Song Yi

Chapter 325 Price
Pang Yuqin asked in a low voice, "How did Sister Yun know that the silk thread just now was expensive?"

Wang Chaoyun snickered and said: "Actually, I don't know, but my personal maid Qiaoer told me before I left, that you can buy less in the market, no matter what, you just need to say this sentence , usually give you less, otherwise, how would I know?"

Pang Yuqin suddenly realized, but when she saw Wang Chaoyun's calm and busy shopping, she couldn't help laughing. The two walked to another silk thread stall. It was an old lady with gray hair. Seeing them coming, she hurriedly smiled. Standing up, he said politely, "Are the two elder sisters buying thread?"

Wang Chaoyun nodded, and then gave another set to the old lady according to the color and quantity that Pang Yuqin picked just now. Although the old lady was not as quick as the previous peddler, the calculated amount really surprised Pang Yuqin and Wang Chaoyun: "Total It's 75 lines."

Pang Yuqin lost her voice and said, "Why is it more expensive?"

The old lady smiled and said, "I don't buy or sell by force. If you think it's too expensive, you can change it."

Wang Chaoyun asked, "Ma'am, was this the price before the war?"

The old lady shook her head: "I have bought silk thread for decades, and it is the most expensive now."

It’s really rare and expensive, Pang Yuqin didn’t care about the money, but Su Shi’s family was poor and didn’t want to accept alms, so Pang Yuqin also helped to negotiate the price, but the old lady just refused to let it go. In the end, Wang Chaoyun had to buy it.

When they passed by the peddler, the peddler saw it and asked puzzledly: "You two ladies, that old lady always sells more expensive than mine, and the silk thread is the same. Why don't you buy the cheap one, but buy the cheap one instead?" Expensive?"

Wang Chaoyun said: "It's not expensive, but you are young and easy to buy, so it is naturally cheap. The old lady is old and weak, and it is not easy to sell thread, so we bought her."

The peddler was stunned, thinking that there are still people who buy things like this.

Walking to the door of the grain shop, Wang Chaoyun suddenly realized that there seemed to be little food at home, so he decided to bring some back.

The two entered the grain store, but a waiter didn't intend to get up when he saw someone coming in. He sat on the counter, put his legs on the counter, folded his arms leisurely, and squinted at Pang Yuqin and Wang Chaoyun.

"Is there any rice?" Wang Chaoyun asked.

"Yes, but..." The guy looked at Wang Chaoyun's coarse cloth dress with contempt, and said flatly, "I'm afraid you don't have money to buy it."

Pang Yuqin frowned and said, "Why, is your rice made of gold or bordered with silver, can you live a long life if you eat it?"

The guy didn't even look at Pang Yuqin, he raised his head and snorted, "It doesn't matter how big your mouth is, if you don't have money, you don't have rice. We won't live long if we eat this rice, but if we don't eat it, I'm afraid... ...Hahahaha..., let's go, let's go, let's go, don't interfere with our business, really, look at how poor you are, still want to buy rice? Go to the porridge factory and line up to get porridge!"

Pang Yuqin sneered and said, "Then tell us how much your rice is. I wonder if we can afford it."

The man didn't even look at them, he grabbed a handful of rice from a big wooden cabinet beside him, and then scattered it lightly: "See, you have to pay me ten cents for just a handful of rice, you Have it?"

Wang Chaoyun stepped forward and was about to speak when the guard who had been guarding behind them heard what the man inside said, and stepped in with his hand on his waist knife with a livid face.When the guy saw the sergeant, he didn't know that he was with Pang Yuqin and the others, so he ignored Wang Chaoyun, and quickly got up and said to the guard with a smile on his face, "Which military masters also want to buy rice?" Wang Chaoyun, who was dressed in coarse cloth, was still standing there, frowning and said, "Hey, why are you still standing here? Didn't I let you go?"

The guard stepped forward and was about to raise his hand to hit someone, but Pang Yuqin hurriedly stopped him and said, "Don't be rough!" The guard quickly put down his hand and stepped aside.

