Mr Ming was left speechless. He stared blankly at him with an extremely complicated expression on his face that kept changing unpredictably as if it contained endless sorrow and joy all mixed together.
Yuan Cheng. Yuan Cheng.
The old gentleman called out several times before Mr Ming came back to his senses.
The old gentleman asked, What is Yuan Cheng thinking about?
A bitter look appeared on Mr Ming face. He shook his head as if unwilling to recall the past, waved his hand, and did not want to mention it again. He asked instead, What brings the old gentleman to visit?
The old gentleman looked embarrassed and said, This old one has two disappointing grandsons. I have failed to teach them properly and wish to hire Yuan Cheng as a private tutor. I wonder if Yuan Cheng would be willing to move to the prefectural city. I will arrange all matters regarding housing and daily needs.
Mr Ming had guessed it would be something like this. Recently every visitor had come for the sake of their descendants.
He had always thought he was a joke in his hometown and felt too ashamed to return and face his elders and fellow villagers. If he had not forced himself to come back this time, he would never have dreamed that he actually enjoyed such fame in his hometown, completely opposite to what he had imagined.
Several days later Mr Ming paid to buy an old large mansion and cleaned it up into a school. The neighbours eagerly helped with the cleaning.
The walls were painted with lime and made fresh and new. Mr Ming set up a ladder, climbed high holding a broom sized large brush, while Mrs Ming held up a basin filled with ink below the ladder.
After dipping the large brush in ink Mr Ming wrote line after line of big characters on the white wall. The place where people gather is for the country. When the people suffer the country declines. Those who protect the people are the true scholars of the nation.
Mr Ming came down the ladder, handed the brush to his wife, walked up to the old gentleman from the prefectural city, pointed at the line of characters and said, Here is my reply to the old gentleman.
This was a refusal to become a private tutor for his family. The old gentleman looked at the writing on the wall, stroked his beard and nodded. It seems the child prodigy full of learning from back then really plans to be a teacher for life. With such talent as Yuan Cheng, have you never thought of returning to office or trying the next metropolitan examination again to fulfil your long cherished wish?
Mr Ming smiled with a trace of melancholy in his expression as if the past was gone.
The reason he came back this time was because he believed he had found the flaw that caused him to fail the examinations repeatedly. He had prepared to take the exam again in three years and was confident he would pass.
To put it plainly he had come back prepared to wipe away his previous shame. He returned because he had adjusted his mindset and dared to face it.
Yet what he saw was a different scene and he realised the previous shame existed only in his own heart.
He also understood what he wanted, what the villagers wanted, and on a larger scale what the country lacked.
One less child prodigy full of learning and one more teacher may not be a bad thing.
Mr Ming gave his reply with a smile. Some things had truly been let go. His gaze followed his wife who was beaming with radiance as she thanked everyone for their help.
The old gentleman laughed heartily. It seems this old one can only send my two grandsons here to study.
Mr Ming took out a piece of prose from his sleeve and gave it to him. Only those who approve of this prose may send their children to enrol.
The old gentleman gave an oh, took it and read it carefully. He pondered for a long time without speaking.
Once the school was ready the renowned Mr Ming, the one who had taught a student who achieved full marks in four subjects at the metropolitan examination, was opening his school for teaching. It caused a sensation for a time.
Whenever someone came to seek instruction Mr Ming would take out that prose written for Yu Qing, covering the last sentence that the emperor receives the mandate from heaven. Only parents who approved of this prose would he possibly accept their children for teaching.
In the years that followed many people longed to send their offspring to the Ming Hall School.
Inside the money house Yu Qing strode out with a large leather bag slung over his shoulder.
Outside the money house three men of varying heights stood holding horses waiting for him.
The three men were named Tao Yongli, Ge Dajun and Yi Congfei. They were friends Yu Qing had made not long ago.
To become friends could also be said they shared the same ambitions.
It would not be wrong to call them a gang of idle friends either.
They were all human traffickers who had made fortunes taking advantage of the flood disaster. Yu Qing had quietly joined this trade.
Last time in the tavern when he heard people talk about this line of work, hearing that it could save people and bring huge profits, and that such huge profits were not common, he could not resist coming to save people.
The accounts were easy to calculate. The money he had on hand now, adding up all the messy bits, came to around seventy one thousand taels. He did not seek to multiply it many times, only to double it again so he would have around two hundred thousand taels.
Of course if he could multiply it several times that would be even better.
Just thinking about it made his heart burn so he rode straight to the disaster area.
This was his first time as a human trafficker and he had no experience in this area. He found like minded people, spent some effort and money on treating them to meals, and formed a group.
Earn money together when there was any. A gang that could fight together if they encountered competition for business or people who became greedy at the sight of wealth.
These were jianghu people who specialised in this trade. Wherever there was a disaster they would run there.
The bearded Tao Yongli was the leader. His tall and sturdy build also made him look the part. Seeing Yu Qing come out he tossed back the reins of Yu Qing horse. He looked at Yu Qing bulging leather bag and said in surprise, Brother, how much small change did you exchange?
Yu Qing chuckled and said, Not much, not much. As he spoke he mounted the horse.
He had learned earlier that carrying large denomination silver notes to the disaster area was very troublesome. The disaster victims had no money to give change so small denominations were more convenient. Deeply convinced he corrected his mistake at once and rushed to exchange for small face value notes of one tael each.
