Chapter 16: The Lady Heads the House
CHAPTER XVI
Gu Wuchen wanted to enter the city from Donghua Gate, and the official ship went to the shore in front of the Qiurn Bridge and anchored.
Yang Pu and the greeting officials of the Jiangdong Procuratorial Division, the Jiangning Household Department, the Jiangning Criminal Department, and the Jiangning Metropolitan Procuratorate were already waiting in front of the Qiurn Bridge, and the carriages and horses carrying the sedan chair were also prepared on the side of the road.
Lin Tie rode a horse from the mouth of the Jinchuan River to rush here, Gu Wuchen went ashore, before getting on the sedan chair, Mrs. Gu Tang helped him sort out the vermilion official uniform, he saw Lin Tie coming, and said, "You are here too?" Very good, I will go to a few yamen first, you and Si Yuan will go to the mansion to rest first, and drink together at noon......"
"Then I'll wait in the house." Lin Jian saluted Gu Wuchen.
The six ministries and three courts in Jiangning nominally have the same functions and powers as the six ministries and three courts in the capital, and Gu Wuchen officially took up his post today, except for the Jiangdong Procuratorate, the Jiangning Household Department, the Jiangning Criminal Department, and the Jiangning Metropolitan Procuratorate all showed their faces and submitted documents.
Lin Jian thought in his heart that several mausoleum guards such as Jiangning Hubu Shangshu, Jiangning Criminal Department Shangshu and Jiangning Metropolitan Procuratorate Du Yushi were afraid that they would hide today to avoid meeting Gu Wuchen - among these mausoleum guards, the official rank is frighteningly high, but in terms of real power, it is not even as good as Gu Wuchen, the deputy envoy of Jiangdong who is in the fourth grade, not to mention that Gu Wuchen is an upstart of the Chu Party who is gaining power, but these mausoleum guards are all losers and victims of some political struggles - Lin Tie thought that it would not take much time for Gu Wuchen to turn down a few cold yamen.
Gu Wuchen sat in a sedan chair and entered the city first, and Yang Pu, Ma Chao and Yang Shi all changed their official clothes and rode horses. Gu, Gu Siyuan, and Gu Junxun waited at the head of the Jiuurn Bridge for the suitcases and cages to be loaded into the carriage before setting off directly to the Gu Mansion at Tianhan Bridge in the east of the city. Compared with when he disembarked at Chaotianyi, the luggage of the cage increased a lot, and it seems that Gu Wuchen gained a lot when he stopped the ship at Chaotianyi.
Liu Xilin, deputy lieutenant of the Dongyang Mansion Soldiers and Horses, and others escorted Gu Wuchen's family here, and they completed the duties of this trip, they wanted to cross the river directly to the north, Liu Xilin led the horse and said goodbye to Lin Bin: "The military order is in the body, you can't go into the city to disturb Brother Lin, but he always has a time to get together in the future." ”
Escorting Gu Wuchen to Jiangning to take up his post, Liu Xilin only felt that Lin Lian did not have the sour and rotten spirit of a scholar, his courage and pride were impressive, and he had the heart to accept it, but thinking that Lin Lian would go back to Dongyang in the future, he would go back to Dongyang, and there were not many opportunities to get together, so he was a little reluctant to leave after feeling sorry for each other.
"I have prepared a small gift for Brother Liu and all the brothers, they are all specialties of Jiangning, not worth a few dollars, just a little heart, I hope Brother Liu and all the brothers will not dislike it......" Lin Jian asked Zhao Hu to take down the gifts of the carriage and distribute them to Liu Xilin and the cavalry. Compared with the indifference and naturalness of the Gu family, Liu Xilin especially felt that Lin Jian valued them rude soldiers, and he didn't know what to say when he took the gift.
"Lin Juren, Madame called you over."
Lin Jian heard someone calling him in front, and when he looked back, he saw that there was a woman in the carriage in front of him who lifted the curtain and waved to him, so he pressed Liu Xilin's shoulder and said, "Brother Liu is careful when he goes north, I will not send it far away." ”
"Go, go, when you go to Dongyang Mansion City in the future, you must send me a letter......" Liu Xilin saw that the carriage in front of him had moved, and they were about to get on the boat to cross north.
"Definitely, definitely." Lin Jian said.
