Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 174 Posted next

"Isn't it me?"

Xue Pan threw his head back and laughed. After the two of them sat down, he started talking about the reason. The Xue family originally had two or three properties in the capital, but they were all in the outer city, so Xue Pan found it inconvenient to live there. So during these days, he simply sold the house and used the money to buy the house here. Unexpectedly, he became a neighbor with Li Weijian.

After drinking a cup of tea, Xue Pan immediately stood up and left. Li Weijian squinted his eyes and felt funny. He didn't believe a word Xue Pan said!

How could I happen to buy something next door to my house? And before buying a house, how could you not take a look at the neighbors and find out who they are?

It's just that I couldn't figure out for a while what kind of medicine the Xue family was selling in the gourd. It was just soldiers coming to block it and water coming to cover it up.

Returning to the inner house, Fu Qiufang, Qingwen and others were waiting in the main room. Li Weijian was so hungry that he immediately became upset. After eating for a while, he smiled and said, "Who do you think the new neighbor is?"

"Who?" Qingwen asked.

"The Xue family."

Fu Qiufang's face was demure, Hongyu frowned slightly, Qingwen was already annoyed: "It's the Xue family again? Why is it that the Xue family seems to be a gangster and can't get rid of it?"

The little girl holds a grudge. Last time Xue Panthier's eyes scanned her for a long time, but Qingwen always remembered it.

Fu Qiufang knew that there was a rift between Li Weijian and the Xue family, so she said casually: "We live our lives behind closed doors, and each family lives their own lives. They are just living next to each other, so just ignore them."

Xiu Ying raised her little fist and said: "It used to be difficult to take action in Rongguo Mansion, but it's different now. If that stupid overlord dares to act wild again, I will definitely give him a good look!"

Hongyu said meaningfully: "Xue Pan is fine, I'm afraid someone else will come to the door."

Li Weijian was confused by the authority just now. Hong Yu's words made him understand. Could it be that Sister Bao changed her mind again after seeing herself being knighted?

Thinking about it carefully, it's hard to say... The last time I saw Sister Bao, I saw her expression was different.

Not only did he hear it, but all the maids and Fu Qiufang except Xiu Ying, who was a fool, also heard it. Qingwen saw the smile on Li Weijian's face and said, "Fourth Master, although Miss Bao is beautiful, she is not worthy of Fourth Master."

Li Weijian said, "What are you thinking about? I will never marry Miss Xue, no matter who I marry."

Nowadays, even the second girl from the concubine of the Duke's palace is not worthy of him, let alone Sister Bao, who is the daughter of a merchant. Since Sister Bao was so attracted to Qin Muchu, Li Weijian couldn't help but think too much. If one day he, Li Weijian, was in trouble, would Sister Bao turn to someone else?

Li Weijian is not a good person, but he is not outrageously bad either. He is unscrupulous when it comes to outsiders, but he treats the people around him very well. Even though he coaxed the second sister to welcome the spring, he also took pity on her future, so he intervened.

As for Sister Bao... One Baochai came to meet his wife, and she definitely didn't want to be a concubine; the other was brought into the inner house, Hongyu and Qiufang were fine, but the remaining three, Qingwen, Xiangling, and Xiuying, maybe what happened Being plotted by Sister Bao.

Li Weijian was very thoughtful. As a second-generation person, there were many good girls in this world. He knew clearly that Sister Bao was difficult to control, so why bother himself?

Then I thought, this is not possible. Without Sister Bao's care, wouldn't Baoyu have to pester Daiyu from time to time? You have to find an opportunity to persuade Sister Bao, and Brother Bao is the right man for Sister Bao!

After thinking about it, I looked up and saw several maids who were about to speak but stopped. Especially Qingwen, her eyes were smiling but not smiling, as if she could talk, and they were full of teasing.

I'm afraid that in the eyes of a few maids, as long as the color is good, she will keep it close to her, right?

Li Weijian coughed twice, but Quan pretended he hadn't seen it and sent a few maids to wander in the side garden while he discussed with Fu Qiufang about warming the pot the next day.

There are slight differences in the rules between the north and the south of this burning pot. Fu Qiufang is a native of the capital. After Li Weijian asked her carefully, Fu Qiufang said: "Master, the cook in this house is not to your liking. Why don't you look around for her?" Hire a chef. I’m going to be an official in Japan, and I won’t have to entertain banquets from time to time, so it’s hard to go to a restaurant and hire a chef.”

"That makes sense, but it's hard to hire a cook."

Today's Dashun is not divided into eight major cuisines, only official cuisine and home-cooked cuisine. What is official cuisine? Abalone, ginseng and swallow's wings, only those who can cook these are official dishes. If you don’t know how to cook these things, no matter how good the other ones are, they are still home-cooked dishes.

Li Weijian wanted to hire a chef who knew how to cook official dishes, but it was not easy to train a chef who knew how to cook official dishes. Master teaches his disciples that ordinary fish is distressing, let alone something as precious as abalone, ginseng and swallow's wings?

