Now let's go back to Yangzhou. That day, Lin Ruhai was seriously ill, and the Lin Mansion also sent news to Changzhou. In the end, it was only two or three hundred miles away, Zhang Wang received the letter, and immediately ordered Zhang Hui to pack up the medicine, and went to his father-in-law's house to ask Guan Mengke to worship the pharmacy, and set off to Yangzhou overnight.

Speaking of this, Guan Mengke is an extraordinary character. His medical skills were originally passed down by Chao Kuiyang himself. Chao Kuiyang is a family heirloom of medical skills, benevolent and wonderful, such as Bian Que, Hua Tuo reincarnated; Emperor Ming Empress was sick, the imperial doctor was restrained, and he searched for the country's famous doctors to be incurable, Chao Kuiyang used a dose of ginger tea to make Huo Ran heal, and his medical skills were famous in the government and the opposition. Guan Mengke's family was poor when he was young, and he couldn't make a living, so he mixed some odd jobs in the Chaojia medical shop. I don't want him to be very talented, just by hearing and seeing, he knows the pharmacology of prescriptions; by chance, he pointed out the mistake of using the prescription in the shop, which is not a coincidence, and Chao Kuiyang, who is patrolling the shop, heard it, and has since been under the door, and has taught it to him at the age of 23. However, Guan Mengke was only in the second year of his apprenticeship, and he used medicine to die of Liu Ku, a wealthy man who came to seek medical treatment. This Liu Ku was originally a money-laden man, and he was the most black-hearted, but there was also a brother-in-law of Cao Shuling, a county household, who acted more and more arbitrarily. Guan Mengke's family was okay when he was young, but Guan's father was coaxed by Liu Ku to get addicted to gambling and borrow money, and since then the family's fortune has changed sharply. Father Guan was incompetent to repay his debts, and sold his daughter and wife, forcing Guan Mengke's mother to crash to death; Father Guan was too remorseful to fight with Liu Ku, who came to collect debts, but fell and broke his neck. Guan Mengke's family was ruined, and he had to beg to survive when he was only seven or eight years old, until the Chao family was benevolent and left him to work in the medical shop with a few clever and willing to endure hardships, which was not called starvation. After more than ten years, he completed his medical skills and became famous again. Guan Mengke, however, did not forget his enemy for a day, and when he bumped into his hand, a dose of medicine was ground for two days, and another dose of medicine was sent to the west. Only then did Liu Ku's family realize that something was wrong and sued the court. Guan Mengke pleaded guilty, bitterly stated the enmity of his parents in court, and involved many sins of Liu Ku and his brother-in-law. The county commander took pity on his filial piety, and there was a lot of public anger for Liu Ku's evil deeds, so he was only sentenced to exile. But when he came to Chao Kuiyang's side, he hated his medicine for harming people, and drove him out of the house, and he was no longer allowed to walk as a doctor.

When Guan Mengke was in the Chaojia medical shop, he had a good partner, who was Hong Gang. Hong Yin, the father of Hong Geng, was originally a direct descendant of the Yizhen Hong family, and also studied the imperial examination, married a wife and had children, and there were ancestral fields and houses in the clan, even if it was not rich, it was also a well-off family. Since he touched the word "gambling", he lost all his family fortune, and even deceived his brothers and nephews in the clan into exchanging money for money to gamble, so angry that the patriarch of the Hong clan gathered everyone to open the ancestral hall, and his name was erased on the family tree. Hong Yin did not repent, and became more and more drunk and gambling, and died before the age of thirty. Hong Gang relied on his mother to make a living, but when he was eight or nine years old, his mother was sick and weak, so she had to go out to beg for food and support the family. Because of the same disease, Hong Gang and Guan Mengke have the most to say, and because Hong Gang is two years older, they only protect Guan Mengke as a brother. Guan Mengke died of medicine, and Hong Geng wanted to apologize for him, but asked him to persuade him with his mother. Later, Guan Mengke was exiled, and Hong Geng taught a boss Feng who was in the medicinal herb business to take a fancy to him, took him with him to teach, and married the daughter of the Feng family, inheriting the Yue family's crude drug business. In this way, Hong Gang has also been trying to take care of Guan Mengke's letters, and when Guan Mengke came back, it was not easy to make a living, and he asked him to make offerings in his own crude medicine shop.

