At the east gate of the Imperial City, the guards at Dong'an Gate had an eye-opener today. In the middle of the afternoon, when they were huddled in the doorway chatting, a group of "Beggars' Gang Disciples" suddenly came in. They were all covered in mud and looked ferocious.
The city is coming.
I wonder, is this the rhythm of a siege on the palace? In an instant, these guards broke out in a cold sweat, and the swords were unsheathed and they were about to close the door...
What the hell, they are all eunuchs? After a lot of trouble, the guards were dumbfounded. After verifying their identities, they let them go. They just couldn't figure out why they went out so much and why they were in such a mess.
There was naturally a reason why the eunuchs chose the east gate to return. It was the closest gate to Chaoyang Gate and the closest gate to the eunuch's nest. Otherwise, entering through the main gate with such an appearance would inevitably cause all kinds of uproar.
In the prison yard, Chunxiang and others were taking roll call. After checking several times, it was determined that one person was missing.
Chang Yu.
At the entrance of the nameless alley in Dashilan, when a person suddenly breaks into a teahouse, his first reaction is to curse. Now these beggars are brave enough to dare to break in.
The big spoon in his hand was intended to scare people, but the man in front of him showed no fear on his face. He just looked at him like that, and then the big spoon slowly dropped: "Hey, noble brother, what's wrong with you?"
Oh, Chang Yu's legs softened when he called "Brother Guiren", and he immediately found a seat and sat down: "Write a whole pot of tea to warm me up."
"Okay." The silly guy hurriedly made Chang Yu a pot of hot tea, then stared at the dirty man curiously and asked questions.
Chang Yu was tired and too lazy to talk nonsense with him. He gave him a cold look, and the stupid man stopped being stupid and ran out of the store.
Not long after, there was movement outside the store.
"Oh, sir, you are here. The old woman was thinking that she would not be able to come because it was a bad day." Mrs. Sun arrived before anyone else arrived, and then Mrs. Sun opened the curtain and walked in with a professional smile on her face.
"If I don't come, you won't be able to sleep well tonight," he said, reaching into his arms and taking out a banknote: "Two hundred taels from the Qianmen Huitai No." (There is a debate about the specific time when the banknote appeared.
, most people think that after the mid-Xing Qing Dynasty, Fan Fan and late Qing Dynasty. Paper money actually existed in the Song Dynasty. This is a novel and not based on actual facts.)
"Oh my, the old lady can accept it." Mrs. Sun couldn't hide her joy. Indeed, as Chang Yu said, she had been thinking about this deal all night, fearing that it would be lost. Now that she saw the money, she finally felt relieved.
Reaching out to pick it up, Chang Yu waved his hand: "Where's the person?"
"Everyone is in the Guangqumen house now. The old lady has been busy with Xie early in the morning. To be honest, the old lady used the money to buy them some food for lunch." Mrs. Sun put away her smile and looked serious.
.
Chang Yu nodded, handed the banknote to her hand, and then took out another ten taels from his arms: "Please help me buy some bedding, clothing, shoes and socks for them."
"Okay, okay, I'm a familiar lady, and there's nothing to do in this weather, so I'll just run errands for you." Grandma Sun readily agreed.
"Will the money be enough?" Chang Yu had no idea about the prices of things these days. He only knew that silver was very valuable now and had strong purchasing power, but he had no idea how to buy something for more than twenty people at once with ten taels of silver.
"That's enough, that's enough. We have enough general clothing, but we don't have to wear silk and satin for them. Besides, if the money is not enough, the noble man can just make up for it later. He won't let the old woman run errands and lose money..." Mrs. Sun said.
His face is clever and his words are impeccable.
Chang Yu sighed secretly, nodded, then glanced at the stupid man and threw a small piece of broken silver: "Rent a car."
In front of the Guangqumen house, the cold wind mixed with the fluffy snow hit my face painfully.
Chang Yu looked around and saw that there was no one on the street. On the carriage not far away, a big fool was curled up, lowering his head and chatting with his animal.
Bang bang bang, Chang Yu patted the two wooden doors that were about to fall apart.
After a while, someone inside finally answered, and the door creaked open, revealing a dark and thin young man with a slight flinch on his face: "Who are you looking for?"
He was about 20 years old, malnourished, depressed, wearing thin clothes, and shaking from the cold. Chang Yu glanced at him and walked in: "Where are the others?"
"Who are you looking for?" The young man was a little flustered and wanted to push Chang Yu, but he missed Chang Yu. Before his hand could get close to his body, Chang Yu gently grabbed him, causing him to stumble and almost fall.
"Call everyone else out." Chang Yu looked at him and smiled. The young man was stunned for a moment. Finally, he realized the identity of the young man in front of him. He nodded slightly to Chang Yu, and then ran into the courtyard.
Go, and kept shouting: "Come out, come out, the master is here..."
Twenty-six of them, ranging in height from short to thin, only the fat ones are missing. They all have disheveled faces, dark skin, and no clothes to cover their bodies. I don’t know where Grandma Sun found these, but fortunately they are all young, and the oldest one is
He is only twenty-four, and the younger one is only sixteen.
"My surname is Chang, and my given name is Yu. I am the master of this house, but not your master. Our master's surname is Huang (Huang). From now on, you are the servants of the Huang family, and you must take orders from me."
Chang Yu looked at the row of servants standing with a calm expression: "I am a person who is easy to get along with and values love. I can even treat you like brothers, but you must do three things first."
