Qingyuan is a beautiful seaside town, and the closest opportunity for Qingyuan to become the national capital is more than a hundred years from now. The chance of seeing a eunuch in this southeastern seaside town is even smaller than the chance of seeing a panda in Qingyuan.
Eunuchs strictly control their travel in every period. They are internal servants. If they get too close to people outside, there is a greater chance of problems. The emperor didn't want the little eunuch standing next to him to get too close to a certain frontier official when he was sleeping.
In Liang Chuan's impression, these eunuchs were all evil people, such as Liu Jin, Wei Zhongxian and others. The eunuchs contributed to the tragedy of the Tang Dynasty. Even the internal strife in the Ming Dynasty led to the demise of the eunuch party.
But it cannot be ruled out that there are good people, even great people. Zheng He, who started the great voyage, was also an internal official, so we cannot generalize about this profession. No one wants to be a bad person when he is born. There is a saying that is good, if you want to blame it, blame the system. Forced by society.
In order to show goodwill to Liang Chuan, Qingyuantang asked Qin Jing and Yuchi Tian to give him five large and plump pearls. These pearls were definitely not made of plastic, because there was no such material in this era. Liang Chuan had been keeping them, just waiting for this. I want to put this opportunity to use.
There are several mighty imperial guards standing in front of the Taobao store. They are the legendary and powerful Imperial Army, the Central Army that guards the emperor. Liang Chuan came closer. Without even looking at Liang Chuan, they stared at Liang Chuan with their nostrils and shouted: "Idle people stay away."
Liang Chuan straightened his posture and said in a neither humble nor condescending manner: "Master Jun, I am the owner of this store." He lifted a corner of the box containing pearls, revealing the pearls for the soldier to take a look at. The imperial guards knew what they were selling, and such beautiful pearls were rare to see in Tokyo. This person was definitely not an ordinary person, so he let Liang Chuan in without any suspicion.
Liang Chuan entered the store and looked around, tiptoeing like a thief, and saw Zheng Ruoying standing aside with a low eyebrow and a gauze scarf in her hand, fighting with the pupil who had made a mistake next to the teacher.
Seeing Liang Chuan coming, Zheng Ruoying seemed to have seen a savior, with a look of grievance and begging for mercy in her eyes.
Liang Chuan saw a real eunuch for the first time.
Eunuchs are also human beings, but for people like Liang Chuan who have watched movies and TV shows such as Longmen Inn, there are not many good things about eunuchs. They spend every day in the darkness thinking about how to harm people!
This eunuch was wearing a green official uniform. He was not of high rank, but he sat in the front seat with dignity and looked like a member of the royal family. Those who didn't know it thought the emperor was coming in person, and Zheng Ruoying was so frightened that she didn't dare to say anything.
At the beginning of spring, the eunuch was served some good tea brought by the Sun family. The eunuch drank it neither salty nor bland, and showed no expression at all. It seemed that those who did his job often encountered such good things and were accustomed to it.
Liang Chuan leaned forward and got very close. His nose suddenly smelled something strange, and he sniffed suddenly.
With this twitch, the expressions of the official and those accompanying him suddenly changed. The rosy cheeks gradually turned green, and then turned black. The muscles on the cheeks spasmed, and the air was quiet, just like the calm before a rainstorm.
Because the lower body of eunuchs has been overexerted and their body structure is incomplete, they also have more or less problems with their urinary system. Most eunuchs have a faint smell of urine.
What eunuchs hate most is that others use their physical defects to discriminate against them. It's okay if they don't have rights. But now they hold the power of purchasing. How many people line up to curry favor with them. Liang Chuan used this straightforward method in front of them. Their faces openly 'insult' their physical imperfections.
There was a sneer on the lips of the two attendants. They could conclude that the sweet dream of becoming a tribute for the sweets from the Thieves' Bird Shop was about to fade away.
The official was shaking slightly as he held the tea cup, and Liang Chuan signaled Li Chun to quickly pick it up.
The official's anger was suppressed in his chest, and he asked word by word: "Who are you?"
Liang Chuan just smelled the smell of urine and saw the eunuch's expression. He knew he was in trouble, but he felt sorry for this business. This was an opportunity to become a tribute. If he became a tribute, what would happen to the folks in Fengshan in the future? But it really turned around. The sugar business alone was enough for EMI generations to eat.
He could only lower his body with a smile on his face, and said flatteringly: "Back to my father-in-law, I am Liang Chuan, the second owner of this shop. I admire your father-in-law's majesty. This is a small gift, specially brought to my father-in-law."
After speaking, Liang Chuan opened the box completely, and Li Chun brought the box to the official table.
The official glanced at it and didn't look at it a second time. Liang Chuan was shocked when he saw it, wasn't it? This damn eunuch really had such a big appetite, he couldn't even look down on this kind of treasure!
Of course, the official looked down on it. He could only accept a box of such goods in Qingyuan. In order to make their products become royal objects, the Sun family and the Wu family sent pearls larger than this head, so they still sent them in boxes. Rather than count them, you want to send him away with just these five beads?
