Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 7 Chinese Patent Medicine

Sun Mansion.

Not long after the Zhang family father and son left, Sun Bojian's sister, Sun You's eldest daughter, Sun Chengying, appeared in front of her father. She had heard that the Zhang family had come to cancel the engagement, so she rushed back from her own shop.

"Shopkeeper Qin is gone?"

"gone."

"What about the Zhang family father and son?"

“Gone too!”

"Father, why is Zhang so ungrateful? There were just some bad rumors about my brother, and they came to cancel the engagement. If this gets out, where will the reputation of our Sun family be?"

Sun Chengying and Sun Bojian are siblings from the same mother. They were born in the same year, one at the beginning of the year and the other at the end of the year.

Originally, the Sun family's business should have been managed by Sun Bojian, but Sun Bojian was frail and sickly, and was a weak scholar. Sun You didn't want his son to worry about it, so he let Sun Chengying take care of it, and planned to find a son-in-law for Sun Chengying.

Sun You said: "The Zhang family's masters did not listen to the gossip outside. They knew that Bojian was just suffering from wheezing."

"That's nice to say..."

Sun Chengying said angrily, "If it weren't for the fact that he is a student, how could our Sun family let them marry someone of higher status? This marriage concerns the reputation of our Sun family, so we can't back out of it."

Sun You was very annoyed when he heard this and said, "This is actually your brother's own idea... The Zhang family said that they asked a fortune teller to tell them that their fates are in conflict. Do you have to make your brother suffer any misfortune before you will give up? Oh, by the way, you always talk about your brother, why don't you get married earlier? There will always be someone in charge of the family in the future. Your brother has already taken the college entrance examination. Once he passes, he will be a student. Do you expect your brother to take care of the affairs of the family in the future?"

Sun Chengying didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Obviously, she didn't want her brother to cancel the engagement, and she was also thinking about herself. In the past two years, she had taken over the family's farm and business and had seen the world. She was unwilling to get married and have children early and live in the inner house.

"Master Zhang said that his family has a secret recipe for treating wheezing. I'll ask someone to get it later." Sun You said.

Sun Chengying was dissatisfied again, and muttered: "You can't just go to any doctor when you are desperate, right?"

Sun You said, "The Zhang family is a family of scholars, and they have produced high-ranking officials... You still say that they are marrying up, but in the past few years, have they looked at us squarely? Why do they have to talk nonsense when it comes to curing diseases and saving lives? Let's not talk about whether it works or not, just take it back and prepare the medicine, and you will know after trying it. How is the matter on the counter?"

Sun Chengying's tone was somewhat resistant:

"The grain on the grain ships moored at the canal pier has been unloaded successfully. The store is full, and the rest has been transported back to the granary at home for storage... This time, taking advantage of the drought in the north, we brought this batch of grain back and released it in the spring famine season. I should be able to make a small profit."

Sun You nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay, let's get things done quickly. Our family has not been doing well in the past two years. If anything goes wrong again, I'm afraid the 200 acres of land outside the city will also change hands!"

……

……

The city gate.

Since Zhang Luan failed to borrow money, he could only try his luck at other relatives' homes, while the Zhang brothers were on their way home with tea and medicine bags bought from the pharmacy.

"Second brother, it's all your fault. If you hadn't stopped us, we would have been able to bring back the silver from my brother-in-law's house... It hurts to think about it..." After all, Zhang Heling was just a young boy who was ignorant of the world. All he could see was a little benefit in front of him.

Zhang Yanling glanced at him and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Even Dad knows that it's better not to accept it... Dad is much more insightful than me..."

"I think Dad has been bewitched by you... What's the point of buying this medicine? Can it really cure my brother-in-law's illness? In fact, it would be great if it really did, so that my sister can get married smoothly... Look at the many trucks unloading goods in front of his house, it's obvious that he has a large family and a lot of wealth."

Zhang Heling said this with envy in his eyes.