Although most of the military discipline of the town army and the government army of the Dayue Dynasty was scattered and the combat strength was weak, it was really difficult to be worthy of the identity of a soldier, but this small group of cavalry led by Liu Xilin was a rare elite, perhaps because of the results achieved by Shen Rongtu, the prefect of Dongyang, and Lin Jian could find some cordial and familiar military camp feeling in them.
Listening to the mother-in-law in front of him urging again, Lin Jian stopped greeting Liu Xilin, lightly clamped the horse's belly, caught up with the carriage that was already moving slowly in front, and asked Gu Shi who was sitting in the carriage through the curtain of the car: "What does Madame have to tell Lin Bin?" ”
"It's not anything else," Gu said while sitting in the car, "I heard Yang Pu say that you also helped you when you cleaned up the new house, and you haven't thanked you yet." ”
"That's what Lin Liang should be." Lin Jian said that he knew that Gu Junxun was also sitting in this carriage with her mother.
"The food cooked by the lady of the Xiao family is delicious?" Gu Shi spoke again.
Lin Jian was slightly stunned, thinking that Mrs. Gu always couldn't forget this threat, could it be that she pushed her over for only seven or eight days and expected her to be admitted to the room for me? He pretended to be confused and said, "Thank you for your concern, Miss Liu's cooking skills are very good." ”
Gu Shi was only embarrassed when Lin Lian was thin-skinned, she just wanted Lin Lian to put the little widow with a beautiful appearance into the room, and it was good to end Gu Wuchen's thoughts, and at the same time, she hated the magistrate of Shiliang County who sent Liu Yue'er to the core, and couldn't find anything else to say to Lin Lian for a while, so she asked: "I heard the master say, you are slightly lacking in books and literature, but your miscellaneous knowledge is obvious to everyone, I don't know how you plan to get a career after you arrive in Jiangning?" ”
Lin Lian secretly felt sorry for Liang Zuoren in his heart, Liang Zuoren sent Liu Yue'er to the Gu family to please Gu Wuchen, where did he think that the Gu family was the head of the family, and a blow hit the Gu family's scales, Lin Lian hid a secret smile in his heart, and said to the Gu family through the carriage curtain: "Lin Lian has no relatives and no reason in Jiangning, and there is no one to discuss in case of trouble, Mrs. asked, Lin Lian was cheeky to ask Mrs. for an idea......
Gu Shi regretted it in the carriage, she just asked casually, but she didn't expect Lin Jian to hit the snake with the stick, and thought to herself: I said that it was to ask for an idea, but not to come to the door of the Gu family?
Gu Shi said coldly: "Master admires you, what is the matter, although it is polite, what is it?" ”
Lin Jian thought to himself that probably Gu Wuchen was fed up with this mother-in-law's anger, but the reason why Gu Wuchen was able to become an upstart of the Chu Party was that his talent and experience were secondary, mainly because his marriage to the Gu family made him the son-in-law of Tang Haoxin, the leader of the Chu Party, and the same disciple of Zhang Xie, the deputy prime minister. He took a sip secretly, and said respectfully on the surface: "Lin Lian wants to distribute Dongyang tea paper and other products in the Jiangning office, and the Gu family is a tea merchant appointed by the Dongyang government. If the Gu family agrees, in addition to purchasing tea at the current price, Lin Jian is also willing to give the Gu family an additional 1,000 taels of silver every year. ”
Gu sat in the carriage and was slightly stunned, she didn't expect Lin Lian to set up a business in Jiangning, she wanted to tell Lin Lian, "What do you want her to promise to do about the Gu family's affairs", she was just about to open her mouth, and then she thought: The master is now the Gu family's biggest support, why can't she decide the Gu family's affairs? Turning his mind, he thought about the benefits of agreeing to Lin Bin's matter.
