Back at home, Lao Liu Zai and Sui Jianchun were busy cleaning up the house where the eunuch lived, and now there were suddenly four more people in the small courtyard, which was indeed very crowded, fortunately, these guys were neither men nor women, and the female dependents didn't have to shy away from anything, if they really arranged four guards for me, it would be bitter.

Just after lunch, I told everyone in the living room: "The father-in-law in the harem is here, everyone is polite, try not to have anything to do with them, as long as they are served with good food and drink, as for the backyard, they can't be allowed to go, especially Second Brother Chen, you must pay attention, Brother Chen should not go out in the future, and guard the house with Second Brother Chen." ”

Everyone knows in their hearts that these eunuchs are not ordinary eunuchs, maybe they are spies in Dongchang, the emperor handed over such an important errand to me, even if he saved him twice, it was impossible to completely believe me, and it was a shame to tell them in advance.

Not long after I explained this, there was a knock on the door outside, Liu Lianjiang went out to open the door, and it was Su Si who followed Liu Lianjiang in, Su Si saw me and said first: "Lord Lan, the emperor asked me to send you a sedan chair, but I picked a few big sedan chairs for you, or you can't lift it in general." ”

I smiled, returned the salute and said: "Thank you Emperor, thank you Father-in-law Su, in fact, I am very good at riding a horse, I am really not used to sitting in this sedan chair, please sit down and drink tea." ”

I waved Lao Liu to go out and arrange a few sedan chairs for them, this sedan chair can't be placed outside, and there must be a special sedan chair room, but it hasn't been done yet, the sedan chair is placed outside, and the cloth of the sedan chair will change color when it is exposed to the wind and sun. Besides, this is a sedan chair given by the emperor, and it can't be kept well.

Because Su Si was Chen Jiu's cronies, I was not very polite, and I asked while drinking tea: "Father-in-law Su, do you have any medicine to explain to the emperor?"

"It's nothing, just let me tell you, if these guys don't listen to you well, they will clean up the imperial tomb, so Lord Lan shouldn't be polite because they are from the palace, and punish them when they should be punished."

"There, I believe in your father-in-law Su, and carrying a sedan chair is also a hard errand, you can rest assured that I can't lose my brothers, I will arrange their gifts on the New Year's Festival, and I will pay back the salary, which is guaranteed to be no less than in the palace."

"You don't need to pay the salaries of the Lan people, they go to the palace to receive the monthly silver, and the clothes and everything are issued by the palace, so you don't have to worry about anything."

"Thank you Grandpa Su, you have thought so thoughtfully, how grateful I am to you."

"I have to be grateful to the emperor, the emperor explained, I am just an errand messenger."

"Then when I go to the palace another day, I'll thank the Holy Grace, it's just what these fathers-in-law call it."

"Lord Lan, wait for me to call them in and get acquainted."

Su Si got up and went to the door and called in a few eunuchs who were waiting in the courtyard, these eunuchs were all about twenty years old, they were really big men like Su Si said, and when they came to the house, Su Si said to them: "This is Lord Lan, you will serve Lord Lan well in the future, if Lord Lan is not satisfied, you will go to the imperial tomb and wait for the rest of your life." ”

The four of them replied together: "Father-in-law Su, please rest assured, we will definitely serve Lord Lan well." ”

Su Si pointed to the first Taijun and said to me: "Lord Lan, this is their leader called Liu An, this is Liu Ying, this is Liu Yu, this is Liu Feng, in order to remember it, I also picked a few surnames." ”

"Father-in-law Su has a heart, Steward Liu, you go and arrange the residence of a few fathers-in-law, and see what is missing, go out and buy it quickly, you can't lack anything."

Lao Liu promised to take the four people out of the living room, and I took out another ingot of silver and stuffed it into Su Si's hand, and Su Si accepted it after pushing it.

After Su Si left, I came to the house where several eunuchs lived, and several eunuchs brought their own bedding, so there was nothing missing, that is, washing the face plate or something, because these people were castrated, and they couldn't urinate when they went to the toilet, and there was inevitably a smell of urine on their bodies, and they also had a basin for washing their buttocks, and they didn't bring it, so I asked Lao Liu to go out and buy it for them.

Seeing that there was nothing wrong with me, I returned to the study, thinking about how to guard against these little eunuchs in the future, if one of them was bad, I would expose my secret, and then all my efforts would be wasted.

I also considered that it was appropriate to go to Zhang Juzheng to apprentice that day, at this time apprenticeship is a big deal, it depends on the day, not so-so, and I have to notify Zhang Juzheng if I look at the day, and I have to invite someone to watch the ceremony, like Zhang Juzheng, there must be a lot of people who go, those who are sycophants, and those who follow the trend must go, Zhang Juzheng will also take this opportunity to show his strength. I've only heard them say this, and I have to ask Wei Yunzhong specifically, after all, he is an official and knows these procedures.

