On the path between the red-walled and black-tiled houses, Li Qiyuan said to Yun Dusheng: "Childe, the twelve buildings around here are priced at a total of six thousand taels, which is already the lowest price, and if it is lower, it is basically impossible, in this case, they should be able to earn about five hundred taels to eight hundred taels." ”

"Okay, I don't understand this either, you can just look at it," Yun Dusheng nodded, and after asking which households he had sorted out, he went in one by one to take a look.

Li Qiyuan took Yun Dusheng and a few people to visit the houses one by one, and Zhao Hongda looked at the buildings everywhere that were quite exquisite and said, "It's not bad." ”

"On average, the price of each building is not cheap, it is about five hundred taels, how big is the area?" The carp looked at the plantain in the yard and said to Li Qiyuan.

Li Qiyuan held the key in his hand, and the steward went back to ask the shopkeeper, so he gave him the key directly and let him see for himself, the young man replied to Li Yu: "It's okay, about five hundred taels and one buildings, although it is a little expensive, but the house in the capital is at this price, and the imperial envoy of Qi of Yushitai still lives in an old alley that is much more remote than this, and it is not clear otherwise, but there are still many officials in the six departments who are renting houses." ”

"Really? Is there still anyone in the DPRK who rents a house to live in? Yun Dusheng said curiously, everyone set their eyes on Li Qiyuan, obviously not understanding this kind of thing.

Li Qiyuan saw everyone's expressions and knew that in this group of people, except for Yun Dusheng, who was hugely rich, everyone else was not poor, none of them were children of ordinary families, otherwise they would not have such an idea, five hundred taels and one house did not seem to be expensive, but it was not so easy to save these five hundred taels.

"If you are from a wealthy family, it is better, if not, you can only rely on your own efforts, if you save five taels a month, it is sixty taels a year, and it will take nearly ten years to save so much money, not to mention that you need money for ordinary life and entertainment."

After finishing speaking, Li Qiyuan saw Li Yu's disapproving appearance, and asked Li Yu politely: "If Li Gongzi doesn't take the family's money, then do you have any good ways to make money?" How often can you save a hundred taels? ”

"Uh......" Li Yu found that he didn't seem to have any good way to make money for the first time in his life, and he had made money in addition to spending money over the years, but this money was earned on the basis of the Li family, and if he left the Li family, he might not be able to find a suitable job at all.

Li Qiyuan didn't ask, and said with a smile: "Many people in this city can only get one or two taels a month, that is, about one thousand and two thousand wen, a family of five people has a maximum of two laborers, and the family can earn a maximum of five taels a month, and these five taels are not saved."

The price of living materials in the capital is still slightly higher, excluding the necessities of life, and then counting the ordinary cost of gifts, it is almost the same to save one or two taels in the last month, and it is only a dozen or twenty taels a year, and the ordinary family here may have to save for fifty years. ”

Yun Tombsheng roughly calculated according to the price Li Qiyuan said, it is true that not everyone can afford such a house in the capital, but he is still very curious about the official's salary, so he asked: "You said that most people can't afford it, but how much is the official's income?" Why do so many officials want to rent houses? ”

Li Qiyuan shook his head and said: "I don't know anything else, but the most ordinary small official in the Ministry of Industry is three taels of silver a month, and the small team leader is five taels, which is already very high, like Qi Yushi is a first-class official, and the monthly salary is only thirty taels." ”

"So little?" Han Difu exclaimed, no wonder he made a fuss, it was really too little.

Li Qiyuan nodded, and said with certainty: "It's been like this all these years, those wealthy officials either have a very solid family background, or they are rewarded by the emperor, in addition, there are also family members who are good at doing business, but many officials themselves are starving to death and do not participate, they dislike the lowly and shameful, and they are all the servants of the family who are running."

There are not many high-ranking officials, and they can't afford to let their families do business, so they are poor, and it is difficult to buy a house by relying on Yulu alone, so there are also some winds in the city, and those who can't afford to buy a house are Qing officials, and some officials who sell their fame and reputation are actually rich, but they just rent a house to live. ”

Yun Tombsheng frowned and said, "What's the picture?" What are they trying to do? Is it a good idea to live a poor life? It's reasonable not to be corrupt, but it's a bit ...... to starve to death and not do business."

Li Qiyuan sighed deeply and said: "For the praise of the people, if you wear gold and silver, how can the people believe that you are dedicated to the people?" You only have tattered clothes, it is better to be worse than ordinary people, even if you don't eat well, it's better if you can't afford a house, which shows that you are an official not for money and power, and you are dedicated to the people.

Thanks to those Qing officials, you will find that the status of businessmen is lower than that of beggars, because those Qing officials live poorly, so they are not used to seeing the rich, that is, they like to watch the businessmen who are better than them eat deflated, rich businessmen unless they are the descendants of the powerful family, otherwise you will not get any respect, many people want you to pay money to call you brothers and sisters in person, and behind their backs say that you are full of copper smell. ”

"Doesn't that mean that many times this group of clean officials is the biggest stumbling block to society?" Handi Fu said with a frown.

