The Royal Merchant of the Red Chamber

After a meal, everyone finally felt at ease.Xue Baochai covered her mouth with her hand and yawned, feeling sleepy all of a sudden.Seeing this, Xue Zhizhang quickly ordered Yinger and others to accompany Baochai back to the room to make up for sleep.Baochai thought it was inappropriate, and wanted to study for a while and go directly to the teacher's place for class, but Xue Pan frowned and refuted.

"I don't point to studying to get promoted and get rich. It's just a leisurely pastime. Why are you so serious? Besides, you didn't sleep yesterday because you were waiting for me. You really made a good deal out of it, but you deliberately let me Impossible."

"Brother, don't say that, it will make my heart go to waste." Xue Baochai quickly explained: "I just think that although there are a few things on our side, the husband really doesn't know about it, so the class is suddenly stopped. It's easy to explain. Besides, reading and learning is a matter of strict self-discipline..."

Speaking of this, it suddenly occurred to Xue Pan that he didn't like reading. Fearing that his words would make Xue Pan feel uncomfortable, he quickly turned a corner and said, "So if I don't go here, I'm worried that my husband will be angry."

"It's nothing, just send someone to ask your husband for leave. You also said that studying is a matter of accumulation, and it's not bad for a day or two. It's better to put your health first." Xue Zhizhang said, and called Xue Gui's family Send someone from Lao Qing Jing Zhai to tell the teacher that there will be no class today.

Xue Baochai is only six years old this year. Although she is born with a sensitive heart, she is still young and loves to play.I insisted on going to school before, but I was afraid of leaving a bad impression of being greedy for pleasure and not ambitious.Now that Xue Zhizhang personally told his teacher that there will be no class today, the stone that weighed on his heart was finally removed, and he couldn't help showing a happy smile on his face.Hastily said: "I'll go to the room to make up for an hour of sleep. After waking up, I will go to practice the piano first, and then watch the teacher make up for the missed lessons in his free time."

Xue Pan looked amused, and said teasingly: "Hey, Baochai, I want to take you to Jinling City today, and take you to the rouge shop by the way, what do you think?"

"Really?" Xue Baochai opened his eyes wide, and said brightly, "I'll go, of course I'll go."

After finishing speaking, he immediately remembered what he said before that he wanted to study, and couldn't help but look at Xue Zhizhang with some embarrassment, and shouted: "Daddy..."

Seeing this shape, Xue Pan couldn't help laughing "puchi", stretched out his hand to rub Xue Baochai's hair and said, "Okay, I won't point you to take the first prize! Don't learn today, wake up Go out to play with me after dinner. Then my brother will take you to Fuyuan Pavilion to eat delicious food."

Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered something, and said quickly: "When I went to the Fuyuan Pavilion yesterday, it happened that there were a lot of food from other regions in the Fuyuan Pavilion. I gave all the seeds to the fourth master. I have to tell Jiang Yuan today Say, don't sell the leftover vegetables to me, our family still wants to eat them!"

"I've already set aside everything from our family, but I haven't had time to do it in the future." Xue Zhizhang shook his head funny. "In fact, it's better to send it out, so as not to be difficult to deal with when asked by the superiors."

"Oh!" Xue Pan nodded reassuringly and stopped thinking about it.Turning back to Xue Baochai, he said, "Go back to bed quickly, don't waste the time to play."

"Hey!" Xue Baochai happily responded, and after adhering to the etiquette and paying respects to the three of them, she went out with a group of maidservants.

And here, Xue Zhizhang, who had nothing to do, discussed with Mrs. Xue and wanted to make up for sleep.

Xue Pan slept all night, and now he feels full of energy, how can he lie on the bed.Immediately waved his hand and walked out of the yard.At this time, it was around Yin time, the early sun had just risen, and the dewdrops condensed on the branches were very bright. Facing the unmelted snow that had just fallen last night, there was a kind of crystal clear beauty.

