I am the leader of the capital

On the alley between the houses with red walls and black tiles, Li Qiyuan said to Yun Musheng: "My lord, the price of the twelve buildings nearby is 6000 taels, which is already the lowest price. If it is lower, it is basically impossible. In this case They should be able to earn around 500 to 800 taels."

"Okay, I don't understand this either, you can just look at it," Yun Musheng nodded, and after asking which households were clear, he went in one by one to have a look.

Li Qiyuan took Yun Musheng and the others to visit the houses. Zhao Hongda looked at the exquisite buildings and said, "It's not bad."

"On average, the price of each building is not cheap. It's about 500 taels. How big is the area?" Carp looked at the plantains in the yard and said to Li Qiyuan.

Li Qiyuan held the key in his hand, and the manager went back to ask the shopkeeper for instructions, so he gave him the key directly and let him see for himself. The young man replied to Li Yu: "It's not bad, about 500 taels a building, although It's a little expensive, but the price of houses in the capital is the same. The Qi Yushi of Yushitai still lives in an old alley that is much remoter than this. I don't know anything else, but there are still many officials in the six departments renting houses. .”

"Really? Are there still people renting houses in the court?" Yun Musheng asked curiously. Everyone turned their attention to Li Qiyuan, obviously they didn't understand this kind of thing.

Li Qiyuan saw the expressions of the crowd and knew that except for Yun Musheng, the rich man in this group, everyone else was not poor, and none of them were children of ordinary people, otherwise they would not have such an idea, 500 taels Dong seems not expensive, but it is not so easy to save the 500 taels.

"It's better if you come from a wealthy family. If you're not, you can only rely on your own efforts. If you save five taels a month, it's 60 taels a year. It takes nearly ten years to save that much money, not to mention the lack of daily life and entertainment. need money."

After finishing speaking, Li Qiyuan saw Li Yu's disapproval, and asked Li Yu politely: "If Mr. Li, you don't take the family's money, then do you have any good ways to make money? How long can you save it?" 100 taels?"

"Eh..." For the first time in Li Yu's life, he realized that he didn't seem to have any good sources of money. Over the years, he also made money in addition to spending money, but this money was earned on the basis of Li's family. However, if he left the Li family, he might not be able to find a suitable job at all.

Li Qiyuan stopped asking, and said with a smile: "Many people in this city can only get one or two taels a month, which is about one thousand and two thousand. A family of five people can have at most two laborers, and the family can only get one or two taels a month. Just get five taels, and the five taels are not saved.

The price of daily necessities in the capital is still a bit high. After removing the necessities of life and including the ordinary expenses of reciprocity, it is almost enough to save one or two taels in the last month, and it is only a dozen or twenty taels a year. An ordinary family here may To save for 20 years. "

Yun Musheng roughly calculated the price according to Li Qiyuan's price. It is true that not everyone can afford such a house in the capital, but he was still curious about the salary of officials, so he asked: "You said most people It’s normal if you can’t afford it, but how much are officials’ salaries? Why do many officials want to rent houses?”

Li Qiyuan shook his head and said: "I don't know anything else, but the most common small official in the Ministry of Industry is three taels of silver a month, and the small team leader is five taels of silver, which is already very high. The monthly salary of a senior official is only 30 taels."

"So little?" Han Di's mansion exclaimed, not to blame him for making such a fuss, it's because the salary is too little.

Li Qiyuan nodded and said with certainty: "It's been like this all these years. Those rich officials either have a rich family background or are rewarded by the emperor. Besides, there are also family members who are good at doing business, but many officials I didn't even participate in it even if I was starved to death, and I despised the lowliness and shame, and it was all run by the servants of the family.

High-spirited officials don't have much salary, and they can't afford to let their family members do business, so they are poor. It is difficult to buy a house with salary alone, so there are some trends in this city. Those who can't afford a house are all honest officials. In fact, some officials who are trying to gain fame are actually rich, but they just rent houses to live in. "

Yun Musheng frowned and said, "What are they trying to figure out? What are they looking for? Are they looking for fame when they live in poverty? It's reasonable to not be corrupt, but it's a bit..."

Li Qiyuan sighed deeply and said: "For the praise of the common people, if you wear gold and silver, how can the common people believe that you are dedicated to the people? You can only wear tattered clothes, preferably worse than ordinary people. If it’s not good, it’s better if you can’t afford a house. This shows that you are an official, not for money and power, but for the people. If the poor are wronged, it’s time for those who claim to be upright officials to show themselves. Desperately complained.

Thanks to those upright officials, if you stay here for a long time, you will find that the status of businessmen is lower than that of beggars. Because those upright officials live in poverty, they don't like the rich, and they just like to look at businessmen who live better than them You are a poor businessman, unless you are a servant of a powerful family, otherwise you will not get any respect. Many people try to call you brothers and sisters with your money, but say behind your back that you are full of money. "

"Doesn't that mean that these upright officials are the biggest stumbling block in society?" Han Difu frowned.

Li Qiyuan was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect this handsome young man to be so insightful, and he said excitedly: "Yes, yes, Mr. Han, you can see it too. Many people in the world will praise honest officials, but honest officials are not necessarily better than honest officials." Corrupt officials are good, corrupt officials want money, clean officials want names, neither of them want the common people to live well. Those who really do things for the people must first satisfy their own basic selfish desires. How can people who don’t even love themselves love the common people? How can people who are living a miserable life be willing to watch others live well?"

