The Red Chamber: The Rise of the Lin Mansion

Zheng Shaoxuan's classic articles were very good. Li Hongyi arranged for him to live with Lin Yun because he wanted him to help Lin Yun improve.

However, Zheng Shaoxuan obviously didn't understand Li Hongyi's thoughts. He was preoccupied with the Jinshi examination next year and didn't have the time to answer Lin Yun.

What depressed Lin Yun the most was that all the students studying in the same school as him were old students, and the youngest was in his 20s. If he wanted to find a student of the same age, there really wasn't any.

When he was eating in the dining room at noon, he finally found a few young students. When he went up to look, they all knew each other. They were Zhao Hongming, Qiu Mengjie and Tian Sheng.

Lin Yun stepped forward and smiled at them, "Hi everyone, can I have dinner here?"

Zhao Hongming looked at Lin Yun and said in surprise, "You are not that Lin~"

Lin Yun introduced himself: "My name is Lin Yun, and I am a new student."

Tian Sheng pointed to an empty seat next to him and said, "It happens that Zhou Lin is not here today, so you can take his seat."

Lin Yun sat down and asked, "Who is Zhou Lin?"

Tian Sheng: "Zhou Lin is the son of Zhou Qiong, the governor of Guangdong and Hai. Like us, he is also a supervisor."

Qiu Mengjie asked Lin Yun, "Are you also a birth supervisor?"

Lin Yun: "I'm a member of the Imperial Superintendent, but, similar to you, I entered the Imperial College through connections."

Zhao Hongming: "Then you are better than the rest of us. Meng Supervisors are discriminated against when studying here. If my old man hadn't forced me to do so, I wouldn't have wanted to study here."

Qiu Mengjie: "Those old and sour scholars couldn't pass the Jinshi exam, why should they discriminate against us?"

Tian Sheng changed the topic and said, "Mr. Lin, I heard that you spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to help Miss Yimei get the Oiran. Is your family rich?"

Lin Yun: "That's not the money I paid. You must have heard that Miss Yimei has a good friend, the second master Lian of the Rongguo Mansion, and he gave all the money."

Zhao Hongming: "Let me just say, Mr. Lin is so young, how can he get so much money?"

Lin Yun said again: "Although I can't get out tens of thousands of taels of silver, I still have a few thousand taels of silver. When I rest next time, I will invite you guys to drink flower wine in the brothel."

Zhao Hongming's eyes lit up when he heard the words, and he hurriedly asked, "Mr. Lin, since you did such a big favor to Miss Yimei last time, she must have given you some face?"

Lin Yun asked with a smile: "Brother Zhao, don't tell me you want to go to Songzhu Pavilion to drink flower wine?"

Zhao Hongming: "You don't know that Miss Yimei's value has doubled since she became the oiran. I heard that if you want to see her performance now, you can't get in without hundreds of taels of silver."

Qiu Mengjie: "I went to the Songzhu Pavilion last night for a drink. I wanted to meet Miss Yimei, but the old madam there told me that I had to pay 500 taels of silver first. I was really evil."

Tian Sheng rushed to Qiu Mengjie and asked, "Your old man has just been promoted to the chief soldier of the River Defense Battalion. He is a fat job. Are you still short of money?"

Qiu Mengjie: "The salt merchants in Lianghuai River and Huaihe River have just been repaired by Mr. Lin. Now they are all frightened, how dare they give money to officials. Besides, even if they dare to send money, my old man may not dare to accept it. The former general soldier was still locked up. He's in prison awaiting trial."

Lin Yun was moved when he heard this, "Qiu Mengjie's father was promoted to the chief soldier of the River Defense Battalion. This is a lucrative position. I don't know which faction he belongs to."

He hurriedly said: "Isn't it just 500 taels of silver? When the time comes, I'll treat you. I promise to let you guys meet Miss Yimei."

Several people were overjoyed when they heard the words, and they all praised Lin Yun for being righteous and a good friend.

