Xu Huaiqian coughed for a long time in the house and was unwilling to go out. He said that he was weak and would stay at home to look after the house.

How can this be possible?

Chen Liejiu’s attitude towards his family has always been that he will take on the difficulties and share the happiness together. In his opinion, going to the county town is an act of sharing happiness together.

There is no entertainment in the countryside. It is always green mountains and clear waters. No matter how much you like it, you will get tired of this unchanging environment.

But it is different in the city. There are countless restaurants and performances in the city, and there are endless people. There are many new things and new people every day. If you don’t go for a while, many new shops will pop up.

It looks more lively than the countryside.

It is very rare for the whole family to go out together. If Xu Huaiqian doesn’t go, he will feel very sorry.

 Besides, it is April now, and the season when the wind stings your face is long gone. It is just right for traveling. It is neither too hot nor too cold. If it is summer in May or June, when the sun starts to get hot, even if Xu Huaiqian wants to go out, he will not allow it.

But Xu Huaiqian doesn’t think so. He would rather stay at home and rot than walk around the street with a plain face.

Chen Liejiu’s mouth was almost dry. Finally, Wang Wanwan, who went out to weed, came back. Seeing Xu Huaiqian rubbing his face with his hands, she took off her straw hat and had an idea: “Why don’t I make a veil for second brother which can cover his face and block the wind.”

Xu Huaiqian stopped insisting on his reasons for refusing to go out, and nodded in agreement: “Okay.”

Then Chen Liejiu and Chen Xiaomei stood there with a puzzled look, as if they were struck by lightning. They had been talking for a long time and you are still entangled in this matter.

 Wang Wanwan stayed up all night to make a veil, and also quickly cut a new set of clothes for Xu Huaiqian. Due to the tight time, she didn’t make any special style, just a very ordinary pure white clothes.

Xu Huaiqian didn’t care. His body was a little thin, but he was tall, about 1.8 meters. When he put on the clothes and the veil, his face couldn’t be seen. With his thin and tall figure, he suddenly felt like the sun and moon in the ancient costume drama.

Sure enough.

If you want to be pretty, you have to wear mourning clothes.

Of course, he didn’t wear pure white mourning clothes, but it’s not bad to compare it this way.

Early in the morning, Chen Liejiu and the others let Xu Huaiqian toss around. When he stepped out of the door in a white robe, the sun was already high in the sky.

 Chen Liejiu borrowed a bullock cart to load the dead wolves. He leaned against the cart and almost fell asleep. When he saw Xu Huaiqian wrapped tightly in a veil, he wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and asked vaguely, “Can we go now?”

“Let’s go.” Xu Huaiqian sighed.

It was a waste of time to flirt with a blind man. Why did he go through all this trouble? It was to avoid embarrassing Chen Liejiu.

Think about how bright and beautiful he is, like a scorching sun, while his husband is a pale, skinny, sickly man. When others see him, they’ll think he is stupid or has some hidden illness, otherwise why would he choose a husband like him.

It would be different if he was handsome. People would only say that they are a perfect match, made in heaven.

Unfortunately, Chen Liejiu didn’t understand his intention at all. However, Xu Huaiqian, who was extremely satisfied with his outfit, didn’t care.

Sitting on the ox cart, he straightened his back, thinking that when he passed by the villagers later, others would see his outfit, which would definitely wash away the impression of him as a pale and skinny man in their minds yesterday! 

It was indeed washed, but it might be a little different from what he thought.

The villagers don’t understand what “a handsome man with a handsome face” and “the sun and the moon in his arms” mean. They came out of Chen’s yard yesterday and felt sorry for Xu Huaiqian, a sickly man. They sat at the door and made slippers, sighing.

“Don’t say it, Xu Huaiqian is quite capable. How can we understand any IOU? He can not only read and write, but also help give advice.”

“Of course, he is a Tongsheng after all. If he were in Taoli Village, he would be a teacher.”

Mishan County is remote and poor, and there are not many scholars. It is impossible for every village to have a school. Among the five or six villages around Xinghua Village, only Taoli Village has a school.

 The teacher was a Tongsheng in the late Wei Dynasty. It is said that he had a great chance of passing the imperial examination. However, the world was in chaos and there were wars everywhere. There was no imperial examination. When the Jin Dynasty was founded, he was too old to take the imperial examination. At the time when the country was vigorously selecting talents, he built a hut in Taoli Village and opened a school to live comfortably.

Xu Huaiqian was a Tongsheng who studied under the old teacher in Taoli Village.

“It’s a pity that he is a sickly child. I don’t know how many years he has left. Otherwise, I’m afraid he would have some luck…”

It’s no wonder they have such feelings. Yesterday, Xu Huaiqian’s attitude of being moderate, humble and polite left a deep impression on them.

