Exclusive golden branch

Chapter 493 Negotiation
The Fang family, the richest man in Baoling, was no exception. Not to mention adding a lot of guards, even in the middle of the night, teams of guards could be seen walking around the mansion in three shifts, paying attention to the troubles approaching the Fang family mansion.

The carriage stopped in front of the Fang family's mansion, the curtain was lifted, and Fang Zhiyao, the eldest lady of the Fang family, got out of the carriage on a footstool.

I don't know if it's because the light beige dress she's wearing today is too plain, or because she's worried about the successive killings of wealthy households in Jiangnan Road in recent days, today's young lady of the Fang family looks a bit haggard and worried of.

"Miss!" The steward who came out of the room stepped forward, glanced over and coughed lightly, and said, "A guest is here!"

Fang Zhiyao raised her eyelids when she heard the words, her face was still calm, she gave a faint "hmm" and said, "Please invite the guests to drink tea in the lobby!"

The steward responded and left.

Fang Zhiyao raised her feet and walked towards the residence, but stopped after only a few steps, shook her head and said, "Forget it, don't change clothes, let's go to the lobby!"

When they walked into the lobby, the servant girl had just finished serving tea and left.

Fang Zhiyao said to her confidant, "Go and watch outside, don't let anyone get close!" and walked into the hall.

Jiang Pingping, who was sitting in the lobby, got up and looked at Fang Zhiyao who was walking over: "Miss Fang!"

"Mr. Jiang." After years of cooperation, those empty etiquettes are inevitable. Fang Zhiyao briefly explained her whereabouts, "I went to Zhao's house in the morning to burn incense sticks before coming back."

Although the Zhao family did compete with the Fang family in the business field, there were even a lot of things that Mr. Zhong personally did.

But in business and business, she is an enemy, and Mr. Zhong is also an admirable opponent. Now that she has died inexplicably, she will naturally come forward.

Because I went to Zhao's house to offer incense today, I wore a plain-colored shirt.

Thinking of the grief-stricken members of the Zhao family that he saw just now, Fang Zhiyao had an inexplicably serious expression on his face: "Except for the people in the business field... I really can't imagine that Mr. Zhong will get into any terrible enemies!"

Although Mr. Zhong is a wealthy man, he is decisive, decisive and fierce in business, but his daily life is completely different from that in business, and he is an extremely easy-going person.In the past, I spent a lot of time walking around Baoling City alone, and I never heard of provoking any enemies.

"If you provoke enemies in the business field... what about the ones in Yuhang and Jinling?" Fang Zhiyao reached out and touched her twitching eyelids, and an inexplicable feeling of something out of control came to her heart, "I think this matter It's not easy!"

This inexplicable feeling of being out of control is not the first time she has felt it. The group of people who have left now—Ms. It is Lin Shaoqing and his group...even if they are not friends, they are far from enemies.

But now it's different.

"Yang Yan is back." Fang Zhiyao said, emphasizing it again: "I think this matter is not simple!"

In fact, Yang Yan stayed in Jiangnan Road in recent years, but during the 20 years when Yang Yan stayed in Jiangnan Road, she never felt as out of control as she is now.

It seems that after last year, Yang Yan went to the capital, and Miss Jiang Si and the others came to Baoling this year, the seemingly delicate and stable situation has opened up quietly, and there may be a storm at any time.

"Three are already dead..." Fang Zhiyao murmured.

"It's four." Jiang Pingping looked at the restless Fang Zhiyao and said, took a deep breath, and said, "Master Su, who sells paper in Gusu City, died this morning. It is said that he contracted a serious illness last night."

"How could there be such a coincidence?" Fang Zhiyao became more startled the more she heard, "Someone is targeting wealthy households in various places in Jiangnan Road, Mr. Jiang, you say this...will be aimed at Fang's family?"

What she was worried about was never the murder of the murderer, but the old things that would be brought up.

Whether it is raising troops or taking in the wounded soldiers of the year, money is needed, and without money support, nothing can be done.If the other party started a thorough investigation of wealthy households in various places in Jiangnan Road to investigate the events of the past... Jiang Pingping felt that it might not be unreasonable.

However, it is hard to say that the rich households have accidents one after another. Facing Fang Zhiyao's pale face, Jiang Pingping comforted her and said, "Miss Fang, don't panic, we have to wait and see about this matter! The rich households have been killed one after another, and things are messed up." It’s so big, Jiangnan Daodu Mansion has already been alarmed, I heard that the newly appointed Gusu County Magistrate took over the matter.”

