I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 35 Favor Debt

The next morning.

After waking up from the bed, Song Shen shouted out of habit:
"Lan Yun, help me..."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly realized that he was no longer in the Song family.

Originally, Song Shen would ask Lan Yun to push him out every morning to bask in the sun and breathe some fresh air, so that he would not get moldy in the room like a useless person.

But now, without even looking at this yard, you can tell with your toes that it is definitely not as big as the Song family's mansion, and it may not even have a garden.

When purchasing the items, Song Shen paid for the entire process out of his own pocket.

The Song family was of an honest family, and they worked under Zhu Yuanzhang. Although they had some savings from having been officials for generations, they had not been too extravagant over the years. The money was also the private savings that the original owner had accumulated since childhood.

For example, the New Year's money, gifts, gold, silver, jade, etc. received during festivals, can only be converted into liquid funds in a short period of time. The biggest problem is that it is now the tenth year of Hongwu, and the circulating currency among the people of the Ming Dynasty is treasure notes and copper coins. Gold and silver are banned on a large scale. So, in theory, this money cannot be spent.

Fortunately, the Song family had an accounting office to handle the accounts of properties, houses, shops and other industries, so Song Shen was able to take the gold and silver to the accounting office and exchange them directly for treasure notes.

When Zhang Wei recommended this house yesterday afternoon, he asked for three hundred taels of silver. However, the servant who went to the pawnshop to look at it reported back that a house with a suitable location and size would cost at least five hundred taels of silver, and a good one would even cost several hundred taels of silver. To ordinary officials in the early Ming Dynasty, this was definitely an astronomical figure.

Taking all the circumstances into consideration, even though Song Shen had not seen the house in person, he still felt that a house in this location sold for three hundred taels, which was far below the market price, must have some defects.

For example, the house is not big enough.

"What's the matter, sir?"

Lan Yun heard the call and quickly walked in and asked in a low voice.

Song Shen retracted his thoughts and waved his hand:
"Nothing, I just wanted to ask how the cleaning outside was going."

Lan Yun smiled and replied:
"Last night, they worked until the middle of the night. Now it finally looks decent, but there are still some rooms that haven't been cleaned up. Just after dawn, another group of maids came to clean. I was wondering where these people came from. I didn't expect that the Zhang family next door sent people to come. They said that it was specially arranged by Censor Zhang, who was afraid that we had just arrived and might not have considered many things thoroughly."

"I feel that this Censor Zhang really cares about your matter!"

Song Shen was a little surprised.

It’s not that I’m surprised that Zhang Wei is so thoughtful. After all, he took care of me in great detail both times, probably because of my grandfather Song Lian.

His focus is on -

"It's been so long since we cleaned it, and we still have to change batches to clean it? This house isn't that big, why does it take so much effort?"

Lan Yun's voice was even more surprised, and a little confused:
"Sir, this place is not small. It is only slightly worse than my home. Except for being a little old and run-down, the rest of the garden, rockery, front and back courtyards and rooms are all complete. It needs to be repaired before it can be restored. It is reasonable to spend more manpower."

Hearing that the house was better than he expected, Song Shen was not happy but worried, with a frown on his face.

If the help before was just out of the friendship between teachers and students, then helping to this extent is a bit unreasonable.

Zhang Wei himself was not a high-ranking official in the imperial court, and he was in such a sensitive position as the Censor, so it was impossible for him to have much money.

According to the market price, the starting price of this house is five hundred taels, but he only charged himself three hundred taels. The difference can only be made up by Zhang Wei. These two hundred taels are not a small amount even for a fifth-rank official, let alone Zhang Wei?

The other party must have something to ask for since he has gone to such great lengths...

But I am a blind man and I have moved out of the Song family. What else can I ask for?

The sound of hurried footsteps came closer and closer, followed by the servants' reports.

"Sir, Censor Zhang is here."

Song Shen collected his thoughts, nodded to show that he understood, and said to Lan Yun:
"Help me change my clothes."

…………Zhang Wei was waiting in the main hall.

After Song Shen was pushed into the main hall by Lan Yun, he heard her say in surprise:

"Censor Zhang, these two are..."

Song Shen inexplicably had a bad feeling in his heart.

Before I had time to figure out what the premonition was, Zhang Wei introduced it with a hearty smile.

"Oh, this is Chen Guorui, this is Chen Biao, they are my relatives, I met Ziwei in Wangyue Tower a few days ago."

"How about it, Ziwei, do you still remember them?"

Song Shen took a deep breath.

He originally thought that being blind was not bad, at least when he saw someone he didn't want to deal with, he could just pretend to be stupid and ignore them. But now he realized that this kind of thing can only be avoided by pretending to be blind, but being really blind is absolutely impossible.

For example, now, he really wants to turn around and leave, but he doesn't even know which direction his door faces, so he can't run away.

It’s so annoying. I have to deal with that rude Chen Guorui again. It’s really annoying!

"Haha, I remember, of course I remember."

Song Shen gave a polite fake smile. He felt that he should give a standard fake smile.

Zhang Wei seemed to be completely unaware of it, and said cheerfully:

"Ziwei, I brought them here because I have something to ask of you. Would it be convenient for us to go to the study to talk?"

What else can Song Shen do?
They have helped me a lot, and now I want to return the favor. It would be neither right nor reasonable to refuse them.

He could only obey Lan Yun and let her push him to the study, and bring Zhang Wei, Chen Guorui and Chen Biao along.

In the study.

As soon as they sat down, Zhang Wei was about to speak.

But Song Shen was quite sensitive and spoke before him.

"Brother Zhang, I actually have something I want to tell you."

He took a sip of the hot tea handed to him by Lan Yun and said straight to the point:

"I asked my servant to go to the pawnshop to check it out. A nice house like this would cost at least five hundred taels outside, and some even cost nearly a thousand taels."

"You helped me out of my urgent need. I only gave you three hundred taels yesterday. You can't let Brother Zhang pay for the difference out of his own pocket. Tell me the original price and I'll make up for it myself. Anyway, I can feed my whole family now, but you still have to support your family, so don't spend money."

Zhang Weiyi was stunned. He didn't expect that Song Shen, a young master, actually knew the prices outside.

He exchanged a glance with the two people beside him, and after receiving their eye signals, he laughed:
"What a coincidence! Speaking of which, I, a censor, don't have much money. To be honest, I didn't pay the difference. It was generously donated by this elder."

"He thinks what you said last time in Wangyue Tower makes a lot of sense, so he wants to bring my cousin to your place to learn more. The difference in price will be considered as tuition. This is what I wanted to tell you before."

"Ziwei, what do you think?"

　I'm a little late because of something. I will update at normal time tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)