Gu Yunji knew that a big businessman like Fan Li who traveled south and north must have a lot of accumulated assets in his family, not to mention tens of thousands of taels of silver, and it was not uncommon for hundreds of thousands of taels to be more.

But five thousand taels of silver is not a small amount, and even if Fan Li can take it, it is not an easy matter. Moreover, he used the word "gift", not to borrow or to give him credit, but to give him the silver for nothing.

Gu Yunji almost thought that he had misheard, and looked at Fan Li in disbelief: "Fan Li, you have to think clearly, that's five thousand taels of silver." You gave it to me today, and I am not sure that I will be able to take the money from the Xuzhou Mansion to return it to you one day, and as for myself, I can't afford to pay back five thousand taels of silver. ”

Fan Li Zhengse said: "The villain thinks very clearly, these five thousand taels of silver are used to buy artichoke varieties, and I will give it away, and I don't need to pay it back to the government office, and I don't need to pay it back to you." ”

If Fan Li used to help find high-yield crops in order to befriend the officials of the Xuzhou Mansion, then he is now willing to give Gu Yunji five thousand taels of silver for nothing, it must not be as simple as establishing a friendship with him.

Gu Yunji couldn't figure out his purpose, so he asked: "Although the promotion of artichoke is a matter for the benefit of the people, I am the general judge of the Xuzhou Mansion, and I have my own glorious political achievements when the matter is done well." But you are a businessman, and you have nothing to do with the Xuzhou government, no matter how productive the artichoke is, how large the promotion scope is, the court will not remember your merits, what are you trying to do? ”

Fan Li smiled and said calmly: "The villain's family has been doing business for generations, accumulating tens of thousands of family wealth, but the children of businessmen are not allowed to enter the office, even if they have more money, except for making the children's lives as good as ever, nothing else can be done." In that case, why not take out five thousand taels of silver and let it play a greater role in Lord Gu's hands? ”

"Of course—" Fan Li paused, his posture humble, "If Lord Gu can keep his promise, after the artichoke is popularized and planted in the future, when the imperial court is rewarded for meritorious deeds, it will be even better." ”

Gu Yunji knew it in his heart.

The hierarchy of Shinong industry and commerce is strict, and the businessmen are at the bottom, even if Fan Li makes more money, his social status is still low, and any poor and sour talent with merit and fame can point his nose and scold him.

Coupled with the imperial court's regulations that businessmen cannot participate in the imperial examination after that, Fan Li wants to improve his status, so he can only rely on his in-laws to marry his daughter, and find a promising rookie in the imperial examination as his son-in-law, which is why he was so keen to catch his son-in-law at the beginning, so reckless that he didn't even know about tying the wrong person.

But the son-in-law is a foreign surname after all, and he can still be regarded as a relative within two or three generations, and in a few decades, the other party is afraid that he will not recognize them as a cheap business relative. However, now there is a great opportunity in front of him, as long as he seizes it, he can change the fate of future generations once and for all.

Fan Li has seen with his own eyes how high the yield of artichoke is, and he is sure that it can become an important crop that will cause earth-shaking changes in the future, as Gu Yunji said. With such a high-yield grain crop, anyone who makes efforts in the process of promoting it will inevitably be rewarded by the imperial court in the future.

Fan Li found the artichoke for Gu Yunji from the hands of the Francophile, and gave him five thousand taels of silver when he was short of money, he paid so much, even if the imperial court only gave him a nominal official position in the future, it was enough for him to break away from business and achieve a class leap.

Fan Li is the people, Gu Yunji is the official, from ancient times to the present, the people do not have much right to speak and autonomy in front of the officials, if they change others, it is very likely that they will take the credit for finding artichokes and buying seeds on themselves, anyway, Fan Li is just a small businessman, and he can't make any waves even if he stands up to the sky.

But according to Fan Li's observation and understanding of Gu Yunji in the past few months, he found that he was indeed dedicated to the people, putting his personal achievements and interests behind the people. Such a person will not only not monopolize the credit, but will also take the initiative to ask him for credit, even if this matter does not work out in the end, Gu Yunji's background is not low and his future is great, and it is worth selling him a favor.

Gu Yunji is not afraid of calculations, as long as it is not a conspiracy, it is not a shameful thing to express his purpose frankly. What's more, compared with Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou and other people who are inactive, Gu Yunji would rather cooperate with people like Fan Li.

So he happily agreed: "Fan Yuanwai, rest assured, I will not forget your merits and hard work, he will succeed in the future, I will write to Your Majesty to ask for a reward for you." ”

Fan Li smiled brightly, arched his hand and said, "Then thank Master Gu first." I thought that anyway, I would have to rely on my merchant ship to transport the potatoes to Xuzhou Mansion, so I would simply give 5,000 taels of silver directly to the Francophone people, and you don't have to worry about it in the middle, just accept 50,000 catties of good seeds in a few months. ”

Gu Yunji is a layman in business, so it is naturally better, eliminating many cumbersome affairs, he smiled and patted Fan Li's shoulder: "Then you will have to worry about it." ”

After discussing with Fan Li the follow-up matters of purchasing artichoke seeds, Gu Yunji has been staying in the government to handle official business.

The sun was setting, and it was almost time to get to the next duty, Xu Shuhua should have come to pick him up in the past, but she was still nowhere to be seen. Gu Yunji was about to send Xu Dong back to inquire about the situation, when he saw that someone from his family had sent a message to deliver the news:

"My lord, there is a guest at home today, and Madame has to entertain guests at home, so she will not come to pick you up, let you go back by yourself."

Gu Yunji said unexpectedly: "A guest is visiting? What guests? ”

The little guy who passed the word scratched his head: "It seems to be a relative of Mrs. Madame's mother's family, what is the specific identity, and the little one is not clear." ”

Since Gu Yunji took his wife and daughter to this remote Xuzhou Mansion to take office, he has never seen familiar relatives and friends, and his relatives with Xu Shuhua are either in Jiangnan or in the capital, and they have never heard of anyone in Xuzhou Mansion.

Could it be that the Xu family came to the southwest on an errand? Gu Yunji was curious, and when it was time to get off duty, he immediately went home.

Walking outside the main hall, Gu Yunji heard faint chatter and laughter coming from inside, and as soon as he walked in, he found that in addition to Xu Shuhua, there was a strange man sitting in the hall.

The man looked like he was in his thirties, his figure was thin, his skin was very rough, as if he had been beaten by wind and rain every day, and even his clothes were a short suit that was convenient for movement. Judging from his appearance alone, he doesn't look like an official who has been in a position for a long time, but he looks like a hard worker moving goods at some wharf - but although the man's hands are much rougher than Gu Yunji's, they are only a little calloused, and it can be seen that they are not really hard labor.

Gu Yunji wondered in his heart: The Shaoxing Xu family, like the Songjiang Gu family, are both scholarly families that have been inherited for hundreds of years, and their children have entered the office from generation to generation, and there are still such down-and-out children in the family?

Seeing that he was back, Xu Shuhua immediately got up and said with a smile: "Yunji, come on, let me introduce you, this is my third cousin of my mother's family, Xu Zhenzhi." ”