Fang Xuanling's home in Daxing is a small house located in a dilapidated alley.
Even though the house is small, his father also spent a lot of money to buy it. This is a place in the capital where every inch of land is precious.
There are six servants left here to serve him.
His father, Fang Yanqian, wanted his son to study hard in Daxing, so among the six servants, one was a housekeeper in his sixties, and the remaining five were yellow-faced women in their forties or fifties.
As for the young maidservant from the original residence, Fang Yanqian took her to Changge County (today's Changge City, Henan Province).
Although Fang Xuanling got a Jinshi, to be honest, he felt as if he had failed. If he didn't take the Jinshi exam, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to find a ninth-grade official.
Therefore, he felt that his pearl was covered with dust and was depressed and frustrated.
Fang Xuanling had nothing to do all day long, and there was no point in staying at home, so he spent most of his time wandering around Daxing like a street kid, and he made a lot of friends.
After returning home that day, the old housekeeper handed him the transfer document sent by the Ministry of Personnel.
Fang Xuanling's eyes instantly lit up.
This document looks familiar to him. The last time he was transferred back to Daxing from Xi (xi) City, it was also this kind of document. Could it be that my grandfather in Changge County was behind his back?
So he hurriedly ran back to the study, lit the oil lamp, and opened the sealing wax.
"Recording things?"
"Recording events in Hedong Prince's Mansion?"
Is this an official of the county prince's palace?
Fang Xuanling was stunned...
The palace records were from the seventh rank, which was higher than his current rank, but Fang Xuanling was definitely not happy with it.
Although he is just a Yuqi Lieutenant at the moment, he is still under the emperor's feet after all. There will be opportunities in the future, but if he becomes an official of the royal palace and they refuse to let him go in the future, he will be tied up for the rest of his life.
This is a county king, not a prince. There is a big difference between the two.
What's more, the partisan struggle between the government and the opposition has become a hot topic. The King of Hedong is the son of King Yang Guang of Jin. If I go to serve as an official for him, there is no chance that I will be implicated in it in the future.
This is really not good.
Suddenly, Fang Xuanling felt that it would be good to be a Yuqi Lieutenant.
But the transfer order has been issued, and it would not be appropriate for him not to visit them.
Early the next morning, Fang Xuanling boarded the only carriage at home and headed to Prince Jin's Mansion.
In fact, Yang Ming did not go out today, but was waiting for Fang Xuanling at home.
He calculated that this kid should have already received the transfer order. Since he got it, he must come to meet his new leader.
At about ten o'clock in the morning, a servant from the palace came to report that someone wanted to see him.
Yang Ming ordered the other party to be brought to a living room in the mansion.
"It's you?"
When Fang Xuanling saw the half-baked face walking in from the door, she stood up suddenly. After being stunned for a long time, she couldn't help but smile bitterly:
"Don't tell me that you are the King of Hedong?"
Yang Ming waved his hand and motioned for him to sit down, and then he sat opposite Fang Xuanling:
"I heard that Brother Xuanling has been free recently, and there is a vacancy in my house, so I asked the Ministry of Personnel for someone. Brother Xuanling, don't blame me for being abrupt."
Abrupt? This was obviously a fright. I was really unlucky. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have drank your two jugs of wine that night. What happened to me?
Fang Xuanling said, "Don't dare, don't dare."
"How about it? When can Brother Xuanling take office?" Yang Ming said with a smile.
I don't want to go... Fang Xuanling said with a solemn face: "I am so humble in virtue and so incompetent that I have been favored by His Highness. I am really ashamed, and I am afraid that I will not be able to do the job. I have been transferred since last night and I have not been able to sleep a wink. I am really afraid." It is a disgrace to His Highness to delay the important affairs of the palace."
Yang Ming heard it. The other person was saying: I can't do it, can you change it?
After hearing this, Yang Ming's facial expression did not change at all, and he just looked out of the hall.
"Brother Xuanling, please look!"
Yang Ming pointed to a withered jujube tree in the courtyard and said slowly:
"This jujube tree has been withering since last year, and its branches and leaves have turned yellow and collapsed. I once asked someone to take care of it. The person said that it needed to be pruned and pruned, and the soil and fertilizers needed to be replaced."
"The king said to the man at that time, just go and cure it. If it can't be cured, I will bury you in the ground and use it as fertilizer."
Hearing this, Fang Xuanling couldn't help but swallow. He naturally heard the threat in the other party's words.
Yang Ming continued: "I was just a joke at the time, but the man was frightened. He guarded the jujube tree every night and took good care of it. Within a month, the jujube tree sprouted and regained its vitality. I I rewarded him with two hundred dollars on the spot. Brother Xuanling, do you think the two hundred dollars were worth it?"
Good boy, didn’t I just drink two bottles of wine from you? You remember it clearly.
"It's worth it! It's very worth it," Fang Xuanling was thinking, what would happen if she said it wasn't worth it?
Yang Ming smiled and asked again: "When can Brother Xuanling take office?"
"You can take office in three days." What else could Fang Xuanling say? If he didn't go, he was afraid he would be buried.
Yang Ming stood up and clasped his hands and said, "Congratulations to Brother Xuanling. In three days, there will be a cart of fine wine traveling with Brother Xuanling to the east of the river."
Fang Xuanling quickly stood up and returned the gift: "Your Highness shows your love, Xuanling should do her best,"
.......
After sending away Xuanling, Yang Ming called Xu Jing again:
"Which of the drinks sold in the capital are pretty good?"
Xu Jing thought that Yang Ming bought it himself, so he said: "It must be the 'Spring Mash' brewed by Liu Baituo, a person from Hedong in the old Wei Dynasty. This wine is very popular among nobles in Daxing and Luoyang."
"What's the price?" Yang Ming asked.
Xu Jingdao: "Sixty yuan a pound,"
It's too expensive... It seems to be more expensive than wine. A bottle of wine weighs three to two kilograms.
Yang Ming asked again: "Is there anything cheaper?"
"Why does the master need to buy wine?" Xu Jing asked curiously: "There are many privet, Huadiao, and Shaoxing yellow that the prince brought back from Jiangdu in the cellar of the house. If the master wants to drink, you can go and get it."
That's my dad's cellar. I can drink it, but I don't dare to take a cart out and give it away.
Besides, doesn’t Fang Xuanling claim to be virtuous and lacking in talent? Then you can't drink good wine.
Yang Ming said: "Let's do this. You take a carriage out, fill it with the cheapest wine you can find in the market, and set off with Fang Xuanling in three days."
"Oh...it turns out that the master wants to give it away, then I understand,"
Xu Jing had been with Yang Ming since he was a full moon, so he naturally knew what Yang Ming meant, so he set up a carriage and horses in the palace, called three or five domestic slaves, and went to Lifang, the southernmost area of Daxing.
There are cheap wines in the East Market and West Market, but they are definitely not the cheapest in Daxing.
The cheapest is in the south of the city, where you can buy a pound for five yuan.
Xu Jing understands Yang Ming.
So when he found a small wine shop in the south of the city with a good business, he said directly to the boss:
"Let's load the car, one pound of wine to three ounces of water."
.......
Three days later, Yang Ming personally saw Fang Xuanling off, took out the four jars of flower carvings stored by his father Yang Guang, and asked Fang Xuanling to give two jars to Dou Qing, the governor of Hedong County, and the other two jars to the Cheng of Hedong County. Li Jing.
Fang Xuanling glanced at the four jars of fine wine, and then at his cart full of yellow clay jars, feeling a sense of disparity in his heart...
Is this the wine you gave me?
Are you too stingy?
