Yang Fan is in a hurry to harvest grain. It was the middle of winter, and even in the rich Jiangnan region, few people bought and sold grain in large quantities. Yang Fan can be regarded as bringing all the family resources of Limin over. When he arrived on the ship, he remembered that if he had mentioned to Shi Zijun earlier that he would go south and let him collect grain from the world in the south of the Yangtze River, it might not be as difficult as it is now.

In the land of fish and rice, most of the rich people here only open their doors after three poles a day, but today it was surprisingly early, and when Yang Fan passed, he was told that the rice warehouse was empty and not for sale. Yang Fan was taken aback, could it be that Lu Yichuan's hand was stretched out to the boundary of the south of the Yangtze River? He didn't know that the rice in Suzhou and Songjiang was swept away like a whirlwind yesterday, and whoever did it was naturally those rich and squires.

When I heard that Dong Shangshu's 300 calligraphy and paintings were to be sold today, these vassal and elegant rich squires blocked the door of Dong's mansion like crazy, competing to pull silver and hang gold to buy calligraphy and paintings, but were told that Dong Lao's calligraphy and paintings do not sell yellow and white things, only sell grain, and those with the highest price will get it. As a result, a frenzy of grain buying was set off in Nanjing. Those who have money, in order to buy a masterpiece of Dong Lao, do not hesitate to spend a thousand taels of silver, and order people to run all over the rice shops and grain shops in the surrounding area, and they can buy ten stones, never nine stones.

Today, when the Dong Mansion opened the door, looking at the rich squires who were eager to wear it, and the mountains of grain and grass stacks behind him, even Dong Qichang himself was secretly taken aback, and said with a smile: "You are really a little flattered to love the old calligraphy and painting so much. ”

A foreigner wiped the sweat on his forehead, in the winter, the people under the command of the grain were sweating so loudly, for just that one calligraphy and painting, it was not worth thinking about it, but there were really so many people to buy it. "Dong Lao, I'm waiting for it. If Dong Lao doesn't like the copper-smelling thing, we can also exchange beautiful jade and antiques for your masterpiece, why bother to transport these hundreds of stone of rice. Could it be that there is a shortage of food in Dong Lao's mansion? ”

"Wang Yuanwai, look at what you said, not to mention whether the Dong family is short of food, how many people are there in the Dong family, and how many people do you have to eat so much grain?" The squire on the side wore a leather hat and teased.

"Then if you don't eat this food, can't you feed the rats?"

Dong Qichang leaned on crutches and said with a smile: "Don't guess, you may not know the purpose of this food." Now that there is a famine in the northwest and refugees are displaced, the old man is only doing his best. ”

The squire below couldn't help but be surprised, and secretly said in his heart that he didn't believe it no matter how he heard it. Although this old Dong is thin on officialdom and fame, he does not have the Cheng dù of Gao Fengliang to donate grain. However, he still said respectfully: "Dong Lao Gaoyi, I admire and admire!" Dong Qichang said with a smile: "Don't think that it is a high wind and bright festival below, in fact, you are just transferring these rice to Ling Hebo Yang Fan, who is about to go south to Luzon." If you really want to talk about the Gao Feng Liang Festival, you have to say that it is the Yang Jue Gao Feng Liang Festival. ”

"Lord Yang?" The people below only heard what was going on outside the window, and the Jingshi Tiangao Emperor was far away, where did he know what happened a few months ago, thinking that he was just an ordinary lord, and he was not too surprised.

Dong Qichang saw that so many people were blocking his door, and it was not a problem, so he said: "If you don't dislike it, and hand over these grains to the people in the house to take care of, you will get together in Zhonglou, and we will taste tea and discuss calligraphy and painting. ”

"Okay, okay, Elder Dong's intention is right, then we will wait for Boss Dong to come to the middle building." Everyone got up and hurried to the middle building. This Zhonglou is a Yazhai built after Dong Qichang resigned and returned to his hometown during the Wanli period. After the squires and rich people sat down, after a cup of tea, Dong Qichang slowly ascended upstairs. He apologized to everyone and said, "I've kept you waiting." This time, the sale of calligraphy and paintings, not for money, and the white rice obtained will also be transported to Songjiang Mansion to help Lord Yang. ”

"Dong Lao, I know the matter, can the calligraphy and paintings brought this time make us look at it? I can't wait for the next morning. The squire on one side also likes calligraphy and painting in order to show that he is in a hurry. Everyone understands that this person is just trying to save face. If there is a pair of Dong Lao's calligraphy and paintings hidden in the house, it is also a face-saving thing to say it.

