Once upon a time, there was a landlord named Jiang Laocai, who owned a hundred acres of orchards and a winery. Due to the family's large business, every family in the village had strong laborers working long-term in his house, and Li Fu was one of them.

Li Fu was in his sixties and had good skills in winemaking and cultivation. Jiang Laocai took a fancy to him and asked him to manage a vineyard called Nanyuan with nine descendants from the same village.

This summer was exceptionally hot. On this day, Li Fu and the others were busy in the garden when they suddenly heard a muffled noise outside. Li Fu was startled and ran out to take a look.

Li Fu hurriedly called the man over and carried the man to a cool place under the grape trellis. Seeing that the man's lips were dry, he unscrewed his kettle and brought it to the man's mouth. The man slowly opened his eyes, drank a pot full of water, and sat up.

This person's surname is Zhang and his name is Wenyuan. He is a merchant in Huainan. He went to the capital to buy goods this time, but he didn't expect the money to be stolen halfway through, so he had to turn back.

After hearing what had happened to Zhang Wenyuan, Li Fu couldn't help but sigh. Seeing that he was about the same age as himself, he suddenly felt compassion and comforted him, saying, "Brother Zhang, don't worry about leaving Qingshan, why don't you worry about not having firewood to burn? If you don't dislike it at night, you can stay at Li's house for a night and wait until your body recovers before rushing."

After hearing this, Zhang Wenyuan hurriedly shook his head: "The benefactor's life-saving grace has not been reported, so how dare you continue to disturb me? After drinking this pot of water, I feel much better, and I can hurry later."

Just as Li Fu was about to say something else, he suddenly heard a loud roar, "What a bunch of people who don't work and hide here to be lazy!" The person who came was Lailu, Jiang Laocai's housekeeper, and Li Fu and the others quickly stood up. "Okay! There are outsiders, you are so brave, you dare to lead outsiders into the garden, I will report to the master now."

Li Fu was anxious and was about to argue. Before he could open his mouth, Lailu had already left. Jiang Laocai was extremely strict with his servants.

Zhang Wenyuan saw this and said, "Don't worry, benefactor, when your employer arrives, I will help you explain the matter clearly."

Li Fu shook his head and sighed, "Brother Zhang doesn't know anything. If you are here, I am afraid that it will be more difficult to clarify the matter. It is better for you not to bore this muddy water." After saying that, he took out a little silver from his body, "I wanted to keep you for the night, but it seems that I can't do it.

Zhang Wenyuan still had to argue. Seeing that Li Fu was anxious and knew that it was useless for him to stay here, he had no choice but to take the silver taels and hand them over: "Benefactor, Wenyuan will bid farewell to this.

Not long after Zhang Wenyuan left, Lailu followed Jiang Laocai and then arrived. Li Fu hurriedly led everyone to welcome him. Jiang Laocai went around the vineyard with a cane, and came out angrily. He scolded, "Good Li Fu, you dare collude with outsiders to steal grapes from my garden."

Li Fu was dumbfounded when he heard that. He knelt down and shouted that he was wronged, and then said what had happened just now. Jiang Laocai rolled his eyes and said, "In previous years, there were more than twice as many grapes in my garden, which is obviously the result of you waiting for the theft. Don't say anything. Pay me five taels of silver each, or you will be sent to the government."

When Li Fu heard that, he could not take out five taels of silver per person even if he beat them to death. And everyone was involved, so he kowtowed like a mess: "Master, even if it was a disaster, it was caused by Li Fu alone, so I can't blame them!"

Jiang Laocai knocked the cane hard on the ground: "All of you can't escape the involvement. If you can't get the money, you will deduct this year's wages. Also, from tomorrow onwards, don't come again."

It turned out that Jiang Laocai saw that the grapes were ripe and it was time to pay off his wages, but he had been looking for a reason to lose his wages. After hearing Lu's report today, he felt that it was a good opportunity, so he insisted that there were less grapes. Pity these nine descendants are poor people, who were counting on their wages to support their families, so they all knelt down and begged Jiang Laocai to show mercy. But Jiang Laocai is not a kind person, let these people knock on the head, he didn't even look at them.

