"Master Wang, look, do you know Magistrate Ouyang?"
The old social butterfly Wang Caozhi returned to the viewing platform where the grain merchants belonged. Shopkeeper Li twirled his goatee and curiously asked the thoughts of the grain merchants on the stage.
"uh-huh."
Wang Caozhi didn't comment, he just raised his chin and said:
"There is a familiar sister from the Xie family who happens to be in Longcheng. Her father is a well-known Confucian scholar in the world of literature. He is famous all over the world. Ouyang Lianghan is his father's disciple... I think we know him. We just made an appointment for dinner."
His tone was in an understatement, as if he was chatting, but when Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li and others saw it, they looked at each other in shock.
A small grain merchant sighed: "As expected of the Wang family of Langya and the Xie family of Chenjun, they can have connections everywhere in Jiangnan Road. They are also doing business, but Mr. Wang, the shopkeeper... Oh, I am really envious of you."
The short young man waved his hand modestly.
But the more humble he was, the more Shopkeeper Li, who was stroking his beard, took a breath, thought for a moment, and couldn't help but ask in a low voice:
"So this time the grain prices in Longcheng County are relaxed, there must be shopkeeper Shao behind the scenes. No wonder he can bring grain to Longcheng so early in advance. It turns out to be the banker."
Everyone looked at him in surprise, even Shopkeeper Ma, who had a strong background, looked slightly sideways.
Wang Caozhi just smiled faintly, waved his hands, and continued eating sweet rice dumplings without explaining.
Although he is a descendant of a collateral lineage and is not taken seriously in the clan, he travels around the country at a young age, runs a large business, manages all the connections steadily, and makes many friends, relying on this kind of "truth" "Tell all the lies and none of the lies".
The grain merchants in the stands toasted and chatted.
Shopkeeper Ma also put down his rosary beads, smiled and toasted a glass of wine, but he continued to focus on the subjective stage and turned around to ask:
"Master Wang, what is the relationship between County Magistrate Ouyang and the noble daughter of the Xie family? Why do they seem so close to each other? There must be no love between men and women, otherwise a girl from the Xie family would come to this poor place to do it." Well?"
"How can it be."
This time Wang Caozhi was not calm anymore, and immediately replied, as if he had heard something very funny, he laughed and said:
"My sister from the Xie family is a good scholar. She is well-known in our Wang and Xie families. She studied in the academy with her father very early. It is normal for her to be close to her senior brothers. How could she marry someone with a foreign surname? But the direct daughter of the Xie family in Chen County, to put it bluntly, she won’t be able to marry even the direct son of the family behind you, Shopkeeper Ma, if she proposes to you."
Shopkeeper Ma was not annoyed and nodded, "That's right. Even the current Holy Emperor can't do anything to those of you who prohibit marriage."
Everyone no longer had any doubts and started talking about making money by selling grain. There might be disputes about other things, but when it came to making money, they were united like never before.
Wang Caozhi stood up and raised his glass, signaling to everyone:
"Here, I'd like to toast you all! The price of food has been at twenty yuan a bucket for a long time. You see, these people outside are living a good life. It seems that everyone is quite rich. After this Dragon Boat Festival, the price of food tomorrow will be It must rise uniformly!”
The short young man pointed at the rich people who had wallets and came to the viewing platform.
The burly shopkeeper Ma put his hands on his hands and laughed, full of pride: "Hahaha, that's right, it's going up! It's going up! It just so happened that another 20,000 stones arrived this morning. We have the final say on the price of food in Longcheng County. !”
"Hey, look!" Just as he was talking, shopkeeper Ma's eyes suddenly lit up. He grabbed the sloshing wine glass and ran to the railing. He threw the glass into the river with all his strength. He pointed at the dragon boat in front and said loudly:
"I won the dragon boat bet, hahaha, it's a good sign!"
Wang Caozhi, shopkeeper Li and others also stood up immediately, smiled and applauded in congratulations.
At this moment, on the bank of Butterfly Creek, with the birth of the first Dragon Boat Race champion boat in the morning, amidst the roar of gongs and drums, today's atmosphere reached a climax!
Countless eyes along the Butterfly Creek converged on the subjective stage.
The winning dragon boat rowers, helmsmen, drummers and gong players walked onto the stage with bare arms and were praised and congratulated by the Longcheng County Magistrate himself.
It's just that in the joyous hustle and bustle around the high platform, Magistrate Ouyang who greeted the winning dragon boat team seemed to be in a trance when he just got up. Didn't notice anything.
