Anxian County produces pink salt and is adjacent to Shatuo Kingdom, so there are many merchants coming and going. Jinzhou is the seat of the county government. Although its prosperity is not comparable to that of the capital city, it is also incomparable to other states and counties. The streets are neat and uniform, with restaurants and teahouses lined up in rows, and merchants and footmen gathered together. It is also a place where news from the world gathers and disperses.
The official market in the city opens at three o'clock, and merchants from all walks of life buy and sell all kinds of goods here. Mei Siyuan took a walk around the salt market. The quality and price of the salt products were both good, so he went out early and headed to Minfang. The official market is guarded by government officials, and traffic is in order. On the other hand, in folk shops, small vendors sell their own goods, and they often compete for good positions, and even some people are killed. Mei Siyuan wandered from Cai Fang to Rice Fang, then to You Fang, and finally stopped at Salt Fang.
"Seller, how much is this pink salt?" Mei Siyuan used the bamboo slices in the salt bag to fiddle with the salt grains and looked at it carefully, then asked the man in charge.
The man in charge had a shrewd look on his face and replied quickly: "Sir, one tael of pink salt sells for one hundred and forty cents. If you sell it by the pound, you can get it cheaper, eight cents of silver. This pink salt is a scarce commodity. It is there today, but it will be uncertain tomorrow.”
Mei Siyuan frowned and said: "Isn't the unified purchase law clearly stipulating that a pound of pink salt can be sold for one thousand, seven hundred and fifty cents? One tael of silver is worth two thousand five hundred cents. If you sell it for eight cents of silver, it will be two thousand cents, which is two thousand cents higher than the unified purchase law. One hundred and fifty coins!" He pointed to the salt bag and asked, "And your pink salt contains a lot of sand dust, so the texture is not that good, so why is it so expensive?"
The man in charge shook his head and sighed: "Hey, what's the use of the unified purchase law? We bought this salt from the official market for 1,850 taels. If we really sell it according to the unified purchase law, we won't suffer losses or starve to death." ?”
"Is there such a thing?" Mei Siyuan asked in shock. He is the chief official in charge of salt administration in Dahua. If the price of salt cannot be controlled, how can we manage salt? Just as he was waiting to ask again, he saw an old woman walking in from the entrance of the shop, leaning on a bamboo cane.
"Go! Go! Go!" The man in charge hurriedly waved his sleeves, "You can't afford it, why do you come here every day!"
The old woman was dressed in rags, her eye sockets were sunken deeply, and she was already too thin. She knelt on the ground and cried, "Just be kind and do a good deed! My grandson hasn't eaten salt for several months." , my feet are rotten, if I don’t add salt, I’m afraid I won’t survive! I beg you! Just give me some salt!”
"Let's go! I'm still doing business! I'm selling this salt. If you bring me the money, I'll sell it to you right away. You don't have any money in your hand, so I can't do anything you say. Here you go!" The man in charge twitched his eyes and gritted his teeth.
Mei Siyuan watched from the side and saw faint tears in the man's eyes. I couldn't help but think, "I guess this guy doesn't have a bad heart. I'm afraid it's really hard to make a living, and he has a family of young and old to serve him, so he might not be able to make ends meet."
"Old man, please don't leave." Mei Siyuan stepped forward, held her sleeve with one hand, took out a piece of official silver from her waist pocket with the other hand, and said to the man in charge: "Seller, please give me half a pound of powder." Salt, I have one tael of silver ingots here, and you can convert the remaining silver into copper coins!"
The man in charge took the silver ingot and couldn't help but smile. A few tears were squeezed out of his eyes. He turned around and said "Dele!" and became busy for a while.
"Auntie, this is the salt this gentleman bought for you. Please hold it carefully and don't touch the water!" The man in charge handed the salt packet to the old woman with one hand, and waited for the old woman to take the salt packet. Holding three large strings of copper coins in his hands, he said to Mei Siyuan: "These are the copper coins given to you. There are a total of 1,500 coins. Please count them."
Mei Siyuan took the three strings of copper coins and brought them to the old woman. He said warmly: "With these coins, you can buy some good food for your grandson so that he can get well soon! I also have a child who wants to come and be with your grandson." As big as a child."
The old woman took the copper yuan tremblingly and looked directly at Mei Siyuan, her face trembling and the corners of her mouth trembling slightly but not crying, as if she wanted to remember her benefactor's appearance deeply. I saw her suddenly kneeling down and sobbing.
"Young Master, this Mei Siyuan is really a good official!" Mu Gao, who saw the whole reason dozens of feet away, murmured, "Why is he actually a Chinese!"
The young man in white next to him remained silent, turned around and walked behind the crowd. When Mu Ji came back to his senses, he saw that the four of them had gone far away, so he hurriedly followed them.
They arrived four days ago. When they found Mei Siyuan, they happened to see him feeding a blind beggar on the roadside. Everyone wanted to kill him, settle the matter here and return to Yin Yang City as soon as possible, but they couldn't do it.
"Duanmu Jing, Duanmu Chong, please do it. I feel a little uncomfortable today."
"Mu Jue, you're here to trick me again. If you want to do it, then do it together!"
The last few people discussed the plan and decided to follow Mei Siyuan first. When he stopped doing good deeds, the three of them would kill him together. However, after four days of following, Mei Siyuan made them lose their murderous intention again and again.
"Alas, this Lord Mei rests for less than three hours a day, and is flawless both for public and private purposes. Even though I, Duan Murong, am a murderer, I can't bear to kill him!" The smallest black-faced man sighed with emotion. , "If it weren't for the grievances between family and country, I, Duanmu Rong, really admire such a man and would really like to make friends with him."
"Who says it's not the case!" Mu Jie answered, "In Dahua, this Mei Siyuan is really the one I like the most. I, Mu Jie, have been with him for four days and I really don't want to kill him!"
The five of them stood by a secluded small lake. The young man in white looked hesitant. Apparently, after what he had seen in the past few days, he no longer wanted to kill Mei Siyuan. I saw him suddenly pull out a soft sword from his waist bag and plunge towards the lake. For a moment, the light and shadow on the lake swayed, as brilliant as flowers. I saw him stepping on the lake without getting his shoes wet. A soft sword in his hand suddenly looked like a snake, sometimes like a ribbon, soft or smart. His moves were quick and decisive, and the sword's moves were dangerous and charming, just like a dream.
When he turned over from the lake and jumped to the side of the four of them, he was already sweating, but he heard him say coldly: "I may not kill him, but he will die!" He returned the sword to his waist and said slowly, " Zhu Xiaochen and his entourage should come here to meet us tomorrow. He knows nothing about Mei Siyuan, so he is determined to do something!" Mu Ju and Duanmu Jing were shocked, but they finally nodded. Before the interests of the family and the country, do you still care about your own life and death, let alone others?
The sun is rising, and it’s a beautiful scene of early summer morning light.
"Qingxin, why are you unhappy again?" Yi Buyi turned around and asked.
"Where is it? What are you talking about!" Yi Qingxin said feebly, "I just didn't sleep well last night and I'm a little tired." After driving Yi Buyi away from the inn last night, Yi Qingxin walked carefully to the door of room B. But he still didn't dare to open it. After some hesitation, he returned to the room angrily. This happened several times, but I didn't apologize and I didn't sleep well. I wanted to get up early today and just look for an opportunity to apologize, but I saw that they had already left, and there was no trace of them anywhere.
"Yes, he said, hurry up." Yi Qingxin thought quietly.
