Chapter 188 Picking Peaches
"This is a great thing." Yuan Zhengqing said excitedly: "Erlang, you must behave well when you go to the East Palace, understand?"
As long as one can work in the Eastern Palace, it doesn’t matter what official position one holds.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince personally asked Yuan Wenshao to serve in the Eastern Palace. Even if he was just an ordinary soldier, his future prospects would not be bad.
"I understand, son!" said Yuan Wenshao.
"Erlang, can you talk to the Crown Prince and ask your elder brother to..."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Yuan thought of her eldest son, who also worked in the Wucheng Bingmasi and was the commander.
But how can the Eastern Palace be compared with the Five Cities Military Division?
"shut up!"
Before Mrs. Yuan could finish her words, she was stopped by Yuan Zhengqing.
After glaring at his wife, Yuan Zhengqing turned to look at Yuan Wenshao and said, "You've been working hard all day, go back and have a rest. When you have a day off, take your wife to your Yue family's house. They're both in Bianjing and not far away, so you should go out more."
Yuan Wenshao glanced at his mother when he heard this. Seeing that she didn't say anything, he replied, "Son, I'll remember that."
Given Yuan Wenshao's foolish and filial nature, how could he not visit his father-in-law who was in Bian Jing?
But Mrs. Yuan didn't allow him to go.
After all, we have to prepare gifts when we go to the Yue family, and the money will naturally have to be paid by the Yuan family.
Except during the holidays, when he had to go out, Mrs. Yuan would not allow him to go out.
After Yuan Wenshao bowed and left, Madam Yuan said in dissatisfaction: "Erlang is valued by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so what's wrong with asking him to help Dalang?"
As the saying goes, the emperor loves his eldest son and the people love their youngest son.
This preference is not absolute, but it is true in most cases.
The so-called emperor and people do not refer to one or the other, but are a general term.
The emperor refers to the aristocratic class, and the people are the common people.
The formation of this class concept has a lot to do with the ancient inheritance system.
For people of this class, the system of primogeniture is basically followed. The eldest son is not only the first child, but also the future of a family.
But it is different for ordinary people. They have almost no property and few houses.
When the older children get married, they will move out into their own rooms, and in the end the youngest ones will be the ones left behind.
The parents will also live with the younger son and naturally favor him.
This concept is actually similar to the idea of raising children to provide for one’s old age.
Yuan Dalang and Yuan Wenshao are both legitimate sons, but Yuan Wenshao is destined to be separated in the future. Mrs. Yuan also wants to live with the eldest son, so she naturally prefers the eldest son.
So when she heard that Yuan Wenshao was going to work in the Eastern Palace, the first thing she thought of was whether he could help her eldest son.
"Stupid!" Yuan Zhengqing snorted coldly, "There are so many nobles in Bianjing, and there are countless noble children. Our Yuan family is noble, but which noble family in Bianjing would look up to us? Why would His Royal Highness the Crown Prince look at Erlang differently? It's because Erlang married a good wife."
"Erlang hasn't even started working at the East Palace yet, and you want him to go and ask His Highness for help. Does Erlang have the nerve to do that?"
"Then let Erlang's wife go to her parents' home and see if she can ask for a reward from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Even if she can't work in the Eastern Palace, it would be fine to go to the Western Suburbs Camp." Mrs. Yuan said.
"Now you know how to beg others for help? Why didn't you think about this when you put someone in Erlang's room and coveted her dowry?" Yuan Zhengqing said unhappily.
"I put someone in Erlang's room because I wanted to expand the Yuan family, didn't I? She has been married for almost six years and has only given birth to a girl. She can't have children, but you don't allow me to take a concubine for Erlang? As for the official saying that I am eyeing her dowry, that is even more unfair. When did I take her dowry?" Mrs. Yuan retorted.
"Humph!" Yuan Zhengqing snorted coldly, "I won't talk about the matter of forcing someone in. You pretended to be sick and let her be the head of the family. You didn't even give her the key to the storehouse. She can only use the dowry to supplement the family expenses. A dignified earl's mansion, letting the daughter-in-law use the dowry to support it, I feel embarrassed if you don't think it's shameful!"
A few days ago, Mrs. Yuan pretended to be sick and let Hualan take charge of the household.
At that time, he still felt strange because the eldest daughter-in-law was the niece of Mrs. Yuan's mother's family, and Mrs. Yuan had always been close to her.
Even if you want to let your daughter-in-law run the household, she should be the eldest daughter-in-law.
However, the ancients always emphasized that men should be in charge of external affairs and women should be in charge of internal affairs.
Yuan Zhengqing is a grown man, so naturally he wouldn't care about what happens in the backyard.
It was today when I accidentally heard the servants talking that I realized that Madam Yuan never gave Hualan the key to the warehouse, and all the expenses of the Yuan family in the past few days were paid by Hualan.
Before Yuan Wenshao came, Yuan Zhengqing had an argument with Mrs. Yuan over this.
"I didn't mean to not give her the key. I just forgot because I was not feeling well." Mrs. Yuan argued.
Of course she couldn't admit to such a thing. If it got out that the mother-in-law was trying to take her daughter-in-law's dowry, she would be laughed at to death.
"Do you know clearly that you did some small things in the past, but I didn't want to bother with you because I saw that you had been filial to your parents. Now Erlang is valued by the prince, and this concerns the future of the entire Yuan family. If you do something wrong again, don't blame me for disregarding the relationship between husband and wife." Yuan Zhengqing said coldly.
…………
Yuan Wenshao was unaware of the quarrel that had broken out between his parents. After leaving that yard, he returned to his own yard.
When Hua Lan saw Yuan Wenshao coming back, she skillfully helped him change his clothes and made tea for him personally.
