"Stop!"

Liu Jin, who accompanied Zhu Houzhao to Xiaoyao Villa, shouted, Han Yu turned his head to look at Liu Jin, Liu Jin sat outside the carriage and respectfully helped Zhu Houzhao out of the carriage. After Zhu Houzhao got out of the carriage, Liu Jin whispered a few words next to Zhu Houzhao's ear, Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhong Bin and nodded slightly, and whispered: "Not bad." ”

Liu Jin walked to Zhong Bin's side, he took out a token and shook it in front of Zhong Bin's eyes, Zhong Bin was slightly startled, and immediately prepared to kneel and salute. Liu Jin held him and said in a low voice: "I believe that the person who sent you here told you that our identities must be kept completely secret, so you don't have to salute when you see me in the future." Remember your new identity, the commander of the Zhu family's guards. ”

"Yes, Factory." Zhong Bin responded formulaically. He doesn't have a good impression of the people in Dongchang, but Jinyiwei has a certain subordinate relationship with Dongchang, so he has to be more respectful to Liu Jin.

"Let's go inside." Liu Jin nodded and said.

In the Tea Pavilion of Xiaoyao Villa, Zhong Bin sat on a wooden chair with a sword in his arms, his upper body was straight, his eyes were sharp and looking ahead, and the expression on his face was as unchanged as frozen ice. It's just that his brow has become tighter and tighter.

Jiang Xia had already circled around Zhong Bin several times, and he was collecting all kinds of jokes as he turned around to see if Zhong Bin could laugh, but Zhong Bin seemed to be born not to laugh, no matter what Jiang Xia said, he also had that cold expression, as if he was the sword in his hand, and he had no other emotions except a murderous heart.

"From the time you entered the house to now, you have only said two words 'Zhong Bin', and you haven't said anything else, and you haven't shown a single smile. I don't believe it, you really can't laugh? Jiang Xia rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, then I'll tell you another joke to try." ”

"There was once a girl who went to the ranch to milk a cow, and it took a long time for her to squeeze a little bit. When the girl saw that everyone else in the ranch was crowded into a large bucket, she was a little reluctant, and she cried out, "Boss, is there something wrong with this cow?" You can see that the place where their cow is milked is a little different from the place where I milk, my cow actually has a pipe, and I didn't squeeze out much after milking it for a long time. At this time, the boss took a look, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and said, "Girl, this one you squeezed is a bull." ’。 ”

As soon as Jiang Xia's joke came out, Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao, who had been listening carefully, were stunned for a moment before they understood the "special meaning" in the joke. Zhu Houzhao hugged his stomach and said with a big smile: "Big brother, please, don't talk about it." I can't stand the laughter, stop telling jokes. ”

Jiang Xia didn't answer Zhu Houzhao, he stared at Zhong Bin carefully. found that the lore-level joke didn't make him laugh, and after careful observation, he confirmed that Zhong Bin was so shocked that he didn't want to laugh, and he didn't mean to endure it.

Jiang Xia nodded and said, "Okay, I'm defeated, you're amazing." ”

Zhong Bin glanced at Jiang Xia, he suddenly got up, hugged the long sword and walked out. After walking a few steps, I heard him throw back two words flutteringly: "Boring." ”

"Who do you say is boring? Do you dare to call my jokes boring? Boy, there's a kind of don't go, let's go it alone. Jiang Xia barked loudly like a cat with its tail stepped on.

Zhong Bin, who had already walked to the door, immediately stopped, and he turned his head back to look at Jiang Xia. Jiang Xia suddenly stammered, at this moment, the true qi in his body was extremely disordered, where could he beat Zhong Bin. Even in his heyday, he wasn't necessarily Zhong Bin's opponent.

Jiang Xia said resignedly: "How about telling jokes alone, seeing who tells jokes funny?" Do you dare? ”

Zhong Bin glanced at Jiang Xia lightly, then directly ignored him, turned around and walked out of the Tea Pavilion.

Seeing Zhong Bin walking farther and farther, Jiang Xia breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "How is it?" Scared, right? It's good if you're afraid, today you Jiang Ye and I are in a good mood to spare you once, and next time I dare to do this, I will definitely tell you a joke and laugh at you. ”

Zhong Bin walked out of the Tea Pavilion for a while before Zhu Houzhao finished laughing, he took two deep breaths, kept rubbing his stomach with his hands and said, "Okay, big brother, my brother came here today to discuss with you about disaster relief fundraising, and I have already brought the twenty holy decrees you want." The above content is all written according to what you said, is it really okay to pay 300,000 taels of silver? ”

"Don't worry, 300,000 taels of silver is just a basic number, maybe the result will be much beyond your expectations. Go back and tell your uncle that as long as he fully cooperates with me, I will definitely help him solve this difficulty. ”

Zhu Houzhao nodded, "Big brother, then I'll leave the matter to you." Liu Jin is the housekeeper of our family, and he will always help you from today until the end of the fundraising, no matter what you need, you can tell him, and he will definitely help you do it properly. ”

"No problem." Jiang Xia nodded.