Xue Pan came to Yaxing for a while, and walked step by step in the direction of the plum garden on the thin snow.Going north along the path paved with bluestone slabs in the garden, you will arrive at the Plum Garden with a cup of tea. Standing outside and looking in from the half-moon arch, you can faintly see white, red, and yellow plum blossoms. It's in full swing, proud of the snow and frost.There are a few red plums sticking out of the blue wall, hard against the white snow on the top of the wall, giving people a visual surprise.

As soon as I walked into the plum garden, a bitter cold fragrance came to my nostrils.Xue Pan took a few deep breaths.He opened his mouth and sang: "The world of mortals has its own infatuated people. Mo Xiao is too infatuated. If it weren't for a bit of coldness, the plum blossoms would be so fragrant. Ask what love is in the world, and teach life and death. How many stories in the world are the most ecstasy? Three plum blossoms ..."

After singing for a while, I felt that it was boring, so I couldn't help but stopped, and sighed softly: "It's really boring, there's not even a TV series. It makes those opera singers babble all day long, and I don't like to listen to it—"

"What is a TV series?" A cold voice suddenly came from beside him, and Xue Pan was so scared that he choked on his own saliva.

Looking up, it turned out to be Fourth Master Long who came out of nowhere.

"What is a TV series?" Fourth Master Long asked reluctantly.

"Ahem, where did you come from?" Xue Pan rolled his eyes at him angrily, patted his chest and said, "I was scared to death."

Immediately remembering that this person is not my dandy friend, she curled her lips helplessly and said, "It's a kind of drama, but it's not sung by Yiyi, but chanted."

"Nan Bai?" Fourth Master Long pondered for a while, and Fang said again: "What did you sing just now? The tune is weird, and the lyrics are also upside down."

"Singing indiscriminately." Xue Pan didn't bother to explain, and immediately said perfunctorily: "Sing whichever line comes to mind."

"Things that are ignorant, they can't even recite a complete poem." Fourth Master Long reprimanded with a half-smile, and couldn't help chuckling when he saw Xue Pan's disapproving little movements of curling his lips and winking his eyebrows Said: "You seem to have some opinions?"

"Poetry is originally a small way, and it's nothing more than self-entertainment when you have nothing to do. If you get the real chapter, it's neither edible nor worth wearing. Why do I have to learn it?" Xue Pan really thinks so of.Just like in later generations, his father had to force him to study, he just couldn’t figure it out, he just didn’t know who wrote which ancient poem, or what the meaning of this prose was, or what about the theory of relativity, so what ?

Seeing Xue Pan's unconvinced appearance, Fourth Master Long became a little bit interested, and couldn't help asking: "Then, in your opinion, what is the Dao?"

"There are thousands of roads, and everything can be entered." Xue Pan subconsciously came up with a sentence that is a must-have text for comprehension novels.After the words were out of the mouth, he spit out a sentence, and then said seriously: "In my opinion, everyone must have their own foundation to establish the world. For example, our family is an imperial merchant, so we must be proficient in business methods To put it bluntly, it is enough to make money. For example, the Zhen family is a slave today, so they should do their job well. Let’s take the civil and military officials in the imperial court as an example! If you are a civil official, if you belong to the Imperial Academy, then Once you have finished the article, tell them immediately when they want to hear it. If it is a county guard, then you should be honest and optimistic about your one-acre three-point land, and don’t let the common people scold you every day. If it is a military officer, If you are a vanguard, you will rush to the front of the battle, and you will listen to what your superiors tell you. If you are a general, you should study the art of war. Don’t take your soldiers to the ditch to meet the king of Hades on the battlefield. Everything in the world, After all, it's just a duty." "Duty." Fourth Master Long chuckled when he heard it, and said, "I didn't expect you to look muddled, but you are a rare understanding person."

"That's right!" Xue Pan immediately became complacent when he heard Fourth Master Long's praise.

Seeing Xue Pan's tail almost raised, Fourth Master Long smiled knowingly.The depression and melancholy in my heart also eased a lot for a while.Sighing, he said for some unknown purpose: "What if I don't know my duty?"

