Chapter 12: Money-carrying Kid

Chapter 12: Money-carrying Kid

Chapter 12: Money-carrying Kid

Pei Yuan left Zhihua Temple with Cheng Zhihu seeing him off.

Seeing that they were getting farther away, he asked Chen Toutie, who was carrying a large bag of yellow paper and incense, thoughtfully, "Why do the monks in Zhihua Temple want to do whatever Cheng Zhihu wants? "

Chen Toutie said subconsciously, "Could it be that he has some evidence against this temple?"

Pei Yuan shook his head.

"It shouldn't be a private matter, otherwise Cheng Zhihu wouldn't be so blatant."

The two had no idea about their first contact with Taoist Zhenji, and Pei Yuan did not dare to say too much to Chen Toutie.

But looking at Cheng Zhihu, he makes money really quickly!
Pei Yuan was envious and even had the idea of ​​performing well in order to stay under Han Qianhu's command.

Pei Yuan's home was in Dengshikou Hutong, with a small two-courtyard house.

This was also left to him by his ancestor who was successful in business but failed as an official.

When Pei Yuan was in the most difficult period of cash flow, a businessman from other places wanted to buy the old house at a high price.

However, Pei Yuan rejected them all sternly on the grounds that he "did not want to deal with the property left by his ancestors and be branded as unfilial."

Sometimes the price offered by the merchants was very good, and Pei Yuan would sigh for it in his dreams at midnight.

——If he hadn’t forged the title deed and mortgaged the house in multiple places, he might have been unable to resist and sold it.

such a pity.

Even if it can be sold at a good price, once the truth is revealed, it will be impossible to save the chain reaction of debts.

The middleman who served as guarantor for the mortgage of the property was Chang An, the Dianshi of Daxing County.

Pei Yuan mortgaged the house for five twenty-liang coins, but Chang An remained calm and signed on the paper as a witness.

In Chang An's words, he watched Pei Yuan grow up, and this kid is a talent. If he helps him now, it will surely pay off greatly in the future.

If this really happened, as long as Pei Yuan was willing to marry his only daughter, he would be satisfied even if he had to admit defeat and pay compensation.

Pei Yuan was also very grateful to Uncle Chang next door.

After Pei Yuan inherited the real position, the first thing he did was to go to Chang Dianshi's house to share his joy with him.

When Dianshi Chang heard that Pei Yuan had borrowed another 30,000 taels of silver from Gu Dayong, the governor of the Western Factory, he not only asked his beautiful daughter, who came out shyly to pour wine, to go back to her room first, but also moved back to the countryside the next day.

Pei Yuan and Chen Toutie walked one after the other, and when they passed by the former residence of Chang Dianshi, they couldn't help but sigh.

When they arrived at the door of his house, Pei Yuan reached out and took the agarwood, precious candles, yellow paper and other items from Chen Toutie's hand, and said to him.

"If the Pacification Office hasn't assigned you a task tomorrow, go find me at Da Ci'en Temple. I'll see Captain Han and see if I can transfer you to help me."

Chen Toutie finished drinking Pei Yuan’s chicken soup and left with full of expectations.

Pei Yuan looked at his back and sighed softly.

He turned around and went back home. Putting down the green-glazed porcelain vase, precious candle and other items, Pei Yuan hurried out to borrow money.

This time he was lucky. Many people who made a living by lending money, after hearing that Pei Yuan had successfully succeeded to the position, became very friendly to him.

Of course, there were also people who knew Pei Yuan's background, but fortunately they just watched coldly, not being fooled or offending Pei Yuan.

After borrowing from others, I got fifteen taels of silver.

Pei Yuan used part of the money to pay off the debts that were about to mature, and also asked creditors with more powerful backers if there were any ways to make money in Nanzhili.

This made the creditors very excited as they saw hope.

They all offered to help, racked their brains, and even revealed some of their peers' shameful secrets.

For a moment, Pei Yuan really hoped that they would be his creditors forever.

Because they are the only ones who are wholeheartedly doing good for Pei Yuan and hope that Pei Yuan can make more money.

By the time Pei Yuan had finished handling everything and sorted out the information he had collected, it was already dark.

He went home and cooked a bowl of noodles without turning on the light.

