After Yang Ning was knighted, Gu Qinghan had people tidy up the Dongyuan, so Yang Ning's residence was in a courtyard in the Dongyuan of the Hou Mansion, while Gu Qinghan's yard was in the West Garden of the Hou Mansion.
The sun was setting, and the weather was getting colder day by day. To get to Xiyuan, you naturally had to pass through the atrium. When you passed along the stone path of the atrium, you heard someone shouting: "Master Hou!"
Yang Ning turned around and looked over, and saw Han Shouzheng, who had just been promoted to manager, running over. Although this little old man was fifty years old, he was still in good health.
"Oh, Manager Han, how are the third ladies doing now?" Yang Ning looked around and saw that there was no one else, so he took the initiative to greet Han Shou, wanting to find out more about Han Shou first.
Han Shou said with a bitter face: "Master Marquis, the third lady has not come out since she returned to the yard in the morning. Today, I have to go to the third lady for advice on a few things. The third lady only asked me to come to you. He said that since the Marquis is in charge, he should not come to her for anything in the future." He sighed: "Master Marquis, the third lady hasn't eaten all day. She works hard day and night. This is not good, it will hurt her body."
Yang Ning frowned, thought for a moment, and then said: "Go and prepare some food, and I will deliver it to the third lady myself." After a pause, he asked again: "Yes, Duan Canghai is back?"
Han Shou nodded and said: "I came back in the morning, but when I returned home, I saw the Marquis resting, so I didn't bother him. He said he wanted to go out to find out some information. By the way, he said the Marquis knew what he was going to do." Be cautious. He asked: "Master Hou, do you have something to do with him? Qi Feng and Zhao Wushang are still in the house, do you want to see them over?"
"No need." Yang Ning shook his head, knowing that Duan Canghai should have gone out to inquire about the information about Fei Chan's secret ninja.
Han Shou then said: "Master Hou, that's what happened. When you were resting today, Mr. Yuan Rong and Mr. Yuan came over. The old slave wanted to report to Mr. Hou, but Mr. Yuan heard that Mr. Hou was still resting. You didn’t let me bother you.”
"What is he here for?"
Han Shou said with a smile: "He asked me to tell the Marquis that Dou Lianzhong sent things there so that the Marquis would not have to worry about it. He also sent some gifts for the Marquis to appreciate."
Yang Ning knew that what Yuan Rong was talking about was naturally a contract of betrayal. It seemed that Dou Lianzhong was still quite afraid of him and did not dare to cheat on him.
"Send something here?" Yang Ning asked, "What thing?"
Han Shou said: "Master Hou, go and see for yourself. How many boxes are there?"
Yang Ning didn't know what Yuan Rong had sent, so he followed Han Shou to the side hall and saw several gift boxes already placed on the carved wooden table. He went up and opened one of them, only to see a tea bowl inside. The color is light green, like jade, and it even looks somewhat accomplished. The most incredible thing is that there are several cracked marks on the inside of the teacup.
"Is this a gift from Yuan Rong?" Yang Ning looked through the tea bowl and frowned: "Why did this guy send such a broken thing?"
Han Shou had his eyes wide open, staring at the shabby tea bowl without blinking.
Seeing this, Yang Ning smiled and said, "What, Mr. Han likes this tea bowl?" He handed it over, "How about you take it for tea?"
Han Shou came back to his senses, waved his hand hurriedly and said: "Master Hou, what kind of status does this old slave have? How can I use such a good thing? Even if I practice for a few more lives, I will still be unqualified."
"Oh?" Yang Ning was very surprised, thinking that this was just a tea bowl, why was Han Shou so surprised.
"Master Hou, old slave... can I take a look at it?" Han Shou asked cautiously.
Yang Ning reached out, but Han Shou wiped his hands on his clothes first, then took it carefully, looked at it carefully, and said with light in his eyes: "Yes, yes, it must be it."
"What? What is it?" Yang Ning asked curiously: "Manager Han, what do you think it is?"
Han Shou returned the tea bowl with both hands. After Yang Ning took it, Han Shou said: "Master Marquis, when you hold it in your hands, do you feel any difference in this tea bowl?"
