Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 392

At the end of February, the rumors in the city were all about the corpses in Shichahai.Some say there are dozens of them, some say dozens, and some say hundreds of them. They all say that they have noses and eyes as if they were seen with their own eyes.

Nowadays, if someone's child is naughty, the mother only needs to say, "If you cry again, you will be thrown to Haizi", and the child will stop immediately.

On February 27, Sima Jinliang, a soldier in Beicheng, was dismissed for inspection because he was "very confused and made many mistakes."

On February 28, the title of the Zongrenfu: Fuguogong Laishi was not quiet and kept his order. He ordered his eunuch Li Shou and his inner eunuchs to inquire about information and spread rumors in various places. It is very improper to behave. He also ordered people to kill his subordinates. With Chang Wu, Lai Shizhi should be dismissed, imprisoned, and all his subordinates should be removed.

Kangxi personally commented on the booklet: Lai Shi wrote that he was retired from prison, his duke and his successors would inherit it, and all his subordinates and leaders would be given to the successor of the duke.

Smarter officials have seen that cleaning up Shichahai is a cover, and cleaning up the inner city is real.

Those people who thought about the lack of the capital's Yamen and Shuntianfu Yamen in the infantry earlier were honest.There are only a few nerd censors who want to impeach Longkodo and Wang Yi for the crime of "overseeing".

Among the salvaged bodies was Li Ding, who disappeared a few months ago.

Qian Zhongshui, the housekeeper of the Li residence, had led someone to identify the corpse, and through the clothes on his body and the left badge, he confirmed that it was his young master Li Ding.

It's just that the body was incomplete, it had been in the water for a long time, most of it was rotted, and was swallowed by fish and shrimp, and now only bones and remnants of flesh remained, so it was really impossible to identify the cause of death.

When the news was sent to Cao's mansion, Cao Yong had to go to Xizhimen again.

Because it was a young man who died unexpectedly, Qian Zhongying, as a servant, couldn't decide how to deal with Li Ding's funeral, so he sent a letter to Suzhou, waiting for Li Xu's instructions.

Seeing the tragic state of Li Ding's incomplete body, Cao Yong could not help but sigh twice.It's not that he's cheating, but that it's really appalling, and the smell is disgusting.

Since it has become a suspect case in Shuntian Mansion and the Infantry Dutong Yamen, what else can the housekeeper Qian Zhongshen expect?He can only hope to see if the master is wise and powerful with Suzhou, and find out the feud of the Li family.

After Cao Yong left Li's house, he immediately took out the sachet, put it under his nose and sniffed vigorously a few times, and his chest felt more comfortable.It was sewn by Chu Yu himself, and it contained two fragrant herbs, rhubarb and atractylodes.

In February, many deep wells and underground ditches were dug in the city, and the stench on the roads was overwhelming. Those diggers who dug the ditches were often suffocated, and dead people often happened.People who often go out, bring a sachet to refresh their minds.

Wei Hei followed Cao Yong on horseback. Seeing Cao Yong's expression, he couldn't help laughing twice, and said: "I heard that no one in the city dares to eat fish anymore, and the fishmongers are so sorry. Mother!"

Cao Yong was better. Hearing Wei Hei mentioning "fish" and thinking about Li Ding's nearly gnawed body, he couldn't help but feel sick in his stomach.

"The bakery shop has become very popular these days, and many people eat vegetarian food to pray for blessings!" Wei Hei saw that Cao Yong's face turned pale, so he stopped teasing him and changed the subject.

"Oh!" Cao Yong listened, and his heart moved: "It's just fish, why can't it even have pork and chicken?"

Wei Hei said with a smile: "The people are ignorant. It is said that there are ghosts in Shichahai. Gods and Buddhas, prepare private offerings and guard them."

Cao Yong counted the days in his mind. It has been several days since he talked with Han Jiangshi about starting a dessert shop last time. I don't know what Han Jiangshi is thinking about.Regardless of whether she does it or not, Cao Yong is already interested in the dim sum shop's business.

"Daoxiang Village", this time-honored brand that is booming in the future, will build a brand in advance more than two hundred years in the morning, and thinking about it makes him look forward to it.

From Daoxiang Village, I thought of Liubiju, Quanjude, and Neiliansheng.However, the Cao family is a family of officials and eunuchs after all, so they should not be too greedy, otherwise it will be difficult for Yu Shi to deal with it.

Nowadays, there are many children in the mansion, and there will only be more and more in the future. There is a dim sum shop at home, and it is quite fun to make some new dim sum for the children.

Thinking of this, Cao Yong felt better and stopped thinking about Li Ding.

