Among the three people who suddenly came to visit, Bu Zhi and Yan Zhen were both classmates of Zhuge Jin, but Wei Jing was not.
It's just that Wei Jing and Bu Zhi are the same age, and they are both from Guangling, so they fled to Wu County together, and now Bu Zhi has brought him back with him.
Zhuge Jin quickly moved a few people into the room and asked them if they had seen any local officials.
Bu Zhi also said bluntly: "I have met Mr. Liu, and he did not give up. He immediately granted us the positions of Cao Cao and Shu Zu. Brother Yan has rich experience and took up the post directly.
After all, Brother Wei and I are young, and we have been allowed to serve as assistants for a few months. The envoy also advised us that as long as there are no mistakes, we can wait until next year to win the title and then be promoted to work. "
Bu Zhi and Wei Jing are two years younger than Zhuge Jin, and are only nineteen this year. It is indeed a bit unconvincing to be directly engaged.
Liu Bei already took advantage of the fact that Bu Zhao was Zhuge Jin's classmate, so he didn't care and directly gave Cao's deputy position a try.
A few people exchanged greetings and encouraged each other, and then Zhuge Jin left everyone to have a drink, served a variety of delicious dishes, and steamed a huge sea bass weighing seven or eight pounds, seasoned with onion, ginger and cooking wine.
This cooking method is both simple and goes beyond the common practice at that time - people in the Han Dynasty generally ate fish in boiled water, not because they couldn't steam it, but because they thought it was too slow to start the steaming process, and it was troublesome to waste firewood.
Bu Zhi and others only found it extremely delicious. While praising Brother Zhuge for enjoying life, they were also curious.
Because during the process of arranging the banquet, Bu Zhi saw with his own eyes that although Zhuge Jin did not cook himself, he would occasionally give instructions on cooking. There seemed to be very few servants in his home, and there was no maid at all.
Although poor people nowadays cook their own meals, Zhuge Jin is already a two thousand stone captain, which is obviously abnormal.
They didn't know that Zhuge Jin just couldn't stand the details of some ancient people's cooking techniques, so he acted like this.
After the banquet, Yan Zhen and Wei Jing left first after reminiscing about old times.
Bu Zhi had recently become friends with him, so he stayed to chat for a while, and he couldn't help but remind him: "Brother Ziyu, you are in an important position now. A gentleman is far away from the kitchen. Even if you don't have a family, don't you even have a chef or a maid by your side?"
Zhuge Jin then explained casually: "Originally, there were some. At the beginning of the month, the family property was divided and they were all sent away. I thought that I was going to travel far away, so I didn't bother anymore. It wouldn't be too late to buy another house and buy a maid when I got to Yuzhang. "
Zhuge Jin is certainly not a simple person. He also wants to cultivate a group of professionally driven people with clear division of labor to help him improve the efficiency of his work and life.
I was just about to leave Guangling, so I was too lazy to waste time, so I just endured it and passed it by.
Bu Zhao shook his head: "You went to Yuzhang, and you are not familiar with the place. Can you find anyone who can serve you attentively? It is better to bring some confidants with you.
I didn’t expect you to suffer so much. No wonder before you came, my uncle asked me to convey that he wanted to express the gratitude of the Bu family. I didn’t think it was appropriate at the time..."
Zhuge Jin looked a little embarrassed when he saw Bu Zhao talking, and he roughly guessed it.
After Bu Zhi hesitated for a moment, he finally said: "My uncle said that thanks to Ziyu's kind words in front of the envoy, all the children in the clan, except me, will have more opportunities to serve as assistant officials. There is only an orphan girl left in the fourth aunt's family. Previously, I relied heavily on the envoys to support me with money and grain.
The uncle learned that his brother seemed to have a good impression of the fourth sister. If he did not give up, he could take her away. She is still young, so there is no need to talk about concubines or concubines. Just take her with you and let her clean and serve you. "
Zhuge Jin was a little surprised and reminded: "Brother Zishan, given the friendship between you and me, am I someone who takes advantage of others' danger?"
Bu Zhi: "How can I not know my brother's character? This is not taking advantage of others' danger. I did not think of this matter. It was my uncle who had this idea. My fourth sister and I are far from each other, and their affairs have nothing to do with them. I don't care.
It's just that my uncle didn't have the chance to pray to you in detail, so I will convey it to you when I have the chance. If I hadn't seen the depression in my brother's house today, I wouldn't have planned to speak. My fourth sister lost her father. This is the best of both worlds. "
Bu Zhao's humble behavior of staying out of the matter and just saying a few words actually made Zhuge Jin relax a little.
He could see that Bu Zhao didn't really want to rely on nepotism to get to the top. He seemed to be very confident in his own strength.
In this regard, he is very similar to Zhuge Jin - Zhuge Jin asked his uncle to establish a household and his stepmother to return to her parents' home, and allowed her uncle to seize her mother's ambition, just because he didn't want the world to say that if his stepmother married a powerful man in the future, Zhuge Jin relied on his stepmother's relationship to rise to power.
With the strength of the Zhuge family, does it need such a thing?
Of course, all the potential nepotism that may arise will be given to the Song family, and the Zhuge family will not take any money!
So Zhuge Jin understood it immediately, and Bu Zhi didn't want the world to think that he had gained power by selling his cousin.
Who with real ability wants to be treated as a vase?
Zhuge Jin felt pity for a moment and sighed: "On this point, my dear brother agrees with me. But don't your three families come from the same ancestor? Why are you still related to each other?"
Bu Zhi gave a concise introduction in two sentences: His father was a concubine, and he had the same father and mother as his eldest uncle and fourth uncle. The uncle and the fourth uncle have the same mother, so the uncle has the final say in the affairs of the fourth aunt's family.
