Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 351: Mrs. Xing as a Lobbyist
Li Weijian stopped in front of Xie Jiazi with his hands behind his back. Not only Xie Jiazi, but even the servants behind him who were armed with guns and sticks didn't dare to breathe at this moment.

Xie Jiazi was stunned for a moment, then he quickly bowed his hands in greeting, suppressing his anger and said, "I am Xie Yu, my father is Xie Jing, nice to meet Master Li."

Xie Yu... Li Weijian remained calm on the surface, but he was secretly complaining that the name was a bit sloppy.

"Easy to say."

Xie Yu frowned and said, "This restaurant is our family's livelihood. I don't know what I did wrong that Mr. Li insisted on demolishing it?"

Li Weijian glanced at him with a smile and said, "Hu Sanshun, you answer this young master of the Xie family."

As soon as he finished speaking, a minor official in black clothes jumped over from behind, stopped in front of Xie Yu, flipped through the register in his hand, and said, "Excuse me, sir. This register records that He Yifeng rented this shop from the Imperial Household thirty-two years ago. At that time, it was recorded that it had fallen into disrepair, and the rent was set at ninety-six taels per year. Now that the lease period has expired, the Imperial Household has decided to demolish the old shop and build a new one... What does this have to do with you, sir?"

“This, this, this…” Yes, what does it have to do with the Xie family?
Xie Yu couldn't say that he bribed the doctor of the inner court, changed the register, and then took advantage of the inner court for 32 years, right? The street here is prosperous and the shops are wide. If it is based on the market price, it is probably three hundred taels a year, and you have to find a connection to rent it.

Over the past 32 years, the rent has been short by 200 taels every year, which is 6,400 taels of silver. If Xie Yu said so, should the silver be compensated?
Xie Yu thought for a while before saying, "At least we need to give it a few days so that the family can send people to move."

Without Li Weijian saying anything, Hu San curled his lips and said, "Sir, are you kidding? The lease of this shop expires on the 9th of this month, and it's already the 23rd... To put it bluntly, what were you doing earlier? Besides, the master still gave us half a day today."

Xie Yu knew that his apparent reasoning was not going to make sense, so he looked at Li Weijian and said, "Does Lord Li want to make enemies with the Dingcheng Marquisate?"

Li Weijian laughed and said, "This is strange. I acted according to the law, but somehow I offended the Xie family. Well, if the Xie family is really dissatisfied, they can just submit a petition to impeach me."

"you……"

Xie Yu was still trying to argue, but a maid came running over from behind and called out, "Master Yu, the mistress said we can talk about it after the master comes back."

Although Xie Jing's wife was furious before, she knew that it was not easy to offend Li Weijian. Now that she had come to her senses, she was afraid that Xie Yu would say something careless, so she quickly sent her maid to ask him to go back.

Xie Yu was at a loss as to what to do and did not dare to offend Li Weijian. He could only look at Hu Sanshun angrily, then turned around and led his men away in disgrace.

Hu Sanshun stood there smacking his lips, feeling extremely comfortable to step on the powerful. Then he became afraid again, and came over with his head bowed and said, "Uncle, I'm afraid the Xie family hates me to death, so you have to protect me from now on."

As the saying goes, there will always be brave men when there is a big reward. This morning, Li Weijian was on duty and dispatched the Kuaiji Division to send a document to Heyifeng. A group of experienced officials found excuses to avoid the task, but after they were promised benefits, the minor official named Hu Sanshun gritted his teeth and accepted the task.

Li Weijian smiled and said, "I always keep my word. Don't worry. The Xie family is in the wrong, so I won't really make a fuss about it."

The Inner Palace is the Inner Palace of the Saint. If this matter is really revealed, it would be equivalent to exposing the evil deeds of Dingcheng Marquis' Mansion in poaching the Inner Palace in front of the Saint. How could Dingcheng Marquis' Mansion have the courage to do so?

Li Weijian also instructed: "Tomorrow morning, go to Dengshikou to deliver the letter. Don't forget."

Hu Sanshun bowed his head in agreement. Li Weijian turned around to take another look at the shop with the tiles removed, then turned around, got into the carriage, and walked leisurely back to his home.

The next day, Hu Sanshun sent a letter to the foreign goods woman at Dengshikou, and the owner politely sent him away, and then he went to the inner palace to ask Li Weijian to see him. He said that the owner was willing to pay for the repairs and renovations himself, and would rent the place at the market price in the future.

