Syndicate Growth Manual

"General, please stay." Fan Lin took a few steps, and when he reached Zhao Chen, he coughed a few times, "I wonder if the general has time today? The old man has a new garden that has been raised for two or three years. Let’s take a look, how about enjoying the face and going together?”

Zhao Chen raised his eyebrows and sneered, Wenchen!

"Master Sikong, if you have something to say, why don't you just say it?"

Fan Lin heheed a few times, and said kindly: "General, why is this a place to talk? The scenery in my garden is beautiful, and the cook cooks excellent dishes. Wouldn't it be nice for us to enjoy the scenery, drink and eat?"

He is nearly forty years old, of medium stature, with a beautiful beard, powdered face, and a dignified appearance.In line with contemporary aesthetics, coupled with the demeanor cultivated by holding power all the year round, it is difficult for people to feel disgusted when they speak to people so warmly, but they will be flattered instead.

But that's for others, military officers never take this kind of thing, let alone Zhao Chen, who is also in a high position and is also young and vigorous?He looked at Fan Lin indifferently, with a feeling of reluctance.Fan Lin was sweating from those few glances. If it wasn't for his own fault, why would he coax a young man with a shy face?

It's better to settle the matter quickly, the business is busy now, and there is still a backlog of letters in the Political Affairs Department...

"General?"

Zhao Chen passed him directly, Yi Tuo handed him the reins, and he got on the horse, looked down at Fan Lin and said, "Master Sikong wants me to go shopping in the garden? If that's the case, please hurry up and get on the carriage."

Some low-level officials around are already looking at them.Fan Lin's smile was almost unstoppable, he took a deep look at Zhao Chen, and then walked to the Xuan car that was deliberately parked aside.

The garden is not far away. After exiting the gate of Jiangcheng, follow the official road all the way to the south, and you will arrive in less than half an hour.The courtyard is covered with heavy snow, and the white walls and black tiles in the snow undulate along the terrain. On the top of the wall, you can see the green pines covered with snow and the rustling plums. It is very elegant.

Songlan Court.

Zhao Chen got off his horse, looked up at the door plaque, and laughed secretly in his heart.It’s another arty style of literati. The mountains here have slight ups and downs, but there are no mountains. Do you think you can get this name by planting a few pine trees?

Seeing him staring at him for a while, Fan Lin thought he thought the name was good, and said proudly: "I specially invited craftsmen from the south, and the rockery groups inside are a bit more spiritual than those in the mansion. It's a pity that it's good to climb the mountain and see the scenery." The two entered the garden. There are four or five small courtyards with three entrances in the garden, a larger main courtyard, a shed for the servants, and a kitchen and clean room for the stables. Everything is available.

He invited Zhao Chen to the pavilion by the cedar lake. The pavilion was hung with felt on all sides, and the side facing the lake was rolled up, covered by a screen, and he ate mutton soup by lighting the stove. It didn't feel cold, but he could enjoy the snowy scenery of the mountains, rocks and green pines on the opposite side. The powder snow is blowing with the wind, and the air is clear, which is the cleanest season.

"This bad stuffed rabbit leg is one of my chef's specialty dishes. Let's try it, General." Fan Lin always treats guests with sincerity, although it's a pity that the first guests in this garden are not the few old friends he imagined, But Zhao Chen was young and promising, if it wasn't for a reason, the two of them probably wouldn't have this opportunity to sit and drink together.

Zhao Chen picked up his chopsticks, the rabbit meat was fresh and tender, very tasty and quite distinctive, he couldn't help sighing: "Lord Sikong really enjoys it, this dish is my son's taste, but unfortunately he can't taste it."

Fan Lin's face froze. He didn't expect that Zhao Chen would immediately start to ask the blame before the glass of wine was even on his lips.He has been a powerful minister for many years, and his colleagues pay attention to coming and going, and talking about business after drinking for three rounds, this guy... this guy is too unruly!

He smiled awkwardly, and said, "Isn't it simple that Xiao Yuanlang likes to eat? Let the kitchen use a porcelain jar to fill a jar when you leave, and you can take it with you!"

Zhao Chen's expression was as usual, he nodded and thanked him: "In this case, I will not be polite to you."

Fan Lin couldn't help it this time, and simply asked him: "I don't want to go around in circles anymore, I invited the general here today, firstly to apologize for the old man's unworthy granddaughter, secondly, I want to ask the general, since the result That's it, Xiao Yuanlang has never been engaged, and the old man's granddaughter Danniang is not bad, so it's better for the two families to get married. Isn't a bad relationship a good relationship? Otherwise..."

