Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 124 The Pearl Society
When Cao Yong arrived at Linjiang Tower, although it was not considered full, there were also many guests sitting upstairs and downstairs.Cao Yong is not ostentatious in his attire, but he has all the servants, and the little one is very attentive when he comes up to greet him.

Cao Yong did not speak, just motioned under Xiaoman.Xiaoman got the order early, handed over a piece of broken silver, and said with a smile: "Please help to inform Fifth Master Wei, and tell Mr. Qu to see you!"

Xiaoman's voice was not high, but there were still a few tables nearby with sharp ears, and when they heard the word "Wei Wuye", they couldn't help but look over here.Today, among the merchants who come and go to Jiangning, who doesn't know Wei Wuye's size.

Hearing that it was Mr. Qu, the second boy didn't take the cash, but took a few people up the stairs with an even more respectful attitude, it seemed that he had already been ordered.

The guests at the tables downstairs were even more astonished.They are all pearl households from Zhejiang, and they came to Jiangning in advance just to find out, and now they are secretly thinking about the origin of the surname Qu.In the industry of pearl picking and selling, there is only a big family in Guangxi with the surname Qu. I heard that they have changed their careers for many years. Could it be that they want to return to their old business?Everyone was surprised and uncertain.

In the private room on the second floor, seeing Cao Yong coming in, Wei Xin rushed up to greet him, and while inviting Cao Yong to sit down, he said, "Young Master, you have shown your face!"

Seeing his anxious look, Cao Yong was completely different from his calmness and stability, so he couldn't help but smile: "Why, there's something that Fifth Master Wei can't solve?"

Wei Xin said with a smile: "My lord doesn't know about the little one yet, it's just a posturing! The pearl merchants from the north and the south have almost arrived, and they surround the little one to ask about raising pearls all day long. How does the young one know about these things? Although Keep pushing, everyone will know when the time comes. After all, they are laymen. If they see through, it may be detrimental to the progress of our Pearl Society. The young master is considerate of the small ones, so let's transfer two people from the Pearl Field! "

Cao Yong nodded: "Well, that's the reason. There were people coming over there. Thinking about the time, it should be here in about two days!"

Wei Xin was overjoyed, and remembered the matter of Liuhe Bank. Now it has dragged them for a long time, and they secretly inquired carefully, but the jewel merchants who came had money and were not rich.If they are allowed to lend money, although they can earn some interest, it is also convenient for the Pearl Society.

Cao Yong sat there, tapped the table with his index finger, thinking about the general procedures about hidden bids and guarantees he knew in his previous life, and gradually got an idea in his heart.

*
At Jiangning Wharf, Yang Mingchang, the owner of Bihelou, stood on the shore with some servants and horses, stretching his neck and looking around.Butler Zhang Quan stood behind him, pointing to the big ship that was about to dock in the distance: "Master, that looks like our boat!"

Yang Mingchang squinted his eyes and shook his head: "No, the paint color is wrong!"

While speaking, the ship approached, and Zhang Quan also saw that it was not from the Yang family, and secretly slandered in his heart.

The master's family is becoming more and more "yin flourishing and yang declining". Since the young master died of malaria three years ago, and the young lady said it to the Bai family, the wife has become more and more suspicious of the master, fearing that he will refuse to accept his concubine and have children.

At the beginning, the master was tough twice, but the wife and the young lady were dying, and the people from the Bai family almost came to smash the store and beat people.In the end, it was the master who gave in and the wife interceded, so the Bai family was willing to give up.

Who can't see the Bai family's plan?This is not in-laws, they are simply living enemies.At the end of last month, Yang Ruixue, who was already married, had a happy event. Her mother Bai was very happy, thinking that it would be good for her daughter to have a grandson to inherit the family business, so she took her daughter and son-in-law to Hangzhou Lingyin Temple to pray son.

A few days ago, the Bai family sent someone back, saying that they would return to Jiangning in the next few days at the end of the month, and asked her husband to pick her up at the pier.

