To be honest, no one has the hobby of finding a father for themselves, especially someone like Qin Dewei who doesn't like to be controlled by others.
But Qin Dewei also knew that, just as Magistrate Feng had advised him at the beginning of the year, it was best for him to find a reliable new father and change his surname to be completely different from his missing biological father. This was a necessary step in risk control on the road to fame.
As a time traveler, it takes a lot of psychological construction to recognize a father again. Qin Dewei really can't do this kind of thing, even if he is the richest man, he can call other people father casually.
After such a long period of psychological construction, Qin Dewei was gradually able to accept Master Zeng, especially after Master Zeng won the election.
However, Qin Dewei also had the biggest problem. As a son, no matter how smart and capable he was, he could not actively push his mother to get married due to human ethics, and he could not even persuade Zeng Mian.
Don't forget how a certain unlucky supporting character last year was almost labeled as "selling his mother by selling his son" by Qin Dewei?
So Qin Dewei discovered that even though he knew the news about Master Zeng's attempt to attract bees and butterflies, he could not do anything!
Can we only hope that Mr. Zeng can withstand the temptation and remain true to his original intention?
While Qin Dewei was sitting at home and thinking wildly, someone unexpectedly came to visit him.
It was none other than the rich salt merchant named Luo Mingheng who claimed to have a fortune of one hundred thousand gold and wanted to marry his sister to Master Zeng.
Qin Dewei was very surprised by this. He didn't go to trouble this person even though he was on horseback. Instead, he dared to come to him first. Is this person with an aggressive personality?
No matter how rich he was, he was just a businessman. Qin Dewei didn't show much courtesy and didn't go out to greet him, so he asked Hao Danian to take him directly to the middle hall to meet him.
Luo Heng was about thirty-five or sixty-six years old, with a thick build and big ears. He looked very majestic.
After the guests and hosts were seated, Luo Heng looked around and sighed: "The primary school students are famous far and wide, but today I saw them and they are so poor."
Qin Dewei: ""
It’s really strange that there are people in this world who are better at chatting than me!
Since neither party knew how to chat, there was no need for awkward small talk. Then Luo Heng directly took out a banknote from his sleeve, put it on the table, and pushed it in front of Qin Dewei.
Qin Dewei glanced at it and saw clearly that it was a banknote from his Yuanfeng bank, with a denomination of one thousand taels. This amount was considered a huge sum of money.
Then I heard Luo Heng say: "If you want these one thousand taels, then what about the royal hall?"
Qin Dewei was furious, stood up and said: "How can we be kind to our family? How can we be the son of a man and be good at specializing in it?"
You actually dare to offer money to buy the Son of Man, you are so unconscionable! Get out of here quickly, lest you taint my ears!"
Luo Heng said calmly: "Did you misunderstand me? I gave you these one thousand taels, not to bribe you and ask your court to do anything else.
But please don’t let me marry Mr. Zeng. Isn’t this against human ethics?”
This meaning is very simple to understand. It is not illegal for a son to instigate his mother to marry; but if a son opposes his mother's remarriage, it is not against etiquette and is in line with the laws of nature and people's hearts.
Rich man Luo was willing to pay a huge sum of one thousand taels to buy Qin Dewei, who opposed his mother Zhou's remarriage.
As long as Mrs. Zhou refuses to marry because of her son's opinion, then Mr. Zeng will have no choice but to marry another man. Wouldn't this opportunity be created?
Qin Dewei didn't care about the money and refused without thinking: "She can make the decision on her own regarding Jia Ci. As a son, you can only listen. How can you let money speak for you?
Your Excellency uses money to deceive people's hearts and destroy people's filial piety, which is really vicious. I have nothing to say to you, so leave quickly!"
Rich Man Luo laughed loudly and said: "You scholars are all pedantic and want to save face and suffer the consequences! You talk about being filial, but you do extremely unfilial things! It's so ridiculous, and you don't know it!"
Qin Dewei curled his lips, thinking that all these talking tricks were his own. Do you still want to show off your sword in front of the gate? Then he shouted to Hao Danian outside the door: "See you off!"
Luo Heng: ""
This elementary school student didn't follow the routine at all.
Seeing the primary school student actually walking to the study room, he seemed not to care about himself at all.
Rich Man Luo shouted again: "Wait a minute! If nothing else, you should also know that Mr. Zeng likes martial arts and has always had the ambition to become a general and become a prime minister. He has the ambition to make achievements in border affairs and be famous in history!
Now that he has won the imperial examination, he is qualified to be an official. According to the imperial court regulations, he can directly serve as the magistrate of a border county!
If another Jinshi is selected in the spring of the capital, when Master Zeng selects officials, 80% of them will also be willing to go to the border areas!
Your Majesty is just a southern woman, and if she follows Master Zeng to and from the frontier, it will be extremely difficult and unbearable for her!"
Qin Dewei said coldly: "How do I deal with my mother? What does it have to do with you, an outsider? What is the difference between what you said and those talkative women with short-term parents?"
In fact, Qin Dewei knew very well that the rich man's inference was actually correct. According to the original historical process, apart from being the county magistrate for the first three years, Mr. Zeng had indeed been working in the frontier.
Rich Man Luo asked, "Can you, as a son, have the heart to watch your mother suffer like this in the future and remain indifferent?"
Qin Dewei sneered a few times: "Then I'm surprised. You also know Mr. Zeng's future ambitions and advise others not to endure this hardship, but how dare you let your relatives endure this hardship?"
Rich Man Luo said proudly: "Although I am originally from Yangzhou in the salt industry, my family is still in Shaanxi!
If one of my family members marries Mr. Zeng, and Mr. Zeng gets training in the frontier in the future, then she can just go back to her hometown in the north to live there, so why suffer the hardship?"
Qin Dewei was speechless, the rich man was quite thoughtful.
As for why people from Shaanxi came to Yangzhou to run the salt industry, this was not surprising at all during the Jiajing Dynasty. Even half of the salt merchants in Yangzhou were from northwest Shaanxi or Shanxi.
In the more familiar later Qing Dynasty, the Yangzhou salt industry was already monopolized by Hui merchants, and the major salt merchants were all Hui people. However, in the Ming Dynasty, the situation was different.
This is related to the current salt law system. In short, merchants must first transport military rations to border towns, and then they can obtain salt from the government and transport the salt legally.
Under this system, merchants in Shaanxi and Shanxi who are close to the border have a great advantage. They can reclaim land nearby and hire people to grow grain, or purchase grain in large quantities and then transport it to border towns.
After you have the salt supply, you can then supply and transport salt to major salt farms. Businesses all over the world are run by big families, and ordinary small households cannot do it.
Therefore, Yangzhou is the center of the southeastern salt industry. There are many merchants like Luo Heng. Many merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi gather in Yangzhou, and their influence is not small.
Therefore, Rich Man Luo said that if his sister marries Mr. Zeng, and Mr. Zeng goes to the border to serve as an official, then his sister can go back to live in his hometown in Shaanxi, it is definitely not empty talk.
And it is equivalent to implying that the family power in his hometown can give Mr. Zeng the most practical support.
Qin Dewei also has a headache. This opponent is too difficult to deal with. He is afraid that Mr. Zeng will not be able to control him!