Li Ding's elder brother, Li Nai, is a kind-hearted person, I only hope that Li Xu can make less trouble and rely more on this eldest son, it should be a blessing.

Regarding Li Ding's matter, Cao Yong never regretted it at all, nor would he hypocritically blame himself.If he does it again, he will make the same choice, who made him a life-saving person.

Those who kill themselves for benevolence are Buddhas, not Cao Yong.

Back at Cao Mansion, Cao Yong just got off his horse at the door, when he saw a person coming out of the door, knelt on the ground on one knee, and said: "I have seen the old man!"

When Cao Yong saw it, it was Zheng Hu who came.

He hastily got off his horse, pulled Zheng Hu up, and said with a smile: "Since I received the letter, I knew you were coming, so I counted the days, and this is here!"

Following Zheng Hu, Cao Fang who escorted the New Year's goods back to Jiangning years ago.

Cao Fang went up to greet Cao Yong, and Cao Yong asked: "Master and Madam, are they all well? Last time, my father said in his letter that he was going to Suzhou. Did you go?"

Cao Fang replied: "Master, Mrs. Wu and Eldest Young Master went to Suzhou on the fifth day of February, and the younger ones also went to Beijing on the fifth day of the second month!"

Cao Yong nodded, and asked again: "The old butler has a strong body, did you talk about the old man in the capital?"

Cao Fang's father, Cao Fu, was the old housekeeper of Jiangning Weaving Mansion. Due to his age, his eldest son Cao Yuan took over the position of housekeeper, and now he is taking care of himself at home.

Cao Fang is the second son of Cao Fu, and now his family is working with Cao Yong in Beijing.In addition to delivering New Year's goods to the host's family last year, Cao Fang also wanted to see if he could take his old father to the capital to fulfill his filial piety.

Cao Fang replied: "Uncle Xie is thinking about it. The young father is still tough, but he is used to living in the south and he doesn't want to come to the north. He said that after coming to the north, it would not be cheap to greet the master and wife."

Seeing his melancholy, Cao Yong persuaded him: "There are some old people who don't want to leave their homes. You have such filial piety, and the old people are also relieved. Stay for two years and see if it doesn't work. When Xiaoman grows up, I will pick you up." It’s an errand, you go back to the south mansion.”

After hearing this, Cao Fang shook his head and said: "Master, don't say that. The younger one is being raised by the elder, and he hasn't done his best yet. How can he forget his duty for personal reasons? Besides, the younger father has an older brother to serve him, so there is no need for the younger one." trouble."

While talking, everyone entered the yard. Cao Yong and Cao Fang finished talking about Jiangning's family affairs, and then asked Zheng Hu, "Is your sister married? Do you want to settle down in Guangzhou, or do you want to go back to Shandong with your brother-in-law?"

Zheng Hu sent New Year's goods to Yizhou in the twelfth lunar month of the previous year, and he wanted to stay with Cao Yong as an errand.Because of the marriage between his sister and the Wang family, and the preparation of dowry, Cao Yong didn't keep him, and asked him to go south to take care of his sister's affairs.

Zheng Hu rubbed his hands together, laughed twice, and said, "The little one and Wang Quantai both wanted to have a date before the year, and the younger girl refused, saying that it would be the twelfth lunar month of this year! At that time, they will come from Guangzhou. Come back, or go back to my hometown in Shandong, or come to Beijing."

Zheng Woxue is two years older than Cao Yong, and now she is 23. She is already a big girl. Why is the wedding postponed for another year?
Cao Yong counted the days and had an epiphany in his heart.

Yang Mingchang was absent in September of the previous year, and the filial piety on the 27th happened to be the twelfth lunar month of this year.Even if he abandoned his wife and children during his lifetime, Zheng Woxue still insisted on observing 27 months of filial piety for his father before remarrying. This is an inseparable blood bond.

Cao Yong saw that Zheng Hu and Cao Fang's clothes were wrinkled, and their faces were faintly pale. It was obvious that they had arrived in the mansion not long ago and had not had time to wash and rest, so he said to the two: "Go down and wash first, and have a good rest. For a while, I will prepare the dishes in the kitchen for a while, and I will welcome you at night!"

The two went down in response, and Cao Yong didn't go back to Wutong Garden immediately, but went to the banyan courtyard first, and Mr. Xunzhuang spoke.

Mr. Zhuang was sitting on a chair under the porch, basking in the sun with his eyes squinted, while teaching Niuniu to recite Tang poems.

"At noon on the day of hoeing, the sweat drips down the soil, but the food on the plate is all hard work!" He shook his head, with a bit of an old master's posture.

