Chapter Fourteen: The Huge Sum of Money

  "Quan Gang" is also finished, and I will devote myself to this new book. I hope it can climb higher in the new book rankings, and I also ask everyone to leave more comments.

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  Li Meng left the city from the west gate of Jiaozhou City. Based on yesterday's observation, people entering the city were checked more thoroughly, while those leaving the city did not receive much attention.

  As expected, when Li Meng strode out of the west gate with big steps, no one paid attention to him. Coincidentally, yesterday's gatekeeper, Wang Lao San, was still leaning against the city wall and lazily asked:

  "What's going on outside the city?"

  "Go visit relatives."

  Li Meng's reply was loud and clear, with a calm expression. Wang Lao San didn't even bother to move, clearly unable to recognize the person who had entered the city yesterday. Of course, many people passed through the city gate every day, so who would deliberately remember one of them? Especially since this person was a poor man in tattered clothes yesterday, but today he became a dignified and neatly dressed merchant with thick leg wraps, it's surprising that he could be recognized at all.

  Zhao Nai had something on his mind. On the first day, he saw Li Meng go out and thought he would be back soon. At noon, Zhao Nai's mother specially made a few dishes with the food she bought yesterday and asked Zhao Nai to come over and entertain. As a result, Li Meng still hadn't returned, and it was the same at dinner time.

  Some uneasy Zhao Neng even went to check the silver money he had stuffed into the corner, about ten taels of silver. For the poor people of Xue's family, this was a real fortune. If it were Li Meng's foolish past, it would be believable not to bring these silvers when going out. Now that Li Meng's mind is so clear, but putting the money here and disappearing without a trace, indeed makes one unclear.

  Those who went to sell private salt were originally overjoyed, but because of yesterday's incident, they were all frightened and fearful that Mu Yanwang would come again. Chen Liu and Wang Hai finished speaking with Zhao Nai and left the village early, and others were about the same, except for Zhao Nai who was still there guarding his mother.

  The next morning, those who had hidden outside all returned, thinking that nothing would happen again, and each went back to their own homes to rest for a few days.

  Only Zhao was anxiously waiting at Li Meng's door, thinking that nothing bad would happen to Li Meng.

  It was almost lunchtime when Zhao Neng suddenly wanted to tell everyone the news about Li Meng's disappearance. If something unfortunate happened or there was a leak, everyone could be prepared.

  It was unexpected that Li Meng walked over from the village entrance at this time. Zhao Neng almost didn't recognize him at first glance. In these years, the young people in Xue Jia's thousand households were all busy with their lives and had no time to clean themselves up. They all looked like they hadn't shaved or washed their hair for a long time, and their clothes were naturally not worth mentioning, all tattered and worn out, just poor.

  Looking at Li Mengxu's neat hair and wearing a half-old but passable linen garment walking over, Zhao Neng was indeed surprised, but soon felt it was only natural. After Li Meng's brave and wise performance, he thought this brother was really different from the same-age military dependents in the Wei camp. Dressing up like this is also reasonable, and the so-called respect for clothes may be formed unknowingly.

  "Li Meng, where have you been for the past two days?"

  It wasn't until they got close that Zhao Nai noticed Li Meng was sweating profusely. He thought to himself, although it's summer, the seaside is usually not hot, and Li Meng isn't carrying a pole or pushing a cart, how can he be sweating so much just from walking? Li Meng could see the concern in Zhao Nai's eyes and felt a little moved, but last night's activities couldn't be mentioned clearly, so he just smiled and replied:

  "I've been on a long trip, thanks for your trouble, Brother Zhao!"

  After finishing this sentence, Zhao Neng's hanging heart was also put down, and he patted Li Meng's shoulder with a smile:

  "Next time if you're going out for a long distance, give us a heads up in advance. My mom and I are both worried about you."

  Looking at Zhao Neng's unsuspecting response to his words, Li Meng was deeply moved by the simple trust. He thought back to the past month since he arrived in this era, and everyone's help and trust made him feel that what he did last night was not regrettable. He even bought a package of pastries and handed them to Zhao Neng to give to his mother, Mrs. Zhao.

  Li Meng declined Zhao's invitation to have lunch, saying he was too tired and wanted to go back to sleep, and would come over again in the evening. Everyone had already returned home, and Zhao didn't have any worries either, so after chatting for a few sentences, he also went back home.

  Seeing Zhao Neng off home, Li Meng returned to his own yard, turned around and closed the gate, walked a few steps towards the house, then casually found a wooden stick to prop against the door. Only then did he enter the house. Although this broken house had never been locked before, Li Meng still hung an iron ruler on the door.

  Seeing the silver and weapons being stuffed into the corner, Li Meng smiled with some emotion. He threw that broken knife into the river and took out a waist knife to place by his side. Only then did he sit on the bed board, bend down to untie his leg wraps. Long-distance walking and traveling far can alleviate fatigue with leg wraps, this is common knowledge for traveling merchants.

  However, if someone with discerning eyes were to see Li Meng's leg bindings, they would definitely burst out laughing. The bindings are not tied neatly and are puffed up, which completely defeats the purpose of wearing them.

  A burst of "clinking" sounds, some scattered gold and silver fell to the ground from the untied leg wraps. After untying all the leg wraps, Li Meng also untied his waistband, again a rustling sound as things fell to the ground. Only after untying his waistband and leg wraps did Li Meng let out a sigh of relief.

  The ground was littered with scattered gold and silver fragments, which Li Meng estimated to be around thirty catties in weight, equivalent to two hundred taels of silver and several tens of taels of gold. He wrapped these scattered gold and silver pieces around his leg wraps and waistband, and walked the forty-mile road back, no wonder Li Meng was drenched in sweat.

  "If it weren't for the weight-bearing cross-country training back in my army days, I really wouldn't have made it."

  Li Meng smiled to himself, but he didn't know one thing. According to the Ming Dynasty's system of measurement, one jin in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to 570 grams today, and one jin was equal to sixteen taels.

  Li Meng actually brought back 390 taels of silver and 107 taels of gold, not the 200 taels of silver and several tens of taels of gold he had estimated.

  The gold price is converted into silver taels, roughly one to five or six, which is almost a thousand taels of silver, this is truly a substantial sum of money!!