Li Weijian was delighted to see this happen and sent his clerk to re-sign the lease agreement with the landlord on the spot.

The owner of the foreign goods shop was Princess Kangle, and the emperor had to address her as aunt when he saw her. Even Princess Kangle acted in this way, so the remaining owners naturally did not dare to resist. They were afraid that their shops would be demolished, so they hurriedly sent their shopkeepers to the Kuaiji Office to re-sign the lease.

There is no place for secrets in the capital, let alone the fact that this matter was widely spread and soon became known to everyone.

Changle Palace.

The prince had just returned from his study when the chief eunuch came over quietly.

The prince took a sip of tea, glanced at the chief eunuch and asked, "What's the matter?"

The chief eunuch said, "Your Highness, I heard that the Heyi Building of the Dingcheng Marquis's family was demolished by the Kuaiji Division."

"Tear it down?" The prince thought, "Isn't the Kuaiji Division now under the jurisdiction of Li Weijian?"

The chief eunuch agreed and said, "Your Highness, there is Heyi Tower in front. Princess Kangle sent someone to the Kuaiji Department today, saying that she would repair it herself and was willing to rent it out again at the market price."

The prince was surprised and asked, "What does this have to do with me?"

"This..." The chief eunuch said in embarrassment, "Your Highness has rented more than 30 shops in the inner palace under his name. If you don't renew the lease, I'm afraid they will have to be demolished and rebuilt." Seeing that the prince was still puzzled, the chief eunuch said, "These are all donated by the subordinates. I have never asked for them in the name of Your Highness."

Since it was presented by the subordinates, the location of the shop was naturally excellent. The prince frowned and asked, "How much is the difference?"

The chief eunuch lowered his head and said, "The minimum annual salary is five thousand taels of silver."

The prince was first full of regret, then angrily said: "Asshole! That is the emperor's inner palace. If the emperor knew about this, how would you expect him to think of me?"

"It's all my fault. Thinking about the increasing expenses of the Eastern Palace, I became greedy."

The chief eunuch knelt down and admitted his fault. The prince waved his hand and said, "This will not happen again. It's just 5,000 taels of silver per year...Shuntian Prefecture will be inviting bids in the next few days. You go and deliver a letter in person."

The chief eunuch hurriedly agreed. When the prince went to the study, the chief eunuch secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The prince was naturally very wise, and the mistakes were all made by his subordinates. Then he thought of the official Ye Zhongzhi, and the chief eunuch cursed in his heart, and made up his mind to find an opportunity to make that guy pay!
............................................................

Jingren Palace.

The female official He Ye entered the room, where Concubine Wu was chatting with Concubine Zhang.

"I heard that the virtuous concubine was chosen by the saint yesterday. Who knows, there may be good news tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Concubine Wu smiled and said, "The Saint has been busy with government affairs and has rarely favored the harem in recent years. I am looking forward to hearing good news from Sister Yuanchun soon."

Zhangpin smiled and said, "Sister, you are kind and generous. No wonder the sage wants you to rule the six palaces." After saying that, she looked up and saw the female official He Ye who was about to say something but hesitated. Zhangpin stood up and said, "I have been talking to you all morning. I should go back. I will come to see you in the afternoon when I have time."

Concubine Wu agreed and sent her maid to see her off. After Zhang Concubine left, the maid He Ye said, "Your Majesty, Zhang Concubine is shallow but doesn't realize it. You should have less contact with her in the future."

Concubine Wu laughed and said, "It's just for fun. How can I listen to her instigation? Tell me, what's the matter?"

He Ye hurriedly told the news outside.

After hearing this, Concubine Wu pondered for a while, secretly leaping with joy, but never showing it on her face. She only thought: "Li Fusheng is really smart. Since he is in a dilemma, he might as well overturn the table."

He Ye lowered her head and said, "It's a pity that the greed of the East Palace was not exposed this time."

Concubine Wu didn't care and said, "It's enough to cut off the money supply of the Eastern Palace. Li Fusheng is not stupid, why would he be willing to fight for us?" She paused and said, "I heard that Shuntian Prefecture will be inviting bids in a few days? Have the rest of the matters been settled?"

He Ye said hurriedly, "It has been settled a long time ago. The Marquis has set up a company a while ago and sent a letter to the governor of Shuntian Prefecture a few days ago. I think the governor of Shuntian Prefecture will give the queen some face."