The next morning. Zhu Houzhao divided the 400,000 taels of silver into two according to what Jiang Xia said, and transported them to Henan and the border passes to appease the people. And on this day, Jiangxia's disaster relief fundraising also began.

In the streets and alleys of Suncheonfu, many banners are pulled in every crowded place. It reads, "Disasters are merciless, people are affectionate, and people in Henan help each other in the drought." "Today, we are all from Henan, donating a penny to the victims of the disaster in Henan." "If a gentleman is poor, he will be good alone, and if he is good, he will help the world. The time has come for money to contribute and to make a strong contribution. ”。

Below the banner is the podium, and the voices of people who are good at speaking tearfully tell the serious situation of the drought in Henan and the tragic experience of the victims. Among the onlookers, there were more than a dozen crying people who were sad, and they took out the silver tickets from their arms and said loudly: "Mother, if I don't donate this silver, I will also use it for the girls in the Qinglou, it is better to take it out to relieve the victims and ask for peace of mind for their conscience." ”

"Yes, yes, donate silver!"

People's emotions are easily infected by people, and the streets and alleys are full of propaganda to jointly rescue the victims of the disaster in Henan. However, the channel for the silver in this way is only a part, and Jiang Xia chose the majority of those rich merchants.

On the emperor's posting, a notice caused a big wave of exaggeration among the Jingshi.

wrote: "Are you still worried about not being able to pass the imperial examination and enter the court as an official?" Are you still sullen about being covered in copper and being looked down upon even if you have a lot of money? Do you want to glorify your ancestors? Do you want to live forever? Henan is in drought, and the disaster situation is urgent. Today, the emperor issued a holy decree to allow Jiang Xia, the president of the Shanren Association, to hold a charity relief party, and the top 20 people who donated the most money at the party will be awarded the title of third-grade official, and will be given a unicorn costume and a jade belt. Charity Disaster Relief Gala Address: Xiaoyao Villa, Time"

For the merchants, they do not lack silver, but what is lacking? What is lacking is the heritage, what is lacking is status, and what is lacking is identity. As the ancients said: "Shinong industry and commerce", this businessman is ranked one after the most. The richer the businessman, the more he wants to have a good background, so that he can glorify his ancestors and glorify the lintel. This is normal, psychologists once said that after people's material desires are satisfied, the next thing to chase is spiritual satisfaction. There are many kinds of spiritual satisfaction, such as being respected, recognized, valued, worshipped, and so on

It just so happens that what the businessmen of the Ming Dynasty lack is that they are respected and recognized. They have silver, but no one can disdainfully say that they are "full of copper stench, vulgar and unbearable." ”。 Now that this emperor list has been announced, the Ming businessmen are red-eyed.

That charity gala, you must attend! Even if you go bankrupt, you have to get a third-grade official title back!

Thinking that he would be able to wear a unicorn suit and walk on the street with a jade belt in the future, whoever saw it had to salute respectfully and shout: "Master", the rich merchants in the capital felt that they were about to go to heaven.

After making up their minds, the wealthy businessmen of Jingshi immediately began to inquire about how they could participate in the charity relief party. After this inquiry, I learned that there were conditions for wanting to participate, and I had to get an admission invitation first.

Jiang Xia withheld the invitation post and did not send it, but circulated it through black market trading. As soon as the invitation post came out, everyone rushed to buy, and when the time was approaching, an invitation post was fried into 1,500 taels. And even at such a price, everyone is still rushing to buy it.

Shuntianfu is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the capital is at the foot of the Son of Heaven, where rich merchants gather, and the number of people with silver is countless. And it is these people who spend all day with the powerful, even in front of an ordinary scholarly family, they are ashamed of themselves, and they feel that they are full of copper stench, so they care so much about the twenty places.

This matter has now spread throughout the capital, and the news is also known to those who are lagging behind. Everyone's reaction to hearing the news was mixed. In the Li Mansion, in Li Dongyang's study, Cao Yuan and Liang Chu were all angrily expressing their dissatisfaction at this moment.

"I waited for ten years to study hard, starting from just nine products, and have been working hard for decades. Those merchants can get the rank of third-grade official with a little copper and silver, how can it be justified, how can it be justified! ”

"That is, the emperor is too much. Actually using such a method to raise disaster relief silver taels is really a loss of face for the Great Tomorrow Dynasty, even if we are feeling disgraced. ”

Cao Yuan and Liang Chu said word by word.

After the two talked for a long time, they found that Li Dongyang didn't say anything, and Cao Yuan couldn't help asking: "Teacher, the person who is the president of the Shanren Association this time is that Jiang Xia, do you have any opinions?" ”

Li Dongyang glanced up at the two of them and smiled slightly.

PS: The tiger is rolling and begging for support, and the comrades who read books and don't collect them will all be handed over to the general manager of Ouchi for disposal