Wu Feng glanced at the four of them and said to Wu Xian: "It should be a passing businessman, let them spend the night here on such a snowy day!" ”

Wuxian looked at the people and beckoned, and Ah Lian and the others let go of a few merchants and found a place to sit down.

The man at the head looked around the camp for a while, and finally walked behind Innocent and sat down.

Although the businessman is rich, but after all, his status is low, looking at Wu Feng and Baili Doctor, they don't look like ordinary scholars, Zhao Wuxian and his group are all fierce and vicious with swords, and they are naturally the most amiable of our group.

"Innocent, move some." I leaned closer to Si'er and said to the man kindly, "Sir, sit down some, there is no fire in the back." ”

"Thank you for this little brother!" The man moved a position forward and sat next to Innocent.

"Come, let's drink some hot water to warm up!" Si'er scooped a few bowls of hot water from the cauldron in the center of the camp and handed them to the four newcomers with a smile. They gratefully took the hot water and thanked them repeatedly.

As they lowered their heads to drink, I carefully watched the movements and expressions of the visitors. Because of Ranki's appearance, I became a little suspicious, and since the famous Maiko can be a ruthless and determined assassin, the richly dressed merchant can also turn into a murderous villain in the dead of night.

But what happened next was completely beyond my imagination, and the man in charge took out a handful of gold chips from his baggage and counted them on the ground in front of us after drinking the water. In such troubled times, it should be a necessary common sense for a businessman not to expose his wealth, and his unscrupulous approach makes people suspicious.

"Sir, with so much money, aren't you afraid of encountering bandits on the way?" I asked.

"Don't be afraid, for the thief's family is poor, so I will give him money; Because the bandit is confused by money, I will teach him righteousness. Besides, I have seen the leader of the bandits in this world, although he robbed his house, he is not a bad person. The man looked up and looked at me, his expression and words were rare in the world.

The leader of the bandits in the world mentioned in his mouth must be the evil ghost who was born in a famous family in the Lu country, but did not abide by etiquette, robbed and plundered, and did all kinds of evil. When I was a child, if I was mischievous, the cypress would tell stories about thieves to scare me. Legend has it that this person is haunted, with three heads and six legs, drinking human blood, eating human flesh, and likes to eat children's hearts and livers the most.

The man in front of me talked well, and said that he had seen thieves, which immediately made me curious about him. I hit Innocent with my arm and whispered, "Quick, switch places with me!" ”

"Don't, you go to sleep!" Innocent pouted and pushed me in the head. At this moment, the snow monkey standing on his shoulder suddenly jumped down, his little eyes turned awkwardly, stretched out his paws, grabbed a handful of gold chips on the ground, and jumped up the tree.

"Hahaha-" Innocent pointed at the man's face and laughed, "It's a monkey who is a robber, what are you going to do, uncle?" Hahaha-"

I pinched Innocence hard, flexed my fingers and whistled. The snow monkey climbed down from the tree, carefully placed the chip on the ground, looked at me with a pout, and climbed up the tree with a snort.

I took out my handkerchief and wiped the calculation carefully, and then pressed my innocent head to the merchant and saluted: "The younger brother is ignorant and does not know how to be polite, and I ask the gentleman to forgive me!" ”

"It's okay, just start all over again." The man waved his hand and smiled, picked up the silk cloth for keeping accounts, and rearranged a string of numbers on the ground.

"Sir, can others read what you write on the cloth?" Si'er poked his head out from behind me.

"Naturally, the little girl wants to help me do the math?" The man looked at Si'er and smiled.

"You let her do the math for you, and the guarantee is right and fast!" The corners of Si'er's mouth curled and pointed at me, as if he regarded me as a newly ripe melon, and he was the old man selling melons in the market.

"If Mr. doesn't mind, Zi Di is willing to do it for you."

"Isn't the little brother proficient in calculus?" The man laughed aloud, and generously handed me the silk cloth for the calculation and accounting.

I put down my calculations and glanced at the numbers recorded on the silk cloth, and I was secretly surprised. Who is this man? What a big deal! From north to south, a lot of money is spent on buying and selling, which is enough to feed the citizens of a city.

"This time, the gentleman exchanged the leather of the northern land for the wood and rhino horn that are abundant in the two countries of Bashu, and according to the number written on the silk cloth and the price of buying and selling, a total of five hundred and eight baht (1) can be obtained."

"You don't need to do the math, just take a cursory look and you've already figured it out?" The merchant's voice was calm, but there was doubt on his face.

I returned the silk cloth and gold calculation chips to him, and said with a smile: "I took a rough look at it, and I knew that Mr. was from the Lu country, and this time he was transporting leather to the two countries of Bashu, making it into soldiers' armor, and selling it to the Bashu coalition army that attacked Qin, and then took the Zhemu and rhino horn of the Baguo country to make a treasure bow and sell it to the Yan country in the north." Sir, am I right? ”

The man listened to my words, and a pair of radiant eyes expressed his shock, contemplation, and appreciation almost at the same time. "I didn't expect to meet a young man like you in the wilderness of this Qin country, no wonder Master Ziyan said that the future is terrifying, but I don't know if the one who comes is now?"

