[R18] Will drink wine – “About Wine” Chapter 135 [English]

Chapter 130 Jade Beads

When Bianbo Camp was attacked, Shen Zechuan took a nap.

Qiao Tianya sat under the eaves and played the harp, while Ding Tao and Li Xiong entertained the fish around the copper tank.The room was quiet, and the sun was shining on half of Shen Zechuan’s shoulders. Last night, he and Zhou Gui and other talents settled the details of the Yellow Register naturalization. In the morning, he began to count the reserves of the Cizhou granary. Autumn is coming soon. If you want to do business with Chazhou, now is the best time.After a lot of work in the afternoon, he took advantage of the gap between working at his desk and took a nap.

I don’t know how long it took before the person woke up.

Shen Zechuan leaned back on the imperial chair, raised his fingers and pinched the center of his eyebrows, calmed for a moment, and called Qiao Tianya.

“The bandits from half a month ago have returned to Luoshan. Is there any news about Lei Jingzhe?” Shen Zechuan set up his pen and continued on the unfinished paper.

“It will take a few days for any news to reach us,” Qiao Tianya picked a chair and sat on it, “Besides, the Marquis has made careful arrangements. Lei Jingzhe will be the target of public criticism when he returns to Luoshan. It will take several months just to solve the internal problems of Luoshan.”

Shen Zechuan didn’t speak, and he was writing. Qiao Tianya felt that he was a little absent-minded, so he said, “Master slept for two hours last night. After dinner, he has to go to Zhou Mansion to discuss matters with his study in the study. It doesn’t hurt to take a rest at this moment.”

Shen Zechuan said: “Come back and sleep again. Is Fei Sheng still free? Since he wants to do something, then give him something to do.”

Qiao Tianya rubbed his fingertips and said, “I have been thinking about this matter these days. You have let it go for more than a month. If you let it go for more than a month, I’m afraid he will become angry.”

“This man’s brain is quick. He knew that Ce’an refused to ask for he, so he wanted to stay in Cizhou. Zhou Gui and Kong Ling were afraid that he was from Jinyiwei and did not dare to use he, so he could only follow the master, hoping to use the master’s light to get a job from me.” Shen Zechuan put down his pen, dried the ink, and continued, “Gujin has now returned to Libei to explore that there is indeed a shortage of people in this area.”

When Qiao Tianya and others arrived in Cizhou, the guards from all walks of life who had followed them out of the capital also came one after another.But even if these Jin Yiwei gathered together, there were only more than a hundred people, half of whom were Fei Sheng’s old troops.Shen Zechuan put Fei Sheng aside initially because Fei Sheng had no intention of following him, and his eyes were already fixed on Xiao Chiye.Unfortunately, Xiao Chiye refused to take it, so Fei Sheng had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and stay with Ji Gang and be obedient to Ji Gang.Shen Zechuan can always see himself without participating in the major events in Cizhou. This is too obvious.

Fei Sheng saw clearly that even if Shen Zechuan could use he for a while, he would still have to use he in the end, because he observed Shen Zechuan’s every move and knew that there was a lack of people around Shen Zechuan.

Qiao Tianya leaned forward slightly and asked across the table: “What does the master want him to check?”

“Two things,” Shen Zechuan said, “One is to keep track of the prices of tea and rice in Zhongbo Prefecture and Huaizhou. Cizhou sets prices in the middle. If you don’t want to suffer a loss, you have to be aware of the prices in these places. Jin Yiwei also had the task of taking notes in Qudu in the past, and he can arrange manpower to do this. The second is to have himFind out what the relationship between Lei Changming and Lei Jingzhe is with the Yan family in Hezhou, especially Lei Changming. I want to know the details of this person’s life.”

Qiao Tianya was a little surprised by this and said: “Lei Changming is just a living target for Lei Jingzhe standing outside. Why doesn’t the master check Lei Jingzhe, but wants to check Lei Changming in detail?”

