Chapter 31 Becoming Bigger and Stronger
"It's so confusing!" Wang An scratched his head and wondered if he had gone to the wrong place, or if Chongzhen had been replaced by a colleague.

This question is very critical and involves one's own life planning.

If you travel to the wrong time and space, you must run away quickly. After all, it means that the history you are familiar with will go in an uncontrollable direction.

I don’t know whether it is good or bad, but it’s always a good idea to stay away from places of trouble.

But if the Chongzhen now is not the Chongzhen in history, but a colleague in Chongzhen's skin, and then think about a series of abnormal changes recently.

The resurgence of Wei Zhongxian, the great victory at Datong and the beheading of Zhou Kui, it is obvious that this colleague was not completely ignorant of history and had grasped very critical moments.

It seems that the Ming Dynasty may not be without hope.

So, would the Ji Si Change in the second year of Chongzhen happen again?
Wang An felt that it was highly unlikely, so it seemed that leaving the capital did not seem so urgent.

Moreover, the capital is the imperial capital after all. If security is guaranteed, the capital is actually the best place to develop the business plan in mind.

And as Wang An grows bigger and stronger, his products and business models, which are different from those of this era, may attract the attention of his peers.

After all, we are “fellow villagers” and perhaps we can support each other in these last days.

Of course, Wang An also considered the possibility of "fellow villager, fellow villager, a shot in the back". After all, if Wang An did not show up, the other party would be the only person in the world who knew the course of history. If there was another such person, would he stand on the side of the bandits and fight against himself?
The other party would naturally have such concerns, but if you think about it from another perspective, isn’t Wang An also a helper to the other party?
"Damn it, let's take a gamble!" Wang An said viciously, "My friend, I can leave my life and property to you!"

This gamble won him a high position in the government, and most importantly, there was perhaps hope of saving the Ming Dynasty.

Before, I was a person of little influence, but now I find out that Chongzhen might be a time traveler. As a descendant of the Chinese nation, there is no reason not to take a gamble and give it a try. Maybe I can save the Ming Dynasty.

But if he lost the bet, perhaps the Tartars would not arrive yet, and Wang An would be suspected by his peers.

But who can resist the temptation to save the Ming Dynasty?
Having made the decision in his mind, Wang An felt a lot more relaxed.

The shadow of doomsday that had been lingering in my mind disappeared, and the images of mountains of corpses and seas of blood and the sinking of the Chinese land in my mind seemed to become a little blurry.

"Ha, more than three hundred taels of silver for free!" Wang An took out the more than three hundred taels of silver given by Zhou Kui, and his face was filled with joy.

Previously, because he had to hand over the production methods of allicin and honeycomb coal, Wang An was not happy about the more than three hundred taels of silver, but felt very aggrieved.

After all, both honeycomb coal and allicin are epoch-making products, and selling them for more than three hundred taels is a bit embarrassing for the time travelers.

Now that Zhou Kui is dead, Wang An doesn't need to pay anything anymore. This silver is like picking it up for free on the street. How can he not be happy?

The only way to relieve worries is to pick up money!
Grabbing a handful of poor quality silver coins, Wang An walked into the yard in high spirits.

The female workers, who were a little nervous because Wang An looked distraught when he came back, finally felt relieved when they saw this.

Oh my God, I was really worried by the way the little miracle doctor acted just now.

"Little doctor, what are you so happy about?"

Wang An grinned and said, "I'm really happy today. I'll treat everyone to a meal!"

"Oh, are you picking up money?" someone laughed.

Wang An felt inexplicably guilty.

Because in the Ming Dynasty, when corrupt officials were punished, their property was not simply confiscated.

The Ministry of Justice has its own very mysterious way of counting the amount of money embezzled by officials.

For example, if the Ministry of Justice believes that a person has been an official for ten years and has embezzled 100,000 taels, then what should they do if they only find 50,000 taels during the house search? First, they should sell off all the property of the official and his family. If that is still not enough (the official who confiscates the property will do whatever he wants, so it is highly likely that it will not be enough in the end), they should recover the stolen money from the official's relatives.

If the officials have no money, their families will be locked up until they have money.

At that time, many officials' families were forced to commit suicide because they could not afford to pay so much stolen money.

If people knew that Zhou Kui had given him more than three hundred taels of silver, the government would definitely come after him to demand it back.

Who knows, they might even accuse him of some crime like conspiracy and try to squeeze some money out of him.

"Cough, cough," Wang An pretended to cough twice and waved to the fat woman in her fifties.

"Auntie Fei, use this little money to buy some meat and vegetables. Isn't it almost the winter solstice? Just think of it as me treating everyone to a good meal and celebrating in advance."

Auntie Fatty chuckled, "Then we won't be polite!"

He took the change from Wang An's hand with a smile and looked at its quality. It was equivalent to about five taels of silver.

"I'll give you half a day off today. Go back and bring your family members to have a meal together." Wang An was about to turn around when he suddenly added.

"Thank you, little doctor!"

"The little doctor is such a good man!"

"My son has never eaten meat since he was a child. Thank you so much, little doctor!"

Wang An felt a little sad when he saw the female workers who were so excited for a meal. At the same time, he became more determined to become bigger and stronger and create greater glory, and to attract possible colleagues.

My Chinese ancestors should not be so miserable!

Although Wang An gave everyone a holiday, the female workers were not idle.

Except for two people who followed Aunt Fei to buy vegetables and one who went to notify the female workers' families, the rest of them all picked up brooms and rags and cleaned Wang's Herbal Medicine Shop inside and out.

When the family members arrived, they also helped out and soon the whole shop was clean.

After Aunt Fei came back with the vegetables, everyone was busy for a long time, and the early winter solstice family dinner finally began.

Although these old ladies don’t know how to cook any exquisite delicacies, their food is large in quantity and rich in oil, which is a rare delicacy for the poor people who have been lacking meat for a long time.

Wang An ate for a while and said, "We plan to find a bigger shop, preferably one with a yard. Everyone, keep an eye out for it."

After these words were spoken, everyone became a little nervous.

"Little doctor, are you moving away?" asked Aunt Fat.

Wang An nodded, then smiled and said, "Don't worry, no matter where we move to, we will still employ you!"

Everyone then relaxed and started talking about all the shops they knew about for rent or sale.

Wang An had been in Daming for more than half a year and was quite familiar with the area outside the city, so he probably knew all the place names that everyone mentioned.

After listening to them all, I found that they were either in a remote location, too expensive or too small.

Only Er Gouzi hesitated and said, "There is a large area in Baimajing. It used to be a cargo yard. It's a bit far away and a bit old. I wonder if the little doctor would like it."

(End of this chapter)