Quick Wear: I'm Really Not a Scumbag

Chapter 476: A Farmer’s Scholar in Troubled Times (33)

Zhang Fengchun decisively gave up the three carts of books at the back and only left the three carriages.

Now the coachman and they were driving one carriage, and the remaining two servants were driving two carriages respectively. However, one of the two servants was extremely unskilled in driving, so they were not moving very fast.

Fortunately, nothing happened in the next three or four days as Zhang Fengchun had expected, and the servant became more skilled in driving.

"I'll buy you a maid when we get to Tongzhou City." Zhang Fengchun felt a little guilty that his wife was already this old and still had to live in the open with him.

Lin Yi smiled and shook her head. "When I first married you, our father-in-law was just a small official, and my father wasn't much better. Didn't we have no one to take care of me at home?"

"I can still do these things as usual. Do you think I'm doing better today?"

Zhang Fengchun held her hand and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely not let you suffer forever."

"Okay." Lin Yi was already very satisfied.

Now that the life crisis has been resolved, their family will be reunited soon. Naturally, she is willing to do anything, not to mention that Zhang Fengchun is not the kind of person who just sits there and waits for everything to be done for him.

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——Tongzhou City

"We're finally here." Wei Siqi has been feeling suffocated these past few days. Traveling is really not a comfortable experience.

In addition, there was no one who could talk to him except Chen Xuyan along the way.

He took out his banknotes from his sleeve, took out a few, and then handed them to Chen Zhao, "Brother Chen, please keep them for me for a while."

When Wei Siqi came here, his purse was stolen once in Tongzhou City. Fortunately, he only put some small change in it and no banknotes, otherwise he would have been left with nothing.

Chen Zhao took it and quickly took out a lot of change from his purse and handed it to Chen Xuyan.

"Go see if there's anything you want to buy."

Chen Xuyan pushed it back, "I still have a lot of money. As long as it's not to settle down, it's enough to buy anything."

Chen Zhao decisively put the silver in his hand back, but soon he stretched out his hand again, "Take some of what you need, and I will keep the rest."

From the sound of him, he's actually thinking about buying a house? He'll definitely spend the money recklessly, and there's a chance it might be stolen. Instead of that, it's better for him to keep it safe so I don't have to worry about him wasting money after we break up.

The people standing by couldn't help but lower their heads and laugh, even Li Wentao was no exception.

"Ah?" Chen Xuyan pretended not to understand.

Unexpectedly, Chen Zhao took out his purse by following the drawstring. He opened the purse and took a look, and his eyes widened instantly.

Fortunately, he brought all the money. If he lost so much money, he would never be able to let it go in his life.

Chen Zhao took out another one and gave it to Chen Xuyan, "Here."

"Brother, it's not enough." Chen Xuyan said helplessly.

What can I buy with this little money? There are so many people in the family, everyone needs to bring some gifts. I can't give out gifts that are too mediocre.

Chen Zhao reluctantly pulled out another one and said, "Here."

This time, before Chen Xuyan could say it was not enough, he stuffed his purse and the two fifty-liang silver notes into his hands and said, "That's all."

Wei Siqi rubbed his eyes and asked, "How do you have so much money? Where did it come from?"

If he had seen correctly, the stack of money in Chen Zhao's hand was all in 50-50 taels, and the slightly larger ones at the bottom should be 100 taels. This much money, even when he was going on this long journey, his father had never given him so much.

His father is rich, but he always says that wealth should not be shown off, and never gives him the opportunity to spend large sums of money in public.

Chen Xuyan smiled and said, "The dividends your father gave me, and the dividends others gave me, this is all my wealth."

The rest is in the hands of his mother, Wu Yueying.

Lin Zengjie was a little jealous. "You are so smart. You are good at studying, and you are also good at making money?"

His elder brother really has good vision.

"Next time you have such a lucrative business, you must take me with you. I actually have quite a bit of private money, but you must not let my father know about this." Wei Siqi's face was sneaky, as if he was on guard against Li Wentao and others complaining.

But these three people looked at him speechlessly.

Jin Yonghuai noticed his gaze and smiled. "We are not interested in filing a complaint, but we are quite interested in him."

