Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 93 It’s a pity that a bunch of money was lost
Li Weijian stopped in front of the door and looked at Tan Chun standing in front of the corner door and bowing to him: "Brother Jian, see you tomorrow morning!"

After taking a deep look, Tanchun and several maids entered the corner door.Li Weijian turned around and Hongyu said, "It's a pity that the third girl has a mother like Aunt Zhao on the table. Comparing the two, she is almost the same as the second girl."

Li Weijian glanced at Hongyu. Although she looked like she was thinking about Li Weijian, how could Li Weijian not understand what she was thinking?The second girl has a soft temper and is easily bullied.After Hongyu's vigil that day, she began to think a little, thinking about the identity of her aunt in the future.

It would be nice for this mistress to be like the second girl. If she were to be the third girl, I'm afraid it would be difficult.

Li Weijian patted it gently or hard: "Ghost thoughts."

Hongyu squeaked and argued, "Am I not thinking about the fourth master?"

Li Weijian smiled and didn't answer, and just walked towards his small courtyard.There were several maids around, Qing Wen was straight, Xiu Ying was naive, Xiang Ling was dull, but Hong Yu was more thoughtful.But there was already intrigue among the concubines, so Li Weijian didn't take it seriously.

After entering the main room, Qingwen made tea and said: "Fourth Master, in the afternoon, Second Master Lian sent someone to ask about it. He heard that Fourth Master went to Aunt Zhao's banquet, so he left."

Jia Lian?Why are you looking for yourself again?
Li Weijian rested for a while, and someone called the door from outside. It was Jia Lian, who was proud of the spring breeze.

Li Weijian was puzzled and came out to welcome Jia Lian into the house. After the two of them sat down and had tea, he asked, "Why is Brother Lian looking for me now?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "I'm really grateful for Brother Jian's advice earlier."

Li Weijian smiled and said, "They are all relatives. Second Brother Lian is a heretic to say this."

Jia Lian said: "One code is the same. These relatives are divided into distant and distant relatives. I originally planned to entertain brother Jian today, but unfortunately, brother Jian has an appointment."

Li Weijian shook his head and said, "Such a trivial matter is really not worth mentioning."

"Brother Jian doesn't care, but I do." Jia Lian smiled and took out two books from his arms. The paper in one was yellowed. It must have been old, but the other was brand new.He put the book on the table and slowly pushed it in front of Li Weijian, and said with a smile: "I thought that Brother Jian didn't like banquets either, so I just took it upon myself to find two books. The latter one was just circulated from Xiyi The one who came here can be considered the only one."

"Oh?" Li Weijian was puzzled and picked up two books and looked at them for a long time.

Both books have been translated, one is called "Light" and the other is called "The Way of Magic".The first book is easy to understand. After a brief glance, you can tell that it is about optics. In the second book, Li Weijian spent a long time chewing words to understand what arithmetic is. This is clearly Newton's "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"!

Li Weijian couldn't laugh or cry in his heart. These two books may have collection value, but they are of no use at all.This time Jia Lian liked him, but he flattered him on the horse's hooves.

No matter what, it was always a good intention. Li Weijian had a look of surprise on his face: "Hey, Brother Lian is interested."

Jia Lian looked slightly proud. The total cost of these two books was less than 20 taels of silver. It was typical to spend a small amount of money to do a big thing.

"Brother Jian, just like it."

The two chatted for a long time, and Li Weijian suddenly said: "I heard that Brother Lian is always hanging around that exchange recently?"

"That's right," Jia Lian wanted to get another pointer from Li Weijian this time. He was worried that he didn't know how to bring up the topic, so Li Weijian said it.Because he hit the snake and followed it with the stick, he quickly said: "Brother Jian also knows that I really don't know much about that stock. I need Brother Jian to give more advice in the future."

Li Weijian pondered and said, "Didn't Second Brother Lian make some money last time?"

When Jia Lian heard this, his face suddenly turned bitter and he said: "I've made money, but the money just passed through Brother Wei's hands. Brother Jian also knows that Brother Jian's daily delivery fee is quite high, so he must be prepared. Only with some private money can we deal with it.”

What he said was not a lie. He had made money and returned home, which naturally made Wang Xifeng happy.The couple prepared a banquet that night, and Wang Xifeng tried some tricks. Jia Lian, who was drunk, handed over all his money.He turned around and wanted to ask for it again, but was dismissed by Wang Xifeng.That's why he worked under the eldest master Jia She.

During these days, Jia Lian was really jealous of Jia Sheri's offer of gold. After much thought, he finally came to Li Weijian for advice.

