Chapter 1587 What else did you do?
After Wei Guogong arrived, the Marquis of Linhuai asked someone to put on a pot with a small charcoal stove under the pot. He also ordered some meat and vegetables to be warmed. There was a pot of Shaoxing daughter's red wine, and three people were sitting around the pot.
"My dear nephew, I didn’t expect that you and Eunuch Chen have a long-standing friendship. Haha, I really underestimated you. Not bad, not bad. Speaking of which, now there is an opportunity to make your relationship with Eunuch Chen even better. One floor."
Wei Guogong picked up a chopstick to cook the mutton and said to Zhu Ping'an with a face that revealed the inside story.
"I" Zhu Ping'an was about to tell them the truth about his relationship with Chen Hong. What kind of friendship was it? It was clearly a bad relationship, but Zhu Ping'an only said the word "I", and the rest of the words were still Before he could say anything, the Marquis of Linhuai on the side spoke impatiently, interrupting Zhu Pingan's words.
"Old Xu, do you know something inside? Stop lying and tell us quickly." Linhuai Marquis couldn't wait to urge, not giving Wei Guogong a chance to lie.
"Hey, it was also by chance that I overheard Eunuch Chen chatting with Eunuch Wang and got an inside tip. Didn't Eunuch Chen come to Jiangnan to buy pearls last month? Award. However, Eunuch Chen said that there is still a big gap in the pearls in the palace. The treasures accumulated by the ancestors, including pearls, etc., were all spent by Emperor Zhengde. It's empty. The emperor doesn't have a mother to worship, and the expenses have been saved. The ministers in the court would like to persuade the emperor not to care about the jewelry. Do you want the emperor to cancel all expenses this time? I want to take some more pearls back with me and offer them to the Holy One.”
Under the urging of the Marquis of Linhuai, Wei Guogong spoke with a proud face and recounted the news he had heard.
“He wants to take credit.” Marquis Linhuai touched his chin.
"My enemy, if we give Eunuch Chen some pearls at this time, wouldn't it be to suit his liking and he will surely be pleased with him? When he returns to the capital, he will surely have a nice word for us. There is one more way.”
Duke Wei nodded vigorously and expressed his plan with excitement.
The Marquis of Linhuai nodded and agreed with Wei Guogong's plan, "Well, Lao Xu, this is a good idea. If you give him gold and silver treasures, he may not accept them, but if you give him pearls, he will definitely accept them. I won’t refuse.”
“Uncle, in my opinion, he is doing this in the name of offering sacrifices to the emperor, but he is actually doing things to make money.” Zhu Ping’an shrugged and hit the nail on the head.
Taking pearls along the way to offer to the Holy One is all a pretense. If he takes the pearl back, it will only end up in his own pocket, and it will definitely not be dedicated to the Holy One.
"My dear nephew, this is a bit arbitrary." Wei Guogong was startled and said.
"It's not that I'm arbitrary, but that's the fact. Uncle, do you think, if Eunuch Chen collected a lot of pearls, under what name would they be dedicated to the Holy One?" Zhu Pingan shook his head slightly and asked the two of them.
"Does it need a name to dedicate it to the Holy One? This is his loyalty." Linhuai Marquis said puzzledly.
"How could he, a middle-gong eunuch, get so much money to buy pearls?" Zhu Ping'an twitched the corners of his lips slightly, "Did he get it by clever means? Or did the people below give it as gifts? It can't be him. I picked it up."
"Well, that's a problem." Wei Guogong and Linhuai Hou thought for a moment and nodded.
It is definitely not possible to steal by clever means; nor is it acceptable to give gifts from below; if it is said that the people below offer it to the Holy One, then there will be the same problem. Where did the people below get the money to buy so many pearls?
If there are a small amount of pearls, you can still say that you bought them with your salary, etc. But if you have a small amount of pearls, are you embarrassed to offer them to the Holy One? ! Even if you have the nerve to donate something to the Holy One, the Holy One will not see it.