After this incident, Guan Mengke wasted half his life, but he had some enlightenment, and he was determined that even if he could not practice medicine, his husband should make a career while he was alive. So on the one hand, he recorded all his knowledge and knowledge in medical skills, and on the other hand, he took the opportunity of the pharmacy business to travel all over the south of the Yangtze River, widely read medicinal materials, compiled medical prescriptions, and compiled a "Jianghu Materia Medica" in 11 years. Because he knew that he was being reformed by his master and that the implementation of the printing was hindered, he and Hong Gang sought Zhang Rongzhang Wenhua together: one is a living person with medical Taoism and has a heavy relationship; the second is that Rong Gong also studied with Meng Hechao's disciples and is familiar with medical science; the third is that Rong Gong is friendly with Chao Kuiyang and also values Hong Gang; and the fourth is that Rong Gong Gang and Wu Taijun chose Hong Gang's daughter as the wife of the eldest grandson Zhang Wang. Sure enough, when Rong Gong saw this book, he was shocked and sighed, and personally came forward, inviting Xinglin masters to learn from each other, and repaired and updated it as "Evidence Class Materia Medica" and attached a 43-volume "Materia Medica". Rong Gong personally wrote a preface for this and praised Guan Mengke's achievements. When the imperial court heard this letter, it also conferred the title of medical officer and recruited him to work in Beijing. Guan Mengke insisted on not accepting it, crying bitterly and stating: "Sinners are useless, and the teacher's order cannot be violated." "I still stay in Hong Gang's crude medicine shop, doing some things to check the medicinal materials and check the medical prescriptions. It's just that his reputation is too loud, and even if others can't get his pulse to prescribe, they still come to him in groups if they have incurable diseases, injuries and pains. Hong Gang couldn't see it, so he persuaded him: "You are not allowed to walk as a doctor, not that you are not allowed to use medical skills to save people." The right to point out the way with others, but not to receive medical fees, even if you can't make a career out of it. "Guan Mengke can be regarded as bypassing the ban. However, he still walked the streets and alleys, and had a lot of medical treatment with the common people; usually those dignitaries could only ask for the blessing of the gods and Buddhas, and by chance he took a look.

Therefore, Lin Ruhai was sick, although he knew that Guan Mengke was close to the left, no one from the Lin Mansion had invited him. But he didn't want Zhang Hui to be able to bring him straight to Yangzhou at this moment - it was really Guan Mengke and Hong Gang who were close and better than brothers, and regarded Hong as if he were his own child, so Zhang Hui could only invite him to move. Sure enough, after Guan Mengke arrived, he first saved his life with pills, and then with prescriptions, diet, and daily life, he was able to cure Lin Ruhai in a few days.

