Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 123 The Pearl Society
At the end of April, Cao Yin's health also improved a lot.Because Kangxi gave medicines in March and April, he even ordered to inquire about Cao Yin's condition.Therefore, after Cao Yin got better, he also wrote two thank you notes in his own hand.

Shengjia was fortunate to visit Mount Wutai in February, and returned to the capital in March.Now, it seems to be preparing for a tour outside the Great Wall in May.After Cao Yong returned to Jiangning, he always wanted to find Wenxiu's family.Helpless, there are really too few clues. I only know that she was abducted when she was seven years old. She was probably born in the 29th or 30th year of Kangxi.There is a younger sister in the family, and the mother died of dystocia when giving birth to the younger sister.

Because Cao Yong was going to look for Wenxiu's family a few years ago, Cao Fang also looked for a lot of people in the past six months, but in the end he returned only disappointed.Thinking of Wenxiu, Cao Yong had no choice but to expand the scope of the search and send people to inquire outside Jiangning City.
Besides, in Xifu, Zhao Jia cried, made trouble and hanged himself three times, and 280 people were not happy, so what can we do?After all, Cao Quan's taking a concubine is a private matter, and the chief is acting as a matchmaker, so it cannot be refused.Even if Mrs. Li heard this and complained about Mrs. Zhao Jia's injustice, she could only say a few words of comfort.As for Cao Yin being the elder brother, there is no reason for his younger brother to take concubines.

Half a month after entering the mansion, Lu Mei, who was sent by Master Lu Daotai, finally brought a cup of tea to pay homage to the eldest sister in the capacity of Cao Quan's second wife.

West Mansion, main house.

Sitting in the upper seat was Zhao Jia, with a stiff face and no sign of a smile, staring fixedly at the beautiful figure who came in from the door.

Lu Mei lowered his head slightly, with a look of lowered eyebrows.The upper body is a silver powder gauze shirt, and the white silk skirt with pink thread embroidered peach blossoms is not overbearing but also looks pretty.Because of her small feet, she was supported by the servant girl, and she swayed gracefully and charmingly when she walked.As soon as I raised my head, the brilliance flowed in a pair of beautiful eyes, which was truly seductive.

Even in a place like Jiangnan where there are so many beauties, this woman can be called excellent, and no one in Cao's mansion can match her.

Zhao Jia secretly gritted his silver teeth, and gave the maid beside him a look, and the maid immediately went over and brought a mat, and put it on the ground, for the second wife to pay respects to Zhao Jia.

That Lu Mei came over respectfully, first blessed the body in a graceful manner, then lifted her dress and knelt down on the mat.As soon as she knelt down, she felt a chill in her heart. Where was the cushion? It was clearly a wooden board wrapped in a brocade cover, which was stiff and harsh.This is the blow given by Dafang.

Lu Mei gritted her teeth, still with a smile on her face, kowtowed respectfully and called her "sister", then took a small tea tray with a colorful tureen from the maid beside her, held it high above her head, and presented it to Mrs. Zhao Jia.

Zhao Jia didn't answer at all, and didn't even look at it. While fiddling with her tortoise shell nail set, she slowly smiled and asked kindly, "I heard that Miss Lu's parents have all passed away?"

Lu Mei looked sad, and frowned slightly: "Mei'er's family is unfortunate, she lost her parents in her infancy. Thanks to the help of the uncle in the clan, it is good fortune to be able to serve the master and sister."

As she said this, her complexion suddenly turned from cloudy to sunny, with a hint of joy on the corners of her mouth and eyebrows, and she said in a sweet and waxy voice: "My sister is young and discordant, and I have to remind me more in the future. Uncle Clan You once told me, master and sister, you are the most benevolent and generous, so you don’t have to feel sorry for yourself, and you also said that my sister will take care of me well, and you will definitely not make the Lu family feel cold.”

Zhao Jia wanted to tell Lu Mei that she was an orphan and had no natal family to rely on, and told her to be more honest.Unexpectedly, this Lu Mei is a terrible scumbag, and in a few words, he moved the Lu Dao platform out, and returned a big soft nail.

Zhaojia's mother's family has a very high status, so they didn't pay much attention to a Taoist platform, but behind this platform stood a governor, and it was in the Jiangnan boundary, so he had to be polite.

Zhao Jia's heart was blocked, and he raised his eyebrows: "Since she is the niece of Daotai's family, Miss Lu's family has a long history, so she must be a good needlework girl, and the clothes made of fine materials have to be made by Miss Lu. .”

Lu Mei said indifferently: "The uncles and aunts of the clan think that this female celebrity is too much work, so they only leave it to the servants to do it, and they don't want to let Mei'er touch it."

