, even the people from the Military Affairs Department were ungrateful and tried to muddy the waters. How hateful and annoying!"

Wei Xing said, "Young Master Peng, the officials are always the most knowledgeable about rules. No matter how high your father's position is, he is still a temporary official. Once he leaves office, his glory will fade away. And Zhang is the relative of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, the future father-in-law and uncle-in-law of the emperor. How can they not know which is more important? It is only out of righteous indignation that we are helping you."

Although I said this, I was thinking in my heart that it was Eunuch Liang who asked me to target the Zhang family and suppress the reputation of Zhang Luan, the genius doctor. Otherwise, I would not bother to pay attention to you.

This is also the important reason why I didn't care and gave me such a pile of almost waste paper banknotes as a gift.

If you really want me to do something for you, even if the amount is ten times higher, I wouldn't bother to do it.

"Young Master."

As he was talking, a servant of the Peng family came running over from the medicine shop, his face full of excitement, "Our people have already rushed in and started making a fuss. A group of bystanders are now smashing up the Zhang family medicine shop, and all the precious medicinal materials inside have been looted."

"Hahaha……"

Peng Mianfu laughed out loud, then realized he had lost his composure and bowed to Wei Xing, "Eunuch Wei, other people shouldn't associate this with my Peng family, right?"

Wei Xing said with a smile: "Master Peng, since you have become a bad guy and done bad things, are you afraid of being found out?"

Peng Mianfu sighed, "No matter what, I have to maintain my father's good reputation in the Confucian community... It would not be good if people knew that my Peng family and the Zhang family were at odds with each other."

The Peng family servant added, "Master, I just saw the Wang family at the door of the medicine shop."

"Which Wang family?"

Peng Mianfu asked further.

"That is... the Wang family, the in-laws."

The Peng family servant hurriedly replied.

Peng Mianfu couldn't help but look at Wei Xing, with a questioning look in his eyes.

Wei Xing frowned and said, "You mean, the Queen's family also showed up in front of the pharmacy?"

"Yes."

The servant did not know Wei Xing and thought he was a friend of his young master. He said bluntly, "He seems to be the eldest son of Earl Ryan. He brought two people with him. After seeing the chaos at the scene, he left. We don't know him, but someone recognized him. Some people also speculated whether the Wang family has a stake in this business."

Wei Xing frowned, put on a stern face, and asked coldly: "How can you offend the Queen's family with this? Didn't you investigate it in advance?"

The reason why he deliberately put on such a bad face was actually that Wei Xing was putting pressure on Peng Mianfu... Look, he has offended the Queen's family, who is nominally the mistress of the Ming Dynasty's harem. In this case, the price you gave before is not enough.

Need more money!
Peng Mianfu was dismissive: "Isn't it just the Wang family, the in-laws? Queen Wang is not favored, not to mention that the eldest son of Earl Rui'an is just a playboy, even if Earl Rui'an himself came, you don't have to take it too seriously."

Wei Xing glanced at Peng Mianfu and said teasingly, "Mr. Peng, you really have the tone of a toad yawning loudly. Are the nobles and relatives of the capital worthless in your eyes?"

"No, no, no, I'll find a way to solve the problem if it's troublesome. But the Ryan family definitely has nothing to do with this business, so don't worry, I'll find someone to take care of it."

……

……

Peng Mianfu sent the disgruntled Wei Xing away, and felt that his abilities had improved as he had actually saved a large sum of money by just fooling around a few times.

He had no time to stay here to admire the results of his victory. He took a carriage home in a relaxed, happy and proud mood. When he got off the carriage, he took two steps instead of three, and almost skipped into the house, with his pride and satisfaction overflowing from his words.

"Where have you gone?"

Peng Mianfu had just sat down in the main room, without even having time to breathe, when he saw his old father Peng Hua appear before him.

He quickly stood up and went forward to help.

"Isn't father recuperating in the backyard? Why did you come out all of a sudden? If there are guests coming and they see you like this, won't everything be exposed?"

Peng Mianfu reminded his old father, "Let's pretend to be sick until the end. It will be difficult for me to do it well if you do this, okay?"

Peng Hua frowned: "I asked you a question, didn't you hear me?"

As soon as Peng Mianfu saw Peng Hua's serious face, he knew that something could not be concealed, so he told him about how Wei Xing had come forward to help him and sent people to Zhang's pharmacy to cause trouble, and even smashed, looted and robbed.

"From your mouth, I only hear your arrogance and rudeness... Humph, it seems that you don't even understand the most basic principles of how to behave in society." Peng Hua shook his head and said in a disappointed tone.