The guy's face turned blue from fright, and only then did he realize that there was a young lady in silk and satin behind Wang Chaoyun, who seemed to be the master of these sergeants.

"What's the matter? What are you screaming about?" Following the voice, a chubby middle-aged man came out from behind the cabinet. It was the shopkeeper of the rice shop. His face was thick and his eyes were narrowed. , suddenly saw a few guards, and there were two fairy-looking women standing beside him, his mind turned a few times quickly, his eyeballs rolled around a few times, and immediately changed into a smiling face, and he sternly told the guys to get out of the way, Smiling and cupping his hands, he said, "The two ladies, and these military masters, do you want to buy rice?"

Pang Yuqin said coldly: "You guys said, we can't afford the rice in your store, and you want to drive us away."

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Don't mind, I'm just here, I'm not sensible, if I offend you, please take care of me... Eldest sister."

Pang Yuqin said: "Forget it, your buddy said, we just need to go to the porridge factory to get the porridge for disaster relief. I'm afraid we only have enough money to buy one meal of porridge." He pulled Wang Chaoyun and turned to leave.

The shopkeeper saw that Pang Yuqin was dressed gorgeously, and she definitely belonged to a rich family. Business is not doing well now. After the military disaster, not many people could afford rice, so he couldn't let go of the previous big customer. Then he caught up a few steps and said: "Two big sisters, the rice in our shop can be said to be the cheapest in Yazhou, and it's all new rice, no more than the rice that was loaned by the 'Huimin Rice Bank', which was all a few years ago. The old rice is moldy, and it is used to lend to the common people, earning bad money!"

When Pang Yuqin heard that he mentioned her husband's "Huimin Rice Shop", she stopped immediately, turned around slowly, stared at him and said, "What did you say? The rice that Huimin Rice Shop lends is moldy old rice?"

"Of course, you should take a look at the rice in the store first. It's sure to be new rice, and it smells delicious." After finishing speaking, he motioned for the clerk to carry a bag of rice and put it at Pang Yuqin's feet, and said, "We are also doing small business. , it is only enough to support the family, not as good as those grain merchants who are making money every day, but we never make money that is unconscionable, look, how good this rice is!"

Pang Yuqin bent down and reached out to scoop a handful, rubbed it, and said calmly, "How much does a bag of rice cost?"

The clerk at the side spoke quickly without waiting for the shopkeeper to speak, and said loudly: "It's not very expensive, just five taels of silver."

Five taels of silver is equivalent to 5000 yuan, and a bag of rice is 5000 yuan. Su Shi was a deputy envoy in Huangzhou, and he only had [-] cash a month. It took almost a year's salary to buy this bag of rice. The price is sky-high.

Wang Chaoyun was stunned: "Five taels of silver?"

There was another contemptuous sneer at the corner of the man's mouth, but this time he didn't dare to speak again.

The shopkeeper looked at Pang Yuqin: "Hehe, the price of this grain is indeed a bit expensive. You also know that Fan Jun took away a lot of grain and burned it this time. The rice came in from outside after a long journey. , which is more expensive."

Wang Chaoyun touched the shriveled purse thoughtfully, and Nuonuo said: "But this is...it's too expensive..."

The guard behind him stepped forward, bowed and cupped his hands, and said to Wang Chaoyun: "Madam, don't buy the rice here, Mr. Du's rice bank lends rice, which is several times cheaper than this."

Wang Chaoyun shook his head and said, "We can't borrow rice from them, Lord Du won't ask us for money."

The fat shopkeeper's eyes were rounded, his face was cloudy, he suddenly picked up the bag of rice, nodded and bowed to Wang Chaoyun and said, "Ma'am, they are all from the village, don't worry too much, if you don't have it handy, just take it and eat it first." Well, let’s talk about it when we have more money.”

"This...how can this be done!" Wang Chaoyun took out the purse and squeezed it, hesitating.

The fat shopkeeper had very good ears, and immediately heard that there were some copper coins in the money bag, estimated to be only a hundred coins, so he hurriedly handed the bag of rice to Wang Chaoyun's arms, and reached out to take the money bag: "Madam, it's okay, there are so many The money is almost up, and this bag of rice is sold to you!"

