The old lady Gu heard that it was Gu San's sister who was so angry that she was afraid that her son Ma Cheng would be seduced by the maid ring at a young age, so she sent Gu San to be Ma Cheng's long-term follower, and at the same time, there was no maid ring in Ma Cheng's house to serve her life, so she knew that she was still exploited and let Gu San's sister take the lead.

The Gu family also has a headache now, if it is an ordinary maidservant, it will be over if she is killed directly, but Gu Qing's daughter will not be able to do it. Although Gu San has no status, Gu San's dead ghost father Gu Qing saved Gu's Laozi back then, and this favor is not over after it is finished.

Gu Shi thought for a while and said, "Come on, give Gu Xiying thirty taels of silver, and let him go home and find someone to marry!" ”

Gu's saying this is already very benevolent and righteous, but Ma Cheng is gone, what Ma Cheng wants is to ask Gu Xiying for a background, and now the old lady Gu wants to drive Gu Xiying away, naturally it can't.

"Mother, my son has already married my little sister, how can she marry when she goes home?" Ma Cheng still has to defend Gu Xiying, but the old lady Gu has already made up her mind to drive Gu Xiying away, and Gu doesn't want her son to get any concubine before her niece comes.

"Alright, Cheng'er! In the past few days, you have become more and more undisciplined, and when your father comes back as a mother, you will definitely let your father beat you on the board! ”

Ma Cheng heard the old lady say this and knew that it was no longer possible to be reasonable, Ma Cheng covered the wound on his head and shouted: "Mother, I have a headache!" I'm going to die! Without my little sister, I'm going to die! After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he stood up and was about to make a gesture and hit his head against the corner of the table.

Ma Cheng is the meat of Gu's heart, but today Gu will definitely not let Ma Cheng do it, Gu didn't care about Ma Cheng who wanted to die or live, but signaled Yahuan to take the silver and hand it to Gu Xiying.

Ma Cheng saw that this didn't work, and directly lay on the ground to play the scoundrel, Ma Cheng shouted while rolling on the ground: "Mother, if you don't agree to give your son a concubine, your son won't marry your cousin!" ”

Ma Cheng saw that the old lady was still indifferent, knowing that it would not work if he didn't play a little ruthlessly, Ma Cheng directly picked up a porcelain teapot on the table and shouted to the old lady: "Mother, if you don't agree to your son, you will break your yang * root, and your son will not want children in the future!" ”

Ma Cheng frightened the old lady Gu now, wouldn't it be impossible to have a good son? Gu Shi shouted angrily: "Ma Cheng, are you going to be angry to death?" ”

"I don't care, I just want to take care of my little sister, or I will be beaten with chickens and eggs, and my son will become a monk!" After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he was about to raise the teapot and attack his crotch, Gu Shi hurriedly said: "Stop, son, promise you for your mother, isn't it just a concubine!" Put the teapot down! ”

Ma Cheng is actually scaring the old lady, interrupting the root of right and wrong This kind of stupid thing Ma Cheng will not do, the Ming Dynasty is so big, there are so many beauties, and there are still Qin Huai Bayan in Nanjing waiting to be developed by himself, how can Ma Cheng cut off his weapons?

Gu Shi watched Ma Cheng put down the teapot and let out a long breath, and then said to Gu Xiying, who was kneeling on the ground: "Hmph, I really don't know what is good about you, my son is fascinated, since Cheng'er likes you so much, come in through the back door tonight!" ”

In the Ming Dynasty, the traditional wife had to enter through the main gate, while the concubine had a low status, and the marriage could only be done at night, and she had to go through the back door. However, Gu Xiying heard the old lady's promise, and quickly kowtowed happily: "The slave thanked the old lady!" "Now although Gu Xiying has become Ma Cheng's concubine, she is not qualified to call Gu her mother, and only a wife can call her mother-in-law her mother.

What can I do if my son likes it? Gu Shichang sighed and thought: Cheng'er is eighteen years old, it is indeed a little wrong for him to restrict him, if Cheng'er has an accident with those fireworks girls outside, it is not his niece who will be embarrassed in the end?

Gu Shi thought of this and felt that Gu Xiying was not bad, at least he was a member of his own Gu family, and as a house slave, he would naturally not compete with Miss Gu for favor in the future, Gu Shi was relieved after thinking about it.

"Cheng'er, get up! How long do you have to pretend! ”

Ma Cheng, who succeeded in his treacherous scheme, heard what the old lady said and quickly got up from the ground, sat down next to the old lady again, took the old lady's hand and said, "It's still the mother who understands her son!" ”

"Okay, someone will give Gu Xiying a hundred taels of silver, and fifty taels will be handed over to Gu San, which can be regarded as a dowry! The rest bought some jewelry for Gu Xiying, although she was a concubine, but after all, she was the concubine of my Ma family, and she couldn't lose her identity! ”

Gu Xiying's family's annual expenses are about fifty taels, and now the old lady gives it one hundred taels, Gu Xiying hurriedly kowtowed and thanked the old lady for the reward.

The problem of identity is solved, and the rest is easy to do, the old lady Gu left Gu Xiying in the back house, preparing for tonight's wedding, and at the same time teaching Gu Xiying the duty of being a concubine.

Ma Cheng went out of the backyard and returned to his small yard.

Gu Changwei in the courtyard was already waiting for him, and when he saw Ma Cheng coming back, he hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Second master, where is the villain's sister?" ”

"Oh, my mother agreed, now the little sister is at my mother's place, and I can only come back tonight, even if the second master is a concubine!"

Hearing this news, Gu Changwei breathed a sigh of relief, so that he finally got in touch with the Ma family.