Yang Mingchang planned his whole life, but he didn't expect that he would become extinct when he was old, and because he was an orphan, he didn't even have any siblings, let alone a step-nephew.Could it be that I have saved my whole life just to give my son-in-law the wealth of Wanguan family?How could Yang Mingchang be reconciled? Even though he was a little afraid of the Bai family, he really wanted to take concubines and have children.However, whether at home or out, there is Bai's eyeliner all the time, so there is no chance to steal the fragrance for a moment.

In the dead of night, Yang Mingchang would also think of the pair of children he dared not admit back then.Calculating the ages of their siblings, the son should be an adult, and the daughter is also old enough to leave the court.If they were by his side, Bai Shi was just a house-filling wife, how could she dare to be so insolent?It's the Bai family, how dare they count his property while he is still alive.I heard that it was the two sons of the Cao family who took them away.Now, the eldest son of the Cao family is serving in front of the emperor, and the second son is also seeking birth in the capital. Even if it is sending his daughter to the two as concubines, it is more dignified than giving his daughter to a merchant as a wife.Every time Yang Mingchang thinks of these things, some hope faintly arises in Yang Mingchang.But after all, Zhizao Mansion's prestige was too high, so he didn't dare to go to the door to inquire. He had privately sent people to watch Zhizao Mansion to see if there were any traces of his children, but there was nothing.

Yang Mingchang was still feeling melancholy, so he heard the butler behind him say: "Master, look, isn't that the old shopkeeper of Lin Xia Zhai, Cao Fang, Second Master Cao?"

Yang Mingchang heard this, and looked up. Among the group of people who got off the boat, the one who was in his thirties and wearing a blue satin jacket at the head of the two people was Cao Fang, wasn't he?That was one of the chief stewards of the Cao family. Although Xiao Wu of the Wei family presided over the pearl meeting that had been raging all over these days, Yang Mingchang secretly inquired about it, and it was Cao Fang who was behind the scenes.

Yang Mingchang was very enthusiastic, he quickly walked a few steps, wanting to talk to him, but he only took one step, but he was stunned.It was his eldest son Zheng Hai who walked side by side with Cao Fang, talking and laughing happily.When their mother and son came to Jiangning to look for him in the 40th year of Kangxi, Zheng Hai was already 14 years old and a teenager.Although he is now taller and has a short beard on his mouth, Yang Mingchang still recognizes him as his eldest son whom he kept silent in the past.

Yang Mingchang felt his heart beating out of his throat, because he saw the young woman beside his son, whose appearance was somewhat similar to his wife Zheng's.Her identity is ready to be revealed.She wore braids and was still dressed in a boudoir. Although she didn't wear any hairpins, she couldn't hide her beauty.

No wonder the Cao family suddenly came up with a Pearl Society, it turned out that they were accompanied by their brothers and sisters.Zheng's family is a family of pearl-diversing, maybe they can't resist the secret technique of raising pearls.Thinking of this, Yang Mingchang began to secretly complain about his ex-wife, the husband and wife had two children, and she still kept such a secret.It can be seen that women cannot be supported, and they are always calculating for their mother's family, and they don't know the truth of "taking the husband as the sky" at all.Really really hated it secretly, it was supposed to be his Yang family's secret method, but the Cao family coaxed it from the unfilial brothers and sisters.I can't blame the dignified young master of the Cao family for taking in two beggars from the street. It turned out that he had such a good plan!

Yang Mingchang suppressed his anger, clenched his fists, took a deep breath, forced a smile, and was about to go forward to recognize his son and daughter.Unexpectedly, as soon as he took a step, Zhang Quan pulled his sleeves: "Master, this time it's my wife's boat, and the one standing on the bow is Zhou Wang, the eldest follower of the Bai family!"

*
In Linjiang Tower, after hearing Cao Yong's arrangement for Liuhe Bank, Wei Xin couldn't help applauding, and looked at Cao Yong with bright eyes: "My lord, you can't hide your clumsiness anymore, where did you learn these economic methods?" ?Although it sounds strange, it is really easy to use, but you have to teach the little ones well!"