"You have some opinions, kid. I haven't heard of such a statement before." Yun Musheng nodded straightly, "For corrupt officials who are so greedy that they have no restraint, there is nothing to care about if their reputation is gone. It’s all about money; for honest officials, reputation is the most important thing, and nothing is as important as creating an image, so among officials who are not greedy for money, there are nine hypocrites and one true saint.”

After listening to Yun Musheng's words, Li Qiyuan was a little depressed and said: "I used to think that upright officials were dedicated to the people, but I didn't realize that I was wrong until what happened recently. Only Qi Yushi really wanted to help the victims. Others Many officials who are known for their incorruptibility are not willing to stretch our waists for us at all. After thinking for a long time, I finally figured out why.

It is because as an upright official to appeal for a businessman, it is very likely that the common people who support them on weekdays will think that they have received benefits, so for their reputation they would rather see us being oppressed. I have seen and heard that we have been persecuted The upright official who laughed secretly from time to time, if he said it out, no one would believe that the Yushitai official who went to die for a beggar would show a relieved smile when he heard about other people's tragic experience. "

Several people understood and nodded one by one. What Li Qiyuan said was really easy to understand. This group of officials who are known for their incorruptibility like to help the poor get ahead, but they will never get ahead for the rich. Helping reputation, the second is hatred of the rich, because they can't eat well, sleep well, and can't save face, so they hate the rich, thinking that being rich is the original sin.

A group of people were quiet for a while after this topic, looking at the yard one by one, Li Qiyuan still felt resentful when he thought of the unfair treatment he had suffered in his family during this period, but after thinking that this young man would help him settle everything, he made up his mind Be sure to help and do more to repay.

After calming down, Li Qiyuan introduced to several people: "I am quite familiar with this area. After all, it is not far from my home. Most of the houses by the lake are new houses. It used to be the address of a large woodworking factory. Later, when the land price here rose a little, the factory moved out and was bought to make a residential area, but because it is by the lake and most of the yards are relatively large, the price is still a bit expensive.”

Yun Musheng and the others watched and listened to Li Qiyuan's explanation. Li Qiyuan continued: "I hope that the shape of the fragmented houses will not be too awkward and awkward after being connected, and that they can meet the living requirements of the Yangxia Hou Mansion. I chose these twelve households. You see, my lord, these twelve households look a bit like a drop of water when connected together, the small house by the lake is the tip of the drop, I plan to use this tip as the back door, and then open a gate on the south side."

"Looking at the size of this house, it should be prepared for small families. The streets and alleys leading to the interior are not very wide. If the gate faces south, there is no wide road in front of the gate. Their such a big family will be crowded when they come in and out together. Huh? Or should it face east? There is a road by the lake in front of the door, so it's easy to get in and out." Yun Musheng looked at the road with six people lined up and there was no room for him and said to Li Qiyuan.

Li Qiyuan, who was wearing the clothes of the Dongxu student, looked at it, nodded and said, "That's fine, but it may not be suitable for Fengshui because the gate is on a small point. Let the Yangxiahou Mansion choose by itself. I think it's the right way to go in and out." The tip on the east side is okay, but the smell of the gate should be thicker, the tip is too stingy."

"And the pomegranate tree?" Jin Dingfa saw a pomegranate tree at the corner of the house from a distance. Although everyone didn't think the pomegranate tree was unusual, they still couldn't help but looked up. A pomegranate covered with green leaves Trees are like twisted snakes.

Li Qiyuan was very happy when he saw the pomegranate tree. "This tree is quite old. I remember that there was a pomegranate tree here when I was a child. I thought it was cut down when the house was built. I didn't expect it to be kept by someone with a heart."

"Maybe it's because this pomegranate tree is old, so it's not a problem. How many pomegranates does this tree bear?" Zhao Hongda looked at Li Qiyuan.

Li Qiyuan suddenly looked disgusted, "It's fine if there are few pomegranates, and it's still unpalatable. There is not a pomegranate tree in the capital that can eat pomegranates. Maybe it's a climate problem. The pomegranates in this capital are sour. You can see them in autumn." The pomegranates sold are all shipped from other places.”

"Then why do you still have so many pomegranate trees in Fengge City? I have only been here for a long time, and I have already seen many." Yun Musheng tilted his head and suspected that Li Qiyuan's information was wrong.

Li Qiyuan pointed to the pomegranate tree, "Flowers, the pomegranate trees in the capital are not for bearing fruit, they are not fruit trees, but flowers. Most people in the capital like pomegranate flowers, which are bright and colorful."

Zhao Hongda said curiously: "There are people who like pomegranate flowers, but it's rare for a city to like pomegranate flowers. I haven't heard anyone say that Fengge City likes pomegranate flowers before."

"Maybe I'm used to it, so I can't think of telling people from outside. If you didn't mention it, I wouldn't have thought that people in the capital like pomegranate flowers. If no one said it, outsiders wouldn't know about it. If no one knows, then they can't pass it on. Far away." Li Qiyuan looked at the pomegranate flower and subconsciously thought of Lin Jinghuang.