Rise of the Poor

Chapter 161: Difficult things

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coral

Zhu Ping'an was a little surprised. The Li family was really wealthy. In ancient times, coral was definitely a rare commodity and very expensive.

Ge Hong's "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" said: "The King of Nanyue once presented a coral tree, which was 13 feet high." It said that Zhao Tuo, the King of Guangnan, presented two coral trees to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. They were 13 feet high, each with 3 forks and 460 branches. They were placed in the Jicui Pond in the imperial garden of the imperial palace. The tree was bright red and "lit up at night", which was in full swing. Therefore, it was called the Fire Tree and became the treasure of the palace. In the Han Dynasty, coral could be the treasure of the palace, which shows that it was very precious. The reason why coral was so expensive in ancient times, in addition to its own advantages, was that it was difficult to pick coral in ancient times, which was also an important reason for its high price. Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty wrote in the poem "Bicheng": "The jade wheel looked at the rabbit when it was born, and the iron net coral had no branches." Coral picking was done by fishermen who put iron nets into the sea to pick them, which was very troublesome.

I don't know what kind of corals the rich man Li brought to the black-bellied girl, but they are definitely worth a lot of money. In ancient times, it was really rare to have a father who doted on his daughter to this extent.

While Zhu Ping'an was expressing his emotion, he still found it difficult to understand why the sinister girl secretly gave him money.

When Mr. Li, the rich man, was coaxing his baby, he noticed Zhu Ping'an looking at him from the study door.

Whose family is this young man from

Why are you in your own home

Could it be that he is here for his own daughter

As soon as the wealthy master Li assumed the third possibility, he cautiously hid his daughter behind his back, then waved to Zhu Ping'an, ready to find out. Not everyone can covet the precious child of his family.

When Zhu Ping'an saw the rich man Li waving at him, he walked over leisurely.

"Meet Mr. Li."

Zhu Pingan approached, cupped his hands and bowed.

"Who are you?" Rich man Li looked Zhu Ping'an up and down and asked inquiringly.

"I am Zhu Ping'an from Xiahe Village," Zhu Ping'an replied calmly.

After hearing the name, Mr. Li suddenly realized, "Oh. So you are the poor boy who often comes to borrow books."

"Dad, please don't call me a poor boy anymore. I'm successful now. I passed the imperial examination and became the best scholar in our town."

The scheming girl who was blocked behind the wealthy Mr. Li spoke in a sarcastic tone. Her voice showed her disdain for Zhu Pingan.

After hearing his precious child's ridicule and disdain for Zhu Ping'an, the wealthy Mr. Li breathed a sigh of relief. As long as his precious child was not interested, that was fine.

Just now I heard Shuer say that he is a scholar? Such a young scholar is rare. But he is just a scholar. I have seen many of them, even officials. I have seen many of them. Although Mr. Li was a little surprised that Zhu Pingan passed the examination to become a scholar at such a young age, he did not take Zhu Pingan seriously and just nodded to him.

Many scholars failed to make further progress in their official careers and could only return to their hometowns to make a living by teaching. Scholars who were not wealthy but had a slightly higher social status than ordinary people were called "poor scholars". After eating abalone, you will still have an appetite for small fish and shrimp.

Zhu Ping'an also expected the reaction of the rich man Li.

"It's like this. I've been cared for by Mr. Li for several years. He allowed me to borrow books in the study, so I was lucky enough to pass the boy's exam this year. In three days, my parents want to hold a buffet banquet at home. I hope Mr. Li can honor them." Zhu Ping'an bowed and repeated the purpose of his visit.

"Oh, it's a bit unfortunate. I have encountered some difficult things and I am afraid I don't have time these days." After listening to what Zhu Ping'an said, the rich man Li shook his head and declined.

Zhu Ping'an had expected the rejection.

I just don't know whether what Mr. Li said about encountering a difficult situation is true or false. If it is just an excuse to decline, it's fine; but if it is true, I don't know if I can help, after all, I have been reading books for so many years.

"Oh. I wonder what happened to Mr. Li. If there is any use I can provide," Zhu Ping'an asked politely.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Li looked at Zhu Ping'an again and sneered, "Maybe you can study, but this difficult matter of mine is not something you can handle."

Uh, okay.

Since Mr. Li had no intention of telling, Zhu Pingan stopped asking. If the other party wanted to tell, he would tell you without you asking; but if the other party didn't want to tell you, he would not tell you even if you asked until your lips were dry. Mr. Li was the latter.

"I am a reckless boy, sorry to have embarrassed Mr. Li. Mr. Li must be exhausted from the journey, so I won't bother you any more." Zhu Ping'an tactfully bowed and said goodbye.

Mr. Li, the rich man, did not stop him and even let Zhu Ping'an borrow two more books to save him the trouble of running back and forth.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Li, Zhu Ping'an returned to the study. Since he had just obtained Mr. Li's permission, Zhu Ping'an went to the bookshelf to look for books. He found two books that were all about policy essays, put the books in his schoolbag, and prepared to go home.

As soon as I put the book into my schoolbag, I saw the black-bellied girl walking in with an angry look on her face.

"This is really too much. They are traitors. I even called them uncles in vain. They are really a bunch of ungrateful people with black hearts. I don't believe that Daddy won't find out if he asks people to check the account books!"

The scheming girl walked in, talking angrily to the chubby little maid Hua'er who was walking beside her.

Zhu Pingan, who was about to leave, listened for two more minutes. It seemed that the black-bellied girl was talking about the thorny matter that the rich man Li had mentioned. He didn't expect that there really was a thorny matter. From what the black-bellied girl said, it seemed that several shopkeepers under the rich man Li had colluded in the past few years and embezzled a lot of money from the rich man Li by making false accounts. The rich man Li also heard the news by chance. Combined with the fact that the profits seemed to have decreased a lot in the past two years, he became suspicious of several shopkeepers. However, these shopkeepers had colluded for a long time, and the account books seemed to be flawless. In short, the rich man Li took several accountants in his family to check for a few days but did not find any problems.

The profits were low, and the rich man Li did not find any problems when checking the accounts. Instead, it gave the shopkeepers an excuse to contact other businesses in private, making the business chain that the rich man Li had worked so hard to build unstable. The shopkeeper and the rich man Li were only in an employment relationship, not like a servant who had signed a contract to sell himself. And from what Li Shu said, it seemed that the shopkeeper was related to the Li family. In the absence of evidence, the rich man Li did not dare to act rashly, so it was not so easy to deal with, and it became a difficult matter for the rich man Li. (To be continued)

ps: I realized it's so late after I finished coding, sorry. I've been very busy at work recently. Today's monthly ticket is very good, I hope everyone will continue to support Hanmen, there are still three days, I hope there will be a surprise.