Chapter 651 Tell me, how many eighty thousand taels do you have!
Wenjiu's actions left both Mr. Meng and Liang Jiugong stunned.
At this moment, Mr. Meng felt that his beliefs had collapsed.
In his impression, the fourth young master was well-mannered and polite, and he could amass a fortune while chatting and laughing. His character and bearing were truly outstanding among the young men.
It was impossible to accept that the fourth young master, who had jokingly talked about millions of gold and silver, was now serving meals so skillfully.
Thinking of this, he was even more frightened, and secretly guessed that the master of the Luo family must have many sons, and even the fourth son would have to please his father.
Just looking at the familiar look on the Fourth Young Master's face, Mr. Meng couldn't help but marvel at it again.
This young man is truly extraordinary.
Not to mention his impeccable attentiveness, the fact that he could save face was something that ordinary people couldn't achieve.
Who among the worthy men would stand by and serve the food like this? Even if he was being filial, he would just pretend to be filial and pick up a few pieces of food with his chopsticks.
Why does it keep circling around?
Thinking back to when the fourth young master was carrying the straw bundle full of candied haws on the road just now, he was even more impressed.
No wonder that old Xu had such ideas. Old Meng thought that even if he had a granddaughter, she would probably want to marry into the Fourth Young Master's family.
For a moment, I couldn't help but sigh: "Master Luo is really blessed."
Liang Jiugong, who was standing next to him, was also shocked by Wen Jiu's shamelessness.
How did this person act as if nothing had happened and even serve food to the emperor?
This servile look made Liang Jiugong, a servant, feel ashamed.
However, Liang Jiugong felt that what Mr. Meng said was wrong.
Concubine Wen must be very lucky, as she could see that the emperor's anger was almost calmed down by her.
"Don't be polite, old sir. Let's sit down and have some food together." Emperor Kangxi invited with a smile.
"That's right, Mr. Meng, let's use some together." Wen Jiu also said.
However, as soon as she finished speaking, Emperor Kangxi beside her cast his deep eyes on her.
Wenjiu was so frightened that he immediately lowered his head and continued to serve the dishes.
"No, no." Elder Meng waved his hands repeatedly, "I have already eaten, so I won't bother you any more. Master Luo, please enjoy more. Don't let the Fourth Young Master down."
Seeing that Mr. Luo usually ate alone, and since the Fourth Young Master didn't sit down, he naturally had some insight.
"Filial piety?" Emperor Kangxi heard the words, glanced at the warm wine, and suddenly smiled: "Indeed."
Elder Meng also smiled and said, "The auction has been going on for a while, and I still need to go take a look. Master Luo, I'll excuse myself for now."
Emperor Kangxi: "Since you have something to do, please go and do it first. I will take care of you here."
Elder Meng also smiled. "The Fourth Young Master is certainly very thoughtful. I, seeing this, am filled with envy. Mr. Luo, you can take a look at the list of items for auction in your spare time. If you find anything you like, consider it a gift from me as a token of my gratitude for the Fourth Young Master's trust."
Emperor Kangxi declined, of course he could not accept such a big gift. How could something that could be auctioned be cheap?
It wasn't an option for Mr. Meng to stay here for too long, so he asked someone to send over some exquisite snacks.
"This old gentleman is a real man."
As soon as Mr. Meng left, Emperor Kangxi picked up the auction list on the table and looked at it, and couldn't help but sigh.
Kyoto Meng family?
My uncle has a disciple from the Meng family. Although young, he's already a fourth-rank official, the youngest vice minister in the Ministry of Rites. So, he must be this old gentleman's grandson.
Speaking of which, the Meng family is not a family that has been engaged in business for generations. They were also a prominent family in the previous dynasty. Later, when a family member committed a crime in the court, they turned to business.
In this dynasty, they were already known as the two great imperial merchants together with the Shen family of Jiangnan.
Perhaps it was the legacy of their scholarly family that made the Meng family feel at home once they entered the imperial court. That young Master Meng was incredibly knowledgeable about the etiquette and laws of every dynasty. Even those old, shrewd men couldn't defeat this Meng boy.
