dkrc Chapter 280 The Unscrupulous Merchant
Chapter 280 The Unscrupulous Merchant
As the president of the mahjong club, Zuo Mingxuan learned of Pei Rujing's upcoming banquet immediately and rushed to the county princess's mansion without hesitation.
"How rare! Our county magistrate is actually hosting a banquet?"
On her way here, Zuo Mingxuan surveyed the scenery of the county princess's mansion and secretly marveled at the extent of Emperor Shun'an's favor towards Pei Rujing.
Pei Rujing was teasing Rui Ge'er, who was lying on the bed: "If you don't want to come, you don't have to."
"Of course we'll come! What if it's the only time?"
As soon as Zuo Mingxuan finished speaking, she glanced at Rui Ge'er, who was waving his arms and legs, and laughed, "That's not right either. In the future, for Rui Ge'er's marriage, the county princess will inevitably have to hold a flower viewing banquet, at least once."
The eldest princess held two flower-viewing banquets, both for the purpose of arranging marriages for her two sons.
Pei Shizhao's marriage was settled directly at the flower-viewing banquet, and the eldest princess took a liking to Wei Shi at first sight.
Pei Shirong's marriage was much more difficult, and the flower-viewing banquet he held turned out to be a waste of time.
If nothing unexpected happens, when Rui-ge reaches marriageable age, Pei Ru-jing will have to hold a flower viewing banquet to choose a husband for him.
That's why Zuo Mingxuan made that joke.
Upon hearing this, Pei Rujing looked at Rui Ge'er, who was waving his arms and legs on the bed, grinning at her, and drooling from the corner of his mouth from time to time, and couldn't help but laugh: "He's still a drooling baby."
"It's good to be prepared."
Zuo Mingxuan was just teasing Pei Rujing.
Walking up to Pei Rujing, she bent down and approached Rui Ge'er, carefully extending a finger. Rui Ge'er instinctively grabbed it, his little hand waving back and forth.
"Rui-ge'er, call your aunt—"
Pei Rujing looked speechless: "Have you forgotten that you just attended his full moon celebration?"
Zuo Mingxuan chuckled: "Teach him first. When Rui-ge can talk, the first person he'll call out to might be his aunt."
Pei Rujing mercilessly retorted to Zuo Mingxuan: "Anything can happen in a dream."
How could her son possibly call her "aunt" first?
"By the way, is the banquet for all members of the mahjong club?"
Pei Rujing looked at her: "Is there a problem?"
Zuo Mingxuan said, "The society has always had new members joining, but since you've been busy with the newspaper, you probably haven't even met the members who joined in the last year."
Moreover, these people's family backgrounds are clearly inferior to those of the initial group of members.
Inviting them to the county magistrate's banquet, which artificially elevates their status, may not be a good thing.
Of course, for some people, being able to establish a relationship with Pei Rujing should be a good thing.
Pei Rujing frowned: "Then we'll only invite members who joined in the year the mahjong club was founded."
She never had the energy to deal with too many people.
Zuo Mingxuan nodded: "I'll give you the list later, and the county princess can send out invitations according to the list."
After saying that, the two continued to look at Rui Ge'er.
Rui was being watched by the two men. He smiled at one of them and then at the other, making sure not to neglect either of them.
Zuo Mingxuan said, "Rui-ge'er seems to have a good temperament; he must have taken after Lord Wen."
Pei Rujing felt the same way.
Only family members know their own situation. Even though she has tempered herself a lot now, she still can't be called good-natured.
……
While Pei Rujing and Zuo Mingxuan were teasing Rui Ge'er, Wen Zongji was sitting in Zhou Shiyue's office.
A map of the outer city of Beijing was placed on the desk.
"Sir, this location in the outer east city is a hutong (alleyway). Last year, due to a series of murders, many people in this hutong died or moved away, and the hutong became somewhat deserted."
"Actually, this alley is in a very good location. It is close to the inner city and not far from the police station of the outer eastern city, so it is safe and secure."
Last year's murder case caused quite a stir, and the Beijing Daily even published it, so Zhou Shiyue naturally knew about it.