At this time, the sky suddenly covered with dark clouds, Jiang Laocai saw that the heavy rain was coming, and quickly slipped away with Lailu. Li Fu and the others were unaware, and they still knelt down. With a loud thunder, bean-sized raindrops fell, Li Fu looked up and found that Jiang Laocai had long disappeared, and hurriedly shouted: "Brothers, everyone hurry up. Jiang Laocai has already left."

Everyone came to the shack, and they all became drowned chickens, sneezing when they were hot and cold. Li Fu said, "Since Jiang Laocai fired us, everyone should pack up and go home first, and we will find a way later." Li Fu was the oldest and the head of everyone. Hearing what he said, everyone had to swallow their anger and went back to their homes as soon as the rain stopped.

After Li Fu returned home, he had a fever that night, and his body was cold and hot, and he felt extremely uncomfortable. His wife Chen was anxious, and she finally found half a tael of silver after rummaging through the cabinets. When it was dawn, she was about to go out to invite a langzhong to Li Fu, and suddenly a group of people came in front of him.

Li Fu propped himself up and comforted himself himself, "Don't panic, everyone. It's all caused by the rain, but I don't have any money left at home.

Everyone helped Li Fu to Jiang Laocai's house. Jiang Laocai was drinking, and when he heard Li Fu's intention, he threw the wine bowl on the table: "Okay, Li Fu, you waited for the money you owed, but instead borrowed money from me, how can I lend you spare money? Look at your old age, I don't care about you, hurry up and take this group of people to get out of here!"

When Li Fu heard that, he knelt down with a plop, "Master, it is not a pity for me to die of illness, but these descendants have a family of young and old. If we don't treat them, I 'm afraid that they will be in danger! Please forgive me, Master, after we recover from illness, we will definitely earn money and pay it back!" After saying that, he knocked three times in a row.

Jiang Laocai laughed heartily and whispered a few words to Lailu, who was on the side, and then Lailu quickly left. Li Fu was secretly happy: Did Lailu go to withdraw money this time?

After a while, Lailu returned, holding two vicious dogs in his hands. Jiang Laocai smiled gloomily and said, "Li Fu, if you still don't leave, I'll let this guard dog treat you well." After saying that, he whistled, and the two vicious dogs wanted to break free from the chains and pounce on them. Li Fu and the others were so frightened that they quickly rolled and crawled away.

The money was not borrowed, but was so frightened. After Li Fu came back, he was bedridden. His wife Chen gets up early every day and is busy inside and outside, supporting the family.

This morning, Chen shi heard someone knock on the door, opened the door and saw a white-faced scholar standing outside the door. After seeing Chen shi, he bowed and asked that this was Li Fu's home. When Chen shi asked, he learned that this person's name was Zhang Han, so he invited him into the house.

It turned out that Zhang Han was the son of the merchant Zhang Wenyuan. When his father came home a few days ago, he told him about Li Fu's life-saving experience and told him to remember to repay him. This time he was going to the capital for the autumn test, and Zhang Wenyuan asked him to come and see his benefactor. When Chen shi heard this, he covered his face and cried. Zhang Han asked why, and Chen shi told him what happened recently.

Zhang Han was filled with righteous indignation after hearing this, and scolded, "Jiang Laocai is really hateful, making the benefactor suffer." Later, he rolled his eyes and said, "Don't worry about the benefactor, I thought of a way to deal with Jiang Laocai, and I can let him help him obediently, but I need to stay here for three days." Chen shi was overjoyed when he heard that, and quickly settled Zhang Han down.

