West of the city, Cao Mansion, hall.

Cao Hao knelt down to listen to the decree, only to listen to the holy decree in the praise of Cao Yin "old and serious, cautious and generous, hard to transfer, careful scriptures and paintings", took over Jiangning weaving for more than ten years "from nonsense and delay", and said that "this year's teeth have been long, and the energy has not declined, long-term diligence, good can be good", so on the occasion of the arrival of the Holy Birthday (the birthday of the Queen Mother), he was crowned as a second-class uncle. Then, he praised Cao Yin's son Cao Hao for "being talented, good at riding and shooting, proficient in literature and art, and fulfilling his duties", and rewarded a grange.

Cao Hao was confused when he heard this, this second-class uncle was the original second-class son of Cao Yin, but he was promoted to three levels in a row; Rewarding Zhuangzi by name is even more inexplicable. Could it be that the rumors about Cao Yin's "corruption" have reached Kangxi's ears, and the old man has begun to give grace again because of guilt?

No matter what he was thinking in his heart, Cao Hao still thanked him for the decree first, got up and put his hands on the incense table, and then invited Wei Zhu to sit down and gossip.

Wei Zhu said with a smile: "It's the Zhuangzi allocated by the Internal Affairs Office, I heard that there are eighty hectares, and the Long Live Lord called the accountant to do it at noon, presumably someone will go to the mansion to deliver it in the past two days, and the mansion still prepares manpower in advance." ”

"Thank you father-in-law for the reminder!" Cao Hao opened his mouth to thank him, and said as if unintentionally: "Our Cao family is grateful for the kindness of the Empress Dowager's old man, presumably other families in the capital are also bathed in the grace of heaven these days?" ”

Wei Zhu disagreed: "It's just a matter of borrowing the head, looking at the meaning of the Long Live Lord, I'm afraid that I have already prepared to reward it in my heart." ”

Cao Hao heard this, and muttered in his heart, could it be that the little sixteen outside the Saiwai made a fuss about buying land with money, which made the old man Kangxi unbearable, so he allocated it to the grange for himself?

Wei Zhu had to go back to the palace to reinstate, and after eating half a cup of tea, he got up to say goodbye. The big housekeeper offered the hard money, Wei Zhu took it with a smile, and the weight was not light, with a little joy in his heart, it seems that he didn't make the wrong person, this little Cao guard is indeed interesting enough.

*

After sending Wei Zhu away, Cao Hao returned to the hall, saw that Zhuang Xi and Amethyst had come out, knowing that the two were worried, he smiled and pointed to the holy decree: "It's not a bad thing, it's a big grace!" ”

Zhuang Xi touched his beard and nodded with a smile: "It seems that Long Live Lord is expressing his position, and showing favor to the Cao family right now can be regarded as a warning to those who are ready to move!" ”

Amethyst was also full of joy, but she was a little embarrassed: "I knew that the lord was going to be promoted to earl, our mansion shouldn't have let people out in the first place, and now there should be not enough manpower!" ”

Cao Zhong next to him nodded: "Yes, uncle, the plaques in our house must be newly made, and the population is afraid that we will have to add some at our discretion!" ”

Cao Hao listened and waved his hand hurriedly: "Don't add more population, why bother talking about that pomp, after all, my father doesn't live in Beijing, so I can get by on the façade." At present, there are a lot of seventy mouths! ”

Cao Zhong thought that although the house did not need to be expanded, but the plaque was changed, the gate was repainted, and two larger stone lions were customized, these were the minimum and went down to find the account room planning.

It is a great joy for Cao Mansion to be knighted and rewarded with land, and Amethyst went to Cao Zhong's family to prepare a reward for the people inside and outside. It is always necessary to make everyone happy, so that they will be more loyal to the Cao family.

*

In the hall, only Cao Hao and Zhuang Xi were left.

Cao Hao was thinking about the land under his name in his mind, the ten hectares of Zhuangzi left by his grandmother, the fifteen hectares sent by the concubine and the fifteenth elder brother, plus the eighty hectares given by Kangxi today, a total of one hundred and five hectares, ten thousand and five hundred acres. Accidentally, he became a big landlord again. If you add the dozens of hectares of barren mountains that He Maocai, the steward of Changping, bought privately, the land under Cao Hao's name exceeds 15,000 mu, which has exceeded the 12,000 mu left to him by the old Taijun of the Sun family at the earliest. In the past six months, because of tossing these lands, tens of thousands of taels of silver have come out, and part of the Cao family's deficit has been repaid.

