Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 199: The One Covered in Silk

"Is this the tung tree from Tong County? It's really different."

Lu Zheng came to the outskirts of a village and found a kind of tree he had never seen before.

The trees are straight, with bluish-white bark and a hint of spiritual energy lingering around them.

It is said that the main materials used for Paulownia paper are the bark and branches of this tree.

After the bark of these tung trees is scratched, the bark will grow back after a while and they will not die.

"It's a wood that contains spiritual energy, but it doesn't reach the grade of first-grade spiritual wood." Lu Zheng murmured.

A child with patched clothes appeared not far away.

When the child saw Lu Zheng, he immediately whispered excitedly, "Sir, are you here to buy paper? My paper is very good and I can sell it to you at a low price!"

"Ok?"

Hearing this, Lu Zheng glanced at the skinny child and asked, "Do you have good paper at home?"

Many families in Tong County make a living by planting trees and making paper. Judging from the appearance of this child, it seems that this is not the first time he has sold something to outsiders, and he speaks very fluently.

The child nodded heavily and said, "We have good paper at home, which can be used to write literary treasures! You can tell at a glance that you are a scholar, so you must need it. Our paper is cheaper than what you buy outside, and it is also very easy to use..."

Lu Zheng became a little interested and said with a smile: "Really? Take me to see it."

The child quickly led the way, saying excitedly, "Young Master, come with me. I'm not bragging, but my parents make paper that no one in the village can match... But my mother is sick now and needs a lot of money for medical treatment... If you buy a lot, I can ask my father to give you a discount."

The child kept muttering all the way, with a look of both joy and sorrow on his face.

I was happy that I met a young man who was buying paper today, but I was worried about my mother's illness.

After a while, the child led Lu Zheng to a small farmyard.

The child pushed open the door and whispered excitedly, "Dad, a young man wants to buy our paper!"

In the small yard, there are many papermaking tools, and some papers are drying in the sun, emitting a special paper fragrance that is not unpleasant.

A man and two half-grown boys were busy.

Probably due to years of papermaking, these people have relatively white skin, but it's not the normal kind of white.

Upon hearing this, the man stopped what he was doing, wiped his wet hands, looked at Lu Zheng, and said with a low bow, "Sir, is this the man who wants to buy paper? What kind of paper do you want?"

"For painting, let me take a look at your best paper." Lu Zheng said.

"Sir, please wait a moment." The man said hurriedly, "San'er, why don't you go get him a stool and a cup of tea!"

The returning child responded and trotted off to do his work.

The man went to a room and quickly took out two sheets of white drawing paper.

"Sir, please take a look." The man carefully handed the paper to Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng took the drawing paper and could feel a hint of spiritual energy contained in it.

"How much?" Lu Zheng asked.

The man smiled and gestured, "Twenty coins a piece, one knife a hundred pieces, eighteen hundred coins will do. How many knives do you want, sir?"

"Twenty cents?"

Lu Zheng repeated that this price was not expensive at all, but rather too cheap.

This kind of spiritual paper can be sold outside for a hundred coins per piece.

I didn’t expect that such paper would be so cheap without middlemen making a profit from the price difference.

Upon hearing this, the man thought Lu Zheng thought it was too expensive, so he said, "One thousand five hundred coins per knife is fine. My wife is sick and needs money to buy medicine. Sir, please be kind and have pity on us ordinary people..."

Lu Zheng couldn't help but say, "You're selling it very cheaply, why don't you sell it outside? You can sell it for a higher price."

The man smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that you don't know, young master. There are so many wealthy people selling paper out there. We common people don't have any connections, so how can we sell it? Besides, it's easy for us to be taken advantage of..."

Monopoly...Brother Lu thought.

Lu Zheng asked, "How much money can you save from making paper?"

Hearing this, the man said quietly, "It's good enough to be able to support the whole family. How can I save money?"

"Selling paper makes more money than growing crops," said Lu Zhengdao.

The man sighed and said, "What kind of money do we make? It's all the same! We ordinary people have to pay taxes every year, both in money and paper, much more than farmers. The big families come to buy the leftover paper every year, but they always try to undercut the price. It's a lot of daily expenses, and with all the goings and goings, what's left in a year? We don't earn any of that money... It's only when you gentlemen come to buy paper occasionally that we can make a little more money."

Ordinary people like them were not allowed to go out and sell paper, but when scholars came to buy paper, no one dared to stop them.

After all, the status of a scholar is there, and no matter how powerful those wealthy families are, they don't bother to argue with scholars.

Especially scholars with official titles, we cannot afford to offend them.

As for other merchants from other places who want to buy paper at a low price, it is absolutely not allowed.

Listening to the man talk about the difficulties of life, Lu Zheng couldn't help but frown.

Whoever is covered in Luo Qi is not a silkworm breeder.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but think of a line of poetry, which fits the situation of these papermakers.

The man rubbed his rough hands together and said with a simple smile, "Sir, are you satisfied with this paper?"

