Chapter 42 The Dutiful Son

Just at this moment, Zhu Gang came in excitedly holding the account book, and asked, "What are you talking about, what are you talking about?"

Deng Qianqiu said unhappily, "You are saying that His Highness is very bad."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Gang burst into laughter. He was not ashamed, but proud and said, "Thank you for the compliment. I am grateful for your respect. Although I have received this honor, I know that I am still a little inadequate. In the future, I will definitely make further progress and never let the bad people in the world look down on me."

Deng Qianqiu: “…”

The girl burst out laughing.

Zhu Gang said hurriedly: "Okay, Qianqiu, look, this is all done according to your method."

So Deng Qianqiu took the account book from Zhu Gang's hand and looked at it carefully.

But when he saw a number, he suddenly looked up and said to Zhu Gang, "This mint... is actually 150 coins per pound?"

Zhu Gang said proudly: "Outside, it sells for 170 coins... We made a lot of money, and it only cost 150 coins. I spent a lot of effort to negotiate it."

Deng Qianqiu frowned and said, "What a loss, what a loss."

Zhu Gang was surprised and said, "Ah... this is still a loss? We clearly made a lot of money, Qianqiu, are you mistaken? Are you confused?"

The young girl nearby couldn't help but come over and listen attentively.

Zhu Gang asked, "Then how much do you think you will charge? One hundred and forty-five coins, or one hundred and forty-four coins, or one hundred and forty coins?"

Deng Qianqiu said confidently: "I'll give you a number, fifty cents!"

"What?" Zhu Gang's eyes almost popped out, and he couldn't help but ask, "Fifty cents? You might as well go rob!"

Deng Qianqiu said: "Your Highness, it's you who went to rob, you are the chief of the outside world!"

Zhu Fan: "..."

Zhu Gang suddenly felt that he had added a burden to his conscience.

He didn't mind doing something immoral, but he was charging only 50 cents for mint that was priced at 170 cents outside. This was tantamount to robbery.

Even Zhu Gang felt that Deng Qianqiu was too dark-hearted.

After hearing this, the girl seemed to frown, as if she felt that this was inappropriate, but she was thoughtful and did not seem willing to express her suggestions easily.

"Qianqiu, ah Qianqiu, although... robbery does make money quickly, but..." Zhu Gang paused, and said with a tangled look: "Didn't we agree to do business? How come you changed your career halfway?"

Deng Qianqiu was too lazy to explain to him, and just said: "Your Highness, this is the purchase price. Not only mint, but other purchase prices must also be changed. You listen to me and negotiate at this price."

Zhu Gang frowned deeply, but in the face of Deng Qianqiu's insistent gaze, he finally said, "Okay, okay, I'll go and negotiate. If they don't agree, I won't rob them. I'm determined to be a profiteer, not a bandit. By the way, your father has come to the capital."

It was Deng Qianqiu's turn to get nervous now: "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I didn't go to greet him. I'm such a filial person, aren't you making me an unfilial person?"

Zhu Gang puffed up his cheeks and said, "I was kind enough to bring your father to Beijing, but you complained about me... He is now staying at Laipeng Inn..."

Deng Qianqiu finally thanked Zhu Gang sincerely, and then hurriedly said: "Well, Your Highness... Goodbye!"

Having said that, he hurried away.

……

Deng Qianqiu hurriedly found Deng Jian's residence. When he saw Deng Jian, the father and son had not been seen for a long time and they couldn't help feeling emotional.

Deng Jianyi held Deng Qianqiu's hand and said, "I heard that you came to Nanjing on business. I was worried. But the provincial examination is coming soon, and your father needs to come to Beijing. Where do you live?"

Deng Qianqiu said truthfully: "In Xianliang Temple."

Deng Jian frowned: "Xianliang Temple...are you on duty there?"

Deng Qianqiu didn't dare to say that he had been promoted to a centurion, mainly because he was worried that his father would know that his son had become successful and would lose his ambition.

This is not conducive to struggle!
So he said vaguely: "Well, it's an errand, Dad, how is your study going?"

Deng Jian pulled his son to sit down, and then said, "Don't worry about this, your father will make arrangements." Deng Qianqiu was even more worried after hearing this, but he thought that the father and son had just reunited, so he didn't want to rush anything, so he said happily, "Dad, look what I brought you."