Speaking of which, this little Lord Meng had criticized the Fourth Prince more than once in court, and even the Fourth Prince found him a difficult figure. Unexpectedly, his grandfather and Wen Jiu were old friends, which was truly amusing. I wonder what Little Lord Meng's expression would be when he found out.
"Your Majesty, you are right. Mr. Meng is a good person and a trustworthy partner." Wen Jiu saw Emperor Kangxi smile and immediately relaxed a little. After all, his hard work was not in vain.
After hearing this, Emperor Kangxi nodded subconsciously, but then he realized something was wrong and turned to look at Wen Jiu with narrowed eyes: "You seem to be in a good mood."
Wen Jiu's mouth, which had been cracked with laughter, suddenly closed, and he replied seriously: "Seeing you, Your Majesty, I am naturally in a good mood."
Emperor Kangxi glanced at Wen Jiu and said unhappily, "Put away those little thoughts of yours. Tell me, how much money have you spent on this Chamber of Commerce?"
It seemed that Mr. Meng was very respectful to Wenjiu. Perhaps Wenjiu was a big customer in this area.
Emperor Kangxi didn't believe what Mr. Meng had just said about making more money by warming the wine.
He had also looked at the list. The lowest bid was five thousand taels, and the highest was over a million taels. Speaking of which, when the princes built their palace, he had only given two hundred thousand taels. Could the fourth prince's wealth be enough for Wen to come in twice?
Although it was nothing for his daughter-in-law to spend some money, if she ruined the family, he would definitely break her legs.
"Your Majesty, this servant only spent less than 80,000 taels. Most of the time, I made money."
"It only cost less than 80,000 taels?" Emperor Kangxi's face turned green when he heard this: "Tell me, how many 80,000 taels do you have!"
"Your Majesty, please don't be angry. I have earned much more than 80,000 taels. How dare I lie to you?" Wen Jiu said sincerely.
"Okay, okay." Emperor Kangxi suddenly said, "Since you've made some money, buy some things to give to me." As he spoke, he pointed and said, "This, this, and this, all are fine."
Warming wine: "......"
My goodness, this guy really wants to exorbitant amounts of money. With just one wave of his finger, more than 100,000 taels of silver are gone.
Wenjiu swallowed hard, but finally followed Emperor Kangxi's wishes and took the photo.
An ancient inkstone, a famous painting, and a precious calligraphy piece.
Wenjiu went smoothly today. The final auction price was only 110,000 taels. Fortunately, it was within the budget, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
"I have indeed received a great gift today." Emperor Kangxi said with a hint of anger on his face, "Liang Jiugong, you go with her to pay the money."
Wen Jiu had just taken two steps out of the door when he saw Mr. Meng coming.
"Fourth Young Master, I've brought you your gifts." Elder Meng said with a smile, "Also, I've brought some ancient ink as a gift to Mr. Luo. It really goes well with the Qinglong inkstone I auctioned today."
"How can I accept this?" Wen Jiu waved his hands repeatedly. The Qinglongyan inkstone was a rare one. A piece of inkstone was sold for nearly 50,000 taels of silver, which showed how rare it was.
Mr. Meng said that the ink that matches the Qinglong inkstone will definitely not be of bad quality.
Wen Jiu had some money on him today, but seeing Liang Jiugong staring at him, he finally calmed down and rummaged in his pocket, actually taking out a relatively small ginseng from the space.
"Mr. Meng, I was in a hurry to leave today and didn't bring enough silver. I'd like to use this ginseng to pay for it. Do you think it's feasible?"
When Elder Meng saw Wen Jiu take out the ginseng, his eyes widened. "This...this...conservatively speaking, this ginseng is 1,200 years old, right? This is absolutely impossible. If your ginseng were auctioned, it would at least fetch 170,000 or 180,000 taels. If you're lucky, you could get over 200,000 taels. The item that the Fourth Young Master won was only over 100,000 taels. How can this be possible?"
Liang Jiugong's eyes widened at this moment. You know, the older the ginseng is, the harder it is to come by.
Most princes and nobles would keep a ginseng plant to keep them alive at the critical moment.
The ginseng that the emperor has in his collection is only about 1,100 years old, which is already very rare.
The concubine took out such a ginseng today, only to exchange it for these ancient calligraphy and painting inks? It's really... a waste of natural resources!
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