Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 199 Xishan Cement Services

Xing Zhong and his wife naturally interrogated Xing Xiuyan. However, Li Weijian had only been here for two days. No matter how whimsical he was, his daughter was not a fairy, so how could she get involved with Mr. Li?

When they heard that it was just a two-way relationship and that the sausage was just exchanged for eels, Xing Zhong and his wife were unwilling to accept it and closed the door for a long time. Where did the two of them get their wits from? Mr. Li was well-guarded and no ordinary people could get close to him, so the two of them could only sigh, unable to do anything for a while.

But it was said that Bi Tong had sent the sausages and turned back to the small courtyard to the east. Xiu Ying only briefly asked and then stopped mentioning it. This silly girl knew in her heart that she was just a wild girl from the countryside. To be able to reach someone like Fourth Master was already a blessing to her ancestors.

Because Xiu Ying was satisfied with just one room as a concubine, she didn't bother to care about the close relationship between Li Weijian and the girl next to her.

That evening, Zhuang Yougong sent his entourage to deliver a list of names.

In the sacred land of Jiangnan, aristocratic families have no plans. Apart from the four major salt merchants in Jinling and the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou, there are still twelve surnames from Jiangnan.

Li Weijian had no intention of getting too involved with the four major families, nor did he want to get involved with the salt merchant who would be unlucky sooner or later, so there were only twelve surnames left with whom he could cooperate.

What are the twelve surnames? Gu, Lu, Zhu, Zhang, Shen, Wu, Zhou, Xu, Jin, Qian, Shi and Jiang. These twelve surnames can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms period at the earliest, and the latest one is the rise of Wuhuanhua.

Over the past millennium, these twelve surnames have been married to each other and spread out. The descendants of the next generation are talented and have no calculations. Naturally, those who are rich and powerful cannot escape from the twelve surnames.

It took Li Weijian two days to read through the list. Not counting those with small family assets, there were more than 100 big landowners and big weaving owners alone.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Su Song claimed to have half the world's tax revenue. In the Dashun Dynasty, due to the opening of Shanghai County, Jiangnan's tax revenue was half the world's, and Su Song's tax revenue was half Jiangnan. It is conceivable that Su Song is rich.

The entire Dashun has 1.4 billion taels of silver, and it is estimated that at least 20% of it is hidden in the Susong Second Mansion.

After looking at the directory, Li Weijian had a good idea. He expected that with Zhuang Yougong's cooperation this time, the cement business should go smoothly.

On the third day, Li Weijian suddenly remembered that Kunshan is near Suzhou, and Xiangling's family is near Suzhou... He had planned to resolve the knot between the two girls earlier, and now he is living in Pan. I'm afraid I won't be able to leave Xiangsi in one or two months, so why not take advantage of this to get these two things done?

Wu Haining happened to have finished his errand that day, and happily went to Panxiang Temple to report to Li Weijian.

I heard this boy's advocacy, saying that the crowds of people who had been watching these past few days were endless, and in order to find out the details of the camel machine, a rich man from Wu County invited him to a restaurant for a banquet.

Seeing that the camel machine can burn anything, it has been running for three days in a row, and the textile machine has broken down and stopped for a while. How can the weaving owners from all over Suzhou still sit still? Waiting to hear it clearly, the camel machine was made by the Jingshi Steam Engine Factory. He immediately sent his children to the capital to order the machine first.

If you are overtaken by your peers, your own weaving field will be overrun to death!

In addition, many wealthy people gave Wu Haining money, and they all meant the same thing: to find out where the God of Wealth, Li Weijian, was.

Wu Haining was quite strict and never spit out his words, but he couldn't stop someone who was interested in finding out the clues. Because the incense in Panxiang Temple was very prosperous in the past two days, the wealthy family first sent people to send greeting cards to ask when Mr. Li would be free. The ordinary wealthy family did not have so many scruples and went directly in the name of offering incense. At Panxiang Temple, if you don't see Li Weijian, you should pay homage to the Buddha. If you do, it will be the Buddha's blessing.

Li Weijian just nodded slightly after hearing this. Anyone could do this job, so he showed no ability. Before he could speak, Xiu Ying, who was accompanying her, frowned: "Someone invited you to have a drink? Could it be that it was flower wine?"