HeI don’t often deal with these people, I have only met them once before, so it’s not surprising that I remember them clearly.But as the leader of the Luoshan bandits, Lei Changming had contacts with the state capitals and garrison commanders of Dun and Duan Prefectures, and even dealt with Yan Heru, the young son of the wealthy businessman Yan family in Hezhou. He should have seen men wearing earrings countless times, but he repeatedly set his sights on my jade beads before his death…”

Shen Zechuan frowned slightly, he could clearly recall Lei Changming’s expression before his death. If Li Xiong hadn’t mentioned that sentence, he wouldn’t have noticed that Lei Changming’s crazy and confused eyes before his death were clearly looking at another person through this jade bead.

This matter was originally insignificant, and no matter who heard it, it should not be taken to heart.Because Shen Zechuan’s jade beads are not rare. They were just ground out of scraps by Xiao Chiye on the way to escape. Compared with the box of earrings that he gave to Shen Zechuan in the capital before, they are not valuable at all.It can be seen as “beloved” at a glance because of its roundness. In aristocratic families, wearing jade beads for the most precious children is considered to be “blessing”.

But Shen Zechuan had some subtle concerns, and he intuitively felt that there was something he wanted to dig deeper into. There were some secrets about Lei’s uncle and nephew that neither Zhou Gui nor Kong Ling knew.

Calendar Bear is sitting by the copper vat and winding the red rope. He is clumsy and can’t always turn the rope.

Ding Tao caught the fish, and water splashed on Li Xiong.

Li Xiong suddenly broke the rope angrily, threw it on Ding Tao, and said with a sullen face: “I want to find my elder brother.”

Ding Tao still hung up her sleeves and said, “Come on, what’s so good about your elder brother? Why don’t you treat me and Qiao Yueyue as your elder brothers and follow our master? Our master gives out candy on a monthly basis and never deducts salary.”

“I don’t want money,” Li Xiong stood up quickly, “I want my big brother.”

Ding Tao glanced at the main room and saw that Qiao Tianya was still discussing things with Shen Zechuan inside the half-hung bamboo curtain, so he pulled off his sleeves and said, “I’ll take you to eat meat.”

“I don’t want to eat!” Li Xiong became anxious for some reason, scratched his head and said anxiously, “Why don’t you let me go? I want to leave the city, and I want to go back to Luoshan!”

Ding Tao feels that Li Xiong is very stubborn and cannot be reasoned with, but he is no match for him in a fight.Seeing that Li Xiong was about to cause trouble again, Ding Tao suddenly became wise and said: “You miss your elder brother so much, he must be very powerful, right?”

Li Xiong said: “My eldest brother is the best hero in Luoshan. Of course he is very powerful.”

Ding Tao clasped his hands together and said, “Who is a hero in Luoshan? Is he as good as my master? I don’t regard him as a hero!”

Li Xiong was indeed angry, glared at Ding Tao, and said: “Your master is not very powerful! He is so thin, my elder brother can kill him with one punch.”

Ding Tao sighed softly in her heart, a little unhappy, but she still tried her best to pretend to be happy and said, “Oh, that’s pretty awesome. Your eldest brother’s name is Lei Jingzhe, right? His uncle’s name is Lei Changming, I know that.”

Li Xiong was originally envious of Ding Tao and refused to fall behind here. In order to prove that Lei Jingzhe was better than Xiao Chiye and Shen Zechuan, he said anxiously: “Lei Changming is also powerful. You can mention the villain, but my eldest brother is more powerful than Lei Changming!”

Seeing that he had taken the bait, Ding Tao followed what he said and asked, “What is the move of mentioning the villain upside down?”

Li Xiong said it casually. When Ding Tao asked, he racked his brains to recall Lei Changming’s life.He went through it in his mind like a revolving door, and said, “To lift a little person upside down is to lift a child upside down. Lei Changming is so cute doing this kind of thing.” He suddenly remembered something and said, “Ah! I remember, earrings, round and white earrings, Lei Changming’s kid who was lifting upside down also wore them!”

* * *

After dinner, Shen Zechuan was about to go out. While changing his coat, he heard Ding Tao and Li Xiong running around in the courtyard, screaming.The maid bowed and retreated to the door, wanting to tell you two not to make any noise. Shen Zechuan looked back and said, “It doesn’t matter, let you two play by yourself.”

Qiao Tianya originally wanted to place the piano on the small table under the eaves, but when he saw this, he was afraid that the two carrot heads would break it due to ignorance, so he sent it back to his room.

