"What a pity! If he were in the same group as me, with Master Zhu's talent, the seal of the Imperial Household Department would be in Master Zhu's pocket..."
Under the weeping willows at the foot of the palace wall, Feng Bao, dressed in gorgeous eunuch clothing, highly praised Zhu Ping'an's suggestion.
"Ahem..." Zhu Ping'an almost choked when he heard this. The Silijian was a eunuch position, and he did not have the interest to castrate himself and enter the palace like Wei Zhongxian did.
"Haha, I won't joke anymore. It's a blessing for us eunuchs that Lord Xiao Zhu doesn't do our job, otherwise we would have no way to survive." Feng Bao covered his lips with one hand and smiled. His eyes under his black eyebrows glowed brightly like little flames jumping in the dark night.
After listening to Zhu Ping'an's advice, Feng Bao completely let go of the burden in his heart, and the sword of Damocles hanging over his head also disappeared. He felt extremely relaxed. After this incident, his relationship with Zhu Ping'an became closer, and they seemed to have become close friends. He couldn't help but joke with Zhu Ping'an.
"You're joking, father-in-law." Zhu Ping'an shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Being safe is just a fluke."
"Master Xiao Zhu, there is no need to be so modest. If it were not for your guidance today, I would have been dead. I will never forget your life-saving grace, and my gratitude is beyond words. In short, from now on, if Master Xiao Zhu has any problems, I will never frown at any risk of fire and water." After the joke, Feng Bao, full of gratitude, solemnly bowed again and made a vow from the bottom of his heart.
After bidding farewell to Feng Bao who was grateful, Zhu Ping'an turned back to the Hanlin Academy. Amid the gloating or sympathetic looks of everyone in the Hanlin Academy, Zhu Ping'an greeted the Hanlin scholars as usual and then went to the library.
When coming out of the library, Zhu Ping'an brought two books, "A Study of the Foreign Tribes in the Northern Barbarians" and "A Study of Food and Goods of the Oirat Mongols", and registered them on the library's borrowing list. This was the library's book management system that Zhu Ping'an had set before, and of course he had to set an example himself.
After leaving the Hanlin Academy, Zhu Ping'an went to the restaurant he used to go to with the other Hanlin scholars. He had a simple lunch and asked about the banquet. The shopkeeper gave him a big discount. Zhu Ping'an was satisfied and paid a deposit of two taels of silver and booked a banquet for ten days later.
No matter how many people from the Hanlin Academy came to the banquet, the process still had to be followed. I had settled down in Xiahe and had to host a banquet and inform my colleagues.
Zhu Pingan left the Hanlin Academy and went to Zhang Siwei via Zixuan Hutong. He was going to briefly tell Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen about his visit to the Ministry of Justice today. Zixuan Hutong was a very popular hutong in the Ming Dynasty. The street was wide and the shops on both sides were large. Many officials had businesses on this street.
There were no urban management departments in the Ming Dynasty. There were many hawkers along Zixuan Hutong, including shirtless uncles carrying goods and old men hawking their wares, making the whole alley extremely lively.
The fruits and vegetables in May are fragrant. Watermelons, melons, and lychees are all on the market, not much later than modern times. Wild river fish are bubbling in the buckets, and the farm snails are plump and delicious in May. Zhu Ping'an even wants to buy some to bring back to the Marquis' Mansion.
However, thinking that he was staying at the Marquis' Mansion and that there were rules for purchasing food at the Mansion, he gave up the idea.
"Watermelons, big, sweet watermelons..." An old man in simple clothes on the street pulled a cart of watermelons and stopped not far from Zhu Ping'an, shouting out his wares.
Watermelon was already very common in the Ming Dynasty. Li Shizhen, who was still working at the Imperial Hospital, wrote in his Compendium of Materia Medica: "According to the records, Hu Qiao obtained a melon seed from the Huihe people and named it watermelon. Watermelon was introduced to China during the Five Dynasties and is now grown in both the north and the south."