Gu Changwei hurriedly arched his hand and said, "Congratulations to the second master!" ”

Ma Cheng laughed and said: "Rejoice and rejoice, starting today, Gu San, you are officially the second master's eldest brother!" ”

Ma Cheng said this, Gu Changwei didn't dare to take it, just accompanied Ma Cheng and smirked.

"By the way, when I was leaving just now, I said that I had an important job entrusted to you, and it happens that it's okay now, so I'll talk to you!"

As soon as Gu Changwei heard that he had something to do, he hurriedly bowed down and prepared to listen.

Ma Cheng looked at the courtyard, there was a stone pier in the corner, probably used by Gu Changwei to practice martial arts, Ma Cheng stepped forward and sat down on the stone pier, and then asked, "Gu San, do you know the process of selling smuggled salt now?" ”

Gu Changwei didn't know what the process meant, but when he heard that Ma Cheng meant to prepare to sell illicit salt, Gu Changwei smiled and said, "Second master, if the villain doesn't know, probably no one in this Fengyang City will know anymore!" Yungui is located inland, which was originally a salt-deficient province, and the official salt was too expensive, so natural private salt was popular. The entire private salt business of Yungui is operated by our family, and the second master really asked the right person this time! ”

Ma Cheng listened to Gu Changwei say this, and he couldn't breathe a sigh of relief, originally Ma Cheng wanted to develop armed trafficking in illicit salt, but he didn't expect that the biggest smuggling salt dealer in Yungui was his own family. However, Ma Cheng was right when he thought about it, his own Lao Tzu was the governor of Fengyang, managing a large area of land in the Huai River Valley. Several major salt farms in the Ming Dynasty were in the Huai River Valley, Ma Shiying had the right in his hands, and his uncle Gu Congxin had an army, so he naturally wanted to monopolize the lucrative industry of private salt.

The officials who managed the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty were called Lianghuai Salt Transporters, which was a fart fat difference in the crotch of the oil. However, the two Huai salt envoys have a lot of power in their hands, but their official positions are not high, and they are only six grades of imperial history. In the early Ming Dynasty, there was no governor of Caoyun, and it was the governor of Fengyang who was responsible for managing Caoyun. Although the two Huai salt envoys are directly under the jurisdiction of the central government, they still have to give face to the governor of Fengyang in the border of the two Huai regions, after all, the head snake is not aggressive.

After Fengyang was burned by Li Chuang in the eighth year of Chongzhen, the emperor felt that the power of the governor of Fengyang was still too small, so he divided the position of governor of Fengyang into two, and the military and civil affairs part was managed by the governor of Fengyang, and the part of Caoyun was managed by a full-time governor of Caoyun. Now the governor of Fengyang is Ma Shiying, and the governor of Caoyun is another famous minister, Lu Zhenfei.

Ma Cheng heard Gu Changwei say this, only then did he know that his family was a big private salt dealer, thinking that he was going to grab business with his own family, Ma Cheng smiled bitterly and shook his head to dispel this thought.

However, what made Ma Cheng curious was that the money from selling smuggled salt was very good, why did his family not look like a rich man at all.

Ma Cheng asked his question, Gu Changwei smiled bitterly: "Second master, of course you make money by selling smuggled salt, but you have to distribute it there, in the past, when the north was peaceful, Shaanxi and Shanxi were good places, but now the north is erosive, and the trade route has long been cut off, even if someone dares to go, a large number of guards must be hired, and the cost will naturally outweigh the loss." ”

"As for Nanzhili here, not to mention that the private salt in this place has long been controlled by the major families, that is, Nanzhili is close to the sea, and the price of official salt is already about the same as that of private salt, and if it is not trafficked in large quantities, it is not profitable at all. So the only thing that is still somewhat profitable now is Yungui and other places. However, Yungui is located inland, blocked by mountains and rivers, the labor cost is too high, and the salt transportation envoys of various provinces along the way have to be counted, and the profit earned is minimal! ”

Ma Cheng was right to hear Gu Changwei say this, after all, the illegal thing of illegal salt, even if he relied on Ma Shiying and Gu Congxin's forces, it was not too blatant. Ma Cheng was very distressed when he saw that the smuggled salt had no future, how could he organize and train the new army without money, did he have to wait until his father became the first assistant and use the state machine to train the new army?

Gu Changwei looked at Ma Cheng's sad face, knowing that this second master had encountered something difficult, Gu Changwei asked cautiously: "Second master, is there anything difficult to do?" ”

Ma Cheng nodded: "Yes, Gu San, now you are no longer an outsider." I ask you, what do you say is the fastest way to get money? ”

This question stopped Gu Changwei, he really hadn't thought about what the money was quick about.

Gu Changwei thought for a while and said, "If the second master is short of money, he can ask the old lady for it, there is no problem with one thousand eight hundred taels!" ”

One thousand eight hundred taels is used for a fart, and the money Ma Cheng wants is not one thousand eight hundred taels, but millions of taels of silver. However, Ma Cheng didn't tell Gu Changwei, and he didn't understand it.

Ma Cheng sat on the stone pier and pondered, what else is small in size, easy to produce, and high in value? This kind of thing needs to be completely produced by the technology of the Ming Dynasty, and there must be a market to sell it. Ma Cheng thought about it, only the heroin of later generations had this property.

Regardless of whether this thing can be produced in the Ming Dynasty or not, even if Ma Cheng can make it, he is not ready to produce it, this kind of thing is too harmful.

Ma Cheng thought about it, what do you need in daily life? Seven things to open the door, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, needless to say, firewood and rice are all over the street. Oil, sauce, and vinegar have been basically formed in the Ming Dynasty, and they are no different from later generations. The salt is gone, and it seems that only tea leaves remain.