"..." Mr. Ming was speechless and stared at him blankly. The expression on his face was extremely complicated and unpredictable. It seemed that even endless sorrow and joy were blended into it.
"Yuan Cheng, Yuan Cheng..."
The old gentleman called him several times before Mr. Ming came back to his senses.
The old gentleman asked: "What is Yuan Cheng thinking?"
Bitterness appeared on Mr. Ming's face. He shook his head unbearably and waved his hands. He didn't want to mention this anymore and asked, "Why did you come to visit me?"
The old gentleman said with a confused expression: "I have two incompetent grandsons. I can't train them well. I want to hire Yuan Cheng as a teacher. I wonder if Yuan Cheng is willing to move to the state capital. I will arrange all the trivial matters at home."
Mr. Ming guessed that it was something like this. All the people who came to visit recently were concerned about their children and grandchildren.
He had always thought that he was a joke in his hometown, returning shamelessly to face his fellow villagers. If he hadn't braved the bullet and came back this time, he would never have imagined that he would still have such a reputation in his hometown, which was completely opposite to what he thought.
A few days later, Mr. Ming invested money to buy an old mansion and cleaned it into a school. The neighbors enthusiastically helped clean it.
The walls of the house were plastered. After the fresh paint, Mr. Ming set up the stairs and climbed up with a brush as big as a broom. Mrs. Ming held up the washbasin filled with ink under the stairs.
After dipping his pen in ink, Mr. Ming scrawled lines of big characters on the pink and white wall: The land where the people gather is the country. If the people mourn, the country will decline. Those who protect the people are the true soldiers of the country!
Mr. Ming, who came down the stairs, handed the pen to his wife, walked to the old gentleman from the state capital, pointed to the line of words and said: "Here is the reply to the old man!"
This was a refusal to become his own private tutor. The old man looked at the writing on the wall, stroking his beard and nodding, "It seems that the prodigy who was full of knowledge back then really planned to be a teacher for the rest of his life. Yuan Cheng is so talented, is it possible? You haven’t thought about making a comeback, and you don’t want to try again next time to fulfill your long-cherished wish?”
Mr. Ming smiled, with a sense of melancholy about the past in his expression.
The reason why he came back this time was that he thought he had found the shortcomings of his long-term failure in the exam, and was fully prepared to take the exam again in three years. He was also confident that he would pass the exam again.
To put it bluntly, I came back this time prepared to avenge my past humiliation. I came back because I had adjusted my mentality and because I dared to face it.
But what he didn't want to see was another scene, only to realize that the 'former shame' was only in his own heart.
I also understood what I wanted, what my fellow villagers wanted, and more generally, what the country lacked.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing to have one less prodigy who is full of knowledge and one more teacher.”
Mr. Ming gave the answer with a smile. He really felt relieved about some things. His eyes followed the lady who had a bright face and thanked everyone for their help.
The old gentleman laughed heartily, "It seems that I can only move my two grandchildren here to study."
Mr. Ming took out an essay from his sleeve and gave it to him, "Only those who approve of this essay can enroll in school!"
The old gentleman said "Oh" and took it for a closer look. He pondered for a long time...
The school was repaired, and the famous Mr. Ming, who had perfect scores in four subjects, was about to open a school to teach, which caused a sensation.
Whenever a scholar comes to seek help, Mr. Ming will take out the poem he wrote to Yu Qing, covering up the last sentence, "Your Majesty is ordered by heaven." Only parents who recognize this poem can teach their children.
Year after year, there are many people who are eager to send their children to the 'Mingtang Academy'...
In the bank, Yu Qing strode out, carrying a large leather bag.
Outside the bank, three men of different heights were holding horses, waiting for him.
The three men were named Tao Yongli, Ge Dajun, and Yi Congfei. They were all friends of Yu Qinggang who had just met him.
Being able to become friends can also be said to be like-minded.
It's not wrong to say that they are friends with each other.
They are all human traffickers who took advantage of the raging floods to make a fortune, and Yu Qing also quietly joined this business.
The last time I heard someone talk about this business in a hotel, I heard that it could 'save people' and that there was huge profits to be made. Moreover, such huge profits were not common, so he couldn't help but come to 'save people'.
The accounts are easy to calculate. If all the money he has on hand is added up, it will be like 71,100 taels. He doesn't ask for multiple times, he only wants to triple it. Then he has the money on hand. There must be about 200,000 taels.
Of course, it would be better if it could be doubled several times.
Thinking about it made me feel hot, so I rode my horse straight to the disaster area.
It was his first time being a human trafficker, and he had no experience in this field. He found "like-minded" people, spent some time and money to treat them, and formed a gang.
It's the kind of gang where everyone makes money together, and if someone is trying to steal business or is jealous of wealth, they can join together.
These people are people in the world who specialize in this business. They will run wherever there is a disaster.
The bearded Tao Yongli was the leader. He looked like the tall and burly figure. When he saw Yu Qing coming out, he threw back the reins of Yu Qing's horse. He glanced at Yu Qing's bulging leather bag and said in surprise: "Brother, what are you doing? How much change did you get?”
Yu Qing chuckled and said, "Not much, not much." After saying that, he got on his horse.
I had learned before that it was troublesome to go to the disaster area with large-value banknotes, and the victims would not have any money to look for, so it was more convenient to spend small-value banknotes. So he was convinced that he had made a mistake and corrected it, and immediately came over and exchanged a pile of banknotes. Small denomination of two pieces.
