Zhou Pu said that he wanted to trouble Lin Fu if something happened. Gu Yingxiu looked at Lin Fu with confusion. She also wondered why Lin Fu brought his savior back. Could it be that Lin Fu didn't have any money in Jiangning to reward him for saving his life?
, did you bring him back to Dongyang Mansion? Of course, Lin Fu didn't have any money even if he returned to Dongyang Mansion. Gu Yingxiu thought about bringing out some money. After all, he was a life-saving grace to Lin Fu, and a small amount of money was enough to reward him.
It should.
Lin Fu knew that after Gu Yingxiu married Lin Tingxun as his concubine, his temperament became strong and aggressive. He did not feel comfortable living in the inner house to enjoy the glory and wealth. He also took over the affairs of the outer house. Over the years, he also established a lot of prestige in the Lin family.
Shiliang County knew the name of the Seventh Madam to some extent. Although Lin Fu's identity was different after winning the election, Zhou Pu and Chen Enze were registered in Shiliang County, and Gu Yingxiu sent a message to Shiliang County to ask for help.
Still more convenient than Lin Fu.
Standing on the street, Lin Fu introduced the cover identities of Zhou Pu and Chen Enze with words he had prepared in advance: "Seventh Madam, brother Zhou Pu is a refugee who escaped from northern Hebei. He and his nephew Enze escaped from the family.
After Huaibei, Brother Zhou Pu and Enze were working as odd jobs on the grain ship, wandering around. It was also very hard to work as a handyman on the ship. This time I received Brother Zhou's life-saving grace, and I couldn't repay him in any other way. I just thought about whether I could help Brother Zhou.
Settle down in Dongyang Mansion or Jiangning Mansion..."
Only then did Gu Yingxiu take a closer look at Zhou Pu. She was no longer the little girl she was when she first came out of the cabinet. She had been exposed to more affairs outside the house and various people, and she had quite a bit of discernment. Chen Enze followed Lin Fu to survive on the island.
After ten months, he put on coarse clothes and looked like a child from a poor background. In addition, he was still younger and could not attract much attention from others. Zhou Pu was quite different. He was half a head shorter than Lin Fu, but his shoulders were longer.
Half a hand wider than Lin Fu, Gu Yingxiu looked at him standing in front of him like a rock. He didn't look like an ordinary refugee fleeing from northern Hebei.
Gu Yingxiu knew that it would be easy for Lin Fu to guarantee two foreigners to settle in Shiliang County after he passed the examination, but she was worried that these two foreigners' unknown origins would leave some hidden dangers for Lin Fu's future future, so she rushed to do it.
She said: "If Mr. Zhou doesn't mind being a banker in the Lin family, I can be the master..." She took the initiative to take over the matter for Lin Fu's future, and asked Chen Enze cordially, "Little brother, this year
No matter how old you are, you can also go to a free school in the clan for two years, which will give you more options for your career in the future."
Zhao Hu arched Lin Jingzhong's shoulder and showed him the long package Zhou Pu was carrying on his back. There were two sheathed waist knives hidden inside. However, his ideas were much simpler than Gu Yingxiu's. Zhou Pu had a crush on Lin Fu.
To save his life, he didn't care whether Zhou Pu's origin was unknown.
Lin Jingzhong thought more carefully. He heard the seventh lady's arrangement and knew that the seventh lady had her own arrangements, so he stood aside and said nothing.
Lin Fu remembered that in the eyes of his friends and the seventh lady, he was still a cowardly and ignorant bookworm. If Zhou Pu really wanted to settle down in Shiliang County, it would be a good choice to be a banker for the Lin family, but Zhou Pu was responsible for supporting him.
He had a heavy responsibility, so he followed him back to Dongyang just to register and register. Once he had a reliable identity, he could go to Jiangning to meet up with his fourth wife, Feng Peipei, so that things would be more convenient.
"Enze is fifteen this year," Lin Fu replied to the seventh lady's words. "Brother Zhou has become accustomed to wandering around in the past two years, and he is not used to farm work. I'm afraid it's not suitable to be a farmer. I want to make Brother Zhou feel aggrieved."
, be my bodyguard!”
Gu Yingxiu's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, and she looked at Lin Fu under the early morning sun with surprise. She wondered what happened to this boy after he came back, why was he different from before? Lin Fu's parents died when he was ten years old, and since then
Since then, he has been helpless and lived independently. After all, he has a weak temperament, is not decisive in doing things, and has no responsibility. Today, I took over the matter for him, but I didn't expect him to refuse it outright.
Gu Yingxiu was still a little worried, but she didn't want to say anything in front of outsiders. She just smiled and said: "Now that you are a civil servant, you should have a few personal assistants to take care of you... Let's not talk about this for now.
