Chapter Forty-Five Borrowing Money

  "Yes, what I have done is greatly beneficial to the people's livelihood!" Pang Gang said with great certainty.

  After a long time, Wei Tongnian's voice finally echoed faintly, "Minsheng, the matter that Pang Baihu wants to handle with Minsheng is greatly beneficial to the people and the country. Is this still beneficial to both the nation and the people?"

  At the same time as Wei Tong spoke, Pang Gang also saw a hint of incomprehension, confusion and a hint of sarcasm in Wei Tong's eyes.

  Although such a gaze made Pang Gang very uncomfortable, Pang Gang did not feel angry. After all, whoever hears a rough soldier say that he wants to do something that is greatly beneficial to both the country and the people will have this expression, let alone the other party being the highest civil official in the prefecture.

  After organizing his words, Pang Gang slowly said: "I have developed something today, called cement! This thing can quickly bond hard objects such as green bricks and giant stones. Whether it is used for building city walls, houses or paving roads, it is not inferior to the adhesive made from glutinous rice, tung oil, and lime. In fact, it's even more useful than those things. More importantly, this thing is very cheap to produce, and the raw materials used are just ordinary stones and clay that can be found everywhere. Therefore, even poor people can afford it. What I want to do now is build a factory... or rather, a workshop, to produce this material. Hmm, isn't this a good deed for the country and its people?"

  Pang Gang spoke while observing Wei Tongnian's expression, but unfortunately, he couldn't get any information from the prefect's face. No wonder, since ancient times, the officials in China have been known for their composure, even when Mount Tai collapses in front of them. What's more, this old fox has been floating and sinking in the officialdom for decades? On the contrary, the two women beside him showed a hint of unusual color on their faces.

  "Is this really something that you, Pang Baihu, have researched?" Wei Tongnian's originally warm eyes suddenly became sharp, his scorching gaze staring straight at Pang Gang.

  "It's exactly this, I accidentally discovered it in my humble position!" Pang Gang forced himself to hold on.

  "Unexpectedly, Pang Baihu actually mastered the art of creating objects, and even such a magical object can be created." Wei Tongnian's eyes suddenly became casual again, and he asked absent-mindedly: "What did Pang Baihu come to see me for this time?"

  "This old fox, he's really good at pretending. I don't believe he can't see through my intentions." Pang Gang cursed in his heart, but since he had to ask for something, he put on a foolish face and said: "I've come to borrow some silver from you, sir!"

  "Uh, lend me some money!"

  As soon as Pang Gang spoke out, the three people in the small pavilion were all stunned. Everyone was shocked and couldn't say a word.

  It has always been the case in official circles that subordinates show respect to their superiors, but it is unheard of for a subordinate to dare borrow money from a superior, and yet speak with such confidence. Wei Tongnian had been an official for many years, but he had never seen anything so strange, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

  "Hmph!"

  After a while, a soft laughter sounded beside Wei Tongnian. It was a young lady sitting next to him. She was called a lady rather than a concubine because Pang Gang had noticed that she wore the three-bun hairstyle on her head, which was a symbol of unmarried women in the Ming Dynasty.

  When Wei Manqing couldn't help but let out a light laugh, she knew she was in trouble. In ancient times, women were expected to follow the rules: "Don't show your feet when walking, don't take more than an inch of steps, don't show your teeth when smiling, and don't put your hands on your chest." Now that she had been so rude in front of outsiders, she would definitely be scolded by her father.

  But Wei Manqing couldn't help but burst out laughing when she saw the officer being so bold and unreasonable in asking her father for money.

  Wei Man Tian was the daughter of a high-ranking official, and could be considered a proper young lady from a good family. She had been clever since she was young, learning to read at four years old and writing poetry at eight years old. In the years following her father, she had seen many things in the government, but had never seen a subordinate dare to ask for money from their superior... Hmm, okay, although this person wasn't directly under Wei's father, when Wei Man Tian saw this person asking her father for money with such a calm expression, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

  Seeing his daughter being rude, Wei Tongnian glanced at her sideways and slowly said: "Pang Baihu, you are a military officer of the Wei Prefecture, belonging to the Wu Guan. While this official is the prefect of Qingzhou, belonging to the Wen Guan. If you want to borrow money, you should go to the Command Center, that would be more appropriate. Why did you come here?"