Li Weijian pondered for a while and said with a solemn expression: "To be honest, Aunt Zhao was just for that stock. I will say this again... Brother Lian, this stock trading is comparable to gambling. If you make a profit, you will lose. Lian Er Brother, it’s better to stop early before losing any money.”

"This...isn't it as good as last time?"

Li Weijian just shook his head and said, "Good news like this is hard to come by. Where can I find it?"

Jia Lian's heart sank, and he sat for a while. Seeing that Li Weijian was bitten to death and had no idea, he left.

After sending Jia Lian out, Li Weijian secretly thought that no matter Jia She, Jia Lian or the loyal and shun king, they had only seen thieves eat meat, but never saw thieves being beaten.I'm afraid that these people must be unwilling to pour cold water on him. If they break the book in the future, they won't be able to find him, Li Weijian.

Li Weijian went into the study room to read books. Several maids stayed in the room for a while. After turning on the lamp, Hongyu smiled teasingly at Xiuying and then left first with Qingwen and Xiangling, leaving only Xiuying. He stayed in the main room uneasily.

The night was dark, the full moon was hanging high, the breeze was blowing, and there was only silence in the huge Rongguo Mansion.

Sitting upright on the chair, wringing the sweat towel with her hands, Xiu Ying's face turned red with shame and her head dropped, and then she became hesitant again.She had looked at the album, and she was just surprised at that time. Now that she thought about it carefully, it gradually became blurry!

Xiu Ying was anxious and thought about borrowing the album to take a look, but she was afraid of making Hong Yu and others laugh.Because I was wandering around for a while, the sound of clappers came from the back street, but it was already time for the watch.

There was rustling in the study room, Xiu Ying turned her head to observe, and saw Li Weijian closing the book, stretching his arms and standing up.She hurriedly went up to him and said, "Master, are you going to sleep?"

Li Weijian was about to come out with his hands behind his back, stopped in front of him and said with a smile: "Yes."

"Ah?" Xiu Ying said hurriedly: "Don't you usually go to bed halfway through the first watch?"

Li Weijian felt funny in his heart. He saw that Xiu Ying couldn't wait any longer, so he packed up the books early. Why did he hear what Xiu Ying meant and didn't want to take a rest early?
So he casually said, "Then I'll go read a book for a while?"

"Uh... no, no need." The silly girl Xiu Ying lowered her head and said in a low voice, "I'll go get water for the young master."

She turned around and walked away quickly, but she bumped into the door with an 'ouch' sound. Before Li Weijian could say anything, Xiu Ying opened the door and ran out quickly.

Li Weijian was left staring, smiling secretly, and muttering: "What are you thinking about?"

However, it was said that Xiu Ying was walking as fast as flying. In a moment, she arrived in the east chamber and ordered the two maids to prepare hot water. Then she turned around and got into the west chamber, causing the two maids to look at each other.

Entering the west wing, three maids were talking. When they caught a glimpse of Xiu Ying, Hong Yu said, "Xiu Ying? Why did you come back if you didn't stay in the main room? Could it be that you're having menstruation again?"

"Sister Hongyu, you're making fun of me again." She huffed and moved to De Qingwen: "Then... where's the album? I'll... take another look."

Qingwen wondered: "Why are you here to take a look at it now? You were the one who looked at it most carefully earlier."

Xiu Ying lowered her head and said, "I forgot... I forgot." Qingwen chuckled, went to the box and took out the album.Xiu Ying took it, stuffed it into her armhole and left.

Hongyu really couldn't look at it, so she quickly grabbed him and said, "I'm going to die. Do you still want to look at me in front of the fourth master?"

Xiu Ying suddenly became anxious and said with a sad face: "What should we do?"

Hongyu said: "Leave the album here. Come and take a look at it later when you are pouring water, won't it be over?"

Xiu Ying thought about it, and quickly said gratefully: "Thank you sister Hongyu." Then she hurried to the east chamber to get hot water, and carried it into the main room to wait on Li Weijian to wash up.

She turned around and poured some water for washing her feet. After Li Weijian had washed her feet, Xiu Ying took advantage of the water pouring to rush into the west compartment. She glanced at it randomly, but she was afraid that Li Weijian couldn't wait to fall asleep and hurriedly poured water. After getting some water and washing up, Shi Shiran entered the Nuan Pavilion.

She folded her hands and pulled the sweat towel, raised her head and looked at it, and saw Li Weijian, who was dressed in Chinese clothes, sitting on the bedside, holding a book in his hand and reading lazily.

"Son..."

After she mumbled something, Li Weijian threw away the book, yawned and said, "Well, go to sleep."

"Oh."

