On the afternoon of early April, light rain fell in the air, and everything in the misty world was blurry. Li Guolou sat in the carriage and looked at the tall gate buildings of Andingmen for a while, and then he drew up the curtains.
He took his family, Gao Yaowun, Liu Yu and four other subordinates back to the capital first.
Li Guolou returned to Beijing first, feeling a little disappointed. He handled the case in a beautiful manner, and there was a lot of uproar in the court, but in the end the credit was divided among several officials. The benefit that fell into his hands was Maplewood House.
A house in the house, Maplewood House, which occupies an area of two squares, has been divided up completely, and will never regain its former prosperity.
The moment Li Guolou got the land deed, he was filled with mixed emotions. The officer was so generous, which was beyond praise. He could only devote himself to serving the officer. Xelia was lying in Li Guolou's arms in the carriage, still sleeping soundly.
Li Guolou pushed aside a few locks of hair from Xie Liya's forehead and looked at Xie Liya's delicate face, with curved eyebrows and long eyelashes still blinking. The slightly raised mouth and red lips made people think about it.
She has a straight nose, what a lovely girl. Although she is very tired and exhausted both physically and mentally, those who are capable will get first place.
Li Guolou leaned over and kissed Shelia's round mouth. His gentle movements made Shelia emotional in his arms.
With sleepy eyes, Xie Liya hooked Li Guolou's neck, and the two embraced each other affectionately.
After a while, the two sat down, and Shelia said softly: "Mike, where are we?"
"Idiot, I woke you up just to tell you that I will be home soon." Li Guolou stared at the young and beautiful Xelia reluctantly. This flower was only open for him. Not to mention how proud he was. Those who came to his door
His goods are incomparable to Shelia's, although he never says so.
"Oh;;;;;;I wonder what the grandmothers are doing?" Shelia lives in a big family and is used to lively scenes with many people. When she is with Li Guolou, she will also think of other people in the family.
Li Guolou could see Xie Liya's inner disappointment, as if she was eating ready-made food in this family, making no contribution, and being squeezed out by other grandmothers.
"Don't worry, Xelia. I keep what I said. I won't let them bully you in the future. I combine with other grandmas for profit. Only you are sincere and have feelings." Li Guolou has a problem in front of every grandma.
To put it bluntly, he is now young and energetic, has a good memory, and has never missed a word.
Shelia's blue eyes exuded a thin mist, and there were spring peach blossoms in her eyes. She curled her waist like a cat and got into Li Guolou's arms. The two exchanged their heartfelt words and arrived at the door of the house in twenty minutes.
Wu Peipei jumped out of another carriage with her veil covered. Li Guolou tried to help her but failed to catch up. He warned in a low voice: "Sister Wu, please be honest. There are many people around you."
"Little building, stay away from me." Wu Peipei also had times when she was scared, and countless pairs of neighbors' eyes wanted to see through her face under her veil.
The little old man Laojiu, the concierge, whose nose was already red from the alcohol in the afternoon, rushed out of the door and said loudly: "The master is back, and Grandma Fourth, you are back too." After saying this, Laojiu rushed to carry the luggage on the carriage to let people know.
He is not drunk and works diligently and steadily.
Li Guolou responded and asked: "Old Jiu, who is at home?"
"Well;;;;;; the grandmas are not here. They said there is a thank you reception tonight, so I didn't ask where it was. The house is now in charge of Xie Ma. Master, look at those people next door who are all invited by the grandma.
Mr. Accountant and their family, Grandma bought the house next door."
But seeing a dozen men, women and children, both adults and children, they took off their hats and bowed to Li Guolou and his party, saying respectfully: "Hello, Master! Hello, Fourth Grandma!"
Wu Peipei and Bai Lian had already jumped into the door with a single stride, not wanting to interact with strangers.
Li Guolou's heart trembled, and he dug into the ground obediently. Another group of people came to the cave to eat and drink. What happened to the family? Do they need to buy a courtyard to support so many people? With no expression on his face, he joined hands with Shelia to meet the new people and their families.
