The Royal Merchant of the Red Chamber

Besides, because of the money matter, Fourth Master Long was full of thoughts, and suddenly he became three-point chattering, seven-point embarrassment, and felt more and more boring.In addition, it was already late and the sky was getting dark, so everyone discussed to talk about it in detail at another day.They sat up and said goodbye one after another, and each rode back home.Turning around to the Xue family's mansion, the Xue Pan brothers and sisters would naturally go to the Ruirong Hall to greet their parents, so Fourth Master Long walked back to the Haitang Pavilion with both hands on his own.After waving away Gao Wei and others who had followed him all day, he walked back to the room slowly.

The discerning maidservants immediately brought water and other things to serve Fourth Master to wash up briefly, and said that the bath soup had been filled, Fourth Master nodded, and went to bathe and change clothes behind the screen.It took about half an hour during this period.After coming out refreshed, all the maidservants hurriedly cleaned up the remaining matters before they filed out.

Finally, only the fourth master was left in the room. The fourth master sighed softly, and was about to lie down, but found that something was pressed under the pillow, revealing a corner of white.Suspiciously, he opened the soft pillow covered with red silk and satin and gold silk, and after he saw clearly what was pressed under the pillow, his pupils shrank involuntarily—

On the soft and silky brocade, neatly placed a stack of bank notes, all of which are worth ten thousand taels of silver.Fourth Master Long took it and counted it in his hand. There were ten bank notes in total, and there was a chapter of notes at the bottom.It is neatly written in small regular script with delicate hairpin flowers: To know your concern, I offer 10 taels of silver as a token of sincerity, please accept it.

At the bottom of the signature, there are four small characters "well-known but not known".

Fourth Master Long saw it and smiled coldly.Raise your voice.The maid guarding outside immediately opened the door and entered, and asked respectfully, "What's your order, Fourth Master?"

"Who came into my room just now?" Fourth Master Long put the banknotes under the pillow calmly, and asked immediately when he saw the big maid who pushed the door to enter.

"Reporting to Fourth Master, the maidservants who came in just now include Numaid, Jinxiang, Mokui, Yingluo, Hanou and Shaoyao." The maid replied respectfully with lowered eyebrows.

"Apart from the few of you, has anyone else been here?" Fourth Master Long asked again.

"No more." The servant girl replied resolutely: "The master gave orders before, saying that the fourth master is a distinguished guest. Without the permission of the fourth master, no one else can enter the fourth master's house. Even cleaning and tidying up on weekdays, They are all done by the servants themselves, and they have never been faked by others."

Hearing what the maid said, Fourth Master Long glanced at her, pondered for a moment, and suddenly asked, "What's your name?"

"Slave servant Du Ruo." The servant girl replied neither sad nor happy.There is no joy or anxiety at all when a distinguished guest asks for his or her name.

Fourth Master Long looked at Du Ruo thoughtfully, waved his hand and said, "It's all right, you can go down!"

When Du Ruo heard the words, she bowed respectfully and said softly, "Your maidservant will leave."

Before going out, he gently closed the door thoughtfully.Fourth Master Long pondered for a moment with a gloomy expression, then suddenly chuckled.He dug out the 10 taels of silver note from under the pillow, stared at it for a while, then put it back, and went to sleep.

And after Xue Pan brought Baochai to Ruirong Hall to greet him, he was called by Xue Zhizhang to the study for questioning.It happened that Xue Pan also had something to say to Xue Zhizhang, so he obediently followed into the study.

"What else do you want to tell me?" After sitting down, Xue Zhizhang looked at Xue Pan who was hesitating opposite, and asked with raised eyebrows.His original intention was to find out what Xue Pan was doing with Fourth Master Long outside today, but seeing Xue Pan's appearance, he couldn't care less about anything else out of curiosity.Anyway, Fourth Master Long had already returned, so nothing major could go wrong.