What he said is to emphasize that he does not sell his sister. At most, his uncle sells his niece. He is just saying it.
Seeing that he was so eager to clear things up, Zhuge Jin responded readily: "In that case, I won't be pretentious, but I don't know whether your sister feels aggrieved. I don't like to force others to do things, and I don't like to see clan elders sacrifice orphans. .”
Bu Zhi: "This shouldn't be the case. Fourth sister is young and ignorant, but she should think that you are a gentleman and can get close to you. I know this. My uncle also asked her, and she didn't object.
Moreover, I have also heard about it in the past few days. I seem to be very opposed to "discussing marriage before going on an envoy or commanding troops." Liu Shijun's subordinates in Guangling City all said that I think this kind of discussion is unlucky——
Therefore, my uncle said that the fourth sister is not a lady from a wealthy family, but she is from a family in distress. If you like her beauty, you can just take her away without any need for gifts. "
Zhuge Jin struggled for a last time, finally figured out the many obstacles, and made up his mind: "Then I will tell you directly, my sister is too young, and the position of the head wife is impossible. I am already twenty-one, and I will be there after the New Year. twenty two.
In the past two years, I was unable to marry because I was on the run and moved around. When I go to Yuzhang and settle down, I will definitely find a suitable wife to marry, and I can't wait for so many years.
I am the eldest brother in the family. If I don't find a sister-in-law for my younger brothers and sisters, it will be difficult to keep things in order in the house, and there will be no one to help with the trivial matters of the future marriages of my younger sisters.
Therefore, we can only wait until my younger sister reaches the age of marriage and give her the title of concubine. Before that, I kept her by my side and didn't let her do rough work. "
Bu Zhao also nodded in agreement. He brought the words to him, said a few more polite words, and then stood up to leave.
This time he chose to work directly for Liu Bei instead of Zhuge Jin because he wanted to prove himself.
So now I am holding back my courage, hoping that when we meet again next time, I will have made some achievements, so that I can discuss friendship on an equal footing in front of my old classmates.
…
After Zhuge Jin saw Bu Zhi off, he didn't do anything else that day. He just stayed at home to rest and think quietly all night.
The next day, he went to Bu's house to confirm the situation with Bu Long first, and then went to Xu's and Bu Lianshi's houses.
At Bulong's place, he learned that the other party was kind-hearted and even said that it would not matter whether he was a concubine or not in the future, he could just take the person away.
Zhuge Jin then only added one final question: after he took Master Bu away, would her widowed mother Xu be able to return to her parents' home and would there be anyone to support her?
Bu Long said that she did not have a natal family, but if there was no one to take care of her, the Bu family would give her a bite to eat. She did not give birth to a son, only a daughter. If her daughter was taken away, the Bu family would not need her to remain a widow.
Zhuge Jin thought for a while and then suggested: "In that case, how about I find a wife and concubine for the guard general around me and persuade her to remarry so that she can go to Yuzhang with her husband?"
Bu Long quickly expressed his thanks and said that Xu, a widow who was almost thirty years old, would be lucky if she could be a concubine for the guard officer around Zhuge Jin.
However, Zhuge Jin still respected the opinions of the parties involved and forced Bu Long to go to his sister-in-law's home to confirm. After getting a voluntary answer from the other party, Zhuge Jin started to take care of things.
Without saying a word, he found Chen Dao who Liu Bei had sent to protect him that day: "Uncle Zhi, I remember that you have been fighting with Duke Xuande for two years, and you haven't married yet, right?"
Chen Dao quickly admitted.
Zhuge Jin said unceremoniously: "Recently, I was given a maid by a good friend of my classmate, but her mother is widowed and helpless. Although she is twenty-seven or eight years old, three or five years older than you, she is not ugly.
You don't have to marry a wife, just take a concubine first, so that you can have someone around you who knows how to deal with the cold and the hot. If you agree, I will never let my family look down upon you.
This tells Brother Xuande that it is time for you to be promoted from Qu Junhou to Army Sima due to your merits. If you take a concubine as a military commander, your family will not feel ashamed. "
Chen Dao and Tian Yu had similar status in the military, but because Chen Dao originally led Liu Bei's confidant bodyguards and had a smaller number of soldiers, his military rank was lowered one level.
But in fact, Qu Junhou, who led the white soldiers, was no weaker than Army Sima, who led the miscellaneous army.
This time Zhuge Jin wanted to let someone take a concubine, so he took the opportunity to put in a good word for Chen Dao and let him get a promotion to the military position that had been stuck for a long time.
"Thank you for your kind words, sir! Your kindness will be unforgettable!" Chen Dao originally didn't care about taking a widow who was a few years older than him as his concubine. When he heard that he could be promoted by the way, of course he immediately agreed and gave it to Zhuge Jinxing. A big gift.
Zhuge Jin was very satisfied.
Not only did he get rid of the troublesome widow, but at the same time Chen Dao would follow him all year round, so that Mrs. Xu would have many opportunities to see her daughter in the future, so that mother and daughter would not be separated.
Liu Bei has stayed in Guangling for the past two years and will not go out. He does not need to go to the battlefield in person and let the guards protect him.
Zhuge Jin took Chen Dao to Yuzhang for Liu Bei's good, to give him some sense of urgency and encourage him to get Zhao Yun back as soon as possible.
After everything was settled, Zhuge Jin asked someone to take some belongings and went to Xu's place, which was considered decent.
Three days later, Mrs. Xu hastily remarried Chen Dao as her concubine.
Of course, Master Bu was taken back home by Zhuge Jin. At present, he can only be raised as a maid for a few years.
