Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 233 Who to change with?

Badomin came out of his home depressed, and the first breath he took was filled with the smell of soot. Looking up and scanning towards the south, I saw towering chimneys dragging out billowing black smoke.

Some unknown changes are taking place in this ancient empire, catching everyone off guard. Badomin belonged to the Society of Jesus, but his missionary career suffered an unprecedented setback. Because some fools took the Pope's decree and secretly went to Jinling to preach, which directly touched the bottom line of His Majesty Emperor Dashun.

Therefore, religion is banned! God, it doesn't get any worse than this!

He mumbled something vaguely, adjusted the crown on his head, exhaled a breath of white mist, and walked towards the door of his house. As Dong Guanzheng, his salary was so low that he could not afford to hire a private carriage, so he could only hire a mule cart to travel between the inner and outer cities every day.

Then a new-fangled two-wheeled rickshaw pulled up in front of him. The coachman was originally smiling, but when he saw his Western face, his smile suddenly faded, and he frowned and said, "Qin Tian Jian fifty cents, can you leave?"

"Walk."

Badomin quickly got into the rickshaw. This empire is full of arrogance towards outsiders. The prostitutes, coachmen and even servants here are unwilling to have too much contact with guys with Western faces. Usually, Badomin always pays dozens of pence more than others to ride in a mule cart.

It only costs fifty coins to go from the outer city to the inner city? Unprecedentedly cheap!

Sitting on the rickshaw, Badomin felt that the rickshaw was much less bumpy than the mule cart, so he made up his mind to ride a rickshaw as much as possible in the future, so that he could save at least two taels of silver every month.

As the rickshaw entered the inner city and turned toward the imperial city, Ba Duoming immediately said in blunt Mandarin: "No, no, no, on the other side, I want to go to Guangji Temple."

The driver secretly cursed, "Xiyi has a lot of things to do." He turned around and headed northwest towards the inner city. He arrived at Guangji Temple in a short while. Ba Duoming quickly paid the fare and headed towards Guangji. Go to a teahouse opposite the temple.

Badomin had no way to defend himself, so he could only smile and say: "It's good to have a good meal, so don't be afraid of being late."

Li Weijian waved his hand and said with a smile: "I told you, it has nothing to do with you. I was the one who made the decision to let Lai Shangwen come to my house. Besides, I still don't know if he did anything, but you made your eyes red because you were anxious."

Before entering the door, Ba Duoming took out his pocket watch and checked the time. The hour hand pointed to the right point, but he was not sure. The pocket watch was always a quarter of an hour slower every day, and he happened to forget to set the time this morning.

Hongyu was very eye-catching and immediately took the order and left.

"Ah? Is that object important?"

What is novel is that Earl Lee seems to want to completely package the bullets and gunpowder in the packaging shell of the fixed ammunition, so that he no longer has to worry about wind and rain. The question is, how does such a bullet trigger? The firing pin drawn on the picture seemed to be fired by this thing. Ba Duo secretly thought, could it be a firing pin made of flint?

It doesn't seem right. The flint is too fragile and cannot withstand repeated impacts for a long time.

Li House.

Fortunately, other Jesuit missionaries were busy in the capital, and His Majesty the Emperor gave up the idea of ​​completely expelling the missionaries from the capital. But there's not much time left for Badomin!

The disastrous defeat of the Dzungars made His Majesty the Tsar extremely interested in Dashun's new equipment. He offered Badomin a price within a time limit that he could not refuse. He had to get the exact information before February and then travel across desolate Siberia to get it. That rich reward.

Bado was secretly sulking, like this again! The nobles of Dashun are simply more arrogant than the barbarians of the British Isles. The barbarians of the British Isles can only talk about the weather for a quarter of an hour before getting down to the topic, but the nobles of Dashun always like to talk about the weather for half an hour. Nonsense, then get to the point.

Li Weijian said with a gloomy face: "The picture I drew some time ago has disappeared."

After a while, the stewards, the steward's daughter-in-law, and the servants gathered near the Yimen. Everyone was at a loss, muttering and unclear. Na Lai Shangwen was hiding in the crowd, with his head drooping and his heart pounding. He secretly prayed to the Buddhas in the sky, begging me not to find out the clues.

When it comes to weapons, it’s no small matter!