Originally, Gu Wuchen was an official in Jiangning, and the Gu family was in Shiliang County, hundreds of miles away, Gu Wuchen had no time to ask about the affairs of the Gu family, but let the Gu family's tea be distributed by Lin Bin's business in Jiangning, things were different, Gu thought to himself: The matter of Shiliang County, the old man can't reach it, and the old man can always ask about the things under Jiang Ning's nose. Thinking about it like this, I felt that it was a good thing that the tea that the Gu family had promised to transport out of Dongyang would be distributed by the firm under Lin Bin's name, and then I thought about what Lin Tie meant by the extra promise of 1,000 taels of silver dry shares, and after thinking for a while, he was not sure, so he asked Lin Tie through the curtain of the car: "Just buy tea at the current price, and what do you do with the extra shares?" ”
"My lord went to Jiangning, Mrs., son, and Miss all moved to the blessed land, Lin Tie originally prepared a generous gift to do his best, but Lin Tie set up his own door and set up a business for the first time, and he was a little shy in his pocket, so he could only turn a generous gift into a thin courtesy, please accept it with a smile...... "Lin Tie didn't mention the matter of doing the stock first, and handed the congratulatory gift slip to the mother-in-law in front of the carriage, and asked her to hand it to the Gu family in the car.
Gu Shi sat in the car and took the gift list, his heart jumped, and he thought that Lin Bin, who he had looked down on before, was so arrogant. Gu Junxun, who was sitting on the side, turned his head suspiciously, and saw that the gift list was written with eight official silver ingots, a mutton fat white jade pendant, and two famous jujube red horses; These congratulatory rites were naturally sent directly to the Gu family later.
Gu closed the gift list, and his impression of Lin Jian suddenly improved, thinking that his nephew Gu Siming said that Lin Jian was a poor sour scholar who was penniless, probably because he was jealous and chewed his tongue and said bad things about him, at this time, she was disgusted with Gu Siming, she said in the car: "The second generation of your family is kind to the Gu family, how can I be embarrassed to accept such a generous gift from you?" What kind of courtesy do you say! ”
Eight ingots of official silver are four hundred taels. In addition to the five thousand taels of silver in Lin Bin's hand as the principal of the firm, there was less than one thousand taels of silver left, and he gave four hundred taels to the Gu family as a congratulatory gift, and his heart was also dripping blood, but he knew that the biggest reliance in Jiangning was the Gu family, and this blood was not enough. Although Gu Wuchen appreciates him a lot, but the head of the Gu Mansion is the Gu family sitting in this carriage, but Gu Siyuan, the son of the Gu family, has a bad impression of him, how can he not spend some money? Lin Lian still felt that the eight ingots of official silver were still light, Gu Wuchen served as the deputy envoy of Jiangdong, he really had to be greedy for money, and the subordinate officials really couldn't take dozens of taels of silver, and the eight ingots of official silver were really nothing in all the He Yi, Lin Lian gritted his teeth and let the two of the best sellers among the four good horses brought to Jiangning this time; The white-fat jade pendant was originally given by Zhang Yubo, who joined the army in Zuo Sikou of Dongning Mansion a few days ago, and it was worth a few taels of silver, but the quality of the jade was good or bad, and the personal subjectivity was very strong.
Even so, Gu still did not forget to mention "generous gifts, thin gifts", obviously thinking about the 1,000 taels of silver per year. The corners of Lin Lian's mouth smiled, he was afraid that the Gu family would forget about this stubble, and said: "Don't hide it from Madame, I originally prepared twenty-eight ingots of official silver as a congratulatory ceremony, and the shipyard urgently had to pay two thousand taels of silver the day before yesterday, and Lin Lian couldn't find anyone else to borrow it in Jiangning for a while, so in a hurry, he could only temporarily take twenty ingots of official silver from the congratulatory gifts for adults and ladies. In the past two days, I had more money on hand, and I wanted to prepare He Yi again, but then I thought again: Why can't the twenty ingots of official silver that I used to spend emergency not be counted as the principal of the lord and lady in the firm? Lin Jian privately made an argument for the Lord and his wife, and the twenty ingots of official silver were regarded as the capital of the Lord and his wife's investment in the firm. It's just that when the business is profitable and loss-free, Lin Jian can't let the adults and his wife take the risk of business, so he decides to pay the adults and his wife 1,000 taels of silver every year for profits...... Madame wouldn't blame Lin Tie for asserting his opinions, would she? ”
The official silver standard large ingot, one ingot is fifty taels.
Twenty ingots of official ingots are one thousand taels of silver.
Gu Shi listened to Lin Lian talk about these 1,000 taels of silver that were originally empty in the carriage, and said with a smile: "How can I blame you?" How can I blame you? ”
"Then I'll go to the house later, and I'll write the share deed to you, Mrs." Lin Jian said.
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PS: Red Ticket, Collection!