Wang Qianli not only filled the vacancy, but also was promoted to the north bank of the Yongding River Tongzhi, and became the official of the Zhengwupin Imperial Court, Yu Qinghuai, who was unwilling to go far away and did not go to the capital together, was really a little envious.

It's a leisurely life in my hometown, but it's a little lonely at the same time. Zheng Jing was very thoughtful, Ren Yu'er asked someone to bring a letter from Shanghai, wanting to ask him and Dean Gu to arrange a few group Yong, send Yu San's mother and son to Shanghai to reunite with her, and even ask someone to bring back fifty silver dollars for travel expenses.

Dean Gu went to ask Yu Sangu, who was really not worried that Ren Yu'er was alone in Shanghai, and thought that the child was almost three years old, and studying in the Mingdao Academy in the town would not have a big future in the future, so she had long wanted to take the child to Ren Yu'er. Yu Qinghuai hired a boat and called six honest and reliable young men to personally escort Yu Sangu's mother and son to Shanghai.

looked for Ren Yuer according to the address in the letter, and found that Ren Yuer did not live in the county seat, but in a newly built small western-style building in the English Concession.

The yard is not big and there is a small garden in the yard.

The courtyard wall is very high, and it is not so easy for people outside to climb in.

The first floor is the living room, dining room, kitchen and the room where the people live, the second floor has a small living room, a study and two bedrooms, and the third floor is full of guest rooms. There is also a small garden behind the bungalow, and a back door is opened. Therefore, the furniture and furnishings are all Western-style, how to look at it is not pleasing to the eye.

Yu Qinghuai sat in the living room and drank tea for a while, and waited for Ren Yu'er to help Yu Sangu and Ren Yaen's widow Ren Chengzhi settle down and walk downstairs before she smiled and asked, "Yu'er, why do you live in the foreigner's concession, why don't you live in the city?" ”

Ren Yu'er squatted slightly and said a thousand blessings, and while beckoning Yu Qinghuai to use snacks, she said with a smile: "Master Yu doesn't know, although the county seat of Shanghai has been recovered, it has almost been destroyed by the war. If it weren't for the Governor's instructions before leaving, Lord Lan Weiwen Lan of Shanghai and Master Huang Fanghuang, the main hall of Shanghai who arrived a year ago, to coerce the 'Boat King' Yu Taifeng to donate 200,000 taels of silver on the grounds of 'bandits', the city wall, the Provincial Bureau, the county government and the Xue Palace (Confucian Temple) that were destroyed by the war probably have no money to repair. ”

"There's no room for people in the city?"

"It's not that I can't live, but it's more convenient to live in the concession."

"Convenient?" Yu Qinghuai asked puzzled.

Ren Yu'er was grateful to Yu Qinghuai and Dean Gu for helping to take care of Yu Sangu and younger brother Yu Chengzhi in the past two years, and explained with a smile: "Master Yu, you may not have paid attention when you came over, the house at the door is the Sichuan Hall that my fourth brother funded and built when he was an official in Shanghai, and he is now worried about his hometown in Sichuan, even if he doesn't return to his hometown in Sichuan, he can't take care of the hall, so I can help him take care of it and help him keep his industry in Shanghai." ”

Yu Qinghuai reacted, thought about it and asked, "What about this western-style building?" Whose property is this western-style building? ”

Ren Yu'er said proudly: "It's also my fourth brother's, but I just helped him set it up a few years ago." ”

Yu Qinghuai asked: "This western-style building is worth a lot of silver, where did you get so much money?" ”

This western-style building was originally a foreign businessman's, not only Wu Jianzhang paid money, but even the "boat king" Yu Taifeng also paid 4,000 silver dollars in order to get rid of the crime, in addition to Zhou Xingyuan of Shanghai County also paid 1,000 taels, Ren Yuer really didn't know how to explain to Yu Qinghuai, and said with a little embarrassment: "I can't tell you this for a while, Master Yu, the room is cleaned up for you, and you live on the second floor." The brothers you brought with you have also arranged for them to live in the opposite hall. It is estimated that Su Jueming should also come back, and when he comes back, he will accompany you to eat and drink, and wash the dust for you. ”

Yu Qinghuai realized that this western-style building was given by someone else, so he immediately changed the topic: "Jueming is okay, is the errand going well?" ”

"He's fine, as for errands...... He, the deputy member of the Jiangxi Customs, did something unworthy of his name, and he hardly had to go to the yamen to order something, and even if he went, it was not easy to meddle in customs affairs. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"This is a long story, when Liu Lichuan and the remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society first started to make trouble, foreign merchants did not pay taxes to Jiang Customs. Later, the consuls of England, France, and the United States even set up a tariff administration committee, and appointed Wei Tuma, Shi Yashi, and Jia Liuyi as tax departments to collect customs duties on their behalf. ”