After Zhang Han stayed at Li Fu's house, he learned about the situation of each family in the village in detail the first day, and went out the next morning. On the third day, he asked Chen shi to rest and let him chat with Li Fu to relieve his boredom. Chen shi was not free, and when she was done, she went to pick herbs for Li Fu. As soon as she walked to the entrance of the village, an old man with immortal wind and bones walked by, carrying a bag and holding a wooden sign, she shouted while ringing the bell: "If you have a hexagram, you have a hexagram. If you measure the word and a hexagram, you don't need money if it doesn't work." Chen shi originally believed in hexagram reading the most, but it happened that Li Fu encountered something bad again, so he stopped to greet the old man.

The old man took out a small bench from his bag, sat down and took out a hexagram. The villagers gathered around to watch the fun. Chen shi wanted to see if it was accurate, so he asked the old man to count how many children she had first.

The old man asked Chen shi to draw a lot, and after reading it, he said, "From the hexagram, Madam has no children in her life." When everyone heard that, they were all amazed. Everyone in the village knew that Li Fu was infertile, but the accuracy of this hexagram calculation was really amazing.

Then Chen shi asked for a second visa and asked how his fortune had been recently. After reading the hexagram, the old man said, "Madam's family has recently had a calamity. From the hexagram, this calamity has already happened."

When Chen shi heard this, she was astonished, and quickly asked for the third hexagram, asking if there is a way to resolve this calamity? The old man smiled and said, "Your family has met a noble person, and this calamity is about to be resolved." Chen shi was shocked inexplicably, could it be that Zhang Han is a noble person?

Everyone was so good at reading hexagrams, and they asked for hexagrams one after another, and all of them worked. Soon, the whole village was shocked, and there was a long queue of people asking for signatures. At this time, suddenly there was a roar outside the crowd: "Get out of the way!" As soon as everyone heard the voice, they immediately made their their way like a tide. It turned out that Jiang Laocai's housekeeper Lailu came with two servants.

Lailu walked up to the old man, his voice soothing a lot: "Sir, my master heard that you were expecting things like a god, and specially invited Sir to go to the mansion." After saying this, the two servants could not help but go forward and carry the old man's luggage away, and the old man had to pack his things and follow.

The old man stayed for a few hours before leaving the Jiang family, and then the door of the Jiang family was tightly closed.

That night, Chen shi was about to go to bed when he heard the door being slapped. When he opened the door, he saw Lailu saying, "How is Li Fu? Hurry up and help him get on the carriage and go to the city to find Lang TCM treatment." Chen shi helped Li Fu to the door and saw that there were three carriages parked outside, all of which were sitting on the long-term workers who were sick this time.

The illness of Li Fu and others was cured by Jiang Laocai's money. Li Fu didn't know what method Zhang Han used, but when Zhang Han was about to leave for the capital, news suddenly came from the capital that the autumn examination this year was postponed for one month.

Zhang Han was in trouble, but Li Fu said happily, "It's God's will to keep my nephew here for an extra month. Last time your father couldn't stay here, so this time you can rest assured to stay here until the exam." Seeing that Zhang Han had no other choice, he continued to stay after thanking.

As soon as Jiang Laocai and the others were cured, he asked them to continue working with him. Li Fu wondered if Jiang Laocai had discovered his conscience and not only cured them, but also rehired them. Before dawn, he took everyone to the vineyard and prepared to work for Jiang Laocai.

At noon, Jiang Laocai came with a black face, pointed to the livestock tied to the pillar and said to the housekeeper who followed him, "Lailu, take all the animals that plough the land!Then he turned to Li Fu and the others who were stunned and said, "Listen, I spent a lot of money to cure your illness. Now that you are well, it is time to pay me back. From today onwards, I will deduct half a year's salary from each person to cover the medicine. In addition, you will have to learn to plow the land as animals in the future." After saying that, he paused on the ground with his crutches and walked away scolding.

Li Fu and the others looked at me, and when I looked at you, they were all dumbfounded. They didn't pay a penny for the first half of the year, and then they had to deduct the second half of the year's wages, and they had to be used as livestock. Isn't this killing people? After returning home, Li Fu told Chen shi about the matter, and Zhang Han heard it clearly from the side. He quickly comforted Li Fu: "Don't be angry, benefactor, since this Jiang Laocai has such a vicious heart, then I will teach you a way to treat him well." After saying that, he attached himself to Li Fu's ear and said something like this. After Li Fu heard it, he was confused and said, "This will work?" Zhang Han said affirmatively, "As long as you do as I say, you are guaranteed to do it. Do it tomorrow morning!"

