Returning to Lin 47th Street, Ning Que pushed open the door of the shop and entered the backyard. He took out the matte ebony waist token and casually threw it on the bed, as if it was a piece of useless firewood.
Sangsang sat on the bed with her two cold feet tucked in the warm quilt. She was concentrating on mending his old coat. She glanced at the waist token on the quilt and picked it up curiously. She squinted her eyes and looked at it carefully for a long time under the light from the transparent tiles on the ceiling. She asked, "Young master, what is this?"
"The token of an imperial bodyguard … Secret bodyguard, the kind that can't be seen in the light." Ning Que sat by the table and drank a few mouthfuls of water from the kettle. He felt a little depressed when he thought that he didn't even have a sip of tea when he entered the palace today.
Knowing that Ning Que had an official identity, just as she had predicted last night, Sangsang squinted her willowy eyes and smiled happily. However, she had always been more direct when it came to matters.
"How much salary can I get every month?"
Ning Que was stunned. He put down the teapot in his hand and recalled the previous conversation. He hesitated and said, "At least forty or fifty taels of silver?"
Sangsang frowned and her tanned face was full of dissatisfaction. She said, "Not as much as I thought."
Ning Que shook his head and chided her with a smile, "Now that we have two thousand taels of silver, we should be more generous in the future."
Upon hearing this, the dissatisfaction on Sangsang's face disappeared. She looked at him with a smile and waved her little hand. She said, "Young master, after you left, they secretly sent the silver over."
Ning Que was a little confused. He walked straight to the bed and leaned beside the little handmaiden. He asked curiously, "Where did they put it?"
Sangsang looked outside mysteriously and put down the needle hole in her hand. She pinched the two corners of the quilt on her waist with her two small hands and nervously opened a gap. She slightly raised her chin and motioned for him to look inside.
Ning Que raised his eyebrows and looked into the quilt incredulously. He saw a dense layer of silver beside Sangsang's slender legs. Even though it was covered by the thick quilt, he could still see the dazzling silver halo in the dim light.
He opened his mouth slightly and forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart. Pretending to be calm, he lectured, "I've told you before … cough cough … to be more generous. It's just two thousand taels of silver. Look at how excited and nervous you are … I thought it was strange that you were curled up in bed in broad daylight. So it turns out that you were worried about this. Don't you feel anxious about the money?"
Sangsang looked up at him and shook her head firmly, indicating that the silver was not uncomfortable at all.
Ning Que coughed again and rubbed the little handmaiden's head dotingly. He said, "Two thousand taels of silver can be covered with a quilt. What will you do when your young master earns eight thousand or ten thousand taels of silver in the future?"
…
…
Spring in Chang 'an was very beautiful. Spring rain fell from time to time, giving birth to all the green leaves and tender flowers on the streets and alleys. No matter if you were standing in the doorway or in the pavilion, you could see the colors of life. Lin 47th Street in the Eastern City seemed to come alive with the growing spring colors, and gradually became lively.
After the Spring Breeze Pavilion incident, the Minister of Revenue was demoted and the entire Shipping Department was purged. The land requisition that had been bothering for months naturally came to an end. The warehouse of the Shipping Department on the other side of the wall was dead silent like a big tomb. Although the Fish-dragon Gang was forced to step onto the bright stage, they did not forget to clean up the darkness of the whole city. At this time, no one dared to do anything to Chao Xiaoshu's street, not even to look at it.
It was originally an excellent location and a quiet place to do business. Now, without the pressure of the government and the deterrence of the underworld, those closed shop doors naturally reopened. Whether it was the new boss who took over or the old boss who bought back the lease at a high price, they all rolled up their sleeves and were ready to take advantage of the warm spring weather to do a good job.
Business was a human industry, and what it emphasized was to gather wealth and people. In the past, there was only one shop on Lin 47th Street, and it exuded a sense of decline from the bottom of its bones. Naturally, no one was willing to shop there, and the business was extremely poor. Now that all the shops on the street were open, and it was bustling under the spring trees, people naturally gathered.
Compared to the neighboring shops, the Old Brush Pen Shop's business was still not very good. But compared to the cold fire and autumn smoke when it first opened, the situation was much better. Sangsang was very busy every day, but the smile on her little face grew more and more, and she also insisted on not letting the young master hire more helpers.
As for Ning Que, he still had a bit of the rotten aura of a young scholar in his bones. Looking at the bustling scene in front of him and thinking of the cold old days, he increasingly disliked the customers who bought paintings and calligraphy. Now that he had more than 2,000 taels of silver in his hands, he did not care much about the income of the Old Brush Pen Shop, so he simply raised the price of the scrolls by a large margin. In his mind, since he was not short of money now, and they were so cheap as to come to his door to buy it, he naturally had to spend more money. Only then would he be worthy of himself, and only then would he be able to vent the resentment from the previous day.
However, things always developed beyond his imagination. The price of the Old Brush Pen Shop was raised again and again, and finally it was raised to five times the price when it first opened, but he did not expect that there would be more and more customers who came to buy paintings. Although the Old Brush Pen Shop was still not famous in Chang 'an City, it was already a brand in a small area in the Eastern City.
