Joy of Life: The Mei Family's Son Grows Up

Chapter 37 Learn more
Nonsense, you are the boss, who dares to force you to drink?

"That's right, I admire you."

"Hey, come, sit down, let me first introduce to you what our Honglu Temple does specifically."

Xin Qiwu pulled him to the long table, and they knelt next to each other on the cushions.

Xin Qiwu shouted.

"Someone is coming."

A young servant in blue clothes appeared from somewhere, standing with his hands clasped and his back bent.

"Serve tea."

"Yes."

After a while, the servant came in with teacups, put them down and walked out.

Xin Qiwu picked up the teapot, poured a cup, and pushed it in front of Mei Chengan.

"Mingqian Longjing, good tea, try it."

Mei Cheng'an picked up the teacup, put it to his nose and sniffed it. As expected, he smelled a fragrance. He took a sip and found the taste was fresh and elegant, with a sweet aftertaste.

"It is indeed good tea. Can our Honglu Temple also be equipped with such good tea?"

"How is that possible? The people in the Ministry of Revenue are so stubborn that it's good enough that they don't give us old tea. How can they be willing to provide us with new tea?"

"Then this is..."

Xin Qiwu hesitated for a moment, but still spoke.

"You will know it in the future anyway, so it doesn't matter if I tell you. This tea was sent by the Vegetable Inspection Department."

"Vegetable Inspection Division?"

Well, if Xin Qiwu hadn't mentioned it, he would have almost forgotten that Qing Kingdom had such an all-powerful department. However, he remembered that Fan Xian had mentioned the Vegetarian Inspection Department, which had given gifts to the Six Ministries and the Supervisory Council. He didn't expect that even the Honglu Temple, a diplomatic department, was not spared.

"It's a department that is responsible for the supply and purchase of food ingredients for the palace. The person in charge of the Vegetable Inspection Department is Eunuch Dai from the palace."

"They buy groceries for the palace, and have nothing to do with our Honglu Temple. Is it necessary for them to give us gifts?"

"Hey, don't underestimate a vegetable buyer like this." Xin Qiwu looked around and whispered, "There's a lot of money to be made here. Do you think they can feel at ease if they don't give away some of their wealth? I heard, just heard, that they all gave it to the six ministries and three temples in the court."

"I can understand giving gifts to departments that can control them, but why do you want to give gifts to those departments that have nothing to do with them? Are you afraid that others don't know that they have more money?"

"You don't understand, right? It's not the lack of money that's worrying, but the inequality of the money. That's human nature. I think what Eunuch Dai did was quite smart. Regardless of whether you have any connection with him or not, you should send him some gifts first to establish a good relationship. You should be grateful to others for what you have received. If you accept all the gifts, it will be difficult for those who control others to investigate you, and those who are jealous of others will not be jealous of you."

Mei Cheng'an nodded, this is the social etiquette of officialdom.

You have no grudges against others, and they even give you gifts. How can you have the nerve to target them and hate them? As for whose interests are harmed by the Procuratorate, it is none of my business. Anyway, my interests have not been harmed and I have even gained benefits.

Only Fan Xian has the heart to sympathize with ordinary people and the courage to uncover this huge chain of interests. As for the Metropolitan Censorate? Haha, if this matter hadn't involved Fan Xian, a world-famous person, it would have made it easier for them to become famous. Let's see whether they would care or not.

They were all in the Kyoto government, but they had never heard of the name of the Vegetarian Procuratorate? How could they have been living in peace all these years? What? Evidence? They were a bunch of censors who heard things from hearsay. What kind of evidence did they need? Hearsay was enough.

Mei Cheng'an was also a time traveler. He also sympathized with the vegetable farmers, but if he were asked to lift the lid, he knew he didn't have the courage to die for others.

What does one rely on to get around in officialdom? Of course, a backer. Unlike Fan Xian, he does not have a father who is an emperor, nor does he have the support of the president of the Supervisory Council who treats him like a son or nephew.

If you dare to cause trouble in Kyoto without any backing, you won't even know how you died.

Even Fan Xian himself said that if he didn't have a backer, he wouldn't survive more than three days in Kyoto with his personality.

"Master Xin, weren't you going to tell me what the Honglu Temple does specifically? Are we getting off topic?"

Xin Qiwu was stunned for a moment, and seeing that Mei Chengan didn't want to continue talking about this topic, he walked down the stairs.

"Yes, yes, look at my brain. Sometimes, I often think about one thing in my mind and talk about another thing. I get off track while talking. Let's get back to the topic."

"All ears."

"Our Honglu Temple, in official terms, is responsible for distinguishing the rank of ethnic minority leaders or foreign envoys who come to Kyoto to pay homage, and managing the number of banquets they will enjoy; for those who inherit the title, we distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate; if there is an imperial decree, we go to confer the title with the imperial seal; for people from afar who come to Qing and envoys who pay tribute, we are responsible for welcoming and seeing off; the tribute items are first reported to the Honglu Temple, and the temple estimates their value and determines the number of items to be given in return; for high-ranking officials from foreign courts who die in Kyoto, the ministers, junior ministers, and chancellors represent Qing to pay tribute and provide funeral supplies."