When Shen Zechuan was about to be discharged from the hospital, Ding Tao followed him. He wanted to say something, but seeing that it was getting late, he swallowed it back. He only held the door of the cave open and said, “If it gets dark, I will hold a lamp and wait for the young master.”

Shen Zechuan waved to Ding Tao, and when he came up to him, he said, “After dinner later, you will go to grandpa’s yard. He will teach you the twenty-four postures of the Ji family. I will be back at the latest at a quarter of a hour.”

Ding Tao nodded and sent Shen Zechuan to the door again, feeling a little reluctant.He listened to a lot of stories in the afternoon. He didn’t know whether Li Xiong was lying to him or if it was true. It was getting dark now, and he was a little scared.As soon as Shen Zechuan went out, he quickly took Li Xiong and ran to find Ji Gang. There were many guards and Jinyi guards living in the yard. There were more people and he was not afraid.

When Shen Zechuan arrived at Zhou Mansion, the study was brightly lit and several staff members were sitting inside.It was still hot in the summer night, so the windows were open on three sides of the study, and incense was lit to repel mosquitoes. It felt stuffy when there were too many people.Kong Ling was afraid that Shen Zechuan wouldn’t get used to it, so he asked people to push the door open to both sides.

“This is the grain that was just finished today. Please take a look at it.” Zhou Gui presented the brochure to Shen Zechuan and said from his position, “The autumn harvest is coming soon. Let’s take a look. It is best to discuss business with Chazhou at this moment.”

“In previous years, the caravans from Hezhou and Juexi would pass through Zhongbo in the autumn to carry goods to the exchange trade between Libei and Huiyanbu. But this year the war has been fierce, and they will most likely go to Chazhou to make up for the lost business.” Kong Ling lifted his robe slightly, sat down, and said, “If we fall behind them, no matter how cheap we sell the grain, Chazhou will not be able to pay for it, so it must be done as soon as possible.”

“That’s the truth.” Shen Zechuan looked at the amount of grain carefully and said, “The most important thing right now is this matter. If it goes well, Cizhou’s life will be better next year. There was no such business in the past, and the merchants in Juexi and Hezhou could not expect it. But when our people used to talk about business, they should get some news. This is a matter of sharing people’s flesh and money, and they may not be willing to do so.”

“The difficulty lies here,” Zhou Gui said. “Let’s not talk about whether the detailed talks with the Chazhou Prefecture and the bandits will go smoothly. Just being wary of others will take a lot of effort. Our Cizhou garrison has been built for less than a month, the school field has not yet come out, and the soldiers have not been trained. If the enemy traps food, they will not be able to defeat them.”

Shen Zechuan waited for a few days, what he wanted was Zhou Gui’s words.He closed the book, silently placed his finger on it, and said: “Cizhou currently has no generals. Neither I nor you are experts in training troops. However, the Imperial Army has left some soldiers and horses in the Beiyuan hunting ground to guard the hunting grounds. If your lord is willing, why not let them practice the garrison first. We need to reach an agreement with Chazhou before we provide food. Have the people who are going to negotiate have been decided? I asked Qiao Tianya to accompany me with the Jinyi Guards for protection.”

Zhou Gui looked at Kong Ling, then back again, and said, “I can’t leave Cizhou, so I can only let Cheng Feng go and send some people who are good at calculating to follow. If you are willing to send someone to protect me, that’s the best thing.”

Zhou Gui didn’t understand, but Kong Ling felt like a mirror in his heart.He calmed down and said to Shen Zechuan: “But I am just a layman in business. I don’t know if there are any powerful experts there, so I feel very uneasy at the moment… I would like to ask my colleagues to give me some advice to carry with me.”

Shen Zechuan smiled and said, “Mr. Cheng Feng is too humble. How can I have any good ideas? If it works, I will accompany Mr. Cheng Feng on this trip.”

How dare Zhou Gui let Shen Zechuan go deep into the tiger’s den, Xiao Chiye’s “I’ll be there in one day” is still echoing in his ears!he hurriedly said: “Tongzhi is——”

Kong Ling had already saluted and said gratefully: “With my colleagues here, I have a backbone.”

This man is truly enlightened.

Shen Zechuan looked at Kong Ling with a gentle expression.

So smart.