Three Kingdoms

"Uncle Fu, why is Mr. Cui Xiaolang here?" Fei Qian hadn't recovered from his trance state for a while, but he immediately realized it and slapped his head, "Ah, I almost forgot, wait until I go to greet you."

Fei Qian stood up and prepared to go out to greet Cui Xiaolangjun. Uncle Fu also quickly stepped forward with a smile and helped Fei Qian tidy up some of his wrinkled clothes.

Although Uncle Fu is quite old, his hands and feet are still very nimble. One moment he is in front of Fei Qian to straighten the clothes lines on the front, and the next moment he goes to the back to straighten the wrinkles on the back. From time to time he looks up at Fei Qian, and the wrinkles on his face are revealed. With kindness and happiness.

Fei Qian looked at Uncle Fu's smile and couldn't help but smile too: "Old Uncle Fu, why are you laughing? Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"No, no, Young Master is dressed very well. I feel so happy just seeing Young Master..." Uncle Fu didn't stop holding his hand, but his voice became quieter as he spoke, "...Sir, there is something in the sky. Spirit, bless the young master...safe and healthy...no disease or disaster..."

Fei Qian smiled and said: "Old Uncle Fu, aren't I fine now? Don't worry, my body is fine now!" After that, he reached out and patted his chest.

"Yes, yes, Young Master." Uncle Fu finished arranging his clothes, straightened up, and suddenly thought of something, his smile faded, "Young Master, I shouldn't say anything about this, but even though I have made friends with Master Cui, That's fine, but the Cui family...well, Young Master, it's better to be careful anyway..."

Fei Qian was a little confused: "Uncle Fu, can you explain it more clearly?"

"I have also heard some rumors in the public these days... This matter is a long story. If Mr. Shao Lang wants to know, I will tell you in detail after Mr. Cui Shao Lang has left. But now, we can't let people wait too long. Don't It’s a loss of etiquette in our family… Anyway, it’s always better to be careful…”

"Yeah, okay, I understand." Although Fei Qian didn't understand clearly, he still went to greet Cui Xiaolangjun first. It was rude to let people stand at the door for too long.

Cui Xiaolangjun, named Hou, courtesy name Yongyuan, the son of Cui Yi, looks almost the same as someone with the same name in later generations. Fei Qian met him once in the market and couldn't help but blurt out that Cui Hou's nickname happened to be Yongyuan, and they met immediately.

Cui Hou was the first relatively large "officer descendant" that Fei met after infiltrating the Han Dynasty. To be precise, he should be the descendant of officials who had retreated to an unknown number of lines.

Cui Hou is Cui Yi's eldest son, and Cui Yi is Cui Lie's younger brother.

Because the imperial court does not have the position of prime minister, the largest civil officials are the three ministers, Situ, Sikong, and Sima, followed by the nine ministers, namely Taichang, Xingluxun, Weiwei, Taipu, Tingwei, Dahonglu, and Zongzheng, Da Sinong and Shaofu; the largest military attache is the General, which is analogous to the Prime Minister and is a higher level than the Three Dukes, followed by the Hussar General, the Chariot General, the Guard General, which is analogous to the Three Dukes, and then there are the Four Conquests and the Four Conquests. The generals of Zhen, like the generals of Si'an and Siping, and those below are already considered miscellaneous generals.

As far as Fei Qian knows, Cui Lie was a Situ during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, and he was considered a top boss. Later, because of a conflict between Cui Lie and the eunuchs, Cui Lie lost his official position and was defeated by the Shi Changshi. At home, Cui Lie died of resentment and depression soon after.

Cui Yi was also implicated and almost lost his fortune. Fortunately, someone in the court secretly took care of him. After Shi Changshi killed Cui Lie, he felt relieved and was not interested in pursuing any further investigation, so he was spared his life. Now the Cui family has a farm outside Luoyang City and a quality shop in the city. The scale is naturally not as large as that of General He Jin, but it is still so-so, and living is not a problem.

It is precisely because the Cui family is no longer a popular official that Cui Yi's son Cui Hou no longer has the airs of an official descendant, otherwise Fei Qian would not be able to recognize him.

Every time Fei Qian sees Cui Hou, he feels an inexplicable joy. His small eyes and big face are exactly the same as someone from later generations!

Fei Qian came out and stood on the left side, bowing his hands and saying, "Brother Yongyuan, I'm sorry for the late arrival. Please come in." Although he wanted to laugh when he saw his face, the etiquette should still be in place. of.

Cui Hou also laughed, and his small eyes became even smaller when he smiled: "Haha, brother Xian, why should you be so polite? Brother Xian looks better and better after not seeing you for a few days -" As he spoke, he stepped forward and naturally held Fei Qian's hand. hand.

Although Fei Qian knew that holding hands and arms was just a way of expressing affection in the Han Dynasty, he still felt a little uncomfortable having to get used to a grown man doing such an action to him.

"Brother Yongyuan, please come inside-" Fei Qian took out his hand as quietly as possible, turned to Uncle Fu and ordered some dried fruit tea, and waited for guests in the hall-

Cui Hou didn't seem to notice anything, and still smiled: "Ah, brother Xian, there is no need to be so polite between you and me, just be casual, casual - by the way, I heard that the Heluofei family is also an heir of poetry and calligraphy, and has a large collection of books. Feng, forgive me for being presumptuous, why don’t you go to my dear brother’s study for a chat?”

"study?"

