The general rule of pawnshops is that pawns are different from pawns, movable property is pawned, the interest is nine out of thirteen, and the half-year interest can reach more than 44%. And real estate, such as land, real estate, etc., are classified as pawns.

The rule of the pawn is that there is no time limit, as the saying goes, 'a pawn for a thousand years' is what it means, but it can be redeemed at any time, and the redemption price is generally double the pawn price, and the land fruits during the pawn period belong to the pawn owner.

It's just that this price has been said, and it is not all discounted according to the benchmark land price of the land, and sometimes it can be very low......

Xu Xiangnong and Zhang's brother-in-law renegotiated the pawn price, which was only clear to the two of them, but it was basically not too high, so that the Xu family could redeem it at a low price in the future. The next thing is simple, Xu Xiangnong went back and forth to Yizhen and Wuxi several times, and finally pawned out this batch of land and real estate.

The pawnshop wants to do long-term business in the future, although the Xu family looks a little unlucky now, but who can say in the future? Even if the Xu family is unlucky now, he is not guaranteed to make a comeback, so the pawnshop still has some way back, and no matter how you say it, the pawnshop will make a steady profit.

Xu Xiangnong left Yizhen with a box and returned to Xu's house in Wuxi.

At this time, the Xu family was in a state of mourning, and Mrs. Xu died in a foreign country, and she was buried on the second day of her death. According to folk customs, there is a procedure of 'bathing the corpse' before the funeral, if the parents and children can drink the corpse bathing water, then the deceased will not suffer from going to hell. Xu Xiangxue is naturally a son-in-law, as for whether he drank that cup of corpse water, only God knows himself.

The coffin has not yet entered the funeral, and most of the guests who come to mourn these days are closely related to the Xu family, either in-laws or friends and protégés, and there are not many people in the officialdom. The hanging ceremony is not according to the ancient rites, but the Tomaji is set behind the scenes, the filial son is facing the south in the scene, and the hangers are facing the north, and then Xu Xiangxue as the master will come out of the curtain to thank him.

In fact, the funeral of the Xu family is very low-key, generally the funeral will invite guests to the funeral, most of the things laid are large plates, honey houses, silk brocade, banners, characters, pavilions, like life, fly away, Mingjing and the like. What's more, there is also the ritual of scattering filial piety and filial piety, which is called sending filial piety and other 'evil things' to others, so that others can hang filial piety for their own relatives, which is actually a plan to catch the ceremony. The Xu family did not do this, and the funeral was also an ordinary thing.

Xu Xiangnong, the second eldest member of the Xu family, took the box and returned home before the funeral. Dressed in plain green clothes, he entered Xu's house through the side door, and then went straight to Xu Xiangxue's study.

In the study, Xu Xiangxue had already taken off his filial piety clothes, put on a deep coat, and wore a Su scarf on his head, sitting there as if he had been waiting for a long time.

Xu Xiangnong entered the study, the two did not communicate, he only asked Chang Sui to put a box on the ground, and only sighed lightly for a while: "It's finally done." ”

Xu Xiangxue's eyes looked at this box, and he spoke for a long time: "It's hard work, second brother." ”

After a stick of incense, Xu Xiangnong withdrew from the study, turned around and gently closed the door of the study...... The box that had been in his sight slowly disappeared from his sight as the door closed......

Since then, he has never seen the box full of stacks of pawn tickets.

It was as if the chest, which was full of 'great wealth', had also disappeared from the world......

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Most of the land and real estate in the hands of the Xu family were pawned out, and many gentry families like the Xu family, who had a lot of land in their hands, also chose to pawn, of course, they were just the opposite of the Xu family's choice.

After all, money is moving...... Therefore, the business of the money office is simply booming day by day.

The days flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, it was November......

In November in the capital, the weather is quite cold, and all officials must bring warm ears.

