Yangzhou Xunyan Censor's Mansion, the main hall in the backyard.
The hostess Jia Min, who looked sick and had a big belly, was happily directing the maids to do this and that.
Next to him, a little girl about three years old, with a thin body and a pointed face, was nestled next to Jia Min, watching her mother busy with her big eyes.
"Mom, did you hear that your uncle is coming?"
The voice was soft and waxy, and the little face was full of doubts and expectations: "Are the cousins from my uncle's family coming too?"
"Yes, is Daiyu happy?"
Jia Min slowly sat down, hugged the little girl and said with a smile, "When your uncle comes, Daiyu will have a playmate!"
"Mother, my uncle's cousin..."
The little girl was obviously very happy. She grabbed her mother Jia Min's hand and whispered, laughing happily from time to time. The whole hall was infected by the joyful atmosphere.
When Lin Ruhai returned to the backyard from the yamen, what he saw was such a warm scene. The fatigue in his body immediately dissipated. He stepped forward with a smile and asked, "What are you talking about? You are so happy!"
"Dad, my mother and I are talking about my uncle and cousins who are coming to visit soon!"
When she saw Lin Ruhai, the little girl's face flushed with happiness, and she kept chattering, showing all the happiness in her heart, which made Jia Min and Lin Ruhai smile knowingly.
They had dinner with Xiao Daiyu and chatted and laughed for a while. When Xiao Daiyu showed signs of fatigue and persuaded him to go back to his room to rest, the couple had time to talk about the eldest master's affairs.
"Husband, is everything going on with my eldest brother?"
Lying on the bed, Jia Min asked with some worry, "In this year, I have heard all the rumors about him. Either he got into trouble with this, or he made someone angry again!"
Speaking of this, she felt a little unhappy.
How could she, a younger sister, not know what her eldest brother was like?
Unexpectedly, the eldest brother actually sneaked into the officialdom and did very well. In a short period of time, he reached the rank of third-rank official, which was much more powerful than his husband Lin Ruhai.
However, the eldest brother's actions in Su Province were so overbearing that he offended almost all the officials and gentry in Su Province. Even so, he still did not change his cool behavior.
In the past year, Yangzhou also had a large-scale criminal prison, and many young people were arrested. Naturally, among them were the playboys and servants of wealthy families, which caused a commotion in Yangzhou's upper class society.
The power of the Yangzhou salt merchants is no joke. If you really piss them off, you will definitely not get any good results.
She wrote several times to persuade her eldest brother, asking him not to be so domineering, so as not to cause public outrage, but the result was that she was very depressed.
The eldest brother did not listen to the advice and continued to go his own way, causing more and more dissatisfaction.
As far as she knew, the 'business' of many salt merchants in Yangzhou had been affected, and many harsh words were said during private gatherings, as if they wanted to attack their elder brother.
Rumors like this were swirling until one of the big salt merchants, who had a strong backing and acted equally domineeringly, was killed by a flying knife from nowhere when he was out, and the originally organized salt merchants dispersed.
Do anything inappropriate towards your elder brother.
But even so, the reputation of eldest brother in Yangzhou is extremely bad, especially those families that have suffered losses and the dandy in the family has been caught, are quite dissatisfied with eldest brother.
Fortunately, she used the excuse of pregnancy to avoid going out to socialize in the past six months. Otherwise, who knows how many unpleasant rumors she would have heard?
That is to say, the news has not been so tight recently, and she heard that the eldest brother has not continued to make troubles, so she thought of inviting him to Yangzhou as a guest, otherwise she would not dare to do so.
It's not that she has a cool nature, but that her eldest brother has offended too many forces and people. If she is not careful, even her husband will be implicated. The Lin family cannot withstand the torment.
Especially since she was pregnant and had a three-year-old girl at home, she simply couldn't stand the trouble.
It wasn't until everything was calm that she could invite her eldest brother and his family to visit Yangzhou Yanyan Censor's Mansion. At the same time, she also had the intention of getting closer to each other. After all, her eldest brother was the official inspector. Although her husband was also a third-rank official, he did have less power than his eldest brother.
Far.
"Madam, don't worry, my uncle has completely stabilized the situation!"
Lin Ruhai said with relief: "At the moment, my uncle has not continued to make a big show of maintaining public order, but this has made the entire Jiangsu Province breathe a sigh of relief!"
Speaking of this, he couldn't help but show admiration on his face: "Now that my uncle has slowed down, it's too late for the entire Jiangsu Province to celebrate. How can anyone dare to provoke my uncle's anger at this time?"
"But my eldest brother has gone too far. Who doesn't know that those whose interests have been harmed are holding back resentment in their hearts!"
Jia Min was still very uneasy and said depressedly, "I don't know why my eldest brother suddenly changed his temper and acted so recklessly and domineeringly, leaving almost no way out!"
"If you ask me, my uncle's method is the most effective!"
