On March 16, the 48th year of Kangxi, after nearly half a month's journey, the cargo ship loaded with the first batch of spring tributes from Jiangning Weaving arrived at the Changxindian Wharf in the southwest of Beijing. Arrived at the same time, as well as Jiangning weaving Cao Yin's eldest son Cao Yan.

The one who went to the wharf to accept this batch of tribute was the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was a Zhenghuangqi coat, and when he was young, he was a subordinate of Cao Yan's grandfather, and he had a good relationship with the Cao family. In fact, for an errand like this to accept tribute, he doesn't need to be in person with him, just because he has already received the news and knows that the son of the Cao family has entered Beijing, so he specially rushed over.

The Cao family's house in the capital was originally taken care of by the old housekeeper Cao Wu. This Cao Wu was a personal soldier of Cao Wu's great-grandfather, and later became a housekeeper after retiring from the battlefield. When Cao Xi went to Jiangnan to take up his post, the mansion in the capital needed to be taken care of by loyal subordinates, so Cao Wu was left in the old mansion. More than 40 years have passed in a blink of an eye, and the old man Cao Wu is over 80 years old, and after telling Cao Yin ten years ago, he asked his son to take over his position.

Now, the one who came to the dock to greet the little master was Cao Wu's son Cao Zhong. Cao Zhong, as the chief butler of the Cao Mansion, is responsible for the exchanges between the Cao family and the eunuchs in the capital, and he is no stranger to the Ma Langzhong in front of him, so he immediately stepped forward with a smile and said: "Little Cao Zhong has seen Master Ma!" ”

"It's the big butler, did you say hello to the guard camp? It's a lot of cats in there, don't let your little master suffer any grievances. Ma Liandao knew that Cao Yan entered Beijing on an errand, so he asked such a question.

"Cao Zhong is worried about his master, Master Xie Ma, you can rest assured, the little one has been trusted, and he has been dotted everywhere, and he will never dare to let the little master be wronged." Cao Zhong replied.

Ma Liandao nodded, relieved slightly. Although the Cao family is prominent in the south of the Yangtze River, they have been away from the capital for more than 40 years, and it is not strange if there is someone who is not open-minded and wants to bully Cao Yan. The key is to see whether the above one has reduced his favor to the Cao family because of the death of the old lady of the Sun family.

Ma Liandao and Cao Zhong exchanged pleasantries, and saw a group of people coming down from the passenger ship behind the tribute boat.

"Cao Shinephew?" Ma Liandao was slightly surprised, he thought that Cao Yan was taking the tribute boat in front, so he was still waiting for the tribute ship to dock, but he didn't expect him to take the passenger boat behind.

Ma Liandao had been to Jiangnan on a business trip a few years ago, and Cao Yan knew him, so he stepped forward and said: "Cao Yan has seen Ma Shibo, Shi Bo'an!" ”

"Well, good, good!" Ma Liandao nodded while helping Cao Yan up with a smile: "The last time I saw you, you were still young, and now you have become an adult!" ”

Cao Yan had a smile on his face, but he was a little uncomfortable in his heart, this Ma Liandao's eyes were too hot when he looked at him. When I thought of leaving Jiangning, I heard my father mention that this Ma Liandao had a daughter who was two years younger than him, and the Ma family had mentioned the marriage between the two families, but because the children were still young at the time, they didn't care too much.

I don't know what Ma Liandao's idea is? It's just to visit his nephew, and he still has plans to be a son-in-law. Cao Yan thought, and a little self-deprecating, he was affected by the memories of his previous life, and he was a little resistant to the people surnamed Ma, who knows which one is his father-in-law?

"Slave Cao Zhong, I've seen the uncle!" After Cao Zhong waited for Ma Liandao to talk to Cao Yan, he took two steps forward and knelt down.

Cao Yan waved his hand: "Let's get up, the luggage is still on the boat, you arrange for someone to carry it down." ”

Ma Liandao saw Cao Yan and was satisfied, and it was not good for people to socialize at the dock, so he said: "My nephew is tired of the journey, go back to rest first, and I will set up a banquet in the house in the evening to catch the wind for my nephew!" The nephew is not allowed to shirk, otherwise he will not give me face. Seeing Cao Ying, he walked away with a smile.

Cao Yan didn't want to agree, but he didn't expect that the smiling Ma Liandao would directly make the decision for him, and he didn't even have the slightest room for prevarication. People are old and fine, this sentence is really good. At this time, I heard Cao Zhong ask: "Uncle, ...... this girl?"

Cao Yan followed Cao Zhong's line of sight, but it was the amethyst who came to Beijing with him. It turned out that Cao Zhong saw that Amethyst had brought two little maids to follow behind Cao Yan, with elegant appearance and good clothes. If it is a young lady, there is no reason to show up; If it's a personal maid, it's older.

"This is the Amethyst girl who has waited for the old lady, and this is the steward Uncle Zhong in the capital." Cao Yan then remembered that he hadn't introduced the two.

After Amethyst and Cao Zhong saw each other, they took the two little maids into the carriage. Cao Zhong had already prepared for it, thinking that the little master might come to the house and enter Beijing.

Accompanying Cao Yan into Beijing, in addition to Amethyst and the two little maids, there was also a scholar Xiaoman, who grew up with Wei Hei and Wei Bai.

The Wei brothers are in their thirties, they don't look big-eyed, but their kung fu is good. was originally an apprentice of the hermits in the rivers and lakes, but because their master received the favor of the Cao family, they let them enter the Cao Mansion. They followed Cao Yan not for a day or two, but for nearly eight years, but they were always in the shadows when they were in Jiangning.

