Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 51

Chapter 51 I Miss My Family All the More on Every Festive Day
A lonely stranger in a strange land I am cast, I miss my family all the more on every festive day.

As the New Year approached, Lu Zhen’s heart became a little chaotic. He began to miss his parents and other relatives and friends.

The Chinese nation has always attached great importance to feelings and reunification. That was why there would be Spring Festival luck in the next generation. When that time came, no matter where they were and how far they were from home, the wandering children would try their best to go home.

Yes, go home! Getting together with relatives, laughing together, and celebrating the Chinese New Year in a round manner is already a fetter that has soaked into the blood of every Chinese child. Even if they couldn’t go home for various reasons, they would still use all kinds of methods to contact their families at this time.

Lu Zhen is only in his twenties. Although he used to study thousands of miles away from home, he will return home on time during the winter vacation. But now … he was in a place that he couldn’t return to no matter what, and he couldn’t contact his parents. This caused him to feel infinite loneliness.

If it was before he dealt with Zheng Fu and the others, perhaps because of the tense situation, he would be able to devote more than half of his attention to thinking about how to deal with them. But now, not only had Zheng Fu been thrown into prison, even the seemingly unprovoked Xiao Mo had ceased to exist. At the very least, there was no longer any threat in this period of time. Lu Zhen, who was empty, naturally had other thoughts. As he thought about it more, his yearning for his relatives became even more intense.

Especially when he saw the people from the county government smiling as they prepared to go home to celebrate the New Year with their relatives, the yearning and melancholy in his heart became even more intense. This made him unable to do anything. Fortunately, it was New Year’s Day, and there was nothing important in the yamen. Otherwise, he would have been delayed.

12th month, 29th day, after accepting the respectful New Year greetings from the people below, Lu Zhen waved his hand and allowed them to leave the government. Only after fifteen would everyone return. Of course, there were some exceptions. For example, the two officials and clerks who had more work to do had to come to the county government to make some preparations before Lu Zhen left for Datong on the seventh day of the first year.

As the crowd dispersed, the already empty county government became even quieter, and Lu Zhen’s heart was also empty. He didn’t know what to do for a moment, but at the same time, he didn’t have any interest in doing anything.

As he shook his head, Lu Zhen came to his public house and subconsciously took out the three hundred taels of silver bill from a book.

In these few days, he would take out this banknote as soon as he was free and carefully examine it up and down. It was not because he was obsessed with money, but because he wanted to know more about this kind of currency that had been completely spread out. This could be considered an interest.

As far as Lu Zhen knew, paper money had appeared as early as the Song Dynasty. It was called Jiaozi. Afterwards, in the Hongwu period of the Great Ming Dynasty, precious banknotes, which could be used as currency in circulation, appeared. Unfortunately, because the Imperial Court did not pay much attention to issuing banknotes, and even issued a large number of banknotes in the form of plundering people’s wealth, the precious banknotes in the Yongle period were already boycotted by everyone.

I didn’t expect that in just a few decades, silver bills would appear in this world, and even places like Shanxi had started to circulate. Perhaps this could be considered an improvement of the times.

Thinking about all of this, Lu Zhen’s originally somewhat distressed expression finally became better, and the corner of his mouth even carried a faint smile. But at this moment, a cold snort suddenly came from outside the door, causing Lu Zhen to suddenly pull himself out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw Chu Yunrong standing in front of the door with a face full of disdain …

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Lu Zhen ignored one point. In fact, he was not the only stranger in the county government. His nominal wife Chu Yunrong and little girl Cuimei were also strangers. They were also missing their hometown and family at this time.

The only difference was that the two of them could be companions, while Lu Zhen had to face the loneliness alone. And his loneliness also fell into Cuimei’s eyes.

Just now, after knowing that everyone in the county government had been sent away by Lu Zhen, Cuimei wrapped her hands around her own young miss. “Miss, no matter how you say it, uncle is also our relative. It’s not a problem for you to ignore him all this time. It’s the New Year again. It’s too pitiful to leave him alone over there.”

“Hmph, he hasn’t met us for a while now. What kind of family is he? I’m afraid he doesn’t think of me as his wife anymore …” Chu Yunrong, who was somewhat fragile because of her longing, complained to Lu Zhen.

Sometimes, people were also strange. In the past, when Lu Zhen always came to pester him, Chu Yunrong felt upset when she saw him. However, in the past month or two, Lu Zhen had almost disappeared from her sight. He did not feel any resentment in his heart and would occasionally say a few words because of this.

Actually, it was not that Chu Yunrong originally had any feelings for Lu Zhen. It was really because the relationship between the two sides was placed here. In addition, Lu Zhen’s recent performance had greatly exceeded her expectations, so her attitude towards Lu Zhen had also changed.