The servants looked at each other. The Ming Dynasty was a relatively strict class era, especially people who were bought as domestic servants. To put it bluntly, they were slaves. But the young man said that he could get along with their brothers. It was really surprising. I was also very curious about what Chang Yu had to say.
Which three things.
"Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty" Chang Yu walked slowly and stared at them, tapping his fingers in the air, and said three times in a row.
"I don't care who you are before or what you have experienced. Once you enter the Huang family, you must be absolutely loyal to the Huang family. If I find someone cheating on you, I will really kill him with my own hands."
Chang Yu's eyes were sinister, and the weather was a hundred times colder than the weather at the moment. More than twenty servants shook their heads involuntarily, muttering in a low voice: "Don't dare, don't dare."
The killing stick was really majestic and made these servants feel frightened. They clearly saw a young man in front of them, but they didn't dare to look at him.
What we wanted was this effect. After the white-faced singing, Chang Yu turned red-faced and began to ask questions.
The house inside the house is very dilapidated, with debris everywhere. After a whole morning of tidying up, it finally looks good. It is barely habitable, but it lacks beds and mattresses.
However, the weather was too cold, so everyone looked for an empty room, lit firewood, and gathered around to keep warm. Just when they were hungry, Chang Yu came to the door.
Standing at the door of the room, Chang Yu glanced inside. There was a bonfire in the open space, and the smoke was a bit suffocating, so he did not go away.
He took out five taels of silver from his pocket and gave it to the oldest young man named Luo Tang, asking him to take the two of them to buy some food. He also told him that someone would bring some bedding and clothes later, which made the servant extremely grateful.
Mr. Chang shouted one after another.
"Don't come up with those empty tricks, just call me Brother Chang from now on." Chang Yu smiled, and then started walking in the yard, with everyone following behind.
"The walls need to be heightened and thickened, and the wing over there needs to be repaired..." Chang Yu walked around and looked around, telling the servants from time to time to buy materials and renovate the house by themselves.
The sky was getting dark, and just when Chang Yu was about to leave, Mrs. Sun led someone to drive a big truck to deliver the supplies Chang Yu had asked him to buy.
Although this old woman was worldly and sophisticated, she was really neat in doing things, and Chang Yu's impression of her gradually improved.
Luo Tang also came back, carrying grain, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and some dry vegetables. He didn't even buy fast meat. He seemed to be able to live a good life.
"Tomorrow I will buy a big piece of meat. One of the three meals a day must be meat-based. You don't have to worry about replenishing your body. Our Huang family is a wealthy family. If we don't lack that little money, we can't afford to lose that person."
The servants felt complacent after hearing Chang Yu's words. It was indeed a lucky thing to have such a big business.
It was getting dark, so Chang Yu was in a hurry to go back and said goodbye in a hurry, not forgetting the last instructions: "Remember, you are not allowed to go out at will, and don't let anyone in except me."
"Brother Guiren, where are we going?" Seeing Chang Yu dashing into the car, the stupid man cheered up and asked.
"Near Dong'anmen" Chang Yu looked at the sky getting darker and darker, and blurted out a little anxiously. Then he realized that he regretted it. Fortunately, the silly big man hummed in a daze, and after a while he said: "Noble man
I want to go near the imperial city."
"Well, we have a drink date tonight," Chang Yu said and urged him to hurry up.
There was still half a street away from Dong'anmen. Chang Yu found a restaurant and got out of the car, and asked the stupid guy to drive back. When the carriage disappeared around the corner, he ran away.
The road was slippery in the snow, but despite everyone's best efforts, by the time he arrived at Dong'anmen, the imperial city was already locked.
Bang bang bang, knocking on the city gate, and shouts came from inside.
"Brothers, Chang Yu of our Prince's Mansion, can you please be accommodating and let us in?" Chang Yu asked loudly, stamping his feet. He is now very famous in the palace, and most people will give him face.
"It turns out it's Eunuch Chang." The voice of the gatekeeper came from inside, and his words were warmer: "I'm sorry, Eunuch Chang, please stay out tonight. No one dares to open this city gate except the emperor's order."
.
Oh, Chang Yu banged the city gate hard, and there was no sound inside. He let out a long sigh. He didn't know that when it was dark and locked, the imperial city was closed and it was absolutely forbidden to open it, just like the harem in the palace.
I looked up at the sky. It was pitch black, with fluffy snow shards stinging my face in the wind. There were occasional store lanterns swinging in the wind on the street corners, but there were only a few pedestrians.
The clothes on his body were covered with dirt, and his hunger was growling. Why did he feel so down and out for a moment? He looked so majestic and majestic a few hours ago when he led hundreds of people to fight, but now he was homeless on the street. Chang Yu smiled bitterly at him.
Walking towards a restaurant in the distance.
Unsurprisingly, when Chang Yu appeared at the door of the restaurant, he was almost yelled out. He was mentally prepared. As soon as he opened his mouth in the waiting room, he opened his palm: a handful of silver.
A bowl of hot mutton soup, a portion of cut mutton and some pancakes, Chang Yu sat in the corner and ate them all, feeling warm all over.
After eating and drinking enough, he felt a little tired. After all, a fierce battle in the afternoon almost left him exhausted. Now he just wanted to find an inn, take a hot bath, and have a good sleep.
But when he walked out of the restaurant and stood at the door and was blown by the cool breeze, he suddenly became sober. Looking at the streets on both sides, and looking up at the night, he suddenly had a strange feeling. He had traveled through time for more than ten days and had left the palace three times, but
I haven’t even had a good look at Beijing yet.
Why not take a night walk tonight.
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