The newly appointed Gusu county magistrate?Fang Zhiyao would never fail to pay attention to the mobilization of parents and officials in a famous city in the south of the Yangtze River like Gusu. The new official of Gusu county magistrate took office three times, and she had heard about Yang Yan's confrontation with Yang Yan.

Those who can be appointed as the county magistrate of Gusu at this time must have some means, and they may not be able to find out one or two things, but... she is now hoping that the newly appointed magistrate of Gusu will have the means to solve the problem of rich households being imprisoned one after another. The matter of killing, and... I am afraid that that person is too cunning, if he follows the clues to find out what happened back then...

"Although I don't know Wang San very well, since he comes from the Langya Wang family, he represents the thoughts of those veterans of the family. So... it's not difficult to guess what Wang San and others are thinking!" Jiang Pingping comforted her Said, "For these old ministers who have survived for many years, stability is the key!"

Just like when the tyrant was in power back then, these veterans of the family have implemented the principle of smoothness and stability without relying on it to the extreme.On the one hand, he was still working seriously in front of Dajing's old ministers, but on the other hand, he turned a blind eye to the Zhao family army who later rebelled.For a while, the reinforcements were blocked by the wind and rain and arrived at the front line two days late. As a result, the victory and defeat of the battlefield had already been divided; When it was shipped over, the front line had already found another supply.and so on and on

"No matter what the newly appointed county magistrate thinks, since he belongs to Wang San, he will definitely follow the position of the family on such matters." Between the eyebrows, "If you really find out... Maybe you will just turn a blind eye and close one eye like those old officials 20 years ago..."

Although at the beginning he was sure that the position of the family would not change, but in the end, Jiang Pingping hesitated.

He is good at assisting soldiers and generals on the battlefield, but he is not very good at talking about the treacherous schemes above the court.The family...is this really the case?
Fang Zhiyao didn't say anything: Three generations of her Fang family's ancestors were in the business field. She knew about the business of buying and selling goods and making money, but she didn't know much about the factional disputes in the court.

Both of them are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, so...

"I'm writing a letter to Miss Jiang Si!" Jiang Pingping frowned when he thought of the account that the shopkeeper went to Wu Youcai's place on the day of Master Zhong's accident and was allowed to go in and take a look. .

"Uncle Dong Ping has also stayed in the capital for many years. He has been in court for a long time, and Miss Jiang Si has been fascinated by it since she was a child. Maybe she will know more."

Fang Zhiyao hesitated for a moment, nodded and said: "You can handwrite a family letter with someone from the Fang family and send it to the third sister, and then the third sister will hand it to Miss Jiang Si!"

In the family letter, I wrote about what happened in Jiangnan Road in recent days, and it can be regarded as the sisters' own words, so there is no problem.

"I'm here to write this letter from home, Miss Jiang Si can recognize my handwriting." Jiang Pingping said.

With Miss Jiang Si's prudence, she will definitely understand what they mean.

So... naturally better.

"Tomorrow, I will send the letter from home!" After deciding on this matter, Jiang Pingping got up and left the Fang family mansion.

On the way back, I met a master craftsman who made furniture for rich households in Baoling City and brought a group of apprentices to Baoling Street.

This great craftsman also likes to go to the teahouse to listen to books when he has nothing to do, so when he sees Jiang Pingping, he immediately greets him.

"Mr. Jiang is out shopping?"

Jiang Pingping said "Yes", lifted the oil-paper bag in his hand, and said, "Buy some of the Four Treasures of the Study."

"It is really necessary to prepare enough. Mr. Jiang write more. The story of this teahouse can only be more interesting, not less!" The master said politely, then raised his finger to the end of the street, and said, "I'll go there The house is going to make furniture for others..." Halfway through the speech, I couldn't help but sigh, "Master Zhong's house was finally sold, how would you know... eh!"

The day before the accident, Jiang Pingping knew what Master Zhong said in the teahouse, and he felt a little emotional after hearing this sentence, so he asked casually, "Did the new owner of the house ask the master to make the furniture?"

The great craftsman let out a "hmm", his sigh faded a lot, and he nodded and started to talk about the business: "I heard that he was originally a Taoist from the south of the Yangtze River. He came back from the capital of the Jiangnan Road. He chose Baoling to settle down and ordered an orchid bed. He wanted to come to this house. The new owner is a woman."

woman!Jiang Pingping was a little surprised to hear this. After all, the original owner of the house was Mr. Zhong, and the relief sculptures should be more suitable for men's preferences. He thought that the person who bought the house was also a figure like Mr. Zhong. But it is a woman.

But even though it was an accident, the accident was only for a moment. After all, there is no law that stipulates that a woman cannot like what a man likes.

