Chapter 342 I Like Reading (asking for monthly votes)
There is also an old locust tree in the backyard of the governor's mansion, and the locust flowers on it are in full bloom.
At this moment, Luo's mother and several maids were sitting under the tree picking locust flowers. The plucked locust flowers were put into bamboo baskets, waiting to be used to make locust flower cakes, or dipped in flour and steamed. When they were out of the steamer, they were shaken, drizzled with sesame oil, and mixed with crushed garlic... In Luo's mother's words, the fragrance was so good that it could make a few big men passing by fall in love with them.
Adian was responsible for picking locust branches. He was tall and could reach the shorter branches by standing on tiptoe. He always picked the branches with the densest locust flowers, and was praised by Luo's mother as an expert in picking locust flowers.
A group of women were chatting and laughing, attracting Guiqi, who loved to listen to the noise, and came over. Seeing the fresh locust flowers, Guiqi squeezed over with his horse face, wanting to taste them too.
The locust tree branches were thorny, so Adian plucked off the locust flowers and fresh oval leaves, held them in his hands and fed them to Guiqi. Because Guiqi licked the palm of his hand, Adian felt itchy and burst into laughter.
Chang Suining heard Adian's laughter from afar, so she turned a few steps towards the source of the sound. She saw the situation under the locust tree through a clump of green banana trees, and couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth. Her mood, which was a little confused due to the complicated official duties, calmed down at this moment.
Just by looking at Adian's bright smile, she could conclude that it was a good decision to come to Jiangdu.
The maids who picked locust flowers with Luo's mother were also newly recruited into the mansion. They were all lonely women who had lost their families in the war.
This governor's mansion is not big, but fortunately it can provide shelter for some people who have nowhere else to go.
But for Chang Suining, she couldn't stop at "a little". Jiangdu gave her a place to stay, and she wanted to make it a place that could shelter more people.
That night, Chang Suining ate the steamed locust flowers. When he put down the second empty bowl, he felt full of strength.
…
Less than three days later, on the second day, the Gu family gave a reply.
By the third day, all the books Chang Suining wanted had been presented. Three days was not enough to copy all the books, but since it was a unique copy, the Gu family would have thought of making two more copies to be on the safe side, and they also needed to circulate the copies among the clan members.
Most of these three days were spent on repeated checking, error correction, and marking.
Eleven members of the Gu family were also sent to the governor's mansion.
Chang Suining originally said he wanted "at least ten", but according to Jiang Hai, giving less than the number they asked for would make him seem less proactive and too rigid, which would not be conducive to building a good relationship. Anyway, one more would not make a difference, and it would look good if he had one more.
Just add one. In order to make it look better, Gu Xiu even deliberately added a good-looking one - of course, not his second son. Although the second son was beautiful, he was too self-aware of his beauty and was obsessed with it, resulting in mediocre talent and learning, not enough to show off.
To show his sincerity, Gu Xiu personally led his clansmen to donate books. At this moment, he was standing in the hall of the governor's mansion with a row of clansmen, feeling a little ashamed in his heart. It was common to sell off ancestral property, but it was rare to sell off clansmen's property like he did.
Those members of the Gu family who were chosen could not help but feel sad and angry. Selling themselves for a survival was the best way.
But the world is so difficult. In order to protect my clan and consider the long-term, I can only entrust myself to this little girl and try to find a way out.
I just don't know what Chang Suining plans to do with them? I heard that she is recruiting talents on a large scale and is in urgent need of people. I guess she wants them to be retainers with no real power and only work.
The eleven members of the Gu family were all prepared to go there and not come back. Some of them were so well prepared that they even asked their servants to carry their luggage.
Gu Xiu handed over their business cards, which were delivered to Chang Suining by Wang Changshi.
Chang Suining sat at the top, flipping through the cards one by one. Although they were ordinary business cards, when she flipped through them and saw them in the eyes of everyone in the Gu family, they looked like indentures.
Chang Suining compared the name cards with others one by one and smiled: "Patriarch Gu is thoughtful."
Without much exploration or questioning, he showed a look of satisfaction.
So, can we conclude that she is careless and can be easily fooled?
No, Gu Xiu felt exactly the opposite.
The other party was satisfied because the children recommended by the clan were all talented and learned. After Jiang Hai's painful words "like rubbing locust leaves", how could he dare to fill in the gaps? Chang Suining's reaction at the moment confirmed this point... She could even estimate how many books his Gu family had, so how could she not know who were the people in his clan who were truly useful?
But what Gu Xiu didn't expect was that Chang Suining didn't just keep the person here -
"Thank you, Patriarch Gu, for your generous gift of books today. I will have someone erect a monument for your mansion in the future to honor the Gu family's virtues."
