Chapter 158: Short of Money
Thinking of money, Yang Zhengshan felt a headache again.

This money still cannot be stopped from being spent.

The Yang family spent a lot of money during this period. They hired so many servants and paid them monthly wages. In addition, they gave out so many gifts during the New Year, so Yang Zhengshan didn't have much money left.

Selling the shop would earn you a few thousand taels of silver, but there would be more places to spend the money in the future.

The family's daily expenses, the children's schooling or hiring teachers, and most importantly, he wants to marry Yu Qingyi, so the bride price must also be given.

In fact, compared with other officials' families, the Yang family's expenses are already considered low. At least the Yang family's expenses are all necessary expenses, and there is no extravagance or waste.

As for other officials, a meal would cost several taels of silver, a bottle of wine would cost more than ten taels, and they would occasionally hold a tea party or flower party in the backyard, which would cost them hundreds or thousands of taels.

The interactions between officials and between their families all cost a lot of money.

Apart from sending some holiday gifts, Yang Zhengshan had almost no social interactions with other officials, and the Yang family members did not participate in those gatherings.

In fact, after arriving in Anyuan City, some officials' wives also invited Wang to participate in gatherings, such as appreciating plum blossoms, appreciating paintings, and tasting tea, and they sent Wang many invitations.

However, Wang was not waiting for these things. In her eyes, the plum blossom was not as delicious as a spinach. As for the painting, haha, it would be strange if she would wait for it.

Therefore, Wang was very resistant to these things, fearing that she would embarrass Yang Zhengshan if she went there.

But it didn't seem good not to go, and Wang often felt conflicted about this.

Yang Zhengshan also felt very troubled by this.

Communication between officials is indispensable, and communication between officials' families is also very necessary.

In the past when he was in Yinghe Fort, Yang Zhengshan didn’t need to care about these things because there were no officials around them with whom he could socialize.

After arriving in Anyuan City, there were many officials in the city. Logically, Yang Zhengshan should have taken the initiative to socialize with the officials, but because of the smuggling case, Yang Zhengshan had been avoiding the officials in the city.

The prefect and the military governor had both invited him, but he refused.

Yang Zhengshan naturally stayed away from these officials.

But what about the future?
He couldn't keep avoiding it.

The prefect and the garrison commander are the chief civil and military officials of a city. The prefect is in charge of civil affairs, while the garrison commander is in charge of city defense. Many official matters between the two sides will be related.

In Darong, there is no saying of using culture to control military power, but there is a saying of using military power to protect culture.

In many cases, the garrison office had to cooperate with the prefectural office, such as arresting thieves, maintaining public order, etc.

The magistrate of Anyuan City was involved in a smuggling case, so he will definitely not be in office for long. Yang Zhengshan can ignore this magistrate, but what about the next one?

Sooner or later, Yang Zhengshan will enter the social circle of officials, and the Yang family will also enter the social circle of officials' families.

Once you socialize more, you will spend more money.

It’s no wonder that those officials always think about corruption and bribery. If they are not corrupt, how can they maintain their extravagant lives and preserve their own face?
If the Yang family wants to live a better life in the future, they need to purchase more properties and accumulate more assets.

This is also the reason why Yang Zhengshan cares so much about the horse farm.

Seeing that Yang Mingcheng managed the horse farm in an orderly manner today, Yang Zhengshan felt relieved.

After giving a few more instructions to Yang Mingcheng, Yang Zhengshan left the horse farm on horseback with a dozen of his followers and galloped towards Anyuan City.

It is now mid-March, the weather has warmed up, and the military households have begun to plow the fields.

Around the tunbu we passed along the road, we could see many people working in the fields.

Just when Yang Zhengshan rushed back to Anyuan City, on Fu'an Street in Anyuan City, two little girls, Yang Yunxue and Wang Yunqiao, were shopping on the street with their maids and old women.

In fact, Yang Yunxue and Wang Yunqiao seldom go out, at most once or twice a month.

The little girl is still very interested in shopping, and she also needs to buy some things she likes, such as beads, headwear and so on.

The weather was good today, so Yang Yunxue took Wang Yunqiao out shopping.

The two of them wandered from shop to shop, buying some exquisite little gadgets from time to time.

Of course, they couldn't afford expensive things. Although Yang Zhengshan was generous, he was not generous enough to give the two little girls dozens or hundreds of taels of silver.

There were only a dozen taels of silver in Yang Yunxue's small purse, which was all her savings.

Wang Yunqiao got less, not because Yang Zhengshan was partial to her. In fact, the New Year's money or other things Yang Zhengshan gave them were all the same. It's just that Wang Yunqiao would buy things for her younger brother Wang Mingzhe from time to time, so her expenses were a little more than Yang Yunxue's.

"Yunqiao, Yunqiao, look, this little wooden sculpture is so beautiful!"

Yang Yunxue said as she stood in front of a wood carving stall, holding a pony carved out of wood.

The foal is carved so lifelike that even its big eyes have a lively charm.

"It's very beautiful!" Wang Yunqiao walked forward and said with great fondness.

"Old man, how much is this wood carving?" Yang Yunxue asked the old man behind the stall.

The old man grinned and said, "Miss, these wood carvings are 200 coins each!"

These wood carvings are all carved from ordinary wood and are not valuable, but the old man has excellent craftsmanship and the things he carved are all lifelike.

But the price is still a bit high, and ordinary people cannot afford such wood carvings.

Yang Yunxue tilted her head and looked at the old man, "Will you sell it for fifty cents?"