Zhang Yanling sneered, "I've seen it. That batch of grain is all old grain, and it's grain for the imperial court... In normal years, it's nothing. But this year, I'm afraid they will be involved in a lawsuit because of this grain."

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Heling frowned, "Brother, why do you speak differently after being beaten? Why can't I understand anything you say?"

Zhang Yanling couldn't explain it clearly to an unenlightened teenager.

The grain of the Ming Dynasty was loaded onto ships and transported to the north via the canal, which was called "regular loading". Various granaries were built along the canal to store grain. According to convention, new granaries would be introduced every one or two years, and merchants would buy back the old grain and sell it everywhere.

But this in itself is not in compliance with the law, or it can be said to be a gray area outside the law. Many grain officials took advantage of the situation and embezzled money, resulting in empty granaries.

It happened that in November of the 22nd year of Chenghua, a major grain and fodder case occurred.

The cause of the incident is:
"The Ministry of Revenue reported that the warehouses in Datong were short of grain. Langzhong Gezi said that they wanted to obtain more than 100,000 taels of silver from the Beijing Treasury and to open up more than 200,000 tons of salt stored in Huai and Zhejiang in the past 21 years, and to bring Datong to pay the grain, as the Beijing Treasury had limited storage."

What this means is that the Ministry of Revenue reported to the emperor that the grain reserves were insufficient and that they needed to be exchanged for silver. The emperor was displeased when he heard this. Why did he have to use salt to exchange for grain when the weather had been good in recent years?
Before the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign, salt permits were levied according to the grain-opening system, and the excess salt permits were privately owned by the emperor. In this era, the phenomenon of powerful and wealthy people usurping salt permits was common, which the emperor saw as undoubtedly emptying his own pockets.

The emperor immediately sent someone to investigate:
"…At that time, Song Cong, a member of the Ministry of Personnel, and others checked the grain and grass at Datong, Piantou, and Yanmen Pass, and reported that the grain and grass losses at various borders were incalculable. They impeached Lun and others for failing to ban reforms, and Yu and Qi for failing to prevent them. The Ministry of Revenue said that it was better to do as Cong and others did. The governor of the border urgently requested to cut off the salary of Yu and others for three months, and said that the grain and grass were for emergency use at the border, and that the theft of a warehouse was as much as 300,000. He ordered the inspector to investigate and report to the emperor…"

Outcome of the case:
"… The salaries of Zuo Yu and Ye Qi, the governor of Datong, Shanxi, were suspended for three months respectively. Zhang Lun, the doctor of the Ministry of Revenue, Liu Zhong, the councilor of Shanxi, Chu Lin, the councilor, Yong Tai and Xu Jian, the deputy envoys, Ma Long and Xu Hui, the assistants, as well as the governor Gu Yan, the councilor Yi Xuan, and the deputy envoy Hao Zhiyi, who were in mourning, were imprisoned…"

As a wealthy family in Xingji County, an important transit station on the canal, there was nothing wrong with the Sun family selling off the old grain transported by the canal. After all, it was a common practice and many merchants did the same.

But it happened to be at this time. Although the Sun family might not necessarily be imprisoned, they would inevitably have their grain confiscated or even be blackmailed by the government.

What seemed like a good business obtained through good relations with the government would actually cause the Sun family to lose all their money.

"Brother, what I mean is that the Sun family may lose a lot of money because of this business." Zhang Yanling said. Zhang Heling curled his lips and said, "You just like to exaggerate. I don't believe it. They do such a big business, will they not consider the consequences? It would be great if our family could make a fortune like the Sun family in the future."

Zhang Yanling couldn't help but look at his brother.

It’s no wonder that, perhaps because they were born in poor families, the two people who were most aggressive in trying to get the Ming Dynasty’s salt permits are now glaring at each other. From now on, no matter whether it is the Ming Dynasty’s grain, official salt, wood and stone materials, etc., they are all things that the two brothers like to seize.

If we allow this to continue, the censors of the Ming Dynasty will come and impeach us for no reason.

"Will do."

Zhang Yanling patted his eldest brother on the shoulder and said, "But brother, we'd better take it easy and stop when we are ahead."