After saying that, he took off the bag he had brought with him.

Deng Jian's heart warmed up, and he said with relief: "Why did I ask you to buy something for your father? You, please don't spend money recklessly. What did you bring?"

Deng Qianqiu untied the bundle, and Deng Jian took a closer look, only to find that it was piles of candles.

Deng Jian frowned and asked in confusion: "This is..."

Deng Jian said, "Dad, I bought this specially because I was worried that you might damage your eyes by reading at night. You are usually frugal and you are reluctant to light more candles at night. You can light more candles when you read here in the future. It will be good for your eyes."

Deng Qianqiu didn’t know if he had seen it wrong, but he seemed to see the corner of his father’s mouth twitched quickly.

Deng Jian took a deep breath and said, "Qianqiu is really thoughtful."

Deng Qianqiu said cheerfully, "Not only that, I also ordered two roosters for Dad. I've already told the waiter downstairs to keep them in the backyard of this inn."

Deng Jian said: "Father doesn't like to eat chicken, you know that."

Deng Qianqiu smiled, "How could I not know? But these chickens are not for eating. They are kept in the backyard. They crow at dawn. I am worried that Dad will stay up late to study and won't be able to get up at dawn. With these two roosters crowing, Dad knows that it's time to study at dawn. You don't know that I had to persuade the guy to raise chickens for me, and I even spent some money on raising chickens before they agreed."

Deng Jian's face froze slightly.

This time, Deng Qianqiu saw it clearly, so he said, "Dad, what's wrong with you? Why do you look so unhappy?"

Deng Jian didn't want to make his son sad, but he also understood that his son was doing this for his own good. He finally said, "Maybe it's because of the long journey. Qianqiu, you really have a thoughtful heart."

When father and son meet, there are always many things to talk about. Deng Qianqiu sat in the inn until dark and was reluctant to leave.

Deng Jian watched Deng Qianqiu leave, took a deep breath, lit a few more candles, and began to study hard.

Before he knew it, it seemed like midnight and he fell asleep because he felt sleepy.

It seemed that less than two hours had passed, and the thick night fog was still there. It was probably only a little before three quarters of the morning that the crowing of roosters could be heard.

The two roosters seemed to be competing, and the guy who woke up downstairs couldn't help cursing: "Why are these damn sick chickens crowing before dawn, and crowing so loudly."

Another waiter said, "It's better to kill the chicken. If we leave it here, who would be willing to stay here?"

The clerk said vaguely, "That won't do. The man who delivered the chicken was wearing the uniform of a military officer of the Yiluansi and carrying a knife. If he comes again one day and the chicken is missing, who knows what will happen! We can't afford to offend such a person!"

"Oh my God, is it possible that the murderer of his father lives in this inn? He wants to take revenge, but he wants us to suffer as a result."

Sure enough, many of the residents on the second floor were awakened and started shouting and cursing.

Deng Jian opened his eyes and looked at the beams in confusion. His head was a little groggy. He didn't know when the remaining candle went out. Outside the window there were only the dim shadows of trees under the dim moonlight. Deng Jian was a little dazed.

…………

Zhu Yuanzhang was in a good mood. No matter what, Empress Ma would bring him another child into this world.

Therefore, no matter how busy he was, he would always squeeze out time to visit Queen Ma's bedroom.

As soon as he entered the bedroom, he saw Empress Ma sitting at the desk, holding a pen, teaching something.

On the other side, the eldest princess Zhu Jingjing sat obediently beside, carefully observing Empress Ma's running script.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he frowned at Empress Ma and said, "You are pregnant and sick, why are you still sitting? You should lie down and take care of the baby."

As he spoke, he looked at Zhu Jingjing and said, "Jing'er, I remember that your mother embroidered a piece of embroidery for me a few days ago. Can you bring it here for me to see?"

When Empress Ma saw that it was Zhu Yuanzhang who came, she looked at the eunuch in the corner with a smile. The eunuch understood and hurried to prepare tea.

Zhu Jingjing uttered an "oh", tried to get up, and walked a few steps unhappily.

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have noticed something and said, "Come back, why are you so unhappy? It must be that one of your brothers bullied you. Isn't it?"

(End of this chapter)