Zhu Pingan felt very close to the old man who was selling watermelons. In modern times, watermelon is one of Zhu Pingan's favorite fruits. In the hot summer dormitory, buy a watermelon, eat it with a spoon, and then soak a bowl of instant noodles. The watermelon absorbs the excess oil in the noodles, and the noodles absorb the sweetness of the watermelon. With time brewing, a bowl of excellent watermelon instant noodles is absolutely delicious.
The watermelons at this time are ten days to a half a month earlier than the ones normally put on the market, and are more expensive. It is estimated that they are early season watermelons grown with hot spring water.
When Zhu Ping'an walked to the old man's watermelon stall, many people had already surrounded the old man to ask about the price. At this time, ordinary watermelons were not yet on the market and were a rare commodity, so everyone was very interested.
"Hot spring watermelon, six cents per pound. Guaranteed to be sweet. If not, I'll give you my money back." The old man is very confident in his own watermelons and assured the onlookers that he would not charge them if they were not sweet.
"Six coins?"
"It's so expensive, it's enough to buy three pounds of peaches."
"The lychees shipped from the south are only five cents. These six cents a pound are almost as expensive as pork. Forget it."
After hearing the price, the onlookers backed off, thinking it was too expensive and not worth buying at this time. If they waited another ten days or so until the watermelons grown by farmers in the suburbs of Beijing were on the market, the price would be more than half cheaper.
It would be better to wait a little longer or buy some other fruits, so everyone shook their heads and walked away.
Seeing that people were leaving one after another, the old man hurriedly stretched out his hands to try to keep them, but it didn't work, as people still shook their heads and left.
The uncle looked at the backs of the crowd and sighed in disappointment. He had hoped to sell this batch of watermelons at a good price and find a wife for his son.
Last year, the old man was overjoyed when he found hot springs on the mountain. When he was working part-time in a rich family in Dongcheng District, he accidentally learned from a steward how to grow watermelons in hot springs. So the old man bought an acre of abandoned sandy land at the foot of the mountain, and spent half a winter with his sons plowing the land and digging ditches without even doing part-time work. He hoped to make more money from the early-market watermelons so that he could find a wife for his eldest son, and then for his second son next year, and then for his youngest son.
Fortunately, the watermelon planting was very successful. It ripened half a month earlier than ordinary watermelons and tasted sweeter.
However, there were problems when selling watermelons.
I started selling watermelons yesterday. I pulled a whole truck of watermelons, but I only sold five watermelons yesterday. I think they just wanted to try something new. Today is worse than yesterday. I changed two locations, but I didn't sell a single watermelon.
"Uncle, is this melon sweet?"
Just when the old man was feeling lost, he heard the voice of a young man.
"Sweet, sweet..." the old man answered repeatedly. When he looked up, he saw a young man in official uniform standing in front of the car, smiling at him.
"Six cents a pound?" Zhu Ping'an picked up a watermelon, knocked it, looked at the old man and asked with a smile.
"It's a blessing for me that the master likes my watermelons. I won't charge you for them." Suddenly seeing Zhu Ping'an in official uniform, the old man selling watermelons looked restrained. He didn't know what to do with his hands and feet. He was very nervous and scared.
It is the survival instinct of the common people not to fight against officials.
Any official is high and mighty and ordinary people like them cannot afford to offend him.
"Haha, if the melon is not sweet, I won't give it to you even if you ask me for it." Zhu Ping'an smiled, "If it is sweet, I won't give you a penny less."
"Hehehe, it's guaranteed to be sweet, guaranteed to be sweet..." Looking at Zhu Ping'an's gentle smile, the old man also grinned.
"Master Zhu, my master invites you. Please do me the honor of coming upstairs."
Just as Zhu Ping'an was picking melons, a servant suddenly came over, walked up to Zhu Ping'an, pointed at the restaurant across the street and invited him.
oh
Zhu Pingan looked up when he heard this and saw a door in the private room on the second floor of the restaurant opposite opened, revealing a pretty face. (To be continued)