The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 240 The Disaster Victims Haven't Arrived Yet, the Demons Have Already Appeared
After circling around the base of the city wall, Tu Chengyu led his men to the open space across the moat.

The autumn harvest has already taken place here, and the land has been requisitioned by the imperial court to prepare for the resettlement of disaster victims.

When Tu Chengyu arrived, he saw that the place was empty, with only some crushed grass stubbornly growing.

Tu Chengyu and his men casually looked around the open space.

The disaster victims haven't arrived yet, so this place isn't in use for the time being.

So Tu Chengyu glanced at it briefly and then prepared to leave with his men.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw a group of people gathered in the open space on the other side of the city gate.

Logically speaking, it's not surprising that so many people are gathered near the city gate, after all, this is the capital city, and there are plenty of people here.

However, since this place was designated for resettling disaster victims, Tu Chengyu became somewhat concerned about it.

He said to Xiao Xuanzi, who was standing nearby, "Send someone over there and see what they're doing there."

"It's the prince."

Xiao Xuanzi casually sent over one of the guards from behind. The guard ran over, circled the area twice, and quickly returned to report.

"Your Highness, I have inquired and learned where they buy and sell goods."

"Doing business here? What kind of business? Did you ask?"

This is rather strange. If it were a normal transaction, who would choose to do it here? If it's not normal, why would it be conducted in such an open space without any cover?

"I asked, and they said they were a few refugees who wanted to sell their belongings to get some food."

"Disaster victims?" Upon hearing these two words, Tu Chengyu immediately perked up and asked, "Disaster victims have arrived so early?"

The guard who was gathering information didn't know much about these things, so he could only say, "Your Highness, I only heard them say that they were refugees fleeing from disaster. As for why they arrived so early, I didn't ask them clearly."

After he finished speaking, the guard lowered his head guiltily.

However, Tu Chengyu did not intend to hold him accountable; he simply asked the others:
"Does anyone know why the disaster victims arrived so early?"

The others probably didn't know what was going on, only Quan Wenwei spoke up;
"Your Highness, I do know a little about it. These early arrivals are probably wealthy families or gentry from the disaster-stricken areas. They have livestock to pull their carts and spare food, so they can leave faster. However, there shouldn't be many such families."

Quan Wenwei's words explained the reason why the disaster victims arrived early, but they also raised a new question for Tu Chengyu.

"Mr. Quan, since these wealthy households or gentry have reserve grain, why do they still travel thousands of miles to the capital to beg for food? Wouldn't it be better to stay where they are and wait for the court to provide relief?"

"Your Highness may not know this, but these wealthy gentry are generally rural landlords who wield considerable power in the countryside during normal times, but in years of famine..."

When the common people have no food to use, they will first rob the landlords who have food. Once the common people start robbing the food, they will not stop easily and will often take the lives of these landlords.

Therefore, the small landowners in the countryside fled famine partly to get food in the capital, and partly to protect themselves.

After hearing this, Tu Chengyu understood everything.

Those disaster victims in the distance must be the smaller landowners who ran faster.

They probably didn't bring much food, which is why they had to sell their belongings to make money.

Logically speaking, Tu Chengyu shouldn't interfere with other people's buying and selling of goods.

However, he is currently in charge of resettling disaster victims, and the Crown Prince is in charge of the resettlement of disaster victims. If there are any problems with the disaster victims, it will affect the Crown Prince.

Therefore, Tu Chengyu felt that he still needed to take a look. If it was a normal transaction, he would not interfere.

"Since we've encountered some disaster victims, let's go over and take a look, and while we're at it, ask if any other disaster victims have arrived."

After saying that, Tu Chengyu took the lead and walked over there.

As soon as Tu Chengyu made a move, the guards beside him immediately sprang into action.

Old Yao also instructed his men to quickly run ahead and stand guard.

With such a commotion, they naturally noticed it when Tu Chengyu approached them.

When the group of people who had formed a circle saw Tu Chengyu leading a large group of people over, they all consciously stepped aside, revealing the people inside the circle.

At this moment, Tu Chengyu finally saw the people inside clearly; it turned out there were quite a few people surrounded inside.

There were about a dozen men, women, and children, leaning against a donkey-drawn cart. They were probably the early arrivals among the disaster victims.

