Coming out of the Sichuan Guild Hall, they ate a bowl of Beijing braised stew opposite the courtyard where the famous Lord Lin Zexu Lin lived, and the three of them rushed to Mr. Ji's house in the northern half of the alley.

Master Ji's hometown Jiangjin, the official residence of the Hanlin Academy, although the grade is not high, but the future is immeasurable, the five officials of the Chongqing government in the capital no matter how big or small, everything is the first to look forward. However, Hanlin is a noble official, and he can see that his family's life is very hard, he can't live on his own sufficiency, so he naturally won't be very concerned about the guild hall, as soon as Fei Erye said it, he nodded and agreed.

Han Xiufeng saw that his interest was not very high, so he left two taels of silver to go home with Second Master Fei.

On the way back, Second Master Fei explained: "Zhixing, Master Ji doesn't look down on you, but his career is not smooth and he is in a bad mood. After all these years of hard work in the Hanlin Academy, I thought it would be his turn to preside over a township examination and be an examiner, but when it came to the end, the messenger was robbed again. ”

"I said how he was listless."

"If you can't do the main exam, forget it, last month, a military aircraft Zhang Jing returned to his hometown Ding worry, and there was a vacancy, and he couldn't find it. Seeing that the Chinese New Year is coming, the expenses are indispensable, and you say that he is not worried. ”

Han Xiufeng asked puzzledly: "Second master, Master Ji is living so hard, why doesn't he want to think of a way to find a foreign official to do it." Either he doesn't release it, or he will be a 'tiger class' that will be filled when he encounters a vacancy, how good it is to be a county master in the local area! ”

"Outside, to be the magistrate?" Second Master Fei looked at him like an idiot.

"Well, isn't it good to be a county master?"

"He's different from you and me, he's Master Hanlin. For you and me, being able to be a county master is like green smoke from the ancestral grave, and for Master Ji, being a county master has no face to look up and see people. ”

"But it's not a problem to endure so hard!"

"Everyone has their own ambitions, what's the use of us being in a hurry." Second Master Fei sighed lightly, and continued: "Although Master Ji is a little bitter, at least there is hope. The other four officials in Beijing are really not interesting, and if they knew this, it would be better to stay in their hometown and buy a few acres of land and enjoy the joy of family. ”

Du San asked curiously: "Second master, Master Qian, I know, which yamen are the other three on errands, and how many official residences do they have?" ”

"One is the same as me, but he was lucky to be picked up when he was picked, and he was distributed to the household department, and now the Fujian department of the household department is walking. Learning to walk, there is no official salary, and there are twenty-four foreigners waiting to fill the vacancy, even if the household department can vacate one vacancy a year, he will have to wait for twenty-four years. Fortunately, the household department has money, and there are more than a dozen taels of silver every month. ”

Second Master Fei paused, and then said: "Then there is the old man Wang who mentioned to you in the morning, Daoguang twenty-five years Enke Jinshi, failed to be selected for Hanlin, and was sent to the Ministry of Industry to learn to walk, waiting to fill the vacancy, the same no official salary, not only no official salary, but also no rice silver. Fortunately, the officials of the household department were sympathetic to them and let them take turns to go out on an errand, otherwise they really don't know how to live this day. ”

"What about the other two?" Han Xiufeng asked.

"One is the 21st year of Daoguang's Enke Jinshi, who has been a Shuji in the Hanlin Academy for three years, and was sent to the Criminal Department to walk when the museum was disbanded, and it took five years to get through, and his father died to go back to his longevity hometown Ding Wei. After returning to Beijing at the end of the three-year period, he was sent to the Criminal Department and has been studying and walking until today. Second Master Fei looked back behind him, and continued: "There is another person who donated money like you, spent a little money and was distributed to the military department to walk, and he often came to the guild hall at first, but then he disappeared, and he may have returned to his hometown in Fuzhou earlier." ”

Han Xiufeng muttered, "So they don't want to care about the affairs of the guild hall. ”

"I don't have any money, what's the matter?" Fei Erye turned sideways and let go of a group of children chasing and fighting, and said helplessly: "The reason why I haven't returned to my hometown at such an old age is that I am unwilling, and second, I can't let go of the hall." If the guild hall is abandoned like this, I don't know how to explain to Master Gu when I go back. ”

"After all, there is no one in our Chongqing Mansion in the DPRK!" Han Xiufeng said in a low voice.