This day is the fourth day of the fifth month, the door of the back garden of the forest mansion is wide open, from the backyard to the garden all the way to see people coming and going, taking things and carrying household goods, busy; and listen to a lot of laughter and joy, in the middle of the chase and run with some little girls who have just left their heads, frolicking and playing, there are occasional scolding two sentences, and it is not very forbidden. ――It is said that this Lin Mansion is also the Yangzhou Salt Administration Office, which is the official hall design of the former and later mansions. It was only because the previous salt ruler had a lot of servants and thought that the backyard was not very wide, so he bought a courtyard with a garden next to the mansion, so that the preparation lane was connected into one. At that time, Lin Ruhai was in office, and he did not want to spend a house empty, so he wanted to seal the corner gate and rent out this courtyard. Unexpectedly, this garden is really exquisite, the husband and wife fell in love at first sight, immediately stopped the initial idea, the house was renovated and taken care of not to mention, but also in the garden all the year round, the small bridge flowing water, the mountain stone vine and the luo are more and more interesting; It's just that after the death of Mrs. Jia, Lin Ruhai never continued the strings, and because of the sadness of his wife, he couldn't bear to see all kinds of things in people's wrongs, so although he ordered people to still go in every day to take care of the flowers and trees, the garden door was often locked at the next hour; However, this time, Guan Mengke looked at Lin Ruhai, and after looking at the inside and outside of the Lin Mansion, he said that Lin Ruhai's illness this time was due to the fact that Jia Min had lived in a remote hospital for a long time after his death, and Feng Shui was not suitable, so he sat down for many diseases. So he ordered someone to quickly clean up the houses next to the garden out of two courtyards, changed a few flower wall partitions, opened the road to the garden, and Lin Ruhai as a place to recuperate.

On this day, taking advantage of the good weather, Lin Ruhai officially moved over. Although they are all in the house, in the end it can be regarded as a "housewarming joy"; and because Lin Ruhai was seriously ill before, everyone in the mansion was nervous and depressed, but now seeing that Lin Ruhai is getting better, everyone is cheering up, smiling, and more and more this is a serious happy event.

Although Lin Ruhai is not such a person who likes to be vain and lively, but when he saw that he was sincerely happy around him, he went with everyone, and turned his head and instructed Aunt Chen, who was in charge of the inner house, and said: "I simply opened the garden, let the family go shopping and make trouble, and also gain some popularity." There is also a room for the eldest girl, and the things are placed, and four or five, six or seven girls are also selected to run in and out. ”

It is said that since the death of Jia Min, Lin Daiyu was sent to Beijing again, there is no hostess at home, and the affairs of the inner house are taken care of by Lin Ruhai's two aunts, Aunt Chen, Aunt Qian and the wife of the old housekeeper Wu Sheng's family. That Aunt Qian was originally a personal maid brought by Jia Min from Rongguo Mansion, and she was very cool and capable, which was very valued by Jia Min. When Jia Min was pregnant for the first time, she gave her to Lin Ruhai. Aunt Qian said that she was born as a maid, but she grew up in Rongguo Mansion, she was knowledgeable and interesting, and her conversation and demeanor were not inferior to ordinary gentlemen and rich ladies, which was quite liked by Lin Ruhai. It's just that he hasn't been out for several years, and it wasn't until Jia Min gave birth to Daiyu that he gave birth to a son. It's a pity that the blessings are thin and the bones are weak, although Lin Hai and Jia Min tried their best to raise them, they couldn't raise them in the end, and even Jia Min was sad and haggard, and died of illness soon after. This Aunt Qian is like ashes, and her body is good and bad, so she can't be a daily director, and in the past two years, most of the young Aunt Chen has been in charge of affairs in the house.

This Aunt Chen is also a maid, and she is just the last handyman in Lin Hai Courtyard, she is born with a round face, and the dough is smiling all day long. Jia Min was happy because she loved her, so she deliberately changed it and took it with her, and took care of it herself for a few years, and then put it back in Lin Ruhai's house to be an aunt. After Jia Min passed away, Aunt Qian was sick, and she really couldn't find anyone else, so she reluctantly learned family affairs little by little, and took responsibility for it indiscriminately, and everything was used to ask Lin Ruhai to deal with it. Hearing the command at this moment, he hurriedly smiled and said, "This is easy, I'll tell Mama Wu." After thinking about it, he asked: "The day before yesterday, Mr. Guan ordered to smoke soju everywhere in the house, but now it has been made elsewhere." Only the main house of the first wife has not been moved. What do you think, sir?"

