After only a few pages, Bai Qiao was hugged by Gu Yun from behind, and a few wet kisses fell on his cheeks.

"Figured it out?" Bai Ko asked.

"Think clearly, watch the show." Gu Yun held Bai Ko's hands and intertwined them with her fingers, "Sending my people to protect my aunt and cousin may not be able to end well, if something really happens, my people will definitely have to be questioned why they are here." I don't care if I am wronged, I am reluctant to let my guards follow suit, no matter who she Gu Chan will marry in the future, I haven't seen them earn reputation for the family, and I have to worry that their scandal will be known by outsiders, so I am not burdened by this. ”

"It's okay, you have the final say, of course Zhong Mingyuan doesn't know anything about the housework in the second room."

Gu Yun kissed Bai Ko, then let go of her hand and turned her around, and the two faced each other, with an expression on their faces that wanted to speak and stopped.

Bai Ko raised his eyebrows, "Any other orders?" ”

"The ......"

"Which one?"

"Where's that guy this morning?"

"It's settled."

"You stayed?"

"Of course."

"He's so good at it?"

"Yes." Bai Ko's expression suddenly became stern, and he stretched out a finger and shook it, "With his craftsmanship, it is here for us, and it is the level of the exclusive craftsman of the Ministry of Industry." ”

"So strong?"

"He has a lot of knick-knacks in his luggage, and if he can make what I want this time, I'll hire him to do long-term work." Bai Ko suddenly changed his face again, "He is so handsome, his skills are good, and he can take care of people, he knows how to walk on the outside when he walks on the street, and let the lady go inside, he is really a gentle and considerate man." ”

Gu Yun's face suddenly turned black as the bottom of a pot.

At this moment, Qinglan's voice suddenly remembered outside the door.

"Master, there is a message from the Sect Palace, urgently please go over with the white steward, there is something important to discuss."

"Huh?!"

Bai Ko's expression froze, he pushed away the son of the world, and quickly put on his shoes and went out, Gu Yun was stunned for a while, and then went back to his bedroom to change clothes, and after a while, he and Bai Ko dressed up and left.

The two of them walked to the gate of the Chengjun Palace, and someone had already answered the door, and led them to the main room of the guest house, where not only sat the palace chief, but also a man dressed in navy blue silk clothes, only on the sleeves and neckline or on the belt had some inconspicuous patterns, which was the most common clothing worn by the male steward of the general large family, and there were mud spots on the hem and shoe top, obviously just running back from the outside.

In addition, there were also two four-leaf screens standing in the hall, and when Gu Yun and Bai Ko came in to greet each other, Ning Peilan's girl came out from behind the screen and welcomed Bai Ko to the back.

At the first large square table behind the screen, Ning Peilan sat aside, and when she saw Bai Ko come in, she took her hand and sat down, quickly and simply explaining to her the reason for this urgent meeting.

"The village that Gu Yun rented has made a fuss, and the one outside is the Rong Steward who is responsible for negotiating with the five villages, and I called you to listen to him tell what happened again."

Bai Ko was a little surprised, but she quickly calmed down, and did not ask the villagers why they reversed, she just asked the girl to bring her some writing paper, and then took out the pen she carried with her and put it on the table, waiting to take notes.

Steward Rong also finished the ceremony with Gu Yun in front, and the palace chief invited Gu Yun to sit down, and after the girls finished serving tea, Steward Rong deliberately stood next to the screen, so that the male and female hosts and guests on both sides of the screen could hear what he said.

In order to preserve the land and reduce future disputes, the shareholders came up with the idea of leasing and employing villagers to bring the village's land under the hands of the three major shareholders.

Gong Changji and Shi Tianmin each recognized two slightly smaller villages, and gave the largest village to Gu Yun, although the village was on the east bank of the river, it was not close to the water, but the name of the village was set by the direction, and it was called Hedong Village.

Originally, Ning Peilan sent the experienced Rong steward of the Ning family to negotiate with the five villages about leasing and employment, and the land rent and the wages of hired farmers were the same price, although there was bargaining during the negotiation process, but in the end it was successfully negotiated, before signing the contract, the villagers took advantage of the middle of the night to open up the wasteland, and turned the wasteland into raw land, so as to get more rent according to the standard of raw land, and the land that could not be turned was thrown there to calculate the rent of the wasteland.

The villagers secretly turned over the land as early as the shareholders expected, and they didn't care, the village's fish scale map is in the Yamen's house, how big the village is, how much arable land is placed there, and the fish scale map is the most uncontroversial standard, but the shareholders are willing to give the villagers a chance to increase their income, and pretend that they are blind and don't see their hasty land reclamation.

According to the reward and punishment clause in the contract, if the crops are not planted well, the annual reward will be deducted, and they can only get the land rent and wages for a hard year, and watching others get more generous rewards is enough for the villagers who are as affectionate as the sky, enough to make them not even feel in the mood for the New Year.

In view of the benefits of free water conservancy works, the five villages all signed long-term land leases for 50 years, and the rent was paid quarterly.

