It was probably because the father-in-law looked at his son-in-law that he was more and more upset, and Fu Wenlong was angry when he saw Ma Shaoguang's dejected look. However, Fu Wenlong didn't want to persuade him, after all, Ma Shaoguang was forty years old, and it was good that he could tell the difference.

Fu Wenlong suppressed the anger in his heart and asked, "Did you go into the city to see your second uncle?" ”

Ma Shaoguang bowed his head and said, "Go back to your father-in-law, you haven't gone yet!" ”

"Okay, you take your family to see your second uncle first! There is also going to visit Fang Shutian, whether you like this position or not, Fang Shutian has the grace of recommending you after all, and there must be due courtesy! The gifts are all prepared for you, go for it! After Fu Wenlong finished speaking, he waved his hand, and Ma Shaoguang got up and retreated.

Ma Shaoguang went out of the door of the study to find a family member, and asked him to go to the back house to call his wife Fu out, so that he could prepare things to visit his second uncle Ma Mingyuan.

After a while, Fu Shi came out of the back house, and saw his father-in-law standing at the second gate in a daze.

Fu and Ma Shaoguang have been married for more than ten years, and naturally know this husband very well, Ma Shaoguang is more than upright, but he doesn't know how to be flexible, or he can't stay in that Yong'an Prefecture for more than ten years. Now seeing Ma Shaoguang's frowning and full of worries, Fu knew that his father-in-law must have been told by his father.

Fu Shi came to Ma Shaoguang and asked in a low voice, "Xianggong, what's wrong?" Do you have something on your mind? ”

"Oh, it's nothing, my father-in-law asked me to take the children to visit my second uncle, you let Yanzhi, Yanyuan, and Yanliang come out and go with me!"

Seeing Ma Shaoguang's appearance, Fu Shi did not answer the matter of visiting Ma Mingyuan, but asked, "Xianggong, what's wrong with you?" But did your father reprimand you? ”

Ma Shaoguang sighed and said, "My father-in-law is also good for me, it's not a big deal!" ”

Fu is Fu Wenlong's daughter, and he doesn't know his father's temper, so Ma Shaoguang should be trained very badly. Fu has been married to Ma Shaoguang for more than ten years, so he naturally knows that his father-in-law does not want to be this official, and his father must have reprimanded him because of this.

Fu is Ma Shaoguang's wife, and he was naturally very distressed when he saw Xiang Gong being bullied, and comforted him on the side: "Xiang Gong, the concubine knows that Xiang Gong doesn't want to be an official, and the concubine also knows that the officialdom is chaotic now, Xiang Gong doesn't have to listen to his father, if Xiang Gong makes up his mind to resign, the concubine will accompany Xiang Gong back to his hometown to farm!" ”

Ma Shaoguang was very moved when he heard Fu so reasonable, when Fu was just fifteen years old he married Ma Shaoguang, and then he nested in Yong'an Prefecture for 16 years, and now he finally returned to the big city, but he was willing to give up the comfortable life in the big city for himself, Ma Shaoguang thought in his heart that he would have a wife like this, what more could he ask for!

Ma Shaoguang emotionally took Fu's hand and asked: "Madam, you haven't enjoyed a single day of happiness since you married me, and you don't have any complaints in the poor environment of Yong'an Prefecture, how can I forget Madame's hard work?" Madame, don't worry, I will definitely obey my father-in-law's words, be a good official, and earn a life for my wife! ”

Fu Shi was very happy to see that Xianggong had regained his mentality, and hurried to prepare gifts, and then the family went to visit his second uncle Ma Mingyuan.

Ma Mingyuan's home is not far from Fu Wenlong's home, only five or six streets away, but Ma Mingyuan's Guogong Mansion is not comparable to Fu Wenlong's Xiangguo Mansion.

Ma Mingyuan is now at home, and there are naturally no more people at the door of the house, and the scene of busy traffic at the door is gone, so the Ma family is rarely idle, standing at the door one by one and talking.

Ma Mingyuan has been the first assistant for many years, and his protégés are all over the world, and those who used to come to Ma Mansion to visit are lined up two streets away, and these doormen also take bribes from them, and they naturally live a chic life. But with Ma Mingyuan's resignation, these porters began to have a hard time, and no one came to give gifts, and they had no income.

Today, these guys were chatting in the tea room at the door, and they saw a few small sedan chairs coming to the street, and a porter was overjoyed: "Brothers, do you see it, it's finally going to open today!" ”

The others were also very happy when they saw it: "Yes, since Xiangye Zhishi, a few of our brothers have also broken off their income, and today I finally came to one, so I have to blackmail well!" ”

The sedan chair came to the door of the Ma Mansion, and Ma Shaoguang's eldest son Ma Yanzhi stepped forward and asked, "How many, is this the Ma Mansion?" ”

The porter at the head saw that this young man was good-looking, with a slender body and a handsome appearance, but he was dressed very ordinarily. The body is not wearing a popular style in Beijing, but a cyan cloth shirt covering the body, and there is no hat on the head but a headscarf. The porter looked behind him, and behind the young man were two young men, and finally a middle-aged scribe with a swarthy face, who at first glance was not a local.

There is no way, Ma Shaoguang is an official in Yong'an Prefecture, Guangxi, which is located in the tropics, and of course Ma Shaoguang is tanned. And the three Ma Yanzhi brothers all grew up in Yong'an Prefecture, and naturally they don't have much knowledge from a small place, so they look like turtles in the eyes of the concierge.

