I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 41 Rubbing Cow Dung

Sun Yue became more and more excited as he talked, and even reached out to untie the belt on his black uniform.

Gao Zhong said quickly, "Fat young man, stop it. I didn't eat the fish I caught. But I have to unhook it. Isn't it a little bit ungentle to grab a handful of shit while unhooking?"

Lin Shisan laughed and scolded: "Fatty, stop giving bad advice here."

Gao Zhong asked: "Don't keep me in suspense, you little monkey. Tell me, what does 'beating the stinky nest' mean?"

Lin Shisan said: "There are two ways to clean up the stinky nest. The first way is to find a blue brick. Tie it with wire. Put it on the stove and burn it until the brick surface is visible."

"Find another manure pit. Preferably an old abandoned one. Tie a wire with a rope and throw the bricks into the old manure and let it soak for ten days."

"Before fishing, throw a brick under the hook, and the river fish will gather to form a nest."

Gao Zhong was impressed by this method, but he seemed dissatisfied: "Waiting for ten days? That's too long. Fishermen always want to catch fish the next moment."

Lin Shisan said, "The second method is quick. Find a pile of fresh cow dung, preferably freshly excreted by a cow, and divide it into fist-sized portions while it's still hot."

"Soak it in the lowest quality Xiaguotou wine. Add a hundred or so weeds and knead it into a bun shape."

"Before fishing, throw cow dung buns into the water. When the weeds float on the water, you can fish. You will definitely fill the fish basket."

Gao Zhong didn't say anything, but glanced at Chen Ju. The meaning of his eyes was obvious: Ju'er, go and prepare the cow dung buns as Lin Shisan said.

Chen Ju nodded, and looked at Lin Shisan with resentment: "Captain Lin, I haven't offended you. Why do I feel like you are deliberately trying to trick me by making me rub cow dung with my bare hands?"

Lin Shisan cupped his hands and said, "How dare I, how dare I. We are best friends, like brothers with different fathers and different mothers."

Chen Ju complained: "Brothers love to pit brothers."

Gao Zhong finally gave in: "Lin Shisan, you little monkey, you are full of glib words. I don't know if these two methods are to scare me."

Lin Shisan swore, "God and Heaven! If you, Old Man Gao, still can't catch any fish with my two methods, I would rather stand upside down, run into diarrhea, or swallow feces and commit suicide!"

Lin Shisan's mouth is full of smooth talk, but it is actually a kind of worldly wisdom.

Older people, especially those who have retired like Gao Zhong, usually have nothing to do and are bored. They often like young people to tell jokes in front of them.

Gao Zhong laughed uncontrollably: "You're even standing upside down and running. You little monkey, you're making me laugh to death."

"Forget it. Chen Ju, go to the palace first and say hello to the boys in the Bird House. Ask them to help Lin Shisan find the pigeon."

Lin Shisan bowed his head and said, "Thank you, Father Gao."

Gao Zhong waved his hand and said, "Forget it. Go do your job."

Chen Ju suggested: "Father, why not let them follow me to the outside of the imperial city and wait for news."

Gao Zhong nodded: "Yes."

Half an hour later, outside Bei'an Gate.

Chen Ju led a young eunuch out of Bei'an Gate and came in front of Lin Shisan.

Chen Ju introduced him, "This is the Fire Master of the Hundred Birds Room, Eunuch Zhang Jing."

Huozhe belongs to the eighth rank among the inner eunuchs. Zhang Jing, like Chen Ju, is a low-ranking figure among the 30,000 eunuchs in the palace.

Lin Shisan bowed and said, "Meet Eunuch Zhang."

Zhang Jing got straight to the point: "Eunuch Chen told me about your situation. In the past two days, no white-feathered bow-tailed pigeons have appeared in the pigeon houses of the palaces."

"The white bow-tailed pigeon is a superb pigeon. If it flies in, we will not fail to notice it."

Zhang Jing's words disappointed Lin Shisan.

Zhang Jing added: "If the white-feathered bow-tailed pigeon is brought into the palace by the pigeons in the Bird House in the future, I will inform Eunuch Chen."

Lin Shisan quickly took out a ten-liang silver ingot from his purse and quickly stuffed it into Zhang Jing's sleeve: "Thank you for your trouble, Eunuch Zhang. You can use this little change for tea. Don't despise it."

Hu Zongxian had previously given Lin Shisan two ten-liang silver ingots, and this time Lin Shisan gave away half of them.