The Cao family didn't need the master to make clothes himself, and making purses was just for fun in his spare time.Zhao Jia just wanted to push her down, but when she heard what she said, he grabbed her by the tail, very proud, coughed, and said seriously: "Miss Lu's words are strange, there is something wrong with the daughter of the boudoir. Know how to needle and thread? The Lu family pampered their daughters. All the daughters of the Cao family can't do it, even our family is the second daughter of King Fujin of Pingjun, and we didn't say that we don't know how to needle and thread. But I don't know that my uncle and aunt let you do it. What!"

Lu Mei was not intimidated at all, but smiled brightly: "The Lu family passed down poems and books to the family. The uncles and aunts of the family are afraid that Mei'er will wear out his hands and eyes and not be able to write well. Mei'er has been learning piano, chess, calligraphy and painting since childhood. Yes, now that I have a little success, if my sister is bored, wouldn't it be nice for Meier to play the piano and play chess with you?"

Zhao Jiashi choked enough.She also learned this piano and chess before she came out of the pavilion, but she is not good at it, and she has abandoned it for many years, so how can she talk about it?She stared at the colorful tureen for a long while, then reached out to pick it up, took a sip, and put it aside.

Only then did Lu Mei breathe a sigh of relief, her arms were sore from lifting, and her legs were numb from kneeling, she was about to signal her maid, Fu Yun, to come over to help her, but seeing that Fu Yun didn't move, she gave her a wink.She didn't know why, but she tilted her head and looked at the floating clouds with a surprised expression on her face.But she heard the mother-in-law behind Zhao Jia cough, and she woke up. Zhao Jia didn't speak, so she couldn't get up.

Lu Mei had already cursed Zhao Jia's family a thousand or eight hundred times in her heart, and she had to continue to pretend to be docile and docile here, kneeling upright and listening to Zhao Jia's subsequent lectures.

Zhao Jia cleared his throat, and began to recite the family motto and rules in lengthy lengths, and occasionally added a few words of admonitions such as "You must pay attention to..." and "You must be careful...".

Lu Mei listened with her head down, her mind was dizzy and heavy, her legs were numb and painful, she hated and cursed in her heart, she was about to collapse, she just gritted her teeth and stood up.

After finally waiting for Mrs. Zhao Jia to say "Get up", Lu Mei was already standing unsteadily, being supported by floating clouds, walking staggeringly, her charming posture was completely gone.

According to the rules, Lu Mei is a serious second wife, and several concubines of Cao Quan are going to come to worship her.However, she had just completed the side position, and she heard Zhao Jia say: "My sister has bound feet, no wonder it's not easy to walk. Fuyun, help Aunt Lu go back and rest!" Speaking of this, she smiled at Lu again. Mei said: "From now on, sister, you should stay in the yard well, don't go out and walk around, so as not to hurt your feet."

Lu brows were furious, and he glanced at the two concubines who were about to come to pay respects, and saw that although they didn't have obvious smiles on their faces, they seemed to have a little mocking smile.She couldn't help being angry, but she couldn't help it, so she could only hold back her breath and squeezed out a smile: "Thank you, sister, for your understanding." As she spoke, she supported Fu Yun's arm, got up to salute and leave, and staggered out the door.

Zhao Jia finally managed to win the round, let out a sigh of relief, and told Bao Die and Fei Cui to go down with a cheerful voice.After everyone had left, she stared at the colorful tureen and said to herself, "Let's wait and see."

*
In a blink of an eye, it was April 28th, the day when the governor's mansion held a birthday banquet.

Such entertainment, because Cao Yinzheng was ill, Cao Yong came to give gifts on behalf of his father.The birthday gift is a white jade Guanyin. Although it looks unassuming, it doesn't look thin anymore.

There is a lot of traffic at the gate of the Governor's Mansion.Now, apart from the always upright governor Zhang Boxing, who in the Jiangnan border would dare not to betray the face of Governor Gali.Although the governor's official reputation is not good, he has the emperor's backing behind him, and a series of impeachments followed, which reshuffled the officialdom in Jiangnan.Although many people hated Gali to the point of itch, but on the surface they had to flatter him even more, how could they dare to offend him.

Because Cao Yong brought Xiao Man, Wei Hei and the Wu family brothers, and they were dressed in ordinary clothes, so the housekeeper of the Governor's Mansion didn't take them too seriously, only as ordinary small officials.And because the Li family sent people to give gifts, the housekeeper Pidianpidian went out to greet him, and only sent a concierge to receive the gift brought by Cao Yong.

Seeing the other party being so negligent, Xiaoman and Wei Hei were very upset and wanted to explode.Cao Yong stopped with a smile, it would be better in this way, just don't waste more time here.I made an appointment to meet Wei Xin at the Linjiang Tower, and finish the errands here early, so I can go there earlier.

