Chapter 817 “Home and harmony”

Suzhou, western suburbs, Lijiazhuangzi.

Li Xu stood by the rice fields and watched the tenants leaning over to harvest wheat in the distance. Behind him, a housekeeper held an umbrella to cover up Li Xu.

The rice fields in front of me are a total of 100 mu, not ordinary rice fields, but the yin fields that were planted under the order. The seeds used in this field were new rice seeds cultivated by Kangxi in Changchun Garden and Tianjin Wei, and were handed over to officials in Jiangnan and Jiangbei provinces for trial planting.

The other governors and governors only got two or three acres of rice seeds, but only Li Xu, Suzhou, was also the head of the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and they got the most rice seeds.

There were already rice harvested before beside the rice fields. Li Xu grabbed a handful of them in his hand and put them under his nose. When he smelled the fragrance of rice, he felt refreshed and happy.

The emperor has paid great attention to the cultivation of new rice seeds in recent years. Does the good harvest of early rice this year mean that the weather in the south of the Yangtze River is good, and the country is prosperous and the people are safe?

Sharing the worries of the king is also the duty of the minister.

Li Xu's face was much more relaxed, and he turned around and ordered the manager of the farm to say, "Send the order to finish harvesting the new rice today. Within ten days, new seedlings should be planted on this rice field."

The manager lowered his head and responded, and Li Xu sent someone to bring a few buckets of new rice, got on the carriage, and went back to the city.

As soon as I entered the weaving house, a housekeeper came forward to report: "Master, my aunt and uncle have arrived."

When Li Xu heard this, his face drooped and he snorted coldly. Li Xu had just arrived at the letter of Li's letter, but Li Xu had already received the news that Li Xu had already heard of the news.

Needless to say, the eldest son's letter was designated as the Sun family and Li Ding. The housekeeper there came to Suzhou every three days to send a letter to Li Xu to report to Li Nai what he did in the capital.

Li Xu was very disappointed with his eldest son who was about to be confused this year. He had known that he was stupid by nature and was not a smart person, but he thought that he had been with him for decades and had to be a little scheming when he was with him.

Who would know that he was so clumsy, not to mention that he was not Cao Yong's opponent, even a sour scholar Sun Jue could not handle it. He had to ask Suzhou for instructions in every detail, without any courage.

If Li Ding were alive, he would not have been so worried.

Although Li Xu was unhappy, he still went to the study room first and read the letter from Li and Li Nai.

Looking at the words of refusal in Li's letter, Li Xu frowned and thought for a while, calling the housekeeper and said, "I'll send someone to the market to collect some good embroidery, regardless of the price, and buy more. Fortunately, I will send them to my aunt's house in Beijing for a festive gift before the Mid-Autumn Festival."

The housekeeper hesitated for a moment and said, "Master, where does this money come from?"

Although the Li family looked at the scenery, their lives were no longer as good as before. Now they are just demolishing the east wall and repairing the west wall. In the early years, there was some money in the mansion. A few years ago, the Li family also arranged a shortage and returned all the floating wealth to the local vassal treasury. Even so, there are still hundreds of thousands of taels of deficit that have not been paid off.

In recent years, Li Xu has been a good match for the salt inspector and has a lot of money. However, Li Xu is famous for his good popularity, and he earns tens of thousands of taels of silver for social interactions every year.

These days, the money was getting more and more difficult. The original money on the books was also brought to the capital in spring, and now the accounts are empty.

"Go to find your wife, just say what I said, let her be prepared for five thousand taels of silver," Li Xu said.

The housekeeper responded, and Li Xu opened his son's letter again, but he became more and more angry as he read it.

Did Sun Jue take the courage of an ambitious leopard? He dared to ask for the village in Fangshan?

Li Xu felt trembling all over, thinking that the Sun family, who had always been cowardly, dared to challenge him, was really angry. What made him even more angry was that the eldest son did not say anything about these unreasonable requests, but he even came to ask him for instructions.

"Hmph, I can't get on the table." He spat hatefully, whether he was scolding Li Nai or Sun Jue...

When the house in the weaving house was in the house, Wang's face became a little sad when he heard the words of the housekeeper's wife.

What else can I do? I can only continue to be an object. I have already been a person before the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also familiar with me.

