When she was in modern times, she had seen many ways of giving gifts.
Transferring money to a card is very straightforward.
When giving mooncakes as gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are no mooncakes in the mooncake box, but only money. There is no special trick to this.
Giving cigarettes, alcohol, and shopping cards may sound more tactful, but they are physical objects after all, and when they are brought in piles, everyone can see them.
Of course, there are some tricks. You give a woman a gift, and the woman is wearing expensive jewelry. If you accidentally leave it on the host's bed, and then you can't find the woman, what should you do? You can only accept it, right? You get both money and beauty.
Open a company and let your wife, children, or your third aunt or sixth aunt invest in it in name only. You don't have to pay any money, but you can get a share of the dividends. Wouldn't you be happy? After that, you can stay out of it and gain both fame and fortune.
Not to mention those tricks of giving gifts during weddings. Sponsors sponsor, not give gifts.
Buying a house? Okay, I'll give you a discount. How low is the discount? A discount that costs almost nothing.
Buy a car? Okay, take it and try it out first, and return it if you don’t want it. But will you return it
When Zi'an faced the "good intentions" of these officials, he realized that modern people can hardly learn much of the gift-giving skills left by their ancestors.
For example, Lord Li sent a roasted whole lamb, saying it was for the princess and the prince to nourish their bodies. When it was cut open, it was full of gold? No, how could it be so superficial? It was really just a roasted whole lamb, but the meat was better. But eating roasted whole lamb also requires seasoning, right? What was in the seasoning box? It was white and yellow, blinding!
Oops, Princess, there is a gap in the wall of your house. Don’t worry, I happen to know a group of bricklayers who will come and help you fix it right away.
What was used was not blue bricks or mud bricks, but gold bricks.
Princess, I just got a piece of the best fox fur and made a cloak. You have a good temperament, only you are worthy of this pure white fox fur. I gave it to her, and before I finished, I took a meaningful look at the lining of the fox fur. That stack... is it toilet paper
Princess, the flowers and trees in your yard look listless. It doesn’t matter. Before I became an official, I was a flower king for several years. Look at my skillful hands!
After cooking, what kind of flower mud did you bring? Can it grow a lot of precious jewelry
Zi'an was really tired, these things were all good things, but she couldn't take them. Now that Old Seven was in the limelight, she couldn't make any mistakes.
People who give gifts have put a lot of thought into it, so returning gifts also requires some thought. You must not lose face, but at the same time appear to accept their kindness.
Murong Jie lost his temper in Hexu Pavilion, "Everyone knows that I am cracking down on corruption, but they still dare to pile up gold, silver and jewelry in the palace one by one. Aren't they afraid that I will investigate again?"
Su Qing also stayed in the palace. When she heard him get angry, she replied casually, "Although you are now the regent in name, you are not in charge of the government. You didn't accept it in the past, but people didn't know that you don't accept it now. The more gifts you receive, the less blame you will get. Besides, they didn't say it was obtained through corruption."
Those in power must show some political achievements, and tackling corruption is the best achievement.
But now that you are no longer in power, don't you want to make money? People are so considerate, they treat others as they would like, thinking that your prince has finally returned after making great contributions, so you should take the opportunity to make some money, right
Is there anyone in this world who thinks silver stinks
Murong Jie stared at Su Qing with eyes wide open, "So someone gave you a gift too?"
"How could there be nothing? Why can't anyone give me, Su Qing, a gift? After all, I followed the Regent to the Northern Desert to fight for peace." Su Qing said arrogantly.
"Return?"
"Resigned!" Su Qing lay on the table, looking listless. "It's good to look at but not to eat. It's so boring."
"Go away, what are you always doing in the palace?" Murong Jie sent him away. It wasn't enough to have those flies outside, so he came to join in the fun.
He sincerely didn't want to give him and Zi'an a peaceful life.
Su Qing propped up his chin and glanced around intentionally or unintentionally, "Where's Xiaosun?"
"Of course I'm staying outside with Zi'an."
"Oh, where's Madam Yang?"
"Get busy. There are many things to do in the mansion."
"What about Lingli?"
Murong Jie looked at him, his handsome face full of displeasure, "So you came to the palace again and again just to see Lingli?"
"No, I just came and said hello!"
"Lingli went to Laojiu's place."
Su Qing stood up slowly, "Oh, then I won't disturb you two young couples' life. I'm going to go chat with the Night King."
After saying this, he left behind a graceful back and went out quickly.
Zi'an finally returned all the gifts and went back to Hexu Pavilion, but Murong Jie was nowhere to be found.
After asking Wang Jun, I found out that Murong Jie had just gone out.
"Where did you go?" Zi'an sat down and rubbed his calf. He was really tired today. He went to several houses to return the gifts.
"In reply to the princess's question, I haven't said anything yet." Wang Jun said.
Zi'an waved his hand, "Okay, got it, go ahead, I'll take a break."
Murong Jie didn't come back until the evening.
As soon as he entered the room, he said to Zi'an, "We have found the right person."
"Who?" Zi'an knew who he was talking about. In the past few days, both of them had been thinking about the right candidate.
"Xiaodun."
"The third prince?" Zi'an was stunned.
Murong Jie gave someone the nickname Xiaodun. Actually, the Third Prince is not fat now. He was fat when he was a child, but now he has lost weight.
"That's right. I have had people watching the palace these past few days. If anyone around the emperor leaves the palace, they will inform me. Just now, they reported that Eunuch Lu left the palace, so I went there immediately."
Zi'an knew that Eunuch Lu had helped them a lot these days, but Eunuch Lu had always followed the emperor for many years.
"Eunuch Lu, can you tell me whether the Third Prince is feasible?" Zi'an asked.
Murong Jie smiled and said, "Of course it's impossible. However, I pretended to meet him by chance and talked to him for a few words. I got the information that the Third Prince would play with Xia Lin for a while every day when he went to Xiwei Palace to pay respects."
"That is to say, we can find Sun Fang'er through Concubine Mei, and then let the Third Prince go out and inform everyone during the celebration banquet, right?"
"Yes, if that's the case, the details need to be very accurate, and all parties need to be careful, especially Concubine Mei's treatment of Sun Fang'er. Concubine Mei is much more cautious now, so she should be reliable. In fact, the best way is to let your mother tell Sun Fang'er the method of drugging, and then let Xia Lin get sick for a few days, then fake death will be a natural thing. Concubine Mei is a last resort, because I can't contact your mother."
Indeed, if it were the mother, things would be much more solid.
It's not that Concubine Mei is a bad person. She is indeed much more cautious now. But sometimes it is because of her caution that she is hesitant and doesn't dare to do anything. Especially, once this matter is exposed, it will have a great impact on Concubine Mei.
With this hope, Zi'an finally felt much more at ease. She had been unable to sleep or eat for the past three days.
Murong Jie put his arm around her and said softly, "Okay, let's go meet Qin Zhou tomorrow, and then I'll take you out to relax."
"Meet Qin Zhou?" Zi'an remembered that when he just came back, he said not to have too much contact with Qin Zhou, so as to avoid getting in the way.
"Yes, she went to the palace to see the emperor yesterday, and the emperor also told me to treat Qin Zhou well. Of course, this treatment is just a word. We still can't have too much contact with Qin Zhou. However, since this has been said, it would not be good if we just ignore it."
"Okay, I'll do as you say." Zi'an said.
(End of this chapter)