The next morning, Li Fu led the crowd straight to the city, came to the county yamen, and beat the drum to express their grievances. The newly appointed county magistrate in this county seat was a man who was evil like a grudge. The county magistrate hurriedly rose to the court and asked who they were suing and what grievances they had. Li Fu knelt and replied, "Caomin sued the owner Jiang Laocai, accusing him of not keeping his word and going back on his word."

When the county magistrate heard that, he hurriedly sent the yamen to escort Jiang Laocai over. Jiang Laocai came to the hall carelessly, saw Li Fu and others kneeling on the ground, ran forward and kicked Li Fu, pointed at his nose and cursed: "Good you dog slave, how dare you spout blood and be bold..."

Before he could finish scolding, the county magistrate was shocked: "Daring to be accused, when I saw this official, not only did I not kneel down, but I disturbed the court, and gave me twenty boards left and right first." After speaking, two yamen immediately stepped forward to press Jiang Laocai to the ground and hit the board. Jiang Laocai then saw clearly that it was a new county magistrate, and then howled like a pig.

After playing on the board, the county magistrate asked Li Fu, "Plaintiff, what injustice have you suffered? Tell me and let this officer judge it one by one!Li Fu said in a trembling voice, "My lord, it's like this. The owner saw us the day before yesterday and suddenly asked us to perform a head-down walk. Where would we be? The owner said that if any of us could do it, the monthly salary would be doubled, and if anyone couldn't, the monthly salary would be gone. We had no choice but to go back and practice hard.

When Jiang Laocai heard this, he thought to himself that I had only told them to pay for the medicine with the wages in the second half of the year, but not about the bet. It seems that Li Fu is really confused. He actually heard about the bet, and Jing also boasted that he had practiced the kung fu of walking head down. Isn't that bragging?

At this time, I heard another sound of alarm, and the county magistrate said sharply, "Jiang Laocai, is there such a thing?" Jiang Laocai's two eyes turned around, and he decided to do everything, so he kowtowed and said, "Yes, yes, yes, the day before yesterday, my grandson was naughty and insisted on seeing people walk head down. I asked them who would do it. Li Fu patted his chest and said they would do it. I didn't believe it, so he said he was willing to bet. So I bet with them that if anyone can walk around the field head down, I will give him 10% of the vineyard. If he can't do it, he will not be paid for a year. Li Fu has a poor memory, so he said that the big gamble is a small gamble. Please judge it clearly!"

The county magistrate heard that there was no dispute between the plaintiff and the defendant about the bet, but the gambling method was different, so he asked the other nine people: "Tell me, was this a big bet or a small bet?" The nine descendants lay on the ground and said tremblingly, "Master Hui, it's a big bet!"

The county magistrate turned to ask Jiang Laocai again, "Then have you ever regretted it?" Jiang Laocai said, "The villain will never regret it, I'm afraid they won't be able to act rashly, and please make a decision!" The county magistrate said, "Okay, then we will write a new bet now, and then go to your place, and you will decide the winner on the spot!"

Both sides agreed, so the group went to the vineyard. As soon as they reached the ground, Li Fu and the others picked up the nooses of the cattle plowing the land, put them on their shoulders, bowed their backs, lowered their heads, and pulled forward vigorously. The county magistrate looked at it and asked Jiang Laocai, "How can people plow the land and animals?"

Jiang Laocai replied, "The livestock was sold, it was voluntary." As he spoke, he lowered his head guiltily. The county magistrate saw that Jiang Laocai was ruthless, and he had a point in his heart.

