prosperous age

Chapter 184 Chapter 183

Wei Guangde was surrounded by Lao Kan and others into the Jiujiang Guild Hall, but when they stepped into the gate of the Guild Hall, a few people dressed as housekeepers came out from the crowd, and they all chased Wei Guangde with name cards in their hands.

Well, Wei Guangde had already thought of this when he was in the car, but he didn't expect that they were already waiting for him outside the gate of the guild hall.

And after he respectfully accepted these famous invitations, before he entered the gate of the guild hall and hadn't sat down, several people in the hall got up and walked over. They all sent famous invitations to their respective masters, inviting Wei Guangde to visit the mansion when he had time. .

Such a situation directly stunned Lao Kan and the others.

A few days ago, many officials sent people to send name cards, most of them were fellow villagers in Jiangxi, and Wei Guangde, Lao Kan and others also took time to visit several houses.

What's going on today, Wei Guangde sent so many post invitations when he came back.

Are Shu Jishi so popular?
Wei Guangde has already accepted those famous posts respectfully at this moment. He has always held the concept of "I would rather offend a gentleman than a villain", so even if the official position of the other party's master is not high, the sender is just a housekeeper or something like that. People, he will not lose his courtesy.

He now has nothing but the name of Chuanlu on his head.

By the way, there is also a newly released title of Shujishi.

Sending them off, Wei Guangde already had more than a dozen name cards in his hand, and it is estimated that the news has not spread, and there will be more people sending name cards in the afternoon and tomorrow.

Undoubtedly, this is inseparable from Emperor Jiajing's inexplicable promotion of Wei Guangde.

But by this time, Wei Guangde had no intention of thinking about what was going on with Emperor Jiajing, and Lao Kan, Xia Kefan and others had already dragged him into the back yard.

Judging from the people who sent the posts and the official positions behind them, they have changed from the previous six or seven ranks to the third and fourth ranks.

Back in the house, Xia Kefan couldn't help asking, "Guangde, what's going on today?"

Well, Wei Guangde went to the Ministry of Rites today, apparently asking him about his experience in the Ministry of Rites.

Seeing the concerned gazes of the three, Wei Guangde shook his head and sighed, "Hey, don't mention it, I'm so dizzy now that I don't understand what's going on."

Even though he said that, Wei Guangde still told the three of them about the matter.

"When I went to the Ministry of Rites this time, the person who received me was Mr. Yan Neyan, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites. As you guessed, what he gave me was a note to go to the Imperial Academy to act as a good scholar."

After Wei Guangde sat down, Zhang Ji brought tea. Wei Guangde felt thirsty and picked it up. He tried the temperature of the water and found it was slightly hot. It should be that after returning with Wei Guangde, he asked the shopkeeper to prepare it when he was receiving those people in front. of tea.

The tea cover gently scraped away the floating tea leaves, and Wei Guangde took a sip of tea to moisten his throat.

Seeing that the three people were still staring at him intently, Wei Guangde had no choice but to say: "Shilang Yan told me something that you probably wouldn't have thought of."

Wei Guangde planned to make a fool of himself, but when he saw Lao Kan's cannibalistic eyes, he immediately stopped his thoughts, and continued: "Jinke, it is said that the Imperial Academy has no plans to select good scholars."

"Ok?"

"what."

All three of them gasped in amazement.

"Then why did you say that you got a note to go to the Imperial Academy?"

Lao Kan just frowned, remembering what Wei Guangde said earlier, he immediately asked.

"I don't know. According to Yan Shilang's words, the emperor ordered me into the Imperial Academy. I'm the same as you. I only saw him twice. I'm not even in front of the Dao Pavilion."

Daoting is a word of Laokan, Wei Guangde did not do well in the general examination, so he naturally stood at the back, so he didn't talk nonsense.

"You mean, you are the only one in this class? No one else?"

Xia Kefan thought of something, and immediately asked.

"Why doesn't the current department choose Shujishi? It's strange, the court can still do this?"

Zhang Ke's focus is obviously not on the number of Shujishi, but thinking about why he didn't choose Shujishi, what is the rule.

But without waiting for Wei Guangde to speak, Xia Kefan said: "In Jiajing 29, there was no public selection of good scholars. I remember that someone did the calculations at the time. Speaking of the establishment of the Kingdom until now, there have been 52 imperial examinations, and the public selection only It has been done 34 times, but I don’t know if Guangde entered the Hanlin Academy this time, whether it is considered a selection.”

After saying this, Xia Kefan, Lao Kan and others all looked at Wei Guangde.

Regarding this, Wei Guangde could only shrug his shoulders, and said helplessly, "I don't know about this."

In the afternoon, when Lao Kan came back from the Ministry of Rites, he was naturally surrounded by Zhang Ke and Xia Ke. Wei Guangde was watching. He also wanted to know which Yamen Lao Kan was sent to watch the government.

