Great Ming emperors and kings

  In a small restaurant, an old Taoist priest who claims to be over 130 years old and makes a living by cheating, asks a young man who is known for his cunning and has been taken in by the restaurant owner about his ambitions. The scene looks strange and inexplicable no matter how you look at it.

  "My goal......" Xiao Fan raised his head, his eyes gradually changing from confusion to determination: "...... is to become the richest man in Jiangpu County within a month!"

  ――On the premise that you are lucky enough and no longer encounter swindlers in the ancient Jianghu.

  Tai Yu stared blankly and was speechless: "Is this your ambition?"

  Xiao Fan nodded firmly, looking confident: "Exactly! Even if the current richest man is my father-in-law, I will still ruthlessly squeeze him out and take his place!"

  Tai Xū stared at Xiao Fan with wide eyes, remaining silent for a long time.

  After a long while, Tai Xu finally murmured and sighed: "...Others say that after Chen's illness, he became a madman. I didn't believe such rumors because your words and actions seem normal to me...Now it seems that there is some truth to the rumors...I have gained more insight into the world..."

  Xiao Fan smiled and clasped his hands: "The Taoist priest has entered the world to cultivate, and today's cultivation has deepened another layer. Before long, he will ascend to immortality, which is truly a joyous occasion..."

  "I heard you were originally a farmer's son?"

  "That's right."

  "And you're going to change your ways now?"

  "Right."

  Tai Yu's face was filled with an expression of "hating iron for not becoming steel": "In our dynasty, the people are divided into four classes: 'scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants'. You were originally a second-class farmer, but you didn't do that. Instead, you went to do the lowest class of merchant. This isn't called ambition, it's called self-degradation!"

  Xiao Fan was a bit stunned. Even a despicable Jianghu swindler who had mixed to such a miserable state looked down on the profession of merchant. Had the status of merchants in the Ming Dynasty fallen to this extent?

  It seems that the saying "money talks" does not apply in the Ming Dynasty.

  Money is a good thing, it's a good thing in any dynasty, but the merchants who own the most of this good thing are actually at the bottom of the social hierarchy, which is really a very strange phenomenon. The economic base determines the superstructure, what a load of nonsense.

  Chatted with the old Taoist for half a day, didn't quite hit it off, but he was the first person Xiao Fan had spoken to the most since crossing over, so I suppose you could count him as a friend, even if this friend was a swindler.

  The wine was enough and the rice was full, and several dishes on the table were licked clean by the old Taoist priest with his tongue, shining brightly. Xiao Fan ignored the old Taoist's sincere eyes that asked for "a few more dishes" and beckoned to the waiter to settle the bill.

  The meal cost fifty cents, not expensive. Xiao Fan carefully took out a small piece of silver from his money bag and handed it to the waiter, who took it to the counter. The boss of the restaurant weighed the silver with a small scale and then returned several tens of cents to Xiao Fan.

  As they exited the restaurant, Xiao Fan and the old Taoist bid each other farewell with a bow. The old Taoist seemed reluctant to part ways and followed Xiao Fan for a long time, chattering incessantly behind him about how he would be staying in Jiangpu County from now on and hoped that Xiao Fan could come out every day to discuss and exchange ideas with him, pooling their collective wisdom to modify Xiao Fan's self-destructive ambitions.

  Xiao Fan ignored him, he had already seen through the old Taoist's sinister intentions with one glance. What was this "getting to know each other" nonsense? It was just a way of saying "let me take care of your meals every day". Being a scapegoat once was enough.

  Tai Xū followed him for half a street before stopping in his tracks, then held up the "Iron Mouth Straight Cut" banner and turned around to swindle other suckers.

  As he walked back to the Chen Mansion, Xiao Fan's mind kept turning. The process of getting to know the old Taoist priest had left him feeling defeated. He had always thought himself clever, but now that he thought about it carefully, his experiences since crossing over had been one failure after another: first, he almost got buried alive; then he mistook someone for someone else and accidentally offended a maid; next, he almost got kicked out of the house; and now, he had just been swindled by a Jianghu con artist.