Xin Qiwu paused to take a sip of tea and continued, "To put it in plain words, we are responsible for receiving foreign envoys, handling the receipt of tribute items, evaluating them, and formulating return gifts. If there is a war, we are also responsible for the subsequent negotiations, which will be held right here where we are sitting. If there is a banquet, we are responsible for arranging seats for foreign envoys, etc. In fact, it is a job of welcoming and seeing off people. It is very simple."

"It sounds similar to the job of a waiter."

Xin Qiwu was stunned for two seconds and then burst into laughter.

"That's about right. Hahahahahahahaha, you know what, your way of putting it is quite interesting. Isn't it? We are the waiters of our Daqing country."

"How many people are there in the Honglu Temple? I didn't see many people when I came in." "There are not many people with ranks. Just like those just mentioned, there are only seven of us, including you and me. Wang Sicheng is fifth rank, Liu Han and the two chief clerks are seventh rank, Zhang Zhou and the two recorders are ninth rank, and below them there are five Jifu, eleven historians, four Tingzhang, six Zhang Gu, ten secretaries, sixty-six Nuo dancers, and thirty-three ritual musicians, without ranks."

Mei Chengan was surprised: "So many?"

"Is this... a lot?"

Mei Cheng'an somehow recalled the time when Fan Xian returned to the capital and entered the city with the eldest prince. There were a group of people on each side, with red faces painted and tall hats dancing. It seemed that those people were the ones performing the Nuo dance from the Honglu Temple.

“Where are all these people?”

"Some of the people in charge are in the front yard, and the rest are in the side yards. The several yards around our Honglu Temple all belong to our Honglu Temple. Do you want to see them? Let me tell you, I can actually dance Nuo dance, and I taught them all."

A black line appeared in Mei Chengan's head.

"Well, let's do it another day. What departments does our Honglu Temple have?"

"There are only two, the Dianke and the Sime. Each of the two Sichengs is in charge of one department. After the last Sicheng returned home to mourn his father, Sicheng Wang was temporarily in charge. Now that you are here, it is time for you to take over."

"Which department should I take over?"

Xin Qiwu suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"Um... Master of Ceremonies."

Mei Cheng'an was a little curious as to why Xin Qiwu had this reaction when he mentioned the emcee.

"Master Xin, what is this?"

"In fact, among the two offices, the chief guest is the main one, and his duties are more important. He is responsible for more things. The master of ceremonies is the auxiliary one, and is mainly responsible for the etiquette of reception. There is not much work to do, so it is a bit leisurely. I am just afraid that you will be dissatisfied."

Mei Cheng'an waved his hands hurriedly. He wished that no work was assigned to him. He would be more than happy to be assigned an unhurried job, which was exactly what he wanted. He was only fourteen years old, already a fifth-rank official, and had an honorary fourth-rank title. If he continued to strive for advancement, he would simply be leaving no room for others.

"Master Xin, what are you talking about? The operation of a department depends on clear division of labor and close cooperation. No matter how big or small the responsibilities are, they are all for the Honglu Temple and for His Majesty. Master Xin, rest assured, I am aware of this. I will accept the job of the master of ceremonies."

This set of great and glorious little chatter directly shocked Xin Qiwu.

"Master Xiaomei's words really make me feel ashamed. I was judging you by my own standards. To be honest, Wang Sicheng was in charge of the emcee before, and you were supposed to be in charge of the reception. Wang Sicheng came to me and said he wanted to make a living. I couldn't save face, so I agreed to his request. Now you see what happened."

Mei Chengan waved her hand.

"Give it to him, Lord Xin. We are the only ones here. I won't give you any empty words. You know how I got this position. It's not a good thing for me to be promoted too quickly. I still need to calm down. It's good for me to keep a low profile.

I don't care whether I have made any contribution or not. I would love to share more of the credit with my colleagues. Besides, I was used to having a leisurely time managing the collection of books in Qilin Hall. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle an important task here. Having a leisurely time is just what I want."

"Master Xiaomei, are you serious?"

"Lord Xin has been so sincere to me, how could I dare to lie to him? He is speaking from the heart."

"Then isn't this a happy ending for everyone?"

"Everyone gets what he needs."

Xin Qiwu suddenly grabbed Mei Chengan's hand.

"Oh, I knew I wouldn't make a mistake. Lady Xiaomei is indeed a wonderful person."

"interesting."

"Then let me ask Wang Sicheng to set up a table tonight as a token of my appreciation."

"That's not necessary."

"Oh, of course you want it. Although you are both temple secretaries, you are also the acting junior minister, which is a higher position than him. Logically, you should be able to choose between the two offices. Although you don't care about these, he can't be ignorant. After all, he got the advantage. Letting him set up a table is to thank you for your generosity and also to make him feel at ease."

"In that case, I will follow Lord Xin's arrangements."

Xin Qiwu's frivolous smile reappeared.

"That's right. We are all colleagues, so we should get closer to each other."

"Okay, okay, that what..."

Xin Qiwu sat back and his expression became more serious.

"You said."

"You see, foreign envoys don't come to Kyoto all the time. When they come, we receive them. When they don't come, what do we do?"

"That's a lot. First of all, we have to keep abreast of the general situation of each country. We must remember these. Of course, we only need to know about the particularly small vassal states. The main ones are Nanzhao, Xihu, Beiqi, Snow Barbarians, and other large forces, as well as Dongyi City and the Grassland King's Court, which have small territories but strong strength. We must understand them in detail."

(End of this chapter)