As the circle dispersed around them, they naturally saw Tu Chengyu and his group.

However, being in the capital, they didn't know what Tu Chengyu wanted to do there, so they could only stand there and watch obediently.

The elderly man at the head of the group held a vase in both hands, his face full of worry.

And so, the three groups met in silence.

For various reasons, none of the three parties intended to speak first, and for a while, things quieted down considerably.

Finally, the gentlemen from the capital who came to buy things couldn't wait any longer. One of them, a middle-aged man dressed in silk and with a wealthy appearance, spoke up.

"Greetings, sir. May I ask what brings you here?"

Tu Chengyu had no intention of speaking to these people, so he nodded to Jia Lian.

Jia Lian understood, took two steps forward, and said:
“My young master heard that there were some good things for sale here, so he came to see what was so special about them.”

Upon hearing Jia Lian's words, the man smiled and said:

"Judging from his attire and bearing, this young master is clearly of noble status, while the things we are buying and selling are just some worthless trinkets, which are probably not worthy of his attention."

Jia Lian replied, "Money doesn't matter. My young master just wants to see something unusual."

Hearing this, the well-to-do middle-aged man couldn't refuse and asked directly:

"Then may I ask, what kind of plan does your esteemed young master desire?"

Jia Lian, having spent time in the capital, was familiar with certain rules and regulations.

Therefore, he stated quite directly:

"My young master will take a look at the items first. If he likes them, he will accept them directly. If he doesn't like them, you can go and buy them."

Jia Lian's words were undeniably domineering, but with Tu Chengyu behind him, he had no choice but to say them; otherwise, if word got out, wouldn't it tarnish the prestige of Prince Su?

When Tu Chengyu heard Jia Lian say this, he did not object.

He also wanted to take this opportunity to see what these people were actually doing.

The well-to-do middle-aged man was taken aback by Jia Lian's domineering attitude and was momentarily speechless with anger.

He could tell that Tu Chengyu's identity was not simple, but he couldn't guess what it was for the time being, so he didn't dare to speak easily.

However, she finally mustered up her courage and said, "This is not a good idea. After all, I arrived early and almost reached an agreement with the seller. If you interfere like this, wouldn't that break the rules?"

Jia Lian said with great authority, "Who do you think you are? You have no right to talk about rules here."

While Jia Lian, a portly middle-aged man, was engaging in this contest, Tu Chengyu was observing the disaster victims in front of him.

According to Tu Chengyu, these disaster victims are in relatively good condition.

With the exception of a few individuals, the rest of this group didn't look like disaster victims. They didn't have the appearance of disaster victims, and their clothes were relatively neat.

Among them were two young men, strong and robust, who did not look like refugees who had fled from disaster.

Just as Tu Chengyu was observing, Quan Wenwei quietly approached Tu Chengyu and whispered to him:
"Your Highness, I think there's something wrong with this."

"Hmm? Is there something wrong?"

"Students, do these disaster victims look real?"

"What did you say?" Tu Chengyu suddenly turned to look at Quan Wenwei: "How did you figure that out?"

It wasn't that Tu Chengyu didn't believe Quan Wenwei, but rather that everyone had just heard there were disaster victims here, and Tu Chengyu also believed that some of the disaster victims had arrived early.

Now, Quan Wenwei suddenly says that these early arrivals of disaster victims are fake, which is hard to believe.

Quan Wenwei explained, "The students just secretly observed that among these disaster victims, the old man holding the vase became very nervous when he heard that Jia Lian wanted to buy his things."

Then the students noticed that the two seemingly strong young men among the disaster victims repeatedly looked behind them after the prince came to take them away.
The students glanced behind them and noticed that among the people from the capital who had come to buy things, one person was subtly exchanging glances with the two young men.

It is indeed suspicious that people from the capital who come to buy things are exchanging flirtatious glances with disaster victims who are selling things.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Are you saying that these disaster victims buying things are people in disguise?"

Quan Wenwei nodded slightly:
"The students speculated that someone was using the guise of disaster victims to set up a scheme to deceive people in the capital."

After hearing this, Tu Chengyu clicked his tongue.

The disaster victims haven't even arrived yet, but these strange and bizarre things have already started happening.

These scammers are incredibly clever; they can even find ways to scam disaster victims.

