Chapter 1: The Miserable Transmigration

  Zhang Yong's appraisal meeting, from the name alone, seems to be just inviting a large group of people to eat and drink, and look at his collected treasures. But in fact, the mystery of this appraisal meeting is not so simple.

  There are not many people in the imperial court who have the qualifications to attend Zhang Yong's appraisal meeting. They may not be high-ranking officials of the third or fifth grade, but they must be holding real power in key departments within the six ministries and five temples. These people may not be conspicuous, but if they really unite to do something, their efficiency and speed may be higher than that of the ministers of the six ministries and the abbots of the five temples.

  After receiving Zhang Yong's invitation, these people had two choices: to go or not to go. Those who went represented that they did not exclude Zhang Yong, while those who did not go showed that they were unwilling to get too close to him, and Zhang Yong would also think of ways to deal with them properly.

  After arriving at Zhang Yong's appraisal meeting, Zhang Yong will display many treasures. And the attractive part of his appraisal meeting comes out at this time, those treasures are true and false. If you judge that it is true, say its history, and all guess correctly, then Zhang Yong will give you that treasure, no matter how valuable it is or how rare it is in the world, he will not be stingy. Accepting Zhang Yong's treasure is equivalent to agreeing to join his camp, this is the ultimate meaning of Zhang Yong's appraisal meeting, cultivating party wings and dividing factions.

  Someone once said that successful people all have a common trait, which is that they are all very punctual. I don't know if this sentence is true or not, but at least in Jiang Xia's view, Zhang Yong is still quite punctual. The sound of the first watch had just struck when Jiang Xia walked out of Xiangyang Mountain Villa and saw a horse-drawn carriage driving towards him.

  "Wow, a carriage like this would probably be at the level of Mercedes-Benz or BMW in later generations!" Jiang Xia sighed.

  The carriage was drawn by two sorrel horses with high heads, and the carriage itself was much larger than ordinary carriages. The curtain in front of the carriage was made of top-grade silk from Hangzhou, and the crane pattern on it should be Suzhou embroidery if Jiang Xia wasn't mistaken, and it was a fine piece among Suzhou embroideries.

  The carriage stopped in front of Jiang Xia, and a faint fragrance wafted into his nostrils. Jiang Xia looked at the carriage with some curiosity, the carriage's compartment was obviously made of pear wood, and the pattern of celestial beasts on the body was clearly from a famous artist. But what was this faint fragrance? Jiang Xia's gaze condensed, next to the carriage's curtain were two small purple sandalwood tubes, emitting wisps of smoke, and Jiang Xia suddenly understood that this fragrance was the scent of agarwood.

  And it's that kind of top-grade agarwood which is worth one or two taels of incense for three taels of gold.

  Jiang Xia was stunned, he couldn't understand why Zhang Yong, a small attendant, could be so wealthy? He could afford to host an appraisal meeting, own such a luxurious carriage, and waste the best quality agarwood like this...... Since he was so rich, why would he be willing to serve as Zhu Shou's attendant?

  The driver of the horse-drawn carriage was an old man in his fifties or sixties, wearing a green robe and holding a whip. When he arrived in front of Jiang Xia, the old man jumped down from the carriage, bowed with his fists clasped together, and said: "I presume this is Young Master Jiang? I have been sent by the master to escort you back to the mansion."

  Jiang Xia looked at the horse carriage in a daze, and the old man smiled and said: "Young Master Jiang may not be very familiar with the background of the Zhu family and our master. The Zhu family is a well-known wealthy family in the Ming Dynasty, and even in the capital, the Zhu family is undoubtedly the first-class family. Our master has been working for the Zhu family for many years and has been promoted by Master Zhu. He also did some business on his own, so our family's wealth is quite substantial. However, our master is grateful to Master Zhu for his kindness, so he has always followed Young Master Zhu Shou and assisted him in managing the vast industries of the Zhu family."

  After listening to the old man's words, Jiang Xia nodded, although there were still many doubts in his heart, but thinking that it was also Zhang Yong's own business, and had nothing to do with himself, he didn't need to figure it out so clearly.

  "Master Jiang, it's getting late, and the old master is still waiting at home. Shall we get in the car first?"

  The old man said so, Jiang Xia nodded immediately: "Then I'll trouble you, uncle." After finishing speaking, Jiang Xia got on the horse carriage.

  The horse carriage rushed all the way, and Jiang Xia sat in the carriage with his eyes closed to rest. Perhaps it was because Zhang Yong's mansion was not far from the Xiangyang Mountain Villa, so Jiang Xia felt that the carriage stopped after a short while. The old man's voice came from outside the curtain: "Young Master Jiang, we have arrived."

  "Thank you, uncle." Jiang Xia jumped out of the carriage and down from the horse cart.

  After standing firm, Jiang Xia raised her head and took a look, in front of her was the Zhang Mansion.

  Zhang Yongnai was a eunuch in the palace, although he had obtained Zhu Houzhao's tacit consent to buy a house outside the imperial palace for his own residence, after all, this was a taboo thing, so the scale of his house was not large.

  Of course, what is meant by "not big" is only relative. For ordinary people, Zhang Yong's mansion can already be considered a large luxury house.

