I was a conman in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 1: Colleagues are enemies

I was a conman in the Ming Dynasty.

The little liar is eight years old.

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Chapter 1 Competitors are Enemies

In the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign, in Hanshan County, Hezhou Prefecture.

There were only a few pedestrians on the street, among whom a fat man weighing over 300 pounds stood out.

The fat man's name was Wang Wenzhou. He was originally a swindler from a later era, but by a twist of fate, he traveled back in time to the Ming Dynasty and inhabited the body of a man also named Wang Wenzhou.

Wang Wenzhou is the great-great-grandson of the famous Wang Shouren (Wang Chongyang). He is 20 years old this year and was originally a lazy and good-for-nothing second-generation official.

Wang Wenzhou's grandfather, Wang Chengxun, was the hereditary Earl of Xinjian and served as the Grand Canal Transport Commander (a first-rank official) for twenty years. After his death, his eldest son, Wang Xianjin, inherited the title. After the death of Wang Wenzhou's uncle, Wang Xianjin, the various branches of the Wang family fell into a dispute over the inheritance of the title. Wang Wenzhou's father, Wang Xianda, secured a position for Wang Wenzhou as the magistrate of Hanshan County so that he could secure the earldom.

Hanshan County (now under the jurisdiction of Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province) is located on the north bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, in the eastern part of central Anhui and on the shore of Chaohu Lake.

This was Wang Wenzhou's first day in office in Hanshan County. Upon arriving, he immediately sent his old steward, Wang Zhixin, to the county government office to complete the handover procedures. He then strolled around the streets with his attendant, Wang Qiang.

The two strolled around for a while, but there weren't many people on the road. Occasionally, there were street vendors selling things, but they had very few customers.

Wang Wenzhou muttered casually, "It seems that the economic situation in Hanshan is not very good. It's a good thing I became the county magistrate, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to achieve the seven percent growth this year."

"Young Master is talking nonsense again..." Wang Qiang pursed his lips. Ever since the young master fell into the water, he often talked nonsense that he couldn't understand. Fortunately, the doctor said that this was just a sequela of the young master's shock after falling into the water, and it would get better naturally after a while.

"what?"

After turning a corner, Wang Wenzhou suddenly noticed a large crowd of onlookers ahead.

"Xiaoqiang, let's go see what's going on."

Wang Wenzhou, who traveled from the future to the Ming Dynasty, loved watching excitement. He always fantasized about encountering bizarre things. Unfortunately, he never experienced anything like a shrew beating up a mistress in the street, a cute boy on a bicycle helping an elderly person, or a little girl in a short skirt catching a thief—the kind of good things that lead to him gaining a lot of followers by posting selfies on Weibo.

With Wang Wenzhou's current weight of over 300 pounds, he easily squeezed in. There, he saw a little girl, about twelve or thirteen years old, dressed in white, with a foxtail grass stuck in her hair, kneeling on the ground with tears streaming down her face.

"Grandpa, what's going on?" Wang Wenzhou patted the shoulder of the old man in the silk robe next to him and asked.

The old man's name was Cheng Benqing. He was over fifty years old and a retired scholar.

Old Cheng glanced at Wang Wenzhou, his brow furrowing. In the Ming Dynasty, "Master" wasn't a term of respect. It was brothel jargon, and coupled with Wang Wenzhou's appearance—though well-dressed, his looks were truly unsightly. His already plump face wasn't pleasant, and his slightly crooked mouth, occasional twitching of his left cheek, and drool at the corner of his mouth led Old Cheng to conclude that Wang Wenzhou was a pimp in a brothel.

"This girl has a tragic past; she sold herself into servitude to bury her father," Old Cheng replied.

Seeing Wang Wenzhou asking questions, several onlookers recounted the whole story.

It turned out that the father and daughter were not locals; they were just passing through Hanshan County. On their second day in Hanshan, the father felt unwell and decided to stay and rest. Unexpectedly, he fell seriously ill, and the daughter quickly summoned a doctor. The doctor, upon taking his pulse, had never encountered such a strange illness before and immediately shook his head.

The daughter was frantic and consulted several doctors, but all were helpless. Terrified, she spent a fortune to hire a renowned doctor in Hezhou. The doctor prescribed a formula, saying that if there was any improvement after three doses, he could prescribe another formula; if it was ineffective, the person was basically beyond saving.

Three days later, the father passed away. Only then did the daughter realize that they had run out of money.

"How many days have this father and daughter stayed in Hanshan?" Wang Feng asked.

One person answered, "Four days."

"How do you know so much detail?" Wang Wenzhou asked again.

The man pointed to a sign behind the girl and said, "I am Liu Laosan, and Yuelai Inn is my humble abode. This father and daughter are staying here; how could I not know?"

