At sunset, Zhu Daolin declined the invitation of Changpei and the two eldest princes to go to the Qinhuai painting boat to drink on the grounds that there were too many things, and left Baoyuexuan in a carriage with six calligraphy and paintings stored in a wooden box, thinking all the way about the proposal of co-organizing a carriage workshop formally proposed by Ying Changpei before parting.

A month ago, he had entrusted his good brother Liang Cheng to sign a contract with a manufacturer in Changzhou to order 10,000 sets of four-wheeled carriage axles in half a year in the name of a newly registered trading company, intending to get back the first batch of 2,000 sets after the Spring Festival and hand them over to the manor workshop under construction to manufacture carriages for various purposes.

According to Ying Changpei, in the past half a month, at least 50 merchants have approached Ying Jia's general number or himself, asking if they can distribute sturdy, comfortable, stable, and fast new carriages, and hundreds of people have come to buy them for their own use.

Ying Changpei judged that only Jinling City and the counties and towns within a radius of 50 miles could sell at least 1,000 four-wheeled carriages, and if you added the Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningshao, and Huaiyang areas in Jiangbei, it would be easy to sell 5,000 carriages a year.

If a two-wheeled freight carriage is made from the rear axle and two large wheels of a four-wheeled carriage, at least tens of thousands of vehicles can be sold every year.

For Ying Changpei's prediction figures, after Zhu Daolin repeatedly analyzed, he felt that it was still credible, Master Xuanqing and several uncles mentioned the carriage several times, hoping to have ten eight-wheeled carriages sent to Maoshan Zuting, Zhu Daolin also promised to find a way to get it back next time, but there were too many things to go back.

Now it seems that the Ying family has been eyeing this piece of fat, maybe the Wei Guogong and Longping Hou families also have the intention to intervene, otherwise the eldest young master of the two families before parting would not be so envious of Ying Changpei and his own four-wheeled carriage, and quietly asked if he could help them buy back two identical four-wheeled carriages.

Zhu Daolin thought about it and still couldn't make a decision, and the carriage drove into the gate of the west courtyard of Zizhuyuan, and he hadn't thought it through.

After entering the main hall, Zhu Daolin simply threw away this problem for the time being, and walked to his east room to change into a loose robe, but Xiaomei rushed out at this time, grabbed his hand tightly and reported with a cry:

"Half a quarter of an hour ago, Xiao Cui suddenly fell down when he was drying his clothes, he didn't answer no matter how he called, he sweated all over his body and vomited non-stop, and finally vomited blood, son, save Sister Xiao Cui!"

Zhu Daolin patted Xiaomei's shoulder to show comfort, walked quickly through the study where the people gathered, and entered the room where the personal girl lived, and was soon startled by Xiao Cui, who was lying on the couch with a purple face.

Zhu Daolin didn't have time to think about it, he stepped forward quickly, reached out and touched Xiao Cui's carotid artery, and then carefully opened her small mouth to observe, and found that the red and swollen tongue was motionless as if paralyzed, and immediately screamed loudly in fright:

"Hurry up and ask Lao Shi to ride a horse to the Tongyuan Bureau, and find Gonggong Wu to invite the imperial doctor in the palace as soon as possible, quick!"

The people waiting in the study suddenly became a mess, and the two clever boys ran to the west wing where the coachman Lao Shi was, and the tears of Xiaoying and Xiaomei beside Zhu Daolin immediately flowed out.

The coachman Lao Shi hurriedly came to ask, and heard Zhu Daolin say that Xiao Cui girl was likely to have a heart attack, so he immediately ran out of the gate and rushed to the horse ring without saying a word.

The junior brother Yuhu, who was about to take a bath, rushed to hear the news, and very calmly told the senior brother not to worry, and then walked to the couch to observe Xiao Cui's symptoms carefully, raised Xiao Cui's weak hand and began to take the pulse, and the crowded and panicked room became quiet.

Two minutes later, Yuhu let go of Xiao Cui's hand, quickly opened Xiao Cui's closed eyelids and examined it carefully, and then opened Xiao Cui's weakly opened mouth, forcibly endured the horror in his heart, and reported to Zhu Daolin in a low voice:

"Typical heartache, it's too late, if there is a master at the time of the onset, maybe you can use the golden needle technique to save a little life, but now it's ......"

"Then go and ask for a master!"

Zhu Daolin, whose eyes were flushed, was really sad, he also judged that it was an acute heart attack, and he also had a premonition that Xiao Cui was hopeless, but he was unwilling to accept this cruel reality.

A little girl who is like a flower, only thirteen years old, how can you say that it is gone?

Yuhu didn't leave, and stood silently in front of the couch and lowered his head: "Senior brother's day, let's mourn, Miss Xiaocui has left." ”

With Xiaomei's cry of "wow", the servants inside and outside the house cried together, Zhu Daolin took out a white silk handkerchief from his arms and slowly squatted down, gently wiped away the remaining blood on the side of Xiao Cui's mouth, and tears couldn't help but burst out of his eyes.

