Lin Jiabiyu

With a letter in his arms and a jade fan in his hand, Master Zhao San swaggered past the door of Miji's shop. Halfway through, he was pushed and jostled by the young servants who came and went, and almost fell down. Somersault, still being squeezed by the crowd without falling, but the hat fell off.

After finally getting out of the crowd, the previously clean and tidy bun was also a bit messy, and the hair fell on the face, dancing with the wind.

Master Zhao San's eyeballs protruded, he turned his head and spat fiercely at the crowd, pulled his wrinkled robe, and walked away with a livid face.

The boy at the back clutched Mr. Zhao San's hat with a distressed expression, gritted his teeth and squeezed out of the crowd, and quickly chased after him.

There is only one plaque in front of the gate of the Zhao Mansion, and there is no decoration. A pair of lanterns hang high above the gate, and the thick wooden door looks a bit simple.Mr. Zhao San stepped through the door, and waved impatiently before the porter's boy came up to meet him, "Where's the old man?"

"Responding to the third master, the old master is in the flower room at the moment, tending to those pots of chrysanthemums." The young man answered courteously, and hurriedly led the third master Zhao to the flower house of the old man.

Mr. Zhao is nearly seventy years old, his hair and beard are white, but he is in good spirits. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Mr. Zhao San entering the conservatory, and while meticulously turning the soil for the chrysanthemums, he asked slowly, "Go to Miji?"

Mr. Zhao San responded with a loud voice, and squatted down like Mr. Zhao, took the small trowel from the servant, and was about to reach out, but was suddenly slapped away by Mr. Zhao, and reprimanded in a disgusted tone. : "Don't spoil my flowers!"

Master Zhao San curled his lips, and withdrew his hands embarrassingly.Stuffing the small trowel into the boy's arms, he stared at the little trowel in Mr. Zhao's hand and coughed: "The sea boat heard that the Shi family took a stake..."

"It's about the Shi family. Why are you jealous? Didn't you understand what I told you? The Zhao family has been in business for five or sixty years, and the family business you have earned is too small for you?" Mr. Zhao didn't even look at Zhao. The third master snorted in a moderate voice, and his tone was not very impatient.

From the corner of the eye, he caught a glimpse of Mr. Zhao San eagerly trying to defend himself. Mr. Zhao turned around and stretched out his arms, driving Mr. Zhao aside impatiently.

Mr. Zhao San quickly stood up to make way for Mr. Zhao, and opened his mouth.Before he could make a sound, he was interrupted by Mr. Zhao's casual tone.

"If you really think it's too small, then you can earn it yourself! Your ancestor's family business was also earned by several generations. If you have the ambition of your grandfather, I really admire your ambition. It's just that I am old. , should also enjoy the happiness. Don't bother me with these messy things!"

Mr. Zhao San was full of words that were blocked in his throat. He said that he didn't want to say it, but his face was flushed with suffocation, and he took a deep breath helplessly. He followed Mr. Zhao and turned around on the spot. The old man tended those few pots of chrysanthemums back and forth.He exhaled angrily, pulled his beard and coughed dissatisfiedly: "Father!"

"What are you yelling about? I'm not deaf. I can hear you!" Mr. Zhao gave Mr. Zhao a very impatient and disgusted look. He swept Mr. Zhao up and down, and caught a glimpse of the swing on Mr. Zhao's head. The hair that usually flutters back and forth, the face is not tense, almost laughing.

Just as Mr. Zhao opened his mouth, he coughed again and suppressed his smile.Turning around and handing the small trowel in his hand to the boy, he turned his head and pointed at Mr. Zhao San and reprimanded him: "Look at your appearance. What kind of dignity do you have? You are still a serious master! I have already dealt with the matter of sea ships. Let me tell you clearly. The last time shopkeepers Mi and Li personally gave gifts, you didn’t catch the meaning behind the words? The second master is behind them! Let’s not get involved in the affairs of the masters. "

"My son knows." Mr. Zhao third sighed unwillingly. Seeing that Mr. Zhao was about to go out, he quickly reached out to support his arm, but Mr. Zhao shook him off with a straight face.

"Father, don't be angry. My son also knows that he just doesn't want to be taken advantage of by the Shi family." Mr. Zhao San rubbed his nose and muttered, "Mr. Han's lifeblood was given away today." Come here."

"I've seen it." Mr. Zhao walked out of the conservatory with firm steps, cleaned his hands, wiped them slowly with a handkerchief, and raised his eyelids to look at Mr. Zhao San's expression of displeasure and the envy in his eyes. And jealous, sneered very contemptuously, stuffed the handkerchief in his hand to Mr. Zhao San, frowned and scolded unceremoniously.

"Aren't you convinced that Han Si's boy, He De, can get the favor of the second master? That's something you can compare to? The Han family is a scholarly family, a famous family in the north, and Mr. Han is a great Confucian in the world. He has paid his blood! Let the only seedling of the Han family run errands for the second master, do you think anyone has the courage? Mr. Han put the whole Han family on the second master. Our Zhao family, no way!"

"Sooner or later, the north will belong to the second master, even if he goes to the second master, it may not be..." The third master Zhao looked at the expression on the face of the old master Zhao and stopped.

Mr. Zhao raised his brows, his white beard trembled, and his eyes were filled with anger. He stretched out his hand and slapped Mr. Zhao San on the arm, pointed at Mr. Zhao and gritted his teeth hating iron and steel, and said, "How can I be born?" You have such a son! Fortunately, your grandson is not the same as you! When did I say that I would not show my love to the second master? But that also pays attention to the method! What about the art of war that I asked you to read? Did you read it in the stomach of a dog? That Shopkeeper Mi and Shopkeeper Li are here. Do you think the second master is short of money? What the second master wants is loyalty. The Zhao family can’t compare with other families in the north, so be more peaceful! Didn’t that Han Si get someone to pay for the construction of the academy? ? You write back and say that the Zhao family is willing to pay the money."

