Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 133 Dilemma
After returning to Qiujiju, Cao Yong sat on the chair and didn't want to move anymore, feeling physically and mentally exhausted.Xiu Ying waited on him for two months, knowing that her young master loves cleanliness the most, so she asked someone to bring a bucket of hot water without him asking.

Because he hadn't gone to pay his respects to his parents, he also needed to discuss with his father about the Li family's affairs, so after Cao Yong took a bath and changed his clothes, he came out of seeking his own residence.When they were about to arrive at Kaiyangyuan, they happened to meet Cao Yi who was also coming, and Chun Ya followed behind with a food box.

Seeing that it was Cao Yong, Cao Yi quickly walked over: "Brother is back? I heard from my mother that my brother is going to help my father to go to Yangzhou Mansion on business, and it will take a few days to return. Seeing my brother now, I must have handled the errands properly." ?”

Cao Yong smiled and nodded, looked at the food box in Chunya's hand, and asked Cao Yi, "Have you been cooking for father again?"

Cao Yi shook his head: "It's two plates of dim sum, mung bean cake and minced meat pancake. It's delicious just out of the pan. I was delayed for a while, but I don't know how it tastes!"

"It's hot, and it's just right for the cold! Come in, I want to be blessed by my father and mother, and have a good taste!" Seeing that she seemed to be in a low mood, Cao Yong hurriedly greeted her with a smile.

When the two brothers and sisters entered the courtyard, they saw Xiuluan and Jinlu coming out of the main room, and saw the two young masters, they all smiled and greeted them.One of them was going to the kitchen to arrange dinner, and the other was ordered to go to Chun Nuan Pavilion to invite Cao Yi.

Jin Lu smiled and said to Cao Yi: "Young lady has really made my maidservant happy, but I let my maidservant steal away from her laziness. The madam even asked the maidservant to invite the young lady to come here. The young lady will go in with the uncle!"

Cao Yi blushed when he thought of Jinlu's jokes when he came over.Cao Yong did not notice, has lifted the curtain and went into the house.Cao Yi took the food box from Chunya, sent her back first, and carried it behind his brother.

Cao Yin and Li Shi were both in the west, feeling a little uncomfortable.They heard Cao Yong mention it, and knew that Cao Yi had already known his own life experience.In fact, Cao Quan and his wife were invited over just now, and they all hoped that Cao Yi's relationship with them would ease before getting married.Unexpectedly, Cao Quan was still unable to support her, and Zhao Jia was so vigilant, for fear of losing the slightest bit. No one thought that Cao Yi was the second wife's own flesh and blood, but she only took the name of an adopted daughter, and she really owed her too much.

Seeing their son and daughter coming together, both Cao Yin and Li Shi were a little surprised.Because of what Cao Yong said before going to Yangzhou, Li, like Cao Yi, thought that he was going to go for ten days and a half months, and he helped prepare the luggage the night before.Even Cao Yin was surprised, his son returned so quickly, could it be that the man was rescued in one day?

Although Cao Yong showed a relaxed expression on purpose and greeted his father and mother, Li Shi still found out his haggardness, and couldn't help but feel distressed: "Then Yangzhou City is more than two hundred miles away from our Jiangning. You set off yesterday morning. Just turn back, this is more than 400 miles! There is nothing at home, why are you in such a hurry? Even if you finish your errands, it won’t be so hard to come back after taking a break!" Speaking of this, he called someone to tell the kitchen Over there, add two more supplementary dishes.

Cao Yong sat on the chair, and Cao Yi put the snacks on the kang table.Cao Yin and Li were very relieved to see her so filial and well-behaved, and asked their brothers and sisters to sit on the edge of the kang, a family of four.

Cao Yong ate something before he came out of Yangzhou in the morning. Although he was on the way, he didn't eat a few chopsticks, but he was a little hungry, so he took a piece of minced meat and ate it.

Mrs. Li held her daughter's hand, looked at her daughter, then at her son, thinking that in a few months her daughter would be married, and her son would go to Beijing to work as an official, she couldn't help showing a bit of loneliness.

Cao Yong finished eating the biscuits, wiped his hands with a handkerchief, and saw his mother looking at him reluctantly, his heart moved, and he said with a smile: "Mom, I haven't seen my grandmother for many years. While my son is still in Jiangning, How about taking grandma over to live for a while?"

