Chapter 1087 Huatiantang (Part 1)

"Buy antiques? Is it a bit too late today?" Cao Yong looked out the window, and it was already time to fall into the yamen.

Although summer is long, it is already the end of Shen (before 5 pm). When you arrive at Qianmen or Liulichang, this shop will also be removed.

Yiduli was wearing an official uniform and looked like he was coming directly from the Ministry of War.

He held a golden post in his hand and handed it to Cao Yong, with a little excitement on his face: "It's really hard to get this post now. I've been begging several people but I haven't asked for one. I didn't expect to get it today. I happened to have a friend who had something to do at home and was not free tonight, so I just released one."

Cao Yong took the post and felt heavy and raised his eyebrows: "Is this pure gold?"

Yiduli took a little proudly and said, "No, it's enough gold to be twelve taels."

One tael of gold and ten taels of silver, exchange it for 120 taels of silver.

Using this to make a post shows luxury, but it is also full of excitement.

There are three words in the middle with cinnabar, "Hua Tiantang", and there are two boys the size of thumb cover in the lower right, "Lihuo".

Cao Yong is familiar with this Huatian. This is one of the most famous restaurants by Shichahai. The master in the house is a master who retired from the imperial kitchen of the palace. He is famous for cooking delicacies in the capital.

Sea cucumber, shark fin, shrimp, fresh shells that are not common outside are common in Huatian.

It is specially designed for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the vegetables that are invisible on the market are also found in Huatian.

Cao Yong remembered clearly that once he was invited to eat a mat, and there was a dish of "straw mushroom broccoli" for 8 taels of silver. This was a common thing hundreds of years later, but it was a rare thing to eat at that time.

According to rumors, this Huatiantang is the business of Prince Kang's mansion.

Cao Yong was just a banquet from others at that time. He had been there twice, but he didn't pay much attention.

But he also knew that even if it was not a transaction in Prince Kang's mansion, it still had a background, otherwise it would not have been possible to gain a foothold at Shichahai.

"Is Huatian changing antiques ready?" The golden post was so scattered that Cao Yong asked.

Yiduli smiled and said, "It's still the realm of eating, but it's just that every six times a day, which is exactly today."

Looking at the meaning of the text, Cao Yong knew that this was the place where Tao exchanged for antique treasures.

There are many powerful people in the capital, and "treasure appraisal meetings" are common, but most of them are held by antique calligraphy and painting shops. Unexpectedly, they are now held in restaurants.

Since Yiduli came to invite him, Cao Yong was not pretentious and looked down at his clothes and said, "Then go back and change your clothes first?"

Yiduli nodded and hesitated for a moment, "That's right, you and I will go to each other's homes. After an hour, we will meet at Liuyin Hutong."

Liuyin Hutong is right by the sea of ​​Shicha, not far from "Hua Tiantang".

Seeing that he wanted to speak, Cao Yong stopped laughing and said, "What else do you have to give?"

Yiduli smiled and said, "I really want to beg you... I didn't expect to get today's posts before. I was a little prepared for money. If I am cheap, I will lend me some silver notes."

Cao Yong was surprised when he heard this.

He has also seen this similar activity of the "Treasure Appraisal Association" a few years ago, and most of them paying deposits.

Even if the hall of Huatiantang is larger, it is enough to have a deposit of 18,000 taels. Although the Yiduli family is not as good as the Cao family, it is also a family of officials and has a lot of wealth. It will never be difficult to get 18,000 taels of silver.

At this moment, I heard Yiduli smile bitterly and said, "The things that flow out of their house should be cleared on the spot."

"Why is this?" Cao Yong listened, a little puzzled.

It is not uncommon for antique calligraphy and paintings in the capital to cost tens of thousands of yuan. Could it be that anyone who used to carry a box of silver notes or asks people to carry a few boxes of silver?