At this time, Li Fu and the others took off the noose, knelt in a row and said, "My lord, we have finished gambling, please make the decision for us." Jiang Laocai jumped up immediately when he heard that, pointed at Li Fu's nose and scolded, "While I was talking to my lord, you said that you finished gambling, and you just plowed a circle of land, when did you gamble?"

Li Fu stood up and took off his shirt, showing his shoulders, and said to the county magistrate, "Sir, look at Xiaomin's shoulders." The county magistrate saw a deep ligature mark on it, and couldn't help but take a breath.

Jiang Laocai hurriedly said, "My lord, this has nothing to do with me. It was made by the rope when he bowed to plow the land just now." Li Fu hurriedly asked, "Aren't you talking to my lord? Did you see us bowing?"

Jiang Laocai said, "Everyone has seen it. When you come here, put on a rope and bend over to plow the land with your head down." Li Fu continued to ask, "If you say we bow our heads, where are we headed?" "Of course it's head down!"

Li Fu knelt down again and said, "My lord, just now the owner said that we walked around the field, and now he says that we walked headfirst. My lord, since we walked headfirst, did we win?"

The county magistrate had already wanted to help Li Fu, but after listening, he took the bet and looked at it again: Hey, you really did it. The county magistrate said: "You have indeed done it, and now I will judge 10% of this vineyard to ten of you. Jiang Laocai, hurry up and bet, you are not allowed to bully others in the future!"

Jiang Laocai opened his mouth wide when he heard that. Wasn't this taken advantage of by Li Fu, but after reading the bet for a long time, he couldn't find any flaws.

Li Fu and ten other people happened to get the entire South Garden. They turned the ripe grapes into wine, and at that time Li Fu encountered another problem. Jiang Laocai's winery monopolized the entire local winemaking industry, and Li Fu and the others could only sell their wine to Jiang Laocai, otherwise there would be no sales at all, but Jiang Laocai hated Li Fu and the others so much now, how could he buy their wine?

Zhang Han had lived in Li Fu's house for nearly a month and was planning to leave next month. Seeing Li Fu sigh, he asked why. Li Fu then told Zhang Han about the problem. After Zhang Han heard this, he paced back and forth in the house for a few steps and then said that there was a way for Jiang Laocai to obediently buy the wine made by Li Fu and the others, but it only cost ten taels of silver.

Li Fu said, "It would be great if ten taels of silver could be done." The next day, he collected the silver and handed it to Zhang Han.

A few days later, Jiang Laocai was drinking at home, and Lailu came over in a hurry: "Master, a rich merchant came to the winery just now, and he designated the wine from Nanyuan. He said he wanted as much as he had. Look at this..."

Jiang Laocai frowned and said, "Didn't the wine from the West Garden come out? Can't you just pretend to be it?" "No!" Lai Luzhi shook his head, "As soon as I let him taste the wine from other gardens, he waved his hand and refused. He must ask for the wine from the South Garden, and he also said that the price is easy to say, and he is willing to pay ten taels of silver in advance."

"Is there such a thing? Then this business can be done. Well, you go and accept the ten taels of silver and ask him to come to the winery to pick up wine in the morning three days later. If he doesn't come after the deadline, the deposit will be void."

In the blink of an eye, three days passed, but the rich merchant did not appear. Jiang Laocai asked Lailu why, and Lailu said hesitantly, "I don't know either. The bandits have been rampant recently, and the rich merchant was caught by the bandits, right?"

Looking at the large amount of wine piled up from the South Garden, Jiang Laocai suddenly became anxious and shouted at Lailu, "It's all a good thing you did to buy so much wine. Now that three days have passed, hurry up and find a way to sell these wines to me, otherwise, I will deduct your salary for the whole year!"

"Yes, yes, yes..." Lai Lu nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. After sending Jiang Laocai away, a wine merchant happened to come to buy wine, and Lai Lu quickly tried his best to sell Nanyuan wine. Because the wine tasted really good, it soon opened. Jiang Laocai not only did not lose money, but also made a lot of money. Seeing that it was profitable, Jiang Laocai Ren Yulailu continued to buy wine from Nanyuan, and Li Fu's business suddenly improved.