Seeing Han Shou's reaction, Yang Ning vaguely felt that this inconspicuous-looking tea bowl must be famous. He held it in his hand to feel it, and quickly frowned and said: "Hey, this tea bowl... It's winter now, and most of the utensils are..." It's cool, but after holding this tea bowl in my hand for a long time, it seems to be hot."
Han Shou smiled and said: "Master Hou, my usual hobby is to drink tea, and I also have a little knowledge of tea sets. If I guess correctly, this should be the legendary leech trip!"
"Leech trip?" Yang Ning asked confused: "What does that mean?"
"Master Hou, anyone who knows the tea ceremony must know about Lee Locust Trip." Han Shou said: "Master Hou may not have heard of the tea sage Lu He, who is the top master in tea ceremony. Before him, drinking tea was very casual. It was he who pioneered the tea ceremony and wrote a "Tea Code", which is still available for purchase today. Legend has it that Lu He collected tea sets from all over the world and finally collected four famous tea sets, and this Lee Locust Trip is one of them."
Yang Ning knew nothing about tea ceremony, but he knew that there were specialties in the art. He couldn't see what was good about this tea bowl, but a real tea ceremony practitioner could.
"So, is this leech trip still worth some money?" Yang Ning asked with a smile.
Han Shou was startled. The tea ceremony, like music, chess, calligraphy and painting, was a way of elegance, but the young marquis was lucky. As soon as he knew that this tea bowl was a good thing, he started asking about the price.
"This...!" Han Shou hesitated for a moment and then said: "Those who don't understand the tea ceremony may not think it is worth a lot of silver in their eyes. But those who know more know that this treasure is not priced in silver. It can be said that there is a market for it. The price, if we really want to talk about the price, it shouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it’s worth a thousand gold.”
"Is it worth a thousand gold?" Yang Ning was surprised and took a look at the tea bowl in his hand, a little unconvinced, "Can a tea bowl be worth a thousand gold?"
"If Lord Marquis wants to sell it, he will ask for thousands of gold, and there will be many people who want to buy it." Han Shou said: "But such a treasure can be used as a family heirloom. Lord Marquis... Lord Marquis should keep it."
It is worth a thousand gold. According to Da Chu’s current exchange rate, it is at least ten thousand taels of silver. Perhaps to some high-ranking officials, ten thousand taels of silver is not a sky-high price, but for Yang Ning and even the Jinyi Houfu now , Ten thousand taels of silver is definitely not a small amount.
Knowing the value of the leech trip, Yang Ning looked at several other gift boxes. One gift box contained two wild ginsengs. Han Shou had been in the Hou Mansion for many years and had naturally seen the world. He only said that these two wild ginsengs were Two of the top-quality old ginseng, which is only one in a thousand, should be worth nearly a thousand pieces of gold. In addition, there are two boxes of tea. Needless to say, Han Shou, Yang Ning also knows that these two boxes of tea are definitely worth a lot of money.
Yang Ning already understood at this time that these things were definitely not sent by Yuan Rong. Although Yuan Rong was born in the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Rites, the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Rites was not very wealthy. Yuan Rong would never have such a big hand, otherwise he would just I'm afraid that I have already redeemed myself for Pearl, so I don't need to take action to get the deed of betrayal from Dou Lianzhong.
Looking at these things, the ginseng was certainly sent by Qiu Fang of Liaodong, the tea should be sent by Jiangcheng, and as for the tea bowl, Yang Ning thought it was Jiang Cheng, but since there are tea leaves here, the tea bowl is most likely from Weitang Chen Mukuan brought it up. After all, Chen Mukuan had a straightforward personality and was very generous with his actions.
Opening the last box, he saw a bracelet inside. The bracelet was very exquisitely made, dark green in color, transparent, warm, delicate and round. Under the bracelet, there was a letter. Han Shou saw that Yang Ning had already taken it. After issuing the letter, he hurriedly explained: "Master Hou, this was written temporarily by Mr. Yuan when he saw the young master resting and asked the old slave to get pen and ink."
