Chapter 22 Director of Attendant Room
When Xu Jing shouted the auction price of 30,000 taels, everyone in the Royal Exposition looked at him in shock.
How rich must one be to spend 30,000 taels of silver in one go to buy a glass luminous pearl?
The entire Royal Exposition became very quiet, and the noisy and bustling Qipan Street suddenly became audible.
Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao stood up. He wanted to see which rich man was so stupid as to spend 30,000 taels to buy a glass luminous pearl from his Royal Industrial Company that cost less than one tael.
Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao had the same idea, but he looked at Xu Jing with a hint of appreciation. After all, the fat Confucian scholar in front of him who shouted out a high price of 30,000 taels was equivalent to the God of Wealth who gave him 600 taels of silver. ah!
"Which young man is so brave and dares to steal my business? I admire him!"
Gu Dayong also smiled and asked loudly. He was naturally happy. After all, the Royal Industrial Company also had his shares. He even hoped that the more such swindlers, the better.
The other people looked at Xu Jing with surprised expressions.
Some people also think that he is a wealthy man who can buy glass luminous pearls for a high price of thirty thousand taels.
But some people think that Xu Jing is smart and knows that this thing is valuable, so he buys it at a high price first so that he can make money. They even envy Xu Jing.
This even made some wealthy businessmen among the common people regret it, thinking whether they should raise the price to snatch this treasure.
But because thirty thousand taels is too high, not many people dare to do this like Xu Jing.
Wei Bin, the personal eunuch of Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao, personally welcomed Xu Jing up with a smile in his eyes: "Does this friend dare to ask his name?"
"Xu Jing, the governor of Nanzhili, has met this father-in-law." Xu Jing smiled and returned the gift, and hurriedly took out the banknote: "This is the money order from Taichang, one for 20,000, and one for 10,000. Please Father-in-law, check it out.”
Xu Jing saw that His Majesty the Emperor and several eunuchs in front of him were looking at him curiously. They seemed to have a good impression of him, just like the girl from Mingyue Tower, so Xu Jing felt a little cold on his back and hurriedly took out the Got the banknote.
"Why are you so anxious? Now that you are on stage, you have to salute His Majesty no matter what! Right, Xu Juren?"
As Wei Bin said this, he grabbed Xu Jing's hand and walked towards Zhu Houzhao. Xu Jing hurriedly withdrew his hand and said with an embarrassed smile: "The student is just a mere scholar and does not deserve such courtesy from the father-in-law."
With that said, Xu Jing kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao and bowed.
"Get up. So your name is Xu Jing. Do you know Tang Bohu?"
Zhu Houzhao remembered that during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, there was Xu Jing, who was involved in the imperial examination fraud case with Tang Bohu. He also knew that Xu Jing's family was wealthy, so he couldn't help but ask more questions.
Xu Jing is indeed the one Zhu Houzhao guessed, a good friend of Tang Bohu, and even now a confidant who shares weal and woe.
Therefore, when His Majesty the Emperor mentioned his good friend, Xu Jing did not hide it: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the student knows Tang Bohu, and now he is my step-brother."
"Then you write to him and tell him to come to the capital. I want to use him. I heard that he is good at painting, especially the erotic palace pictures. I am very interested in him."
Zhu Houzhao then added: "You don't have to leave in a hurry. Do you want to be the director of the attendant's office next to me and hold the Imperial Academy review title?"
Zhu Houzhao has always had the idea of recruiting some imperial literati, especially low-level literati like Xu Jing and Tang Bohu who have experienced setbacks and are dissatisfied with the powerful. Because they have sharp pens and must be full of struggle consciousness, he will inevitably have to compete with civil servants in the field of public opinion in the future. To fight with each other, you must cultivate a few "warriors" who are good at using pen and paper in advance.
Although Xu Jing didn't know what the official position of the director of the attendant's office was, he knew that the Hanlin Academy review was an official position that could only be obtained by the top three Jinshi who selected Shujishi to stay in the academy.