Cao Hao has never been a farmer, and he has no specific concept of 15,000 acres of land, but he still can't help but be a little excited. If you don't get involved in politics, be a big landlord, and live a leisurely life. However, thinking about the social reality, I feel that that kind of thinking is too unrealistic, and if there is no corresponding social status, I may not be able to keep it if I own so much land. Maybe somewhere, the powerful will be worried about your little land and find a reason to annex it. However, he still told himself that even if he was a landlord, he could not be a landlord who was too dark, and although he would not risk any arguments that everyone was equal, he still wanted a better life for the tenants without being conspicuous. It can't be like the kind of landlord on TV, holding a dry tobacco pouch and sticking a plaster on his face, forcing those tenants to sell their sons and daughters, and saying in a weird way: "The landlord's family has no surplus grain!" "Well, that's a bit too far to go.

Mr. Zhuang Xi seems to have thought more about this holy decree. After hesitating for a moment, he said to Cao Hao: "It seems that your temper of not being arrogant or impetuous, gentle and filial, is indeed right for the appetite of the person above!" ”

Cao Hao woke up from his landlord's dream and looked at Zhuang Xi puzzled: "What do you say, sir?" ”

Zhuang Xi looked at the direction of the holy decree: "Hao'er, that Zhuangzi is pointing out the reward for you!" ”

Cao Hao nodded: "Well, this, probably because everyone knows that I sold Changping's land!" But isn't it the same as rewarding me to the Cao family? ”

Zhuang Xi shook his head: "Hao'er, if it is rewarded to the Cao family, it is the public property of the entire family; If it is given to you as your private property, how can it be the same? ”

"Private property?" Cao Hao smiled: "How could Mr. think of these, public and private property, aren't they all used by the family?" ”

Zhuang Xi glanced at Cao Hao with a little meaning: "Hao'er, you don't value foreign wealth, this is a good thing, but sometimes you should think about it more!" The Cao family has two rooms, even if it is a long house, you are not the only son! You were in the temple a few years ago, and you went to Beijing again this year, and it's been a long time......"

Cao Hao smiled helplessly, although he has not been at home in the past few years, the news from Jiangning's side is also known through various channels. has long heard of his father's pampering of his young son, does he still bother to compete with his younger brother for favor? Mother Li was also reluctant to go back after arriving in the capital for this reason.

Fortunately, the Cao family is not the family of the prince, otherwise there will be a farce of the heirs, I heard that Aunt Liuli over there has been in the limelight in the mansion for a while, except that she does not dare to be presumptuous in front of the Li family, she is very domineering in front of others.

Cao Hao does not complain about Cao Yin, Cao Yin is in his fifties, and ordinary people are at the age of "teasing their grandchildren". Cao Shun is an old man who only got him when he was nearly fifty years old, so naturally he will not be so harsh on his eldest son.

Cao Hao is the eldest son and grandson of the Cao family, and the half-brother of the county king Fujin, and the position of the heir of the family is undoubted. No one would question that, not even Mr. Zhuang Xi thought so. It's just that at this time, there is also the saying of family separation, according to the clan system established by folk conventions, when the family is divided, there is no division of concubines, and property is divided equally, except for the dowry of female dependents. For example, if the Cao family is separated, the dowry of the Li family and the Zhaojia family will not be counted; If Cao Yin's house is divided, the Li family's dowry will be left to his biological children, and the other family property will be divided equally between Cao Hao and Cao Shun.

Mr. Zhuang Xi's words of separation came out, and Cao Hao was dumbfounded. The Cao family still has such a big hole to be filled, where can they think of splitting up? Besides, the Cao family has been in deficit since the forty-fourth year of Kangxi, where is the current family background? Except for the mansions in the capital and Jiangning, I am afraid that there is nothing of value. After all, Jiangning's mansion is an official mansion, and if the Cao family does not allow it to be weaved, it will naturally be taken back by the Internal Affairs Office.

Thinking of this, Cao Hao felt very bored, he bothered to plan for the Cao family's deficit, and when he arrived in the capital, he pretended to be a grandson, and he fulfilled his obligation to be a child at this point. If this is the case, Cao Yin still thinks about calculating the eldest son and favoring the younger son, then he is only speechless for this father. Even if it's menopause, it's not confusing, right? Wouldn't he, the elder brother, take care of his younger brother? However, even if Cao Yin wants to leave all the family wealth to his younger son, how much is it?

Cao Hao leaned back in the chair, feeling that it was not bad to be a big landlord, and he felt a lot more at ease. If Cao Yin is still blindly spoiling Liuli's mother and son, should he bring his mother to the capital? Unconsciously, Cao Hao had this idea in his heart.