Wang Mu opened the fourth page, pointed to the anecdotal column below and said, "You can read the news at the bottom for yourself!"
Hu Yun took the newspaper and looked at it carefully. He saw the bottom line that read, 'The official had no money to pay the rent, and the whole family was driven into the street!'
Hu Yun was indeed interested and asked quickly: "Who is it? It wasn't written in the newspaper."
Wang Mu said calmly: "I crossed out the name to save some face for this person. He is Hu Qingfeng, the minister of ceremony at Taichang Temple, and he is also from your old Hu family."
Hu Yun nodded, "I've heard of this person before. He was in the top ten in Jinshi three years ago. How come he's so miserable?"
"Why it's so miserable, I don't know."
"When did it happen?" Hu Yun asked again.
"What happened the day before yesterday, Lao Hu, have you never considered winning the hearts and minds of lower-level officials? Their salaries are very low. They can live well if their families have money, but it is miserable if they are born in poverty. The rent in Lin'an is so expensive."
"What I have considered is that the Battle of Hebei broke out and I cannot report to His Highness King Yong. I plan to talk about it when I return to Beijing to report on my work in the fall."
Wang Mu smiled slightly and said: "Actually, I think there are some things that can be done freely as long as they comply with His Highness King Yong's principles."
Hu Yun smiled bitterly and said: "I just want to ask about the principles!"
Wang Mu pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Have I ever told you that I encountered His Highness King Yong when I went to Yangzhou to buy paper?"
Hu Yun glanced at him and said, "You said this, but you didn't say what specifically you talked about!"
"Actually, I reported the situation of the newspaper to His Highness King Yong. One of the things he mentioned was the handling of three hundred thousand copper coins. He asked us to use this money to help the orphans, the old, the sick and the young, and win people's hearts. I was thinking,
Those down-and-out officials should also be included in this list."
Hu Yun nodded, "Since His Highness has told you this, I know what to do."
In the afternoon, Hu Yun and several of his men came to an alley in the southeast of the city. This area is a poor settlement in Lin'an. The environment is not very good. The alley in front of him is called Wudafu Alley. The name is very grand, but in fact
Garbage is everywhere, feces and urine are flowing everywhere, and the smell is so pungent that people have to cover their noses while walking.
"Is this right here?" Hu Yun asked with a frown.
The subordinate nodded, "That's right here, the one at the end!"
Hu Yun covered his nose and walked into the alley. He tried his best to find a cleaner place to walk along the way until he reached the end. At the end was a broken wooden door. This was also the home of a court official. Of course it was a rented house, but it was
For such a small courtyard with less than two cents of land, the rent costs three guan per month.
Lin'an is famous for its high rents, mainly because the place is small and the population is large. People from all over come to Lin'an to find food, and the population has expanded rapidly.
Hu Yun winked at his men, who came forward and knocked on the door. After a moment, someone asked: "Who is it?"
"We are here to find Hu Qingfeng, does he live here?"
The door opened a crack, and an old woman poked her head in and said, "This is Liu Zhen's home!"
"We know, but Hu Qingfeng should be here too!"
The old woman said with a trace of disdain in her eyes: "They have nowhere to go, they just stay here for two days!"
"As long as they're here!"
"You guys are not here to collect debts!"
The old woman suddenly became worried. The Hu family still owed his family some money for rice and vegetables in the past two days!
"Let me tell you, their family really has no money to pay off their debts!"
"We're not here to collect debts, we're here to help them. Madam, hurry up and let us know!"
Hearing that she was not here to collect debts, the old woman felt relieved and opened the door: "The smell outside is bad. Come in quickly! This is my home, what else do I need to report?"
When everyone walked into the yard, there were three tile-roofed houses in the front, and a small house on both sides. On the left was the kitchen, and on the right was a dark and broken house.
The old woman pouted to the dilapidated house on the right, "Their family is staying there temporarily, what a sin! The family of five was actually kicked out onto the street by the landlord. If my son hadn't kindly taken them in, they wouldn't have squatted under any bridge.
Woolen cloth?"
At this time, the door opened, and a young woman came out, wearing a coarse cloth dress but very cleanly starched, followed by a boy of five or six years old, and a little lady, a little older, about seven or eight years old.
"Madam Hu, you are here just in time. They are here to see your husband."
The young woman hesitated and said, "My husband hasn't come back yet! He may come back later today. Is there anything wrong with you?"
Hu Yun nodded, "I just want to help him. Since he's not here, forget it. You can take this!"
The man handed a cloth bag to the young woman. The young woman took it hesitantly, but her hand suddenly sank and the cloth bag almost fell to the ground.
"What is this?" the young woman asked in surprise.
Hu Yun smiled slightly and said, "There is a post from me in it. Your husband knows it. Let's say goodbye!"
After saying that, he took his men and left,
The old woman closed the door, her eyes almost growing out of hands, staring at the cloth bag in the young woman's hand, "What's in the bag?"
"I don't know either, it's heavy."
The young woman opened the bag, and the old woman hurriedly stepped forward and almost stuck her head into the bag.
The young woman suddenly pinched the bag, a look of panic appeared on her face, and the old woman also exclaimed, "Ah! It's silver."
"Yes! How could it be silver?" the young woman said in panic.
The old woman suddenly said seriously: "Who were those people just now? They actually gave you a lot of money!"
"I don't know. It's the first time I met them. Maybe my husband knows."
"Haha! Madam Hu is rich now. Let's go back and calculate our rice and vegetable money for the past two days! Let's make the rent cheaper, a hundred cents a day!"
The young woman suddenly said anxiously: "Didn't you say that the house will be lent to us for two days? Why do you need money again?"
"Didn't your family have no money before? I'm embarrassed to speak, but now that you have money, you're embarrassed to live in vain!"
"But, I don't know if I can collect the money yet? I have to wait until my husband comes back to make the decision."
"I already have the money, why don't I accept it?"
The old woman ignored it and said with a smile: "I will prepare rice and vegetables for you. I happen to have a piece of meat at home, so I will give it to you."
He turned around and went to the kitchen. At this time, a heartbreaking cough came from the small dark room. An old woman asked: "Mother Zhuangzhuang, what's going on?"
"Mother-in-law, I don't know what's going on?"
The young woman quickly walked into the house. There was a big bed in the house. At night, the family of five crowded on this broken bed.
It is unspeakable that Hu Qingfeng, a dignified eighth-rank official, fell into this embarrassing situation. The key is that he has a medicine jar, and half of his monthly salary is used to buy medicine. Moreover, his family is poor and he owes money to his father for burial.
I had a lot of debt, but I managed to pass the Jinshi exam and received a lot of rewards, all of which I used to pay off the debt.
Fortunately, he had a virtuous wife who ate bran-thick vegetables with him and gave birth to a pair of children.
The room was dark, and there was a skinny old woman sitting on the bed. Her eyes were almost blind. She stretched out her hands and touched the bag in her wife's hand.
"What's in the bag?"
"It's silver. Someone gave it to my husband just now. I don't know it."
"How much silver is there?"
The young woman poured the money on the bed. There was a post inside, so she took it out too.
The old woman touched the silver with trembling hands like chicken claws. There were four ingots in total. She weighed them and found five taels per ingot, which was twenty taels.
"Hurry up and put away the money and the post, and show it to your husband. This thing is either a blessing or a curse."