Li Qiyuan was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect this handsome young man to have such an opinion, and suddenly said excitedly: "Yes, yes, yes, Han Gongzi, you can also see it, many people in this world will praise Qing officials, but Qing officials are not necessarily better than corrupt officials, corrupt officials want money, clean officials want fame, both of them are not the people live well, the real people must be the officials who first satisfy their basic selfish desires, how can people who don't even love love the people?" How can a person who lives a hard life by himself willingly watch others do well? ”

"You kid has some opinions, I haven't heard of this kind of statement before." Yun Tombsheng nodded when he heard this, "For corrupt officials who are so greedy that they don't want their reputation, what else can they care about?" It's all about the money; For Qing officials, reputation is the most important thing, and nothing is as important as creating an image, so among the officials who are not greedy for money, there are nine hypocrites and a true saint. ”

Li Qiyuan was a little depressed after listening to Yun Tombsheng's words: "In the past, I also felt that Qing officials were dedicated to the people, but it wasn't until the recent encounter that I realized that I was wrong, only Qi Yushi really wanted to help the victims, and many other officials who were known for their honesty were not willing to help us stretch their waists at all, and it took me a long time to figure out why."

It's because as a Qing official who goes to help a merchant appeal, it is likely that the commoners who support them on weekdays will think that they have received benefits, so for the sake of their reputation, they would rather watch us being oppressed, I have seen Qing officials who secretly laughed when they heard that we were persecuted, if they said it, no one would believe that the official who died for a beggar would show a relieved smile when he heard about the tragic experience of others. ”

Several people understood, nodded one by one, the meaning of what Li Qiyuan said was really easy to understand, this group of officials who are known for their honesty like to help the poor get ahead, but they will never stand out for the rich, one is because this is conducive to fame, and the other is to hate the rich, because they can't eat and sleep well, and they can't pull down their children, so they hate the rich and think that being rich is the original sin.

A group of people were quiet for a while after this topic, looking at the yard one by one, Li Qiyuan still felt resentful when he thought of the unfair treatment suffered by his family during this time, but after thinking that this teenager would help him settle everything, he made up his mind to help do more to repay.

Li Qiyuan, who calmed down his mood, introduced to a few people: "I am still familiar with this area, after all, it is not far from my home, most of the houses by this lake are new houses, and it was the address of a large wooden furniture manufacturing factory before, and then the land price here rose slightly after the factory moved away, and it was bought and made into a residential area, but because it is by the lake, and most of the yard area is relatively large, so the price is still slightly expensive." ”

Yun Tomb and a few people listened to Li Qiyuan's explanation while watching, Li Qiyuan continued: "I hope that the shape of the fragmented houses will not be too awkward and abrupt after they are connected, and they can meet the living requirements of Yangxiahou Mansion and choose these twelve households, you see, these twelve households are a bit like a water drop after they are connected, and the small house by the lake is the tip of the water droplet, I plan to use this tip as a back door, and then open a gate in the south." ”

"This piece of house should be prepared for small families, the streets and alleys leading to the interior are not very wide, if the gate faces south, there is no wide road in front of the door, they are such a big family, how crowded is it when they enter and exit together? Or do you want to face east? In front of the door is the lake road, which is easy to get in and out. Yun Tombsheng looked at the six people under his feet, side by side, and there was no empty place on the road, and said to Li Qiyuan.

Li Qiyuan, who was wearing the clothes of an Eastern Order's student, looked at it, nodded and said: "It's okay, but this gate may not be suitable in feng shui on a small tip, let Yangxiahou Mansion choose it yourself when the time comes, I think it's okay to go in and out of this eastern tip, but the breath of the gate should still be a little thicker, the tip is too stingy." ”

"And the pomegranate tree?" Jin Dingfa saw a pomegranate tree at the corner of the house from a distance, although everyone didn't think the pomegranate tree was anything unusual, but they still couldn't help but look up, a pomegranate tree full of green leaves looked like a twisted snake.

Li Qiyuan was very happy when he saw the pomegranate tree, "This tree has been around for some years, I remember that there was a pomegranate tree here when I was a child, and I thought it was cut down when I built the house, but I didn't expect it to be left by someone with a heart." ”

"Maybe it's been a few years since I saw this pomegranate tree, and it's not in the way, how many pomegranates does this tree bear?" Zhao Hongda looked at Li Qiyuan.

Li Qiyuan's face was suddenly full of disgust, "Even if there are fewer pomegranates, they are still unpalatable, there is no pomegranate tree in this capital that can eat the pomegranates, maybe it is a climate problem, the pomegranates in this capital are sour, and the pomegranates you see sold in autumn are all shipped from other places." ”

"Then why do you still have so many pomegranate trees in Fengge City? I've only been here for a long time, and I've seen a lot. Yun Tombsheng tilted his head and suspected that Li Qiyuan's information was wrong.

Li Qiyuan pointed to the pomegranate tree, "Flowers, the pomegranate trees in the capital are not used to bear fruit and eat, they are not fruit trees, they are flowers, most of the people in the capital like pomegranate flowers, and the pomegranate flowers are bright." ”

Zhao Hongda said strangely: "There are people who like pomegranate flowers, but it is rare for a city to like pomegranate flowers, and I have never heard anyone say that Fengge City likes pomegranate flowers." ”

"Maybe I'm used to it, so I can't remember to say it to outsiders, if you didn't mention it, I didn't remember that people in Beijing like pomegranate flowers, and if no one says it, outsiders won't know, and if no one knows, it won't be far away." Li Qiyuan looked at the pomegranate flower and subconsciously thought of Lin Jinghuang.