"Father, I discussed with Zhen Baoyu today that we want to join forces to do business." Xue Pan first sorted out his thoughts, and then told Xue Zhizhang the whole story.Of course, the plot about how Zhen Baoyu dreamed naturally omitted the past.But even so, this matter is enough for Xue Zhizhang to struggle for a while.

"You mean... Fourth Master Long also wants to get involved?" Xue Zhizhang didn't pay attention to the business issue for the time being, but just hearing this one, he felt a headache.

"En!" Xue Pan nodded, and said: "It was originally discussed with Zhen Baoyu, but he came out from behind. He said he wanted to get involved, so I didn't say much. Dad, look What should I do?"

Xue Pan is really innocent at this point.Although he is relatively insensitive to political struggles, he has read so many historical novels and knows that the struggle of the royal family is not so easy to deal with.Therefore, he never thought of flattering Fourth Master to pursue those unrealistic credits.But I didn't expect things to get mixed up gradually.Xue Pan was speechless for a moment, and could only lament that the effect of the cheating by the traversers was still unknown, anyway, he had everything he needed to do this troublesome work.

Xue Pan felt more and more confused.With the matter at this point, what else can he do, so he smiled wryly, and asked: "You guys do business with each other, is there any prospect of this shareholding?"

"Baoyu said he could give out 5 taels of silver, but Fourth Master Long...he didn't say anything! I guess we have to pay the bulk." Xue Pan scratched his head and finally said.

"Hey!" Xue Zhizhang shook his head helplessly, looking at his ignorant son, he felt both proud and headache.What I am proud of is that although my doll doesn't like reading, she is naturally intelligent and her ability to do business is far superior to others.The headache is money burning hands. With Xue Pan's ability and temperament, sooner or later he will become a favorite in the eyes of others. By then, whoever catches him will want to take a bite?

Thinking of this, Xue Zhizhang felt more and more responsible for himself, and became more motivated.

If you want to say that this man has a career, he has a spiritual head.Coupled with the fact that the wives and children are all ready, the fighting spirit is even more raging.At the moment, Xue Zhizhang had hundreds of thoughts in his mind, all of which were how to calmly resolve the crisis brought by Fourth Master Long. Of course, it would be even more beautiful if he could use this to strengthen his holy favor.

So he couldn't wait to ask: "Tell me first, how do you plan this business."

How else can I calculate?Xue Pan talked upside down according to the statement in the book, and then made some additions based on various related matters he saw in his father's company back then.Due to the long time, the memory ideas are not very clear.It's no wonder that Xue Zhizhang, an ancient man, quickly sorted out some thoughts from Xue Pan's half-reachable words, and after filtering in his mind, he immediately sketched out a set of regulations. After that, he asked immediately: "It's okay to talk about this tea garden, but it's just about pearl cultivation. Do you have the confidence?"

Although Xue Zhizhang asked tactfully, Xue Pan immediately understood.When he was about to talk about the technique of cultivating pearls, he wanted to write a set of plans, but it was a pity that Xue Pan's cultural background was really not strong, and he couldn't write nine and a half out of ten words he thought of.Seeing it, Xue Zhizhang shook his head and smiled wryly for a while, so he had to take over the work of embellishing the pen himself, and said together: "Although I don't like reading, I can practice calligraphy anyway, not to mention how to write, you must be able to write. "

He said again: "It's no wonder that your master is still a well-known Confucian in the Qing Dynasty, why did you accept such an ignorant thing like you?"

"It would be better if he was just ignorant, but it's a pity that this kid actually did some degrading things." There was a reprimand from outside the door.

Xue Zhizhang's eyes lit up, he smiled and greeted: "It's Mr. Zhuang outside, it's cold, come in quickly."

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man dressed in commoner clothes walked in with a smile.The whole body is full of elegance and elegance.When he saw Xue Pan who was hiding behind Xue Zhizhang like a mouse seeing a cat, he couldn't help laughing and scolding: "What are you doing to show that shape, can I still eat you?"

Xue Pan licked his smiling face and called, "Master, good morning!"

