Wu Huaiyu took Zhang Chengde to visit the home of the former prince Xima Wei Zheng.
Wei Zheng did not want to see Wu Huaiyu, a guest, and even felt disgusted. However, Zhang Chengde explained the purpose of his visit to the old servant of the Wei family, and Lady Pei persuaded Wei Zheng to meet him.
"The people here today are officials from the Economic Affairs Bureau of the East Palace. People said that you, Wei Zuocheng, are the former crown prince of the Economic Affairs Bureau. Besides, I have important business to come here. The Economic Affairs Bureau is doing a big thing recently and has visited many high-ranking officials.
Scholars, we haven’t blocked them from the door yet..."
"When Wu Laoer comes to visit, it must be up to no good. How much did he cheat us last time?"
"That's what you invited too."
"Yes, I opened the door to lure the robbers into the house, so I won't let them come this time."
Mrs. Pei persuaded Wei Zheng to calm down. Wei Zheng pointed to the half-written epitaph on the table in front of him and said, "Look, in order to repay the money, I have to write epitaphs for Qian Jiulong, Ma Sanbao and their fathers."
"Qian Jiulong is also from a well-known Jiangnan noble family. It was just that in the Sui Dynasty, he offended the emperor and was convicted of confiscating his family and making him a slave. But now, isn't he also a real prince? Ma Sanbao also made 300 households a real prince, and he even got a false viscount.
lost."
"Don't say this, I am like this now, why don't I owe it to Wu Laoer?"
"You can't blame anyone else for this. You took the initiative to ask someone to borrow the money. If you don't borrow the money in the end, it's you who broke the contract. They act according to industry rules."
"not see."
"You think you haven't offended enough people, so you want to offend the new prince too?" Mrs. Pei was extremely angry.
Wei Zheng had no choice but to say, "Okay, you have someone call them in."
Wu Huaiyu came in with Zhang Chengde. Zhang Wenxue was surprised at the simplicity of Wei Zheng's family. He had visited Huaiyu's house before coming here together. The two families were separated by a wall, but the difference was too big.
What a difference.
"Wei Gong!"
Wei Zheng looked at Wu Huaiyu and his teeth were itching, but he could only bow to him with a straight face.
"Mr. Wei, today our Economic Affairs Bureau specially came to visit our old boss in the next bureau," Wu Huaiyu ignored Wei Zheng's constipated face and directly explained with a smile that he wanted Wei Zheng to donate books.
"Wei Gong's collection of three thousand volumes of books is very famous in Chang'an. Now the East Palace Economic Bureau wants to restore the Chongwen Hall book collection, and I would like to ask Wei Gong for his help."
Wei Zheng said angrily, "My collection of three thousand volumes of books is still in custody in your Changshengtang hall now, isn't it?"
"Aren't there many books on Mr. Wei's bookshelf? There are probably hundreds of volumes, right?"
Wei Zheng's beard trembled wildly.
Zhang Chengde didn't know the reason, so he asked.
"It's like this. Wei Gong previously wanted to marry Wang Xueshi's family, so he went to Changsheng Hall to pawn the house and his three thousand volumes of books, and took two thousand coins. Unexpectedly, the censor impeached the Wang family for taking too much money.
, His Majesty issued an edict to reprimand the two families for this matter. The marriage between the two families was ruined, and Wei Gong went to Changshengpu to break the contract..."
How can Wu Huaiyu be so cheap to Wei Zheng? The conditions for early redemption given by Changchangtang are that the money should be continued to be used, and the interest will be paid off after maturity, and the house deed and books will be redeemed. If you must redeem early, you must pay
One month's interest, plus three months' liquidated damages, and the handling fee must be paid in full.
One month's interest is 200 guan, three months' liquidated damages are 600 guan, and there are still 200 guan for the total handover fee, which is a total of 1,000 guan.
Wei Zheng has not yet consummated the marriage, so there is no use in leaving the two thousand guan in his hand. He can redeem it in advance. Even if the money is borrowed for just one day, he will have to pay 1,000 guan in interest and handling fees, etc. Wei Zheng refuses.
So now the matter is still deadlocked, and Huaiyu won't compromise. Anyway, a day counts as a month, and a month counts as a season. He is not afraid of Wei Zheng's loss. The land deed of his house and three thousand volumes of books are still with him.
Mrs. Pei invited Wu Huaiyu in today because she wanted to have a good discussion on this matter. There was no way to delay it. After all, they were the ones who breached the contract first.