  These experiences, not to mention how he felt when he talked about them, made him feel extremely disheartened. As his bad luck continued, he began to doubt his own confidence, and his dream of becoming the richest man in Jiangpu County within a month started to waver.

  One must be down-to-earth after all! Xiao Fan began to self-examine, ancient people are not as foolish as imagined, compared to each other, the truly foolish one seems to be himself, becoming the richest man in Jiangpu within a month is an unrealistic goal.

  Let's make it two months instead!

  There was another strange thing, he was supposed to be very cautious of strangers, but why did the old Taoist easily deceive him into a meal? Xiao Fan didn't have much resentment in his heart, and instead had a subtle affection for the old Taoist.

  Isn't this old Taoist priest actually not human?

  It was already late afternoon when he returned to the Chen residence. As soon as he stepped through the side door, Xiao Fan noticed that the atmosphere in the Chen residence was a bit strange today.

  The gatehouse was usually crowded with a few servants, sometimes drinking and bragging, sometimes throwing dice and playing with money, quarreling over a few cents, their faces red with excitement. But today the gatehouse was unusually quiet, the old man guarding it sat alone inside, calm but with a hint of fear, occasionally glancing cautiously at the front yard, even when Xiao Fan entered he didn't notice.

  Xiao Fan furrowed his brow, what's going on today?

  Xiao Fan was secretly wondering, but saw Chen Guan's family walking towards him. Xiao Fan was shocked and quickly stepped aside to let them pass. Seeing Chen Guan's family, Xiao Fan suddenly remembered that he had tricked him earlier in the morning. Judging from the current situation, it seemed like he had succeeded quite well - Chen Guan's normally pale face now had two bright red handprints on each side, and his entire demeanor was much more subdued than usual, with his usual arrogant air significantly diminished.

  Sneaking a peek at the mistress's cleavage, this sin is not small. Xiao Fan was secretly shocked, this guy wouldn't be so stupid, really going to explain himself to Chen Si Liu? If that's the case, then these two slaps were well-deserved.

  Although so, Xiao Fan's heart still had a few points of guilt, having done something bad he should be low-key, especially when facing the victim, even more so.

  Chen's family thought that Chen would blow up when he saw himself, accusing Xiao Fan of spitting blood at him. But to their surprise, Chen walked towards them without paying any attention to Xiao Fan, just giving him a casual glance before hurrying out the door with a look of anxiety on his face, as if he had something urgent to attend to.

  Xiao Fan is getting stranger and stranger, what's going on in this mansion today? What happened?

  Xiao Fan is now slightly regretful, the disadvantages of having poor relationships are now apparent, he should have made friends with some of the servants in the Chen household, especially those who like to spread gossip and news.

  Can't grasp news information in a timely manner, it's really frustrating.

  If the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain. Xiao Fan decided to take the initiative to ask around.

  Xiao Fan's way of asking questions is a bit rude and not worth promoting.

  Still using the old method, he found a grey corner in the west garden of Chen's front yard where "calling heaven doesn't respond and calling earth doesn't work", then patiently waited like a hunter waiting for a rabbit to hit the wooden stake, catching whoever passes by.

  The first unlucky servant was the mute uncle who was in charge of trimming the garden every day. Xiao Fan pinned the mute uncle firmly to the ground, then began to interrogate him about what had happened at the Chen residence.

  What a pity, Xiao Fan caught the wrong person. Dumb Uncle was called Dumb Uncle because he was a mute who couldn't speak...

  Under Xiao Fan's sympathetic gaze, Ya Shu wiped away happy tears and ran far away... Being lucky enough to be a mute in this life is indeed the blessing of ancestors.

  Xiao Fan had no choice but to crouch down again, like a scout sneaking into the enemy's rear to reconnoiter their sentry post, waiting for the next unfortunate servant.

  Soul-stirring separation

  I've signed up... I'm shyly asking everyone for votes, esteemed officials, come and give me a few votes!

  Don't forget to collect it too...