"Oh, Miss, you are obviously from a wealthy family. Please don't embarrass an old man like me. This small business is really not profitable."

"It takes an old man more than ten days to make a wood carving, and I just earn money for my hard work."

"Miss, how about one hundred and eighty cents?"

The old man looked tangled and embarrassed, his eyes full of sincerity and pity. If other young ladies from official families saw him like this, they might believe him. But Yang Yunxue was not an ordinary young lady from an official family. She had lived a hard life before. Although the Yang family was now wealthy, the frugal nature of the girl had not changed.

Bargaining is her most basic ability.

"Hmph, you are dishonest, old man. This is a carving made of ordinary jujube wood. Such a small wood carving would cost more than ten or twenty coins in other places. I only gave you fifty coins because of your good craftsmanship."

"How about this, if you're willing to sell them for fifty cents, I'll pick a few more."

There are many children in the family, and Yang Yunxue wants to buy a few more for her nephews and nieces.

The old man smiled awkwardly, but complained in his heart why he met such a stingy person today.

When he saw Yang Yunxue's clothes, he knew that she was not an ordinary citizen, not to mention that there were several maids and old women following her.

Young ladies like this never bargain when buying things, but she didn't expect that she would meet someone who would bargain today.

"Here, here, how many would you like to buy, Miss?" The old man hesitated.

Should I agree to it or raise the price again?

If he raised the price, what would happen if the lady refused to buy it? But if he agreed to it, he would feel reluctant.

In fact, he sold them to others for thirty cents each, and Yang Yunxue's offer of fifty cents was already not low.

Yang Yunxue and Wang Yunqiao picked and chose at the stall and selected six wood carvings that looked good.

"Just these six!"

Seeing that they had chosen six, the old man immediately smiled and said, "Okay, a total of three hundred coins."

Although I didn't make a windfall, selling six is ​​still a big profit.

Yang Yunxue knew that her bid was still a little high, but she didn't care about it. She was frugal, not stingy, and she would not haggle with an old man.

The old man wanted to slaughter her like a fat sheep, which she naturally didn't want to do, but she didn't mind letting the old man earn a few dozen more cents.

Yang Yunxue paid the money and handed the six small wooden sculptures to Xia Feng and Dong Xue behind him.

Just as Yang Yunxue and the others were about to go to the next stall to take a look, there was a sudden loud commotion from the street ahead.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way!"

"Get out of my way, everyone! Don't block my young master's way!"

Angry roars echoed through the streets, mixed with the sound of horse hooves, causing chaos on the streets.

"what happened?"

Yang Yunxue stretched her neck to look forward in confusion, but unfortunately she was too short to see what was happening in front of her. She only saw many passers-by panicking and dodging to the sides of the street.

"Miss, someone is riding a horse in the street. Let's get out of the way!" At this time, Nanny Zhang beside her spoke up.

Nanny Zhang was also a servant bought by the Yang family after they came to Anyuan City. According to Yang Zhengshan's requirements, the men in the family were to be accompanied by two servants to run errands, the women were to be accompanied by a nanny and a maid, and Wang was to be accompanied by an additional nanny and three maids.

In addition, the Yang family had more than ten servants including grooms, coachmen, housekeepers, doormen, cooks, etc.

After hearing what Aunt Zhang said, Yang Yunxue and Wang Yunqiao quickly retreated behind the wood carving stall.

However, Yang Yunxue was very curious about who was riding a horse in the street. She had heard of many cases of playboys doing evil things, but she had never seen it before.

This new thing still made her curious.

As for who told her about those playboys' misdeeds, haha, who else would tell her these except Yang Minghao, the big mouth.

At that time, Yang Zhengshan was still in Linguan Fort, and the Zhang family of Chongshan Pass had not yet fallen. Yang Minghao was very envious of the dissolute behavior of the fourth young master of the Zhang family, but the boy did not dare to say this in front of Yang Zhengshan and could only brag to his sister.

Soon, Yang Yunxue saw seven or eight people riding tall horses galloping towards them.

"Ah, be careful!"

Suddenly, Wang Yunqiao let out a scream.

On the street, horses were galloping and angry curses were heard. Most people dodged, but there were always some who did not have time to dodge and were directly knocked away by the horses.

Just now, Wang Yunqiao saw a young boy being knocked down by a horse. Fortunately, the street was relatively spacious, and the boy was lucky enough not to be trampled by the horse behind him after being knocked down.

But even so, the collision left the boy seriously injured.

"hateful!"

Yang Yunxue couldn't help but get angry when she saw this, and without thinking, she picked up a wooden stick from the side and threw it over.

This wooden stick belongs to the old man at the wood carving stall. It is probably used as a walking stick and is more than three feet long.

Yang Yunxue has not yet become a warrior due to her young age, but her physique is not comparable to that of an ordinary girl. Not to mention a girl, even a middle-aged man may not be able to compare with her.

Yang Zhengshan's unique skill is pistol throwing. As his daughter, Yang Yunxue has naturally also practiced pistol throwing.

Although this crutch is not a pistol, it does not prevent Yang Yunxue from throwing.

Yang Yunxue's target was also clear, and she went straight towards the young man in gorgeous clothes.

With a bang, the crutch hit the young man's head directly.

The followers around the young man noticed the sudden attack of the crutch, but their reaction was a little late and they didn't have time to stop it.

The young man, who was riding his horse, was suddenly attacked and fell off his horse.

(End of this chapter)