The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 374 Return in full
Yi Hong had just sent Jia Yucun away when Lei Zhengfa, who had been waiting for a long time, came to him personally with a list and said carefully, "All the property seized in the Yangzhou smuggling salt case is recorded in detail in this book. Please have a look, Master Yi."

Yi Hong took the list, flipped through it and put it down, saying, "I'm tired today, let's take a rest before reading it."

"Then I will take my leave first!" Lei Zhengfa was about to run away, but Yi Hong stopped him and said, "Wait a minute!"

Lei Zhengfa stopped and asked respectfully, "My Lord, do you have any other instructions?"

Yi Hong rubbed his brows and sighed a little tiredly: "Old Lei, ever since I lost one eye, my memory seems to be not so good. I wonder if it is because of the injury to my brain. By the way, how much silver did the Xue family give to redeem the person last time?"

Lei Zhengfa's heart skipped a beat, and he glanced at Yi Hong secretly. He met the latter's sinister gaze, and trembled with fear. He said truthfully, "Eighty thousand taels."

Yi Hong sneered, "I vaguely remember you asked me to say 40,000 taels last time. It seems my memory is really not good enough."

Lei Zhengfa had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead and said awkwardly: "It may be that I said something wrong at that moment. I deserve to die!"

"He deserves to die for saying 80,000 is 40,000." Yi Hong said coldly.

Lei Zhengfa was so frightened that he fell to his knees and begged for mercy. He kept hitting the ground with his head, and soon his face was covered with blood. However, Yi Hong remained indifferent until a large pool of blood formed on the ground. Then he said calmly, "Old Lei, do you know what you did wrong?"

Lei Zhengfa's forehead was still oozing blood at this moment, which was very scary. He said tremblingly: "I was wrong because I was too greedy... No, I shouldn't have deceived you, sir."

Yi Hong's gloomy expression eased a little, and he waved his hand and said, "That's good to know. Get up. I'll let you go this time, but it won't happen again next time."

"Thank you, sir. I will never dare to do it again." Lei Zhengfa kowtowed again before he dared to stand up carefully.

Yi Hong glanced at him and said calmly, "Send the 80,000 taels of silver back to the Xue family later."

"Send...send it back?" Lei Zhengfa was a little dumbfounded.

Yi Hong said calmly: "Since Xue Pan has nothing to do with this case, the seized silver should be returned to him."

Lei Zhengfa's mind raced, and he said hurriedly, "Okay, I'll do it right away."

"Go!" Yi Hong nodded and waved his hand.

Lei Zhengfa retreated with a sense of relief, and then he dared to take out his handkerchief to cover the wound on his forehead. Fortunately, it was only a superficial wound, and the bleeding stopped in a moment. He did not dare to delay and immediately found his trusted centurion Zhou Hua and ordered him: "After dark, send the 80,000 taels of silver back to the Xue family."

Zhou Hua asked in surprise: "Why?"

"Just send it back when I told you to. Why are you talking so much nonsense!" Lei Zhengfa cursed with a dark face.

Zhou Hua was startled and didn't dare to ask any more questions. He bowed and retreated.

Lei Zhengfa clenched his fists, his face changing constantly. As soon as Jia Huan left, Yi Hong asked him to return the money to the Xue family. There was no doubt that it was Jia Huan who filed the complaint. This was outrageous. This kid was not trustworthy. They had clearly agreed on the same day to only release the people and unfreeze the Xue family's property. Now he was accusing me of something and wanted all the money back. This was simply too much. Jia Huan, I'll make a note of this.

Lei Zhengfa was not a good man. He was tricked by Jia Huan and naturally held a grudge against him. At the same time, he was secretly curious about what tricks Jia Huan had used to make his ruthless boss willing to spit out the fat meat in his mouth.

…………

Night falls at the Xue family.

Xue Baochai, who had just taken a bath, was reviewing the account book under the lamp. Her jet-black hair was scattered behind her head, adding a sense of lazy charm to her dignified appearance. Her moist skin was white and rosy, and her bright cherry lips seemed to be coated with a layer of rouge. Her delicate and distinct eyebrows were slightly furrowed, as if she was a little distressed.

It turned out that although all the properties under the name of Xue family were unsealed, they had no working capital. After all, they were restricted everywhere. In addition, the expenses of the whole family were also huge. They had to move money here and there and were stretched to the limit. Even Xue Baochai found it difficult and was considering selling some of the properties with poor performance in order to reduce the financial pressure.

"Madam is here."

At this time, Xiangling's voice came from outside. Xue Baochai raised her head and saw Ying'er lifting the door curtain. Her mother walked in from outside. She stood up and bowed, saying, "Mother!"

Aunt Xue had just finished visiting Xue Pan. As the latter's injuries had improved, she was in a good mood and asked with a smile, "What are you busy with, Bao girl? You can't even be quiet for a while at this late hour." As she spoke, she walked to the table.

Baochai smiled and said, "There's nothing to do. I just took the opportunity to look through the account book while my hair was drying."

Aunt Xue looked at the pile of account books on the table and said with a feeling of distress and guilt, "My son, you have worked so hard. Unfortunately, I can neither write nor count, so I can't help you at all. The family business has to rely on you to take care of it. If you get married in the future, I don't know what to do."

Xue Baochai blushed slightly and changed the subject: "How is my brother's injury?"