"Pfft!" Wang Wenzhou chuckled. What kind of illness was this? From symptom onset to death, only four days had passed. Ancient people's medical knowledge was limited, after all; these two were probably charlatans. He never expected to encounter a fellow practitioner.

Wang Wenzhou, a conman of the new century with ideals and professional ethics, was well aware of some of the industry's shady practices. The "selling oneself to bury one's father" charade was still used by many conmen in later generations. However, due to different times and cultural backgrounds, the details have changed slightly.

In later generations, this is how scammers typically operate. The girl, posing as a student (high school or university), finds a busy, high-traffic area. She kneels on the ground, holding a large sign beside her that reads: "Both parents deceased, family in financial difficulty, unable to afford school." Occasionally, some more sophisticated signs even include English subtitles. Or, she claims a family member is seriously ill—uremia, leukemia, kidney deficiency, nephritis, kidney failure… basically, the kind of illness where money can save you, but without it, you're doomed.

Of course, scammers also consider looks. The prettier the girl kneeling on the ground, the more money she gets. If it's a man, he'll definitely have a child with him. The older and dirtier the child's clothes, and the more pitifully they cry, the more money he gets.

After using this trick so many times, fewer and fewer people believed it. Scammers can't starve, so the internet version of "selling oneself to bury one's father" emerged. Write some touching articles, take a few photos that are sure to bring tears to people's eyes, spend a little money to get unscrupulous editors on unlicensed websites to repost them. Then, hire some online trolls to post links on Weibo, forums, and WeChat Moments, leaving Alipay and bank account information, and they can sit at home and collect small sums of money.

Damn, people in ancient times were so naive! This father and daughter are clearly swindlers. Wang Wenzhou thought to himself, "If you two were more professional, as a fellow professional, I would turn a blind eye and just watch the show. But you two are playing it so unprofessionally. Why don't you even write a story?"

"Young Master, what are you doing?" Wang Qiang asked when he saw Wang Wenzhou squatting on the ground picking up a stone.

Wang Wenzhou wanted to annoy his ancient counterparts and expose the scam, after all, he was now the magistrate of Hanshan County. He couldn't just stand by and watch his people be deceived.

Wang Wenzhou, who had sold himself into servitude to bury his father, wiped his drool, picked up a stone and wrote four large characters, then asked, "Girl, what's your name?"

The girl looked up at the fat man in front of her, her brows furrowing slightly. She didn't understand what this incredibly ugly fat man wanted to do.

Wang Wenzhou smiled slightly, wiped his drool, and teased, "Aren't you out selling yourself? I'll write down your situation so passersby know why you're doing it. In this day and age, even selling yourself requires a selling point!"

"Thank you, sir. My name is Gao Guilan, and I live in Ansai, Shaanxi. I went on a business trip with my grandfather, but we had to return home halfway due to unforeseen circumstances. I never expected..."

As the girl tearfully recounted her "story," Wang Wenzhou realized that this little girl was quite pretty. When she grew up, she would definitely be a goddess.

Someone nearby asked the innkeeper, "Liu Laosan, didn't you say they were father and daughter? Turns out they're grandfather and granddaughter."

Liu Laosan scratched his head and said with a smile, "What they were saying wasn't official language, so I didn't understand it very well."

Wang Wenzhou had only had a subconscious feeling that these two were probably scammers. Now he was certain. These two scammers were so unprofessional; their fabricated stories were riddled with errors halfway through. Such unprofessional scammers were tarnishing the reputation of their peers! He thought, "I'll make sure you're ruined, or I'll change my surname to yours!"

Looking at Wang Wenzhou's handwriting, Wang Qiang was surprised. His young master's handwriting had improved!

Wang Wenzhou's handwriting is really not good, but compared to the previous "Wang Wenzhou," his handwriting now is much better. The old Wang Wenzhou was the kind of person who would have to go to a "special school." Although the Wang family never relaxed their education for him, apart from his own name, his handwriting was really worse than that of a kindergarten child.

Old Cheng gently shook his head. Although the pimps in these brothels could read a few words, they were still pimps after all. Regardless of whether their handwriting was good or bad, with so few words, their writing was full of mistakes, with very few correct ones. They were always missing something or something.

This isn't Wang Wenzhou's fault. The previous one was lazy, uneducated, and barely literate. He could only write simplified characters; he could understand traditional characters, but he genuinely couldn't write them. Therefore, in the eyes of the scholar Lao Cheng, Wang Wenzhou's writing was riddled with errors.

After finishing writing, Wang Wenzhou threw down the stone in his hand, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "Fellow elders of Hanshan, as the saying goes, helping others brings joy. Now, this young lady, Gao Guilan, is selling herself to bury her grandfather. Is there any kind-hearted person who can help her?"