Ch. 69 - The Possession of Wolf’s Intelligent Beads, Jia Qingtian Offers Weighty Advice
The Famous Detective of the Red MansionThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
There were many people in front of the mansion, so it was inconvenient to ask questions.
So Sun Shaozong endured his doubts and laughed with his brother.
It was not until he entered the inner hall and waved all the servants back with an excuse that he kept his smile and asked straightforwardly, "Brother, what was our family originally like? I'm afraid there are only a few people in the 4 to 9 cities who don't know. You've only been granted the rank of nobility for seven or eight years, and you sprinkle money like water. I'm afraid it's a little inappropriate if the words get spread?"
"Inappropriate?"
Sun Shaozu was stunned for a moment. He then realized what he meant and said with a nonchalant smile, "Don't worry, our money is earned in the right channel, not to mention someone gossiping about it. Even if the Ministry of Revenue, Official Qing, were to come to the door, I am completely honest!"
Seeing that Sun Shaozong was still hesitant after saying that, he simply explained the origin of the family’s properties.
It turned out that four years ago, a sworn brother of Sun Shaozu followed the supreme government official in charge of military affairs, Wang Ziteng, from nine provinces to the south to settle the sea trouble and take charge of the anti-smuggling and anti-piracy matters along the coast of Guangdong and Guangxi.
Since the Two Guangs had just been developed and were still barbarous and remote at this time, to avoid the dissatisfaction and negligence of the border troops, Wang Ziteng specially requested to allow the navy of the Two Guangs seize 10% of the stolen goods and sell them on their own to replenish military funds.
The navy of the Two Guangs sold ordinary goods directly to the locals. However, it was not very cost-effective to sell some rare "foreign goods" to indigenous people.
Therefore, Sun Shaozu's sworn brother simply packed a boat full of rare objects he had collected and sent them to the Capital, asking Sun Shaozu to sell them.
In the beginning, Sun Shaozu thought it was trouble. Unexpectedly, in just three days, these "foreign goods" were snatched by the dignitaries in the Capital and sold for more than 60,000 silver taels. As a "Chinese,” he also got a share of more than 4,000 silver taels as dividends.
After this battle, both sides felt that this was a good deal, so every three to five months thereafter, Guangxi and the Guangdong provinces would send some of the rare items to Sun Shaozu to sell in the Capital, and the scale was getting larger and larger.
By last autumn, thirteen large ships had come from the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. This time alone, Sun Shaozu made a huge profit of 60,000 silver taels!
"Big brother."
Hearing this, Sun Shaozong couldn't help frowning, saying, "It was just on a small scale before. Do you really believe that these things are worth more than one million silver taels? Are the items spoils of war?"
"Of course not!"
Sun Shaozu laughed and showed off triumphantly, "So after the deal last autumn, I gave this hot potato offer to Prince Zhongshun’s Residence. Otherwise, why do you think I dare to compete with Prince Beijing's brother-in-law for the fat and deficient position of the Commander?"
No wonder Steward Zhou of the Prince’s Residence said that he often went to the residence for business, it turned out to be for this matter!
Seeing that his big brother was not blinded by silver taels but took the opportunity to catch up with the “thick leg” of Prince Zhongshun’s Residence, Sun Shaozong finally put down his worry.
However…
Prince Zhongshun traffics in “official salt” and underwrites the “spoils of war.” Was he way too greedy?
Even if he were the younger brother of the Emperor of the same mother, it was too much to poach into the Imperial Court so openly.
Wouldn’t he suddenly collapse one day and get the Sun Family implicated?
Hearing this query, Sun Shaozu smiled mysteriously and said, "It's true he’s being greedy, but he doesn’t have to attend to the matter personally."
With that, he went out warily and looked around a few times. After confirming that no one was eavesdropping, he returned to the inner hall and said in a low voice, "After the Supreme Emperor abdicated the throne, he paid no attention to the government’s affairs, except for two things, one is financial power and the other is military power!"
