Xu Hao's shops are all two-storey small buildings facing the street, with a small courtyard inside, two main houses and two west wings, which can live for a long time, and if it is not enough, it can be added to another layer, and the east end of the courtyard has a foundation that can be repaired, and the market price has risen to about 8,000 taels to 10,000 taels of silver.

If it is an ordinary house, such a large yard can also be sold for three or five thousand taels, of course, this is the housing price in the capital, the most expensive in the world.

Zhu Di will not be stingy with his shot, and gives a silver that is much higher than the market price, this is as a reward, but also for early investment, in addition to enhancing Xu Hao's loyalty, he will definitely put forward some requirements in the future, and take the short-handed hand!

And there is no love in the world for no reason, except for a few things in the early stage, Xu Hao secretly guessed Zhu Di's intentions, and finally concluded that after the canonization ceremony of the Zhu Gaochi brothers, they may have to return to the fiefdom.

It is impossible for the prince to stay in the capital for a long time, and two years of study is long enough, and he must return to the fief to assist his father and the prince, so that the princes can leave the fief and go to the capital to fulfill their filial piety or be ordered to do business. Zhu Gaoxu could continue to stay, but he didn't like to stay in the capital and be restrained.

What is Zhu Di missing? The two sons are gone, nothing more than a lack of information from all sides of the capital.

Xu Hao's current circle of contacts is not trivial, he has a good relationship with various palaces, any emperor and grandson knows each other, and he can enter and exit the prince's mansion at any time, even if it is not difficult to enter the palace, many eunuchs in the palace are familiar with him, and they greet each other with a smile when they meet.

These eunuchs were naturally fed by Zhu Di with silver, not to mention that Xu Hao's own surname was Xu, and he had access to the Mu family and the Dingyuan Marquis Wang family, in addition to the Ming prince - Li Jinglong, the leader of the party.

In the past six months, Li Jinglong was so frightened that he hid in his hometown, and he just returned to Beijing recently. In the face of the death of the former little brother, he dragged the remaining brothers such as Xu Jingchang and others to drink for three days, Zuihou went once a day, and the drunk Li Jinglong cried and held his hand, and he had to let Xu Hao call him a big brother, Xu Hao had no choice but to shout.

But the next day, Li Jinglong was summoned to the front by Zhu Yuanzhang, in addition to Xu Huizu Musheng and other second-generation officials, after Li Jinglong's whole person changed. According to Ma Gonggong in the palace, Li Gongzi's face at that time was full of energy, and he walked with the wind, which seemed to be reused.

Xu Hao immediately spread the news to the north through his own channels, and vaguely pointed out that maybe the life of some of the heroes would not be better, otherwise the saint would not personally summon the young generals.

Then there was a matter of 100,000 taels of treasure money, which shows that Zhu Di began to pay attention to the news and analysis from Xu Hao. This person must take the initiative to show your value first, and the boss will not hesitate to give bonuses afterwards, which is Xu Hao's career experience for many years.

In the past few days, Zhu Yuanzhang really released a speech in the court, and once again mentioned the abandonment of martial arts by the sons and daughters of the nobles, and ordered young people to study martial arts diligently, specializing in military books, and in the future, the Governor's Mansion should regularly take examinations and keep records, and those who fail to pass will not be allowed to inherit their father's title and official position in the future.

Li Jinglong's family was immediately full of guests, and he was appointed by the emperor to be the governor in charge of this matter, so Li Jinglong accepted countless younger brothers and practiced in the teaching field at home every day.

"Someone is going to be unlucky again, who will be next?"

In the study, Xu Hao muttered to himself at the candle, every night he would summarize and analyze all the information he heard and saw today, in order to let himself recall some more things, and send them to the Yanwang Mansion in Beiping if they were useful.

The bamboo curtain was lifted, and Qingwen came in with a bowl of sour plum soup in her hand.

Seeing this, Xu Hao asked, "Why is Ansheng alive?" Don't play with money. ”

Qingwen put the soup bowl on the table in a huff, and said: "I don't know which broken mouth passed out, and the eldest lady knew about it, so I didn't order the mothers to go into the garden to search for gambling equipment from room to house, and said that no matter who it was, they would be kicked out of the garden immediately." ”

Xu Hao picked up a book casually and said indifferently: "It's all your fault that you're crazy, you stay overnight until dawn, it's too presumptuous." Sooner or later, there will be this day, who is to blame. ”

Qingwen stomped her feet lightly and said quickly: "Oh, why are you so confused, now that the girls are not at home, if anyone takes the opportunity to pull the girls into the water, how will it end?" ”

Xu Hao was stunned, frowned and asked, "What do you say?" ”

Qingwen hurriedly explained: "Such a big garden, so many subordinates, not to mention that someone has hidden gambling equipment, maybe there are even other improper things, if this is turned out, what will it do?" Perhaps some people will take the risk of hiding those indiscriminate things in the girls' rooms, and then use words to squeeze the mothers. The girl is not at home, the mothers want to stand up to the people below, the girl is not there and has no scruples, ensure that you take the lead in checking the girl's boudoir first, once it is found out, wouldn't it be a slap in the face of the wife, and there will be no way to continue the investigation. ”

Xu Hao's face changed, and he said word by word: "How do you know this, say?" ”

Qingwen couldn't resist Xu Hao's gaze, lowered her head and said, "When I was passing by the rockery, I happened to hear the second girl's nurse telling the little girl to be four." ”

"Let's go." Xu Hao immediately raised his feet and walked towards the door, and Qingwen hurriedly followed when he saw this.