Zhao Hu, Xiao Wu, you send Lin Fu and Master Zhou back first and get the house back. Master will also care about Lin Fu when he knows he is back."
Gu Yingxiu took the horse back from Zhao Hu's hand again, and looked back at Lin Fu. She was thinner than before going to Jiangning to take the exam, and her face was tanned, but she had a more heroic spirit than before. She thought that in ten months,
He had gone through some hardships outside and had grown up to be a man. He could no longer care for him as unscrupulously as before. After restraining his arrogant attitude, Gu Yingxiu got on the horse and said to Lin Fu: "Zhao
I can come back and say that you were killed by the robbers, and the warehouse also sent people to Baisha County to inquire. Although I want to keep the old house for you, I can't break the rules of the clan. Your house was given to Lin Guisheng half a month ago.
The house is occupied. Since you are back alive, go and get the house back. I will go back first. After you have finished your things there, remember to come over and say hello to the master." He then said to Zhao Hu, "You need to find someone to take it back to you first.
I want to send you a letter home, I have something to say to your mother..." Then he whipped up his horse and drove away.
Lin Fu watched Gu Yingxiu riding away and thought, who could have imagined that she was a delicate girl before she came out of the cabinet? It's really terrible.
Zhao Hu saw Lin Fu staring in the direction where Gu Yingxiu was leaving, and asked him with a wicked smile: "Is that vixen in Jiangning as beautiful as Madam Qi?"
"Aren't you afraid that the Seventh Lady will tear your mouth apart if she hears it?" Lin Jingzhong was respectful and afraid of the Seventh Lady, Gu Yingxiu, and he was not as casual as Zhao Hu when he spoke.
Lin Fu smiled, knowing that there would be nothing good to say if Zhao Neng came back alive and wanted to shirk responsibility. Probably everyone in Shanglin Village knew that they were fascinated by Su Mei's beauty. It is said that everyone's mouth makes gold, Lin Fu wanted to argue.
He couldn't explain it, not to mention that he had been smitten by Su Mei when he followed him to Baisha County.
When he came back, he sent Su Mei outside Jiangning City. Lin Fu did not follow him into the city, and he didn't know how Su Mei and Xiaoman were doing now. They had only been separated for three or five days, and they already missed them a little.
Seriously speaking, Zhao Neng was not responsible for Lin Fu's encounter with bandits in Baisha County. After all, Lin Fu insisted on following him to Baisha County, and it was an accident that he encountered the robbers. This is not the truth these days. When he was away from home, Lin Fu
He is the master, and Zhao Neng is his servant. If the master dies in a foreign land, but the servant comes back safe and sound, it is a huge sin.
Zhao Hu didn't know what Mrs. Qi wanted to do with his mother, so he thought it wouldn't be anything bad, so he found an acquaintance on the street and asked him to take the message back. He and Lin Jingzhong accompanied Lin Fu home first.
*******************************
The wealthy households lived at the head of the village, while the poor and humble households lived at the end of the village. This seemed to be a common practice in rural society at this time.
The same is true in Shanglin Village. The village by the ferry is full of wealthy families. The most conspicuous one is naturally the Lin family's big house, which covers an area of nearly 30 acres and has a large courtyard of more than 20 square meters with layers of blue bricks and gray tiles.
, row after row. Although the Lin family is one of the most wealthy families in Dongyang Prefecture, Shanglin Village prospered because of the market, and the water and land docks prospered. The north and the south met. The rural village was at the south end of Shanglin River. Five hundred villagers provided enough for the four villages and eight miles.
In terms of security, although there is no city wall protection, many merchants buy land to build houses and settle in Shanglin Village. Although Lin's main house is conspicuous among the buildings behind the ferry, it does not stand out from the crowd.
The shop street Zhou Pu saw when he got off the boat was just a street in front of the ferry. Walking more than two hundred steps west along Shanglin River, there is another long alley paved with green bricks extending to the head of Shanglin Village. The two sides of this street
There are houses built by wealthy families on both sides. Even though they are small, they are also very exquisite. The houses are connected to each other and separated by narrow alleys.
There are also restaurants and shops in the streets and alleys. When you walk in, you will truly realize that the prosperity of this place is really no worse than that of ordinary county towns.
Lin Fu's examination as a scholar meant he had fame and entered the local gentry class, but he had no money left to buy land and build a house at the head of the village, so he could only live in an old house at the end of the village.
I went to Jiangning to take the provincial examination in early autumn. It was already the cold season of early winter, and I had been away from Shanglin Village for three months. Lin Fu looked at his yard through the bamboo fence, and there were actually a few weeds swaying in the cold wind of early winter on the eaves.
