The sun rose in the east and set in the west. After the rising and setting cycle repeated again and again, Zhu Ping'an's working career in the Hanlin Academy finally came to a temporary end, and he ushered in a rare leisurely month-long vacation.
This was a generous gift from the Ming Dynasty to newly promoted officials. Only newly promoted Jinshi could enjoy such a long vacation, which was a kind of home visit leave. Other officials could only enjoy home visit leave once every three years. The standard vacation was one month, but the travel time was calculated separately according to the mileage. In total, Zhu Ping'an had a total of 50 days on this vacation.
In addition to the vacation, Zhu Ping'an also received a visit allowance of 5 taels of silver, but only 3 taels of silver was in cash, and the other 2 taels of silver was in treasure notes.
Holding the treasure notes in his hand, Zhu Ping'an was speechless. This Emperor Jiajing was too stingy. These two strings of treasure notes were only worth 10 coins in cash, and no one would give you a discount for this! This stuff had been stopped during the Zhengde period, but Emperor Jiajing still used it to deal with it. It was amazing to have such a stingy boss.
The Ming Dynasty's salaries were notoriously low, and like today, part of the salary was exchanged by the emperor for things, such as excess cotton and silk cloth in the Imperial Household Department, and other small items. Anyway, whatever was in the national treasury or the Imperial Household Department was given out, and even treasure notes were given out like today...
The problem is, these things are not worth the price, and the emperor is completely unreasonable.
After this vacation is over and I return from Xiahe, I have to think about making money. These salaries are really not enough. If I go back to the capital, I will be embarrassed to live in Linhuai Marquis Mansion. I have to find a house to rent. In the capital, the foot of the emperor, the rent is not cheap... I can't just sit there and eat up all the money.
But no matter what, it's vacation time and I can finally take a break for a while.
On the day of the holiday, I only worked half a day, and the holiday came at noon. After Zhu Ping'an, Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen had lunch together, they said goodbye to each other. Zhang Siwei was going back to his hometown in Shanxi. Wang Shizhen was going to Shandong to reunite with his family at his father's post. Zhu Ping'an was going south to his hometown Xiahe Village. The three of them happened to go in different directions. Because they would meet again in more than a month. None of the three had any sadness of parting. They said goodbye with a smile and agreed to bring some local specialties to taste together when they came.
After noon, the sun was warm, and Zhu Ping'an returned to Linhuai Marquis Mansion in the sunshine.
At this time, the Linhuai Marquis Mansion was in pain and joy. The pain was because the recent investment of the Linhuai Marquis Mansion failed again, and this failure was even more serious than the last time. The assets of the Linhuai Marquis Mansion shrunk by more than half. If it weren't for the Linhuai Marquis' promotion to the commander of the Yangtze River in the Yingtian Left Army Command, the Linhuai Marquis Mansion would have cried a long time ago. Now the news of the Linhuai Marquis' promotion has finally barely dispelled the dark cloud of investment failure that was hanging over their heads. However, every time they thought of this, the old lady and the others still gritted their teeth in pain.
The naughty kid has been in a lot of pain these days. He thought that after his country bumpkin brother-in-law became an official, he would be able to play freely with his sister, but he didn't expect that his father would invite another old-fashioned teacher...
The only ones who were in a good mood were Li Shu and her servant. The chubby little maid handed a stack of banknotes and house and land deeds to her mistress, her chubby face looked like she had eaten honey, and her eyes were narrowed into slits.
"Look at what you have accomplished..." Li Shu sneered and pinched the chubby face of the chubby little maid with her slender hands.
"Hehe~ Miss, you are so awesome." The chubby little maid sincerely admired her mistress.
"It's not that I'm good, it's that they're too greedy. Greedy people are short-sighted. If you give them a piece of bone, they'll be skinned alive." Li Shu took the banknotes and property deeds handed over by Baozi's maid, and put them in an open jewelry box beside her without counting them. Then she pouted and mocked with a hint of meaning.
If the old lady or the eldest lady were here, they would definitely recognize the land deeds and house deeds in the jewelry box at a glance...
When Zhu Ping'an returned to Linhuai Marquis' Mansion, he just happened to hear a bunch of naughty kids howling like pigs being slaughtered. Not long after he entered the door, he saw a chaotic scene.
Linhuai Hou chased after the naughty kid with his fat body. The naughty kid fled, screaming like a pig being slaughtered, saying things like "Mother, help me!" and "Grandma, help me!"
The eldest lady watched this scene from the side, anxiously persuading the Marquis of Linhuai, while the old lady, supported by the maid, nervously watched the naughty child running away, reminding him from time to time to be careful and slow down.
Several young ladies in Linhuai Marquis's mansion were watching from the side, surrounded by maids and nannies. Li Shu was also surrounded by the little maid Baozi and other maids and nannies. She covered her mouth and watched the scene, with a smile hidden in the corners of her eyebrows.
"Oh, son-in-law is back, come here..." When the chubby little maid saw Zhu Ping'an, her eyes narrowed into crescents, and she waved her little hand and greeted Zhu Ping'an in a low voice.
Zhu Ping'an walked over when he saw this. With the presence of the little maid Baozi, Zhu Ping'an quickly knew the whole story.
It turned out that the naughty boy was bored from being forced to study these days, and while his father was out meeting friends, he refused to obey the teacher's discipline and ran out to play. This boy and several other naughty children from noble families nearby were playing a horse-riding war game not far from home, that is, riding a branch as a horse and fighting each other.
Then, the naughty kid was so absorbed in playing that he didn't notice Linhuai Hou coming back from meeting his friends. As a result, he was caught by Linhuai Hou and was arrested on the spot.
The rules in the mansion are strict, and the naughty kid knows how serious the consequences are for skipping classes and sneaking out. Especially since he was discovered by Marquis Linhuai on the spot, the kid's face turned green.
However, when the naughty kid becomes smart, even he himself is afraid of him!
At the moment when Linhuai Hou seized the opportunity, the kid's IQ started to work at high speed, and then he thought of a perfect way to escape this disaster. The moment he thought of the method, the kid was so proud of his own wit, I am so fucking smart!
When traveling in the world, the most important thing is to be skilled and courageous, and the naughty kid has achieved it at this moment!
"Hehe, uncle, you've got the wrong person." The naughty kid turned around and smiled at Linhuai Hou, responding wittily.
At this moment, the naughty child is not only a witty young man, but also a young man with superb psychological quality, and a young man of movie emperor level. He smiled calmly when he looked back, and spoke calmly and with reason... ...
However
This turned out to be beyond the kid's expectations.
Marquis Linhuai went Spartan on the spot, as if he was going to clean up the mess in a minute. The naughty kid was so scared that he ran away in panic, and was chased all the way into the mansion by Marquis Linhuai.
By the time the little maid finished describing the whole story, the Marquis of Linhuai had already caught the naughty child and beat him up...
Zhu Pingan looked at this scene and couldn't help but sigh, it's good to be fat, you're really tough... (To be continued.)