Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 104 Travel
  The days are passing by, and it’s almost Qingming Festival in a blink of an eye.

Lin Ruhai was planning to take his family back to Suzhou. In the past few years as an official, he had been receiving death threats, so he did not have the time or opportunity to return to Gusu to worship his ancestors.

Ever since Jia Qiang assassinated the Mada Salt Merchant during the Chinese New Year and made all the salt merchants be honest, even Lin Ruhai's work has become a lot easier, and she now has time to return to her hometown to pay homage to her ancestors.

Jia Qiang naturally wanted to follow, but Yunfei and Zhujun asked Lin Daiyu to accompany them. Lin Daiyu wanted someone to accompany them, so she accepted the two, while Yinglian simply took them with them.

Except for a few servants of the Lin Mansion who were guarding the house, the rest of them returned home together.

Most of the servants who were able to stay were brought from Suzhou, and they were naturally very excited when they heard that they were returning home.

When Lin Mansion travels, there are eight carriages alone, four with people in them and four with luggage.

Jia Qiang was still riding a white horse. Although Lin Ruhai's situation was much better, who knew if there would be any accidents. If he also got into the carriage, he wouldn't be able to take care of her if something happened.

This time we were accompanied by thirty salt men, who were our official escorts.

A group of carriages walked all the way to the dock belonging to Jia Qiang.

Shopkeepers Teng and Ping had been waiting here for a long time. When they saw the convoy arriving, they rushed forward to greet them.

"Shopkeeper Teng did a good job!" Jia Qiang smiled and praised shopkeeper Teng.

In just a short time, the size of the dock has almost doubled. There are nearly two thousand coolies on the dock alone. There are more than twenty ships of various sizes parked on the dock, and there are still ships waiting for space.

Shopkeeper Teng is really capable. After a while, he will probably build this dock into the largest dock in Yangzhou.

"It's because the boss gave me the power, so I have the opportunity to perform in small ways!" Shopkeeper Teng bowed and replied.

Taking over the management of the dock has improved his status in Yangzhou a lot. Even the former Huang Quan, a major salt merchant, would smile and nod when he saw him.

In Yangzhou, everyone in the official circles knew that this wharf was given away by Zhang Zhizhou, and that the person who took over it was Lin Ruhai, a disciple of Master Lin. These two backgrounds alone were enough for no one in Yangzhou officials to dare to target the wharf.

As for the rest of the forces in Yangzhou, all the salt merchants were frightened by the assassination of the Mada salt merchant, not to mention the terrifying murderer behind it who single-handedly wiped out the salt gang.

Even the Cao Gang, the largest Jianghu force in the canal, dare not do anything within the dock area.

"Is the boat ready?" Jia Qiang asked shopkeeper Ping again.

"It has been cleaned and replaced with a complete set of new furniture. All the sailors are veterans and there will be no problems!" Shopkeeper Ping bowed and replied.

"Let someone send the carriage to the ship!" Jia Qiang nodded and ordered.

He came to Lin Ruhai's carriage, and Lin Ruhai stuck his head out.

"Teacher, everything is arranged, the carriage will go directly to the ship!" Jia Qiang said to Lin Ruhai.

Because it is our own boat, this is so convenient.

Otherwise, you will have to hire a carriage again when you arrive in Suzhou. You don’t have to worry about the convenience. The key is that you don’t have to worry about safety.

In addition, the reason why they did not go overland was because there were too many women. The overland carriage would shake for a day or two, and even with Jia Qiang's healing ability, he would have to suffer a lot.

Lin Ruhai did not get off the carriage. His identity was too sensitive and Jia Qiang was arranging it, so he would not show up.

The large ship arranged by Shopkeeper Ping is one of the three battleships decommissioned by the Yangzhou Daying Navy.

The battleship was parked on a specially raised berth, paved with multiple wooden planks, and the carriage went directly onto the deck.

"The ship you arranged is quite good. With the speed of this ship, we can reach Gusu tomorrow at most!" Lin Ruhai said to Jia Qiang with a smile after seeing the battleship.

As for why this battleship was decommissioned when it was still very new, he was in the officialdom and didn't know the reason.

Anyway, it was General Luo Wu who took care of it, so even if something happened, it wouldn't affect Jia Qiang's side.

With this capital ship, Jia Qiang's water transportation business will be less troublesome, and neither the water bandits nor the navy will be provoked.

Shopkeeper Ping was very discerning and cleared the deck early so that the women could get off the carriage and enter the cabin.

This type of capital ship is different from ordinary large cargo ships. There are only two-story wooden buildings built on the deck.

