When Wang Zhongxiao led his red rabbit back to his home in Douzhaocai Hutong, it was almost dark. He opened the courtyard door and saw Master Yu, Li Jixiang, and Li Fuhan, all stretching their necks and thinking. Hear the news!
"Second Young Master, how is the situation?"
"Brother Big Tou, are you meeting the emperor?"
"Shikai...that sign that says Qianqingmen Walking was not taken back, right?"
Hearing the questions from the three of them, Wang Zhongxiao laughed and said, "There are good things happening today, but this is not the place to talk. Let's go inside and chat slowly."
When Li Fuhan heard this, he also laughed, and then ordered his son Li Jixiang: "Jixiang, quickly lead the horse and carry the gun for your brother Shikai...Shikai, come in quickly, are you hungry? I'll let your aunt I cooked your favorite old hen stewed with mushrooms and made dumplings stuffed with cabbage and pork!"
"Well, I smell it, it smells so good!"
Wang Zhongxiao had been busy for a day and was already hungry. Now he smelled the aroma of chicken soup and his stomach growled. While handing over the spear and the reins of the red rabbit colt to Li Jixiang, he shouted: "Auntie , give me more dumplings, I want to stew mushrooms with the old hen!"
"Got it," Mrs. Li Zhang's voice came from the kitchen immediately, "Enough with the dumplings...Chun Ni'er, help your big head brother put the wine on, and add three or four eggs for me. !”
Chuni happily agreed: "Okay!"
Wang Zhongxiao walked into the hanging flower door with Li Fuhan and Master Yu, and then went to the empty main room. This main house facing north and south is theoretically the residence of Wang Fuchen and his eight wives... However, Wang Fuchen lives in Yunnan, so it has always been empty. After Wang Zhongxiao came back, he asked Li Fuhan to use the hall of the main house as a restaurant for family gatherings.
The restaurant has been lit with candles, and an Eight Immortals table is set with cups, plates, bowls and chopsticks. There are also a stack of peanuts for drinking, a stack of Liubiju pickles, and a stack of pig heads bought from somewhere. Meat.
Wang Zhongxiao, Li Fuhan, and Master Yu all took their seats, and Chunni brought another pot of hot gold and a plate of lard scrambled eggs with an attractive aroma... made from authentic native pigs. The free-range eggs fried in oil are so fragrant!
Wang Zhongxiao couldn't wait to pick up his chopsticks, put a large piece of egg into his mouth and chewed it for a few times before swallowing it with satisfaction. Then he smiled and said to Li Fuhan and Master Yu: "It's done!"
"What's done?"
"Shikai, stop being so pretentious!"
Wang Zhongxiao poured himself a glass of wine, drank it in one gulp, and said with a smile: "The guard is done! Your Majesty has made me a sixth-grade Lan Ling guard today, and I will still work in the Qing Dynasty! He also asked me to go tomorrow Look at the main gate of Qianqingmen!"
"Really?" Li Fuhan looked in disbelief, "This is a guard!"
Master Yu couldn't believe it either: "Did I hear it correctly? I won't be selected until next month!"
Wang Zhongxiao smiled and said: "Can this matter be false? I have done a good job in protecting you today!"
"Escort?" Li Fuhan was startled, "Is there an assassin?"
"Second Young Master," Master Yu said with a complicated expression, "Is he a remnant of the previous dynasty? Isn't it the Third Prince Zhu's men who came to kill the Emperor?"
"No," Wang Zhongxiao shook his head and said with a smile, "It's not that great. It was just a frightened wild boar. I used a Zhangliu spear to shoot the sky spear and killed it on the spot! The emperor and Master Ao both praised him when they saw it. I am very skilled in martial arts, so I rewarded you with a guard who can guard the gate of Qianqing Gate."
"Really? That's so lucky!"
"That's right, just kill a pig and become a bodyguard. There's no one else like that."
Li Fuhan and Yu Deshui both looked surprised. In their opinion, if Wang Zhongxiao became a bodyguard, it would be like jumping over the dragon's gate! In today's officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, not counting the mother's birth into the emperor's family, the first-class family background is a bodyguard, which is harder than the number one scholar!
And because Wang Zhongxiao was born in a coat, he could only theoretically become a bodyguard... even if his father, Wang Fuchen, was a second-grade general soldier!
The Qing Dynasty's general soldiers actually only had a few soldiers. Wu Sangui's reinforcement and suppression general had more troops, with only 3,000 green battalion soldiers under his command. Other general soldiers usually only had 2,000 green battalion soldiers.
Unexpectedly, this theoretical possibility was realized so easily by Wang Zhongxiao... He didn't even wait for the selection, he just killed a pig and became a bodyguard!
Killing pigs is not difficult, Li Fuhan and Yu Deshui can do it, but becoming a bodyguard by killing pigs is as difficult as climbing to the sky! Could it be that Kangxi also gave Wang Zhongxiao a bodyguard because he was handsome?