Lin Yun: "You all must be short of money. I have a way to make money here. I wonder if you are interested?"

Zhao Hongming asked hurriedly: "What is the way? Tell me quickly and listen."

Lin Yun: "Presumably you have all heard of the rickshaw that appeared at the Oiran Contest. I invented that one. Next, I plan to promote the rickshaw to the wharf to transport guests. This will inevitably conflict with the local horse-drawn carriage. If a few of you are interested, you can work as guardians in the rickshaw shop. You don’t need to work hard at ordinary times, and when someone comes to make trouble, you just help maintain the place.”

Zhao Hongming smiled and said, "Shouldn't you just help grab the land, I like that."

Qiu Mengjie: "Count me in, whoever dares to make trouble, I'll beat them to the bum."

Tian Sheng said embarrassingly: "I can't fight, I'm afraid I can't help you."

Zhao Hongming: "No one is born with the ability to fight. You will be able to fight after a few more fights. Besides, you are the son of Master Shangshu. When someone wants to hit you, just scream at the top of your voice. Who of them will dare to hit you?" .”

Qiu Mengjie: "Yes. At that time, as long as you reveal your identity, you can scare those people to death."

Lin Yun: "Actually, you don't have to worry. The people below will take the lead in the fight. You only need to be responsible for the command. In addition, we will calculate it based on the number of times. For each fight, I will give each of you 100 taels of silver. .”

Zhao Hongming said happily: "You are not trying to trick us, are you?"

Lin Yun smiled and said: "If you don't believe it, I can pay you 100 taels of silver notes first as a deposit."

Zhao Hongming hurriedly said: "No need, I believe you. This elder, I did it."

Qiu Mengjie: "Count me in too."

Tian Sheng: "Let me join in too."

Seeing that all three of them agreed, Lin Yun was secretly happy. With these dudes charging into the battle, no matter how troublesome the issue was, there would be someone to solve it for him without him having to step in.

When he was feeling proud, he heard someone calling him from behind, "Lin Yun, come here."

Lin Yun looked back, and it turned out that the person who called him was Li Hongyi.

He hurriedly put down his plate, walked over and asked, "Brother, what do you want from me?"

Li Hongyi said dissatisfiedly: "Why do you mix with them?"

Lin Yun hurriedly said: "I knew a few of them before, and when I saw them just now, I chatted with them for a while."

Li Hongyi: "Now the township examination in August is not far away, you have to study hard and don't waste any more time."

"Don't worry, brother, I will study hard."

"Wait until Xiumu, go sit at home, my father likes you very much."

"Ok."

...

Chapter 166: Crooked Melon Cracked Jujube

In the evening, Lin Yun said goodbye to a few newly-acquainted scholars outside the gate of the Imperial College, and then joined Zhong Yi who came to pick him up.

As soon as they met, Lin Yun asked Zhong Yi, "Have you seen Hu Xiangyi?"

"I see. I told him what you meant, General Hu readily agreed, and picked five people for me to bring back, it's just~"

"Just what?"

Zhong Yi said with a strange expression: "It's just that some of the veterans selected by General Hu are disabled."

Lin Yun was surprised and said: "Didn't you make it clear to Hu Xiangyi? I recruited people to look after the nursing home, not to let them take care of the elderly."

Zhong Yi: "Although those few people have disabilities, each of them has a few brushes. You will understand when you go back and have a look."

Lin Yun didn't say any more, but got on his horse and took Zhong Yi to Rongguo Mansion.

...

Rongguo Mansion is very close to Guozijian, and a cup of tea is just there.

Lin Yun got off his horse outside the east corner gate, threw the reins of the horse to the servant guarding the gate, and then quickly ran back to the small courtyard where he lived.

When I entered the yard, I saw, my good fellow, the yard was full of hundreds of people standing there, tall, short, fat, and thin.

Seeing Lin Yun coming in, Feng Ziying, who was giving a lecture to everyone, hurried over and smiled at Lin Yun, "Brother Lin, do you think the people I picked are okay?"

