Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 57
Ye Chen was wondering why the emperor rewarded the mansion and brought the servant girl as a gift.Luo Yaoshun next to him frowned, and asked loudly: "Who sent you?" Luo Yaoshun had already made up his mind on the way, and after returning home, after consulting his parents, he selected some servants from the mansion to send to Ye Unexpectedly, someone has already walked in front of him.

An old man in his 40s with the appearance of a housekeeper raised his head and said respectfully: "Returning to my lord, we were originally servants of this house. After the original owner committed a crime, we were all registered as slaves. As soon as it is bright, I will receive a notice from the Kaifeng Mansion to let us all report to the mansion and become servants of the new owner."

Ye Chen could hear from Luo Yaoshun's questioning that the servants in front of him could not be bestowed by the emperor.Thinking about it carefully, I remembered the scene where Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Pu wanted to win me over in the Daqing Palace, not to mention being able to know which mansion Ye Chen bestowed before the celebration ceremony was announced. Among them, I am afraid there are not many.But Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi were among them.

"Oh! Kaifeng Mansion...then do you know which official ordered you to become servants of the new master." Ye Chen frowned slightly and asked.

"Returning to the Lord, the villain heard that the instructions were given by Kaifeng Governor Zhao himself." The butler was obviously reminded by someone, and he glanced at Ye Chen carefully, and said respectfully.From the clothes Ye Chen was wearing and the purple gold crown he was wearing, he had already seen that Ye Chen was their new master.

When Ye Chen heard that it was indeed Zhao Guangyi, he sighed, and Luo Yaoshun obviously knew from his father that there was a struggle between the two forces in the court, Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi, so he was also worried about Ye Chen.And with his status, it is inconvenient to say anything more on this matter, it can only depend on Ye Chen's own decision.

Although Ye Chen didn't want to participate in the struggle between Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi, he didn't want to offend either of them, especially Zhao Guangyi.Therefore, if Zhao Guangyi does not accept the gift that has already been sent, he will definitely offend Zhao Guangyi, but if he accepts it, Zhao Pu will definitely suspect that he is already on Zhao Guangyi's side, and if he is not careful, he will be made the head of the court. The assistant prime minister wears small shoes.

Frowning and thinking for a while, Ye Chen glanced over the servants on the ground, and found that except for the official's slick face and fair complexion, which showed that he had a good life recently, although the other servants and maids cleaned and dressed very clean, but With a disheveled face, almost all of his body is emaciated, and he obviously hasn't had enough to eat for a while.

Seeing this, Ye Chen's heart moved, he took a deep look at the butler, pointed to the latter and said, "Except for you, everyone else stay!"

The butler shook his body, and said, "My lord! The villain is the butler sent by Mr. Fu Yin, you should let the villain stay!"

The housekeeper's words were polite, but there was a hint of threatening Ye Chen with Zhao Guangyi.

Ye Chen was overjoyed when he heard the words, and thought that with the words of the butler, Zhao Pu could make do with it, but he only kicked out one butler, and the others accepted it, so he wouldn't offend Zhao Guangyi.

Thinking of this, Ye Chen smiled slightly, but said: "Ma Gangzi! This butler threatened the master and sent him out for me."

Seeing that Ye Chen was not threatened, he didn't give Zhao Guangyi any face at all. His face turned pale immediately, and he quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "My lord! If you do well, leave the villain behind. The villain should not be a housekeeper, but a servant." Can."

The butler is very clear about the character of the man from Kaifeng Mansion, if he goes back like this, even if he doesn't die, he will have to peel off his skin.

Ye Chen's heart softened for a moment, but he hardened his heart in a blink of an eye. At this time, Ma Gangzi had already smiled and stepped forward, grabbed the housekeeper, and threw him out of the door like a chicken.

At this time, a dozen small officials escorted a large box and sent Ye Chen a reward of 500 taels of gold.

After Ye Chen got the maids and servants up from the ground, he briefly asked about their responsibilities, and announced on the spot that Ma Gangzi was temporarily the chief housekeeper, and that all the maids, servants, and guards were under the supervision of Ma Gangzi.

Although Ma Gangzi was a housekeeper for the first time, he was a deputy commander of the Imperial Army after all. He was very good at allocating manpower and arranging affairs. Including the [-] veterans, everyone stood up according to their respective responsibilities, began to identify people by name, allocated houses to live in, clarified the ownership of responsibilities, and so on.Although it was a little too serious and even militarized, Ye Chen, who had already started to visit his mansion with Luo Yaoshun, listened from a distance, and was quite satisfied in his heart.

At the beginning, it was still necessary to militarily manage these ignorant maids and servants.On the one hand, it will enhance the authority of the new owner, on the other hand, it will prevent people from doing dirty things such as stealing and laziness.

After Ma Gangzi assigned the staff and clarified their responsibilities, he asked the servants and cooks who were in charge of purchasing and kitchen matters to purchase oil, grain, rice, noodles, meat, vegetables, fruits, tea, etc., and began to prepare lunch.

