Chapter 28

29, Bribery? Bribery is excellent!

Su Qiao stepped down from the carriage with a look of confusion.

He saw that the carriage had already stopped within the grounds of a private courtyard.

The courtyard was not particularly large, just a standard Sihe Academy compound.

Yet every detail, from the decoration to the furnishings, exuded an air of elegance.

In the modest courtyard, several potted landscapes had been planted.

Even in the Great Ming, such a residence in Jin Ling could absolutely not be purchased for less than one hundred taels of silver.

Before Su Qiao could fully regain his composure,

a young man hurried out from within the courtyard.

Upon seeing Su Qiao, he rushed out from the main hall to greet him.

"Is this Lord Su?"

Su Qiao clasped his hands in greeting while asking with a puzzled expression,

"And you are...?"

The young man immediately smiled and said,

"This humble one is Shen Shen Boding, the proprietor of Hengtong Shipping."

Having spoken, Shen Shen Boding began to pour out his grievances to Su Qiao.

"Lord Su may not know, ever since the court announced the maritime ban, those of us who sail the seas have suffered unspeakably!"

"Thanks to Lord Su speaking up for justice in the court a few days ago..."

Before Shen Shen Boding could finish his sentence,

Su Qiao had already discerned the visitor's intention.

Just look at this courtyard.

Then consider this person's status.

Wasn't this clearly someone coming to bribe him?!

Thinking of this,

Su Qiao's eyes grew even brighter.

I've provoked them to this extent,

and Old Zhu still hasn't killed me, has he?

Then I might as well start raking in the money!

Whether in his past life or this one,

Su Qiao had never experienced what it felt like to be a corrupt official.

With this thought, Su Qiao immediately turned to Shen Shen Boding standing nearby and smiled, saying,

"In that case, shall we speak inside?"

As he spoke, Su Qiao made a gesture toward Shen Shen Boding.

Shen Shen Boding looked at Su Qiao with some surprise.

He had originally thought Su Qiao was a rash youth.

He expected that upon seeing such a generous gift, Su Qiao would be frightened out of his wits.

He never expected matters to proceed so smoothly.

Shen Shen Boding immediately smiled and said,

"Good, good! Let us speak inside right away!"

Su Qiao walked into the main hall on his own, carefully examining the arrangement before him.

Having spoken, Su Qiao plopped himself down onto the armchair in the main hall.

The moment he sat down, before Shen Shen Boding could say a word,

Su Qiao immediately let out a sigh.

"Alas..."

Shen Shen Boding's heart tightened instantly, and he looked at Su Qiao nervously, asking,

"What troubles Lord Su?"

Su Qiao clicked his tongue and said,

"Alas, Squire Shen may not know, but I have had a flaw since childhood."

Shen Shen Boding looked at Su Qiao with confusion and asked,

"Please instruct me, Lord Su."

Su Qiao immediately smiled mysteriously and said,

"When it comes to furniture, I can only use rosewood; nothing else will do."

As he spoke, Su Qiao pointed to the armchair beneath him, saying,

"This ash wood chair feels like it bruises my buttocks when I sit on it."

Upon hearing this, Shen Shen Boding's eyes immediately lit up.

He wasn't afraid of you accepting it.

He was only afraid you wouldn't accept it!

"That is easily solved!"

"Just wait, Lord Su!"

As he spoke, Shen Shen Boding stood up and shouted to the two attendants outside the hall.

"Quick, return to the residence and bring over that set of rosewood furniture I just had brought back from Nanyang!"

"Yes!"

One of the attendants immediately hurried out of the courtyard.

Su Qiao, however, could not help but stretch again, sighing helplessly as he said,

"Alas, Squire Shen, look, I truly did not mean that."

Shen Shen Boding immediately laughed and said,

"Indeed, how could Lord Su possibly mean such a thing?"

"This is merely this humble commoner, seeing that Lord Su has just arrived in Jin Ling, voluntarily sending some over."

Hearing this, Su Qiao could not help but frown slightly.

"Squire Shen, you have misunderstood."

"I was saying..."

"Sigh, I am just someone who loves drinking tea; if it is not Zhengshan Xiaozhong, it burns my throat."

Shen Shen Boding immediately slapped his forehead.

"I was too hasty. You there, go fetch ten jin of fine tea..."

Su Qiao looked at Shen Shen Boding with a speechless expression.

Only after a long while did two words tumble from his mouth:

"Just that little?"

Hearing this, Shen Shen Boding was instantly stunned.

That... little?!

Sixty taels is enough to have one's skin flayed and stuffed with straw!

That little is already enough to have ten people like you flayed and stuffed with straw!

A look of difficulty inevitably appeared on Shen Shen Boding's face.

Then he plopped down right beside Su Qiao.

