Chapter 36 Tired of domestic servants

"Father, master is in the study now, and I ordered you to see him." Li Bao walked into the cashier's room and said. The man called Dad—He Siyu, the chief steward of the Qian Mansion, raised his head from the ledger, looked at the visitor with a pair of sharp eyes hidden under his white eyebrows: "Well, what's the matter?" Li Bao shook his head, said with a smile on his face, "Just ask Dad to go over immediately." "Okay." He Siyu said, lowering his head again. "Look here—" He pointed to the ledger with a dry, crooked hand with a beryl-encrusted gold ring, and said to the accountant with tortoiseshell glasses on his nose, "these, and these, you It’s all good to try again. How come there is only this little left? I have lost too much, so this can’t work! Do you understand? Okay, I’ll come back later.”

After finishing speaking, he straightened up, cast a puzzled look at Li Bao who was still waiting for him, and walked out.Li Bao hurriedly followed him. "Daddy, daddy!" "Ah?" He Siyu didn't look back. "My—" Li Bao rushed to catch up, "Did Dad tell Dad Zou about my five taels of silver?" "Not yet!" "But, but I heard that in just a few days, the boat will go to sea!" "Why panic, it's not decided yet! Besides, your few taels of silver may not be appreciated by Mr. Zou!" "how?" "Don't even think about it. He is now renting a No. 20 or 30 loach boat. Every time he goes to sea, it is not a business of 350,000 yuan. A mere five taels of silver is a big help for you, but in his hands, Don’t count your share, no; count your share, he really thinks it’s trivial and troublesome!”

"But……" "Forget it! If you want to make money abroad, you can talk about it in a few years. You can get the five taels of silver back later!" He Siyu said decisively. After that, neither of them spoke again.After walking for a while, He Siyu glanced sideways at Li Bao, saw that he drooped his head, pouted his mouth, and looked unhappy, so he smiled slightly: "Young man, why do you want to exchange a few taels of money for a wife? Do you have to make a decision on general trade? That is a risky business. I am doing it for your own good. I am afraid that you will not be able to afford it! Now that you have entered the gate of this money mansion, and the master thinks highly of it, let you follow him sooner or later. Your wealth in this life has arrived! From now on, as long as you behave yourself, I will teach you some tricks!"

Li Bao raised his head and stared blankly at the narrow-eyed, thin old man walking proudly beside him.Gradually, the expression on his face changed, and a glint of hope and greed flickered in his eyes.Suddenly, he strode in front of He Siyu and knelt down with a "plop". "Father is on top, from now on, dad will be my godfather! If Li Baoru betrays his heart, the world will not tolerate it!" He Siyu looked left and right, and quickly pulled Li Bao up, "Silly boy, who told you to do this on the way!" He reprimanded in a low voice.So, the two continued to move forward.

"Well, how about it," He Siyu was silent for a while, and finally said, "There is a ready-made deal right now, but whether it can be done or not, it depends on your ability." "Ah, godfather, please tell me!" Li Bao opened his eyes wide in surprise. "Let me ask you, Master, how far can you talk?" "this……" "Okay, I don't care about that. I just want to tell you that there are two people locked in the servant's room right now. One is Wang Zhishan from Jihu at the end of Jinhua Bridge, and the other is Zhang Sheng from the bamboo shop outside Xiaodongmen. Wang Zhishan six years ago Borrowing fifty taels of silver, this year should pay back 190 taels with interest; Zhang Sheng borrowed thirty taels of silver five years ago, and should repay 102 taels this year. But the two have not paid back a penny so far. I mentioned two days ago that the master was very angry. He ordered them to be called, scolded them, and locked them in the servant's room. Come to me to intercede, saying that you are willing to give five taels of silver to redeem each of them. Now, if you can convince the master to let them go, I will not take a single cent of the ten taels of silver, and all will belong to you. How about it?"

"Ah!" Li Bao's eyes suddenly lit up, but then he murmured worriedly, "It's just, I just don't know if the master agrees or not." "Didn't I say, it depends on your ability!" He Siyu said coldly.After this, he shut up and never talked about it again. ... When He Siyu boarded the Rongmu Building and entered the bandit's studio, Qian Qianyi was standing in the middle of the study, looking at the "Coupengtang Reading Picture" on the wall in a daze.It was a painting that Liu Rushi painted in Suzhou not long ago. Although it is not very well done, it is quite remote.In order to please Liu Rushi, Qian Qianyi specially ordered someone to frame it carefully and hang it in the study.