Fu Qiufang glanced at Qingwen and said solemnly: "Now, aside from other things, there is a thief in this family, so we must find out clearly."

Li Weijian nodded and said, "Send someone to gather everyone in the family."

That's what he said, but the Li family has always been simple. Most of the servants they hire are natives of the capital. They carefully check with the neighbors before hiring them, and those who love to take advantage and gossip about their wives are not used. The previous two years were uneventful, but something like this happened just twenty days after Lai Shangwen arrived. What did Qingwen think?

Hearing the noise at this time, Fu Qiufang, Hong Yu, and Xiu Ying also came. After entering, they scanned the room and asked hurriedly: "Master, what's going on?"

Walking around the screen, Ba Duoming saw the noble gentleman tapping the rhythm with his fingers. In the corner, an old man was playing the pipa, and a girl in her early ten years was singing: "...the deserted embroidered house , How can such a delicate person resist the rustle of the wind and rain? Ah, the mournful jackdaws are chirping Binhong——"

Badomin took his seat and picked up the paper and looked at it carefully. There was a machine drawn with a pencil on it. Ba Duoming had a high level of practical knowledge. Even so, he had to look at it for a quarter of an hour before he could roughly understand what it was.

Jia Rong snorted coldly and was speechless. The servant on the side said: "Mr. Ba, there is another one below."

Therefore, Badomin took a deep breath and said seriously: "Master Jia, I think we should get down to business."

Ba Duoming hurriedly changed his words: "However, I am willing to pay one hundred taels of silver for this drawing."

In the study, Xiangling pulled Qingwen. Qingwen's eyes were red and she said annoyance: "Fourth Master——"

On weekdays, even before going on an expedition, my master always looked calm and calm. He had never been so gloomy. Fu Qiufang's heart sank because she expected that the picture must be extremely important.

What a waste of time! And time is exactly what Badomin lacks.

"I'll take a look."

Just as he entered the door, an arrogant servant who liked to look at people with his nose sneered and said, "Why are you here? My uncle is impatient to wait."

Jia Rong sneered, grabbed the last piece of paper, and then tore it into pieces: "It was originally left by the person named Li. Where can I find the complete picture for you? Since it's not valuable, then forget it. Let's get this first. Two hundred taels is enough."

Badomin had already realized the value of this thing, but he put down the paper slowly, frowned and said: "Please forgive my bluntness, I don't see any use for this thing."

Jia Rong sneered and pushed the paper in front of Ba Duoming.

Li Weijian just nodded slightly and said nothing.

Just listen to Li Weijian say: "If ordinary people get it, I'm afraid it will be useless. But if Xiyi gets it, I'm afraid it will definitely bring disaster to my Dashun in the future." After a pause, he said: "The fire above is my new idea. pistol."

The singing girl received the reward, and Jia Rong took the opportunity to touch her hand. She forced herself to smile and left with her father in a hurry. Jia Rong took a sip of tea and saw that Ba Duoming was still observing it, so she couldn't help but said: "Ba Dong is an official, what does this picture look like?"

Jia Rong raised her hand to stop: "If you have anything to say, you might as well talk about it later."

Ba Duoming came prepared and counted out two hundred taels of silver notes. Jia Rong got the silver notes and walked away with his hands behind his back. After Jia Rong led the servants away, Ba Duoming quickly collected the scraps of paper and carefully pieced them together...

Badomin shook his head hurriedly: "It's too much, I can't afford it...two hundred taels at most."

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

When Ba Duoming arrived in front of the noble young master, he cupped his hands and said, "Young Master Jia——"

The servant hummed twice and led Badomin up to the private room on the second floor.

Jia Rong was annoyed and slapped the table: "Three hundred taels!"

Jia Rong's face changed: "Ba Dongguan is playing tricks on me?"

This is supposed to be a raw wool blending machine. What a genius idea. That Earl Lee actually thought of blending cotton and wool together. If the proportions are different, different fabrics will definitely be obtained.

Badomin took out the paper below and looked at it carefully, and then he became more and more excited as he looked at it. This drawing depicts the locking mechanism of a firearm. The principle is not complicated, but what really surprised Badomin was the shape of the bullet. Customized ammunition is nothing new. It is used in Europe and Dashun is also used.

