The city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty was divided into an imperial city, an inner city, and an outer city.

The Imperial City is naturally the place where the emperor lives, and all of them are also called the Forbidden City.

The inner city is a city around the Forbidden City, because it is relatively close to the Forbidden City, so the general officials and relatives of the emperor will live in the inner city, after all, this is the closest to the Forbidden City, especially those who are qualified to go to the court to live in the inner city, otherwise just the daily court can exhaust you, and at the same time can live here is also a symbol of status.

And the outer city is another city built around the inner city, where ordinary people live, but there is no absolute, and now Sun Chengzong, who was the first assistant of the cabinet, lives in an alley in the outer city.

There are many poplar trees planted around this alley, every May, the poplar fruit is ripe and cracked, and the attachment of the seeds is like cotton wool, so that the seeds are easy to float in the air, scattered with the wind, and fall in a suitable environment, so every season around the alley will fly all over the sky, so this alley is also called the flying floc alley.

Almost all of the people living in Feixu Hutong are ordinary people, so the housing prices here are also relatively cheap, which is why Sun Chengzong chose to buy a house to live here.

Today is Sun Chengzong's day off, so Sun Chengzong rarely slept lazy, almost three o'clock in the morning before getting up, just as he was about to let the old servant at home fry two more good dishes to treat himself, the porter came to report, there were guests visiting.

"Someone's coming?" Sun Chengzong was slightly stunned, although he was the first assistant of the cabinet, he was extremely incorruptible, and what he didn't like the most was to form a party for personal gain, so there were really not many people who came to visit him on weekdays.

He stretched out his hand: "Bring the prayer post to the old man to see?" ”

The porter smiled bitterly and said, "Master, there is no greeting for anyone who came." ”

"What, no prayers?"

As the name suggests, it is a name post used when visiting others.

Huaxia is a nation that attaches great importance to etiquette, especially in this era, if you want to visit someone, it is best to tell the host two days in advance, so that the host can be prepared.

If you are in a hurry and can't tell the host in advance that you want to visit on the same day, you can also send a prayer note and prepare a gift, and put the worship post and gift list in the worship box to send it over, but if you don't even come to the door empty-handed, this kind of general is a bad guest, it is very rude behavior, and you will be kicked out of the door if you meet a bad-tempered host.

So when he heard that the other party didn't even come to visit without paying a post, Sun Chengzong was stunned, and the old servant behind him was even more furious, and said angrily: "What kind of wicked guest is so unreasonable, the old man sits down and waits for the old slave to drive him out with a big stick." ”

"Huh...... It doesn't have to be that way. Sun Chengzong hurriedly called out to his old servant and asked the porter: "Can anyone come and report his name?" ”

The porter said with a bitter face: "Master, the person who came claimed to be Wang Yongguang, the head of the household, and the villain really didn't dare to drive him away." ”

"It's him."

Sun Chengzong smiled helplessly.

"Alright, go and bring him in. Lao Gao, don't be angry, hurry up and make a pot of good tea inside. ”

"Whoa!"

Soon, the old servant turned and left.

Sun Chengzong's wife died early and has not been renewed, so he is still alone.

He has a total of seven sons, his eldest son Sun Quan, the current county magistrate of Gaoyuan County, Shandong, and the other sons are all in Gaoyang's hometown in Baoding, Beizhili, because he does not like luxury, there are only two servants in the family and the porter, and there is no maid, so the chores at home like cooking and cooking are all done by the old servant surnamed Gao.

Soon, the sound of footsteps came, and the current head of the household, Wang Yongguang, walked in quickly, and after seeing Sun Chengzong standing at the door with a smile, he hurriedly made a deep bow to him, and said respectfully: "Elder Sun Ge, Xia Guan took the liberty to come this time, and I hope you don't want to be surprised, it's really too urgent, Xia Guan really can't wait." ”

Sun Chengzong smiled slightly, pointed to the stool next to him and said, "Sit down, Youfu." You're a rare guest, the old man doesn't have anything good to entertain you here, only a pot of tea, and I hope you don't dislike it. ”

At this time, the old servant had already walked over with a teapot and two teacups, and poured tea for the two of them.

Sun Chengzong picked up the tea and said with a smile: "This tea was sent to the old man by the wife of the Xinguo Mansion a few days ago, and the old man thought that receiving some tea was not considered a bribe, so he accepted it, how about you taste it?" ”

"Then the lower official has to taste it." Wang Yongguang laughed, took a sip of the teacup, and then said: "The entrance is slightly bitter, but then there is a sweet taste lingering on the tip of the tongue, fresh and condensed, it is indeed a good tea." ”

"Hahaha......"

Sun Chengzong laughed, "It stands to reason that since you have said yes, the old man should give you some, but there are not many of these tea old men." Besides, you are the head of our Ming Dynasty, in charge of the Ming Dynasty's money bag, it shouldn't be difficult for you to get some good tea, and the old man won't do the thing of slapping a swollen face and becoming fat. ”

Wang Yongguang put down the teacup with a wry smile, "Elder Sun Ge, you are wrong in what you said, what is the household department of our Ming Dynasty, don't you know as a pavilion elder?" Although it is only September, there is less than 600,000 yuan of silver in the treasury of the household department, and it is necessary to save some money to survive until the beginning of spring next year.

But now the whole court is reaching out to ask for silver, and it is too difficult for Xiaguan to be a household secretary, and sometimes Xiaguan really wants to throw down this burden and go back to his hometown. ”

"You......"

Looking at Wang Yongguang, who was complaining in front of him, Sun Chengzong smiled slightly, without any waves on his face, just lowered his head and took another sip of tea.

People are mixed in officialdom, who doesn't have a few masks, Wang Yongguang's grievances are naturally true, but if Sun Chengzong really believes him, he is a fool.

As the saying goes, life is like a drama all depends on acting skills, although Wang Yongguang's performance is exquisite, he can't hide it from Sun Chengzong, the old fox, I saw him smile slightly: "Okay, Youfu, there are only you and me here, keep your words to tell Your Majesty, if you are still like this, don't blame the old man for issuing an eviction order." ”

"Hey......

Wang Yongguang laughed a little embarrassedly, and said in a low voice: "Elder Sun Ge, you must know the intention of the lower officials this time, although there is no silver in the household department now, but there are more than 18 million taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of taels of gold outside the city, if all these silver can be charged to the household, it will solve the urgent need of the household, and at least in a few years, the household will no longer have to worry about the silver tael." ”

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