Cui Hou smiled and nodded: "Brother Yu has nothing better than reading new books. I wonder if brother Xian can agree to my unkind invitation? Ah, of course, if it is inconvenient for brother Xian..."

"Where is that? Brother Yongyuan, please come here." Although Fei Qian didn't understand why Cui Hou had such a request, since he made it, he should go to the study if he wanted to.

The two moved to the study and sat down opposite each other. Uncle Fu brought some dried fruit tea and stood aside with his hands down.

Cui Hou looked around and exclaimed: "It is rumored that the Heluofei family has heirlooms of poems and books. It turned out to be true when I saw it today. There are so many books in the collection. Oh, yes, the last thing I bought just happened to be there a few days ago. This distinguished guest was very happy to see it, so he took it away. This distinguished guest is quite generous. Well, as a good brother, Brother Yu will send someone to deliver it today."

"Ah, this is really annoying, Brother Nagahara!"

"If anything, Brother Yu should also thank Brother Xian..." Cui Hou suddenly clapped his hands and said, "Ah, by the way, I almost forgot, Brother Yu's farm has recently grown some new fruits, and I brought some specially for Brother Xian to taste. Taste—Old housekeeper, could you please excuse me? I’ve asked someone to take you to the back alley.”

Fei Qian couldn't refuse, so he had to thank Uncle Fu and ask Uncle Fu to collect it in the back alley.

Cui Hou saw that Uncle Fu was gone and there was no one around, so he came closer and asked in a low voice: "Such a treasure... brother Xian, do you still have it? Last time, the distinguished guest said that he would take as much as he said..."

The so-called treasure is actually a large glass bead with an embossed pattern. To be precise, it should be a glass bead, because Fei Qian cannot purify it. Glaze is hard and fragile, making it difficult to carve. Later generations invented the lost-wax method, which allowed the glaze to appear in richer patterns and shapes. The dewaxing method of colored glaze was not invented and used until the Tang Dynasty. Later generations of Fei Qian also had a little personal interest in colored glaze and built a lot of collections, so they knew a little bit about it.

At that time, Fei Qian was suffering from typhoid fever, and his family was basically depleted by the expense of decoctions. Fortunately, Fei Qian still remembered the local method of making colored glaze. After many attempts, he picked a few shaped ones through the dewaxing method, and polished them carefully. After making three or two finished products, he happened to meet Cui Hou in the market. By accident, he learned that the Cui family had a quality shop, so he asked Cui Hou to exchange for some money to survive the initial period. A difficult time.

This can be regarded as the only golden finger that Fei Qian currently uses. It's a bit helpless to say that the various levels in the Han Dynasty were clearly divided. Although there was no household registration system for scholars, farmers, industry and commerce like the later Ming Dynasty, Fei Qian was more or less a scholar, and it was inconvenient to sell things directly.

The more popular method of transaction between "gentlemen" is "gifting". You give me a few singers, and I give you a few BMWs. Everyone knows that it is a transaction, but it is just covered with elegance.

If Fei Qian wanted to cash in the glass products he made, the fastest way at that time was to pawn them, but he unexpectedly met Cui Hou at that time, otherwise he might have chosen another pawn shop.

However, it is not easy to make earthen colored glaze. Nine times out of ten, it will be cracked or hollow. The yield is too low. Fei Qian has made it several times. Except for the first few times, there are still a few decent ones. The two recent batches are all scraps. , all smashed and unusable.

Furthermore, Fei Qian also knew that things are rare and valuable, and shipping in large quantities would not only disrupt prices, but also easily lead to the crime of possessing a jade, so he only took two or three finished products and asked Cui Hou to sell them on his behalf as an ancestral item from his family. Other waste products were broken into pieces and buried deeply.

It's better to have a reputation as a prodigal than to be remembered.

Now it seems that Cui Hou has tasted a lot of sweetness in this transaction, so he came to inquire in person to see if there is any possibility of continuing the transaction.

Fei Qian thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Brother Yongyuan is not afraid of your jokes. I am heartbroken when I have to sell it. This is a thing passed down by my ancestors. When I come here...sigh..." This question is not easy to answer. If Saying that there will be more follow-up, doesn’t this make it clear that we have the goods on hand? not good. But he said no. The money is enough now, but what if you accidentally spend it all? You can't block the road, right?

Fei Qian covered his face with his sleeves and put on a sad look. He was not prepared to answer directly, so he would just go over it first.

Cui Hou coughed twice and thought to himself, as his father said, there must be another mystery. This guy is still pretending to be sad. He doesn’t even shed a single tear. This is such a bad way of pretending. It would only look real if I had tears streaming down my face.——

However, Cui Hou also understood that Fei Qian didn't want to answer, so he had to change the topic: "This, Brother Xian, don't be sad...ah, what books is Brother Xian reading recently? I think there are more than a thousand volumes of books here, can you give Brother Yu a meal? Are you lucky?" While Fei Qian was still covering his face, he intentionally or unintentionally spread the bamboo slips that Fei Qian had placed on the edge of the table, took a sneak peek, and vaguely saw a few words: "...My Gongliang is useless. ...".

"Ah, they are just some ordinary books. Look, Brother Yongyuan, this is a comprehensive collection. Unfortunately, I only collected eleven volumes here, and there are still many missing ones..."

While Cui Hou smiled and pretended to listen to Fei Qian introducing various collections of scriptures to him, he kept thinking about whether the various books he had read had this sentence. After thinking about it, he had no clue. , couldn't help but secretly curse, "What kind of book is this Zhuzi reading?"