Chapter 42 Don’t I look like someone who shares wealth and honor?
"Junior sister knows that I am not this kind of person."
"I don't know anymore."
"Little junior sister, don't you believe me?"
A girl who foolishly went to the rice shop to ask about the price every day, and occasionally enjoyed it for a few days if the rice price dropped a little, shook her head:
"If I hadn't heard about this in Dongshi, I wouldn't have known you had relaxed the food restriction order."
Ouyang Rong said seriously: "I have not enriched myself. Money is not important to me, justice is important to me."
"Your justice is to let food prices rise arbitrarily?" Xie Lingjiang took a deep breath, "If you do this, you are worse than the Liu family who runs a porridge shack."
Ouyang Rong frowned, "The porridge shack run by the Liu family...does junior sister really not know or pretend not to know."
"Don't worry about whether I know it or not. I just believe what I see now." Xie Lingjiang turned his head and pursed his lips. After a while, he said again: "They can at least show off. Where is Ouyang Lianghan?"
Ouyang Rong was slightly stunned. He looked at the young junior sister who seemed to be angry for a while and asked:
"Junior sister knows that what I do is definitely for the good of the people of Dragon City in the end...then why do I still say such angry words?"
"Who's talking angrily? Let's not talk about what you want to do by relaxing food prices. I... am not as smart as you in this regard, and I can't figure it out at the moment."
Xie Lingjiang turned around and glared at him:
"But Ouyang Lianghan, every time you have a plan, you don't discuss it with others in advance, and you look like you are too lazy to say more. Are we...companions, am I your staff?"
"Forehead……"
Ouyang Rong could vaguely understand some of women's brain circuits, but he only understood a little bit. It was like seven orifices were connected to six, but one was still missing.
"How about we discuss it with you now." He sneered.
In fact, if you don't mention the junior sister, someone would really forget that he has a staff. What, the junior sister is the staff? Isn't she responsible for force? The staff is responsible for intelligence...
"No!"
Xie Lingjiang raised her fair chin and categorically refused:
"You don't need to tell me, I'm not that stupid, I'll think about it myself... But, Ouyang Lianghan, have you ever thought about how many people in Longcheng will be affected by the current increase in food prices in the short term? Maybe this will become an overwhelming
The last straw for a certain family."
Ouyang Rong was silent for a while. This was a question he had been avoiding silently in his mind for the past few days, so he kept urging himself to act quickly and ruthlessly.
He said seriously: "The disaster relief camp outside the city has been providing food for basic needs."
Xie Lingjiang looked at the young magistrate in silence for a while, who suddenly seemed a little tired. She sniffed, turned and left.
Today, she is dressed in red, and she leaves just as quickly as she came.
Same as temperament.
"Little junior sister."
Ouyang Rong suddenly shouted towards the fiery red figure.
"Actually, sometimes justice comes at a price." He felt disappointed.
Xie Lingjiang paused.
"I disagree."
The woman stubbornly left.
…
"Sister Xie, is there something on your mind?"
After the dinner at Su's house, on the flower path back to his residence, Su Bao'er held up a small lantern and asked without looking back.
Xie Lingjiang glanced at her graceful back with her long dress trailing to the floor.
"Sister Su, if you don't eat well, why are you staring at me?"
“Sister Xie’s mood is all written on her face, so it’s naturally noticeable.”
Xie Lingjiang asked: "Sister Su, do you know that sometimes what you say is quite annoying."
Su Guo'er wasn't upset either. With her back turned to Xie Lingjiang's back, 'Yun Huan' nodded lightly:
"But I told the truth."
Xie Ling Jiang was silent.
Su Guo'er asked, "Is it related to your senior brother?"
Xie Lingjiang actually didn't get along very well with this little girl from the Su family. Perhaps it was because of the natural arrogance between outstanding women. The two of them had often had ideological disputes before, but later they simply stopped arguing.
After all, we live under the same roof, so try to talk about compatible topics.
However, the Su family's aunt was a very warm and hospitable person. She treated Xie Lingjiang like her own daughter, which made Xie Lingjiang's heart warm after her mother died young. The Su family's aunt just after dinner told her to spend more time with her peers.
Su Guo'er, who has few friends, wants to talk.
Xie Lingjiang walked quietly for a while, and then, somewhat angrily, he briefly talked about the brother's release on food prices.
But what she never expected was that after hearing this, Su Guoer nodded directly and asserted:
"This son has extraordinary talents and knowledge of ethics. Sister Xie doesn't need to worry about the price of food."
Xie Lingjiang was speechless. "Didn't Sister Su say that my senior brother was arrogant a few days ago?"
Cai Shou, who was following the two girls, also had a surprised face and looked at her young lady with a confused expression... Well, young lady, didn't you say that the new county magistrate was a hypocrite last time?
