Not long after Shang Cheng sat down in the study, Yue'er and Pan'er came.

He didn't let the two girls sit right away, didn't even look at them, but buried his head and continued to read the military newspaper sent by the military department yesterday.

The two girls who didn't know what was going on didn't dare to ask, and they both stood crampedly on their feet with their hands pinched. They had "ghosts" in their hearts, and no one dared to speak first, so they could only quietly observe his expression while giving each other a look of encouragement. Rouge, who accidentally followed the two young ladies into this room, didn't dare to take a breath, and crept to hide in the corner, for fear of letting Shang Cheng notice him.

It's quiet in the warm room. A pot of charcoal burned at the root of the south wall, and a small red fire could be seen between the black charcoal piled up on the hill, and from time to time a little spark burst from the beep peel, and then it fell leisurely. Although it was not yet dark, the two large lanterns placed against the north wall had been lit, and the two candles in the lanterns were burning brightly, reflecting half of the study. A large Wei tablet hanging on the east wall is also more and more eye-catching:

One by one, "it is difficult to dazzle and fake".

After an unknown time, Shang Cheng finally put down the official document in his hand. He took the teapot from the cotton sleeve, poured himself a glass of water, took two sips of water from the not-so-warm tea bowl, glanced at the two apprehensive little girls, and said after a long while, "Here you are." ”

As soon as he spoke, the oppressive heaviness of the room immediately faded considerably. Yue'er immediately said angrily: "It's already here!" One by one, I saw that you were busy with official business, so I didn't bother you! I don't know what's going on, you call for us, and you don't ......," she said, and then she lost her breath, and retracted her legs that had stepped out. She originally wanted to please her monk brother and wanted to go over to add tea to him.

"Tell me, what's going on?" Shang Cheng asked.

"What, what's going on?" Yue'er immediately became nervous. Because he was afraid that Shang Cheng would ask Gao Xiaosan and Liu Ji Warehouse, this girl who has always been very neat in talking and doing things is now a little stumbling when she even speaks. "No, didn't you call us? How...... How to ask, ask us? ”

Shang Cheng drooped his eyelids and snorted in his nostrils. The duck meat is rotten and the mouth is hard, this guy is still pretending to be stupid! A mocking smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he looked up at Yue'er and said, "Gao Xiaosan was here just now?" ”

Yue'er secretly complained in her heart. I'm really afraid of anything! She already knew from Rouge that Shang Cheng and Gao Xiaosan had met, and there was no way to deny this matter, so she had to bite the bullet and say, "Come, come here......"

"What is he here for?"

"It's nothing ......," Yue'er said in a panic,

"Huh?" Shang Cheng snuffed out his nose and snorted heavily.

"It's really nothing." Yue'er's mosquito-like voice defended herself. So far, she can only grit her teeth and persevere. She thought that if she said that it was a big deal, Gao Xiaosan would come to sue her, hoping to ask for some benefits for Liu Ji. This is obviously not a big deal, at most she admits her mistake to Shang Cheng, and then makes up a few lies to cover up the past. She even found a good excuse for herself, one by one, Gao Xiaosan begged her to help the villagers, but she thought that Shang Cheng's repeated admonitions had already rejected Liu Ji. She flattened her mouth and made a look of grievance, and said, "Liu Ji wants to take on more errands in the official next year, and he can't speak in front of you, so Gao Xiaosan came to me in the name of sending off the festival." But I told him that I couldn't help with that. ”

If Shang Cheng hadn't met Gao Xiaosan just now, and hadn't heard Gao Xiaosan's nonsense about accompanying his aunt to the house, then he would probably take Yue'er's explanation seriously. In his impression, this little girl who has no mother since she was a child is very sensible and capable, whether it is helping her father support the rotten family in the earliest days or later managing the two big mansions in Yixian and Yanzhou for herself, everything is taken care of smoothly, and he doesn't have to worry about it at all; Even he has a head-scratching interpersonal relationship etiquette, and she can handle it in his name refreshingly. It is precisely because of these that he has always trusted her very much, not only leaving all the big and small things in the family to her to deal with, never asking about the expenses of firewood, rice, oil, salt, money and grain, or even asking where the money and grain go: whether it is a land purchase or a house, even if she quietly saves some private house for herself, he will not be angry......

As long as it's not used to lend money or do business! Especially don't go into business!