Cao Yong thought for a while, in the future, Wei Xin will handle a lot of business at the Thirteenth Bank, so it is better to teach him some familiar things from the previous life. Although he is not very professional, it will be quite helpful when he thinks about it, so Then he nodded.Because he was busy with the Pearl Fair recently and was not free, Cao Yong mentioned that he would write something for him after the Dragon Boat Festival.

Wei Xin was overjoyed, he hurriedly got up from his seat, and respectfully performed the disciple ceremony.

Seeing his seriousness, Cao Yong asked with a smile: "What is this for? Could it be that you recognize me as a husband?"

Wei Xin said sternly: "If it weren't for the young master's painstaking teaching in the past few years, how could Wei Xin be where he is today? Although he has not been with the young master for the past few years, the young master sends two long letters every month, teaching the little ones a little bit of economic principles. But it’s not until today that the ritual that should be done is done!”

Teaching those people was just a matter of making use of them. After all, Wei Xin went south to get his capital, and he also accounted for [-]% of the income.Thinking of this, Cao Yong was really ashamed, and quickly waved his hands: "Get up quickly, it's so sour, and my teeth will fall!" Then he confessed: "You have to be more careful when dealing with that Liuhe bank. Look at their female boss, she is really a shrewd person. Although we have set the rules, don't let them take advantage of the loopholes!"

Speaking of this, Wei Xin returned to his normal state, and responded with a smile: "You can save the little one, young master, just look at it! No matter how young you are, you can be regarded as half of the young master's disciple, even if you have a good fight with the second young lady of the Jiang family." Don't be afraid!"

The two chatted a few more gossips, finalized the itinerary of the Pearl Club, and broke up.

*
Because the relationship between the governor and the governor is very tense on the stage, this Lumei was sent secretly. Although he has the status of the second wife, he can't make a big show of it.

Cao Quan was only greedy and lustful for a while, and fell into Lu Daotai's calculations. Although he loved the beauty of this concubine from the bottom of his heart, he was very guilty and dared not speak up.

The Zhaojia family was originally covering the sky with one hand in the mansion, even if they had two concubines, Baodie and Feicui, they were just decorations all the year round.Unexpectedly, suddenly a niece from Daotai came out and separated half of her man, how could she not be ruthless?But this kind of marriage relationship in the officialdom cannot be easily rejected, so she has no choice but to accept it.Seeing that her husband didn't mention matters, she was more than happy to have a banquet. Lu Mei offered a cup of tea, and she was considered to be straight.

Outsiders don't have to invite, but brothers and sisters at home have to.Anyway, Lu Mei was detained in the yard for half a month, because the Dragon Boat Festival was approaching, and the family would have a banquet together, so it would be inappropriate to introduce Lu Mei to his brother and sister-in-law at that time.Only then did Mrs. Zhao Jia order a few women to take Lu Mei to the East Mansion to visit Mrs. Li.She only pretended to be sick and didn't go with her, and she didn't even want to meet Lu Mei.

It's somewhat embarrassing, when Liuli gave birth to a son in Dongfu, Zhao Jia often laughed at Li Shi behind his back as a faceless person who couldn't be in charge of the family.Unexpectedly, this time I cried and made noises, but still ended up like this.It would be fine if this Lu Mei was a maid fan or something, just find a fault and get rid of it, but she is still half an official lady, so she can't be moved easily.

This is the first time for Lu Mei to go out since she entered the West Mansion, and Zhao Jia's not coming with her is the biggest, she feels a little happy in her heart, looking at the pavilions, towers, pavilions, mountains, rocks and trees along the way, she can't help but praise the elegance of the Cao family.

Although the women were ordered by Mrs. Zhao Jia not to respect the second wife, none of them were fools. The second wife was being favored, and the pillow wind was strong, so none of them dared to be too negligent.So Lu Mei praised, and they all catered to each other and laughed, so they wouldn't be too cold.