, it didn’t rain much in Shiliang County after autumn, and a layer of floating soil accumulated in the yard. An old plum tree had slanting branches, and its bare branches were dotted with unbloomed flower bones.
"Lin Xiucai is back!" A woman in the yard was picking up soybeans with a dustpan. She watched Lin Fu come over surrounded by Zhao Hu, Lin Jingzhong and others. She walked to the bamboo fence with a grimace and greeted Lin Fu.
Not even letting Lin Fu walk in; two boys aged three or four were running around naked in the cold wind, wearing crotchless pants.
Lin Fu knew why the woman had a grimace on her face when she saw him. He listened to the woman's greeting and nodded in response: "Aunt Lan is picking up soybeans?" Since my family thought he was killed by the robbers, he had no heirs.
When a person or a close relative inherits a family property, it is normal for the house to be taken back to the family and redistributed to the poor members of the family to live in. But when he comes back alive, no one can stop him from getting the house back, not to mention that he has now passed the imperial examination.
Although in the upper class society, Juren is not a big deal, but ordinary people really don't dare to occupy Juren's real estate.
These three rooms and a courtyard were left by Lin Fu's parents. Four years ago, the seventh lady Gu Yingxiu had the thatched roof removed and covered with a layer of tiles. The doors and windows were also repainted with tung oil, which is considered a new one at the end of the village.
A good house.
This woman and her family happily moved in. Only half a month later, Lin Fu, who was convinced that he had been killed by the robbers, came back alive by boat. How could she not be disappointed?
"Aunt Lan, since Lin Fu is back, I have to trouble you to move again! Don't worry, I will just go to the village to find a few young people to do the moving. I will help you get things done before I take care of lunch." Zhao Hu said.
As he said that, he grabbed the fence door and started to go in first.
Lin Fu grabbed Zhao Hu's hand and said, "I remember you still have two empty houses in your house. Let me live in them for a while..." Turning to the woman, he asked, "When I left, some books were left at home. No.
Do you know if you are still here?"
"What are you doing, don't want the house back now?" Zhao Hu didn't understand what Lin Fu meant.
The woman was thinking that Lin Fu did not want her family to move out for the time being, and she was not sure. She was thinking about why the child's father hadn't come back yet to make an idea. Her joy was about to become empty in less than half a month, so she thought about moving back.
That shabby thatched house that couldn't block the wind in winter or the rain in summer made the woman feel miserable. When Lin Fu asked about the whereabouts of the books in the original house, she replied calmly: "I don't know, we moved."
When I came in, the house was empty."
"I have to ask my family about this," Lin Jingzhong said. "Maybe in the school, since you come back, you can always get back the things that have been returned to the family - there should be records in my family..."
"You really don't want to go back to the house?" Seeing Lin Fu turning around to leave, Zhao Hu took his arm and asked softly.
"Lin Fu wants to come back to live and buy land to build a new house at the head of the village. How can he live at the end of the village again?" Lin Jingzhong said, thinking that these three dilapidated houses no longer fit Lin Fu's current status as a civil servant.
"Lin Fu wants to find an official position in the county, and he will be an official. He should buy a piece of land in the city and build a house," Zhao Hu said, "But this house still belongs to Lin Fu!"
Lin Fu ignored the speculations of Zhao Hu and Lin Jingzhong and said to the woman in the bamboo fence: "I won't live in Shanglin Village for a few days. I just need to borrow a house from Zhao Hu. You ask Uncle Guisheng to come to Zhao Hu after he comes back."
If you come to me, I will write a document to you, and you will be able to live in this house with peace of mind..."
How could Zhao Hu and Lin Jingzhong guess Lin Fu's thoughts? Lin Fu wanted to go back to Shanglin Village, just to get Zhou Pu and Chen Enze to settle in Dongyang Mansion, and then go to Jiangning. He didn't think about staying in Shanglin Village for a long time.
In addition, after all, he was resurrected from a dead body and had no nostalgia for the original old house. Seeing the sadness on the woman's face, instead of driving the family out and leaving three empty houses to be beaten by wind and rain, he might as well give them to
This family has a place to live and work in peace and contentment.
The woman was a little confused, and the neighbors who came over knowing that Lin Fu was back all said to her: "Aunt Wei, why don't you thank the new master? He is giving the house to you to live in."
"Thank you, Mr. Xinjuren..." The woman listened to everyone's words in confusion and thanked Lin Fu.
Lin Fu looked at his neighbors. It was like this in this era. The words "Master Juren" separated him from the people he once knew well.