Zhen Yi and Old Liu were having a good chat. Thinking about it, he decided that he didn't have to hide it from Zhen Yan and Zhao Sheng anymore. After all, they would be involved in the future, so Old Liu went out to call them in.
Seeing how happy Zhen Yi was, Old Liu was also beaming with joy. The two of them thought that Old Liu had already decided to be the son-in-law of the Zhen family. However, this was not a bad thing. Why did he still go behind their backs?
When they entered the house, the two of them congratulated Old Liu at the same time, which confused Old Liu and Zhen Yi. Zhen Yi quickly asked,"What do you wish Xuande?"
"Didn't Father betroth my little sister to Xuande? Of course we have to congratulate her."”
Old Liu quickly waved his hand." You're wrong. I'm just talking to Elder Zhen about a business partnership.”
After hearing Zhen Yan's words, Zhen Yi suddenly remembered his daughter's expression when she first saw Xuande. It was obvious that she had found someone she liked. He didn't notice it at that time, but now that he thought about it, it was really a good thing.
So Zhen Yi said to Liu Bei,"Who else is there in your family? Have you married?"”
"Ever since my mother passed away, there was no one else in my family, so I have been studying and doing business outside.”
"You've already met my daughter, Jiang 'er. What does Xuande think?”
"Miss Zhen's beauty has been admired by me for a long time. To be honest, I had the intention of proposing to Miss Zhen when I came. I originally wanted to ask Big Brother Zhao to be the matchmaker, but now that Elder Zhen has asked, I have to say it myself. I hope Elder Zhen will grant my wish."
Zhen Yi was happy. He thought," I said that a few magpies were chirping in front of my window in the morning. It seems that good news is coming. I don't think my daughter will object."
"If Xuande doesn't mind, this old man will make the decision. I hope Xuande will treat my daughter well in the future.”
"Thank you for your help, Elder Zhen."”
"Xuande, what did you call me?"
"Thank you, father-in-law, for your help."
Zhen Yi asked Zhen Yan to go to the backyard and tell his mother and Zhen Jiang about his daughter's engagement with Liu Bei.
At this time, it was already past noon. The servants had already prepared the food. The few of them came out of the living room and went to the dining hall to eat. When they came out, Old Liu called Chu Yan along.
They had just sat down in the dining hall when Zhen Yan, Madam Zhen, Madam Zhou, Zhen Jiang, and the other children came over. Zhen Jiang's face was full of excitement. He didn't dare to look at Old Liu directly. He only stole a few glances from the corner of his eyes before lowering his head with a shy expression.
Zhen Jiang's mother, Madam Zhou, saw that Old Liu was a talented person and was personally chosen by the old master. The more she looked, the more satisfied she was. When Zhen Yan came to report the good news, Madam Zhou asked if Zhen Jiang was willing. Zhen Jiang's face flushed red and finally said,"It's all up to my parents."
Seeing his wife come over, Zhen Yi discussed with Madam Zhou. There were no more elders in Liu Bei's family, so he would make the decision for them. When the new year comes next year, he would arrange the marriage between Old Liu and Zhen Jiang. Zhen Jiang lowered his head and did not dare to speak, but everyone knew that he was happy. Old Liu said,"I'll leave it to the two elders to decide."
Since the marriage had already been decided, Old Liu naturally had to give Zhen Jiang some love tokens. Therefore, Old Liu took out a crystal bracelet, a pair of crystal earrings, a Jetta rearview mirror…
Holding the mirror in his hand, he walked in front of Zhen Jiang and handed these things over.
Seeing Old Liu come to him, Zhen Jiang's heart pounded non-stop. He didn't dare to look up at Old Liu until Old Liu handed the items to him. Then, he hurriedly reached out to take them. When their hands touched, Old Liu was still fine, but Zhen Jiang seemed to have been electrocuted. He hurriedly retracted his hand and almost dropped the items in his hand.
The few younger sisters sitting beside Zhen Jiang wanted to see what kind of gift Old Liu had given Zhen Jiang, so they all ran over to take a look. Although the bracelets and earrings were beautiful, they had seen them before. As for the palm-sized mirror, they had no idea what it was. Zhen Jiang's youngest sister, Zhen Rong, held the mirror and turned it over and over. She couldn't see what it was, so she brought it to her eyes. Suddenly, she saw a pair of big eyes in front of her, blinking at her. She was so scared that she let go and the mirror fell down.
Fortunately, she was not tall and did not fall with much force. In addition, the ground was covered with soil at that time, so the mirror was not broken. It only scared Zhen Rong so much that he cried out.
Everyone was very curious what exactly was it that would scare Zhen Rong to such a state.
Old Liu was afraid that someone else would take it and something like this would happen again. He quickly ran over, picked up the mirror, and handed it to Zhen Yi." Father-in-law, my son-in-law got this overseas. It's called a mirror. You can see your appearance by putting the mirror in front of you."”