Hearing He Siyu's footsteps, Qian Qianyi turned around quickly.He nodded as a reply to the other party's salute, and then sat down on a chair. "Well, I asked you to take my letter to see Mr. He, has this been done?" "My lord, I have already been there." He Siyu replied respectfully, took out a letter from his sleeve, and presented it with both hands, "This is He Xianggong's reply letter, please have a look at it, lord." "Well, but you went there in person? - Can he agree?" Qian Qianyi asked while opening the letter. "The villain went there in person. It's just that Xianggong He blindly rejected it, saying that he has little talent and learning, and he must not be compared with Mr. Huang Taoan. I am afraid that he will not teach well and delay the young master's future."

Qian Qianyi glanced at the letter hastily, and threw it aside: "Hmph, I don't know that Huang Tao'an is incomparable. It's just that he has left the library, and I have tried to stay, but he can't keep him. What can I do?" You can't let the young master be so neglected every day! You——go there again tomorrow, and repeat your request for me, Mr. He, please agree." "yes!" "Well, sit down!" Qian Qianyi waved his hand.However, after He Siyu asked to sit down and sat down on a stool with half of his buttocks, he didn't speak immediately, but turned his face away, and turned to the picture "Reading in the Coupengtang Hall" on the wall. Wake up.

"Tell me, if this Fushui Villa is refurbished, how much will it cost?" He asked thoughtfully. "Ah, Master wants to rebuild Fushui Villa?" "Well," Qian Qianyi nodded, "I'm going to put some effort into repairing it, and after it looks good, I'll move over there, close the door, and read quietly for a few years." He glanced at He Siyu, and seeing the doubtful expression on the other side, he raised his voice, and said, as if explaining or reprimanding, "It is my original ambition to rest in the countryside and study to cultivate my character! Many years ago, I I made this agreement with Cheng Songyuan, but I was troubled by miscellaneous affairs, so I couldn't fulfill my wish. Now that Song Lao has passed away, I will never forget this agreement to go back to study in seclusion."

"Yes!" He Siyu clasped his hands in promise, hesitated, and asked, "I just don't know what the master meant. Is it minor repair? Medium repair? Or major repair?" "If you don't repair it, you have to do it. If you want to repair it, you have to be decent—it's a major repair, how about it?" "This, I'm afraid it will cost six or seven thousand gold." Qian Qianyi raised his head, thought for a while, and looked sideways at He Sixu: "Do you really want so much?" He Siyu's expression was so serious that it couldn't be more serious: "Master, this is still an estimate, I don't believe it..."