"Then you have to be careful. Not doing your duty means you have to take risks in areas that you are not good at. If you are lucky, you will naturally rise to the top, but if you are not lucky, you may fall to the bottom. This is similar to speculation, and the risk is great. !" Xue Pan sighed when he thought of some uncles in the shopping malls in his previous life who couldn't help but greedily expand their business to areas they were not good at, and finally lost all the companies they lost. "This person, don't be too greedy. The most dangerous thing is being greedy but not having the corresponding skills."

"There is greed, but there is no ability to be greedy..." Fourth Master Long repeated thoughtfully.

Seeing this, Xue Pan frowned, and said, "I said, Fourth Master, what's going on with you today, why do you keep repeating what I said?"

"Of course it's because your words make sense." Fourth Master Long teased.

"Really?" Xue Pan's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help boasting: "How about it, my words sound like a warning to the world?"

"Pfft!" Fourth Master Long hooked the corners of his mouth, and said seriously: "It's just a rough sentence, not a rough one."

"This man..." Xue Pan tried his best to suppress the twitching corners of his mouth, stomped his cold feet, and said, "It's too cold outside, I'm going back to the house first."

"Wait..." Fourth Master Long subconsciously grabbed Xue Pan who turned to leave.

"Why?" Xue Pan turned around and asked with raised eyebrows.Sweeping his gaze over Fourth Master Long's frowning, he blurted out and asked, "You're so abnormal today, don't you have something to worry about?"

Fourth Master Long was about to speak, but was stopped by Xue Pan again. "Wait, if your troublesome matter is of great importance, don't tell me. You know that I can't hide my words in my heart. If I accidentally talk about it, it will delay your time again. Things go wrong."

Being teased by Xue Pan like this, Fourth Master Long couldn't laugh or cry even more.But after all, the mood is better.After pondering for a moment, he said slowly: "Let me tell you a story——"

"It's so cold, you dragged me outside to tell stories—" Xue Pan just started to complain, but was silenced by Fourth Master Long.

"It is said that there is an old rich man who is getting older. He has many sons, and he is most proud of his second son. He wants to pass the family property to the second son after a hundred years. But this second son has a violent personality and is difficult to be responsible for. So the other sons have their own thoughts. And the housekeepers that the old rich man relies on also have their own thoughts..."

Xue Pan listened to Fourth Master Long's ramblings, and scolded him all over his face: "I'm telling you to show off, I'm telling you to be shy, it's okay, why are you trying to get close to him!"Got stuck...

"What's wrong with you?" Fourth Master Long raised his head and saw Xue Pan's face of pain and regret, so he couldn't help asking.

"Stomach hurts, I want to go to the bathroom." Xue Pan opened his mouth and said.Looking at Fourth Master Long's face that turned ashen for a moment.Feeling apprehensive, he quickly said: "Then what...you continue to talk about yourself, I will hold back for now."

"..." Fourth Master Long gave Xue Pan a fierce look, and finally asked, "If it were you, what would you do?"

"How to do what?" Xue Pan blinked and said blankly.

"Don't pretend to be stupid." Fourth Master Long couldn't bear it any longer, and stretched out his hand to slap Xue Pan. "Say it."

"Ouch!" Fourth Master Long slammed hard, and Xue Pan covered his head with his hands in pain.Knowing that Fourth Master Long was really angry, if he was still perfunctory, he might offend this stingy guy, and finally said helplessly: "What is there to think about. You also said that this old rich man chose his son! Of course I want to choose the most filial and well-behaved one. Who wants to not even have a son who is really worried and sad for him when he is old and sick! As for those slaves... no matter how much they jump around, they are all slaves of the old rich man. , so what if you gain power again? Could it be possible to be the master of the old rich man?"

Seeing the thoughtful face of Fourth Master Long who fell silent for a moment, Xue Pan broke away from Fourth Master Long's hands abruptly, and said eagerly: "No, I really have a stomachache. I'm going to the toilet."

After finishing speaking, he rushed out of the garden in two steps.

Fourth Master Long stood with his hands behind his back.Looking at Xue Pan who fled in embarrassment in front of him as if chased by a dog, he chuckled softly.

The breeze blew by, and there were fragmentary words.

"... Is it wise and stupid...or..."