There was a bronze mirror back then, but the reflection was not very clear. When he heard Old Liu say that it was a mirror, Zhen Yi took it and held it in front of him. Sure enough, he found that there was a person's face in the mirror. It seemed to be him. When he looked closer, only a pair of eyes were left. When he looked further away, there was a complete human figure in the mirror, and it could blink.
Madam Zhou, who was beside Zhen Yi, also came over to take a look. She also shouted," Why is there an old master in the mirror? Come and take a look!"”
Everyone gathered in front of the mirror, and Old Liu explained to everyone. With this, everyone finally understood what was going on. They all rushed to take the mirror and look at their own appearance.
Zhen Yan moved closer to Old Liu." Brother-in-law, how many things do you have that we haven't seen before?”
"Almost all of them. What I have left now are all the things you have seen before. I still have two more of this mirror, ready to use it when I go to Luoyang in the future.”
According to Old Liu, there were only three mirrors like this, and Old Liu was willing to take out one as a gift for him. It showed how important he was to Old Liu. Zhen Jiang was very happy. When his brother came over just now, he said that his father had agreed to do business with his husband. In that case, he would have to help Old Liu in the future so that he wouldn't look down on him.
After lunch, Zhen Yi, his wife, and the children returned to the backyard. When Zhen Yan and Zhao Sheng saw this situation, they consciously avoided it, leaving only Chu Yan standing there foolishly.
"Security, you should go out and rest too. I still have something to say to Miss Zhen.”
Chu Yan agreed and left.
The two of them were left in the room. They didn't have the unrestrained feeling that they had when they first met in the morning. Old Liu wanted to break this awkward situation, so he opened…
"Miss Zhen, do you like my gift?"”
"It's from Big Brother Liu. Of course I like it. But don't call me Miss Zhen in the future. Call me Jiang 'er, okay?”
"Alright, I'll listen to Jiang 'er."
"Big Brother Liu, I heard from my brother that you want to do business with our Zhen family in the future. Is that true?”
"Other than proposing, I came here for this purpose. Father-in-law has already agreed. Jiang 'er, I won't hide it from you. Actually, I want to use the Zhen Family's business network to establish an intelligence network in the thirteen provinces of the Great Han Dynasty.”
"Brother Liu, can you explain to me what the intelligence network is for?”
"Of course. We have arranged for spies in the thirteen prefectures to gather information. These people will send the local military and commercial intelligence back to us. "This is also very beneficial for our business. For example, the spies in Jing Zhou told us that there is a shortage of rice in the market there, so we can transport the rice there to sell. This way, we won't do business blindly, but according to the market demand. In this way, we can make a steady profit without losing money.”
Zhen Jiang had been doing business for a few years, so he naturally knew the secret behind it. He couldn't help but clap his hands and shout,"Big Brother Liu, your idea is great. In the past, we only distributed the goods evenly to the branches in various places. We didn't consider whether the local area needed them at all. Therefore, sometimes, because the goods were shipped over but couldn't be sold, they were piled up there and lost money. In the future, as long as we follow Big Brother Liu's method, this situation won't happen again.”
Looking at Zhen Jiang's eyes that were filled with admiration, Old Liu was very pleased. However, for Zhen Jiang to be able to understand the truth so quickly, it seemed that she was also a talent that could be molded. He had to nurture her well. Perhaps in the future, she would become a virtuous wife who would help him fight for the world.
Zhen Jiang then asked about Old Liu's business overseas. Old Liu then transplanted the story of Zheng He's voyage to himself and began to talk about his sailing experience. He heard Old Liu say that the sea was boundless, with all kinds of fish, turtles, dolphins, and even whales that were several feet long. There were also man-eating great white sharks, monstrous waves, and other countries that existed on the other side of the sea. There were people with black skin, red skin, and white skin. Old Liu explained vividly, making Zhen Jiang's heart flutter. I'm leisurely and fascinated.
Old Liu looked at Zhen Jiang again. When he heard that she was happy, he was elated and danced with joy. When he heard that she was nervous, he frowned slightly and clenched his fists. Every frown and smile was adorable, making Old Liu almost crazy.
One of them talked while the other listened. In the blink of an eye, an afternoon passed. In the middle, Zhen Jiang's younger brothers and sisters ran over to eavesdrop on what they were talking about. In the end, they were also attracted by Old Liu's legendary story. The few of them listened outside for a long time.
The servants began to prepare dinner. Only then did the two of them realize that it was already late. Zhen Jiang hurriedly stood up and said goodbye. Old Liu hurriedly said to Jiang 'er,"It's about time for dinner. We're in the dining hall now. Why are you still going out? Wait for your parents to come and have dinner together."
After a while, the Zhen family came out. Zhao Sheng and Chu Yan also came to the dining hall. Seeing that everyone was staring at them, Old Liu didn't think much of it, but Zhen…
The ginger head was almost on the dining table.