"Marquis Wu, if our family's matter is resolved, our Wei family will definitely donate books to the East Palace. I can make the decision on this matter. How about donating three hundred volumes of books? Including a set of notes written by our Alang himself,
Let’s contribute together.”
"Changshengtang has already proposed two solutions to this matter. They are all based on industry rules, but there are no irregularities. It's because the Wei family has been unwilling to solve it." Wu Huaiyu laughed.
Mrs. Pei showed weakness to Wu Huaiyu and sighed, talking about how difficult it was for the Wei family now. The marriage was not consummated and it was still a joke of the government and the public. Now they have to spend so much money to get in, but the Wei family simply doesn't have that much money to pay.
Wei Zheng now has to write epitaphs and plaques for people every day, just to earn some writing fees...
Zhang Chengde couldn't bear to hear this. Zuo Cheng, the dignified minister, a man from Julu County, was also a fourth-grade official and a fifth-grade noble. How could he be in such a pitiful situation? Wei Zheng was also a famous figure in the court.
"Ms. Pei, I am actually very embarrassed about this matter. You were the one who asked me to borrow the money in the first place and asked me to help. I even ignored the rules of the Changsheng Hall and lent you the money with two cents less monthly interest.
But now that I look back, you are going back on my word, making me a human being inside and out, and unable to explain to my bosses.
Why,"
"Wujiro, please help me again."
"Let's do it this way. I will be a good person and stick to it, and make an exception again. As for your situation, I also suggested that you choose early redemption, but one month's interest, three months' liquidated damages plus the full handling fee must be paid."
"But we can't come up with it at all. Even if my family Alang writes epitaphs for people every day, writing one only costs ten thousand dollars, one thousand guan, and it will take years and months of the monkey."
"Well, since you returned the capital to Changshengtang the next day, although liquidated damages, interest, etc. were not paid, we will discuss some solutions today and nothing else."
Huaiyu had no intention of letting Wei Zheng off easily.
He proposed a settlement condition: the one thousand guan of money would be used to offset the three thousand volumes of retained books, and the land deed would be returned to Wei Zheng.
"How is this possible? My three thousand volumes of books contain so many rare and secret books!" Wei Zheng shouted angrily.
"Wei Gong, books are not something that can be priced clearly in real money or silver. They are slightly better than calligraphy and paintings. In the eyes of people who like them, they may cost more than ten thousand gold, but in the eyes of ordinary people, this volume of books is worth a lot of money."
It’s just one volume. Three thousand volumes are worth one thousand guan, which is quite fair.”
"Of course, if Wei Gong feels that the price of this book is more than this, I can ask Changsheng Hall to trouble you and sell these books. If the price is less than a thousand guan, then we will consider ourselves at a loss. If it exceeds a thousand guan, we will deduct points.
How about the rest of the sales fee and the thousand guan can be given to Duke Wei?"
Wei Zheng refused to accept this condition. They were treasures he had collected for many years, and some of them were even family heirlooms.
"This won't work, that won't work either. Doesn't Mr. Wei just want to default on the debt? I can tell Mr. Wei that even if Mr. Wei is the minister Zuo Cheng, even if this lawsuit goes to the imperial court, you can't let it go.
When the time comes, it will be spread throughout the government and the public, and everyone will say that Wei Zuocheng, who always prides himself on being upright, is actually a deadbeat with no credit, and I am afraid that Wei Gong, Zuocheng, the minister, will not be able to continue his career."
Wu Huaiyu's words were very rude.
When Mrs. Pei heard this, she had no choice but to take Wei Zheng and apologize to Huaiyu.
Isn't it because Wei Zheng is able to achieve success in the court just because of his reputation for loyalty?
If he is a dishonest person, wouldn't he become a person who deceives the world and steals his reputation?
This is why Huaiyu always dared to take advantage of Wei Zheng. It was a fact that Wei Zheng owed money. No matter what he said, he would only borrow money for a day or two. The two parties established an IOU.
If you break the contract, you have to follow the rules of breach of contract. You have to pay interest and liquidated damages. Even if the emperor comes, you can't break the contract just because you break the contract.
Even if a lawsuit comes before the emperor, he is not afraid of him. They are not ordinary small businessmen and hawkers, they are all court officials. Wu Huaiyu does not run this store Changshengku alone. The emperor's relatives, relatives and ministers, and even the big temple in Chang'an,
Which company doesn't operate this?
