Chapter Twenty: Unexpected Wealth

  Cao Xing's nose was blue and his face was swollen as he brought the goods to Ji Rang's mansion. "Sir, Qin Feng is really hateful. He didn't distinguish between right and wrong and beat me up for no reason. Look at how badly I've been beaten..."

  "Alright, you don't need to say any more. The good things you've done, you think others are unaware." Ji Ran glanced at the money on the table and her expression improved a bit.

  "Sir, would you please take charge and get rid of Qin Feng for me?" Cao Xing said pitifully.

  "Fart!" Ji Ran's face suddenly changed, and he said: "What do you know? Qin Feng is a talented scholar personally recommended by Yang Biao. Even if it were the official himself, he would have to show some courtesy. You dared to provoke him and draw your sword, killing prisoners indiscriminately without distinguishing between right and wrong. The Han Dynasty has laws! If I hadn't pleaded for you and helped to suppress this matter, you would already be in prison, beaten to death by those prisoners!"

  "Ah!" Cao Xing was flustered, he had only wanted to teach Qin Feng a lesson, but hadn't expected the consequences to be so severe. If he had known Qin Feng's methods were so ruthless, who would have dared to offend him? He wouldn't even have had time to offer gifts. Cao Xing regretted it deeply.

  "Qin Feng opened the prison for inspection, giving prisoners time to rest. By then, the news of releasing prisoners after serving their sentence had spread through word of mouth, and the people of Luoyang were all saying that Qin Feng was benevolent. This matter had also been known by Yang Biao, who was preparing to memorialize the imperial court to implement this measure in prisons throughout the country. As a result, Qin Feng would surely become famous throughout the land. Tsk, tsk, this young man is indeed extraordinary." Ji Rang looked at Cao Xing with disdain, a roughneck who had unwittingly become someone else's stepping stone to fame.

  Shan Ye Cun Fu indeed couldn't be compared to us bookworms, so Ji Ran pushed the valuables on the table and said: "Take these away and go find your own way to make a living."

  Cao Xing's face was ashen, and he left Ji Ran's mansion with a dejected look.

  The next day, when Qin Feng came to the Luoyang Prison again, the prisoners' eyes were filled with gratitude and respect, while the prison guards' eyes were full of reverence. At this moment, no one dared to underestimate this refined and elegant scholar anymore.

  There are people under him to do things, Qin Feng is idle and has nothing to do but think about how to develop in the future in his own big Han office. The Yellow Turban Rebellion, Dong Zhuo's rebellion, warlords carving up the territory... Territory, army, talent, wanting to achieve something is just these few aspects. Qin Feng's grasp of the pulse of the times is absolutely possible, but where can he find this territory, army and talent?

  I'm now poor and white, with only 50 taels, which I even had to beg from my future father-in-law. Who would follow a poor and broken household? Even if you have territory, troops, and talent now, without money, it's immediately a dispersal of the scene. Why are those aristocratic families powerful? In the end, it's because they have money. For example, when Cao Cao raised his army, he couldn't recruit soldiers due to lack of funds, but then a wealthy donor came along, and suddenly there were tens of thousands of troops!

  Qin Feng paced back and forth in the house, making money the fastest is to do business, what kind of business? Must do business that didn't exist in the great Han Dynasty, new-style goods, consumer goods, can sell quickly, sell at a high price.

  "Excuse me, big brother, I'm here to see my little brother."

  "Hmm! Let me check, what is this?"

  "Oh, big brother, don't misunderstand, this is just ordinary brown sugar water, it's not easy to get, the doctor said that people with weak bodies should drink some red sugar water for their health."

  Brown sugar! White sugar! Qin Feng saw it and thought of something. It was when he was performing an ancient play at the Academy of Drama in a later life, there was a girl eating sugar backstage. No one knew who brought it up, but they started talking about sugar anyway.

  Sugar was introduced from abroad, and it seems that white sugar only appeared during the Tang Dynasty. At that time, in the background, they were chatting idly, and the technology of making sugar was also discussed, and someone even went online to check, Qin Feng vaguely remembered a bit.