The Earl is known as the Eastern God Kress, who has the miraculous ability to turn stone into gold. Although the drawings are incomplete, Badomin firmly believes that the earl will not do useless work - there must be something new that he doesn't know about, maybe it's on the bullet?

Thinking of this, Ba Duoming put down the paper and said thoughtfully: "This drawing is very useful, but unfortunately... it is incomplete. If Mr. Jia can get the complete drawing, I am willing to pay one thousand taels of silver for it." After a pause, seeing the noncommittal expression on Jia Rong's face, Ba Duoming shrugged and said, "Now, it's only worth twenty taels."

He was already leading the errands in the study. A few days ago, he worriedly stole a piece of paper and gave it to Jia Rong, but it was of no use. He was ridiculed by Jia Rong and forced to steal again.

The next day he stole a piece of paper. It was unknown what was written on the paper. This time Jia Rong was very satisfied and gave Lai Shangwen fifty taels of silver.

Lai Shangwen succeeded one after another and became more and more courageous. Yesterday he stole the new fire gun picture and found an excuse to meet Jia Rong. Now he still doesn't know whether the thing is useful, but he was gathered by the chief steward Wu Haiping. stand up.

Lai Shangwen's heart beat violently and he became more and more uneasy. When he saw Wu Haiping approaching, he quickly stepped forward and said, "General manager, what is going on with this aunt?"

Wu Haiping was also kept in the dark, so he frowned and said: "It's hard to say, I'll just listen when the time comes. Why, you can't wait any longer?"

Lai Shangwen said with a shy smile: "I've had a bad meal all morning, and I'm a bit upset..."

"Bear it!"

Lai Shangwen was about to say more when he saw the crowd fell silent. Wu Haiping caught a glimpse of Li Weijian and Fu Qiufang arriving together, and hurriedly whispered: "I can't bear to shit in my pants!"

Without saying a word, Wu Haiping hurriedly greeted him.

After saying a few words, Wu Haiping glanced back at Lai Shangwen in surprise. Lai Shangwen's heart skipped a beat and he just said it's over!

Sure enough, Wu Haiping said loudly: "Everyone in the outer courtyard should disperse. All the maids, wives, and boys in the inner courtyard should stay. Who among you has been to the master's study in the past few days and touched the master's pictures? Take advantage of the incident. You haven't made a big fuss yet, come out and admit it yourself."

All the maids and women looked at each other, but no one responded. Lai Shangwen scratched his neck and thought to himself that he had no choice but to carry the matter to the end.

"No one admits it? Okay, then don't worry. I've asked everyone one by one." After Wu Haiping finished speaking, he whispered to his wife Qianxue for a few times, and Qianxue nodded: "Cui'er, it's you who sweeps the house the second time. Manager, have any outsiders entered the master's study in the past few days?"

A maid hurriedly came out and said: "Back to Sister Qianxue, I have only seen Lai Shangwen and Sister Bitong entering the master's study."

Qianxue quickly looked at Fu Qiufang, and Fu Qiufang pointed at Bitong: "When did you go to the master's study?"

Bitong spoke in half-baked Mandarin: "Three days ago, my aunt sent me to deliver ginseng tea to the master."

Li Weijian shook his head and said, "No, that picture was drawn just these two days, and it's not Bitong."

Bitong breathed a sigh of relief and quickly bowed down. Without being told by others, Wu Haiping frowned and looked at Lai Shangwen: "Lai Shangwen, what do you have to say?"

Lai Shangwen shrank his neck and called out to Chongtian Qu: "General Manager, Master, I am wronged. I am the one who takes care of the study, but I have always been diligent and have never taken anything from the master——"

"Qianhun said!" Suddenly a woman pointed at Lai Shangwen's nose and said: "Do you think this guy is blind? I saw you take the master's lake pen with my own eyes that day, and you even said that the lake pen was broken. Bah! But! If it’s damaged at all, where is it broken?”

Another old servant said: "Sir, when I was patrolling at night, I saw Lai Shangwen and others hiding in the side garden to gamble!"

Li Weijian sighed, walked forward and said, "Lai Shangwen, I think I treat you well. If you are sensible, you might as well tell the truth and you can be dealt with lightly."

"This... Master, although the little one has some problems, he has never taken pictures like that."

Li Weijian smiled and nodded. When he turned around and passed by Wu Haiping, he said softly: "It seems that it won't work without fighting."

