Jinyi Town Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 259
Two days later, the governor's yamen in Beizhili.

Most of the governors of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty had their own houses.

There are only two people who live in the back of the yamen.One is Hu Zongxian, the former governor of Zhejiang Province, and the other is Wu Shujian, the governor of Beizhili.

Hu Zongxian didn't buy a house, he was really honest.Wu Shujian doesn't buy a house, but he is fake and clean.

Today is Wu Shujian's 58th birthday.The governor's yamen is decorated with lanterns and festoons behind the yamen.The soldiers and servants were in a hurry to move tables and chairs, set up banquets, and prepare to entertain the officials from all walks of life who came to celebrate their birthdays.

The young master Wu Qing sat in the corner of the Houya hall full of worries and frowning.Being cheated of 100 million taels and losing the key to the general account room at home, he didn't dare to tell his father such a big thing these two days.

Losing 100 million is a small matter, but the octagonal jade Linglong is a big matter. It is related to the father's official position and the lives of the whole family.Hiding it is not an option either.Wu Qing made up his mind that his father would celebrate his birthday today, and he must be in a good mood.Why don't you take advantage of your father's good mood and tell him about it later.

Officials from various provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties in Beizhili successively came to the hall of Houya to celebrate the governor's birthday.

Wu Shujian's housekeeper hung a carved wooden fish on the beam of the back hall.

All the officials praised: "Your Excellency, the governor is really an upright and indifferent official! This is an allusion that he is hanging fish with sheep, and warns us not to give him expensive birthday gifts!"

When Yang Xu, an upright official in the Han Dynasty, was the prefect of Nanyang, Fucheng once gave him a fish.He hung the fish on the beam of the house until it stinks, which means that he is an upright official and will not accept bribes.This is the allusion of "Yangxu hanging fish".

The housekeeper said loudly: "Everyone! Our Governor Wu said it! He is celebrating his birthday today, and you have given him a great face by coming! He is an upright official. If you give him gold, silver and antiques as birthday gifts, it is a shame. He has a good reputation! But, you all came from the top two ranks, and in the final analysis, you are all literati. If you send some calligraphy and paintings that you made to celebrate your birthday, he will definitely accept it!"

In the past two years, Wu Shujian celebrated his birthday according to the same rules.The officials had been prepared for a long time, and presented their own calligraphy and paintings to celebrate the birthday.

It's the right time to pay homage to the birthday.Wu Shujian was dressed in the official uniform of a senior official of the second rank, and sat in the middle of the hall.

Ji Chunhui, the prefect of Baoding, said: "It's time for us to present Governor Wu's birthday! I'll come first!"

Ji Chunhui first unfolded a pair of characters: "I spent three days writing this Baishou character."

All the officials looked over and saw a hundred characters of "Shou" written on the yellow silk paper in a hundred different fonts.

Zhao Kuo, the magistrate of Zhending, said: "The [-] characters of longevity in Jizhifu's calligraphy are all different, with different fonts, and none of them are the same. Among them, Kai, Li, Zhuan, Xing, Cao, etc. are all inclusive and inclusive. And There are Yi Zhuan, Huai Su, Cheng Miao, Changing Goose, etc., which are really lifelike and full of beautiful things, let me wait for an eye-opener!"

A group of officials echoed and praised.

Without losing the opportunity, Ji Chunhui kowtowed and said, "My subordinate Ji Chunhui, I wish the governor a blessing like the long flowing water in the East Sea, and a life that is not as old as Nanshan!"

Wu Shujian was overjoyed, and hurriedly stepped forward to help Ji Chunhui: "You and I are in-laws, why do you have to do such a big gift?"

The next person to present the birthday gift was Huang Cizheng, the chief envoy of Beizhili.

Huang Cizheng's birthday gift is a couplet.The upper line is "one shoulder luggage, how much is the officialdom of Ming Dynasty?"
Ji Chunhui said: "The couplet of Huang Fantai shows the integrity of our Governor Wu as an official! The integrity of being a man! Excellent work, excellent work!"

