[Quick Crossing + Red Mansions] I have a strong desire to survive

In the past few years, only about [-]% of the rice produced in Xue Pei's village is sold every year, and the remaining [-]% is collected into the space for various reasons. They all order people to wait for the new rice to come down before transporting it to the northwest for sale. It is not the same as other people's land. They all transport it to the capital or other prefectures, where the price of grain is slightly higher.

Although the calculated income is worse than that of selling new rice, it does not conform to the calculation of the businessman's profit maximization.But now Xue Pei is no longer an imperial merchant, but a landowner who cultivates and studies.

As a landlord, wanting to store some rice grains in your hands to prepare grains to prevent hunger is just a deep feeling of human beings, and no one who knows it will think there is anything weird about it.Du Zhifu and Master Luo have noticed Xue Pei again in the past two years, and they only feel that he is becoming more and more cautious in his actions, and they don't think about him using this to store food in the space.

This time the prefect Du wanted to see Xue Pei, but because of the severe drought in the northwest, it could be said that there were thousands of miles of barren land and almost no crops in the farmland.Faced with more and more disaster victims, in order to prevent civil uprisings, the court had to transfer rice from the south of the Yangtze River for disaster relief.

But the timing of harvesting the rice is really not good. It is only two or three months after the end of the new year, the early rice is only half a foot high, and it is almost the time when the rice is not harvested everywhere.Even in the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, there is not much rice in stock.

There are also some businessmen and landlords, seeing the bad weather, have the idea of ​​hoarding, or they are reluctant to sell or even refuse to sell.In order to complete the task entrusted by the emperor, Du Zhifu had no choice but to focus on Xue Pei, a landlord who everyone knew had grain.

It was not only Du Zhifu who met Xue Pei together, but also an unexpected big man who was Xue Pei's acquaintance for several lifetimes - Lin Ruhai.Lin Ruhai in this life was even thinner, he looked like a gust of wind could blow him down, and the look on his face was also very tired, maybe it was because he just came from Yangzhou.

As the former imperial merchant, the original owner had also met Lin Ruhai, the inspector of salt, so Xue Pei appeared to be more familiar with Lin Ruhai. Although Du Zhifu was surprised, he thought it was reasonable, and the three chatted together. After a few words, everyone took their seats together.

The emperor's order was important, so Du Zhifu was not too polite with Xue Pei, and soon got to the point, explaining to Xue Pei his and Lin Ruhai's intention to meet him.The person sent by Prefect Du to invite Xue Pei had already mentioned this matter, so after hearing it, Xue Pei didn't feel abrupt, but just wanted to calculate how much food he could or was willing to give in his heart.

During the process of thinking, Xue Pei noticed that Lin Ruhai had been looking at him with ambiguous eyes, which made Xue Pei puzzled: Lin Ruhai was the censor who inspected the salt, and he was the one who was in charge of the emperor's money bag.Since I have never been an imperial merchant, I have never had any contact with him. Apart from paying money for Du Zhifu today, what is this guy staring at me like this?

If you don't understand something, it's safe to let it go for a while. Xue Pei said to the prefect, "Although Xue Pei is just a grassroots person, he still has the heart to share the worries of the saints and solve the problems of the people. Please rest assured, the magistrate. When the grassroots go back, they will check the granary and give the magistrate an amount." My family has too much grain, and I have to go back and stock up on a plate to find out the exact amount, okay?

"Thank you so much, Mr. Xue." Hearing Xue Pei's promise to pay the food, Du Zhifu let go of a big stone in his heart: Xue Pei has never delayed paying taxes in the past few years, and as a prefect, he still appreciates his affection.He felt that if Xue Pei said that he would go back to collect food, he would bring out not too little, so he spoke very politely.

Lin Ruhai suddenly said: "Although what is reported now is that there is a disaster in the northwest. However, the bad weather is inevitable. The summer harvest will take three months to open. The harvest in the hinterland of the Central Plains can be as good as in previous years. I'm afraid that the price of rice will increase. I don't know how much the rice in Master Xue's hand will cost?"

After hearing this, Xue Pei smiled and said, "Xue Pei said just now that I intended to share the worries of the saints and solve the problems of the common people. It is said that I should donate all the rice in my hand to relieve the disaster. It's just that in front of the two adults, Xue Pei That’s why people don’t speak secretly.”

