Aunt Lin, Yang Wan and Daiyu went to burn incense and worship the Buddha and did not come back until the evening. Seeing that Daiyu swept away her previous depression and returned to her original state because of going out this time, Lin Jin felt that she was not allowed to go out in vain this time. Knowing that they had already had dinner, she greeted them a few times, and then everyone dispersed.

Because there was no request to conceal the arrival of the Yang clan, soon, Aunt Lin and Yang Wan and Lin Jin were separated not long ago, and they all knew about it. Unlike Yang Wan, after knowing that the person was sent away by Lin Jin, she put this matter down, and after Aunt Lin knew about it, she thought about it for a while and sent someone to call Lin Jin over.

As soon as Lin Jin came over, Aunt Lin beckoned her to sit on the same bed with her, and said, "I heard from the subordinate just now that someone from the Yang clan came from there, but the subordinate couldn't say it clearly, only that they were always looking for you and left again." I know Patriarch Yang, he is a person who does not give up until he reaches his goal, so they left so quickly and without any trouble, did you promise him anything? ”

"Don't worry, grandmother." Lin Jin looked at Aunt Lin's worried appearance, smiled soothingly, and said, "I didn't promise them anything, I just made a deal with them." ”

She told the meaning of the Yang clan and how she made the other party retreat, and told the transaction between them, and said with a smile: "So, I didn't suffer any losses, on the contrary, I also took a lot of advantages." In any case, the Yang family is literate, and it is no problem to teach people to read. Nowadays, the cost of hiring a gentleman, even the simplest children's enlightenment, costs one hundred and eighty taels a year. And I gave the Yang clan a hundred taels of silver, and they had to produce three people on their side, and each person was only thirty taels, which was too cheap. ”

In later generations, when teachers were teaching and educating people, they were eager to break up the knowledge and crush it and feed it to the students' mouths. However, in this era, there is a serious shortage of teachers, and reading and literacy is still a very sacred and noble thing in the eyes of most people, so there is no requirement for the personal quality and teaching ability of teachers. What's more, Lin Jin runs a righteous school, which is a place where people can read for free. For ordinary people who are not easy to read, it is already a place to be literate without spending money, and they dare not dream of such a beautiful thing as the level of teachers and requirements.

Aunt Lin smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid that this advantage is not so easy to take advantage of." Patriarch Yang, I've dealt with him a few times, and he's not such an easy person to compromise, so I don't think he would give up his coveting of our family's property so easily because of your threatening words.

Therefore, this time he retreated, but he originally thought that you were young and easy to fool, but he saw that you had a tough attitude and were on our family's territory, so he temporarily bowed his head, making you think that he had just given up, maybe at this time, he was brewing a more vicious plan in his heart. "Therefore, the deal he made with you was just to make you let your guard down, and he didn't intend to come as agreed.

If she didn't know what Lin Ruhai did to the Yang family, Lin Jin would also think like Aunt Lin, but after knowing the current situation of the Yang family, she knew that even if the Yang patriarch did not give up, he was powerless, so he could only obediently follow the path that Lin Jin drew for him.

Lin Jin smiled: "Grandmother, don't worry, the Yang family today is no longer the Yang family that bullied you back then." They can't turn over the palm of my hand. Back then, when your father helped you get your family's property back from the Yang family, he had already decided not to give them a chance to turn over. Therefore, for all these years, he has been secretly dealing with that side. Today's Yang family, except for a name, there is almost nothing left, not only all the family property has been sold, but even the family property is only three or four percent. To put it mildly, if they don't agree to my deal, I'm afraid they'll go hungry when they turn back. ”

"How is that possible!" Aunt Lin retorted without thinking: "No matter how down-and-out the Yang family is, it will not reach the point where they can't even eat. If it was really poor to this point, some clansmen would have come to me and your mother to cry poor and come to fight the autumn wind, even if the patriarch and clan elders stopped them, it would be useless; Moreover, at that point, not to mention whether they still have the courage to ask you for our family's property, even if they come, they will definitely not behave like this. ”

"That's what's wrong with my father." Lin Jin explained with a smile: "As a big clan, every clan is indispensable to have some illegal and undisciplined things, and the Yang clan is naturally no exception. Moreover, when the Yang patriarch was an official, he was not honest as an official, and he did a lot of things that were corrupt and perverted the law. When someone in the clan is an official, as long as it is not a major crime of rebellion, these things can cover up the past. But after the people of the Yang clan were dismissed from office, it would be okay if these things were not revealed, and once they were revealed, in order not to be convicted and imprisoned, they had to take care of one or two.

