Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 721: Little Boy with Big Shrewdness
The Fourth Prince felt full of energy and had never felt so energetic in his life.
Xiao Cheng, who was forcibly pulled out of the classroom by him, was unhappy, but Xiao Huasheng was relieved because he was no longer forced to study. However, when the two heard Zhang Shou briefly explain the reason for the incident and then returned to Jiuzhang Hall to teach, and then the Fourth Prince spoke rapidly and talked about various details, their faces changed at the same time, and the initial dissatisfaction was swept away.
Xiao Cheng had a good life for a while, but he had also been in difficulties, especially after he lost his parents. Liu Zhiyuan and Zhu Tingfang left Beijing one after another. Even with people like Hua Qi secretly feeding him food, he still lived like a ghost - a real ghost!
As for Peanut, Lao Xianyu and Xian Yunhe were both people who would starve if they didn't work for a day, so he had been helping with various chores since he was a child. Therefore, after hearing this, Peanut asked first: "What should we check? Should we go to Gusu Restaurant to find out if they really accept apprentices?"
"No, if we go directly to Gusu Restaurant, it will easily alert the enemy. I'm thinking that we can first quietly go to the homes of these three people. Well, don't use the name of a teacher first, but visit them in the name of a classmate, and then it would be best if we could give them something."
The fourth prince was a smart kid. His eyes rolled and he immediately came up with an idea: "Let's dress casually so we won't be too conspicuous when we get there. We can say that the teacher has appointed a dormitory head for the intermediate class and we are here to comfort our classmates. Let's buy some eggs and tofu, so that we can look respectable when we visit."
Over the past few days, Peanut has been watching the Fourth Prince racking his brains to get along with the children in his classmates. Given that there are always new soldiers in the camp, there are a total of seven intermediate classes, and one class changes every day. Even he has been there for so long and couldn't remember all the 120 classmates. However, the Fourth Prince was able to call out the names of most of the children in the three classes in three days. He really couldn't help but admire him.
For example, at this moment, the Fourth Prince actually thought that when he went to visit his classmates' homes, he should buy things like eggs and tofu that ordinary people use to improve their meals, rather than meat such as roast chicken and mutton... Of course, the most amazing thing is that the Fourth Prince actually appointed himself the head of the vegetarian restaurant!
He glanced at Xiao Cheng and saw that he was nodding vigorously. He realized that this guy had been fooled by the Fourth Prince. But he racked his brains and realized that he was an assistant specially assigned by Zhang Shou to the Fourth Prince. He knew that it would not work , so he could only ask helplessly: "Do we really have to go now? It's still class time, right?"
"Of course we have to go while they are still in the public school and can't go back. Otherwise, if they see us, wouldn't we be exposed? Besides, the things in the intermediate class should be very simple for you, Peanut. If you really miss the class, I can make up for the things you don't understand later! You have to believe me, I'm very good at it!"
The Fourth Prince clapped his hands without further ado and said loudly, "Alright, alright, it's settled. We'll go find Sixth Brother and ask him to escort us there! By the way, where do they live? We'll need Sixth Brother to show us the way. It's said that when he stamps his feet, the outer city will tremble. It's good to have him, a local tyrant, around!"
It was not difficult for the three little guys to convince Ah Liu. After all, the Fourth Prince was very confident that it was Zhang Shou's order. In addition, with Xiao Huasheng and Xiao Cheng as witnesses, Ah Liu would never think that they were taking advantage of the situation.
Therefore, Ah Liu went to the public office in person to check the academic information cards of the three students. This was a system modeled after the Imperial College's student roster. In addition to the students' names, their parents' names, occupations, and native places and addresses, there were also conclusions from on-site investigations of the households. The last item was efficiently completed by Lu Wan using his own followers, which closed the last gap.
The fourth prince, who was watching from the side, could not help but admire him greatly. After getting in the car, he talked about this with Xiao Huasheng and Xiao Cheng, and he couldn't help but flatter Zhang Shou and Lu Wan. He kept saying things like foresight, seeing the big picture from the small details, and all kinds of idioms popped out of his mouth. In the end, even Ah Liu, who was driving outside, couldn't stand it anymore.
"Let's talk about it later!" Although he was very happy to hear that, he knew that the Fourth Prince was trying to please him on purpose!
The incessant Fourth Prince stopped talking immediately. And Xiao Huasheng breathed a sigh of relief - he was a talkative person, so he always disliked Xiao Cheng for being too boring, but now he realized how helpless Xiao Cheng was when facing him in the past, because the Fourth Prince was a real curious baby and a chatterbox, with too many questions and too many words!