In the palace, the palace dependents and ministers will change into python clothes with shengyang complements, and the celebrant also began to print the ninety-nine cold diagram, generally using slang and the like, what 'the early cold of the nineteenth is winter'...... This kind of non-word minister should be made, and it is not an imperial system, so it is only circulated in the palace.

The weather is cold, the taste will be spicy, in October will eat frosty spicy rabbit, in November, a bowl of spicy soup every morning, from the inside to the outside, you can also drink some muddy wine to keep out the cold. Eating a lot of meat, such as pickled pig's trotters, is Wu Yan's favorite. There are also mutton buns, flat food chaos, etc.

The budget list made in the palace has been presented to the emperor, but there has been no feedback to Guanglu Temple so far, is it too much? Or is it not much? Every time Emperor Wu wanted to ask, he was diverted by Emperor Yongming with other topics...... She estimated that the emperor was most likely under some 'pressure' from the harem.

Anyway, she is not in a hurry, Xu Yan is not in a hurry, and it is not his turn to worry about the cost.

Fortunately, there is one more thing that can counteract some of the effects of the cold...... That is, the hippodrome has finally been renovated.

After the completion of the natural preparation of an event to warm up the venue, Wu Shengyang has been busy for this these days, and a book of "The Book of Horses" written by Gu Jue also took this opportunity to be printed and published, and it sold out in the city as soon as it came to the market, and it was sold out in the whole city within three days. "The Book of Horses" is actually similar to a strategy, like the "Pill Sutra" for hammering pills, the "Pot Sutra" for throwing pots, and even the "Sutra of Prostitution" for prostitution, all of which are books of this kind.

Emperor Yongming also heard about it, but he didn't even buy it, and called Wu Yan to him again, and talked for a long time......

Wu Yan couldn't cry or laugh a little, and so did this emperor! It's good to say no, you have to beat around the bush, Rao is she understands it as soon as she reacts, if it's clumsy, you can't figure it out for a long time?

"Your Majesty, the minister will present the book tomorrow, and the first issue of the "Horse Newspaper" published by the foreign horse farm will also be presented to you."

"Oh? And what is Horse Newspaper? ”

"It is to provide some information about the race, such as the condition of the horse, the schedule of the race, the introduction of the jockey, the past results of the participating horses, the odds, and the reference opinions provided by some horse critics, etc."

"If my horse races, I'll provide this news as well?"

"Yes, for the sake of fairness, it will be provided, but it will hide the true origin of this horse, that is, the person who bought the horse and bet on it, they will not know that this is your majesty's royal horse."

"Oh......"

"Your Majesty, you can also send the best rider to act as a jockey, as long as you meet the physical conditions of the jockey, just like Zheng Guogong's grandson Chang Li, this time he will race in person."

"That's interesting, I remember the grandson of the Chang family, the old man has been training since he was a child, and he must be good at riding."

"It's strange that I haven't seen him for a year, but I heard yesterday that he actually went to Qinghai Horse Farm for more than half a year, and only recently returned to Beijing, and brought back a lot of good horses, and it is said that there is a sweat and blood horse."

"Hmph~, it's not surprising that there are several horses in the Imperial Horse Prison, and the thoroughbred horse you mentioned last time, I did ...... it intentionally."

Wu Yan smiled when he heard this, and suddenly lowered his voice mysteriously: "Your Majesty, let me tell you a little news, one of the horses in this race was specially transported from Liuhe Racecourse, and it is said that the owner of the horse is from the Jesuit monks in Nanjing. ”

Emperor Yongming's pupils shrank when he heard this, and he asked urgently, "Really?" What are the results? ”

"I heard that it hasn't been raced a few times before it was shipped from Europa, and the owner plans to put this horse here in the capital, and he doesn't plan to transport it back."

Emperor Yongming leaned back slightly, leaning back on the dragon chair, with a deep expression on his face, as if he was pondering something.

"Even so, my horse won't lose!"

Wu Yan smiled again and said, "Of course! His Majesty's horse will certainly not lose, and the minister has already placed a bet! ”

"Hmph~ You have a vision."