"It's already applied, why do you think it's early?" Mr. Zhuang raised his eyebrows, and said with a half-smile: "Since you think it's early, it doesn't matter. As the saying goes, spring is the plan for a year, and morning is the plan for a day. Now It's spring, and you think it's too early, why don't you go back to study with me!"

"Master..." Xue Pan immediately flattened his mouth when he heard the words, looked at Zhuang You wrinkledly, shrugged his nose pitifully, and said, "I've been busy outside all day today, and I'm so tired." Tired."

After speaking, he looked at Zhuang You eagerly.Put your hands together, make a fist, and shake it back and forth in front of your chest.Seeing it in his eyes, Zhuang You couldn't help laughing out loud.

"I don't feel ashamed to learn the shape of a child at such an age." Seeing that Xue Pan still looked miserable, he waved his hands and said with a loud smile, "Forget it, I'll let you go today. But never Starting tomorrow, you have to study hard and go to my class on time. If you go fishing for three days and posting nets for two days, you really have to be strictly disciplined as a teacher."

Sure enough, Xue Zhizhang shook his head funny.This word has been said since two years ago, and now, the power is not very strong.

Xue Pan nodded when he heard it, and kept flattering him: "I know Master has a good heart, so he must not be willing to punish me."

After finishing speaking, he took out a book furtively from his pocket, handed it to Zhuang You and said, "Master, this is a good book I gave you to Tao Deng outside, please keep it carefully so that no one will find it gone."

Zhuang You rubbed Xue Pan's head fondly, and took the book over. After seeing the writing on it, his pupils shrank slightly: "This is a lost ancient book, and where did you come from? ?”

"Ah?" Xue Pan immediately faltered, scratched his face subconsciously and said hesitantly: "That's... a friend lent me it! You read the book that the master gave you last time, and I have to return it when the time comes." Change it back!"

Zhuang You's eyes flickered for a while, and when he was about to ask more questions, he saw Xue Zhizhang calmly shaking his head, so he stopped asking.

Seeing this, Xue Pan immediately found an excuse and ran out, like a frightened squirrel, "whoosh" away, which made Xue Zhizhang and Zhuang You laugh for a while.

After laughing, Zhuang You looked at Xue Zhizhang suspiciously: "Zifei (Xue Zhizhang's characters), why don't you let me ask this? Ever since Pan'er brought back some lost ancient books intermittently two years ago, I I just find it strange. This kind of thing is not something that ordinary people can have. At least in my impression, there is no family in Jinling City that can produce this kind of thing. Pan'er is still young and has a simple personality. I am very worried about meeting such an ignorant person!"

Hearing this, Xue Zhizhang smiled wryly. "You don't know Shaoyou (Zhuang You's character). Ever since Pan'er brought back the ancient books for the first time and refused to say anything two years ago, I have sent someone to follow him quietly. I will definitely go to the Ghost Mist Forest once, and when I come back, I will bring you an ancient book, do you know this?"

"Oh?" Zhuang You was startled, and asked, "You mean...in the Ghost Mist Forest..."

"Although Xue Pan has a simple personality, he has a deep destiny. I don't know what kind of hermit's destiny he has chosen. I only know that Pan'er's body has improved in the past two years, and he has never been lingering. For me, this is the greatest good thing. I don’t need to delve into the rest.” Xue Zhizhang sighed and said: “Maybe they just don’t want to get involved with us! I’ve been watching the past two years with cold eyes That expert is really nice to Xue Pan, so I don't care. Things are impermanent in this world, and many times we don't have to investigate clearly, and it's a blessing to be confused!"

The words made Zhuang You nod his head again and again, and he disappeared before going to question Xue Pan's thoughts.

Sweeping his gaze, he landed on the rice paper with two large characters written by Xue Pan on the desk case, feeling depressed for a while.

"He wrote this word... I have to punish him for this!"

"Oh?" Xue Zhizhang cupped his fists with great interest and smiled, and said: "I will wait and see."