Wu Haining shrank his neck: "It's okay! Sister, you can't slander someone out of thin air."

"Bah! Where did you get your innocence? You collected the door package and handed it over. For the sake of the master, which member of the staff would know you? And give you the door package?"

"This..." Wu Haining looked at Li Weijian as if asking for help.

Xiu Ying hurriedly said: "Master, we can't leave him alone. My younger brother will do whatever he wants when he has money. He may be itchy one day, so he will take the money and run out to hang out for a while. He will not come back until he has no money."

Wu Haining argued: "Sister, you are too underestimated. I am following the master to seek a future. How can I be half-hearted?"

"Stop blabbering and hand it over!"

Seeing that it was impossible, Xiu Ying simply rushed over and grabbed Wu Haining's ear. The guy immediately got cold feet: "No, no, no, I'll just hand it over."

Then he groaned and reluctantly took out a few pieces of silver from his sleeve. Xiu Ying twisted again: "Who are you coaxing?"

"Hiss... let go, I haven't taken it out yet."

I saw this guy shaking his hands again, and there were two more banknotes in his hand. Xiu Ying grabbed it and took a look and said: "Two hundred taels? It's a good thing that I have to come down, otherwise you will spend it carelessly. I will save this money for you for your future wedding."

Wu Haining was crying and unable to say anything.

Li Weijian said happily: "Leave him some time."

Xiu Ying thought for a moment, then counted out five taels of silver from the scattered silver and threw it to Wu Haining. Wu Haining held the money in his hand and frowned. He had worked hard for twenty years...

But I heard Li Weijian say: "I have an errand for you. Go to Jinling, send your sister there, and then pick up Qingwen and Xiangling."

"Ah?" Xiu Ying suddenly pouted, her face full of displeasure.

Li Weijian smiled and said: "It came out in January, and now it's almost April."

Xiu Ying said aggrievedly: "I know, it's just...how can things go by so fast?"

Having said that, she knew in her heart that she had monopolized Li Weijian for two months. When Xiangling and Qingwen arrived, she would not be able to arrange shifts shamelessly. Instead of sulking then, why not go to the old residence of the Li family in Jinling to stay for a while.

Because Xiu Ying asked again: "Then, when will the master pick me up?"

"If it's as fast as one month, if it's slow it'll be two months."

Xiu Ying thought for a moment and then said: "Master, you can't be short of people to serve you. I'm going to Jinling and I want Bitong to stay?"

Bi Tong, who was on the side with a low eyebrow, felt her heart skip a beat, thinking to herself that she was doomed after all, right?

Unexpectedly, Li Weijian said: "It's just a few days, I don't think I have to run around. Forget it, just take Bi Tong to Jinling."

Xiu Ying had no choice but to agree, not mentioning her efforts that night. Soon after, Wu Haining drove a carriage to see Xiu Ying off to Jinling.

After Li Weijian had finished his vegetarian meal, a nun came to report that he was an official from Suzhou City and wanted to see him.

Li Weijian made a pot of fragrant tea by himself and asked him to come in. The nun turned around and left. After a moment, Gu Wanzhong walked in holding his belly.

The two met Li, and Li Weijian saw a smile on his face and said, "Guan Gu is smiling all over his face. Do you think that the land on Xishan Island... has been closed down?"

"This..." Gu Wanzhong's face froze and he whispered: "I really failed the doctor's trust. I spent a lot of money and only received 60% of the land on Xishan Island. The remaining 40% are still being discussed...still being discussed. .”

Li Weijian extended his hand to invite him, and Gu Wanzhong quickly took his seat. The teapot tilted, and the clear tea soup was poured into the tea cup. Li Weijian pushed the tea cup over and said: "I don't care when to gather them. I only care about whether I can gather them all in my hands."

Gu Wanzhong hurriedly said: "Don't worry, doctor, the only difference is money. We can finally negotiate in a few days."

Li Weijian thought for a while and said, "As for Xishan Island, I will give you one share of the cement business, and then you will be allowed to buy two shares."

"That's a good thing -" Gu Wanzhong said, holding a cup of tea: "I just don't know, the doctor, the cement servant -"

Li Weijian glanced at him and said with a smile: "I expected that the officials would have known about Jingshi Water Affairs for a long time. I was ordered to come to Jiangnan to start a cement business, and the one I compared was Jingshi Water Affairs."