When Lin Ruhai heard the words, she knew where her taboo was, thinking that she had been decadent because of the loss of her wife in the past few years, and she always turned some lifeless thoughts in her heart. This illness, if it weren't for Zhang Wang's hard persuasion, not to mention the blood relatives of Zhang Wang, Huang Xing and even his grandmother Wu Taijun, it would be more than the fate of Shu Mei, the eldest lady of the Zhang family who was the adopted daughter of Zhang Wang and his wife, and who was also his cousin's nephew, aroused a piece of concern for his only daughter Daiyu, I am afraid that Guan Mengke can live to death with flesh and bones, and he may not be able to drag himself back from the ghost gate - Rao is so, Guan Mengke also jumped to his feet, shouting that this shot is to break his so-called "heavenly disgust or can be kept, and those who abandon themselves will never be saved" of medical practices. Sure enough, the prescription that was prescribed later was also returned, and the first class had to move the house and change the decoration, and completely changed the original layout of the home by means of the theory of feng shui and water hazards.

Thinking of this, Lin Ruhai sighed and said, "Let's all clean up together." The wife's things were put in the house on the east side of the courtyard, and when the girl's house came, they were handed over to her. Suddenly, he remembered something again, and said to Aunt Chen: "The girl's family is here, and I have to ask Mr. Guan to take a look at it again." In the past two days, Mr. Guan has only asked people to pay more attention, no matter the degree of food and clothing, decoration and furnishings, as long as it is better. Just like the day before yesterday, whenever he saw something, he immediately wrote it down and reported it, and when the time came, it was added to the thank-you list. ”

While Aunt Chen agreed, she thought of the scene two days ago, and smiled unintentionally: "That Mr. Guan is also really interesting." How many times have I seen a doctor who has been cured and shouted and begged for money? and he himself went into battle to loot in the old man's room, as if our government would rely on him. Originally, he was a Sven reader, so that people could see that the robber's face was all hard without two glances, and it didn't look like it. ”

Lin Ruhai sighed: "He was not a doctor who relied on medical treatment to eat, he did this for our sake, and it was right to accept his feelings." -- You don't have to worry about this, just distribute it to the people in the house as I said. Then he asked, "Where is Mr. Guan at this moment? What about Xiao Zhang?"

He asked this, but Aunt Chen didn't know. Then a little servant who was waiting outside stepped forward and replied, saying: "Mr. Guan checked the house where the old man was recuperating again in the morning, and said that everything was ready, and he moved as instructed yesterday, and then went out to play Slender West Lake." Originally, I invited Xiao Zhang Xianggong to go with him, but Xiao Zhang Xianggong said that he didn't worry about the master's side, so he wouldn't go. At one time, someone from the yamen came to report that Xie Tongju, who had fought the land lawsuit of the salt farm the day before yesterday, had come to visit the old man's illness, and he had come with the commander of the Hecheng salt farm, Si Cheng and several landlords. Sun Zhubo couldn't get it for sure, so he asked Xiao Zhang Xianggong to go over and meet together. At this time, he was still drinking tea in the front yamen hall. ”

Lin Ruhai listened and nodded. The name of this Sun Master Bo that the little guy said is Sun Gang, and he is a salt officer, although he only hangs from the ninth grade, he is a confidant of Lin Ruhai's staff. When Lin Ruhai was sick, the affairs of the salt government, internal and external, were his hosts, and others knew his weight in front of Lin Ruhai. And Zhang Hui is after Wen Zhaogong, and several masters in Mingyang Academy are all great Confucians in the world, although they are young, their literary names are already visible, and they are also the cousins of the Lin family, and they have been ordered by Lin Ruhai himself, and he has been entertaining guests on his behalf these days--and since the people who came have already said that they are here to visit the sick, it is not rude to have these two in front of them. After thinking for a while, he ordered: "Call Wu Yuan and Shen Ping, and go over on my behalf to confess to the few adults who came." He said that although I was all right, I was still weak and could not go forward. The back room was cleaned up by the doctor's instructions, and it was very disrespectful to use herbs and other things, so they were not invited in. If I have something to do with official business, I am very anxious to come in, but if I can hold it for three or five days, I will immediately go to the front and call them to come and talk. ”