The few of them exchanged glances, as if they had reached a consensus on something. Wei Siqi rarely understood what they meant, and he seemed to have grown some brains.

Tongzhou City is still as bustling as ever. Caravans coming and going will choose to rest here. Many places here have become trading points of all sizes.

Except for Chen Zhao and Li Wentao who went to buy dry food and supplies for the journey, the remaining four people went around shopping casually.

Lin Zengjie followed Chen Xuyan, and Jin Yonghuai followed Wei Siqi.

Zhang Fengchun and his wife also found an inn to stay in temporarily. After they bathed and washed up, they seemed to have changed.

"Go out for a walk?" They had already rested for half a day.

The groom and two servants were also sent out on errands. Zhang Fengchun gave them a lot of money to send to the families of the deceased servants. Their family backgrounds and addresses were all registered long ago. Few of them still had families away from home; most of them, young and old, worked for the Zhang family.

If he ever comes back, he will never forget these people. He will erect monuments and build tombs for them, so that they will not become lonely ghosts in the underworld and unable to be reincarnated.

Lin Yi nodded and asked the question that was on her mind, "What if all three of them are gone forever?"

After something like this happened, it was not a wise move to return their money and let them leave the inn without warning.

Zhang Fengchun smiled and said, "If he really left at this time, then we should be thankful, because there will be one less hidden danger in this critical moment, right?"

Instead of worrying about the three of them turning against us along the way, it would be better to give them a chance to leave early. At least now they can still find suitable grooms, servants, or even maids in Tongzhou City.

But that may not be the case halfway through.

Lin Yi had thought about it and said, "You're right, this is indeed the way it should be."

"If someone comes back later, let him take you to pick out a few things you like and buy them back. If no one comes back, we will go and buy them ourselves." Zhang Fengchun didn't care much about whether these people came or stayed.

"Okay, I'll have to think about it carefully." The road ahead will be difficult, so we must buy some people who can endure hardships and work, and it would be best if there are two who know some martial arts.

—Zhifang Street

"What's going on in front? Why is it so lively?" Wei Siqi squeezed in with a curious look on his face.

Before Jin Yonghuai could say anything, he saw him trying hard to squeeze forward, so he took half a step forward and pulled him back.

"Why are you pushing forward? The gambling house is not a good place."

During these turbulent times, the nature of gambling houses had long since changed. They were now a veritable "paradise on earth," naturally boasting everything. The fact that this gambling house dared to operate on the street clearly indicated the presence of someone more than ordinary. It was likely the property of some powerful family, otherwise the common people of Tongzhou wouldn't have looked upon it with such indifference.

Wei Siqi was persuaded, but many young strangers around couldn't help but go up and play a few games.

"Then let me take a look?" Seeing Jin Yonghuai's face look so bad, he didn't have the courage to continue to squeeze forward.

As expected, these people won money one after another, and after a while, the chips in their hands became one thousand taels.

The gambling house manager said respectfully, "Your luck today is truly excellent! The owner has allowed you to enter the inner room to play, which is something many people in Tongzhou City would beg for."

"You should know that there are many ways to play in this room. There are all kinds of tricks. You will definitely be happy to spend money!"

There were bursts of exclamations from all around, and the young man's confidence reached its peak. He walked in surrounded by his classmates.

"This kid is really lucky! The people who shuffle the cards are all from the Jiaofangsi, and even the ones serving tea and wine are the top prostitutes in the brothel. If he wins, he can even stay in the Qinglongfang. The Qinglongfang is even more lively at night. They say that if you can think of it, there's nothing they can't do! I guess being an emperor is just like that."

"Shut up! How can you, as an emperor, say such nonsense? You could lose your head!"

The man who was stopped did not show any panic on his face. "What's so scary about this? Everyone knows that the world no longer has the surname Zhou, but the surname Dugu."

......

"They are so bold. It seems that the imperial court is really going to be destroyed. I heard in the capital a few days ago that the Yan family of Longxi refused the imperial court's bestowal again. Who knows, a fight might break out at any time." Wei Siqi's expression was really complicated.

