[Red House Chai Dai] Salted Pork Knuckle, Crab Rice Wine

Because Xue Pan followed Uncle Feng's path and no longer asked Baochai to help with the business, Baochai only had a small silk and satin shop to take care of, which was much easier than before.The third son of Chen Yi's family has been taught by her for several months, and he is quite up-to-date, managing the business in a decent manner.Baochai only needs to point out a few things, which is very cheap.

This day was around the Dragon Boat Festival, and Baochai ordered the old family to invite the shop assistants to drink and eat meat in the front yard, and heard Chen Yi's son answer some trivial matters on behalf of his son.After hearing this, Baochai asked: "The goods in our silk and satin shop have always been dispatched by commercial firms from the south of the Yangtze River. Now we just buy from them. But there is one thing, let them still open orders at par prices. It is the capital of our family, but we also understand it clearly."

Chen Yi's family was originally just a woman who did rough work outside the second gate, but now she has worked under Baochai for a few months, but she has gradually experienced it, and her speech is much more capable than before. It's the right way. Brother, clear accounts. At first, we did the same in our shop. We settled the bill with the business at the end of each month, and there was never any delay. It's just that our business has been taken over by someone recommended by Mr. Feng since last month. Now, it’s not easy to restock.”

Baochai knew that Xue Pan entrusted Feng Ziying's acquaintances to take care of all the properties under her name, and she just ate and drank blindly, waiting to reach out to collect interest. , and now I heard about this again, I couldn't help frowning and asked: "Have you ever told the uncle? Although an outsider is hired to take care of it, it is still our shop. Is there any reason not to sell it to us? Think about it It is the new deacon who has just arrived, and the new official took office three times, and he intends to show his prestige. Instead, let the uncle go and say hello, that's all. He has never lost his money."

Chen Yi's family hurriedly said: "The uncle is just sitting around collecting interest, so who cares about this matter. Besides, the youngest son said that since the new deacon took over the firm, he raised the prices of the firm's goods by [-] to [-] percent, especially for the goods that are in short supply. The one with the highest price wins. If in the name of our family, I beg them to still settle the account at a par price, I think they will agree, but it is against the girl's usual teachings, and I am afraid they will look down upon it. It is better It’s cheaper to buy from other stores.”

Baochai has also heard that since Feng Ziying's people took over the firm, the amount of various goods needed is huge. Often, several boats of cotton, cloth, and grain are shipped in, and they are bought by big customers in an instant. Where are these many orders coming from?It is reasonable for a firm to open its doors to do business. It is reasonable to be close to the big customers first. My silk and satin shop is small and profitable, and the goods that can be eaten are limited after all. What's more, the business of the silk and satin shop was originally set up for the sale of the firm. The goods are convenient. Now that the goods of the commercial firm are not worried about the market and the supply is in short supply, there is absolutely no reason for the firm to keep close to the silk and satin shop.She thought about it, and said: "That's all. It's just that another firm has goods for our family?"

Chen Yijia replied with a smile: "Why not, the price is actually lower than our business. Besides, the third son also said that when he earns more money, he will go back to Miss Ming, add more manpower, and send people to specialize in the countryside. Collect the silk and open a few more workshops, so that the profits will be even more substantial."

Baochai started to take care of this silk and satin shop. After Liu shopkeeper absconded with his son and rolled up the money, the shop was chaotic. Now it is just taking the opportunity to regroup, and it doesn't think about how much money it will make with this small shop. See the Chen family Xiao Sanzi rolled up his sleeves ambitiously and wanted to work hard, and he praised him on the surface, but in his heart he didn't take this shop with a capital of several thousand taels of silver seriously.On the contrary, Xue's firm purchased and shipped goods on such a large scale, and the situation was suspicious, which made her worry for a long time.After thinking about it for a long time, I didn't have any idea, so I had to call Ying'er and Qianxue over, and the three master and servant were doing some needlework together in the room.

Suddenly, an abrupt voice rang in Baochai's ear: "Did you forget something?"

Baochai was caught off guard, and the silk thread in her hand almost went astray in shock.She slowly put down the bandage in her hand, and said to the voice: "When I was asking about your business, you kept silent, why are you jumping out now?"

The voice was quite angry and said: "You are getting more and more stubborn now! I will speak out when I want to, and I will not speak out if I don't want to. What can you do to me?"

Baochai smiled and said: "You come and go without a trace, even if you and I talk, others can't tell, just think I'm hysterical, so I can't do anything to you. I just feel strange, I asked you that way a few days ago , you refused to make a sound. What is the reason for jumping out now?"

The voice froze for a moment, and complained: "You don't mean anything! You promised to visit Xiangling often, why haven't you mentioned it for so many days? I used to be tight-lipped, afraid that the government would find any clues Come on, now that even your mother has left her alone, why don't you go to see her?"

Baochai was not angry when she heard it accuse her so much, she just nodded with a smile and said, "So that's what you said. Don't worry, I told Yinger earlier that I would go to see Xiangling in a few days."

The voice was taken aback again, and asked in surprise, "Why don't I know?"

Baochai remained calm and said with a smile: "That's right, why don't you know? Ying'er and Qianxue both know about this, and they have been secretly preparing for it for several days, why don't you know? Don't you—then fell asleep?"

