My eunuch godfather

Chapter 62 Family Banquet

Inside a room in the martial arts hall.

Lu Jizu of the Tongji Ship was lying stiffly on a table, clutching the booklet on cultivating danbagu (a type of wild rice).

In the freezing winter months, kneeling in the courtyard for so long has almost ruined my back, knees, and ankles.

Bang!

The door was pushed open by soldiers, and two young men entered the room one after the other. The young man in front was the attendant of the Jin Yun official.

"Uncle Gao!"

The young man behind him called out to the middle-aged man lying on the ground, "I am Shouqian!"

"Qian'er!?"

The middle-aged man surnamed Gao opened his eyes, braced himself against the ground, and sat up in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

The young man who called himself Shouqian came over and helped the middle-aged man surnamed Gao up, explaining:

"My father knows Commander Zhang, so I went to Commander Zhang to plead for you."

Zhang Qianhu actually wants everyone to grow more wild mushrooms. If you promise to grow them in large quantities, Zhang Qianhu will make an exception!

"Grow more wild rice... Qian'er, I'm afraid wild rice is very difficult to grow?"

The middle-aged man surnamed Gao hesitated for a moment, then asked the young man who called himself Shouqian:

"The fine is ten taels of silver per catty, with a one-month time limit; the fine of goods is only five catties per catty, with a time limit of up to one year."

"Giving such a good price, Uncle is worried this tuna is a scam!"

"Uncle Gao, my father told me that Commander Zhang cultivates three thousand mu of wild rice in the capital!"

The young man, who called himself Shouqian, advised the middle-aged man surnamed Gao:

"My father also said that Zhang Qianhu was actually a very kind person, even if the output of tampoo was not much at that time."

As long as you cultivate a large area, Zhang Qianhu will most likely cancel your accounts! ......

After a few words of persuasion, the young man who called himself Shouqian was patted on the shoulder by another young man and then left the room.

"Brother Gao, I see you're older than me, please lie down here."

Lu Jizu immediately got out of bed, reached out to help the middle-aged man surnamed Gao, and introduced himself:

"I am Lu Jizu of the Tongji Ship. May I ask who you are?"

"Thank you, Lord Lu. My name is Takahei from the Shengzhou ship."

Gao Ping said gratefully to Lu Jizu, "I used to work on ships at sea and transported Songjiang cloth for your company."

"Master Gao, may I ask who that young man is?"

Lu Jizu helped Gao Ping lie down on the table. "How did you come to know the officials from the Jin Yun ship?"

"Well......"

Gao Ping hesitated for a moment, then explained to Lu Jizu:

"I don't know much either, I only know that his father is the owner of a newly opened Sun's Wine Shop in the city."

I sent him to my ship, Shengzhou, so he could learn how to run a business on the ocean liner.

When Wang Chenglin returned to the main hall of the martial arts training hall, Zhang Kun called him over and began to test him:

"Chenglin, today I caught so many merchants from Tianjin, which has made a lot of enemies for our family."

If I were to keep you here and recruit a hundred able-bodied men to guard the house, how would you possibly gather ten trustworthy team leaders?

We absolutely must have ten team leaders; not even one less is acceptable, and they can't be chosen from the newcomers!

Wang Chenglin scratched his head, thought hard for a long time, and then smiled wryly at Zhang Kun:

"Brother Kun, I can't think of a way to gather ten team leaders, so I can only choose from the newcomers."

"That Sun Shouqian from the Sun family,"

Zhang Kun continued to test Wang Chenglin:

"Judging from his current state, he's probably not fit to be a squad leader or sentry officer, but do you think he's capable of being a platoon leader?"

Wang Chenglin understood what Zhang Kun meant, so he knelt on one knee, bowed his head, and admitted his mistake, saying, "Brother Kun, I was wrong."

"No, you didn't do anything wrong today, there's just a better way."

Zhang Kun helped Wang Chenglin up, patted him on the shoulder, and smiled, "Let's go home and have dinner."

......

Guyi Street, next to the Wang family mansion, is the Sun family mansion.

When Sun Shouqian returned home, the anxious Gao family girl rushed to greet him, "Qianlang, how is my father?"

"Your father is fine. I've already seen Commander Zhang, and he'll be released soon..."

Upon hearing Sun Shouqian's words, the Gao family girl rushed over and hugged the young man tightly.

The boy's face flushed crimson in an instant. He explained to his lover in his arms that the fines, the goods, and the collateral were to be paid, and advised her:

"...Go home first, find your mother and prepare the money and goods. You can't just not pay any fine."