The clerk at the side also heard that there was not much money in the purse, and hastily tugged at the shopkeeper's sleeve: "Shopkeeper, don't..."

"Go away!" The fat shopkeeper slapped the guy on the head hard. The guy groaned and muttered, "What are you hitting me for? She doesn't have much money in her bag."

The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and whispered to the clerk: "You...you know what a fart, get out!"

The clerk hurriedly backed away, but Wang Chaoyun didn't take the bag of rice, put the money bag in his bosom, turned around and went out the door with his head down.

Pang Yuqin snorted at the guy and followed him out.Several guards glared at the two of them before following them out.

The shopkeeper chased after a few steps and called repeatedly, but Wang Chaoyun and the others left without looking back.

The clerk came up and said: "The shopkeeper, you are a poor man, what are you doing..."

Snapped!
The fat shopkeeper slapped him bitterly: "Your grandma is so mad at me! Have you ever seen a poor man bring a sergeant to buy rice?"

"Ah?" The man came back to his senses, "You mean, those military masters are..., those poor people..."

"Return your mother's pauper!" The fat shopkeeper slapped again, and turned to look at Wang Chaoyun's back, "I heard that the new governor is a clean official, and his family is very simple, and he loves the people. Ruozi, what did you do when you gave up the state government to the common people... What kind of shelter, the food from the general camp was brought to the common people to eat. The woman in the coarse cloth dress just now is probably the wife of Mr. Zhizhou! The other one in silk and satin Girl, her behavior is not like that of ordinary people's girls, and she has delicate skin. She is definitely not a worker. I am afraid she is the wife who colludes with Mr. Du! You offended them today, and I am still running a fart shop here , I beat you to death today!"

The fat shopkeeper became more and more angry, picked up a door bar from behind the door, and hit the guy with his head covered in the face. Mess up.

Wang Chaoyun went to another rice store and asked about the price. It was similar to the previous one, and he was very sad. Fortunately, after her husband was promoted to the magistrate of Yazhou, the monthly salary has increased a lot, so he gritted his teeth and bought a small bag of rice. Take it back and eat it with wild vegetables.

Pang Yuqin didn't buy it for her because she knew that Wang Chaoyun would not accept financial aid.When the two returned to Yamen, Du Wenhao and Su Shi were discussing disaster relief in the living room.Pang Yuqin told Du Wenhao about it.

Pang Yuqin thought that Du Wenhao and Su Shi would be surprised, but who would have thought that Su Shi and Du Wenhao just looked at each other and smiled, not surprised at all.

Wang Chaoyun said to Su Shi: "My lord, why didn't you respond at all? The shopkeeper said that all your loans are old rice!"

"Of course it's old rice. How can there be so much new rice? The rice on loan is much cheaper than the rice in the rice shop. This is also the reason. Only old rice is so cheap. However, old rice can also be eaten. I checked and the rice is good rice. , the preservation is still good, and there is no problem of mildew."

"But the rice you lend, the people without mortgages and guarantors, can't borrow rice from you. The porridge provided by the porridge factory for disaster relief is only enough for a small number of people, and most people have no porridge by the time they arrive. , Many people in the city are still hungry."

"We all know this." Du Wenhao smiled wryly: "Just before you came back, Qingdai and Lian'er also came back from the outside, and they said that a handful of vegetables cost [-] Wen, and a bag of salt also cost [-] Wen. And just like you guys bought it back and showed it to us.”

Wang Chaoyun: "It's thanks to the master and Mrs. Du that they can still laugh."

Du Wenhao: "Yeah, you shouldn't laugh. Now Yazhou lacks everything, materials are scarce, and naturally the prices are soaring. The grain from the Changping warehouse transferred by General Han can only be used as an investment by the imperial court and invested in Huimin Rice Bank, and cannot be embezzled for disaster relief without authorization." And the relief food delivered this time has already used up more than half of it. For the victims in the city, it is indeed a drop in the bucket. Apart from rice, there is a serious shortage of daily necessities. Now the prices are expensive even as you say, and the common people have no money. I think it’s time to think of a way to buy these daily food and clothing.”