Jin Yonghuai was not surprised at all. "It's good that there is chaos. If there is no chaos, the people will have no way to survive."

Not all places were as peaceful as Houyun City, which had no shortage of food or soldiers. Right now, the common people in most places were being exploited by local officials to the point of near-death. These officials had been exploiting the common people for generations, sucking their blood from them without even allowing them a full meal.

The cannibalism incident has happened a long time ago, but they are still pretending to be stupid, thinking that they can stay in power for the rest of their lives and that they just need to suppress it. Why do they need to appease it?

Wei Siqi was a little confused, "Is it really so chaotic outside?"

Jin Yonghuai snorted coldly, "The road we came from has been controlled by the rebel Zhong Tianzhu. Now we have to change the way back. Soon you will see whether the world is peaceful and what kind of life most people live."

Even in the capital city, chaos had already begun at night. Even under the emperor's feet, it was so chaotic. When the nest is overturned, no one would be left unharmed.

The old man selling candy figures has already started packing up his things, and his little grandson next to him is not idle either, holding two small stools tightly.

"Grandpa, are we going to move to another place again?" The chubby kid looked a little worried. This was a new place they had found recently, and the business was pretty good.

The old man touched his head helplessly and said, "Be good, we have to move. We can't stay on any street where the Qinglongfang is open, okay? And you must not go near here when you play!"

The little boy nodded, "I remember it."

Alas, there is really no way out. A Qinglongfang has opened on the last prosperous street in Tongzhou City. Ordinary people like them have no way to make a living.

In the huge city of Tongzhou, Qinglongfang is everywhere.

Chen Xuyan sighed helplessly while holding the sugar man.

"Chen Xuyan!" Wei Siqi had just left the crowd when he saw Chen Xuyan standing on the street, biting a candy man with a bitter look on his face.

"I want a candy man too, a monkey one!"

Hearing this, the old man happily started to set up his stall again, "Okay, okay, just wait a moment, it will be ready soon."

Wei Siqi asked, "Are you guys closing up shop? Closing up so early? Business seems pretty good to me."

The old man smiled bitterly and shook his head, "We are not closing the stall, we just want to move to another place. This is also because we are not worth much and we dare not offend the noble man."

The people in front of him seemed to have good family backgrounds, so he didn't dare to say too much.

Wei Siqi quickly understood what he meant.

He had just taken the sugar man when the old man put the doll on a cart and pushed it away from Zhifang Street. He looked like he was having some difficulty pushing the cart.

"Where do you think they can move to?" Wei Siqi asked.

Chen Xuyan shook his head. "Who knows? They can just set up a stall somewhere where they can still make a living, but I suspect their lives will become increasingly difficult."

The candy man in his hand was chewed into pieces in just a few bites, and he suddenly felt a little bored.

"Let's find a place to eat first, and then go back."

"I've been hungry since early morning, and I finally got to hear you say this." Lin Zengjie laughed, and Jin Yonghuai dodged his hand with a look of disgust.

What's so strange about these hard times? Life on the frontier is even harder. Humans' ability to survive is unimaginable. As long as you want to live, you'll always find a way to survive. If you can't survive, then why not just fight to the end?

Even a clay man still has some character. When he has only his life left, why would he still be afraid?

——Ten Fragrance Tower

This is also the restaurant that Liu Xun told them about. The food is delicious and the price is not very expensive, but this place is very special. Information from all over the world can be collected here. It is a good place to get information.

No matter how people are dressed sitting here, no one will take a second look at them. Even if they hear some news, it will not cause a sensation among the people around them. At most, they will listen with their ears perked up out of curiosity.

Chen Xuyan glanced at the menu, ordered a dish he could eat, and handed the menu over again.

"I'm fine with anything." Wei Siqi found it difficult to make a decision. Every time he would easily pick out the most unpalatable dish, and the other things he picked were not much better.

It’s better not to make a choice at all.

Lin Zengjie couldn't wait to order some food and wine, but Jin Yonghuai pushed the order to Li Wentao.

"Brother, please give me some."

Li Wentao quickly circled a few dishes and handed the order to the waiter, "That's all."

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