Chapter 67 Cheap Father and Cheap Son (Two Chapters in One)

In the past, whether they came to act as matchmakers or to recommend themselves, they would all gather in front of Nie. Nie was not only Zhao Tinghan's biological mother, but also the Princess of Liang, the most noble woman in Liang.

But the situation is different now. Nie refuses to see guests, which is equivalent to telling everyone that Nie is under house arrest.

So these people turned to Zhao Yunnuan. Although it was not the sister's job to decide her brother's marriage, Zhao Yunnuan was not an ordinary sister. She was the eldest princess, and the eldest princess in charge of the royal guards.

She and Zhao Tinghan are twin siblings, and are closer than ordinary siblings.

If he could win the favor of this eldest princess, even if he didn't expect her to speak well of him in front of Zhao Tinghan, he could still avoid her from interfering.

Therefore, when Zhao Tingxuan came over, this was the scene he saw.

A mother and daughter came out, and there were two or three more pairs of mother and daughter waiting to go in.

Zhao Tingxuan was stunned. Do all these people want to marry the eldest brother?

Don’t they know that Big Brother doesn’t have much time left?

In fact, ever since Zhao Tinghan moved into the royal mausoleum, there have been rumors among officials in Liang that the prince's illness may not be as serious as the legend says.

After all, if he was really dying, he would have no energy to manage government affairs. However, the documents sent from Wang Ling not only had Zhao Tinghan's personal comments, but also his seal.

Of course, you can also say that there was someone else who reviewed the documents and just used Zhao Tinghan's name, but it is true that Zhao Tinghan summoned officials to Wang Ling. Could it be that the Zhao Tinghan those officials saw was also fake?

It was precisely because of the private rumors among officials that the women in the harem had confidence. It was not the confidence that they could stay with the prince forever, but the confidence that they could get pregnant before the prince passed away.

This prince might actually have the ability to carry on the family line, but let's give it a try. If he fails, can't he still be adopted?

In fact, if Zhao Tingxuan paid more attention to the outside situation, it would not be difficult for him to guess that Zhao Tinghan would not die for a while.

However, perhaps because he had listened to Nie's words too much, the fact that Zhao Tinghan did not have much time left was deeply rooted in his mind.

Therefore, when he learned today that many ladies from prominent families wanted to marry Zhao Tinghan, he was quite surprised.

Suddenly thinking of the royal family members in the capital who wanted to adopt a child for Zhao Tinghan, his heart sank.

Yes, even if the eldest brother did not leave behind any biological children before he died, there were still many families in the royal family who wanted to adopt children under his name.

As long as there is such a child, no matter whether he is Zhao Tinghan's biological son or not, in the eyes of the emperor and the Zhao clan, this child is a member of the Zhao family, a descendant of the royal family, and he is qualified to inherit the throne.

Once the child inherited the throne, he, as the uncle, would do as his mother had said, take his meager family property and go to a county town far away from Liangdu, where the only people who would come and go would be minor officials and their families. Unless there was a wedding or funeral in the Prince of Liang's Mansion, he would have no chance to return to Liangdu.

Zhao Tingxuan didn't dare to think about it anymore, nor did he want to tell Zhao Yunnuan about the adoption. He just felt his head buzzing and wanted to go back to his own palace, but after a few steps he turned back and headed towards Suining Palace.

......

Zhao Yunnuan found out in less than a moment that Zhao Tingxuan came to Duanxiu Palace but did not enter.

At the same time, she also knew that Zhao Tingxuan's face looked very bad, and he finally went towards Suining Palace.

Zhao Yunnuan immediately sent someone to investigate, and that evening, news from Suining Palace arrived.

"A letter from the capital?"

"Adoption?"

Zhao Yunnuan frowned slightly. She knew about the adoption, but who sent this letter?

Zhao Sheng took money to do the job, which was part of her and Zhao Tinghan's plan, but what about that letter?

The first thing Zhao Yunnuan thought of was the Duke of Weiguo’s Mansion.

Nie had only been to the capital when she was young, and she had such a personality. Even though the Nie family had a long history with the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion, there had been no news of any correspondence between Nie and the women of the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion over the years.

The Duke of Wei's Mansion and the Prince of Liang's Mansion were distant relatives, and they exchanged gifts during festivals. Every time the maids from the Duke of Wei's Mansion came to give gifts, although Nie would reward them, she had never summoned them alone.

If this letter did not come from the Duke of Wei's Mansion, then Zhao Yunnuan would have no idea who sent it to Nie.

"Check, check immediately!"

However, it was not easy to investigate this matter because the letter was not sent by post, but was sent by a special courier from the capital to Liang.

Even Nie's reply letter was taken away by the person who delivered the letter.

