Xiangye

Chapter 31 A Good News
After leaving the county office and walking a few steps, Gao Wen suddenly came back to his senses, and couldn't help but want to slap himself in the face: This is why Lao Tzu suffered an indiscriminate disaster!Seventh uncle has already been involved in this case, and by the way, I was also implicated in it, so the three-day deadline has actually been set on his own head.

Since time travel, and I was an intellectual in my previous life, trained by the party and the state for many years, and experienced in office political struggles, I feel a little contemptuous of the ancients in my heart.I feel that people in this era are not worth mentioning in terms of knowledge and IQ, but today they accidentally fell into Huang Wei's tricks.

This Huang Wei is indeed not a good match.In comparison, if people were in modern times, they would still be members of the Standing Committee of a county.Anyone who can get into this position is not a human being, and he is too underestimated.

It is estimated that early tomorrow morning, the county government will announce that I and Uncle Qi will come to the hall to deal with business. If the case is not solved by then, not only Uncle Qi will be beaten, but I will also be unable to escape.

Hey, let's go to Bao'en Temple quickly, time is running out.

Just as he was about to leave the city, Gao Wen thought for a while, and if he went there in the uniform of a yamen servant, he would inevitably startle the snake, and he probably wouldn't be able to find anything.

By the way, didn't the owner of the tea shed say that "foreign monks can recite scriptures", and the monks of Baoen Temple are very famous among foreign merchants. Didn't he buy his mountain with incense money from merchants?Or, I changed my clothes and pretended to be a rich businessman to visit?

It's just that the family is so poor, and the clothes in the closet are patched and patched, it doesn't look like it at all!How about I go to Linlang Pavilion Bookstore to borrow clothes from old man Yu?

So, Gao Wen didn't stop there, and went straight to old man Yu.

As soon as I arrived at the bookstore, I saw two carriages parked at the door, and the shop assistants were loading boxes of newly printed books onto the carriages.

Yu Xingyan and his nephew Yu Shiyuan were counting the records. Both of them were blushing with happiness, especially the old man Yu who smiled so much that his eyes narrowed.

Gao Wen walked over, picked up the book and looked at it, and suddenly it was "Journey to the West", he was overjoyed: "Mr. Yu, Boss Xiaoyu, the book is printed, how is it?" Of course the five big characters of "Zuo" made him unhappy, but he didn't care about it.Anyway, the name is just a code name, as long as it does not violate public order and good customs, and is not obscene.

Seeing Gao Wen approaching, Boss Yu looked around vigilantly, and hurriedly said, "So it's Brother Gao, please come inside, please come inside."

Then he purposely shouted: "Shiyuan, are you in a daze? Didn't you see Brother Gao coming to buy books? Hurry up and welcome in!"

Gao Wen was amused, and immediately understood why the old man Yu shouted: "Journey to the West" must have sold very well. He was afraid that the bookstore next to him would find out that I, Gao Wen, was the original author of this book, and come and poach it with a lot of money.This old man is clever.

Entering the bookstore, there are many new books piled up inside, all of which are newly printed "Journey to the West", and the whole room is full of a strong smell of ink.

After sitting down to watch tea, Boss Yu rubbed his hands excitedly without waiting for Gao Wen to ask, and said excitedly, "I got rich, I got rich, brother Gao, my mother got rich. Do you know how much the first edition of your book sold? Tell me." Scared you? Cough, cough, cough, the craftsmen who printed books have been up for three days and nights, and their eyes are like rabbits."

"How much?" This was not surprising, Gao Wen asked.

Boss Yu said: "There are no statistics for other places, let's take Baishui as an example. The largest bookstore in the county is called Mengbi Bookstore. Boss Zhou in the bookstore just read the sample booklet and immediately decided to buy two hundred copies... ...Two hundred copies, this is only one county, how many counties are there in Daguan, and how many copies can I sell?" At this point, Yu Xingyan danced and couldn't help himself.

Gao Wen was also very happy: "That's good, that's good."

"By the way, Brother Gao, what about the next manuscript? The first episode of Journey to the West is considered to be printed, and you can quickly give the manuscript of the second episode to this old man, so that it can be engraved." Yu Xingyan began to urge the manuscript.

Gao Wen: "Old Mr. Yu, you also know that I am on official business now, and there are so many errands in the yamen. I don't have time to write for a while. I'm afraid I have to wait a few days until the matter at hand is finished."

"Is there anything more important than writing books to make money?" Yu Xingyan growled: "If you have money, you can't do anything, even if you don't work as a job, it doesn't matter. I have worked with the old man for two years, and then I will buy it in Xi'an City." A house, I don't know how happy it is."

When the old man talked about money, his whole face was distorted, and he didn't have the demeanor of a refined gentleman and a man of fame.

Yu Shiyuan: "Brother Gao has been busy with the disappearance of Shilin's beloved daughter recently?"

Gao Wen: "Exactly, because of this case, my seventh uncle Li Bantou was hit by the county magistrate and couldn't walk on the ground. There is no way, this matter can only be shouldered by my nephew. It’s impossible to just watch his old man fail to get over this hurdle, right?”

Shi Lin was born in the intellectual circle in Hancheng, and he was also familiar with Yu Xingyan. When he heard his name, Boss Yu calmed down and listened attentively.

"Of course it should, the case has some clues, but I don't know why Brother Gao came to the humble house?" Yu Shiyuan asked.