However, Ah Liu did not drive the carriage directly to take the three little guys to the door of the house, but took them to buy the comfort items such as egg tofu mentioned by the Fourth Prince, and Xiao Huasheng also bought a bag of maltose. Finally, Ah Liu drove the car to a tavern with familiarity, and after depositing the carriage, he led the three people to a narrow alley.
The fourth prince, who was following behind, was initially very excited, but as he walked, he found that the ground was uneven and he almost stumbled and fell several times. So he didn't dare to look around anymore, but lowered his head and carefully checked the horrible ground. Finally, he couldn't help but ask, "Sixth brother, how long will it take?"
Ah Liu kept walking and said without turning his head, "At least a quarter of an hour."
Hearing the exaggerated inhalation behind him, Ah Liu turned his head to look at the Fourth Prince. Seeing that he looked miserable, while Xiao Cheng and Xiao Huasheng looked normal, he explained calmly, "Many officials can't afford a carriage, so they go to the carriage shop to borrow one when they need one. If you go there by carriage, it doesn't matter how ordinary you dress. People will know you are not ordinary at first glance."
"Also, I won't go in with you. There are too many people in the outer city who know me."
The fourth prince suddenly realized what was going on, but when he heard that Ah Liu would not send them in, he was shocked and subconsciously asked, "Then how can we find that place?"
As he went in and out of the capital, he had discovered a very troublesome problem, that is, there were houses lined up everywhere, and unlike the palaces in the imperial palace, every palace had a gate. After entering, whether it was a side hall or a main hall, there would often be a plaque hanging to indicate where it was. In the inner and outer cities, except for the residences of officials, there would be no plaques at all!
Especially in the alleys where the houses of ordinary people are clustered, many houses don’t even have walls, and many fences are rotten! Unless it’s someone you know, you won’t know whose door you are at even if you walk to the door!
Seeing the Fourth Prince's bitter expression, Xiao Huasheng finally understood why Zhang Shou wanted him and Xiao Cheng to follow him. Because this young man who was born in the palace lacked common sense! Of course, he was much better than most of the rich and powerful people who grew up in the deep palace. After all, he often went out of the palace, but when it came to doing things, he was at a loss.
Therefore, seeing that the Fourth Prince, who was originally full of fighting spirit, suddenly became weak, he could only interrupt and say, "Okay, don't worry, Xiao Cheng and I will help ask for directions! Don't you think it's more normal to ask along the way and then go to the door?"
The fourth prince wanted to refute it. If they searched all the way like this, how long would it take them to find the three families? However, under Ah Liu's gaze, he dared not say anything. After passing through this dirty, dark and deserted alley, he saw a mess of low houses in front of him, which was completely different from the neat alleys in the inner city.
His scalp suddenly went numb. How could he find someone?
But Ah Liu didn't leave the alley, but stopped there. He pointed at the houses and said calmly, "Looking at the student information, the three of them all live in this area. Go find them yourself."
Unlike the completely dumbfounded Fourth Prince and Xiao Cheng who was curious and looked around, Peanut seemed to be at ease. Seeing a few four or five-year-old children chasing and fighting, he went forward with a smile on his face, and the bag of maltose he bought when buying egg tofu came in handy immediately.
In a place like the Outer City, parents and elders don't have the time to teach their children not to eat foreign food. In addition, maltose is a luxury for ordinary children, so the sweetness easily overwhelms suspicion. When Xiao Huasheng pointed at the Fourth Prince and Xiao Cheng and told the children that he was Chen San's classmate and that he was here to visit him, the children became even more excited and took the initiative to agree to lead the way.
Of course, they also asked for compensation for leading the way with confidence!
Therefore, the Fourth Prince watched in astonishment as Peanut easily paid each of them two pieces of candy and asked them to lead the way to three families. Moreover, he had to pay one piece first and then the second piece after they arrived at the destination. When he saw the children running very fast with candies in their mouths and turning back to wave at them, he could not help but staring at the bag of candy again and again.
This candy is so good? Curious, he immediately asked Xiao Huasheng for a piece, but when he put it in his mouth and tasted it, his cheeks immediately bulged. How could this be delicious? It was too sweet and there was no other taste!