Little Niu Niu was sitting on the twig, shaking her head, her small appearance was really rare.

Niu Niu first repeated it imitatively, and then when Mr. Zhuang asked to recite it again, there was only one sentence left in his mouth, "every grain is hard work".

Cao Yong stood at the gate of the courtyard, seeing that Mr. Zhuang was so leisurely and at ease, he couldn't bear to bother him with these trivial matters, so he stopped.

Little Niuniu, however, has sharp eyes, saw Cao Yong, immediately got up from the twig, and rushed towards Cao Yong as if flying: "Brother, hug!"

Cao Yong squatted down, picked up the little Niuniu, weighed it and said: "What is Niuniu eating, why is it so heavy?"

Little Niu Niu laughed, put her arms around Cao Yong's neck, and said in a childish voice, "Niu Niu loves the pastry that Second Brother gave me!"

Cao Yong stroked her braid and said: "Well, you can eat as much as you like. If you want to pick a few that are not sweet, be careful not to damage your teeth!"

Little Niuniu wrung her little hands, smiled and nodded: "Niuniu knows, mother and aunt talk about this all day long, brother don't talk about it!" Speaking of this, she lowered her voice and said, "Niuniu secretly eats, and doesn't let mother and aunt talk about it together." My aunt sees it, my brother is not allowed to talk about it!"

When Cao Yong saw her ghostly appearance, he also laughed and said: "Well, good, listen to Niu Niu!"

Mr. Zhuang has already got up from the chair, seeing Cao Yong pampering Niuniu so much, he couldn't help shaking his head and said: "She is naughty enough, you still spoil her like this!"

Cao Yong listened to this irresponsible words, and said to Mr. Zhuang: "Sir, are you talking about me? Who is it that follows the girl's ass all day long, wishing to pick the stars and the moon? That's not called being used to it. As an older brother, is it just a habit to let him eat a few more snacks?"

Mr. Zhuang was so choked that he laughed himself, and said: "The woman here is a debt. You don't think that God Bless is not with you. When the little one in the princess's stomach comes out, you will go to pick the stars, pick the stars, and pick the stars." The moon!"

Seeing that Cao Yong was still wearing an official uniform, he knew that he had just come back from a trip, so he had something to say.Mr. Zhuang then called a maid, and carried Niuniu to find the two aunts.

Niu Niu was reluctant to part with Cao Yong, and she refused at first, so she leaned on Cao Yong and looked at her father desperately.Mr. Zhuang pretended to be stern and said: "If you don't obey, then there will be no almond cakes!"

After hearing this, Niuniu reluctantly let go.As if she also noticed that she was dishonest, she said to Cao Yong with a little apology: "Brother, the almond cake is delicious...

Seeing her childish and lovely appearance, Cao Yong smiled and nodded: "Well, I see, Niuniu, go and eat!"

After Niuniu was carried down, Mr. Zhuang asked someone to bring a chair over, and the two sat on the porch and talked.All the people in the yard were sent to the back room, only the two of them were there, and they had no scruples about speaking.

Recently, there is always a feeling of "the rain is about to come and the wind is full of the building", and Cao Yong feels a little uncertain.He told Mr. Zhuang what he was confused about, and he couldn't believe the rumors from the outside world that the eighth elder brother was about to lose power.

This is only the 53rd year of Kangxi, and the fourteenth elder brother has not shown at all so far. At this time, the eighth elder brother is about to fall?
Hearing Cao Yong's doubts, Mr. Zhuang took a long breath and said: "Long live Lord is old and cannot tolerate the existence of any forces that threaten him. The two broke off the relationship between father and son. In the eyes of Lord Long Live, the eighth elder brother is already an irreconcilable enemy and is no longer a son.

It's just that Lord Long Live has become more and more cautious, this is the case with the eldest brother, the second elder brother, and the eighth elder brother.They all cut off their wings first, and when only a widow is left, they will be charged with a crime and locked up.

The eighth elder brother is different from the eldest elder brother and the second elder brother. Those two are the eldest and the first son, and they have their own relatives to support them.The eighth elder brother loves fame too much, and because of his great reputation, his disciples are mixed with good and evil people, not as powerful as the first elder brother and the second elder brother.

In the eyes of Long Live, the eighth elder brother is just a prey for adjustment. When he sees that the noise is full, he thinks about repairing it; when he calms down, he will be allowed to live for a while.It's just that after going down like this, the eighth elder brother is like a frightened bird, but his actions are more and more flawed. Long live God can't tolerate him anymore! "

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(End of this chapter)