Xue Pei paused for a while and continued: "Even if the two adults feel that Xue Pei has a villainous heart, Xue Pei is a person who has gone through a lot of hardships, and he dare not offend others. I am afraid that the rich people in Jinling City will make things difficult for them." Or bear a grudge against me and have to collect less money."

Prefect Du and Lin Ruhai looked at each other, and both of them understood Xue Pei's concerns: Xue Pei's stockpile of rice alone would definitely not be enough for this time.Other well-to-do households will definitely be levied.If Xue Pei donated rice, would the others want money or not?

If they don't want money, the rich will not dare to hold grudges against the court, but Xue Pei, who was the first to donate rice, will definitely become the target of their dissatisfaction.

It was still Lin Ruhai who said: "Right now, the price of rice in Beijing is [-] cents a stone. The rice produced in the south of the Yangtze River is not harvested now, and the rice on the market is [-] to [-] cents. For the amount of rice sold and the price per load, Hai should prepare money in advance.” You should say the amount.

Xue Pei nodded in agreement, pretended to be calculating silently, paused for a moment and said: "The grasslanders can squeeze out a hundred thousand shi of rice, and the price is only one tael and one shi." I can get the most rice.

Before Xue Pei came, the two of Du Zhifu also calculated the rice that Xue Pei might have in his hand, and felt that Xue Pei could take out [-] shi, and transport it there first to solve the urgent need in the Northwest, and the rest can be sold to other landlords slowly. collection.The two had already agreed that even if Xue Pei wanted to sell the food at the market price, the food in his hands must be taken away.

Unexpectedly, when Xue Pei opened his mouth, it was [-] dan, a full [-] shi more than they estimated.This is more than just sending charcoal in the snow, it is clearly saving the people from the upside down.Moreover, Xue Pei still sold it at a price that was nearly [-]% lower than the market price. Not to mention making money, he might even lose money.

Prefect Du and Lin Ruhai, who had figured it out, looked at each other, both of them moved.

Lin Ruhai had already stood up from his chair, and bowed to Xue Peishen: "Brother Xue understands righteousness so well, Hai is here to thank Brother Xue on behalf of the people in the Northwest, and thank Brother Xue on behalf of the officials in Jiangnan." With this batch of food, the officials collected food The task is also much easier to complete.

He was suddenly promoted from Master Xue to Brother Xue, Xue Pei was very excited, he didn't dare to accept Lin Ruhai's gift, he hurriedly got up to let him go, but he didn't escape the Du Zhifu who also got up to salute him.Xue Pei didn't return the gift in time, saying that he killed the grassroots.

Seeing his humility, Lin Ruhai and Du Zhifu felt much closer.Xue Pei felt that he could not accept the gift from the two parents in vain, so he said to them:

"Although it is the time when the fish are not harvested, there are still some fish left in the Caomin Sangji fish pond. It was originally intended to be kept for use by the major restaurants in the city, but when Caomin went back, people raised them. Although there are not many fish , it’s considered meaty at any rate. The fish of the grass people are raised in fish ponds without much effort, so you can donate the rest of the fish without spending money to help the victims of the disaster in the northwest.”

Without waiting for Du Zhifu and the two to thank again, Xue Pei continued: "There are also grass people in Zhuangzi who have opened a workshop for weaving silk and satin. Now there are still two thousand bolts of silk and satin that can be used to sew clothes for the victims. If the two adults They feel that silk and satin are not wear-resistant and are not suitable for disaster victims, and they can also be used to replace them with other cloths, which is always a wish of the grassroots.”

Lin Ruhai and Du Zhifu didn't know how to thank Xue Pei anymore, and they wanted to salute him again, but Xue Pei hurriedly let him go, jokingly said: "The two adults must know that the output of Caomin's village is limited. In fact, apart from this There is nothing more to come out of the three. The two adults saluted again, and the grassroots had no choice but to donate themselves." Du Zhifu and Lin Ruhai both laughed.

