Why did officials in the Qing Dynasty send guests' mink coats to pawn shops when they invited people to dinner?

Some officials in the Qing Dynasty really had a hard time. Although they still held official positions on the surface, their lives were actually worse than dogs.

For example, Li Zimu came from a famous family, and later passed the Jinshi examination and served as a Hanlin in the Hanlin Academy. This position was quite high in the imperial court, but his own rank was not high, so his grade was very low. , the salary is pitiful, but the expenses are high, so I owe a lot of money. The same is true for Zeng Guofan, whom everyone is familiar with. He was so poor that he couldn't take the blame and even had to borrow money for the New Year.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were many officials like this, so they thought of a way? Treat people to dinner, and then take the guests' mink coats to the pawn shop.

One winter, it was very cold in Beijing. And Li Zimu invited many dignitaries to attend the banquet he held. When it was time for the banquet, many people wearing mink coats came happily to the banquet, and Li Zimu prepared a good selection of fine wines and delicacies waiting for the banquet to begin.

Because the weather was too cold, Li Zimu set up many stoves to keep the room very warm. Due to the effects of alcohol and temperature, everyone felt a little hot, so they began to take off their mink coats and continued eating. Li Zimu was a very cunning person, so he quickly asked his family members to take away the mink coats taken off by these guests and put them away, and then quickly took them to the pawn shop to mortgage them, and then repaid his debt.

These guests are not stupid, right? After eating, they will naturally notice that their clothes are lost, so this Li Zimu starts to cheat. Anyway, I have pawned all your clothes, and the money is I also used it to pay off the debt, and you can do whatever you like.

? Therefore, due to some face, some people just accepted some benefits from others, and those people did not dare to pursue it. So everyone ran home in a hurry. And this Li Zimu was also very funny. The next day he gave those people the tickets for the mink coats and asked them to come back on their own.

Although the effect is still significant, the consequence is that no one will dare to attend his banquet in the future.