Gu Wanzhong was immediately overjoyed. Jingshi Water Services only costs 30 million taels. If compared to Jingshi Water Services, wouldn’t this Laoshizi Cement Services also cost 30 million taels? Three-thirds of shares, this is 900,000 taels.

After being happy, Gu Wanzhong suddenly felt a little worried. Xishan Island is not very vast to begin with, so buying the land at a premium and spending over one hundred thousand taels of silver was equivalent to taking advantage. But although he was considered wealthy in Suzhou, he didn't have that much cash in hand.

For two shares, you have to pay 600,000 taels of silver, which is at least half the difference. What should I do?

Seeing the troubled expression on his face, Li Weijian said: "Is there something difficult outside the staff?"

"This... to be honest, I'm afraid that I won't be able to get enough money for a while."

"Oh, if Yuanwai's affairs are settled, Yuanwai will be admitted to the stock. As for the money for subscribing to the shares, I have no control over whether Yuanwai belongs to him or not."

Eh? Stay! At worst, if you resell some of them, you might still make some money.

Gu Wanzhong smiled again and said: "Mr. Li, this... Now most of the land on the island is in our hands. Should we do something about this cement business... first?"

"No hurry," Li Weijian said: "It will take a few days for the machine I ordered from the capital to be delivered. Besides, it is faster to use explosives to dig mountains and mine coal. I will collect the remaining fields in my hands as soon as possible. When will I collect them?" Okay, when will the news get out? When the time comes, I will hold a banquet in Suzhou City to raise funds, first come, first served."

After getting the word, Gu Wanzhong pressed the iron and immediately patted his chest and promised: "Don't worry, Mr. Li, in three to five days, this Xishan Island will definitely be ours!"

After talking briefly for a while, Gu Wanzhong left with great ambition. Li Weijian had eaten vegetarian food at noon and felt really fed up.

It’s enough to eat this fast once or twice, but it’s really unbearable to eat it every day. He is still growing at the moment, so where can he eat green vegetables and tofu at home every day?

It happened that the Imperial Guard who had heard about Xing Xiuyan's family background came over after receiving his instructions earlier. He came over and muttered, and not only told Xing Xiuyan's family background, but also Miaoyu's family background in detail.

Li Weijian was speechless for a while. If he remembered correctly, this order was given a few days ago, but he didn't hear it until today, which shows that he was entrusted to someone.

Xing Xiuyan lived in Suzhou for a long time, and his family originally made a living as a rice shop. A few years ago, Taihu Lake overflowed and flooded Suzhou. Because they were reluctant to sell rice, a group of rioters smashed the rice shop of the Xing family and looted the house.

Xing Zhong was so angry that he became ill, and his family had no choice but to sell their shop for medical treatment. After Xing Zhong recovered from his illness, the money gained from the pawn sale was almost spent. So the family had to live in Panxiang Temple, and Xing Zhong earned money by working as a steward in the weaving field.

Unlike Xing Xiuyan, Miaoyu's original surname was Xu, and her ancestors were also officials, and she can be considered a wealthy family in Suzhou today.

Because he has been sick since childhood, he found many substitutes but to no avail, so he entered the Panxiang Temple to train as a disciple... This was obvious.

In fact, Miaoyu was about to return to secular life a few years ago, but she was engaged to the Zhen family of Jinling Weavers since she was a child. Unfortunately, that man had been a promiscuous man in his early years, and everyone knew that he was stained with flowers and willows. How could a pure person like Miaoyu be willing to marry her? Because his mouth disease has not been cured, he has been avoiding Panxiang Temple.

After hearing what the forbidden soldier said, Li Weijian immediately changed his mind. He can detect both overt and covert information. This person is a talent!

He immediately asked the man's name and rewarded him with fifty taels of silver, and then sent the happy Imperial Guard away.

Li Weijian secretly thought to himself that the Xu family was a large family in Suzhou and ran a weaving field. He was afraid that he would not offend Zhen Yingjia, a weaver in Jinling, so he had no choice but to let Miaoyu lead the training.

Even if he asked about this matter, he would not be sensitive to the Miaoyu's gratitude. As for Xing Xiuyan... we will see each other again if we are destined.