In their memory, they have never seen such a person. Even if they have seen him, he is the manager of the big families in the city or the shopkeeper in the shop. He holds a brush and talks and laughs. At first glance, he is different from the peasants like them.

 Usually, when people gossip and make jokes in the village, there are always people who say sarcastic things. Before someone finishes talking, someone else starts to say something sarcastic: “What a blessing! If he wasn’t a sickly person, would Xu Ronghua and his wife be willing to send him to school?”

This is also reasonable. If Xu Huaiqian was in good health, he wouldn’t even be called Xu Huaiqian. He would just be Xu Erlang, a farmer who farms the land.

Then Xu Erlang walked straight past them in a white suit.

A group of aunties who were knitting insoles and chatting at the door were so shocked that they almost pricked their hands.

 “He was fine yesterday, why is he wrapped up today?”

“Don’t be afraid, he is sick again, and he is very sick. He can’t even feel the wind.”

“Oh, how can Chen Liejiu, a bully, take care of people? Everyone saw him yesterday. He is a ruthless guy who can even beat wolves. How can we expect him to be kind to people?”

Everyone remembered the way Chen Liejiu dragged the wolves out of the mountain yesterday, and they were still frightened. After a moment of silence, someone said:

“This sickly guy doesn’t have many years to live, and now he is wrapped up. Tell me, should we prepare for a good feast in a few days?”

Chen Liejiu’s home is in the east of the village, right next to the foot of the mountain, and the people who moved to the village later are expanding from east to west, which means that Chen Liejiu and his family have to walk around the village every time they go out.

 After wandering around the village, Xu Huaiqian, who was not aware that he was rumored to be terminally ill and about to die, was quite happy, thinking that the whole village had seen his extraordinary temperament. When he left the village, he had the leisure to ask Chen Liejiu to stop the ox cart in front of the door of Eldest Xu’s house.

Seeing that the people of Eldest Xu’s house were frightened and pale when they saw the wolves in the cart that were still baring their teeth after being stabbed to death, he was satisfied and asked Chen Liejiu to drive the cart to the county.

The original owner had lost his will to live and jumped into the river because Eldest Xu’s family said that they would mortgage him to Chen Liejiu to pay off the debt and would not redeem him. Although Xu Huaiqian did not need to avenge the original owner, he was still happy to do anything that could make the people of the eldest house suffer.

After wasting a night, when Chen Liejiu drove the ox cart into the county, he went straight to the fur shop.

 This kind of shop collects skins and occasionally mountain products which depend on luck, but for wolves that are rarely hunted, both the skin and the meat are wanted.

Therefore, Chen Liejiu transported the wolves to the fur shop and asked the shopkeeper to buy it at the price of five taels of silver per wolf without much effort.

When preparing to pay, Xu Huaiqian suddenly said: “Five taels per head, is it the price of the skin or the price including the meat?”

The shopkeeper replied: “Of course, it’s only the price of the skin. Your meat has been stored overnight and is not fresh.”

Xu Huaiqian nodded: “Okay, please peel off the skin and return the meat to us.” He didn’t want the meat of this wolf because it had eaten people, but he thought that the wolf bones could be soaked in medicinal wine or something, so it should be worth some money.

At that time, the shopkeeper looked at Xu Huaiqian with disbelief. How could a man who was dressed like a decent person and had the temperament of a nobleman be so stingy?

 Xu Huaiqian under the veil ignored the shopkeeper’s eyes: “If you want meat, please increase the price. We are from a small family and it’s not easy to make money. We have to be careful.” The shopkeeper was calculating. He looked at the group of people in front of him, one in white and one in red, followed by two girls, one graceful and the other lively and cute. He didn’t think they were from a poor family.

Unfortunately, this wolf is rare in their Mishan County. Everyone knows that there are wolves in the mountains, but unfortunately few hunters are willing to risk their lives to hunt them. In the end, they had to compromise and add one tael of silver for each wolf.

Six wolves, the original thirty taels became thirty-six taels. Three sentences added six taels of silver!

When he came out of the fur shop, Chen Liejiu, Chen Xiaomei and Wang Wanwan all looked at him with admiration.

Xu Huaiqian asked them puzzledly: “Why, you used to sell as much as others said?”

The three of them nodded together.

“Don’t you know how to bargain?”

Wang Wanwan replied: “When buying things, you can still choose, and bargain. When selling things, others come to choose us. It’s good enough to sell them. How can you bargain?”

Hm, Xu Huaiqian understood. This family can’t do without him.

 “If you have anything to sell in the future, you can ask me first.”

“Okay.” The three nodded vigorously. They had to ask carefully. Three sentences could earn them a few more taels of silver.

Thirty-six taels of silver was not little. Xu Huaiqian did not take it, so he temporarily gave it to Chen Liejiu for safekeeping.

 Chen Liejiu held the heavy money bag, with a smile on his bright face. He waved his hand and said generously: “Let’s go to the bank to get things done. I’ll treat you to delicious food and spicy drinks after making money today.”

