Chapter 210: Smokescreen
Zhengyang Prefecture City.
Qian's Rice Shop.
The old shopkeeper sent another guest away with a smile on his face, then turned around with a gloomy expression: "This is not right!"
"Boss, we are running out of food and rice in the warehouse. This is really new..."
An errand boy came over with a big smile on his face, "Today, several wealthy customers came in succession. They were really generous. We raised the price by 30%, but they still made the deal. And they paid real money!"
"Real money? Real money!"
The old shopkeeper suddenly came to his senses and went to the cashier: "Did those customers pay with gold?"
"Yes, some are gold sand, some are gold nuggets, and some are bamboo tube gold. It is obvious that they are melted by themselves..."
The account-teller said slowly, "Why are there so many customers using gold recently?"
As if he could see the shopkeeper's worry, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, shopkeeper. I have carefully checked it. It is not medicine gold or medicine silver. It is 98% real gold. Can you trust our old Xue's eyes?"
"That's strange!"
The old shopkeeper was not angry, but just stroked his beard and said, "This is the first time I have seen such a strange thing in my life."
Just then, a waiter ran in and gulped down a pot of tea. He was the one the old shopkeeper had sent out to gather information.
"How is it? Did you find out?"
The old shopkeeper's expression changed and he asked.
"Most of those who bought grain were originally villagers from Qingquan Mountain... Although they hid it very well, I still found out that there might be a gold mine over there!"
The waiter said greedily, "Some rogues in the city had gone to see the fun together, but they were almost beaten back by hundreds of farmers. That scene didn't look fake!"
"Hiss...Gold mine?"
The ears of the people present perked up, their eyes lit up, and then they became dim again.
Obviously, if it was his turn and there was a chance to make a fortune, why would this guy come back?
"The villagers nearby are so lucky!"
Accountant Xue couldn't help but say with envy, his eyes turning red.
"So that's how it is..."
The old shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief: "This is also because they have good fortune... but in the end, they will still benefit the rich and the officials..."
If there really is a gold mine, how could the villagers possibly protect it?
Moreover, the gold mine is deep, how much is there on the surface? At most, we can plunder a little floating wealth.
In the end, the biggest burden will still fall on the government.
But after knowing this, he felt much more relaxed: "I was wondering why there were so many wealthy people, it turns out they were all gold diggers... Eh? Why did they spend it so quickly? Don't they know that wealth should not be shown off? Although the villagers are ignorant, they are still cunning... Oh no, there must be something wrong with this gold!"
He quickly grabbed a gold nugget , weighed it and tested it repeatedly, but he could not find any flaws.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew.
The old shopkeeper seemed to be dazzled, and the gold in front of him turned into a stone.
"What?"
He was startled, rubbed his eyes, continued looking, and found that it was still stone.
"Shopkeeper..."
Next to him, Xue the Accountant's voice was also trembling: "Sand... How come the gold sand turned into sand..."
He looked at the gold that had turned into gray stone and gravel, and he felt sick all over.
"A trick! The legendary trick?"
A thought emerged uncontrollably, causing him to scream.
"No, no, it's not a trick!"
The old shopkeeper shook his head slowly.
We have tried every possible way before, even using methods such as throwing black dog blood. If it was a legendary magic, it would have been broken long ago.
He didn't know that ordinary Taoists, even if they had the ability to sleight of hand, could only confuse their visual senses. In addition, the disadvantages of the power of incense and vows were that they were indeed counteracted by unclean things, which was why their magic was so effective and spread among the people.
Unfortunately, this folk remedy is useless against traditional Chinese medicine.
He thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. Looking at the worthless rubble, he suddenly became so angry that blood rushed up his throat and he fainted.
…
night.
Qian family.
"Dad, our family suffered a huge loss this time... 70% of our food reserves were gone, and we got a bunch of stones for nothing... We can't just let it go like this."
A young man was holding the account book, feeling a pain in his heart as if his flesh was being cut.
Before, I was very happy to see the gold flowing into my account, but now I feel so depressed that I want to vomit blood.
The head of the Qian family is named Qian Shangmou. His face did not move at this time, but his slightly twitching body clearly showed that he was extremely uneasy. "This matter ... cannot be let go like this. However, there are too many people buying grain. No matter how powerful my Qian family is, can we subdue so many people in one go? After all, my family is just a grain merchant. The adults behind us will not force the people to revolt. Do you still think Zhengyang Prefecture is not chaotic enough?"
The young man was startled. He knew that after what happened in Dazheng County, the officials were very sensitive to such things and had restrained many of their behaviors.
"master!"
At this time, there was another knock on the door.
"Money is expensive, come in."
Qian Shangmou said, the young man recognized the man, who was the second butler and the person his father trusted the most.
"Greetings to the master and the young master."
Qian Gui performed the ceremony meticulously, giving people a wooden feeling.
But the young man knew that this was a poisonous snake raised by his father.
"How's the matter I asked you to investigate going?"
Mr. Qian asked in a deep voice.
"I've asked the Taoist priests at Tongxuan Temple to look at the fake gold. It's said that even Taoist priests can't make something so indistinguishable from the real thing... and the source is Qingquan Mountain outside the city... I spent a lot of manpower to find out that a Taoist priest went there a few days ago and turned the Qingquan into Jinsha Spring, which was given to the nearby villagers."
"The art of turning stone into gold, could it be that an immortal has descended to earth?"
Mr. Qian was startled, stood up, paced, suddenly stopped, and said in a deep voice: "This matter ends here, no one of you is allowed to retaliate! If you meet someone like this, you should show respect..."
"Dad, why?"
The young man was puzzled. He couldn't understand why someone hit his left cheek and then turned to the right cheek.
"He is an immortal who has attained enlightenment and enjoys the mortal world... How dare we, mere ants, compete with him? My Qian family can't even afford to offend Tongxuan Temple, so how can we dare to offend him?"
Qian Shangmu glared at his son and said, "If you still have this idea, I will beat you to death first, so as not to cause trouble for my family."
"My son doesn't dare."
The authority of the feudal patriarch is hard for outsiders to imagine.
The young man knelt down immediately and kowtowed repeatedly.
It was obvious that his father really had the power to kill him, and the government would not care.
"Okay, that's it."
Master Qian waved his hand, his eyes somewhat puzzled, and muttered: "First a white ape came, and then a powerful demon came... I'm afraid that Zhengyang Mansion is really going to be in chaos..."
Wars are fought for money, food and logistics.
As a result of this, Zhengyang Prefecture will inevitably be in chaos for a while.
Putting aside other things, it is almost impossible to kill Wang Shun of Baimao Village by relying on the strength of one prefecture.