Many of them relied on money to donate money to make a name for themselves, in order to drag away the smell of copper on their bodies, and they can be regarded as half scholars. Dong Qichang said: "Since you can't wait, let's take the painting here." He took out a rolled painting from the painting altar on the side, spread it out on the table in the middle, and said with a smile: "This "Three Trees of the River Trunk" was made by the old man who lived quietly in the township, and the ink was quite wanton, but he did not lose the place of ink, you can come forward to take a closer look. ”

"Alas, well." The few people sitting at the front of the building near the water were the first to get the moon, and they all bowed their waists, eager to put their eyes on this painting. The few people in front of them were a little carried away, and the people in the back who didn't look at it were anxious, and deliberately teased: "Your saliva is going to drip on this painting." ”

Dong Qichang said with a smile: "Don't worry, there are a lot of tables and chairs in the middle building, and a few calligraphy and paintings here, you can take them over and taste them yourself." "A peerless masterpiece flows through Dong Qichang's hands, "Fengjing Visits to the Ancient Map", "Helin Spring Society", "Fulan Nuan Cui Map", "Shenlou Map", "West Lake Eight Scenes", "River Loop Turning Map", are all fine paintings. All of them were made when he was sick in Songjiang. At that time, Dong Qichang was in his forties, in his prime, well-informed, collecting all strengths, living in the forest and springs, his heart was familiar, and the works he painted were also high-quality, and everyone present shouted exquisitely.

"Dong Lao, this "Crane Forest Spring Society" is very fond of it, Dong Lao's calligraphy and painting are rare, and he has the courage to exchange 600 stone white rice for this painting, what do you think?"

Dong Qichang smiled and said: "Since Huang Yuanwai likes this painting, he will take it." These 600 stone white rice is only 600 stone white rice, which can be regarded as Huang Yuanwai's modest contribution to this refugee. Seeing that the transaction was successful so quickly, the people behind couldn't wait to take the calligraphy and painting in their arms, for fear that others would snatch it, and shouted: "Dong Lao, this "Visiting Friends" is out of 700 stone white rice!" ”

"This "Picture of the Divine Building" has 800 stone white rice under it. The calligraphy and paintings were sold out in just a few hours, and those who took the calligraphy and paintings, in the account book of the old housekeeper who came up later, carefully checked the amount of white rice that had just been counted from the Dong Mansion, and left with the calligraphy and paintings satisfied, not even a fraction of the white rice. ”

On the other side, Yang Fan felt the deep malice brought by this source of Yangtze River estuary when he landed on the shore, and it was difficult to buy 4,000 stone white rice in the entire Songjiang Mansion, as if it had been emptied overnight. The owner of every rice shop, the first thing he said to him was: "There is only loose rice." ”

Yang Fan was so anxious that his hair was about to be scratched off, and it didn't matter if Songjiang Mansion didn't have it, even the Suzhou Mansion on the side was sold out of white rice, and it would take a few days to get it in stock. This Yang Fan can wait, but the more than 30,000 people on the ship can't wait, the food in the ship has bottomed out, if the food can't be obtained within five days, these 30,000 people, in case of riots, it will be a matter of minutes to overturn the ship. Not only the refugees, but also the shipwrights and helmsmen all said that they would never be able to sail without sufficient supplies.

After inquiring and inquiring, Zhang Yao finally found out some clues, all the people who bought rice went to Dong Qichang's mansion today, and I heard that they went to buy calligraphy and paintings. Yang Fan didn't care whether he bought calligraphy and paintings, or cabbage, so he hurriedly prepared a carriage and rushed to Yingtianfu. The two large boxes of silver on the carriage were so bumpy that the carriage was about to fall apart. Finally, I arrived at Yingtianfu at night.

Yang Fan didn't care whether it was appropriate to knock on the door of Shangshu's Mansion in the middle of the night, and ran directly to Dong's Mansion.

The old housekeeper gently stuck to Dong Qichang's door and said, "Master, Lord Yang asks to see you." ”

"Ling Hebo?" There was a sound of rustling in the room, Dong Qichang finished dressing, a Chinese hat was towering, and when he went out, he asked the housekeeper: "Have you shipped out the eight thousand stone white rice?" ”

"Not yet, it's too slow to walk after dark, so I'm going to transport it to Songjiang Mansion tomorrow."