Finally, Chang Suining said, "I have also accepted the name card. Please go back. I will invite you to come and talk to me when I have something important to ask you."
The Gu family members were all stunned.
What does this mean?
They brought all their luggage with them, but the other party let them go home?
Didn't they want to keep them as retainers? But if you think about it carefully, you can see that the other party didn't really let them go, but left them name cards and wanted to summon them at any time.
For example, if the retainers were legitimate concubines, then they were... at most, concubines who were allowed to wander outside? This feeling was very subtle. Although they were able to return home, it was hard for them to feel comfortable.
"The governor asked them to go back now... I wonder what his intention is?" After the Gu family left, Wang Changshi couldn't help but ask.
Chang Suining sorted the eleven business cards in his hand and said, "Didn't you see that they all brought servants with them? With so many people staying in the mansion, the food and lodging alone would be a considerable expense. Moreover, they are all expensive and picky, so they must be much harder to support than ordinary people."
Anyway, she didn't confiscate the Gu family's money, so it was reasonable to let them be self-sufficient.
Wang Changshi suddenly realized that the reason behind this was so simple, it was nothing more than saving money.
"And we really don't need them right now." Chang Suining handed the name card to Yao Ran, stood up and said, "We'll talk about it after everything is ready."
Sitting cross-legged behind the screen, Luo Guanlin pondered intently - if they were not retainers, what was she going to do with them? Judging from her actions, she was clearly plundering Jiangnan's collection of books with a purpose... Since the Gu family had taken the lead, the remaining families who wanted to protect themselves would surely follow suit. What was she going to do by forcing these families to donate their collections of books? As expected, after the Gu family, most of the prominent families in Jiangdu, such as the Yu family, followed suit and donated books.
In just over ten days, the Jiangdu Provincial Governor's Mansion acquired nearly 300 books, all of which were rare and unique books that had never been circulated outside, and did not include duplicate copies.
Scholars like Lu Xiucai, who come from humble backgrounds, know best how pleasing and exciting this number is.
When counting the number of books yesterday, Yao Ran turned around and saw Lu Xiucai standing beside him with trembling eyes and tears of excitement in his eyes.
Recently, Chang Suining was not in the governor's mansion, so she handed the matter over to Wang Changshi. The gift table had been set up, and they were just waiting for those people to come with their collection of books to present gifts.
Chang Suining took some time to visit the camp to inspect the coastal defense and military training, and also personally went out to sea for two days of inspection.
On this day, Chang Suining brought She Cai and He Wuhu back to Jiangdu City. When they passed by a mansion guarded by soldiers, he got off his horse as if on a whim.
This was originally Xu Zhengye’s “General Kuangfu’s Mansion” in Jiangdu. After the plaque was taken down, it is now temporarily used as a resting place for the imperial envoys.
Chang Suining dismounted and walked straight up the stone steps. The guard looked at the young man in ordinary clothes, held down the sword at his waist, and shouted cautiously: "This is where the imperial envoy is handling cases under the order of the emperor. Outsiders are not allowed to trespass!"
The place now contains the property and books confiscated by the imperial envoys from various ethnic groups in Jiangnan in recent days. Nothing can go wrong, so the imperial envoy has issued a clear order that no one is allowed to enter without permission.
At this time, a eunuch came out of the palace. He was very surprised to see the newcomer and immediately scolded the guard: "How dare you, you blind man! This is the governor...don't be rude!"
The guard was shocked when he heard this and immediately knelt down to apologize.
"It's okay. I came here uninvited. Ignorance is not a fault. Get up." Chang Suining walked past the guard and said without stopping.
The official bowed and respectfully invited Chang Suining to come in.
Soon, the imperial eunuch who was the leader of this trip heard the news and hurried over to greet them.
This imperial eunuch was the same one who had come forward to convey the imperial edict when Chang Suining was promoted to the governor of Jiangdu. He had met Chang Suining many times and was considered to be familiar with him.
On the way to the front hall, the official surnamed Pan asked in a casual tone: "...I heard that the governor went to inspect the camp a few days ago, but he just returned to Jiangdu?"
Chang Suining hummed and said, "I just returned to the city and happened to pass by here, so I came to see Eunuch Pan."
Eunuch Pan had seen everything she had done recently, and he knew how busy the governor was. He was afraid that his so-called visit to see him was just for no reason.
Sure enough, after the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Eunuch Pan heard the governor beside him say, "I heard that Eunuch Pan has made a lot of gains recently. I wonder what good things he got? Can I go and see?"
This refers to the proceeds from the confiscation of property.