After the agreement, Xue Pei had to go back to the village to count the stored grain, and had to arrange for people to pick up the fish, and got up to say goodbye to the two adults.Unexpectedly, Lin Ruhai said to Prefect Du: "Brother Du, I have two things I want to say to Brother Xue in private, I don't know if it's convenient or not."

Although the Xunyan Yushi has no affiliation with the magistrate, they are three levels higher than the magistrate. Lin Ruhai opened his mouth to talk about private matters, and Du Zhifu went out out of the way, saying that he was going to arrange for someone to go back with Xue Pei. Zhuangzi, if the grain can be transported away sooner, the disaster victims can also be saved sooner.

After Du Zhifu left, Lin Ruhai seemed very embarrassed and didn't speak for a while.Xue Pei wasn't in a hurry, he didn't smuggle salt, and he wasn't afraid to be alone with the censor who inspected the salt. He happened to be thirsty just now, so he brought tea to drink by himself.Taking advantage of this time, Lin Ruhai, who was secretly observing Xue Pei, was very satisfied with his magnanimity, and felt that his suspicion was really groundless.

But the person has already stayed, and I really can't let go of the doubts in my heart, so I still have to ask the previous question.Lin Ruhai thought for a while and said, "Brother Xue, may I ask, are Brother Xue's family all in good health now?"

The body of your own family?Xue Pei nodded to Lin Ruhai in bewilderment: "Except that I was poisoned once, my body was hurt at the root, and life in autumn and winter is not easy, others are fine."

Lin Ruhai bowed his hands to him: "The following words may involve brother Xue's in-laws, if there is anything wrong, please ask brother Xue Haihan."

As soon as he said this, Xue Pei knew what to say next, but his face changed into a solemn expression: "Master Lin, it's okay to say."

Lin Ruhai said: "Four years ago, I received a letter from Jinling, which said that Mrs. Zun had been injured by her sister, the wife of Jia Zheng who married into the Rongguo Mansion, and returned Involving the heirs to be weak, is there such a thing?"

The astonishment on Xue Pei's face was real. He was not surprised that Lin Ruhai asked about this matter, but that it took him three years to ask. Is this considered to be calm, or did he want to make a big problem into a small one.

After putting away his surprise, Xue Pei nodded towards Lin Ruhai: "Oh, even if Mr. Lin asked, I don't have to hide it. Something happened to our house back then, and I didn't want to see the world in Jinling City anymore, so I moved to Zhuangzi Living inside. I don’t want my body to live up to expectations, and the old poison will relapse from time to time.”

"Fortunately, there is a Qi Langzhong in the next village who is a country doctor, but he is very skilled in medicine. Not only did he cure my old poison, but when he was treating my wife, he discovered that someone had hidden hands on her body. "

"I thought it was my careless people in the house who were afraid that the mistress' having a son would be bad for them, so they did something to my wife. Unexpectedly, Qi Langzhong found several inappropriate things in the wife's room on the spot. Later, I asked him to check it carefully, and found that there were quite a lot of inappropriate things. We checked the account books ourselves, and it was all gifts from my wife and her sister's courteous exchanges."

"It was thanks to Qi Langzhong's reminder that we only knew that my wife had lost a baby before Gouzi, and that the youngest daughter also had heat poison in her womb due to the cold mother's body. I couldn't get angry, so I asked my wife to stop interacting with her sister Yes. It’s just that the Rongguo Mansion is so powerful that it cannot be shaken by me, a grassroots person, so I have no choice but to stop communicating.”

Xue Pei knew everything, the more he said, the more startled Lin Ruhai was, and the tighter his fists were clenched.After Xue Pei finished speaking, he asked: "Could it be that the second wife of the Rongguo Mansion wanted to ask Mr. Lin to make peace with her, and wanted to reconnect with my mansion? It's not the grass-roots who want to refute Mr. Lin's face. Don't say anything about such a femme fatale." It is Mr. Lin who is the lobbyist, even if the current emperor comes to persuade him, I will not have any contact with him again."

When Lin Ruhai heard him mention Mrs. Wang, his eyes were already angry: "It's not just that you don't want to have any more contact with her, but I also don't want to have any more contact with her."

Xue Pei smiled inwardly, with a puzzled expression on his face: "Oh? Mr. Lin is the son-in-law of the Rongguo Mansion, and Mrs. Zun is the only daughter of the Rongguo Mansion. How can he not associate with the Rongguo Mansion."

