Chapter 987: Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea

After returning to the capital, Chen Guanlou chose to take a vacation to adjust his mood.

Master Du fell ill once, his body was not as good as before, and he was visibly old.

Chen Guanlou accompanied him to drink tea and relax.

Master Du felt that drinking tea was boring and still wanted to drink wine.

He hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly. "Fine, drink wine!" He took out money and arranged for someone to go to the wine shop to buy a pot of wine.

"A pot of wine is not enough." Master Du was dissatisfied.

"Drinking too much wine is not good for your body at your age."

"Whether it's good or not, this old man knows better than you. Since I got sick, I knew this broken body couldn't last long. It's better to let me be happy before I die, don't restrict this and that, don't let me die unhappily."

"It hasn't reached the point of death yet." Chen Guanlou patiently persuaded. "There is still a long distance from death. For the sake of your body, it's better to drink less, just give me face, how about it?"

Master Du's lips trembled. "How long can I live? Can a Ninth Rank martial artist see through someone's life and death at a glance?"

"It's not that magical. Saying seeing is inaccurate; it should be sensing, being able to sense a person's vitality. Your vitality is flowing away, but it hasn't reached the point of dying immediately. Raise it, and there is still a year or two."

Chen Guanlou was very straightforward, without twists and turns, without empty words of comfort. He just told the other party straightforwardly that there was still a year or two.

With his friendship with Master Du, there was no need to cover up.

Looking at life and death lightly, one will feel at ease when leaving.

Master Du sighed upon hearing this. He turned happy again. "So this old man still has such a long time, indeed I cannot waste it too wantonly, persist, persist, strive to live until next autumn. Hahaha..."

He laughed wantonly, laughing very frankly.

People at this age are either getting more and more afraid of death, or getting more and more frank!

Clearly, he belonged to the latter.

"If you have any thoughts, any wishes, any arrangements, you can tell me." Chen Guanlou said so. "If you are short of money, tell me, I will solve it."

Master Du waved his hands repeatedly. "Over the years, thanks to your care, this old man has also earned money. Enough to buy a house and land to set up a family business. My children and grandchildren have all been arranged. Even if I died right now, this old man would have no regrets.

If I really have to say regrets, alas, I read books all my life, but I couldn't be an official, couldn't wear an official robe. Hahaha... don't take it seriously, this old man is just saying it casually.

This old man is already very lucky to get the protection of the Hou Fu. The Young Master has already promised that after I pass away, my son will take my place."

"Are there any other wishes?" Chen Guanlou asked softly. "Arrange everything early, so you can feel at ease when you leave."

"No more! If you have time, come and accompany this old man to drink and chat, and this old man will be satisfied. It's just a pity that I can't help you appraise antiques and calligraphy and paintings in the future; you need to choose someone else. I do know a few old things, but their tempers are strange. When the time comes, I will introduce them to you; if you think it's appropriate, why not cooperate with them."

Master Du explained.

Chen Guanlou nodded, sipping wine in small sips.

As for life and death, he had already looked at it lightly. As a prison guard, dealing with life and death every day, it wasn't that sentimental.

Master Du's age, in this era, among ordinary people, definitely belongs to longevity. Most ordinary people don't live to this age. So, what's there to be sentimental about.

Besides, Master Du still has a year or two, enough to say what he wants to say, chat what he wants to chat, and satisfy some of the other party's wishes.

The two drank until the moon was in the middle of the sky with the side dishes.

Master Du asked the question in his heart. "Rarely see you take such a long vacation. What's wrong this time? Could it be that you are finally tired of this job in the Heavenly Prison and want to change to another yamen?"

Chen Guanlou shook his head. "That's not it; I still like the Heavenly Prison very much and will continue to work in the Heavenly Prison. I went out for a trip some time ago, walked around, and felt a bit uncomfortable in my heart. So, I took the opportunity to adjust."

"Outside... the days are not easy!" Master Du sighed and said slowly: "Under Heaven, only the days in the capital and Jiangnan are easy. Other places are not very good.

Especially in the last ten years, the people's grievances have been boiling, and people have been rebelling below from time to time, the court has been increasing taxes, natural and man-made disasters, it's not an exaggeration to say that the people are living in misery.

We have lived in the capital for many years, and the feelings are not obvious, especially since your income is high, and you don't even feel the fluctuation of prices. Suddenly going out to see, the outside has become a human purgatory, it's hard not to feel uncomfortable. Adjust, think about it. The world is like this, it cannot be changed by one person's strength."

"Is the fluctuation of prices in the capital very fierce?"

Chen Guanlou was very dull about prices and really didn't feel anything.

Either eating in the Heavenly Prison canteen, opening a small stove. Or going to the brothel to be happy for a few days.

Occasionally cooking by himself, the little money spent didn't feel like anything. For him, it didn't even count as one hair of nine oxen.

It was Sister Chunxiang who nagged him from time to time, telling him to save money, saying money doesn't last.

How it doesn't last, he didn't feel it either.

His money was already so much that he lost sensitivity to the prices of living materials.

"Very fierce!" Master Du was a person who spent money very carefully, and the expenses of the family had to be recorded, so he naturally knew the ups and downs of prices and could feel how great the influence of price fluctuations was on the bottom-level small people.

"Grain, oil, and cloth have all risen in price, and firewood has also risen in price. A few days ago, I pulled a cart of firewood, which was fifty wen more expensive than last month. It's fatal! Such a little firewood, actually has the face to open such a high price. This is still summer; when winter comes, I'm afraid the price of firewood will rise exponentially."

Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea!

For a family, the most important material is the firewood for cooking. Without firewood, you can't cook, can't boil hot water, and can't do anything.

Especially in winter, if you don't eat for three days, you won't die. But if you don't keep warm for three days, don't burn fire, people will freeze to death alive.

Master Du seemed to have opened a chatterbox, complaining one after another that the prices in the capital were rising too fast, and everyone couldn't afford to eat. Before, two meals were dry, now they have all changed to one dry and one thin!

"The forests around the capital are not allowed to be cut down. If you want firewood, you have to go to more distant forests to cut down trees. Going back and forth, the price rises."

"Why can't the forests around the capital be cut down? Who stipulated it?" Chen Guanlou asked curiously, he hadn't heard of this.

Master Du recalled. "I heard it was stipulated by the court. It is said that the capital has a lot of sandstorms, so we must keep the forests to block the sandstorms. But I see that there is no less sandstorm this year! This matter was spread from the Hou Fu. The Hou Fu's own mountains say that they cannot be cut down within two years. The Hou Fu went to more distant places to buy forests to cut down trees and burn charcoal." ===== CHAPTER 988 =====