Shuangmuyuan

The next day, before dawn, Lin Ruhai quietly hid a couple of children, put on dirty coarse cloth clothes, took a few warm white steamed buns from the kitchen, wrapped them in oil paper, hid them in a bag, and hurried to the river in the rain. Inspection on the embankment.Although he didn't report the breach of the embankment after returning to the government office yesterday, he always felt empty in his heart. If he didn't go to the embankment to see the actual situation in person, he wouldn't be able to eat well or sleep well.

As soon as Lin Ruhai left, Daiyu immediately got up to wash up after hearing the news. She gave up her usual luxurious accessories and changed into a jacket with white background and blue print, and a pleated skirt of indigo thin cotton. A small phoenix silver hairpin is tied behind her head, and the earrings and bracelets are all removed.And the four maids serving in front of her, Zijuan, Acacia, Daisheng, and Skylark, all put on dark coarse cloth dresses that are resistant to dirt and wear.The five masters and servants cleaned up, Yunque was ordered to go to the next room to wake up the drowsy Lin Rong, Zijuan took the gift list to arrange the apprenticeship ceremony, Dai Sheng went to the kitchen to see breakfast, and Xiangsi sorted out the books and utensils that were not ready last night.

Dressed neatly, Daiyu sat on the Arhat's bed and looked carefully at the specific account expenditures sent by Lin Xiushan. Seeing that the income and expenditure were balanced, the pen and paper were clear, and the detailed expenditure of silver taels was marked no matter where the amount was large or small.She couldn't help nodding her head in approval.It seems that the move of letting the young couple live in Tongcheng County with their father is the right move.As long as there are three members of Lin Bo's family, her father and younger brother are not afraid of having no land to live and no food to eat.

After a long time, Lin Rong was wearing a blue denim bunt, with his mouth pursed, he stepped on the threshold reluctantly, and refused to enter the house for a long time.Licorice Pinellia, who was waiting under the eaves of the porch outside the house, saw it and hurriedly urged him to go in in a low voice, so as not to make the girl angry again early in the morning.Hearing this, Lin Rong turned his head abruptly, cast two supercilious glances at the two of them, snorted coldly, patted the non-existent dust on his clothes, strode into the room, and greeted Daiyu.

Daiyu put down the account book in her hand, turned her head and glanced coldly at her younger brother who had been introverted all night, and still had an aggrieved face, and said indifferently: "Daddy went to the river embankment to check the water situation before dawn. Although we as sons and daughters can't do it for him To relieve worries, but to restrain one's own words and deeds so that he has no worries, it should be. Yesterday on the embankment, you deliberately found fault with Mr. Pan, because it was in the public, and my sister couldn't say anything about you. But when you go back In the carriage, my sister discussed with my father about inviting him to be a teacher, but you refused out of embarrassment because of his kind warning. My sister will never allow such reckless and rude behavior. Besides, my sister also said , as long as you can tell him anything wrong, my sister will give up the idea of ​​asking him to be a teacher. You have thought about it all night, but you can think of one or two."

Speaking of this, Dai Sheng led the little maid over to bring breakfast, Xiangsi put down her work and went to help.Seeing this, Daiyu stopped talking, and said softly, "Let's have breakfast first, and then we can talk."

After finishing speaking, she got up and moved to the round table, lightly glanced at the white steamed buns and brown rice porridge placed on the table, and under the eyes of the maids in the room who couldn't bear it, she lightly picked up the spoon and drank it slowly.Daiyu could bear this kind of rough food, but Lin Rong, who was spoiled since childhood, just took a mouthful of porridge, and almost spit it out with a "pop", but he forced himself to swallow it because of his sister's cold eyes.After taking a few mouthfuls of porridge, he really couldn't eat any more. He reached out and took a white steamed bun, frowning, and began to eat bit by bit.Seeing her younger brother's picky eaters, Daiyu's eyes moved slightly, and she sighed inwardly.In this year, in Tongcheng County, it is not bad to be able to drink brown rice porridge and eat white steamed buns to fill one's stomach.

