Chapter 274

Huang Zicheng froze in place, gritting his teeth as he looked at Su Qiao and asked.

"Then where is the money I paid back?"

"What money?"

Huang Zicheng:...

Seeing Huang Zicheng's flustered expression.

The wrinkles on Old Zhu's face bloomed with joy.

Holding the contract signed by Huang Zicheng.

Su Qiao breathed a sigh of relief, then said to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, if there is nothing else, this subject will take his leave; there are still many matters to attend to in the city."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly and said.

"Very well, go."

Having spoken, Su Qiao broke into a light run and left the Fengtian Hall.

Jiajing in the chat group picked up an abacus.

"Click-clack-click-clack," he began tapping it from the side.

There was no other reason.

Looking at Huang Zicheng's expression, Jiajing suddenly realized a problem.

Finally, Jiajing threw the abacus in his hand aside.

He let out a long sigh and said.

"No, Great-Grandfather, this mortgage fearfully isn't that simple."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Jiajing with confusion and asked.

"What do you mean?"

"People like Huang Zicheng can receive their monthly salaries in Jingcheng, barely enough to hold on, able to afford repaying this sum each month."

"But where will the common people of our Great Ming gather such a huge sum of silver?"

"A single pancake in Shuntian Prefecture costs only ten cash; even if they scrape the griddle until sparks fly, they probably couldn't save up a hundred guan of cash in a month!"

One guan of cash is one thousand cash.

One hundred guan is one hundred thousand cash.

One pancake is ten cash.

"How many vendors can sell four hundred pancakes every single day?"

Hearing this.

Zhu Yuanzhang's brows involuntarily furrowed tightly.

Jin Ling has few people, naturally incomparable to later generations.

Vendors setting up stalls and shouting to sell every day could best sell only a few dozen pancakes to make a living.

By the time Old Zhu wanted to ask Su Qiao a few more questions.

Su Qiao was already gone, nowhere to be seen.

Zhu Yuanzhang's brows gradually furrowed tighter.

The streets of Jin Ling.

Zhu Yuanzhang had already changed into a set of common cloth clothes.

He quietly appeared on the streets of Jin Ling.

Rather than asking Su Qiao how he planned to make the common people rich.

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted more to see how the common people viewed these changes in Jin Ling.

After all, even if Su Qiao spoke as beautifully as a flower.

Saying something with one's mouth is one thing.

But when it truly reaches the common folk, it is another matter entirely.

Gazing at the unrecognizable streets of Jin Ling.

Zhu Yuanzhang's heart could not help but be filled with countless emotions.

This was no longer the Jin Ling Old Zhu had seen in his youth.

Just as usual, Old Zhu found the most crowded street corner and plopped himself down.

"Boy, bring a plate of melon seeds, and two pots of tea!"

"Got it, please wait a moment!"

A moment later, Old Zhu cracked melon seeds, observing the common people around him.

Only, contrary to Old Zhu's expectations.

These common people wore expressions on their faces that Old Zhu had never seen before.

It was the light in their eyes.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the man before him with a puzzled expression and asked.

"Brother, Jin Ling is like this, why aren't you all worried at all?"

Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang ask this.

That man could not help but be stunned.

Then he smiled and said.

"Old brother, you must be from out of town."

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but smile and scratch his head.

"Yes, I'm from Fengyang. It's been a while since I came, and I never expected Jin Ling to have turned out this way."

Hearing that he was from Fengyang,

the man immediately looked at him with greater respect and then smiled,

"You are a fellow townsman of the Son of Heaven. My apologies for my lack of respect..."

"These weren't taken by the court; the court bought them from us at a great price. Why should we be in a hurry?"

Old Zhu looked at the person before him and asked,

"But even if they bought them, don't you still need a place to live?"

The man took a sip of tea and sighed,

"Yes, one must have a place to shelter from wind and rain. Originally, we had agreed with the landlord back home to buy forty mu of land, and our whole family would return to the countryside to live our small life."

"But the conditions offered by Lord Su were simply too good."

"Our family considered it, and so we stayed in Jin Ling again."

"Every generation of children gets to read. If we miss such an opportunity, we will be pointed at by our descendants."

"I dare not bear that infamy."

Everyone wants to take the compensation gold home and live their small life in peace and comfort.

But this is the Central Plains.

The inheritance in our bones is that we cannot do things that cause descendants to point at our backs.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the man and couldn't help but smile,

"Your children and grandchildren aren't necessarily filial. Why think so much?"

Hearing Old Zhu say this,

the man couldn't help but laugh as well,

"Yes, they aren't necessarily filial."

"But we have children too. Looking at that little rascal, I can think of the day in the future when I am old, my child has a child, and that Sun Zi holds my hand and asks me,"

"'Why could others read from birth, but why couldn't our family afford to read?'"

"How would I answer?"

"Just thinking of that scene makes my heart ache."

No one is born liking to suffer.

Everyone wants to return to the countryside, live in a big house, and enjoy a small life where the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard.

But what about the descendants?