After entering the main room of Kaiyang Courtyard, Lu Mei felt that her eyesight was not enough, all of these hanging decorations were authentic works of fine works, and any of them were treasures.Originally, she was in the West Mansion, because Cao Quan was pampering her and sleeping with her every night, Zhao Jia did not skimp on her in terms of food and clothing, and the furnishings in the room were also very meticulous, so she lived for a few days , you know that the Cao family is rich.But when she saw these in Kaiyangyuan today, she realized that the wealth of the Cao family was far beyond her imagination.She has also experienced some big scenes, but she has never seen anyone stronger than the Cao family, and it seems that the eldest house is worse than the second house, no wonder it is the first branch of the long house.

On the one hand, Lu Mei secretly rejoiced for her good luck, and entered the Cao family. If she had a son to rely on in the future, she would enjoy inexhaustible glory and wealth in the rest of her life.On the one hand, I feel a little regretful. In the past two days, I heard that the eldest son of Cao’s family’s only child is a 16-year-old boy. Although he was accused of being married, he has no concubine in the house. It would be great if I could marry him , won the heart of a young man, in the future these are not all his own, wouldn't it be even more agreeable!
Lu Mei made up her own plans indiscriminately, and was led by the maid to Dongnuan Pavilion to meet Li Shi.Lu Mei knew that Mrs. Li was the mistress of the family, and when they met, she saluted politely and said hello, and flattered her without any trace.

Mrs. Li has always been kind and sincere, because she saw Lu Mei's extremely beautiful appearance, her speech is decent, her advances and retreats are moderate, and she doesn't have the coquettishness of an official lady, so she likes her a little bit from the bottom of her heart.So he spoke more kindly, and gave her four more rulers as a gift.Because Cao Yi was also here, the two sides met and chatted politely.

Lu Mei saw that both her mother and daughter were good-natured and treated her well, and then thinking about Zhao Jia's face, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart. After all, she was not lucky enough to marry into the big house.If there is such a mother-in-law and sister-in-law, I don't know how to live happily.

A few people chatted for a while, because Mrs. Li still had to take care of Cao Yin, and it was inconvenient for Lu Mei to stay longer, so they got up and said goodbye.

After exiting Kaiyang Courtyard, passing through the hallway and turning into the back garden, Lu Mei saw a tall young man coming towards Kaiyang Courtyard from afar.Her heart moved, could it be that the heavens took pity on him and sent that eldest son to her eyes?
For a moment, Lu Mei turned 360 times in his mind, and his beautiful eyes only stared at the young man, but the more he looked at it, the more he felt familiar.She felt strange in her heart, she didn't know anyone in Jiangning, how could...Suddenly, she thought of someone, and hurriedly widened her eyes and looked carefully.

God, it's not who that person is!
Lu Mei was so frightened that Huarong turned pale, she immediately messed up her hands and feet, lowered her head, neither retreating nor advancing.

Oncoming, it is Cao Yong.Before he arrived at Zhizao Mansion, he happened to meet a young man sent by Cao Fang to look for Cao Yong.Because this time he brought a lot of Fritillaria from the Taihu Pearl Field, Cao Fang had already asked Cao Yong for instructions, and they should be temporarily placed in Zhizao Mansion, so as not to be calculated by others.Naturally, these mother-of-pearls need to be taken care of by Zheng Woxue.Cao Yong knew that this would save someone from making other ideas before the pearl meeting, so he agreed and told his mother in advance to prepare a guest house for Zheng Woxue in the mansion.

Zheng Woxue was just a domestic slave of Cao's family, because Cao Yong treated their brothers and sisters differently, Cao Yin and Li's family were also polite.In the past, when she came to pay her respects, she also stayed and stayed with Cao Yi, so she was considered a half-guest.Unexpectedly, now Cao Yong personally ordered to prepare a guest room for her alone.Originally, Mrs. Li thought that her son was about to get enlightened, so she went to arrange it happily, but unexpectedly arranged it to meet the specifications of a delicate guest.