"Therefore, it is a little empty in the Emperor’s possession now!"
Looking at the meaningful face of his big brother, Sun Shaozong suddenly realized that the Emperor was the mastermind of Prince Zhongshun's actions. No wonder he acted so recklessly and fearlessly!
It wasn't until now that Sun Shaozong finally realized that he had always underestimated his big brother. Lin Daiyu's description of having "bear skin with a fox heart,” should be titled to him!
After being cleared of the suspicion of the “huge amount of property of unknown origin,” Sun Shaozu ordered people to put a banquet in the hall, and the two brothers drank happily.
In a while, Jia Lian sent someone to deliver the remaining half of the “thorny” tiger penis. They were so drunk that they were impatient with the gimmick of “Five Sons being admitted to the Academy,” and directly called the cook to make a barbecue.
After eating, Sun Shaozu ordered people to call the concubines in his backyard to add to the fun, saying that he would not live up to this half portion of the “tiger penis.”
Seeing that Sun Shaozu couldn't stop offering his concubines to Sun Shaozong, he hurriedly pretended to be too drunk and left the table in a panic.
Just because his big brother drank too much and loved to hold the “naked meeting,” he didn't mind sharing women with Sun Shaozong, but Sun Shaozong really couldn't pass that barrier in his heart!
Tch!
The transmigrated person hasn't talked about opening up to indigenous ideas yet. Where did he find someone to be reasonable?
—Dividing Line—
With the help of the "five penises,” Sun Shaozong and Ruan Rong naturally spent another sleepless night together.
The next morning, he yawned at the Yamen and saw many people gathered outside the gate. Among them, a young woman was kneeling in front of Jia Yucun’s carriage, crying about something. A weeping beauty dressed in mourning clothes, it was Hu who shouted injustice yesterday.
Why is she in mourning clothes? Did Zhou Liang die that day?!
Sun Shaozong shuddered and immediately wore off his tiredness.
He rolled over and dismounted, then quietly gathered in the circle. He was hearing Jia Yucun's righteous words, "Muddled officials harm the citizens, even doing it to such an extent! Our office can't sit idly by for any reason! Hu, you take our official's name and post it to the Supreme Court to report. If the Supreme Court refuses to accept the case, I will go to His Majesty to speak frankly!"
After speaking, Jia Yucun arched up at a 45-degree angle with a face of integrity and contempt for power.
Hu's tears of gratitude ran down her face. She was kneeling on the ground and kowtowing endlessly, "Thank you, Justice Bao!"
After the servant handed Jia Yucun's official post, Hu thanked him again, grabbed the official post, and hurried away.
When Hu went off, Jia Yucun came leisurely down from his carriage, smiled at Sun Shaozong, and said, "Since my good brother arrived long ago, how can you hide in the crowd and watch my joke?"
Joke?
Combined with his words yesterday, the scene just now was indeed absurd.
But after hearing the praises all around, how could Sun Shaozong still smile?
He just came forward and silently arched his hand, but he didn't know what to say.
Jia Yucun was very free and easy. He took him into the Yamen gate under the eyes of the people. Seeing no one around, he said with a little pride, "How is it? Although I’m not as popular as you today, I still managed to get the name, Justice Bao?"
With that, he didn't wait for Sun Shaozong to respond and said straightly, "If this case really involves Wang Qian, I rather don't want the name of Justice Bao. But what about you, brother? This will make you fall into being a deadly enemy with Wang Qian just because of a person of lower rank!"
"In officialdom, you should be cautious and give priority to stability. It's not a long-term plan to be reckless like this, brother!"
Facing Jia Yucun's earnest words, Sun Shaozong could only remain silent.
Although this remark was not correct in the three outlooks, it could be called “wisdom” in officialdom.
It was just that…
In his previous life, he could adhere to the bottom line of being a man. Now that he has transmigrated into damn ancient times, was it possible that he would associate with corrupt officials instead?