Lin Ruhai had a different view, and chuckled: "If my uncle hadn't acted so resolutely, how could he have opened up the situation so quickly, and even intimidated all the forces in Su Province from taking rash actions?"
He really admired the old master's methods. After a year of hard work, he was able to torment the local forces in Jiangsu Province. Not to mention such nonsense as a serious loss of vitality, it really shocked these lawless guys.
There were some things that he did not dare to tell his wife. His brother-in-law was attacked and assassinated more than 60 times in a year, which shows how crazy the local forces in Jiangsu Province are.
Even the governor's birthday banquet was not spared, and he even dared to poison the birthday banquet, knocking down even the dignified governor of Su Province.
As a result, not only did he not hurt his uncle, but he also aroused the wrath of the imperial court.
After all, when a dignified governor was brought down inexplicably, neither the officials of the same faction nor the court would give up easily. Especially when he was driven away by local forces in such an aggrieved manner, it was something that the court could not tolerate.
Although Jiangsu Province was turned upside down by my brother-in-law and seemed to be in turmoil, the frequent transfers of officials inside were amazing.
Many officials who were deeply colluded with local forces were quietly transferred to other provinces. I heard that most of them were dealt with. Obviously, the court was also cruel this time and would never allow local forces to grow bigger. Moreover, officials and local officials
A situation of collusion between forces.
These have little to do with Lin Ruhai, he can only be a spectator.
Of course, there are also things related to him. My uncle is definitely a ruthless person. The "severe crackdown" campaign he carried out had a great impact on Yangzhou salt merchants. Many salt merchants' private salt routes were blocked.
Wanting to sell illegal salt and make huge profits like before, my uncle had a lot of troubles when he launched the "strike hard" operation. The illegal salt confiscated was worth millions of taels, which is definitely an astonishing figure.
The Yangzhou salt merchants were enraged and wanted to fight back. The leading salt merchant had just gathered a group of salt merchants, but before he could take action, he was killed by an inexplicable flying knife.
A big salt merchant who was very powerful in Yangzhou and had great influence and influence suddenly died. It was a big blow to the Yangzhou salt merchants. At least the salt merchants who gathered together were immediately dispersed. It was a crisis for the uncle.
Just disappear.
Sometimes, Lin Ruhai suspected that the big salt merchant was killed by his uncle himself.
Now in the entire Jiangsu Province, who doesn't know that my uncle is a master of martial arts? It shouldn't be difficult to kill a big salt merchant quietly.
It is estimated that those salt merchants with flexible minds will have such speculations. This is the main reason why they dispersed and did not dare to act rashly.
After all, my uncle is too domineering. If he acts unscrupulously, unless he can be beaten to death with a stick, they will all live in his shadow from now on.
If you can only commit a thief for a thousand days, how can you guard against a thief for a thousand days?
My uncle's martial arts skills were so strong that he could survive more than sixty attacks a year. The Yangzhou salt merchants didn't think they could defeat him in one go.
Once my uncle notices something, the Yangzhou salt merchant will never have a good life in the future.
Lin Ruhai saw the cause and effect. He didn't even get involved. The Yangzhou salt merchant was shocked by his uncle. Not only did he not dare to continue to toss, but even the pressure on the Salt Patrol Censor's Mansion was reduced a lot, allowing him to
I felt more relaxed than ever before.
It can be said that the past six months have been the easiest and happiest days for Lin Ruhai since he became the censor of the Salt Patrol. The original open and covert attacks have been reduced by almost half.
These are all the benefits brought by his elder brother-in-law. Naturally, it is impossible for him not to be grateful for his kindness.
In addition, my wife was worried about her uncle, and the situation in Jiangsu Province had stabilized recently, so she immediately sent an invitation to my uncle as a guest.
He really wanted to have a private chat with his uncle. Why was it that this uncle, who in his impression was so low-key and had no sense of existence, suddenly seemed to be a different person? The force and means he displayed were completely different.
It surprised him and made him want to talk.
In addition, my wife has been away from Beijing for too long, and she misses her relatives very much. I just took the opportunity to let her meet her uncle to comfort her from missing home.
There is also a daughter, Daiyu, who has never met her mother's relatives until now. She happened to hear that her brother-in-law brought a pair of young children, so it was a good time for Daiyu to get to know her younger brother.
Although he didn't say it, Jia Min still paid great attention to the eldest brother who was about to come over. Recently, he kept telling the maids and ladies in the house to prepare for the arrival. Lin Ruhai saw it and had no objection.
Naturally, the elder didn't know that because of himself, Jia Min and Lin Ruhai, who were far away in Yangzhou, had complicated and difficult thoughts.
Even if he knew about it, he would not have cared about it, but the affairs of the Yamen were already on track. Taking advantage of the Dragon Boat Festival, the elder took Yingchun and Jia Cong directly to Yangzhou to visit the salt inspector Lin Ruhai and his wife Jia Min.
His trip to Yangzhou attracted special attention from a group of Yangzhou salt merchants.