After Xu Zhiqian and Wang Ye left, Zhang Fei didn’t imdiately depart. Instead, he sat alone in the hall, secretly savoring the remaining fine wine and dishes.
In reality, he wasn’t soone with extrely high material demands. However, the Xu family’s lifestyle was just too plain, with plain tea and simple als every day, which had really started to get to him. But he didn’t harbor any complaints about it; he felt nothing but gratitude because both Xu Zun and Xu Zhiqian themselves were people who lived like that.
Again, as the saying went, the problem was not scarcity, but inequality.
Today, it was rare to have so extra indulgence, so why not stock up a bit more?
As he was enjoying himself, he suddenly heard the sound of light footsteps approaching. Zhang Fei quickly set down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth.
After a mont, Xu Zhiqian entered the hall, seemingly lost in thought, not noticing Zhang Fei’s discreet actions.
“A boyfriend?” Zhang Fei asked with a sly smile.
“A boyfriend?” Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei with a puzzled expression.
Zhang Fei hastily explained, “Oh! I ant an old acquaintance.”
“What did you say?” Xu Zhiqian imdiately glared at Zhang Fei.
“No, no, no, how should I put it… Oh, childhood friends, innocent and pure.” Zhang Fei realized he misspoke and was sweating profusely.
Xu Zhiqian glared at him, saying, “Stop talking nonsense! All you think about is vulgar and dirty things.”
Childhood friends? Innocent and pure? Are these vulgar and dirty things? Am I too ignorant or are you trying to fool ? Feeling wronged, Zhang Fei said, “I was just asking a question, why are you so angry?”
Xu Zhiqian, in frustration, retorted, “If you didn’t live in our house, would he co here?”
Right! After Wang Ye finished talking to earlier, he imdiately left. Could it be… Zhang Fei suddenly took in a sharp breath, “Are you jealous? No way! Hey, hey, hey, I’d rather have you think I’m vulgar and dirty.”
“You are beyond help.”
Xu Zhiqian blushed deeply, swirled her long sleeves, and turned to leave.
“Wait a mont.”
Zhang Fei suddenly stopped her and said, “You are such a woman of mixed signals. You keep blaming for staying at your place, but secretly, you want to stay. What’s on your mind?”
Xu Zhiqian turned back, furious, and said, “When did I want you to stay in our house?”
Wow, why so fierce? Zhang Fei continued, “You said that you told Qing i to help find a place, but I asked her, and you never actually instructed her to do so.”
Did I say that? Xu Zhiqian blinked and suddenly rembered she had indeed said those words, but at the ti, it was just an offhanded statent. She couldn’t possibly be so nice as to have her maid help Zhang Fei find a place. With a sly look, she said, “If you don’t give the money, how can I help you find a place?”
Zhang Fei said, irritated, “I’ll give you the money now. You have to find a suitable place, and I’ll pay after I’ve seen it!”
Xu Zhiqian smirked, showing a hint of sarcasm.
Frowning, Zhang Fei asked, “Why are you laughing?”
Sarcastically, Xu Zhiqian said, “Go back and reread the Song Code of Punishnts carefully, pen-in-cap.”
With that, she left.
Reread the Song Code of Punishnts?
You’re telling , a pen-in-cap, to reread the Song Code of Punishnts?
What an insult!
Without paying attention to the sumptuous dishes and fine wine on the table, Zhang Fei imdiately returned to his room and angrily delved into the Song Code of Punishnts.
The result was sowhat embarrassing!
“What the heck?”
Zhang Fei couldn’t believe it, “To buy a house, it must be done through the hands of a real estate agent, otherwise, it will be treated as theft. What the heck! What a shaless money-grubbing move!”
It had to be said that the Northern Song governnt was quite adept at making money. There were so many miscellaneous fees and taxes that it was hard to keep track of them all. The buying and selling of houses, an age-old business, was sothing the Northern Song governnt would never relinquish.
Certainly, stamp duties had to be paid.
However, with no banking system currently in place, there needed to be soone to oversee the process, and this power was delegated to civilians. The court decreed that all property transactions had to go through a real estate agent, and all procedures had to be handled by them. In essence, these real estate agents were unofficial personnel of the governnt.
Regardless of how many people bought and sold houses, the governnt would only need to collect their money from the real estate agent.
If you didn’t pay this money, you would be treated as a thief. It’s important to understand that in these tis, the punishnts for thieves were very severe, with punishnts such as imprisonnt, exile, whipping, and more.
Everyone says that owing money to loan sharks is scary, but loan sharks were essentially private individuals, and you could escape from them. If you owe money to the governnt, well, you better start buying a coffin!
With lingering fear, Zhang Fei quickly reviewed the regulations.