He deliberately blurred the concept of Mrs. Wang and Rongguo Mansion, intending to remind Lin Ruhai that the entire Rongguo Mansion is not worth dealing with.How much Lin Ruhai can listen to, whether he can understand what he listens to, and what kind of decision he makes after listening is beyond his control.

Xue Pei also asked Lin Ruhai a question: "Speaking of which, when I first came to Zhuangzi, no one in the entire Jinling City interacted with me. No one should know how my family behaves in Zhuangzi. I don't know who knows about my family's affairs." It was so clear that I even wrote a letter to Master Lin."

"After Mr. Lin received the letter, did you find out who wrote the letter? The person who wrote the letter was so interested in the affairs of my village, it made people feel cold after hearing it. If you don't find out, Xue Pei really has trouble sleeping and eating."

Lin Ruhai also shook his head. When he first received the letter, he asked someone to check it secretly, but he didn't find anything useful. He only found out that Xue Pei had indeed sent his housekeeper into Beijing at that time.

He also secretly tried to get Xue Pei's pen and ink, but the handwriting did not match at all.The two had never had any personal relationship, so Lin Ruhai naturally couldn't let go of his business, because a letter sent him from Yangzhou to Jinling, and then to Zhuangzi to confront Xue Pei, so he took the opportunity of today's meeting to ask.

Now it seems that Xue Pei doesn't know who wrote the letter, and Lin Ruhai is even more afraid of the person who wrote the letter: "The Qi Langzhong that Brother Xue mentioned?"

Xue Pei shook his head helplessly: "Qi Langzhong is very skilled, but his whereabouts are erratic. I haven't seen him for a year or two. Fortunately, his wife and daughter's bodies have been taken care of by him."

"Has the heat poison in Ling Qianjin's womb been cured?" Lin Ruhai asked eagerly.

Xue Pei nodded affirmatively.

Lin Ruhai repeatedly asked Qi Langzhong about his appearance and where he practiced medicine, and Xue Pei told them all.The last one couldn't bear it, Xue Pei still said that there were still some health pills made by Qi Langzhong for Baochai at home, but there were not many left, and someone would give them to Lin Ruhai later.

It's just that Xue Pei kindly reminded Lin Ruhai out of caution that it's best to ask a trusted doctor to try the health-preserving pills before taking them.Then he also provided Lin Ruhai with a clue, saying that it was Master Luo, the emperor who succeeded him, who seemed to have some friendship with Qi Langzhong.

However, Xue Pei also asked Lin Ruhai not to reveal that he had told the news. After all, he and Master Luo were both predecessors, and he was afraid that Master Luo would feel uncomfortable.Lin Ruhai, an official, knows the delicate relationship between his predecessors and predecessors. Other than taking over the position of Imperial Merchant, what else did Master Luo take over? Others don't know, but Lin Ruhai knows it too.He repeatedly assured Xue Pei that he would not reveal anything, so he said goodbye to Xue Pei.

For 10 shi rice, [-] bolts of cloth, and a full [-] catties of live fish, Xue Pei only received [-] taels of silver, which is enough to make those who hear it admire.Lin Ruhai is a minister of the emperor who has the right to write a secret report, saved a lot of money for the court to buy grain, and transported the grain to the northwest in advance, so he will report to the emperor, and the memorial will describe Xue Pei's righteous deeds Once.

Du Zhifu, who also has the duty of raising food, published the memorial, and also bluntly praised Xue Pei in the memorial as "a righteous act of the people".Lin Zhonghai's secret documents did not go through the cabinet, but Du Zhifu's official documents could only be reported to the emperor through the cabinet. After several changes of hands, it was enough for all important officials to know that there was a righteous citizen Xue Pei in Jinling who donated money generously. Food and cloth to relieve the victims.

Some people think that the name Xue Pei is very familiar, and only after thinking about it can they remember that the original imperial merchant Xue Pei also came from Jinling.I just heard that Xue Pei, the imperial merchant, had been poisoned and injured himself a few years ago, lost his family property, and was deprived of the name of the imperial merchant. I don't know if these two Xue Pei are the same person.

