Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family-Chapter 898 - : Buying Grain

Chapter 898: Chapter 898: Buying Grain

The little maid’s nervous movements piqued Liu Sisi’s curiosity.

What sort of person was this “Master” mentioned by the little maid—a person who could instill such fear in her?

Zhang Peng turned back and cast a covert glance at Liu Sisi, then suddenly laughed!

“Your little maid lacks manners—neighbors should help each other out and pay visits. Why talk of intimidation?”

In this turbulent time, who would hope for strangers to visit under the guise of neighborliness but actually come to pry?

Hearing Zhang Peng spout such faulty reasoning, Liu Sisi almost laughed out loud but forcibly contained herself.

“Xiaolian, what are you shrinking and cowering there for? How can you be so unaware!”

A rough and grating middle-aged male voice made people feel distinctly uncomfortable.

The little maid shivered all over, shot everyone a look as if to wish them good luck, then said loudly, “Old Master, it’s neighbors from the small courtyard next to the hostel, who have come to pay their respects upon hearing of our presence here.”

The man seemed extremely pleased and eagerly invited them in, “Oh? Since we have distinguished visitors, why aren’t they being ushered in immediately? What are you still standing there for?”

The little maid turned back and replied, making a gesture of invitation for the guests to enter, “Your Honors, please, this way.”

The group had a clear purpose for their visit and did not hesitate to proceed into the small courtyard.

Liu Sisi closely followed behind Zhang Peng, pretending to be one of the followers. While no one was paying attention, she took note of the layout of the small courtyard.

This small courtyard had the same layout as the one they were staying in. There was a row of main rooms in the center, common sleeping areas on both sides, and a storage room at the end. At the moment, a corpulent middle-aged man was walking slowly from in front of the main room. Indeed stout, the fat on his body undulated with each step he took. With a fat face and large ears, he laughed before even meeting them face to face.

“Hahaha… It turns out to be several Mr. Officers! Last night, I, the subordinate, slept so soundly, I wasn’t aware that new neighbors had moved in next door. It’s my fault. I deserve to be punished!”

The middle-aged man chuckled, quickly scanning over everyone with his beady eyes.

Last night nearly two hundred people had entered the small courtyard, naturally causing quite a commotion. Yet, Fatty here claimed he slept soundly and did not notice their arrival, which was a blatant lie.

Zhang Peng narrowed his eyes, “Good to hear, We too, came over on a whim to pay a visit to Your Honor. We hope you won’t take offense to the disturbance.”

“Not at all. Everyone, please come inside,” Wang Ziyan gestured invitingly.

Liu Sisi and others didn’t stand on ceremony and followed Wang Ziyan into the inner room.

While the exterior of this small courtyard was similar to theirs, the interior decor was starkly different. The floor was covered with thick carpet, and the room’s furnishings were lavishly golden—far from resembling a simple hostel, it looked more like the home of a newly rich family.

Once everyone was seated according to their status, Liu Sisi stood to the right of Zhang Peng, quietly playing the role of an attendant.

Zhang Peng picked up the teacup as if to signal something, then continued with a smile to inquire, “Just now, Your Honor referred to yourself as a subordinate officer. May I ask what rank you hold?”

The Fatty had also set down his teacup, rocking his large head with prideful self-satisfaction, “I am Wang Ziyan; I donated to become the Governor of Lulu half a year ago, a mere Rank 8 official—truly, I am ashamed, deeply ashamed!” While his mouth spoke of shame, his face was the picture of complacency, without a trace of actual embarrassment.

Liu Sisi blinked, and then it dawned on her that this was a new policy introduced only in the last two years. As long as these people had money, and provided the Master had not committed any offenses, they could donate between ten thousand and one hundred thousand silver to buy an official position, either of Eighth-Rank or Junior Eighth-Rank.

These purchased Rank 8 positions were not subject to promotion, purely a scheme concocted by those above to collect money and enrich the national bank. Since there was no promotion, the people above did not take this matter too seriously.

Liu Sisi could never have imagined that, by visiting today on a whim, she would actually encounter such a donor official.

As soon as Wang Ziyan finished speaking, the expressions of several people changed immediately. So, he was the kind of person who had an excess of money burning a hole in his pocket.

Zhang Peng nodded slightly: “So it’s Lord Wang temporarily staying here; we were indeed presumptuous. My name is Zhang Peng, and I am currently serving under Marquis Yongping.”

Zhang Peng did not introduce himself, instead mentioning Di Yelei’s name.

Wang Ziyan’s eyes suddenly lit up!

His eyes narrowed into slits: “Ah, so we have distinguished guests! Quickly, quickly! Go order the servants to change the tea, and don’t delay, understand?”

Aside from Liu Sisi, they were all high-ranking men, each one a veteran of life-and-death battles. They had no interest in sipping what was allegedly fine tea.

Seeing Wang Ziyan busying himself with orders to his servants, Zhang Peng cleared his throat gently.

“No need to trouble yourself, Lord Wang. To be honest, we do not visit the temple for no reason. We come to see Lord Wang today because we have a request.”

Liu Sisi and Zhang Peng had previously discussed it and planned to use silver to buy some food from local merchants. After all, merchants pursued profit; since they were traders, the most they would do is hike the price of grain. However, judging from the current situation, Wang Ziyan clearly did not lack silver, and proposing to buy food with silver, Zhang Peng had perhaps not even a ten percent chance of success.

But he had no choice but to shoot the arrow since it was already on the bow.

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Wang Ziyan raised his fatty head, looked at them with surprise, and then laughed heartily: “Though I am but a lowly subordinate officer, should Lord Zhang have any use for me, just command me. I will exert my full effort to repay Lord Zhang for recognizing my worth.”

Liu Sisi’s eyes narrowed slightly; it was hard to believe that someone as corpulent as Wang Ziyan was such a smooth talker.

Zhang Peng found it difficult to speak: “This is the situation. We had some disagreements with the Post-house Minister upon moving in, so regarding food… We specifically came to see Lord Wang today, hoping to distribute some grain from Lord Wang. Of course, the matter of silver can be easily settled…”

“Ah! Lord Zhang speaks amiss. This is not about silver,”

Wang Ziyan waved his hand casually, a pained look on his face: “Recently, Yingchang City has been besieged, and because the enemy approached so suddenly, everyone simply had no time to prepare. Even I am trapped in this hostel, unable to take my post. There has been a food shortage of late, and just yesterday, I was so unbearably hungry that I ordered the servants to slaughter an old horse for meat, which barely got us through the past two days. Right now, I truly do not have any surplus food to sell to your honors.”

Indeed, this morning they had smelled the aroma of roasting meat; could it have been the horse meat that Wang Ziyan spoke of?

Liu Sisi slightly lifted her head, scrutinizing the Wang Ziyan opposite her.

He displayed an air of sorrow, and when speaking of slaughtering the horse for roasted meat, he had an expression of great sadness, yet Liu Sisi caught a fleeting hint of sarcasm at the edge of his mouth.