After several refusals, Fan Jin reluctantly accepted the money and the house deed and bowed to express his thanks.
After Squire Zhang left, Butcher Hu came out of the back room in shock.
That expression made Fan Jin couldn't help laughing.
Father Hu was sweating all over his forehead, like a tiger that had been hit by a slippery shovel!
"My virtuous son-in-law, you are a Wenqu star who came down to earth, so you should be friends with that squire Zhang as your equal."
Butcher Hu waved his big hands like cattail leaf fans and patted his chest, trying to calm himself down, but his heart was already in turmoil.
Zhang Xiangshen is his regular customer, and his family purchases four to five thousand kilograms of meat every year. On weekdays, not to mention being friends of the same generation, even the servants in his family are more respectable than a butcher like him.
During the holidays, you have to give some gifts to the servants of the Zhang Mansion and say good things to them, so that you can maintain this long-term stable business and get a share of the income.
The status of the two is very different, but they did not expect that even such a big shot would come to visit the cheap son-in-law in person, and his words were cordial and easy-going.
And in my impression, the son-in-law who couldn't beat him with three sticks was not only on equal footing with Zhang Xiangshen, but he also had no faults in his way of dealing with others.
Fan Jin talked to Father Hu for a while, and was worried about his wife and the old lady hiding in the back room, so he walked into the back room with a tray.
"Brother Jin!"
As soon as Fan Jin opened the curtain, a familiar figure ran into his arms.
Of course he knew that this was his wife, the miserable wife who had shared the joys and sorrows with Fan Jin.
"Honey, I've suffered a lot from you these past years!"
Fan Jin was startled, and then gently patted the other party's shoulder, with concern in his rich voice.
Only now did he have time to look at his 'wretched wife'.
Frankly speaking, Fan Hu's image is difficult to associate with beauty, and is even a bit unbearable to look at.
A pair of red-rimmed eyes, a patch of yellow hair, and no pair of shoes on his feet. Late autumn is approaching, and there is still a nest of cattails...
In Fan Jin's memory, Hu Yingying was not like this before. She was a first-class beauty.
Otherwise, Butcher Hu would not have such wishful thinking.
In the early years, many wealthy families wanted to get married to Butcher Hu and marry Hu Yingying, but they were mercilessly rejected by Butcher Hu, who only wanted to use his married daughter to climb high.
And what I relied on was not Hu Yingying’s beauty!
But it's a pity that Butcher Hu is a pig butcher, with a low social status, and no serious man would marry a butcher's daughter...
Not to mention there are rumors that Hu Yingying seems to be her childhood sweetheart with that nerdy Fan Jin.
The marriage between Fan Jin and Hu Yingying was still postponed until Hu Yingying was thirty years old. Seeing that it was about to be smashed into his hands, Hu Butcher relaxed.
"Hun, wait and see." Fan Jin smiled and handed the tray with silver to Hu Yingying.
Hu Yingying was startled for a moment, then opened it and found an envelope filled with snow-white fine silk ingots. She was so frightened that she trembled: "Where can there be so much silver?"
"That piece of paper was given to me by the squire just now." Fan Jin explained.
"When will all this money be spent?" Hu Yingying swallowed hard.
On ordinary days, not to mention the Fan family, even her natal Hu family could not afford this much money.
You know, Hu Butcher gets up and kills pigs at the fourth watch every day. He works so hard that he can't earn more than two taels of silver in a month.
At this point, the Hu family is already considered a wealthy household within a radius of ten miles. They are much better than the mud-legged people who scavenge in the fields!
Because of this, Butcher Hu always had a higher regard for his neighbors and did not think much of them.
What is the concept of fifty taels?
It is estimated that Butcher Hu has worked hard all his life, and it is still unknown whether he has saved fifty taels of silver.
Not to mention that because he subsidized his daughter and son-in-law in the early years, he annoyed his two sons and lived separately, and most of Hu's family fortune was divided.
It is no longer as beautiful as it was back then!
Fan Jin chuckled, "What's wrong with that?"
In the past few days, there are definitely not a few people rushing to give away money, fields, houses, and servants.
Different from scholars who only have face but no dignity, the people who hold the title of Juren are not just ordinary people. There have always been only poor scholars, and I have never heard of anyone who can do it.
In addition to the benefits of being exempted from land tax and corvée, the most practical thing about being a candidate is that he has the qualifications to be an official.
Like Mr. Zhang, he got lucky and became a county magistrate!
Even if you can't be elected to an official position, it doesn't matter. Juren has considerable say in local governance.
If the county magistrate represents the imperial power, then the squires are definitely the local emperors and can be regarded as invisible local rulers. In many cases, the county magistrates need to express a friendly attitude towards the local squires and negotiate and cooperate with them.
Scholars, farmers, industrialists, and merchants, no matter how wealthy the merchants were, they were rich in fish and meat, silk and silk, but with Fan Jin's status today, it was very easy to take advantage of those wealthy households with no background.
As expected, it didn't take long before most of the most prominent people in the county sent congratulatory gifts, and many of the people involved came in person.
The arrival of horse-drawn carriages loaded with generous gifts was an eye-opener for the villagers of Fanjiacun.
The gifts given by big merchants are the most substantial, mostly cash, house deeds, land deeds, silks and satins, maids and slaves...
Fan Jin accepted them all.
After a rough calculation, I estimate that he has assets of two to three thousand taels.
As for who hasn’t given a gift?
Humph, he might not remember who sent it or how much, but he knew exactly who didn't.
Fortunately, the big merchants who are able to get along are all veterans, and no one dares to be careless about this matter.
"It's a pity that such an opportunity to receive and receive windfalls in an honest and open manner is rare in a lifetime."
Fan Jin is a bit too ambitious and lacks people's support.
There is nothing inappropriate in accepting all congratulatory gifts from merchants, and there will be no future trouble.
For the merchants, it is no different from burning incense and worshiping Buddha, except that they are worshiping a living Buddha who controls their future and destiny.
Who has ever seen Buddha push out the sesame oil money he got?
Whether you receive money to do things or not, it doesn’t depend on the Buddha’s mood!
Students and scholars from the county also came to give gifts.
Most of them are the four treasures of the study, or they are rare flowers and plants, rare ancient books, and various playthings for playing with.
It seems that the slightest smell of copper will insult their noble character.
A group of scholars acted like students asking for advice in order to build friendship.
Those with scheming intentions even tried to gain fame through carefully prepared poems in the name of asking him to correct them.
Fan Jin was speechless.
Neither he nor the original person is good at poetry and poetry.
Poems, songs, romance, and love are a kind of luxury for a student like Fan Jin who comes from a poor family.
As soon as he thought about it, Fan Jin looked majestic and said with a straight face: "In today's world, articles are important, so why bother talking about the Han and Tang Dynasties?"