Although they have only been with each other for two days, and they have not had time to see each other for most of the two days, Zhu Daolin can't forget the scene before taking a shower last night:

In the steaming bathroom, the shy Xiaoying and the mischievous Xiaomei were all blown away by themselves, but the well-behaved and quiet Xiao Cui couldn't get rid of it, and timidly said to himself that it was the duty of the slave family to serve the son to take a bath...... If it weren't for the son, the slave family would probably be sold to the kiln. Zili went...... The slave family has never seen their parents, and they have dreamed of their mother several times, and they look very similar to the slave family......

The candlelight of the West Cross Courtyard in the cold night was bright and lonely.

In the candlelight on the main hall, incense curling, Lao Shi went out overnight to knock on the door and bought the best coffin, lying quietly in the thirteen years just after two days of happy days unfortunately died Xiao Cui, more than 20 servants who took turns to worship and did not want to disperse.

Zhu Daolin, who changed into a plain Taoist robe, sat cross-legged in front of the coffin, silently lit a piece of paper money for the deceased Xiao Cui, and Yuhu, who also changed into a formal robe, sat cross-legged and chanted, praying for Xiao Cuichao, who unfortunately died early.

According to customs, the dead maids of wealthy families are usually sent out overnight and handed over to the relatives and friends of the deceased, otherwise they will quietly find a place to bury them hastily, and they will not stay until the next day, but there is no such thing here in Zhu Daolin.

After the sacrifice, as soon as several elderly servants said the intention of sending them away overnight, they were scolded by Zhu Daolin:

"Shut up! Don't talk to me about bullshit customs, since I am in Zhu Daolin's house, you have to follow my rules! Xiao Cui is a lonely child who doesn't know who her father and mother are, since she came to my Zhu Daolin's side, she is my Zhu Daolin's family, even if she only comes for one day, I will treat her as family. ”

"You too, as long as you treat this as home, I will treat each of you as my own family!"

"Early tomorrow morning, I will personally send Xiao Cui to the Shogunate Mountain, and bury her at the foot of Tiger Mountain behind my newly built courtyard.

Zhu Dao's words as if he were shouting out made the servants extremely embarrassed and moved, and everyone took the initiative to stay and keep vigil for poor Xiao Cui.

After midnight, Zhu Daolin finally stood up, nodded to the junior brother who took the initiative to stay and continue to recite the scriptures for Xiao Cui, called Lao Shi to give a low command, and then dragged his heavy steps into the east room, returned to his bedroom and lay down, his mind was full of Xiao Cui's voice and smile.

Not long after, Xiaoying, whose eyes were red and swollen, quietly came in with lotus seed white fungus soup, and saw Zhu Daolin staring at the top of the tent in the candlelight, motionless, and his sad eyes were extremely touching under the candlelight, which made Xiaoying's tears come out again.

Zhu Daolin looked at Xiaoying, who put down the tray and silently wiped his tears, couldn't help but feel a faint pain in his heart, thought about it and asked kindly, "What about Xiaomei?" ”

"I cried so sadly that I slept."

Xiaoying approached the bed, wanting to pick up the lotus seed white fungus soup and serve Zhu Daolin, who had never drunk a sip of water or eaten a mouthful of food since he came home, and before his outstretched hand touched the small bowl, he was held in the palm of his hand by a warm big hand.

Zhu Daolin pulled the slightly trembling shadow to his side and sat down: "Talk to me, if there is no one to talk to, I will be even more sad, I think...... I'm afraid your mood is not much better than mine right now. ”

Xiaoying's freshly wiped tears flowed again, and the crooked body couldn't help shaking, and it took a while before he spoke: "Childe, the slave family believes in you, the slave family is willing to be your person, and the slave family no longer wants to be alone...... Woohoo......"

Zhu Daolin's heart ached, and finally said something that shocked him: "You are the first woman who broke my heart, I want to marry you." ”

Xiaoying trembled when she heard this, raised her tear-stained face, and looked at Zhu Daolin, who gradually showed a warm smile, her lips trembled, but she couldn't say a word.

Zhu Daolin, who made up his mind in an instant, took out his hands and gently held Xiaoying's pale face: "Believe me, believe in God's will, God brought you and me, who are far away, together!" ”

"Xiaoying, I don't know if you are really willing to be with me for the rest of your life, whether you are willing to accept me, a man who has just met for two days, but I still think I should tell you what I think in my heart, from the moment I saw you, I was fascinated by you, so, I will not let you go in this life, if you want to blame yourself, who made me fall in love with you at first sight?"

Xiaoying trembled even more, only to feel that his ears were ringing, his body was soft and unconscious, the whole person was faint as if floating on the clouds, the beautiful neck hung down weakly after a period of stiffness, and the delicate face that quickly recovered its blood color was like a rose petal with dew, and in a trance he said the words like a dream: "The slave family is willing to be a woman who is willing to be a son......"

Zhu Daolin's heartbeat accelerated suddenly, and he just wanted to make a move, but he didn't know when he came to the familiar figure in front of the couch, and stopped his next move.

"Xiaomei, why don't you rest?"

Zhu Daolin reluctantly let go of the confused little shadow, leaned sideways and asked in a low voice.

"The slave family is afraid!"

Xiaomei, who had a pretty face and a crimson face, climbed onto the low couch after speaking, and threw herself on Zhu Daolin and burst into tears.

Zhu Daolin was completely speechless, silent for a moment, and simply hugged Xiaoying, who was subconsciously close to him, and hugged the two heart-wrenching personal maids in his arms.