"Father, are you blaming me for acting without thinking of the consequences? This time, it was Eunuch Wei who took the initiative to come to our house and said that he could find someone to help... Zhang has offended Eunuch Wei and Eunuch Liang, and it is purely his own fault."

Peng Mianfu said with a look of dissatisfaction, "With the help of these two top leaders in the court, who else do we need to be afraid of?"

Peng Hua had a look of disappointment on his face. "Alas, you are being used as a pawn and you don't even know it, yet you are so complacent... Do you think that since the Crown Prince is not in power now, his relatives can be manipulated at will?"

"if not?"

Peng Mianfu pouted and said, "Eunuch Wei has already taken action. Doesn't this mean that the Zhang family is unpopular? If we don't take this opportunity to strike down the fallen dog, when will we take this opportunity?"

Peng Hua asked, "Then have you ever thought about why Wei Xing didn't do it himself, but chose to find you and let you take the limelight?"

"I……"

Peng Mianfu was speechless for a moment.

Peng Hua shouted, "The most watched issue in the court right now is that the Crown Prince is holding court in Wenhua Palace, but in reality it is the health of His Majesty... Why did Liang Fang and Wei Xing suddenly decide to take action against Zhang Luan at this time? It may be related to His Majesty's increasingly serious illness."

Peng Mianfu sneered: "Dad, you don't really think Zhang Luan can treat people? He is just an ignorant charlatan! If he really had the ability, His Majesty would have arranged for him to work in the Imperial Hospital long ago."

Peng Hua looked angry and didn't seem to want to reason with his son anymore, because even if he did, this paranoid son wouldn't listen, let alone understand.

"You said that someone saw someone from the Queen's Wang family in front of the pharmacy. What exactly happened?" Peng Hua asked again.

Peng Mianfu said, "Old Nine saw it. He said it was the son of Earl Rui'an who came in person. No one knows why and where he went. I'm sure the Wang family has nothing to do with this medicine shop. Father, there's no need to worry about it... If we're afraid of offending this and that, we won't be able to gain a foothold in the court."

"You, you..."

Peng Hua pointed at his son and was speechless.

But he still didn't comment too much, he stood up and walked towards the inner courtyard.

"Father, you want to leave the court, but I don't want the Peng family to be buried like this... I think of how many years you studied hard to pass the imperial examination, and how many years you worked hard to become a prime minister. If you give up so easily, won't it disappoint your family and those who follow you? No matter what, my Peng family should have a place in the capital. Even if you look down on me, I do all this for the Peng family, without any selfish motives."

The more Peng Mianfu spoke, the brighter his eyes became, and he held his head high and chest puffed out, looking as if he was righteous and awe-inspiring.

Peng Hua turned around and shouted angrily: "First, find out the purpose of the Zhang family opening a medicine shop before you talk to me like this!"

Peng Mianfu pouted and said with disdain: "Zhang opened a medicine shop just to make money? He wants to make money right after becoming an official... What good can an official do when doing business?"

In his words, he seemed to be scolding even the Peng family members themselves.

Peng Hua said angrily, "You really don't know how treacherous the court is! Zhang Laizhan has only been in the court for a few days, but he dared to impeach Liang Fang and Wei Juan. I just heard today that Zhang Laizhan also impeached Li Zisheng, who recommended him! If he became an official just for those little things, would he dare to show up like this? Does he not even want his life?"

"A man who can marry his daughter to the East Palace and become the father-in-law of the emperor in the future, is now acting so high-profile, and you actually think he is just a mean person? He doesn't even know that he is being used by others, and he still has the nerve to talk big here? Humph, you don't need to be the secretary of the Central Secretariat anymore, go back to the Imperial College and study for a few more years!"

"Father, you..."

When Peng Mianfu heard this, he almost rushed forward and grabbed his old father by the collar to question him.

He didn't even listen to Peng Hua's earlier analysis of Zhang Luan's motives.

Because in his heart, he had long regarded Zhang Luan as a villain who only cared about making money and was even willing to fight with him, and who had no personal morals at all.

…………

Zhang Mansion.

Wang Qiao, the eldest son of Wang Yuan, Earl of Ruian, who is only twenty years old, came to visit the Zhang family with his younger brother Wang Lan.

"What are they doing here?"

Zhang Luan did not go out that day. He did not dare to report to the government office. He had just impeached Li Zisheng and wanted to know what his son thought of it, so he stayed at home all afternoon waiting for news.

