The Agricultural Tycoon of the Red House

"Xiaguan's hometown is in Baicong County, fifty miles away from Beijing. The plums are goose yellow plums. When they are ripe, the whole body is bright yellow. When my old neighbor sent plums to eat, we spit out the pits and grow them in the yard. The old neighbor The original hometown seems to be in Fujian, and they came here as a businessman, but they have moved away ten years ago, but this plum tree has taken root in my house and is regarded by the old lady as a mascot. Coincidentally, as soon as it blooms, my house has Happy things happen, big or small." Cheng Shuliang carefully explained.

Jia Lian looked up at the tree and turned to ask Cheng Shuliang, "Although the tree has grown, the amount of fruit that can be eaten is getting less and less?"

Cheng Shuliang looked at Jia Lian in amazement, and gave a thumbs up, "Your Excellency is amazing, this plum tree blooms and bears a lot of fruits every year, but there are not as many plum trees that are ripe enough to eat in the end. How does Your Excellency know this?"

Jia Lian: "Look at this tree in your house. It is full of long branches, drooping branches, back branches, over-dense branches, well, there are two diseased and insect branches, and there are many weak branches. If it is not properly pruned, of course it will Reduce result volume."

Cheng Shuliang blinked and was even more confused.He couldn't understand a word of what the servant was saying.

"Whenever you are free, I can help you prune the branches." Jia Lian said.

Cheng Shuliang looked at Jia Lian in a daze.What did your lord say?Want to help pruning his tree?

Cheng Shuliang scratched his ears, bowed his head and said, "I must have heard wrong, I thought that my lord was going to prune my plum tree, hehehehe...don't take offense, my lord!"

"You heard me right." Jia Lian looked him in the eyes seriously, waiting for his answer.

Cheng Shuliang was taken aback, with a look of undecided shock on his face.The moment Cheng Shuliang met his eyes with Mr. Shi Lang, his legs were weak and he almost knelt down. Fortunately, Jia Lian helped him up.

Pruning branches... This is not a job that the noble servant can do, so frightening!

"If you don't want to, forget it, don't be afraid of me." Jia Lian was slightly disappointed, looked at the plum tree regretfully, turned around, got in the car and said goodbye to Cheng Shuliang.

Cheng Shuliang was still stunned in place, and reacted suddenly, shouting: "My lord misunderstood, I am willing, I am willing!" But when he turned his head, there was still the figure of the servant, and the carriage disappeared at the end of the street.

Cheng Shuliang stomped his feet remorsefully, and went home sullenly, worried that he would offend the servant and be put on shoes later.When the old grandmother heard about this, she scolded Cheng Shuliang again, saying that he was not flexible as an official.

Cheng Shuliang was aggrieved: "Grandmother, didn't you also say that the two plum trees in the yard are your lucky stars, and no one else can touch them casually. My grandson was stupid for a while, and just happened to fulfill your wish!"

"Nonsense! Can the servant be the same? He has achieved the position of the servant of the household department at a young age. We ordinary people can compare with him. Is he still human like that? Is he a human? He is a god!" The old lady paused for a while. Anxious, began to be arrogant and unreasonable.

Cheng Shuliang nodded aggrievedly, expressing his understanding.When I turned around, my parents called me to go elsewhere, and I was scolded again.

Cheng Shuliang wept silently in his heart, but in fact he also regretted it, and must make up for his mistake with the servant tomorrow.

……

After Jia Lian returned to Rongfu, the servant Laixi greeted him with a smile and presented a brocade cloth bag.

Jia Lian poured it out, and there were five more "round wooden sticks" in his hand, each four inches long, and a black pen core could be seen in the center of the cross section.Jia Lian just remembered that a few days ago he happened to see the little maids messing around, and recognized that the stones they used for thrushes were graphite, so he casually ordered Laixi to find a skilled craftsman to see if he could make pencils according to his description. , I didn't expect the finished product to be released in only five or six days.

"How did you do it?" Jia Lian asked.

Laixi hurriedly said: "The carpenter can do exquisite carving work, this thing is not a big deal, get two boards, cut out five grooves of suitable size, grind Shidai, make the core to put Go up, then cut and fix with glue. It’s just that the glue is more expensive, and these five things cost one, two, or three hundred cash, which is enough to buy two stones of rice.”

