Chapter 1968

"Girl, what are you ......" Seeing this, Ding Zhisheng no longer hesitated, but asked directly with a smile and a bold and hearty attitude.

"These are some small gifts that our adults specially brought from Beijing to General Ding and all the adults. Shilan replied with the same smile on her face, holding the tray.

With that, she took two steps forward, and at the same time removed the layer of red silk covering the tray.

On a tray about the size of A4 paper, there is a set of twelve snuff bottles with pictures of ladies and ladies neatly placed, except for the different patterns in each snuff box, whether it is the style, size, or material, it is exactly the same, which is also the boutique that Erfulin set off from Beijing, specially turned out from the private library of the fourth master.

Because the fourth master has a hobby that can be regarded as almost universally known, that is, snuff.

And the fourth master doesn't like people to give gifts and beg, which is also an almost well-known rule, which causes most people to come to the house as guests and walk the door, can't come empty-handed, but they don't dare to give a large amount of valuable things.

Besides, this gift is a very tricky thing, and you can't give a bunch of useless things to the master's house.

Because of this, after the fourth master's hobby of snuff was spread, officials of all sizes who came to the house as guests habitually prepared a set of snuff bottles.

When it comes to snuff bottles, no matter how exquisite they are, they are still a thing, even if they are a good set of snuff bottles made by famous craftsmen, not to mention the appearance of using precious materials, they are not expensive.

The second is to do what he likes, and the fourth master likes to make snuff to wake up.

In case the snuff bottle sent by himself is used by the fourth master, he will always play with it in his hand all day long, and he will always think of the gift giver's affection, and the value of this thing is not valuable, even if the fourth master is rigid, he will not blast out the people who come to visit for this little bit of things.

Pity......

The fourth master is a prince in a high position, holding real power, and after the abolition of the prince, Emperor Kangxi's attitude is too much to love the day, which has caused more and more people to come to the house to give gifts and go to the door, that is, the daily door-to-door contact of the in-laws and friends are innumerable, one and the other, even if a person only gives a small snuff bottle, it is not the number that the fourth master can consume alone.

In less than two years, the fourth master piled up five or six large boxes of snuff bottles in the private warehouse in the front yard.

This has to be said that the house is strictly controlled, non-close friends, in-laws and relatives are not allowed to enter, ordinary officials enter Beijing to walk around, and the fourth master refuses to accept any gifts, otherwise it is estimated that the house can be filled with snuff bottles sent by the gift giver, plus the fourth master has nothing to do with some particularly exquisite snuff bottles, and send some to the old prince's mansion who likes to play with these gadgets, and during the New Year's holidays, some snuff bottles will also be given to the subordinates as small gifts, which can be regarded as strictly controlling this quantity.

This trip Erfu came out of Beijing, she was still a little worried about picking out some small gifts to give to the local officials, after all, eating people with short mouths and taking short hands is an old folk gift, even if her identity can suppress the local officials, but she still hopes that the local officials can help sincerely, instead of being hindered by the identity and face, she has to help find the fourth and fourteenth masters, just when she was worried about what gifts to bring, Chen Fu mentioned these snuff bottles in the private library.

When Erf looked over and looked at it, the whole person was shocked.

Chen Fu and Zhang Bao, who are in charge of the fourth master's private treasury in the front yard, can be said to have spent a lot of effort in order to place the four masters' snuff bottles, and the pocket-sized and exquisite snuff bottles are neatly arranged on the special hollow carved shelves with glass windows to block dust, from top to bottom, from left to right, there are no duplicates, because those duplicates are piled up in the cages.

Erf looked at it and thought that it would be polite.

Those carefully placed on the shelves are not moving, leaving the fourth master to have nothing to enjoy and use, and the heavy snuff bottles in the cages, one is counted as one, wipe the dust one by one, discard those somewhat old packaging brocade boxes, lined with soft cloth and fine cotton as barriers, neatly filled the two cages, and brought them directly to the south.

All the way, all the way, and in order not to have the embarrassing situation of the gift given by the original owner being sent back......

