Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

"Puchi!" As soon as Lu Yujie finished speaking, someone couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Mr. Zhang glared at the husband who laughed, tugged at his clothes imperceptibly, and felt annoyed.

Although his wife Zhang Ge Lao and Chang Sun Mei were both important cabinet officials, their backgrounds were very different.

Unlike Zhangsun Mei, who came from the century-old Changsun family, Zhang Ge Lao came from a poor family. Her mother and father, who were farmers, relied on a few acres of land and the marriage gifts from her four brothers to support her to take the imperial examinations and enter the official career.

Zhang Ge Lao was quite hardworking and she passed the imperial examination and entered the Hanlin Academy. After more than twenty years, she finally became a Ge Lao. However, she was of noble and upright character, often talking about the spirit of scholars. She was not good at managing real estate, so even though she had achieved the position of a Ge Lao, her life was still very tight.

If that were the case, it would be fine, but the husband she married was a vulgar man who loved beautiful clothes, pearls and agates, which was exactly the opposite of Lord Zhang who didn't want to be tainted by money.

Mr. Zhang and Mr. Zhang knew each other when they were humble, and they were both from the countryside. Perhaps because they had lived a hard life in their early years, after Mr. Zhang became a minister, he felt that his status as the husband of the minister had also risen, and thus he began to gradually reveal his vain, lazy nature.

Whether it was food, clothing or daily necessities, they all had to imitate the style of officials' husbands and have the most fashionable ones. However, Zhang Ge Lao's monthly salary was so little that no matter how hard he tried, he could only squeeze out so much. So, as he had no money but wanted to show off, he put a lot of effort into his clothes and headgear.

If you can’t afford Shu brocade, then use loose satin, the colors are pretty much the same anyway; if you can’t afford a solid gold bracelet, then use gold wrapped in silver, they all look equally bright from the outside anyway; if pearl powder is too expensive, then buy lead powder, it will make your face look equally white when you apply it on it…

But even though these second-rate items were already cheap enough, rice was expensive in the capital and it was not easy to live in a big city. Even though Mr. Zhang had put in a lot of effort and exhausted himself, there were only a few things he could offer.

As it happened, he loved to attend all kinds of banquets, big and small, so it was common for him to wear the same piece of clothing or jewelry several times on different occasions.

Under normal circumstances, all the officials' wives knew about his family's situation and, considering Zhang Gelao's status, they would just laugh at him in private. But today, he chose to cause trouble and came right in front of Chang Sun Yan, so Lu Yujie fought back without any hesitation.

"Although your majesty is strict in practicing frugality, the world is peaceful now, the country is prosperous and the people are strong. Mr. Zhang is the wife of the prime minister, so there is no need to be so frugal."

If we were to ask who the husband of the Zhang family hates the most among all the husbands in the capital, it would be Lu Yujie, who has a fake smile on his face.

The reason was simple. While he was tightening his belt and even hesitated for a long time before buying a silver hairpin, Lu Yujie, who was also the husband of a cabinet minister, was able to buy all the jewelry in the Golden Building without blinking an eye, and then waved his hand nonchalantly, allowing the other husbands to choose freely.

"My master is grateful for the grace of the emperor. He has always been frugal and honest. He has only lived on the salary from the court. Naturally, he is different from Lord Zhangsun who has many friends and earns a lot of money." Feeling the eyes of the people around him sweeping over his head and body from time to time, Mr. Zhang's face turned red, but he still refused to give up and retorted.

Hearing the dirty trick in his words, Lu Yujie's face turned colder, "Lord Zhang is certainly incorruptible, but others may not be. If I'm not mistaken, the amber red beads on the ears of the young master of the Zhang family are from the Jinyu Tower, right?"

"It is said that the red beads are only the size of a date pit, and one of them costs ten gold coins. The two on his ears are shiny red, as big as pearls, and they are inlaid with gold to make earrings. I'm afraid it will cost at least a hundred gold coins to buy them."

"But the quarterly salary of a cabinet official is only thirty gold coins. Mr. Zhang loves his son deeply. Even if he doesn't eat or drink for half a year, he is still willing to buy a pair of earrings like this for your son."

Hearing this, everyone in the hall immediately cast their eyes towards the young master of the Zhang family who was standing beside the husband of the Zhang family. Sure enough, they saw an amber red bead earring hanging on each of his earlobes. The red beads were as red as cinnabar, so bright that one could tell at a glance that they were rare items.

Just as Lu Yujie said, the Zhang family was poor, and even the clothes and jewelry they wore to the banquet were worn over and over again. But now the pair of earrings on the ears of the young man of the Zhang family were worth hundreds of gold. They were very inconsistent with his half-new clothes, and it was obviously not something the Zhang family could afford. So where did these earrings come from?

Everyone couldn't help but recall the rumor that the young master of the Zhang family had been deceived into losing his body some years ago, and that's why he's still not married even though he's in his twenties. Everyone couldn't help but look at the young master of the Zhang family with intriguing eyes.

The young man from the Zhang family was startled when he saw that everyone's eyes were on him. A trace of panic suddenly appeared on his face. He wanted to reach out to cover his earlobes, but perhaps he thought that doing so would only make things more obvious, so he endured it and pretended to be calm.

"Mr. Changsun must have made a mistake. Although the beads on my earrings look like amber red beads, they are just ordinary bloodstones and are not worth much."

"Heh." Lu Yujie sneered, and instead of exposing his clumsy lie directly, he asked, "Really? Such bright and dazzling bloodstone and intricate gold inlay, I wonder which jade craftsman made it. I hope Mr. Zhang will not keep it to himself, so that we can all ask the jade craftsman to make a pair for us."

"He's just an ordinary jade craftsman in Jinyu Tower..." Seeing that he was holding on tightly, the young master of the Zhang family suddenly became a little flustered.

"What's the jade craftsman's name?"

"I, I forgot..."

"Lu Yujie! You are the husband of a minister, and you have no shame in interrogating a junior in such an aggressive manner!" Seeing that his son was forced to retreat step by step, the husband of the Zhang family was so angry that his face turned red.

"Then you, a guest, are acting sarcastic when the host hasn't said anything." Lu Yujie retorted without hesitation.

"you!"

"Enough!" An angry shout interrupted the quarrel between the two.

Everyone looked up and saw that Old Lady Pei, who was sitting on the main seat, had a frown on her face and her chest heaving, obviously angry. Lady Lu and the husband of Marquis Changqing stood on both sides of him, rubbing his back with nervous faces to help him calm down.

"You are already in your thirties, but you can't even hold back your anger and have to quarrel with others. Do you think you are showing off?" Old Lady Pei waved away the hand of Marquis Changqing's husband and cursed at Lu Yujie.

Then he looked at Mr. Zhang, his expression became a little ugly, and he said with anger: "If Mr. Zhang comes to congratulate me today, then my Changqing Marquis Mansion will welcome you, but if you come here just to quarrel with someone, please go somewhere else, my Changqing Marquis Mansion cannot afford to entertain you.

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Thank you for the gifts, babies. Here is today’s update. I love you guys. Heart.