"Otherwise, their family can exchange for good things. The treasures that appear in their family are not exchanged for Taobao from merchants, but are directly from the owner. Huatiantang is just handling the matter and collects 30% of the sales price as a commission. If the deposit can be paid, the buyer will regret it later. Even if he pays the deposit, it will delay his efforts, right?" Yiduli said.

It is common for wealthy families to rise and fall. Especially in the capital, it is not uncommon for families with treasures at home.

If those antique calligraphy and paintings were sold to antique shops or were given pawns, the silver they would not get more than 50%. Sometimes, they would even be crushed to 100% or 20% of them.

If you get Huatiantang and sell it, even if you pay 30% of the commission, there is still 70% left. It is still a good thing for the seller to take advantage of it.

"How much is needed? The adults can save less and delay their work." Cao Yong thought for a while and said.

Yiduli stretched out his palm, flipped it over, lowered the volume and said, "If it's cheap, just take a hundred thousand."

Cao Yong responded, but felt extremely strange in his heart.

Even if Yidu’s family has a lot of money, it would be a little over to buy antiques with 100,000 taels of silver. Even if it is a wealthy family with a population of over 100,000 taels of silver can be spent seriously for several years.

But Yi Duli didn't say much, and Cao Yong didn't know how to ask, otherwise he would seem unhappy to borrow money if he talked too much.

After saying this, it was time to fall into the yamen. Yiduli and Cao Yong left the Ministry of Revenue, and each returned home to change his clothes without mentioning it.

Because after about an hour, time is still abundant.

After returning to Wutongyuan to change his clothes, Cao Yong told Chu Yu about Yidu's loan of silver and asked her to withdraw 150,000 taels of silver notes from the Bank of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

There are not many silver coins in the Cao family that exist in the bank, but in the name of Chu Yu, it exists in the Bank of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for more than 200,000 taels. Because she has Daoxiang Village, the shop business has been good over the years, and it is not obvious that she has silver coins.

In the name of Cao's Mansion, there were only tens of thousands of taels of taels of deposit. In addition to the property, some of the others were also stored in other bank houses.

Chu Yu opened the box happily and took out the silver notes. However, like Cao Yong, she was very puzzled by Yiduli's spending these silvers on antiques: "A few farms can be bought with 100,000 taels of silver. I don't know who it is for, but this gift is really too heavy."

Baba Ditao exchanged for gold posts from "Hua Tiantang" and borrowed money to buy antiques. This designation is not for your own use.

When Cao Yong heard this, his heart moved.

These days, he and the Sixteenth Prince also received a lot of antique calligraphy and paintings. Those people had only one purpose of giving gifts, which was that local officials were vacant at the end of the year.

One hundred thousand taels of silver, spend money to run for office. If there is a way, a governor will come down.

Yiduli was born into a wealthy family in the Eight Banners, and the prime minister's family was a person with a way. The most obvious way he could do was to have a good brother-in-law.

Are the things ready to be given to the Thirteenth Prince?

Cao Yong felt a little incredible. With the relationship between Yiduli and the Thirteenth Prince, it would not be difficult for him to beg for the Thirteenth Prince. How could there be more expensive antique knocking on the door?

This question was taken to Liuyin Hutong and met with Yiduli.

Yiduli had already changed out of his official uniform, wearing only a royal blue silk jacket, with a hat on his head, and a piece of white mutton fat the size of a pigeon egg. He had a purse and a Pisces jade pendant hanging around his waist, black silk official boots on his feet, and a fan in his hand. It was the fan painted by Wen Zhengming of the previous dynasty.

Even if you don’t report the title of Assistant Minister of War, you will be rich all over the body by just dressing up.

However, what Cao Yong saw was not his outfit, but that he only had two servants behind him.

If you really spend 100,000 taels of silver to buy a baby, you shouldn’t be more careful?

Although Cao Yong brought not many people, he also had a servant and four guards. It was not because he brought a huge sum of money, but because he was not familiar with the place he went to, and it was time tonight, so it would be better to pay more attention.