If I don't have enough money—if I don't have enough money, I'll borrow some from my elder brother!

The young lady from the Gao family stepped out of Sun Shouqian's embrace, her face flushed with embarrassment. "Thank you so much, Qianlang! I will definitely repay this kindness!"

Sun Shouqian watched the Gao family girl leave with a silly grin on his face, feeling that he had done a heroic rescue of a damsel in distress today.

Back in his room, lost in daydreams about how the beauty would "repay his debt of gratitude," he suddenly heard his eldest brother roar, "Where's the fourth brother?!"

He had only taken a few steps out of the room when he bumped into his elder brother, Sun Shouxin, who had rushed home from the distillery. Sun Shouxin berated him harshly.

"You fool who's lost his mind! Why didn't you go to the winery to discuss this with me first when you encountered such a thing!?"

You think you're saving someone? But if you anger Commander Zhang, not only will you fail to save them, but our whole family will be in trouble too!

"elder brother......"

Sun Shouqian quickly recounted the entire rescue to Sun Shouxin.

After listening to Sun Shouqian's account, Sun Shouxin sighed deeply and shook his head, saying:

"Luckily you ran into Commander Zhang. Next time you encounter trouble, don't be so reckless; come and discuss it with me first!"

"What my brother says is true, what I did today was indeed wrong..."

Sun Shouqian felt a chill run down his spine when he recalled the corpse in the courtyard with its throat cut open.

Remembering her promise to her lover, she mustered her courage and asked Sun Shouxin:

"Brother, could we borrow some money from the Gao family?"

Upon discovering that Sun Shouqian was still caught up in romantic feelings, Sun Shouxin sneered:

"Have you asked how many kilograms of dried mushrooms the Gao family will be fined, or how much fine or goods they will have to pay?"

Sun Shouqian was stunned upon hearing this, realizing that he had indeed not thought of this matter.

Fortunately, a servant came to the rescue, saying, "Young Master, the Wang family has sent someone to invite you two young masters to dinner."

The Wang Family Mansion.

Not only the Sun brothers, Shouxin and Shouqian, but also Matsuura Yasunobu was invited to Zhang Kun's home.

In gratitude for the intelligence provided by Matsuura Yasunobu, Zhang Kun secured him the official position of Deputy Commander of Tianjin Garrison.

If there were better options, Zhang Kun would not want to rely on a Japanese person, but the problem is that he has too few people at his disposal.

Sun Jing is tied up in the capital, and in Tianjin, he can only rely on Matsuura Yasunobu for the time being.

Matsuura Yasunobu's business employed over two hundred retainers who were former samurai, and Zhang Kun was even counting on them to guard the Wang family mansion.

After Sun Shouxin and Sun Shouqian were seated, Zhang Kun smiled and said:

"How did Shouqian and Shouxin meet their girlfriend?"

Sun Shouxin respectfully replied to Zhang Kun:

"That girl is the daughter of the owner of the Shengzhou ship. The Shengzhou ship is a merchant ship that trades by sea and has more than 30 ships."

My father sent Shouqian to the Shengzhou ship, hoping he would learn how to operate a ship and eventually go into the overseas trade.

"Good heavens, he's managed to snag Master's daughter!"

Zhang Kun laughed heartily, gave Sun Shouqian a thumbs-up, and praised him, "Very promising!"

"In my hometown, many people place more importance on the prosperity of their family business."

Yasunobu Matsuura, standing nearby, chimed in with a joke about Japan's system of adopting sons-in-law:

"Even if there is a biological son, if he is not good enough, the family business will be passed on to a more capable son-in-law."

"Young Sun, you must work hard and try to inherit their family business!"

After exchanging a few words of laughter, Zhang Kun smiled and asked Sun Shouxin, "How's the distillery going? Have you established a foothold yet?"

Upon learning that Sun's Distillery had laid a solid foundation and was developing steadily, Zhang Kun continued:

"Your father will be stationed in the capital, so you will have to take on the responsibilities here."

I'll assign you a centurion position in the Imperial Guard to help Commander Song keep an eye on things here.

Sun Shouxin quickly got up, knelt down, and kowtowed to Zhang Kun in gratitude.

He sighed inwardly, remembering that the last time he met Zhang Kun, the man was just a centurion.

Now, more than half a year has passed, and Zhang Kun is already able to arrange for others to become centurions!