Traveling through books: Traveling through time with a golden finger to become a soft rice man

Lin Ting'an and Aunt Chen came back quite late. It was almost curfew when they came back. Aunt Chen was muttering that she had been shopping for the whole afternoon but hadn't found a suitable store.

The cheap shops are too remote, and the shops in prime locations are too expensive.

The housing prices in Changjing City are very expensive, and Yang Yuanzu guessed that they would have to struggle for a long time.

During the evening break, the couple held a small meeting. Yang Yuanzu recently heard a rumor about him saving people on the street, so he asked Lin Ting'an.

Lin Ting'an tried to change the subject at first and did not answer, but later he succumbed to Yang Yuanzu's tickling and told the truth.

While others can use the Yunniang incident to throw dirty water on Yang Yuanzu, Lin Ting'an can use the Yunniang incident to put a halo on Yang Yuanzu's head.

If others could spread it in the palace, they would spread it among the people.

In Lin Ting'an's version of the rumor, Yang Yuanzu was a kind-hearted scholar who met a woman in distress on the road. He could not bear to see her being killed by bandits, so he gave her a ride without fear of danger and saved her from suffering. However, the bad guy was still determined to kill her and actually chased him to Changjing City, vowing to take revenge on the scholar...

It doesn't say how to retaliate specifically, but if anyone harms scholars and knights, that person is a bandit.

Although the story was a bit far-fetched, it was not useless. After thanking his wife, Yang Yuanzu pulled the man aside and gave him a good lesson, for not listening to him and insisting on getting involved in the vortex.

As time went by, Yang Yuanzu arrived at the door of the warehouse early the next day, and sure enough, he saw that the hair he had placed there had broken and fallen to the ground.

He was the first one to arrive in the Agriculture Department today. When other colleagues came in, they just saw the sun rising from the west. Yang Yuanzu usually arrived on time, but they had no idea how this man could calculate the time on the road so accurately.

After Yang Yuanzu checked in, he stayed in the warehouse for a while. Then the head farmer came running over, like an NPC who was assigning tasks. After issuing Yang Yuanzu's tasks for the period, he went about doing other work.

This time, his old partner, the arithmetic officer, came to help him with the calculations. Because his superiors required to see the grain tax data as soon as possible, the two of them had a deadline for their task this time.

While the two were calculating in the Agriculture Department, they could hear the sound of chatting from time to time. Yang Yuanzu learned from the chatting that in a while, foreign envoys would come to the Daning Dynasty to celebrate Emperor Zongcheng's birthday.

Officials below the fifth rank like Yang Yuanzu were not qualified to attend the emperor's birthday banquet unless they had special approval, so this matter had little to do with him.

Yang Yuanzu only listened to what was said and did not make any comments. The arithmetic official occasionally interrupted and discussed with everyone what gifts the foreigners would bring this year. When Yang Yuanzu heard about the gifts, he curiously asked everyone, "What gifts did the foreigners bring in the past?"

Li Nongshi heard this and said, "In the past, they mostly gave away animal furs, spices, agates, jade, etc."

The arithmetic officer kept it a secret, "You will never guess the most valuable thing here."

Yang Yuanzu shook his head and guessed, "Jade?"

The arithmetic officer shook his head, and Li Nongshi said, "It's livestock."

Livestock generally include cattle, sheep, horses, etc., but these are not as valuable as jade in the market, which puzzles Yang Yuanzu.

Seeing Yang Yuanzu's puzzled expression, the arithmetic official stopped writing and said, "Yang Nongshi may not know that the best foals among livestock are the hardest to find, especially the Ferghana horses, which are worth a fortune and are in short supply!"

Yang Yuanzu knew about the Ferghana horse, but he had never seen one with his own eyes. He also didn't know whether these small officials would have the honor to see one on the emperor's birthday.

"There is also the even rarer platinum Arabian horse. I heard that this horse will glow all over under the sun and is known as the Jade Lion that shines at night." Li Nongshi added.

"Have you ever seen this horse?" Yang Yuanzu asked everyone. Everyone shook their heads when they heard this. How could such small officials as them see a platinum Arabian horse? It seemed that even the emperor had never seen one.

However, there is a red Arabian horse in the palace that was presented by a foreign country. It is said to be very powerful and can travel a thousand miles a day.

Some of the officials in the Ministry of Agriculture had seen the Arabian horses raised in the palace by chance, while others were curious and used their connections to go and take a look.

From a distance it looks no different from an ordinary horse, but upon closer inspection you will find that the Arabian horse has a more sturdy body, shinier hair, and walks more lightly and agilely than an ordinary horse.

Everyone talked about everything from the Ferghana horses to the birthday gifts given by the ministers. The gifts that the ministers had given in the past were now mentioned again, especially those ministers who gave precious gifts.

In the Daning Dynasty, all ministers, whether high-ranking or low-ranking, had to present birthday gifts to the emperor, and Yang Yuanzu was no exception.

However, what he is more concerned about now is what gifts the princes have sent. As for him, he can just give something with good meaning and something common for birthdays here. Anyway, the emperor will not be interested in the gift he sends.

The gifts that everyone gave to the emperor could pile up into a small mountain, and these gifts would be compiled into a booklet and submitted to the emperor for review. After the emperor had reviewed it, the Ministry of Revenue and the National Treasury would send someone to put them into the warehouse.

However, the emperor would display the gifts from some special people and important ministers, as well as some precious and rare gifts in front of everyone at his birthday banquet.

The emperor's birthday was also an opportunity for everyone to show off. Everyone was discussing what gift to give. When Yang Yuanzu was asked, he shook his head and said that he hadn't thought about it yet.

However, he felt that the matters at hand were more important than his birthday, so he focused his attention and began to calculate the grain harvest numbers reported from various places.

The arithmetic official pondered for a while, and after he had an idea of ​​the emperor's gift, he began to work.

Yang Yuanzu and the arithmetic officer were busy with accounting matters and did not have time to go to the palace gate to get lunch boxes at noon, so Luo Mingshi ran out to get them and took the arithmetic officer's lunch as well.

When Luo Mingshi appeared at the door of the agricultural company carrying three lunch boxes and a cloth bag of fruit, Yang Yuanzu vaguely thought he saw a delivery boy.

Luo Mingshi panted and said to Yang Yuanzu carelessly: "Brother, come and help me carry these things, they are too heavy!"

Yang Yuanzu was amused, and he walked up to him, mentioned the things, and said, "Look how tired you are with just this little thing."

"Although the stuff isn't heavy, try carrying it all the way. I was very careful along the way because I was afraid the food in the box would spill."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Luo Mingshi smiled proudly when he heard that, he was the hero of today's lunch.

After Yang Yuanzu finished talking to Luo Mingshi, he invited the arithmetic officer to come for dinner. When the arithmetic officer saw that Luo Mingshi had even brought some fruits, he sighed that the Yang family really knew how to live.