The moonlight was like water, and Lin Jue rode a horse slowly along the avenue back to Hangzhou City. In the distance, the noise of the city was heard, and the gongs and drums were noisy, and it was the lantern parade after the Oiran Contest, which was in full swing at the moment.

Coming to the south gate and listening to the hustle and bustle of the city, Lin Jue suddenly had a feeling that he didn't want to go into the city. He refused to devote himself to the noisy street market again, though he knew that if he appeared, he would be enthusiastically sought after. But I didn't expect all this.

Lin Jue turned over and dismounted, pulled the horse down the willow forest by the roadside, and let it go to eat the grass by itself, while he sat down on the dirt at the edge of the forest. The moon is bright all around, and under the full moon, the mountain scenery presents the tranquility and tranquility of ink painting. Looking up at the bright moon in the sky, Lin Jue had an indescribable emotion in his heart.

Tonight's Oiran Contest has finally passed, and he has worked hard to complete his mission, but Lin Jue actually has no sense of accomplishment in his heart. There is even some disgust for this form of Oiran contest.

An Oiran contest that costs the people and money is nothing more than the vanity of some officials and wealthy families. Underneath all these flowers, there are hidden political purposes, vanity comparisons, and even mutual contribution, which is really unpleasant. Under the fame of this Oiran, it is actually not as simple as entertaining people. In order to win this Oiran, some people can deceive, and some people can use power to suppress their opponents, which is already very disgusting.

On the other hand, the amount of money spent on the Oiran Contest is also huge. Lin Jue didn't have any concept before, but this time Lin Jue watched a large amount of money being used in this competition. Before and after, Lin Jue personally watched the little county lord approve a huge amount of nearly 100,000 taels of silver for all kinds of expenses.

Nearly 100,000 taels of silver, two days were spent, just for this Oiran competition. This is only the silver taels that Liang Wangfu spent for Qunfang Pavilion. The floating platform built by Hangzhou Mansion for the site used countless manpower of the imperial court's soldiers and horses. Yangzhou and Jiangning have invited so many helpers, how can there be less money spent? Roughly calculated, this Oiran contest will cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

However, what did the silver get in the end? And what will it bring to the people? It's nothing more than a night of revelry. If these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are used in other ways, I am afraid it will be much more beneficial.

Lin Jue didn't understand what was wrong with him? Recently, I have been involuntarily drilling into some horn tips. In the past, he would never have any opinion on these things, Lin Jue was never a hypocritical person, and he was unwilling to say something bad about the scenery and make any gestures of caring about the suffering of the people. Because he didn't have this feeling in his heart, he couldn't pretend to it.

But since he took over the Lin family's business, when Lin Jue really came into contact with those people at the bottom who were running around for a living, Lin Jue suddenly seemed to be a different person. The heart is always overflowing from time to time, and it is easy to think of another level of everything. Lin Jue didn't know what was wrong with him?

Lin Jue before, and even Lin Jue in the previous life, although he was bullied by the family, at least he had food and clothing and would not worry about his livelihood. Although he is a concubine and has a low status, he is not comparable to ordinary people. So after being reborn, Lin Jue was just worried about the fate of his family and his personal fate, and he didn't have any thoughts about other things at all. However, after experiencing another path of fate that was completely different from the previous life, when he took over the Lin family's business and came into contact with the ordinary hired workers of the Lin family, he had such a deep feeling.

In the past month, Lin Jue, as the chief steward, has traveled all over the docks of the Lin family, contacted hundreds of ordinary employees of the Lin family, and approached their lives. Lin Juecai really realized what kind of survival the ordinary people in Hangzhou were in.

The coolies on the wharf go to work every morning, carrying goods weighing up to 100 catties on and off the ship, stepping on the thin and trembling springboard, running on the brink of death and injury. Most of the coolies have back injuries, but they still work hard. Because as long as they don't work for a day, their whole family will go hungry.

After Lin Jue began to understand the work of coolies, he did not want to sacrifice the health of these coolies for greater benefits. So Lin Jue planned to formulate a regular and quantitative work system to limit these coolies from working hard to earn money. But soon, when the news broke, many people came running and begging him not to do it. Lin Jue was very curious, his system was obviously to ensure their health and reduce their damage, why did they disagree? So Lin Jue had in-depth contact with more than a dozen coolies, and he suddenly discovered that the money earned by these coolies was to support the family, and they could only work hard.

Lin Jue was very surprised, Hangzhou, such a prosperous super city, can be called a paradise city in the southeast of Fujia, why are the wives of these coolie families who are already older parents have no way to earn a living? A large family can only be supported by a man in the prime of life? After some investigation, Lin Jue finally got a glimpse of some clues.

Hangzhou is a bustling city, you can find a thousand of its good and prosperous, but you can also find ten thousand of its ugly at the same time. It's just a beautiful shell, bright on the outside, but full of holes on the inside.

