Chapter 161 Tricky Things
Coral?
Zhu Ping'an was a little stunned. The old Li family was really wealthy. In ancient times, coral was definitely a rarity and very expensive.
Ge Hong's "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing" states: "The King of Nanyue once presented a coral tree, one foot and three feet high." Writing this down proves that such a coral is very rare even for Immortal Ge Lao, so he specially recorded it. This coral tree presented by the King of Nanyue caused a huge sensation when it was transported to the palace, and it immediately became the treasure of the palace of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. This shows that coral was priceless and extremely valuable in the Han Dynasty. Why is coral so expensive? A first-hand poem by Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty can be used as a circumstantial evidence. The poem "Bicheng" reads: "The moon looks at the rabbit's newborn soul, and the iron net coral has no branches." This poem talks about the method of picking coral. They are picked from the vast ocean with iron nets. In ancient times, it was difficult to pick corals due to productivity, which is why they are so expensive.
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 quite rare to have a father who doted on a girl to such an extent.
While Zhu Ping'an was feeling emotional, he still couldn't understand why the sinister girl secretly gave him money.
While Mr. Li was coaxing his baby to have a baby, he spotted Zhu Ping'an looking over at the study door.
Which family is this descendant of?
Why are you at home?
You’re not here for your girl, are you?
As soon as Rich Man Li assumed the third possibility, he cautiously hid his girl behind his back with his big hands, and then waved to Zhu Pingan, ready to investigate further. Not everyone can covet your own precious baby bump.
Zhu Pingan saw Rich Man Li waving to him, so he walked over.
“I’ve met Mr. Li.”
After Zhu Pingan approached. He cupped his hands and gave a salute.
"Who are you?" Rich Man Li looked Zhu Pingan up and down and asked inquiringly.
"I am Zhu Pingan from Xiahe Village," Zhu Pingan replied calmly.
After hearing the name, Rich Man Li suddenly realized, "Oh. So you are the poor boy who often comes to borrow books."
"Dad, you can't call me poor boy anymore. Well, I am very promising now, I have been admitted as a scholar, and I am still the best in our town."
The sinister girl who was blocked by the rich man Li said in a sarcastic tone. . There was a lot of dislike for Zhu Pingan in his voice.
After hearing his baby's ridicule and dislike of Zhu Ping'an, Rich Man Li breathed a sigh of relief. As long as your baby is not interested, that's fine.
Did you just hear Shu'er say that he was a scholar? Such a young scholar is rare. But he is just a scholar. I have seen many people, including officials. I've seen quite a few of them. Although Rich Man Li was a little surprised that Zhu Pingan was admitted as a scholar at such a young age, he did not take Zhu Pingan seriously and just nodded towards Zhu Pingan.
Many scholars failed to make further progress in their fame and had no choice but to return to their hometowns to make a living by teaching and other methods. Scholars who were not financially wealthy, but whose social status was slightly higher than that of ordinary people, were called "poor scholars." After eating abalone, you will also have an appetite for small fish and shrimp.
Rich Man Li’s reaction was also what Zhu Pingan expected.
"It's like this. Thanks to Mr. Li's care over the past few years, he was allowed to borrow books from the study room, so he was lucky enough to win the boy exam this year. Three days later, my parents want to have a running banquet at home. I hope Li I hope you can appreciate it." Zhu Pingan cupped his hands and explained the purpose of his visit.
"Oh, it's unfortunate. Li encountered some difficult things and I'm afraid I don't have time these days." After hearing what Zhu Pingan said, Rich Man Li shook his head and declined.
The rejection was expected by Zhu Pingan.
I just don’t know what Rich Man Li said he encountered something difficult. Is it true or false? If it's just an excuse to refuse, that's fine; but if it's true. I don't know if I can help, after all, I've been reading books for so many years.
"Oh. I don't know what happened to Mr. Li. If he could use a safe place," Zhu Ping'an asked politely.
Hearing this, Rich Man Li glanced at Zhu Ping'an again and smiled a little, "Maybe you can study, but this troublesome thing of mine is not something you can do."
Uh, okay.
Since Rich Man Li had no intention of telling him, Zhu Ping'an stopped asking further. If the other party wants to tell you, you don't have to ask, and the other party will tell you; but if the other party doesn't want to tell you, even if your lips are dry when you ask, the other party will not tell you. Rich Man Li falls into the latter category.
"Boy Meng Lang, you made Mr. Li laugh. Mr. Li is busy with travel and fatigue, so I won't bother you." Zhu Ping'an bowed his hands knowingly and said goodbye.
Rich Man Li did not stop him and asked Zhu Ping'an to borrow two more books to save him from running back and forth.
After Zhu Pingan said goodbye to Rich Man Li, he returned to the study. Because he had just received Rich Man Li's permission, Zhu Pingan went to the bookshelf to look for books again, and found two books on policy theory. , put the book in the bag and prepare to go home.
As soon as I put the book into my bag, I saw a dark girl walking in with an angry look on her face.
"It's really too much. They ate everything from inside to outside. They didn't call me uncle in the first place. They are really a bunch of unfamiliar white-eyed wolves. I don't believe that dad can't find out if he asks people to check the account books!"
The shady girl With an angry look on his face, he walked in while talking to Hua'er, Baozi's little maid who was walking beside him.
Zhu Pingan, who was about to leave, listened for two more minutes. It seemed that the shady girl was talking about the difficult things that Rich Man Li said. Unexpectedly, there was really something difficult. From what the sinister girl said, it seemed that several shopkeepers under Rich Man Li had colluded and worked together in the past few years. They seemed to have squandered a lot of money from Rich Man Li through false accounting and other methods. Rich Man Li also heard the news accidentally, and combined with the fact that the profits in the past two years seemed to have decreased a lot, he became suspicious of several shopkeepers. However, these shopkeepers had been colluding for a long time, and the accounting books seemed to be flawless. In short, Rich Man Li took several accounting offices at home and checked for several days, but no problem was found.
Profits are low. Rich Man Li did not find any problems after checking his accounts, so he gave the excuse to those shopkeepers. He is in private contact with other businesses, which makes the business chain that Rich Man Li has worked so hard to establish a bit unstable. . The shopkeeper and Rich Man Li only have an employment relationship, unlike the servants who signed a contract of sale. Moreover, listening to Li Shu’s words, it seems that the shopkeeper is related to the Li family. Without evidence, Rich Man Li also He didn't dare to act rashly, so it was not easy to deal with it, and it became a difficult matter for Rich Man Li.
I realized it was so late after I finished coding, I’m sorry. The unit has been very busy recently. Today's monthly ticket is very good. I hope everyone will continue to support Hanmen. There are only three days left. I hope there will be a surprise.
(End of this chapter)