The beauty of the Hou family and the king's plan

In Zhaoming Garden, Bixiao held a white glaze double dragon candlestick and lit the candles in the study one by one.

Shen Baozhao was seen leaning on the windowsill with his hands on his cheeks, his wet hair spread out behind his back.

"Miss, you can't do that. It's cold on a spring night, and it's terrible to catch a cold if your hair is wet and blown by the wind."

Bixiao hurried forward and used cotton cloth to twist Shen Baozhao's hair.

Shen Baozhao smiled and didn't take it seriously. Instead, he asked, "Bixiao, do you think people have an afterlife?"

Bixiao didn't expect Shen Baozhao to suddenly ask this, "Miss, I don't understand what you said.

But there must be some, otherwise why would there be so many people praying for salvation after death and being reborn into a good family in the next life."

Shen Baozhao asked casually, as if he didn't want any answer.

Just as I was about to close the window, I saw a white dot that was very eye-catching under the moonlight, and it was getting closer and closer.

A fat pigeon landed on the window frame next to Baozhao.

It turned out to be Xiaobai.

Shen Baozhao pulled the note from Xiaobai's feet and opened it to "When will we cut the candle together in the west window?"

My heart suddenly skipped a beat, as if a hand was clutching my heart tightly, like I was drowning and suffocating.

What came to his mind was the year when he clearly opposed the emperor, worked hard for many years and finally established himself as king in Jiangnan.

In his rare leisure time, he took her to the bank of the Jinling River, surrounded by numerous pleasure boats, as bright as day.

He led her to one of the smaller boats and they sat opposite each other. The candlelight was bright and the jade-like man's eyes sparkled in the candlelight, full of affection.

Snuggling in his chest, listening to him describe the future.

"Miss, Miss, what's wrong with you?" Bixiao's voice brought Shen Baozhao back from distant memories.

It turned out that she was already in tears.

Shen Baozhao was filled with thoughts and put the note into the desk drawer.

Lying in bed, I was even more confused. Who was this person? Just a line of poetry could make me toss and turn.

She thought that everything would be destroyed with that arrow, but she didn't expect that it was just self-deception.

If you can’t sleep, then don’t sleep at all.

Shen Baozhao simply sat up again, went to the study, picked up a pen and paper, and wrote "Iron horses and frozen rivers came into my dreams."

After letting Xiaobai deliver the letter, he felt sleepy and fell into a deep sleep as he touched the pillow.

The next morning, Master Shen was still immersed in the gentle embrace of Aunt Lan when he heard a commotion outside.

"Master, something bad has happened." Manager Li shouted.

The master hurriedly put on his clothes, walked out of the inner room, and said unhappily, "Calling you so early in the morning, if you have anything to say, wait until later in the study."

Manager Li had no choice but to say, "Master, the batch of goods that were sent to the pawnshop yesterday have all been returned by the pawnshop.

The pawnshop owner is waiting in the study right now, please go and have a look."

"What's going on?" Master Shen frowned.

The two hurried to the study, where they saw two large red sandalwood boxes filled with gold, stone and jade articles.

When the pawnshop owner saw Master Shen coming, he said, "Sir, our shop has little profit, and we dare not accept anything of unknown origin."

He handed over the pawn ticket with both hands and said, "Let's just call it a day."

"How dare you! This is the property of our mansion, how could it have come from an unknown source?" Master Shen said angrily.

The shopkeeper was obviously well prepared and handed a list to Manager Li: "Master Shangshu, please take a good look. The two boxes of property pawned by the Marquis' Mansion are all recorded in this list."

Master Shen took it and glanced at it: "Where did this list come from?"

It turned out that Mr. Shen took a leave of absence yesterday to deal with the dowry of the Princess of Nanhua County at home, and did not go out. He did not know about the story "The Rise of the Golden Branch" which is now popular in Kyoto.

The shopkeeper had no choice but to act as a storyteller and told Master Shen the story exactly as it happened.

The more he listened, the more frightened he became, but the Marquis's Mansion was short of money, and he had finally pawned some of his money yesterday and exchanged it for 20,000 taels of silver.

I also plan to find another pawnshop to pawn part of it today. Of course, I am not willing to exchange the pawn ticket easily.

He had no choice but to discuss with the shopkeeper in a friendly manner: "Shopkeeper, the Marquis' Mansion is just storing these things in the pawnshop, and we will have to redeem them after some time.

How about helping the Marquis' Mansion and considering it as a favor the Marquis' Mansion owes the pawnshop?"

Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper did not buy into the Marquis's account: "Minister Shen, I am just a small shopkeeper of the pawnshop and I cannot make the decision.

If the boss blames me, I will lose my job."

"I think we should return the money, a total of 20,000 taels of silver. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to hand these two boxes over to the government and let the Jingzhao Yin handle the matter."

Master Shen didn't dare to make a big fuss, so he had to return the 20,000 taels of silver to the shopkeeper and pushed him away.

The shopkeeper was not angry, he just said: "Sir Shangshu, if the Marquis's Mansion is really short of money, our boss still has a business, you can borrow money from our boss, how about it?"

When Master Shen heard this, he became interested. Although the country has laws, if someone is found to have borrowed money at high interest, he will be dismissed from office at the least and exiled at the worst.

But he knew that many noble families were secretly lending money at high interest rates, but noble families like his were rare.

He didn't care about the embarrassment and invited the shopkeeper back. He even asked Manager Li to serve tea.

"Excuse me, shopkeeper, who is the boss?"

The shopkeeper gave a thumbs up: "The richest family in Kyoto, the Jin family."

Master Shen suddenly realized that it was the Jin family, no wonder.

The Jin family became wealthy earlier than the Ning'an Marquisate. People say that wealth cannot last for more than three generations, but the Jin family has been wealthy for at least six or seven generations.

There is nothing the Jin family cannot do when it comes to all aspects of the industry you can think of.

The Jin family has always been very aware of the times, and one-fifth of the national treasury's annual income comes from the Jin family.

No one knows how much money they have.

The shopkeeper took out the banknote he had taken back from Master Shen and said, "Sir, if you want to borrow 20,000 taels, I can make the decision."

Then he took out the IOU and ink pad.

Master Shen did not doubt why he carried these things with him. He just felt that the Jin family was indeed generous, as a small shopkeeper could be the master of 20,000 taels.

He also concluded that the stories in the vernacular novels would only last for a few days, and people would forget them once new stories came out.

The two boxes of valuables on the ground could still be pawned, and the usury could be repaid quickly.

So he signed the IOU very readily, and the shopkeeper also said goodbye to the master.

As soon as he entered the pawnshop, the owner saw a man surrounded by a group of people appreciating jade.

Facing the young man in the middle, he smiled and took out the IOU like offering a treasure: "Boss, take a look."

The man was wearing a robe woven of gold, with bats embroidered on it. His body was covered with jade ornaments, like walking silver.

But in March, he still held a folding fan in his hand.

After seeing the loan note, he praised: "Well done."

He casually threw the jade he was admiring to the shopkeeper: "This is for you."

One of the young men watching nearby said in dissatisfaction: "Uncle Xin, I saw it first, why did you give it to a servant?"

It turns out that this person is the only legitimate son of the Jin family in three generations, Jin Yuxin.

Jin Yuxin tapped the young man on the head with his folding fan: "You are useless. I will give you something better someday."

"Everyone, go away. I have something to do."