Ruoxue said slowly: "Because the royal family has to hold a happy event at the end of the year." ”

Several people were stunned for a moment, and they didn't understand what this had to do with the Huang family's happy event.

Ruoxue saw that they didn't understand what they meant, and said: "The emperor wants to marry a few princes, and he needs to use a lot of silk brocade. ”

"Where did you know this?"

It turned out to be royal, not the Huang family!

Several people looked at Ruoxue in disbelief, how did she know about such a matter of the royal inner circle.

Mei Zhigao said at this time: "Didn't Grandma say that we don't want to ask about business matters?"

The eldest sister does things in a measured way and will not let the family suffer. Besides, the eldest sister has her considerations every time, and talking to us is just a matter of tongue! Like the second aunt, it's not entangled at all. ”

Mei Jishan, who said this, looked at the ever-bright lamp on the side, whether it was time to add oil.

Duan Jie was two days late to get the news that the silk was burned, because he went out of the capital and went south along the canal, and when he arrived at the border of Cangzhou, he heard that the silk transport ship had been burned.

If he was in the capital, he would have known two days earlier.

Although he was already prepared, he was still shocked to hear that all the silk was burned!

He thought that the eldest lady of the Mei family might sink the silk into the canal, but he really didn't expect that she would do such a desperate thing, and directly burned the silk worth nearly 200,000 taels of silver.

Such a way of putting death to life is that he does not dare to make a decision lightly.

Duan Jie traveled day and night for another two days, and when he arrived at Tengzhou Mansion, he asked people to go to the canal to check that night, and anyone saw the fire on the silk transport boat.

Did anyone go to the rescue, how many of the people on the boat survived, and where did they go.

The people who went there visited for most of the day, and only when it was dark did they return to the boat where Duan Jie was sitting.

Duan Jie and a Mei Ji sat on the deck drinking to the moon, watching the scenery on the river, and listening to Mei Ji's plucked pipa music.

On several boats anchored near and far, the lights were faint, and there was a faint sound of talking, but it was not clear what was said.

The person who came bowed slightly to Duan Jie and said, "Master, I'm back." ”

Duan Jie put down the cup in his hand, "What did you find?" ”

When Mei Ji saw that they were about to speak, she stopped the pipa in her hand, turned around and gave it to the maid beside her, and then turned around and came back to fill Duan Jie's wine glass with a glass of daughter red.

"The subordinates found out that the first person who saw the fire of the silk transport boat was a soldier of Tengzhou City Defense." The subordinate went on to tell what the soldiers had seen.

That night, the light breeze and the moon were full of stars, and in the second half of the night, around midnight, four silk boats on the canal caught fire one after another, and from a distance it looked like several large fireballs rising from the water.

The four boats caught fire quickly, burning so quickly that they soon lit up half of the river.

In the quiet of the night, the soldiers on the tower of the city first heard the shouts of the boat, and then saw the fire, so they rang the alarm, and the city guards hurried to the river, looking for the boat to go to the place where the fire started

The people of the nearby villages were alarmed and rushed to the edge of the canal just to see the excitement.

The fish boats on the canal saw the fire and rushed to the rescue with their oars.

But the fire was too big to get close, so I could only watch it burn until it finally sank into the river.

"How many people on that ship have been saved, and where have they all gone now?" Duan Jie asked.

He opened his mouth and drank the wine that Mei Ji brought to his mouth, raised his hand to catch Mei Ji's jade hand, kneaded it a few times, and brought it to his lips and kissed it.

Mei Ji's face was crimson, and she leaned towards Duan Jie, and called with a smile: "Master! ”

Duan Jie also kissed Mei Ji's pink face again.

The subordinate lowered his head and didn't dare to look at this fragrant picture, and said: "People have saved a lot, but they are scattered everywhere, and I don't know how many people there are for the time being." ”

At this time, a man in his forties walked out of the cabin and asked, "Didn't the Tengzhou magistrate receive a report?" No one asked the government to investigate the cause of the fire, and there is still a problem of salvage and missing persons? ”

The subordinate turned to look at the person who came and said, "I haven't heard that anyone went to the government to report the case,"

Duan Jie chuckled, "They burned their own boat, how could they go to the government to report the case, didn't they send themselves to prison!" He said.

He held Mei Ji's slender jade hand, stroked it gently, and kissed it on the lips.

The man who came out stood behind Duan Jie and asked, "What is the master going to do next?" ”

"That eldest lady of the Mei family is so smart and clever, it's a pity to stay in the people!" Duan Jie let go of Mei Ji's hand, got up and took two steps to the side of the boat, looking at a few stars in the sky.

"It's better for the master to marry her into the mansion."

"Do you think she'll agree?"

Mei Ji raised her ruddy jade hand, the numb feeling was still there, she stretched out her little tongue, licked it on the back of her hand, and looked at Duan Jie's figure with silky eyes.

Seven days after Mrs. Cao's death, she was buried in the ancestral grave of the Mei family.

Mei Jishan and Mei Jitan lived in a few private houses near the ancestral tomb, and they had to stay there for three years before they came back, and all the things in the house were handed over to Ruoxue first.

Ask Tian about big things, and if you say small things, forget it.

On this day, Ruoxue received a letter from Fang Jin, which wrote some information about the incident.

After the fire of the silk transport boat, he called the boatmen and guards, and after a period of chaos, everyone saw that the fire was too big and there was no hope of rescue, so they obeyed Fang Jin's words and jumped into the river to escape.

Those boatmen knew the nature of the water, and it was not difficult to escape by jumping into the river.

Fang Jin's many guards, who did not know much about water, jumped into the water and escaped the tragic situation of being burned to death, but they could not escape the fate of being drowned in the water.

Fang Jin's letter said that nine of their twenty or thirty guards had died, and if it hadn't been for the quick arrival of the rescue boat, they might have killed many more.

He didn't expect the fire to start so quickly, and he called for help a little later, so many of his men died.

Ruohong pulled the letter away and looked at it, and asked, "When will they come back?" ”

"It's going to be a dozen days."

Ruohong glanced up at Ruoxue, saw her gloomy expression, and said, "My sister said that after this matter is over, she will tell me something, I don't know when to tell me?" ”

Ruoxue looked at her with deep eyes and walked to the door, and saw her looking outside, knowing that she was afraid that someone would listen to them and treat them as monsters.

Ruohong said to the rice pearl outside the door: "Look at the door, don't let people in." ”

Mi Pearl answered, moved a small vulture, and sat under the porch at the door.

Ruoxue smiled, "I don't want to say it, I have to say it." She said.

Ruohong walked back and hugged her arm, shook it and said, "Tell me!" ”

Ruoxue raised her hand and pinched Ruohong's face, "Where to start?" She thought for a while and said: "After the second uncle took over the family business, the prince of Jin Zhang also came to Jiutong Wealth to borrow silver, but he did not return it in time, and it was only returned to the second uncle about a year later, and Jiutong Wealth had been out of business for a long time at that time. ”

Mei Jishan first lent 500,000 taels of silver, which caused the bank to close down, and at the same time lost many customers.

After receiving the silver returned by Li Tao, Mei Jishan made two wrong investments, which directly led to the decline of the Mei family.

"Why didn't my sister refuse that prince's request for money at that time?" Ruohong asked.

Ruoxue thought for a while, looked at her and said, "It was you who strengthened my confidence, I thought about the suggestion you said at the time, and it was also that suggestion that reminded me that I can conditionally lend money." ”