Yiduli saw Cao Yong's question and smiled and said, "Let's go over for dinner now and bring those many people to do? When I came, I had already ordered them to pick me up at the Huatian Gate at the beginning of Haichu (9 o'clock in the evening)."

While speaking, he had already gotten on his horse and walked with Cao Yong. In a moment, he arrived at Huatian.

There was a Qingyi steward waiting at the door and checked Yiduli's golden letter, but led Yiduli and Cao Yong into the yard.

Turning over the screen wall, I saw a red piece of red.

Outside the three main rooms on the north side, hundreds of red lanterns were hung, and the red lanterns were reflected everywhere.

When the Qingyi Supervisor took Yiduli, when Cao Yong entered the house, he walked into the west side door. Cao Yong realized the difference in the house.

The main room is very deep, and by the window is a veranda about five feet wide, connecting several private rooms. When I saw the private room, I found that one room had two doors, and the other door was facing an open space in the center of the main room.

Where Cao Yong and the others are located is a private room on the west side of the main room. Corner lamps stand at the four corners of the private room, making the room as bright as daytime.

Although it is a restaurant and summer, there are window screens on the window frames, but no one is disturbed. Even if you hear some movement, you will not hear it clearly because it is far apart.

In the elegant room, four plates of fresh fruits and four butterfly side dishes have been arranged.

The Qingyi Man did not hand over the menu, and asked Yiduli in a low voice, then went down to hand over the dishes.

Cao Yong asked, "Are this menu fixed?"

Iduli nodded and said, "Only on six days, in order not to delay the 'treasure appraisal', the dishes are served directly according to the room. The eight private rooms are different."

It was time for dinner, so Cao Yong did not say anything, wiped his hands with the wet towel prepared on the table, and started to use chopsticks with Yiduli.

Hot dishes are very fast, bowls, plates, porridge, and pastries are four.

According to the Beijing City Semen, today is the "Four-to-Five" Semen, also known as Liuliushu, because there are twelve dishes in total.

Although there are not many dishes, they include bear paws, hump, sea cucumbers in the sea, fish lips, flying dragons in the birds, swans, bamboo fungus in the grass, and monkey heads.

Even Cao Yong and Yiduli, who were rich in their families, couldn't help but praise them when they saw such delicious food, and forgot their original intention when they came.

Have a good meal.

When the chopsticks were put down, the Qingyi Man took the servant to remove the bowls and plates and deliver fragrant tea, Yiduli remembered his purpose of coming here.

He took out his pocket watch, it was almost Xu Zheng (8 o'clock in the evening), and said with a smile: "It's time."

When Cao Yong heard this, he remembered that the silver notes had not been given to him, so he took them out of his purse and pushed them to Yiduli. They were all silver notes issued by the Bank of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ranging from 5,000 to 20,000, and there were about ten.

Yiduli took it, but didn't count it. He put it aside, took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, opened it, and handed it to Cao Yong and said, "Brother, settle the accounts clearly, Furuo has settled it."

Cao Yong glanced at it and found that Yiduli's financial difficulties were written on it.

Cao Yong put away and said, "Sir, want to make an exile?"

Yiduli nodded and said, "That's right. If you hold a minister in Beijing, you can't compare to the government's place! Now everyone is in charge, and I can't wait. The opportunity is rare. If you wait for a full term, it's still a little bit of a question."

Cao Yong shook his head and said, "Even so, there is no need for such a big brush, right? The Thirteenth Master has always been close to the adults, and he will never receive a great gift from the adults for this!"

Yiduli smiled and said, "Furuo knows the temper of the Thirteenth Master, I know it too. But this gift of 10,000 yuan was given to the Thirteenth Prince's Mansion, but it was not for the Thirteenth Master, but for the Thirteenth Prince's Consort..."
To be continued...