"Sir is overrated." I bowed my head and humbled myself, and pointed to a small record on the silk cloth and asked the man, "Sir ransomed six Lu people who were sold into slavery in the land of Bashu, I heard that the Lu country has a decree that all Lu people who are redeemed and enslaved in other countries return to China, and the redeemer can take the money from the house, but is it true?" ”

"Lu Gong is benevolent, and there is indeed this method."

"Then plus the money that the gentleman paid for the slaves, the money should be five hundred and twelve and eight baht."

"It is the moral duty of the people to redeem the Lu people to return to the country, how can they still go to the monarch to ask for these four pounds and six baht." The man laughed loudly and said earnestly to me, "My little brother is talented, but don't be obsessed with money." Rich and noble, people want to do what they want, but to take the way to get it, first righteousness and then profit, everything needs to be righteousness. ”

"Mr. Xie taught, Zi Di thought that there are many things in the world that are more valuable than money, such as relatives and friends, such as good teachers, if people only live for money, then they are no different from the beasts in the mountains and forests that seek food every day. But if Mr. gives up these four and six baht today, he will lose the morality of the Lu people in the future. ”

"What do you say, little brother?" The merchant raised an eyebrow and wondered.

"Mr. doesn't care about this money because Mr. is rich, but how many merchants in Lu can be as rich as Mr.?"

"Nobody."

"That's it." I laughed and didn't say anything. The person in front of him is a businessman on the rich side, and his moral cultivation is much higher than that of ordinary businessmen, if a person encounters a bandit who is poor and difficult to help, he will give money, and he will naturally think that it is his own morality to redeem the Lu people who have become slaves and return to China, and there is no reason to go to the government to ask for a ransom. But he forgot a very important point, that is, if it is moral for him to buy slaves without taking a penny, then it is "immoral" for others to buy slaves and go to the government to receive money. But how many rich people are there like him in the world?

In other words, if you buy a slave with your own money for three months in another country, and after returning to Lu country, you don't get the money, you can't live your life, and you go to get the money, and you are afraid that people will say that it is not moral. Over time, there will be fewer and fewer people who buy slaves, and the Lu people will forget the real morality for the sake of saving face.

Before the man could speak, another person sitting behind him couldn't help but jump up, glaring at me and shouting: "Don't talk nonsense, child!" Mr. Duanmu is the most moral person in the world, how could he lose the morality of our Lu people! ”

Mr. Duanmu?

I jerked my head to look at the man next to me, and I was shocked. He is a Lu person, a businessman, good at words, and benevolent and righteous, could it be that he is Duanmuci? The disciple of Confucius of Lu State, the national scholar Duanmu Ci who can save Lu, Chaoqi, Break Wu, Qiang Jin, and Yue with one mouth!

The person in front of me wearing a golden crown and flashy clothes is Duanmuci who I have always admired!

When I decided that the person in front of me was the world-famous Duanmu Ci, I immediately uncontrollably showed what I thought was the most enthusiastic smile, leaned over and grabbed his hand tightly: "Mr. is a disciple of Dr. Kong, a single name and a word?" ”

Duanmu Ci was obviously frightened by my transformation, he inadvertently pulled his hand out, moved his body back half a position, and said slowly: "It's exactly below." The little brother said before that I would lose the morality of the Lu people......"

I quickly shook my head and waved my hand: "No, no, ah—I really didn't expect to meet Mr. here......" I didn't know what to say when I was excited, so I just closed my mouth and stared at him.

Duanmu Ci, the word Zigong, is one of the most proud disciples of the Lu State Doctor Kongqiu. Before I met Duanmuci, I had a lot of imagination about his appearance in my mind. When I saw him with my own eyes today, I found that he was a little taller than I had thought, his beard was a little longer, and his eyes were exactly the same as I thought, slightly narrow, but deep and wise.

There are 3,000 disciples under Dr. Kong's seat, and 72 of them are proficient in the six arts, which are the most praised in the world. Cai Fuzi also carried a piece of dried meat as a tuition fee to worship under the door of Confucius, and listened to his lectures and rituals every day. When he was alive, whenever he talked to me about etiquette and virtues, he praised this doctor of Lu Guo very much, and when he heard it, it made me feel a little unreal about this Kongqiu.

No one is perfect, and a perfect person often makes people feel distant, and then feel empty. The extraordinary intelligence shown by Duanmu Ci's lobbying of the Five Kingdoms made me feel that he was not a living person, but an invisible and untouchable god. But today I saw him dressed in jewels, and I thought he was very amiable, no matter whether he was vulgar or not, at least he was a real person who was within reach.

"Hey, you're scared of other people's uncles!" Wuxian stretched out his hand to cover my eyes, and said to Duanmuci: "Uncle, don't be afraid, she is guilty of fainting, not trying to eat people." ”

Duanmu Ci was a little worried by my staring, and when he saw that I was still looking at him intently after being pulled away by Wuxie, he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

"You scared the hell out of that man." Si'er leaned into my ear and grinned.

"What is he afraid of?"

Si'er and Wuxian looked at each other and put a helpless expression on me.

"Your current outfit is a man, staring at that uncle with a look of admiration, what do you say he is afraid of?" Si'er held back a smile.

Remarks (1) Eridium (sound the same benefit), 釿 (sound the same jin), baht (sound the same bead), is the ancient unit of weight.