On the outskirts of the capital, the Mu family courtyard.

Mu Ang won a good ranking in the first battle, and he was overjoyed with Mrs. Mu, and tonight he personally held a banquet in the inner house to thank Mr. Jiang Song. Because Jiang Song is a distant relative of the old lady and is considered an elder, several girls from the Xu family came out to meet each other.

Jiang Song, who was very happy, was very happy, and Mrs. Mu was generous, rewarded fifty taels of silver, and said that she would be grateful when she took the Tongsheng exam.

After eating a few glasses of wine in a row, Jiang Song, who was very excited, was afraid that he would lose his temper after drinking too much, so he hurriedly took a few mouthfuls of fresh vegetables and put them in his mouth.

Several girls Jiang Song recognized at a glance that they were all from their own, and one of them belonged to the Xiao family, who had met when they visited the old lady during the New Year's holidays when they were children, and they have gradually decreased in recent years, after all, the girls are all older.

Suddenly, Jiang Song picked it up, intending to show his identity as an elder in front of Mrs. Mu, and he was also very decent in the Xu family, so he sat still and let the juniors come forward to salute, he nodded with a smile one by one.

Seeing Xu Qinglian and the others walking to the side in front of them, smelling the faint fragrance of the girls, Jiang Song felt itchy and uncomfortable, and secretly said that it was really the eighteen changes of the female university, and one by one it was like a flower that was falling out of the water, and the white and tender skin could be pinched out of the water.

Suddenly, he saw a flashing shadow from behind the screen, and in just a moment, Jiang Song was fascinated, and he couldn't help but point to the screen, "Who is that?" ”

Mrs. Mu was stunned and turned her head to look at it, and said with a smile: "That's the eldest daughter." ”

"Oh." Jiang Song, who woke up like a dream, reluctantly retracted his gaze, and was extremely disappointed. Secretly sighed that he was worthy of being the lord of the Mu family, but he didn't expect it to be 10,000 times more beautiful than the description in his mouth, but it's a pity! If it is a servant girl, even if you are cheeky and kneel on the ground and beg Madame, no matter what means, you have to get the beauty in your hands, alas! There is no hope in this life.

I finally understand why Xu Hao's kid has been in the Xu family for a whole year, if it were me, he would be willing for the rest of his life.

Jiang Song, who was greedy, muttered silently in his heart, Xu Qinglian and the others went back after seeing each other, and Mu Ningxue who came with them also left.

Jiang Song sat for another half an hour without knowing the taste, and Mrs. Mu felt that it was okay, so she immediately got up to see off the guests.

Not to mention that Mu Ang accompanied the depressed Jiang Song back to his residence, a few girls here laughed and walked slowly to the garden, and Mrs. Mu has been playing too much mahjong recently, after all, she is old and in good spirits, so she went back to the room to rest.

The night of August is full of sweet osmanthus fragrance, with the light of the clear moonlight, several girls enjoyed the flowers in full bloom in the flower garden together, and crossed a rockery lined with strange stones, crossed the winding bridge, stopped to feed the koi swimming around for a while, and walked through the long corridor to the octagonal pavilion.

Mu Qingshuang, who had been waiting for a long time on the second floor, leaned out of the window and beckoned to them, Hongye hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I won't play tonight, I want to go to bed early." ”

Xu Qinglian had no choice but to pull Xu Cuiyun and Xu Cuiliu's two sisters upstairs together, Mu Ningxue sat downstairs with Hongye, and her own maid brought over two bowls of cold sour plum soup.

Momiji suddenly said, "Sister, I want to ask you something. ”

Mu Ningxue stopped the fan in her hand, and said with a smile: "Say it, I'll listen to it." ”

Momiji smiled and whispered, "I want to ask you, do you really like my brother?" ”

Mu Ningxue instantly flew a red cloud on her face, she was already familiar with each other for a few days, and there were few secrets in the boudoir, so she pretended to be calm: "That is, you, I will never answer others, and you must promise not to say it, especially to your brother." ”

"Hmm. I swear. Momiji raised his left hand with a serious expression.

Mu Ningxue thought for a moment, slowly shook her head and said, "I don't like it, but I have to admit that I do have a good impression of him, how to say it." ”

Mu Ningxue, who recalled the past, gradually smiled bitterly: "I won't tell you, in the past, many relatives and friends came to ask for marriage, and later even many ministers' families came to ask for marriage, alas! This is the so-called crowd of people.

It's all because of the brothers of those noble families, I met them all when I was a child, but they only met, and from that time on, they all shouted that they wanted to marry me when they grew up. Maybe it's because of my appearance, maybe it's because of the competition between boys, maybe it's because of other reasons, in short, I am very disgusted and distressed, so I simply ran to ask for the grace of the saint and the deceased Queen Ma, and allowed me to decide my own life. ”

"So, what about you and my brother?" Hongye felt incredible, his eyes widened, and looking at Mu Ningxue at this time was like seeing a legend.

"He's it!" Mu Ningxue couldn't help but smile, and said with a smile: "He used the stupidest way at the right time, but it was enough to make people remember it deeply."

"I don't understand." Momiji whispered.