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

Chapter 85: The Turtle-Luring Method
Lin Shisan left the West Garden, mounted his newly acquired chestnut horse, and rode at full speed to the elephant training center to find Sun Yue.

Sun Yue asked: "Master, is there an errand?"

Lin Shisan nodded: "Yeah."

Sun Yue asked: "Which rich man are you seeking favor for? How much is the reward? No one dares to share your profits now. Your disciple can drink more broth by following you."

Lin Shisan took a sip of tea and said, "No profit sharing."

Sun Yue's face slumped: "Who would do it if there is no profit sharing?"

Lin Shisan smiled and said, "This time I am doing errands for the Emperor."

Lin Shisan told Sun Yue the whole story.

Sun Yue was a little excited after hearing this: "I have done errands for the dignitaries in the capital more than once or twice. But this is the first time I have done errands for the emperor."

"Hey, you've been saying for the past few months that your ancestral grave was struck by lightning. I'm grateful to you this time. I think at least there's smoke coming out of the grave."

Lin Shisan was in a good mood and started joking: "Why, did Yan Maoqing climb on your family's grave?"

Sun Yue said: "Don't mention it. If the God of Wealth climbs on my grave, the area within a ten-mile radius of my grave will be flooded with oil."

Lin Shisan suppressed his smile and said, "Alright. Let's go out and do our work."

Sun Yue asked: "Master, how can I make the golden turtle float on the water?"

Lin Shisan waved his hand and said, "Don't ask that for now. Let's go to Yongding River and break the ice to catch shrimps."

The master and his disciple first went to Lin Shisan's new house, took some tools, and then rode a horse and a mule to the bank of the Yongding River.

The water of the Taiye Lake in the Western Garden comes from Yuquan Mountain and the Baifu Springs in Changping. It does not freeze even in the first month of the year.

The water of the Yongding River had frozen over. It made a creaking sound when people walked on it. Occasionally, one or two old fishermen would dig a hole in the ice and hold fishing rods beside it.

Lin Shisan selected a place and started to chisel ice.

Chiseling ice is a craft. If you use a pickaxe to dig with brute force, the ice surface will easily break. If a person falls into it, he will freeze to death or lose a layer of skin.

Lin Shisan first took out an iron pick and poked a small hole in the ice.

Then he used an iron pick to draw a square starting from the small hole.

Sun Yue handed over a long saw blade. Lin Shisan put the saw blade into the small hole and slowly sawed along the drawn square.

The master and the disciple took turns sawing out a hole in the ice that was one and a half feet square, spending a full half hour.

Lin Shisan took out a bamboo basket for catching shrimps with a narrow mouth and a wide belly.

Sun Yue lifted a wooden barrel filled with swill from the Lin family's new kitchen. He poured the swill into a bamboo basket.

The residue of swill is shrimp bait.

Lin Shisan put the bamboo building into the ice hole. The only thing left was to wait patiently.

Sun Yue took out a copper wine pot and said, "Master, it's too cold. Let's drink some wine to warm ourselves up."

Lin Shisan took the copper wine pot and took a sip. A warm feeling went up to his head and down to his hips.

Sun Yue asked: "Master, what is the relationship between the shrimps in Yongding River and the golden turtle?"

Lin Shisan said: "The yellow-margined box turtle lives in the Yangtze River and likes to eat the small shrimps in the Yangtze River the most. There are plenty of small shrimps in the Yongding River in winter."

"Small shrimps are different from other shrimp species. Other shrimp species hide at the bottom or middle layer of the water in winter. Small shrimps float on the surface of the water."

"The golden beetle will only float in two situations. One is to breathe, and the other is to look for food."

"It's very simple to make it float automatically. Just put a few dozen kilograms of small shrimps in the Taiye Pond." Sun Yue gave a thumbs up: "It's better to learn from Master!"

After about a moment, Lin Shisan lifted the bamboo basket from the ice hole.

