"Top Scholar, His Majesty heard that you have finished inventory and haven't even had lunch yet, so he lets you eat here before leaving. In addition, His Majesty sympathizes with you for inspecting Taicang in recent days, so he specially approved a ten-day leave for you. Top Scholar, you can have a good rest for ten days and spend time with your family." Huang Jin walked from the inner hall to Zhu Ping'an and said to Zhu Ping'an with a slight smile.
Behind Huang Jin followed several maids and eunuchs, holding plates of delicious dishes in their hands. They placed them on the desk closest to Zhu Ping'an, forming a large table.
"I thank the Lord for his grace."
Zhu Ping'an looked grateful and knelt down to express his gratitude towards Fang Xi in the inner hall.
"Please get up, Mr. Number One Scholar, and have your meal quickly. I have to follow the emperor's order to lead the factory guards to confiscate the property of the officials in Taicang, so I will not accompany you." Huang Jin smiled slightly and gave him a light support.
Zhu Pingan stood up and cupped his hands to thank Huang Jin, "Official business is more important, Mr. Huang, please."
"You are too polite, my dear. After you have finished your dinner, Xiao Zhuozi, you will take you out of the palace." Huang Jin smiled and nodded to Zhu Ping'an, then instructed a young eunuch beside him to wait until Zhu Ping'an had finished his dinner and then take him out of the palace.
Obviously, one of the secret orders that Emperor Jiajing had just given to Huang Jin was to confiscate his property. Zhu Pingan understood clearly.
House search.
Why.
Zhang Guanku, Jia Langzhong and others deserved their punishment, but their families were pitiful. The Ming Dynasty was a feudal society that emphasized etiquette. The women here generally did not go out of the house. On weekdays, they played the piano, played chess, read books, and painted. These were the only skills they knew.
If their homes were ransacked, even if they were not forced to become slaves, maids, or prostitutes of the Imperial Music Bureau, they would be driven out of the mansion and forced to fend for themselves. This would be a disaster for these ladies and young ladies who usually only knew how to play the piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
All their wealth was confiscated, and those without a penny were driven out of the mansion. How could these women, who only knew how to play the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, make a living on the streets? Do manual labor? Even if they could put down their pride and do the most basic manual labor in exchange for a meager income, they might still face bullying, or even be trafficked or forced into prostitution. Without protection, the once white, rich and beautiful women were once the most popular in the eyes of some people in the industry.
Of course, if a relative takes you in, that’s a different story.
Of course, they are not completely innocent. They have enjoyed so much money from the people for so long...
I guess it's because I haven't trained myself enough mentally. They just had their property confiscated.
Not being implicated and fined is already a very good result.
Without a lot of money, you are just standing on the same starting line as ordinary people.
The dangers they face are also faced by ordinary people.
From another perspective, it may be a good thing for them to step out of the gilded bird cage, change their lifestyle, and create a new life with their own hands.
Thinking of this, Zhu Ping'an looked at the dazzling array of delicious dishes on the table and couldn't help but feel his appetite increase.
The delicacies on the table were all the leftovers from Emperor Jiajing's dinner, but none of them had been touched. There were about 17 or 18 dishes, filling up the entire table. Not to mention the eight delicacies such as shark fin and sea cucumber, there were also West Lake vinegar fish, mushroom fat chicken, braised mutton, beggar's chicken, fried shrimp, deep-fried bell, fire-heeled duck, fish head soup, etc. Every dish made Zhu Ping'an, who had been hungry for a day, salivate.
The best delicacy in the world - imperial cuisine.
Better not waste it.
Zhu Pingan sat at the table with no distractions, eating heartily. He ate West Lake vinegar fish, fried prawns, drank some hot tea, and had a bite of shark fin. He was enjoying the meal very much...
The maids and eunuchs standing in the outer hall were attracted by the sound of Zhu Ping'an eating heartily. They couldn't help but turn their eyes over and couldn't look away again...
In their view, the scene of Zhu Ping'an eating with relish was similar to what some modern people see when they watch big eaters like Kinoshita from Japan and Mizi-kun from China live streaming their feasts on delicious food.