It turned out that it was autumn, and floods flooded in Henan, Anhui and other places, and the victims fled everywhere. The people near Anqing Prefecture heard that Tongcheng County was not flooded, and rushed to avoid the flood. The county town was suddenly overstretched, and the shops in the city seemed to have made an appointment, and at the same time put up signs and closed their doors.Fortunately, Daiyu thought of this before leaving, and immediately ordered Liu Wei to prepare a few more carts of grain and escort them on the road.Otherwise, they can only drink clear soup and brown rice porridge, and only pickles to satisfy their hunger.

Daiyu chewed slowly and drank a bowl of brown rice porridge and half a steamed bun.The rest was shared among the maids who were waiting on the side.Seeing how delicious their food was, she couldn't help but darken her eyes and feel sore in her heart.If she hadn't insisted on coming to Tongcheng County to share the joys and sorrows with her father, Zijuan and the others wouldn't have to suffer with her.

She turned her head, looked at the hazy sky outside the window, and carefully considered the next arrangement.The younger brother is under Pan Jixun's control, so there shouldn't be any major problems.Dad was busy inspecting the embankment all day long, and he didn't have time to pay attention to the affairs of the government office. He didn't even know that the family ran out of food.If they hadn't been in a good time together, Xueyan would have gone crazy for three meals a day.

When she officially came to Tongcheng County, Daiyufang knew that Xueyan's description of the flood damage in the letter was not one-thousandth of the actual situation.Even though the small county town under Lin Ruhai's management is not flooded now, the problem of food for the more than [-] refugees who came from the vicinity of Anqing Mansion to avoid the water and the people in the city is still a sharp knife hanging over their heads, ready to be chopped down anytime and anywhere. down.The kitchens in the official yamen ran out of food, what would happen in other places, Daiyu thought about it carefully, and her heart suddenly became cold.Previously, she was only thinking about controlling the floods of the Yellow River and Yangtze River, strengthening the embankments, and avoiding floods.But I completely forgot that when the flood arrived, unscrupulous traders hoarded food, took the opportunity to drive up food prices, and made black-hearted money and other important things.

Floods can be avoided, but how can man-made disasters be cured?Daddy is just a little sesame official, and most of Anhui is soaked in water, but the Tongcheng County he governs is safe and sound, which will inevitably arouse the red eyes of some villains and make trouble.Sure enough, it's not easy to be a rafter in his early years.With all her calculations, she actually pushed her own father to the edge of the storm with her own hands and let others slaughter him.

Daiyu couldn't restrain the bitterness in her heart. She closed her eyes and forced back her tears. A barely visible wry smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. After a while, she opened her eyes again. She was the calm and calm Lin family daughter Daiyu again.The only good thing is that before she came, she had entrusted Yu Zhu to buy [-] shi of grain as the king of Dongping County, and escorted it here in the name of disaster relief.With the [-] shi of grain, it would probably be able to help Dad pass the critical moment of life and death temporarily.It's just that I don't know if the batch of grain will arrive in Tongcheng County safely?

Thinking of this, Daiyu felt a heavy burden on her heart.Yesterday, she sat in the carriage and went back to the government office. Through the window screen, she saw with her own eyes that under the eaves of the streets in the county town, there were crowded with yellow-faced and emaciated victims, and wet luggage and parcels were piled up on the ground.Passing along the road, the doors of the shops on both sides were closed, and all of them hung signs of closure.Occasionally, there are open ones, directly stating one tael of silver per bun or pancake.

Seeing this, she couldn't help thinking of the imperial court grain depot in the county.After thinking about it, Dad's official position is too small, and the guards and other officials guarding the grain depot are several ranks older than Dad, the seventh-rank little sesame official.Without the imperial government's will to provide disaster relief, it would be even more difficult to forcibly open the warehouse to release grain.If it is not done well, their whole family will be planted in this small Tongcheng County.After thinking about it carefully, Daiyu gave up the idea of ​​opening a grain depot to release grain, and only hoped that the [-] shi of grain she had entrusted to buy by Madam Yuzhu would arrive safely, temporarily relieving the urgent need of Tongcheng County.