The young lady of the Xie family is new here, so she may not know it, but Cai Shou is aware that her young lady always likes to criticize people in private, and she has always been very accurate in judging people. In the past, the people or times who had contact with the Su family, the master and the eldest
The young master will always ask the young lady for her comments and opinions during dinner.
So on the surface, outsiders only know that the young lady is a young girl who is loved and pampered by everyone in the Su family, but they don't know that the young lady has the right to make suggestions and even make decisions about many things in the Su family.
It's strange, but it still happened. Mr. Su and the eldest young master didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with a woman interfering in family affairs. On the contrary, they were quite convinced...
Regarding Xie Lingjiang's doubts behind him, Su Guoer looked as usual: "He can indeed be arrogant."
Returning to the waterside courtyard, they said good night to each other and the two girls separated.
Su Guo'er returned to the boudoir, and did not wash up immediately. Instead, she walked to the desk, grinded ink and laid out paper. She flicked up her long sleeves, took out a small white hand with pink nails and bright fingers, and took out a hand.
The root is slender and hairy.
She tilted her head and stared at Merlin outside the window. The end of the pen tip gently tapped the white chin of the oval face.
"Colorful ribbon."
She called out.
"Miss, what's the matter?"
"Send a message to father and brother for me."
Su Guo'er lowered her eyes and put down her pen, her pink lips parted slightly: "Don't send your servants, go to the county government office in person in the next two days..."
In the study, the young lady who lowered her head to write gave detailed instructions. The little maid with a bun face nodded and tried to write it down, and then went out to deliver the message, scratching her head with her combed temples.
Silence returned to the study room. The girl with plum blossom makeup on her eyebrows had already put down her pen and went back to the room to sleep in the spring. On the rice paper on the desk, which was casually filled with ink in a leisurely manner, there was still undried ink: Ninety-four, or jumping into the abyss, no fault.
This is the ninety-fourth line of the first hexagram Qian in the Book of Changes. If Ouyang Rong, who "knows a little bit" about everything, happened to be here, he would be able to understand the general idea:
The dragon may be trapped in the abyss, but his strength has been accumulated. He only needs to move forward or backward according to the situation, and there will be nothing wrong. He can try...to take a step forward.
I just don't know if it is written to the young county magistrate or to this Su Mansion.
…
Su Guo'er didn't really believe in fate at first, but later she did, and even started to study the metaphysics I Ching.
Tonight, she dreamed again of the warning that the Taoist fortune-teller had given her after he supported her:
"His Royal Highness has dragon eyes and a phoenix neck. He is the most noble person. However, before he can soar into the sky, there is still one noble person he is destined to meet."
"Where is the noble man and how can I find him?"
"This man lurks in the abyss and comes out with the bright moon in his name. He will serve as an official in this county and then resign. He will also write a poem about resigning and retiring. The bright moon and poems will eventually be given to His Highness. At that time, Your Highness can
Soaring for nine days, but remember, in addition to sharing adversity, this person must also share wealth and honor in order to stabilize His Highness's fate."
She frowned and said coldly: "Don't I look like someone who shares wealth and honor?"
The fortune teller lowered his eyebrows: "I don't know."
…
There is a piece of gossip that spreads throughout the commercial streets and grain shops in Longcheng County:
The county government doesn't have enough food.
There are rumors that Jiangzhou is short of food. In order to please the supervisor Shen, the newly arrived magistrate of Ouyang lent a lot of grain reserves from the disaster relief camp to Jiangzhou. The batch of Zhechong Prefecture soldiers who recently left Longcheng,
He was just transporting grain back to pay errands.
Now, the traders in the market have also discovered that a group of people suspected of being from the Yamen are collecting grain at high prices.
I don’t know whether this news is true or not, but the Longcheng County Government has never refuted the rumor, which is very suspicious, because if it is false, you must refute the rumor, and if it is true, then you must refute the rumor. As for not refuting the rumor, then
Isn’t it just broken by default?
It's not like they deliberately raised the price of food, right? Even if it was intentional, the grain merchants would have taken advantage of it.
Anyway, on the second day, the price of rice in Dongshi, Longcheng County soared into the sky like fireworks. The most exaggerated moment was that three price tags were inserted into the rice bag of a rice shop in Dongshi in one day.
The news of skyrocketing food prices has made some people happy and others sad, but it has not caused too much trouble. Another thing at the moment is making the people and merchants in the city enthusiastic, and that is the Dragon Boat Festival in a few days.
Dragon Boat Festival.
The old Penglangdu wharf, which had not been repaired for a long time, was renovated and expanded by more than half with the help of the county government and several wealthy water transport businessmen in the city. After the completion, the new county magistrate came to celebrate the ribbon cutting in person.