Pointing a finger at the desk nearby, he whispered,

"Lord Su, please tell me, how much?"

Su Qiao did not mind in the slightest.

He casually replied,

"Two hundred thousand taels!"

Shen Shen Boding: "..."

"..."

The entire hall instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Two hundred thousand taels!

How much silver does the entire Great Ming collect in annual revenue!

If this were an ordinary prefecture,

it might not even produce two hundred thousand taels' worth of grain in a whole year!

And you, Su Qiao, just open your mouth and ask for two hundred thousand taels?!

Do you know how much space two hundred thousand taels of silver would take to fill this hall?

Bringing back this much silver, aren't you afraid thieves will set their sights on you?!

Shen Shen Boding froze on the spot.

Seeing Shen Shen Boding's expression,

Su Qiao could not help but feel a pang of panic.

It's over.

Did I ask for too much?

Two hundred thousand taels shouldn't be that much, right?

Heshen embezzled millions of taels of silver!

My request for two hundred thousand taels should be considered quite modest, right?!

Just as Su Qiao was wrestling with whether to lower his price,

Shen Shen Boding suddenly slapped his thigh and shouted loudly,

"Deal!"

"Lord Su, please wait here; I will go back immediately to raise the silver!"

"Your Majesty, Su Qiao has accepted a bribe!"

Before Su Qiao could even react,

Shen Shen Boding darted out of the courtyard in a single stride.

Seeing this, Su Qiao finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Only now did Su Qiao begin to inspect his current "lodging."

Everything had been arranged quite properly.

Even the bedding had already been laid out on the bed.

Originally, Su Qiao thought the day would simply pass like this.

However, it was clear that Su Qiao had underestimated Shen Shen Boding's executive ability.

Mere two hours later,

four carriages pulled up in front of Su Qiao's home.

As several large crates of silver were carried into Su Qiao's courtyard,

Su Qiao was completely stunned.

Who could have imagined

that two hundred thousand taels of silver

would amount to so much!

With only four rooms in total,

the two hundred thousand taels of silver occupied an entire room by themselves!

Just as Su Qiao was still staring dumbfounded at the pile of silver before him,

at the Shen residence on the other side,

Huang Huang Zicheng sat upright in the main hall, sipping tea.

Before long, Shen Wang, the head of the Shen family, rushed excitedly into the courtyard and, looking at Huang Huang Zicheng with great agitation, said,

"Lord Huang, he accepted it! That young man accepted it all!"

"A full two hundred thousand taels of silver!"

"This time, that kid is surely going to be stuffed to death!"

The moment Shen Wang finished speaking,

Huang Huang Zicheng immediately began coughing violently.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

He looked at Shen Wang, the head of the Shen family, with an expression of utter shock.

Two hundred thousand taels of silver!

In all his life, he had never seen so much silver!

Did I not merely instruct you to slip Su Qiao a few taels?

Who would have thought your Shen family would make such a grand gesture,

casually handing over two hundred thousand taels of silver!

The key point is that this is two hundred thousand taels of ready cash!

And Shen Wang did not even blink an eyelid!

Just how incredibly wealthy must the Shen family be!

Thinking of this, Huang Huang Zicheng felt a twinge of envy toward Shen Wang.

If all else fails, I might as well resign from office, return home, and go into business.

Shen Wang looked at Huang Huang Zicheng with a face full of confusion and asked,

"Lord Huang, what is this?"

Huang Huang Zicheng waved his hand and said,

"No matter, no matter."

"Did Su Qiao truly accept those twenty?"

Shen Wang immediately cupped his fists and said,

"Rest assured, Lord Huang; I witnessed them being transported into that residence with my own eyes!"

Only then did Huang Huang Zicheng nod slightly, rise, cup his fists, and say,

"In that case, this official has urgent matters to attend to and must take his leave!"

Seeing Huang Huang Zicheng about to depart, Shen Wang immediately asked in some panic,

"Lord Huang, what about the Crown Prince's side?"

Huang Huang Zicheng could not help but sneer coldly,

"Squire Shen, set your heart at ease; His Highness the Crown Prince has not forgotten!"

Hearing Huang Huang Zicheng say this,

the weight hanging in Shen Wang's heart finally settled.

Two hundred thousand taels of silver.

To buy a favor in Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yunwen's heart.

This money was spent too well!

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

Old Zhu was also devising strategies for his descendant of who-knows-how-many generations.

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"Great-Grandfather, your grandson has already gone to the streets to investigate this morning."

"Coarse rice has already reached two taels and four qian of silver per shi."

"Your grandson dare not arbitrarily impose additional commercial taxes."

"The court has discussed this several times before; each time the subject was broached, the entire assembly of civil and military officials spoke with one voice. Your subject truly dare not act rashly."

Upon reading the news mentioned by Chongzhen.