At this time, someone outside the door said: "My lords, there is a shopkeeper Qian who claims to be Wansheng Rice Shop and said he wants to see Lord Du."

Du Wenhao whispered: "It's just in time." After speaking, he got up and walked out.

Walking out the door, I saw a carriage full of grain parked not far away. Standing beside the carriage was a man in a white coat and long gown. He had a horse face and bushy eyebrows. Seeing Du Wenhao approaching, he hurriedly bowed to greet him. Stepping forward, he grinned, revealing two shining golden teeth: "See Mr. Gou Guan, Caomin Qianyue came here uninvited, please forgive me."

Du Wenhao pointed to the carriage behind him, and jokingly said, "Why, you know so soon that our family has no rice to cook?"

Qian Yue said flatteringly: "Why don't you worry about having no rice to cook at home? It's just that the grassroots have been here a few times. Seeing that everyone is busy, they dare not bother you. You are the parent officer of our Yazhou, and you are the blessing of our Yazhou people... "

"Okay, okay, tell me, what do you want from me?" Du Wenhao interrupted Qian Yue, looking businesslike.

Qian Yue said flatteringly: "At this time, we Wansheng Rice Shop has a little kindness, please accept it."

Du Wenhao walked to the front of the car, counted the bags, and said to Qian Yue with a smile: "I'm afraid this car of rice will cost you several hundred taels of silver?"

Qian Yue: "It's a joke, my lord. Our Wansheng rice company has always bought rice from the local people. We still have some fields at home, so it won't be so expensive."

Du Wenhao looked at the rice on the car, and said with a smile: "Do you know that there is the governor of the state in that room, you leave him and just give it to me, are you afraid of offending the governor of the state?"

Qian Yue was taken aback, whistled immediately, and immediately came out of the woods with a man leading another carriage, Qian Yue said in a low voice: "The grass people are not worried... Hehe, since you accepted it, the Lord of the state capital, Please accept the good words from adults."

Du Wenhao took a good look at Qian Yue in front of him, it seemed that he really lived up to his name, and he could leap if he had money.Du Wenhao smiled and called the family servants to come over, and said loudly: "Unload these grains and move them to the warehouse."

When Qian Yue heard this, he was immediately overjoyed. He helped the servants carry the food into the yard, and he left cheerfully without daring to take a second look at who else was in the yard.

Du Wenhao watched Qian Yue and the two empty carriages gradually disappear from sight, with an elusive smile on his lips.

"Wen Hao, why are you..." Lin Qingdai walked to Du Wenhao and asked suspiciously.

Du Wenhao smiled but did not answer.

The servant on the side said: "Master, where should we put so much food?"

"The food is temporarily placed in the room of the four of Qin'er and the others."

At this time, Su Shi and Wang Chaoyun also came out.

Su Shi looked at the grain in the yard, and he knew that Du Wenhao was not a greedy person, so he must have intentions in doing so, so he didn't say much.

At dinner time, some businessmen from the state capital brought silks, cloths, and some fresh vegetables one after another, and Du Wenhao accepted them one by one.

Wang Chaoyun was a little worried, so he told Su Shi about his concerns.

"My lord, what's the matter with Mr. Du? If this continues, what will the common people think of us?"

Su Shi asked Wang Chaoyun to sit beside him, put her small hands on his lap, did not answer, but gently stroked her hands: "Thank you for your hard work, it's only a month, look at you His hands are rough." Su Shi said pitifully.

Outside the window, the sky was full of colorful clouds, and three children were playing and playing in the yard. The smell of food drifted in from the window from time to time. Wang Chaoyun rested his head on Su Shi’s shoulder, rubbing his forehead on Su Shi’s beard intentionally or unintentionally, Said softly: "I don't have to work hard, as long as I can follow the master, I don't think any hardship is suffering."