Ren Yu'er paused, and then said: "Later, the new minister of the United States, Mai Lian, arrived in office, and took the opportunity of asking the imperial court to revise the treaty, and asked the French consul Ali Guo, Ma Hui and others to ask the Lord of Taiwan and the Governor to cancel the checkpoints and cards in various places. The Lord of Taiwan and the Governor were worried about the lack of military spending, and they were relying on tariffs, and this was not something they could say, so they had to let Lord Shanghai Daolan and Wu Jianzhang talk to the consuls of the three countries in Kunshan. In the end, a nine-clause agreement was concluded for Britain, France, and the United States to continue the expedition. ”

"Letting foreigners collect tariffs on their behalf, isn't this a loss of power and humiliation of the country!"

"But there is no other way for the Lord of Taiwan and the Lord of the Governor, not to mention the benefits of letting foreigners collect on their behalf."

"What's the benefit?"

Ren Yu'er said helplessly: "As far as I know, how much tariff was levied in the past was a confused account, and how much tariff to pay to the imperial court depends on the mood of Lord Daotai, who is also the superintendent of Jiang Customs." If you're in a good mood, turn in a little more. If you are in a bad mood, you will have less, and even one tael of tariffs has not been paid for a few years, and there is still a deficit of more than 100,000 taels.

It is different for foreigners to collect on their behalf, since the third year of Xianfeng, Liu Lichuan and other remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society committed chaos and occupied Shanghai, to last year's recovery, the tax department controlled by foreigners actually helped collect more than 700,000 taels on behalf of them, and there are accounts to check one by one. The imperial court was in a hurry to use the silver, so it simply let the foreigners continue to levy on their behalf. ”

Thinking that thousands of miles of officials are only for money, and those tax officials will not be as "incorruptible" as foreigners, Yu Qinghuai said with a smile: "There is such a thing, it's ridiculous to think about it." ”

"There are so many ridiculous things, you get used to it after a few days here."

"And what do you do for a living here alone?"

"The hall built by the fourth brother not only has a few guest rooms, but also more than a dozen shops, and the house money and rent alone are enough for me to live." Although Ren Yu'er said so, she secretly thought in her heart that I was a woman, but I had the same official position as the imperial court officials, and helped the "Houyitang" to find out the news of foreigners, and the "Houyitang" not only gave fifty taels of silver every month, but also had an additional reward if one hundred thousand urgent military information was found.

Yu Qinghuai didn't know why, thought about it and asked curiously: "So Su Jue Mingguang doesn't have to do things?" ”

"Almost, he doesn't know how moisturizing his life is, every day he either goes to Qichang Foreign Company, which has been reformed from Shanghai Province and Wu Jianzhang has become a shareholder, to drink tea, or goes to eat wine with local gentry and businessmen such as Yu Taifeng, the 'Boat King', every day is early and late home, which is really a drunken dream."

Yu Qinghuai said half-jokingly: "I knew that even he could mix with an official and a half-job, and at that time I should really go to the capital with Qianli to join Master Han." ”

"Master Yu is really good at talking."

"No kidding, Yu'er, the 'ship king' you just said, is there a bandit?"

"How can I say this, when Liu Lichuan and other rebel parties occupied the county seat, they threatened his family's property in the city, and he couldn't bear to watch the people in the city starve to death, so he did smuggle some grain into the city. However, later he did not donate the 200,000 taels in vain, and the court not only rewarded him with a second-grade top belt, but also rewarded him with the title of salt transport envoy. He turned into a red-capped businessman, and there were two more 'avoidant' and 'quiet' signs at home, and it is said that every time he went out, he let his family carry the sign in front of him and shout to open the way, and he sat in a sedan chair so imposingly. ”

Ren Yu'er smiled and said: "In addition, the emperor also gave permission to the Governor of Liangjiang and Jiangsu Xuezheng to play, adding ten Wen Tong students and nine Wu Tong students to Shanghai County, and Songjiang Mansion also takes ten more Wen and Wu Tong every year, bringing together a total of thirty-nine new ones. ”

"Speaking of which, no matter how big a thing is, in the end it is a money offense!"

"You're right, as long as you have money now, there's really nothing you can't do."

