On the fourth day of the eighth month of the forty-fifth year of Kangxi, Cao Yin and his wife went north with their daughter. The Li family sent their daughter Cao Yan to Beijing as a candidate, but Cao Yin returned to his hometown of Fengrun (now in Hebei) to sweep his father's grave, and by the way, he took care of the old lady's tomb. Lao Taijun is seventy-three years old this year, and she is very old, and she is particularly concerned about her future. Thinking that it had been more than 20 years since her husband died, it was not good to alarm the people underground, so the old lady sent a message that after a hundred years, she would not be buried with her husband, but would open another grave next to her husband's grave. Cao Yin went north in advance to arrange this matter.

Before leaving, Cao Yin entrusted the family affairs to Cao Quan and his wife, and entrusted the affairs of the yamen to Zhuang Chang.

Together with Cao Song, Cao Yan followed Song Fuzi to learn the Four Books and Five Classics. Ordinary children of eunuchs can rely on their ability to test their talents and candidates, or they can choose to obtain the qualification of a supervisor with their father's shade, but they can only participate in the imperial examination in the end and obtain the qualification of Jinshi, which is considered to be a genuine brand, and the career will be smooth. If you are a donor, not only will you be looked down upon, but you will rarely be able to rise to a high level. The Cao family is in the banner, which is different from ordinary eunuchs. Cao Yan heard his parents mention that when he was a child, if he was not unexpected, he would definitely have to go to Beijing for a few years to work as an errand boy, and then he could consider choosing the imperial examination or donating to the official.

Cao Shun, who is more than nine months old, is very healthy, white and fat, and Cao Shun is relieved. His little brother's physical fitness should be good, and I hope God bless him and let him grow up safely.

With his parents gone, Cao Yan had more time to go out of the house, and he almost walked around inside and outside Jiangning. If it weren't for the old lady, he would not be able to leave Cao Yan, and Cao Yan would like to leave Jiangning and go to Taihu Lake. The Zheng brothers and sisters wrote to find the most suitable mother mussel for raising pearls, and have already started breeding, according to this process, there will be enough female mussels next spring, and the first batch of pearls will be harvested in the following winter. In terms of tea, it is not very smooth, except for the tea garden with a certain scale near Longjing in West Lake, Anxi and Taihu Junshan in Fujian are both wild tea trees, no one has cultivated and sorted out, and the yield is unstable, and it will take two or three years to see results.

If there is anything unsatisfactory about Cao Yan, it is Gu Na's side. That kid not only unexpectedly failed the list, but also refused to return to Jiangning, stayed in the capital and said that he would wait for the next exam. The Gu family is in the middle of the road, and the hope of family revival is Gu Na alone, which makes him famous. Zhuang Chang once lamented this, worried that Gu Na had gone astray. Although Cao Yan did not support Gu Na's persistence, he still respected his choice. In his reply, he enclosed a silver ticket for Gu Na's expenses in the capital, and enclosed two pairs of shoes hand-sewn by Gu Nazhi's mother.

Gu Na's mother, Zhou, was in charge of Gu Na that year, and remarried to the coachman Chen Liu, and after getting married, the husband and wife were sent by Cao Yin to Sun Wenqi in the north to work on an errand. After Sun Wenqi became a weaver in Hangzhou, Chen Liu and his wife returned to Jiangnan with the Sun family. Cao Yan took care of Gu Na's face, and after discussing with Cao Yin, he called Chen Liu and his wife back to Jiangning, bought 50 acres of fertile land outside the city for the couple and the couple, and helped them settle down in Jiangning. Zhou gave birth to two more sons at this time, but his concern for the eldest son was not diminished at all, knowing that his son was studying in the capital, he was happy for his son, and he was worried that his life would be taken care of.

Although the affairs of the weaving mansion were nominally taken care of by the Zhaojia family, Cao Yi was actually in charge. Half a year ago, after the Li family recovered, Cao Yan told the Li family about Cao Yi being controlled by his mother-in-law. Li was furious and dealt with the two mothers-in-law fiercely, without leaving any affection. In her heart, in addition to Cao Yi's blood niece, the most important thing is her son's life-saving benefactor. If there is no Cao Yi, maybe his son will be gone. For such a benefactor, he is unwilling to slack off, how can he allow others to practice.

