Dai Qian was wearing a crab blue satin fox leather jacket, a horse-faced skirt of the same color, a high ingot collar and the tip of the nose, and a long jacket with a knee-high swing line. She was in the diner, looking at the osmium silk incandescent bulbs, examining the round-bellied glasses one by one. Sure enough, she found that there were a few of them, and there was still some fog on the walls of the cups.

"What's going on, Uncle Zhong?" She smiled and asked a steward in a moon-white robe standing next to her, her meticulous eyes, but she was firmly staring at the light, and a stain the size of a grain of rice on the wall of the cup made Ah Zhongbo, who was over half a hundred years old, feel uncomfortable with thorns on his back.

"I've taken care of them, and I'm going to wipe them all with sand." He whispered tremblingly.

"It's not your fault, you're old, and your vision is naturally not very good, and you haven't found out, and it's also in the past."

When Ah Zhongbo heard these words, he bent his waist even lower.

"Fortunately, no guests have been here in the past two weeks, otherwise it would have been so ugly for the guests to see it? It's as if there is no hostess in our Li family, and even a few wine glasses can't be served. Saying that, Daisy pointed to the dozens of cups that had been checked in front of her and said, "I have to be sorry for them, Uncle Zhong, please ask them to wash all these cups again, wash them and wipe them clean before sending them to me." Don't be so-so anymore, it's okay to say this kind of thing once, and if you want me to say it a second time, everyone will be uncomfortable. ”

Ah Zhongbo only nodded his head, and hurriedly instructed several maids to put the cups into silver trays and send them to the door. The dishwashers in the kitchen were now waiting at the door to hear their leave, and after teaching them a few words, Ah Zhongbo told them to quickly take the tray and go back to the kitchen to wash it again.

When Uncle Ah Zhongbo returned to Daisy's side after being busy, he saw that she had already asked someone to turn out all the plates, dishes, knives and forks, and was checking them all the way. He could only say bitterness in his heart, and continued to bend over to serve this little aunt and grandmother.

Daisy thoroughly checked the tableware in the dining room, and waited until all the reworked and rewashed ones were sent back to inspect again, and then she showed a satisfied look. At this time, ten o'clock had already struck, and the grandmother Ah Song, who was waiting next to her, was so anxious that she jumped to her feet and said, "Miss, it's ten o'clock, if you don't go to say hello to the master, I'm afraid that the master will fall asleep after a break." ”

"Got it, Ah Song, don't rush anymore, I know it in my heart. There has to be a settlement here before we can go to Abba's. Daisy's face, which had just been relaxed, stinked again.

She looked at the candlesticks, the vases of flower arrangements, the suede of chairs, and the paintings hanging on the walls, and finally couldn't find anything wrong, so Shi Shiran left the dining room.

The Daisy family's house was purchased by an English merchant and was built in the English style. What is special is that it has a medieval castle-like twin tower design at both ends, the tower is three stories high, and the top of the tower is made of iron sheets. Between the two towers is a two-story brick and timber building made of red brick, with a continuous eight-span arcade with square columns on the ground floor and round columns on the second floor, and a castle-like pheasant moat on the roof.

The staircase of the house was set in octagonal towers on either side, and Daisy made her way up the staircase to the east, the heavy key hanging from her waist making a crisp metallic sound as she walked, reminding her of the housemaster's owl at school. Every day when the lights go out, there is always a heavy sound of the key outside the door, and then you will hear a sharp urging to turn off the lights, that is, the owl of the housekeeper has come to check the night. The reason why the girls called Mr. Warden an owl was not only because of her resemblance - a pair of round, short-sighted lenses on her round, fleshy black skin; is also because her living habits are also like owls - she can't be seen during the day, but when the lights are on, she comes out with that deep myopia film, busy and responsible.

The keys pinned to her waist sounded similar to the owl's, like a coppersmith's burden, and she walked and chattered. However, whenever she heard this voice, she always felt an indescribable pleasure, although she was only a girl, but because there was such a heavy chirp around her waist, the servants all saw her obediently. The keys symbolize the mistress of the mansion, proving her mother's dependence on her and her father's affection.

But this simple happiness had long since disappeared into the bloody mud in front of the old dock on that afternoon two weeks ago. She felt that she could no longer be the innocent and carefree little girl she used to be in front of her father.

Daisy hadn't seen her father for two weeks, and for a boarder like her, who only came home once in two weeks, it was easy to do that by surviving Sunday night and Monday morning. However, today she felt that she had to meet her father, after all, she could not never see his father, so she had to force herself to adapt as soon as possible. It's just that although she made up her mind, she still couldn't muster up the courage, so she made people wrong everywhere and found people's shortcomings.

As soon as she came to the door of her mother's room, her mother's personal servant, Atsui, greeted her and said, "Miss, Mrs. is worshipping Buddha!" ”

Although Daisy's mother was of mixed race, she was a devout Buddhist, and she was so soft that she couldn't do anything. Before Daisy started to manage the housework, Daisy's father took care of the affairs of the house.

"Where's Abba? Not here? Daisy frowned and looked to the west, where one of her father's concubines and her two younger sisters lived in the west tower.

"The master just came to rest, and then the second master sent someone to invite, saying that he was waiting in the big study, and he had something to discuss, so the master passed."