"I don't know what the eldest lady of the Fan family told you," Zhao Chen gently interrupted him, and drank half a glass of wine with downcast eyes, "it's just that Yu Niang had already rejected the proposal of the eldest lady that day, but the eldest lady did not Let people frame my son, and force Yu Niang to admit this marriage in front of everyone in the flower hall...Yu Niang fainted and had a difficult labor after returning home. Have you said everything?"

Fan Lin opened his mouth slightly, and looked at him in shock, with both shock and anger in his eyes.

What surprised him was that what he thought was just a small family scandal turned into such a big evil——Zhao Chen hadn't had a legitimate son in nearly 21 years, and everyone in the court knew about it, not to mention that the dead child was still his nephew!He still feels guilty towards his second brother's family now, and he played a role in Yuniang's original marriage, and now he is finally a man!

What's outrageous is that this evil result was caused by his mother-in-law again!How dare you hide him!

Fan Lin couldn't sit still, his old face was full of shame, and he wished he could cover his face with his sleeves and run away.But he is already sitting here, if he doesn't settle the matter today and become a good in-law, won't they turn against each other?

After thinking about it, he bit the bullet and suggested: "General, this old man will not take this matter lightly. When I went back, I sent Mrs. Yu to escort that slave girl to the door to plead guilty to Yu Niang. We will give the child Doing a dojo... At least it made her angry." His voice gradually turned into pleading, "But Danniang is young and ignorant after all, she will do whatever her grandmother tells her to do. A woman's reputation is big, this After the marriage is over, let Yuniang discipline her well after staying outside the door, otherwise Danniang will die!"

Zhao Chen couldn't help laughing: "So what if I die?"

Fan Lin looked at him in surprise.

Zhao Chen lowered his thick eyebrows and looked at him with endless viciousness in his eyes.

"Yu Niang originally thought that she was just talking about it, and she didn't even exchange tokens. It's fine to reject the eldest lady with good words," he said softly, "Now there is no need to hide it from the adults, lest the adults think that I am too heartless... "

Fan Lin suddenly had an ominous premonition.

"...My family's Anu is not unwilling to marry Danniang, but because she has been married for a long time, and she is the third daughter of the monarch, Min Ji. It's just that Anu is still young, so the monarch only issued a secret order to treat Min Ji as a token of exchange. Ji Ji, the whole country will announce the matter."

It was really like a lightning strike out of thin air, and Fan Lin was dizzy!His first reaction was that his family was unfortunate, and he married a woman who caused trouble for the family!The second reaction was that Zhao Chen had something to say!He has been a politician for many years, and he can't fail to hear something in Zhao Chen's words, even threats.Now that Zhao Yuan is in Min Ji's pocket, if the king or Min Ji know about the stupid things done by the women and children in his family, it may bring disaster to the Fan family, and Danniang may not even be able to save her life.

Fan Lin let out a long sigh: "Old man... I am willing to promise Danniang to Xiao Yuanlang as a concubine."

Zhao Chen shook his head and said, "Master Sikong thought that this would be all right?"

"Isn't that enough?" Fan Lin narrowed his eyes and looked at him, with a surge of anger in his heart, "There is no concubine in my Fan family! Now the old man's generation has lost all face of the Fan family. not enough?!"

Zhao Chen didn't bother to look at his old face: "There is a daughter of the Fan family in the palace, but she dare not call herself Madam."

Fan Lin was speechless.

No, he forgot about his little daughter.The emperor's main room in the palace is empty, except for Qi Concubine, there are three wives who are respected, Fan Lan enters the palace, is promoted to a wives by virtue of the monarch's favor, is in charge of the guest ceremony, and gives birth to Lingji, just like her for a while.He forgot that no matter how high his status was, Fan Lan could not be regarded as the royal family.

He calmed down and looked at Zhao Chen: "Then what do you want?"

"It's very simple," Zhao Chen said, "I heard that you have a granddaughter from the first line, the eldest Anu is three years old, and she has a similar personality with him. Why don't you marry Concubine Teng as Min Ji?"

Fan Lin stood up abruptly, pointing at Zhao Chen who was so angry that he couldn't even speak coherently: "You—you villain! You—don't want to, don't want to be wishful thinking! Even if this old man strangles a pair of granddaughters, I won't cry!" They married you as a mere concubine and suffered humiliation!!" After finishing speaking, he was not satisfied, and then sneered, "General, please don't discriminate between concubines and concubines, even if he is a concubine, he is worthy!?"

After all, he would throw up his sleeves and walk away.

Zhao Chen didn't get angry, and sneered behind him: "Then let's meet at Tingwei Temple. The eldest lady hurt my wife and children, and we have to settle the account... When Tingwei is reporting to the monarch, I will only say that she is involved." The matter is the family members of the first wife of the Fan family, I am afraid that all the family members of your family will go to Tingwei Prison, I wonder what kind of family your granddaughter will find?"

