Hearing this, Li Yan, who had always been arrogant, suddenly retreated half a step, made a deep bow in the direction of the Forbidden City, and said flatly: "Although the emperor is not very old, he is a wise monarch who follows the advice. Brother Ji, what we said in the Liansheng Inn that day, the emperor has already listened to it, and no longer increases the burden on the peasants, it is really a blessing for all the people in the world! ”

Ji Qingwen couldn't stop nodding, but he was thinking in his heart: It is good that Emperor Chongzhen can adopt the advice, but his temperament is too impatient - thinking that within five years, he will not only recover Liaodong, but also purge the corrupt officials of the Manchu Dynasty, reduce the expenses of the palace, and avoid provoking civil uprisings - how easy is it to do these extremely tricky things at the same time?

Thinking of this, Ji Qingwen suddenly felt that this "Suzhou weaving" that others dreamed of but could not get may not be so good, so he asked Li Yan tentatively: "Brother Li, I have a reluctant request, I don't know if Brother Li is willing?" ”

His request was made quite suddenly, which made Li Yan also stunned, and said, "This ...... Brother Ji and I are friends of life and death, what can't we say? ”

"That's good." Ji Qingwen said, "Brother Li, although the emperor appointed me to be this Suzhou weaving, but I am the first time to be an official, and I have no bottom in my heart. Therefore, I would like to ask Brother Li to come to Suzhou with me, and I can ask for advice at any time. I don't know what Brother Li thinks? ”

Li Yan did not hesitate and said, "Of course you can." I have heard for a long time that Jiangnan is full of humanities, but unfortunately I have never set foot in half a step, so I just took this opportunity to discuss with Jiangnan scribes for the examination, and the scientific examination in three years must be more certain. ”

Li Yan's words are high-sounding, but there is another meaning behind him - the failure of the imperial examination this time is not because of his lack of talent, but because of his father Li Jingbai's eunuch status.

Ji Qingwen couldn't guess Li Yan's thoughts, he only felt that with this resourceful and well-informed confidant who could be an advisor by his side at any time, then Suzhou Weaving would be able to sit more steadily.

His hanging heart had just landed, and the fatigue accumulated throughout the night suddenly came up again, covered his mouth and yawned several times, and said, "Brother Li, since you agreed, then I am relieved." After tossing all night yesterday, I was tired, and Brother Li must be tired, let's rest first, and we have to talk about some things in detail. ”

There are vacant rooms in the Shaanxi Hall, and two upper rooms are arranged for Ji Qingwen and Li Yan to live and rest.

Ji Qingwen had just entered the house and just lay down, and Xing'er touched the bed.

But Ji Qingwen was full of worries, and he didn't have the heart to make the rain, so he just hugged a naked, soft, and warm apricot and fell asleep.

This sleep lasted until dinnertime, and Ji Qingwen woke up, but he was so hungry that his stomach was "growling".

So he instructed Xing'er to wait for him to get up, let a table of banquets be set up in the Shaanxi Hall and send them into the house, and invited Li Yan, Duo Jiugong and Huang Degong to also come.

It was the order of the eldest prince of the Ji family, the Shaanxi Hall had nothing to say, and ordered a table of wine and food at the famous "Cheap Fang" restaurant in Beijing and sent it in.

Ji Qingwen saw that the people and dishes had arrived, so he raised his glass and toasted everyone first, and said: "Everyone, although I didn't get into the Jinshi exam this time when I entered Beijing, but yesterday the emperor had already issued an order to send me to do Suzhou weaving ......."

When Duo Jiugong heard this, he hurriedly interrupted his words, glared at a pair of old eyes and asked, "Young Master, what you said is true?" I only heard that the weaving admirals are all eunuchs and fathers-in-law, how could the emperor give such a will to the young master? ”

Ji Qingwen didn't expect Duo Jiugong to have such insight, so he said, "Oh, I didn't expect you to understand this?" ”

Duo Jiugong relied on the old and sold the old a little, and said with a little pride: "Weaving, he is the minister of the five products, and he is the number one imperial merchant." Who doesn't know about business? ”

Ji Qingwen said: "This Suzhou weaving is important, but I don't really want to be it." However, this is the will of God, and there must be no disobedience. I know that Shaanxi and Jiangnan are thousands of miles away, and I will go to work, but you may not want to go with you. Therefore, if you don't want to go, please say it now, and you can go back to Xi'an, and I will not blame you. ”

Duo Jiugong immediately said, "Young Master, where are you talking about this?" Lao Jiu, I have served the Ji family all my life, and wherever the young master tells me to go, I will go, and there is no second word. ”

Xing'er had already been committed to Ji Qingwen, and nodded as well.