"So this is how it should be played?"
Holding a small teapot, Ning Que leaned against the door and looked at the customers in the shop. He happily sipped two mouthfuls of tea and listened to the quarrel in the newly opened fake antique shop next to him. He felt that life was really f * cking wonderful.
The shop owners on the street did not know that the revival of Lin 47th Street and the abundant profits they could make had something to do with the little boss of the Old Brush Pen Shop. They did not know that if Ning Que had not helped Chao Xiaoshu to kill all the people on that rainy spring night, this street would probably still be as dead as before. Now, in their eyes, the young boss of the Old Brush Pen Shop was just a good-for-nothing who did not know how to make money and only knew how to enslave handmaidens.
When business was good and money was earned, people would naturally be happy, but it would also easily cause some new problems. Now that business had only been good for four or five days, the boss of the fake antique shop already had plans to take a concubine. The fierce quarrel today was precisely because of this matter that the boss and his wife were fighting.
"How dare you think of taking a concubine with your looks?"
"Why can't I?"
"If I say you can't, then you can't. If you push me too hard, I'll complain to the Chang 'an Local Government!"
"Even Her Majesty can't interfere in this matter! Why should the Chang 'an Local Government interfere? Even Ning Que has a little handmaiden, and you kick me out of bed every day. Why can't I, your master, ask for a foot warmer? "
"You want me to warm your feet? Not even a Vermilion Bird! Unless Ning Que becomes the emperor! "
"His surname is not Li! How can he be the emperor! "
"Yuelun Kingdom, South Jin Kingdom, Great River Kingdom, as long as it exists in this world, I can be the emperor of any country!"
Ning Que held the teapot and sipped happily, listening to the quarrel in the corner with great interest. He secretly praised the people of the Tang Empire for being so brave and open-minded that they even dared to mention the throne in a quarrel between husband and wife. Suddenly, his expression froze and he realized that he was actually mentioned in the quarrel. He could not help but feel annoyed.
Just then, the customers in the shop had left. Sangsang was tidying up the table. He walked in angrily and shouted, "I can't live like this anymore. The two in-laws quarrel and they dare to use me as an excuse. They even dare to discuss politics. Do they think that I, the Imperial Bodyguard, am dead? I'll go to the palace tomorrow to report them and kill their whole family! "
What he said was not false. He had the waist token of a secret guard, and he was responsible for listening to the public opinion of the people for the imperial court. Of course, he could report to his superiors if someone in the market place talked about the throne. However, although the laws of the Tang Empire were strict, they were very lenient in governing the people. Such angry words during a quarrel between husband and wife could only make those nobles laugh, not to mention the bodyguard office. Even if he handed the case file to His Majesty, it would only make those nobles laugh.
Because of his words, Sangsang thought of her worries these days. She frowned and asked, "Young master, in the stories you told me when I was young, spies always die miserably. Now that you are a secret guard, will there be any trouble?"
Ning Que put down the teapot and shook his head, saying, "Although it's a shameful waist token, I'm just a nobody. Who would care about my identity? Moreover, if there's trouble in the future, can't I avoid it?"
After a short pause, he looked at Sangsang and explained softly, "There is another reason why I accept this identity. If I really want to investigate those things and kill those people in the future, it will be more convenient to have the identity of an imperial bodyguard."
Sangsang was a little handmaiden who was lazy to think about things. After listening to his explanation, she felt that it was reasonable and stopped thinking about it. She said, "The umbrella, the knife and the coat are ready. Young master, when are you going to kill the second person?"
"How about the knife? Do I need to sharpen it? "Ning Que asked.
Sangsang answered seriously, "Even if it is to kill pigs, there must be some problems with the knife after killing dozens of pigs. Of course, it needs to be sharpened."
The conversation between the master and the handmaiden had always been erratic. If it was not for them, there would definitely be some communication barriers. Especially the extremely calm and ordinary expressions on their faces. If it was heard by others, they would never think that they were talking about the bloody matter of killing people in the spring rain and sharpening the knife to kill again.
At this moment, a loud voice came from the end of Lin 47th Street. There was a crowd rushing in that direction. Ning Que curiously walked to the door of the shop and glanced over there. His expression changed slightly.
He saw a middle-aged man in a green robe, surrounded and protected by a group of men in green robes and green boots. He was still wearing an elegant green robe and was talking to the shop owners with his hands cupped in front of his chest. There was a gentle smile on his face. From time to time, he cupped his hands in front of his chest and laughed. The gist of it was that he was here to ask the shop owners not to worry about their business and if there were any problems, they could ask their subordinates to handle it.
Following the middle-aged man's instructions, the five or six men who had been standing behind him silently cupped their hands in front of their chest.
The middle-aged man in a green robe would stop in front of each shop for a while and say a few words. He seemed to be very patient. The subordinates around him also walked slowly with him and gradually walked to the end of the street.
At the end of the street, there was a shop selling calligraphy and ink called Old Brush Pen Shop.
…
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