Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 79 Jia Mu’s letter from Yan Si
Although Jia's mother handed over the power of running the family to Mrs. Wang, how could any major or minor incident in the Rongguo Mansion be hidden from her eyes and ears?

Mrs. Jia She and Mrs. Xing in the Dongkua Courtyard were greedy and greedy. If the servants lacked discipline, they would naturally talk about everything.Yuanyang learned about what happened last night at noon and told Jia Mu.

The old lady was so angry that after a little thought, she understood what her eldest son had planned.After all, isn't it just for the money that Brother Jian has on him?I really don’t have any shame at all!
Having just heard that Li Weijian had come to visit, Jia's mother was worried, fearing that Brother Jian would be so angry that he would make the matter public.Which big house is clean?Naturally, such private matters should be kept secret as long as they can, and it is not easy to make them known to the public.

So Jia's mother had been chatting away, hammering here and there, and was afraid that Li Weijian would mention this matter.Unexpectedly, Brother Jian didn't mention a word, but just said that he had bought a house and wanted to move out.

Li Weijian came to seek refuge with Li Shouzhong's letter, so he always had to wait for Qiu Wei to come over before talking about anything else.If he is allowed to leave the house now, how can the Jia family have face with Li Shouzhong in the future?

For a while, Jia's mother scolded her eldest son Jia She bloody.As soon as he said this, he had to comfort Li Weijian.

"Brother Jian, why are you moving out now?"

Li Weijian looked troubled and said with a wry smile: "Old lady, after all, I am always an outsider and it is not easy to stay here..."

Jia's mother said angrily: "Where are you talking? They are all relatives. Since your uncle sent you to our house, he must take care of Brother Jian until autumn is over. I don't care if you buy a house, but you can't move out." "

The mandarin duck was a roundworm in the old lady's belly. Seeing that no one was helping her, she simply left the show and said, "Yes, it's not appropriate for Fourth Master to move out like this."

Jia Mu sighed and said, "I know Brother Jian has been wronged. How about I go back and give Brother Jian an explanation?"

"This -" Li Weijian said: "It's actually nothing. Besides, it will be more convenient for me to move out -"

"Brother Jian, why don't you look at the monk's face and the Buddha's face? For the sake of my face, I don't ask you to stay longer. We should wait until autumn, okay?"

"Hey, the old lady said this, what else can this junior say?"

Jia Mu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Don't worry, I will give you an explanation."

She secretly thought that she couldn't say much about the Xue family's previous affairs because of the kindness of her relatives.But this time the fault lies with Jia She. Jia's mother didn't like to see the couple at all, so she took the opportunity to beat them up.

After talking for a while, Li Weijian retired and left.In the hall, Tanchun and Xichun were still young. Although they had heard some rumors, they did not know the inside story.But Daiyu is a smart person, and she got a letter from her father Lin Ruhai this morning. Some of it was for Li Weijian's advice. After thinking about it, Daiyu said: "Old ancestor, my father has a letter, and some of it is for Li Weijian." You have to ask Brother Jian about the matter."

"Huh? Ruhai still wants to ask Brother Jian? What's going on?"

Daiyu said: "It's something about the Salt Department."

Jia Mu said quickly: "Then you go quickly, it won't be delayed."

Daiyu agreed and then left with Zicuckoo and Xueyan serving her.Jia Mu secretly thought that even her son-in-law trusted Li Weijian so much, which meant that this son would definitely be great in the future.Others would have to work hard to win over such a person, but it was only because of his own evildoer that he did such a shameless thing!

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She first sent Tanchun and Xichun away to play, then nodded and said, "Go to the east cross courtyard and see what the eldest lady is doing. Tell her that I have something to do with her."

Yuanyang knew in his heart that the old lady wanted to use Mrs. Xing as a raft, so he immediately took the order and left.After enjoying a cup of tea and wearing jingle rings, Mrs. Xing came quickly.

After seeing the ceremony, Mrs. Xing asked: "Old lady, are you looking for me?"

Mother Jia's face was as dark as water, she nodded and said, "I took a nap at noon and had a strange dream."

"Strange dream?"

"I dreamed that my old prince was not having a good life. He told me in the dream that he had committed too many crimes while he was still alive, which delayed his cultivation."

"Ah?" Mrs. Xing was shocked.

I heard Jia Mu say: "I asked for a long time, and the old man just said that he must worship the Buddha sincerely. I just thought about going to the ancestral hall and copying the Diamond Sutra ten times..."

"This, old lady, is this inappropriate?" Mrs. Xing said.

Yuanyang also said: "What the eldest lady is saying is that the old lady has such a strong body, let alone ten times, I am afraid that she will not be able to bear it after copying it once."

Jia Mu looked at Mrs.

No matter how stupid Mrs. Xing is, she now realizes that she is clearly looking for an excuse to attack herself.

"Old lady-" She stood up to argue.

