In the late spring of the fourth year of Yongchang, when Shen Gui was fished out of the canal, she was holding a box in her arms, her teeth were chattering, and she was soaked to the skin.
The man who caught him was named Pei Jun. He was the new salt envoy to the capital and was well-known as an iron face in the court. Pei Jun wanted the contents of the box, but Shen Gui wouldn't give them to him. Pei Jun said, then you can stay at my house and we can chat slowly.
So Shen Gui moved in next door to Pei Jun's study.
During the day, he sorted out Pei Jun's old files, and at night, he silently wrote down the secret accounts he had kept for ten years. If he writes a wrong page, Pei Jun will frame it. When he reached the thirty-seventh page, he found that on Pei Jun's desk was an article he had written ten years ago. He had copied it for ten years, and the corners were frayed.
Shen Gui asked what this meant. Pei Jun said it was not interesting, he just thought it was well written.
Later, Pei Jun was granted a marriage and sent Shen Gui out of the capital. Shen Gui opened a tavern in Lin'an and hung a plaque reading "Nine-Nine Returns". Pei Jun sends shadow guards to buy wine every month, and the same code is painted on the bottom of each jar of wine. Later, during the war in the north, Pei Jun went on an expedition and sent all the secret files to "Jiujiu Return", with the recipient written "in the cabinet".
Shen Gui sold the tavern that night and hit the road with the box in his arms.
In the heavy snow, Pei Jun asked him why he was here. He said that you owe me three jars of green plum wine and you haven't settled the debt yet. I came here to collect the debt.
——Later, when the Jin Palace reversed the verdict, resigned, and on New Year's Eve by Taihu Lake, the days slowed down. Wintersweet flowers fell to the ground, Pei Jun was roasting chestnuts by the fire, and Shen Gui was lying on the desk writing a new salt law that would never be published. After writing the last page, he thought about it, put the manuscript paper into the wooden box, and locked it.
There was the sound of firecrackers outside the window, and their little local dog ran in with a blank account book in its mouth. The pages were scattered on the floor, without a single word.
The most difficult thing to settle in the world is never money.
[Ancient style plot · Qiangqiang · Two male protagonists · Group portrait · HE]
Purpose: To clear the world's accounts, but not to calculate the people's disfavor.