"Sir, have some tea." Hua Lan placed the tea on the table next to Yuan Wenshao, took her daughter from his arms, and said with a smile, "Sir, you seem to be in a good mood today, but is there any good news?"
"Indeed, there is a happy event." Yuan Wenshao smiled and told the story again, saying, "From what father said, it seems that I still benefited from my fifth sister."
Yuan Wenshao was not stupid actually, he was just foolishly filial due to his personality.
As soon as Yuan Zhengqing told him to visit the Sheng family more often when he had time, he understood what his father meant.
If I think about it carefully, it does seem very possible. I'm just a captain, and I cleared a road, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would value me. It doesn't seem likely no matter how you look at it.
"This is because you have your own abilities, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a keen eye for talent." Hua Lan was very happy for her husband when she learned that he was going to work in the Eastern Palace.
"I just went to the East Palace, and I'm not sure when I can take a day off. You can take Sister Zhuang back to Yue's house to visit your parents-in-law in the next two days, and I will accompany you back when I have a day off." Yuan Wenshao said.
"What about my mother-in-law..." Hualan naturally wanted to go back to her parents' home to visit. It had been several months since she last went back.
It would be fine if it were far away, but both families are in Bianjing City, and the journey only takes more than half an hour.
But every time she mentioned going back, Mrs. Yuan would find all kinds of excuses.
"Don't worry about mother, I can talk to father later." Yuan Wenshao said.
"Yeah." Hua Lan nodded happily.
Sister Zhuang also clapped her hands happily and shouted that she wanted to go play with the fifth and sixth aunts.
…………
Zhao Xing didn't realize that his casual behavior had caused misunderstanding from the Yuan family.
But it is not entirely a misunderstanding. Although he asked Yuan Wenshao to work in the Eastern Palace, he had little to do with the Sheng family.
However, the reason why Yuan Wenshao caught his eye was because he had a certain role in the play and he knew him a little bit.
After all, it was all thanks to the Sheng family.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have known about Yuan Wenshao and naturally wouldn't have paid much attention to him.
The next day, Yuan Wenshao came to the Eastern Palace, but Zhao Xing didn't even see him and left him to Gu Tingye.
In fact, Zhao Xing didn't have to summon these people to the Eastern Palace right away.
Another reason for doing this is to allow them to get together to discuss military strategies and conduct sand table simulations.
Although doing so might seem like theoretical talk, this was the best Zhao Xing could do.
Zhao Xing wanted to open a primary school and invite Duke Yingguo and Gu Yan, veterans of the battlefield, to teach Cao Qin, Gu Tingye and others the art of war and share their battlefield experiences.
However, this point is not obvious, and I cannot get past my father.
Speaking of reform, my father also has some ideas in this regard.
My father has no interest in fighting at all.
Zhao Xing tried several times, but his father preferred to maintain the current situation and did not want to go to war, let alone take the initiative to provoke a war.
Therefore, his plan to open a school to train military commanders is now impossible.
We can only let Cao Qin and the others discuss and deduce in private.
Something on paper is better than nothing at all.
After Liuli Pavilion opened, business got better and better.
Those glass products are okay. Although they look good, you don’t have to buy them.
Even if you can't buy it for the time being, just wait a few days.
However, mirrors are different. They are very popular among noble ladies and rich girls.
Half a month after Liuli Pavilion opened, it launched two new products.
One is a dressing table, which Zhao Xing painted in imitation of dressing tables of later generations. Each dressing table is equipped with a large mirror with a diameter of nearly one meter.
The other is a hand mirror, which is very small and easy to carry.
This kind of hand mirror has existed since the Song Dynasty, but it was previously a bronze mirror with average clarity.
As soon as these two kinds of products came out, they were very popular among the ladies and young ladies in Bianjing and were in short supply.
Even the price has doubled.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xing decisively ordered Sheng Wei to raise the price. Although this caused a lot of criticism, people still came to buy the product in an endless stream.
Nowadays, among the wealthy women in Bian Jing, if they don’t have a hand mirror, they will feel inferior when they go out and meet people.
In just over a month after opening, Liuli Pavilion earned Zhao Xing nearly two million taels of silver.
This does not include those sold to Li Ge and overseas traders.
Due to distance, there has been no feedback from overseas merchants yet, but the feedback from Li Ge is very good.
Glass products were very popular in the Liao Kingdom. He bought goods worth 100,000 taels, but they were sold out soon. So far, he has contacted Sheng Wei twice to replenish the stock.
Zhao Xing attached great importance to the transaction with the Liao Kingdom and asked Sheng Wei to give priority to ensuring the supply there.
The Liao Kingdom had limited money, and often had to use goods as collateral.
Although the proportion of horses is not high, other goods are also very useful.
For example, some leather can be used to make light armor, and animal tendons can be used to make bows and arrows.
Zhao Xing was naturally willing to exchange something like glass for practical supplies.
Zhao Xing made a lot of money, which naturally made many people jealous.
Many people wrote to the emperor, saying that the new type of colored glaze was very profitable and that the production method should be handed over to the court.
At the beginning, there were not many people who submitted petitions, and the government did not take it seriously.
However, as more and more people submitted petitions, the government ordered an investigation. Until the investigation began, no one knew what had happened. The government was shocked.
According to government estimates, if the business is well managed, it would be no problem to earn 10 or 20 million taels of silver a year.
How much tax does the imperial court collect in a year?
The emperor was instantly interested and called Zhao Xing to the palace to raise the matter.
When Zhao Xing heard that his father wanted to pick peaches, he instantly became unhappy.
"Father, I will tell you straight, the Glazed Pavilion is indeed mine, but it is my personal property. There is no reason to hand it over to the court, right?"
(End of this chapter)