Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 1233 Brother and Brother
Capital, Cao Mansion.

This year's New Year's Eve dinner was held in Wutong Garden because of Li's mourning.

Although Gao Taijun is an elder without clothes, Xifu is all her juniors. Even for Li's sake, the "March [-]th" has not passed, and everyone has no intention of playing.

After dinner, Mrs. Zhao Jia went to Lanyuan, talked with Mrs. Li for a while, and then took everyone from the East Mansion back.

On the Xifu side, Li's family was in mourning, and Cao Yong went south, which made the crowd less lively.

Although Hang Seng came back to have a reunion dinner, there will be a few more days like this.When the subordinate officials from Khalkha arrived and the princess got married, it would not be easy for Hang Seng to return to the Cao family like this.

In addition, Niu Niu's wedding date is scheduled for April, and this year is the last time to celebrate the New Year in the Cao Mansion, and the children are also somewhat sentimental.

Even the young Tianbao was less mischievous, obediently following Changsheng's side, listening to his uncle's story about Nian Beast.

Seeing her mother-in-law looking sickly, Chu Yu could not help comforting her in a low voice.Mrs. Li also didn't want to take advantage of his wife's kindness, so he cheered up and asked a few words about his son.

Hearing that Cao Yong's family letter mentioned that he wanted to come back at the end of the first lunar month, Li Shi showed some relief, nodded and said: "In this way, maybe we can catch up with the old lady's funeral..."

For her, her son is her backbone, and she always feels uneasy when her son is no longer by her side.

Although Hang Seng had a reunion dinner here, it is not easy to stay here to watch the new year, after all, there are a lot of servants in the county palace.As his master, it's not easy to leave the whole family there.

Tianyou had something on his mind and wanted to talk to his younger brother intimately, so he followed Hang Seng to the Prince's Mansion.

There were no other elders at the Prince's Mansion, and their brotherly relationship was really good, Chu Yu explained a few words, and asked someone to prepare various snacks that Hang Seng likes to eat, filled them with two big food boxes, and took them away.

Back at the Prince's Mansion, the kitchen has prepared all kinds of dishes.Just because Hang Seng is not here, no one dares to open the table.

Hang Seng made an appearance, talked to several senior managers, and invited them to bring the servants of the whole family to the table.In his own room, he served snacks brought from Cao's mansion, made people warm a pot of wine, and the two of them ate wine to watch the new year with Tianyou.

Seeing that he hesitated to speak, Hang Seng asked, "Brother seems to have something on his mind, but are you worried about Chunwei?"

Chunwei is in early February, and there are less than forty days left from now.

For many scholars, this is a hurdle.

Even a talented scholar who is famous all over the world dare not say that if he takes part in the examination, he will definitely win the first place.

Banner people eat small grains at the age of 16. If God Bless Chunwei loses, unless he plans to study behind closed doors for three years, he must also consider working as an errand.

Tianyou shook his head, and said: "It's okay during the country test, you can sit in the well and look at the sky, and take yourself more seriously; when it comes to the test, which scholar will end up not reading the four books and five classics, and getting used to stereotyped essays? I am lucky to have it; It's my life to lose. Both grandfather and father are not Jinshi, so they are also hall officials?"

Hang Seng was a little curious, and said: "It's not for this, what else is there to worry about brother?"

When Tianyou heard the words, he laughed twice, and Fang said: "When my grandfather was our age, he was already working as a servant in the palace; when my father was his age, he had already started to help grandfather pay off the family's deficit. Second brother, do we want Build a business too?"

Hang Seng was quite interested when he heard the words, and said, "What career?"

"The Ministry of Household Affairs will conduct share bidding for the maritime trade issue in February. Father is in his position, so he must avoid suspicion. But father has worked so hard, but others will benefit. It is unfair to father." Tianyou said.

The sea trade bidding matter has been rumored years ago.

It's just that one hundred thousand and one share, the threshold is too high, which makes people stop.And overseas trade is a very distant thing for people.

Even if there are so many rich and powerful in the capital, it is not just anyone who can slip out this sum of money.

Although Tianyou said it confidently, Hang Seng didn't believe it.

This big brother was taught by his grandfather. He has never cared about money. He is not a fussy person at all. How could he care about what is fair and unfair?
After all, my father was an official of the household department, and it was his duty to increase revenue and reduce expenditure for the court.

Hang Seng blinked, thought for a while, and then suddenly realized: "Brother mentioned bidding, but he is worried that the Ministry of Households will fail the bid, and father will be punished?"

Being spotted by his younger brother, Tianyou nodded embarrassedly, and said, "Second brother, do you think I'm long-winded and worrying too much?"

Hang Seng thought for a while, and said: "Father is young and occupies a high position, which has already aroused the envy of many people. It was my father's suggestion to open the sea ban and carry out sea trade. If the progress is not smooth, those censors will make a fuss." For a while."

The stampede in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Qingyuan made Tianyou see what is scary about human words.

Zhu Zhilian's official career was ruined by this accident.

It was just a few days ago that Tianyou saw Zhu's father and son who were going to pay homage to Gao Taijun in Guanghua Temple. Thinking of his dangerous career, he became worried about his father.

Just now I didn't speak directly to Hang Seng, because I was afraid that my younger brother would think he was long-winded.