  At the entrance of Zhang's mansion, there were two large stone-carved lions. Behind the lions was a row of stone steps, about nine in total. Climbing up the steps led to a flat platform, and behind the platform was a large vermilion gate. At this moment, the gate was wide open, and Jiang Xia saw Zhang Yong standing at the entrance, looking out.

  "Brother Jiang!"

  "Big Brother Zhang!"

  Zhang Yong had sharp eyes, and as soon as Jiang Xia got off the carriage, he saw him and immediately shouted out. Jiang Xia, seeing that it was Zhang Yong, also warmly welcomed him. Zhang Yong stepped over the threshold, Jiang Xia walked up the steps, and the two approached each other, pressing their shoulders together. Looking at this scene, if someone didn't know better, they would think that the friendship between the two was really deep. Only the two of them knew how disgusted they were with their own corny display. But there was no way around it - people in this world had to learn to put on a show, constantly playing different roles in various environments.

  Zhang Yong patted Jiang Xia's shoulder and said, "Ah, Brother Jiang, I've been waiting for you. Everyone else is here, just waiting for you. As soon as you arrive, our appraisal meeting can officially begin."

  "Oh dear, I'm so sorry to have kept Zhang Ge waiting for so long. How can I be worthy of Zhang Ge's wait? It's really embarrassing." Jiang Xia said with a smile.

  "Alright, let's not be polite to each other as brothers anymore. Come on in, brother, since we've come today, we must have a great time before leaving."

  Being pulled by Zhang Yong's hand, Jiang Xia felt uncomfortable all over his body. He had a strong urge in his heart, which was to kick Zhang Yong flying and shout loudly: "Dead glass, get out!"

  Enduring being dragged by Zhang Yong all the way to the middle courtyard, Jiang Xia finally found an opportunity to break free from Zhang Yong's grasp.

  Inside the courtyard, as Zhang Yong had said, all eight tables were already filled with people. Each table sat eight people, adding up to a total of sixty-four people. In order to help Zhu Houzhao conceal his identity, Zhang Yong had instructed these officials in the courtyard early on not to reveal their own identities or his. To explain the reason, Zhang Yong more or less revealed some of the relationship between Jiang Xia and Zhu Houzhao to everyone.

  Everyone was eager to meet him when they heard that Jiang Xia was a friend of the emperor. At this moment, Jiang Xia followed Zhang Yong in, and Zhang Yong immediately introduced Jiang Xia to everyone. As soon as the introduction was over, the people on the seat immediately stood up and greeted Jiang Xia with seven words and eight languages, and for various reasons, there were also many flattering components in those greetings. "Hello, Mr. Jiang." "Mr. Jiang is really a talented person, extraordinary!" "Oh, Mr. Jiang is indeed handsome and elegant, outstanding among the crowd!" "Mr. Jiang is really..."

  Jiang Xia was at a loss for words and could only smile and bow his hands together, saying "You're too kind, you're overpraising me" to everyone.

  Everyone has met each other, and Zhang Yong cleared his throat twice before saying: "Ladies and gentlemen, everyone present today is a distinguished guest of mine. I didn't prepare anything special, but I hope you can all have fun here and enjoy yourselves to the fullest. This year's antique appraisal meeting will be the same as in previous years - first, we'll eat, drink, and watch the performances by the songstresses. Then, we'll start examining the treasures. The authenticity of the treasures depends entirely on your own eyesight. As long as you guess the origin and authenticity correctly, you can choose to take the treasure away with you or sell it to me at market price."

  "This is great......" Jiang Xia originally had no interest in this appraisal conference, but as soon as Zhang Yong mentioned the rules of the appraisal conference, his eyes lit up. "Is there such a good thing?"

  Jiang Xia clapped his hands loudly and shouted: "Great! I love rewards the most!"

  Because Jiang Xia was the only one applauding in the whole room, it seemed a bit strange. After Jiang Xia clapped twice and stopped, he looked at everyone else. As soon as everyone met Jiang Xia's gaze, they immediately reacted and everyone in the room applauded loudly and cheered "good".

  Zhang Yong immediately announced the start of the appraisal meeting.

  Twenty or so beautiful maids began to bring up wine and dishes one after another. After the wine and dishes were served, everyone started eating and drinking. When they were almost finished, a group of singers and dancers came on.

  Originally, Jiang Xia wanted to appreciate the songstresses of the Ming Dynasty, but unexpectedly, these songstresses were dressed very conservatively, without revealing any spring scenery, so Jiang Xia immediately lost interest. After the performance, the songstresses sat down at each table, pouring wine for the guests and accompanying them in play. The guests also didn't hold back, drinking the wine fed to them by the songstresses while using both hands to grope the songstresses' bodies.

  The treasure began to be pushed up, and the first treasure was a ceramic lamp. The lamp was blue glaze all over, with a very beautiful shape. However, the people present seemed not to appreciate this lamp too much, after all, no matter how beautiful it is, it's just a ceramic lamp, worth only a few silver coins.

  But in Jiang Xia's eyes, this object was different. He almost only took a glance and suddenly exclaimed: "This is... a blue glaze lamp?"

  PS: Wishing all book friends a happy Children's Day and Dragon Boat Festival. Today's updates are complete with four more chapters.