At this moment, Xiao Zhen, no, Master Zhen, who was far away in the capital, was sitting on the second floor of Ruyixuan, in that private room that was difficult to book, talking business with someone.

Sitting opposite him was a middle-aged man with a fair face and no beard, and coming with this middle-aged man were Deng Zheng, the eldest son of Duke Dingguo, and Zhu Qing, the second son of the Marquis of Baoqing.

Deng Zheng and Zhu Qing called the middle-aged man Mr. Wang.

Not long ago, Deng Zheng invested in a business of the Zhen family. In less than a month, he made 10,000 taels of silver. This water business is indeed very profitable.

Deng Zheng is different from those playboys in the capital. He is recognized as a promising son among the nobles. Not only does he have a respectable job in the Jinwu Guard, but he also does not indulge in drinking, whoring or gambling. The biggest stain in his life was the incident when he accompanied the Fourth Prince on a hunting trip to Shiji Mountain, which resulted in one death and one disability.

Because of that incident, all the people who were traveling with him were severely punished. Not only was Deng Zheng fined one year's salary, but the originally designated position of pacification fell into the hands of someone else.

The Duke Dingguo's Mansion simply let him reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors. Although they said it was reflection, they were actually just waiting for the emperor's anger to subside. Fortunately, with the news that Princess Jiayi was pregnant, the emperor was very pleased and Deng Zheng regained his freedom.

The first thing he did after he came out was to find money.

There's no way. Once something like this happens, it's too difficult to get out of it intact.

What outsiders saw was only the one year's salary that the emperor fined him, but they didn't know that after the incident, the Duke Dingguo's Mansion gave 10,000 taels of silver each to the Princess's Mansion and the Fourth Prince's Mansion. That would have been fine, but the Fourth Prince's two shameless uncles found the Duke Dingguo's Mansion again and extorted 10,000 taels. Together with the money they paid to bribe the emperor's close ministers and eunuchs, the total amount they paid was no less than 40,000 taels.

Although Deng Zheng is the prince, the Dingguo Mansion has not been divided. If this money is taken out by the Duke's family, the other families will definitely not agree. Even his mother will not agree. After all, he has four younger brothers, both legitimate and illegitimate.

So these 40,000 taels were Deng Zheng's own money. In order to pay the compensation, he took out all the New Year's money he had received since childhood, and even borrowed 8,000 taels from friends.

It can be imagined that the ten thousand taels that Master Zhen helped Deng Zheng earn were like timely help to him.

Zhu Qing, the second son of Marquis Baoqing, who came with Deng Zheng, was from the Marquis Baoqing Mansion, where he lost the entire street and simply bought the gambling house to become the boss himself.

Unlike the infamous prince of Baoqing, the second son Zhu Qing is like a breath of fresh air among the children of nobles. He has been an excellent student since childhood, and like Deng Zheng, he is a recognized good boy.

But Zhu Qing, like Deng Zheng, was short of money.

The Baoqing Marquisate is the richest among the nobles, but not everyone is qualified to enjoy the money of the Baoqing Marquisate.

The Prince of Baoqing is notorious, but he is also the apple of his grandmother's eye and his parents' eyes, a big treasure.

He could freely use the money in the mansion, but his brothers could not.

For example, Zhu Qing’s monthly salary is ten taels.

Ten taels of silver might be a whole year's expenses for an ordinary family, but for Zhu Qing, who was in the aristocratic circle, these ten taels of silver were just a table of banquet at Ruyixuan.

The first person Deng Zheng thought of after making money was Zhu Qing. Zhu Qing had no capital, so Deng Zheng lent him some. Now they both do business with Master Zhen.

There are many people who want to get a share in the Zhen family's business. After all, the money can be made quickly. Although Master Zhen has repeatedly emphasized that they are doing legitimate business, no one believes it. The Zhen family is the leader of pirates. If you say that they make clean money, I'm afraid only they themselves believe it.

But the Zhen family can wash dirty money into clean money. You can say they are lawless criminals or collusion between officials and businessmen, but the Zhen family has this ability. Those dirty money stained with blood will be washed as clean as possible after passing through the Zhen family's boat.

Ordinary people could only treat this kind of thing as a topic of conversation after dinner, but the dignitaries in the capital immediately took action. The Zhen family's main family was too far away, but Master Zhen, as the spokesperson of the Zhen family, was now in the capital.

However, Master Zhen is very cautious in choosing his partners. To date, there are only three people who can truly do business with him and make money.

Deng Zheng and Zhu Qing solemnly introduced Mr. Wang. Although they did not reveal Mr. Wang's background, their words told Master Zhen that the person behind Mr. Wang was very powerful.