As for the 500 taels of gold, under Ye Chen's previous instructions, ten ingots were exchanged for common copper coins for purchase, and the rest were stored in the treasury of the government. The guard of the treasure house dormitory.

This house is really not small. There are two rows of wing rooms on both sides of the front yard and the rear hall. They are the places where the servants live. There are two halls on the left and right of the reception hall in the middle hall. small hall.

Passing through the middle hall is a garden with rockery pools, winding corridors and pavilions, vines and vines everywhere, and there is a fresh fragrance of flowers when the wind blows. Although the garden is not big, it is extremely delicate, and it has the taste of a garden in a Jiangnan water town.In particular, the woodworking furniture is extremely exquisite, even much more exquisite than Ye Chen at Luo Gongming's mansion last night.Obviously the original owner of this mansion was extremely picky about carpentry and furniture, or was good at it.

In short, Ye Chen is very satisfied with this mansion.

The cooks in the mansion were very fast. After Ye Chen's thoughtful Luo Yaoshun visited his mansion with great interest, lunch was ready.

At this time, Ye Chen had already changed the Earl's robes that the emperor gave him. At the dinner table, Ye Chen wanted to let Ma Gangzi eat at the same table, but the latter refused to agree. After seeing the food served, he left.

Therefore, there were only Ye Chen and Luo Yaoshun in the restaurant, as well as two maids serving beside them.

Ye Chen was very uncomfortable with the two maids standing beside him serving the meal. He originally wanted the two maids to sit together, but they were so frightened that the two maids immediately knelt down, and Luo Yaoshun also solemnly stopped Ye Chen from this shocking act.

Ye Chen sighed in his heart that the rigor of etiquette was not something he, a rookie, could break, so he could only enjoy the corrupt life of the landlords and aristocrats with peace of mind.

Luo Yaoshun left after lunch. Before leaving, he repeatedly told Ye Chen to come and pick him up at night to attend a banquet.Although Ye Chen wanted to have a good rest at night and enjoy the life of his grand master by the way, Luo Yaoshun still wanted to give him face, so he naturally agreed in the end.

After Luo Yaoshun left, Ye Chen went out to Liu Nan's house with a few veterans.Although Liu Nan's home is still in Kaifeng City, it is already located in the southern suburbs of the city, and it is still some distance from the center of the city where Ye Chen's residence is located.

Ma Gangzi was still very fast in doing things. In just a short while, he had already sent people to sell more than ten horses from the horse shop. Although they were not war horses, they were enough for transportation.

Ye Chen was dressed in brocade robes, his hair was also tied into a bun, and he inserted a white jade hairpin. He looked a bit like an earl. He asked someone to bring ten ingots of gold and eight well-dressed veterans as guards to inquire about the way. , rode to Liu Nan's house in Nancheng.

It was too late when I entered the city last night, so it would not be appropriate to go to see the orphans and widows of Brother Paozhe's home, even in later generations, let alone in the strict etiquette of today's world.But today, I went to attend the celebration ceremony early in the morning, so I have been busy till now.

In addition, it was dark last night and this morning, and when he came back from the imperial city just now, he was very close to his new residence, so Ye Chen didn't have time to take a closer look at the appearance of the ancient city of Kaifeng at this time.Along the way, just take a closer look.

More than ten consecutive years of stability have made Kaifeng City unprecedentedly prosperous, with customers and households gathering, merchants flocking, restaurants, teahouses, shops, and singing houses lined up in rows, and there are no exceptions on both sides of the streets.

In the streets and alleys, men and women, young and old, crowded shoulder to shoulder, and the flow of people was like a tide. It was like a market every day.All kinds of businessmen from all over the country, such as those who practice medicine, those who perform arts, those who meet people, fortune tellers, jugglers, etc.!People of all colors, speaking with different accents, hawking loudly, shouting loudly, like boiling a pot, until the red sun set in the west, they will gradually quiet down.

Compared with the high-ranking officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was extremely bureaucratic to use people instead of donkeys and horses to carry sedan chairs. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, Han people used sedan chairs very rarely. Women mostly took carriages, and men mostly rode horses instead of walking, so there was no Ye Chen on the street. I imagined the sedan chairs that can be seen everywhere in the center of Kyoto.

In front of the small courtyard of Liu Nan's house, the alley was full of people, all of whom were nearby. Many people listened to the mournful crying and begging for mercy in the courtyard, with expressions of indignation and sympathy on their faces, but no one dared to make a move. Help, even Liu Nan's yard did not dare to take a step further.

He Bao, the son of the magistrate of Kaifeng County, the first county under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng City, which is notoriously fierce, had coveted Shui'er since he accidentally met Liu's daughter Shui'er a month ago. It's no secret among the common people.Because during this month, He Bao brought his group of minions to pester Shui'er time and time again.

In fact, many people also know that He Bao not only has a crush on Shui'er, but also has dirty thoughts about Shui'er's mother, Liu Shi, who is quite pretty and charming.

(End of this chapter)