In fact, Zhang Han invited someone to pretend to be the rich businessperson. In the blink of an eye, it was October, and on this day, Zhang Han packed his bags and said goodbye to Li Fu and his wife: "Thank you for taking in my benefactor, so that my nephew has a place to live. My nephew will say goodbye to the two today."

Li Fu clasped Zhang Han's hand tightly and reluctantly said, "The nephew is too humble, but this month, with his erudite talent, he has helped the old man resolve one crisis after another. I am really grateful. This departure is really hard to part with! The old man hopes that the nephew will be named on the gold list as soon as possible!" After saying that, he is already in tears.

Zhang Han took out two bags of advice and said, "The benefactor has saved my father's life, and the little nephew should be rewarded by the spring. After leaving this time, the little nephew wants to try his best to help you two more times. Here are two bags of advice, one large and one small. When I go this time, if I can get a reputation and find an official and half position, you can open the small bag; if my official position changes in the future, you can open the big bag again." After saying that, he handed the two bags of advice to Li Fu, knelt down and rushed to the exam.

A month later, Zhang Han was a jinshi, and he was well appreciated by the emperor. When the emperor made an exception to ask him what he wanted, he said that he wanted to work in the place where Li Fu was located, and the emperor immediately agreed and made him a magistrate.

After Li Fu heard about it, he opened the small tip bag and saw that it read: "I should have arrived at your place to take up my job today, you should quickly take a name for the wine, print it on the jar, and then send a few cans to my house." After reading it, Li Fu named the wine Nanyuan Fuwu overnight and printed a lot of labels on the jar, and then sent someone to send Zhang Han several cans.

After Zhang Han received it, he took out Nanyuan Fuwu and drank a small sip every day. After the local dignitaries knew about it, they all inquired about buying Nanyuan Fuwu. After tasting it, they all felt that the wine was extremely fragrant, so they all fell in love with this wine. Li Fu's business has taken a step further.

The following year, Zhang Han was transferred to Huainan to be promoted to prefect. When Li Fu found out, he quickly opened the big bag of tips. Inside was a letter that read: "Benefactor, I sent the hexagram teller who Jiang Laocai invited home. Jiang Laocai asked for the lifespan of the hexagram, and I had told the hexagram teller to tell him that from that day on, after ten people in the village passed away, it would be his turn. At that time, ten of you happened to be sick, and he was afraid that it would be his turn when you died, so he tried his best to save you. He saved you out of selfishness. Now that your business should be big, it is inevitable that you will be jealous of him. Among the ten people, you are the oldest. As long as there are nine people alive in front of him, he is not afraid of losing one of you, so you'd better pretend to be sick tomorrow and test whether he really cares about your life or death, or hopes that you will die quickly. If it is the former, you can continue to cooperate, if it is the latter, then you have to go far away as soon as possible to avoid accidents. "

After hearing this, Li Fu felt a chill on his back, and he pretended to be sick at home the next day. Jiang Laocai was very happy when he learned that among the ten people in Nanyuan, Li Fu was the backbone, and he had long wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible, but because Zhang Han was the local county magistrate. Now that Zhang Han was gone, he decided to retake Nanyuan, and was preparing to implement it recently. Unexpectedly, Li Fu fell ill first.

After Li Fu discovered Jiang Laocai's attitude, he broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly left his hometown with his wife and silver overnight. Before leaving, he knelt down in the direction of Huainan: "Nephew, you saved the old man's life again, you are my great benefactor!"

After Li Fu left, Jiang Laocai continued to do business with Nanyuan wine, but the wine no longer had the same taste as before, and the business plummeted.

A year later, Jiang Laocai heard that there was a wine seller from other places. The wine was called "Fu Brew" and had a unique taste. The wine merchants went there.

Therefore, Jiang Laocai got a serious illness due to jealousy and hatred. In less than a year, he died. However, Li Fu's business is getting bigger and bigger, and he is rich.