For Xinke Jinshi, basically the yamen where they observe politics will most likely become the place where they will be awarded officials in the future, unless the superiors have a bad evaluation of him during the internship and suggest changing positions.

In fact, Xinke Jinshi need to prepare [-] articles written in the past and the latest [-] articles as well as court examination papers in order to allow the court to judge which direction the Jinshi is suitable for, not just to judge the literary talent of the Jinshi.

"I'm going to the Ministry of Punishment to observe politics."

Lao Kan didn't hold back, and directly revealed his whereabouts.

"The Ministry of Punishment observes politics? This is the way of the censor and the inspector."

Hearing that Lao Kan was sent to the Ministry of Punishment to observe politics, the first thing Wei Guangde thought of was these two yamen.

The Procuratorate and the Ministry of Punishment are actually pretty good departments, of which the Procuratorate is naturally the best, since it manages well.

Knowing Lao Kan's whereabouts, Zhang Ke and Xia Kefan don't have to continue to surround him. Now they are both guessing their whereabouts, guessing where the Ministry of Rites will give them a note.

In the evening, Wei Guangde called Zhang Ji into the house and began to ask about his experience of looking at houses in the capital these days.

Before, although Wei Guangde also asked Zhang Ji to go out to look at the house, but it was not very urgent, because the Guanzheng Yamen had not been allocated yet, and Wei Guangde was not sure about his final possible official position. He was still considering whether to buy a house near the Yamen .

But it is different now, the Hanlin Academy has been sitting on the bench for three years.

For three years, Wei Guangde felt that he should consider buying a yard near the Imperial Academy to live in, and he couldn't delay any longer.

Although the Jiujiang Guild Hall will never drive these Jinshi out, but it is always inconvenient to live here with too many people.

Hearing Wei Guangde's question about the house, Zhang Ji also cheered up.

Before, he was following the people of the tooth shop and nearly broke his leg. He saw a few courtyards in the inner city and more in the outer city.

The dental shop was introduced by the shopkeeper of Jiujiang Guild Hall, and their dental shop has been doing business with Jiujiang merchants for a long time, so they are very familiar with each other.

"Master, you mean to buy a house near the Imperial Academy?"

Zhang Ji listened to Wei Guangde's request, it was very simple, it was a house near the Imperial Academy.

"Young Master, there is Nanxun Square to the east of the Imperial Academy, but there is a courtyard over there, just behind Zhan Shi's Mansion"

During this period of time, Zhang Ji traveled all over the city of Beijing and saw many houses, but there were fewer houses for sale in the inner city.

Fortunately, Wei Guangde's destination is the Hanlin Academy, which is on the East Chang'an Street in the inner city, and it is also close to the imperial city. After Wei Guangde becomes a high official, it will be very convenient for him to go to court.

However, since the inner city, there are naturally some flaws, at least Zhang Ji didn't like this courtyard at first, it is too small.

Seeing Zhang Ji's expression, Wei Guangde became curious, "Tell me, what's wrong with that yard."

"Master, the yard is actually not that big of a problem. It's just that it's too small. There are only seven rooms, four in the front yard and three in the back yard. The price is very expensive, 500 taels of silver."

"Seven houses, 500 taels of silver?"

Wei Guangde was shocked when he heard that, the price is a bit expensive.

As far as the house in the outer city where they live now, the yard of Jiujiang Guild Hall has eleven rooms, and the shopkeeper said that the market price is only more than a hundred taels.

"How big is the yard? Is there a big garden?"

Wei Guangde thought that it is normal for the house in the inner city to be more expensive than the outer city, even if it is doubled, the yard should not be as big as the yard they live in now, the asking price is so high, maybe it is the same as the house he bought in Jiujiang, isn’t it? There is a big garden.

If there is a big garden, the higher point will be higher. In the future, you can build a few more houses in the garden, which is not bad.

"The yard is only one acre in size, but there is a rockery pool, and the garden is not big."

Zhang Ji recalled.

"Just one acre? Isn't it bigger than this yard?"

The courtyard where Wei Guangde and the others live now covers at least one and a half acres, with a large garden in the middle, and the ratio of green space in later generations is more than 50%.

"The yard is a bit tight, but everything is neat. There is a small stable outside the yard. There is room for our carriage."

Zhang Ji is still recalling what he saw in the courtyard of Nanxunfang, "I remember that there are two entrances in the front and back of the courtyard, four rooms on the outside, three rooms on the inside, and there is a rockery pool on the right side of the inner courtyard. If this pool is not needed , but we can build another house.”

Hearing Zhang Ji still talking there, Wei Guangde was very curious, what kind of house would dare to ask for 500 taels of silver?

"Don't talk about it, you will go to the dental shop early tomorrow morning. If it's suitable, take me there to have a look at the yard, and then we'll talk about the price."

