Governor Chen stayed in Xincun for three days, saw that Yu Xiang was basically fine, found the red lady, explained the meaning of going home, took out a few ingots of silver and put them on the table, and said: "Xincun tea is good, I like to drink it very much, I want to buy a few cans to go back, I don't know if Village Chief Mu is willing to reward this thin noodles." ”

The red lady said in embarrassment: "The tea in Xincun is not under my control, you take back the silver first, and I will go to Miss Xu San to discuss." ”

She found Miss Xu San and said, "Miss Xu, I want to pay for a few cans of Shanghao Xincun tea to give to Governor Chen's mansion, do you think it's okay?" ”

"I'm afraid you can't afford it!" Miss Xu San was dismissive.

The red lady took out fifty taels of silver from her arms and said, "How much tea can you buy with this silver?" ”

Miss Xu San weighed it and said, "Buy a can!" ”

"You set the price of tea so high, how can you sell it?" The red lady said in surprise that Xincun has a stake in this tea, and the money earned is also a share of Xincun.

Miss Xu San said: "To be honest, according to the news from the capital, many dignitaries are inquiring about the whereabouts of tea in this new village. ”

"Just now, Governor Chen named to buy Xincun tea, what do you think?" The red lady asked.

Miss Xu San said in surprise: "It has spread to Fucheng so quickly? It's so fast! ”

She thought about it for a while and said to the red lady: "Governor Chen invited Lang Zhong to treat Brother Yu, and if you are kind to Xincun, we will send two cans to the prefect in the name of Xincun, do you think it's okay?" ”

"Isn't two cans too few, so many people are here?" The red lady asked.

"This tea is specially left by Brother Yu, saying that it is reserved for the use of opening the Western trade mode, the last time the prefect Chen came, only gave him a can, it is not the best tea, this time he sent two cans of good tea at once, if he knows, he will not feel distressed to death! Besides, there are not many of these good teas, and they may add up to about fifty cans! Miss Xu San said.

Seeing her say this, the red lady agreed with her suggestion.

Miss Xu San took out a delicate red lacquered wooden box from the storeroom and put it on the table.

The red lady looked at this wooden box, which was carved with large peony flowers, black and red flowers, rich and powerful. She thought it looked good and asked, "How much is this package worth?" ”

"This box is made of good fragrant sandalwood, and the porcelain jar containing tea inside is a cloisonné enamel porcelain jar, and a piece of fine silk embroidery, which costs dozens of taels of silver."

When the red lady heard this, she was surprised, and now, even if she asked her to send a few more cans to the prefect, she was unwilling to send them.

When the red lady ordered someone to put the sandalwood box on the table, Governor Chen's eyes were straight, he was a dignified four-grade court official, he had never seen any formation, and the tea packaging in front of him was simply an expensive work of art.

Zhao Jiacheng looked at the sandalwood box, couldn't put it down, and secretly muttered a few words in Governor Chen's ear.

Governor Chen took out a few ingots of silver from before, and said stubbornly: "Look, I will buy another box of these ingots of silver, I wonder if Village Chief Mu can sell a thin noodle in this mansion?" ”

The red lady was in a dilemma and said: "Lord Prefect, what you are holding in your hand is the best tea in the village, which is extremely precious, and I am afraid that you will not be able to buy it if you have money." Now that Xincun is out of stock, if you don't dislike it, how about I send you a few cans of ordinary tea? You can take this money back, I'm sorry. ”

"This-" Governor Chen dragged his long voice and secretly looked at Zhao Jiacheng from the corner of his eye.

Zhao Jiacheng gave him a look, he understood, and then said: "In this way, thank you!" ”

Miss Xu San ordered someone to bring ten cans of ordinary tea, and the packaging of this tea was much more vulgar, that is, a porcelain jar fired in a local porcelain kiln, with some plum blossom magpie patterns painted on it, which was much lower than the sandalwood box.

The prefect accepted the tea and led the people back to the mansion.

The prefect couldn't wait to open the sandalwood box to see what was going on, and Zhao Jiacheng said coldly: "Governor Chen, you have to be careful, if it is broken, you will have to lose your head." ”

Hearing Zhao Jiacheng say this, Governor Chen's hands trembled, almost not grasping, he firmly held the tea box, slowly put it on the table, and beads of sweat oozed from his forehead. I didn't dare to touch the sandalwood box again.

Governor Chen cautiously asked, "Can you leave one of the ten cans of tea?" Let Benfu taste it? ”

"I'll leave you two cans, and you'll have a credit for this tea." Zhao Jiacheng took out two cans and handed them to Governor Chen.

Governor Chen immediately opened a can, took out the tea leaves, and brewed them with good water, and suddenly, a burst of fragrance emanated from the room.