So, even if Chen Hong collected the pearls, he would not be able to donate them to the Holy One. There is a high probability that they would be kept in his own pocket.
It seems that, as the wise nephew said, Chen Hong used the name of offering sacrifices to the emperor to gain merit, but in fact he was doing things to make money.
But it doesn’t matter. Our goal is to make friends with Chen Hong. Whether he dedicates it to the Holy One or not has no impact on us.
“Good nephew, it doesn’t matter whether he dedicates it to the Holy One or makes money. As long as he collects it, that’s enough.”
Wei Guogong said nonchalantly.
"Exactly, it would be better if he amassed money. Knowing that he likes to amass money, it would be better for us to do what he likes."
The Marquis of Linhuai also had the same attitude.
"My dear nephew, your friendship with Chen Hong will make it easier for us to do things. Tomorrow, Lao Li and I will pool together a sum of money to buy some pearls. Then you can find an opportunity to give the pearls away in the name of the three of us. To Chen Hong. Hey, then your personal relationship with Chen Hong will be even better. He will definitely put in a good word for us when he returns to Beijing."
Wei Guogong ate a large portion of mutton boiled with chopsticks and drank a glass of wine. Hehehe said to Zhu Pingan with a smile.
"This is good." Linhuai Marquis agreed.
"Ahem, uncle" Zhu Ping'an coughed and looked at the two of them with a troubled face, ready to tell the truth.
"My dear nephew, this is not the time to be noble." Wei Guogong thought that Zhu Ping'an, a scholar, was noble and energetic. Why didn't he bend down for five buckets of rice? What a happy face.
"That's right, nephew, you have to learn to be flexible. You know, if the water is clear, there will be no fish, and if the people are careful, there will be no disciples."
The Marquis of Linhuai also followed suit.
"Uncle, that's not the case." Zhu Pingan said with a bitter smile.
"Why is that?" Wei Guogong and Linhuai Marquis asked anxiously.
"Two uncles, my relationship with Chen Hong is not what you think, nor is it what Chen Hong said."
Zhu Pingan spread his hands.
“Didn’t you do him a big favor by catching a thief who was pretending to be his adopted son?!”
The Duke of Wei and the Marquis of Linhuai looked at each other, with an ominous premonition in their hearts. They looked at Zhu Ping'an nervously and asked.
"Uncle, didn't I arrest the thief who pretended to be his adopted son?" Zhu Pingan shook his head.
"Who is that pretending to be?" Wei Guogong and Linhuai Marquis asked hurriedly.
“It’s not impersonation, the person I arrested is his adopted son.” Zhu Pingan said to the two of them frankly.
"What? You captured his adopted son?" When Wei Guogong and Linhuai Marquis heard this, their faces turned pale and the corners of their mouths twitched, "In other words, you also captured his adopted son. Beaten up? ”
Zhu Ping'an nodded, and then added, "It's not just that"
"What else have you done?!" Wei Guogong and Linhuai Marquis could not sit still and asked tremblingly.
"I confiscated the nearly ten thousand taels of silver, antiques, calligraphy and paintings that his adopted son had robbed, accepted bribes, etc."
Zhu Pingan said slowly.
"Huh?!" When the Duke of Wei and the Marquis of Linhuai heard this, they jumped up from their chairs.
It was like being struck by lightning.
"Don't worry, uncle, the pearls purchased by his adopted son and official silver in Taicang were all handed over to Chen Hong when I sent someone to escort his adopted son." Seeing how excited the two of them were, Zhu Ping'an hurriedly He reassured.
“My dear nephew, you, you, what do you want us to say about you? His adopted son’s money, isn’t that his money.”
“You confiscated a piece of his money. Ten thousand taels of silver. These unsound eunuchs are missing. The lifeblood, no ambition in that area, everyone regards money as the lifeblood, you have castrated him again."
Wei Guogong and Linhuai Hou sighed again and again, like people on a hot pot. Like ants, they keep walking around the house. (End of chapter)