After Lin Rong had finished eating a bowl of brown rice porridge and a white steamed bun, Zijuan led a few maidservants to come over with prepared apprentice ceremony and asked Daiyu to have a look. After a little inspection, Daiyu saw that there was nothing missing. He ordered Zicuckoo to deliver the things to Licorice Pinellia.Younger brother Lin Rong tied the wattle that he had prepared early in the morning, and with Liu Wei watching over him, he went to the place where Pan Jixun lived to learn from his teacher.

The place where Pan Jixun stayed was the guest room of the government office. Lin Rong walked to the room where he lived, carrying the thorns on his back, and shouted a few times, but no one responded. He opened the door and took a peek, and found that the bedding on the canopy bed was neatly folded. Next to the pillow was a washed-white blue cloth bundle, paper balls were thrown on the bluestone floor, and a lot of books were piled up messily on the desk in front of the window.Seeing the scene in the house, Lin Rong immediately thought that Pan Jixun must have stayed on the river embankment to monitor the flood all night and had no plans to come back to rest.The dissatisfaction with him in my heart dissipated a lot in an instant. He was doing practical things for the people conscientiously, but he was thinking about some trivial things all day long. It was really unreasonable.

After thinking about it, Lin Rong blushed, and no longer resisted her sister's insistence on hiring Pan Jixun as a teacher, and she felt a little admiration in her heart.

Liu Wei was very happy to see that Pan Jixun was not in the house. He didn't want the Lin family siblings to have too much contact with this person, and he always felt that this person would be a variable.Now that she's not here, it suits him well. He leaned forward and suggested: "Master, why don't we go back first. We'll come back when Mr. Pan comes back."

Lin Rong tilted his head, rolled his eyes, shook his head and said, "No. My sister will be angry if I go back empty-handed. Why don't we go to the embankment to find him in person. First, it will show the sincerity of our family. Second, It can also make my sister happy." After saying that, he closed the door, turned around, and hurried to the stable to lead the horse, intending to ride the horse to look for Pan Jixun on the embankment.

No, he had just arrived at the stable, and was surprised to find that the stable was empty without a single horse. Lin Rong was furious, rolled up his sleeves, put his hands on his hips, and shouted loudly: "Which cowardly little bastard put the horse on his back?" The young master’s horse has been taken away? Give it to the young master and I’ll get out soon.” As he spoke, he grabbed the young man who was hiding behind the stable and took care of the horses, and rushed to grab him, ignoring his pleas, and covered his head with pain. beat.

Liu Wei, who rushed over after hearing the news, stepped forward to stop him: "Master, before leaving, the master said that the horse needs to eat food. Anyway, the girl and the little brother are here, and they won't go back for a while. It's better to put If the horse is slaughtered, it can last for a few days."

Lin Rong was stunned when he heard the words, let go of the boy with blue nose and swollen eyes, who had nowhere to avenge his grievances, and asked sharply: "Dad asked someone to kill the horse for food? I don't believe there are so many merchants in Tongcheng County. We will be so poor that we can’t even bring out a few stones of grain, so we have to kill our horses to eat.” Before he finished speaking, he hurriedly rushed to the river embankment to find Lin Ruhai to reason, but Licorice Banxia hurriedly put down his hands He hugged Lin Rong's arms from left to right, and begged him hard: let him not be impulsive, and spoil the big event of the master and the girl.

In fact, what Lin Rong said was not without reason.Although Tongcheng County is small, it is also a place where salt merchants gather. The huge profits from selling private salt throughout the year are enough to fatten many rich and wealthy gentry in the county.If there is no surplus food in the government office, he and his sister can only live on unpalatable brown rice porridge.But it is hard to say whether those rich and wealthy gentry are like this.Everyone knows how to act, but how many people can really perform well?