But Jia Mu didn't give him a chance at all. She stood up and said, "That's all. Since you don't want to, I'll go and copy it myself."

Mrs. Xing suddenly turned pale.The eldest wife of the Rongguo Mansion was not favored by Jia's mother. If she was guilty of being unfilial again, it would be hard for Jia She to say that she, the eldest wife of the second marriage, would have to divorce her with a piece of paper if she had no choice but to divorce her!

"Old lady, I, I am willing to do it for you."

Jia Mu sat down again, nodded and said, "In that case, you can go and report back to me when you finish copying."

"Yes." Mrs. Xing responded with a low eyebrow, feeling miserable in her heart.

The person below had run an errand, and now it happened to her, but she didn't dare to resist.

After a while, Mrs. Xing packed up her things and was led by Yuanyang to send her mother-in-law to the ancestral hall. Let's not mention this.

Go to the small courtyard in the northeast.

Li Weijian returned to his home, washed his hands and changed his clothes, and Shi Shiran sat down. He was quite looking forward to what Jia Mu would do with the big house after the retreat just now.

The old lady took care of herself as the shopkeeper, but she could sit back and relax, thinking that she had plenty of ways to punish the couple.

Just then, I heard someone calling the door from outside.Hongyu hurried to greet her, and then shouted: "Fourth Master, Miss Lin is here."

Li Weijian hurriedly welcomed the general out, and when he entered the courtyard, he saw Daiyu wearing a long coat with a moon-white collar and orchid embroidery, and a lake-blue printed silk shawl, coming with two maids, Pingting.

After her birthday, Daiyu became one year older. Although her features were still childish, her beauty could no longer be concealed.

Li Weijian went up to greet him and said with a smile: "Why is sister Lin here? Come in and talk."

Daiyu said a long blessing, walked in with a smile, and said: "I got a letter from my father this morning, and one of the letters was for Brother Jian. Brother Jian was talking to the old lady just now, and I couldn't interrupt him. I just caught up with you now.”

The two of them entered the inner room. Li Weijian asked Daiyu to sit down. While the tea was not served, he said, "Lin Yansi is really lazy. The two letters have to be collaborated on one thing. It's troublesome for Sister Lin."

Daiyu said angrily: "Brother Jian, do you think I am a delicate young lady who can't do anything?" Li Weijian didn't answer and asked: "Sister Lin, are you feeling well these days?"

Daiyu smiled and said, "Thanks to Fourth Brother Jian, it's much better."

Every spring and autumn, Daiyu would always have a cough. This time, thanks to allicin and food supplements, although she also had a cough, she got better in just three to five days.

Zicuckoo, who was standing by the side, said: "I really want to thank Fourth Master Jian. The recipe was not easy for the girl to eat at first, and it was like taking medicine every day and it was hard to swallow. It's strange to say that she had a good time. In the past ten days, the girl is used to eating, and her appetite has increased a lot compared to the past."

"Talk too much." After scolding Zijuan, Daiyu also smiled and said, "I can speak for myself, so why should you speak?"

While she was talking, she took out a letter from her sleeve and handed it over, saying, "Fourth Brother Jian, take a look at it first."

"No rush." ​​Li Weijian took the letter and put it aside.

Daiyu was grateful for Li Weijian's previous care and spoke with a touch of intimacy.Maybe she was born alone and had no brothers or sisters. When Li Weijian came to visit that day, he also brought a letter from Lin Ruhai, because he vaguely regarded her as his elder brother and trusted him quite a lot.

As a result, Daiyu became less scrupulous about speaking out, and said, "I just heard that Fourth Master Jian was going to buy a house, and I was very envious of it. I just wanted to visit my own house when I had some time. , no one can control him no matter how crazy or how he behaves."

"What's so difficult about this?" Li Weijian smiled and said, "How about I buy another house and give it to Sister Lin?"

Daiyu covered her mouth and smiled: "Fourth brother Jian is really good at joking."

Li Weijian smiled, clicked on the letter and said, "Sister Lin, did you reply to Lin Yansi's last letter?"

Daiyu felt a little sad, shook her head and said, "I don't have anything else to do, so I can't work for others."

"Sister Lin is afraid of trouble others, right?" Seeing Daiyu nod, Li Weijian said: "I have to reply to Lin Yansi anyway, why don't Sister Lin write the letter and give it to me for forwarding. Sister Lin and Lin Yansi is thousands of miles apart, I'm afraid Lin Yansi is also missing Sister Lin."

Daiyu thought of her father and suddenly felt a little sad.He squeezed out a wry smile and said, "Then, I'll bother Fourth Brother Jian."

"Sister Lin is a heretic."

When the tea came, Daiyu took a sip and chatted for a while before turning around.Li Weijian gave Daiyu a gift, and when he came back, he picked up the letter and looked at it.