The family members greeted each other. It was not easy for Li Guolou to ask why these people came to the house. This was not a joke.
"Captain Li, do you still recognize me?" A middle-aged man wearing a satin mandarin jacket, holding a skullcap in his hand, looked at Li Guolou with a smile.
"You are..." He looked at the middle-aged man carefully, looked up and down, and said with a casual smile: "Fang Cai, Mr. Fang, I remember you, the man who was very cruel to his son. Come to my house.
Did you do something?"
Fang Cai had dealt with Li Guolou, and he was the account manager in the "Fang Family Theft Case". Fang Tong's business was not doing well, and the embroidery workshop had closed down. He gave a gift to the concierge Laojiu, and as expected, something unexpected happened
As a result, a new job was soon available, and the whole family went to work at Li Guolou's house.
Fang Cai was respectful and said with a smile: "Yes! Captain Li, my son Fang Datong and I are both working in your mansion. He went to the appreciation party. He is now in charge of the accounts of Yelia Charity Hall."
"Then what do you do all the time?" Li Guolou was angry in his heart. He just invited people, why did he ask someone to bring his family with him?
"Oh;;;;;; doing accounts, that's the accounts." Fang Cai blinked his eyes, as if he had a huge secret that he couldn't let outsiders know.
Another foreman Zhao Leilei, whom he had met once, also came up to say hello, and he also got a job here.
"Oh;;;;;;" Li Guolou felt like he was in another world, with tears in his eyes, mixed with joy and sorrow. The "Tian Zi Hao" small treasury has been moved to his house, and it will become a place to collect protection fees in the future.
All kinds of "big brothers" in the house will enter the courtyard next door.
This kind of mafia place is placed at the door of the house just for convenience. Li Guolou failed to give Chen Xiangfang a good performance. It seems that he will move early. He rushed to see the progress of the renovation of his house in Jiadao Street tomorrow. He couldn't let it go
The black-hearted foreman is grinding the foreign workers so that he can enter the bridal chamber early.
Li Guolou, Fang Cai, and Zhao Leile exchanged greetings with a group of young and old, and were about to return to the house. Fang Cai couldn't help but want to show off his merits, so he came up and whispered: "Captain Li, these two days have been very prosperous, and you have already made a lot of money."
It's more than one thousand taels of silver." After saying this, Fang Cai couldn't hold back his smile. He was surprised to see a business with no capital and huge profits. In an empty room, there was money falling into his pocket without doing anything.
Li Guolou’s ability to make money.
Li Guolou was shocked. What does one thousand taels of silver mean? He came from a wealthy family, which sounded like just a number. To ordinary people, one thousand taels was an astronomical figure. They would never earn this kind of money in their lifetime. He actually had nothing to show for it.
White wolf, it takes no effort to get it in the bag.
"Well, do your best, grandma will not treat you badly." Li Guolou remained calm and did not let the people next to him see his inner excitement. The path he chose was right. The speed at which the black gold expanded could not be noticed by outsiders.
Who would have imagined that an ordinary courtyard house would make a lot of money every day?
No matter how high-ranking the officials in the capital's temple were, they would never have imagined that he, a ninth-grade official in the Ministry of Punishment, could actually control the protection fees of the entire underworld in the capital. Suddenly, Li Guolou's ambitions expanded and reached their peak. There was nothing else in the world that he couldn't do.
Of?
In the corridor of the mansion, Li Guolou held Xia Liya's hand, smiled and said: "Xia Liya, change clothes quickly, I will take you to the thank you dinner."
"Really!" Shelia, who was listless at first, suddenly jumped up.
Mother Xie next to her couldn't say anything against it, so she could only warn: "Grandma Four, dress more plainly, just the blue dress you usually wear. All the other grandmothers wear this."
"Oh!" Shelia quickly ran towards the inner house. It takes a long time for a woman to change clothes and dress up.
Xie Ma couldn't hold it in any longer and said, "Master, you don't want to wear western clothes. We are the people from the Capital Chamber of Commerce today." She could only stop there and leave other trivial matters aside.
