The Opening of the Red Chamber

On the ninth day of the winter month, Lin Fan got up early in the morning and took the carriage to Zhuangzi.

Because old man Lin sent a message yesterday that all the materials of Zhuangzi's shop that he has found are ready, and he is waiting for Lin Fan to find some time to personally review and select.

Lin Fan's trivial matters were not annoying at all, besides, Jia's mansion has been changed recently, and the whole mansion is also very busy.She, a sojourner here, naturally didn't get much attention, just like Xue's family in Lixiangyuan.So, after receiving the letter sent by Mr. Lin, Lin Fan quickly asked Lao Qi to arrange a carriage for his little Sis. Before going out, he went to Jia Mu's place to say hello and find an excuse. Said that he was going to Zhuangzi to see the newly acquired seeds.

Jia's mother has been troubled recently, and the matter of the second daughter-in-law made her feel very uncomfortable, so she didn't have much thought to ask Lin Fan in detail what he was going to do.However, the old lady still told her with great concern that she should be careful when going out and bring more people with her.

After taking the things to go out, Lin Fan boarded the carriage to Linjiazhuangzi after checking and filling in the gaps again.

The cold winter is coming, and the road is extremely sluggish.

Coupled with the heavy snowfall in the winter month, one after another heavy snow fell, the entire line of sight, except for the black tree branches beside the road, was almost white.Because the snow on the road is very thick, the carriage is also moving very slowly.

After arriving at the Lin family's Zhuangzi in the suburbs of Beijing, it was almost noon.

Uncle Lin had been waiting on the Zhuangzi for a long time. After seeing Lin Fan coming, he took his little master out of the car as usual, welcomed him into the study with a warm basin and sat down.After the maidservants came with Lin Fan, they saw that their master had something to discuss, so they left two of them guarding the door, while the rest went to the side room to warm up by the fire and drink some warm wine. Frozen hands and feet in snowy weather.

In the quiet study room, old man Lin looked at Lin Fan, and handed over what Lin Fan had asked for with a curious and puzzled expression.

The thick paper was bound like a book, and it was wrapped in a blue book cover.Lin Fan looked at the expression on Uncle Lin's face, and when he took the 'book', he couldn't help laughing and asked: "Uncle Lin, do you have anything to ask me? I see you want to ask but hesitate If you want to ask if you want to ask, I feel uncomfortable for you."

When Old Uncle Lin heard what his little master said, he became very serious, and said solemnly: "Girl, am I worried about you? Although the old man doesn't know what your intentions are, if you really want to buy these selected ones One of Zhuangzi, that is also an expense. I am worried that the master will find out by then, and I will worry about you again."

"Old man Lin, you are thinking too much. I beg you to do these things. It is only at the beginning stage. When the time comes, I will naturally tell you." Lin Fan's tone was extremely sure and confident Old man Lin became more and more curious when he heard it, and then he heard his own girl say, "I can't tell you now, this matter has to be done slowly." After writing the desk, he lowered his head and flipped through the materials that old man Lin had obtained.

Lin Fan was looking at the information about Zhuangzi found by old man Lin. Of course, he also handed over the atlas of objects he had drawn recently to old man Lin, and asked him to find someone.

While flipping through the information that old man Lin handed over, Lin Fan asked, "Have you finished the three shops I asked you to build last time, old man Lin?"

"It's basically done, but now there are some specific furnishings and decorations and proper placement." Uncle Lin replied truthfully.Speaking of what Lin Fan asked him to do before, he was a little worried. After all, the three shops were closed so suddenly. Although the profit was not much, most of the time there was still a small loss. It was closed without any warning and the shopkeeper and the waiter of the whole shop were dismissed. Uncle Lin was indeed uneasy.The master asked the girl to take care of the dowry and property left by the deceased wife, and also told him to take good care of the girl, but the girl did this for a good reason, and it was hard to say that he was caught in the middle.

In the quiet study room, only the low sound of papers being turned over could be heard.

Lin Fan lowered his head and continued to read the materials of Zhuangzi, thinking silently.After a while, she raised her head and said to her, "Uncle Lin, I want to buy all of these Zhuangzi."

"Girl?!" Old man Lin was looking at the picture of the custom-made furniture requested by the shop in his hand and admiring at the moment, when he suddenly heard Lin Fan's words, he immediately closed the picture album in his hand.Exclaimed, "Girl, you said you want to buy several Zhuangzi?!" At the moment of speaking, the astonished face seemed like a cat with fried fur, which made Lin Fan laugh.

But as for old man Lin, he really couldn't calm down.He himself knows best that the smallest of the Zhuangzi he brought along has two hundred hectares, and because it is relatively close to Beijing, the price is very expensive.The land price is ten taels of silver per mu, and one hectare costs 150 taels of silver.Calculated in this way, the smallest Zhuangzi would need 3 taels of silver to take it down.

When his master came to Beijing, he asked him to bring the girl 10 taels of silver, of which 5 taels were handed over to Mrs. Shi for the girl's expenses in Jia's mansion.But old man Lin didn't know that Lin Fan also swallowed the money.Therefore, in Uncle Lin's memory, his daughter only had 5 taels of silver left to keep for herself, but there was not enough silver taels to buy several Zhuangzi.

Lin Fan looked at the astonishment in Old Uncle Lin's eyes, and said lightly, "Don't be surprised, Uncle Lin, I need you to keep it a secret." After a slight pause, Lin Fan deliberately turned his head and glanced around before lowering his voice, "Seventh Prince I said, I want to buy Zhuangzi in my name." In this way, the origin of the money can be assured.Thinking about the pile of gold and jade mines in her private warehouse, there is no way to get them out now, but the artificial pearl making machine that Rhea bought her was a great help.So, among the things I brought out this morning, there was such a thing.