Therefore, those who know how to cook government dishes are either accepted into the homes of powerful people early in the morning, or they are supported by major restaurants early in the morning and cannot be invited easily.

Fu Qiufang also knew the truth, so she frowned and said, "Look around, you never know when you'll get lucky."

Li Weijian nodded and thought: "If it doesn't work out, I'll ask King Zhongyong."

Fu Qiufang was surprised and said angrily: "Master, don't talk nonsense. Are you going to ask King Zhongyong for a cook? Aren't you afraid that the prince will be annoyed by this?"

Li Weijian smiled and said: "You don't understand, the prince is very refreshing, but if you deal with his temper, you will give him whatever you want."

The next day, Li Weijian sent Wu Haiping to the market to search for ingredients, and he led the Ding brothers to the inner palace.

I thought it was a sure thing, but as soon as King Zhongyong opened his mouth, he had a strange look on his face.

"There are cooks, but I'm afraid Fusheng won't be able to use them - they are all eunuchs from the palace."

Li Weijian looked at him with a smile on his face, cupped his hands and said, "It's the student's fault."

King Zhongyong said playfully: "If you are resurrected and join the army, if you capture and kill Galdan Celing in the future, you may not be able to make you a king with a different surname. The saint will then give you a royal cook."

King Zhongyong said this, and the surrounding Liang Langzhong all laughed in agreement. King Zhongyong laughed for a long time, then suddenly stopped, because he saw that Li Weijian not only did not laugh, but instead frowned and thought, as if he really had such a plan.

"Um... Fusheng's talents are not above the military. I was just joking." After a word of consolation, King Zhongyong suddenly felt weird. This Li Fusheng has quite a lot of talent. Is it possible that he really has the talent of a general?

Just as he was thinking about it, he saw Li Weijian beating the snake on the stick, cupping his hands and saying: "Your Majesty, student——"

King Zhongyong interrupted: "I've already been knighted, so I can't call myself a student anymore."

Li Weijian thought for a while and then handed over his hand: "It's hard to say how well Xiaguan can command troops, but if you talk about military affairs on paper, I think he is somewhat capable."

King Zhongyong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Nanwei is resurrected. Maybe he has read Ji Xiao's new book, or Taizong's "New Essentials for Unifying the Army"?"

Where has Li Weijian seen it? He has heard of the former, but he has never heard of the latter. But thinking about the Battle of Qinghai next summer and autumn, which involves the fate of the country, we must not lose anything. So he gritted his teeth and said: "Xia Guan has quite a lot of experience in training artillery. As long as I let him train for a few days, I will ensure that the artillery he trains will be fast and accurate."

"Um……"

King Zhongyong originally thought that Li Weijian was just a scholar... A scholar, after reading two books on military strategy, always thought that the battlefield was just that. In fact, if he were really allowed to command the troops, he would probably be inferior to Zhao Kuo. But after hearing what Li Weijian said, King Zhongyong was undecided.

The range table was measured by Li Weijian, the new gun mount was designed by him, and even the tires were tinkered with by Li Weijian. If anyone were to say who was most proficient in this artillery, I would guess that Li Weijian would be among them.

And in fact, the academic achievements are unfathomable. Is there a new way to train gunners?

King Zhongyong couldn't make up his mind for a while, and thought: "This matter is not urgent. Yesterday, the King of Japan came to the palace to meet His Majesty. After thinking about it, the saint hastily ordered Qiongya's inner government to speed up the establishment of a latex factory to make tires for cannon trucks. This time he was revived. The saint has recorded the merit of the donation, and there will be a reward in the future." Li Weijian respectfully raised his hands toward the imperial city and thanked him.

This is what it should be. It is expected that his parents are posthumously crowned.

After a pause, King Zhongyong said again: "The Qiu period is over. If you are not in a hurry to return home after resurrecting, you can come to the inner palace to join the army in the next few days, right?"

Li Weijian was not pretentious and agreed immediately, saying: "Yes, I will come to the inner palace after a few days."

King Zhongyong smiled and nodded: "At such an age as Fusheng, and as a new arrival, I'm afraid it would be inappropriate to be appointed as a doctor as soon as he enters the inner palace. Why don't you appoint a chief first, and I will promote you after you have achieved results."

"I will be an official, but I will follow the prince's instructions."

King Zhongyong nodded again, and then suddenly remembered something, and said: "There is a man who is good at government cooking living in Shicao Hutong, but he is too greedy. If you need to resurrect him in an emergency, you might as well go find him."

Li Weijian heard Xian's elegance and asked, "Could it be the imperial chef who had escaped from the palace?"

King Zhongyong sneered and said, "Where did there come from so many royal chefs? But this man's surname was Kong. He was originally a descendant of the Kong family in Qufu. He was not good at classics and history, and preferred to cook. He had a falling out with his family a few years ago. Come to the capital and settle down."