After being reminded by his son, Li realized that Cao Yi was different from Cao Ying and Cao Yan, and thought that she was not the daughter of the Cao family, and always had a little inferiority and self-pity. had the heart to explain the truth, but she was worried that the old lady was old and couldn't stand the stimulation, so she had to continue to hide it. It's just that when she was a standing director, she took Cao Yi with her and taught her how to manage her house and how to deal with her subordinates little by little. Lin Xiazhai gave Cao Yi the silver every month, and the Li family asked people to collect it carefully, and when he got married in the future, in addition to the dowry, plus this money, Cao Yi should be able to live more comfortably.

After half a year, Cao Yi learned well, and said that he could take over the handling of miscellaneous matters, and when he encountered any important matters, he would send someone to report to Zhaojia's family or Lao Taijun for adjudication. Because of Li's previous speech, and Cao Yan's support, everyone in the mansion had nothing to say about Cao Yi taking charge of the inner house. Now, some people may treat Cao Yi as a child, but they are not treating Cao Yi as a child anymore. According to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, men 16 and women 14 can get married. Sixteen and fourteen here refer to imaginary years, not years. Cao Yi is thirteen years old, and according to the law, he can talk about marriage next year. The Cao family is in the banner, and the daughter of the banner man has always been noble, and it is common to follow the elders of the family to learn to manage the family before getting married.

At the beginning of September, Cao Yin sent someone back to deliver a letter, Cao Yan was raised the flag after the election of the show girl, gave the surname Cao Jia, and assigned the marriage to Pingjun Wang Nersu as the concubine Fujin, and the marriage was completed in October, so Cao Yin and his wife stayed in Beijing to do the matter of marrying their daughter. Nersu was born in the 29th year of Kangxi, one year older than Cao Yan, Kangxi inherited the title for 40 years, and now serves as the owner of the red flag and is in charge of the red flag affairs. The Cao family is happy. Although it has long been known that Kangxi will marry Cao Yan to the prince or the clan, the king of Pingjun is the king of iron hats, and he is also the king of Fujin, which can be described as the ultimate favor of the Cao family, who was born in Baoyi.

Cao Yan already knew in his heart, and he was not surprised, if it was according to historical records, Cao Yan gave birth to four or five sons after marrying Nersu, of which the eldest son inherited his father's title.

Cao Yin sent another letter to Cao Yan, asking him to take someone to open the treasury here, and choose gorgeous things from the Li family's dowry to add a dowry to Cao Yan. Because they had to pay off part of the deficit in the past two years, and sent people to buy tea factories in various places, the Cao family was not rich on the books. Cao Yin knew that Cao Yin must have not had enough money for the dowry, so he would make this decision.

Cao Yan checked his small treasury, the dividends of Lin Xiazhai for three years, excluding the expenses distributed to everyone, and then excluding the expenses of the past few years, there are about 170,000 taels. Cao Yan took out 130,000 taels of silver tickets, 100,000 taels in an envelope, and 30,000 taels in an envelope. After loading it, Cao Yan went to Zhuang Chang and asked him to send a reliable person to bring the silver ticket to Cao Yin in Beijing. The 100,000 taels were for his parents to pay for the dowry and wedding, and the 30,000 taels was the gift money for his younger brother to his sister. Cao Yan had already seen that this Zhuang Chang was by no means a simple staff. In Cao Yin's study in the weaving mansion, even Cao Yin's sister-in-law can't come and go at will, but there is no restriction on Zhuang Chang. Over the years, when Cao Yin left Jiangning, the affairs of the weaving mansion yamen were handled by Zhuang Chang, which was a right that ordinary staff members could control. The Cao family is the emperor's eyes and ears in Jiangnan, which is a secret to people in this world, but for Cao Yan hundreds of years later, it is a matter that he already knows. Therefore, he speculated that this Zhuang Chang may be the main force of the monitoring agency, and it is Cao Yin's right and left hand, so he will get such great trust and respect.

130,000 taels is not a small amount in anyone's eyes, and if it is entrusted to others, Cao Yan is really not at ease. As for Zhuang Chang? That is the intuition in the heart plus the trust in Cao Yin's vision of employing people.

At the end of September, Cao Yin's second letter arrived in Jiangning, mentioning that Cao Yan's wedding date had been set for October 26. The old lady was overjoyed when she heard this, and asked someone to open the box, turned out a lot of treasures, and sent the steward to Beijing. That night, the old lady asked her daughter-in-law and son to bring a few grandchildren over, plus Cao Yan and Cao Yi, to form a family banquet, which was lively and lively. The old man was greedy for a while, drank two more glasses of wine, and somehow suffered from the wind at night, and the next time his body began to be unhappy.

