With this calculation in mind, he deliberately said in front of Zhou Ze: "Prefect Yun is indeed a good official, but he has some small hobbies that I really disagree with."
Zhou Ze frowned: "What hobby?"
Song Jintang smiled in embarrassment: "As a subordinate, it's hard for me to criticize my boss. That's all, it's not a big deal." His embarrassed tone made Zhou Ze even more curious.
But he wasn't going to say it out yet. He made up his mind to let Zhou Ze find out by himself. After dinner, he asked Zhou Ze to play a game of chess, and Zhou Ze naturally agreed happily.
Lin Chong rolled his eyes: "Mr. Zhou, just playing chess is not interesting. Why don't you get some lottery prizes to make us happy and get some rewards."
Zhou Ze hesitated: "This... I'm not very good at playing chess."
When Song Jintang heard this, he secretly made a small calculation in his heart. He was very confident in his own chess playing level. He knew that most of the high-ranking officials in the capital played chess for the sake of being arty, and few of them really knew how to play chess.
.
So he happily agreed to Lin Chong's proposal: "Brother Lin, this proposal is very interesting. Just playing chess is indeed a bit boring, why not bet on some small prizes."
"Well, since you have said so, dear brother, then I have no choice but to sacrifice my life to accompany you. Brother, you must be lenient and patient." Zhou Ze agreed helplessly.
"Small gambling makes you happy, but big gambling is harmful to your health. We don't want to bet on boring things like gold and silver. How about we just bet on some small items that we carry with us?"
His idea is very good. More gold and silver has no practical significance to him. Besides, he doesn't believe that Zhou Ze will bring a lot of gold and silver with him when he comes out. If he can get some of Zhou Ze's belongings, then he can go there later
It would be nice to have a keepsake with him.
Zhou Ze readily agreed. He took off the jade pendant from his waist and placed it on the table: "This is the mutton-fat white jade that was paid tribute by a small country in the southwest last time. It was given to me by your majesty. I will use it to be a good brother."
Still satisfied?"
Song Jintang nodded: "Such a valuable thing given by His Majesty is certainly more than enough to make a fortune, but brother, I am worried that Brother Zhou will feel bad if you lose this thing to me."
Zhou Ze shook his head: "It doesn't matter, they are all external things. If you are not as skilled as others, you will naturally be willing to admit defeat. There is nothing to be reluctant to part with."
A greedy gleam flashed in Song Jintang's eyes: "Of course that's good, then I'll use this ancient pine smoke ink as the starting point." The reason why pine smoke ink is valuable is precisely because of its rarity. Song Jintang got such a small
A few small pieces are already a lot of trouble, so it makes sense to use them as lottery prizes.
Zhou Ze smiled slightly: "Very good, brother, please be careful." The two of them fought back and forth for a few rounds, and Song Jintang could see that Zhou Ze was far from his opponent. He deliberately gave in a few more steps and did not
He defeated Zhou Ze in the first few rounds.
In the end, Zhou Ze still lost miserably. He took off his mutton-fat jade pendant and put it on the table and pushed it to Song Jintang. His interest was aroused: "It's all you servants who are making noise around here. You all
Go down, I will seriously play a game of chess with Brother Song Xian."
Lin Chong secretly curled his lips, pretending to be frightened on the surface, and led the others to retreat. Song Jintang also waved his hand and drove out the servants serving in the room.
He had enough time to arrange the chessboard: "I wonder what Mr. Zhou wants to bet on this time?"
Zhou Ze thought for a while and said to him in a low voice: "I heard that Brother Xian has a big cloth shop, and I happen to have a batch of official uniform orders that are about to be seen in the palace. If you beat me, I will
I will hand over this batch of orders to the cloth shop under your command to make them."
Song Jintang was stunned. He didn't expect that Zhou Ze would actually say something like asking him to make official uniforms: "Aren't only the coat shops in the capital that are trusted by the royal family historically qualified to make official uniforms?"
"This was indeed the case in previous years, but this year, His Majesty is tired of seeing the things made by the old craftsmen in the capital. So he gave this task to the Ministry of Rites and asked us to find a local cloth workshop with real talents and learning.
Is it possible that my dear brother is not interested in this list?"
"No, no, no," Song Jintang waved his hand: "It is our duty as officials to serve His Majesty the Emperor. Brother Zhou is really showing great love to us by being interested in a local official shop like ours."
If he can really receive an order for official uniforms, then the cloth workshop under his name will be very different from other ordinary cloth workshops. With this gold-lettered signboard, his cloth workshop will not be the same in the future.
Chou has no source of business anymore. When he sees Zhou Ze here, he looks like a shining golden mountain.
"I've already taken out my winnings, so brother, what kind of winnings are you going to come up with this time?" Zhou Ze asked.
Song Jintang was 100% sure that he would not lose at all, but he still had to say what he should say. "Since Brother Zhou has given out such a big gift, I don't want to appear too stingy. So, I will use the guqin
Green Qi is the lucky number, does Brother Zhou still like it?"
Zhou Ze's eyes lit up when he heard the word "Lvqi". "Is it the Guqin Luqi who was taken away by Zhuo Wenjun after Sima Xiangru's death, and no one has known her traces since then?"
Song Jintang stood up and took out a rectangular object wrapped tightly in cloth from the small compartment behind the cupboard and placed it on the table: "Brother Zhou, please take a look."
Zhou Ze carefully opened the cloth bag layer by layer, feeling very excited. After he completely opened it, took out the piano and looked around, he sighed: "It's exactly as written in the book.
The sound of the piano is gentle and moving, and the carving is exquisite. It turns out it is really Green Qi."
Song Jintang nodded: "It is this qin. My little brother also accidentally learned about the location of the guqin. It was by chance that I got this qin."
Zhou Ze rubbed his hands excitedly: "That's great, great, let's take this piano as a bet." Zhou Ze looked confident, but in fact he still lost miserably.
Song Jintang handed over his hand: "Brother Zhou, thank you very much for your generosity."
Zhou Ze frowned and was obviously unwilling: "If you are willing to admit defeat, I will leave this order to your cloth shop, brother, but I really like this guqin. I have no intention of taking it, but it is mine.
Can we have another round?"
Song Jintang didn't expect Zhou Ze to be so obsessed with this piano. Lu Qi also spent countless efforts and efforts to get it. It was so precious. Seeing Zhou Ze's attitude today, he had to reluctantly part with it.
But before that, you must get enough benefits. Once you get back the cost of the piano, there is no harm in giving it to him.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel proud of his own skills and chess skills. He didn't expect that the chess skills he had only learned in order to be appreciated by a wealthy family could be of such great help at this time.