In the old house of the Hua family in Shangliang Village, Meng Yutang was tidying up Hua Junxu's clothes in the bedroom while whispering to him:
"I heard from the boss last night that he and the sixth brother were going to Yuezhou to deliver food."
"You have to ask about such a small matter."
Hua Junxu glanced at her angrily: "After all, my father-in-law doesn't want to get involved in Yan Yin and Tea Yin. He just wants to guard Mihang's business."
"The profit is several hundred taels of silver."
Meng Yutang glared at him dissatisfied: "If the boss accomplishes this, he will be proud of the Lu family from now on. The sixth child is also different from the past. He has completely lost the control of his mother when he fishes into the sea. If he earns this third
A pot of gold can tell you what you will be proud of in the future."
"After all, he was born in the same mother's womb. His mother ruthlessly separated him so that he could earn his own living."
Hua Junxu's eyes paused slightly, and he felt a little dissatisfied: "Isn't it true that Madam wants to calculate even the little money that Lao Liu has to survive? A lot of the rice they bought this time was purchased from their father-in-law's rice store.
I heard that I bought it at a price that was 10% higher, and at least it took care of your Meng family's business."
"My Meng family is short of his three melons and two dates."
Meng Yutang looked angry and cursed: "You have no brains. It doesn't matter if the boss is proud, but he is just a son-in-law. You want the sixth son to turn over and show the Shu family a high look in the future. You have to...
What should I do about Yu? Her eldest sister had no choice but to marry into a blacksmith's family. Do you still want this girl to marry a blacksmith and let the sixth family step on us and dominate us? "
Hua Junxu was startled by her harsh words.
Meng Yutang continued to vent his dissatisfaction: "That stupid boy Jinxuan has been focusing on that bitch like Rujin for so many years. If Liufang can't completely lose his head, how can he give up?"
Thinking of his niece who had become a different person, Hua Junxu half-squinted his eyes with a gloomy look on his face: "This rice, grain, tea and salt are the affairs of the government. Even if you are dissatisfied, what can I, a mere county school teacher, do about it?"
"I have already thought of a way."
Meng Yutang suddenly smiled sinisterly and said: "Recently, many merchants are buying rice and sending it to Yuezhou. Even though my father raised the price by 10%, there are still many people who are happy to do it. What do you want to study in the government?
Father has been planning for some time and now there should be news. Today you just happen to go there again to meet the magistrate, and on the way, tell him about the merchants sending food to Yuezhou."
Hua Junxu looked confused: "How can the prefect intervene in this matter?"
"What's so difficult about that?"
Meng Yutang slowly took out a box from the cabinet and said in detail:
"Here is one thousand taels of silver. My father and I have already discussed it. You only need to mention Yuezhou Tang Magistrate and his feud with Mr. Wen to understand that there is only one quota for the promotion of Salt Transport Envoy of the Ministry of Revenue in our province, but Beijing
After the investigation, these two people have become the most popular candidates. Could it be that Mr. Wen will just watch the people under his rule help the states and counties of his political opponents?"
After wrapping the box and putting it into his hand, Meng Yutang curled his lips with a half-smile:
"Tell the magistrate again, as long as he orders to stop this batch of grain, the rice merchants will be unable to do anything after hoarding so much rice for a while. My father will unite the entire rice bank to lower the price of rice, and then they can only sell it at a discount.
Father, I would never go all the way to the north to take risks."
"Understood."
Hua Junxu suddenly understood. He put away his money and said with a sinister smile: "Madam has the foresight. I will go to the prefect's Yamen right now."
Hua Rujin bought a cat in Huangliu Lane and kept it in the backyard. Using this reason to seal the backyard airtight, Cai Baiwei was worried that the cat would run out of the yard, and she was even more afraid that the two three-year-old little cubs would get contaminated.
Because of the cat hair, Hua Youen and Hua Muyang were never allowed to go to the inner courtyard.
