sjar Chapter 1254 The Scholar Comes to the Door
Chapter 1254 The Scholar Comes to the Door
Seeing that she chose this, Xu Sibei smiled and said, "General's Mansion in the north, you like those ginkgo trees. I will move some from other land for you and plant them in your yard. Anyway, your yard is big enough to plant more than ten trees."
Zhou Guo said, "Brother, plant some more fruit trees. These only bloom but don't bear fruit. Plant some fruit trees later so that you can enjoy the flowers and bear fruit. After the flowers bloom, you can look forward to eating the fruits."
Xu Sibei said happily: "Okay, what kind of fruit do you want to eat?"
Zhou Guo thought about it, but couldn't think of anything he particularly wanted to eat. "Just plant anything. Grapes, pomegranates, and pears will do."
After she chose her yard, Xu Sibei also chose his own yard. As always, the yard was big, and he asked people to move all the flowers and plants to Zhou Guo's yard. He didn't need those things here. He just wanted to have a yard to practice.
Seeing that he didn't leave any flowers or plants behind, Zhou Guo said, "You don't like them yourself, but if you get married in the future, your sister-in-law will like them. Young ladies all like these flowers and plants."
Xu Sibei waved his hand, "Let's talk about the future later. There's not even a trace of your sister-in-law. I don't know where she is. I don't even know her. Now you want me to change my preferences for her? That won't work!"
The two of them strolled around the palace and the capital.
After a major reshuffle in the capital, more than half of the original dignitaries disappeared, and the aristocratic families were unable to recover.
Xu Sibei had lived in the capital for several years. He pointed at these mansions and said, "These families were very powerful in the previous dynasty. They didn't even care about the unfavored princes, let alone ordinary people. In the capital, they could do whatever they wanted. We destroyed them on the first day the army entered the city."
Many aristocratic families were cleared out, and at least half of their family property was lost. Some of those who had committed numerous crimes had their property wiped out.
Before Xu Xiushan took the throne, the previously empty national treasury was full, and the inner treasury was also full.
There is no place to put the extra money, which shows how much these wealthy families have greedily taken.
Most of the people in the capital were cleared out, and the Xu family did not touch those who had no guilt or committed minor crimes.
There were a few honest officials in the previous dynasty who preferred death to serve as Xu Xiushan's courtiers, and they were loyal to only one emperor throughout their lives.
Xu Xiushan visited these people in person and showed courtesy to them. He went there twice and finally moved these people and made them willing to come out of retirement to serve as scholars.
When Zhou Guo listened to what Xu Sibei said to her, she recalled what she had done in Huguang at the beginning of the year. It was also because she had taken down a wealthy family that she had disaster relief grain in various places. After distributing the grain, there was still some left.
How similar is it to this?
They are indeed a family.
Xu Sibei also said: "I think Dad learned this method from you."
Zhou Guo smiled and said, "That's not the case. Dad already knew how to do this."
At least half of the land that was previously forcibly distributed to the people was snatched away from these big households.
"Zhou Guo! Is it really you?"
Zhou Guo looked over in the direction of the voice and saw that it was the scholar from the village. The scholar was very happy to see her and was about to rush over.
They were stopped by the guards around them.
The scholar was anxious and waved his hands, saying, "Zhou Guo, Zhou Guo, it's me. Do you remember me? I am the scholar from our village. I fled with you guys back then, but we separated halfway. Do you still remember me?"
Xu Sibei asked: "Do you know him?"
Zhou Guo nodded, "He's right, he was originally from the same village as us."
"So do you want to see him?"
"Go meet him. Maybe he needs help. We are from the same place. If he has any difficulties, please help me if you can."
Xu Sibei said to his guards: "Let him come over."
The personal guards dispersed and made way for the scholar.
Such solemnity made the scholar feel a little overwhelmed, but when he thought about his family's life and looked at Zhou Guo, who was so close and already rich and powerful, he thought that as long as he stretched out his finger to help them, his family would be through this difficult time.
He stepped forward bravely, smiling, and said, "Zhou Guo, do you still remember me?"
Zhou Guo smiled and said, "Of course I remember. You were going to the capital back then. I didn't expect that you would actually come all the way to the capital. Judging from your appearance, you must be living a good life in the capital. How about the others?"
Xu Sibei said: "This is not the place to talk, let's find a place to sit down and talk."
The scholar was flattered.
The location was of course chosen as a restaurant. Almost all the big restaurants in Beijing have closed down, and not a single one can be found, but a few medium-sized ones can still be found.
The two were also hungry, so they chose a place they had never been to and ordered a table full of delicious food, from meat to vegetarian dishes.
Zhou Guo called the scholar and said, "Master Scholar, come and eat. Don't be polite."
The scholar looked at the table full of delicacies from land and sea and felt deeply moved. He had been in the capital for so many years, but he had never been to this restaurant once because he had no money and could not afford to eat.
I never thought it would be like this the first time I came here.
Zhou Guo and Xu Sibei had already started eating happily. The coronation ceremony was approaching and everyone was busy except for these two who had nothing to do all day and just wandered around.
Seeing that they were enjoying the meal, the scholar didn't dare to say anything and just started eating with them.
He hadn't eaten such delicious food for many years. In the capital, even if he put aside his pride and worked as a writer or copyer, he didn't have many opportunities to find work. There were countless people doing this.
At the beginning, he could receive some government subsidies and allowances every month, but later on, they were all gone.
While eating, Zhou Guo occasionally looked up at the person opposite him. After not seeing him for these years, the scholar had aged a lot. Time had left its mark on his body, and his hair had turned a lot whiter.
She remembered that when the two groups separated, Xiucai was still high-spirited, energetic and full of hope for the future. His life was better than anyone else in the village. She didn't know what they had experienced that made their lives become like this.
After the meal, all the food on the table was cleared away, leaving nothing.
Although he was rich, Zhou Guo would not waste food. He would order as much as he could and eat it all.
The scholar sighed with contentment. He hadn't eaten so full in a long time.
Zhou Guo said: "Tell me what happened after you separated."
The scholar whispered, "Back then we were divided into two groups. Most of those who followed us were young and strong, and their families were not in trouble. So we were very different from others on the road of escape. They were confused, their eyes were dull, and they couldn't even get enough food, but we were driving big and small cars and were full of energy.
Soon, we were targeted. Even so, we didn't take it seriously. After all, our spirit was not comparable to those refugees. After we beat back a few waves of people, we didn't take anyone seriously. Who knew that we were secretly targeted by bandits? One night, when everyone was asleep, the bandits came..."