Jiang Pingping didn't care about this, and was just about to say goodbye, when the master craftsman said in passing: "Then the steward who invited me to make furniture speaks a good Gusu dialect, very pure, it should be Gusu people."

This is not surprising, the cities in the south of the Yangtze River are not far away, Baoling is a small place but it has nothing to do with the war, so it is not surprising to come to Baoling for a long time.Jiang Pingping didn't take it seriously: Just like Bo Dongping would set up a separate garden in Baoling, doesn't the son of Duke An also have a separate garden in Baoling?In the other garden, Nanny Chai, who took care of the little general from a young age, was also placed.

"Gusu houses are more expensive than Baoling, so it is more cost-effective to buy a house in Baoling."

"It is!"

After exchanging a few nonsense greetings, the two said their goodbyes. Jiang Pingping returned to the teahouse and began to write a letter from home.

……

At this time, it will be a few days before Jiang Shaoyan knows what happened in Jiangnan Dao, but Zhuang Haoran, who has taken over the appointment of the capital of Jiangnan Dao, has already taken over this matter.

Taking Wu Zuo to the house of the paper seller Master Su who just died today, he looked at the blue-faced Master Su, who had not wiped off the white foam from the corner of his mouth, and after a moment's pause, Zhuang Haoran's face was extremely ugly.

He just asked the Su family members who were sad about their loved ones and passed away, and asked patiently and routinely, "Did you hear any sounds in the middle of the night", "Have you seen any suspicious people", "Who have you offended recently", etc. Question hurried out of the mansion, and then galloped towards the Yang family's mansion.

If it's just one or two people, they might be looking for revenge, but now there are four of them... How could this be a coincidence?
Along the way, he brought a few skilled servants who had been promoted recently to the front of the Yang family's mansion, Zhuang Haoran got off his horse with an ugly face, and kicked open the gate of the Yang family with his men.

Why did the door open by itself?The porter who just heard the movement and came out of the inner door was startled when he saw Zhuang Haoran who broke into the Yang family's mansion without waiting for him to answer the door.

What kind of person this newly appointed magistrate of Zhuang county is like, he has already learned deeply during the days when the lord did not come back.

So when he saw Zhuang Haoran breaking into the gate of the Yang family mansion, he quickly called out "Guards" to help, but he hurriedly hid in the room at the inner gate.

This county magistrate Zhuang is not easy to talk to!Seeing that he brought those tall and burly servants to the door, he knew that the visitors were not good. How could he be the porter to stop him at such a time?
"I want to see Yang Yan!" Zhuang Haoran looked angrily at the guards who rushed over, and shouted, "Get out and report!"

The guard who rushed over after listening to the words froze, facing the guard who had already opened his sword, although he also had his sword opened, he did not dare to do it lightly, and hurriedly asked someone to report to the main courtyard.

The steward who rushed to report to the main courtyard was immediately led in by Yang Yan's confidant.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw that his lord, who was so busy these days that he didn't even have time to accompany Mrs. Yang for dinner, was standing at the desk slowly drawing a picture.

The steward only glanced at it hastily, and could vaguely see the overlapping mountains and clouds and mist, like a landscape painting.

The steward who withdrew his gaze didn't dare to look any further, and only reported in a low voice: "Master Zhuang has brought someone over, seeing the aggressive approacher's unfriendly appearance, his tone is very rude!"

Because Yang Yan didn't get things done on the day he came back, he was beaten by Yang Yan's confidants, and even scolded, "It's better to find a dog than to find you to be in charge". In recent days, the steward dare not be ambiguous in doing things, and is extremely careful.

Yang Yan didn't seem to care about the steward's words. He just soaked a short wolf hair in the water to wash it down a bit, and leaned over to seriously add the lingering clouds to the landscape painting on the table.

"Bring him in!" Yang Yan said.

The steward immediately responded when he heard the words, turned around and left, and came over with Zhuang Haoran with an ugly face after a while.

"It's leisurely and carefree!" Zhuang Haoran choked unceremoniously when he entered the room, "So many people died outside, Master Yang is still interested in painting here!"

While talking, the steward and his confidants have already retreated.

The door of the study room was closed, and the originally bright study room suddenly became dark.

Accustomed to the sunlight outside, Zhuang Haoran instinctively closed his eyes due to the sudden darkening of the light. When he opened his eyes again and got used to the indoors, he realized that Yang Yan's study was different from the ones he usually saw, except for that room. Outside the door, there are no windows on all sides.

As soon as the door was closed, the study room without windows on all sides became a natural secret room, and only the two candle lamps on the two corners of Yang Yan's desk were dimly lit in the room.

,

(End of this chapter)