The half-length glass mirror exchanged for 1,000 taels of silver from Chengdu Mansion reflected the face of a young man. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The eyebrows are straight, the eyeballs are like purple and black grapes in the middle of summer, and the lips are extremely thin, perhaps because they have been too tired lately, and the flesh on their cheeks has sunk in. There was no blood on his face, but it matched the white linen filial piety clothes on his body.

Li Yongzhong was in a trance.

The face in the mirror goes from unfamiliar to familiar, from unfamiliar to handy.

From the moment he woke up from a deep sleep and opened his eyes, and saw the old-style roof beams that were different from the snow-white ceiling of his house, Li Yongzhong knew that he had nothing to do with the past, and he didn't know whether it was the mercy of gods and Buddhas, or from an unknown force, in short, he changed from an adult man four hundred years later to the youngest son of a salt merchant in a small town in eastern Sichuan in the late Ming Dynasty.

Childhood was difficult. The biological mother of this body died early, and his father was not very loving, but he never treated him harshly, and the eldest brother who was much older than him had it, and he also had a lot of half points, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that Li Qi loved his eldest son more and treated his younger son only generally.

And he also knew that the chaotic times at the end of the Ming Dynasty were not far away, and this remote town in eastern Sichuan, now a paradise, would turn into a blood pool purgatory many years later. And he thinks that he has no talent to go through the heavens and latitudes, he can't save the world, he can't save the people, and his only wish is to live and live with dignity.

But it's just too hard. He is just a young son of a salt merchant who is not taken seriously, and this so-called first-class family in Fushun has to be put between the tail when he is put in Chengdu Mansion, not to mention the whole world - at the end of the Ming Dynasty, commercial activities were already quite developed, the nine-sided Jin merchants, the Hui Gang firm, which one was not a behemoth in the business world at the end of the Ming Dynasty? wants to survive in the troubled times in the future as a salt merchant in eastern Sichuan, Li Yongzhong can see clearly, relying on his father who will become a rotten wood, and the eldest brother who only knows how to sleep and stay in the willows to have fun is even more delusional.

He was on his own.

Fushun Town said that the young master of the Li family was born with a pair of money grabbers. It's just that the person who spoke probably forgot that Li Yongzhong, who was less than ten years old, followed his master to the salt well, guarded the steward and opened a new well, and his eldest brother Li Yongbo combed the hair of the Miao woman in the spring makeup building, and he rode a Dian horse and sat in front of the master Wang Huanzhi before dawn to pay the water porter. Learn from Wang Huan to go down the well, manage accounts, recruit workers, listen to the nagging of stewards, and fight wits and courage with cunning opponents, and then be older, follow the caravan selling salt to Chengdu and Yungui.

Slowly, the water porter on the salt well, the first-level steward had a dirty room, so he said, "Ask Zhongguan'er", and Wang Huanzhi and the Li family's capable shopkeepers voted for him early. He gradually used it in front of his father Li Qi, starting at the age of fourteen or fifteen, Li Qi was seriously ill, and Li Yongzhong became the de facto head of the family, but Li Yongbo didn't know all this, Li Yongzhong provided his whole family with food, clothing, housing and transportation, and provided him with gold and honeysuckle, and patiently waited until Li Qi was completely disappointed in his eldest son, and quietly held the Li family in his hands.

Li Yongzhong stared at himself in the mirror, dressed in white and hat, completely different from the self he saw four hundred years later. He smiled with a smile on his face, and the person in the mirror showed an identical smile.

The door creaked softly, and the deliberately lowered voice of the chief steward Li Sanzhong sounded behind him: "Zhong Guan'er, it's time to go ahead." ”

He hummed, then turned and walked away from the mirror without looking back.

Li Qi's funeral was held in a grand and lively manner, the monk and Taoist priest Li Jia of Fushun invited all over again, the monk's chanting of the wooden fish disturbed people's hearts, and the smell of incense and candles mixed into the wet air, stabbing people's throats; The ash smoke of burning paper money flew up, enveloping the entire mansion in a dark, billowing mist. In the entire first seven, no matter whether you are relatives or friends, as long as you enter the Li Mansion to offer incense to Li Qi, you will have to take care of a feast.

On the day of the funeral, the sky of the Li Mansion was white, and the sixteen barmen lifted the coffin under the order of the leader, and sent the old lady of the Li Mansion up the mountain, flying white along the road, and the paper money was flooded to the ankles. Fushun people say that Li Qi has been beautiful all his life, and things after his death are also very decent. It is rumored that the two brothers who fought to death were also well-behaved, Boguan'er fell into the clay pot as a filial son, Zhongguan'er held the spiritual position, and the two brothers looked at it and were still harmonious.

This is just the Li family persuading Li Yongbo not to make trouble at his father's funeral. The third master said bitterly to his uncle: "You have to endure this moment's anger and disturb your father's funeral, is it very good-looking and good-sounding?" ”

Li Yongbo's eyes couldn't wait to pop out, there seemed to be spikes on the stool, he couldn't sit still, his nose and left and right wings suddenly fanned, he hated it, and threw a fine porcelain teacup on the ground, only then did he vent a little bit of yin fire, and said: "I am the grandson of Dafang, what is he Li Yongzhong?" A little bastard raised by a woman from a poor and talented family actually dared to say to me that I had to keep my duty! ”

The third grandfather, who claims to be a rich idler, secretly complains, he admits that he is greedy for wealth and wealth, and clings to the big house, but he has always been cautious, and the matter of the big house has always been a saw-mouth gourd without saying a word, but now Li Qi disregarded the patriarchal rules before his death, and let the young son inherit the family business, and the eldest son of the genuine brand was put aside.

The third master was not surprised by this result.