Large denominations should be broken into small ones as much as possible anyway. What he could not use he could exchange back at the money house.
The four of them mounted their horses and trotted along the street.
Along the way they often saw people in ragged clothes with their arms tied by ropes walking in lines. It was clear they were people traffickers had fished out from the disaster area. Such people were no longer considered human but goods for trade.
This trade was immoral yet the court silently permitted it. It was also a way to rescue disaster victims, better than letting them all become starving corpses.
To some extent they even hoped more people would participate. They could only permit it silently and not state it openly because the disaster affected too large an area and the court ability was truly limited.
However truly wealthy people disdained to participate in such trade. The reputation was indeed bad.
Wow, look at that woman. With that appearance she can probably sell for more than five hundred taels. Whoever picked her up has struck it rich. Maybe earn a hundred times over.
The pretty boy like Yi Congfei pointed at one of more than ten bedraggled women passing by the roadside and shouted.
Yu Qing and the others on horseback immediately looked over. They indeed saw a beautiful woman whose looks were hard to hide even in dirty and messy clothes. She seemed to still know shame. She quickly brushed her messy hair to cover her face and passed with her head lowered.
Hearing that it could earn a hundred times Yu Qing heart grew hot with some daydreams.
Outside the city the four dismounted and handed the horses to their companions.
Tao Yongli and the other two had some brothers who specially handled making contracts of sale, finding buyers and logistics. They were an experienced gang.
Yu Qing had also joined this line and agreed to give them one tenth as hard work fees.
Following the instructions Yu Qing copied what Tao Yongli and the other two did. He lifted a package taller than a person from a large cart and carried it on his back. It was full of dry rations purchased in advance. Because of the disaster these dry rations prices had multiplied several times.
The four carried their loads and set off relying on their cultivation to walk towards the area flooded with mud. This job was truly not something ordinary people could do.
Tao Yongli walking at the front shouted, We came late. The good stuff nearby should have been cleaned out by others. To find valuable good stuff we need to go deeper.
As the new rookie Yu Qing was full of energy. He shouted loudly, No problem. Wherever big brother goes I will go. As long as big brother does not mind I will follow big brother forever.
Tao Yongli heard this and laughed heartily. Good. From now on we are our own brothers sharing joys and hardships.
Yu Qing shouted loudly, Thank you big brother.
Ge Dajun with a knife scar on his face and the pretty boy like Yi Congfei looked at each other speechlessly then both gave Yu Qing a contemptuous glance. They found this small moustache bootlicker rather shameless. He really knew how to make big brother happy. They had only known each other for how long yet big brother already treated this fellow like a real brother.
Upper Wan Prefecture, inside the prefectural yamen, the prefect summoned the four great families Wei, Xu, Jing and Chen for a meeting.
Zhan Muchun whose skin had tanned quite a bit and whose official boots were covered in mud was also present. In just half a month or so of rushing back and forth in the disaster area he had already lost his scholarly appearance.
There was no seat for him at the scene as his rank was not high enough. He stood behind a ministry official.
He belonged to the capital county officials and had originally come to survey the disaster situation here so he could grasp the conditions and return to the capital to prepare for handling the refugees. Who knew the corrupt officials in the disaster area were blinded by greed and ignored everything, making the matter much bigger. The number of disaster victims far exceeded previous estimates. If they all rushed to the capital at once the six hundred year grand celebration of Jin Country would become a joke.
After Duke Xuan Ying Xiaotang came in response to the decree he was also someone who ignored everything. He killed corrupt officials until heads rolled and there were not enough officials left for disaster relief.
The court urgently issued a decree letting officials who came from the capital temporarily serve in the disaster area. Zhan Muchun was among them.
He was now temporarily following the ministry official in front of him, a granary section chief from the ministry of revenue.
The original prefect of Upper Wan Prefecture had also been removed by Ying Xiaotang who held the power to execute first and report later. The current prefect was newly appointed.
Inside the yamen some low level officials had no seats yet the clan leaders of the four great families who were commoners all had seats.
There was no choice. Upper Wan Prefecture now needed the four great families. The trading houses under these four families almost controlled all the grain trade in the entire Upper Wan Prefecture.
To put it plainly at this time of severe disaster these people had grain in their hands.
There was argument after argument inside the hall. Zhan Muchun thought of the starving refugees outside the city and felt anxious as if on fire.
Although he was still fairly young he estimated he would never see such a miserable scene again in his life. Eating grass, eating tree bark and leaves, eating soil. People had even starved to the point of cannibalism. Some scenes even scared his legs so weak he could not walk. It was simply terrifying.
What was called a living hell?
Outside the city was a living hell.
Gentlemen, from the meaning in your words it seems the fault was caused by our several great families instead?
Previously you wanted to relocate countless civilians, saying it would be calculated per person with ten taels of silver each. Then you said the court had no money and asked us rich merchants with money to contribute money and those with strength to contribute strength. Fine. Our four families were forced to donate and each contributed thirty thousand taels only to receive a plaque hung at home.
As for how much the rural gentry in other places actually contributed, clear accounts still cannot be seen to this day. Also for the silver allocated by the court, how much was actually distributed to the disaster victims remains a messy account to this day.
After the disaster broke out you forced us to donate money again. Fine. We contributed large amounts of money and goods again. Where these things went is still a messy account.