Gao Wen replied: "I have some clues. I came to your company today and want to borrow a few sets of clothes to wear. The uniform I'm wearing is really eye-catching. I want to pretend to be a wealthy businessman from other places and go out to visit. Also, I have money." No, pay in advance."

Hearing Gao Wen said that he wanted to pay in advance, Yu Xingyan was a little reluctant.It's not that they were reluctant to pay, but the two agreed to settle the settlement after the first edition of "Journey to the West" was sold out.Now at the beginning, if you have to pay the manuscript fee before seeing the cash back, that is a breach of contract.

Before he could speak, Yu Shiyan said: "Brother Gao, if you want to keep the silver, just talk. I just got the advance payment of 300 taels from Baishui County. According to the contract between you and my account, you will raise 60%, which is [-] taels." , I’ll go and weigh you two taels of silver right now.”

"So much! My monthly work and food silver is only one tael, which is worth five or six years." Gao Wen took a breath, 60 taels, that's nearly 60 yuan.The ancients had low consumption and low income.The poor will only save three or five taels a year.Of course, Hancheng is well-off and there are many well-to-do families.However, even among Hancheng people, there are not many who can take out [-] taels of silver in one go.

This is the beginning, this is the first episode of "Journey to the West", I don't know how much silver will flow into my pocket in the future, this is the real fortune.

Gao Wen suppressed the excitement in his heart, and said with a smile, "I can't carry so much money."

Yu Shiyuan said: "Don't worry, I'll ask someone to change them into gold leaves for you immediately, and it doesn't matter much in my arms. By the way, when I was hanging out in Xi'an, I saved a few sets of good clothes for appearance. You and I are about the same size. Brother Gao, don’t you want to pretend to be a rich businessman from other places, if you don’t mind it.”

Gao Wen: "How can you dislike it? It's just a nuisance."

……

Gao Wen originally thought that the so-called wealthy businessmen were all dressed in silk and satin, with silk shoes on their feet and a big cigarette bag in their hands.

Or wearing a fur suit, making yourself look like a big bear, with gold rings on all ten fingers, and anti-Qing plasters on both temples... Anyway, in a word, how vulgar and how neat.

The actual situation is that in the bronze mirror is an elegant and romantic young man dressed in a white silk robe, wearing a square scarf on his head, holding a folding fan made of a Xiang concubine in his hand, with red lips and white teeth.

Folding fans open and close, and the breeze blows slowly.

Especially the white silk robe with flowers and butterflies embroidered on it.With every gesture, the butterflies and moths above seem to come to life, about to spread their wings and fly high.Obviously, the clothes are expensive, maybe they are the top quality clothes from Nanjing.

Handsome is just one word, I only say it once.

Gao Wen: "Brother Shi Yuan, are you sure I'm dressed as a merchant?"

"It's a little different... The great Jias in Xi'an City are all dressed like this. Confucian businessmen know... No, no, it doesn't look like it... Brother Gao, you clearly look like this." Mr. Jia from a noble family. By the way, I know something is wrong. Brother Gao, you will hunch your back a bit, yes, yes, that’s it. Also, put your hands into your sleeves. Cough, you The teeth are too neat and white, don't show your teeth when you talk to someone...be more obscene, be more obscene..."

When Gao Wen bent his body down, it was strange to say that the radiant little fresh meat in the mirror immediately dimmed, disappearing from the crowd.

Gao Wen screamed strangely in his heart, and sighed secretly: It doesn't really matter how this man is born, what matters is temperament, temperament, temperament, this matter has to be said three times.

Suddenly there was a pungent smell and itchy nostrils.

Looking back, Yu Shiyuan was pressing a powder puff on his cheeks.

"What did you put on my face?"

"Put some incense powder, rich businessman, it is natural to go to the brothel to invite people to listen to the music when receiving entertainment. This kind of incense powder from Nanyang is the favorite of the girls."

"..." Gao Wen was speechless for a while: Am I pretending to be a rich businessman or a gentleman?
After dressing up, Gao Wen took the gold handed over by Yu Shiyuan, said botheringly, and went straight out of the bookstore, hired a warm sedan chair, and left the city towards Baoen Temple.

This time I got 60 taels of silver as a manuscript remuneration. The gold-silver exchange ratio in the Ming Dynasty was ten to one, so it should be exchanged for six taels of gold.Seeing Gao Wen disguised himself to investigate the case, Yu Shiyuan knew that he wanted money, so he exchanged five small gold ingots of one tael, and exchanged the rest for scattered silver.

Ten taels of silver may not sound like much, but it can be converted into modern weight units, one catty is equivalent to 590 grams, and one tael is equal to 37 grams.That is to say, the ten taels of silver on Gao Wen's body amounted to seven gongs, and it was so big that it was hard not to attract people's attention.

With this large bag of hard currency on his body, Gao Wen felt a little uncomfortable.He wondered, those young heroes and heroines in martial arts novels who travel around the rivers and lakes have to pay hundreds of taels of silver for a meal, how do they carry so much money with them, is it possible that they also carry a trolley for silver box.

Just because the money on his body was so eye-catching, plus he was dressed gorgeously and brought a sedan chair, as soon as he entered Baoen Temple, he immediately attracted a smiling little novice monk.

That look is like someone who has been hungry for many days seeing a hot meat bun just out of the cage.

(End of this chapter)