The Wu Haiping brothers and sisters have been with Li Weijian since the earliest days. They consider themselves to have merit and hard work, and even their girls have joined in. They have always regarded the Li family as their own, how can they allow such thieves to be so cruel?

Because he immediately rolled up his arms and sleeves, he ordered two servants and said, "Bring this thief over to me!"

Then Lai Shangwen shouted: "Why? I'm unfair, and I didn't get any evidence. Why should I say it was the younger ones who took it?"

How could Li Weijian talk to such a smasher? He just stared without saying a word. But they saw Wu Haiping pick up a stick. The two servants had long disliked Lai Shangwen, so they kicked him on the back of his knees. He took off his pants and held down his arms. Hearing the wind blowing from the stick, they whipped him with a buzzing sound. .

Snapped--

"what--"

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, when a stick is struck, there will be a bloody purlin. Wu Haiping was born in a training family, so he knows how to hit it in such a way that it hurts but does not damage the muscles and bones. The stick crackled when swung open, and dozens of sticks were used to tear open the skin and flesh. Lai Shangwen was not a good man, how could he survive such a beating?

When Wu Haiping raised his stick high again, Lai Shangwen hurriedly shouted: "Don't hit, don't hit, it's just a small trick!"

Snapped--

"what……"

Wu Haiping squatted in front of Lai Shangwen with a fierce look: "If you don't tell me, I will send you to see the King of Hell today!"

Lai Shangwen burst into tears and said intermittently: "Yes...it was Uncle Rong of Ningguo Mansion who ordered me to steal. When I didn't listen at first, Uncle Rong ordered someone to beat me up and forced me to do it." I signed an IOU for one thousand taels, please be merciful to me, but I have no choice but to do something."

Li Weijian had a sullen face and was secretly happy in his heart. Such villains would never admit it on their own if they could blame others. That's good, it just goes with his wishes.

So he said: "Lock him into the woodshed and watch him carefully. Don't let him escape under any circumstances."

Wu Haiping patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, sir. Even if the heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals come, they won't be able to take him away. If something goes wrong, I can hold him accountable."

Li Weijian nodded and immediately said: "Prepare the car and go to Ningguo Mansion!"

The Ding brothers hurriedly ordered people to prepare their cars and hurried towards Ningguo Mansion with Li Weijian frowning.

But he said that Accountant Hu heard so much noise in the inner house that he couldn't help but feel restless. After checking the account books randomly, he suddenly saw Wu Haining passing by. He hurriedly grabbed him and asked, "Brother, what's going on here?"

"Tsk, there's a traitor."

"Oh?"

Wu Haining said: "A few days ago, I got the prince's order and tried to make a new fire gun in preparation for the new year. This fire gun is very powerful and is not afraid of wind and rain. As a result, the picture was finished just now, but it disappeared the next day. . Just after checking, it turned out that Lai Shangwen had stolen it."

Accountant Hu wondered: "Lai Shangwen? What's the use of stealing that picture?"

Wu Haining curled his lips and said: "It was said that it was ordered by Mr. Rong of Ningguo Prefecture... Tsk, everyone knows that our master is the God of Wealth who came to this world. Is he trying to get an idea to make a fortune later? Oh, by the way, my aunt just ordered, The matter involves the Ningguo Mansion, and it is not easy to spread this matter. We are related to each other, and I have gone to the Ningguo Mansion now, and I don’t know what the situation is. If things go wrong, we have to break up."

After chattering for a while, Wu Haining went. Accountant Hu blinked and couldn't help but feel moved. It's not easy. King Zhongshun sent him to find evidence against Li Weijian, but he found nothing in the past two years. Now isn't this the evidence?

Accountant Hu couldn't sit still anymore, so he found an excuse to ask Wu Haiping for leave, and hurriedly went to Zhongshun Prince's Mansion.

Prince Zhongshun's Mansion is located in the northwest of the inner city, not far from the Li family. Before Li Weijian arrived at Ningguo Mansion, Accountant Hu arrived at Prince Zhongshun's Mansion.

Before noon, Accountant Hu spoke urgently, and Chang Shi did not dare to neglect, so he hurriedly sent for King Zhongshun.

In just a moment, King Zhongshun yawned and looked at Accountant Hu with a frown: "What's the emergency?"

