As the days passed, the Zhong and Huang families, who each had their own secrets, unanimously cooperated in the matter of marriage. The whole thing went smoothly for a time: nacai, asking for names, naji, and nazheng.

The initial process was quite fast, but when it came to the fifth step of "requesting the date", which was about calculating good times and auspicious days, the Huang family suddenly paused the process - without it, Mr. Xiong... Mr. Xiong would come.

Xiong Wencan resigned from the capital at the Jinluan Palace in early March, but the North Canal had not yet thawed at that time - the canal thawed slower during the Little Ice Age. As a result, Mr. Xiong's team had to take Route 6 first, along the canal.

After wandering all the way to the border of Shandong, Lao Xiong got on the official boat and started rafting.

By the time Huang Zhicheng's manpower stationed at Guanyi came to report, it was already early April. After receiving the news, Huang Zhicheng decisively suspended the wedding process: he would decide the next step based on the results of his contact with Xiong Wencan.

...

Two days later, Desheng Bridge Guanyi.

Mr. Huang Ping, who was dressed neatly in a black wide-brimmed straight suit that was regarded by scholars as the formal attire of a civil servant, was sitting in the lobby of the official post, drinking tea, eating snacks, and chatting with a group of low-level officials.

.

The official ship that Xiong Wencan was on was the Desheng Bridge that arrived before noon. Huang Zhicheng came here today with the purpose of submitting name stickers and letters of recommendation, and Ying Mao - Lao Xiong will definitely not see him today, but he must correct his attitude.

Written by Guanyi Hou.

As a governor of a province, even if you are just passing by, when you get off the boat, there will be people of the same level in Zhejiang officialdom coming out to socialize. After that, you will have to wait in line, and it will take two or three days to wait for Lao Xiong to be free to meet Juren.

So, during these few days while waiting for the sign to be turned over, Huang Juren had to come here to work every day.

After entering the gate of the official post, there are traditional flower halls on the left and right sides. This is a place for officials and officials from all walks of life to sit. In the meeting hall of the official post of Desheng Bridge, officials like Huang Zhicheng came to visit and judge people.

There are more businessmen and scholars than dogs every day. This place is very lively all year round, no less than the waiting hall in later generations.

The situation of these people who work all day long to get the position will not be very good. They are usually miscellaneous officials and Hou Queju people without backing. Those who are really capable have already settled the household affairs department and took office. Who is still acting like a dog every day?

Sitting in the official post waiting for the big boss to summon you?

Starting from the next day, Mr. Huang brought good tea and snacks - these two days were the time when the first crop of Mingqian Longjing was put on the market. It is now the 17th century. Longjing is not sold in trucks, and ordinary people can't drink it at all.

Get this expensive tea.

Therefore, Huang Ping, an outlier, has been very popular in the past two days. He is generous and elegant in conversation. While drinking tea, everyone has an intimate exchange of various official career experiences. The likes and dislikes of various big shots are very similar to each other.

Huang Juren's camp was full of juren and low-ranking officials, and this group belonged to the Husky team with the loudest voices. These people scolded and shouted at the postmen all day long, and the whole flower hall was full of them.

Only when the disciples shouted: "Sir So-and-so has arrived...", the scene would be slightly quiet for a while. After the big boss in official robes walked past without looking sideways, the noise remained as before...

...

There is also the relatively quiet scholar camp on the side. This one belongs to the Teddy team. Their faces are full of passion and they want to show off when they see others, but no one pays attention to them.

The most insignificant thing is the merchant camp in the corner. This group of people belongs to the Chihuahua team. They are all covered in silk, and their fat and round faces are full of harmless smiles.

However, in such places where officials come and go, merchants are the least powerful category. The harsh class oppression of feudal society is vividly reflected here - no poor official dares to get close to merchants on such occasions.

In fact, even if these people have a lot of money in their homes, here they can only buy a bowl of the poorest tea from the postman to quench their thirst - ordinary people drink good tea and have snacks? Where can a bunch of gentlemen in the hall go?

Let it go? It’s good that I didn’t make you kneel down!

It was under this situation that Huang Ping stayed in the official post for three days, and went home with a full stomach of tea and snacks every day... Fortunately, there was a Houjian merchant named Xiong Dao who was even worse than him.

He didn't even have snacks to eat and drank only bad tea, which made Mr. Huang feel full of superiority.

On the first day Xiong Da came to the post house, Mr. Zhang Yandeng, who was the governor of Zhejiang at the time, came to visit him.

The next day, two adults, Dong Chengshao and Sun Zhifang, the chief envoys of Zhejiang Province, came to visit him.

On the third day, Master Lin Zhi, the envoy of Zhejiang Prosecution Commission, came to pay a visit.

On the afternoon of the third day, when Liu Mengqian, the prefect of Hangzhou, came to hang out at the post house, Huang Zhicheng knew that it would probably be his turn tomorrow - the prefect was the lowest level for Xiong Wencan to receive official guests, and after that, it was a personal relationship.

...

Sure enough, on the afternoon of the fourth day, when Mr. Huang was happily blowing water with a group of Hou Quesi, a servant wearing a soft hat {the style worn by Stephen Chow to light up autumn fragrance} ran into the flower hall and asked loudly:

"Is Huang Ping and Huang Xiaolian in Hangzhou? My Lord Xiong has invited you."

Huang Ping threw down half of the sweet-scented osmanthus peach cake in his hand when he heard the sound, picked up the tea bowl and started to rinse his mouth. Several friends who drank water on the side quickly handed over hand towels... After Mr. Huang wiped his face and put his head away, he used

He followed the soft-hatted family member to the inner courtyard, walking in the Ming Dynasty way of holding his chest and lowering his head, which was the only one he had been specially trained in.

