Duke of Zhenguan

The woman sipped her wine in small sips before turning her gaze to Lin Chuan:

"Young man, is this wine homemade?"

"You've misunderstood, sir. If I could brew this wine, I wouldn't be living in such a sorry state! My father bought these two jars of wine by chance from a foreigner in the West Market!" Lin Chuan shook his head.

The woman neither agreed nor disagreed, and then asked:

"Only these two jars?"

"Only these two jars!" Lin Chuan nodded.

The woman stared intently at Lin Chuan for a long while before softly asking:

"How much do you want to sell these two jars of wine for?"

Lin Chuan had already decided on the price and said:

"Fifty strings of cash!"

The woman paused, then asked Lin Chuan with a wry smile:

"Young man, do you know how much the finest imperial wine costs per pound?"

Without waiting for Lin Chuan's answer, he continued:

"Two thousand coins per catty!"

"My father said that even the finest imperial wine can't compare to these two jars of wine!" Lin Chuan said calmly.

"..."

The woman was speechless. Even if she went against her conscience, she couldn't say that the imperial wine was better than these two jars of wine.

After thinking for a moment, the woman said:

"Each jar costs five strings of cash, I'll pay ten strings for these two jars of wine!"

Lin Chuan's heart suddenly raced, and he shook his head without hesitation.

"Young man, think about it again. Besides me, who else would pay ten strings of cash for two jars of your wine?" the woman said speechlessly.

"Shall I go ask at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion across the street?" Lin Chuan said.

"..."

The woman reached out and rubbed her temples, saying helplessly:

"Twenty strings of cash!"

Lin Chuan shook his head again.

The woman looked at Lin Chuan, whose face was calm, and said with a smile:

"Thirty strings of cash! Young man, if you think you can get a higher price at the Hundred Flowers Brothel, then go ahead and give it a try!"

"Deal!" Lin Chuan handed over the wine jar in his hand.

The woman took the wine jar and said to the maid:

"Chuntao, take him to the accountant to get the money!"

After Lin Chuan followed the maid downstairs, the burly man guarding the door asked softly:

"Madam, that young man might have others at home. Shall I go with him?"

"Don't do anything stupid. The new emperor's ascension to the throne is the time to establish his authority. I don't want to see your head being carried off by dogs at the execution ground just because of a few jars of wine!" the woman scolded irritably.

"Yes!" the burly man replied awkwardly.

"You did a good job. Go to the accountant and collect your money!" the woman waved her hand.

"Madam Xie!"

……

Thirty strings of cash, which is a full two hundred catties.

This person was very weak and could not carry two hundred pounds, so Lin Chuan only asked for ten strings of copper coins and the remaining twenty taels of silver.

With twenty taels of silver tucked into his pocket and ten strings of copper coins in a sack slung over his shoulder, Lin Chuan finally showed a relaxed smile after leaving Pingkangfang.

Actually, his initial price was ten strings of cash, and he never thought he could sell it for thirty strings of cash. But the woman offered such a high price, so he naturally sold it for as much as he could.

Carrying the money back to Yanshoufang, Lin Chuan had just entered Tiechi Alley when he suddenly stopped and his gaze fell on a loafer not far from the alley entrance.

Seeing Lin Chuan staring at him, the idler nodded to Lin Chuan and strode away from Iron Ruler Alley.

Lin Chuan frowned and strode home.

Just as he reached the door, Li Shi and Er Ya came out to greet him, asking with concern:

"Big Brother, you're finally back! Are you alright?"

"fine!"

Lin Chuan shook his head, put down the sack of copper coins, and said softly to Li Shi:

"Mother, this is the money from selling the wine!"

Li reached out and took the heavy sack, saying with delight:

"That must be at least ten strings of cash? You sold so many?"

Lin Chuan then took out some silver and handed it over:

"There are still twenty taels of silver left!"

Looking at the silver, Li became suspicious and asked Lin Chuan with concern:

"Brother, you haven't been scammed, have you? How could you possibly sell so many..."

"Mother, did you really sell so many..."

Lin Chuan explained the wine-selling matter to Li Shi in detail.