After a few days like this, Li Weijian was really tired of eating fast food. He only ate rice porridge with sausages that day. After eating in a hurry, he led two forbidden soldiers down the mountain for a stroll.

As we walked to the paddy field, we suddenly saw smoke curling up from the cooking pots, and following the south wind, there was a vague aroma wafting in from the other side.

Li Weijian followed the scent and was about to pass by. When he turned around a paddy field, he saw a fire lit by Taihu Lake. There was an iron pot on it, and the man in red was squatting beside it, stirring the pot carefully. There was a seven or eight-year-old girl squatting beside her, holding her cheek and looking longingly into the pot.

When Li Weijian came closer, Xing Xiuyan heard the footsteps and turned around to see it was Li Weijian. He quickly dropped the shovel and stood up and said, "I have seen Dr. Li."

"Hello, Miss Xing." Li Weijian smiled and said, "This is -" He pointed to the pot.

Xing Xiuyan said: "I caught some river shrimps... The doctor also knows that meat is not delicious in Panxiang Temple."

Li Weijian saw that the shrimps in the pot were all pink and white, and there were green tea leaves dotting them, so he asked: "But Longjing shrimps?"

Xing Xiuyan smiled and said: "The doctor was joking, but it's just crude tea that was saved. If it's fried like this to get a taste, it can't be called Longjing shrimp."

When the little girl on the side saw Xing Xiuyan standing up, she also stood up, but she didn't speak because she didn't know Li Weijian. At this moment, she was looking at him curiously and pulling on Xing Xiuyan's sleeve, feeling a little embarrassed.

Li Weijian had been fasting for quite some time, and now he was so greedy that he blurted out, "Why don't I trade things with Miss Xing for this pot of shrimps?"

"what?"

"Girl, tell me the price. I think it's worth at least ten or eight pounds of sausage."

Xing Xiuyan smiled, but his face was slightly bitter. After thinking for a moment, he said with a smile: "Forgive me, doctor, but I won't change it this time... However, I can treat doctor to eat some."

Li Weijian was puzzled and asked with a smile: "This is strange. If you don't change, you want to treat me to food?"

Xing Xiuyan thought for a moment and felt that something was wrong, so he said: "I was the one who was rude, the doctor is afraid - um -"

Xing Xiuyan was stunned, then he saw Li Weijian stepping forward to pick up a shovel, picked out a shrimp, blew it twice and threw it into his mouth. He chewed it a little and said with a smile: "It tastes good, the girl is good at her craftsmanship."

Xing Xiuyan shook his head with a smile, found a pair of chopsticks from the bamboo basket and handed them over, saying, "Mr. I don't mind, so please use some together."

"Okay." Li Weijian took the chopsticks, lifted his robe, squatted down, and started eating without any image.

She didn't say why she didn't change it, and he didn't ask. If his parents knew that they had met Li Weijian again, they would probably have inappropriate thoughts again.

Her family had been in decline since she was a child, so she learned reading and literacy from Miaoyu. She never learned from Miaoyu's aloofness and arrogance, but instead learned to keep herself clean. She never blames others, never flatters others, only maintains her elegance, and does not fight or compete. Just like the proud snow and cold plum blossoms, when all the flowers wither, she is the only one who shows her character.

Li Weijian dropped the chopsticks like flying and ate for a long time. Suddenly he saw Xing Xiuyan and the little girl not moving, so he smiled and said: "Let's eat together, don't be polite."

Xing Xiuyan pursed her lips, and the little girl beside her tugged at her sleeves again. Then she made up her mind, took out her chopsticks, and squatted down with the little girl to enjoy the shrimps.

Three pairs of chopsticks, two pairs flying, Xing Xiuyan's pair took a long time to fall down. The little girl didn't seem to know what the doctor meant. She just thought she was the young master of someone nearby, so she started fighting with Li Weijian in an extremely rude manner.

The two pairs of chopsticks would compete for each other from time to time. Occasionally, if she won, the little girl would proudly hum at Li Weijian.

Li Weijian had just eaten, but after a long while he couldn't eat anymore, so he stopped his chopsticks and asked, "Whose family does this little girl belong to?"

"The orphan girl picked up from the temple who has not yet been ordained is called Zhuan'er."

Li Weijian asked casually: "Why don't you get tonsured?"