According to common sense, disaster victims are empty-handed, fleeing for their lives, and everyone avoids them like the plague.

These scammers, however, found a different way to make money off disaster victims.

Thinking about this, Tu Chengyu felt it was necessary to expose the scam, otherwise who knows what those who bought the products might do when they finally realized they had been deceived.

In order to verify the safety of the disaster victims and to avoid problems in the matter, Tu Chengyu had no choice but to take action.

He stopped Jia Lian, who was speaking, and said directly to the old man holding the vase:

"Bring the vase over here first, so I can take a look."

Before the old man could react to Tu Chengyu's words, the middle-aged man, who was negotiating with Jia Lian, said anxiously:

"Young master, what you are doing is against the rules."

Tu Chengyu looked at this fool who had been deceived and said expressionlessly:
"Here, my rules are the rules."

After saying that, he said to Quan Xu, "Go over there and bring that vase over."

Looking at Tu Chengyu, who was even more domineering than Jia Lian, the old man holding the vase was somewhat at a loss.

He glanced at Tu Chengyu, then unconsciously looked at the two strong young men behind him.

The young man was closer to the old man, and seeing this, he subtly pulled the old man along.

The old man understood and quickly said:
"Young master, I suddenly remembered that I still have some grain from home, so I won't sell anything."

Tu Chengyu sneered and said, "What? You can sell, but I can't?"

The old man said nervously, "Young master, you are joking. Of course you can buy it, but this thing has been passed down from our ancestors. It would be best to keep it in your possession."

"Oh! So that's how it is. The item is yours, and you're free to sell it if you don't want to. However, I'm quite curious about what this ancestral treasure of yours is. Could you please let me see it?"

“Young master is joking. Things from the countryside are all crude and useless trinkets. How could they possibly meet your standards?”

"But what is it? Bring it here so I can see it. You don't mean to keep it from me, do you?"

"Ah, this..."

The old man didn't know how to answer, and subconsciously looked at the strong young man behind him.

Seeing the old man's condition, Tu Chengyu became even more certain that Quan Wenwei's guess was correct; these people did indeed have a problem.

It seems imperative to expose their tricks.

Just as Tu Chengyu was thinking about whether he should have someone forcibly take the things from these people if they didn't give them anything, he realized that Tu Chengyu was wondering if he should do it.

Just then, a man with a pig-kidney-shaped face and an unreadable age stepped out from the group of people who had come from the capital to buy things.

As soon as this person came out, he smiled and said to Jia Lian:
"Young Master Jia, would you like to speak further?"

As he spoke, he tried to move closer to Jia Lian, but was stopped by the guards beside him.

Jia Lian looked at the man with a puzzled expression. After thinking for a long time, he asked:

"who are you?"

With a forced smile, the man with the pig-kidney-shaped face said:

"Young Master Jia, you must have a bad memory. I am Huang Zhi. At the beginning of last year, I had a drink with you at Xiaoxianglou."

"Huang Zhi?"

Clearly, Jia Lian still couldn't remember who this person was.

However, at this moment, Quan Wenwei whispered:
"The one who was exchanging glances with the disaster victims was Huang Zhi."

So, this guy might be the one who set up the scheme.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu said to Jia Lian:

"Since you know him, go and listen to what he has to say."

Jia Lian didn't know why Tu Chengyu wanted him to talk to this person who was obviously unfamiliar with him, but since Tu Chengyu had spoken, he could only do as he was told.

So Jia Lian stepped forward, took Huang Zhi to the side, and whispered something to him.

Not long after the two left, Jia Lian returned.

"Your Highness, this man just said that he arranged today's transaction, the buyer was already made, and he even received a bribe from the buyer, so this item cannot be sold to anyone else."

He added that if His Highness liked these things, he would personally select some of the best and send them to His Highness after things had calmed down, as a token of gratitude for his leniency today.

At first glance, this explanation seems plausible.

But upon closer examination, it becomes clear that there are still some inconsistencies in the explanation.

Because anything that can be traded here is definitely not expensive.

Therefore, the deposit that Huang Zhi collects from buyers will not be too much.

Therefore, he didn't need to offend someone whose status was obviously higher than Jia Lian's for the sake of this deposit.

(End of this chapter)