Rustling, she took off her outer clothes and blew out the candle. Xiu Ying's heart was pounding and her mind went blank. She couldn't remember what she had seen in that quick glance just now. She climbed onto the bedside in a daze, probably thinking I just remembered the dog I had seen before, so I just lay there...

Li Weijian was dumbfounded and said after a long while: "Xiu Ying? What are you doing?"

"Well -" Xiu Ying came to her senses, and suddenly she was so ashamed that she crawled into bed like a maggot, burying her head and not daring to raise her head.

After laughing secretly for a while, Li Weijian moved his hands twice before turning Xiu Ying over.Then I saw Xiu Ying holding her face with both hands and said in a low voice: "This is so embarrassing~"

The girl's family was in a panic, and there was a lot of affection in it.Li Weijian pushed Xiu Ying's hands away, leaned over and made a seal.One hand rubbed and fiddled with it, then slowly lowered it.

In the West Wing.

Qingwen got under the quilt early, and Hongyu took a few stitches on her shoe soles. Finally, she couldn't bear the sleepiness and took off her clothes rustlingly.Seeing that Xiang Ling was still reading by candlelight, she said, "Xiang Ling, you should go to bed earlier. You have to get up early in the morning."

"Yes." Xiangling responded, then turned to a page and saw that it contained poems by Song Huizong.

This is really unbearable, with arms around each other, lips touching, and tongues touching each other...

Xiang Ling's face was filled with enthusiasm and her heart was beating fast. She quickly closed the book and thought to herself, how could such poems be included in this collection of poems?
In the Nuan Pavilion, brocade quilts were surging.

A pair of plump feet poked out. The insteps were tense at first, and then the ten round toes dug up. There was a stir in the quilt, and with a grunt, the ten round toes slowly relaxed.

Her breathing gradually calmed down, Xiu Ying opened her eyes, and called "Master" softly. Li Weijian rubbed her back twice and said softly: "Well, go to sleep."

Xiu Ying was secretly annoyed that she was useless. She wanted to serve the young master, but instead she was served by the young master.She secretly gritted her teeth, broke free, reached out and held her hand, and then started moving randomly.

Li Weijian couldn't help but take a breath of cold air and said: "Hey~ Where are you pulling out the darts?"

Xiu Ying expressed her annoyance and then became gentle.After a long while, recalling the scene in the album, Xiu Ying leaned over and whispered in her ear.

Li Weijian smiled and said, "It's still early. It's not good to hurt your body."

Xiu Ying said in a low voice: "I looked at the album, and it seems that the later part will work."

So what exactly did you draw in the picture album that everyone sent you?

Li Weijian was stunned, and then he was distracted for a while, and then he said, "That's not something you can just think about."

"I, I'm prepared." Xiu Ying lifted the quilt and got out of bed, went to search on the collapse, and came back with a small copper jar in a moment.

"This is--"

"Whale oil," Xiu Ying said, "Such a small amount costs a lot of money."

Seeing Xiu Ying's appearance of offering a treasure, Li Weijian raised his hand and slapped her on the buttocks gently, scolding: "Stop thinking so wildly and go to bed quickly."

"Oh." Xiu Ying responded with a pout, and had to get into bed obediently.

He stayed like a worm for a while, then finally reached out his hand to serve Li Weijian once, and then fell asleep contentedly.

Next day, Xiu Ying had been busy all morning. When Li Weijian went out, she remembered to look for the copper jar.I searched all over Nuan Pavilion but couldn't find any trace of him. I felt depressed all morning, thinking that all the money was wasted.It’s also strange, why is such a big object gone?

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

Neifu.

Lieutenant Commander Liang handed the copper jar back to Li Weijian and said: "Whale oil, this thing was first sold by the Western Yi on boats. Taizong agreed to use it and ordered the navy to organize warships to go out to sea to hunt and boil the oil. At first, the price was high. , but now it is much cheaper, probably one tael of silver per liter.” (Note [-])

After a pause, he added: "This is just ordinary whale oil. If it were scented, the price would be half the price. But for ordinary instruments to be lubricated, just use ordinary ones. How did Li Xiucai think of asking this? ?”

Li Weijian blinked and said, "It's just a moment of curiosity." Dashun had long been lubricated with whale oil, so he was really ignorant this time.

He immediately asked: "Your Majesty, you haven't come to the Yamen yet?"

The doctor Liang said with a smile: "Maybe he will be here soon. The business is open today, and the prince is still looking forward to making another fortune."

To say that King Zhongyong was a real person, he sold his stocks just because the price was right, and he never thought about manipulating the stock price.

　Note 1815: In 20, a gallon of whale oil cost US$[-]. At that time, the US dollar was approximately equal to one gram. Considering the gold and silver exchange rate in East Asia, it was converted to about one tael of silver per liter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)