Five pencils are equal to the value of more than 100 catties of rice, which is indeed expensive enough.

A bit extravagant.

Jia Lian nodded and put the things away, and decided to use them carefully.Only use it when drawing pictures and tables, and use a brush for the rest of the time.

After returning to the room, Jia Lian sharpened a pencil with a knife and drew a form on the rice paper with a ruler.He made a timetable in an orderly manner, dividing the various tasks he took on in the Ministry of Households, just like doing agricultural work when there are 24 solar terms.Doing so can make it clear at a glance, and it can also prevent you from neglecting a certain duty in your busy schedule.

Feng'er came in with a bowl of sugar-steamed crispy cheese, and said with a smile: "The concubine got it, there were only three bowls in total, the old lady was reluctant to eat it, so she only gave it to Second Master Lian and Second Master Bao."

Coincidentally, Jia Cong came to greet Jia Lian, and swallowed when he smelled it, "It smells so good."

"I'll eat it for you." Jia Lian looked up at Jia Cong, put down his work with a smile, looked him up and down, and asked him to stretch out his hand.

Jia Cong blinked, smiled guiltyly, and stretched out his hand embarrassingly. The hand was clean, but all ten nails were long and uncut, and there was mud hidden inside, which was jet black.

"You're still so naughty, no one cares about you." Jia Lian winked at Feng'er, who immediately went out to call Jia Cong's nanny.

Jia Cong blinked, and coquettishly asked Jia Lian if he could eat that bowl of sugar-steamed crispy cheese.

Jia Lian asked the nanny to cut Jia Cong's nails, and said to him, "Honestly, after the clipping is finished, you will have something to eat." Then he told the nanny, "It's up to you in his room, so take care of him carefully, and there will be another time." No way."

The nanny was so frightened that she knelt down in panic to apologize for her mistake, and retreated obediently.

After Jia Cong washed his hands, he happily took the bowl of steamed crisp cheese with sugar and started to eat it.When he was halfway through the meal, he suddenly remembered that something was wrong. Jia Cong jumped down holding the bowl, ran to Jia Lian, and raised his little arm.

"Second brother Lian, we each have half, and the rest is for you to eat."

"Good boy, thanks to you thinking of me, you're a little sensible." Jia Lian patted Jia Cong on the head.

Jia Cong smiled and said, "Mister taught me."

"It's not a waste of money to invite you, sir, you can eat, the second brother doesn't like this kind of sweets." Jia Lian said.

Jia Cong nodded, then sat back honestly and ate the rest.

When Feng'er came back, his face was full of anger, Jia Lian sent his mother-in-law to take Jia Cong away, and asked her, "What's the matter?"

"The gatekeeper is useless. I told you to keep an eye on it. Don't ask the second wife to come in, but she still didn't stop her. I think I'll go to the eldest wife's place after a while. This time there will be another mess." Feng'er frowned and said angrily. .

Jia Lian thought it was funny, "She suffered from being dumb and couldn't make a fuss."

He must be indispensable in this scene, so Jia Lian simply went directly to Mrs. Xing and waited.

When he arrived, Mrs. Wang hadn't arrived yet.

Mrs. Xing had long heard about the old lady rewarding Jia Lian with sugar-steamed crispy cheese. As soon as Jia Lian came in, she complained: "The old lady still loves Baoyu the most. The servant, but she still can't compare to the useless demon king in front of her eyes."

In the past, when the men in the family were worthless, Mrs. Xing still thought that Baoyu was a pretty good kid, with a gentle temperament and a pretty smart mind, and he was sure that he would be a bright young child in the future.But for some reason, ever since Lian'er became promising, she found that Baoyu grew up and became more and more crooked, and became less and less attractive. Anyway, he was not as good as Lian'er!

Seeing Mrs. Xing's strange tone, Jia Lian asked her what's wrong.

