"Brother, there is no need to go out to see him off. We, father and son, know the way out. From now on, we are separated by the world and will never see each other again. Farewell!"
Zhang Zhou and his son, one holding a torch and the other holding a fire stick, walked out of the mansion with their heads held high.
The steward of the Zhang family walked in, came to Zhang Ye and said, "Master, did you just give him the money?"
Zhang Ye said angrily: "What else? Do you want that bastard to set fire to the house, or do you want to burn me?"
"Second Master shouldn't be that brave, right?" The steward disagreed.
Just Zhang Zhou?
With such a cowardly look, he still dares to set fire to the house and burn people? He wouldn't even dare to lend him a hundred courages.
Zhang Ye said: "You asked me to bet that he wouldn't dare? Why didn't you stop him at the door?"
"ah……"
Now even the stewards are wilted.
"Keep a close eye on the door from now on. No matter if he comes to set fire or to give gifts, he will be kicked out. I will just treat him as if I don't have this younger brother! If I see him again in the future, I will beat his muscles and peel off his skin!"
"Then Master, if the Second Master wins the election in the future, will we see you again?"
"Win the exam? Why don't you say he won the top prize? Does he have that destiny?"
"What did the madam say?"
"If anyone dares to tell Madam, I will peel off his skin too! My two hundred coins!"
…
…
"Dad, you are really capable. You got two hundred coins from my uncle in one go, but why don't you ask him for more? I think my uncle is very afraid of you."
After leaving the door, Zhang Jun admired his father to the point of admiration.
Zhang Zhou said: "When doing things, you must know how to act within your ability, and you must also assess the situation. Uncle Qi has no status in the family. He is suppressed by his mother-in-law. He has only had a son for so many years, and even if he wants to have a house with a concubine, he can control it. The money is probably only one tael of silver or less."
"Then I need one or two." Zhang Jun added.
Zhang Zhou glared at his son and said: "You kid, remember, we are here to borrow money, not to be bandits. We have to leave some for him and don't make him feel too distressed, otherwise he may really fight us to the death!"
"Aren't you called bandits? Hehe."
Zhang Jun muttered and said with a smile: "Dad, shall we go home now?"
Zhang Zhou said: "You only have two hundred coins, and you're going home? Go to your grandpa's house. I know where his door is this time. Just follow me."
Zhang Jun said in surprise: "Dad, are we going to set a fire? Do we have enough?"
The first fire was successful, and the son thought that his father was going to do it again.
"When you go to your grandpa's house, you have to change your posture. Throw away all your things, and let's go and have lunch first. We should eat and drink enough, otherwise your grandpa will think that we are here to beg for food."
…
The father and son finished their lunch at the roadside stall. Zhang Jun had a big appetite and ate a bowl of braised noodles.
Zhang Zhou also put some of himself into his son's bowl.
"Da Lang, you should eat more in the future, grow tall and strong, protect your mother, aunt, and sister, and be a man!"
"Dad, isn't it you?"
"Me alone is not enough, this family needs a man."
Zhang Zhou may have felt that he would leave at any time, so it was necessary to cultivate his son.
After the father and son had finished eating, they went to the house of Zhang Zhou's father-in-law Jiang Dezhong.
Unlike the cold reception they received at the door of Zhang Ye's house, the Jiang family directly invited the father and son to the door, but instead of leading them to the main courtyard, they led the father and son to a side hall in the west wing without even serving refreshments.
"Tell your master that I'm here to discuss business with him. If you miss this village, there won't be this shop!"
Zhang Zhou said something to the Jiang family’s servants.
The servants leave.
Zhang Jun asked: "Dad, what business do you want to discuss with grandpa?"
Zhang Zhou sat down and looked around. There wasn't even anything valuable in the room. Perhaps Lao Taishan was afraid that he would be poor and short-minded, so he deliberately found a room with nothing to greet him. Unless Zhang Zhou Zhou was going to move the tables, chairs, cabinets and other things out and sell them, otherwise he would never be able to take away anything that could be cashed out from this room.
"Your grandpa wants to bring you and your mother back to live with you. Are you willing to come?" Zhang Zhou asked.