Mrs. Li shook her head and said: "In the past two years, I have sent someone to pick it up, but your grandmother is impatient. Every day, just follow your uncle and grandma to eat fast and chant Buddha, and love to be pure!"

Cao Yong only met his grandmother once, thinking about it, the old man really doesn't talk much, and his temper is very quiet.But thinking about the Li family, he still tried to persuade him: "Grandmother is only a child of my mother. She must miss her very much, but she is just afraid of troublesome our family! The old man, getting old, will inevitably think more. If the mother There is no reason not to come to pick it up in person? Besides, I don’t know when I will go to Beijing, and my sister will get married in the past two years. It’s good to bring grandma here, and let us be grandchildren and grandchildren to be filial!”

Cao Yin was listening, but his heart sank more and more.Seeing that Cao Yong is so impatient to encourage his mother to pick up Mr. Gao, it seems that he is already desperate for the Li family. The accident in Yangzhou...

Mrs. Li was very happy to see her son being so caring, and her face was a little more happy: "That's right! Your sister has set a date for November, and you can stay at home for three or two months at most. This opportunity is just right to pick up your grandmother to live for a while!"

"Ping'er set a date for November?" Cao Yong was a little surprised: "When did it happen? Ping'er is still young, why did you arrange her to get married so early?"

Cao Yi was sitting next to Mrs. Li, listening to the gossip of his mother and elder brother. When he heard that he was going to pick up his grandmother, his face was full of anticipation.Unexpectedly, when it came to his own marriage, he couldn't sit still, so he hurriedly made an excuse to make tea for everyone and avoided going out.

"Your sister is already sixteen, and next year she will be seventeen. How can she be so young? Didn't your sister get married when she was fifteen?" Li smiled and said to her son, "I know you don't want your sister, but I feel that the letter from Luo's family is urging me." , your sister-in-law is not young, and he is the only son, so it is reasonable for him to want to get married as soon as possible!"

Cao Yong was still a little reluctant in his heart, but since it was decided by his parents, it would not be good for him to be troublesome, so he nodded to his mother, indicating that he understood.

The mother and son chatted a few more gossips, and the maid came to report, and two women in charge came back and forth with their wives.

When Mrs. Li went out, Cao Yongfang told his father about Yangzhou.Cao Yin shook his head when he heard that, no matter whether it was his son or his nephew Li Ding, they were all too much.If Li Ding really knows the level, he should tell Cao Yong about the inside story.Cao Yong should not leave no room for direct threats.Right now, although both Cao Yong and Cao Yin suspected that the governor's mansion was involved, there is no evidence after all, so it's hard to say.

But this is the end of the matter, and it's meaningless to talk about other things. The Cao and Li families are now going in opposite directions, which makes people feel sad. After all, apart from their in-laws, the two families have been friends for several lifetimes.Although it is not the best policy to bring Mrs. Gao over, there is no other better way in front of me.The father and son reached a consensus on this point, and urged Mrs. Li to go to her mother's house in Suzhou as soon as possible.

*
Because Shengjia has been outside the Great Wall, Cao Yong didn't go with him and he didn't have an errand in Beijing, so he could stay in Jiangnan all the time.Calculated according to the itinerary of previous years, Shengjia will be able to return to Beijing in September, and Cao Yong needs to rush back to the capital before then.

When Cao Yong went back, as usual, Xiao Man, the Wei brothers, and the Wu brothers would follow him.The Zhao family heard that Wei Bai was leaving in mid-August, so they thought about organizing Wei Bai and Fang Cha's marriage before then.Because there are many relatives in the Zhao family, and Madam Zhao is very old, it is impossible for the old man to marry her granddaughter who went to Beijing to see her, so she came up with this idea.It's just that it's against Jiangning's rules that the woman's family set up a wedding ceremony before the man's family, and there are more or less suspicions of marrying into the family. The Zhao family was afraid that Wei Bai would make trouble, so they specially found someone to make peace with Wei Bai.

Wei Bai wished that his wife would marry into the family one day sooner. He had nothing to say, and the family had no parents, only one elder brother. Wei He also hoped that his younger brother would get married soon, so he naturally agreed to the Zhao family.