All the officials also praised him one after another.

Wu Shujian stroked his beard, and said with a pretentious make-up: "Integrity and honesty should be the foundation of being an official. It's a pity that in recent years, there have always been those black sheep in the officialdom of Ming Dynasty, who exploited the people and failed the court! You must not learn from those corrupt officials, and you must abide by them." What a clean and honest duty!"

Lu Wei, the prefect of Hejian, was in a hurry to flatter him: "Listening to Governor Wu's words, it can be said to be better than ten years of reading! Everyone, my birthday present to Governor Wu is a picture of "Shouxing Riding a Deer and Presenting Peach" !"

When he unfolded his masterpiece, all the officials praised him one after another.

All the officials flattered and presented birthday gifts, which lasted for a whole hour.

After the birthday presents of officials of all sizes were finished, suddenly, a voice rang out from outside the hall, "Prince of the Ming Dynasty, Taibao Yan Song, gave a pair of couplets to Wu Shujian, Governor of Northern Zhili, congratulating him on his 58th birthday!"

Although Yan Song lost his position as chief assistant, Emperor Jiajing allowed him to return to his hometown as the crown prince and Taibao to support him.

After this shout, all the officials looked towards the entrance of the hall.There was no one at the door of the hall.But there is only one wooden box.

Wu Shujian said gratefully: "Mr. Yan Ge has returned to his hometown for the elderly, and he still misses me, a worthless student. It's hard to repay my teacher's kindness! I can only repay my teacher's kindness by being an official and benefiting the people of Beizhili. !"

The butler took the wooden box into the hall and opened it.Sure enough, there is a pair of couplets stacked in the wooden box.

Wu Shujian hurriedly said: "Hurry up and hang the couplet on the middle seat of the hall!"

The housekeeper complied, and hung the wooden rafters of the couplet on the nails in the middle hall.Then "crash" unfolded.

The officials were dumbfounded!

I saw that the first couplet is "When the bastard drinks shochu, he will be blessed like the East China Sea!"

The second line is "Don't get angry if you wear a cuckold, Shoubi Nanshan!"

There was no sound in the hall!

The butler was still holding a horizontal batch with the words "Hong Xing is out of the wall" in his hand, and he didn't have time to hang it up.

Wu Shujian was furious and threw the wooden box to the ground.In the wooden box, there is an envelope.

Wu Shujian opened the envelope, and inside was the confession that his No.80 concubine Cui Er and the student student Wang Chenglong had hooked up and committed adultery!
Governor Wu's face turned green after reading this confession!He tore up the confession to pieces: "This is someone who used the name of Mr. Yan Ge to insult this official! This official is upright and honest, and he is dedicated to the people. He must have offended many corrupt officials. They must have written this obscenity. Words of profanity, humiliate me!"

Wu Shujian's words gave him a step down.All the officials echoed: "That's right, it must be the corrupt officials who hate Governor Wu! They deliberately made things difficult for the old man's 58th birthday!"

Wu Qing, son of the Wu family, saw his father furious, and thought: It's over.If I tell dad today that I was cheated of 100 million taels of silver and Yu Linglong, won't dad break my leg?Forget it, let's tell Dad about it tomorrow.

After Wu Qing made up his mind, he suddenly found a letter on his left hand!

Just now Wu Qing was just staring at the couplet that "shocked everyone" and didn't pay attention to who put the letter on the table.

Wu Qing opened the letter, which read: "Mr. Wu, if you want to get back the octagonal jade Linglong and the million-dollar bank note, at noon tonight, go to the desolate house at the C-brand in Ji'e Lane in the west of the city! Ruoer brings any servants and soldiers here , Don’t even think about taking back jade and silver in the future.”

There are only two words "Shigong" in the signature!
(End of this chapter)