Liu Wei smiled wryly, and tried to persuade him: "Master, Rong Nu is not nice to say. Now that the people in Tongcheng County can't get enough to eat, how can we spare time to serve the animals? The horses were slaughtered last night according to the master's instructions. Some of them were kept, and the rest were given to the migrant workers who had stood on the embankment for a few days. The girl also knew about this, and she only said one sentence, I hope that when my father succeeds, these horses will not be forgotten. thanks to

"Sister is really smart all her life, but she was confused for a while. With her body and bones, if she stays in Tongcheng County, which lacks medical care and medicine, she will have to toss half her life. If something goes wrong at that time, I don't think Dad will have time to cry. Lin Rong was so angry that his face turned red, and he sneered, "I was thinking, come over and see my father, and after a while, I will let my sister go back to Beijing to recuperate. Even if I don't go back to Beijing, I will live in the old house in Gusu." , is better than here. Unexpectedly, Dad was so kind, he slaughtered all our horses in private to comfort others. My sister is soft-hearted, and saw the tragedy with her own eyes on the way back to the government office yesterday, so of course I won’t say more What's the matter. In my opinion, Dad is confused about water control, and he doesn't even care about his own children. The only thing he can see in his heart is the word "water trouble". Forget it, since he doesn't care about us, I have to care about us Sister. Master Liu, I don’t care what you think, go get some horses, get the carriage ready, and I’m going to take my sister back to the old house in Gusu to recuperate.”

It is rare to hear Lin Rong's heartfelt words. When Liu Wei heard it, he was speechless in shock, and secretly said: Brother Lin looks innocent, pretends to be confused, and loses his temper. I'm afraid he can see clearly in his heart than anyone else. .He is very cold and selfish, he knows that I was sent by the little master to protect the Lin family, but he still smiles innocently and asks me to stay and be the steward of the nursing home.Calling me master over and over again is actually having the same idea as the little master.

Liu Wei subconsciously touched the secret token on his heart. It was the token given to him by Mu Chen when he left the capital, which could mobilize the subordinates of the Dongping County Palace all over the country.It seems that it is time to use this brand.However, the elder sister of the Lin family is very stubborn, and she is afraid that she will not agree with the young brother of the Lin family.He hesitated for a while, and asked tentatively: "If the girl knows about this, she must not agree."

Lin Rong raised his head, and stared at the cloudy sky with a pair of bright black eyes. There was no expression on his pink face, and he said coldly, "You don't have to worry about my sister. I have my own ideas."

The only weakness of sister Daiyu is that she can't see him and Lao Tzu suffering. If he gets hurt and is too sick to stay in Tongcheng County, she will be the first one to propose to leave Tongcheng County and go to a big place to find a doctor to treat him. .

Thinking of this, Lin Rong showed a sly smile on his little face.Xindao: The good show has begun, if you want to act, make it bigger.If he can't abduct his sister, his acting talent will be wasted.

Having been together for many years, when Licorice Banxia saw his smile, his scalp itched immediately, his heart felt cold, and he shouted, it's going to be bad luck!

Liu Wei searched for horses with complicated thoughts. Lin Rong trotted all the way with Licorice Pinellia, stepped on the muddy field ridge, and climbed up the embankment.He went up to the embankment where the sacks were piled up, and he suddenly found that the river water, which was half as deep as the embankment yesterday, had risen to almost a foot away from the embankment today. boundless.

He stared at the spot for a long time, when a cool wind suddenly blew, Lin Rong was only wearing a single coat, and Lin Rong, who didn't have any extra clothes, couldn't stand the cold.Seeing this, Licorice Pinellia took a step forward to block the wind.I would rather freeze myself, than make my golden branch and jade leaf master freeze and get sick.

At this time, dozens of government servants and migrant workers covered in mud ran over with tired faces, carrying sacks full of dirt on their shoulders, shouting, the upper river embankment broke, and everyone hurried to help.

Seeing this situation, Lin Rong hurriedly called out Licorice Pinellia to go up to help. He also took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers and sleeves, and rushed to help.When he came to the bank of the breach, he caught a glimpse of Pan Jixun standing in the rushing water, directing the crowd to fill the breach with a hoarse voice.Seeing him running first without fear of hardships, calmly ordering others not to panic, and putting down the sandbag at the right place, Lin Rong's previous thought of taking his sister away suddenly disappeared.

A yamen servant who had seen Lin Rong threw a sack of dirt on his shoulders to the designated place, raised his hand to wipe off the muddy water covering his face, and saw Lin Rong helping in the crowd, he shouted in shock: " Young master, why are you here?"

