Because he was worried about the Li family, Cao Hao was not in the mood for the New Year.

Now, he just wants to wait for the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to meet the rich salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, and after the errand of the household department, he will return to Beijing.

As for the matter of "suppressing bandits" in Jiangnan, Cao Hao was not worried.

Under the influence of Confucian culture for more than 1,000 years, the common people have a kind of fear of those in power.

Even if they claimed to be Han Chinese orthodoxy and regarded the Manchu court as a foreign race, they did not dare to fight with each other easily.

Until the time of natural disasters [***] and reaching a desperate situation, no one dares to rebel.

Li Wei has returned to Hangzhou, and when the New Year comes, even if there is nothing in the yamen, the affection of the people in the officialdom is inevitable.

Regarding the matter of Wan Fu leading people to hijack the children of Jiangning officials and gentry, Li Wei behaved extremely toughly.

Wan Fu passed the word, only saying that life was exchanged for life, but Li Wei returned the favor with the other way, and replied to those officials and gentry: "Three for one, ridiculous!" It's so weightless, it's better to change ten for one. Don't worry, those thieves really dare to joke about the safety of your sons, there are more than 100 bandits in the prison in the north of the city, and they will not let you suffer in vain. ”

Everyone was dumbfounded, if the kidnapped nephew was killed, even if he killed ten mud legs, what could he do?

Even if he is not angry in his heart, Li Weiren has already left Jiangning, and there is no place to reason.

Li Weineng is so relaxed because most of these gentry are not innocent. Either some of their children worked as errands in the yamen, or they infiltrated the government yamen through various means, took over lawsuits, and interfered in local government affairs.

Although they are not bandits, few of them are good.

It's about Wei Wenying, but Cao Hao can't be relaxed. With Li Wei's move, although Wan Fu will not kill all these gentry children, if he is not angry in his heart and kills chickens and monkeys, he will not be able to ensure that anyone's children are unlucky.

How could Cao Hao allow Wei Wenying to go through this risk?

He sent someone to find Wei Ren and handed him five thousand taels of silver tickets: "Lord Li represents the imperial court to suppress bandits, how can he be held hostage by bandits?" No matter what the others are, Wen Ying's side still depends on you, the uncle, to dredge more. ”

Where will Wei Ren take it, and the hot potato, he will send it out, and hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Xiaomin has silver there, the silver has been prepared, and someone has already sent a message to the other side to redeem the person, please rest assured." ”

When Cao Hao heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned.

Previously, he remembered clearly that Wei Ren mentioned that the reason why it was inconvenient to redeem people was that he was afraid of wearing the hat of a "bandit" and burying trouble for the family.

Cao Hao has already finished the draft, how can he promise to reassure Wei Ren.

Jiangnan has Li Wei and Cao Song here, sheltering a Wei family, which is more than enough. As long as he is willing to believe it.

Unexpectedly, Wei Ren had already decided to ransom people one step ahead.

is so bold, but it makes Cao Hao look sideways.

Wei Ren seemed to see Cao Hao's doubts, and said with a wry smile: "What else is the way, the fifth brother's blood and bones, just Wen Ying and one stay in Jiangning, if I can't protect it, I will go underground in the future, and I won't have the face to see the fifth ......" In the end, his eyes were already red.

Seeing his desperate expression, Cao Hao felt that something was wrong, and said, "Could it be that you are planning to redeem Wenying alone?" ”

was kidnapped along with Wen Ying, as well as Wei Ren's third son and youngest son.

Wei Ren's face turned white, nodded, and said with trembling lips: "With Lord Li's words, most of them will be safe." ”

Even if he was reluctant, he couldn't take the family to risk.

Cao Hao sighed secretly in his heart, and his disgust for Wei Ren decreased a little.

The reason why he was in a hurry to ransom Wenying was probably because he thought of it with Cao Hao, for fear that Wan Fu would listen to Li Wei's words and vent his anger and kill people.

It is not easy to redeem and protect the nephew and put the biological son in danger.

"If you can get through the words, you can redeem them all, and you don't have to bother so much. There is a threat from Lord Li, and for Wanfu and those people, these gentry children may be a hot potato. When you go to redeem it, you give them a step. Master Li, I'll vouch for you. Cao Hao thought for a moment and said.

When Wei Ren heard this, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly got up and thanked him.

sent Wei Ren away, Cao Hao accepted the silver ticket, and he was really curious about that "Wanfu".

That ring...... At this moment, I saw Cao Song coming in, dressed in his clothes.

"Big brother, even if you don't go out to eat and drink, it's not good for you to stay bored in the house all the time, let's go, let's go out for a walk." Cao Song said with a little excitement: "If you don't go to the next place, the weaving mansion always has to go over and take a look." ”

"Weaving Mansion ......" Cao Hao raised his eyebrows, but he was really a little tempted: "I've said hello, it's not good to come to the door directly." ”

He had already had the intention to go back and go around, and Cao Song's proposal was right on her mind.

Since the Cao family left Jiangnan, Jiangning Weaving has changed three. The first is the old man of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who ascended the throne to Yongzheng; the second is a servant under Nian Qianyao, who followed after Nian Qianyao's downfall; The third term is the current weaving high spot, and he has been in office for less than a year.

Although the Gao family is also a family of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they do not have much friendship with the Cao family.

"I thought about this early, and I sent the post three days in advance, so don't worry, big brother." Cao Song replied loudly.