Concubine Wu picked up the teacup and said, "It doesn't matter whether you make money or not, what matters is not to let others benefit from it."

He Ye lowered her head and said, "Yes, I will discuss the pros and cons with the Marquis later."

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

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Due to the recent demolition of the ruins of Fengxian Hall, the western warm room of Qianqing Palace was really noisy, so Emperor Zhenghe temporarily moved to the Yangxin Hall to review memorials.

Having just replied to a petition, Dai Quan quietly came over and presented a secret memorial.

"Saint, Wu Qian, hurry six hundred miles."

"Oh?" Emperor Zhenghe put down the memorial and quickly took the secret report. After checking that the lacquer seal was intact, he opened it with a silver knife.

The memorial was spread out, and Emperor Zhenghe frowned after taking a quick look at it. Wu Qian had been in Shandong for more than half a month, and had already found the main altar of the Bagua Sect in Shan County. He then led the Shandong Fu Biao to surround the main altar and captured more than 400 members. Only a few of the headmaster, incense master, and altar master escaped. After torture, they did not find out anything about the deposed prince's offspring.

Emperor Zhenghe was secretly annoyed. He had worked diligently since he ascended the throne and had finally cleaned up the mess left by the Supreme Emperor. However, because of the Chengtian Gate incident, some ambitious people were planning to support the descendants of the deposed crown prince in order to gain the credit of following the emperor.

Traitors! If you want achievements, titles, and salaries, you can either take the imperial examinations or join the army, but these villains want to take shortcuts! If these villains succeed, the world will be in chaos.

Putting down the secret memorial, Dai Quan quickly rolled it up and threw it into the brazier to burn it clean.

Emperor Zhenghe thought for a while, and seeing that Dai Quan had not left his side, he asked, "What's the matter?"

Dai Quan smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I just heard something interesting." He then told the story of yesterday's forced demolition and today's voluntary price increases by various owners to renew the lease.

Emperor Zhenghe could not laugh after hearing this, and only scolded: "Asshole! These nobles have now become traitors and parasites, and only know how to take advantage of the court." After a pause, he scolded again: "Since Li Fusheng knew about the corruption, why didn't he write a letter to investigate it strictly? This behavior is too evasive." Dai Quan secretly complained that the one who took advantage of the loophole was the East Palace, but it was difficult to say it out loud, even if Concubine Wu gave a lot of money, he couldn't say it. Otherwise, it would alienate the father and son of the royal family. If he angered the saint, his life might be in danger.

He was also quite friendly with Li Weijian, so he hurriedly said, "Mr. Li is new here, and this kind of thing is always a case of collusion between the inside and outside, I'm afraid that the Kuaiji Office is not clean. Mr. Li has always been careful and cautious, and it is not easy to move the Kuaiji Office rashly. I think he is planning to take it slow? In my humble opinion, I can't be sure."

Emperor Zhenghe snorted, "What do you mean by 'take it slow'? He just doesn't want to ruin his reputation." After a pause, Emperor Zhenghe ordered, "Go find a copy of 'The Complete Works of Hai Zhongjie' and give it to Li Weijian so that he can learn the ways of a loyal minister."

Dai Quan quickly agreed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Let Li Weijian learn from Hai Rui? The two are completely different. Apart from other things, just talking about wealth, Hai Rui was so poor that he had nothing but four walls, while our Lord Li was rich enough to rival a country.

Hai Rui was extremely poor, so naturally he decided to take risks and became a wealthy man; Li Weijian was extremely rich, so why would he do such a thankless task?

Dai Quan looked for the complete works of Hai Zhongjie and sent the eunuch to deliver them to the inner government office. In just one hour, near noon, Li Weijian received the reward. After thanking the emperor for his grace, he felt inexplicably overwhelmed.

After a quick glance at the book, he realized that Hai Zhongjie was Hai Rui, and immediately he was extremely disdainful. Hai Rui was honest and self-disciplined, but Li Weijian couldn't do that. Moreover, Hai Rui was a famous troll, and later local gentry would rather use connections and spend money to help Hai Rui get promoted than get involved with him; Li Weijian wanted to promote the industrial revolution, so he had to get along with the progressive gentry, how could this be the same?

Besides, there are more than one way to solve government affairs, so why bother offending others by doing something thankless?

At noon, Li Weijian took care of his affairs and returned home by carriage. As soon as he entered the east courtyard, he saw that the person who came out to greet him today was Xueyan, Daiyu's maid.