Zhang Yanling said, "Oh, he came to see me and my elder brother before. I told him to find a chance to see how our medicine shop is doing. Something happened at the medicine shop just now, and I heard he was there. He must have come here after seeing the excitement."

Zhang Luan said with a dark face: "Hey, look, this shame has been brought to my grandmother's house. Forget it, if the younger generation is here to visit, you go and meet them. I won't see guests."

"Why not? We will have to interact with the Wang family in the future. At least the Wang family is still very low-key among the nobles in the capital. We can rely on each other for some things."

Zhang Yanling's words were not false.

From the Chenghua Dynasty to the Hongzhi Dynasty, among the several powerful foreign relatives, the Wang family was the most honest one.

In comparison, the Wan family, Zhou family and Zhang family were all full of trouble. Of course, it was also related to the low-key personality of Queen Wang. Even during the Hongzhi period, Queen Wang was respected by Emperor Zhu Youtang, but no one in the Wang family took the initiative to make trouble and they acted extremely low-key.

Zhang Luan said, "I am already the Minister of the Honglu Temple. If Earl Rui'an comes to visit in person, it's fine for me to meet him. But what's the point of his son coming? Just go if I ask you to go, and don't bother me anymore!"

"Fine!"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Dad, you are here to do something important, how dare I trouble you? I will go to receive the guests now... Oh, by the way, Dad, our two families will have more exchanges in the future, and we may... strengthen the connection between our two families through other means."

"What method?"

"Marriage alliance... I heard that Earl Ryan has a younger sister who has just been widowed. She is so beautiful. You can take her back as a concubine."

"Stop making fun of your father, you little brat. How can you laugh at something like this?"

Zhang Luan's nose was almost crooked with anger.

However, he had thought about what his youngest son said... that is, while he was still powerful, he should quickly take in two beautiful concubines to show off.

Unfortunately, good news doesn’t travel far, but bad news travels far and wide. Now even his son knows that he is not capable in some aspects as a father, so this is a big worry for him.

"I followed your advice and impeached Li Zisheng, and I'm still worried... If Li Zisheng deliberately asked me to impeach him so that he could take ruthless action against me, then I would really lose both my wife and my army. I'm afraid I won't be able to survive in the officialdom of the capital in the future."

"You can't be afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind... Besides, who said it was my idea to impeach Li Zisheng? Wasn't it Li Zisheng himself who proposed it? Dad, in fact, even if we don't get along with the Wang family, they will take the initiative to get close to us. After all, we are the leaders of the foreign relatives in the future."

Zhang Yanling was not wrong about this.

Historically, after Wang Qiao's wife passed away, he married the daughter of Zhang Yue, another cousin of Zhang Yanling's uncle and Zhang Luan. At that time, Zhang Yue had obtained a high-paying official position as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard by relying on the power of the Zhang family.

At that time, the Zhang family was at its peak, and it was impossible for Zhang Luan to marry his daughter to the family as a second wife. This marriage can be considered a disguised marriage between the Wang and Zhang families.

Zhang Yanling ignored Zhang Luan who was reflecting and reviewing himself there, and went out to meet the two brothers Wang Qiao and Wang Lan.

……

……

Wang Qiao and Wang Lan were invited to the flower hall in the front yard of Zhang's house.

Wang Qiao was sixteen or seventeen years old and had just gotten married. He married the eldest daughter of Princess Yixing, who was the younger sister of Emperor Chenghua.

Nowadays, men become much more mature after getting married and starting a family, but when facing Zhang Yanling, Wang Qiao was still very confused and couldn't understand why the Zhang family only sent a half-grown boy out to greet him.

"You two, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you... I was planning to show you our Zhang family's successful experience in running a medicine store, and then we could open a branch together and make money together, but who knew I would have embarrassed you today."

Zhang Yanling was like a person who was familiar with the situation. He expressed his apologies right away.

Wang Qiao didn't say anything. Wang Lan, who was about fourteen or fifteen years old, said, "Nothing. I saw that someone seemed to be deliberately looking for trouble. We should send someone to investigate their background. They are not afraid of government officials. They don't look like ordinary people at all. If you say they are patients... no one will believe it."

Zhang Yanling was impressed by the boy's keen sense of smell and said with a smile, "How could Young Master Wang be able to see all these things?"

Wang Lan was about to say something else, but was interrupted by his brother Wang Qiao, who apologized, "My brother's words are not measured, please don't be offended, Second Young Master."

"It's nothing... Actually, what you saw, Mr. Wang, is what we can all see. I'm afraid this time it's the case that the first bird to stick its head out gets shot. Some people saw that our Zhang family's business was doing well, so they jumped out to cause trouble. This phenomenon is probably very common in the capital, right?"