Thinking of this, Wang felt uncomfortable. When Han was alive in his early years, he was the head of the family, enjoying a peaceful and prosperous life. When he was promoted and promoted to the right, the old lady refused to admit it, and the life in this mansion was getting worse day by day.

She had only one son, and she lost her life at a young age. She left a granddaughter with a illegitimate child, but she could not inherit the incense.

What does she mean when she works hard? She has been looking forward to the false name of "wife" for most of her life, but now she is old, but she feels boring.

But she was over fifty years old and had no son to accompany her, so she could only follow Li Xu, giving herself a place in the Li family.

She rubbed her forehead and said, "Take people to Dongku, find some gold and silver items that are not available, and carry them out quietly."

The housekeeper's wife hesitated for a moment and said, "Madam, in the Dongku side, let alone gold and silver ware, even bronze ware, have been taken away."

After hearing this, Wang couldn't help but be stunned. After a while, he sighed and said, "Where is Xiku?"

"Madam... Xiku's key is in the old lady's hand..." The housekeeper's wife looked at Wang and said carefully.

Wang was silent for a while and could only go to Wen Taijun's yard with his teeth.

Wen Taijun was over 80 years old and had silver hair. She was sitting by the kang, leaning against the pillow, listening to Gao Taijun talking about family matters. I don’t know if the old man heard it, his head shivered, causing his earrings to tremble.

Wang stood at the door, lowered his head and listened to the maid going in and reporting.

The maid who went in to report was full of embarrassment. She complained to Wang a few times. Why did she do it here? The old lady was impatient to see her and had long spared her rules. She was usually tactful, and she only came to show her face on the first day of the 1st and 15th day of the lunar month.

"Old lady... the wife is here to pay tribute to the old lady..." The maid struggled in her heart, and between "maid" and "aunt", she still chose the title "maid". After all, the head of the mansion is the master. Since the master said it was "maid", then as slaves, they can only respect the "maid".

Wen Taijun originally squinted his eyes, and when he heard the word "Madam", he opened his eyes suddenly and looked at the maid and said, "Can cats and dogs call him a wife now? The old woman is not dead yet!" After that, she didn't say she saw each other, nor did she say she didn't say she saw each other, and closed her eyes and stopped talking.

The maid was so shocked that she looked at Gao Taijun with a look of prayer on her face.

Gao Taijun knew that Wang had never come here, and today was not the fifteenth day of the lunar month. She knew that her mother-in-law didn't like him and came over. There must be something wrong, so she said to Wen Taijun: "Maybe Gui Niang has something to do, let her come in and talk about it."

Wen Taijun snorted coldly, not saying a word. Gao Taijun waved his hand to the maid and signaled her to go out and invite someone.

Wang had already heard the movement in the room at the door, and felt depressed, but in order to exchange money, there was no way to do so, so he could only help and follow the maid into the room.

"Please to the old lady and the seventh old lady." Wang entered the house, stepped forward a few steps, and blessed the two sitting on the kang.

Wen Taijun still closed his eyes and refused to pay attention to Wang.

It was still Gao Taijun. For Li Xu's face, Wang was too embarrassed. He pointed to the stool on the ground and said, "Girl Gui sat down and talked. Is there something wrong with finding the old lady?"

Wang's face turned red and it was hard to sit down. He squeezed out a little smile and said, "I want to ask the old lady to give the key to Xiku, and the master asked him to take some items from it."

Gao Taijun heard this and looked at Wen Taijun.

Wen Taijun had already opened his eyes at some point and stared at Wang, "Bitch, I fooled you master, and now I have started to plot against your wife's dowry again? Get out!"

Wang was over fifty years old. Because he was a cousin of the Li family, even when Han was alive, he was a bit decent. Unexpectedly, Wen Taijun was so decent, she felt that her mind was blank and she could no longer speak.

"Get out quickly, can you let someone beat you?" Wen Taijun became more annoyed when she saw her not saying anything, and shouted angrily.

Mrs. Wang could not sit still. She blushed and left the house swayingly.

Gao Taijun was afraid that Wen Taijun would not be able to bear it, so he hurriedly said, "Why be so annoyed? I'm impatient to see her and just send her out."

Wen Taijun stroked his chest and said, "Unless I close my eyes, I will let that slut be in charge..."