What he hates and hates the most is officials and businessmen, that is, bureaucratic capital! In order to gain benefits for themselves, these officials and businessmen who collude not only disrupt the normal economic order of society, but also undermine the laws of the country, and in terms of harm, they are even more harmful than war. The losing side in the war still has the courage and strength to find a chance to make a comeback, but the windfall profits generated by the combination of power and capital are always extremely eye-catching, and the officials and businessmen who ignore the law trample not only on the law, but also fundamentally shake the people's confidence in the system, thus affecting all aspects of society...... It is a pity that even if he realizes the harmfulness of this ugly phenomenon, his personal power is small, and he can neither stop this ancient system of government and business, nor can he curb people's yearning for official and business plots; What's even more tragic is that he can't even influence the people around him, and the only thing he can do is try to restrain himself and not let himself become the kind of person he hates the most......

But now his family is likely to embark on the road of government and business!

Yes, he was already keenly aware of this from Gao Xiaosan's lies. If Yue'er and Liu Ji Warehouse did not have a close connection, then no matter whether Gao Xiaosan was a fellow countryman or not, it would be impossible for him to step into the backyard of the Admiral General, let alone let the big housekeeper personally send him out; What's more, Gao Xiaosan also told such a ridiculous lie! Although it is still unclear what the relationship between Yue'er and Liu Ji is, he feels that there must be a problem here!

As for what the problem is, this is what he wants Yue'er to say frankly. Even though he had already guessed what was going on, he still hoped that Yue'er would tell him personally.

However, Yue'er's answer made him very dissatisfied. He didn't want to hear lies, he just wanted to hear the truth of the matter. He restrained the anger and disappointment in his heart, and said to Yue'er with a sneer: "Oh, Gao Xiaosan came here to say this? Did you really tell him you couldn't help? He glanced fiercely at Yang Pan'er, who had not spoken. There is no doubt that if Yue'er is the main culprit, then Pan'er is Yue'er's "accomplice". Of course, there is also an "accomplice" who plays an instigating role, Aunt 117! Hmph, if there was no Aunt Seventeen to instigate and pry behind her back, even if she gave the two of them ten guts, they wouldn't dare to hide themselves from doing business with Liu Ji!

Under his majestic gaze, Yue'er muttered for a long time without saying a word.

Yue'er's silence suddenly gave him a bad premonition. He realized that maybe Gao Xiaosan didn't look for her just to get out of the way. Thinking that in less than half a year, Liu Ji not only came back from the dead, but also his business was thriving, he felt that this matter was not as simple as he had just imagined. Could it be that Yue'er also participated in Liu Ji?

Feeling that things might be more than he expected, his anger suddenly turned upside down. He greeted them again and again, and repeatedly warned them not to let them mix and do business, and they all took it as a deaf ear?!

He suppressed the anger in his chest vigorously, tried to make his voice sound softer, and said, "Say it yourself, what the hell is going on?" One by one, you don't say? Then Pan'er, you can tell me. ”

Pan'er buried her head deeper. But she still didn't speak. What can she say? At this point, it didn't end well if she didn't say anything, so she decided not to say anything! She stood with Yue'er "resolutely", and the strength of one or two people is always a little greater than that of one person, isn't it? Although the two of them together may not be able to withstand the "difficulties" in front of them, there is always a little more steadfast in someone who can rely on their hearts......

"Good, good, good, you're good." The silent confrontation between the two girls made Shang Cheng so angry that he couldn't even speak coherently. He lit them up and said "yes" several times in succession, put down the tea bowl and said to Rouge, "You are you one by one!" You go and invite Aunt Seventeen over, right away, right away, go and invite her over......

But the little maid hiding in the corner didn't know whether she was frightened, or didn't hear him, or that she was reluctant to turn her back on her young lady, so she didn't move at all except that she hated to bury herself in the wall.

Shang Cheng pursed his lips and looked at the three girls one by one, and suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Who is on duty outside?" ”

"Here!" There were a few footsteps in the hall, and a Jiupin lieutenant lifted the curtain and gave a military salute outside the door, "What does the general command?" ”

"You go and call Huo Shiqi to me right away!"

"Yes! Led the general's order, and passed Huo Shiqi to see him! ”

The lieutenant agreed and was about to leave, Yue'er hurriedly said: "Brother, don't call Uncle Seventeen......" She pinched her fingers for a long time before saying in a very small voice, "I, I put some money on Liu Ji......"