Lu Zheng nodded and said, "The paper is very good. I bought it. How many more of this kind of paper do you have?"

The man was delighted when he heard this, "There are still five swords! Do you want them all?"

Lu Zhengdao: "I want them all."

The man's eyes lit up. It was a rare opportunity for a big client to come. He said happily, "I'll go and get it for you, young master!"

After saying that, the man turned around and went back to the house to get paper.

The three children in the yard all looked at Lu Zheng with shining eyes.

"Sir, drink some water!"

The child brought water and approached Lu Zheng attentively.

"Thank you."

Lu Zheng took the hot water with a smile and drank a few sips.

After a while, the man came with a heavy stack of drawing paper.

"Sir, please give me some information. Five hundred pieces is no more and no less. I'll give you seven thousand coins!" said the man.

Seeing that Lu Zheng wanted so much at once, the man gave him a discount, which was really a great deal.

Lu Zheng didn't count, he just raised his hand and put the paper away.

Taking away a stack of papers out of thin air shocked several people.

Lu Zheng turned around and took out another piece of silver and put it in the man's hand.

The man was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses. He looked at the silver in his hand and said with an even more respectful expression, "This... this is ten taels of silver. I'll go cut it."

"No need." Lu Zheng smiled and said, "I want 500 tickets, 20 cents each, just right."

The man bowed and said gratefully, "Sir, you are a very good man!"

Lu Zhengdao said, "I took advantage of you. Speaking of which, I know some medical skills. Do you mind if I go and see my sister-in-law?"

Upon hearing this, the man hurriedly said, "Sir, you are a man of great ability. If you can cure my wife's illness, I will return this silver to you!"

The move that Lu Zhenglu just showed was definitely not something that could be done by someone other than a scholar with a degree in imperial examinations.

Lu Zheng smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Let's put things in perspective. Let me see the patient first. Whether he can be cured is still unknown."

The man quickly invited Lu Zheng into the inner room.

A woman in the room was lying on the bed, her face pale, and she was sleeping.

Lu Zheng reached out and took the woman's pulse and found that there was no serious problem. It was just that she was suffering from overwork, which led to deficiency of Qi and blood. In addition, she had some problems from years of papermaking, and her blood vessels were a little blocked.

He directly used a wisp of righteous energy to clear the woman's body, open up her qi and blood, and clear away the impurities.

Lu Zhengdao: "There's nothing wrong. Just rest for a few days and eat some good food to replenish your body. It's best to stay away from water in the future..."

Lu Zheng thought about it and realized that for the sake of their livelihood, how could these ordinary people live without water?
Lu Zheng gave another warning, "You make paper every day, which causes a lot of dampness, which is why you have all these problems. Be more careful in the future, eat more food that can remove dampness, or buy some cheap medicinal herbs, such as..."

The man nodded repeatedly after hearing this and took notes carefully.

Seeing that the man seemed a little confused, Lu Zheng simply wrote it down with a pen and asked the man to keep it safely.

The man thanked her repeatedly and looked at his wife again. He found that her face had become much rosier. He was surprised and knew that Lu Zheng must have cured the disease just now, not just taking her pulse.

Lu Zhengdao: "That's it, I'm leaving."

The man said, "Sir, wait a moment. I have a few pieces of good paper here. Please accept them as payment for your medical treatment."

After saying that, the man went to the cabinet next to him and carefully took out a wooden box from it.

There were ten pieces of green paper in the wooden box, which looked quite spiritual.

"This is the paper made by my grandfather. My craftsmanship is not good enough to make it so good. Please take these pieces of paper and use them," said the man.

Lu Zheng took a closer look and bought the papers for fifty taels of silver.

The man didn't want to accept the money, but Lu Zheng gave him too much. In addition, given his family's living conditions and Lu Zheng's insistence, he accepted the money with many thanks.

Afterwards, Lu Zheng left the family and wandered around the village again.

When some villagers saw Lu Zheng, they were very eager to sell him their own paper, hoping to use it to supplement their family income.

However, after visiting several households, Lu Zheng discovered that the paper made by these people was not as good as the one made by the original family.

But he did not despise it. He bought a little of everything, took care of the people's business, and learned more about the situation.

There is a wealthy family in the village. Usually, they buy paper from other villagers, and the price they offer is less than half of what Lu Zhenghua pays.

Lu Zheng even learned that in some villages, one company almost dominated the market, and all the villagers made paper for it to support their families.

……

Government officials, wealthy families, demons and ghosts...

Lu Zheng was walking on the county road with a serious look on his face.

I thought that in a wealthy county, people would live a better life.

But after walking through several villages in Tong County, I found that many people looked pale.

As the people at the bottom of society, we always bear too much.

"The road is long and long, and I will search up and down..."

Lu Zheng spoke slowly, his expression became firm, his eyes shining as he looked at the road ahead.

Qingwan sat on Lu Zheng's shoulder and recited the poem as well.

She saw a city appear in front of her, her eyes flashing, "Hey, this city is even bigger than Kaiyang City!"

(End of this chapter)