in spring

Chapter 243 There are policies above and countermeasures below

The Wang Lu family in Daxing's Li Family Manor heard the news of the changes in property and personnel in the Hou Mansion, and immediately sent a letter back to Beijing to ask their relatives and friends to inquire about the details.On the other hand, Shi'er's father is also preparing to take over the management of the estate.

The news came from a servant of the Hou's mansion, he was not born in the family, and he only worked as an idler in the outer courtyard, Wang Lu's family was not familiar with him, only Wang Er had gambled with him.He came this time not only to send a message, but also to escort the Cao family back to the Hou Mansion.This time there was a big change in personnel, several of Mrs. An's subordinates were kicked out of the mansion by Lord Hou, and some of them were tragically sent to prisons.Originally, Guan Cao was not wrong, but because his wife was his wife’s dowry girl, Mu Chen missed him, and because he had been in charge for several years and had not been able to increase the income of the farm, he was labeled as incompetent. Get out.

As soon as Lu Yougui heard the news, he took the Wang family brothers to discuss it, and then borrowed a carriage, and enthusiastically accompanied the messenger to a big restaurant in the town for dinner, saying that he was cleaning up for him. A silver ingot passed by.Where did the servant expect such a good thing to happen?Immediately, he went to the guest as the host did, got into the carriage and left, and the brothers of the Wang family accompanied him in person.

Lu Yougui stayed behind and ran to Guanshi Cao's house, and saw his family was in a gloomy state. The children were all sitting on the steps, some were in a daze and some were crying. Mrs. Cao was yelling in the yard, saying that "good things don't come your way." The downside is that we carry it." Compared with his usual gentle and friendly appearance, he looked like a different person. When he saw him enter the door, he didn't look good, and the servants at home were even more panicked.

Lu Yougui hurriedly said to Guanshi Cao: "What are you still doing here? The messenger was sent to the town by the brothers of the Wang family. Take advantage of this time to tidy up the things. You can't take care of the big furniture. The valuables and items are wrapped up, and the cronies are sent to the house in the town, and a few old clothes are packed up for display. When the messenger returns and he can be sent away, the matter is over. The people in the village know about it. , won’t talk too much!”

Cao Guanshi looked surprised: "Old Lu, you are..." Mrs. Cao was too surprised to scold others.

Lu Yougui sighed: "We all have children from the same family, don't I know your hardships? Our two families have come here since we came here. Thanks to the care of my elder brother and sister-in-law, we live comfortably. If we go Where else, how can there be such a blessing? Now that you are unlucky, I can't persuade the master to change his mind, let it be, knowing that you are wronged, but still stand by, what kind of people are you?!"

Cao Guanshi was very moved by what he said, and he patted Lu Yougui on the shoulder heavily: "My good brother, I saw you right!" He immediately turned to his wife: "Go and clean up! Don't forget to leave something valuable Fool the messenger, or he'll be suspicious!"

Mrs. Cao hurriedly summoned her children, maids and servants to work together. All the gold and silver, precious medicinal materials and clothes of good materials in the house were packed. Only a few old cloth clothes and cotton jackets were left in another bag. The vases and other things, as well as Mrs. Cao's private house, were also packed in boxes, leaving only a few inexpensive porcelain vases, pottery horses and other things on Duobaoge.Madam Cao gritted her teeth, took off all the jewelry on herself and her daughter, put them in an old mirror case, placed them on the dressing table, added two pieces of medium-quality jade pendants, and then took out the burden.It was past noon.

Lu Yougui borrowed two carriages and asked them to carry their things there, and said: "Your family has many children, the messenger may not know everything, let the two older children follow the carriage, the girl is delicate, follow along, so as not to be hurt. If you are wronged, send an experienced family member to accompany you and send it directly to the town, carefully avoiding people. I know that your family has a house in the town. After a few days, you will be free. Remember to go to the government office to change the date of the house deed. Yes, so that no one can find out."

After hearing what he said, Guanshi Cao dissipated all the suspicion caused by the carriage, and felt very ashamed: "Old Lu, I will never forget your kindness in my life!" Say these words, hurry up, the messenger is a stranger, and the brothers of the Wang family don't know how long it will take, if they are bumped into by him, it will be over!" The Cao family immediately became flustered.

When the courier returned to the village after eating and drinking, the Cao family had already packed two or three big burdens. The couple, with their two young sons and a servant who kept wiping his nose, stood miserably in the yard. middle.Cao Guanshi sighed and handed the ledger and other things to Wang Da's hands, and handed over the village affairs clearly one by one, and sighed after saying a word.

The messenger listened proudly for a while, walked up to Cao's family, picked up the bundles, and saw that they were full of home-made old clothes, then walked into the room again, turned around, saw gold and silver jewelry on the dressing table in the inner room, and hurriedly He picked it up and put it in his arms, and walked around the multi-treasure stand a few times, took a bottle down and looked at it, and knocked on the bottle to hear the sound.

