Bondage

Jiang Xingjian smiled, lowered his head and fiddled with his abacus.

Lin Jiayue was dissatisfied with his actions, and pressed down on the abacus bead with a snap, Jiang Xingjian frowned slightly, but finally did not burst out.

"I said that I have a way to open source for the Hou Mansion, don't you believe me?"

Aroused by Jiang Xingjian's indifferent appearance, Lin Jiayue said: "I have... managed several shops, and I still have some experience. I don't say I am better than others, but I am better than a door. A lady in the back house who doesn't step forward should still be quite powerful."

Jiang Xingjian took a deep breath: "Don't mention this again in the future. It's not polite for a woman to show her face in public, let alone a matter involving merchants."

"Why can't women be involved in business affairs? We traveled all the way from Suhe to Shangjing, and there are not many women walking outside. There are not many women who sell cheese and gouache on the street?"

"Women from aristocratic families are different from ordinary people, you just need to remember this."

Seeing that he couldn't bear to break these rules with her, Lin Jiayue curled her lips, but when she saw Jiang Xingjian's gaze, she suddenly remembered the rhino horn ruler that Nanny Li had pulled over because of her "winking".

Lin Jiayue was inexplicably irritable, playing with the charcoal in her hand, and finally couldn't help but say, "Actually, I really have a very good idea, which can make the Hou Fu earn a lot of money."

"The Hou's Mansion can open a brothel, and then recruit beautiful women from all over the world. I can help them make a name for themselves, so that all the men in Shanghai will flock to them and spend a lot of money to meet them."

"The brothel can not only make money, but also collect a lot of information. After all, there are mixed fish and dragons here, and there are countless high-ranking officials and pawns who come and go. In this way, all the big and small things in Beijing, as well as gossip and anecdotes, can be grasped in the hands of the Hou Mansion. When the time comes, it is possible to sell these news. Let the Hou Mansion make a lot of money."

"Of course, the brothel in the Hou Mansion must be positioned as elegant, not everyone..."

"enough."

Jiang Xingjian slapped the table, the veins on his forehead popping out badly.

Lin Jiayue blinked with an innocent face: "What's wrong?"

"You go down first."

The aura of freehand brushwork in the room receded one after another, and the look of shock and contempt on his face before leaving the room had not subsided.

Jiang Xingjian pressed the center of his eyebrows, his face full of irritability.

"Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"What... what's wrong?"

Isn't it normal for her to be a brothel?Why did Jiang Xingjian react so strongly?

"Exchanging flesh and blood for the glory and wealth of the Hou Mansion, then I would rather the Hou Mansion fall apart tomorrow. This kind of pig and mouse is like a word, so don't mention it again."

Lin Jiayue's face turned red: "I didn't say that those women should be involved in skin business, I just said that such a place can be established to give officials in Beijing a place to relax, listen to ditties, watch dances and dances on weekdays..."

Jiang Xingjian only felt that he had a severe headache: "As a woman, you open your mouth about the brothel and keep your mouth shut, how exactly did Nanny Li teach you the rules?"

"Such a business that harms Yin and virtue, you..."

Holding the pen tighter and tighter, Jiang Xingjian suddenly understood at this moment why his grandmother and mother were so critical of Lin Jiayue.

In the past, he only felt that she was too lively, although she was not polite, she was clear-minded, simple and kind, and those slightly intimate actions were not out of frivolity or lewdness, but just out of emotion without knowing it.

But today, when she uttered the words of opening a brothel with certainty, Jiang Xingjian knew that she lacked strength of character.

Jiang Xingjian's jaw was tense, and it took him a long time to spit out a sentence of unrighteous wealth and honor, which was like floating clouds to me and never spoke again.

Lin Jiayue refused to accept it, and explained over and over again that she didn't mean to let the woman do the flesh and blood business.

Annoyed by her, Jiang Xingjian said: "In the former dynasty, it was common for officials to prostitute, and the officials were addicted to pleasure-seeking, so that the court was relaxed. Therefore, all the brothels in my dynasty are official camps, and all the women are the family members of felons."

"The law of my court clearly prohibits officials from being prostitutes. Regardless of public or private banquets, those who seek singers to accompany them to drink will be imprisoned for two years, and the penalty is [-]. Officials' prostitution is the second-class crime of homicide. Although they are pardoned, they will not be dismissed."

"You said that 'big matters, small love, lace and anecdotes can be controlled in the hands of the Houfu', do you know that as long as you reveal half a word of this, the Houfu will be branded as rebellious and treasonous tomorrow?"

"It's Dongchang's full-time job to investigate, spy, and listen to the injustice and rumors of officials in the big and small yamen. Now that the Hou's mansion is acting as a substitute, what do you want to do?"

"Lin Jiayue, before you speak nonsense, can you consider the safety of nearly a thousand people in the Hou Mansion?"

Jiang Xingjian's face was ashen, and the raging anger was suppressed in his chest, leaving him nowhere to vent.

"I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean it, I really don't understand."

"I just saw people doing this, and I thought it would be okay..."

"In the past few days, I have asked Huai Su to teach you what to say and what not to say. You are still sick, and you need to take care of yourself."

After Jiang Xingjian finished speaking, he left with a flick of his sleeves.

Lin Jiayue choked up and said, "I really didn't mean it, I just wanted to help you."

Jiang Xingjian paused, but did not stop for half a minute.

He came all the way to the main courtyard of Lanting, Heng Zhiheng Wu was drying books in the garden, when they saw him coming, they both lowered their heads, as if they had never seen him before.

Although he was treated like this by the maid, Jiang Xingjian didn't know why, and when he entered the main courtyard, most of the depression in his heart dissipated.

After a little thought, he lifted his foot and walked in.

Song Wan is reading in the study, with a plate of red bean cakes in hand.Jiang Xingjian saw that the top piece was missing a small semicircle, and she thought she had tasted it before.

He coughed lightly to drive away the slight uneasiness.

"What's the matter, sir?"

Song Wan put down the book, stood up and gave way to the head of the study.

"nothing."

Seeing his solemn expression, he was obviously a little unhappy, but he didn't say anything about Song Wan and didn't intend to ask.

After brewing tea and putting it at Jiang Xingjian's hand, Song Wan was just about to find other things to do when he heard him say, "I want to find you for something."

"What about the house?"

She turned around and sat down, but she didn't sit beside him.

Jiang Xingjian clenched his fists slightly, and said in a low voice: "Someone suggested that the Hou family should open up the source of income and make a living."

"Just like that?"

"Ah."

"If it's just that, you wouldn't have such a reaction, but it's because the business proposed by that person is not safe?"

Jiang Xingjian didn't answer her.

He just looked at Song Wan, and felt that all his anxiety and agitation had been washed away. Jiang Xingjian suddenly wanted to know how she would think about Kaiyuan.

"If you were to tell me, what kind of livelihood would the Hou Mansion look for?"

Song Wan thought for a while, and said after a while: "Where there is virtue, the world returns to it, and I think the same is true for profit."

"If you want to make a living with long-term benefits, you probably can't get rid of the business of avoiding people's death, solving people's difficulties, saving people's suffering, and helping people in need."

Jiang Xingjian was shocked when he heard this.

He thought that the same should be true of a woman's strength of character.