A descendant of the Kong family? Li Weijian didn't take it seriously.

Seeing this, King Zhongyong said: "When Taizong was conquering the world, he stayed in the Confucius family for several days, and he was full of praise for the food in his house. Many of the so-called palace dishes today are the original dishes of the Confucius family. There is no need to revive them." Not satisfied."

Li Weijian hurriedly learned the lesson. After leaving the inner palace, he led the Ding brothers to Shicao Hutong to look for the man named Kong. Unexpectedly, today was an unlucky day. The neighbor said that Mr. Kong was out visiting friends and might not know when he would be back.

Li Weijian returned empty-handed, thinking that he would have to warm the pot soon, so he had to spend money and hire a cook from Xianluju to help him, and then go to look for the man named Kong later.

There was nothing else to do that day, but when he went to bed in the evening, Li Weijian saw that Xiu Ying was distracted and always distracted. After asking a few questions, Xiu Ying said, "Why else? Could it be that the master has forgotten my brother?"

Li Weijian suddenly realized, yes, after several months of sending letters, how come Xiu Ying's brother still hasn't arrived?

"Is it because the letter was not delivered?"

"It was delivered early in the morning," Xiu Ying said angrily: "The eldest brother was afraid that the delivery would leave the letter behind, so he sent another letter later. This morning I got a reply from the second sister, saying that the monkey had left early. , but now I don’t know where to hang out.”

Li Weijian couldn't help but worry: "That brother of yours is still young, nothing will happen to him, right?"

"Him?" Xiu Ying said without any worry on her face, "Master, I don't know, but my brother is not easy to worry about. He will definitely not suffer any loss when he is away from home."

"That's it, I don't know where your brother is hiding and enjoying himself right now. It's night, go to sleep."

"Ah."

Next day, Wu Haiping went to Xianlu Residence and ordered two chefs who would prepare official dishes. All the ingredients purchased yesterday were also put into the warehouse. Li Weijian waited until noon before taking a car to Derongguo Mansion. He visited Jia Mu first and then sent the invitation.

Elders like Mother Jia couldn't go there in person, so they ordered Li Wan and Wang Xifeng to lead the girls to Li Weijian's mansion to celebrate.

Perhaps because of Baoyu's abrupt behavior last time, Jia Mu never mentioned anything about Baoyu's accompanying him. It was expected that Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang had already made plans, and Baoyu was not allowed to go this time.

I guess the eldest master Jia She wanted to go, but the master Jia Zheng didn't want to go. He was in such a hurry to have something to do, so he could only endure it for the time being.

After lingering for a while, Li Weijian stood up and left. After coming out of Jia Mu's courtyard with hanging flower gate, he ran into Siqi just after passing through the hall.

"Fourth Master Jian!"

Si Qi's face was full of Ai Ai, but he stopped talking.

During these days, the second girl had something wrong with her. She couldn't eat or sleep at night, and even Siqi was worried. Normally, everyone should be happy that Fourth Master Jian has become successful. But the marriage had just been mentioned, and before the marriage was even mentioned, Fourth Master Jian was knighted right then and there.

Because the second girl is a concubine, she is no longer worthy of him. If the second girl can't get married in the spring, how can she, the chess player, be the aunt?

Li Weijian had a maid, Yuanyang, to see him off. Li Weijian stopped and stamped his feet and said, "You are the chess player, but why did the second lady send you here to see me?"

Siqi groaned and gritted his teeth and said, "Yes."

"This -" Li Weijian turned around and looked at Yuanyang with a smile.

Yuanyang smiled and said: "Fourth Master Jian is a relative in the mansion. If he is not in a hurry to return, he can just walk around in the mansion."

"Well, please excuse me, Miss Yuanyang."

Yuanyang swung his braid and turned away, and Li Weijian followed Siqi towards the east courtyard. After walking a few steps and seeing no one around, Siqi said: "Fourth Master Jian, I lied. It's not that the second girl is looking for the Fourth Master."

"I know." Li Weijian simply stopped.

Siqi said aggrievedly: "Fourth Master Jian, don't blame me for talking too much. You and the second girl...can this marriage happen?"

Li Weijian pushed 265, spread his hands and said: "Now I don't dare to comment on this matter, it all depends on my uncle. If the uncle agrees, then I will marry my second sister the next year; if the uncle disagrees... then I can only hold off for the time being. Set aside.”

"This-" Si Qi became anxious. She gave up her life and obeyed everything, just hoping to be by Li Weijian's side. How could she accept such a result? Because he said anxiously: "Fourth Master, can't you think of any more ideas?"

"Don't worry, my uncle is only a few years younger than the old lady, and his health is not good. I don't agree with it now. Is it possible that things will change in a year or two?"

While talking, Li Weijian secretly confessed his sin and quickly prayed for his uncle's long life.

Siqi's brows relaxed slightly and he sighed: "That's all we have to do. Fourth Master should go and see the second girl. She has looked haggard in the past two days."

(End of this chapter)