The Cao family and his wife stared at him nervously. Lu Yougui gave Ambassador Wang a wink. Wang Damang smiled and whispered: "This house needs to be cleaned before people can live in it. I squeezed in that small courtyard for a month. I’ve been impatient for a long time, I’d better just move in tonight, if brothers like these things, then take them all! Based on our friendship, what are these things?”

The courier laughed dryly, put the bottle back, and said haha: "It's getting late, I'll take people away right now. You have to go back to the mansion before dark to report to the chief manager before it's considered as an errand. I'll be free in the future." Now, let’s go find Big Brother for a drink!”

"It's easy to say." Wang Daqing sent the man out affectionately, and personally pulled out the well-fed horse, handed the reins back to the messenger, and asked someone to hire an old carriage for the Cao family, and add another one. In the mule cart, load some "native products" for the courier to take home, and then send the person away meticulously.

As soon as he left, the Wang and Lu families were liberated.Wang Da immediately went to say hello to Zhao Zeng's family. With Lu Yougui's reminder, he acted very modestly and sincerely. The master and the second master's family are in charge.Zhao San and Zeng Si were both embarrassed to show their faces, so they had to politely agree a few times, saying that they would get along well in the future.In the evening, Wang Da sent another carload of things to the two families, and their little dissatisfaction caused by the airborne supervisor again was suppressed.

Wang Da took his wife and children, took care of his father, and lived in the house in Zhuangtou. The original small courtyard belonged to his brother, and the Lu family quickly moved to a new house. The three families were satisfied with their own place.

A few days later, the original Cao Guanshi and his wife came back with their children to thank them.When they returned home earlier, they saw with their own eyes that the family members whom their wife had favored before were not even allowed to take their luggage. Several families in the mansion, all the gold and silver jewelry in the luggage were searched by the escort servant woman and embezzled.The family was poorly dressed and their luggage was thoroughly searched before they escaped unharmed.Later, it was the kind-hearted young lady who was in charge, so they rewarded each of them with an old cotton padded coat and half a penny, and let them make their own living.

They were kicked out of the back door in the winter. Because the Marquis Mansion was afraid of being gossiped, they were expelled in batches. Those with relatives and friends who could turn to each other scattered. The Cao family's foundation was in Daxing, so they had to travel a long way back. The parents and sons were clever, and they hired a carriage to wait nearby before taking their parents and younger brothers back home.But the young servant was detained by the Hou's mansion.

Cao Guanshi sighed: "I think if it wasn't for the help of the three brothers that day, I would not be much better than the others. I have been working as a poor man in the mansion for decades, and I have been here as the head of the village for a few years. All my wealth is here. If someone snatches it away, wouldn’t my life be worse than death?!” Mrs. Cao also wiped her tears aside: “It’s okay for us adults to suffer a little bit, but the children are innocent, even though they are slaves Yangzi, but I have never been wronged since I was a child. It is so cold now, if there is something wrong, it will make my heart hurt to death!"

Lu Yougui and others hurriedly went to comfort Cao Guanshi, while Lu's mother, Aunt Wang, and others went to persuade Mrs. Cao, and waited for both of them to calm down before entering the topic.

It turned out that when Guanshi Cao was in office, the prey breeding business he had privately engaged in with Zhao and Zeng’s family fell into a stalemate because of his resignation. It stands to reason that Wang Da should take over as the head of the village, but the Wang family is new. They didn't know the "truth", Zhao and Zeng's family had some taboos, fearing that the Wang family's close relationship with the Marquis of the capital would leak the news, so they dared not let go.

Cao Guanshi broke the deadlock when he came back, and offered to let both Lu Wang and his family participate.Although he no longer has the identity of Zhuangtou, he has always been the one who negotiated with Admiral Nanyuan. Now that his family has settled in the town, he simply continues to be the spokesperson, and the specific operations are left to the For Zhao Zeng's four families on Wanglu, it's good for him to pay dividends every year.

The Zhao and Zeng families were somewhat reluctant at first, but they reluctantly nodded when they heard that the Wang and Lu families accounted for two-thirds of the original share of the Cao family, which would not affect their income.Wang Dayan smiled and took out the wine and wished everyone a happy cooperation in the future. Lu Yougui smiled and said nothing, but Cao Guanshi was already planning to buy some other properties to increase income, and he didn't want to rely on Lijiazhuang alone.

Not to mention that these families are harmonious on the surface, but each has their own thoughts in secret. When Chunying heard about it afterwards, she immediately asked her father: "Is this how the Cao family came out?! Is it considered a divorce?! Oh! I thought he The house will be sold, thinking that my dad helped that day, and wanted his family members to disguise themselves to redeem his family, but I didn’t expect it to be a divorce! I knew we would also participate in it!"

