The stupid son of Chongba

Chapter 7 On the Art of Begging
"Why are you telling him all this? Why don't you just wear it around your neck?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, seeming reluctant to say more.

"Tell me, Dad, I want to hear it!"

Zhu Ju immediately started yelling.

He is most interested in weird things.

Ma Xiuying also chimed in:
"If the child wants to hear it, just tell him! We are all family, what can't we say?"

As she spoke, she nodded at the maids in the room, signaling them to go out.

The maids withdrew and closed the door of the wing room.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and a look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes.

"Speaking of the origin of this red jade, it happened a long time ago."

He said,

"At that time, in order to earn a living and avoid the war, I became a monk in Huangjue Temple. But the world was in a difficult period in those days, and the temple had no surplus food. Not long after, I was kicked out by the abbot and told to go out and beg for alms."

"Begging? Isn't that just begging for food?" Zhu Ju blurted out.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed but was not annoyed.

"Yes, it's begging! What, do you look down on beggars?"

He smiled and said,
"Let me tell you, begging is also a skill! If you don't master the trick, you won't be able to get a meal, not even a grain of rice or a sip of water!"

"First of all, you have to be thick-skinned! You have to put aside your dignity and go door to door begging, enduring countless cold stares and being driven away. If you meet someone with a bad temper, they will even let their dogs bite you!"

As he spoke, Lao Zhu rolled up his trouser legs.

"Look, this, this, and this, these are the wounds I got when I was chased by a dog."

Zhu Ju bent down and took a look.

My goodness, Lao Zhu’s legs don’t look like human legs at all. There are pits and scars all over the left side, and some hideous centipede-like scars, which are heartbreaking to look at.

"Chongba, I'm sorry for your hardship."

Ma Xiuying felt a little distressed, and very naturally lifted Zhu Yuanzhang's calf and placed it on her knee, gently massaging him.

"Oh, what's the big deal? It's nothing."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand nonchalantly and said,

"Giving up your dignity is only the first step. The second step is to act pitiful and let others pity you. At that time, the landlords didn't have any surplus food, so why would they give you alms? You are betting on the other party's kindness. If you win, you will have food to eat. If you lose, then you will starve!"

"Don't pretend to be pitiful, it's really pitiful." Zhu Ju couldn't help but say.

The beggars in ancient times were real beggars, not like those in later generations, who were beggars on the surface but might actually drive a BMW with one hand in secret!
"Well, that's right. With our miserable appearance back then, who wouldn't feel sympathy if they just stood there?"

Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang's face showed a bit of pride.

Now that he is the emperor, he is not ashamed of his past life as a beggar. Instead, he feels quite happy when talking about it.

Who could have thought that a beggar, who started with a bowl, would eventually become the founding emperor?
This is a legendary story that even vernacular novels dare not write about!
"Another thing is that you have to be smart. If you meet a generous customer, you have to take advantage of the situation and win his favor."

Zhu Yuanzhang continued,

"If those generous and wealthy people are willing to help you once, they may help you twice, three times, or even leave food for you every day if you go there every day!"

"We have met several such noble men. We go to beg for food at a fixed time every day. In front of their houses, we praise the master of this house for his kindness and say that if a daughter is born, she will be a beautiful bride, and if a son is born, he will be a top scholar! We praise the master so much that he is overjoyed. Are you still afraid of not having a meal?"

"In fact, begging mainly depends on this! It is useless to knock on doors of ordinary people one by one. At that time, ordinary people were actually on the verge of begging." Zhu Ju nodded in agreement.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the common people were truly living in dire straits, especially the Han people, who were simply not treated as human beings.

"It seems that you, Dad, are living a comfortable life as a beggar."

Zhu Ju couldn't help but laugh.
"Identify a few wealthy families, come to their doorstep every day to get food, and never worry about food and drink! If I ever fall into poverty, I'll do the same and resume my family's business!"

In his opinion, Lao Zhu is indeed capable and smart.

Even if you are reduced to begging for food, you are still much better than an ordinary beggar!
Admirable and worth learning!

"Hahaha, you kid..."

Zhu Yuanzhang burst into laughter and cursed,
"Nothing good! Do you really think this is a good life?"

"You hear us say it's easy, but it's actually very difficult! Especially when begging for food, there's one thing you have to fear. Eight out of ten beggars who encounter this are doomed!"

"Guess what it is?"

Zhu Ju touched his chin.

"Did you run into a robber? Did you get sick? Did you get possessed by an evil spirit?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly.

"The robbers only rob people for money. They don't like to kill people for fun. Killing a beggar doesn't bring any benefits, so why bother? Unless they want to capture strong men to do hard labor in the mountains, robbers usually don't attack beggars. As for being possessed by evil spirits... hehe."

He snorted.
"I have never seen a ghost in my life, so I am not afraid of ghosts or evil spirits! They are more afraid of me than anything else!"

Zhu Ju smiled.
That's right, with Lao Zhu's hot temper and vigorous blood, who would dare to provoke him?
I'm afraid I'll have to take a detour if I see it!
"But you guessed it right. Beggars are not afraid of anything else but getting sick. Once they get sick, there is nothing they can do. All they can do is rely on their own luck."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said,

"At that time, I was unlucky and caught a disease. It was a very serious disease! It was commonly known as malaria. This disease could not be cured by ordinary doctors. We could only rely on ourselves to fight it. Eight out of ten people could not fight it, and if they couldn't fight it, they would die!"

"After getting this disease, I was confused, hot and cold, and shivered from time to time. In that state, I couldn't even go out to beg for food, let alone pee! And there was no help to take care of me. I thought at that time - it's over, I'm really going to fail this time."

Zhu Ju's expression was stern.

Malaria! It is a deadly disease! Before the advent of artemisinin, the mortality rate of this disease was terrifying.

"So what happened next? How did you recover?"

He asked curiously,
"You are blessed with a good fortune and luck, and you managed to get through it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glared.

"That problem, can I bear it? Do you really think I'm a god?"

Old Zhu spat and then said seriously,
"At that time, there were two mysterious nobles who rescued us."

"These two people were dressed in purple, their behavior was quite strange, they didn't like to talk, and they didn't say much, but they took care of me wholeheartedly, fed me and gave me medicine, and helped me recover from a sickly person to a lively state!"

"As soon as I recovered, the two purple-clothed men wanted to leave. I was so anxious that I pulled their clothes to stop them from leaving. I insisted on asking the names of the two benefactors and why they wanted to save me."

"Yes, why?" Zhu Ju was also a little surprised and couldn't help asking.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said:
"Guess what they said?"

Note:
In the fourth year of Zhizheng, there was a drought, locusts, and great famine. Taizu was seventeen years old at the time. His parents and brother died one after another, and he was too poor to bury them. Liu Jizu, a fellow villager, gave him a piece of land, and he was able to bury them, which is Fengyang Mausoleum. Taizu was alone and had no one to rely on, so he became a monk in Huangjue Temple. After more than a month, he traveled to Hefei. He fell ill on the way, and two purple-robed men accompanied him to take care of him. After he recovered from the illness, he lost his whereabouts. ——"Ming History, Volume 1"

Please follow up, everyone please don't keep reading, otherwise I can't beat them woooo ...



(End of this chapter)