When the little guy heard this, he immediately flew forward to find someone to spread the word. Here, Aunt Chen was already tired when she saw Lin Ruhai say these few words, and hurriedly went to the cleaned up back room to sit down, and said, "It's all my fault, the master is not well yet, so he pulls and talks in the tuyere." Sit in the fast house. If there is anything, the small chapter in front of him is public, and he must not be wrong. The master still has to rest for a while. ”

Lin Ruhai didn't say much, so she asked her to sit down on a wide couch in front of the window of the house, while leaning on her belly to think about the meaning of those in the yamen hall.

It turned out that the dredging of the canal in Yangzhou Prefecture had been delayed for a long time, and it was very costly. Huang Xing led the Ministry of Industry to supervise the construction of the sea pond along the southeast, and was also in charge of water conservancy and transportation matters, so he ordered to check. It was found that the prefect of Yangzhou was sentenced to corruption and fraud, and the officials at the state and county levels made profits from it in many ways. In March, the imperial court ordered that one was played by Huang Xing, and another was appointed as the prefect of Yangzhou and the general judge. The new prefect Ding Tao was born in poverty and hard work, entered the eunuch in his forties, and has always been evaluated fairly, when he was nearly sixty years old, he was also considered to be step-by-step, and others did not care. Xie Ji Xie Yunshu is a son of a famous minister's family, a young man, from Hanlin to Liubu walking and then to the outside, Anyang County is also very good in the evaluation; just when people thought that he was going to go further when he was in office, he returned to his hometown because of his grandmother's funeral. However, the Xie family is full of eunuchs, and Xie Ji is the eldest among his descendants, and his future is naturally worry-free. Sure enough, in March of this year, the period of Ding Wei expired, and he was ordered to return to Yangzhou, and the main thing was to govern agriculture, water conservancy, canals, warehouses, roads and other things. He was originally talented, but less than a month after he took office, the dredging of the canal had been rectified in a systematic manner. Originally, there was nothing bad about everything, and there was a section of the salt river transportation project in the budget book of partial water engineering, which was the first few empty names for the purpose of making money to reverse the hands and feet, and there was really no artificial material input. Xie Ji said that it was an excellent design, and it was supposed to follow the illustrated book to excavate waterways and connect the river network, and the construction period was in the autumn and winter. However, this salt river was not originally a real project, although the calculation was accurate, but there were no twists and turns to avoid, and the places through which it penetrated were all good acres, and the idlers were willing to give way. Not to mention that most of the landlords here are big salt merchants, and they are involved behind them, regardless of Xie Ji's identity and origin, he will definitely refuse to agree, and he will make a fuss. Lin Ruhai himself was appointed to patrol the salt imperial history, and he should not have interfered in the local area at will, but the incident was caused by the oil transportation salt river project, so he had to come forward to suppress it; after some hard work, he was already passable, but he knew that there would be more entanglements in the interior from now on. It's just that at this moment, Xie Jiken took a step back, and he was able to sit and talk with the director of the salt administration and the salt merchant landlord, in addition to the direction of the current situation, there was also a persuasion from Zhang Hui.

So Lin Ruhai thought that his illness was a little stable that day, and Zhang Hui greeted the people in the state capital who came to visit him, and came back to say a word to him. As for the officialdom of Yangzhou, after the imperial court purified it, the people's hearts have been reined in, and in addition, he has shown his endowment and temperament, and it will be easier to do things later, and there will be no need to fight with people with white eyebrows and bare eyes. This time hit the nail on the head, and sure enough, Xie Ji retreated when he heard it, and it also made others take advantage of the situation and stop messing up. It's just that Xie Ji and the others thought that Zhang Hui was relaying his own words, and Dulin Ruhai knew that Zhang Hui had brought Guan Mengke to the house, and he had nothing to say about other things except for his illness and medication. These things in Yangzhou were all cobbled together by him from Xie Kai and the Xie family in Jinling, as well as from the letters of his maternal grandfather and the Hong family in Yizhen County. In this way, he can have comprehensive insights and persuade well-founded. Lin Ruhai couldn't help but sigh again: "Yang Zhi has a son like this, you can be worry-free." ”