Zhang Yanling didn't seem to mind at all, as if the pharmacy business was run by someone else, and after a looting incident, the loss was also someone else's.

Wang Qiao felt the same way, nodded and then shook his head: "In fact, many jobs in the capital are similar to those in the countryside. It seems that everything is reasonable under the emperor, but when it comes to reasoning, no one is willing to listen."

Zhang Yanling smiled.

He knew that Wang Qiao was recalling the tragic past when the Wang family was sued for encroaching on local people's land and had to give up all the land, even losing a lot of their own fertile land.

In fact, those lands were purchased by the Wang family themselves. However, because of the false charge of "occupying people's land", not only did they lose a large sum of money, but they also had to sell their land as an apology, which made the Wang family unable to recover from that period.

Zhang Yanling thought to himself, these two brothers seem to have a gap with me and we cannot be very open with each other, but they are kind by nature.

Perhaps it's because he has never experienced the excitement that power brings, and has always been humble.

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "You two, I have a new business here. You don't need to invest any capital, and you don't even have to worry too much about people coming to mess with you... It's just a simple business. I wonder if you two are interested in doing it together?"

"what?"

Wang Qiao looked puzzled.

Your family is in such a bad situation that even your pharmacy store has had its sign smashed. You actually want to start another business? And you want to bring us in?
Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Actually, I want to open a storytelling place... My father wrote a few storybooks in the past, and they were well received when he told them to others. There are many idle people in the capital, but there are few places for people to have fun. This business should be easy to do."

Wang Lan was very excited when he heard this, or maybe it was because of his youthful nature, he quickly looked at Wang Qiao and said, "Brother, I think what the Second Young Master said makes sense, how about we team up and open a bookstore together?"

Wang Qiao was no longer old enough to be inexperienced in worldly affairs. He shook his head and said, "This matter remains to be discussed."

"Second Master Wang, you want to listen to storytelling, right?"

Zhang Yanling asked with a smile.

"Who wouldn't want to listen? I heard when I came here that your father is very good at writing storybooks. Even the current emperor admires your talent. If you open a storytelling place, you will definitely make a lot of money."

"Second brother, don't talk nonsense."

Wang Qiao stopped him.

Being an official in the court, you also run a storytelling hall to make money. Second brother, you are clearly mocking the Zhang family for their disorderly behavior.

Wang Lan was clearly unprepared for the dangers of the world. Zhang Yanling had only given him a start, and he was able to use his rich imagination to imagine the grand scene of opening a bookstore and making a fortune, and he was even a little outspoken.

"Ugh!"

Zhang Yanling sighed and shook his head, saying, "It seems that the story of my father getting an official position by writing novels has spread everywhere."

Originally, Zhang Luan had no talent and no great achievements. At best, he was just a student. However, he was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Many people in the court were jealous of him and naturally spread his affairs among the people as if they were slander. As a result, Zhang Luan became a representative of the unlearned and unskillful.

Wang Qiao said, "That's not what I meant."

Zhang Yanling smiled and waved his hand, saying, "It's nothing. My father didn't have any academic achievements to begin with, and he was able to become an official in the court mostly because of my sister's marriage into the Eastern Palace... What's the big deal about this? As long as there is a precedent to follow and it's reasonable, who cares what they say?"

To ordinary educated people, this statement was simply a forced attempt to save self-esteem, a person with low self-esteem trying to gain self-esteem, but to the Wang family, it was very pertinent.

Who is it because no one in the Wang family has any achievements? The two princes only got their status in the capital today because of their aunt's good marriage?

Wang Qiao intentionally changed the subject, looked around, and asked, "Where is your brother? Why can't I see him?"

"My brother is out."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "I'll ask someone to call him back right away... Please stay for dinner, and please do me the honor of coming."

"Have a meal?"

Wang Qiao originally thought that he was just coming to the Zhang family for a formality and just getting to know each other.

Although I didn't meet the elders of the Zhang family, I gained a lot by talking to a boy from the Wang family.

But Zhang Yanling was very polite and even invited everyone to a banquet. The internal structure of the Zhang family was obviously different from that of other families. Although Zhang Yanling was the youngest among the males, he seemed to have great financial autonomy. He could spend money whenever he wanted and invite people to dinner at a moment's thought.

"Let's go to the tavern on the street to have a feast. My two princes, maybe we can do business together in the future... Let's go there now and have a feast when my brother arrives."

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(End of this chapter)