  "Your Honor, I've already been to the Commander's residence, but Mr. Song's silver wasn't enough, so I had no choice but to come bother you. Besides, didn't you say last time that if I ever got into trouble, I could come ask for your help? Well, here I am!"

  Pang Gang's words almost made Wei Tongnian laugh to death. You little brat can't even tell the difference between emotions and polite talk, I just casually said that and you took it seriously. Besides, I've already repaid the favor I owed you, are you trying to cling onto me or what?

  "Hahaha..."

  Wei Tongnian, who was already in a bad mood, looked over and saw that the two women, including his concubine Rouniang, were both bent over the stone table holding their bellies and laughing secretly. This made our Wei Zhifu so angry that he almost didn't recover from it.

  Seeing Wei Tongnian's face getting darker and darker, with signs of an impending explosion, Pang Gang hastily cupped his hands and said: "Your Excellency, please calm down, let me explain!"

  Wei Tongnian only felt that the self-cultivation he had accumulated over the years was all thrown to the dog, his teeth were clenched and made a slight cracking sound, and it took a long time for a word to squeeze out from between his teeth.

  "Speak!"

  "Whoa, almost got out of hand!" Pang Gang looked at Wei Tongnian's gradually darkening face and hastily said: "I want to build a cement workshop, but unfortunately, I don't have enough capital. I heard that you are generous and just, so I thought of borrowing 1,000 taels of silver from you to buy tools and hire workers. I guarantee that I will return the money within a year, and I am willing to mortgage 30% of the shares of the cement workshop as collateral for the 1,000 taels!"

  "What? Three percent shares!"

  None of the three people present are fools, and as soon as Pang Gang's words came out, they knew what he meant.

  Bribery! Red fruit's bribery!

  Originally, they thought that this small bailiff who had eaten leopard gallbladder dared to come to the mansion of Magistrate Wei and others to make a scene, but it wasn't until now that they realized that Bailiff Pang had actually come to offer money. The huge contrast made the two women who were originally leaning on the stone table stop laughing in surprise and lift their heads up.

  Looking at Pang Gang's somewhat silly face, Wei Tongnian's heart skipped a beat. This hundred households who were originally in his impression silly and bold turned out to be not simple either. His coming to borrow silver today was false, and the gift was true! However, being able to give gifts to such an extent that he remained calm and composed was something that Wei Tongnian had never seen before in his official career.

  Wei Tongnian, who had regained his composure, quickly grasped the situation. "You mean to say that you want to mortgage three-tenths of your cement factory's shares to borrow one thousand two hundred taels of silver from the loan official?"

  "It's true, I recently discovered an iron mine in my jurisdiction and plan to hire people to excavate it. However, the cement workshop can't be delayed either. As a result, the silver coins are somewhat insufficient, so I had to ask for help from Your Honor. Please, Your Honor, take pity on the thousands of citizens of Wanghai Castle and lend a helping hand! Look, I've even written an IOU." Pang Gang's words were tinged with a hint of sadness and helplessness, making it seem as if he was at his wit's end to anyone who didn't know better.

  After finishing speaking, Pang walked a few steps forward and took out an IOU from his bosom and respectfully placed it in front of Wei Tongyuan.

  Looking at Pang Gang's rascal appearance, Wei Tongnian couldn't help but laugh and cry, this Pang Gang can actually elevate bribery to the height of affecting people's livelihoods, he is indeed a weirdo.

  *sigh*...

  Looking at the IOU in front of him, Wei Song let out a long sigh and scolded with some resentment: "Forget it, forget it...... This official is afraid of you now......"

  Thank you for the reward from Shen isn't **, Yi Jian Piao 123 and Jiu Chong Zhen Long brothers!