Why does he eat so deliciously
How can he eat so much
Is his stomach a bottomless pit? My god, it’s only been a short while and the plate of fried prawns and beggar boy chicken is already empty...
It was dim at night. When Yan Song and Xu Jie were ordered to come from Wuyi Hall to Wanshou Palace to meet Emperor Jiajing, they also saw Zhu Ping'an eating with relish. The seventeen or eighteen dishes of delicacies from land and sea on the table had become yesterday's news and had been eaten to pieces.
A gentle beast.
That’s probably their impression.
In their eyes, although Zhu Ping'an ate very elegantly and politely, his eating speed and appetite were simply beastly to them.
"Master Prime Minister, my dear teacher..."
Yan Song and Xu Jie both came up to him, and Zhu Ping'an realized belatedly that his mouth was still swollen when he stood up to greet them.
"Haha, Zihou has a good appetite." Yan Song smiled and nodded.
Xu Jie pointed at Zhu Ping'an's mouth, smiled and shook his head, then waved his hand downwards, indicating that Zhu Ping'an should just sit down and eat.
Yan Song and Xu Jie came to see the emperor, but they only greeted Zhu Ping'an and then went into the inner hall to pay homage to Emperor Jiajing.
So Zhu Ping'an sat down and continued.
While Zhu Ping'an was feasting on the imperial meal, Liu Mu and Liu Dadao, who were waiting outside the gate of Xiyuan Palace, were also eating at a nearby food stall while waiting for Zhu Ping'an.
This food stall was similar to a modern food stall. There were officials going home after get off work from Xiyuan Sizhi, as well as officials going home from work at nearby yamen. There were even more attendants like Liu Mu and Liu Dadao who were waiting for the officials to get off work. After all, officials were more particular and few people would eat at this kind of stall.
The curfew time is 1:30, which is a little after 8:00 p.m.
There is still some time before curfew, and the food stalls are still doing brisk business, with eight or nine tables already full of people.
Liu Mu and Liu Dadao sat at the side, where they could see the palace gate at a glance. They ordered a basket of big meat buns, two bowls of free steamed soup, and a few heads of garlic. They ate while keeping an eye on the palace gate and listening to the diners chatting at the stalls.
At first, the diners at the stall were chatting about all sorts of things, but later, as more and more officials from the Xiyuan Sizhi got off work and passed by the food stall, and as a group of Dongchang men left Xiyuan, the topic gradually turned to the theft case from the Taicang treasury.
Next
The topic then turned to Zhu Pingan again.
"The Dongchang soldiers who just left the palace are all rushing to the Taicang treasury theft case. What? You don't know about the theft of the national treasury yet. Your news... Tsk tsk, Lord Zhang just passed by here and said it himself that the Taicang treasury was robbed and half of the national treasury was emptied. I heard that it was embezzlement by the insider."
"I heard about it too. I heard that the theft from the Taicang Treasury was discovered by a man named Zhu Ping'an."
"What's that? I heard that Lord Zhu went in to check the treasury with his butt naked."
"Oh my god, are you kidding me?"
"What? Bare buttocks? Hahaha, no way, why is he taking off his clothes to check the national treasury? Isn't this like taking off pants to fart?"
"What do you know? Lord Zhu was also forced into a helpless situation. I heard that in order to stop Lord Zhu, the group of people in Taicang slandered and defamed him, saying that entering the treasury would hide contraband, and that if there was less silver, it must have been stolen by Lord Zhu... Lord Zhu, in order to prove his innocence and shut them up, tore off his clothes in front of everyone, revealing a foot-long robe. Anyway, he walked into the treasury naked to count the gold and silver in the treasury, and in one fell swoop, he found out the country's pests. In the past, people said that so-and-so was an honest official, but I didn't believe it. I only believed Lord Zhu. Lord Zhu checked the treasury naked, which was the real integrity. What other official could be as clean and pure as Lord Zhu with his naked butt..."
The topics of conversation at the food stalls were basically all related to Zhu Ping'an and the Taicang theft case.
This is praising our young master... Liu Mu and Liu Dadao looked at each other and listened with great interest.