The letter was written by Lin Ruhai himself. It started with a brief greeting and asked to take care of the orphan girl. Then the conversation changed to asking about the salt law that Li Weijian talked about when he passed by Yangzhou last time.

Dashun inherited the Ming Dynasty and practiced the Gangyan method.Over time, this salt method will always have its drawbacks.Just like today, the Salt Law divides salt merchants into two categories: market merchants and merchants.

The Dashun salt judge supervised the sales, that is, he called merchants to hold classes, and the exclusive merchants monopolized the salt introduction and shore introduction.

Merchants received the salt tax after paying the tax to the court, and there were restrictions on where they could buy and sell it.Among salt merchants, those who collect salt are market merchants, and those who sell salt are transport merchants.Transport merchants are divided into Yin merchants and Transport merchants.Yin merchants are all hereditary and are called Yinwo. They monopolize the right to purchase salt Yin. Most of them are out of circulation and make a living by selling Yin Yin and collecting the price of Yin Yin.

The eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou were the businessmen.

This continued for hundreds of years, and the merchants became rich without having to take any risks.Lin Ruhai, who was patrolling Yanyangzhou, already knew the shortcomings and thought about it for a year before he came up with a solution.

Li Weijian passed by Yangzhou before going to Beijing and had a chat with Lin Ruhai.Lin Ruhai brought up the reform of the salt law. At that time, Li Weijian didn't know what his future would be, and he still owed a foreign debt of 3000 taels, so he deliberately showed off and talked about the salt law.

It didn't matter what he said, he immediately caught Lin Ruhai's attention.What he earned from being in charge of the salt administration for several years was not as good as what a young man said casually. How can this be embarrassing?
Yimian'er took it seriously and sent Cheng Yi off before leaving. As soon as Li Weijian left, Lin Ruhai gathered his staff to think it over carefully.

After three months of this, I found more and more that Li Weijian's voting method was better!That's why the letter was sent, asking Li Weijian to list the salt voting method in detail.

Li Weijian scratched his head.

At this time, he should keep a low profile. It would be bad if he got involved in the salt policy, but he had to reply to Lin Ruhai's letter.After thinking for a while, he wrote a reply.He listed the key points of the vote salt law, but at the end he told the truth and asked Lin Ruhai to report the matter to the court.

After writing the letter, I couldn't send it for a while. I had to wait for Daiyu to write the letter before sending it out together.They waited for two days, and after two days of breakfast, Xueyan came over and brought a letter from Daiyu.

The letter was folded, so Li Weijian couldn't peep at the girl's letter to his father, so he put it away immediately and later found a government courier to send it to Yangzhou.

He came out of his small courtyard a little later than usual, and when he came out, he bumped into Siqi in the passage.

Siqi had dressed up carefully today, wearing a moon-white short coat, a dark red flower-embellished jacket, and a moon-white long skirt.The beaded flowers on her head made her plump face look even more delicate.

"Fourth Master." She looked straight for him.

Li Weijian looked around and when he saw no one there, he said, "You are so brave?"

Si Qi then said: "If others bump into me, they will only think that I am delivering the message for our girl, so don't be afraid."

Li Weijian smiled and said nothing, and Si Qi lowered his head and said, "Fourth Master, I, I am not taking a bath today."

Li Weijian took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and handed them to Si Qi. Si Qi took them with confusion, his face full of confusion.

Li Weijian said: "There are ten alleys to the west of Laojuntang, and the sixth one from the west is the sixth alley." After a pause, he said again: "Look back and see what you are missing, and I will take care of it."

Si Qi was nervous before coming here, but now he is extremely calm.The Fourth Master Jian of Du Dao was easy to get along with, but Si Qi never expected that he would be so easy to get along with.He helped with the plot, and although it didn't work out, Fourth Master Jian didn't hold any grudge at all, and instead treated himself so leniently.

For a moment, mist filled his eyes, and Si Qi felt that his thoughts were not in vain.

"Fourth Master~"

Li Weijian smiled: "I'll take a step ahead, I guess I won't go until noon."

"Ah."

When the chess player was ready to play, Li Weijian nodded slightly and then walked away quickly.He clearly thought in his mind that although this chess player acted daringly, he was rarely sincere to him.Since then, Siqi has been acting as an internal coordinator, and the person who has been tipping off the news has acted in an expedient manner.

When they came out of the hall, they saw Wu Haiping chatting with a few boys in the distance. Li Weijian stepped forward to say hello and said: "I will give you leave today, and you are allowed to take a rest."

"Ah?" Wu Haiping blinked, extremely surprised.

Li Weijian said: "We can't keep this girl waiting. Take advantage of today's rest to help with any work."

When Wu Haiping mentioned Qian Xue, he immediately forgot everything, accepted it with a smile, and left happily.Li Weijian secretly thought to himself that it would be hard to bring a potential uncle with him during this tryst...

(End of this chapter)