Pei Yuan's small courtyard was where his failed ancestor used to rest when he was doing business. The location was very good, and not far away was a bustling area.

Let's put it bluntly. ——The famous Goulan Hutong is just east of Dengshikou.

According to Wu Za Zu, there were only four types of people in Yanyun: more prostitutes than gentry, more women than men, more prostitutes than decent families, and more beggars than merchants. As for the prostitutes and prostitutes in the streets, the hustle and bustle of the horses, the chaos of thieves and robbers, and the appearance of scoundrels, all the bad customs and bad people in the world were present in the capital.

These chaotic people and chaotic things are the most real urban life beneath the glamorous surface of the Ming Empire.

Those rules of getting along that cannot be spoken out loud but exist in everyone's heart are what the dissolute and bad people say...

——jianghu.

Pei Yuan has lived in such a mixed place since he was very young, and he is as tenacious as a dragon.

In the words of Chang Dianshi.

"Do your best. Whether you are a fish or a dragon, just wait for the moment when you can jump out!"

Unfortunately, Dianshi Chang had prepared everything for his daughter, but he didn't have the courage to wait and see Pei Yuan's leap.

Pei Yuan's small courtyard was very close to the Jiaofangsi where official prostitutes were imprisoned.

Pei Yuan lay on a chair in the yard with his eyes closed, listening to the free songs performed by the Jiaofangsi while calculating his accounts over the years.

In a daze, I heard the noise outside approaching midnight.

Pei Yuan opened his eyes suddenly and felt a sense of urgency.

Always stay with me.

If you miss a penny at this midnight, you will miss a penny at the next midnight.

Pei Yuan quickly took out the green-glazed porcelain bottle and placed it under the only big locust tree in the yard.

He calculated the time and started the fire, then lit the agarwood and precious candles.

Pei Yuan looked at the beautifully crafted stack of yellow paper in his hand. This thing... seemed to be of no use to him, so he simply picked up a few pieces and lit them on the candle as a gift for the little kid.

The yellow paper is burned.

The agarwood enshrined in front of the green-glazed porcelain vase seemed to be much brighter.

But Pei Yuan didn't notice anything else unusual and waited anxiously.

After waiting for about an hour, when the incense stick was about to burn out, a crisp "ding-dong" sound was heard from the green-glazed porcelain bottle, as if a coin had fallen into it.

Pei Yuan was overjoyed and wanted to take it out and have a look immediately, but he didn't know what the taboos were. He didn't ask Cheng Zhihu at that time, so he could only hold back.

After a while, the incense burned out, and the grayish-white smoke spread and finally dissipated.

Pei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to extinguish the precious candle.

Unexpectedly, before Pei Yuan could make any move, the two burning candles went out silently in front of him.

Seeing this scene, Pei Yuan was not afraid at all, but felt inexplicably touched and surprised!

I didn’t expect this kid to be so good at living!
As the sense of intimacy grew, Pei Yuan no longer hesitated and hurriedly took the celadon porcelain bottle in his hand, removed the wooden stopper and poured it out. A copper-green coin fell into his palm.

Pei Yuan was slightly disappointed when he saw that the coin was of poor quality.

Then he noticed something was different.

The imperial court had minted coins several times to ease the tension in currency circulation because the Ming Baochao lacked credit.

Hongwu coins were minted in the early Ming Dynasty, Yongle coins were minted in the ninth year of Chengzu, Xuande coins were minted in the ninth year of Xuande, and Hongzhi coins were minted after the sixteenth year of Hongzhi.

These copper coins were all customized, and Pei Yuan knew them by heart.

But the one in my hand is quite different.

Although it is also a round coin with a square hole, it does not have the words "Dazhong Tong Bao", "Hongwu Tong Bao", "Yongle Tong Bao", "Xuan De Tong Bao" or "Hongzhi Tong Bao". Instead, there is a strange word on the left and right of the coin hole.

Pei Yuan held the coin in his palm and looked at it in the moonlight. He saw that although the coin had a light copper green color, it was exquisitely made and did not look like a randomly minted inferior coin. He couldn't help but wonder in his heart, looking at its age, could it be the money of the previous dynasty?

This thing...

Can I still spend it?

(End of this chapter)