After all, it was a rich family, so the dinner was very sumptuous. At this time, Old Liu remembered that he still had a few bottles of Erguotou, so he took out a bottle from his bag and said to Zhen Yi,"Father-in-law, this is a bottle of good wine that my son-in-law brought back from overseas. It's called Erguotou.”
He picked up the bottle and opened the cap. Old Liu poured about one liang of Erguotou into each of Zhen Yi, Zhao Sheng, Zhen Yan, Chu Yan, and his own wine glasses.
When Old Liu opened the bottle, the fragrance of the wine had already made the few of them exclaim that it was good wine. Now that everyone had raised their glasses, they were afraid that they would drink in large mouthfuls like the old village chief. Old Liu quickly said,"This wine is very strong. You can only drink it in small mouthfuls. Otherwise, you'll get drunk easily.”
Following Old Liu's example, the few of them also took a small sip. As soon as the wine entered their mouths, they realized that what Old Liu said was true. That burning feeling was something they had never experienced before when they drank wine. They quickly ate a few mouthfuls of food and felt much better.
After the meal, everyone finished the bottle of Erguotou. Chu Yan drank about three taels, which was already a little too much. The others did not drink much, but their faces were red. Only Old Liu drank the most, but he was fine. After all, he had been drinking for twenty years. His tolerance for alcohol was much stronger than others.
After dinner, the few of them went to the main room to discuss their next step.
Zhen Yan knew that the Zhen family had already tied themselves together with Old Liu. He could also see that Old Liu was much more capable than him. Therefore, he did not have any objections to his father asking him to listen to his brother-in-law in the future.
Old Liu told everyone his thoughts."The first is to set up a personal guard, and I will personally train them in grappling and fighting techniques. Of course, these people will not only protect themselves, but also protect the Zhen family and their caravans that transport their goods. Second, he had to train a group of spies and send them to Zhen family's businesses all over the country. They were mainly to gather local military and business intelligence, and then send the information back to Zhen family through the caravan.”
"These two things need to be done immediately. The members of the personal guards can be chosen from the Zhen family's guards or Chu Yan's bandits. I wonder if the Zhen family has a manor outside Wuji City? If there were, they could train there.”Old Liu asked Zhen Yi.
"Yes. The Zhen family has nearly 3,000 mu of land outside Wuji City. They also have a manor that covers more than 100 mu. When the time comes, Liu Bei can bring people there for training.”Zhen Yi replied.
"Alright. Also, I know that there are a total of fifty to sixty people on Chu Yan's side. How many guards does the Zhen family have?”
" There are more than 200 people," Zhen Yan replied.
"We don't have enough people. I think we need at least 300 people.”
" No problem. I'll go to the market tomorrow and recruit people in the name of recruiting servants. With the reputation of my Zhen family, it shouldn't be a problem to recruit a thousand people," Zhen Yan said.
"In addition, you have to hire some carpenters and blacksmiths for me. I have my own uses for them.”
"Alright, I'll do it tomorrow."
"I want to choose spies from our newly recruited servants and then train them in the Zhen family.……
Tomorrow, the security guards and I will go to the manor to take a look. When everything is arranged, the security guards can go back to the village to bring those brothers back.”
"As you wish, my lord." Chu Yan replied.
"Brother Zhao, I'll leave Zhen Ding's business to you. Tomorrow, you can return to Zhen Ding. My father-in-law will send a steward to go with you. I'll go back after I'm done here.”
"Alright," said Zhao Sheng,"I'll listen to Xuande."”
The few of them discussed the details of these two matters for a while. After they were basically perfected, Old Liu's first cabinet meeting ended.
After arranging these things, Old Liu was led by a maid to the guest room that the Zhen family had prepared for him.
The maids had already prepared a bath. Seeing that Old Liu had returned, they wanted to help him undress. Old Liu was so frightened that he hurriedly chased the maids out and told them that no one was allowed to enter without his permission!
Then, Old Liu took off his clothes and jumped into the big bathtub.
After taking his first hot bath in the Han Dynasty, Old Liu changed into the clothes that Zhen Jiang had prepared for him. Time was tight, and he did not have time to find a tailor to sew clothes for Old Liu. Coincidentally, Old Liu and Zhen Yan's figures were about the same, so Zhen Jiang brought a few sets of his brother's clothes to Old Liu.
Wearing silk pajamas and lying in the fragrant quilt that Zhen Jiang had laid for him, Old Liu felt as if he had returned to his original home. Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn't practiced his inner force for the day. Old Liu hurriedly got up and practiced his inner force seriously for two hours before he crawled back into bed and slowly fell asleep.
#Review: 18770029449 Time:11 July 2019 5: 17PM #Release:18770029449 Time:11 July 2019 5: 17PM #
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