Zhang Jing saw that the silver ingot in his sleeve was of considerable weight and smiled: "Look, how can I accept such a big gift from you on this first meeting?" As a mere eighth-rank fireman in the palace, there were not many opportunities to earn a ten-liang ingot at a time.

Lin Shisan said, "Eunuch Zhang has to take care of thousands of chickens every day. Oh no, thousands of birds every day. It's very hard. He also has to take time out to help me keep an eye out for lost pigeons. This little bit of silver is really not a respect."

Chen Ju said from the side: "Captain Lin is so kind, Brother Jing, don't refuse."

Zhang Jing smiled and said, "Then I will decline your offer. Thank you very much."

After saying that, Zhang Jing turned and entered Bei'anmen.

Chen Ju laughed and scolded, "Captain Lin, thanks to you, I have to go and rub cow dung. You guys should go and do your work as well."

Master and apprentice Lin Shisan broke up with Chen Ju.

On the way back to the elephant training station, Sun Yue asked in confusion: "Master, you are so generous today. You spent ten taels of silver to help the seventh-rank official named Hu find pigeons."

Lin Shisan said, "That money was originally given to me by Censor Hu. He is a censor sent out to visit the capital. I don't know how much money he has to spend, how many good words he has to say, and how much he has to act like a grandson."

"In the officialdom, the most precious thing is the word 'opportunity'. For this opportunity to go to Beijing, he may have endured several years or even more than ten years of hardship."

"He finally got close to a big shot. But he lost the gift he gave him. If he can't get it back, all his efforts will be wasted."

"We should be kind and help people like this if we can."

Sun Yue had followed Lin Shisan and had long since learned how to flatter him: "Oh! Master is such a good man."

As soon as they reached the gate of the elephant training center, the servants of Luo Longwen's mansion stopped Master Lin Shisan and his apprentice.

The servant bowed and said, "Master Thirteen. Our master is going to hold another insect appreciation party tonight. I want you to come over."

Lin Shisan was stunned: "Your mansion's insect appreciation meeting is held every ten days. We just finished the insect appreciation three days ago, why is it tonight..."

The servant replied, "Master Zhao Wenhua, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, has just returned to the capital after making great contributions during his inspection tour of the southeast. Tonight is both an insect appreciation party and a welcoming banquet for Mr. Zhao."

Lin Shisan said, "I see. I'll go there as soon as I get off work."

He thought to himself: Zhao Butang has returned from his tour. It seems that the Yan Party has important news to pass on to Governor Lu, so they asked me to go over and appreciate the insects.

After the servant delivered the message, he rode away on a strong mule.

Sun Yue smiled and said, "Master, you are going to get rich again tonight."

Lin Shisan said meaningfully: "Some fortunes are not so easy to make. They are stained with Seven-Step Heartbreak Powder."

It was almost noon, and the two went to the mess hall of the elephant training center to have lunch.

Jinyiwei has a strict hierarchy. The kitchen is divided into four halls.

Jiatang only had two separate small dining rooms, which were used to provide meals for the 13 Feiyu people, including the thousand households, deputy thousand households, and 100 households. Each table had eight dishes, four meat dishes, three vegetarian dishes, and one soup.

Hall B provides meals to the trial centurions and general flag officers, and the dishes are second best.

Bingtang provides meals for small flag officers and registered captains, and the food there is of inferior quality.

Ding Tang provided meals for the lieutenants attached to the hall and the elephant slaves of the vassal states, and the dishes were the worst.

Although Lin Shisan was promoted to the official register, he was still used to eating in the Dingtang, because the cook Chunniang had a fondness for him and always gave him a big bowl full of meat and vegetables.

Chunniang is a 27-year-old widow. Three years ago, her husband was trampled to death by an elephant while training one.

Her husband was a registered lieutenant, and the position could be inherited. But because her son was only three years old, he was not old enough to inherit the title and receive a salary. The captain, Chang Qingyun, sympathized with the orphan and the widow, so he let Chunniang be the head cook in Dingtang. She was paid five taels of silver a month, and she also got a share of the cooking wages.

This Chun Niang is in her prime, beautiful, mature and charming, with a curvy figure and long legs, and she is extremely beautiful.

If Biyun is the beautiful young wife, Chunniang is the charming young widow.

The ancient sages said: There is a lot of trouble at a widow's door.

(End of this chapter)