Su Shi held Wang Chaoyun's hand in relief, and said after a long time: "I don't know what Yunfan wants to do, but I have seen him all the way, he dares to say and do, very courageous, but never He is greedy for money, never oppresses the people, has no pretensions, systemizes people's sentiments, and never takes advantage of himself. Moreover, as far as I know, he has made a lot of money by relying on medical skills and prescriptions. There are countless gold, silver and jewels, and I will not be greedy for such cheap things. He must have his own intentions."

Wang Chaoyun: "What I saw was the same as the master, except that some people are more greedy the richer they are. Do you think he will...?"

Su Shi smiled, looked at Wang Chaoyun and said: "If he wants to be bad, why should he be in front of everyone, besides, he can find a good-sounding reason to move to live elsewhere. The light thing?"

Wang Chaoyun pursed his lips and said, "Anyway, I don't know what he is thinking. I hope that as the master said, he has other plans."

There was a gossip in the city of Yazhou, saying that the new Lord Gouguan was also a corrupt official who was mercenary, and that his family built an underground granary in the yard in order to collect the grain sent by wealthy businessmen. Some even said that Du Wenhao Under the guise of helping refugees, he made a lot of money and accepted bribes.

In the early morning of this day, Pang Yuqin brought Yingzi back from the market with a heavy heart. She was only thinking about her worries, but didn't pay attention to the front, and almost bumped into Wang Chaoyun.

Seeing Pang Yuqin's gloomy face, Wang Chaoyun looked at Yingzi, but Yingzi didn't dare to speak, so he asked, "Yingzi, have you offended your wife?"

Yingzi hurriedly said: "I don't dare, Madam heard someone talking about the young master at the market..."

"Yingzi!" Pang Yuqin snapped, but Yingzi didn't dare to say anything more.

Wang Chaoyun understood, and motioned Yingzi to go back first with the vegetables he bought, then took Pang Yuqin's hand, and said kindly: "Come on, when Qiaoer and I went to wash vegetables by the river yesterday, we found a kind of food growing by the water. The food is very delicious, sweet and delicious, yesterday we dug some back and gave it to the eldest sister and the master, they all said it was delicious, so we will go today." Saying that, he took Pang Yuqin's hand and left.

Pang Yuqin: "Sister Yun, I don't want to go today. I'm not feeling well. I want to go back and sleep for a while."

Wang Chaoyun naturally knew that Pang Yuqin was unhappy, so he said: "Then you can't let me go alone, let's go, eldest sister and Qingdai are drying the herbs picked yesterday in the backyard, there is no time, you also know that Feier and Lianer Together, besides, the two of them have nothing to say to me, you should accompany me, I think the gluttons have been teased out, I can't wait, let's go."

Pang Yuqin sighed softly, and had no choice but to let Wang Chaoyun lead her to walk upstream.

Walking to the river, Pang Yuqin sat on a piece of bluestone, took off her embroidered shoes, and put her feet in the water. Wang Chaoyun sat beside her and put her feet in the water just like her. Suddenly, Wang Chaoyun screamed, As if waking up from a dream, Pang Yuqin asked quickly, "Sister Yun, what's the matter with you?"

Wang Chaoyun chuckled and said, "I thought you were sitting like this all the time, and didn't know there was someone beside you."

Pang Yuqin pursed her lips in embarrassment, and lightly pushed Wang Chaoyun with her palm, and said angrily, "Sister Yun, you are so bad, I thought you were bitten by a water snake."

Wang Chaoyun giggled and said, "Okay, it's good to know how to laugh. Don't care about what other people say. They can't see or hear you. Naturally, you can look like you want. What are rumors? A cripple was passed on by a hundred people and turned into a fast-moving man. It is a rumor. He is your husband, and you should give him your trust first."

Pang Yuqin looked at her white feet among the water plants, making the floating water plants itchy, she sighed lightly: "The emperor asked him to come, but my father was actually worried, saying that it would be good for him to be an imperial physician. Being an official is not something that everyone can be comfortable with, and he lacks in his bones what an official should have."

(End of this chapter)