"There's nothing wrong with it, but today an old lady is sharing sugar-steamed shortbread. There are only three bowls, and it's okay to share with her cherished children. We adults are also old, and we don't like that kind of food. Dizi On the side of the grandson, there are you, Baoyu, and a little great-grandson, Lan'er. The old lady gave Baoyu two bowls and gave you one bowl. Hmph, if you hadn't been named servant, there would be no even one bowl. You What happened to those two bowls in Baoyu's room? If he really ate it himself, he left it for the two maids around him!" Mrs. Xing got angry when she mentioned this, "Tell me, There are still many masters in this house who have not eaten, and he actually distributed them to the servants. In his eyes, the masters like us are not as important as the servants. He doesn’t care about our eldest wife. Forget it, he didn't think about his nephew Lange'er either."

"In such a comparison, the wife is indeed angry. But since the old lady shared the thing, it is not surprising that such a result came out. Why should you be as knowledgeable as that child? You can't use common sense to judge abnormal people .” Jia Lian said.

Mrs. Xing smiled, "What do you mean?"

"My wife also said that the old lady could have shared it fairly, but she didn't. Baoyu just let her do it, and only gave things to the people he liked the most." Jia Lian explained.

Mrs. Xing frowned, "That's why, that is to say, we serious relatives are not as good as the maids in his room to please him?"

"In his eyes, it's true." Jia Lian looked up at Mrs. Xing, "It's true that we don't have any young girls who are cute!"

"Nonsense!" Mrs. Xing slapped the table angrily, "I used to see him messing around with the maids, I thought he was just playful, but now I see that's not the case, he must be jealous. At a young age, If you don't learn anything else, but you are familiar with the dandy's stuff early on, how can it be good?"

"As long as the old lady likes it." Jia Lian said.

Mrs. Xing looked at Jia Lian: "Then we—"

Jia Lian stood facing the door, looked up and saw a figure swaying by the courtyard door, turned to Mrs. Xing and said, "I have no objection, and I advise Madam to relax. What the old lady can have is just a few taels of dowry. It’s better to rely on one’s own abilities instead of imitating others. Besides, everyone has special favorite things. For example, some people like to eat sweet-scented osmanthus cakes, some people like to pet cats and dogs, and the old lady likes to pet Baoyu. That's her hobby! Since we can't stop it, why don't we let them go."

Mrs. Xing was startled and then laughed.She likes Jia Lian's metaphor very much. Some people like to pet cats and dogs, but the old lady likes to pet Baoyu...

"The second wife is here!"

As soon as the voice of the servant girl outside was heard, Mrs. Wang came in angrily with a dark face. Behind her were Zhou Rui's family, four servant girls and the two wives.A group of people came in cheering, and there was a man holding a bundle of straw, which seemed a bit funny at first glance.

Mrs. Wang rushed forward first, and met Mrs. Xing face to face: "Look at what your Lian'er has done!"

Mrs. Xing panicked, and seeing that Jia Lian's expression hadn't changed, she calmed down, covered her mouth with a handkerchief, took two steps back, and then sat down in the first place, "Oh, where is my brother and sister getting so angry! What are you doing with bales of straw, it smells musty and disgusting."

"You still ask me, this thing was sent by Jia Lian, you ask him!" Mrs. Wang was so angry that she called Jia Lian's name and turned to stare fiercely at Jia Lian.

Mrs. Xing didn't know where the straw came from, so she also looked at Jia Lian, looking for an answer.

Jia Lian sat down with raised eyebrows, eyes half down, drinking tea calmly, completely ignoring the two of them.

Mrs. Wang was so angry that she clutched the handkerchief in her hand and asked someone to throw the straw on the ground, leaving only Zhou Rui's family to accompany her in the house, and sent the others to wait out.After all, it is embarrassing that I have been fooled for more than half a year and did not recognize the rice pole, so I can't just make jokes of outsiders.

Mrs. Wang raised her eyes and looked at Jia Lian again, seeing that he was still indifferent, the anger in her heart burned even more.Thinking of what happened this morning, she was so angry that she could hardly breathe.

……

It was just dawn this morning, and Mrs. Wang was still asleep when she heard an urgent report that Jia Lian's Xing'er had something urgent to report. "...Xing'er knocked on the vermilion lacquered door early in the morning, and even sent a message that people would regret it if they were later." Mrs. Wang was aroused by this strange sentence, and while sending her mother-in-law to see Xing'er, she hurriedly dressed clothes.

