I don't know whether he got an important task and worked up his energy, or whether he was having fun outside for a while. When the sun went down, Xu Xun sorted out all the writing papers in the cabinet, but he didn't see Ruisheng come back.
It was already dinner time, and Sister-in-law Jin Liu brought the food with a food box. Just like the previous days, it was two dishes, one soup, and a large bowl of rice, but the expression on her face was much prettier than the perfunctory look before.
The table was set, and she even stood next to it, watching Xu Xun take a few bites.
"Master, does it still taste good?"
"Yes." Xu Xun nodded against his will and asked without raising his head, "Your head has been out for the past few days. Are you looking after the door of the house?"
"I still have so many things to do, how can I keep guarding the door all the time." Sister-in-law Jin Liu didn't know what she meant, so she immediately laughed and said, "There are few people coming to our house, and there is nothing to steal, so it's fine if the door is ajar. I don't know what to do."
Keep your ears open and listen, I will definitely know if someone comes in, so don't worry, young master."
Listening to this tone, Xu Xun knew that Sister-in-law Jin Liu was completely unaware of the entrance and exit of the little girl dressed as a man. At that moment, he was too lazy to say anything. He just said that he would come back and let her clean up again, and waved the woman out of the door.
Next, regardless of good or bad, he finished the food in a few strokes, left all the dishes there, and went straight into the east room.
Sitting on the Arhat's bed facing north and south, there was also the pile of copybooks he had just found from the bottom of the cabinet. Among them were three land deeds and the deed of the current house.
The three land deeds totaled 300 acres of paddy fields. Even though he was not familiar with current land prices, he knew that this was not a small amount for Nanzhili, a country with little land and many people, and it was worth a lot of money. As for the house deed,
Not to mention, without this thing, he would have to live on the street. As for such an important real estate certificate, Xu Xun in the past actually put it together with a pile of dusty copybooks.
At this moment, he stepped forward and sat on the Luohan bed, holding the few thin pieces of paper, frowning, unfolding them, unfolding them and frowning again. He didn't lift his head until the sound of soft footsteps came from outside.
Headed.
"Master, I have taken away all the dishes. If you are hungry at night and want a supper, just give me an order! If there is not enough lamp oil to light the lamp and the head of the house is not around, you can just call me."
"I know, you go!" Xu Xun, who was stuffing his things, responded casually, and after a while, the movement outside disappeared.
This land deed and house deed barely left much of an impression in his memory, and the fact that he was able to find it just now was purely a matter of luck. With this lesson, he naturally did not dare to completely rely on memories that did not originally belong to him.
At this time, he lit the oil lamp, gathered these thin pieces of paper and the copybooks and stuffed them into the cabinet, and once again moved the set of tomes from the well-organized bookshelf. This time he again
Instead of just reading the title page, he flipped through the books from beginning to end until he was sure that there was nothing in the books. He breathed a sigh of relief and felt exhausted all over, so he sat down on the Arhat's bed.
"Master, Master!"
With this burst of shouting, Xu Xun didn't need to raise his head to know who the person who rushed in was. Sure enough, as the door curtain was knocked open and a strong wind came, the person who came was finally two or three steps in front of him.
He stopped in the distance, but did not speak immediately. When he looked up, he saw Ruisheng holding his knees and breathing heavily, and his whole body was covered in sweat.
After breathing enough, Ruisheng straightened up, wiped his forehead and chin with his sleeves, and said hurriedly: "Master, it's not good! When I just came back, I bumped into Aunt Su at the street corner, and she talked to her privately.
I said, she went to do some mending work for the eldest master of the eldest house. She overheard that the eldest master had invited several clan elders and was planning to open an ancestral hall to interrogate you after the sixth master’s promotion was over.
We must expel you from the Xu family before we are done!"
Different from the expected panic and anger, Ruisheng didn't even blink when he saw Xu Xun sitting on the Arhat bed in front of him. He still looked at him calmly. Under such unexpected circumstances, he gradually became speechless.
He stuttered: "Master, are you...are you okay? This...is such a big thing..."
"Okay, okay, I'm so anxious about the slightest thing that I stutter when I speak! I've known about this for a long time." Xu Xun smiled and waved his hand, pointed to the stool over there and said, "Move
Come over and sit on a stool and talk. You have been running around for a day. You are tired even if you are not tired! Also, have you eaten yet? If not, go and eat first before talking."
"I've eaten two big sesame cakes, I'm not hungry." Ruisheng replied, but finally went to bring a stool over. As soon as he sat down and wanted to talk, Xu Xun beat him to it again: "Let you go out.
What's the business going on? Have you heard about it?"
"I heard about it." Although he didn't understand why the young master ignored important matters and only paid attention to such trivial matters, Ruisheng said honestly, "There are all kinds of Songjiang cloth on the market, both high and low. The most common standard cloth is
The price of a big cloth is about 1,780 Wen per piece. The small cloth is smoother and thicker. Although the store is not as wide, the price is higher, about 220 Wen per piece. As for the fine cloth, it is even more expensive.