Lu Yougui smiled and said: "We were demoted to the village by our wife, we can't be counted as the wife's cronies anyway, and we don't have the ability to lose thousands of taels of silver in a month, what qualifications do we have to participate in the village?" share?!"

Lu's mother scolded from the side: "This is leaving the house clean! You see, the Cao family doesn't seem to be injured, but what kind of losses they actually suffered, who knows?! If you are lucky, just let them out, it's fine , if you hand it over to someone else first, God knows what will happen to you?! Beating and scolding is already considered good, but I'm afraid they will see you look upright and sell them to dirty places, no matter how fast your sister and brother-in-law are. , It may not be too late! People like us who grew up in deep houses and large courtyards, if we spend a night in the hands of those who don't know what to do, our reputation will be ruined! Even if your sister can catch up to save us, the child will definitely sit on the ground It's a starting price. If you can't get angry, it's good that you don't!"

Chunying curled her lips: "Which boy does the Hou family deal with on a daily basis, don't you know? I asked someone to say hello in advance and stuffed some money, and everything will be fine. As for the issue of getting out of the house, Cao There are no relatives at home, and we can keep the family property. We have sisters, brothers-in-law, and second uncle, what are we afraid of?! No matter how bad it is, there is... and brother Xiaofei!"

Lu's mother was silent. She listened to her husband's whispers recently, and she always felt that Hu Fei was more pleasing to the eye. She wished she could become her son-in-law immediately.

Lu Yougui glared at his daughter, and said, "If Brother Hu is really allowed to come forward to redeem you, your reputation will not be much better in the future!"

Chunying didn't think so, but she didn't want to argue with her father on this issue, so she said, "Unfortunately, it's too late now, I don't know if the mansion has finished releasing people? I don't understand, we are family-born children, and others are also family-born children. Why do others It seems easy to go out of the house one by one, but our family is so difficult?!"

Mother Lu sneered and said: "You don't even look, who are the people who left the mansion?! Those who were kicked out after being charged with crimes, although they have no masters, because they are not officially freed slaves, they can't be regarded as good family members. People will always be looked down upon. The daughter of the Cao family, if she wants to marry in the future, may not be as respectable as the girls in the mansion! And those who are being released from the mansion by the old lady, Lord Hou and his wife are all big stewards Or their children, or the respectable big girls in front of the master, who have served for many years and have worked hard, and outsiders will take a high look when they hear that they are needed by the masters, and there will be good days in the future." Sighed, "You were originally a second-class girl in front of Ms. Cousin, and you were pretty good, but it's a pity that you were disturbed by your wife, and it was difficult to get out of the house on merit."

Chunying hurriedly said: "Father is also in charge? Since the Wang family can become the head of the farm, why doesn't Dad have a serious job? Although he can get a share in the breeding business now, it is not a long-term solution after all. If Dad can have a It's a good job, if we want to ask to leave the house, it will be easier, right?" Didn't it mean that hard work will pay off?
Lu Yougui sighed: "Girl, are you confused? Let's just do what we do now, why go back and be in charge? I've thought about it a long time ago. It's fine to stay here. I don't have to worry about food and clothing, and I can do some small business privately." , stay away from the Hou's mansion, and when the old lady, Lord Hou, his wife, and young masters and ladies forget about us, we can live a peaceful life! Anyway, Wang Da is in charge now, so he won't embarrass us."

Chunying stomped her feet: "Father! You think so again, have you forgotten that we just agreed not long ago that we would quit our citizenship!"

"Don't worry about this!" Hu Fei interrupted loudly outside the door, Chunying hurriedly got off the kang and opened the door to welcome him in, Hu Fei greeted the Lu family couple, and then took the hot tea from Chunying, warming her smile.

Lu Yougui coughed: "What did you say just now that you don't need to rush?"

Hu Fei hurriedly said: "Tomorrow I will go back to the capital to do business, and I will meet the eldest son again, and after inquiring about the changes in the mansion, I will persuade him, since it is to expel people, in order not to let people gossip, wait until the beginning of spring, and then show kindness Let some idle family members go out of the house, it should be regarded as praying for the old lady, right? He immediately agreed to go."

Chunying was overwhelmed with surprise: "Really?! He really promised you?!" Seeing Hu Fei nodding with a smile, the joy in his heart doubled immediately: "Great! When the time comes, we can find a way to clear it up, and we can get on the right track." Officially shed this layer of skin!"

Both the Lu family and his wife were happy, and Mother Lu immediately discussed with her husband that she wanted to send a letter to her daughter, and tried to find out who was in charge of the personnel affairs in Hou's mansion, so she had to prepare early.Hu Fei was quietly drinking tea at the side, and while the couple was not paying attention, he quietly said to Chunying: "Let's talk in private later, I have some good news for you."

Chunying blinked, smiled and nodded, but she was thinking in her heart: what good news could it be?

(End of this chapter)