The voice was at a loss for words, and after a while, he hesitated and said: "Exactly. Maybe I was inattentive and fell asleep that day. Tell me, when did you go to see her?"

When Baochai heard this, she knew that she was going to make some long speeches, but she didn't answer first. She just smiled and said to Ying'er and Qianxue: "I have been busy for so long, and my head hurts. I want to be alone." It should be noted that when she communicated with that voice, it seemed to outsiders that she was in a daze.This long time in a daze will inevitably arouse suspicion, so it is better to act alone in the room with an excuse.

Hearing this, Yinger Qianxue retreated.Baochai Fang said slowly: "Don't worry, it's only been a few days. Speaking of which, I haven't seen her for so long, and I really miss her. I don't know how much she has suffered."

At first the voice said: "Exactly, I haven't seen her for a long time, let alone you, even I miss her a little bit." When Baochai mentioned Xiangling's suffering, his voice suddenly rose an octave: "Suffering? How could this be? Didn't you say that everything was properly arranged? Didn't you entrust her to Grandma Liu? Then Grandma Liu is a very loyal person. Since she has agreed to you, she will never make mistakes. Didn't you take advantage of it? I'm not here, sent Xiangling elsewhere?"

Baochai said slowly, "Don't be in a hurry. Xiangling is still under the care of Grandma Liu. I'm not lying to you about this. Just think about it carefully. Although Xiangling was a child, although she suffered a few years of hard life, she was raised in my house. For the past two years, I have been following me, and the cost of food and clothing is less than hers? The makeup she wears on a daily basis, what she wears on her head, and what she wears on her body, which one is not the best? Either I boast, or it is outside A lady from an ordinary family doesn't wear clothes as well as her. The ancients used to say that it is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to frugal. Since she has come here in this way for a few years, she put all these aside for a while. Can you bear it? I don’t know how to cry day and night? Besides, you also know that she looks good. People in the country always open their doors and walk around frequently. In terms of strictness, they are far inferior to my house. If there is any evil intention , caught a glimpse of her for a while, and saw that she was beautiful, and she had some bad thoughts, so what should I do?"

Thinking about Baochai's words carefully, the voice felt very reasonable, and couldn't help being frightened and angry, and said bitterly: "In this case, you still let her live in the country? You are not afraid that she will not get used to it, you just Aren't you afraid that she will be bullied? You... What kind of heart do you have?"

Baochai was not angry at the indiscriminate scolding from that voice, but said flatly: "An awl is not as fast as two ends. There is always a trade-off in everything. Naturally, what we eat at home is much better than outsiders. Xiangling is here, so she is well fed and warmly dressed. When others see that she is my girl, they will not deliberately make things difficult for her. If someone who is not open-eyed wants to tease her, the ordinary person will have been kicked out. It's because she is not as good at serving people as Ying'er, and she only loves to read and write, not to do hard work. I also let her go and teach her calligraphy by myself, and only let the little girl do the dirty work. It's just that she My family, after all, is a slave and a handmaiden. My mother wanted to flatter her, and she wanted my ineffective brother to accept her, but you couldn’t bear it. Now I live in the countryside, and I only eat rough food and wear coarse linen. Everything is unavoidable. You have to do it yourself, show your face, chop firewood and light a fire, carry water to wash rice, she used to love to read and write, but now she can only surround herself with tea, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar tea. These are trivial things. If you are entangled by that rascal idler, If you are bullied, you have to admit it. It’s just as good, and you don’t have to have anything to do with my brother. You made noise all day long and tried to persuade me to let Xiangling go. Now that I’ve been praised by my mother, it’s in line with your wishes. What else do you have to complain about?"

The voice said bitterly: "Since you have seen these pros and cons, why didn't you think of a way to get the best of both worlds, instead causing Xiang Ling to suffer! It can be seen that you have selfish intentions!"

Baochai said leisurely: "This is strange. I'm not a god or saint. I can figure out the cause and effect, and I can take care of everything and everything is in order. You can also see that because of Xiangling's matter, my mother almost didn't recognize me as a daughter. If I had thought of this in advance, I'm afraid I'd just let my brother take Xiangling."

The voice was anxious: "You——you are so cruel! That child Xiangling has such a hard life, she left her parents when she was young, and was sold into your house, you should treat her better."

Baochai said: "This is even more strange. Although Xiangling has been rough since she was a child, firstly she blames the kidnapper for being so conscientious and abducting the young girl, and secondly, she blames her family for not taking good care of her. My brother bought her." Although she was reckless and domineering at the time, she paid her worth according to the rules. After she came to my house, I treated her very politely. Even if you go to the Golden Luan Hall to judge, my family has nothing to blame in terms of emotion and law. Now you I think my brother is worthless, and I feel that letting Xiangling be a concubine is humiliating her. I decided to let her go in private, and I didn't want to return the money. I gave her money. I have already done my best. Do you still want to protect her? Is it not cruel to live in prosperity and wealth, stability and satisfaction all your life?"

The voice was stunned for a moment, and wanted to argue about something, but Baochai suddenly took off the golden lock around his neck, put it on the kang table, and said to the golden lock with a smile: "Your Excellency has shown signs. Now Xiang Ling has left my house, what are you doing in this golden lock? My house doesn't have what you want."