Upon hearing this, Fan Lin couldn't move anymore, closed his eyes and sighed, knowing that the dust had settled.

He could hear it, Zhao Chen felt resentment towards the Fan family, and he was only worried that he would find no time to retaliate. If the child was fine, at least for Yuniang's sake, he could discuss it. Now Yuniang is probably disappointed with the Fan family. Absolutely, I will never intercede for the Fan family again.As a third prince, although he holds power, he can't cover the sky with his hands... What's more, the more high he is, the less he can make mistakes. Once he makes a mistake, the monarch still has a lot of candidates waiting to replace him.

He had to jump into this pit.

Fan Lin turned around slowly, and when he sat down again, he felt that his back was as heavy as a weight, and he was about to stoop.He thought of his second son, his second daughter-in-law, and his beloved granddaughter Fan Tang, if only he had chosen a marriage for her earlier... How would he talk to his son and his wife now?From now on, Dafang might become the laughing stock of his wife...

"Just follow what you said," he said word by word, "When Min Ji and Ji announce their marriage, they are ready to marry!"

Zhao Chen said again: "Remind the eldest lady, don't forget to bring Yuniang's dowry as a dowry!"

Veins twitched on Fan Lin's forehead. He didn't know whether he wanted to die with Zhao Chen or go back and strangle Yu Shi to death.But no matter what, right now he had to swallow his anger, thinking about how to talk to his family.In fact, in the past, there was indeed the rule that when a concubine married, noble daughters accompanied Teng, but the past was the past after all, whose daughter was born to be a concubine?The Fan family has lasted for hundreds of years, the lintel is noble, and there is no example of marrying a daughter indiscriminately...

For a moment, the atmosphere in the pavilion was as cold and hard as an ice cave.Fan Lin sat there blankly, with no appetite, but Zhao Chen had a big appetite, and ate a few dishes of vegetables and a bowl of mutton soup in front of him with wine.

To be honest, he was tired of Fan's daughters enough, but firstly, it could relieve his anger, and secondly, the large dowry of Fan's family was worth something.As a Teng concubine, the Fan family can bring some help to Anu without making the monarch feel threatened. After all, the concubine's natal family cannot be regarded as a serious in-law.Thinking about his little Anu, at the age of six, he already had a royal wife and two noble concubines, his mood suddenly improved.

Fan Lin knew that this was the end of the matter, so he put away his frustrated and ugly face.He squinted at Zhao Chen's appearance, and said angrily: "The general has stayed in Jiangcheng for a long time, and he doesn't know the world outside?"

Zhao Chen snorted: "Could it be that the three justices discussed some important matter and failed? I never heard of it when I was waiting in the court."

Fan Lin hesitated again.

What he wanted to talk about was naturally the Northwest War.It stands to reason that every year in autumn and winter, the dog army will attack the city, and this happens every year, so the Northwest Battalion has the most abundant troops.It's just that this year, for some reason, the Northwest Army retreated one after another, and the three major counties in the northwest of Huai County, Jiang County, and Min County have all fallen and their cities have been massacred.Originally, they were all thinking about suggesting that Zhao Chen lead the troops, otherwise what would a commander-in-chief of the three armies do?Zhao Chen's record back then was no worse than Lutuo's.

But now, he hesitated instead.If Zhao Chen really went to make military exploits and hold real power, wouldn't he be more oppressive and domineering over the Fan family?In case he puts his mind on the other families again, will he still be the eldest son... But if he is defeated, it's fine if he doesn't die. If he dies, what will happen to Tangniang and Danniang for the rest of their lives?

After all, Fan Lin is not the Yu family, so he thinks more thoroughly.He knew very well that the authority of the Zhongjun Mansion was brought by Zhao Chen. Once Zhao Chen died, Yuniang and Zhao Yuan would have to move out of the Zhongjun Mansion. No, that's really nothing.

If you don't choose Zhao Chen, there are really no generals in the court now, it's really a dilemma.

"Lord Sikong is worrying, who should be the leader of the Northwest—" The man who made him hate and helpless dragged his tone and spoke surprisingly.

Zhao Chen looked at Fan Lin's troubled eyes and said with a smile, "Didn't your lord choose me in the letter?"

No matter how calm Fan Lin could be, he couldn't help being terrified now. He questioned Zhao Chen: "You! How do you know!" His manuscript is still being polished and has not yet been handed in!At any rate, he had experienced it for many years, so he immediately thought of whether the boy servant serving in the study had internal support from the Zhao family, but the people in the study would check for three generations...