Compared with the twelfth and thirteenth is the eldest young master Li Yongbo, who is a frequent visitor to the spring makeup building, the second young master Li Yongzhong is more like Li Qi's own son, he is not to be underestimated at a young age, he took over the Li family's old broken salt wells at the beginning, less than three months, the salt brine produced is comparable to the new well, Li Qi handed over the remaining few new wells to him at that time, half a year down, compared to before, the salt brine output is actually three percent higher! At that time, he was only fourteen years old, and now that Li Qi has died of illness, with such a family, the Li family's momentum is only better.

But Li Yongbo obviously won't like this result. He was full of waiting to take over the Li family, and also tasted the happy days of being a big man, but he was beaten by his father with a stick, and his eyes were full of stars, and his heart and lungs hurt! It turned out that the little bastard had already carried him behind his back to hook up and down, from the water porter to the housekeeper in the salt well, and Li Yongzhong told them to go west, and no one would face east! Then what about the reputation of the Li family that he wanted! Li Yongbo has not been stupid yet, he knows that Yanjing Fang is the root of the Li family, but he has never been the first to fool around, telling him to get up every day like Li Yongzhong and follow the caravan to the surrounding provinces, but he can't.

There is also a family affair set by the dead ghost father for the little bastard - Li Yongbo felt a pain in his chest when he thought of this, he never thought that the inconspicuous old man Chen was actually a thousand households in the Xunan Guard! And it's not the straw bales with fat brains, but the commander of the army who was transferred back to Sichuan from Liaodong, who killed Tartars on the battlefield, and commanded thousands of imperial soldiers!

Li Yongbo gritted his teeth with hatred, the old man always said how to value him, but when he died, he was so humiliated! He never thought that Li Qi would set such a family affair for Li Yongzhong: the world is gradually collapsing This is the consensus of the people, there are many southwest Yi near eastern Sichuan, and there are various inspection divisions like wolves and tigers, in the past, the Li family's salt goods always had to be carefully checked, but now Li Yongzhong has such a father-in-law, it is conceivable that for that little mongrel, it is simply the power of Qingyun!

Seeing that he was persuaded not to move, the third master simply opened the skylight and said something bright: "Uncle, the current situation of the Li family is all due to your father's hard work for decades, and no one can compare with you in the patriarchal law, but there are quite a lot of Ding Kou in the four major houses of the Li family who live on salt, and you can't afford this burden." He was calm, ignoring Li Yongbo's eyes that wanted to devour people, coughed softly and said softly: "Your brother is a conscientious man, and your father has extra instructions for him, you relax and think about it." ”

Li Yongbo suppressed his anger and only reluctantly replied: "Got it." Then let the guest be sent, and the third master knew that he was not at ease, so he simply left, but before leaving, he said: "Now that the dead are great, you don't dare to have an accident." After speaking, he said that he would go to the mourning hall and put incense sticks on his nephew.

The eldest young master of the Li family closed his eyes fiercely, endured and endured, and scolded Li Yongzhong over and over again in his heart, so he didn't flip the table. He has been reckless for nearly thirty years, and now he has only realized what a knife on the head of the word forbearance is, and he has been walking back and forth in the house like a trapped beast for a long time, and now the little mongrel has won the ticket, if he makes trouble at this moment, the little mongrel just gives him an ugly look - the more Li Yongbo thinks about it, the more clear it becomes, although he still hates it in his heart, but he has made up his mind: "And let this little bastard be arrogant for a few days!" Think about it in the future! ”

Funeral all kinds of things aside, on the day of the funeral, the Li family was relieved, although the white affair was lively, but it was really exhausting, and the whole family was tired. Next, although Li Yongzhong had to keep filial piety for three years, he did not dare to slack off in business. While discussing various things with Wang Huanzhi in the future, he also had to deal with relatives and friends, and after a few days, people looked haggard. Li Yongbo was the shopkeeper at this time, and all the affairs were untouched, and he closed his yard, and his filial piety did not break his happy life.

Li Yongzhong's newly baked father-in-law only stayed for half a day on the first day of the white affair, and left in a hurry after greeting him with incense, just as he had arrived. Brother Zhong suddenly had an extra fiancée, and when he was dizzy, he didn't even think of asking a few more words to his father-in-law. Afterwards, he was not in a hurry, the order of the parents, the words of the matchmaker, Li Qi engaged him to get married, it was ironclad, and they would always see each other again.

But I never thought that on the first day of the end of the first seven, Qianhu Guan would visit the Li Mansion again.

This time, Li Sanzhong did not dare to slack off, the new master went to the salt well, he asked Wang Huanzhi for advice, Master Yan pondered for a moment, and said for him: "You take Master Chen to the master's study to sit." ”

Li Sanzhong listened to Wang Huanzhi's opinion and took him to the study in the house, where he served tea to the guests lightly, and waited quietly. Now that the Li Mansion is the season of power exchange, the stewards below are eyeing his position as the chief steward, and he has to hug the thighs of his family, and he is naturally even more careless in treating Li Yongzhong's father-in-law.

Qianhuguan was in a good mood, he didn't sit down, but stood in the study with his hands behind his back to look at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall. Although Li Qi is a businessman, he still has a bit of a scholar's love in his bones. Interesting, even if the calligraphy and painting on the wall are not famous, they are not vulgar. He paced for a moment, then stopped in front of a word.

The words are not very good, with a bit of greenness, it is easy to see that it is a beginner's handwriting. But Chen Qianhu smiled slightly, and said in his heart: "Sure enough, seeing words is like seeing people." ”

There are thousands of obstacles, and I fight with a knife.

PS: I mistook eastern Sichuan for southern Sichuan earlier, and changed it from this chapter, Fushun is in eastern Sichuan, not southern Sichuan, and the previous part will not be changed.