After registering the gift, the other party followed the rules and gave a reward seal of two coins.However, the other party also saw that Cao Yong didn't look like a servant, so he gave the reward to Xiaoman dressed as a servant.Xiaoman accepted it with a smile and thanked him for the reward.

When Cao Yong and others came out of the Governor's Mansion, they were catching up with several carts parked at the door, accompanied by many well-dressed servants.A brocade-clothed man in his thirties was standing at the door, greeting a young man.

Seeing that he was somewhat familiar that year, Cao Yong couldn't help but take a second look, but it was Li Ding, Li Xu's second son.The last time Cao Yong saw this cousin was at the old matriarch's funeral. Although it has been three or four years now, Li Ding's appearance has not changed much.

Looking at the several carriages that slipped away, and more than a dozen long followers clustered behind Li Ding, Cao Yong frowned slightly.This uncle is also true, even if he wants to give Kari a big gift, wouldn't he be more low-key?Coming here with such fanfare, I am afraid that others will not know the close relationship between the Li family and the Governor's Mansion.Thinking about it again, maybe Li Xu did this on purpose in order to curry favor with Kari.Could it be that he forgot that the only one in the world who has the final say is the one in Beijing.

Thinking of these bad things, Cao Yong really couldn't help but have a headache. Finally, the family's deficit was almost gone, and his father's illness gradually recovered, but he still had to hang out with Li's family.He felt a little bored and didn't want to stay longer, so he called everyone to get on their horses and leave the governor's mansion.

That young man was Li Ding, who came to Jiangning with his father Li Xu to give gifts, because his father went to the weaving mansion first, so he brought the gifts here under escort.The brocade-clothed man standing opposite him is Gali's concubine Gandu, and he still calls "brother".

Perhaps it was just now that Cao Yong looked here twice, Li Ding noticed something, and while exchanging greetings with Qiandu, he turned his head and looked over there, and happened to see only a few people getting on horses.Although Cao Yong was able to recognize him, he did not recognize Cao Yong for a while.After all, the last time I saw Cao Yong, Cao Yong was still a 12-year-old boy, which was very different from now.

While speaking, Cao Yong had already gone far on horseback.Li Ding didn't care, turned his head and followed Qiandu into the governor's mansion.

*
Linjiang Tower, a famous restaurant on the Qinhuai River, is one of Wei Xin's properties.Starting from mid-April, aristocratic pearl fishing families from the north and the south, as well as some well-known pearl merchants, came to Jiangning one after another.Cao Fang and Wei Xin arranged everyone to live in the Linjiang Building, one was to keep the fat and water out of the field, and the other was to know some basics so that people would not fish in troubled waters.

Cultured pearls, this is something I have never heard of, and everyone is somewhat skeptical.However, the person who sent the invitation card back then brought the guarantee of Guangdong Thirteen Bank.Moreover, the Thirteen Banks also issued evidence that they indeed purchased pearls worth nearly 48 taels of silver in Jiangning in the summer and winter of Kangxi 48.

In recent years, as the quantity of pearls has become increasingly rare, many aristocratic families that rely on this industry have gradually withered. It is time for everyone to look for a way out.Traveling north and south, whether it is a big pearl fisherman or a pearl merchant, everyone can tell a thing or two with their fingers, but this is the first time they have heard of the Cao family in Jiangning.However, Thirteen Lines has a great reputation, and it is impossible to act as a cover for others.Therefore, this Pearl Fair is not implausible.When they arrived in Jiangning with apprehension and found that there were many traveling from the north and the south, they naturally began to fight.

When they met an acquaintance, everyone exchanged pleasantries, and when they mentioned the pearl, they laughed and called it nonsense.However, when they returned to their rooms, they began to calculate.If this matter is true, if he can win this deal by himself, then he will make a fortune.

During this time, Wei Xin seemed to have revealed his mouth unintentionally, saying that this time the Pearl Fair still needs each family to speak with their own strength.The secret method of cultivating pearls is estimated to be the one with the highest asking price.

Those who are close to Jiangning have already sent letters back to ask their families to send money.When he came, he brought a large amount of bank notes, and he was secretly proud of himself with a smile on his face.Those who don't have enough money on their bodies, and those who don't have time to go back and forth, almost jump their feet.The one who wants to jump more is Liuhe Bank.They are not only looking for pearls, the jewel merchants are currently short of money, if they borrow money at this time, it will be a huge deal.But because the Cao family hadn't given their permission yet, they didn't dare to intervene easily, so they could only secretly worry.Every day, a few bosses would always come over to take care of things, to flatter Wei Xin wholeheartedly.

Because of Cao Yong's orders, Wei Xin refused to let go easily.Everyone should eat and drink, but when it comes to serious things, there is only one word "delay".

(End of this chapter)