Xing Xiuyan said: "You must have a degree certificate to get tonsured. Nowadays, the government has strict inspections. If you don't have real talent and practical knowledge, you will have to spend hundreds of taels of silver to buy a certificate. The temple is poor, how can you give up the money to buy it?" "

It suddenly dawned on Li Weijian that he should have known about this, but he didn't think much about it just now.

He looked at Zhuan'er with a smile and said, "Zuan'er, how old are you?"

A good pot of shrimps was originally shared between two people, but now half of it went into Li Weijian's stomach. Zhuan'er was annoyed when he heard this and rolled his eyes and said, "I won't tell you!"

Xing Xiuyan hurriedly scolded: "Zhuan'er, don't be rude."

Zhuan'er listened very much to Xing Xiuyan, so he pursed his lips and said honestly: "Seven years old."

Li Weijian teased: "At seven years old, it's almost time to change your teeth. It's good to eat more shrimp shells."

"Humph!" Zhuan'er didn't believe it at all and simply turned her head away from him.

"Hey, what I just said was nice. It's up to you whether you want to or not." Li Weijian put down his chopsticks and stood up to stretch his body. He felt that the stir-fried shrimps were very thoughtful.

He wanted to ask Xing Xiuyan to help him cook, but he knew that this idea was too abrupt, so he simply handed over his hands and said, "Thank you, Miss Xing, for your hospitality. I will definitely repay you in the future."

"You're welcome, Mr. Li." Xing Xiuyan hurriedly returned the favor.

Li Weijian smiled and nodded, then turned and left.

Looking at his retreating background, Xing Xiuyan pursed his lips and smiled quietly. In the past few days, her parents had mentioned Dr. Li a lot. He was a member of the Capital Water Affairs Bureau and a high-ranking official with a good salary. Xing Xiuyan thought that such a person would act in a strict and orderly manner, but unexpectedly he was so casual.

Seeing Li Weijian walking away, Zhuan'er on the side said angrily: "Sister, he wanted to exchange something with something just now, why don't you exchange it? I want to eat sausages."

Xing Xiuyan only reached out and touched Zhuan'er's head without saying anything. How could she tell Zhuan'er this loudmouth about what she was thinking about?

............................................................

It's April in the blink of an eye, and things are changing in Suzhou City these days. Earlier, many business owners were worried about whether chaos would break out in Suzhou and whether the government would be able to repay their debts.

After Gu Wanzhong spent all his money and used black, white, and neither black nor white methods, he finally pocketed all the land on Xishan Island. In private and official circles, a piece of news spread like wildfire. ——

——Li Weijian, second-class male doctor in the Kuaiji Division of the Neifu, Li Caishen! This kid was ordered by the emperor to start a cement business in Suzhou.

What is cement business? After listening for a long time, all the bosses could only hear half of it. The Suzhou government announced that as long as this cement is made, a thousand-mile stone pond can be built in just a few months, and floods in Jiangnan can be eliminated forever in a few years. .

Not to mention that I had snooped on some information, but I hadn't heard anything about it. Just because of Li Weijian's name, many aristocratic families and wealthy people also flocked to him.

Not to mention Suzhou City, the big houses in the surrounding Huaiyang, Zhenjiang and even Huzhou have come looking for it. And those who came were not the disciples, many of them were the family heads themselves.

Many people heard that Li Weijian was staying at Panxiang Temple outside the city, and they thought of visiting him. However, when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, they were stopped by a guard. They turned around and sent an invitation. They only said that on the sixth day of April, a banquet was being prepared at Deyue Tower. What was going on with the cement business would be known once they arrived.

The visitor got the invitation and had to return to Suzhou.

But it was said that it was already the second day of April, and it was approaching noon. Wu Haining had just escorted Qingwen and Xiangling to Panxiang Temple.

After not seeing each other for several months, Xiangling was still holding back. Qingwen saw Li Weijian and saw that he had lost a little weight, and her eyes immediately turned red.

Li Weijian pulled Qingwen to comfort her, wiped her tears, and then asked about the situation in the Li family's old house.

Qingwen sniffed and said, "My lord and grandma are both well. My lord has recently taken in a concubine. I heard that she was a geisha on the Qinhuai River. For this reason, my lord has not been allowed to come to the house for a long time. The second lord has a new son." , Fourth Master has gone back, and he may not be able to enjoy the full moon wine."

