The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

The prosperous capital city remained prosperous as always and was not affected by the war. The people of the capital city were living their lives as usual.

As usual, Ni Er led the two guards assigned by Li Hu into the restaurant, which was already filled with diners.

This restaurant is also owned by the Li family, but the name is registered under Ni Er's name.

Ni Er walked straight towards a group of drinkers who were playing finger-guessing games in the corner.

When the drinkers saw Ni Er coming, they hurriedly stood up and put on smiles.

Ni Er said something and everyone burst into laughter.

After laughing, Ni Er said: "I'll buy you a drink today."

Everyone cheered.

Ni Er smiled and walked towards the counter.

A drinker followed.

Ni Er sat down on the chair at the counter and looked at the customer.

The drunkard looked around and whispered, "Second Master, I heard something when I was delivering goods in Xishan."

Ni Er took off his saddlebag, loosened the opening and leaned over the counter.

The drunkard smiled and said, "Second Master is very open-minded." Then he picked out a small silver ingot of 100 ounces from the pile of silver.

Ni Er smiled appreciatively: "Take another one or two."

The drunkard was not polite and picked up another small silver ingot, then continued: "As you know, there are many small earthen kilns for burning charcoal in the West Mountain. After the autumn harvest, the surrounding villagers will go into the mountains to chop wood and burn charcoal to earn some money to supplement their family income. Generally, charcoal can be produced in seven or eight days. But after waiting for ten days, no one from the mountain has delivered charcoal. Guess what happened?"

Ni Er: "Dead?"

The drunkard: "Second Master is wise. More than ten people were killed. And there is another strange thing. Except for the food, nothing was missing. Don't you think it's strange?"

Ni Er's eyes flashed: "Have you reported the case to the authorities?"

The drunkard: "Yes. At first the county took it very seriously and sent officers to search the mountain. Hey, you know what kind of people those officials are. They just worked hard for two days and then said it was bandits from other provinces who crossed the province to commit crimes. The lives of ordinary people are worthless!"

Ni Er stood up, took a pot of wine from the counter and handed it to him.

The drunkard was overjoyed: "Thank you for the reward, Master."

Ni Er thought about it and turned into the backyard.

Not long after, Ni Er came back and handed a letter to a guard: "Take this letter to Uncle San."

The guard took the letter and strode out.

Ni Er sat down on the chair again and listened to the gossip outside:
"Have you heard? Wang Ziteng has won another great victory."

"Bah, bullying a group of unarmed civilians is nothing!"

"That's right! Wang Ziteng reports a victory every two or three days. Today he beheaded two or three thousand people, and tomorrow he killed another three or four thousand. In just over a month, Wang Ziteng has killed three or four thousand people, but in the end, the situation gets worse and worse!"

"You don't know yet, do you? Yesterday I heard from my relative who works in the Ministry of War that Kaifeng City was surrounded by rebels. It happened several days ago."

"Wow, now we're going to have some fun!"

"How to say?"

"Jia Zheng is in Kaifeng City!"

"Oh~"

The House of the Loyal and Brave Earl
The sound of abacus beads shifting came from the conference room.

In front of four accounting desks, four accountants were clicking their abacuses.

An accountant quickly calculated a bill, put down his pen, picked up the bill, blew on it, and then presented it to Li San with both hands.

Li San walked over, took the bill, went to the back hall door, lifted a corner of the gauze curtain, and handed the bill to Feng who was standing inside the door.

In the back hall, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai sat on either side of the couch.

Lin Daiyu was examining the bills on the table. Xue Baochai was holding a cup of tea, drinking it slowly while secretly glancing at Lin Daiyu from the side, observing her reaction.

The caravan returned from Liaodong and brought back ginseng, furs and other Liaodong local products. Since Li Hu did not do grain business, the money he earned from this trip was less than half of that earned by the Imperial Household Department and other families, but this was also a huge profit!

Feng walked up to Lin Daiyu and handed her the bill.

Lin Daiyu took it, quickly read through the bill, and then asked, "How much is left?"

Feng: "It's almost over."

Lin Daiyu nodded slightly, picked up the pen and started writing.

Xue Baochai brought the tea bowl to her mouth, but glanced at the table, as if she was looking at what Lin Daiyu was writing.

Lin Daiyu sensed it from the corner of her eye and said with a smile, "If there is anything wrong with my calculation, please enlighten me, Sister Bao."

Xue Baochai blushed and quickly turned her eyes to the tea bowl: "What do you mean?"

At this time, Feng came over holding the last three bills.

Lin Daiyu took it and read it, then picked up the pen and started writing again.

After finishing writing, Lin Daiyu picked up the ink paper and blew on it, then looked at Xue Baochai and said, "Sister Bao, is there anything wrong with it?"

Xue Baochai: "No need, I trust my sister."

Lin Daiyu smiled and looked at her: "Sister, if you don't look, the ones that are missed will all belong to our family."

Xue Baochai smiled and said, "We are just running errands for Master Bo and earning some hard-earned money."

Seeing that she was using Li Hu to pressure her, Lin Daiyu did not get angry. She smiled and said, "That's exactly what you said, sister. They have been traveling back and forth for half a year, sleeping in the open air, and risking their lives. It's really hard for them. So, I'll make the decision and give everyone an extra 20%."

The words "I'm in charge" reminded Xue Baochai. She didn't say anything, but just smiled and nodded.

Lin Daiyu glanced at her, and then handed the ink paper to Feng: "Ask Third Uncle to send the Xue family's interest over, and also tell Third Uncle what I just said."

Feng glanced at Xue Baochai without saying a word, then walked out.

Lin Daiyu suddenly remembered: "Something happened in Shaanxi, and Xue Ke's caravan can't come back for the time being."

Xue Baochai nodded.

Lin Daiyu picked up the tea bowl and asked, "How is Rongguo Mansion?"

Xue Baochai understood and replied, "It's a mess. I heard that the second wife sent a letter to my uncle."

Lin Daiyu nodded.

Xue Baochai: "Is there any news from the grassland?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head. At the beginning, Li Hu would send her things every day, including food, toys, and daily necessities, which made Yingchun, Xiangyun, and others envious. But since Li Hu led his troops deep into the prairie, there has been no letter from him.

Just as Xue Baochai was about to say something, Feng came in holding a box and said, "Miss, the guards are back."

Lin Daiyu stood up suddenly, snatched the box, and put two seals with Li Hu's official seal on the box.

Zijuan immediately found a pair of scissors, but found that Lin Daiyu had already torn off the seal with her hands.

When the lid of the box was opened, a letter came out.

Lin Daiyu picked up the letter, opened the seal and read it. After reading a few lines, a smile appeared on her face.

Zijuan asked tentatively, "Did the Second Master win the battle?"

Lin Daiyu said excitedly: "We won."

Zijuan clapped her hands and shouted happily, "Great! Great!"

Xue Baochai looked at the box and said, "Are these the flowers that Master picked on the prairie?"

Zijuan leaned forward and said, "I see. These are the flowers that the Second Master picked for the young lady."

Lin Daiyu's face turned red, and she looked at the flowers in the box, her eyes filled with unconcealed joy and emotion. (End of this chapter)