Hedong Village reversed course and did not admit that the contract had been signed, not to say that there were traps in the terms, the whole village had actually been deceived by dignitaries and nobles into private property, under such remarks, Rong Steward and his party were almost beaten by the excited villagers, fortunately, the land adjacent to Hedong Village until the bank of the river was Gu Yun's own land, where there were people sent by the Yeguo Mansion to work, they arrived in time to help Rong Steward get out and come back to report the news, and the palace chief urgently asked Gu Yun to come over to discuss the matter as soon as he learned the news.

After listening to what Steward Rong said, Gu Yun first felt inexplicable, and then felt deeply worried.

"I don't know why the villagers in Hedong suddenly turned around, what if they instigated the villagers of those four villages to tear up the contract together? The villagers of those four villages have already received the money, and it is not easy for them to spit it out. Gu Yun didn't know whether he was talking to himself or asking Gong Changji's opinion.

"It's easier to take the money, and on the grounds that we want them to pay back the money, we can scare the villagers of those four villages not to follow suit, so that we can free up our hands to concentrate on solving the problems in Hedong Village." Gong Changji is relatively optimistic.

Gu Yun nodded, agreeing with Gong Changji's opinion, and then looked at Steward Rong and asked him some details of what he saw in Hedong Village, such as this trouble, whether the village chief and the prestigious elders in the village followed suit, and who took the lead in making trouble, etc.

Steward Rong was in Hedong Village when the incident happened suddenly, in the courtyard of the village chief's house to settle the rent when he noticed that the atmosphere was not quite right, so he did not mention the matter of payment, only asked about the preparation of the land and spring ploughing, and when they were surrounded by excited villagers to ask for an explanation, they ran away desperately, and finally were rescued by the people of the Yeguo Mansion, and the group came back completely.

During this whole process, Steward Rong naturally remembered a few young people who made insulting remarks and provoked trouble, but the village chief and the elders did not persuade them to be mediators, so they just watched in silence.

"Hmph, the elders are silent, this farce is what they acquiesced to." Gu Yun didn't bother to move, and reached out to knock on the screen, "Bai Ko, what do you have to ask?" ”

"Let me ask who those young people belong to, can you tell me about it?"

"I know, I negotiated with them in all five villages, and I know who the common acquaintances are."

"Okay, you can talk about it carefully, I'll take notes."

Steward Rong carefully recalled the incident again, and read out all the names of the people he remembered, who was the child of whom, who was the relative of whom, and Steward Rong told everything he knew.

Bai Ko didn't speak again, buried his head in copying down the relationship between these characters, and then drew a map of the characters' positions on a blank piece of paper, after this inventory, he found a face that even Rong Steward didn't know, standing at the front when making trouble, the loudest voice, the most spillable, but only his clothing and appearance, and the accent is the accent in the village, he can also call the names of the people around him, but Rong Steward doesn't know his name.

The girl turned this picture outside to show the gentlemen, and then asked Steward Rong if he had any impression of this fresh face.

"Oh, I really don't have an impression, I definitely haven't seen it, otherwise I wouldn't have forgotten such a troublesome young man, in this whole process of talking about land lease, I have dealt with people in five villages who can speak well." Steward Rong shook his head in annoyance.

"But when you go to negotiate, it is the slack of farming, and there may be villagers who take the opportunity to go out to do odd jobs and not be in the village, but now that they come back for spring ploughing, they hear about the new situation in the village, and it is possible to encourage everyone to tear up the contract." Bai Ko guessed slowly.

"White steward, the possibility you said is absolutely impossible, the contract was signed by a family, because it is a fifty-year long contract, and at the same time the villagers are hired as hired farmers, so the men, women and children who have reached the age of fifteen in the family have signed and drawn the pledge, and there is nothing missing, I am sure that the possibility you said earlier is not valid."

"Oh, if that's the case, then it's really my mistake, I don't know anything about the farm, and what I just said is a bit of a matter of course."

"The white butler is gracious."

"In that case." There was a soft sound of chairs behind the screen, and then Bai Ko walked out, "Shizi, we have to cut through the mess quickly, and we can't let the other four villages do the same, and the signed contract will be torn up, where do the villagers have so much confidence that they think that the dignitaries will not pursue it to the end?" ”

Gu Yun stood up suddenly, startling the palace chief Ji and Steward Rong.

"You're saying someone is behind this?"

"I didn't say it, I just said that where did the villagers get the confidence to go against the dignitaries? The dignitaries and nobles who rented five villages were either the sons of princesses, or the county kings of the clan, or the princes of the country, and the villagers still dared to violate the contract and go back on their word, so ...... it with common sense speculation? ”

Bai Ko didn't finish his words, just winked at the three men present.

Gu Yun and Gong Changji pursed their mouths tightly with ugly faces, and Steward Rong took two steps back without a trace, gently covering his mouth and not daring to say anything, and he already understood Bai Ko's words in his heart.

If the villagers are really instructed by others, it is true that only nobles who are more noble than the background of the major shareholders of these three parties can make the villagers so confident and bold.