And now the expanded new ferry is welcoming an endless stream of foreign ships.
News of the Dragon Boat Festival event in Longcheng County has spread to many counties and states in the upper reaches of Yunmengze and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Many wealthy officials and businessmen came with their wives and children to participate in the only Dragon Boat Festival event in Jiangzhou.
However, the tourists who got off these tall and luxurious ships at the pier were not all Jiangzhou people whose hometown was affected by floods and could not celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. There were also some wealthy businessmen from other states mixed in...
Under the sunshine at noon, a strange merchant ship with the word "王" written on its hull was docking slowly at Penglangdu. What was strange was that the merchant ship stopped for a while, put down a few people, and then sailed away soon after.
Among the people who were put off by the boat, the one walking at the front was a short young man, followed by several young men who seemed to be bodyguards and followers.
“I like this place.”
The short young man wore a soft horned bun, a narrow-sleeved round-neck robe, a black leather belt around his waist, and black boots. He stood at the ferry with busy traffic and bustling business. He put his hands on his hips, took a deep breath, and said with a smile:
"The ferry is convenient, water transportation is developed, and the city tax is cheap... If you smell it, it smells like money."
A follower behind him couldn't help but said: "Young manager, aren't we going to Hongzhou? Why did we stop here in Jiangzhou?"
Shopkeeper Wang Shao smiled and said: "I will go wherever I can make money. Let's go to the streets and see if it is true as the rumors say."
The followers at the back were puzzled, but when shopkeeper Wang Shao took them to visit the grain stores in Dongshi and returned, all of them couldn't help but say:
"Damn it, what kind of place is Longcheng County, where I live? Food is so expensive? Nineteen yuan a dou? Are all the people living here so rich? There are more noble people than there are in Hongzhou City?"
"It's normal. The flood in Jiangzhou has caused a lot of trouble in Jiangnan Province recently. Haven't you heard about it? It's normal for food prices to be higher during disasters."
"It's not so exaggerated if it's more expensive. Compared with the price of grains in our store, it has doubled. Compared with our counterparts in Longcheng County, our store is simply doing charity rebates. It's such a loss."
Shopkeeper Wang Shao smiled and listened to the discussion of the followers behind him without speaking, but he quite agreed with the saying "If you don't make a lot of money, you will lose money."
As a descendant of a branch of the family, although he could not study in a private school, he liked to wander outside since he was a child and had some business acumen. Later, he traveled around with the bosses of the family business and developed his sensitivity to all kinds of news.
Disembarking via Dragon City today was a decision made after catching some news yesterday.
After walking around for a while, shopkeeper Wang Shao said slowly: "And you see, this county is not as lively as if it had just passed a flood. There are no homeless people on the streets, and there are not even a few beggars. And look.
It looks like there will be a Dragon Boat Festival held in a few days."
One of the followers was eager to ask: "Young shopkeeper, let's go back immediately to transport grain and sell it?"
"It feels a little weird... don't worry, let's take another look."
Shopkeeper Wang Shao thought for a while and shook his head.
After walking around for a few times and inquiring about local officials and wealthy businessmen, everyone was ready to find an inn to rest and have a meal, and arrived in front of a bustling restaurant in the downtown area.
Shopkeeper Wang Shao's sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette. He was stunned for a moment and blurted out: "Sister Xie?"
At the entrance of Yuanming Building, Xie Lingjiang, who was about to enter, paused, turned around, and saw a group of short young men.
"Do you know me? Wait, you are..." She frowned and thought, vaguely remembering an acquaintance at a Wang Xie party in Wuyi Lane, Jinling, but she still couldn't remember the name, mainly because there were too many children from the two families, and they were dazzling.
There are only a few of them. For example, if she is called by rank, she should be Xie Qiniang.
Xie Lingjiang looked apologetic and asked politely: "Sorry, Brother Shi, your name is..."
Shopkeeper Wang Shao came forward very familiarly and introduced himself:
"Sister Xie, little brother Wang Caozhi, you probably don't remember me, but I am very familiar with Sister Xie. The elders in the family talk about it every day. They often say that none of the boys from the Wang family are as good at reading as the girls from the Xie family.
We kids are a little embarrassed, but I’m fine, mainly because I like to see those brothers who are studying look bad, hahaha.”
Xie Lingjiang's face was expressionless, as if he was in a bad mood at the moment and was not amused. Wang Caozhi coughed twice and suddenly felt a little embarrassed, but he was thick-skinned and changed the topic with ease:
"Why is Sister Xie here?"
"Yeah, why am I here?" Xie Lingjiang nodded and asked himself.
Since the "quarrel" that day, a certain senior brother has not come to see her for seven days. She doesn't come to him, and he doesn't come to her. She doesn't know what he has been busy with recently. It seems that he really seems to be asking her.