Eunuch Pan's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly smiled and waved his hands: "Sir, please don't tease me, I am only doing my job according to the emperor's order..."
As he said this, he quickly made a gesture to invite him: "Since the governor is interested, please follow us..."
Chang Suining smiled and nodded: "Thank you."
Eunuch Pan was thinking about Chang Suining's purpose all the way. When he arrived in front of the storehouse, he asked someone to open the door and led the people in. He smiled and whispered: "If the governor likes it, I will send someone to send it to your house later..."
If you ask whether this kind of thing is in accordance with the rules, of course it is not. But there is no such thing as black and white in the officialdom. It is just a matter of seeing the person and acting according to the circumstances. As long as there is no handle left in the open, it will be fine.
Moreover, the current situation in Jiangdu is special, and the sage has tacitly approved his right to act at his own convenience. He should be flexible when necessary. Otherwise, if he offends someone he shouldn't offend and creates trouble that is difficult to deal with, then he will cry - he has seen many people crying as he has searched homes and arrested people in recent days.
Moreover, most of the money he obtained from the confiscation of property would be handed over to the Governor Chang after the amount was sorted out and handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Revenue for verification and approval. The post-war pension for Jiangdu required a large amount of silver, but the amount set by the Ministry of Revenue was not generous, and the silver had to be distributed in batches. After all, there were too many places to spend money... Fortunately, Governor Chang never showed any dissatisfaction on this matter and was actually easy to talk to.
After all, she didn't rely too much on the imperial court and had been trying to be self-sufficient... and the results were quite good.
Eunuch Pan did not ask about things that he should not ask, but only reported to the emperor in secret every detail of Chang Suining's actions in Jiangdu.
He is happy to maintain a good relationship with Chang Suining on the surface, and the saint has no intention of breaking off relations with the other party at the moment. There is no other way, he has to rely on the other party to fight the Japanese army and protect Jiangdu.
In short, let's do whatever it takes to keep Governor Chang stable.
He dared to say it, and Chang Suining dared to nod and said without hiding anything: "Thank you, Eunuch Pan."
Eunuch Pan was a little surprised in his heart. He really brought something.
If he really just wanted these few things, then it would be easy to deal with... But he also had a vague feeling that this person shouldn't have come here just for these few things in his busy schedule.
After walking around the storeroom filled with gold, silver, jewelry, famous toys, calligraphy and paintings, Eunuch Pan saw that Chang Suining didn't seem to like anything. He had a bad feeling in his heart and tried to ask, "I wonder what kind of things Governor Chang likes the most?"
"I like reading." Chang Suining asked in a studious tone, "Why are there no books here?"
Eunuch Pan's eyebrows twitched wildly, but he still managed a smile: "The books...are all in the storeroom at the back."
Chang Suining nodded in understanding, turned around immediately and walked out: "Take me to have a look."
"Governor Chang..." Eunuch Pan hurriedly followed.
The value of the family's collection of books far exceeds that of gold and silver, so more guards were sent to guard it strictly.
But Chang Suining wanted to see it, so Eunuch Pan had no choice but to ask someone to open the warehouse.
Just take a look, it won’t cost you anything...right?
After entering the library, Eunuch Pan followed Chang Suining closely, so nervous that it seemed as if this piece of meat was growing in his stomach and he was about to give birth.
Thousands of books were packed in boxes and cages, filling the entire warehouse. Although no lights were turned on and the vision was dim, Chang Suining looked around and saw a dazzling array of colors.
Therefore, the sack in my heart was ready to move.
She was able to protect the Gu family because they were not Xu Zhengye's accomplices and were in an ambiguous relationship. Those who had solid evidence of conspiracy with Xu Zhengye should be punished according to the law and pay the price.
Those who deserved the punishment could be taken away, but she wanted to keep these books that inherited most of the culture of Jiangnan.
"Eunuch Pan, I just want these books." The girl's straightforward voice rang out in the silent warehouse.
--if only?!
——No! Hearing this redefinition of the word "only", Eunuch Pan was so frightened that his face turned pale. Even if she picked out ten or so books to take away, he could still turn a blind eye... But she said "only", the kind of "only" that means she wants all of them! Even if he gouged out his eyes, it wouldn't work!
If he didn't know clearly how many books she had made those noble families "donate" during these days, he would really think that she was young and ignorant and didn't understand the pros and cons!
She clearly knew the importance of these books!
He had no control over the books donated by the noble families, just as the collections of books by the noble families in the past were not under the control of the court... But these books were confiscated by him, and if they were all handed over to her, he would not have to live! Eunuch Pan could only kneel down with a plop.
Good night! (End of this chapter)
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