In this world of red chambers, pearls are highly prized and valuable.Therefore, before coming to Zhuangzi, Lin Fan used an artificial pearl making machine to make a spherical beige pearl with a diameter of ten centimeters.It is recorded in later generations that the diameter of the largest pearl in the world is 28 centimeters, so she should not exceed it.

Lin Fan has also seen pearls mentioned in the materials of Red Mansions. In the "Records of Heshen Home Copying List", there is such a record "Ten Longan Dadongzhu".How big is the longan? Is the diameter no more than three centimeters?Last time, the pearls she gave to Nanny Lu and the others were all one centimeter in diameter, and they were all the same size, so they were definitely heavy enough.What's more, as long as such a big pearl is successfully sold and exchanged for silver, it will be enough for her first step.

"Uncle Lin, you must never tell father about this." As she spoke, she put her index finger between her lips.Old man Lin held back the exclamation that was about to come out of his throat, and nodded vigorously at Lin Fan.

"Xueyan, go and take the box that I locked when I went out." Lin Fan shouted to Xueyan who was guarding the door.

The original owner, Lin Daiyu, was taken away within a few days after being replaced by Lin Fan. When Xueyan saw her girl again, she knew that her temperament had changed drastically.In the past, it was the easiest to be sad and hurt the spring, but after this temperament change, she prefers girls with such a temperament.Besides, although you can't be a big maid who takes care of you personally by the girl's side, it's even better to be a big maid who keeps the girl's important keys and private money.

Xueyan came with the box in her arms, and Lin Fan asked her to watch outside the door.Only then did he take out the key of the box from his sleeve, and slowly opened the box.

The moment the wooden box was pushed open, the soft and moist pearls reflected the warm sunlight outside the window, making them more dazzling.

"This, this, this...is this, pearl?"

Old Uncle Lin stared dumbfounded at the white pearl in front of him with a halo about the size of a child's fist, stuttering and unable to utter a complete sentence.

"Yes, this is a relic from the previous dynasty." Lin Fan made a very frustrating excuse, "Don't care about its origin, Mr. Lin, and don't ask me about its origin, just sell it. This thing is very hot, you can buy it In fact, Old Man Lin knows who bought it, and Old Man Lin can find out the price first."

"Girl, but, this, this..." Old Uncle Lin showed a look of embarrassment.

Knowing his worry, Lin Fan said, "Old man Lin, you must do this matter. You don't have to come forward, but you need someone you absolutely trust to do this matter. You see, the Chinese New Year is coming soon Already." Lin Fan suddenly pointed out the window in the direction of the capital city of Beijing, and said with a smile, "Someone must spend money to buy a gift and send it there, you just need to dispose of it with confidence."

"Hey, I understand." Hearing Lin Fan's words, old man Lin nodded in agreement.

The reason why Lin Fan chose to sell this hot pearl at this time was because not long ago when he was helping Baochai to investigate the reasons for his failure, he heard a gossip from Nanny Lu.A matter that is somewhat linked to the political situation of the previous dynasty belongs to nepotism in nepotism.That is, the mother of today's sage, the empress dowager's birthday is at the end of the twelfth lunar month.After entering the court, because of the earthquake in the Jiangnan officialdom caused by the list incident, the atmosphere inside and outside the court was quite stiff and cold.The Empress Dowager's birthday is undoubtedly a good activator.

When the old man celebrates his birthday, the children and grandchildren will naturally prepare gifts for them.It was for this reason that Lin Fan had the budget in his heart to sell this big pearl at this time, in exchange for what he wanted by the way.As for who is willing to pay for it, she doesn't care.Anyway, one is the other, and we will talk about it later.

Maybe it's been a while since he saw his girl, but old man Lin stared at Lin Fan for a while before he sighed, "Young lady has grown up, these days have been hard for you." He sighed while talking, "Mrs. Good morning, if the wife is still here, the girl wouldn't have to worry about these things."

Hearing these words, Lin Fan's face was full of embarrassment, and he suddenly came back to what old man Lin was talking about: a child without a mother is already in charge of the family.Hey, she is in a special situation now.

After closing the wooden box containing pearls and locking the box, Lin Fan handed the key to old man Lin, and said, "Old man Lin, I know you have three sons. They are quite capable. Can you give Lin the key?" Brother Shi Si arranged to come to me, I really need him to help me with something."

"Oh, he doesn't deserve the respectful title of a girl." Old man Lin stood up with some trepidation, "Since the girl thinks so much of a dog, the old man won't give it to any girl." Lin Fan looked at the old man Lin. With a humble answer, I immediately sighed in my heart.The evil feudal society, fortunately I found a good body, otherwise life would be really sad.

"Uncle Lin, I don't need any manpower for the time being. I just said that I am here to prepare." Lin Fan said lightly, "But next year, once the shop I want opens, I will need it. This position is very It's important, you have to come out and walk for me. Old man Lin, you can also ask when you go back, if anyone else is willing to come to my place, how about that?"

"Don't worry, girl, the old man will definitely handle this matter properly."

"Then there's Uncle Laurin."

The master and servant put this topic down, and continued the topic of choosing Zhuangzi just now.Lin Fan pointed out the several Zhuangzi that he liked to see to Old Man Lin, and asked him to dispose of the pearl and use the money he got to buy Zhuangzi.But everything is said here first, and things still have to be done step by step.