After tasting it, Governor Chen's face showed a look of horror, the green tea in his home is supposed to be the best local tea, but compared with this tea, it is simply a heaven and an underground.

When Governor Chen looked at the sandalwood box again, his eyes were straight, and he really wanted to know what the tea leaves in the sandalwood box tasted like.

Back in the capital, Zhao Jiacheng offered tea to Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen saw a large wooden box and asked in surprise: "Why, did you buy such a big box of tea this time?"

Zhao Jiacheng's frightened eyes widened and he quickly shook his head.

Wang Chengen looked at Zhao Jiacheng's appearance, frowned and said, "Guard Zhao, what's the matter, what kind of stupidity?" The emperor has been unhappy recently, with these teas, long live the mood may be better! ”

Zhao Jiacheng said: "Lord Qiyu Wang, I really don't hide it, here is a box of tea, the road is far away and bumpy, Weichen is afraid that there will be a mistake, and it will be broken, yes, I am worried in my heart, and I dare not open it easily." ”

Wang Chengen said angrily: "Isn't it just tea?" Open it to our house! ”

Immediately, two housekeepers armed with choppers came to chop the wooden box.

Zhao Jiacheng hurriedly stopped: "Don't come by force, let me pick it up in person." ”

Seeing him so cautious, it also aroused Wang Chengen's curiosity, he waved his hand, and the two family members retreated.

Zhao Jiacheng carefully pried open the box, only to see that it was tightly stuffed with cotton and cloth. Removing the cotton cloth on it, a wooden box with black lacquer and red flowers was revealed, and the room was suddenly enveloped in the scent of sandalwood.

Wang Chengen has been by the emperor's side for a long time, he has seen the world, and when he saw this package, he was still very surprised, he bent down to touch the surface of the sandalwood box, and kept nodding and said: "Ingenuity, sure surprise." Open the wooden box for me, I want to see what the tea leaves are like? ”

Zhao Jiacheng took two steps back and said: "With the courage of Weichen, I don't dare to open the box in person, so please ask Lord Wang to open it in person!" ”

Wang Chengen Orchid pointed and said: "The dignified guards, just this little bit of courage, come, take out the sunspots, and the palace will open the box personally!" ”

The two family members did not dare to be careless at this time, and carefully held the sandalwood box to the table, only to see that there was a small copper lock on the box, and a small key was tied with silk thread next to it, which was antique and very cute.

Wang Chengen snorted and said, "So it's mysterious! Come on, open the box for me. ”

The family didn't dare to disobey, so he trembled and took the key, and inserted it several times without inserting it into the hole.

"Useless things, get out of the way, I'll come!" Wang Chengen personally got started, he was calm and calm, and quickly opened the lock and lifted the lid of the box.

I saw that the box was covered with a piece of white silk embroidery, with clusters of flowers and butterflies flying, and this silk embroidery alone was a work of art. Uncover the silk embroidery, revealing the cloisonné enamel craft porcelain jar, this porcelain jar is well-made, in the folk, it is absolutely rare.

Wang Chengen carefully held the porcelain jar, and saw that the lid of the jar was tightly sealed with wax, and he couldn't see the tea inside, which was a pity.

Of course, Zhao Jiacheng saw his thoughts, and hurriedly opened his baggage and said: "Here are six cans of ordinary canned tea, honor your old man, can you taste it?" He secretly kept two cans for himself.

When Wang Chengen saw that the packaging of the two was very different, he was a little unhappy and asked, "Are these two kinds of canned tea the same?" ”

"The type is the same, but the tea is better." Zhao Jiacheng pointed to the sandalwood box on the table.

"Come on, make a cup to comfort Lord Zhao's suffering." Wang Chengen said as he closed the box and locked it, this time he was much more cautious.

Soon, the tea came up, the house was full of fragrance, and after tasting it, the tea taste was refreshing and profound, and the fragrance was fragrant.

He couldn't help but praise: "Good tea, really good tea!" ”

Then he looked at the sandalwood box on the table, and his eyes showed surprise.

He commanded loudly: "Come, wrap me the sandalwood box with good silk, and tomorrow I will enter the palace and face the saint." ”

The next day, Wang Chengen took a family member to the outside of the imperial study with a yellow sandalwood box, and quietly asked the eunuch guarding the door about Emperor Chongzhen's mood today.

The eunuch glanced at Wang Chengen. This is their internal signal, which means that the emperor is not happy today and asks him to come back another day.

When he was hesitating between advance and retreat, Zhang Jinyan bowed down and retreated from inside, and when he saw Wang Chengen, he hurriedly greeted: "Lord Wang, are you waiting for the emperor to summon you?" ”

"Oh, um, yes." Wang Chengen was vague.