Then my father used the connections in the officialdom to make a name for the Yang family, but now after losing his position, the patriarch and several clansmen who were unwilling to be idle at home were like hanging a carrot in front of the donkey that was grinding, and they kept throwing money into it with the hope of regaining their lives. In the future, there is no need for their father to set up a special bureau to lure them, and those officials who have tasted the 'sweetness' will continue to do this after understanding the Yang family's desire to continue to be officials. And as long as the Yang family's mind to be an official does not die, then they will continue to be fooled, and then even if they sell their property, they will have to invest money in it. This mentality is the same as that of gamblers, the more they lose, the more they gamble, and as a result, the property of the Yang family and the industries of the people of the clan have shrunk rapidly. ”

"Good, good, good." Thinking of Patriarch Yang's official fan, who had sent Yang Wan out for the sake of revenge, Aunt Lin couldn't help but stroking her palms and laughing when she heard Lin Jin's words, and applauded repeatedly. I only felt that when I was in the clan, the sullen breath that she and her daughter held in their chests when they were bullied finally spit out, even when Lin Ruhai helped her help her to help the family property left in the clan back, and Lin Ge'er was passed on to her son, she was not so happy.

Lin Jin pretended not to see Aunt Lin's gloating appearance, and continued: "Even if the Yang family is not as good as it used to be, but it is necessary to maintain the dignity of the basic squire's family externally, otherwise, they will not sell the property themselves, but will be swallowed by others; The social status will decline, and when the time comes, they will not deal with officials, but local officials; More importantly, since they still want to be officials and want to be officials, they can't fall to the outside world.

So a lot of things, like opening a school, that they can't do. In this way, most of their means of making money have been blocked, but the income of the family is not as good as before, so the position of volunteer school teacher I have provided them cannot be better. After all, the remuneration I paid them was private, and on the surface, they did not get paid, and they were benevolent, so they went to teach for free. If it comes, the reward is secondary, and the most important thing is that they have a good reputation, whether it is in the government or in the people......"

Aunt Lin snorted coldly and said, "I'll just say that Patriarch Yang, that old slippery head, how could he agree to you so easily, it turns out that the trick is here." This guy is looking at the road of opening the road with silver and recovering this road will not work, and he plans to take the route of brushing up his reputation.

In fact, he may have thought of the latter method a long time ago, but this method is not so easy to follow. No matter what good deeds you do, you need money to back you up. There are many wealthy merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, and many merchants have built bridges and paved roads to benefit the township, and compare their wealth, even if the Yang family is not defeated, it is not comparable.

It just so happened that your side had the opportunity to come to your door. If you want me to say, you shouldn't pay them, they can go to your Yixue to brush up their reputation, which is equivalent to stepping on the reputation of the Yixue you have built, and they have already taken a big advantage. ”

Lin Jin smiled disappreciatively and said, "That's what I said, but the Yang clan's side may not see it this way, and I paid for it, but a few dozen taels of silver can block them from having nothing to say, saving me a lot of trouble." ”

Seeing that Aunt Lin's face was still uncertain and her heart was uneven, she moved to Aunt Lin's side, held her arm in her arms, leaned on Aunt Lin's shoulder, and said softly: "Grandmother, I know that you hate the Yang family, and you are also avenging my grievances, but that kind of person is angry, there is no need at all, and it is not worth it to be angry." As for me, as the saying goes, 'Misfortune and fortune depend on it', and you only see me being wronged, but you don't see the benefits I get from it......"

"Benefits?" Aunt Lin touched Lin Jin's back distressedly, touched her shoulder blades, and said distressedly: "Don't coax me here, an old woman, since your father passed away, everything that has happened, I have seen everything in my eyes, you have been wronged, in order to protect this family, you are aggrieved everywhere, bow down and be a little ......"

"Grandmother," Lin Jin interrupted her, sighed and said, "Actually, it's not that I can't fight back, but everything my father did before he died was to seek the emperor's protection for us." At that time, I didn't agree, and I told my father that I could deal with everything and would never let the Lin family be hurt at all, but my father not only insisted on his decision, but also repeatedly warned me that I should hide my edge and show weakness to others.

My father told me that my grandfather passed away before he could reach the crown. At that time, although he passed the exam, it was not worth mentioning at all to those who coveted the Lin family. He did a lot of things in order to keep his family business, so after he was admitted to Tanhua, he came out of the Hanlin Academy and was used as a 'knife' by the emperor. Although he should be loyal to the emperor, he should be divided, but making a knife is easy to put himself in danger and endanger his family. So, he didn't want me to repeat the same mistakes.

Besides, if my father had managed to find the protection of the Emperor for us, if I didn't need this support, the Emperor might not care about me. However, even I can't say everything, I can deal with everything very well, so it is still worth using some grievances at this time in exchange for the emperor's constant attention to our family. ”