Try taking her!

"Gu Zhengchen!"

Wang Youcheng had not expected someone to come out and make trouble just as he was about to trick her into his grasp. Hadn't the man become an idiot? The several times he had come to swindle Gu Qingqing before, her brother had never shown his face or said a word. Yet today he had ruined everything!

"Brother..."

Gu Qingqing looked at Gu Zhengchen, tears brimming in her eyes.

Gu Zhengchen shoved Wang Youcheng away, picked up the "indenture," and scanned it before narrowing his eyes. "First, no purchase price. Second, no provision for clearing the debt. Third, no intermediary to stand surety. Fourth, no close relative to pledge her. Scholar Wang, what exactly are you planning with this 'indenture'?"

Even with his scheme exposed, Wang Youcheng showed no fear. "Oh, perhaps I took the wrong one when I left home."

Gu Zhengchen looked at the sleazy Wang Youcheng, his gaze turning cold.

This man was a scoundrel. From the outset, he had never intended to pay for Gu Qingqing. He meant to trick her into his home, abuse her however he pleased, then casually discard her when the Gu family came looking!

By then, Gu Qingqing would have lost her chastity, while the Gu family would still have gained nothing. Even if they took the matter to the magistrate's office, Wang Youcheng could turn around and accuse her, claiming she had come willingly.

He wanted not only to abuse Gu Qingqing, but also to push the Gu family into even deeper despair!

Rrrip!

Gu Zhengchen tore the "indenture" to shreds bit by bit, walked up to Wang Youcheng, and flung the scraps in his face. Looking at the furious man, he said, "Scholar Wang, you like playing games, do you? Why don't I play along?"

Wang Youcheng spat out the scraps stuck to his lips and shouted, "Gu Zhengchen, you owe my family money and won't repay it! What's wrong with taking your sister?"

"Try taking her!"

Gu Zhengchen snapped at him, then said sternly, "According to the court's Code of Laws, any powerful man who, without reporting to the authorities, forcibly seizes wives, daughters, or property over a private debt shall receive eighty strokes of the heavy rod. Shall we go ask the county magistrate whether those eighty strokes should land on you or me?"

Wang Youcheng's expression changed. He looked at his page. Was there such a provision in the Code of Laws?

The page clearly knew a little more and nodded helplessly. The Code of Laws, promulgated in the twelfth month of the first year of Wu, the year before the founding of the Great Ming, really did contain such a provision...

Wang Youcheng pointed at Gu Zhengchen and shouted, "You refuse to repay your debt, and you think you're in the right? I'll have you thrown in jail! Your whole family, too!"

Gu Zhengchen waved a hand. "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. According to the Code of Laws, anyone who defaults on a private debt of five guan or more shall receive ten strokes of the light rod after three months in arrears. Scholar Wang, the debt to your family isn't even due for another seven days. Even if I defaulted for three months and still hadn't paid by the seventh month, the officers could give me no more than ten strokes. Where does jail come into it?"

Wang Youcheng trembled with rage. Damn you, Gu Zhengchen! Didn't you spend all your time reading the Four Books and Five Classics? Since when did you know the Code of Laws so well?

Gu Zhengchen stared coldly at the speechless Wang Youcheng. The Great Ming Code would not be promulgated throughout the realm until the second month of the seventh year of Hongwu. For now, the Code of Laws was chiefly in force. As for the Great Proclamations Old Zhu had written himself, those would not appear for another twelve years. Otherwise, he could have used those to frighten them, too...

Clap, clap!

Applause rang out.

Gu Zhengchen looked toward the doorway and saw the somewhat portly Wang Fugui clapping, his face wreathed in smiles. His short beard quivered slightly, and his narrow eyes could not conceal their shrewdness.

"What a silver tongue. Candidate Gu, you truly are extraordinary."

Wang Fugui walked in.

"Father."

Wang Youcheng hurried over to him.

Wang Fugui raised his hand and slapped Wang Youcheng. The resounding blow made everyone's heart jolt. "Idiot! What have I taught you all this time? You can't handle even a trifling matter without making a hundred mistakes. Get home! Stop coming out here to disgrace yourself!"

"You're right to reprimand me, Father."

Wang Youcheng held his cheek, not daring to argue.

Wang Fugui turned to Gu Zhengchen and studied him intently before piling a smile onto his face. "Candidate Gu, repaying borrowed money is a principle ordained by heaven and earth. The Code of Laws may lay down rules, but it cannot replace agreements among neighbors. Seven days. You have only seven days. If you cannot repay the debt, heh, then we'll have to trouble Your Honor the candidate to become a tenant of my household and work it off. How does that sound?"

Gu Zhengchen watched Wang Fugui warily. This man fawned on the powerful and hid a knife behind his smile. He would be extremely difficult to deal with.