The porter was very happy to see that these people were not locals, and this group of old hats came to see Xiangye, they must be officials from other places, and they went to Xiangye to ask for officials. The porter likes this kind of rich man the most, and it is easy to cheat if he has money.

The porter saw Ma Yanzhi step forward and said, "This uncle, this is Ma Mansion, I don't know what happened to the masters?" ”

"Oh, we're here from Guangxi to see Ma Xiangye!" Ma Yanzhi got Ma Shaoguang's entrustment, and now Ma Mingyuan is quitting, so it's better to keep a low profile, don't say it's a relative.

"Want to see my master? It's good to say, filial piety is brought first! ”

Ma Yanzhi was stunned when he heard the porter say this, what do you want to be filial?

"This little brother, what kind of filial piety?"

"Hehe, to tell you the truth, my lord is busy with official business, where you guys can see if you want? The old rule is that seven officials have ten silver dollars, and each additional product is doubled! "The price of silver in the Ming Dynasty was very expensive, and a family of five only needed five taels of silver per month, even in Beijing, where prices were expensive, the monthly consumption was only around six or seven taels. Now the porter lion opened his mouth widely, and a mouth asked for ten silver dollars, which was already fifteen taels of silver.

Of course, Mafu was not this market before, but ten silver dollars per person, but the concierge had no income for more than half a month, and the life was very hard.

Ma Yanzhi didn't understand it just now, and only after listening to the porter's explanation did he know what was going on. Ma Yanzhi laughed angrily after hearing this, although he was dressed very ordinary, but his identity was the eldest grandson of the Ma family, and according to the patriarchal law, his status was higher than Ma Mingyuan's son Ma Shaojun. What's more, Ma Yanzhi's grandfather is Ma Jiyuan, who also served as the first assistant of the imperial court, so although Ma Yanzhi is amiable on the surface, he is very arrogant in his heart.

Ma Yanzhi smiled and said to the porter: "It's easy to say, isn't it just money, this little brother, come here!" After speaking, Ma Yanzhi reached into his arms and made it look like he was going to take the money out.

The porter didn't know if it was fake, so he hurried up, and he knew that Ma Yanzhi's right hand wheel was opened, and he gave the porter a big mouth. Ma Yanzhi is not a powerless scholar, Yong'an Prefecture is located on the border of the empire, full of pirates, as a magistrate, Ma Shaoguang is responsible for protecting the territory and the people, so Ma Yanzhi trained with the Inspection Department when he was a child.

The porter who hit Ma Yanzhi with this mouth lost five or six teeth, and the porter shouted in vague words: "It's the other way around!" This killer dares to go to the front of the Guogong Mansion, go and call the inspection department! ”

The porter was beaten, and five or six people immediately rushed out of the gate and surrounded Ma Yanzhi and others. Then a man came out of the door and shouted, "What are you doing?" I don't know if my grandfather is in a bad mood and needs to be quiet? You don't want to live anymore? "That person is in his fifties, and he is Ma Fu, the housekeeper in the house.

Ma Fu was Ma Mingyuan's scholar when he was young, and Ma Jiyuan's housekeeper Ma Gui were brothers, and they were also the sons of Ma Youcai, the old housekeeper of the Ma family.

Ma Mingyuan has been deposed for more than half a month, although Ma Mingyuan himself proposed not to do it this time, but everyone with a discerning eye knows that Ma Mingyuan was forced to resign. So Ma Mingyuan is in a very bad mood, in the past few days, because the master is in a bad mood in Ma Fuzhong, many people have been unlucky, and they have either been spanked or expelled from the house.

Ma Fu, who is the chief housekeeper, naturally saw that his eyes were anxious, so he ordered all the subordinates in the whole house not to move around, for fear of making a noise that would make the master unhappy.

But such a big event happened at the door today, and Ma Fu was afraid of disturbing the old man and hurriedly came out to check.

Ma Fu came out and was about to scold his mother, but when he saw the middle-aged man standing at the end, he didn't dare to scold. Ma Fu is an old man of the Ma family, although he doesn't recognize Ma Yanzhi, he knows Ma Shaoguang, the eldest son of the Ma family.

Ma Fu hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down and said, "Young Master, aren't you an official in Guangxi?" How did you get back? ”

Ma Fu said this to make those porters confused, eldest young master? Isn't the eldest young master of the Ma family Ma Shaojun? Why did another big young master come out?

Ma Shaoguang hurriedly picked up Ma Fu and said: "Uncle Ma, hurry up, I just came back, and the court transferred me back to Beijing to be an official!" ”

Ma Fu got up and smiled: "Okay! The old slave had already said that the eldest master should have transferred the eldest young master back a long time ago, and there was a reason why the eldest son of the first assistant went to such a remote place to become an official! The eldest young master came back this time because the eldest master meant, right? ”

Ma Shaoguang and Ma Fu couldn't explain, as long as they nodded silently, it was a tacit acquiescence.

Ma Fu turned his head at this time and reprimanded the porters: "You bastards are blind, do you know who this is?" This is the eldest grandson of the Ma family, the eldest son of the eldest brother, you are tired of living and dare to embarrass the eldest young master, wait for the master to punish you heavily! ”

The whole house knows that Ma Mingyuan has a big brother, and his status is not below Ma Mingyuan, and now these porters heard that the middle-aged man standing opposite is Ma Jiyuan's son, Ma Mingyuan's nephew, and they were so frightened that they quickly knelt down and kowtowed.