Yang Ning opened the letter and saw a banknote inside. He took a look and saw that it was a banknote worth one thousand five hundred taels. He rolled his eyes and a smile appeared on his lips. He immediately understood. This banknote was naturally issued by Yuan Rong. The one thousand taels of silver should be used to settle the matter at Zhongling Villa. The remaining five hundred taels, if nothing else, should be paid by Yuan Rong himself.
After all, last night he helped Pearl get back the deed of betrayal, and even gave him a boat. A boat was worth a lot of money. From Yuan Rong's point of view, if he helped Pearl, then if he helped Yuan Rong, he would get The five hundred pieces of silver were naturally expressed as a token of gratitude.
Yuan Rong is not as good as those wealthy men. He can take out 500 silver and squeeze it out through his teeth, which is very interesting to him.
The letter was written very concisely, "I only envy mandarin ducks but not immortals. Brothers send me a small gift to congratulate the Marquis and Zhuo Xian'er on their happy marriage."
There is naturally some ridicule in it, but it also clearly shows that these gifts were given by several people together last night.
There is no reward for no merit. Although Yang Ning did help these people last night, these gifts are too heavy. Added together, they are at least two to thirty thousand taels of silver, which is really not a small amount.
Although it was not uncommon for those wealthy businessmen to spend huge sums of money, Yang Ning knew in his heart the real intention behind these generous gifts.
The dispute last night made Zhu Yuchen and others realize that they had formed a grudge against Dou Lianzhong, and that enmity with Dou Lianzhong was actually no different from enmity with the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
The Ministry of Household Affairs is the king of hell for these wealthy businessmen. The Ministry of Household Affairs is in charge of the country's finances and taxes. If it really makes things difficult for merchants, even the most wealthy merchants will suffer.
Zhu Yuchen and others obviously realized the seriousness of it, so they tried their best to climb the big tree in Jinyihou Mansion.
Although the Jinyihou Mansion was obviously much weaker after Qi Jing's death, the people of Dachu only knew that Jinyihou was the pillar of the empire and had deep influence in the military. Of course, such a big tree, a minister of household affairs, It cannot be compared with it.
Since you have offended the Minister of Household Affairs, instead of spending countless gold and silver to beg for mercy from the Dou family, it is better to rely on the big tree of Jinyihou. At least in the eyes of Zhu Yuchen and others, with the protection of Jinyihou, the Dou family will never dare to act rashly. They saw with their own eyes that even the Prince of Huainan was very polite to Marquis Jinyi, not to mention the Minister of Household Affairs.
After all, they were just local gentry, so they naturally had no insight into the disputes under the muddy waters of the capital.
"What do you think of this bracelet?" Yang Ning put away the banknote and handed the jade bracelet to Han Shou, "Do you think it's worth it?"
Han Shou was almost speechless, thinking to himself that the young prince had never cared about money before, so why was he so concerned about money this time? He took the bracelet, looked at it carefully, and then said: "Master Hou, what Mr. Yuan has sent this time are all extremely valuable gifts. Not to mention the leech, this bracelet is made of the best Xiu jade." It is made. The Marquis looks at the color. The better the Xiu jade, the darker the color. This Xiu jade bracelet is already a very dark green, and it is transparent and flawless. It is extremely rare, and there are carvings on it...!" Carefully! After looking at it, he praised: "What a good craftsmanship. If it is just a Xiu jade bracelet, it may be worth more than a thousand taels of silver, but with the carvings on it, it is difficult to buy it without two thousand taels of silver." He couldn't help but ask: "Master Marquis, are you planning to sell it?"
"Sell it?" Yang Ning carefully put the jade bracelet back into the exquisite little gift box and said with a smile: "I'm just asking if it's expensive, otherwise it won't be easy to give it to Sanniang. Manager Han, you need to take care of all the things here first. Put it in my room and be careful, they are all good things, so don't break them."
Yang Ning was still quite happy to receive such a big gift today.
Although he knew that the Jinyihou Mansion did not have financial dealings with court officials and was not subject to bribes, Zhu Yuchen and others were not officials, and these gifts were considered bribes, but he had kept them safe and sound last night. Since he had exerted his efforts, he would give some gifts in return. That's not a bad idea, at least Yang Ning felt at ease and didn't feel the slightest bit uneasy.