Hearing his cry, the others were stunned, and the movements in their hands were half a beat slower. Pan Jixun turned his head, and shouted with a livid face: "Why are you all in a daze? Didn't you see that the breach was a foot bigger than before?" Hurry up and fill the sandbags. Little brother over there, this is not a place for children to play around. Please go back as soon as possible."

As he spoke, he pointed his finger in the direction of Lin Rong. At the same time, seeing the pale face of the migrant workers standing in the torrent, Pan Jixun turned cold and looked around at the haggard-looking other people, gritted his teeth, and personally Jumping into the rapids, he picked up the sandbags thrown by a yamen servant and piled them at the crevasse.Unexpectedly, the torrent intensified, and the sandbags were useless. As soon as they were put on, they were washed away by the rapid water without a trace.Even he himself was staggered by the current, unable to stand still, accidentally fell into the water, and was swept far away by the dim flood. Thanks to his cleverness, he stretched out his hand to grab a floating tree branch.

When the others saw it, they immediately became a mess. Everyone was busy trying to rescue him, and they couldn't care less about filling the broken place.

Lin Rong frowned and looked at the messy scene in front of him, thought for a while, called Licorice Pinellia and whispered a few words, and ordered the two to find hemp rope.The two nodded, and trotted to find the hemp rope.After a while, the two brought a large bundle of hemp rope, and Lin Rong asked them to tie the hemp rope together, and then shouted loudly: "Which one of you has the best water skills?"

I probably knew that he was the young master of Lin Zhi County, so the big guy was willing to sell him a child's account. Hearing his shout, a black and strong man jumped out and responded: "Me!"

Lin Rong's face was stern, and he said solemnly: "Very good. You just tie this hemp rope around your waist, and then go into the water to rescue Mr. Pan. As long as you catch him, I and the others will be responsible for bringing you ashore. .” While speaking, he pointed to a few people who seemed to be weak and unable to stand upright.Lin Rongxin said: Rather than let them fall into the water and lose their lives.Why not take this opportunity to give them a break.

The man swallowed a mouthful of saliva, glanced at the raging torrent and Pan Jixun who was struggling in the water, and bravely took over the heavy burden: "Young master, don't worry. With me, Li San, I will definitely guarantee Mr. Pan All right." After that, he solemnly picked up the hemp rope and tied it around his waist, tied a knot, and with a plop, jumped into the flood of rolling waves, avoiding the turbid current that swirled, and clung to the tree branch with all his strength. Pan Jixuan went on a swim.

At this time, Lin Ruhai rushed over after hearing the news, and was very relieved to see his son dealt with the emergency in an orderly manner. Watching the other people who stopped their hands and watched, they shouted loudly: "You can't hurry up with your hands. Are you going to let Mr. Pan's hard work go to waste?"

When the others heard this, the speed of carrying the sandbags in their hands accelerated, and many people automatically jumped into the torrent of the breach, forming a human wall to fight against the ruthless flood.With the passage of time every minute and every second, the water flow at the breach became smaller and smaller, and was finally blocked.Just when everyone relaxed and wanted to cheer victory, Li San found Pan Jixun, and the knotted hemp rope tied around his waist suddenly fell apart. , and Li San couldn't even catch him when he turned his head, watching Pan Jixun being swept away by the rapids...

Seeing this, how could Lin Rong be willing to let his plan appear in the basket? He tied the remaining hemp rope around his waist expressionlessly, without even saying hello, and jumped into the river with a thump, and Licorice Pinellia was startled. He couldn't stop screaming, he quickly pulled the hemp rope hard, his eyes were fixed on the two shadows falling in the water, he watched Lin Rong's petite figure catch up with Pan Jixun who had been washed away by the water before, and waved his hand to the shore to pull hard, The two of them burst into tears with joy, and together with the others, they dragged up Pan Jixun, who was drowsy after drinking a stomach full of water, and Lin Rong, whose hands and feet were trembling and his lips were purple.

Seeing his son looking dazed and unconscious, Lin Ruhai thought in his heart, this is not a good time!