Seeing her sullen face and pouting lips, Li Weijian asked, "Who made you angry?"

Xueyan said, "The eldest lady from next door came over this afternoon and gossiped a lot. She then said that the master would not live in seclusion as an official. She also said a lot of inexplicable things to the lady. The lady was very angry, but she didn't get angry because she was her elder."

Li Weijian frowned and asked, "The first wife? What did she say?"

After he asked carefully, he learned that the wife of the Duke of Shanguo came to pay respects to Lady Jia that day, and then she talked a lot with Lady Xing. The Duke of Shanguo secretly rented dozens of shops and houses from the Kuaiji Department. As the saying goes, it is hard to give up good money, and thinking that they had no past with Li Weijian, they thought of asking Lady Xing to be the middleman.

No one knew what benefits she had promised, but in the afternoon Mrs. Xing went to find Daiyu and said, first, Li Weijian would not be content with being humble, and second, to cut off a person's wealth was like killing his parents.

He acted like a senior, but this really made Daiyu angry, which was why she did not come out to greet Li Weijian.

Li Weijian immediately narrowed his eyes and thought to himself, Madam Xing deserves to be punished! Last time, because Madam Wang rushed forward, Li Weijian focused on punishing Madam Wang, but put Madam Xing, the instigator, aside. After marrying Daiyu, he was too lazy to care about Madam Xing, but he didn't expect that Madam Xing would jump out again this time.

While he was thinking, he went inside and saw Daiyu sitting on the couch with a frown on her face, reading a book.

Li Weijian came closer and asked with a smile, "What are you looking at?"

Daiyu put down the book and looked at it with Li Weijian, then she said, "It's just a miscellaneous book from the early Ming Dynasty."

Li Weijian observed Daiyu's expression and said, "Are you still angry? The eldest lady is just talking nonsense. Don't bother with her anymore."

Daiyu shook her head and said, "I just pretended I didn't hear what she said. I'm just a little worried about Fourth Brother... I'm afraid it will be difficult for Fourth Brother to deal with him if he offends someone this time."

"Offend someone? If someone is really resentful, I will uncover it later and let these ignorant people know what it means to offend someone."

Seeing that Li Weijian didn't look worried, Daiyu felt relieved. She took the initiative to lead Li Weijian to sit down and said, "I didn't think much of it, but after she said that, I suddenly thought of my father."

Yes, Daiyu's father Lin Ruhai was murdered by a conspiracy between Yangzhou salt merchants and bureaucrats... Not only that, I'm afraid that his half-brother and his mother Jia Min were also murdered. With this previous example, it's no wonder that Daiyu is worried.

Li Weijian took Daiyu into his arms and said, "Don't worry, sister." He immediately told her the whole story, and then said, "The emperor appointed the governor as the prime minister and promoted several assistant ministers. This move is obviously because he can't stand the rampant corruption in the inner court and wants to reform. At this time, I overturned the table to save them, otherwise the families behind them would have to pay a fine at least."

Daiyu immediately asked, "Will the saint blame my fourth brother?"

Li Weijian smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. The original intention of the sage is innovation, and everything else can be put aside for the time being. In this case, I am diligent in fulfilling the king's orders and am determined to make progress. The sage will at most think that I am not following the ordinary path, but he can't find anything else to say."

If this is what Li Weijian just figured out, isn't it just a reform? It's simple. Li Weijian will report to the emperor and ask the court to send an imperial censor to supervise the inner court. In this way, the corrupt officials will be more cautious and the trend of greed will be reduced.

Daiyu finally felt relieved after hearing what he said. She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. Tell someone to serve the meal."

Li Weijian said, "No hurry, I'll go to Rongguo Mansion first." Seeing Daiyu was puzzled, Li Weijian said, "Sister is already weak. If the eldest lady keeps scaring people like this, even a good person will be frightened and sick. If we don't talk it out, it will happen again in the future."

Daiyu hesitated and said, "Why don't I go with my fourth brother?"

Li Weijian shook his head and said, "I can still save face myself, but if my sister goes there, I'm afraid she won't be able to save face after the first wife says something soft to her."

Daiyu thought about it and said, "Fourth brother, please talk it over properly. Don't make it so that we lose all our relationship as relatives."

"I have my own sense of proportion."

After giving instructions, Li Weijian changed his clothes, stood up and went to Rongguo Mansion.