Thinking of this, Li Fuhan and Yu Deshui took a closer look at Wang Zhongxiao's pretty face, and found that his handsome face was actually covered with a trace of sadness.
Why are you still worried?
"Second Young Master," Master Yu Deshui asked, "you have got what you wanted now, why aren't you happy?"
Li Fuhan also nodded and said: "That's right, to be successful in life you must have all the fun!"
Wang Zhongxiao said: "I'm proud of myself, but I owe a lot of favors to others. If I don't even mention paying them back, then I have to go to the house and say thank you, right?" After saying that, he made a gesture of counting money, " But I’m short of money now!”
"Shy?" Master Yu was stunned, "That's not true, is it? Didn't you steal one thousand and eighty from your father? You also borrowed two thousand from Wu Shicong and Wu Shijue, and Magistrate Lu of Qujing returned the money Two thousand, so there are five thousand eight hundred taels in total!"
"What?" Wang Zhongxiao was startled, "Fat Lu from Qujing gave me two thousand? When did it happen? Why didn't I know?"
Master Yu said: "That's it...when you said goodbye to the Wu family members at Bailian Temple, Magistrate Lu didn't find you, so he gave the banknote to your father."
"This, this old guy really doesn't learn well!" Wang Zhongxiao got angry immediately and shouted angrily, "He even cheated his own son out of his money!"
"Ah, he didn't give it to you? Then now you..."
Wang Zhongxiao said: "I only have a thousand dollars on hand. I have to go to Prince Yu, Prince Pingxi, Dingnan Gege, and the guards for a while. Cao Yin, Zhang Xiaobao, and Guo Jinbao also helped a lot. I can’t do without a little expression. In addition, there is also some communication between colleagues... Master Yu, Second Uncle, do you think I should ask someone to borrow some usury money?"
"Borrow usury?" Mr. Yu frowned, "It sounds ugly to say usury, but officials in the capital have little money and high expenses, so it is not impossible for them to borrow money to survive. It's just that the guards' families are generally well-established, so they won't have to borrow money. If Second Young Master wants to borrow it, but I have a way."
Li Fuhan quickly waved his hand and said: "No, no... Mr. Yu, I know your methods. It's the gangsters in the outer city who borrowed their money. In the future, Shikai will have to take it with him when he goes out to other places." Their people are going to make money together! When the time comes that they will do mischief in the name of Shikai’s family, Shikai will have to wipe their butts!”
Master Yu spread his hands: "Second Master, aren't you short of money now? If you don't go to the outer city to borrow it, why don't you borrow some? Do you have any capital?"
"Me? Where do I have money?" Li Fuhan just shook his head, "All the income from the village outside the city was used to build a retirement home for my brother. He, Ji Zhen, and Shikai's bosses didn't have much money or food, and they don't have much money now. There are only a few left..."
"The child's father!"
As soon as Li Fuhan mentioned the money and food he had received from the coaters "on behalf of" Wang Fuchen and his son over the years, his wife Li Zhang came into the house carrying a large casserole of hot and fragrant old hen stewed with mushrooms. After putting down the casserole in her hand, she asked with a smile: "Is it because Shikai is short of money and lacks the money to do it?"
Li Fuhan looked back at his wife: "Do you have any ideas?"
"Hey, you really asked!" Mrs. Li Zhang said with a smile, "I still have a way!"
"Auntie, if you have any ideas, please tell your nephew immediately," Wang Zhong said filially, "My nephew is almost borrowing usury!"
Li Zhang said: "Shikai, Auntie's method is also to let you borrow money for turnover, but it's not usury money, and you don't have to pay it back."
"If you don't want to return it?" Li Fuhan asked, "Wouldn't that mean that you will take others with you when you go out in the future? This will be even more troublesome!"
"That's not necessary," Mrs. Li Zhang said with a smile, "I don't lack these connections."
Wang Zhongxiao asked: "There is no shortage of opportunities, and you don't want us to pay back the money...Who is so conscientious?"
Li Zhang smiled and said, "You know this person, she is Aunt Zhang Xiaoyu."
"What? Aunt Xiaoyu...Zhang Xiaobao's sister?"
"Yes!" Mrs. Li Zhang said, "She is a popular person around the Empress Dowager. Except for the Emperor, Prince Yu, Fifth Elder Brother, and Grand Master Ao, everyone else has to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager. After all these years, I always have tens of thousands of taels of savings in my hand. Shikai, it’s a little difficult for others to ask her to borrow money, but it’s not difficult at all for you to ask.”
"Me?" Wang Zhongxiao's heart skipped a beat, "I'm not familiar with her, why should she lend me money?"
"It's your father!" Ms. Li Zhang said with a smile, "Your father hasn't renewed his marriage yet, has he?"
"Not yet..." Wang Zhongxiao shook his head and said with big eyes, "Aunt, you mean I sold my father to Aunt Zhang Xiaoyu?"