After walking a few steps inside, Huang Ping started to ask, "What do you call this person?"

"Don't dare, little Xiong Qi."

"Well, after a long journey, is Mr. Xiong still in good health?"

While asking questions, Mr. Huang swung his sleeves, and instantly a small ingot of water-threaded silver came out of Xiong Qi's hand.

Xiong Qi's eyes narrowed with joy, and the pompom on his soft hat twitched: "Back to Mr. Huang, my family looks good, and I just used an extra bowl of rice."

"Oh, I look good." Huang Zhicheng thought as he walked: "Don't let me think about you all day and night, as long as I don't have to eat or drink."

Xiong Wencangui was the governor of a province. When he took office, he was surrounded by no less than a hundred people who accompanied the master, his staff, and sedan bearers, so he left three courtyards in the post house. At this time, Mr. Huang was led to a side hall to sit for a while.

A cup of good tea was served by Xiong Qi.

When the tea was turned from scalding to lukewarm, Xiong Wencan and Xiong Dafujun, dressed in pine-patterned Taoist robes, came out from the back hall.

Xiong Wencan is a native of Sichuan. He is thin and has a slender face. He is 53 years old and is in his golden years as an official.

When Huang Ping saw his boss appearing, he hurriedly got up and went to pay his respects.

Huang Ping does not need to kneel down here: regardless of court or private situations, the rank of Juren is equivalent to a deputy director, and no matter how high-ranking Xiong Wencan’s official position is, his rank is only a full {Jinshi}, except for the three deputy directors of the first class.

Except for the others, the level of others within the system is only half a level, so there is no reason to bow down.

This is the scholar who came out of the provincial examination on the right track - already a member of the ruling class. In various ancient fantasy novels, scholars have always been deceived, slaughtered, and slept with vixens. Have you ever seen the master of the examination being raped?

How about Xiaoxiao?

...

Xiong Wencan is thin in stature, but has a lot of lung capacity. He speaks in a thunderous voice: "Zhicheng doesn't need to be polite. Your teacher and I have not gone back on each other for many years. Please sit down and talk."

...At this moment, the dividends of "Operation Li Kui", which had been so costly to everyone before, began to show.

It can be heard from Xiong Wencan's title that he has read Huang Ping's previous invitations and recommendations.

The day after Huang Ping learned that he was going to join Xiong Wencan, a messenger went straight to Nanjing with Mr. Huang's urgent message - Huang Ping's mentor Chen Meng was the current Nanjing Imperial College Secretary. After presiding over Ding Maoke's rural examination

, due to the increasingly severe party struggle between North Korea and China, Chen Meng returned to Beijing, but was kicked from the Hanlin Academy to the Nanjing Imperial College.

Chen Siye and Xiong Wencan were both senior officials from Sichuan when they were in court, so they naturally had a personal relationship. So when the master saw the messenger and read the letter asking for help from his most filial disciple, he immediately wrote a letter against Xiong Wencan.

A letter of sincere recommendation was sent to the messenger to be brought back.

This is why Mr. Xiong called Huang Ping by his nickname when they met today: the content of the book recommendation from an old friend was not an ordinary "eight lines", but an all-round recognition of Huang Ping.

After the guests and hosts were seated, Xiong Wencan knew that this person was here to greet the curtain. After a few polite words, he began to test Huang Zhicheng. Unexpectedly, this test surprised Mr. Xiong: The person who came had just spoken and gave insights.

He is unique and has a clear understanding of the situation in the Fujian Sea.

After just a cup of tea, Xiong Wencan couldn't help but admire Huang Zhicheng's straightforward, unobtrusive way of analyzing the situation mixed with some specific figures. In a word, he said something meaningful.

This is very rare. Xiong Wencan has been in the officialdom for most of his life. He has seen countless teachers, staff, and secretaries. He knows how useful these people are: he usually talks about righteousness, but when encountering problems, he can't do anything. He only reads the book

The reason for death is brought out and applied mechanically. However, there are many teachers and friends behind this generation who come forward to recommend insurance, so many times Lao Xiong just pinches his nose and takes care of him.

To be honest, just based on the recommendation letter from Huang Zhicheng's tutor, Xiong Wencan had originally made up his mind to keep Huang Zhicheng today - as long as his performance was not too bad. As a result, Lao Xiong never expected that this guy actually gave him up on the spot.

A surprise for him!

"Zhicheng is currently living in Hangzhou, right? How come he is so familiar with the situation in the Fujian Sea?" Xiong Wencan asked, staring at Huang Zhicheng with bright eyes.

"To be honest with Fu Jun, since I saw the Di newspaper in March and learned that your Excellency will go south to Fu Fujian in the near future, the students have been thinking about it." Huang Zhicheng's face was full of sincerity at this time: "These days, students have nothing but to look up some old papers.

In addition to the newspaper, I also visited several maritime merchants and found out some news about Fujian, Guangdong and other countries, so I dared to show off in front of you today."

"Zhicheng is serious." Xiong Wencan nodded slightly when he heard this, and he became more and more satisfied: these days, there are really not many people who can collect information down-to-earth, even if it is just hearsay.

Xiong Wencan didn't care whether Huang Zhicheng's so-called situation analysis just now was accurate or useful. Information was not flowing well these days. When he came to Fuzhou in the future, he would naturally have accurate information for analysis.

What he cares about is only the talent of this person. In other words, Huang Zhicheng has the ability to analyze the current situation based on the information in his hand. This kind of ability should be a must for the staff, but in reality it is rare.
Chapter completed!