"Yes, it would be nice if Master Ji could enter the military plane." Second Master Fei thought so.

Du San couldn't help asking: "Second master, why don't we have anyone in the court, didn't Director Zhang of the Provincial Pavilion say that he knew a Lord Yang?" ”

"Lord Yang is not from Chongqing, or even Sichuan. Director Zhang recognized Lord Yang because he had been a Western seat for Lord Yang for several years. Later, Lord Yang became bigger and bigger, and now he is an official in the Ministry of Officials. ”

"Servant of the Ministry of Officials!" Han Xiufeng exclaimed.

Second Master Fei smiled: "Yes, otherwise Director Zhang can give you that guarantee." Anyway, your ancestral inkstone is really a treasure, even I look at it red, but unfortunately I can't afford it. ”

I didn't expect that the things that came out of the thief's den could come in handy, Han Xiufeng was so happy that he secretly thought that he would take Pan Er to Liuli Factory to visit after two days of free time to see if he could find a few more treasures.

Just thinking about it, the Chongqing Hall arrived.

Du San shouted, and Pan Er hurriedly came out to open the door.

When they walked into the yard, he and Datou actually cleaned the yard, pulled up a few ropes, and dried all the bedding they brought from their hometown on the ropes.

Second Master Fei nodded with satisfaction, then turned around and said, "Zhixing, from now on, you will be the head of the Chongqing Guild Hall." Let's go in and handle the handover. ”

"Second master, it's just such a yard, what's there to hand over?" Han Xiufeng couldn't help but ask.

"Of course, there must be a handover, things must be done from the beginning to the end, and the accounts must be clear." Second Master Fei walked into the hall, took out a dirty account book from the corner of the wall, put it on the table and said with an embarrassed face: "I only know how to read sages and sages all these years, but I don't know how to run it, and I make a good guild hall like this, I am really ashamed to think about it." ”

"It's hard for a good woman to cook without rice, how can you run such a dilapidated yard."

"Don't talk about that, you look at the ledger first."

……

I don't know if I don't see it, and I'm shocked when I see it.

When Master Gu advocated the construction of the guild hall, not only the Chongqing officials in Beijing gave all the money, but even several Chongqing foreign officials gave dozens or even hundreds of taels, and after buying this courtyard, there were still more than 800 taels left.

As a result, only a year later, the original homeowner came to make up for it, so he made up for it three times, and made up more than 600 taels successively, and the original homeowner signed a "sigh deed", and this courtyard really belonged to the Chongqing Guild Hall.

However, this was expected by Mr. Gu and other Chongqing officials, and the guild would have to rely on business if it wanted to survive.

It stands to reason that there is not an examination every year, nor is it an enke every year, and when there is no person to enter Beijing for the examination, you should rent a few rooms like other halls and collect some rent to maintain. According to the ledgers, it has been rented out three times in the past ten years, and only one or two rooms have been rented, and the rest of the time it is all empty.

As the head of the association, Fei Er Ye can receive fifteen taels of silver per year according to the agreement. The balance of more than 100 taels and the more than 100 taels of museum fees collected by Guan Guan who went to Beijing to take the exam later, more than 50 taels were used for repairs, and the rest had already been collected by Fei Erye, and the hall seemed to owe him forty-five taels after careful calculation!

Han Xiufeng scratched his head and asked with a bitter face: "Second master, you always hand over the accounts to me, do I want to make up for the forty-five taels that the guild hall owes you?" ”

"This is nature, I have no long things, if you don't make up this money, I won't even have the money to return to my hometown in the next year. I'm also a lifter, so I can't just die in a foreign country. ”

Han Xiufeng didn't want to pay this money, so he couldn't help but ask: "Second master, it's not a way for us to just get in and out of this hall, we can't last a few days like this, why don't we sell this courtyard!" ”

"Can't sell it, don't say that we can't be the master, even Master Ji doesn't dare to say this."

"Second master, I can't do this first thing, you should always ask another master."

"You've already agreed, in front of Master Ji! Master Gu praised you in the letter for being upright and open-minded, how can you say without trust. ”

The old debt has not been repaid, and a new debt has been added!

Han Xiufeng didn't expect it to be like this, and he couldn't bear to see the old man in front of him die in a foreign country, so he closed the account book and said: "Second master, otherwise, don't you always want to fight, and you are not in a hurry to leave, I owe these forty-five taels first, and when you are sure to leave, I will try to make up for you." ”