"Miss, let's wait for the Ming Dynasty to come back in the morning to say goodbye, it's already past ten o'clock, and if you don't rest, the spirit of the Ming Dynasty will be bad."

Ah Song, who was in a hurry just now, is now retreating.

Daisy glared at her, and the courage she had so hard mustered up was about to dissipate again after a night.

She turned around and walked in front first, so Ah Song could only follow.

The so-called big study is an independent small building next to the gate, which is easy to enter and exit, and Daisy's father usually works here. There was no corridor between the two houses, and they walked out along the ashlar lane.

Today is the eighth day of March in the solar calendar, the fourth day of the ninth month, the "stunning" solar term, even at night, the weather is not very cold. Daisy took a big breath of fresh air, and her mood gradually opened up.

Her family's mansion covers an area of ten acres, and the distance from the main building to the gate is only fifty meters, and it is there in an instant.

There was her father's personal servant Ah Gui guarding the door with a few people, and when he saw her coming, he quickly stood up and said, "Miss, why are you here?" ”

"Uncle, I'll come and see Abba, and I'll be out right away. Is there anyone else in it besides Abba and Second Uncle? ”

"It's gone, the old man and the second master are talking about things."

"Then I'll just go in, you don't have to follow." After that, Daisy walked in with Ah Song, and Ah Gui didn't follow after thinking about it.

Passing through the living room and a small reception room is the study, Dai Qian told Ah Song to wait in the small reception room, and walked to the door of the study and was about to knock on the door, only to hear the voice of the uncle inside:

"Our own master has been trying it for more than two months, and no matter how much we try, we can't make that taste. The cost is not old or young, I wonder if I can stop for a while. ”

"You people! It's just that I'm afraid of spending copper and silver, and we can still afford to spend this bit of silver. ”

"Brother, let's be honest, I've already let them try it with the best gongban soil, and they can't taste as good as it. There's no point in trying it any longer, it's just a waste of copper. ”

"Hey!" Daisy's father's voice paused for a moment, as if he was really angry. Daisy hesitated, and the door didn't knock.

"It seems that it is really cheap for him to plant lotus flowers surnamed Liao, for a small profit of a few hundred yuan, such a good business is lost." Daisy's father's voice rang out again, "How about that Huang Ah Liu?" After so many days, you haven't found him yet? ”

"His hometown is in the mountains of Zhejiang, and our people are not familiar with the place in the past, and they have no direction at all. I've asked someone to see if I can find a friend I know to help. ”

"Is there any progress on those little dirt walkers?"

"No, I also know that this matter is important, I have sent more people to those small local shops, but since the incident, the foreigner has not appeared. But—"

"How?"

"Do you remember? As I mentioned to you last time, the goods sold by those little dirt shops were sent to a small yard across from the pig slaughterhouse. ”

"Remember, it's that little workshop, isn't it? Didn't you go to see people go to the empty building last time? Is there something going on there? ”

"Yesterday we heard about a man who was pushing a wheelbarrow, and he said that two months ago—I calculated that it was probably a week after the incident—there was a foreigner who took a carriage and brought two Indian assan, hired his car to the little workshop, moved some things, and then left."

"Tsk, isn't that the work with your front and back feet, I remember that you are the little workshop that I found a week after the incident."

"Yes, it's not a coincidence. But what I want to talk about is that this foreigner has a carriage and follows the Indian Ah San, will it not be so simple? We used to think he was a poor man, but now it seems a little different than we thought. ”

"Can't the carriage and Ah San be hired temporarily?"

"I'm talking about just in case, after all, it's a foreigner, and if something happens, it's going to be troublesome."

"What's going to happen? We just ask him to sell us the prescription, pay the money with one hand and deliver the fair trade with the other, what will happen? ”

"Brother, I don't want to hear your words, if we are above board, why don't we just go to the patrol room and say that we have to go to the door to apologize, and the patrol room will always know his address. Why do we need to sneak around? ”

"I know what you mean, don't worry, I'm measured, and I won't hurt his life. Honestly, what's the use of the recipe in his hands? Without us, who would he make goods to sell to? Only when the recipe is in our hands can it really come in handy. At that time, as long as he doesn't treat him badly on Tongdian, the big misunderstanding can be explained. ”

Daisy's uncle fell silent, and her father continued:

"You have to think about it, this is not one or two cents of profit, but seven times or eight times the profit, as long as you use one-tenth of the price, you can make better goods than the public class, this kind of business is worth fighting."

"After so many years, I can understand this business, our Guangrong Forest, no matter how hard we do it, this is what it looks like. Now that the opportunity is in front of us, it would be a shame not to seize it. ”

"Brother, I know, I will do this with my heart."

"Okay, just waiting for your words. I see that Huang Aliu should be grasped here, and it is really not possible to hang a bonus and go out, so I will say that we will offer a reward of 1,000 taels to catch this Huang Aliu. ”

Daisy left the study a little dejected, the incident at the old dock last time was shocking enough, this time she was going to provoke foreigners again, are foreigners so easy to get along with?

When she walked outside, she said to Ah Gui: "Abba and the second uncle were talking about serious matters, so I didn't go in." Wait for Abba to come out of Chenguang, you tell him, I'll go back and rest. ”