The Zhao family used the horoscopes of the two people's birthdays to calculate, and the coming date was May [-]th. Although it was a little rushed, because Fang Cha's dowry was arranged a few years ago, Wei Bai didn't care about it. It's also cheap.Wei Bai used the money Cao Yong gave earlier to entrust Cao Yuan to buy a single-family small courtyard near Zhao's house as a temporary new house. He planned to live here for the first three months, and followed him in August. When Cao Yong returned to Beijing, the house was rented out and counted as property.

Wei Xin originally planned to take the money from the Liuhe Bank and go south on May [-]th, but when he heard that Wei Bai's wedding date was set on the [-]th, he wanted to have a wedding wine before leaving.

On the [-]th, Wei and Jiang made an appointment to deliver the silver at Linjianglou.

However, Han Jiangshi arrived early, repeatedly rubbing the red sandalwood box containing the bank notes, looking a little restless.

A few days ago, when Cheng Wenkui took 100 million taels of silver from Yangzhou and came back, he brought back a message that the Cheng family had sent more than a hundred people to help Cao Yong suppress the bandits, and it was the young master himself who came forward.

Although Han Jiang's mother is a daughter from the first line, she belongs to a side branch of the Cheng family, and the house of her maternal grandparents is not very prominent.Han Jiang herself has won the favor of the head of the Cheng family because of her cleverness since she was a child, but in the final analysis, she is a level behind, and her own uncles are not very popular with the head of the family, so she is somewhat troubled. .Now she weighs it up on her own, she is afraid that it is easy to ask the head of the family to help, but it is difficult to ask the young head to take care of it herself!What exactly did the Cao family do to make the Cheng family so effective?

Since the Han Jiang clan took over the property from his father, he has been scouting out all the forces in Jiangning.Cao's family has deep roots in Jiangning, she knew it, although she never underestimated it, she didn't take it too seriously, officials and businessmen have different paths.Speaking of it, she and the three daughters of the Cao family were all handkerchiefs, because she was quite proud of the strength of the Cheng family, and never thought of using the relationship with the Jizhu Society to get in touch with the Cao family.It wasn't until that time when Jiang Wenzheng's brothers blocked the door and scolded her, and Cao Yong helped her out, that Han Jiangshi had some thoughts of clinging to Cao's family.

However, from the beginning to the end, the Han Jiang family used the meticulous calculations of small merchants to obtain the greatest benefits with the smallest effort - not wanting to be taken advantage of too much by the Cao family, but also thinking of using the Cao family as a cover to deter the Jiang family.When she found out that the eldest son of the Cao family was a slippery character, she knew that it was impossible for the Cao family to take care of the Jiang family for her, so she stopped thinking about being a pretense and turned to the Cao family's business idea.

The Han Jiang family has always regarded the Cheng family as their greatest reliance, and they are fearless in attacking and retreating because the Cheng family is in charge.It wasn't until she heard the news that someone was able to drive the Cheng family to sell their lives that she became terrified. Who was she dealing with?Only then did she truly believe what Cheng Wenkui said, "If you offend the Cao family, you will die."

Wei Xin arrived almost a moment later than the agreed time, and apologized first when he entered the door, jokingly said that he was entangled in family affairs, and then asked Cheng Wenkui for money.

Cheng Wenkui pushed the prepared bank note over, Wei Xin counted it, signed the deed, pressed his private seal, and handed it to Cheng Wenkui.Cheng Wenkui took the contract and put it into the screen and handed it to Han Jiangshi.

The Han Jiang family had already signed it, and only had to press the private seal.At this moment, she didn't take the private seal, but only smiled and praised: "Young Master Wei is really a straightforward person!"

Wei Xin said with a smile: "Mrs. Han does not give in to her husband, and she does business quickly. How can Wei not be happy when doing business like this?"

Han Jiang said: "The fifth master Wei is ridiculously praised. The fifth master is straightforward, and the little woman shouldn't make any detours, so she just said it. The little woman moved around and put together some money. I don't know that the fifth master Wei Are you still interested?"

Wei Xin was a little surprised, raised his eyebrows, and asked, "I don't know how much money Mrs. Han took out?"

Han Jiangshi replied: "One million taels."