Lin Ruhai and his wife, Lin Daiyu, Yinglian, Yunfei, Zhujun, and Jia Qiang lived on the upper floor, while the lower floor was occupied by the servants of the mansion.

Once here, all the arrangements were left to Butler Lin. In fact, the furniture on this battleship was all arranged by Butler Lin in advance, just to make the master more comfortable when traveling.

"Teacher, can we sail the boat?" Jia Qiang asked.

"Let's get started!" Lin Ruhai smiled and sat on the chair. The servant next to him poured a cup of tea and he nodded.

Jia Qiang passed the order to sail the ship to Shopkeeper Ping. This time Shopkeeper Ping will act as the captain and be responsible for the trip here.

Don't think Lin Ruhai travels very luxuriously, but in fact he travels simply.

The family came to the second-floor terrace of the battleship, which is the highest and does not come into contact with people on the deck below, and can enjoy the scenery of the canal along the way.

"Brother Qiang, there's nothing else going on along the way. Why don't you talk about what happened in the capital?" Jia Min asked with a smile.

Although Lin Ruhai knew something about Jia Qiang, she didn't know the details. When she was in the mansion before, she always felt like someone was watching her at all times.

At this moment, in addition to his family members, even the servants had retreated far away, which made Jia Min interested in asking.

Lin Daiyu was also full of curiosity about Jia Qiang. After getting engaged to Jia Qiang, she learned about Jia Qiang's title.

In particular, her mother Jia Min would always tell her that after she marries Jia Qiang, she will be the first-grade wife, and she will be regarded as the most noble woman.

At that time, she was thinking about how Jia Qiang could obtain the first-grade title.

Her father, Lin Ruhai, whom she admired very much, was not able to obtain a title. The previous generation in the Lin family had lost the title.

But the young Jia Qiang is even more powerful than her father, with a first-grade title.

"Let's talk about this from the year I left Ningguo Mansion!" Jia Qiang didn't hide anything. Except for the game interface, everything else was told like a story.

When talking about the dangerous place, Lin Daiyu clenched her fists nervously, her eyes full of worry.

When she talked about receiving the reward, her eyes were filled with light. This was her husband.

Lin Ruhai listened quietly. He knew the risks better than the female family members.

Looking at what Jia Qiang was involved in, how could it be that the assassination of the king and the driver were trivial, but Jia Qiang successfully prevented it twice, and these two times would have been almost certain death for others.

"It's really a pain for you. The Jia family is sorry for letting a twelve-year-old child live alone!" Jia Min said through gritted teeth.

Regarding the current Jia family, she still knows something about the situation through some channels.

Needless to say, the Ningguo Mansion has now been sealed off. Its owner, Jia Zhen, is still alive and may be gone at some point.

Rong Guofu is better, but none of them are successful.

The only one who was considered promising, Jia Zhu, also died of illness a year ago.

But the Jia Mansion forcefully expelled a genius like Jia Qiang. Jia Min talks about the Jia family, but actually she is angry about the absurd behavior of the Jia family.

"It's all over, I'm living a good life now!" Jia Qiang said indifferently.

Even if the Jia Mansion was raided as before, it would have nothing to do with him.

"After all, we are one family. If possible, we should recognize our ancestors and return to our clan!" Lin Ruhai advised.

"Teacher, do you know how grand the Rongguo Mansion is? A birthday banquet alone costs tens of thousands of taels of silver. A lot of money is used up every year. There are also greedy masters and equally greedy slaves. In a few years, Rong The government will be sucked dry!" Jia Qiang shook her head and said.

That is to say, he would say such words only when he was with the teacher. If the people of Jia's family listened to these words of admonishment, they would not blame him for meddling in other people's business.

"The Jia family is not so miserable, is it?" Lin Ruhai and Jia Min looked at each other and shook their heads and asked.

They were in Yangzhou, which was a bit far away from the capital after all. As for the news about Jia's family, and knowing their relationship with Jia's family, no one would say anything bad about Jia's family.

They knew that Jia Qiang was not the kind of person who talked nonsense.

"You will know after the teacher returns to Beijing and observes carefully!" Jia Qiang did not say any more. After all, Jia Min's surname is still Jia, and there are some things that cannot be said too much.

"I, the Salt Patrol Censor, may return to Beijing this year or next to report on my duties, and the matters here will be handed over to the next Salt Patrol Censor!" Lin Ruhai inadvertently revealed a surprising news when he heard that he was returning to Beijing.

"Teacher, you are going back to Beijing. It seems that I have to act quickly!" Jia Qiang said with a frown.

Although he is extremely powerful, it will not be easy for him to do something about Jiangnan salt affairs without Lin Ruhai.