Ji Qingwen turned his head again and asked Huang Degong: "Degong, you haven't been with me for a long time, would you like to go to Jiangnan together?" Oh yes. Li Yan and Li Gongzi have just agreed to accompany me to Suzhou to take up their posts. You are fellow villagers, so you should have a good idea when you go to that place. ”

Unexpectedly, Huang Degong said: "Dongjia, do you know? My wife worships the Buddha every day and recites scriptures every day, thinking that she will suffer some hardships in this life and be reincarnated in Jiangnan to enjoy happiness in the next life, but she didn't expect that the owner will go to Suzhou to be an official now. Alas! So who can say what is going on in this world? ”

Ji Qingwen heard that Huang Degong's words also meant that he was going south with him, so he said happily: "Okay, as the saying goes, 'there is heaven above, and Suzhou and Hangzhou below'." Huang Degong, you work hard under me, save up the money, and buy an industry in Suzhou, so that you can take your wife over to enjoy Qingfu! ”

Huang Degong is the most filial person, as soon as he heard that Ji Qingwen was going to arrange for his mother to invite him to Jiangnan to enjoy happiness, his eyes immediately filled with tears, and he thanked him with a thousand thanks.

Ji Qingwen saw that everyone had no objections, so he toasted everyone with another glass of wine, and then personally poured it for everyone, and then beckoned everyone to drink and eat.

The meal was very joyful, and everyone talked and laughed as if they were a close family, eating and drinking until midnight, and then dispersed.

The next day, Ji Qingwen was in good spirits, got up early, repaired a book first, and asked the Shaanxi Hall to send the book to Xi'an immediately with a flying pigeon. When Li Yan saw it, he also wrote a letter to his father, but he was not in a hurry to send it to the moraine, and only asked the Shaanxi Hall to send it away by ordinary messenger.

The two letters were sent away, and Ji Qingwen dragged Li Yan to visit his master Sun Chengzong.

Sun Chengzong had just come back from the face of the saint, and when he saw the two of them coming, he was also quite happy, and ordered the old servant to make tea and cook, and forced the two to have lunch in his house.

The bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty (especially the Donglin Party) mostly claimed to be Confucian authentic and paid attention to "food without words, sleep without words", but Sun Chengzong did not pay attention to these rules, and while eating, he explained a lot of important words to Ji Qingwen and Li Yan -

They should know that the weaving yamen was originally the stronghold of the eunuch party in the south of the Yangtze River, and Suzhou was the base camp of the Donglin party, and it was the core of the criss-crossing forces of many parties.

Ji Qingwen said yes in his mouth, but he didn't think so: Lao Tzu encountered such a complicated situation, it was still convenient to cut through the mess quickly, why bother to do that kind of meticulous work - not to mention that he owed the emperor 200,000 taels of silver before he went to Jiangnan, and he didn't have time to make money, so how could he bother to figure out these unclear interpersonal relationships?

Sun Chengzong seemed to see through Ji Qingwen's thoughts, and said, "But you don't have to be afraid. Remember, if you encounter something difficult, you can also write to me, and the old man will naturally take care of it. Also, your weaving admiral is hand-picked by the emperor, you are the Lord Qincha, the emperor is the master of everything, as long as you are out of a public heart, everything can be done boldly. ”

This was said very truthfully, so that Ji Qingwen hurriedly thanked him.

While he was talking, Yuan Chonghuan also came to visit.

Ji Qingwen didn't like this unruly and lonely so-called "senior brother", and after greeting him slightly, he resigned under the pretext of excuse.

As soon as he walked out of the gate of Sun's Mansion, Li Yan asked, "Later, that person is Yuan Chonghuan and Yuan Supervisor?" ”

Ji Qingwen nodded and said the word "yes", but he didn't want to talk about Yuan Chonghuan in depth, so he changed his words and said: "I didn't expect Teacher Sun to live in such poverty. When I go back, I will send a hundred taels of silver, which can be regarded as an apprenticeship. ”

In this way, Ji Qingwen prepared for four days, everything about the southward journey had been arranged, and Xi'an's reply had been sent back.

Although this reply letter was written by Ji Qingwen's father, Ji Guangming, it was filled with gratifying and excited emotions between the lines, praising Ji Qingwen well, and telling him that the Shaanxi Hall had no semicolon in Suzhou, Nanzhili, and even the entire Jiangnan, and asked him to prepare more cash before he traveled, in case of emergency-and these silver were all spent from the Shaanxi Hall, temporarily recorded in the Ji family's account, and settled in a unified manner at the end of the year.

The distance from Beijing to Suzhou is 3,000 miles, and it is not very convenient to carry a large amount of silver.

However, fortunately, this is the key place of the Beijing Division, and there are many businesses, ticket numbers, and money houses from all over the world, and the people in the Shaanxi Hall did not make much effort, so they exchanged for a silver ticket issued by the Suzhou Chamber of Commerce for 1,000 taels and asked Ji Qingwen to take it with him.