What are your thoughts?
Zhou Shiyue knew very well that Wen Zongji wouldn't bring this up without a reason.
Wen Zongji said, "I propose that the Ministry of Revenue purchase the land belonging to this alley, demolish all the existing houses, and rebuild a ten-story residential building."
Wen Zongji had learned that, apart from some Buddhist temples, there were very few buildings in the capital that exceeded three stories.
This phenomenon exists mainly because, apart from merchants building shops, ordinary people do not have the awareness to build high-rise buildings. Most people, when they have money, only build houses with larger areas and do not think about building taller ones.
Of course, high-rise buildings require more building materials and pose safety hazards, so the first step of laying the foundation must be planned in advance.
But for the imperial court, this was no big deal.
After all, the Ministry of Works has the most professional construction team.
Zhou Shiyue frowned: "Zongji, we are from the Ministry of Revenue."
Building houses is the Ministry of Works' business.
Wen Zongji said, "My lord, there are tens of thousands of officials in all the government offices in the capital, but very few of them own houses in the capital. Most officials still rent houses."
"The ten-story residential building that I proposed was built for the officials, so that they would have the opportunity to own their own homes."
Zhou Shiyue was stunned: "You mean after the residential buildings are completed, they'll be sold to officials?"
"Exactly."
Zhou Shiyue was at a loss for words. After a moment of silence, he said, "What makes you think that officials who can only rent houses can afford to buy this house? Even if the residential building is located in the outer city, this is still the capital."
In Beijing, every inch of land is incredibly valuable; even in the most remote corners of the outer city, property prices are still quite high.
After all, for ordinary people in Beijing, housing has always been a highly competitive market with far more houses than available options.
Wen Zongji said, "Officials may not have that much silver, but they do have salaries."
Zhou Shiyue remained silent, waiting for Wen Zongji to continue.
Wen Zongji didn't keep them in suspense and said directly, "We can allow officials who want to buy houses to pay in installments. They can first pay a deposit, then sign a contract with the Ministry of Revenue, which will lend them a sum of money to buy the house. After that, the Ministry of Revenue will deduct a portion of their salary each month to offset the loan until all the loans are paid off."
Wen Zongji didn't even intend to let the money shops get involved and profit from the price difference. Wouldn't it be better for the Ministry of Revenue to produce and sell the goods themselves?
After processing Wen Zongji's words, Zhou Shiyue said, "The national treasury doesn't have that much silver."
He had previously stated that the national treasury was not abundant.
A ten-story residential building must have at least dozens of rooms, and the total cost of the house is not a small amount.
Even if Zhou Shiyue were the Minister of Revenue, it would be impossible for him to move such a large sum of money.
Wen Zongji smiled: "It seems that you have overlooked the fact that this residential building was built by our Ministry of Revenue."
Zhou Shiyue was taken aback.
Wen Zongji added: "Therefore, officials had to hand over the money they spent on buying houses to the Ministry of Revenue."
For the Ministry of Revenue, lending money to officials was essentially a matter of transferring funds from one pocket to another; they didn't actually have to pay a single penny.
The only expense was the money spent on buying the land.
He believed Zhou Shiyue would settle this score.
Zhou Shiyue's eyes lit up, but he immediately raised another question: "What if the official who lent the money is later dismissed from office for some reason and no longer receives a salary?
"This point can be clearly stated in the contract: once an official is dismissed from office, he must immediately repay all debts. If he cannot repay them, the Ministry of Revenue has the right to reclaim the house."
"Take it back?"
Zhou Shiyue had no idea that this could be done.
"What about the money they already repaid? Do they need to be returned?"
"The Ministry of Revenue reclaims the houses in order to resell them to make up for the outstanding debts owed by the other party. If the selling price is higher than the debt, the excess can be given to the other party."
Therefore, the money paid previously cannot be refunded.
Zhou Shiyue looked at Wen Zongji with complicated emotions.
Although Wen Zongji's words were reasonable and he had no intention of deliberately trying to trick anyone, Zhou Shiyue was left with only two words in his mind after listening to them.
Profiteer!