Mr. Zhao San was silent for a moment, and finally got a taste.What the old man meant was that the Zhao family started out as a merchant, and their status is not as high as that of those century-old families, so they have to restrain themselves to avoid being hacked when possible.But you have to get close to the second master and show your loyalty. The Zhao family is in the north, so you have to find a backer.It's just that this show of loyalty should not be rushed to make people bored, it has to be done slowly.

"Look, father, how much money is appropriate for us to pay?"

Mr. Zhao's eyes glared, his eyes were filled with anger, he picked up the crutch at his feet, and with a trembling body, he swung the crutch and stomped it on the ground, and the crutch hit the ground with a slap.Shocked, Mr. Zhao San's mind turned a corner in an instant, and suddenly his heart was blessed. While avoiding Mr. Zhao's walking stick, he hurriedly said: "Han family! My son has someone to watch how much the Han family pays. Let's compare the money of the Han family. Out! Oh, no, 60 to [-]% more is fine, after all, the Zhao family has been in business for five or sixty years, and it is reasonable to have a little more money."

Mr. Zhao's gray beard moved.He squinted at Mr. Zhao San with wide eyes, and slowly retracted his crutches.

Mr. Zhao San stroked his chest and let out a long sigh of relief, breaking out in a cold sweat. At this moment, his mind cleared up a lot. Seeing that Mr. Zhao didn't lose his temper again, he helped Mr. Zhao with a smile.Looking at Mr. Zhao's face, he suggested carefully, "My son is not talented in reading, and he is also stupid in business. The son thought, Dalang is smart in business, and sooner or later the family affairs will be handed over to him. But Erlang likes to read. Father sees , why not let Erlang go to Yongan City in the future?"

Mr. Zhao coughed slowly.He glanced at Mr. Zhao San indifferently, and nodded slightly.The tone was calm, but there was a bit of satisfaction on his face. "Now I've learned to be smart!"

Ding'an City Han Mansion, Mr. Han held Han Si's autographed letter in his hand, squinted his eyes and scanned it up and down several times, then quietly folded the letter paper and put it on the desk, and tapped it with his withered fingers. Hitting the table, it took a long while.Then he pulled out the drawer under the desk and took out a box from it.Called the steward into the house.

"Send this to the young master. Also, find two gentlemen who can write. Let them copy the books stored in the inner and outer study rooms as soon as possible, and send them to the young master together."

The steward took the box with both hands, agreed and left the room.

Mr. Han stood up, stared at the withered branches outside the window, twisted his beard and sighed long.Shiro was too sloppy, he didn't know if it was good or bad for him to follow the second young lady.

But right now, although it was beyond his expectations, it was not bad at all.Today, that's all.Shi Lang followed the second young lady. In the eyes of outsiders, the Han family had already taken refuge in the second master.This time, he can be regarded as going with the flow.He is old, and it is good to be able to teach the younger generation.

The people dispatched by Han Six quickly traveled all over Pingliang Mansion.

Not to mention how each family closed their doors, but they all politely expressed their willingness to do their part.

On the spot, Master Shi San asked the girl in charge to open the box and take the bank note and stuff it into the boy who delivered the letter. The boy pushed it back in embarrassment and helplessness, and handed over the construction drawings of the academy, explaining in a straight-forward manner: " The third master wait a moment. The fourth master said, I have to ask the masters to look at the blueprint of the academy. The places painted in red on this picture are all places that have been agreed to be built by others. The third master can choose one of the other places Pick and see which one you want to build, you just need to pay the money compared to the construction cost, and if there is more, you will have to return it to you later."

Seeing that Master Shi San was a little confused, the young man paused, scratched his head in embarrassment, and added: "Fourth Master also said that you can name any place you pay for and build." Well, when the academy was completed, someone would write it down and hang it up, or erect a stone tablet in front of it and engrave it on it. This is what the young lady proposed, and the general agreed."

Master Shi San was a little confused when he heard it, and glanced at the boy suspiciously, took the blueprint and asked the boys around him to look at it slowly.

Seeing this, Master Shi San suddenly had a smile on his face, squinted his eyes slightly and stroked his beard, and nodded in admiration - the location of this academy is good, looking at the drawings like this, I also find it very eye-catching, atmospheric and Elegant.Looking again, it turns out that some buildings and pavilions have been painted in red, and they have been carefully marked to indicate which house gave the money.

"This, I choose whichever one I like?"

"Yes." The boy nodded with a busy smile, "Young Madam said that although it is a good thing to build an academy, it can't cost everyone too much, so each family can only choose two places at most. Besides, it is to build a college. A pavilion or corridor, or a garden orchard, should be registered in the register, and later ask someone to write the names of the masters on the merit wall of the academy."

"Wall of Merit? Is this the building?" Master Shi San's eyes lit up, and he pointed to a pavilion in the blueprint with a smile and asked. Seeing that the pavilion was not marked with red, he smiled, "Master, I can just choose this one?"

The little servant quickly glanced at what Master Shi San pointed out, and said with a smile: "Master Shi, this place was ordered by the general and the husband and wife. Although it is not painted in red, it has also been marked."

Master Shi San took a closer look and saw that the gaps between the pavilions were marked, so he had to give up and study the drawings carefully, and then looked for other places.

In this way, it was not until the end of September that the boy who delivered the letter and the blueprint returned to Weiyuan City with a smile on his face to hand over the blueprint to Han Si. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)