"You are Liang Chuan." The eunuch's chest calmed down. His eyes looked at him and his brows furrowed. Apart from being a little bigger, this boy was ordinary, so how could he be appointed by the noble nobleman. .
"Sit down..." Although this kid had acted too presumptuously towards him just now, he didn't want to behave like a countryman, let alone someone who told him that he couldn't offend him. . If he had dared to mess with him in normal times, he would have been dead.
Liang Chuan smiled and found a small stool, deliberately lowered himself to the official, sat quietly next to him and asked: "Eunuch, what is your surname?"
This father-in-law felt very unhappy. You are not worthy of asking for my name, but since we are talking about business, it doesn't make sense not to tell me my family name.
"The surname is Wei."
Zheng Ruoying wanted to laugh, but she admired this man very much. He had seen this man when he was brave, and also when he pretended to be timid. His heart was extremely strong, and he would never let himself know what to say when meeting anyone. Disappointed, for the sake of his career, he deserves to be able to bend and stretch.
The eunuch's voice is indeed the same as in the TV series. There is a kind of diaphragm that cannot be released. The voice is very high-pitched, low and sinister. It fits the classic scene. In a small and eerie house, it is impossible to watch. He looked at the eunuch's face, and then his subordinates asked the eunuch which minister in the court he wanted to kill. The eunuch sneered and took care of a human life. It was this sense of immediacy.
"It is rumored that the sugar sand here is even clearer than the one produced in Yangzhou, and the color and taste are much better. I took advantage of this time that I came to Qingyuan to collect royal tributes and came here to take a look. I thought it was a wealthy businessman from aristocratic families, but fortunately I came here to take a look. It’s a small family. It doesn’t look too good from the looks of it.”
Zheng Ruoying was anxious after hearing what he said, but she didn't know how to explain it to him, because she didn't know what the candy in Yangzhou was like.
Liang Chuan thought to himself, Damn, he really has seen the world. This damn eunuch is the center of the power struggle. If you don't like the candy here, will you still come? If you think my store is too small, would you like to sit down and chat with us? Your time is more valuable than our gold.
Liang Chuan said to Lichun: "At the beginning of spring, go and get a can of brown sugar and white sugar for Eunuch Wei to evaluate."
How could Liang Chuan not know the benefits of his candies? Candies of this quality are rare in this era. Sugar itself is a luxury product. Looking at the whole Qingyuan, it is exclusively distributed by his family. However, the common people cannot afford this stuff, so that The store had been open for more than half a year and only sold a few cans of brown sugar to a few women.
Liang Chuan had already asked Zheng Ruoying to pack these candies, using good-grade porcelain. If they were packed in sacks, they would be off-putting, and who would buy them?
Eunuch Wei looked at the sugar bowl he had brought at the beginning of spring with a happy face. The sugar was packed in porcelain, exquisite and gorgeous, which made people feel comfortable.
When he opened it, he saw that the brown sugar powder was fine, neither wet nor lumpy. He gently pinched a handful and put it in his mouth to taste. The taste was sweet, not bitter or astringent, and his eyes lit up.
This candy is indeed better than those from Yangzhou and Shuzhong. There are no impurities or peculiar smell in the candy, and the texture is very pure. The nobles in the palace have a keen eye for sugar, and they actually know that this inhospitable place produces such high-quality sugar sand.
Look at the white sugar again. Although it is not white enough, it looks like frost and tastes sweeter than brown sugar. The grains of sugar are like gems, with clear edges and corners. The method of preservation is also very good. Sugar The sand is neither damp nor greasy.
Eunuch Wei's expression had completely betrayed him. If he didn't like the candy, would he still have such a surprised expression?
Liang Chuan saw this and said with a smile: "My father-in-law, you are well-informed, and I won't beat around the bush. The candy in our store is generally not sold to the outside world, otherwise why would we only have a Taobao store brand instead of a candy store sign. We won’t sell it to ordinary people who want to buy it. If anyone can afford such a rare thing, we won’t dare to show it to our father-in-law!”
In fact, the price was too high in the past, and most people had never used it before, so they didn’t know how good the sugar was. The market would not accept it well, otherwise it would have been sold out long ago. Now Liang Chuan is telling lies with his eyes open, insisting that he can't sell it as not selling it. Anyway, the result is the same.
"How much do you have in total for these two kinds of candies?"
"I wonder how much father-in-law wants?"
Zheng Ruoying could tell that the father-in-law didn't think their store was small, but he was worried that they didn't have enough inventory. Although their sugar was of good quality, the quantity wasn't enough, so there was no hope of paying tribute.
Eunuch Wei is a scheming person. His mission is naturally to find rare treasures from all over the world for the Zhao and Song royal families and deliver them to the palace for the nobles to enjoy. If he comes across two things of similar quality, the 'higher price' will naturally be the one to get it. The price here is not the price of the item, but the price of the bribe. Whoever has the higher price will use the goods from that company.
When he came to Liang Chuan's shop this time, the shopkeeper not only humiliated Liang Chuan, but according to his past temper, he would not even tear down Liang Chuan's bird shop, but this time he couldn't have an attack because he had an 'important person' The instructions specify that you want to buy candy from this company.
