Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

A hundred taels? And a 'family price' at that!

An uncontrollable surge of heartache welled up in Zhang Dongxiang's chest, instantly overshadowing the joy of his newfound clear vision.

He vaguely felt like he had turned into a fat sheep that had been shorn.

Crystals were indeed expensive, but there was no way these two small pieces of crystal could fetch such a high price of a hundred taels!

Did he think it was a diamond!?

"A hundred taels is indeed a bit pricey, Master Fang. Although this old man isn't short of this hundred taels, you can't swindle me!"

Fang Zheng twitched the corner of his mouth: "A hundred taels is the price for one eye."

"....... So it's two hundred taels, is it."

At this moment, Zhang Dongxiang really wanted to reach out, take off the glasses, and smash them onto Fang Zheng's face.

Was he really treating him like a sucker!?

I'll go back and find someone to buy crystal and make it myself! This thing doesn't look that complicated...

"Two hundred taels is just the price of the lenses. Adding the outer frame is what makes it a complete pair of glasses, totaling two hundred and fifty taels a pair."

"Don't think this thing is simple. It looks ordinary, but the intricacies inside are immense!"

"Grinding the crystal is extremely difficult. Plus, the frame also contains hidden mechanisms. The parts that come into contact with the face correspond to many acupoints. The acupoints are interconnected, so wearing them for a long time will remove internal heat, relieve vexation, aid the voice and throat, nourish hair, nurture the five internal organs, calm the soul, clear blood vessels, and sharpen hearing. A slight mistake will negate the health benefits!"

"Really?!" Zhang Dongxiang was stirred again at this moment.

"Of course, it's real! Aside from other things, the effect of clearing the liver and improving eyesight is guaranteed! Do you feel like your eyesight is clearer now? And your liver feels a bit more comfortable?"

"It seems so!" Zhang Dongxiang rejoiced.

These health benefits were truly tempting! This instant and magical experience was indeed worthy of Fang Zheng's claims.

He was already this old... he needed such a health-preserving artifact!

"Make it a bit cheaper! You said you would give me a pair just now."

"Oh, Third Uncle, we're practical relatives. How could I possibly cheat you?! Didn't you say you didn't want it just now?"

"Two hundred and fifty taels is not expensive at all! To put it bluntly, the material is only worth one tael, it's knowing how to turn it into glasses that's worth two hundred and forty-nine taels!"

Zhang Dongxiang's face was filled with hesitation as he took off the glasses and kept turning them over in his hands, playing with them.

Good... it really was a good thing. Once you used it, you couldn't live without it.

It's just that the price of two hundred and fifty taels made him feel like he was being taken for a ride.

Seeing that the opportunity was ripe, Fang Zheng enthusiastically said: "Do you feel it's expensive?!"

"It's okay if it's expensive! You're my elder, it's no problem for me to give you a pair! Should I have someone make a new pair and send it to your house later?"

Zhang Dongxiang was overjoyed. He couldn't care about anything else at this moment and asked back: "Really?"

"Really, really! It's just... I need you to do me a favor, help me promote it in the palace. Just say you bought it for two hundred and fifty taels."

Fang Zheng had been holding back for a long time, just waiting for this sentence. Zhang Dongxiang was in high spirits, put the glasses back on, and happily said: "A piece of cake! But... how much do you plan to sell it for? Two hundred and fifty taels is indeed too expensive. This old man thinks others may not be willing to be taken for such a ride."

Fang Zheng's face fell: "How can you call it being taken for a ride?"

"I'm telling you, the production of this thing is limited! And not everyone can necessarily buy it. There are plenty of people with bad eyesight!"

"Considering that everyone is an official in the same court, I'll sell it to them first! Even if we don't talk about its health benefits, it's worth it to take home as an ornament!"

"Also, I'll be generous and give a pair to my eldest uncle and second uncle! Please say a word for me when you go back!"