When Cao Yi saw it, he secretly felt that it was wrong, and it was not easy to talk to his mother about it, so he whispered to Cao Yong.

Cao Yong was quite a headache, but he didn't want to deepen the misunderstanding, so he hurriedly told his mother that he had no intention of taking a concubine.

After hearing this, Mrs. Li was silent for a long time, and didn't say anything else, she just asked to rearrange the courtyard over there, don't neglect the guests, but don't be too grandiose.

Cao Yong was relieved.

After returning to the mansion, he chatted with Cao Fang, and Cao Yong planned to go to Zheng Woxue's place to see Fritillaria. Over the years, because he has never been free, he never went to the bead field.

As soon as he entered the second gate, he saw a group of maids and women walking towards him, surrounded by a young woman in gorgeous clothes.Cao Yong was still a little surprised in his heart, he didn't know whose family's female relatives were visiting, but his mother was entertaining at Kaiyang Courtyard.I was still hesitating in my heart, whether to go forward to pay respects, or to retreat temporarily.However, I felt that something was wrong. Although the young woman couldn't see her face clearly, there were a few maids who followed behind her.

Don't talk about Cao Yong, just talk about that Lumei, but Huarong turned pale with fright, just wanted to find a place to hide, and begged God in his heart, don't let the person in front see him.If you wear it, it will be a trivial matter to be sold yourself, and you might even lose your life.

Lu Mei looked flustered, and the women were a little surprised.Because Lu Mei had been holding the money of a lady before, she had always been dignified and steady, so when there was such a panic, it was really unusual!
The women looked over and saw that their uncle had come back from outside, so they guessed that Lu Mei was a young lady who came out of a deep boudoir. Seeing the man from outside, she was a little shy, and admired in her heart that it was the young lady from an official's family who had a tender face, so she hurried to Lu Mei said: "Don't be afraid, aunt, that's not an outsider, but the uncle of the family! Don't avoid suspicion, he is your nephew, let him come to see you!"

When Lu Mei heard this, it was more like five thunderbolts.It turned out that he was the uncle of the Cao family!What can I do?Really hit the knife edge.Her mind was in a mess, and she couldn't think of any good plans. She gritted her teeth, she couldn't just stand here stupidly, and let's avoid today first.

Seeing that several women were looking at her with probing eyes, Lu Mei coughed lightly, steadied her mind, and pretended to be calm: "Although he is a nephew, the second master is not at home now, so seeing him like this I don't agree with the etiquette, let's see you some other day." As he spoke, he lifted his foot and walked to the path on the other side.

The women all said that the young lady talked a lot, so they had to follow Lu Mei's pace, and a group of people detoured past.

Cao Yong was still thinking about whether he would be polite, but he saw that they refused to walk in a straight line and wanted to take a detour.Only then did Cao Yong feel a little curious. After a careful look, he recognized that they were the servants from the second room of the West Mansion, but for some reason they were accompanying the foreign visitors.However, the other party was young, and it was not considered rude to walk around to avoid seeing him.He didn't take it seriously at the moment, so he went into the upper room, greeted his parents first, and said a few words to Cao Yi.

Cao Yiyin asked him: "Brother just came in? Did you see Aunt Lu? She came to say hello to mother, and she just said goodbye and left!"

Cao Yong was taken aback for a moment, recalling the group of female family members he met just now, he thought it was them, so he nodded and said: "I saw it from a distance. We didn't meet each other."

Cao Yi laughed and said: "Then Aunt Lu is a peerless beauty." Then, he praised Lu Mei endlessly.

Marry a wife and a virtuous person, marry a concubine and marry a beautiful woman.Thinking of these two sentences, Cao Yong glanced at the smiling and silent Li beside him, and changed the topic of Cao Yi without leaving any trace.But he secretly wondered, his second aunt has always been domineering, how could he allow another aunt to come to Xifu?But after all, it was their housework and had nothing to do with him. Cao Yong didn't take it too seriously, and asked Cao Yi which courtyard Zheng Woxue was placed in.

(End of this chapter)