Chapter 1836 Gossip
Manbao counted on his fingers the various loopholes he knew of. "They say officials can't engage in business, but which official in the court doesn't have one or two servants running a business under their names? At worst, there are still relatives and friends. We can all cooperate. Basically, as long as I don't fail, these cooperations can continue for a long time."
She didn't shy away from the topic and said directly, "For example, the imperial physician of our Imperial Medical Bureau, Xiao Yuanzheng's family owns several pharmacies, which are registered under the names of his two sons. Although Imperial Physician Liu and his colleagues don't have their own pharmacies, they all have close pharmacies. Occasionally, they go to those pharmacies to register as patients, or help them see some extremely important patients who can't hire an imperial physician..."
"And I can introduce some drug dealers to the pharmacy. With these, I can get a share of the profits every year without spending any money," Manbao said. "I come from Jishitang, and the shopkeeper Zheng has hinted several times that he can give me 10% of the profits from the shop in the capital."
Changyu and Mingda opened their mouths wide. Mingda asked curiously, "Did you take it?"
Manbao shook his head. "I was tempted, but after thinking about it carefully, if I took this 10% profit, I would have more responsibilities in the future. I wouldn't feel comfortable going somewhere else, so let's just say what's what and forget it."
Yin Huo: "But don't you also go to Jishiditang from time to time? I heard from my eldest sister that someone wanted to invite you to see patients through the Imperial Medical Bureau, but the Imperial Medical Bureau didn't approve it, so they finally went through Jishiditang to invite you."
"Hey, are you talking about the wife of the Pei family?" Manbao said, "I only made this one outpatient visit during my last day off."
She laughed and said, "She paid me. She has a consultation fee, so why doesn't she come to see me? Speaking of which, I should thank Shopkeeper Zheng for recruiting patients for me. It's a reciprocity. How can I have the nerve to take money from Shopkeeper Zheng again?"
Bai Shan said, "This is the difference between being thin-skinned and thick-skinned. However, if an official has been in the officialdom for a few years and loves money, even the thin-skinned ones will become thick-skinned. So it's not okay to expect officials to exercise self-discipline. There must be rules."
Mingda said, "The court has already clearly stipulated that officials cannot engage in business. What other regulations can be made? You can't ask their servants and relatives not to engage in business, right?"
"That's definitely not possible," Bai Erlang said directly without Bai Shan or Man Bao needing to object: "If Bai Shan passes the imperial examination and becomes an official, but I fail, then I will definitely go home and farm."
He said, "After the busy farming season, I must do some business to make a living. If my relatives can't do business either, what should I do?"
Everyone: ...
Mingda looked at him curiously and asked, "Are you still doing business?"
"That's right," Bai Erlang said, "I have so much land, and the harvested crops have to be sold outside. If I see beautiful silks and brocades outside, I can bring them back to Mianzhou and Yizhou."
That's what his father did, but he rarely did such things himself. He always asked the manager to do it and he would just take care of the manager.
The water on the stove beside him started gurgling, and the aroma of meat rose from the pot on top. Yin Huo paused as he was about to speak, then turned and asked, "Why is there still steamed meat?"
Manbao said, "I asked the master to bring it in today."
Chang Yu also smelled the fragrance and took a breath and said, "It smells really good. How many bowls did you bring?"
"Three bowls! I brought all the food that the master brought into the palace." Man Bao said to Yin Huo, "You can eat more of this. The master said my sister-in-law said that the nobles in the palace must have no shortage of oil and water, so this time she made the noodles a little thicker and put a lot of radish underneath, so the steamed meat is not so greasy."
Yin Huo's expression didn't change much as he said, "Actually, the same as before is fine."
Liu Huan turned around and asked, "Have you eaten it?"
Yin Huo nodded, "They gave me some during the Chinese New Year."
He was surprised when he received this New Year gift. It was the first time he received steamed meat as a New Year gift. But he only ate two pieces that night. The rest were eaten by his father, grandmother and sixth sister. He felt very sorry.
Liu Huan was jealous in the fragrance, "Why don't you send it to me?"
Manbao blinked, couldn't help but look at Bai Shan, and hesitated, "Next time, let's give you one too? The New Year gift we gave your family was not cheap, right? This steamed meat is not worth much, and you have a big family. If I give you a bowl, can you eat a piece?"
Liu Huan thought about it and agreed. They have many family members, unlike Yin Huo's family.
Seeing that he had been fooled, Manbao breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing that they had strayed from the topic again, Chang Yu couldn't help but knock on the table and ask, "Are you guys still going to discuss this?"
Manbao comforted her, saying, "Don't worry. You can't say anything about this kind of thing just once or twice. You still have a long time to get married, and there's no rush to start a business."
Mingda was no longer in a hurry. She took a sip of tea and realized that the discussion of business, the eating of delicious food, and even the happy chat were all real.
She also turned to Chang Yu and said, "Why don't you give up thinking about doing business and just do as I did. When the time comes, just take care of the fiefdom. The Wei family is noble and elegant, and Young Master Wei may not be able to adapt to your extravagance."
Chang Yu said, "Then we can live separately. He can live in the Wei family, and I can live in the princess's mansion. How great is that? I'll be more comfortable there."
Mingda didn't expect her sister to have such an idea. Her eyes widened. Manbao also widened his eyes and asked in disbelief, "Don't couples live together?"
Chang Yu said as a matter of course: "Of course we don't have to live together. Many of my sisters and brothers-in-law don't live together. If there is anything, just call the prince consort to the princess's residence to talk."
Bai Shan couldn't help but become curious, "How is the relationship between the prince consort and the princess?"
Chang Yu thought for a moment and said, "There are bad things, but there are also good things."
Manbao shook his head and said to her, "My parents have never been separated."
Bai Shan: "I feel a little sympathetic towards Brother Wei now."
Changyu: ...
Mingda disagreed. She said, "This is the privilege of a royal princess. It's not easy for a woman in this world. You men are only allowed to sleep with prostitutes and decide whether to go home, but women are not allowed to have their own house, their own place to live?"
Manbao nodded repeatedly in agreement, "That's right, that's right."
Bai Shan: "...I am living in your house now."
Bai Erlang said, "Actually, a house for each of us is still too big. If we want to play together, we have to walk a long way. If we really want to be free, we can each have our own yard. That way, we can be free, and if we want to talk or play together, we can walk together."
Yin Huo: "...Are we really not going to talk about the business dealings of officials and royal relatives?"
Bai Shan said, "Actually, there's not much to say about this. These issues are well known. The solution I can think of right now is to prohibit close relatives from doing business in the area where the official is serving. Close relatives include relatives within three generations and relatives within two generations of the wife's family. Also, taxation should be strictly enforced to minimize tax evasion."
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