The next day I had breakfast, and went to the inn this time I enjoyed the taste of making a sedan chair, these eunuchs seemed to be specially trained, the sedan chair was carried quickly and steadily, and when I arrived at the inn, they were waiting outside, I took Liu Lianjiang to the inside, Wang Jinhuai had also gotten up, was reading in the house, saw me come up and asked: "Specially so early, go there today." ”

"Today, we will go to Guozijian again, where to pick people."

"Didn't you let me study, I still can't go."

"Don't go, just go and recruit people, I talked to the Lord of Long Live yesterday, and I don't know if the new sacrificial wine has arrived today?"

With Wang Jinhuai, out of the inn, I didn't go to the master's side, and it was inconvenient for a few little eunuchs to follow, all the way to the country, I didn't want anything to open the way, those are all cumbersome, and when there is a mansion and a yamen, these are to be matched, after all, to be an official must have the prestige of being an official.

When I arrived at the Guozijian, the sedan chair stopped, I got out of the sedan chair, Liu Lianjiang and Sui Jianchun followed me and Wang Jinhuai, this time don't ask for directions, go directly to the office of the sacrificial wine, today is the same as the day before yesterday, there is no one, it seems that the rules of the Guozijian are still good, and the management is also very strict, if it weren't for Lao Wang Yan insulting me so much, I really can't bear to let him go to the border, and I have to intercede with the emperor and let him stay, but I also understand the truth that if you don't die, you will suffer from it, and you can't leave a disaster because of a moment of kindness.

When I arrived at the door of the sacrificial wine office, this time the door was open, and I took Wang Jinhuai into the house in front, there were more than a dozen officials in the room, standing in front of the bookcase, and I couldn't see who was sitting behind the bookcase, and now I don't know who the new sacrificial wine is, and the court has not revealed any news.

I saw that the sacrificial wine was saying something to them, and I didn't bother and waited with Wang Jinhuai in the back, and after a while, the sacrificial wine finished speaking, and the officials dispersed, and the sacrificial wine saw me, left the bookcase and arched his hand and said: "It's Lord Lan who is here, you see that I didn't greet you when I arrange things here, please don't blame Lord Lan." ”

I also returned the salute and said: "Lord Sacrificial Wine is polite, I didn't bother you when I saw that you were busy, and I came to trouble the Lord today, I don't know what the Lord is called." ”

"Lord Lan sat down first."

Saying that, he let me into the chair, and asked the little maid to bring tea, and then he spoke: "Lord Lan, you don't know me, but I know you, I saw Lord Lan's eloquence on the Golden Palace yesterday, although there are not many words, every sentence is to the point, and the official admires it." ”

"The adult has won the award, and I can't be angry before I say that, or I will say that, but I don't know what the adult is called."

"Lord Lan, the official's name is Sun Daocun, it turned out to be the waiter of the Ministry of Officials, this is not a vacancy in the sacrificial wine, and he will be temporarily transferred to manage it, is Lord Lan coming over to recruit people."

"yes, how did Master Sun know?"

"The emperor greeted me yesterday afternoon, but I don't know if Lord Lan came over so early, what kind of talent Lord Lan wants, how many people, the official asked them to arrange it."

"Master Sun, I want to be good at arithmetic, the number of people is about twenty, but now they don't have a grade in the past, and when we train well, we will be awarded a certain grade based on the results. I don't know if it's good to find people, so please worry about it. ”

"It's easy to say, but it's not good for me to force them, because they all came with the purpose of the imperial examination, so I'm afraid it's not easy to recruit people like this, but this official will try to help Lord Lan."

"I have a way to ask Lord Sun to cooperate, I recruit people this time, not everyone wants them, I want which people have good character, and I have the ability, and I don't want Lord Sun to go to them, just let my people set up a table here, post a notice, and Lord Sun will notify you."

"That's easy to do, I'll do this, you don't have to be here all day to recruit people, as long as it's lunch and evening, noon is the time for the students to eat, and there is a period of rest time after the meal, and there is also the evening, so you don't have to work so hard, I will arrange an empty room for you in the student dormitory, I don't know what Lord Lan thinks."

"Thank you Lord Sun for your thoughtfulness, I wonder if we can arrange for two scribes who are familiar with the conduct of the students to assist us."

"Yes, I'll arrange this later, Lord Lan will sit here for a while, and I'll come when I go."

Saying that, Sun Daocun went out to find someone for us, and to see that there was no one in the house, Wang Jinhuai asked: "Why is this sacrificial wine so good today, you look at the day before yesterday, it is really a world of difference." ”

Wang Jinhuai knew that I said that the old sacrificial wine was incomplete at the Golden Palace yesterday, and even the people who were in charge of the high arch would not dare to come and embarrass me again. Besides, there is a special instruction from the emperor, how dare they make it difficult for us.

I said to Wang Jinhuai: "Brother Wang will work hard in the future, you will recruit people here first, I am asking Lao Liu to notify Liu County to come over, after all, you will be responsible for training them in the future, you two can learn a little more, we would rather lack than abuse, as long as the character is not good, and the children of rich families do not want anything." ”