Shang Cheng's face softened a little. Although money lending also bothers him, it is better than mixing it with business. He comforted himself by saying that money lending is actually a loan, and the interest rate is a little higher...... He waved his hand for the soldier to leave, and then asked, "How much did you give them?" ”

Yue'er first stretched out a finger. This number probably even she didn't believe herself, so she held out another finger, and then another ...... Eventually, all four of her right fingers were stretched out except for her thumb.

"Four hundred?" Shang Cheng said suspiciously. Compared with Liu Ji's embarrassing situation in the first half of the year, although this money cannot completely get them out of the predicament, it can more or less support the difficulties. It seems that Gao Xiaosan suddenly came to the door today, in addition to wanting to go to the door, probably thinking of borrowing a little more money to run a liquor business with Huo Lun......

But his self-righteous thoughts were immediately shattered by Yue'er's next words.

“…… Yes, it's 4,000 runs. ”

Shang Cheng was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth. He didn't expect his family to come up with so much money at once. His monthly salary and the messy subsidies of spring clothes, summer coolness, autumn clothes, winter charcoal, etc., can be converted to about 400 yuan, and more than 100 people up and down the family all point to this money, where did the 4,000 yuan come from?

"In addition to your Yulu, there are also some rewards from the imperial court, and Brother Zhongshan and Uncle Qian, Uncle Ji and Uncle Fan also gave some." Yue'er said, "General Sun Huan sent the most...... As you said, Uncle Lu and their civil officials don't accept gifts, but they can accept gifts from Brother Zhongshan. ”

Shang Cheng nodded blankly. Yes, that's what he said. Isn't there an old saying, "Civil officials don't love money, and military generals are not afraid of death", you can't have both fish and bear's paws, you have to leave people with some hope, not to mention the work of carrying your head and selling your life, which has to make people worry about the future...... But the problem is that saving 4,000 in less than a year is too much. That's 4,000 guan, even if you take down all the Liu Ji warehouses, it probably won't cost so much money...... Wait!

He immediately realized the crux of the problem, stared at Yue'er and asked, "You put Liu Ji down?" ”

Yue'er nodded for a long time. She immediately defended herself, saying, "It's not all ours. Aunt Seventeen also accounted for two or five percent, and Mr. Jiang had half of ......"

Shang Cheng didn't want to listen to Jiang Jun's purchase of shares with Rendan's formula, he cared about one now, is Liu Ji Liu Ji now?

"It's ours, not mine." Yue'er said. But she immediately added, "However, my name is written on the deed...... although this is not in accordance with the rules, but who in Yanzhou City does not know that she is the sister of the Admiral?" Therefore, things that do not conform to the rules are not worth mentioning at all, and when necessary, the officials of the Yanzhou government also know how to "be flexible".

Shang Chengqiang suppressed the sudden anger in his heart and said, "You go and withdraw the shares." ”

Yue'er was silent.

"Are you going?!"

"Don't go!" Yue'er said stubbornly. She also has her ideas. For Liu Ji, she not only invested more than 4,000 yuan of money, but also worked with Pan'er to revitalize the business. Besides, Shang Cheng's name was not filled in on the contract, who knew that Liu Ji was behind Admiral Yanshan's business?

Such a Liu Ji is not surnamed Shang, what else can he have a surname?!

Shang Cheng could no longer press the anger in his heart, and smashed his fist on the table. He didn't care about the mess on the table, and he didn't care about the neatly packed official documents flying all over the ground, he stood up and pointed out the room and said sharply: "What do I usually tell you?" Say! How do I usually tell you? You go and give me back the shares one by one! ”

It was the first time for Pan'er to see him lose his temper so much, and she was so frightened that she took two steps back. Rouge was even more bluffed into standing unsteadily, leaning against the wall and shaking into a ball.

Yue'er probably didn't expect him to get angry suddenly, so she first retreated, then immediately stood firm again, and muttered with a pale little face: "...... I'm not a businessman. ”

The fluttering words made Shang Cheng, who was in anger, stammer. He stared at Yue'er as if he had been thundered, as if he had never known her, and he didn't say a word for a long time......

The final result of this matter was that Yue'er made a compromise. Within a few days after the winter solstice, she transferred seventy percent of the shares of Liu Ji Warehouse under her name to Gao Xiaosan. In fact, everyone knows that this is just a nominal "transfer" of shares carried out by Yue'er in order to alleviate the contradiction between her and Shang Cheng, covering her ears and stealing the bell, Liu Ji is still a warehouse with a strong official and business color. But no matter what, it finally broke off its relationship with her and Shang Cheng in name......