In Hangzhou, as far as Hangzhou is concerned, big businessmen have monopolized most of the industries, and it is difficult for small workshops to gain a foothold. It is difficult to compete with big businessmen, and the imperial court has levied heavy taxes in recent years, and a large number of small workshops and small businessmen have closed down, and a large number of people have lost their jobs. When Hangzhou City was prosperous decades ago, many citizens moved into the city from outside the city, and they originally had some acres of land to cultivate, but after entering the city, even the acres of land were mortgaged and sold, and all of them fell into the hands of rich landlords. Now they have nowhere to work and no land to plant.

Of course, this is not always the case, and many people can still find things to do. However, this is no longer the kind of free competition between small workshops and small businessmen as before. Under the monopoly of big businessmen, there is a surplus of manpower, and for the people, the choice becomes smaller. The conditions of employment of merchants were also extremely harsh, and it was common to depress wages and exploit hired workers. In order to get the money to support their families, the people had to swallow their anger.

According to some of the old people asked by Lin Jue, in fact, twenty years ago, the average monthly salary of the people in Hangzhou City could reach the level of four taels of silver. Nowadays, the salary of three taels of silver is already a good income, and many people only take two or three taels of silver a month, but they do the heaviest work.

Lin Jue didn't know where the most fundamental root of all this was. He just felt inexplicably worried. Under such circumstances, the unemployment rate in the city is so high, and the livelihood of the people is gradually struggling, which is definitely not a good thing. The hard workers on their docks are desperately earning money and working hard at the cost of their health, which is also helpless. Lin Jue can't do much, he can't help but think about the Lin family's business, and he can't be a philanthropist. The only thing he could do was to order the wharves to prepare food for the coolies, so that they could work hard, and at the same time raise their wages a little.

Therefore, Lin Jue always likes to calculate something recently. For example, the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver spent on this Oiran competition, Lin Jue couldn't help but think in his heart: Twenty taels of silver for the homes of ordinary people in Hangzhou can live for a year, and these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver will have to provide for tens of thousands of families to live for a year. However, it is used in this luxurious thing like flowing water, and I really don't know what to say. Reason told Lin Jue that he probably shouldn't think like this, after all, he couldn't ask others to cut back on food and clothing just because someone was living in poverty. But under the general premise of the entire Da Zhou society, Lin Jue always felt that something was wrong. The extreme polarization between the rich and the poor is by no means a normal social phenomenon.

……

The noisy lantern parade in Hangzhou is coming to an end, and it is nearly four watches, and the people are tired. Tomorrow morning they have to get up early to resume their earning life, and they will have to put an end to this rare indulgence and revelry tonight. After the Oiran lady Gu Panpan returned to Qunfang Pavilion, the people dispersed one after another. Only those sons and brothers who have nothing to do with the crops, the wealthy gentry and the wealthy families are unwilling to leave, they pour into the Qunfang Pavilion to continue drinking and seeking pleasure, and they are not willing to waste any minute and second of this full moon Mid-Autumn Festival night.

After the fourth watch, the city gradually fell silent. However, tonight was destined to be a sleepless night, and the winner of the Oiran Contest was destined to toss and turn. Similarly, for the losing side, it is natural that they can't sleep on the other side. Of course, it was not because of joy, but because of irritation and frustration.

Located in the official mansion on the bank of the West River, the lights in one of the rooms in the back house are flickering. Wu Chunlai, the head of the Great Zhou Political Affairs Hall, was sitting under the bright candle with his eyes squinted, and beside him, the two defeated prefects, Shen Fang and Liu Sheng, were talking endlessly.

"There's an article here, this Oiran contest is not fair. Originally, I had already won the first place in Fengyue Tower, Jiangning Mansion, why did I suddenly give up the game? Gave up the Oiran? Someone must be behind it. As I said earlier, we can't set up the competition venue in Hangzhou, that's someone else's territory. Someone must have done something to Fengyue Tower, and this matter must be investigated. ”

Shen Fang said with a finger pointing at his mouth, looking indignant. He has always been elegant and elegant, but at this moment he seems to be a little disregarded to his image, and a strand of messy hair hangs down at the corner of his forehead, which looks very funny.

"Lord Shen, what's the use of talking about this now? When I decided to hold the Southeast Oiran Contest that day, I proposed to hold it in Yangzhou. But what kind of generosity do you want to show, saying that you are competing in Hangzhou. What's the use of talking about it now? Liu Sheng rolled his eyes and said.

"Do you think I don't want to? Yan Zhengsu obviously has no interest, if I say that I will compete in Yangzhou or Jiangning, he will definitely not come. If he doesn't come, what's the point? Shen Fang puffed out his eyes and said.