Because Xue Pan's injury was too embarrassing, Xue Baochai, as his sister, couldn't ask about it in person, let alone check it. Aunt Xue replied a little embarrassedly: "It's much better. The doctor's ointment is quite effective."

Xue Baochai nodded and said, "In that case, let Brother Ke invite the doctor to take a look in a few days. By the way, I have something to discuss with mother."

"What's the matter?" Aunt Xue asked curiously.

Xue Baochai said, "I'm going to sell my brother's boatyard at a discount."

Aunt Xue said immediately, "Sell it, sell it quickly. The trouble we've had is caused by the shipyard. This business is not auspicious... Uh, precious girl, do we have no money left? Can we still make ends meet?"

Although Aunt Xue was not smart, she was not stupid either. She immediately realized the problem and looked at Xue Baochai with a little worry.

Xue Baochai naturally didn't want her mother to worry, so she smiled and said, "Although we are a little tight, we can still make ends meet. Apart from anything else, if we sell the land left by our ancestors, it will be enough for us to have enough food and clothing!"

Aunt Xue heaved a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Then I'm relieved. However, if we have to sell our land, I won't be able to face the Xue family's ancestors. Alas, it's all Pan'er's fault. And that Lei guy is so hateful. He is so greedy that he has drained all our savings. I hope he will be unlucky one day and have his family's property confiscated."

At this moment, a woman came running in like the wind: "Madam, young lady..."

Baochai and her daughter were shocked. Aunt Xue scolded her, "You are crazy. You are becoming more and more unruly now."

The old woman pointed outside and said with a stammer, "The Jinyiwei... the Jinyiwei are here!"

Aunt Xue was so frightened that she trembled and almost fell. Xue Baochai was also terrified, thinking that there were twists and turns in Xue Pan's case and that the Jinyiwei had actually barged into the house.

Fortunately, Xue Ke hurried in at this time. Aunt Xue grabbed him and said in horror: "Ke'er, the Jinyiwei is here, go find Huan Ge'er."

Xue Ke hurriedly comforted her, "Don't panic, Auntie. They are here to return the money."

Aunt Xue was stunned and asked in astonishment, "Return the money? Return what money?"

Xue Ke said excitedly, "Eighty thousand taels of silver. Lei Zhengfa had his men return eighty thousand taels of silver to our family. Not a single tael is missing. It's all in front of us. I was just thinking of asking my aunt and elder sister to go and count it."

"Our money has been returned?" Aunt Xue looked incredulous, and Baochai was also very surprised.

At that moment, the mother and daughter followed Xue Ke to the front yard, and sure enough, they saw it was filled with silver boxes. The Jinyiwei who had returned with the silver had already left, and dozens of boxes were quietly placed there, filling up the front yard.

Baochai made a rough count and found that the 80,000 taels of silver had indeed been returned intact. It was truly a strange thing that the Jinyiwei could actually spit out the money they had eaten.

Aunt Xue was so happy that she almost cried. Although the Xue family had a fortune of millions, this was all the cash they had on hand. Now that it had been recovered, it was naturally a great joy.

Xue Pan was barely able to get out of bed today. Upon hearing the good news, he came here with the help of his servants. After his ecstasy, he said with a puzzled look on his face, "Hey, the sun is rising from the west. Those bastards wanted to scrape off three feet of the land when they confiscated our property, but now they return the 80,000 taels of silver they got to our family. It's really strange!"

"It's probably Master Huan San again. Apart from him, I can't think of anyone else who has the ability to make the Jinyiwei vomit out the fat they have eaten." Xue Ke said with a smile on his face.

Aunt Xue nodded and said, "Of course he is. Huan'er is a man of action and no words. He was like that the last time our business was unsealed. This child is really..."

Xue Pan curled his lips and said, "Not necessarily. It's possible that my uncle and aunt are behind it."

Xue Ke shook his head and said, "It's unlikely. That Lei guy doesn't give face to the Wang and Jia families at all. The reason why my brother was released was all thanks to Master Huan San."

Xue Pan fell silent immediately.

"Brother Ke, did those Jinyiwei who brought back the silver say anything?" Xue Baochai asked softly.

Xue Ke shook his head and said, "They didn't say anything. They just put down their boxes and left. By the way, the leader was none other than the centurion Zhou Hua. Although he didn't say anything, his attitude was obviously arrogant at first but respectful later."

Baochai's heart moved. She heard that Jinyiwei commander Yi Hong had arrived in Jinling recently. Not long after his arrival, Lei Zhengfa returned the silver. This was obviously not a coincidence. It was most likely Yi Hong's intention. And who else could influence Yi Hong except the Huan brothers?
Thinking of this, Xue Baochai couldn't help but feel mixed emotions, happy and worried, because a man like Yi Hong would definitely not give up the benefits he had obtained easily. You know, 80,000 taels of silver is not a small amount. I don't know how Brother Huan did it, an exchange of benefits?
To be honest, Yi Hong is an out-and-out cruel official. Throughout history, cruel officials have never had a good ending. Xue Baochai naturally doesn't want Jia Huan to get too close to such a person.

Besides, Lei Zhengfa is not a good man either. He probably won't be willing to give up the fat meat in his mouth. If Brother Huan puts pressure on him through Yi Hong, he might have offended him.

"Hey, Brother Huan, Brother Huan..."

(End of this chapter)