Anyway, try to split the large amount into smaller ones. If you don’t use up all the money, you can exchange it back at the bank.
After a group of four people mounted their horses, they marched all the way down the street.
From time to time on the way, we can see ragged people passing by in rows with their arms tied with ropes. It seems that they were fished out by traffickers from the disaster area. Such people are no longer human beings, they are just things to be bought and sold.
This kind of business is immoral, but the court acquiesces to it. This is also a way to rescue the victims, which is better than all of them starving to death.
To a certain extent, I even hope that the more people can participate, the better. I can only acquiesce and cannot express it explicitly, because the scope of the disaster is too large and the court's ability is really limited.
However, really wealthy people disdain to participate in this kind of business, and their reputation is indeed not good.
"Wow, look at that woman, with her beauty, she can probably be sold for more than five hundred taels. Whoever picks it up will make a lot of money, maybe hundreds of times."
Yi Congfei, who looked like a pretty boy, pointed at one of the dozen or so embarrassed women passing by the road and shouted.
Yu Qing and others on horseback immediately looked around and saw a beautiful woman whose appearance could not be concealed even though she was dressed in dirty clothes. She seemed to be ashamed and quickly moved her messy hair to cover her face and lowered her head as she passed by. .
Hearing that he could make a hundred times more money, Yu Qing felt excited and had some daydreams.
When they arrived outside the city, the four dismounted and handed the horses to their accomplices.
The three of them, Tao Yongli, and some brothers were responsible for handling the deeds of sale, finding buyers, and providing logistics. They were considered an experienced group.
Yu Qing also joined this line and agreed to share 10% of the effort as hard work.
Following the instructions, Yu Qing followed the example of Tao Yongli and the other three, and lifted a bag taller than a man from a cart, which contained dry food purchased in advance. Because of the disaster, the price of these dry foods has increased several times.
A group of four people carried their things on their backs and left, relying on their cultivation skills to walk towards the mud-flooded area. This was really not a job that ordinary people could do.
Tao Yongli, who was walking at the front, shouted, "We are late. All the good stuff nearby has been raided. If you want to find valuable good stuff, you have to go deep!"
As a newcomer to the industry, Yu Qing was very energetic and shouted loudly: "It doesn't matter, I will go wherever the eldest brother goes. As long as the eldest brother doesn't dislike it, I will always follow him!"
Tao Yongli laughed loudly when he heard this, "Okay, from now on we will be brothers, sharing weal and woe!"
Yu Qing said loudly: "Thank you, brother!"
Ge Dajun, who had a scar on his face, and Yi Congfei, who looked like a pretty boy, looked at each other speechlessly, and both gave Yu Qing a look of disdain. They found that this mustached sycophant was a bit shameless, and he really knew how to make his elder brother happy. For how long we have known each other, the eldest brother regards this guy as a real brother.
…
In Shangwan Mansion, in the government office, the prefect summoned the four major families of Wei, Xu, Jing, and Chen to discuss matters.
Zhan Muchun, who was quite tanned and his official boots were stained with mud, was also present. However, in just half a month, after traveling back and forth to the disaster area, he had lost his scholarly look.
There was no seat for him at the scene, he was not of a high enough rank, and he was standing behind an official from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
He is an official of the Jingxian County. He originally came to investigate the disaster here. After mastering the situation, he returned to the capital to prepare for the Jingxian County to deal with the refugees. Unexpectedly, the corrupt officials in the disaster area were so greedy and careless that they made the matter worse and caused disaster to the victims. The number far exceeds the previous estimate. If all of them go to the capital, the 600th anniversary of Jin Kingdom will become a joke.
And after Duke Xuan Guo arrived in response to Xiaotang's order, he ignored it again. He killed corrupt officials and killed many people, and even the disaster relief officials were not enough.
The imperial court urgently issued an order to allow officials from the capital to temporarily serve in the disaster area, including Zhan Muchun.
He was temporarily following the household official in front of him, a warehouse chief of the household department.
The former prefect of Shangwan Mansion was also killed by Ying Xiaotang, who had the power to kill first and report later. Now this prefect is also newly appointed.
In the government office, some low-level officials were not allowed to sit. On the contrary, the heads of the four major families who were common people all had seats.
There is no way, now Shangwan Mansion relies on four major families, and the trading houses of these four families almost control the entire grain trading in Shangwan Mansion.
To put it bluntly, at this time of serious disaster, people have food on hand.
There were arguments in the hall, and Zhan Muchun became anxious when he thought about the hungry people outside the city.
Although he is considered young, he estimates that he will never see such miserable scenes again in his life. People are eating grass, bark, leaves, and soil. People are even hungry to the point of cannibalism. Some scenes are even scary. His legs were so weak that he couldn't walk. It was terrifying!
What is purgatory on earth?
Outside the city is purgatory on earth!
"My lords, what you mean by your words is that it is the fault of our big families?"
"In the past, we had to relocate countless people. We were told to pay ten taels of silver per person on a per capita basis, and the court had no money. We wealthy businessmen were asked to contribute with money and strength. Well, our four families were forced to donate , each family donated 30,000 taels, and they only replaced it with a plaque to hang at home."
"There is no clear accounting of how much the squires in other places have paid. There is also no clear accounting of how much money was allocated by the court and distributed to the victims."
"After the disaster happened, they forced us to donate money. Well, we gave a lot of money and goods. Where did these things go? It's still unclear!"