"No, we want to be together as a family!"
"Then if I bring your aunt and sister with me, would you be willing?"
"Uh... no, dad, you have to come too!"
Zhang Jun thought for a while and seemed to think that his father was very important. As for how important he was, he couldn't describe it himself.
Zhang Zhou smiled and touched Zhang Jun's head: "At last, my love for you was not in vain. I told your grandpa that we wanted to do business. He thought he was talking about the business of selling your mother and son. Only in this way would he show up. Otherwise we will just have to wait here!"
"Dad, don't betray us."
"No, your dad and I have plenty of ways to deal with your grandpa."
…
…
As Zhang Zhou expected, after a cup of tea, Zhang Zhou's old father-in-law Jiang Dezhong appeared in the west wing courtyard.
The little old man with the mustache may seem shrewd at first glance, but he looks more like a crooked old man.
"My son-in-law has met my father-in-law." Zhang Zhou brought his son out to see him, "Master, please salute your grandfather quickly."
"I met grandpa."
Jiang Dezhong put on a disgusting face: "You still have the nerve to come? I have many sons, but I only have one precious daughter, but I blindly chose a prodigal like you. Now you can't even eat, so you came to me to borrow money." ?”
Zhang Zhou said: "No, my father-in-law misunderstood. My son-in-law recently got some news and wants to come and do a business with you to manage and make money."
Jiang Dezhong almost spit out blood.
"I've seen shameless people, but I've never seen you so shameless. Are you still doing business? Do you know how to do business?" Jiang Dezhong didn't give his son-in-law any face and scolded him.
Zhang Zhou was not surprised and said with a smile: "Father-in-law, I heard that after the Yellow River in the north changed its course, it burst again in August. Coupled with the wind disaster in the southeast, the price of firewood, rice, oil and salt in Nanjing will skyrocket in the next period of time. What are you doing? Those in the brewing business, why not take the opportunity to shop and make a fortune?"
Jiang Dezhong said disdainfully: "The Yellow River burst? The summer floods have passed, and we haven't heard of the breach. What's the matter with the southeastern typhoon that hit Nanjing? Stop talking nonsense here!"
Zhang Zhou really wasn't talking nonsense.
In the autumn of the 11th year of Hongzhi, after the Yellow River was diverted to the Huaihe River, a major breach occurred. As a result, people died of hunger all over the Central Plains, and the price of rice in Nanjing and other places soared. The price increased two or three times in a month. Until October, the imperial court After Huguang, Jiangxi and other departments allocated food for disaster relief, rice prices in Nanjing returned to normal.
The price increase of daily necessities in Nanjing this time is not due to scarcity, but to a wave of panic hoarding in the market driven by bad news.
The Chinese people are probably like this. They lack a sense of security but have a strong sense of crisis. They always like to do this kind of thing.
Jiang Dezhong's family has been in the brewing business for generations. When he came to Jiang Dezhong, he was admitted to the scholar examination. However, he failed several times after that, and then he stopped dreaming of taking the imperial examination. However, the Jiang family regarded himself as a scholarly family, and Zhang Zhou's grandfather was a member of the imperial family and served as magistrate twice and magistrate once. Zhang Zhou's father was also a Gongsheng student.
"Father-in-law, how can you not trust my son-in-law so much? My son-in-law really didn't lie to you. Otherwise, you lend me fifty dan of grain and I will pay you back in two months. I will be responsible for the profit and loss. What do you think?"
Zhang Zhou presented his business experience.
The market price of one pound of ordinary grain is about three or four cents. One stone is just over four hundred cents, and fifty dan is twenty guan. When converted into silver, it is about twenty-three taels. The market price of copper coins is 850 cents, which can be exchanged for one tael. Flat silver.
Jiang Dezhong almost jumped up on the spot: "You are such a bastard, you caused my daughter to be reduced from a wealthy lady to a farmer's wife. I haven't even settled the accounts with you yet. You came to my door and I treated you so cruelly. You actually took away my rice and grain from my house." idea?"
"Don't say I won't give you a chance. My brewer has two jars of wine per person. If you can drink better than me, I will lend you this food. If you get drunk or don't dare to drink, get out of here!"