Although the imperial kitchen in the palace was not satisfactory in the past, there were at least a few people in the small kitchen of the Qianqing Palace who were good at making desserts, not to mention now. Moreover, Mr. Song would send dessert recipes to the palace from time to time, and then a certain imperial chef designated by the emperor would make them personally, so his taste had long been spoiled, and something like maltose had no appeal to him at all.
At this time, he heard Xiao Cheng's voice behind him: "Children from ordinary families have rarely eaten sweet things since childhood. Because let alone sugar, even salt can only be added in a little bit when cooking, because the price of salt is not cheap. This is the benevolent policy of Grandpa Taizu, who made the price of salt public and written it into the code of conduct, claiming that it would never change in the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise, the price of salt will easily soar." Little Peanut heard Xiao Cheng's words and added casually. While leading the Fourth Prince to follow the children forward, he whispered these common sense to the Fourth Prince.
"Smuggling salt is not rampant in this dynasty, because the price of official salt is not expensive, only six coins per catty. Therefore, salt is affordable and must be eaten. If you don't eat it, you will have no strength. But sugar is different. It doesn't matter if you don't eat it. In the market today, maltose costs 20 coins per bag, brown sugar is 15 coins per catty, and white sugar is even more expensive."
"The slightly yellowish kind of sugar costs 40 wen per jin. The whiter it is, the more expensive it is. The best snowflake sugar is crystal clear and is packed in exquisite porcelain jars. It is not sold by jin, but by jar. I heard that rich people like this kind of sugar the most. The more expensive it is, the more they buy it. A jar can be sold for 500 wen, and the finest kind even costs 1,000 wen."
If Zhang Shouren were here, he would tell these three children that salt is not only not expensive, but the price of six cents per catty is a very low price in any era of salt and iron monopoly throughout history. Even in certain periods of the Ming Dynasty in history, there were similar salt prices.
In the Tang Dynasty, salt was sold by the bushel. A bushel of salt once sold for as low as 110 wen, but this was only a flash in the pan. Most of the time, a bushel of salt sold for 250 to 300 wen, which was the norm. In other words, 20 wen per catty was the minimum.
As for the Song Dynasty, the price was 40 wen per catty in most cases, but occasionally it would be as high as 100 wen per catty. The well salt in Sichuan was even sold for 150 wen... As for the Ming Dynasty in history, it was not until the Chongzhen period that the price of salt got completely out of control, but it was only about 50 wen per catty.
Therefore, if you traveled through the Ming Dynasty in history, you could have a comfortable life as a private salt dealer. But if you wanted to become extremely rich, you had to rebel at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Because private salt dealers could only sell salt to official salt merchants at a low price. Otherwise, how could you open a shop and sell it openly? As for sugar, this luxury product originally had a narrow audience. It was not until the Qing Dynasty when the sugar industry was developed that it was reduced to the price of rice.
In short, the fourth prince who first proposed the implementation plan could only follow behind Peanut and watch him perform. He watched Peanut use the maltose as bait and easily find Chen San's home.
When Chen's mother heard the news and came out to ask, Peanut, who had looked at her student information card, knew that she was a tailor at home, so she called her aunt. When he saw Chen's father, he called her uncle again, and was so attentive and kind.
After a few casual words, Xiao Huasheng enthusiastically introduced the fourth prince as the head of the class, who was ordered by the teacher to visit his classmate's home, and then presented egg tofu as a gift. Chen's parents were obviously honest people. The mother immediately said in fear that her son would drop out of school to become an apprentice, and she would never dare to do it. The father sighed helplessly.
At this time, the Fourth Prince finally found an opportunity to speak. He immediately asked Chen San and others the same question he had asked them in the public school before: "But, doesn't being an apprentice also mean no salary?"
But just as he was about to say that stealing the knowledge wouldn't work, Peanut elbowed him, choking him off. He suddenly remembered that he came to visit her pretending to know nothing, not to find out about her plans to become an apprentice and drop out of school. So he shut up immediately, but tried his best to show his most concerned expression.
The oldest of the three, Peanut, was not that old, and Xiao Cheng and the Fourth Prince were not even ten years old. The Chen family's parents, who were of their age, naturally relaxed their guard in front of such a small child. In addition, Peanut just said that the Fourth Prince was a famous prodigy in the public school, who could write and calculate, and was neatly dressed. They relaxed their guard without any prior agreement.
"This apprentice is different from other apprentices. He gets paid 1,000 guan per month!" Mother Chen said with a hint of bewilderment on her face. "His eldest brother is about to graduate from carpentry school. If the third son goes to Gusu Restaurant again, his father can finally breathe a sigh of relief."
