Author: Potato Sweet Potato Pie

After walking around in this three-entry courtyard, Xia Yuan was very satisfied, especially the small garden. Although it was winter, it looked bare and not worth seeing.

But when spring comes next year, when everything comes back to life and the flowers are in full bloom, and we can get some fish in that pond, sitting in the pavilion will definitely be a good place to enjoy the scenery.

Zhu Houzhao obviously saw that Xia Yuan was quite satisfied, and said with a smile: "Master, are you satisfied with this house?"

Xia Yuan had set random rules for him before, one of which was that he was not allowed to smile playfully at his master.

But looking at his smiling face now, I don't know why, but I just find it pleasing to my eyes.

"Satisfied, quite satisfied. By the way, I will give you how much money this house cost."

"No need to give, no need to give."

"Give to those who want to give."

"."

The two of them were pulling back and forth for a while, and Zhu Houzhao scratched his head in embarrassment, "How about Master just give me three to five hundred taels?"

Originally, he really didn't plan to ask for this money, but last time he became a disciple, he gave away all of this month's monthly money. Even the previous meal expenses were all collected. It was only the middle of the month, and it was really out of pocket.

Moderately shy.

"Three to five hundred taels. Is that enough?"

"Enough is enough."

"Here, count these coins to see if they are enough. There should be about four or five hundred taels."

Seeing what he said, Xia Yuan happily took out a stack of Ming Dynasty treasure notes from his arms, and then took out a money bag and handed it over. It contained several ingots of silver and a gold bar.

"No need to count, no need to count, thank you, master."

Zhu Houzhao happily took it and looked down. Well, these banknotes looked familiar.

Gu Dayong next to him also thought the same thing. He also thought the money bag looked familiar, especially the gold bar inside. It was clearly ours.

"Anything you want to be polite to me is what you should do."

The more Xia Yuan looked at this boy, the more he admired him. He had just secretly asked Wang Shouren that this guy was overseeing government affairs at the Ministry of Works and had been ordered to supervise several projects. He even helped build a grave for a certain earl, so he certainly had good eyesight.

According to him, building such a house would cost 800 taels in various building materials alone. If it were sold, it would be worth at least a thousand taels. Buying it with this money would definitely be a bloody profit.

It's a pity that I really don't know any peerless magic skills, otherwise I would teach this kid no matter what.

Zhu Houzhao looked very happy. He also felt that he had made a lot of money. Not only did he get his monthly money back, but he also earned these silver and gold bars for nothing.

He unceremoniously put these things into his arms, and the heavy feeling made him feel good.

Well, although Eunuch Xiao likes to complain about me, he is actually a pretty good person and can be dealt with.

————————————————————

Winter has arrived. In this cold season, most people have nothing to do and basically no longer go out. They stay at home and watch the winter while looking forward to the arrival of auspicious snow.

Emperor Hongzhi in the Forbidden City has had a lot of free time recently. In addition to dealing with sporadic government affairs every day, the only other thing he does is ask the Prince of the East Palace what he is doing and whether he has done his homework, and then he will get an answer that makes him extremely happy.

All that's left is to read some idle books.

At this time, Zhu Youtang was sitting on the brocade couch in the Nuan Pavilion, flipping through a book, with his flute standing next to him with his head bowed. For a while, there was only the occasional rustle of turning pages in the palace. After an unknown period of time, Emperor Hongzhi

Suddenly he asked: "Xiao Banban, I heard that the prince asked you for a house? I heard that you are keeping this house for your retirement."

Hearing this, Xiao Jing suddenly showed a wry smile, "I really can't hide anything from the Emperor, but I can't ask for it. His Highness used walnuts and slaves in exchange for it."

"Two walnuts can be exchanged for a house. He is very smart and let you suffer such a big loss for no reason."

"This. To be fair to the emperor, I don't feel that I am at a disadvantage."

"Didn't you suffer any loss?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youtang couldn't help but lower the book a little, revealing his eyes, "Then I want to ask you, how much does your house cost?"

"About a thousand taels."

Emperor Hongzhi obviously calculated well and immediately asked: "So this walnut is worth five hundred taels?"

"Your Majesty may not be aware of this, but these walnuts can actually be regarded as cultural toys. The better the appearance, the higher the value. Especially in the hands of those who love walnuts, those walnuts with excellent appearance are worth thousands of gold.

It’s too much.”

Speaking of this, Xiao Jing showed a shy smile, "Your Majesty, you also know that I have no other hobbies in my daily life. I just like to play with walnuts, and I can be considered a walnut lover."

It was difficult for Zhu Youtang to understand why a walnut was worth a thousand gold, but he also knew that Xiao Jing really loved walnuts, and he often saw his Xiao Banban playing with walnuts.

"So you mean that the walnuts the prince gave you are of excellent quality?"

Xiao Jing nodded against his will, "The quality is indeed excellent."

Zhu Youtang became interested now, "Where are the walnuts? Take them out to open my eyes and let me see what these excellent walnuts look like."

"."

Xiao Jing hesitated for a moment and took out two walnuts from his arms, "Your Majesty, look, these are the walnuts that the prince gave to his slave."

Zhu Youtang sat up straight and looked over, then frowned slightly and said, "Xiao Banban, tell me what is so good about this appearance."

To be honest, in the eyes of professionals like Xiao Jing, these are just two ordinary walnuts. Let alone a house, even two copper coins are enough.

If someone had taken this kind of walnut and said that they wanted to change houses with him, he, Eunuch Xiao, would have slapped him in the face.

But who told me that this was given by the prince? Not only was it given by the prince, but the prince climbed the tree and picked it himself.

The meaning is different.

"Look, Your Majesty, this walnut is uneven, its belly is round and full, it is huge and thick, it can be said to be the best lion's head."

"Lion head?"

"Yes, this lion's head is the first of the four famous cores. Your Majesty, please take a closer look and see if the lines on it look like the lion's mane?"

"There is indeed some resemblance." Zhu Youtang nodded slightly, but his brows furrowed a little deeper.

Xiao Jing didn't see this, but nodded and said: "That's it. These walnuts can be sold for hundreds of taels in the market, not to mention that they were given by the prince. That's why I said that I didn't suffer at all.

.”

After saying that, he showed a cheerful expression and put the walnuts back without leaving any trace.

Zhu Youtang sat quietly for a moment, then got up and rummaged around the desk for a while, and finally picked up a walnut and handed it over, "Look carefully, is this a lion's head? I think it looks very similar to yours."

Xiao Jing only glanced at it and found that the appearance was terrible, but he still smiled and said: "Exactly, it is a top-quality lion head, and it is even better than the appearance of this slave."

"That being the case, I will reward you with this."

"My slave, thank you for your reward."

Eunuch Xiao hurriedly looked grateful and leaned over to take the walnuts. But before he straightened up, Zhu Youtang dug out more than a dozen walnuts.

"Xiao Banban, these look like lion heads to me. You can help me sell them at the market. You don't need to sell them for five hundred taels each. You can sell them for three hundred taels. Any more will be yours."

"

The corners of Xiao Jing's eyes couldn't help but twitch, and he bowed and said, "Yes, I obey your order."

A lot of broken walnuts can be exchanged for white silver coins. This is an unexpected fortune for anyone, but Zhu Youtang did not look very happy. Instead, he asked in a confused manner, "Xiao Banban

,How many years have you been with me?"

"Back to your lord, it has been fifteen years since the 23rd year of Chenghua."

"Fifteen years have passed. I'm exhausted. You can just step back."
Chapter completed!