"If father is not a good official, who can be considered a good official?" Speaking of this, Tianyou clenched his fists with a bit of anger, and said, "No matter what father thinks, as a son of man, I can't just sit back and watch my father be abused wantonly. slander……"

He was so excited because he remembered what happened after the Qingyuan stampede in August.At that time, the impeachment of Cao Yong was no less than the impeachment of Zhu Zhilian.

Speaking of respect and protection for his father, the adopted son of Hang Seng is no less than the biological son of Tianyou.

He straightened up, with a solemn expression, and said: "Brother is right, the second and fifth uncles are not in Beijing, and the fourth uncle's imperial officials are noble, but they can't help father. We are sons, even if we have strength No matter how meager you are, you must do your best to protect your father."

Seeing Hang Seng's resoluteness, Tianyou also added a bit of pride, and said: "That's right, we are growing up, we can't always let our father protect us, and it's time to protect our parents."

Hang Seng nodded vigorously and said, "That's right, that's right."

Although he understood in his heart, his mind was never as quick as Tianyou's. After saying these two sentences, he looked at Hang Seng, waiting for his brother to make up his mind.

Tianyou said: "I have two methods here. Second brother, let me know which one is better. The first method is to collect some money and participate in the bidding of the household department. There is a lot of movement, that is, to organize seagoing ships to trade overseas, to prove that what my father said about opening the sea ban is a move that benefits the country and the people."

The two methods are simple to say, but not easy to implement.

Not only does it require a lot of money to make a base, but it also needs to reveal the identity of Hang Seng.

It took several months for the topic of Hang Seng's identity to fade in the mouths of the elites in the capital; if public support for his adoptive father was publicized under the watchful eyes of the public, rumors would inevitably resurface.

Hang Seng didn't even think about it, so he responded: "Both methods are good, the former is simpler; the latter one is not in a hurry, and we can wait until the bidding is called." At this point, he stretched out his hand and waved it. He waved his fingers and said: "I have a lot of gold and silver here. The emperor rewarded them, Khalkha gave them, the old lady, father, and mother rewarded them when they moved, and my wife gave a big one a few days ago... I can scrape together 10 taels of silver... There are still a lot of antiques and curios, and I can go to the bank to borrow some money..."

After hearing this, Tianyou quickly waved his hands and said, "Except for the private house given by the emperor and the elders, the rest of your silver was given by your mother to repair your garden. How can you move it lightly? Don't even think about antiques and curios. , I will prepare the money, but I just ask the second brother to come forward."

Hang Seng was somewhat suspicious, looked at Tianyou and said, "Brother coaxed me, so much money, how do we prepare it?"

To be honest, God Bless doesn't have much money, but he really has no shortage of places to change money.

Niuniu and Tianhui's "Neiliansheng" have already opened three stores, and now they are well-known.Even when officials from other places go to Beijing, they have to go to "Neiliansheng" to buy a few pairs of official boots and go back.

Although it is not as prosperous as "Daoxiang Village", the profit is also slightly considerable.

When Hang Seng opened the mansion, the aunt and nephew prepared a lot of good things.

Furthermore, Zuo Zhu and Zuo Cheng received a lot of gold and silver from Tian after they got married.

If you collect from these two places, 10 taels of silver is not difficult.

But in that case, too many people would be shocked.

"I want to borrow money from my mother." Tianyou said.

"Huh? What does brother think, why is he planning to alarm mother?" Hang Seng said, paused, and said, "No, brother will definitely not tell the truth to mother in order not to let mother worry about it."

Tianyou glanced at Hang Seng with some embarrassment, and said, "I just want to discuss with my second brother, and I want to borrow my second brother's name to use. The second brother also knows that since you moved out, father and mother are most afraid of you being hurt." Wronged. I just said that I am afraid that you will have a tight life in the future, so I entered the two stocks of the Ministry of Households and Ocean Trade for you, and filled in some of the proceeds for future consumption, and my mother will definitely agree."

Hang Seng hesitated: "Is it okay to deceive mother like this?"

Tianyou said: "I don't know either, but I can't tell the truth."

Hang Seng said: "Let's do it like this. It's better for my mother to worry about me than my mother to worry about my father. I am right under the nose of my mother, and I can see whether it is good or bad. Seeing that I am living a good life, my mother is at ease; But the officialdom is dangerous, so don't let mother worry..."

Not to mention the two brothers in the capital muttering, thinking about how to support their father when his father is not in the capital; on the other side of Jiangning, Cao Yong's complexion is already like a palette.

"Second brother, this..." Cao Yong felt a headache when he looked at the slim woman in front of him.

"It's New Year's Eve, what are you making a fuss about?" Because there were outsiders around, Cao Yong gave Cao Song some leeway, and lowered his volume to reprimand.

Cao Song coughed twice, waved his hand to the woman, and said, "It's late at night, you go to the back room to make the bed for the elder."

"Yes." The woman responded softly without looking up, and entered the back room respectfully.

Seeing Cao Song laughing like a thief, Cao Yong didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and shouted in a low voice: "You really drank too much, didn't you? What are you making all these moths for?"

On New Year's Eve tonight, Cao Song drank a lot of wine at the New Year's Eve dinner.

Now, he doesn't admit that he's drunk, and pokes his neck and said: "Who's drunk? I'll go all out to offend my sister-in-law, and I have to honor my brother once. In the future, who will dare to say that my brother is afraid of internal affairs, and my brother is upright?" A man is a pure man..."

*
Chasing from behind, the top six are in danger, ask for a guaranteed monthly pass. .

(End of this chapter)