The courtiers didn't know if the two Xue Pei were the same person, but the emperor did.While receiving Lin Ruhai's memorial, the emperor also received a secret letter from Master Luo, which explained in detail the origin of Xue Pei's grain and silk and satin, and also explained that the farmland near Jinling was planted according to Xue Pei's method, and the harvest Improve by [-]%.

This made the emperor very satisfied with Xue Pei, a former spy, and felt that his act of saving Xue Pei's life and writing him a couplet was nothing more wise.Just imagine, if he didn't trust Xue Pei generously, how could he retreat to the countryside safely and grow such a good field.

So Xue Pei's achievements were all given to him by his own emperor.The emperor, who consciously wanted to understand the truth, spoke fiercely to several courtiers who should have confiscated their property to warn the world of Xue Pei's greedy contribution:

"You feel that Xue Pei is taking money for donations, and I wish you all would come to take part in this work. I don't ask you to donate as much as Xue Pei, as long as you have half of him, I believe that you will serve the country wholeheartedly! A majestic court official is not as generous as a grassroots man, and I will blush for you when you dare to call a grassroots man!"

The courtiers in the above are all confused, the emperor's strategy is wrong: natural disasters are the most likely to cause turmoil in the hearts of the people, and the court always needs to prevent people from taking advantage of natural disasters to buy people's hearts with property.So no matter who donated too much money, someone would ask the emperor to handle it carefully.Not only will the emperor not blame, but he will also speak out to praise the person who gave the performance.

How come Xue Pei changed?

The emperor not only changed his routine, but he also wrote a banner in front of his courtiers: Upper Body Tianxin.It's not counting if he wrote it, but he also solemnly stamped his own badge of Tiren Layman, saying that he would reward Xue Pei in recognition of his act of sharing his worries.

If Xue Pei knew that the emperor was going to exchange a few words for what he had in his hands, he would definitely feel that the emperor was the best at doing business in the world.It turned out that a pair of couplets made my several million taels of silver go away, but now the four words have exchanged for my 10,000+ taels of silver.

When Du Zhifu brought the officials and gentry in Jinling City to send the engraved plaque to Zhuangzi with gongs and drums, Xue Pei still had to bring the whole family together, kneeling respectfully on the ground to accept the plaque, After the firecrackers were set off, they hung respectfully above the main gate of the villa.

At this time, the person who delivered the plaque discovered that the fonts on the couplets on both sides of the gate of the villa were exactly the same as those on the plaque.When I looked carefully, I found the chapter of the little Tiren layman in the lower link.

Everyone's heart was turned upside down: it turned out that Xue Pei had already obtained the couplets written by the sage himself, no wonder he dared to let his younger brother take the imperial examination as soon as he stopped being an imperial merchant.There was also that Sun Qian, who just humiliated Xue Pei face to face, and the whole family disappeared without a trace.It turned out that it wasn't Xue Pei who took advantage of Sun Qian, it was clearly the saint who was secretly protecting Xue Pei.

Many people regret that they didn't help Xue Pei when the accident happened, but there is no one who sells regret medicine in the world, so they can only do their best to add to the icing on the cake now.

The most surprised one was the prefect Du who stood at the front. He had seen this couplet before when he came to Xuepei Zhuangzi, but the content on it was so vulgar that he didn’t even read the characters carefully—the prefect was only four As a senior official, he has not yet had the right to go straight to the memorial, and the prefect Du has not seen the emperor's handwriting a few times.

Thinking about it now, Xue Pei dared to say "Share the saint's worries" in front of his face that day, it was not a scene at all, that's what he thought in his heart.Du Zhifu thought, if the sage also put such a pair of couplets and plaques on his family, he would also want to share the sage's worries.

Speaking of which, Xue Pei was quite tolerant, even though he was humiliated, he didn't bring up the name of a saint to teach others.In order to collect more tax money, I asked him to teach others the method of mulberry fish soup.

Thinking of the prefect Du here, he smiled more sincerely at Xue Pei, and even asked Xue Pei if he had any difficulties, so he just asked him, the prefect.Xue Pei didn't want to say it, but Du Zhifu repeatedly asked him to say it, as if he couldn't return to Jinling safely without mentioning that he wanted to save the city.