When Wang walked down the corridor, he happened to hear this sentence. He was so angry that he trembled all over and felt ashamed and angry.

When she returned to her room, she sat on a chair with a gloomy face.

Logically speaking, since Han died, her dowry should be inherited by her children, but it is not inherited by Li Nai now, because it is also related to the secret of the Li family.

Li Nai was named the legitimate son, but in fact he was born by Li Xu's maid and concubine Yuan. Because Han had no son for many years, he became a legitimate son. At that time, Wang was fighting with the east wind of Han's family, so he followed suit and took Li Ding, which was produced by Tongfang Zhan's family as his own.

These things can be hidden from others or Li Xu. Li Xu turned a blind eye to the tricks of his wives and concubines. After all, his son has a better background and he feels decent about him.

There is another person who cannot hide it from it, namely Wen Taijun.

Wen Taijun refused to respond to these confusing things about legitimate and illegitimate illegitimate, and could not stand Han's begging. However, she could tolerate Han's actions, but she couldn't stand Wang's actions.

If it weren't for the fact that Wang's cousin came to the palace to become a noble person later, Wen Taijun had some concerns, and Wen Taijun would have dealt with Wang's family law long ago.

Because of this, Li Xu has always treated his two sons equally, without distinction between legitimate and illegitimate. However, Wen Taijun likes Changsun's generous character and cannot stand Li Ding for being clever.

"I'm really immortal. Can't I behave if I don't have a key?" Wang's angrier became more and more angry as he thought about it. He slapped the table hard, stood up and called someone to order, "Tell me what I say, and ask a few strong maids to go to Xiku."

After a while, Wang had calmed down and took his maid to Xiku.

A few grandmasters had already taken the knife, axe and other objects on standby. Wang looked at the two half-foot-long locks on the door and said coldly: "Blast me..."

This is the courtyard where Han lived during his lifetime. After Han passed away, it was empty. At the entrance of the courtyard, there happened to be something to look for the wife of Li Nai, who was looking for Wang's wife.

When she heard the movement in the yard, she stopped at the door of the yard, looked at the scene of the locks smashing inside, and covered her mouth.

She married into the Li family for more than 20 years and knew that the west wing was filled with her mother-in-law's dowry.

She felt her heart beating, but she didn't dare to go into the yard to stop her. She quickly turned around and walked back to her yard.

My mother-in-law's dowry should have been passed on to their husband and wife, but now what is Wang doing now... Sun felt trembling and hesitant whether to invite the old lady to make the decision.

But the old lady was in poor health and couldn't stand it. The master was tilted to Wang again. Her husband was not at home, so she was wrong in everything she did...

The resentment in my heart took root and sprouted, and I no longer have the usual respect for Wang.

What will happen if family harmony is prosperous, but family harmony is not harmonious? It is unknown.

The capital city, inside Xizhimen, Li’s house.

Li Nai's marriage to his daughter was over, so he started to go out and make up for the real lack. He thought that as long as the money was used, the lack would be easily obtained. Who would have thought that he would spend thousands of taels of silver and wasted all.

At the beginning of last year, the court began to pay donations, and the fame sold was extremely popular. It turned out that some of them had been snatched away. There were countless people on the Ministry of Personnel who were waiting for the waiter.

The Shujishi released from the Hanlin Academy, who was a serious Jinshi, and had a name for himself for three years in the Ministry of Personnel, could not be ranked in the real lack of it, let alone the miscellaneous brands that they had donated.

If it is a seventh-rank or eighth-rank sesame official, it will not be a problem, and it will not be difficult for a sixth-rank official.

However, Li Nai's background and age are still willing to put down his value and rob those sesame officials with those young boys. But it is not easy to make up for the fourth and fifth grades of medium-sized shortages.

Li Nai ran for half a month and got nothing except spending thousands of taels of silver, giving a lot of gifts, and getting drunk several times.

He was already wondering if the capital city had a conflict with him, otherwise why he had accomplished nothing after entering the capital. Li Nai sat in the hall, a little discouraged.

When Li Cheng heard that his father came back and met at the flower hall, he frowned and asked the manager: "Hare you drinking again today? Why don't you prepare sober soup?"

The housekeeper went down to prepare, Li Cheng hesitated for a moment and entered the flower hall.
To be continued...