in spring

Chapter 241 The Servant's Counterattack

The room was silent.For a while, only the sound of everyone's breathing could be heard, but no one spoke.

Lu Yougui stared at Mu Chen, who was a little uncomfortable at first, but soon calmed down and looked at him fearlessly.After a while, Lu Yougui let out a sigh of relief, and said lightly: "I didn't understand, what you said...are you going to file a complaint in front of Lord Hou? But don't forget, that is the wife of the house! Fang is also a wife! The son she gave birth to is the eldest son of the Hou Mansion, our future master! If you do this, you will not be afraid..." Chun Ying and the others also looked at Mu Chen nervously.

Mu Chen sneered: "As long as there is a second way, we will not do it. Uncle Lu, you are out of sight, but we who stay in Beijing don't know how much we will be tossed! The credit belongs to others, and we are the ones to bear the guilt. If the master is dissatisfied, he pushes us to take the blame. Tell us to live a poor life! Uncle Lu, Uncle Mo, Aunt Wang, we are all servants for several lifetimes. I have always been respectable in front of the old lady and Lord Hou. Why should I call those who have no ability and just flatter them? On our heads?!"

When everyone heard this, their faces were a little bit angry, and they seemed to be greatly moved.Chunying secretly looked at Mu Chen for a few times, and thought to herself: I didn't realize before that this guy is a good lobbyist.

Mu Chen continued: "Actually, when our families have children, they are their slaves as soon as they are born, and they can only be with their masters for the rest of their lives. How could they deliberately oppose the master's family?? Naturally, they hope that the master's family will prosper. Master The family is good, and we are naturally good. The master's family is unlucky, and we are not going to end well. Seeing that the mistress has done something wrong, if we don't speak out because we are afraid, when she ruins the family business in the future, how can we? Go drink the northwest wind?! Maybe at that time, she thinks we are wasting food and throwing it out to sell, where are we going to complain?!" After a pause, his tone slowed down, "Actually, my wife was fine before, that's it. For some reason in the past two years, I have become more and more confused. In the past, there was an old lady watching, and people in and out of the house followed the old routine, which was fairly organized, but now there is no rule at all! We servants , I am also worried about the old lady and Lord Hou!"

Chunying twitched her brows, and quickly glanced at the others. Sure enough, seeing everyone seemed to be relieved, Aunt Wang sighed, "Isn't it? Lord Hou has grown up, and seeing his new wife make mistakes in handling affairs, he naturally has to worry in his heart!"

The corner of Shi'er's mouth turned up quickly, and he immediately changed his worried expression: "Isn't it? If the Marquis Mansion really falls, when the third young master inherits the title in the future, the family business will be greatly reduced! The third young master is a dutiful son It's not easy to blame mother, but we are the current people, so we should share the master's worries!"

Chunying gave Shi'er a weird look, and Mu Chen next to him already had a look of surprise on his face: "That's exactly what I said! We want to tell Lord Hou about the wrong things my wife has done, not to fight against the masters, but to For the sake of the Hou Mansion, I only hope that the Hou Mansion will become more and more prosperous."

Everyone agreed, Lu Yougui smiled when he saw this, and said to Mu Chen, "Your intentions are good, I'm afraid there are too few people to be successful, and there are too many people, it is easy to leak the news. If the wife is aware of it early, the matter Don’t say it can’t be done, but the current errand can’t be kept anymore, aren’t you afraid of taking risks?”

"I'm afraid I'll go too." Mu Chen laughed, "To tell you the truth, Uncle Lu, I have already met with some old stewards in Beijing, and everyone complained a lot about my wife's behavior. He is in charge, but he is still very respectable in the mansion. After leaving here, I have to run back to Hejian Mansion. I will go back to Shunyi tomorrow to find my father. Others have gone to Xishan and Liangxiang. All I am looking for are in the mansion. Servants, those who used to be good errands, but are now dismissed and left idle, or uncles and grandpas who have received the grace of the wife and left the position of steward in the past few years. Most of the wife's favorites are the companions brought by her from her natal family , or outsiders who have just entered the mansion, we don't even have anything to do with them, so we probably won't leak the news."

This Mu Chen really has some brains, Hejian, Shunyi, Xishan, Liangxiang, these are the locations of large and small farms under the name of the Hou Mansion, and Zhuangtou are all people who are deeply trusted by the Hou Ye.It can be said that these places are all managed by the big family, and the wife can only issue orders in the name of the mistress, but it is even more difficult to change the supervisor. It is necessary to ensure that the successor can pass the test of Lord Hou.And what these people said, even if Master Hou didn't take it seriously, he couldn't ignore it.With Manager Wang leaving and almost all of the Wang family falling into the third line, these families are already the mainstay of the Hou family's children, but unfortunately most of the power is outside the house.