When the excited helmsmen came to him, Ouyang Rong's slightly abnormal expression recovered.
"Thank you for your hard work, heroes."
With a bright smile, he hung garlands and colored plaques for the group one by one, turned around and faced the audience.
The people of Dragon City, the participating dragon boats, and the rich and wealthy businessmen in the audience were a little quieter, waiting for the customary county magistrate to speak.
On the long street not far away, a figure of a fast horse suddenly appeared and ran towards him.
At first, only some peripheral people noticed it, but when Magistrate Ouyang Rong, who was the focus of the audience, silently stopped speaking and looked sideways in the direction of the fast ride, most people in the audience also noticed the abnormality.
The bustling crowd made a way, and the fast horsemen rushed in. The hoarse shouts of the knights on the horses resounded throughout the audience:
"Urgent report from Jiangzhou, urgent report from Jiangzhou, Longcheng County Magistrate will receive the report!"
Discussions suddenly broke out on the court, but then fell silent again with a loud "Quiet" from Diao County Cheng.
Liu Ziwen and Liu Zian looked at each other with frowns. On another viewing platform, Wang Caozhi, Shopkeeper Ma, Shopkeeper Li and others looked around curiously.
Everyone saw the tired horse reining up his horse in front of the main stage at the ferry. The postman turned over and dismounted, fell, and dragged his legs to the stage to deliver the message.
The young county magistrate on the stage frowned slightly. He first looked back at the officials behind him, then walked forward and verified his identity with the Qianqi Station official. Then he took the urgent document and presented it in full view of everyone. Open it, lower your eyes and read silently.
Countless eyes fell on the calm face of Magistrate Ouyang. He did not speak immediately, and the atmosphere on the scene couldn't help but become tense.
Everyone knows that official documents that are rushed hundreds of miles away are usually negative and serious matters that need to be notified to the local authorities quickly, otherwise some simple official matters can be delivered slowly.
The last time a similar official document came, it was the corruption case in Jimincang.
Thinking of this, many people in the crowd had some bad premonitions. They were worried about whether there was a natural or man-made disaster or a war.
Some local gentry and landlords are also worried. They are the ones most easily affected by changes in local policies.
On the other side, Wang Caozhi and other foreign grain merchants did not have these worries. The official documents from Jiangzhou generally had little impact on them, mobile merchants, and they certainly could not restrict their personal freedom, so most of them just wanted to watch the excitement. mentality and want to see if there are any new business opportunities.
However, what was unexpected was that on the high platform, the tall young county magistrate who was reading official documents silently and independently suddenly smiled relaxedly, raised his head, smiled and shook his head at the audience, and waved his hands to appease the nervous officials and subordinates behind him.
"Don't worry, it's not a big deal, it has nothing to do with anyone." He said in a relaxed tone. "Everyone continues to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, then plays music and dances."
The stone that weighed on the hearts of many people in Longcheng suddenly dropped, and the silent crowd returned to liveliness. Wang Caozhi and other foreign businessmen were still a little disappointed. After all, they were not fun to watch... boring, and wanted to see blood flowing into a river.
"But I and my colleagues have to be busy again. Hey, after finally taking the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, I still got an official letter to work overtime..."
The young county magistrate lowered his head, folded the letter and put it away. As if thinking of something, he raised his head and asked casually:
"By the way, everyone is here. Are there any friends in the audience who have a large amount of food stockpiles in this county? Please come to the county office for a cup of tea and report it. Relax, it's not a big deal, it's just that Mr. Shen is suspected of being embezzled by the supervisor. The grain from Jimincang was still parked on the border of Jiangzhou, so he asked the imperial court for instructions and ordered that from now on, all counties in Jiangzhou were not allowed to leave Jiangzhou without permission for large amounts of grain stored in them. Local officials must verify the origin and prove their origins with a valid document. , before it can be transported away..."
As soon as the words fell, the noise in the audience only became slightly quieter, and then returned to normal. It was indeed a small matter, and most people didn't care about it. They didn't even understand it and dispersed.
On the viewing platform somewhere, Wang Caozhi, Shopkeeper Ma, Shopkeeper Li and other grain merchants who were about to go to the team building were all stunned. They even wondered if they heard wrongly, and they said "Ah" several times in succession. "Character.
Until a young county magistrate "happened" to stop alone on their stage after looking around. The young magistrate seemed to be smiling with white teeth and a very sincere smile. Wang Caozhi and others suddenly shuddered. trembling.
Welcome to appreciate old books~
(End of chapter)