Ren Yu'er got up and walked to the bookcase, took out two silver dollars, and gently put them in front of Yu Qinghuai: "Master Yu, look, this is the silver dollar that Yu Taifeng just united with several local businessmen, approved by Lord Tai and the Governor, and minted with the machine of foreigners, this one is one tael, and this one is half a tael." ”

Looking at the silver dollar cast on one side with "Xianfeng six years Shanghai county merchant Yu Sen foot pattern silver cake", and the other side cast with "Zhu Yuanyu supervised Cao Pingshi heavy five-money silversmith Wang Shouzao", Yu Qinghuai sighed: "If it is replaced by someone else, it will be a loss of head if it is privately minted silver money!" ”

"He's not a private cast," Ren Yu'er smiled, and said thoughtfully: "But I think he hasn't been doing this business for a long time, the casting is too rough, and it is easy to be imitated. ”

"That's right."

As he was talking, Su Jue came in a hurry.

Ren Yu'er had already let her mother have a banquet in Zhang Luo, and felt that it was inappropriate for a female streamer to eat wine with two big men, so she simply apologized and went back upstairs, teased her younger brother for a while, and then closed the door and whispered to Yu Sangu.

"Yu'er, your boss is not small, you should also think about yourself!" Yu Sangu flipped through the photo that Ren Yu'er brought back from the package last time, and said with a sad face: "I don't dare to show this photo taken by foreigners to others." If it spreads, it may be said to be like. ”

Ren Yu'er knew very well that Yu Sangu was very strict after going through so many things, took the photo and said with a smile: "If I don't go to the tiger's den to get a tiger, if I don't go to the women's school run by foreigners to study, and don't make friends with foreigners, how can I help the fourth brother run errands, and how can I repay the fourth brother for my great kindness to my Ren family." “

"I heard that Master Yu said that Master Han has returned to his hometown in Sichuan, and he is no longer an official, what else do you want to help him do?"

"The fourth brother is going back to his hometown to worry."

"That's it, if Master Han knew that one of your women was still helping him show up, he wouldn't be happy."

"Third aunt, there are some things you don't understand."

Yu Sangu was really anxious about Ren Yu'er's lifelong event, and she didn't want to see her give up on herself like this, so she asked eagerly: "Why don't I understand?" ”

Ren Yu'er looked at her with a smile and said meaningfully: "It is precisely because the fourth brother is worried about returning to his hometown that he has to help him with his errands here in Shanghai." As the saying goes, people go to tea and cool, and the fourth brother was in the emperor's heart and the holy family Enlong before, which does not mean that it will still be in the future. I'll help him run a little errand here, as long as the errand is done well, those princes and ministers in the capital will not forget him, and when he returns to the capital after keeping the system, he will naturally be entrusted with the same important task as before. ”

"What errand you are doing here, do all the princes and ministers in the capital know?"

"You should know."

"But what do you do on your own?"

"What to do?"

"Your life's work!" Yu Sangu held her hand tightly and said in a pleading tone: "The man should marry the woman and get married, if you don't marry, if you drag it out, you really can't find a good family!" ”

It's not that Ren Yuer hasn't thought about it, but she really doesn't want to get married.

Don't look at Su Jueming who has been Han Xiufeng's long-term follower for so long, but in Shanghai, whether it is Shanghai Dao or Shanghai Zhixian, even Wu Jianzhang, who has reformed Shanghai Dao, looks down on him. And she Ren Yu'er is different, everyone knows that she is Han Xiufeng's sister-in-law, and even the new Suzhou prefect Xue Huan invited her to eat and drink last time he brought his family to Shanghai.

Although "Houyitang" didn't say it explicitly, she has already tacitly agreed that she is the shopkeeper of the Shanghai branch! Su Jueming used to run errands, and he still is.

Ren Yuer really wants to repay Han Xiufeng's great kindness to the Ren family, and prefers to be the owner of this western-style building and the Sichuan Hall on the other side, as well as the feeling of being the shopkeeper of the Shanghai branch of "Houyitang", she is really reluctant to let go of all this, and in the face of Yu Sangu's urging to marry, she can only say lightly: "Marriage, marriage, it depends on fate, fate has not reached the point where you let me marry whom?" ”

"But ......"

"Don't be, everything will be up to me here." Ren Yu'er didn't want to talk about marriage anymore, so she immediately changed her conversation: "The concession is a little far away from the county seat, and I plan to send someone to the city in a few days to hire a gentleman, set up a family school, and teach Chengzhi to study." ”

"Why spend this unjust money, can't you teach?"

"I have to study, and I have to help my fourth brother run errands, how can I have time." Ren Yu'er smiled, and continued: "Then you always worry about my life's affairs, and you can't help but think about yourself." I can now support myself and take care of my aspirations. If you meet the right one, you will remarry, you have done so much for my Ren family, if my father's spirit in the sky knows, he will not blame you, not only will I not blame you, but it is too late for our brothers and sisters to thank you! ”

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