Wei Guangde interrupted the rambling Zhang Ji.

"Young master, that yard is very expensive, one thousand five hundred taels. The yard in the outer city is about the same size as that yard. As long as it is possible, a hundred taels of silver is enough."

Zhang Ji heard that Wei Guangde wanted to see the yard, and he has been with Wei Guangde for more than ten years. He naturally knew that this master would not bargain, as long as he liked it, he would sell it directly, and it didn't matter if it was expensive.

In Wei Guangde's words, the young master has money, and the noble buys expensive things.

"I'm going to see what the yard that dares to ask for a thousand taels is like? Made of gold?"

Wanting to persuade him again, he saw that Wei Guangde had already waved his hand to prevent him from continuing. Thinking of the things Wei Guangde likes, he usually asks for big ones.

I lowered my head and thought about the other houses in the inner city. It seems that there is nothing better than Nanxunfang. Other houses in the inner city are concentrated in Chaotiangong Xifang and Jinchengfang. There is a house that is not there. It is in Lingchunfang. But there is a yard nearby, according to Ya Xingren, it is the cleaning room, the place where the eunuchs were cut.

It's bad luck to think about it, Zhang Ji naturally wouldn't tell Wei Guangde about the house, and it's not close to the Imperial Academy, obviously it doesn't meet the requirements of the young master, so it's better not to tell.

After Zhang Ji went out, Wei Guangde walked to the desk, turned on the wick of the oil lamp to make the desk brighter, and then took out a pen and paper to grind the ink.

Today my own arrangement came out, I want to live in Beijing permanently, Wei Guangde is going to write a letter back about his situation in Beijing.

Early the next morning, Zhang Ji went out of the Jiujiang Guild Hall after breakfast, went to the dental clinic and contacted the mansion to see the house.

The time has come to April, and the weather in the capital began to warm up in March, so he can go out for activities in the morning. Wei Guangde has also resumed his living habits in Jiujiang Mansion, and punched in the yard when he got up in the morning.

After coming to the capital last year, Wei Guangde originally planned to persevere, but after going out a few times, he was forced back to the house by the cold of the Ming Dynasty's Little Ice Age, and since then he has given up the idea of ​​punching.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, in March, Wei Guangde dragged on for a few days and slept in for a few days before getting up.

Indeed, as long as you start being lazy, it will be difficult to be diligent.

Just like punching, when he was in Jiangxi, even if he was away from home, Wei Guangde had to get up in the morning to punch.

But in this city of Beijing, even though I haven't gotten up early for three months, I'm already a little used to the days of not punching and exercising, and I like to stay in bed.

When Wei Guangde came out, Zhang Ke and Xia Kefan had already gone to the yamen of the Ministry of Rites. After all, this day was their big day, and their future prospects depended on the note they got today.

Sitting at a table with Lao Kan, drinking tea and chatting, waiting for Zhang Ke and the others to come back.

After a while, Zhu Shilong, who got up later, came out.

"When did you play cards last night, did you wake up now?"

"Hey, don't mention it, I lost a lot of money last night."

Zhu Shilong responded to Wei Guangde.

"The money you throw away is probably enough to buy a house in Beijing."

Lao Kan smiled and shook his head.

"Meng Xian has also come out."

At this moment, Duan Mengxian also came out from the inside. He just got up and was not in a good mood, so he greeted a few people when he saw them.

"Zhang Ke and Xia Kefan went to the Ministry of Rites to get a note?"

After sitting down and seeing only Wei Guangde and Lao Kan, Duan Mengxian guessed it.

"Yeah, the two of them ran very fast. They were afraid that their positions in the cabinet would be robbed by the same year, so they went out early in the morning."

Lao Kan laughed.

"Ha ha."

Hearing what he said was interesting, the others all laughed.

"Come out first and hear what house you are talking about? Daoting, do you want to buy a house?"

Duan Mengxian asked curiously.

"Whatever house I buy, I will only watch the government for half a year, and I can't say what will happen after that."

Lao Kan replied with a smile, "I mean you are playing with money, the money you have wasted these years, I am afraid that you can buy a big house in the capital."

"At least the outer city should be enough."

Wei Guangde added.

I heard from Zhang Ji yesterday that in the outer city, a small courtyard with a few rooms only needs more than 100 taels of silver.

"By the way, don't talk about us, where are you going to buy a house in the capital?"

At this moment, Zhu Shilong asked with a serious expression.

"I haven't thought about it yet. After watching politics and conferring an official position, Guangde can think about it."

Lao Kan smiled and shook his head, pointing at Wei Guangde.

"Go out and have a look in a while, Zhang Ji said that there is a small courtyard in Nanxunfang, and the price is not cheap, I will go and have a look later."

Wei Guangde laughed.

(End of this chapter)