"No problem."

Gu Zhengchen agreed outright.

A flicker of surprise passed through Wang Fugui's eyes. Then he laughed heartily and nodded several times. "Good. Very good. Let's go."

"Brother..."

Gu Qingqing clutched Gu Zhengchen's arm, distraught.

Wang Youcheng followed his father home, not forgetting to flatter him. "Your methods really are brilliant, Father. As long as Gu Zhengchen can't repay the debt within seven days, he'll have no choice but to obediently become our tenant. Then we'll be the knife and chopping block, and he'll be the fish on it. We can deal with him however we please."

The corner of Wang Fugui's mouth twitched.

Exactly. Though tenants were not servants, they were only a little better off. The current debt of six guan might not seem like much, but there were plenty of ways to manipulate it. If he made it impossible to repay in twenty years, Gu Zhengchen could forget about leaving in nineteen!

"Father, what if Gu Zhengchen comes up with six guan..."

"Him?"

Wang Fugui sneered.

The Gu family now had neither land nor an ox. Probably the only thing of value left in their home was Gu Qingqing, but who would spend six guan on a mere slip of a girl worth only four?

And Gu Zhengchen was a penniless scholar with no useful skills. Apart from writing a few characters and quoting Confucius, what could he do?

"Father, about Gu Pi..."

"Shut up!"

Wang Fugui shot Wang Youcheng a cold, vicious look, his eyes full of malice.

Wang Youcheng hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to speak.

Looking at the weeds beside the road, Wang Fugui said in a low voice, "If you don't pull this grass out by the roots, it'll keep growing back year after year. Sooner or later, it'll become trouble."

Wang Youcheng nodded emphatically.

Gu Pi was the grass, and Gu Zhengchen was the root. The grass was dead; the root could not be allowed to remain. This time, they would ensure the Gu family never rose again!

At the Gu family home.

Gu Zhengchen had barely scolded Gu Qingqing for a few sentences before she began to sob.

Seeing her tear-streaked face, like pear blossoms drenched in rain, and how heartbroken and frightened she was after the fact, Gu Zhengchen could not quite bear it. He could only put on a fierce front and threaten her. "If you ever do something so reckless again, I'll break your legs."

Gu Qingqing smiled through her tears. "Brother, have you recovered?"

Gu Zhengchen did not answer directly, asking only, "Where did Mother go?"

Gu Qingqing wiped away her tears. "To borrow money. Mother didn't say where."

Gu Zhengchen frowned.

Borrow money?

In everyone's eyes, the Gu family was already ruined, with no chance of ever getting back on its feet. Who would lend his mother money?

Six guan was no small sum. It was a fortune, enough to cover an ordinary family of five's expenses for an entire year! The Gu family could neither tear down the eastern wall nor patch the western one. To escape their predicament, they could only find a way to earn money!

Earn money?

After thinking for a long while, Gu Zhengchen said to Gu Qingqing, "Mother won't be back until evening, will she? It's still early. Come into town with me."

"All right. Wait a moment, Brother."

Gu Qingqing washed her face, then ran into her room and rummaged around for quite some time before coming out. She opened her palm and looked up at him. "Brother, Mother gave me this."

Looking at the copper coin in Gu Qingqing's palm, Gu Zhengchen's eyes lit up. "A Hongwu Tongbao?"

This was good stuff. Take it back to the future, and he could make a fortune. But this was the Hongwu Era. Forget it...

At this point, Old Zhu had yet to issue the Great Ming treasure notes, large enough to break a Guinness record. The main currency in circulation was the Hongwu Tongbao coin.

Presumably to avoid the taboo character "yuan" in Zhu Yuanzhang's name, coins minted during the Ming did not follow the Song practice of issuing yuanbao, such as the Xining Yuanbao. Instead, they were all called tongbao.

Gu Zhengchen picked up the Hongwu Tongbao and turned it over. Seeing the characters "two" and "Fu" on the back, he could not help smiling. "It's actually a two-cash coin!"

A two-cash coin was a coin used at a value of two cash.

In ancient times, a copper coin did not necessarily mean one cash. Its specific value had to be determined from the weight inscription on the reverse, or from its size and weight.

A one-cash coin was called a standard coin. It was the most basic unit and the smallest copper coin. There were also two-cash, three-cash, five-cash, fifteen-cash coins, and others. The higher the value, the larger and heavier the coin would be.

Gu Zhengchen rolled his fingers up and down, sending the Hongwu Tongbao weaving between them. Finally, he tossed it into the air and caught it as it fell. His gaze was resolute as he said, "This is the seed capital for our family's rise. Just watch. Your brother will trample everyone who's bullied us beneath his feet! We won't be ants in the Hongwu Era. We'll be its beasts of prey!"