They entered Huifang Garden from the corner gate at the end of the arrow path, and soon arrived in front of Ningxi Pavilion. Seeing that Madam Xu was leading a few strong women to inspect, Li Weijian simply stopped and said, "We can continue to inspect the garden as usual. After all, the evil fetus has already gone to Jiangnan."

Madam Xu bowed and said, "Yes, I will go and tell the Madam later."

Li Weijian felt embarrassed and waved his hands randomly, saying, "Forget it, I'll just talk to my sister myself."

His intention was known to everyone, and he was afraid that Daiyu could not hide it. Rather than giving orders in private and then being exposed by Daiyu later, it would be better to be thick-skinned and pester Daiyu.

After crossing the wooden bridge and saying hello to Mrs. Fei at the east corner gate, Li Weijian stepped into the Grand View Garden.

Next to the stone wall is the Jade Emperor Temple. Li Weijian slowed down his pace and looked inside. It has been a long time since I came to visit my second sister... It's all Baoyu's fault. He is always more trouble than help.

Walking along the corridor, passing Qinfang Pavilion, I ran into Tanchun in front of the main gate of Grand View Garden.

Tanchun smiled and bowed, saying, "Why is Fourth Brother Jian here? It's been a while since he came. The old lady was just talking about him this morning."

Li Weijian smiled and said, "I just came to pay my respects to the old lady. Is the old lady sleeping well these days?"

Tanchun simply accompanied him, smiling and saying, "Everything is good, except that it's a bit hot and I can't eat. Fortunately, Sister Xing gave me some recipes, and I tried making a few dishes today, and they are all quite refreshing."

Li Weijian nodded and said, "Third sister, why do I remember that my family and the Shanguo Mansion are not on good terms? Why did the eldest wife come to lobby for the Shanguo Mansion this afternoon?"

Tanchun's face froze and she turned around to look. Several maids stopped immediately and waited for the two men to leave for a while before following them.

Tanchun said with a bitter face, "The lady of the Duke of Shan's Mansion said that Master Shi's younger brother had just come of age and had been engaged in his early years, but the girl died of a cold last year. The eldest lady thought that the lady of the Duke's Mansion wanted to arrange a marriage, so she rushed to be the first to speak out." After a pause, she continued, "After Sister Feng found out, she went to the eldest lady to explain. But after all, she was an elder, so Sister Feng couldn't say much. Sister Lin, don't worry too much, right?"

Li Weijian sneered, "Taishan died because of this, so how can my sister not be suspicious?"

Tanchun was immediately annoyed and said, "I just found out about this and was just about to go over and talk to Sister Lin about it, but I didn't expect Fourth Brother Jian to come."

Li Weijian said, "Don't worry about it, Third Sister. Second Sister-in-law has no right to intervene in this matter. I have to talk to the old lady about it."

Tanchun looked around and whispered, "That's good. Now the Madam is confined in her room, and the First Madam is out of control. If she continues to indulge herself, I'm afraid she will become even more unbearable."

Without saying anything more, Tanchun led Li Weijian through the west corner gate and past the large painted screen wall. Hearing laughter in the small courtyard, Li Weijian glanced at it in surprise.

Tanchun frowned and said, "The third sister came to talk to sister-in-law. Bah, she still has the nerve to come!"

Li Weijian thought to himself, now even Tanchun knows that Jia Lian secretly married You Erjie...Isn't it possible that he just kept it a secret from Fengjie?

He paused for a moment and said, "Second sister-in-law is already pregnant, it's not good to disturb the fetus."

Tanchun nodded and said, "Fourth Brother Jian is right. That is why Ping'er and I told everyone to keep it a secret from Sister Feng."

Counting the time, Feng Jieer was apparently eight months pregnant, but in fact she was only seven months.

While he was thinking, he walked through the hall to the backyard of Rongqing Hall, then turned around from the side and entered. He saw an ice basin in the hall and a little maid was fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan.

Lady Jia sat high on the soft couch, and Madam Xing happened to be sitting below her, talking to her.

Yuanyang reported it, and Mrs. Xing turned around and saw Li Weijian walking towards her with a sullen face, and her heart suddenly sank.

At this time, Jia's mother called out, "Brother Jian is here? I just said you wouldn't come for a long time, but I didn't expect you to come now."

Li Weijian bowed and said, "Old lady, I am here to file a complaint."

(End of this chapter)