Zhang Lun also became a little worried because of this. He wasn't worried about himself, but he was very worried that Qin Song would be implicated because of this.

But no matter how worried he was, since he wanted to stay in the capital as an official, even if he didn't want to, he must have his own mansion and slaves, and he couldn't always borrow to live in his son-in-law's house, and use the servants in his son-in-law's house, although Qin Song's father, Qin Shoushan, also welcomed him to live in Qin's house. The high-ranking officials of the second grade are allocated by the imperial court and do not need him to buy the house, and the rest is to buy some slaves, both for their own convenience and to fill the façade. Zhang Lun declined Qin Song's kindness to give him a few people, inquired where the market was, and planned to buy a few people on a later date.

He hadn't planned to come to buy slaves today, but there was a Jingwei stationed nearby, and his family lived near the camp. The commander of this Jingwei is his old friend, and he went to visit this friend and accidentally mentioned this matter, Zhang Lun thought that it was better to choose a day than to hit the sun, so he came here. On the way, I happened to meet Yu Yao, who also wanted to buy a slave, so I came together.

The guy in the shop saw that they spoke with foreign accents, and there were not a few subordinates around them, and carefully observed the words and demeanors of the two of them, and judged that the two of them were military generals who had just entered Beijing from other places, and their official positions would not be greater than those of Zheng Sanpin. On the surface, it seems that the three products are not small, if the civil officials will definitely be treated ceremoniously, but when Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the official titles and grades, the grades of the military generals were inflated, and the governors of the five armies who were equivalent to the six Shangshu were the first products, two levels higher than the Shangshu, so in everyone's minds, the official positions of the military generals were not so valuable, so when treating the generals, they were treated by two or three levels according to the civilian officials. And the civil officials of the four products, as long as they are not the officials in charge of the current management, these shops don't care much.

So of course, the guy's attitude is still very good, but he is unwilling to make concessions on the price, and Shopkeeper Liu is the same as him.

But Zhang Lun was bargaining with Shopkeeper Liu, and a guy walked out of the door of the store, glanced at a few people who followed Zhang Lun, and was suddenly startled: He had seen these people, they were all subordinates of the Qin Mansion, how could they follow this old man from other places?

He stepped forward to chat a few words, and learned that Zhang Lun was Qin Song's father-in-law, so he immediately leaned over to Shopkeeper Liu and whispered to him. Shopkeeper Liu asked him to go to the backyard to tell Xiao Zhuo, while adjusting his tone, and he was willing to give in in a few words.

Xiao Zhuo immediately rushed over and told Zhang Lun that 600 was enough. Zhang Lun hesitated, and Xiao Zhuo immediately cited various reasons, saying that the price of 600 yuan was appropriate.

Zhang Lun didn't know that the people in this shop recognized the subordinates of the Qin Mansion, but he also felt that the shop was a lot cheaper for him, and he felt a little uneasy in his heart. But when I thought about it, I didn't think it was anything, and said, "Then thank you to the store." 600 is 600. ”

Xiao Zhuo smiled even more, asked the man to dress the more than thirty slaves, and said diligently: "These many servants are not easy to settle in the adult's house. It's better to send five or six people to the adult's mansion today, and send the rest every day after that. After that, he said the same thing to Yu Yao.

Zhang Lun thought that he was now living in Qin Song's mansion, and it was not good to put all the servants in the Qin mansion; Although the officials of the imperial court who entered Beijing on business in other places also arranged residences, the area of public rental housing was not large, and so many servants could not be arranged, so they gave up their hands and said: "Then thank you to the store." But not all of us bought these people. Today we will take twelve people, and the rest will be stored in your store for the time being, waiting for me to send someone to pick it up. So saying, he asked his attendant to take out a pocket: "This is sixty taels of gold, and fifteen hundred pieces of money, which is the money for these slaves." The expenses they have deposited in your shop, etc., will be reconciled with your shop after bringing these servants back. ”

"Okay, there's no shortage of places in our store." Xiao Zhuo originally wanted to say that their expenses were not much money, but after thinking about it, he said at the beginning that the cost of raising these people was not small, and he couldn't say anything before and after.

Zhang Lun and Yu Yao divided the slaves, Zhang Lun took eight and Yu Yao took four, leaving the Xiao family's shop.

At this time, Xiao Tong stepped forward to ask about the origin of the two of them, and when he heard that one of them was Qin Song's father-in-law, he remembered something and said: "Yes, I remember talking with Xue Xiyang when I talked about it, Qin Song's marriage was Jinshang himself as a matchmaker, because Qin Song's eldest brother Qin Nan died in the battle of Mobei in the 28th year of Hongwu, and then promised Qin Song the daughter of a commander in the north. It should be that the commander was transferred to the capital. ”

"You and Xue Xiyang can still talk about this? It seems that the two of you have a good relationship. Xiao Zhuo noticed other aspects.