Shi'er's uncle Mo Da whispered next to him: "Sister, our family also participated in a share. The second uncle's family is working on behalf of the third young master. He once secretly sent a message saying that the third young master ordered him to inquire about some people." He inquired about the recent situation, and found out that those people are heading towards the capital, and they will arrive in a few days, and the third young master may be busy outside by then, and may not have the time to take care of family affairs."

It is also a good thing to avoid conflicts with the future Patriarch.Aunt Wang was immediately moved and agreed to persuade her husband's family to intervene.After hearing this, Mu Chen felt a little more relaxed, and turned to Lu Yougui with a smile: "Uncle Lu, you are also a dignified steward, so why don't you join me too? Let's go and ask Lord Hou for orders together! There are so many of us, It’s reasonable again, he won’t refuse to listen! At that time, your errand can come back again. I’d rather learn from you than see that trash’s face!”

Lu Yougui frowned, hesitating.He didn't know whether he should agree to the other party. Now that he was living a good life, he didn't pay so much attention to the so-called "decency", and he didn't want to be involved in the power struggle in the government.What Mu Chen said sounds good, but if they really fail, they don't even want to end well!

Chunying looked at her father's changing expression, and somewhat guessed what he was thinking. After thinking about it, she said to Mu Chen: "Our family does not object to this matter, but to be honest, my wife kicked our family out. When we come to the village, we can’t even spend the night outside the village without being summoned, let alone go back to Beijing? If we can’t go back to Beijing, what can we say to Lord Hou? If we go back secretly, we won’t be seen by others. When we saw Lord Hou, someone sent us back. We might have to scare the snake by then! We are no more than other managers, we are the masters who leave when we want. I have one more thing to remind Brother Mu, here The Zhuangtou belongs to his wife, and his wife is her wife's dowry girl. Although I haven't seen my wife for many years, I'm sure they will report to you when they know about your presence. If we dare to leave, they will naturally be even more sympathetic. It's clear! Didn't it implicate other uncles and grandpas?"

Mu Chen glanced at Aunt Wang and Mo Da, seeing that they nodded, she knew it was true, and fell silent.

Chunying looked at her father's expression and knew that he agreed with what she said, so she continued to say to Mu Chen with a smile: "If Brother Mu really wants to gather the stewards to give advice to Lord Hou, would you like to listen to my suggestion? ?”

Mu Chen hurriedly said, "Please tell me."

"In the final analysis, we still have children at home. Although it is reasonable, we should pay attention to the tone and method when we express our feelings to Lord Hou. Because there are so many people, and many people have resentment, I am afraid that Lord Hou will think that we are persecuting He agreed on the surface, and then quietly dealt with us, isn't it too bad for us?" After a pause, Chunying glanced at the other party's face, and then continued, "Furthermore, the third young master will really be fine by then. I heard that you will always find out later that he will be the young master in the future. After ten or eight years, we have no choice but to seek revenge after being convicted of the crime. After all, the wife is his own mother. You won’t divorce your own wife, the biological mother of your future heir, and drive your legitimate son out of your family!” If we don’t get rid of the roots, there will be endless troubles!But that is not grass, but a big tree with deep roots!
Mu Chen sighed, and began to feel that he was really careless: "What do you think the girl should do?"

Before Chunying could open her mouth, Lu Yougui said, "How does her child's family know this? It's just that she is more careful and can remind you. You go and discuss it with your father, the other old things are also smart, they must If you have a good idea, you can ask them, and ask others to come out and show their faces, don't rush ahead in an arrogant manner, let Hou Ye annoy you, and make your mother sad!"

After hearing this, Mu Chen touched his head in embarrassment, and responded with a smile.

Because he was going to Hejian Mansion, Lu Yougui ordered his wife to get him some dry food and water, and then sent him and Mo Da away, regardless of what Aunt Wang said when she dragged her husband and uncle who had just returned home , then called his wife and daughter to go back to the new house together.

Chunying saw that he was silent all the way, so she carefully asked him: "Father...are you still thinking about that position in charge? Do you want to go back?"

Lu Yougui glanced at her: "What's the point?! Working hard from dawn to dusk, why don't you be praised when you want to be praised, and belittled when you want to belittled?! Now I have my own money, and no one cares about me. Why bother?" Go find that uncomfortable again?!"

Chunying breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Dad, when we find a way to become good citizens, we can open a shop by ourselves, and you can sell whatever you want! The money you earn is also ours. Everything is up to us!"

Lu's mother echoed from the side: "That's right! If you get impatient at that time, hand over the work to the guys, and your father can still go home and enjoy the happiness of being a master!"

Lu Yougui smiled, glared at his daughter, but stretched out his hand to twirl his beard, quite moved.