Erfu also made some special arrangements, and sorted out a complete set of gift catalogs according to the list of gifts that had been squeezed for many years in the house, and there was really no problem all the way to the Chongwu City Guard!

At this time, the set of twelve painted glass snuff bottles in Shilan's hand is not too cheap, at least for ordinary people, any snuff bottle here is enough for a family of five to eat for a lifetime, but it is just right to give it to the officials of the Chongwu City Guard, it is neither expensive nor cheap, and this thing is easy to carry, even if it is a person who does not use snuff, it is also a good choice to put some sobering ointment or something.

Because of this, Erf will go to great lengths to bring these snuff bottles out of Beijing.

Sure enough, as soon as Ding Zhisheng saw the snuff bottle in Shilan's tray, his eyes lit up, and then it seemed that it was a lot of water, and Shilan, who gave the gift, sent the tray forward, Ding Zhisheng was already full of joy, and at the same time, he also smoothly sent the gift he brought to Shilan, and said with a smile: "Lord Qincha is so kind, the last general doesn't know how to express it, so he is excited in his heart, so he specially prepared some local specialties, and asked the girl to bring them back to the minister." ”

As he spoke, he opened the covered brocade box, revealing more than a dozen black pearls inside.

"Such a heavy gift, I'm afraid we adults won't accept it. Shilan refused with some embarrassment.

"Girl, you don't know anything, this thing is more expensive than a thousand gold in the capital, it is a rare thing, but here, even those poor fishermen on the beach can find one or two.

After all, this is something that only exists in the sea, and those profiteers are not so rare to say that they can sell these things for a high price, in fact, this thing is really not a good thing here, and it is barely a local specialty. In order to be able to let Shilan accept this box of pearls without pressure, Ding Zhisheng said this too unconscionable, the local specialty of bullshit, such a rare black pearl, it is all exchanged for the life of the pearl diver, if this thing is not valuable, then who will take his life to pick it!

However, Shilan is the palace maid who is serving by Erfu's side, she is used to seeing good things, and she doesn't take this box of pearls too seriously, and she really doesn't know the value of these precious jewelry, so when Ding Zhisheng said this, she really took it seriously, and she didn't shirk anymore, smiled and took the brocade box in Ding Zhisheng's hand, and thanked her softly, "The slave maid accepted it for our lord." ”

"That's right, don't you see that I accepted the gift from your lord without excuse, this is called a gift exchange. Ding Zhisheng breathed a sigh of relief, smiled a little lightly, and in the end, he even dragged an idiom, God knows how difficult it was for him to remember the four words of courtesy.

It's just that in Shilan's opinion, she is still a little embarrassed, so she quickly proposed to leave.

The reason she came up with was simple, that is, Erf couldn't be without her own service, so ......

Ding Zhisheng didn't say much to stay, smiled and sent Shilan back to the door of the guest house, and very politely asked Shilan to invite Erfu to come to the main courtyard to attend the reception banquet later, and then led the deputy general Liao Wenqing back to the front yard and sat down.

After a cup of slightly bitter black tea, Ding Zhisheng stroked the beard under his chin, and smiled quite smugly: "Look, your general I just disdain to talk to those crepe sour people, if I want to, I am also the master who can speak well, and this few words coaxed the little girl to happily accept the heavy gift, and exchanged for such a set of exquisite and exquisite snuff bottles......

"General, your gift has been sent, but you want to find out about the origin of the minister through the servant?" Liao Wenqing, who was sitting next with him, heard this and unceremoniously poured cold water.

"You're just boring, and you've forgotten about the shortness of your hands.

Now, regardless of the origin of this minister, if I give me a box of pearls worth thousands of taels of silver, and he is embarrassed to trouble me, then his appearance will be too ugly and shameless.

People in this officialdom pay attention to a fancy sedan chair and people carrying people, he is not interesting, who will dare to deal with him in the future, so you don't have to worry about these useless things, let's entertain this passing Hades with peace of mind. Ding Zhisheng scratched his head a little embarrassed, but he refused to admit that he forgot his original intention as soon as he saw the exquisite snuff bottle, and he defended himself very stiffly.