"My lord's room is safe, but I've checked everything for my lord." Zhao Chen put down his glass and said with a casual expression, "I advise you, it's better to pay attention, after all, the Northwest Hussars Battalion seems to be fully supported now." Can't stop, the left and right generals are still in the Beiguan camp, where the Qiang Fang and Lou Fan are constantly disturbing the environment, and they can't leave for a moment. I'm afraid no one in the court can go there except me."

Fan Lin also knew the truth.In fact, he couldn't stop it no matter how much he tried, the military reports in the front were getting urgent day by day, and after New Year's Eve at the latest, someone must be ordered to lead the army to go out.Da Sima Ke has no enmity with Zhao Chen, and even admires Zhao Chen quite a lot.

Zhao Chen said: "My lord, put it down, you and I might as well exchange tokens and sign a contract."

Fan Lin couldn't help being embarrassed when he saw that he made his family's worries clear, so he wrote the deed according to his words and hid it when he went home.After the two of them talked about their affairs, Zhao Chen hurried back to Jiangcheng. Fan Lin stood at the gate of Songlan Garden with his hands behind his back, with a sad and painful expression on his face.

When he came, he was still thinking about how to coerce and lure Zhao Chen to admit his marriage, cover up the scandal at home, and make a good in-law. How could he have expected that things would take a turn for the worse, and the current ending made him ashamed to face his children and grandchildren.He thought of the instigator of all this as a matter of course, the sadness and pain were gone, replaced by the anger of leaving!

Fan Lin immediately drove back to Jiangcheng by car, and went to settle accounts with the Yu family.

As soon as Mrs. Yu saw Fan Lin coming back and was about to question her, she slapped her face and head, and knocked her to the ground in front of the servants.In the upper room is the stormy sea.

In just one hour, Mrs. Yu was directly removed from the right of housekeeper, and the ledger and key badge were handed over to Mrs. Qian, the eldest daughter-in-law.The first-class maid beside her, Qi Lvzhang, was shot to death, and the other three first-class maids were driven to the farm, replaced by four bought maids, Fan Dan was grounded, and all four maids and adoptive mothers around her were replaced.

Compared with these huge personnel changes, what is even more unbelievable to the women is that when Fan Lin came back from court, not only did he fail to negotiate a marriage with the Zhongjun Mansion, but he also paid for the two girls of the big house, the concubine and the concubine, and gave them to the family. Zhao Yuan is a concubine!Fan Tang was three years older than Zhao Yuan, and he was seeing him!

Qian Shi quickly resigned to her fate, not because of her cruelty as a aunt, but because she saw Zhao Chen's wolf nature to some extent, and faintly prepared herself psychologically.As for Ji Shi, the second wife, this incident was like a thunderbolt from the blue sky, which instantly shattered her heart, liver, spleen and lungs, and it was unacceptable no matter what!She has a deep relationship with her husband, Fan Song. Although her husband has one or two concubines, he is not greedy for beauty, and he does not allow them to have children. The son and daughter of the second wife are all born to her, and they are her lifeblood!

Ji slumped on the ground, trying not to faint. She kowtowed to Fan Lin, her head was about to bleed, and she just begged to spare Fan Tang.How would Fan Lin tell them?He knew that Zhao Chen didn't dare to lie about the secret order, but he also couldn't say it casually.

"This is all the sins of the elders. I can't say the reason for it. It's just that if there is a slight possibility, my grandfather would not make such a decision." Fan Lin asked someone to help Ji to stand up, and looked at his wife who was sitting sluggishly. With a long sigh, "Then Zhao Yuan is still young, there are still a few years left... You, you don't need to panic, maybe there will be a turning point in a few years..."

Ji's eyes were full of despair, for a moment, she wished she could pounce on her and eat her mother-in-law raw!

Her Tang Niang, who grew up so pampered and loved, is going to be someone else's concubine! !

Fan Lin strode away to the study as if evading, leaving a room full of women in hopelessness.

Ji Shi endured all kinds of hatred towards Yu Shi, squeezed out tears and walked over on her knees, pleading: "Grandma, grandma, save Tang Niang, she is completely innocent! She didn't do anything, why did she treat her so unfairly?" ! Grandma, I beg you—!!" Tears really flowed down as she spoke, and couldn't stop.

Only then did Yu wake up, her face was still swollen and painful, and her husband had beaten her face for the rest of her life... It's all due to that damned Fan Yu!And Zhao Chen!She pushed Ji's away, and she struggled to stand up and rushed into the inner room, rummaging through the lacquer cabinet.

"I'll find someone to send a letter to the palace right now... Shi Fu still has a daughter... What glory does she have after the Fan family has lost face..."

Qian Shi listened to her nonsense, and couldn't help but secretly startled.

Could it be that he wanted to ask that sister-in-law for help?She recalled the beautiful face of her sister-in-law, and thought vaguely, if she could really help them, that would be great.