Accountant Hu said happily: "Your Majesty, I got the handle!"

"Oh? Tell me quickly!"

The stock exchange lost a lot of money. After that, the eight major salt merchants were uprooted, and King Zhongshun lost his way of making money. Knowing that he could not afford to offend King Zhongyong and Yan Xiyao, he hated Li Weijian with all his heart. I wish I could use this as a basis to confiscate the family of Li and exterminate his family.

After Accountant Hu finished talking, King Zhongshun frowned again and thought about it: "This matter...has nothing to do with the surname Li, right?"

Accountant Hu lowered his head and said nothing.

But the Jia family was also the enemy of King Zhongshun, because King Zhongshun was happy and said, "The Jia family is really useless. Did they steal all the things they stole to their relatives' houses?"

As he spoke, he looked at Chang Shi and said, "What is the crime of stealing military and national weapons?"

The chief historian's surname was Ji, and his given name was Yujiao. Hearing this, he said: "Stealing weapons should be punished and hanged according to the law."

King Zhongshun then smiled and said: "Seeing that the New Year is about to come, let's give the Jia family some eye drops and ask someone to hand over bullets tomorrow."

Ji Yujiao bowed and accepted the order: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will contact Sun Yushi immediately."

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

At Ningguo Mansion, the servants in front of the door recognized the Li family's carriage and horses, but they only knew that they were going to Rongguo Mansion again this time. When the carriage stopped in front of Ningguo Mansion, the doorman hurriedly called the housekeeper Lai Sheng, and then Lai Sheng led the people to greet him.

Seeing Li Weijian jumping out of the carriage without waiting for a stool, Lai Sheng quickly smiled and said, "Hey, what kind of wind brought Sir Li here?"

"Brother Zhen, is he here?"

Seeing Li Weijian's unkind expression, Lai Sheng felt a little uneasy and said hurriedly: "The master is at home. Please wait a moment, sir. I'll go and invite you."

According to the rules, Li Weijian was an honored guest and had to open the middle door to welcome him. Li Weijian, however, was impatient of the rules and walked quickly from the Jiao Gate to the Yi Gate.

Lai Sheng became increasingly uneasy and hurriedly sent someone to pass the news inside. At this moment, Jia Zhen was drinking and joking with Second Sister You and Third Sister You. Suddenly, her mother-in-law came to report her, which naturally made Jia Zhen very upset.

"What's the matter? Didn't I tell you that you should go and report to your wife when you're old enough, so don't bother me?"

The woman said tremblingly: "Sir, it's Sir Li Jue who's here. Manager Lai said that looking at the posture, it seems that the person who came here is evil."

"Master Li?" Jia Zhen drank too much and didn't react for a while.

Then Third Sister You said: "That's Grandma Xi Fuzhu's brother, Li Caishen."

"Hey!" Jia Zhen suddenly woke up from the wine. Although he doesn't care about anything now, he also knows that Li Weijian is not what he used to be. He immediately put on his clothes and hurried out to greet him, only to see Li Weijian pacing back and forth near Yimen.

As soon as the cold wind blew, Jia Zhen woke up a little more, hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile: "Why is brother Jian here suddenly?"

Li Weijian forced a smile on his face: "I have no choice but to ask Brother Zhen for your forgiveness."

"My relatives, it's okay. This is not the place to talk. Let's go to the study to talk."

Li Weijian agreed and followed Jia Zhen to the study. Jia Zhen was busy serving tea, but Li Weijian could no longer hold back and said, "Brother Zhen, I ask myself whether I have offended Brother Rong, but I don't know why Brother Rong has plotted against me so many times?"

"Ah? How do you say this?"

Li Weijian said: "Today, a thief was arrested at home. He said that he was ordered by Brother Rong to come to my house to steal the drawings. The stolen one was a new type of firecracker that was just designed. Now everything else is easy to explain, please take care of it. Big brother quickly invited Brother Rong to bring that picture back, otherwise... it will be too late!"

Jia Zhen holds a casual position in the Fifth Military Department, so she knows that weapons, especially new weapons, are important. I didn't want to see my son Jia Rong at all, and now I was even more angry.

Snapped--

The porcelain bottle was smashed to pieces, and Jia Zhen stood up suddenly: "Come on, go and bring that beast here, and bring the family law as well!"

(End of this chapter)