When she was fully dressed and went to the side hall to meet someone, Xing'er had already left, leaving only a bundle of yellow grass in the middle of the room.

Mrs. Wang expected that this guy was playing with herself and asked people to chase Xing'er.Originally, she wanted to wait for someone to catch Xing'er before settling accounts, and go back to catch up on sleep, but she glanced at the bundle of grass on the floor of the house, and was immediately stunned, feeling familiar.

Mrs. Wang rushed in hastily, bent down and looked carefully, the golden poles and leaves, one end was the root, which was cut off by a knife, and the other end had soft 'thorns'.In order to confirm, Mrs. Wang took out one herself, observed and compared it carefully, it was exactly the same...

Mrs. Wang immediately petrified, looking at the bundle in disbelief, the first thing that came to mind was: "Jia Lian found it", "He must know that I stole it and set it on fire", "A bundle came out all of a sudden. , I’m afraid that those few seedlings of mine are not so rare.” At first, Mrs. Wang thought it was Jia Lian’s revenge, and deliberately got a bunch of things of the same species to scare herself, showing that the ‘new species’ she had stolen was not valuable.When she was angry and annoyed, and was wondering if Jia Lian was cheating on her, a woman beside her suddenly spoke up.

"What is Xing'er doing with a bundle of dry straw? Who doesn't have a firewood house, so he specially gave it to me!"

Mrs. Wang was stunned, and slowly turned her head to look at the woman: "What do you think this is?"

"Straw is the dry stalk left after the rice is harvested." The woman explained.

Mrs. Wang was startled undecided, and then startled again, her face froze and she didn't know what expression to do.She turned to look at Zhou Rui's family. Zhou Rui's family panicked, but they reacted quickly. They immediately understood that the seedlings that his wife had been waiting in the house all day were straws. Justify.

Mrs. Wang was shocked, but she still had to worry about her own face, and sent away the idlers, leaving only Zhou Rui's family, and then began to question her: "You sent someone to steal something, and you didn't know it was a rice stalk?"

"Returning to Madam, I really don't know about this servant. The job was done by the young servant. I followed your instructions. I took it out of Lian's Second Master's courtyard and asked him to hide it under a gauze. Later, when carrying it, the servant No one has seen it. After it was sent to the house, only the wife took care of it. The wife knew it well. As for why the little bastard didn't explain clearly, I think he didn't think anything wrong, and thought that the wife was just trying to steal it. Take things. After all, when I arranged for him to work, I didn't say too much, just said that I wanted the nine pots of things."

Mrs. Wang was so angry that her hands were shaking, her eyes were as big as fists, her voice gradually increased, and she roared like a wounded lion: "Then what about the expert you invited, who is 'Huang Xian'er'!"

Zhou Rui's family rolled their eyes and hurriedly made up a lie to evade responsibility: "I didn't even think that this guy was a liar! This person is indeed an expert who my servant found out in ten miles and eight villages. Who knows that this 'expert' is actually It’s just relying on words to cheat money! This is the fault of the servant girl, and the servant girl accepts the crime and is willing to be punished!”

After Zhou Rui's family finished speaking, they raised their hands and slapped their mouths loudly.

Seeing her blushing, Mrs. Wang opened her mouth to stop because she thought that there were not many people around her, and she would have to run errands in a while.

The more Mrs. Wang thought about it, the tighter her chest became. Panting heavily, she leaned on the back of the chair, unable to recover for a while.This maddened anger and annoyance after being deceived for a long time is like tens of thousands of ants continuously emerging from his heart, and then slowly invading and crawling all over his limbs.The feeling of hatred, pain and itchy hands and teeth made her wish to smash Jia Lian to ashes immediately.

creak...

creak...

Mrs. Wang gritted her teeth hard and let out a crisp bite.She has never been played or humiliated like this in her life!

From Zhou Rui's family: "Ma'am, the most important thing now is the eldest girl's side. The two pots will be sent to the palace. If the eldest girl doesn't know, once they are transferred to the queen or queen mother, it will be bad."

Mrs. Wang's heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't move anymore. She was turning pale and anxious around the room as if she had lost her soul.