  No matter when white sugar appeared, anyway it's not available in the Great Han Dynasty now. Cai Yong's family often buys cane sugar, and as the accountant Qin Feng naturally knows these things. White sugar is sweeter than brown sugar, and its snowy whiteness makes it look good, so wealthy families must like it.

  At that time, many wealthy households in the Han Dynasty were in Luoyang. The wealth of Luoyang can be seen from the huge amount of money Dong Zhuo plundered in Luoyang. Every big household needs sugar, and now sugar is as essential as salt for every family. Therefore, selling sugar in Luoyang will definitely have a bright future.

  Qin Feng had an idea. But the problem was that refining white sugar from brown sugar required a lot of brown sugar, and brown sugar cost one guan per catty. Qin Feng's entire family fortune was only 50 guans. If he hired people and rented a house, there wouldn't be much money left to buy raw materials!

  "Big brother, do me a favor." The prison guard accepted the bribe and then let him in.

  In ancient times, there was no right to visit prisoners, but if one bribed, they could still see the offender. Now Qin Feng has set the first and thirtieth days for visits, but on other days, one needs to use money to buy a way in.

  "The end of Eastern Han was corrupt." A thousand years later it's still the same, so Qin Feng doesn't bother to intervene even if he sees something.

  "Ah, sir......" Just then, Hou Cheng and Bian Xi personally carried a box in.

  "Oh, something's up?" Qin Feng sat on the stool behind the desk, pretending to read a book but not being able to focus on a single word.

  "Sir... this... these are from the past few months. After the former prison warden left, these have been kept here, they are all your belongings."

  "Take a look, Lord Qin Feng." Bian Xi also said.

  Qin Feng didn't know that Bian Xi was a member of the Yellow Turbans, he only knew that in history there was such a third-rate general. He couldn't help but think that this Luoyang prison was also a place where dragons and tigers were hidden, and unexpectedly met three named Three Kingdoms generals. But thinking about the Heavenly Demons and Earthly Fiends from Water Margin, not a few of them were also from prison origins, so he didn't think much of it.

  "Oh, it's mine, let me take a look." Qin Feng said as he walked over.

  Hou Cheng and Bian Xi hurriedly opened the wooden box together.

  A dazzling box of money! Qin Feng suddenly took a cold breath, it was the first time he had seen so much money since he came to the Great Han Dynasty. "This is......"

  "Sir, this is the example money for these few months, a total of 500 yuan is all here. Sir, we little ones don't live easily either, you also know that......" Hou Cheng was afraid in his heart that Qin Feng would blame him, but this matter of collecting money couldn't be hidden, so he had to force himself to speak up early.

  Haha, sleepiness brings a pillow, and the money comes. Even Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty openly sold official positions to collect money, Qin Feng would not make contributions for the already declining Han Dynasty. With great difficulty, he put down the money and smiled: "This official knows, you can go down first."

  Hou Cheng let out a sigh of relief, he judged from Qin Feng's words to the prisoner the day before yesterday that Qin Feng might not accept this black money. However, at this time, he had another layer of understanding for Qin Feng, and this person was not to be underestimated.

  "Sir, are you free at noon? I'd like to invite you out... just a small gesture of goodwill..." Bian Xi wanted to thank Qin Feng for promoting him.

  "Good! Hou Cheng can come too." Qin Feng replied casually. Please have dinner, wine table culture, just right to also communicate with these two subordinates.

  Ban Xi was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately withdrew with Hou Cheng.

  It is clear that this money was collected from the families of prisoners in Luoyang Prison over the past few months. The prison holds thousands of people, and every day there are endless streams of visitors, with each visit costing at least a few dozen cents. If the visit takes too long, they have to pay extra. As the top official, Qin Feng naturally took the largest share of the money collected.

  Haha, the money has arrived, indeed, with power comes wealth. With the money in hand, Qin Feng began to recall how to refine white sugar and started writing it down on a blank bamboo scroll, stroke by stroke.