After saying that, he remembered that the family’s money was now under the management of Xu Huaiqian, and asked him again: “Is it okay?”

It was rare to make money, and everyone was happy. Xu Huaiqian did not refuse for Chen Liejiu’s face, and smiled: “Okay.”

Mishan County is not a wealthy county. It is prosperous, but it depends on where it is compared. Compared with the villagers of Xinghua Village, the county town is naturally a thousand times better, but compared with the modern times that Xu Huaiqian has seen, it is just a remote and poor county?

There are a total of six streets horizontally and six streets vertically. At the end of the street, there is a government office that is quite impressive and covers a very large area. The door is paved with blue bricks and stones. It is a big square, but unfortunately it is empty and no ordinary people dare to go there.

 There are some big houses on the left and right sides of the yamen, which are the residences of some rich families in the county. There don’t seem to be many.

At the end of the street on the other side, opposite to the rich families in the yamen, are ordinary families in the county. Their geographical location is opposite to the yamen, but their status is very different. The environment is also mixed. Mud houses, blue brick houses, and stone houses are all mixed together. At a glance, they are all crowded together, which gives people a very depressing feeling.

The bank that Chen Liejiu found is called Shengyuan Bank, which is the largest bank in the entire county. According to Chen Liejiu, their boss is the county magistrate.

The county magistrate of Mishan County is also a Jinshi, but unfortunately he has great ambitions but no achievements. In Chen Liejiu’s words, he can read but can’t govern the county.

But he has one good thing.

 He did not oppress the people, nor did he embezzle or abuse the law. He would go to the academy jointly opened by Mishan County and several neighboring counties when he had nothing to do, and he liked to find some talented people to talk to.

He hoped that the county would produce some famous people, which would add a political achievement for him, so that he could move up.

Although he was lazy in politics, for the people, a good county magistrate was one who did not oppress, embezzle or abuse the law. That was why Chen Liejiu was able to do the debt collection business in the village. If the county magistrate changed, he would definitely change his livelihood.

The shopkeeper of Shengyuan Bank and Chen Liejiu were old acquaintances, not to mention that Chen Liejiu was a ger who did the debt collection business better than some men, so it was hard not to pay attention.

After listening to Chen Liejiu’s explanation of his purpose, he immediately invited Chen Liejiu and Xu Huaiqian into the back hall. He also thought this method was particularly good.

 The county magistrate was too kind-hearted, so he opened a bank in the county and was willing to lend money to some families in need. However, some people were too thick-skinned and always felt that they were justified in being poor. They would not pay back the money without resorting to some tricks.

If he had been replaced by someone with a black heart, he would have caught his family members and sold them, and he would have nothing to say.

The county magistrate always said that he would extend the time but if he extended the time, their bank would go bankrupt.

Chen Liejiu sent him this method, which could solve the urgent problem. It would be easier to pay back a little bit every month than to ask them to pay back a large sum at once.

Besides, if it really didn’t work, the chickens, ducks, geese, and vegetables could pay for some money, which was better than selling land and people and asking people to go bankrupt to pay back the money.

 The shopkeeper wanted to discuss the details with Xu Huaiqian. Chen Liejiu felt dizzy after hearing about the interest and principal. He stopped drinking tea, stood up and said, “You guys chat, I’ll go out for a walk.”

Xu Huaiqian saw that he didn’t look like someone who could stay, and Chen Xiaomei and Wang Wanwan were still outside. He was afraid that something might happen to them, so he let him go out first.

Xu Huaiqian talked with the shopkeeper for a long time and explained all the tricks to him.

 The shopkeeper was impressed: “Mr. Xu is very talented. He is so sensitive about money. He will definitely do something big in the future.”

Xu Huaiqian took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, covered his mouth with the veil and coughed hard for a while, and said in a hoarse voice: “It doesn’t matter whether I can do something or not. I just hope that this method can help the shopkeeper and the county magistrate, and also give me medical expenses for my broken body.”

The shopkeeper heard it and suddenly realized why he was unwilling to take off the veil. It turned out that there was such a reason.

He thought that he must have spent a lot of energy thinking about this method. When he went out, he not only gave him a red envelope of fifty taels, but also gave him a medicine box.

Xu Huaiqian delayed accepting it.

When he found Chen Liejiu, he was squatting on the ground talking with Chen Xiaomei and others. There were also several medicine boxes on the ox cart beside him.

 Xu Huaiqian walked over and asked, “Where did you get it?”

Chen Liejiu raised his eyebrows and said, “I bought it.”

“How much did it cost?” Xu Huaiqian was struggling to hold the red envelope and the medicine box. Just as he was about to hand him the money, he saw Chen Liejiu take out an empty purse and gave it to him.

Xu Huaiqian: “????”

The author has something to say:

Qianqian: This family can’t do without me.