Dong Qichang walked towards the door of the mansion and muttered: "This is strange, what is the matter with coming to the mansion so late?" The housekeeper walked in front with a lantern, Dong Qichang glanced at Yang Fan, who was standing in the hall looking at calligraphy and painting, and sighed secretly, he really should be a young man, this has no family background, and he can be regarded as a great talent in just a few months.

"Dong Shangshu."

"Lord Yang, it's really a loss to visit so late, I hope you will forgive me." Dong Qichang arched his hand and said, "Lao Fu, look at the tea." He waved his hand and said, "Lord Yang, you sit." ”

In the hall of Dong Mansion, there are six sandalwood carved chairs, and there is a mahogany table of eight immortals on the front, and there is a hugging chair on each side. A pine crane prolongs the year painting scroll and hangs at the main entrance, and there is a couplet on each side. Before Yang Fan could see it carefully, he was retracted by Dong Qichang's questioning. "It's rude to visit late at night, and I hope Elder Dong will forgive me."

"It's okay, the lord is so anxious to visit, there must be something important to discuss?" Dong Qichang handed over the tea handed over by the housekeeper and took a sip. Seeing that Dong Qichang was calm, Yang Fan also lowered his posture slightly, and said, "Then I'll make a long story short, so as not to disturb Dong Lao's rest." To tell you the truth, this visit is for the purpose of buying grain. Ben came to Songjiang Mansion, after buying grain and grass, he planned to board the ship and leave, but he didn't expect that the white rice in Songjiang Mansion and Suzhou Mansion were swept away. ”

"Haha, the lord really came early."

Yang Fanhu said suspiciously: "What does Dong Lao mean by this?" Dong Qichang took a sip of tea and said, "If the lord comes tomorrow, the eight thousand stone white rice must have arrived in Songjiang Mansion." ”

"Eight thousand stones? Matsue Mansion? "The second monk Yang Fan is puzzled, how can this rice return to Songjiang Mansion? Dong Qichang said with a smile: "This rice was originally bought for the lord, the old man learned that the lord you were really worried about the food and salary in the south, and admired the lord's high righteousness, so he specially collected the rice and sent it to Songjiang Mansion to do his part." ”

I'm afraid that only Dong Qichang's calligraphy and paintings are so attractive, otherwise even if Dong Qichang doesn't exchange calligraphy and paintings for rice, Yang Fan can't buy so much rice. Most of these rice are still those rice shops to sell to the north, the price of grain in the south is cheap, and they are sold to the north.

These squires and wealthy people also came to buy calligraphy and paintings, so they spared no effort to buy rice for calligraphy and paintings. When Yang Fan heard this, he was stunned and asked, "Why is Elder Dong like this?" Is there anything you need to help with? ”

"Haha, Lord Yang doesn't have to be grateful, it's just a matter of doing his part for those refugees. Living in Jinling, if this calligraphy and painting is just a plaything for literati after all, it is better to change some white rice, which can solve the urgent needs of the lord and do not need any return from the lord. Tomorrow, the grain truck will rush to the mouth of Songjiang, and the lord will wait to harvest the rice. ”

Yang Fan stood up and saluted, "Thank you over there for the gift from Elder Dong." I thanked the 30,000 refugees. Dong Qichang got up and saluted back: "It's not too early this day, or the lord will stay overnight, how about leaving for home tomorrow?" Yang Fan arched his hand and said, "Don't bother Dong Lao." Visiting late at night, it is already disturbing, if you disturb the peace of the house, you really can't afford to offend, and you will say goodbye. ”

When he walked out of the Dong Mansion, Dong Zuchang in the inner room came out unhurriedly and asked, "Father, I heard that this Yang Fan is very unpopular in the officialdom of the Beijing Division, why do you still want to help him?" ”

Dong Qichang blinked, put his hands on crutches, and muttered: "The old man is also unpopular, why don't you eat well in Jinling and mix it well?" Zu Chang, this person, you have to take a long-term view. Think about it, in the past ten years of the Ming Dynasty, how many people with different surnames have been sealed? The saint was able to resist public opinion, and he insisted on putting this hot lord's hat on his head, which shows that he is very pampered. is reasonable, they should all help, not to mention, for the father is just to sell more than 100 pieces of calligraphy and paintings, this favor is worth it. ”