Just looking at his previous actions, almost all of them were inseparable from Lin Ruhai's intelligence.

Emperor Jingwen gave him a long time. Although he had already sent back some money, if the time was really too long and there were no results, he might not be able to stay here for a long time.

In the past, Jia Qiang didn't care about official position, but now he has a first-class title, and he is too young to hold any high-level actual position.

But he has immortal enemies, and only with a high official position can he ensure that he can mobilize the destiny of the country to fight against the immortals.

Although he defeated the lame Taoist and the scabby monk, the lame Taoist and the scabby monk did not understand his strength enough and fell into his trap.

If he really wanted to fight head-on with all his strength, he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to defeat the immortal.

In order to obtain a high-ranking official from Emperor Jingwen, he had to make achievements in Jiangnan salt affairs and bring a considerable amount of silver back to Beijing.

Of course, if Jia Qiang was really willing to give up, she would be able to pass the test if she went back with eight million taels of her own silver.

But he would not use his own money to complete Emperor Jingwen's mission.

He is also short of silver. The amount of silver needed to harvest the Raven Falcon Stone in the long term will be an astronomical figure.

If he hadn't been unable to leave, he would have wanted to go to Sri Lanka and obtain the top-quality Raven Falcon Stone from the source.

"You don't have to worry, I'm planning for you. The most important thing for you now is to concentrate on this year's provincial examination!" Lin Ruhai waved his hand and said with a smile.

Jia Qiang is his uncle, and he has no son, so Jia Qiang is his son.

Lin Ruhai took Jia Qiang's errand seriously and had been using all his abilities to plan for Jia Qiang.

"Thank you, teacher!" Jia Qiang felt happy and bowed to thank her.

"Don't say thank you, we are all family!" Jia Min said from the side.

The rest of the chat was no longer about these things, but about the scenery and poetry along the way.

Everyone drank tea and talked happily. Lin Ruhai was rarely leisurely and enjoyed the happiness of the whole family.

The battleship is very stable. Ships of all sizes along the way will take the initiative to avoid the battleship when they see it.

It was getting dark, so we stopped the boat at a pier in Jinling to rest.

The Lin Mansion's cook, Sun Ma, prepared a table of food. Even during the journey, the food was extremely delicious.

There were many rooms on the second floor of the battleship. Jia Qiang did not sleep. He sat on the terrace.

With his strong physique, a night or two without sleep would have no effect.

He didn't feel at ease this time with his female family members outside. In fact, he encountered too many dangers in Yangzhou, which made him always vigilant.

Besides, now he only needs to practice the 'Taixu Sutra' once, which is more fulfilling than sleeping all night.

If he wasn't used to sleeping, he could have used 'Taixu Menstruation' instead of sleeping.

He was looking at the lights of Jinling in trance, but he felt someone approaching from behind.

He didn't look back, and he could tell who it was from the footsteps.

Then he felt warm and a cloak was draped around him.

"Sister Lin, why aren't you asleep yet?" Jia Qiang turned to look at Lin Daiyu with a smile and asked.

"Is the capital really that scary?" Lin Daiyu asked softly, her eyes shining in the dark night.

Jia Qiang couldn't help but feel helpless. It seemed that Lin Daiyu was shocked by what she said during the day.

He had forgotten that Lin Daiyu was only eight years old after all. Even if she read more books, her inner endurance was still too weak.

Lin Daiyu heard from him that there were two assassinations of the emperor in the capital, as well as the extravagance of the Jia family, which made her a little afraid of the capital.

"The capital is not scary. It is the center of Daqian. Besides, I am with you, so you won't let danger hurt you!" Jia Qiang comforted with a smile.

A simple sentence of comfort made Lin Daiyu feel very at ease.

The two of them didn't speak, looking quietly into the distance.

Not long after, Jia Qiang noticed that Lin Daiyu was shaking slightly and couldn't help but blame herself.

"Sister Lin, go back to bed quickly. I've practiced martial arts and won't feel cold. If you get frozen, you have to take medicine!" He put his cloak on Lin Daiyu's body and threatened with a smile.

Lin Daiyu felt the residual warmth on the cloak, and her face was slightly red.

"Don't work too hard!" She pulled the cloak tighter and said softly.

At this time, she was a little confused, her mind was not sure where to go, she had forgotten that she was here to deliver the cloak, and returned to the cabin wearing the cloak.

Jia Qiang kept watching her enter the cabin, and then turned her head.

In his breath, he could smell the faint fragrance of Lin Daiyu, which added a touch of warmth to the quiet night, and a smile couldn't help but appear on his face.

After turning around, the battleship left the dock and would reach Suzhou in the afternoon at most at the current speed.

(End of this chapter)