Li Weijian smiled and asked, "Where are you two?"

"That's it, what else can we do?"

Xiang Ling said at the side: "The two ladies often come to play naughty games with us, but two of the three sentences mentioned the fourth master. He said that the fourth master had agreed to take them to the Confucius Temple to play naughty, but this time no matter what Need to make up for it.”

Li Min and Li Qi, these two sisters lived with their widowed aunt. The aunt was the stronger one and never wanted to be helped by her uncle. During those two years, I often took the opportunity to feed my two cousins. After being away from home for a while, I don’t know how my two cousins ​​are doing.

Just when he was about to say something, Wu Haining suddenly left and returned, stopping in the courtyard and shouting: "Sir, please tell me again. The inner government sent a small official to say that the machine you want will be available tomorrow." It can be delivered.”

"Oh? Okay, entertain me."

Li Weijian breathed a sigh of relief. The machine he wanted was finally delivered. In this way, with the land deed in hand, and the land deed of the mountain forest belonging to Suzhou Prefecture, he can land on the island tomorrow, and then recruit people to try to produce cement.

After retracting his thoughts, Li Weijian stroked Qingwen's hand and said, "I have been busy these past two days. After some time, I will take you to Kunshan to see your parents."

Qingwen's expression suddenly changed and she said, "What's so good about you? You made it clear when you sold me that from now on you will just treat me as your daughter."

Li Weijian knew that Qingwen was telling the truth, so he smiled and said nothing else, and turned to look at Xiangling: "Do you still remember where you live?"

Xiangling shook her head in confusion and said, "I only remember that there is a torreya tree at home."

"It doesn't matter. I'll ask Suzhou Mansion to help scan for it later. I can always find it."

Xiang Ling bowed down in gratitude and said, "Thank you so much, master. Thank you so much, master."

Li Weijian stopped his excited Xiang Ling and thought to himself that if others were to look for him, they would have to go through a lot of trouble, but for him, it would be much easier.

Because he remembered that Xiangling's birth name was Zhen Yinglian, and the Zhen family was a prominent family in Gusu, and the Zhen family was not a popular surname, he expected that the search would yield results within a few days.

Because Qingwen and Xiangling were new arrivals that day, the abbot Huiming, the old nun, didn't know that the two were maids. When he saw the silk and silk on the two of them, he thought they were aunts, so he took it upon himself to prepare a vegetarian banquet to entertain them.

Qingwen and Xiangling were enjoying the novelty, but Li Weijian felt disgusted and suddenly remembered the pot of shrimps they had eaten by the lake.

Suddenly, the machine was delivered. A pot camel machine and a belt-driven forging hammer. There is no other way to break open the mountains and crack the rocks. Apart from using explosives, we can only use manpower. But for crushing the rocks, it is better to use machines. Anyway, there is plenty of coal on the island.

Li Weijian led the people to the island that day, and the few craftsmen who accompanied him looked around, and sure enough they found the coal mine. After a quick scan, I realized that this coal mine had been mined for a long time.

It's just that the vegetation in Jiangnan is luxuriant all year round, and there is no shortage of firewood locally, so there is no large-scale mining. Li Weijian immediately gave up his money, mobilized a guard of forbidden troops, opened mountains and cracked rocks, dug coal and mines, and ordered the accompanying craftsmen to start kilns.

If so, I will burn a kiln of cement on the sixth day of April. After trying it for a while, it may be that the crushed iron filings were not mixed in, or the calcining time was not enough. Li Weijian felt that the cement was not strong enough to be made in the capital, and it was enough to show to the wealthy people in Jiangnan.

............................................................

That afternoon, carriages and horses gathered in front of the Deyue Building in Suzhou. Countless dignitaries got out of their cars and faced the dozen or so Imperial Guards guarding the building. They obediently handed over invitations before being invited inside.

What if there is no invitation? That's embarrassing. The Imperial Guard only recognizes invitations but not people.

At this time, a forty-year-old member was still trying to decide. Seeing that the housekeeper couldn't explain his life or death, he simply stepped forward to argue with the imperial guard in person. It happened that a person came out of the building, and it was Gu Wanzhong who had the upper hand.