Only then did Mrs. Li believe it, and she said softly:

"Now we can pay back Zhou Laosi's money, Dalang. Erya just went out and said she saw Zhou Laosi's men guarding the alley entrance. Why don't I go and ask your Ninth Uncle and Twelfth Uncle to go with you and pay back the money first?"

"Okay! I'll go ask Uncle Nine and Uncle Twelve. Mother, you take some money and ask Aunt Nine to go with you to the West Market to buy some meat and grain to send to the uncles and aunts who helped us a few days ago..." Lin Chuan nodded.

"good!"

Lin Shier was also Lin Chuan's cousin. He was thirty-one years old, with a robust build, and was in his prime.

When Lin Chuan and Lin Jiu went to invite him, Lin Twelve happened to be home, so the two brothers accompanied Lin Chuan to an unnamed alley in the West Market.

This is Thursday's lair.

Like the Lin family, Zhou Si also fled famine from elsewhere more than ten years ago. However, he was brave and ruthless, and had some real skills. After living in Chang'an for a while, he gathered a group of idle men to engage in loan sharking and lived a good life.

Upon seeing Lin Chuan and his group of four at the entrance, Zhou Si was surprised, but waved for his men who had surrounded him to disperse and politely welcomed them inside.

After entering, Lin Chuan didn't exchange many pleasantries with Zhou Si. He took out fifteen taels of loose silver from his pocket, counted them out, and handed them over, saying:

"Uncle Zhou, I'm here to return the money. Here's fifteen taels of silver! Is that enough?"

On Thursday, he took the silver, weighed it in his hand, pulled out a stack of IOUs from his sleeve, flipped through them for a while, then pulled one out and handed it to Lin Chuan, saying with a smile:

"This is an IOU!"

Lin Chuan took the IOU, looked at it carefully, put it in his pocket, bowed to Zhou Si, and said:

"Goodbye!"

Just as he turned around, he was quickly stopped by Thursday.

Lin Jiu and Lin Twelve's expressions changed, and they gripped the iron shovels hidden in their sleeves, ready to attack. Lin Chuan quickly reached out to stop them.

"Is there anything else, Uncle Zhou?"

Thursday smiled and said with a sincere expression:

"Young brother, your younger sister is lovely and charming. I've been captivated by her ever since I saw her. I wish to propose marriage to you and take her into my family. I'll offer twenty taels of silver. Once we're in-laws, your affairs will be my affairs. What do you say?"

Lin Jiu broke free from Lin Chuan's grasp, pulled out the iron pliers from his sleeve, pointed them at Zhou Si, and said, word by word:

"You beast! Say that again and see what happens!"

Lin Shier also pulled out the iron pliers, staring at Zhou Si with a gloomy expression.

Thursday remained expressionless, still smiling as she looked at Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan took a deep breath and said helplessly to Zhou Si:

"Thank you for your kindness, Uncle Zhou, but my sister is still young, and I have no plans to marry her off yet!"

Thursday smiled and cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Lin Chuan:

"Young man, please reconsider. I will visit again another day to propose marriage!"

"Goodbye!"

Lin Chuan bowed to Zhou Si and pulled the furious Lin Jiu and Lin Twelve out of the nameless alley.

On the way back, Lin Jiu gently comforted Lin Chuan:

"Brother, don't be afraid. If he dares to come, I'll kill him. At worst, I'll trade my life for his!"

"Uncle Jiu, it's not worth it to trade one life for another with someone like Lao Si."

"Besides, even if it's a matter of life for life, that's my business. You still have Qilang and Jiulang to support at home. You and Uncle Twelve shouldn't worry about this. I'll handle it. If Zhou Laosi really dares to act recklessly, just report it to the authorities!" Lin Chuan said softly.

Although Lin Chuan's face remained calm, the violence in his heart kept surging out.

In the ten days or so since I transmigrated, I've been cold and hungry, and I've been living in constant fear that my body will suddenly collapse.

He was already harboring resentment, and then a loan shark kept pressuring him. Did they really think that a modern person raised under the red flag was a pushover?