Cao Hao also wanted to go back and take a look, so he changed into a coat and went out with Cao Song.

Because of the receipt of the post, Gao Ban has been prepared for the visit of the Cao family brothers.

He was in his forties, not tall, and had deep forehead lines on his forehead, which seemed to be a little unsatisfactory.

Before coming to Jiangning, he worked as an errand in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

If you really want to talk about it, Cao Hao also served as his top boss.

Because of this relationship, Gao Ban is also very respectful to the Cao Hao brothers.

It's just to accompany you to see the old house, and it's not difficult, Gao Ban coped with it very decently.

More than ten years have passed, and the weaving house has changed greatly.

The inside is the same as the outside, there is no past magnificence, and the courtyard of the house is dilapidated. Among them, the courtyard of the old lady before his death was the most dilapidated.

This place was built in accordance with the regulations of the Yipin official residence, even if the imperial plaque has been carried by the Cao family, and later these three weavers are not qualified to place female dependents here.

The upper room was empty, the corner of the courtyard was piled up with debris, and the pool in the courtyard was dry.

Standing in this courtyard, Cao Song thought about the panic at the beginning and the kindness of the old lady, and he couldn't say what he felt in his heart.

Gao Ban was a little embarrassed, although the dilapidated courtyard had little to do with him, but he still felt ashamed.

It would be nice if someone cleaned it up earlier, after all, this is where three generations of the Cao family lived, if their brother was angry because of this, wouldn't he be wronged?

The Cao brothers are not small-bellied people, especially Cao Hao, who is still not willing to trouble others.

He saw that there were traces of fresh cleaning in the yard, and he was very appreciative of it.

Leaving the courtyard where Lao Taijun was alive, Gao Ban took the two Cao brothers to the east garden.

The weather in Jiangning is warm, although it is a cold winter, but the garden is still dotted with a lot of greenery.

Cao Hao's gaze naturally paid special attention to the stone of the Holy Grandfather's imperial pen.

The stone stood steadily, and looking at the posture, even the wind and rain could not knock it down.

Cao Hao's eyes narrowed, should this thing be dug out, and what should be done when it is dug up.

Seeing Cao Hao "paying respects" to the emperor's imperial pen, Gao Ban's heart struggled a little.

He was really afraid that Cao Hao would take a fancy to this stone and ask him for it.

To give or not to give, it's all wrong.

This stone is the ink treasure left by the Holy Grandfather when he toured the south, if the Cao family grabbed the time, when it said that it was given to the Cao family, it seemed to be reasonable.

Cao Song was beside him, but he was a little eager to try. It's just a stone that is less than three feet long, and it doesn't look like it's weighty, so I really want to lift it upside down.

At this moment, Cao Hao had already walked a few steps quickly, running towards the two magnolia flowers not far in front.

Gao Ban breathed a sigh of relief.

After the Cao brothers came out of the garden, they went back to the General Soldier's Mansion first...... Cao Hao didn't speak, and Cao Song thought that he was sad to return to his former residence, so he persuaded: "It's just an empty house, what is there to think about?" If you think it's good, let's build a manufacturing house in the capital in the future. ”

Cao Song's words are full of ambition.

Cao Hao couldn't help it.

General Soldier's House, front yard guest room.

Wei Hei's face was gloomy, and he looked at Cao Jia with a bit of inquiry.

Cao Jia didn't move like a mountain, only holding a cup of tea, and stirring the tea leaves inside with a covered bowl.

"After three days of hard work, the master went there twice...... Whether it was the adult's orders, or something else, Lao Wei Zheng wanted to ask for a lesson or two. Wei Hei said slowly.

Cao Jia was finally moved, looked at Wei Ren's gaze, and looked a little inquiring: "Steward Wei is trying to interrogate me?" ”

Wei Hei shook his head and said, "Don't dare, I'm just worried that adults are not familiar with Jiang Ning." ”

Cao Jia sneered: "What does Wei mean, no matter where I go, I have to honor you?" ”

Wei Hei couldn't say that Cao Jia, so he didn't show off that tongue, but went straight to the point and said: "Great offering, do you have an old relationship with Hongmen?" ”

Cao Jia glanced at Wei Hei deeply, nodded slowly, and said, "I have seen the Lord of Ten Thousand Buddhas......

Both of them are from the rivers and lakes, and they don't bend like others. From this point on, Wei Hei was glued to Cao Jia.

* Beijing, Cao Fu.

Although he is about to be Chinese New Year's Eve, Cao Hao is not there, the Li family is short of spirit, and the atmosphere of the Cao family is also very bad.

After taking care of the housework, Chu Yu went to the Orchid Courtyard to accompany the Li family, listening to the Li family's nagging about being ignorant when he was a child, how to make Gao Taijun angry or something.

mentioned Gao Taijun, and the Li family had to cry...... Chu Yu had to persuade him to calm down.

In order to divert her mother-in-law's attention, Chu Yu said: "There is another thing to discuss with the old lady, I haven't released people for several years, whether to let people out before the year." The green plums and green cinnamon in the peony courtyard, and several in our yard, all have their ages. ”

When Li Shi heard this, he really got interested and said, "The embroidered hooves and embroidered geese here have also reached their age...... Is there any suitable candidate, but I promised to choose a good family for these two girls......"

Chu Yu replied: "There are a few stewards, and they are also at the age of marriage, so Ming's daughter-in-law will send the list and show the old lady ......."

(To be continued)