In the west wing of the innermost room, Hua Rujin put some unused things in, locked them, and naturally hid Cheng Nini in the room.
Every day when I go out, I buy some food in Huangliu Lane and secretly bring it back to the girl when no one is paying attention.
In this way, even after several days, Cai Baiwei and the two little Douding didn't realize that Hua Rujin was hiding someone in the inner courtyard.
Even though she found prey such as pheasants and hares in the yard every morning, although Cai Baiwei gradually became suspicious, she did not find the specific reason or go into details.
Moreover, she had something even more worrying in her heart:
It has been over ten days since the child's father went out and there has been no news.
As August entered, Cai Baiwei became more and more worried.
Early that morning, the family had the morning meal in the pavilion. Cai Baiwei hurriedly told Hua Rujin: "Rujin, your father hasn't come back yet. I'm afraid something has happened. Please watch carefully at home today."
Brothers and sisters, I am going out to inquire about the situation."
"It shouldn't be."
Hua Rujin replied thoughtfully.
She has been studying "The Law of the Great Karma" painstakingly these days. She has almost turned a deaf ear to what is going on outside the window and rarely cares about things outside.
But sending food in the year of Huajun should be a sure thing.
After all, it is a disaster relief activity initiated by the government. Even the bandits would not dare to commit such a crime to rob a disaster relief fleet with thousands of people.
What's more, it's not far from Jiangling City to Yuezhou. The river sections between the two places have always been peaceful. I don't remember any water bandits or the like.
Could it be that someone in the government deliberately made things difficult for this fleet?
But who would be so stupid as to go against the imperial court?
Nearly a million people in eight counties in Yuezhou are waiting for food to be shipped from various places to meet their urgent needs.
She couldn't figure it out.
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door outside the courtyard.
Cai Baiwei hurriedly opened the door and saw Shu Jinxuan leading a young gentleman in hurriedly.
"It's not good, Sixth Aunt. My father and Sixth Uncle were detained at the Inspection Department Yamen of Jiang'an County, a neighboring county. Many others were imprisoned when they had conflicts with the government. They were given hundreds of thousands of shi of food.
They were detained together on the surface of the Chu River."
"Detained in the Inspection Department?"
Hearing this, Cai Baiwei almost fainted with fright: "The inspection department's Yamen is comparable to the living hell on earth, how can anyone be good if it falls into their hands?"
Hua Rujin quickly supported her and glanced at the speaker. It was Hua Minze, the posthumous son of the original owner, the third uncle of Hua Junqiao. He was adopted by Hua Junyao in the Lu family and was two years older than herself.
He is also the only one of the Lu family's descendants named Hua.
Talking about it, I have to call him cousin.
She first helped Cai Baiwei to sit down in the pergola, and then told her two cousins to sit down together.
After several people sat down, Hua Rujin asked calmly: "Why is this? There is no lack of official documents and it is a legal and compliant transaction. Why did the inspection department stop it?"
"I heard that it was Wen Yuming who issued a temporary order, saying that no grain shipments from Jingzhou Prefecture are allowed."
Shu Jinxuan was still confused until this moment.
Looking at the worried mother and daughter, he quickly comforted: "Little aunt, cousin, you don't have to worry. My aunt is already in contact with the families of all the rice merchants involved, and is preparing to ask a lawyer to write a complaint and file a complaint at the Yamen."
After a pause, he suddenly showed a look of dejection: "It's just that I know that my cousin has gone to the provincial capital, and the other two famous lawyers are unwilling to offend the magistrate. I'm afraid I have to ask Miss He to come forward."
"But Miss He asked for five thousand taels of silver in writing fees before she was willing to help write this complaint."
Hua Minze's handsome face was full of bitterness: "Even if my mother-in-law is willing to chip in this amount of money, the other rice merchants may not be able to get this much money. After all, each store in Yuezhou will only have a few hundred taels at most."
Profit of silver.”
After hearing this, Cai Baiwei's face became even more anxious and ugly.