Everyone didn't think it was a big deal, anyway, there were two imperial doctors sent by the emperor to serve the old lady in the house, and at first they only said that they had a cold, and it was good to sweat after drinking two medicines. However, after three or five days, the old lady's condition became more and more serious. Cao Quan and Cao Yan wanted to send someone to Beijing to deliver a letter, but they were stopped by the old lady, who only said that they were not in the way and did not want to delay their granddaughter's marriage due to their own reasons. Cao Quan and Cao Yan thought about waiting for two days and seeing the situation.

By mid-October, the old lady seemed to be in good spirits, and everyone was relieved.

On the afternoon of October 18, the old lady drank a bowl of millet porridge and ate a small half plate of mixed fresh bamboo shoots, and seemed to have almost recovered her spirits. The old lady sent someone to call his son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and grandchildren to the bed, including Cao Yi, and even Cao Shun, who was about to turn one year old, also let Liuli bring him.

The old lady's gaze turned around on everyone's faces, and said, "A few days ago, I was lying on the bed, dazed, and always felt that there was something important to do. After thinking about these two things clearly, I will ask you to come over and explain what happened after death! ”

Cao Yan listened to the old lady's ominous words, and felt uncomfortable. Cao Quan and Zhao Jia's couple even said in unison: "The old lady is destined to live a hundred years old, and now he is in good health, so it is too early to say this." ”

The old lady smiled and said, "It's just an explanation, An An's heart of my old woman, and also your heart!" ”

Cao Yan's eyes were already red, and he lowered his head, unwilling to let people see his gaffe. Whether it is the doting in Xiao Cao's memory, or the endless pampering after his possession, in front of Cao Yan, the old lady gave him all the care and love that a grandmother can give. The panic of coming to another world at the beginning of that year was calmed down by the doting of the old lady.

"The ornaments and clothes of mine shall be divided equally between my two daughters-in-law, whether they are for others or for your own use, they are all yours; The antique calligraphy and painting toys were divided equally between the two sons. Saying that, he looked at Cao Quan: "In the past two years, your brother has sold the things in the house without telling me, it must be to repay the deficit of the previous drives, right?" ”

After sighing, the old lady said again: "Although it is the dignity of our Cao family, it is too expensive, and you two brothers are not good at management." I have here a hundred and forty thousand taels of silver, twenty-three thousand taels of silver, and five thousand taels of gold. The silver ticket left 30,000 taels, and the remaining 110,000 plus the gold will be returned to the kilometer, so that your brother can pay off the deficit of our Cao family. The law of the country is ruthless, although the long live lord treats our Cao family seriously, but we should act more cautiously to live up to the emperor's grace. The 30,000 taels of silver tickets left behind, the unmarried grandchildren in front of them, except for the children, each of them shared 5,000 taels as the wedding capital. The twenty-three thousand taels of silver shall be divided into three thousand as dowries for these girls in my courtyard. A few pearls and amethysts, five hundred taels per person, and eight second-class ones, one hundred taels per person. And the rest was divided among the remaining two hundred taels. It's a little bit of my wife's heart, and I don't ask them to wait for me in vain. The 20,000 taels, in addition to taking care of my funeral, the rest will be used as the capital for Fuling to go north. ”

There was silence in the room, except for two occasional slightly muffled sobs.

The old lady had almost arranged it, and then said to Cao Yan: "You made Lin Xia Zhai at the age of ten, and you earned thousands of taels of silver a month, so your grandmother didn't leave any silver for you." When you grow up, you want to go to Beijing as an errand according to the rules, when I married into the Cao family, I married a Zhuangzi in Changping, although there is not much land, but it is a thought of mine, now I will leave the Zhuangzi to you, and you can help your grandmother take care of it after you arrive in the capital. These girls in my yard are also entrusted to you, and if you are willing to go home, you can arrange to leave the country; If you are willing to marry, you will help prepare the dowry; If you are willing to stay in the house, you will arrange proper errands. ”

"Yes, grandmother, grandson!" Cao Yan knelt down in front of the old lady's bed, bowed his head and answered.

On October 28, the forty-fifth year of Kangxi, Cao Yan, who had become a wife, and her husband Junping returned to the old house of the Cao family in the capital to complete the ceremony of "returning to the door". After sending off his daughter and son-in-law, Cao Yin received a letter sent by the post station Baili urgently: Before October 20, the old lady died.

Cao Yin was stunned, and the page of the family letter slipped from his hand and slowly fell to the ground.

At this time, thousands of miles away in Jiangning, Cao Yan, who was dressed in filial piety, knelt in front of the mourning hall, his face was like sinking water, and he didn't know what he was thinking.