When she was sighing, Aunt Chen came in with a three-layer basket that was waterproof and insulated, took the freshly boiled decoction from the middle layer, and waited for Lin Ruhai to take it. Lin Ruhai saw that her expression was sad, so she asked what was wrong. Aunt Chen frowned and replied: "In the morning, Mr. Guan instructed that from tomorrow onwards, the master should use a bowl of porridge boiled with lotus seeds every day, and he must use fresh lotus seeds, steamed and mashed together with Xin'er and stewed in the porridge." But now it's only May, and the lotus pods haven't grown yet, so where are the fresh lotus seeds? I asked Wu Yuan's family to look for it, but there has been no reply so far. ”

Lin Ruhai thought about it, and when he thought of Guan Mengke as a person, he knew that there must be a reason, so he smiled and said: "Since it is said that tomorrow, then I will order people to look for it everywhere." And the medicine has eight hundred and eight flavors, and there are not a few that can almost be replaced, so it won't be just missing. It's the Dragon Boat Festival tomorrow, and everything that needs to be done is done. There is also the calculation of the distance, the eldest girl will arrive home in two days, these are the things that need to be busy. ”

When Aunt Chen heard this, she hurriedly packed up the dishes and went out to cook. Lin Ruhai called the little guy to the front and sent Hu from Wuyuan, and ordered: "Go and see who Mr. Guan is swimming with in the Slender West Lake." ”

Wu Yuan went, and replied in less than half a day: "It's Xiao Zhang's maternal uncle and cousin, Hong Da, the eldest son of the Hong family." Hong Da was in Yangzhou with his grandfather Hong Gang during the Qingming Dynasty and moved his great-grandfather back to the tomb of Yizhen Ancestor. Because there is a letter between the uncle of the Zhang family and his patriarch, and Xiao Zhang's personal statement, it has been approved. Hong Gang is Changzhou on April 18, Hong Da has never returned, in Yizhen to take care of the ancestral house, the field, these two days and in Yangzhou City around the look, like the meaning of buying a house. ”

Lin Ruhai nodded and sighed: "It's hard to work hard for this." He commanded, "If a man surnamed Hong comes tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, he will not be stopped at the door, and I will see you all the way respectfully." ”

Sure enough, on the second day, there was the current head of the Yizhen Hong family, Hong Yu, who was accompanied by his brother-in-law Ren Yuren Baishi, the head of Guangling Academy, to visit the door, one to visit the sick and the other to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. Lin Ruhai was very interested, and with a cane, he took him to the garden while walking, watching, enjoying the scenery and talking, and it was always three or four quarters of an hour before he dispersed. However, he was not cured of his serious illness, and although he was in good spirits, his body could not support it, and he lay down on the bed that night and started to have a fever. Fortunately, Guan Mengke was here, and there was no danger after all, so he just scolded and said, "It will take another seventeen or eight days of herbal charcoal fire work to waste! How many people can be saved by taking it out?" Lin Ruhai only kept silent, and the Lin Mansion only pretended to be deaf and dumb. After four or five days like this, after dinner that day, Guan Mengke and Zhang Hui were staring at Lin Ruhai taking medicine, when a little girl crashed into the room and shouted, "Grandpa Wu's letter is here! The eldest lady will be here early tomorrow morning!"

But he said that what was the situation when Lin Daiyu arrived in Yangzhou the next day, how did Zhang Hui and Lin Daiyu's cousins meet, predicted the future, and looked at the next decomposition.