It is expensive, about 300 yuan. The most expensive ones are green cloth and blue cloth. Because they are fine, wide and long, green cloth costs more than 500 yuan, and blue cloth costs more than 400 yuan, which is one yuan more expensive than the ordinary price of a piece of standard cloth.
More than twice as much. As for those who claim to be advanced, the most expensive ones are a hundred liang, which is more expensive than most Hangzhou silks. Those cloth shops will not show it to me at all."
Xu Xun originally just used this excuse to ask Ruisheng to inquire about the current price. In fact, he didn't expect him to inquire about the price of the cloth so carefully. At this time, he couldn't help but look at this stubborn boy with admiration. He only had no plan and no capital.
When I went into this cloth business, I just made a mental note and asked again: "What about the current price of rice and noodles?"
"Now one tael of silver, which is regular money, can only buy three stones of rice. It is said that the current price has increased by 20 to 30% compared with the beginning of the year." At this point, Ruisheng looked around, then leaned close to Xu Xun's ear and whispered in a low voice.
, "Master, if Brother Jinliu comes to ask you for more money, don't pay attention to him. I went to several food stores in Taiping and said that Brother Jinliu bought eight shi in one go when it was cheap at the beginning of the year.
Rice, at least this is enough for us to eat for **months."
"You do have a good heart!"
Xu Xun burst out laughing when he heard this, shook his head and asked casually about something else. After asking and answering such questions, Ruisheng gradually forgot about the Xu family clan affairs that he had been struggling with at the beginning, and a smile appeared on his face, and he talked with great enthusiasm, which can be seen
They rarely go out in the past. The master and servant were talking enthusiastically when a voice suddenly came from outside the door.
"Have you fallen asleep, young master? If you haven't fallen asleep yet, I will come in right now!"
"Come in!"
Xu Xun gave the order, and Ruisheng suddenly jumped up from the stool. Not long after, a man raised the curtain and entered the room. It was Jin Liu. Compared with the sweating scene when Ruisheng just came back, , Jin Liu's appearance was far from calm. His shoes were dusty, there were even mud spots on the trousers, and the hat was even more unmistakable. When he came in and saw Ruisheng there, he was stunned. After a pause, he smiled apologetically and stepped forward and bowed.
"Do you have any clues about what I asked you to inquire about?"
Jin Liu did not answer the question. He sat down following Xu Xun's finger and said hurriedly: "We have an idea. But, young master, let me talk about this matter later. The important thing is another matter. Today is the day." , the third master and the fourth master were all invited to the house by the eldest master. It is said that it is for your business, and also Mr. Shen of your future in-law's family..."
"If for some reason the elders of the Xu family want to open an ancestral hall to interrogate me, and the Shen family wants to break off the engagement, I already know it."
Jin Liu instinctively turned his head to look at Ruisheng. Unexpectedly, Ruisheng didn't say a word. He didn't say a word until he got impatient with him and then whispered softly: "It's nothing to worry about. I know it earlier than you, and the young master knows better than me." morning!"
At this time, Jin Liufang was really surprised. He didn't care about Ruisheng's words. The boy should have just made a general inquiry. In order to learn the detailed situation, he ran around outside all afternoon, and even almost broke the night ban, but the mother-in-law said Xu Xun has never been out today, how could he know about it... Or maybe someone kindly reminded him because of the friendship between the second master? I had long heard that the second master was the most capable among his peers, and many people had received favors from him. Probably!
At this moment, remembering the previous hesitation, he immediately felt very happy and said with a smile: "It's good that the young master knows. There are only a lot of joints in it, please allow me to explain."
This time, Xu Xun did not distract Ruisheng as he had done before. Instead, he looked at Jin Liu for a moment and then nodded and said, "You say it."
"The four houses of the Xu family are all inherited from an ancestor five generations ago. That ancestor served as county magistrate for two terms during the Xuande period. Therefore, although the young master calls the eldest uncle an uncle, he is actually only within the fifth generation. Clan relative, when this second house was passed down to the young master, you are the only one with a small family and no maternal family to rely on. The dividends from the family property plus the second house’s land and real estate, etc., so there are many people in the clan who covet you.”
At this point, Jin Liu glanced at Xu Xun secretly and saw that he did not show any disgusted expression. He became more and more convinced that the young master had suddenly experienced a big change and enlightened him, so he swallowed his saliva to moisten his throat and continued: "The Shen family that our master arranged for you to marry is a well-known wealthy family in Taiping. Although Shen Wansan is not as rich as Lord Hongwu at that time, he still has a huge wealth. Who in the family would not be jealous? If you can By using this incident to drive you out, they can choose someone else to take over as their heir, and while inheriting the family business, they might still have a chance..."
"So, I went astray before, was dissolute and indulgent, and almost lost my life. Maybe there is something fishy about this?"
Xu Xun answered casually and saw Jin Liu looking at him as if he had seen a ghost. He knew that this shrewd Jin Liu might know something, so he smiled more and more lightly, but did not explain anything more.