In the evening, Hu Fei came back.As soon as Chunying saw him, she went up to him, complaining a bit: "Why have you been away for so long? Are you done with everything?"

"It's over." Hu Fei winked, "Those annoying things won't bother us for a while, I'm going to spend this winter here!"

"Huh?!" Chun Ying was taken aback, a little pleasantly surprised, but also a little shy, "Don't you...have something else to do in the capital?" For example...revenge on his elder brother?

Hu Fei smiled. In fact, he is not so obsessed with revenge now: "There is no rush for that. We have prepared everything that needs to be prepared. We just wait for the result. It is also a pleasure to watch them slowly degenerate! In addition Besides, I really don’t have anything to do, and I’m not used to sitting around doing nothing, so I thought, I might as well take advantage of the autumn harvest and see if there are any good farms for sale near the capital, so I can add some properties.” Besides, The inner minister had already warned him not to have anything to do with the dignitaries in Beijing and China. He must keep a low profile and keep a low profile so as not to leave a bad impression on that Supreme.

He almost thought that he had no chance, but now it seems that things are not so bad.Should he thank the ambitious Fan family and Qing Guohou who intends to "do something wrong"?And that official didn't spread his words out of self-interest. If it wasn't for this, maybe he would have never had a chance?In fact, he has seen a lot now, and feels that it is no big deal if he failed to win the position. His family property is enough to buy several profitable properties.

Chunying didn't know what he was thinking, but was attracted by his words: "You want to buy land? I don't think it's a good time now. I heard that the current land price is 12 taels of silver per mu of land! Buy a hectare, It’s more than 1000 taels. I remember you said that the 1000 taels you gave me are calculated on a pro rata basis. In other words, your property is only four to five thousand taels. It’s not worthwhile to spend one-fifth of your property to buy land. Yes! If the weather has always been good, it’s okay, but if you encounter a disaster year and no crops are harvested, wouldn’t you suffer a lot?!”

Hu Fei blinked, and blushed for some reason: "This...Chunying...don't be upset...Actually, my money...so what..."

Chunying glanced at him, understood a little bit, and thought it was funny: "You really are! What does it matter if you tell me the truth? Am I still not satisfied with the 1000 taels?"

"No, no! In fact...that's what I earned from the sea...but after I came back, I made more money from the farms and shops I bought, and I also opened a few shops with Li Xu's family...the money earned from those places, I It's not counted in it..." Hu Fei was a little embarrassed, "I didn't hide it from you on purpose... Li Xu didn't want his family to know these things, and I didn't mention it to anyone..."

How could Chunying blame him: "It's fine if you don't tell me. Anyway, you have enough money to buy these properties, don't you?"

Hu Fei nodded, still feeling embarrassed: "In fact, the price of grain in the south is too low. I saw that the price of grain in the north is higher, so I thought about buying a Zhuangzi here..."

Chunying shook her head and said, "The land in the south is fertile and the harvest is high. I specifically asked about the fields in the north. I can only harvest more than one stone per mu, and two stones are not guaranteed. Besides, when it comes to autumn harvest, everyone has to sell grain. It’s better to pay taxes in exchange for money, and at that time the price of grain fell sharply, and you couldn’t make any money, unless you hid the grain and sold it when the price of grain was high.”

Hu Fei thought for a while, then asked again: "Then what do you think...if you don't buy a farm, what kind of property can you buy?"

Chunying's eyes rolled: "The real estate is good, and the shops are also pretty good. Buy a few good shops in a busy area, don't do business yourself, and rent them out. This way, you don't have to worry about whether the business is profitable or not. You can just collect the rent. Or you can buy some courtyards and rent them out. Many scholars, foreign officials, relatives, and businessmen who come to Beijing will rent a house for a long time in Beijing, which is cheaper than staying in a hotel. To tell you the truth, I Dad bought two yards, put them under the name of his brother-in-law, and rented them out to individual guests, and he could collect more than ten or twenty taels of silver a year. Your family property is rich, and you can earn more if you buy more houses. If you really want to buy a field, you can just buy a hundred and eighty acres and plant grain to keep enough for yourself.”

Hu Fei laughed and said, "My Chunying is really smart and capable! Just do it like this!"

Chunying spat at him: "Who's yours? Stop talking nonsense!" Seeing that Hu Fei was just looking at her and smiling, her face suddenly turned red.

Not to mention that Hu Fei accompanied his sweetheart tenderly, and occasionally went around to inquire about suitable real estate fields. When the first snow fell in Daxing, a shocking news came from Beijing.

Cao Guanshi was dismissed, but Wang Da was appointed as the new Zhuangtou.

When Chunying got the news, she immediately turned to look at her father, Lu Yougui smiled slightly: "This is... interesting..."

(End of this chapter)