Chapter 158: Short of money

Thinking of money, Yang Zhengshan felt a headache again.

This money still has to be spent.

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

Selling the shop can make a few thousand taels of silver, but there will be more places to spend money in the future.

Daily expenses at home, children's schooling or hiring teachers, and most importantly, he wants to marry Yu Qingyi, so the bride price must be given.

In fact, compared with other official families, the Yang family's expenses are already small. At least the Yang family's expenses are necessary expenses, and there is no extravagance.

As for other officials, a meal costs several taels of silver, a bottle of wine costs more than ten taels, and a tea party or flower party is held in the backyard from time to time, hundreds or thousands of taels are thrown in.

Socializing between officials and socializing between officials' families, all of these cost a lot of silver.

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

In fact, after arriving in Anyuan City, some official families also invited Wang to participate in gatherings, such as plum blossom appreciation, painting appreciation, tea tasting, etc., and sent many invitations to Wang.

However, Wang was not waiting for these things. In her eyes, the plum blossoms were not as delicious as spinach. As for the paintings, hehe, it would be strange for her to wait.

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

But it seemed not good not to go, and Wang often felt entangled about it.

Yang Zhengshan was also very troubled by this.

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

In the past, in Yinghebao, Yang Zhengshan did not need to care about these, because there were no officials around them to communicate.

After arriving in Anyuan City, there were many officials in the city. It stands to reason that Yang Zhengshan should take the initiative to communicate with the officials, but because of the smuggling case, Yang Zhengshan has been avoiding officials in the city.

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

Yang Zhengshan naturally avoided these officials.

But what about the future?

He couldn't avoid them forever.

The prefect and the garrison were the chief civil and military officials of a city. The prefect was responsible for civil affairs, and the garrison was responsible for city defense. There were many official affairs between the two sides.

In Darong, there was no saying of using civil to control military, but there was a saying of using military to defend civil.

Many times, the garrison office had to cooperate with the prefect's office, such as arresting thieves, maintaining public order, etc.

The prefect of Anyuan City was involved in the smuggling case, so he would definitely not be able to stay for long. Yang Zhengshan could ignore this prefect, but what about the next one?

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

Once there were more social interactions, more money would be spent.

It's no wonder that those officials always thought about corruption and bribery. If they didn't get greedy, how could they maintain their extravagant lives and how could they maintain their 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 is so concerned about the horse farm.

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

After telling Yang Mingcheng a few more words, Yang Zhengshan rode away from the horse farm with a dozen followers and galloped towards Anyuan City.

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

Around the garrison along the way, many figures can be seen 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 rarely go out, at most once or twice a month.

The little girl is still very interested in shopping, and the little girl also needs to buy some things she likes, such as pearl flowers, headdresses, etc.

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

The two of them walked from shop to shop, and from time to time they would buy some exquisite gadgets.

Of course, they couldn't afford the expensive ones. Although Yang Zhengshan was generous, he was not generous enough to give the two 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 had less, not because Yang Zhengshan was partial. In fact, the New Year's money or other things Yang Zhengshan gave them were the same, but Wang Yunqiao would buy something for her brother Wang Mingzhe from time to time, so she spent more than Yang Yunxue.

"Yunqiao, Yunqiao, look, this little wood carving is so beautiful!"

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

The pony was carved lifelike, and even the big eyes had a bit of lively charm.

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

"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 expensive, but the old man's craftsmanship is very good, and the things he carved are vivid.

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

Yang Yunxue tilted her head and looked at the old man, "Will you sell it for 50 coins?"

"Oh, young lady, you are obviously from a rich family, so don't embarrass me, an old man. Small business is really not profitable."

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

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

The old man looked tangled and embarrassed, with eyes full of sincerity and pity. If other young ladies from official families saw him like this, they might believe him.

But Yang Yunxue is not an ordinary young lady from an official family. Yang Yunxue also lived a hard life before. Although the Yang family is rich now, the girl's frugal nature has not changed.

Bargaining is her most basic ability.

"Humph, you old man are not honest. This is an ordinary jujube wood carving. Such small wood carvings are more than ten or twenty coins in other places. I give you fifty coins because you have good craftsmanship."

"How about this, if you are willing to sell it for fifty coins, I will pick a few more."

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

The old man smiled awkwardly, but he was complaining in his heart about how he met such a stingy person today.

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

Young ladies like this never bargained when buying things, but he didn't expect that he would meet a bargainer today.

"This, this, how many do you want to buy, young lady?" The old man hesitated.

Should he agree or raise the price again.

If he raised the price, what if the young lady didn't buy it, but if he agreed, he would be a little unwilling.

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

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

"Let's take these six!"

Seeing that they chose six, the old man immediately showed his little face, "Okay, a total of three hundred cents."

Although he didn't make a fortune, it was a big profit to sell six.

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.

She was naturally unwilling to let the old man make a few dozen more coins.

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

Just as Yang Yunxue and the others were about to go to the next stall to take a look, a commotion suddenly came from the street in front.

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

"Get out of the way, don't block my young master's way!"

The angry roars echoed on the street, mixed with bursts of horse hooves, making the street a mess.

"What's wrong?"

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

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

Aunt 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 equipped with two servants to run errands, the women were equipped with a nanny and a maid, and Wang was equipped with an extra nanny and three maids.

In addition, the Yang family also had more than ten servants such as grooms, coachmen, sweepers, doormen, and cooks.

After hearing Aunt Zhang's words, 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 things that the dandy boys did, but she had never seen it.

This new thing still made her curious.

As for who told her about the dandy boys' misbehavior, haha, who would tell her these things 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 fallen. Yang Minghao was very envious of the dandy 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 over.

"Ah, be careful!"

Suddenly, Wang Yunqiao screamed.

On the street, horses were galloping, and there were constant curses. Most people dodged, but there were always some who were not in a hurry to dodge and were directly knocked out by the horses.

Just now, Wang Yunqiao saw a half-grown boy being knocked down by a horse. Fortunately, the street was wide, and the boy was lucky not to be stepped on by the horse behind him after being knocked down.

But even so, the collision also hurt the boy badly.

"Damn it!"

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

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

Yang Yunxue has not become a warrior yet because of her young age, but her physique is not comparable to that of an ordinary girl. Not to mention a girl, even a strong man may not be able to match her.

Yang Zhengshan's unique skill is throwing a short gun. As a daughter, Yang Yunxue has naturally practiced throwing a short gun.

Although this walking stick is not a short gun, it does not prevent Yang Yunxue from throwing it.

And Yang Yunxue's target is also clear, throwing it directly at the young man in brocade clothes.

With a snap, the walking stick hits the young man's head directly.

The followers around the young master noticed the sudden attack of the crutch, but they reacted a little too late and didn't have time to stop it.

The young master, who was still riding his horse, fell off the horse after being suddenly attacked.