Lin Yun said with a dark face: "I asked you to choose thirty servants, there may be more than 100 here, right?"

Feng Ziying: "There is no way. They heard that we were recruiting servants, and they all rushed to sign up. That rickshaw puller, no one signed up. I just thought, recruit people back first, and then persuade them to become rickshaw pullers later." "

Lin Yun asked in surprise, "How come no one signed up?"

Feng Ziying: "The servants' income is guaranteed, and there is ten taels of silver to settle down. They naturally rush to sign up. No one has ever done a rickshaw driver. They worry that they won't make money, so they don't want to sign up."

Lin Yun was right when he thought about it, he made things simple.

He immediately said to Feng Ziying: "Well, you tell them that the first hundred rickshaw drivers who sign up first will each have a guarantee of one or two taels of silver per month, and they can work harder and get more money."

Feng Ziying said worriedly: "Will this be a loss?"

Lin Yun: "We must promote rickshaws as soon as possible, even if we lose money, we must do it."

"Ok."

Lin Yun was discussing with Feng Ziying here, when Jin Cai, the old housekeeper of the Rongguo Mansion, came over with Zhou Quan, and complained to Lin Yun: "Master nephew, it's against the rules for you to have so many strangers in the mansion, if someone is in the mansion If there is chaos in the capital, how will the old slave explain to the master in Beijing."

Lin Yun quickly explained: "Old man Jin, most of these people are rickshaw drivers I picked, and I will send them away when I turn around. In addition, I want to recruit [-] or [-] servants to look after the nursing home. If you don't like If it's suitable, then I'll find a yard outside and move out."

Jin Cai hurriedly said: "That's not necessary, as long as the young nephew can restrain those servants and prevent them from running around in the mansion, then it will be fine."

"Thank you old man."

Lin Yun took out a bank note from his bosom, stuffed it into Jin Cai's hand, and said with a smile, "I'm causing you so much trouble."

Jin Cai said cheerfully: "No trouble, I can relax a bit with my family guarding the hospital."

After sending Jin Cai away, Lin Yun called Zhou Quan again, "Uncle, I'm going to open a perfume shop in Jinling City. Please take some time to help me go to the market and look around to see if there are any shops waiting for sale. "

Zhou Quan hurriedly asked, "Is there any request?"

Lin Yun: "The location must be in the center of the market, and the shops should stand out, preferably in places where noble ladies frequent."

Zhou Quan: "Okay, I'll help you find out tomorrow."

Lin Yun took out a bank note, handed it to Zhou Quan and said, "You'd better take Brother Ying's brother with you, and let him go out to see the world. When I return to the capital, I will go to the old lady to ask for favors, and send him away." Come and help me with something."

Zhou Quan was overjoyed when he heard the words, so he knelt down and kowtowed to Lin Yun.

Lin Yun quickly supported him and said, "Uncle, don't do this, we are all our own family members, as long as my brother is willing to work hard, I will take good care of him."

Zhou Quan hurriedly said: "Master nephew, don't worry, I will warn him and let him seriously help you."

"Ok."

...

After sending Zhou Quan away, Lin Yun walked into the central courtyard and saw Du Sha fighting a one-armed man.

In Lin Yun's mind, Du Sha should be able to easily defeat a man with fewer arms, but who knows that man is evenly matched with Du Sha, and he is not at a disadvantage in the slightest.

Behind the two stood four middle-aged men, one of whom was blind in one eye, and the other lacked the left ear.The remaining two people are not short of spare parts, but the scars on their faces look scary.

Lin Yun looked at it and cursed secretly, "Hu Xiangyi, you bastard, how dare I take them out with bodyguards like me."

Seeing Lin Yun come in, Du Sha got rid of the entanglement of the one-armed man and shouted breathlessly: "No fight, no fight."

Lin Yun stepped forward and asked the one-armed man, "What's your name?"

The one-armed man saluted with one hand and said, "Return to my son, the villain is Tian Zhuang."

Lin Yun: "How did you lose your arm?"