"Okay, six or seven thousand is six or seven thousand!" Qian Qianyi said resolutely, "Look back, you should find someone to do the calculations first, and draw up a rough list. I will make a decision after I personally visit the site in a few days." "Yes. But..." "what?" "The amount of six or seven thousand taels of silver is not small, and the family's accounts are already very tight. I'm afraid..." "I can't get it out again! Is it?" Qian Qianyi interrupted him impatiently, "Isn't it just a little thing like building a garden, but you have a lot of excuses!" He said angrily. "The villain dare not, the villain only asks the master to give him good advice." Qian Qianyi sneered and said, "What good plan do I have? It's up to you to think about good plans!" After finishing speaking, he picked up a book on the desk, intending to end the conversation. He Siyu stood up instinctively, but hesitated to leave.He stood with his head down for a moment, and said in embarrassment: "To tell the master, it is not a villain... The situation at home in the past few years, the master knows..." Qian Qianyi stared at him with wide eyes for a while, then suddenly put the book in his hand heavily, stood up abruptly, and said angrily: "I know! I also know that you have made a lot of money in the past few years!" This sentence really worked.He Siyu shivered, and raised his eyes timidly. "Is there? Tell me! Is there? Huh?" Qian Qianyi asked sharply. He Siyu knelt on the ground with a "plop" and kowtowed his head: "I beg the master to calm down, the villain knows his mistake, the villain should not contradict the master, the villain deserves to die! The villain deserves to die!" Qian Qianyi remained silent.It wasn't until He Siyu was about to bust his forehead that he said angrily, "Go! I'll have to ask you about the garden in a few days!" After hearing this sentence, He Siyu got up as if he had been pardoned, but he didn't dare to raise his head. After thanking him, he quickly retreated out. Qian Qianyi picked up the book again, held it up to his eyes, and then put it down again.With his hands behind his back, he began to wander indoors, feeling very unhappy.In recent years, because of a big lawsuit, and for marrying Liu Rushi, planning to use him, Mrs. Chen's wish to rebuild the Buddhist temple, etc., he has spent a lot of money, and he knows this.On the other hand, there was a severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River last year, which left thousands of miles of barren land, starved and starved, holding thousands of acres of fertile land in vain, but the rent could not be collected; The company has also been losing money year after year, and it is difficult to sustain it; especially last year when I went out to sea with others to trade in a storm, three large two-masted ships full of goods were suddenly lost, and one of them happened to be a large stake that I owned... all of this , he also knows.But if it is said that the family property that he has worked so hard to accumulate for most of his life will be so short in a few years that he can't even get out six or seven thousand taels of silver, he really doesn't quite believe it.A few days ago, he also checked the ledger himself.It was clearly written on the account, and there were no flaws to be seen.However, he knew that a treacherous and cunning domestic slave like He Siyu had many ways to cheat and seek personal gain, and all the top, bottom, left, and right sides were secretly colluded, and all loopholes were tightly blocked.They have already formed an invisible web, and it is difficult to break through the gap, or even throw it away, because it will only make the situation worse.Those problems that pile up like a mountain and can never be solved will immediately pour down on you, the master, like a hailstorm, making you confused and unable to move an inch, and the result will only accelerate the ruin of the family business.Therefore, in the past, when Qian Qianyi saw his wealthy servants buying fields and houses one by one, with fresh clothes and angry horses, they exploded. There will be no disciples", adopt the attitude of turning a blind eye and closing one eye.Sometimes a noble servant commits crimes outside and is detained by the government. He has to write a post and a bail letter to try to redeem him based on his face and friendship... However, now that these cunning and fierce guys are found, just To make a fortune by himself, he would ignore him as his master and allow him to decline. Qian Qianyi couldn't help being shocked and angry, feeling that this situation could no longer be allowed to develop. "However, what should we do then? These bastards are very hard to beat! If you don't do it well, you will see the harm before you see the benefits..." He thought, suddenly raised his head, and found that he didn't know when , Li Bao had already walked in, standing aside respectfully with his hands down, staring at him intently, as if he had something to say. Perhaps it was the respectful posture of this personal servant, or his youthful and energetic appearance, which made Qian Qianyi's heart suddenly moved.He remembered that Li Bao had only entered the mansion as an errand half a year ago.I also asked at that time that his family owned a silk and velvet shop in front of Huiri Temple.Because he was bullied by Xu Xiaolian's silk shop, he could hardly gain a foothold, so he was willing to pay eighty taels of "devotion silver" as usual, and let his son come to Qian's house as a slave in order to seek asylum.This Li Bao also read for several years when he was young, and he can write and count.Because Qian Qianyi's old servant Qian Sheng's son had passed the examination as a scholar, it was inconvenient to stay in the mansion forever, and seeing that Li Bao was honest and hardworking, he let him follow him.Now Qian Qianyi was troubled by the unmanageable servant at home, when he suddenly saw Li Bao, he had an idea, thinking that this young man could be a man to be made.If you cultivate it and experience it for a few years, maybe it will become your powerful arm.He took a closer look at the young servant again, and found that he was still a handsome young man, with red lips and white teeth, bright eyebrows and eyes, a strong figure, and clean clothes and hats.Qian Qianyi liked it even more in his heart, and his tense face relaxed, and asked kindly: "You—what's the matter?" Li Bao flinched and blushed.His mouth moved, but no words came out. "Say it!" Li Bao's face turned even redder.He said dully, "Idiot, I want to ask my master for a favor." "Ok?" "There are two people locked up in the next room. The villain wants to beg... Please let the master go." "Ah, why?" "Then, those two people knew the villain a little bit. His family came to find the villain and said, so, so..." Qian Qianyi stared at Li Bao silently, his face gradually became severe again.He has seen this kind of pleading and letting go a lot.He didn't believe that such things would be done for nothing, the other party must have promised Li Bao how much money. "It's useless, everything is in vain, no one can believe it! Just now, I was so satisfied and wanted to help him, I really missed my point!" He thought gloomily. "Master..." Li Bao said again.But now his respectful posture and handsome appearance have become so disgusting in Qian Qianyi's eyes, even his pleading voice is full of teasing. "Nonsense!" Qian Qianyi yelled suddenly, "Those two guys are rascals who don't pay back their debts! I don't send them to the government with the post, it's cheap enough! Let them go? Don't even think about it!" After finishing speaking, he flicked his sleeves, walked out angrily, and left the frightened and overwhelmed Li Bao in the study.