Xiao Tong regretted his speech, but he couldn't take back what he said, so he could only say: "Xue Xiyang is a military general after all, although he is still studying and taking the imperial examination, he still has the temperament of a military general." It just so happens that I also know martial arts, and I am the same as him in the entrance examination, so I am closer. ”

"That's true, how many scholars know martial arts? Most of those who know martial arts are from military generals. But even those who were admitted to the lecture martial arts hall were required to be literate, and there were those who didn't even memorize the "Thousand Character Text", and there were not a few guards in the entire capital like Xue Xiyang who could be admitted to Xiucai. It just so happens that you can also do martial arts, so why don't you just do what he likes. Xiao Zhuo smiled: "At the beginning, your father was reluctant to let you also practice martial arts, for fear that it would affect your studies, but now it seems that practicing martial arts is still quite useful." ”

joked again: "If I could meet someone like Xue Xiyang after I was admitted to Xiucai, I wouldn't have gone to the rivers and lakes to wander." ”

He laughed with Xiao Tong for a few words, and suddenly turned to the topic: "Since you and Xue Xiyang are so like-minded, you have to befriend him." Naturally, reading cannot be left behind. Even if Xue Xiyang fails to pass the exam, and Jinshi studies in Guozijian, as long as His Majesty is promoted, he will have a future in the future, but you can't do it. It is more important to study seriously. ”

"Yes, Uncle Six." Xiao Zhuo spoke so seriously, and he could only agree like this.

Xiao Zhuo nodded, thinking about it, there was nothing to do, it just so happened that there were not many guests now, so he asked Shopkeeper Liu to call all the guys, on behalf of the Xiao family, to express his gratitude to the guys who were still working during the New Year, and each of them distributed a red envelope of more than a dozen taels of silver.

The guys were overjoyed. Now the guys in the whole store are less than one-fifth of the usual, and they all want to make money, otherwise they will go home for the New Year, and they are of course happy to hear that there are extra red envelopes in addition to wages.

After distributing the red envelopes, Xiao Zhuo really didn't have anything to do this time, so he had to take Xiao Tong back. But just after walking a few steps to the gate of the fang, Xiao Zhuo hurriedly said: "Chang Ye, I have a New Year's greeting to Chang Ye." ”

"I also have a New Year's greeting for Sixth Brother Xiao." The man also said something, and then said, "What kind of master am I?" It's just a subordinate, and he has the master's surname, but he doesn't dare to be the title of the master. Besides, we know each other quite well, just call me by name. ”

Xiao Zhuo laughed with him and asked, "What, your mansion is going to enter the next person?" How in the New Year? ”

"Young Master Jifeng is fifteen this year, and he is also a young master who is about to become an adult, and the second master wants to teach him to treat people and things, and arrange for a few subordinates to follow him. The close-fitting nature is selected from the house, and the rough subordinates buy two from the human market. In addition, Young Master Jifeng is also good for his companion from childhood to adulthood, and plans to buy a family business in the capital for his companion and buy two subordinates. ”

"Although the people sold in your store are a little expensive, you can rest assured that the four people who bought them this time also bought from your house. You can give me a discount. ”

"Oh, Brother Chang, unfortunately our store is sold out. Go to the Zheng family's shop and buy it. ”

"All sold out?" The man was a little skeptical: "New Year's business is so good? ”

"Two generals came just now, probably from other places who just entered Beijing, and bought the rest. Because the business in the first month of the previous year was poor and there was not much preparation, the new slave had to be transferred from the Shanghai Bosi, and there would be no one for a few days. Xiao Zhuo said.

"Then I'll go to Zheng's house to have a look. Looking forward to good goods. ”

Xiao Zhuo said a few more words to him, and he was about to say goodbye; But this man suddenly remembered something again, and said to him: "Brother Xiao, there is something I almost forgot. Aren't you going to transfer goods from Shanghai Bosi? Bring in a person who doesn't understand Chinese at all and doesn't know Chinese characters, and my lord wants it. Remember, you must not understand Chinese at all, you don't know Chinese characters, if you buy it back and find that you can understand Chinese characters, you can't follow it. ”

"Brother Chang, rest assured, there will definitely be no problems. Our Xiao family has been doing business for so many years, and this kind of problem has never arisen. Xiao Zhuo patted his chest and reassured, and then asked if there were any other requirements.

"You can't look ugly, you should be fifteen or sixteen years old, don't be too big or too small, and your body should be well-proportioned,......" he made a lot of requests.

Xiao Zhuo was a little surprised when he heard this. He thought that the Chang family was buying a subordinate who was responsible for cleaning and storing confidential documents, so he had to understand Chinese and not know Chinese characters, but it was a little strange that there were so many requirements for appearance and age.

He couldn't help but ask. The subordinates of the Changfu saw that there was no one left and right, and said to him softly: "A few years ago, the emperor called the second master into the palace and didn't know what he ordered, and after he came back, the second master pondered things all day long, and also found many generals to come to the palace to talk about things. ”

"As for what the hell is talking about, don't ask me, I don't know, and even if I do, I don't dare to say it."

Xiao Zhuo didn't dare to ask when he heard that the emperor was involved, so he chatted with him casually, and then took Xiao Tong away.

But he thought in his heart: 'It seems that the emperor is going to make a big move against the generals after the New Year, but he doesn't know what the action will be. Fortunately, our family has nothing to do with the generals in the capital, and it should not be affected, but it is not guaranteed, so let people listen to it, and if it involves the commanders of the guards in Jiaxing Mansion, prepare early. ’

But Xiao Tong can't be involved. Even if the Xue family must have news, they can't let him go to investigate. ’