The people who run this business are all people with status.
So if Wei Zheng wants to break the contract, he is going against all the powerful people in this industry. Who can support him?
Wei Zheng wanted to beat Wu Huaiyu to death, but Pei was still rational.
With her constant calmness, they talked slowly.
"How about this? Let me propose another solution. Don't fight for this thousand dollars anymore. It doesn't make sense anywhere. However, we are also neighbors and ministers in the same palace. Let's not
It's ugly.
I also know that you are in trouble, and exchanging books would have been the best way, but since Duke Wei is unwilling to give up these favorites, I won't take them away either.
The land deed is temporarily kept in the Changsheng Hall, and the three thousand volumes can be retrieved first, but there is an additional condition."
"Marquis Wu, please speak." Pei said quickly.
"As long as this thousand guan is repaid within one year, we will not charge additional interest. It will be divided into twelve installments, one per month, and each installment will only cost more than 80 guan.
I won’t charge any extra interest, but I need one thing. I want Wei Gong’s exclusive secret recipe. Wei Gong’s wine tastes very good, and I plan to brew some in the future.”
This is equivalent to maxing out your credit card, and finally negotiating with the bank to stop interest payments and repay the principal first.
"My monthly salary is only 4,200 dan, and my annual salary is only 300 shi..."
"Wei Gong, when you asked to borrow two thousand guan, you had to consider these things. The money we borrowed from you, which is real gold and silver, was raised from various parties and did not fall from the sky. We also have costs."
"Furthermore, I don't have much money to pay back more than 80 guan a month. Wei Gong is now writing an epitaph. It is said that at least one of the epitaphs is one horse. General Qian asked Wei Gong to take action. It is said that he gave two horses plus 50,000 yuan.
The money is already worth one hundred thousand, unless Wei Gong really doesn’t want to pay it back and he has no sincerity.”
"Okay, we agreed. Thank you Marquis Wu. How about we write a document and agree now?" Upon seeing this, Mrs. Pei agreed immediately, fearing that Wu Huaiyu would regret it again. This is also the best solution so far, otherwise the Wei family will be trapped.
In this quagmire, it is not just a question of money interest,
It may also affect Wei Zheng's reputation, which is the foundation of the Wei family. When the reputation is gone, everything will be gone.
"Is Mr. Wei really willing to give Mr. Wei the secret recipe for wine?" Huaiyu asked, staring at Wei Zheng.
"Okay." Wei Zheng gritted his teeth.
"You won't give out fake ones, or save them, right?"
"I, Wei Zheng, tell the truth."
"Okay, let's make a contract. You have to add a clause. You must repay more than 80,000 yuan a month. If you default and fail to repay when it is due, interest will be calculated. It will be calculated based on eight cents of public money. When will the one thousand yuan be fully paid?
It’s all over and the title deed is redeemed.”
"Okay." Wei Zheng gritted his teeth.
Huaiyu smiled and asked Pei again, "Ms. Pei just said that if the problem can be solved today, she is willing to donate three hundred volumes of books to the East Palace. Does it still count?"
Mrs. Pei smiled helplessly and said, "Of course I keep my word. As soon as I get the book back, I will send three hundred volumes to the East Palace."
"No need to bother, we will come to pick it up when the time comes."
Wei Zheng wrote an agreement in person, and the two of them signed and sealed it together.
"The secret recipe of Wei Gong wine?"
"I will write it to you right now." Wei Zheng dipped his pen in ink and wrote to Huaiyu a detailed description of the brewing method of Wei Gong Liquor, including the koji he used without reservation.
After accepting this secret recipe, Huaiyu planned to go back to his and Wang Ji's winery and brew a batch of Wei Gong wine according to this recipe to sell, still called Wei Gong wine.
"My book?" Wei Zheng asked with a gloomy face as he watched Huaiyu put the secret recipe into his arms.
"Why don't Mr. Wei come with me to the Changsheng Hall now?"
"Okay," Wei Zheng couldn't wait any longer.
Zhang Chengde witnessed the whole process from one side to the other, how his young boss managed to control the former prince Wei Zheng.
Wei Zheng borrowed two thousand guan from Wu Huaiyu for one day, and ended up getting not only a thousand guan, but also the secret recipe of his own Wei Gong wine. When he thought that he had also borrowed a Beijing debt, his scalp went numb, and he turned around to look for it.