Cao Yan knew about the existence of the two brothers, and was grateful to them for silently protecting him for many years, so he didn't pick anyone else when he entered Beijing this time, and only let the two brothers follow from the dark to the open.

After the luggage on the ship was loaded into the car, Cao Yan rode a horse and followed Cao Zhong into the city.

*

Outside Guang'an Gate, Cao Yan looked at the majestic and magnificent city wall and felt that his nose was a little sour. Finally returned to Yanjing, more than 300 years ago, eight years after coming to this world.

Before he had time to enter the city, Cao Yan heard the sound of horses' hooves behind him.

In the dust, several horses galloped around a carriage. In front of the road were a few brightly dressed noblemen, waving their horsewhips, turning to the city gate waiting for the people to enter the city, shouting: "Let it, let it go!" Among them, one person's whip fell on the curtain of the car in which Amethyst was riding. The curtain was ajar, revealing Amethyst's slightly panicked face.

The noble son on the horse was crisp, and when he saw that there were no signs of various prefectures on the car, he dared to speak foul language: "Whose little lady is more peugeot than the sister of Wanhualou!" ”

Another person next to him scolded with a smile: "Nalan Chengping, don't spew feces all over your mouth, Gege is still waiting to enter the city!" ”

That Nalan Chengping stopped at this time, turned around and greeted the carriage that followed, and entered the city in a crowd.

Cao Yan stared at Nalan Chengping's back and nodded to Wei Hei. Wei Hei rode his horse and followed the convoy.

Cao Zhong didn't know what the arrangement of the master and servant was, so he hurriedly stepped forward and whispered: "Don't worry, uncle, this is the carriage of Pingjun Wangfu Gege, and it is not an outsider!" ”

Pingjun Wang Nersu is the husband of Cao Yan's sister Cao Yan, so Cao Zhong said so.

Cao Yan nodded, he was not a reckless young man, and when he first arrived in the capital, of course he would not take the initiative to provoke those powerful people and send Wei Hei with him, just to teach the kid who was not inferior to him.

The old mansion in Cao's Jingzhong is outside the Chongwen Gate, a four-entry house. Two red lanterns are hung on both sides of the gate, on which are written in two large characters "Cao Fu". Compared with the palatial Jiangning Weaving Mansion, the house here is simple and solemn.

Cao Yan dismounted in front of the door and looked left and right, this is not a downtown area, and there are not many pedestrians on the road. As far as you can see from both sides of the road, you will see a courtyard surrounded by high walls. In my previous life, my family lived in Dongcheng, and it seems that I have to take time to go around, which is somewhat of a thought.

The porter was the most clever, seeing a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy dismount in front of the door, followed by the old manager, knowing that it was his own little master who arrived, he hurriedly stepped forward to say hello. Several stewards in the house had been waiting for a long time, and when they heard movement in front of the door, they all came out, and even Cao Wu, who was in his eighties, came out on crutches. The old man lost half of his teeth, and he was trembling and wanted to kneel, where would Cao Yan suffer, so he hurriedly stretched out his hand to support him.

When I entered the house, it was people from all levels in the house who came to ask for peace. Although the Cao family has not been in the capital for decades, there are many people here. After being busy for more than half an hour, Cao Yan's ears were cleared. Fortunately, Amethyst has already prepared a silver reward, and the upper and lower masks are joyful. Cao Yan also understood what it was to be a slave born in a family. There were originally a few people in the capital who looked at the house, but in the past few decades, the children and grandchildren have multiplied, and now the number is nearly 100. Some of them hung up in the house to make money for a month, and some were sent to the south as errands.

Cao Yin's residence has been arranged in advance, it is the west courtyard where Cao Yin lived when he was not married, the area is not large, but it is better in Qingya. Cao Yan was very satisfied, and asked Amethyst to bring two little maids to clean up. The housekeeper of the inner house belonged to Cao Zhong's family, and seeing that Cao Yan did not bring many maids, he selected two neat-looking and diligent girls among the children in the family and arranged them in the courtyard over there.

Cao Yan felt that there were enough people around him, and he didn't want to keep people, so he motioned to Amethyst. Amethyst didn't see it, asked the age of the two, and took them down to explain the rules.

When no one was around, Amethyst said to Cao Yan: "There has been no master living in this house for decades, and now that the uncle is here, the people are all looking at it." If the uncle only uses the people brought from the south, it will be okay, but after a long time, they will cut off their hope, and it will inevitably be someone who will slack off! ”

Cao Yan listened to it and had to admire, it was still a woman who was careful. Cao Yan has always had a good impression of Amethyst, and when he didn't move out of Xuanruitang, he was taken care of by Amethyst many times.

Amethyst is seven years older than Cao Xuan, twenty-two this year, and is considered an old girl in this era. When the old lady was still alive, she once pointed out the family affairs to Amethyst, and the other party was the son of a housekeeper in the house. As a result, shortly after the marriage, the man fell ill and died. At that time, there were rumors that Amethyst was Kefu's life. The old lady was upset about Amethyst and wanted to arrange another family affair for her. Amethyst swore that she would never marry the old lady for the rest of her life. The people in the house only thought she was worried about the previous marriage and didn't take it to heart. No, after the old lady went, Amethyst still bit her bite and refused to marry, and everyone knew that she had made up her mind.

*

West of the city, Pingjun Palace.

The princess of the county, Cao Jiashi, looked at the account book for a while, felt tired, and rested crookedly on the soft cheek. Narsu's two-chamber concubine sat cautiously on a small stool and gossiped with the princess.

Just as I heard the laughter of silver bells, a little girl of thirteen or fourteen years old came in outside.