Mr. Zhen knew what was going on, and he spoke about business with Mr. Wang in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, which made Mr. Wang very satisfied.

After leaving Ruyixuan, Mr. Wang returned to his mansion and went straight to see the fifth prince.

This Mr. Wang is the eunuch Wang, a close confidant of the Fifth Prince.

"How about that person?" the fifth prince asked calmly.

Mr. Wang said respectfully, "He's a sensible person who knows when to advance and when to retreat."

The fifth prince said, "Don't worry, let him go for now and we'll talk about it in a few days."

But after a few days, the fifth prince heard that the third prince's men had also gone to the private room in Ruyixuan.

Now that private room has been booked by Master Zhen.

The Fifth Prince said in a cold voice, "Didn't he go to review the troops? He's not in the capital, yet he still wants to help us."

The "he" that the fifth prince was referring to was, of course, the third prince who recently inspected the military camp on behalf of the emperor.

Although the princes seem to be in a good position, in fact, each of them is very short of money.

They have to support retainers, win over court officials, and support some people who are not visible to the public. All of these require money, and the rewards given by the palace are simply a drop in the bucket.

Ever since Master Zhen appeared in the capital, the Fifth Prince began to pay attention to him and sent people to Fujian to investigate the eighteen generations of ancestors of the Zhen family.

Of course, this is an exaggeration. The Zhen family has been pirates for generations, so it is not difficult to find out.

The fifth prince was very cautious. He even chose to send Mr. Wang to meet Mr. Zhen when the third prince was not in the capital.

Unexpectedly, although the third prince was not there, he had a backup plan.

The fifth prince was very angry. The capital he was going to use to do business with Master Zhen was raised by Concubine Shu, a total of 50,000 taels. With this money, he could support another hundred or eighty people on the farm.

The fifth prince decided not to wait any longer, so he sent Mr. Wang to see Master Zhen.

This time, the talks between the two sides went very smoothly. The day after Mr. Wang delivered the silver, the fifth prince received a tip-off that the people sent by Master Zhen had already gone to Fujian.

At the same time, a guest came to the famous haunted house Su Ji Teahouse located in Xiaoshiqiao.

The guest was a fat old man with white hair and beard and a big belly. He was leaning on Su Datou's special rattan chair, swinging his feet and cracking sunflower seeds, spitting the shells all over the floor.

This was the scene Master Zhen saw as he came in. He walked around the melon seed shells with disdain and found a slightly cleaner place to sit down.

"Why are you coming to me instead of enjoying yourself in the land of comfort?"

The fat old man sighed: "Although the land of gentleness is nice, those beauties get pregnant too easily. Xiao Cui and Xiao Hua are already pregnant. Sigh."

Master Zhen: "Isn't this great? You have so many sons, you can raise two more without any problem."

The fat old man said: "What's the point of having so many useless sons? I will send all those sons to your house and exchange you with your father. That way I can die without regrets."

Master Zhen: "You wishful thinking, you want my father to raise your son for you? My father is poor, he can't even afford to raise me. Oh, now I am your son, you can die without regrets."

"You little bastard, how do you talk to your godfather? By the way, where did the newly received 50,000 taels come from? Which prodigal son gave it to you?" asked the fat old man.

Master Zhen: "Then don't worry about it. Anyway, it's either rich or noble."

Fat old man: "They don't need to be rich, just expensive. No matter how rich they are, they are not as rich as me."

He sniffed: "Cheap, I have an idea, I wonder..."

Master Zhen shook his head: "No!"

The fat old man felt very aggrieved. He really liked this adopted son, but when his son frowned, he was really a little scared.

This old man is the famous Mr. Zhen Wuduo.

No one would have thought that he was in the capital. As early as when he heard the news of Xiao Zhen's "death", he had quietly come to the capital.

He is Xiao Zhen's godfather, and even Princess Jiayi and Prince Consort Xiao don't know about this.

That year, Xiao Zhen secretly went to Wu to see his cousin. On the way back, he met Old Man Zhen. Old Man Zhen fell in love with him at first sight and said frankly that this was the girl of his dreams (his son's son). He forced Xiao Zhen to be his adopted son at an age when he was old enough to be Xiao Zhen's grandfather.

Over the past ten years, although the father and son rarely met, they had always kept in touch through letters. Zhen Wuduo had many sons, but Xiao Zhen was the one who was most compatible with his temper. When he learned that Xiao Zhen had died, Zhen Wuduo was so sad that he didn't eat meat for several days and lost several pounds.

However, after he saw the living Xiao Zhen, the few pounds he had lost gained back many times over.

"You little brat, you didn't even let me finish my words. I wanted you to accompany me to Wu. Is that not even possible?" Zhen Wuduo said aggrievedly.