Seeing her say this, Cuimei laughed in her heart and took the opportunity to say, “Miss, actually, I don’t have to take the initiative to look for you. We can also go see him.”

“This … this isn’t good, is it?” Chu Yunrong immediately frowned. As a daughter, she still needed to be reserved. Moreover, if he really took the initiative to see him, and if he had other thoughts, what would he do if he were to pester him like before?

“Young miss, this county government is empty. It’s only the three of us now. Aren’t you afraid? Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. It’s too quiet for the two of us to celebrate the New Year together. Let’s find uncle.”

Chu Yunrong was moved by Cui Mei’s first sentence. Like most women, she wasn’t too bold. Thinking about the current situation in the yamen, she was also a little scared. Therefore, after thinking for a while, he finally moved his heart and went out with Cui Mei to find Lu Zhen.

In the end, Chu Yunrong’s attitude had changed because of Lu Zhen’s recent progress, which made her feel that this fellow might still be saved.

But now, when Chu Yunrong finally saw Lu Zhen in front of the public house and found that he was smiling strangely with a silver note, Lu Zhen’s image collapsed again.

It turned out that he was no different from before, he was still the same greedy!

Look, isn’t he holding a large banknote in his hand? It must have been looted or embezzled from somewhere. How can a person like this be my husband? How could I fall for such a person?

Chu Yunrong felt contempt in her heart, and she couldn’t help but snort. This voice alarmed Lu Zhen, causing him to raise his head. Then, he revealed an expression of surprise, “Why are you here?”

“I know, you don’t want us to come here right now, so I won’t expose your true colors.” Chu Yunrong frowned with a look of contempt.

Lu Zhen was stunned for a moment, and then he noticed that the other party’s gaze was on the silver note in his hand. Then he suddenly laughed, “Do you think this is the result of my embezzlement?”

“How you got this banknote has nothing to do with me. I have no interest in knowing.” Although she said that, Chu Yunrong’s gaze was still fixed on the other party’s hand, “Originally, I thought that after the previous incident, you have completely changed. Now, it seems that you have only learned to hide! However, your nature is no different from before, and you are still so greedy!”

Being scolded by the other party like this made Lu Zhen unconsciously smile bitterly. Isn’t it just a banknote that can make your aunt curse with such contempt?

For some reason, Lu Zhen really wanted to explain, so he walked over with the banknote. When he arrived in front of Chu Yunrong, he even lit up the banknote and said, “Take a look.”

“What are you looking at?” As Chu Yunrong spoke, her gaze fell. Immediately after, her expression changed, “Three hundred taels!” That’s a pretty big number.

“This banknote was sent by President Xiao Mo who came to cause trouble the other day. Do you think he really has any good intentions in giving me such a large sum of money?” Lu Zhen argued with the other party.

“What do you mean?” Chu Yunrong was not a fool, and she had already thought of something.

“He has always ignored me as a county magistrate. After I suffer a loss, he will kindly give me money? Believe it or not, I won’t believe it anyway.” Lu Zhen once in a blue moon said a famous quote from later generations.

However, the effect of these words was not very obvious. Chu Yunrong looked at him in puzzlement, “Since you knew that there was a problem, why did you accept it?”

“Because if you don’t accept it, it might be even more troublesome.” Lu Zhen smiled bitterly, “At least I can live a few days after I accept it. However, this banknote is still a problem. That’s why I took it to ponder.”

“Do you really mean it?” Chu Yunrong blinked her eyes and asked.

She was originally beautiful, but now she was not as cold to Lu Zhen as before. She even had a trace of playfulness, which made Lu Zhen’s heart involuntarily move. After all, he was only twenty, and when he saw such a beauty in front of him, he couldn’t help but be stunned.

“Hey, Lu Shansi, what do I ask you?” For no reason, Chu Yunrong’s heart skipped a beat when she was dumbfounded by this “husband” in front of her. This was a feeling that she had never felt before. He was shocked and could only use words to resolve the awkwardness.

Lu Zhen also felt a little embarrassed and hurriedly said, “Of course it’s true. These hundreds of taels of silver are not in my eyes, so how can I look at them over and over again?”

What he said was the truth. Because of the influence of many literary and artistic works in the later generations, even Lu Zhen, who knew history well, did not have a deep understanding of several hundred taels of silver, because there were tens of thousands or even tens of millions of silver in the first place.

“You will boast.” Chu Yunrong couldn’t help but glance at the man in front of her, “Oh right, tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, how do you plan to spend it?” There was already a hint of an invitation in his words.

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