This means that as long as he agrees, he can suddenly change the fate of being a minor official (he was sentenced to be a minor official in the examination fraud case in the 12th year of Hongzhi).
So Xu Jing hurriedly saluted again: "Student, thank you for your Majesty's appreciation!" "It's time for you to call yourself a minister. Tell your sworn brother to come to Beijing to see me as soon as possible. Otherwise, he will not be able to be the director of the attendant's office and can only be an attendant." ”
Zhu Houzhao asked Xu Jing to step down as he spoke, and then ordered Liu Jin to continue hosting the luxury goods auction at the Royal Exposition.
Xu Jing had already received the voucher from Wei Bin, and then personally directed his servants to carry back the glass luminous pearl bought with 30,000 taels of silver.
Xu Jing did not feel that he was stupid for doing this, because he actually wanted to use this to establish a relationship with the emperor, but he did not expect that the emperor was so generous and rewarded him with a Hanlin Academy review. Thinking of this, Xu Jing felt that even if he continued It's worth spending thirty thousand taels.
So, Xu Jing hurriedly told his servant: "Go to the shop and get a money order of 100,000 yuan! Master, I want to buy more!"
Here, Liu Jin had already ordered someone to carry out the second luxury product produced by Royal Industrial Company - the Crystal Lotus Guanyin.
The so-called Crystal Lotus Guanyin is actually made of glass, but the production cost of the Crystal Lotus Guanyin is higher, almost two taels of silver, mainly because it requires the glass liquid to be quickly carved with a knife before the glass liquid is completely solidified into glass. Come out and see Guanyin sitting on a lotus crystal.
Because once the glass solidifies, even if it is partially solidified, it will cause the glass to fail in making the Crystal Lotus Guanyin. Once the glass solidifies, it is very hard. Although ordinary glass is brittle, it has high hardness. After all, the main component is silica, which generally requires diamond cutting. Just cut it.
Therefore, the carver needs to complete the carving before the glass liquid solidifies. Therefore, it takes a lot of glass to make this crystal lotus-sitting Guanyin, so it is worth two taels of silver.
Zhu Houzhao originally set the starting price at 10,000 taels, but because the glass luminous pearl successfully auctioned for a high price of 30,000 taels, he asked Liu Jin to change it to 15,000 taels.
Here, Liu Jin pointed to the crystal Lotus-Sitting Guanyin held by the two eunuchs and said: "This is the royal collection version of the Tang Dynasty Crystal Lotus-Sitting Guanyin. It was consecrated by Master Xuanzang. You see, this luster is the light of the Buddha. The owner can guarantee it." No disease, no disaster, many children and many blessings!”
What ordinary people pursue is nothing more than being free from illness, disaster, and having many children and good fortune. Therefore, as soon as the crystal Guanyin Sitting on Lotus was auctioned, it was scrambled by the people in the audience.
"Seventeen thousand taels!"
"Eighteen thousand taels!"
"Twenty thousand taels!"
In the end, with Gu Dayong's encouragement, the price rose directly to 28,000 taels!
At this time, Xu Jing shouted again: "Thirty thousand taels!"
Gu Dayong decided to exaggerate a little more: "Thirty-five thousand taels!"
"Forty thousand taels!" Xu Jing raised his voice again.
"Forty-five thousand taels!" At this time, a monk also shouted. It can be seen that this kind of Guanyin statue is also very attractive to monks.
"Forty-six thousand taels!"
"Forty-seven thousand taels!"
"Fifty thousand taels!"
There are still many people vying to buy it, which is enough to see that there are still many believers in the Ming Dynasty, and because they worship Guanyin, they may also regret not grabbing the glass luminous pearl. After all, they saw with their own eyes that Xu Jing got the glass luminous pearl after buying it again. It can be said that the official fortune is prosperous, which shows that if you get the royal crystal Guanyin Sitting Lotus, you will be free from illness, disaster and many children.
"Go away, my old lady wants to bid you 60,000 taels!"
At this time, a sedan stopped in the middle, and some people started to exclaim: "Isn't this the old lady of the first assistant's family?"
(End of chapter)