Zhang Dongxiang chuckled and nodded: "Okay! This favor, this old man accepts."

"But I warn you, making money so blatantly isn't a good thing. As far as this old man knows, your Taoyuan County seems to be very rich, right? What are you doing with so much money?"

Who would complain about having too little money?

Besides, glasses are bound to be sold to the common people sooner or later, and for many people, they are a necessity.

Since it's a necessity, the price can't be too high. But according to the current level of lens grinding in Taoyuan County, plus the cost of the shops and the investment, it's really not low. The selling price of glasses will naturally not be low, and most people can't afford it. If the price is set too low, the loss-making business won't be sustainable.

Then it's good to first leech blood from you landlords to subsidize the poor... Once the lens grinding industry takes shape in the future, the price will come down.

Big households inherit from generation to generation, taking advantage of various monopolistic advantages to make money. It's not against my conscience to use technology to suck a little blood from you.

Of course, these words can't be said openly.

Fang Zheng gave a wry smile: "Third Uncle, it's not that I lack money, but I've been poor before!"

"Once a person has been poor once, they will be psychologically poor for the rest of their lives, they can't shake it off!"

"You come from a wealthy family, I can't compare."

Zhang Dongxiang also shook his head and smiled bitterly after hearing this.

Although everyone in the court discusses how to govern the people every day, they really don't understand the mentality of the poor.

At this point, the anger in his heart also dissipated a lot. Before, it was just that he had been played by a junior and couldn't save face, so he was too lazy to talk to him.

After all, nothing major had happened, he had also benefited, and now Fang Zheng had also given him glasses.

Naturally, he had no reason to keep up appearances.

"This old man has been wanting to ask a question these past few days. Why are you so concerned about abolishing the seal?"

After holding it in for a few days, Zhang Dongxiang couldn't quite figure out what this matter had to do with Fang Zheng.

Righteous indignation? Looking at his sly and slippery demeanor, he didn't seem like that kind of person!

Fang Zheng was stunned for a moment, not expecting that after a few days, he was still struggling with this issue.

He really hadn't thought about it carefully.

The simplest reason from a utilitarian perspective would be to help the reporters solve the problem, and also to be unable to bear the air in the examination hall.

But thinking deeper, this seemed to be his old problem.

He had adapted to almost everything after transmigrating for so many years, but he really couldn't accept this sanitary environment.

It was completely incomparable to modern times. From the moment he appeared in Taoyuan County, he was troubled by two major problems.

One was poverty, and the second was poor sanitation.

Poverty was naturally the top priority, but after this problem was solved, the huge impact brought by the second problem also appeared.

In addition to starving people to death, the risk of disease always accompanied him.

When the population was small, the residents of Taoyuan County were relatively dispersed, so it wasn't a big problem. When the county absorbed refugees on a large scale, the sanitation problem became more prominent.

He had also suffered from several illnesses, but fortunately, he had survived them all without any danger.

Over the years, he didn't know how many people he had seen die inexplicably from illness, including infant mortality. All he could think of was to attribute it to the poor sanitary environment.

Minor illnesses could heal on their own, but for larger ones, people could only wait for death where they were.

Of course, there were also doctors who could treat illnesses, but mainly herbal medicine was more effective for treating external injuries.

The role of those barefoot doctors in Taoyuan County was, to some extent, very small.

They could treat illnesses, but it depended on luck.

So naturally, he couldn't put his hopes on doctors.

He didn't understand medicine, but he still had simple medical knowledge. What he could do was start to spare no effort to improve sanitation. When the sanitary environment was greatly improved, the probability of getting sick would be greatly reduced.

This matter had been going on for several years and had almost become a mental demon for Fang Zheng. No one wanted to deal with feces and urine, but this was precisely the most important part of the city, and it was unavoidable.

Now that he saw the examination hall in this state, the main reason might be that his instincts had kicked in.

After thinking through the reason, Fang Zheng didn't know how to answer.

He shrugged helplessly.

.........