"Quick, hurry up and ask someone to bring a message into the palace. No matter how much money you spend and how many favors you pay, you must go in sooner!"

Throughout the day, Mrs. Wang broke out in countless layers of cold sweat in fear, her heart beat violently for a while, and her limbs were so weak that she could only lie on the couch.Due to the urgent situation, the person in charge of sending messages in the palace is not always convenient. A doorway was found with the help of Concubine Nan'an, and it cost a total of 8000 taels after counting the money and the money sent to Yuanchun. Price.Mrs. Wang's money collected by the housekeeper over the years and the dowry she kept at the bottom of the box were all emptied out at once.

The money was not in vain. In the afternoon, news finally came from the palace, and Yuan Chun replied, "I will try my best to find a way to save the situation."

Mrs. Wang felt a little relieved now, but when she thought that her daughter had already dedicated the thing to the queen, she would try to destroy it by hand. It must be a very risky job, and she might involve herself in it.In this way, Mrs. Wang's heart was suspended again, and she cried several times in heartbreak, and even fainted twice.

Before dusk, Zhou Rui's family came back and said, "Second Master Lian is back!"

After hearing the words, Mrs. Wang, who was crying bitterly, suddenly regained her energy, her face was full of anger, and she angrily brought someone to settle the score.This incident nearly killed her eldest daughter and the entire Rong Mansion, how could she easily spare Jia Lian!And that Xing'er, who hasn't been seen since the morning, will be cleaned up together!

……

At this moment, after recalling the past, Mrs. Wang gritted her teeth and glared at Jia Lian, wishing she could be executed Ling Chi.It just so happened that the maid was serving tea, and Mrs. Wang stood up, and raised her hand to throw a bowl of tea on Jia Lian's head.

At this moment Jia Lian raised his eyes and looked at Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang shook her hands, and because she was afraid of Jia Lian's current status, she just threw the teacup hard on the ground.Staring at Jia Lian with wide eyes, very angry, very angry, very angry.

Jia Lian found that Mrs. Wang's eyes were burning with anger, and her face was red with fire, as if her whole body was about to burn up.

It seems that she is really angry!

Jia Lian smiled.

Mrs. Xing looked at the broken teacups and asked Mrs. Wang: "Sister and sister, what do you mean? You came here to throw things at me to provoke you? Although I am a stepmother, you have to call me sister-in-law anyway, don't you?" You can do whatever you want!"

"It's none of your business, it's my business with him!" Mrs. Wang pointed at the tip of Jia Lian's nose like crazy.

Mrs. Xing was angry: "Then you can't—"

"Let me do it." Jia Lian stood up, walked up to Mrs. Wang, and faced each other, "The second wife must feel angry and wronged, and she wants to come here to criticize and find someone to criticize, right?"

"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Mrs. Wang roared frantically, "You know what I went through today to settle this matter!"

Jia Lian sneered: "The reason why this happened was caused by your 'deliberation'. As for how big the trouble is and what it looks like, what does it have to do with me? It's all caused by you alone! You have the right to Can you blame me for the reason? Can you justly accuse me? Do you have the guts to bring this matter to the old lady? You can't do it, you have to endure it. Don't talk nonsense now, I have a compassionate heart, so far, I can still ignore you. But if you say one more word, don't blame me for being merciless."

As Jia Lian spoke, the smile on the corner of his mouth stopped, and his expression became very cold in an instant.He just wanted to keep Mrs. Wang from venting her anger. This kind of feeling of hatred that is so painful that she wants to live and die must be very painful, but she has to resist not being able to vent it, which is comparable to life.

Mrs. Wang calmed down after being questioned by Jia Lian's series of slapstick questions.That's right, it was she who stole things first, and then she had no reason to accuse Jia Lian.Even though this incident caused her a huge loss and blow to her in the end, it was something she provoked and she had no way of judging it!She should swallow this breath by herself!But I just can't stand it!

It's so uncomfortable... It's better to die!

Tears welled up in Mrs. Wang's bloodshot eyes. She stared at Jia Lian, two lines of tears streaming down her face, and raised her hand to beat her tight chest.

Mrs. Wang: "Jia Lian, you..."

"Sure, sure, return, want, say again, one sentence, one sentence?" Jia Lian asked gently.