If he ssed up in this matter, it would be… well, not entirely unjust. After all, this was sothing that applied to everyone.
Not long after Zhang Fei returned to his room, Xu Zun sneaked back into the house from outside. After glancing around, he saw Xu Zhiqian sitting on a swing under a big tree and walked over, saying, “Qian’er, has His Majesty left?”
Without getting up or performing a courtesy, Xu Zhiqian glared at Xu Zun and complained, “Father, how could you let , a woman, entertain His Majesty? This is simply unacceptable!”
She was also full of frustration. She was suddenly inford that the Emperor was coming and that she had to entertain him. It had scared her half to death; when she spoke earlier, she was genuinely apprehensive.
This ti, Xu Zun didn’t react with alarm but instead explained in a subdued tone, “I didn’t want this either. It was His Majesty’s command. If I were to stay around, he and Zhang San would not be able to speak freely. I’d have to be cautious too, fearing that he might notice sothing. Your elder brother is not at ho, and you’re the only one here, so you’re the one who has to go.”
Xu Zhiqian was puzzled and asked, “But why would the Emperor specifically co to our house to et an ordinary pen-in-cap? It’s truly perplexing to .”
“Ordinary pen-in-cap?” Xu Zun looked at Xu Zhiqian and said with so annoyance, “Just one visit to the Kaifeng Prefectural Office, and it caused such a huge commotion. His ability to cause a ruckus exceeds even that of the imperial censors. Have you ever seen a pen-in-cap like that? How could His Majesty not be curious?”
“Huge commotion?” Xu Zhiqian was confused. “Does Chen Yuteng have such remarkable abilities?”
“It’s not about him,” Xu Zun waved his hand and explained, “The key lies in the timing. Right now, Wang Anshi is preparing to implent his reforms, and this case is like a tily gift for him. During a session of the Imperial Court, he seized the opportunity to vigorously denounce the problems caused by lending practices and demanded strict punishnt for Chen Yuteng. But he suggested being lenient with Li Si and the Lady Zeng.
But he faced opposition. Many officials think Zhang San is just playing word gas and believe the governnt should not intervene.”
Xu Zhiqian stood up in excitent and said, “If we’re talking about word gas, it was Chen Yuteng who started it first. Why aren’t they saying anything about that?”
“They’re not not saying anything,” Xu Zun sighed, “That’s where the difficulty in this case lies. Scholars like Sima and Prefect Lu know that Zhang San is just using the sa thods as Chen Yuteng. It is not just Wang Anshi who supports Li Si and Lady Zeng, they don’t want to punish them as well. However, they don’t agree with Wang Anshi not applying the law equally. Yet there’s no other way to avoid punishing all three of them together, which is why the issue has been delayed until now.”
Xu Zhiqian lowered her head in thought for a mont and then asked, “If Chen Yuteng proactively admits his mistake and is willing to compensate Li Si, could the case be resolved?”
Xu Zun stroked his beard and said, “The governnt would not interfere in private agreents.”
Xu Zhiqian asked, “Then how much would he have to compensate?”
Xu Zun shook his head and said, “That I don’t know.”
Muttering to herself, Xu Zhiqian said, “In any case, it won’t be less than a hundred strings of cash.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
Xu Zun didn’t pay much attention and then suddenly asked Xu Zhiqian, “By the way, how did His Majesty get along with Zhang San?”
Xu Zhiqian smirked and said, “His Majesty seems to like Zhang San quite a bit. He even has the idea of appointing him as an official.”
“Is that so?” Xu Zun asked, “What did Zhang San say that made His Majesty so pleased?”
Xu Zhiqian then roughly recounted their conversation from earlier.
“I see,” Xu Zun nodded thoughtfully.
Xu Zhiqian grumbled softly, “Actually, Zhang San’s argunts aren’t anything extraordinary. I really don’t understand why His Majesty is so delighted.”
“What do you an by ‘extraordinary’?” Xu Zun smiled and shook his head. He continued, “Zhang San’s argunts not only identified the root of the problem but also provide a solution. That’s quite extraordinary!”
“But similar discussions like this have been raised by many high-ranking officials in the court,” Xu Zhiqian pointed out.
Xu Zun sighed, “But none of them have been as thorough as Zhang San. Most of the high-ranking officials in the court have discussed the issue of high-interest loans, but the issue of high-interest loans is just the tip of the iceberg. The real danger lies in the burden of the people.”
Xu Zhiqian was taken aback and suddenly realized that it seed that this Zhang San did have so ability. She thought to herself that it appeared he was quite capable. She said, “They are not unaware of it, but they pretend not to know.”
Xu Zun chuckled and said, “Therefore, the problem should be solved through the legal system.”
User Comments
0 comments from readers