The water flowed out from the cracks in the bamboo house, and in it was a small basket of small shrimps. The shrimps were densely packed and as thin as scales. There must be thousands of them in this small basket.

Lin Shisan ordered: "We brought two wooden barrels. One is empty, and the other is for swill. Bring the empty barrel over."

Sun Yue took the empty wooden barrel. Lin Shisan took it and drew a little water from the ice hole. Then he poured half a basket of small shrimps into it.

Sun Yue was puzzled: "Master, it's so cold, the water in the barrel will freeze in a short time. Won't the shrimps be frozen to death?"

Lin Shisan replied: "Don't worry, even if the ice is frozen, the shrimps in the ice will not die. As long as the ice melts, they will be able to survive."

Lin Shisan and Sun Yue stayed by the Yongding River until 2:30 pm in the afternoon. They caught dozens of kilograms of small shrimps. If one were to estimate the number, it would probably be tens of thousands.

They were all frozen in the wooden barrel.

Lin Shisan's hands and feet were already red and itchy from the cold. He said, "That's enough. You go back to the elephant training center, and I'll go to the West Garden."

Lin Shisan carried the wooden barrel of small shrimps on a horse and led the horse to the West Garden, where he found Huang Jin. He told Huang Jin the method of luring the golden turtle to float on the water.

Huang Jin was overjoyed after hearing this: "Ahaha. When it comes to playing with pets, you little monkey are really an expert. Such a weird method, interesting, interesting."

Lin Shisan said, "I need to know the exact time when the emperor will go boating on Taiye Lake tomorrow. I need to pour this bucket of small shrimps into the lake half an hour in advance."

Huang Jin nodded: "How about this. You will stay in Xiyuan tonight."

Lin Shisan was flattered: "Ah, how dare I live in the imperial palace?"

Huang Jin explained: "The stipendiary officials were the emperor's close ministers and could live in the Western Garden of the Imperial City. During the Zhengde reign, there were hundreds of stipendiary officials and border army generals living in the Leopard House in the Western Garden."

"But if you live in the palace, your whole family will be executed."

"Chen Ju doesn't live in a dormitory like other minor officials. He has a bedroom in the West Garden. You will stay with him tonight. Tomorrow, go to the Taiye Lake and wait for news."

Lin Shisan felt like he was dreaming: I could actually stay in the imperial city overnight? In just four months, I was like a wild pheasant flying to the Phoenix Tower.

At night, Chen Ju took Lin Shisan to the inner eunuchs' kitchen for dinner. To be honest, this dinner was not very good. Greasy pork with white rice.

The pork was not salted, not seasoned, and was half-cooked.

After the sacrifice, the meat was distributed to external officials, and the remaining meat was distributed to the internal officials. It was not allowed to be cooked a second time, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the ancestors.

In fact, Lin Shisan had also eaten Zuo meat in restaurants outside the palace. The taste was completely different.

Live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the water, eat by the water; live by the palace, eat by the palace. The eunuchs of the Imperial Kitchen would secretly sell the leftover meat to restaurants outside the palace.

Restaurants will marinate the pork with salt, pepper, onion and ginger, wrap it in bamboo leaves and roast it on wood ash. The taste is naturally delicious.

After dinner, Chen Ju and Lin Shisan carried the bucket of shrimps together and went to the bedroom.

Chen Ju gave his bed to Lin Shisan and slept on the floor. Lin Shisan couldn't refuse and had to sleep on his bed.

It was the first time for Lin Shisan to spend the night in the imperial city. He did not fall asleep until midnight. Fortunately, Chen Ju was there to chat and talk.

In the Western Garden, there was another person who couldn't sleep. That was Emperor Jiajing.

In the bedroom of Yongshou Palace, Emperor Jiajing sat in a green gauze tent. Lü Fang, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, stood beside the tent with his hands hanging down.

Lu Bing was kneeling in front of the curtain.

Emperor Jiajing threw the bronze chime fiercely outside the green gauze curtain and said, "Lu Bing, you have disappointed me greatly this time!"

(End of this chapter)