"The general's words are reasonable, but we still have to be careful, who knows what kind of temperament this minister is, in case it is the kind of person who forgets with his claws, don't let this heavy gift become a meat bun and beat a dog, but let him think that we are a big oil pond here, and he will put himself in place to get oil and water. Liao Wenqing also had to admit that Ding Zhisheng's words had some truth, but as a deputy general and Ding Zhisheng's think tank, he still had to remind him that he should be careful in everything, and he was afraid of everything.

What Liao Wenqing said, Ding Zhisheng also thought about it in his heart, but he quickly ruled out this possibility.

Although Emperor Kangxi no longer emphasizes the prohibition of the sea, but also encourages merchants to trade with foreign countries, and even builds naval barracks in many places along the coast, builds sea ships, and intends to quell the bandits at sea and protect the safety of merchant ships at sea, but the poverty here is real, but if you are not a bad brain, you will not fail to see the barren and poor here, especially the minister of the Qin mission from Hangzhou to Chongwu by land, what he has seen and heard along the way, must be deeply touched, so even if he gives a heavy gift, he will not let this minister of the Qin mission give birth to the idea of a piece of the pie。

Of course, it's not that he's defenseless, it's just that he's not so worried.

Because what he was most worried about before was that someone in the court could not tolerate himself, and this Han man from the Han army banner continued to lead the heavy garrison of the frontier.

"Okay, let's have a number of these things in our hearts, don't talk about it all day, in case it is listened to by any brainless person, and then it is transmitted to the minister, it will also be troublesome, let's do our duty with peace of mind, and hurry up to arrange the reception banquet in the evening."

Before, I looked at the thin and weak minister, and when he spoke, he also looked like a crepe, and at first glance he was not a master of good wine, let alone a cheerful character, let's not engage in the army's big meat bowl and drink, so as not to make people unhappy, you will go to Wanghailou in a while, invite the chef there, prepare seven dishes and eight bowls, and make the reception banquet look decent. Ding Zhisheng pondered for a moment, drank all the tea in the bowl in one gulp, put his big hand to his mouth, wiped off the tea soup on his mouth and beard, and commanded with a little annoyance.

People in the army often have a free and easy temperament, and they really can't make such a delicate arrangement.

Don't look at Ding Zhisheng has become the captain of a city, and he can be regarded as a feudal official of one party, but the overly vulgar style in the army is still an old habit that can't be changed, which is also the fundamental reason why he has a bad relationship with the bigwigs in the DPRK and China......

But he's not without progress, at least he's learned to say anything in front of anyone now.

Liao Wenqing responded and walked out, all the way to Wanghai Tower, no matter what the chef was busy with, he said hello to the shopkeeper in front, led three or five subordinates, carried all kinds of ready-made ingredients in the back kitchen, and walked out after the chef who was sweating, which was no better than bandits entering the city to grab things.

In Wanghai Building, the shopkeeper Xue helplessly sent Liao Wenqing and others out, and apologized to the new and old diners who ate in the store, exempted the diners present, and turned over the account book with a sad face, looked at the flow of the account, threw the account book to the counter, picked up the key that was placed on the counter at random, and went out to call a carriage with a foot to complain to the owner.

On the southwest corner of the Chongwu City Guard, outside a mansion with a strong door, Shopkeeper Xue got out of the carriage.

"Brother Xue, why are you free, the owner will go to Kunfeng Garden to fiddle with his precious flowers and plants early now, I'm afraid I won't be able to spare time to see you!" The old housekeeper in the house looked at the shopkeeper Xue with a lawsuit on his face, stepped forward with a smile, and pointed out the whereabouts of the owner, while listening to the intention of the shopkeeper Xue.

"It doesn't matter where the owner is, I must see him tonight. Shopkeeper Xue said with a stiff face.

When the old housekeeper heard this, his face showed a trace of embarrassment, and then he quickly reined in, and let the shopkeeper Xue to the guest room with a smile on his face, and while beckoning him warmly to sit and rest, he arranged for the little servant in the house to invite the owner to come over, while he stayed in the guest room by himself, and talked and chatted with the shopkeeper Xue, so as not to let the shopkeeper Xue stay here alone and be bored.