The big fat man moved his body. He saw his old friend upstairs. He didn't want to come out to take a look, but he bumped into his enemy.

Gu Wanzhong blinked and stepped forward and said: "Brother Minxiu, Mr. Li has spoken a long time ago. He only recognizes the invitation but not the person. This forbidden army is just following orders. What's the use of making things difficult for him? Why don't you just take out the invitation quickly?" ”

Zhu Minxiu secretly resented that if he had an invitation, why would he bother to talk like this? He went to Huzhou to visit friends a few days ago and left the house to his second brother to take care of. It was only because his second brother was a careless person that when he heard that Li Caishen was coming, he was indifferent and stayed in bed all day long.

Zhu Minxiu heard the letter even in Huzhou, and hurried home to ask questions, but his second brother didn't know anything.

Zhu Minxiu was already holding back his anger, but seeing Gu Wanzhong gloating about his misfortune, he suddenly became furious. He snorted coldly: "Gu Wanzhong, how can you get an invitation with your family background? Don't you just deceive Mr. Li and plan to profit from it, right?"

After receiving Li Weijian's promise, Gu Wanzhong smiled and was not angry at all. He handed over his hands and said: "Thank you for your thanks to Mr. Li for letting me help with the work. Hehe, I'm just making some small money this time. It can't compare to the great cause of my brother Minxiu's family." so big."

"Huh? Could it be that you..."

"Ah? Could it be what? Hey, brother Ciyuan is here. Brother Minxiu, please forgive me, but I have to go and greet you."

Zhu Minxiu had no choice but to block himself in front of the restaurant, so he had to turn back to the alley to think.

At about midnight, Zhu Minxiu saw a guard of forbidden troops guarding two carriages, with Suzhou government officials in front clearing the way, heading this way.

The carriage and horses stopped under the restaurant, and the first two people got out of the carriage. The one in his early thirties was the new Suzhou magistrate Zhuang Yougong. Looking at the one who was fifteen or sixteen years old, he guessed that it must be Li Weijian, a doctor in Kuaiji Division.

An old man with white hair and beard came out of a carriage behind him. Zhu Minxiu looked at him intently and suddenly took a breath of cold air. Why did the governor Wang Shuhuan also come to the platform?

In this case, isn't there a lot of potential for this Laoshizi cement business?

If he misses this opportunity, the cement industry's shares will skyrocket in the future. He will suffer a big loss!

Just when Zhu Minxiu was scratching his head and ears anxiously, he suddenly saw a carriage speeding towards him, and an old man got out of the carriage. Zhu Minxiu's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Uncle Lu Shi, my nephew Zhu Minxiu is being polite here."

He hurried over and shocked the old man. When he saw clearly who was coming, the old man stared with cloudy eyes and said, "Minxiu, I just saw the prefect's carriages arriving, why don't you go in?"

What can Zhu Minxiu say? He could only say with a sad face: "Uncle Shi, I don't know, but my nephew forgot to wait for the invitation for a while. This... I wonder if Uncle Shi can do this for convenience. My nephew will act as your old housekeeper and follow you in to see the excitement?" After a pause, he added: "Uncle Shi, I will buy more tea from your old tea garden this year."

The old man was happy: "Okay, it's a deal."

With the invitation, the imperial army no longer blocked it. Zhu Minxiu breathed a sigh of relief and helped Lu Yingchen get inside. Because the two of them arrived too late, the restaurant was already full. As a last resort, the two had no choice but to ask the waiter to move the benches and sit down in the aisle.

The restaurant was bustling with people, and suddenly two officials in scarlet robes were seen coming down from the second floor and stopping at the entrance of the stairs. The two people didn't say anything, they just looked around, and the surrounding area became quiet.

Zhuang Yougong cupped his hands and said loudly: "Gentlemen, if you think about it, you know that the person next to me is Mr. Li Weijian, the second-class male doctor of the Kuaiji Division of the Inner Palace. This time, Mr. Li was ordered to follow the old regulations of the capital's water affairs. I am planning a cement business in Suzhou, so I invite all the wise men to gather here."

boom--

There was a lot of discussion everywhere. Although they had already heard the gossip, the news was now confirmed and everyone was happy. The gentry had only one thought in mind: to get rich!

　By the way, this is a two-in-one chapter, what’s missing?

　　

　

(End of this chapter)