Chapter 44 Chapter 44 The Miser in "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove"

Who is the number one miser in the world throughout the ages?Sherlock in Shakespeare?wrong.Harpagon in Molière?wrong.Grandet described by Balzac?Not right either.Pliushkin in Gogol's works?Not right either.Could it be Wu Jingzi's Yan Jiansheng?Still not right.Who on earth is it?This guy should be Wang Rong from "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove". Compared with the first five, Wang Rong has at least two advantages: first, he is more real than those five guys.The latter are all fictional literary figures, while Wang Rong is indeed a real, biographical figure in history books; second, he is earlier than those five guys.The earliest Shylock among the latter appeared in the 16th century, while Wang Rong lived in the 3rd century AD, more than 1,300 years earlier than them.

Not only did Wang Rong have these two outstanding advantages, but when he had a miserly attack, his level was definitely worse than those of the five. It stands to reason that Wang Rong, who was born in the Langya royal family of a wealthy family (his grandfather Wang Xiong was the governor of Youzhou, and his father Wang Hun was the governor of Liangzhou, both of whom were officials in the frontier), shouldn't be so stingy, but the fact is exactly the opposite. Probably it has something to do with a setback in his official career.When Wang Rong served as the governor of Jingzhou in his early years, he privately sent his subordinates to build gardens and mansions for him. He was later denounced and dismissed from office, but he soon redeemed the official with money.It may be that this experience made Wang Rong deeply realize that "gong" and "profit" are inseparable. Fame can bring money, and money can buy back or even buy fame. The disaster of corruption, Wang Rong's eyes were firmly locked on Brother Kong Fang and A Duwu.

Now let us scratch our eyes and see his glorious deeds! Greedy people don't seem to be uncommon, but greedy and stingy guys like Wang Rong seem to be rare.It is said that he often calculates his property with a tooth chip (an ancient calculation tool) in his hand, and enjoys it day and night, and his stinginess and greed compete with his life, and he refuses to lag behind. Although he knows that "the body is the capital of the revolution", But sitting on a million dollars of wealth and not willing to spend money to make his body look great, he looks sick all day long.God actually allowed him to live to be more than seventy years old, it's really strange!

Wang Rong seems to have a close relationship with plums. When he was a child, he became famous all over the world because he judged that the plums with many fruits on the roadside would be bitter and not to grab them. Later, he became famous for plums for thousands of years.An expert in recording the words and deeds of the scholars and bureaucrats in the Wei and Jin Dynasties wrote in the chapter "Jiangsei": "Wang Rong has good plums, and he sells them. He is afraid that others will get the seeds, and he will always drill the core." Translated into our modern language, it means: There is a very good plum tree in Wang Rong's house. He is greedy for money and often sells plums for money. He is afraid that others will get the seeds, so he always deliberately destroys the plum cores.Although there are only sixteen characters, Wang Rong's miserliness is already vivid on the paper!Thinking about the scene of Wang Rong picking Li's diamond core, it must be extremely ugly.

"Shishuoxinyu: Frugality" also records such a story: After Wang Rong's daughter married to Pei's family, she borrowed some money from her natal family and never returned it. Therefore, every time her daughter came back to visit relatives, Wang Rong immediately The sunny turned cloudy, and his face was like 8:20. It was not until his daughter paid back the money that the cloudy turned sunny and he became happy.Wang Rong's nephew was going to get married, Wang Rong only gave him a single shirt, and he was still very distressed. He always felt that this gift was too expensive, so he had the cheek to ask for it back after his nephew got married.

To Wang Rong's comfort, and to our surprise, Wang Rong's wife was very satisfied with him, and called him "Qing" affectionately and nervously. You must know that "Qing" was the husband's greeting to his wife at that time. Name, so Wang Rong, who is a big man, was unhappy, so his wife said: "My relatives love you, so I am Qingqing. I am not Qingqing, who will be Qingqing?" As a result, "Qingqing, me, me" Words will come out soon.Look at these two people, they really look at mung beans like bastards - they are right!