"Oh! Thank you Mom, the government has asked you to take so much trouble." Li Guolou expressed his gratitude to Xie Ma. He didn't have to do the work of rewarding people in the government, as long as he had a heart.
"Hey! Master, we servants admire you so much. It's not easy for such a big family to live in harmony." What did a group of women say about Li Guolou behind his back? Everyone understood it tacitly.
Li Guolou laughed dryly and said, "Thank you, Mom, you are an old man. When we move away, you five old people will settle down here. You have to worry more about this place."
"Hey, thank you very much, sir!" Xie Ma smiled brightly. Li Guolou was promoted and made a fortune.
Li Guolou was dressed as a businessman, and Xie Liya was dressed as a simple beauty from a water town. The two of them looked back and forth in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror. The two handsome men and beautiful women were at the age where they like to dress up the most.
Wu Peipei looked jealous and curled her lips and said: "You two are taking photos endlessly. Xiaolou, remember, since the second mistress can show her face, I will also go to the British Club next time."
"Ah;;;;;;" Li Guolou raised his eyebrows. Wouldn't it cost him his life? Such a big man would definitely be recognized. He quickly stepped forward and hugged Wu Peipei's delicate body, coaxing the big woman to beg for mercy.
Said: "Sister Peipei, don't be impatient, your situation is different from that of the second grandma. The official title is the most important! You can't watch me die, right?"
"Huh! I'm scaring you! Xiaolou, don't just think about having fun outside, come back early." Wu Peipei was slightly angry, and pressed her palm on Li Guolou's chest. They knew the friendship and were stuck together these days.
Still not satisfied.
"Oh!" Li Guolou breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Wu Peipei doesn't show up in the capital, other matters can be easily discussed. He can only die of exhaustion at night. So many grandmothers must reward him.
Seeing that Li Guolou was so sensible, Wu Peipei stood up and said softly: "Xiaolou, Xelia, come back early, I still want to play cards."
Li Guolou lowered his head to kiss Wu Peipei, and also leaned over to give his maid Bai Lian a wet kiss. This made Bai Lian very proud, and she immediately became superior to others, looking around in the living room with her chest proudly raised.
The two old ladies next to her looked at Bai Lian with admiration. They understood that Bai Lian had become a phoenix, and that he could shout and order them to do their work in the inner house. But they could no longer gossip in front of Bai Lian and talk about Li Guolou's private affairs.
Of course, Bai Lian will not tell Wu Peipei's privacy to them. Their status is so different that they will not sit in the kitchen to eat together in the future.
When Li Guolou goes out, he has to take care of all the hills and take care of a big family. Every small move must be based on the principle of fairness. He left the Li Mansion with Xie Liya on his arm, and the neighbors around him paid attention and envied Li Guolou's family.
If there is harmony, the business can prosper. This unique big family was finally praised by the people in Dengcao Hutong and became the subject of discussion in the streets.
"Look! It's out, Captain Li is the Tiger of the Punishment Department. The woman next to him is a British devil. Captain Li really makes us Qing people look good. Only Captain Li from Dengcao Hutong can ride on the British."
"What's this! Captain Li, we've got quite a few foreign girls. When all the girls from the Eight-Nation Allied Forces are mounted, our Qing Empire will be saved."
"Hey, your wives can only raise their own children. Captain Li's wives are both Guanshiyin goddesses. You really have a bodhisattva heart to bring so many orphans home."
"Bah! Wei Ge, what are you talking about? I am a Catholic family and do not believe in Buddhism."
"Hey hey hey!" the men, women, and children gathered together chatted, stopped playing chess, and turned to stare at Li Guolou.
Li Guolou pretended not to hear the strange talk of his neighbors, took off his hat, bowed, and got on the carriage. Xelia, who was praised by others, was sitting in the carriage. She also understood Beijing movies, with a charming and rosy face.
The small mouth is raised so high that it can hang a soy sauce bottle.
Li Guolou smiled, lowered his head, and kissed the British girl Shelia. As long as you take good care of her, your little mouth will become the most delicious meal.