"What?"

Zhang Heling was bewildered.

He would never understand what his brother was saying.

Then the two brothers stopped talking on the way back, probably because they both thought the other was crazy.

……

……

It was almost sunset when Zhang Luan returned home.

By now, the Zhang brothers had been back for more than an hour.

"Master, what's going on?"

Jin hurried over to inquire and did not forget to "exorcise" her husband.

Zhang Luan was very impatient, but he let his wife beat him with the peach tree branch. He sighed, "I went to many families, but except for the Sun family who were willing to give me money, the others complained to me before I could say anything... Even so, I canceled the marriage with the Sun family, who I only hoped to borrow money from."

Jin said, "Just withdraw. Didn't the mansion say they have arranged a good marriage for us?"

"This one……"

Zhang Luan didn't know how to explain it.

When the discussion about cancelling the marriage between Zhang Yu and Sun Bojian was discussed at the dinner table yesterday, the old couple kept silent. In fact, they had already made this plan, but their son spoke first, so they gave in.

"What? You don't want to talk about the marriage again?" Jin asked nervously.

Zhang Luan said: "That being said, I just found out who the other party is today. He is actually from Uncle Wan Guo's family."

Jin asked, "Is he the brother of Concubine Wan in the palace? I'm afraid we can't afford him... Will he be interested in our girl?"

Zhang Luan looked unhappy: "Uncle Wan would be fine, but who knew it was Wan Er... Yanling said he heard from a passing merchant that Wan Er had died a long time ago. I was skeptical at first, so before I came back in the afternoon, I asked someone about it. Guess what, he is really dead! I will go to the mansion tomorrow to ask what happened."

"died?"

Jin was also a little confused for a moment.

My daughter is as beautiful as a flower, and the whole family is waiting to marry her off so that they can turn their lives around. But now the mansion is matchmaking her with a dead man?
"Where's the second brother? Bring me my tea leaves."

Zhang Luan was just about to fetch water from the well in the yard to wash his face when he suddenly thought of his second son's performance today and could not help but greet him.

Jin took out a piece of dry cloth and said, "I don't know what he is doing. After he came back, he went to the mountains and dug some wild grass, saying that he would make medicine. The tea leaves..."

"Don't ask! This bastard has made me lose face today!"

Zhang Luan was furious when he thought of what happened during the day. "He was at Sun's house and insisted that our family had some secret recipe that could cure Mr. Sun's illness. I was embarrassed and had to go along with him. When we got to the pharmacy, he refused to listen to the doctor and insisted on getting the medicine himself, which cost me three cents more... But luckily, I got some tea from Sun's house. It was the legendary Huangshan Cloud Mist, which should be worth some money."

Jin's face was not very good: "Master, it's just some tea leaves, weighing only a few taels, how much can it be worth?"

"You don't understand this, do you? Let's not argue with you. Let him take it out first... Hey, I'm afraid no one will believe me when I brag to others about the famous tea Huangshan Yunwu... Haha, you know what, our son is so good at bragging that he can even make a dead person come back to life..."

"What does it have to do with my son?"

Jin looked at Zhang Luan sternly, and her suspicious eyes clearly said, "You didn't spend the three cents yourself and came back to blame it on your son, did you?"

Poor couples have many worries. In the early years, Jin also wanted to live the life of a lady with everything provided for her, but now she has to learn to live frugally.

"What do you know? Hurry up and call the second brother out. I'm going to punish him severely!" Zhang Luan acted like a strict father, but with a smile on his face.

But then he heard his second son's voice coming from the room: "Dad, you can punish me later. I will prepare the medicine soon."

At this time, Zhang Yanling was "preparing medicine" in the room.

The medicine they prescribed was very powerful. It was the medicine that frightened countless children later on. It was famous for being bitter and difficult to drink. It was also a common medicine in Western hospitals. It was a practical Chinese herbal medicine formula called "Pudilan" that could fight bacteria and viruses.

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(End of this chapter)