Wei Xin was taken aback, he was already very satisfied to be able to spend 50 taels from the Liuhe Bank, but now that Han Jiang's easily handed out 100 million taels, how could he not be very excited?But without Cao Yong's words, he didn't dare to take the money, and he was unwilling to let it go, so he said haha: "Speaking of it, 50 two-week turns is enough, but Mrs. Han is so troublesome for Wei. Wei is really sorry. The money is easy to talk about, but the interest of the dividend, Wei is afraid that he will not be able to bear it."

Han Jiangshi changed his tough attitude from that day, and said with a smile: "Wei Wuye is out of touch when he said that, the matter of interest is easy to discuss."

Wei Xin narrowed his eyes, pondered for a while, and said, "There are still some things at home that Wei needs to go back to take care of. I really don't have the time to discuss the details with Mrs. Han here. Wei will still hang around in Jiangning for a few days, and then I will give it to Han." How's the news ma'am?"

Han Jiangshi had no choice but to agree, press the private seal, each of them had a contract, and said goodbye after a few more polite words.

Wei Xin rushed to Cao's mansion and told Cao Yong about Han Jiang's attitude today and the fact that he gave out another one million taels of silver.

Cao Yong said: "She wants to bring in more silver. She must have figured out that this money is easy to earn. She wants to earn more! If we can earn more with the 100 million taels, that's all right, but it's not the case. How many goods are there for you to stock up? If the business is too big, it will be too eye-catching. This is not a business that you can eat alone, and you can’t tell what will happen when the time comes. It’s better to be on the safe side.”

Wei Xin patted his head, and said with a smile: "They are all small and their eyes get hot when they hear the million taels of silver. You still think about the long-term. Although there are many sources of goods in Guangdong, there are only a few of them who have stocked up to 150 million taels." The few families that came here, we suddenly cut off other people's livelihood, so naturally there will be no good results."

Cao Yong nodded: "Let's go back to the Han Jiang family!"

Wei Xin clicked his tongue and said, "The Second Miss of the Jiang family has such a big hand, but I didn't expect it. I don't know what she is thinking today, it seems that she still wants to make some money..." He paused, then suddenly said : "Young master, could it be that her family's business has a problem and she wants to pile up the money with us?"

Cao Yong shook his head: "What do you want to do? Since you don't take her money, what does she have to do with us?"

Wei Xin laughed and said, "Young one is confused. It's just that she's really weird today. That's all, the young master said so, and the young one will return to her."

*
Zhao's house, the backyard.

Fang Cha sent the two little maids away from a distance, and squatted under the old locust tree in the courtyard to dig a small hole, and heard the maid outside shouting: "Miss, Miss Xiangcao from the house is here to see you Already!"

Fang Cha turned a deaf ear and dug her own.Vanilla felt strange, walked up to her, and asked her with a smile: "What are you doing? Can't you find gold?"

Fang Cha didn't look back, and said calmly: "It's nothing." She didn't stop holding her hands, she just asked her, "Are you busy there, Miss? Why are you here?"

Vanilla squatted beside her: "Girl asked me to come and stay for one night, and watch to help you get busy."

Fang Cha paused, bit her lower lip firmly, and said nothing.Vanilla sighed: "You told me that you treat the girl with all your heart and soul, but the girl always treats you not close. According to me, in fact, the girl misses you very much. The girl treats you better than any of us. ..."

Fang Cha's eyes turned red, she didn't say a word, she just buried her head in digging.Vanilla looked at it strangely, and couldn't help but asked again: "What are you doing? Can I help you?" Seeing a palm-sized red lacquered wooden box next to it, she reached out and nodded: "What is this?"

"It's nothing!" Fang Cha didn't even lift her eyelids, and looked at the pit to be three inches square, then threw the box into the pit, and then shoveled soil over to bury it.In the end, I stood up, stepped on it with my feet, and sprinkled some floating soil on it, and the cleaning was the same as the side.Then he patted the soil on his hands, and said to Xiang Cao: "Come and sit in the room."

Vanilla saw that she was strange, and didn't dare to ask. When she went inside, when the little maid rolled up Fang Cha's sleeves and waited for her to wash her hands, Vanilla realized that a gold bracelet was missing from her wrist. Looking up, the pair of cat's eye pendants were also gone.
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(End of this chapter)