However, Emperor Chongzhen still knew about their movements outside, and only heard the eunuch in the imperial study shouting: "Summoning Wang Chengen to meet you!" ”

Wang Chengen hurriedly took the box from the family, said goodbye to Zhang Jinyan, and entered the imperial study.

After Wang Chengen entered the house, there was still a strong scent of sandalwood outside.

Zhang Jinyan called the family aside, stuffed him with a large ingot of silver, and said, "May I ask what Lord Wang has in his hands?" ”

The family happily accepted the money and said one word: "Tea!" "For the rest, I won't say anything. Although Wang Chengen's official position is not big, but the celebrities around the emperor, even the scary people around Wang Chengen, the dignified soldiers don't dare to offend them, so Zhang Jinyan has to give up.

Wang Chengen entered the house and saw that the emperor's face was cloudy, and Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, knelt on the ground, hanging his head in despair.

Chongzhen glanced at Wang Chengen and asked, "Today, what's going on?" ”

Wang Chengen hurriedly bent down and put the tightly wrapped sandalwood box on the coffee table on the side, knelt down and kowtowed: "Start the sage, Weichen has something to play." After that, he said no more.

Chongzhen glanced at Yang Sichang and said: "Yang Shangshu, get up, this is the end of the day, for Zuo Liangyu did not listen to the dispatch and did not move, causing the thief leader Liu Guoneng to escape to Henan, it must be thoroughly investigated!" ”

Yang Sichang hurriedly kowtowed and said: "Weichen must thoroughly investigate this matter to the end and get to the bottom of it." ”

Chongzhen waved his hand: "Go down!" ”

Yang Sichang bowed down and withdrew, smelling a strong sandalwood fragrance in the room, and couldn't help but sneak a glance at the yellow sandalwood box with the afterglow of his eyes.

Chongzhen pointed to the wooden box and asked, "What is this?" ”

"Xincun Maojian!" Wang Chengen said.

"Oh, there's new news from Yu Xiang?" Chongzhen asked.

Wang Chengen immediately said: "Yu Xiang has woken up and will recover in a few days." ”

Chongzhen showed joy on his face at this time, and said to Wang Chengen: "Open it, I have just finished drinking the tea recently, and it is rare for Wang Aiqing to understand my thoughts." ”

Wang Chengen hurriedly opened the silk-wrapped sandalwood box, revealing a black lacquered saffron wooden box, opened the small lock, uncovered the silk embroidery, and revealed the cloisonné enamel porcelain jar, and the tea jar had the words "Xincun Maojian Tea" on it.

Chongzhen picked up a jar, looked at it carefully, and said, "The packaging of this thing is too luxurious, I'm afraid it cost a lot of silver taels?" ”

Wang Chengen knew that Chongzhen had always been thrifty, and now to make Chongzhen happy, he had to speak for Xincun: "Long live what you said is very true, but this tea is the best in the hair, so packaged, only such a luxurious packaging can match." ”

Chongzhen stopped talking nonsense, ordered someone to remove the wax seal, uncover the jar, put it in front of his nose and smell it, with an approving expression on his face.

Wang Chengen saw Chongzhen's expression, and then a stone was put down, he had already learned that Xincun had made steel and rifles, but he didn't dare to report it to Chongzhen truthfully, for fear of arousing the emperor's suspicion of Xincun. But the emperor will know about it sooner or later, because Wang Chengen is in a dilemma.

Just now I heard that Liu Guoneng escaped from Henan, Wang Chengen's eyes rolled, and he said tentatively: "Weichen has an idea, I don't know whether to talk about it or not." ”

Chongzhen looked at Wang Chengen for the sake of getting tea for himself, and thought that Wang Chengen asked for a reward, so he said: "But it doesn't hurt to talk about it!" ”

Wang Chengen said: "This Yu Xiang, who can be literate and martial, can be a great talent, it is better to make him an official, let him serve the imperial court, sweep away the enemies who invaded Henan, and solve the worries of the saints." ”

Chongzhen was very surprised, his eyes showed approval, and said: "I have this intention, then you can tell me what official is appropriate." ”

Wang Chengen said: "It's appropriate to seal a thousand households!" ”

"The imperial court is now short of money and food, and he is made a thousand households, where does the money and grain come from?" Chongzhen deliberately left a stubble.

Wang Chengen immediately said: "Only give official positions, no salaries, and everything else will be solved by himself." ”

Chongzhen nodded, thinking that this dead eunuch is too ruthless, only to come to the void, not to give benefits, and to do things for the court, how can it be the same as my thoughts.

He said quietly: "This is very good, and this matter will be handed over to you." ”

Wang Chengen kowtows and thanks! Withdrew.

Chongzhen held the teapot in his hand, looked left and right, nodded incessantly, and praised Youjia.

This unlucky Zhao Jiacheng was not hot in the capital, and with a secret purpose, he rushed to Henan non-stop.