Lin Ruo leaned on the door frame, slowly combing through the myriad thoughts in his mind.

Emperor Mingzong helped her solve the matter of not wanting to marry the crown prince, but she had to plan carefully for marrying King Rong after that - this was not in her plan, but the prince's disturbance made her have to make such a decision. In this way, she had to calm down and think about how to replan.

There is another thing, Lin Ruo didn't expect that Emperor Mingzong did not take back this jade pendant, but handed it back into her hands and asked her to keep it well.

Although she and her sister Gu Manxi have only been together for a year, and during this year, she has spent a lot of time in the house on the outskirts of Lin Jiajing due to recuperation, but even so, she clearly knows that the jade pendant in her hand is not Gu Manxi's.

What Lin Ruo didn't know was that back then, Emperor Mingzong, who got Xiuyu, ordered a craftsman to build two pieces, one of which was given to Lin Kite when she got married, and the whereabouts of the other piece, even Emperor Mingzong, did not know where it was.

She wasn't sure if Emperor Mingzong was aware that this jade pendant was not the one he gave to Lin Yuan'er, the only thing she knew was that her sister Gu Manxi's jade pendant was engraved with her sister's birthday: 癸卯已未丁卯庚子.

And this piece of jade pendant that was retrieved from a pool of blood was smooth and had no handwriting on it.

So who is this jade pendant without inscription? Murderer?

It doesn't seem to be.

Help?

So why have there been no clues for so many years?

This jade pendant is the same as Gu Manxi's jade pendant, both of which are Xiuyu from southern Xinjiang, and in terms of carving skills and textures, they are all from the same person's hand. Therefore, the person who owns this jade pendant must have a very close relationship with the royal family and Emperor Mingzong, but what does it have to do with Gu Manxi's death?

Yu Pei has been in the palm of her hand for a long time, and she has a temperature. In the cracks of the pattern, there are blood stains embedded in it that have long since dried up, which is the blood of her sister who is related to her by accident.

In the other hand, there was a piece of paper that had already been crumpled.

If it weren't for this note, she wouldn't have taken the jade pendant to ask Emperor Mingzong for marriage today.

Someone is looking at the Lin family, how can she stand by and watch?

Turning around, Lin Ruo returned to the room, lifted the lampshade, and threw the broken note in his hand into the candlelight.

In an instant, the tongue of fire greedily engulfed the paper ball, leaving behind a puff of black smoke and a few wisps of ash.

"Knock knock!"

There was a knock on the door.

Lin Ruo didn't look back, and said "Come in", and did not stop the action of putting the lampshade back on the candle flame in his hand.

"Miss, sir, please come over."

There is no need to look back, Lin Ruo also knows who the person is, not just because of the voice, but because, in this mansion, everyone else calls her "Young Miss" according to her request, and only one person will call her "Miss".

This maid, whose name is Youcao, used to be her sister Gu Manxi's maid. Youcao is the maid next to Gu Manxi, left to her before Gu Manxi got married, in order to be able to leave her a maid who can protect her in the Gu family after she marries into the Liu family.

But who would have expected that she walked out of the Gu family safely and soundly and cut off all relations with the Gu family, but Gu Manxi, who married out, did not escape the doom and died unexpectedly and tragically.

Leaving from the Gu family, Lin Ruo only took Youcao with him.

has been in the Lin Mansion for so many years, and there is only Youcao who has served him closely.

Lin Ruo's hand left the lampshade and asked lightly, "Uncle is in the study?" ”

Youcao nodded, "Yes." ”

After that, he stepped forward to help Lin Ruo finish tidying up a little, followed behind her, and walked towards the study.

After staying in Donglu for ten years, except for the strange ideas and ideas in his head, Lin Ruo is not much different from the people of this dynasty, although he is exempted from the daily kneeling of the maids, but these hair accessories are handed over to the maids to take care of.

The door of the study was hidden, and in the dim light, there was a black silhouette, sitting on the desk and flipping through the pages. Lin Ruo knocked on the door and said softly, "Uncle, Ah Ruo asks to see." ”

"Come in."

Lin Ruo pushed the door into the study and left Youcao outside the door.

But most of the things that are to be discussed in the study are confidential. The people below are aware and will not come close.

Lin Qian on the side of the case raised his eyes, with a straight face and beautiful facial features, and his body shape was fat and thin. What he holds in his hand is an account book. It's just that he is wearing a set of half-worn home clothes, and he has no luxurious ornaments except for a jade belt around his waist, which makes it difficult to associate him with the new richest man in Bian'an Chengzhong.

"Sit down."

Lin Qian pointed to the stool made of red sandalwood beside him.

Furniture made of rosewood, even in modern times, is expensive. Donglu rosewood is scarce, an inch of red sandalwood is an inch of gold, only the rich will use a small amount of red sandalwood to make some ornaments and handicrafts at home, highlighting their identity. For example, the Lin family, the bookshelves, desks, tables and chairs in the entire study are all rosewood, and such a low-key luxury is probably the only one. However, because Lin Ruo likes it, and because a certain enlightened monk said that red sandalwood can protect Lin Ruo.

In the middle of the study, there are still sixteen words written by her:

Save on ridicule, and increase resistance to the extreme. Humiliation is close to shame, Lin Gao is lucky. ①

The heroic stroke makes it hard to imagine that this is from a woman's hand.

Lin Ruo bowed, sat down, held the porcelain pot on the table, refilled the tea in the cup in front of Lin Qian, and then respectfully handed it to Lin Qian, letting Lin Qian's eyes look up and down.

In less than ten years, in her hands, the Lin family stood out from many merchants and became the richest man in the imperial capital Bian'an. People who don't know the truth will think that the Lin family has the blessing of Emperor Mingzong and the Empress Dowager, the care of the imperial court, and the clever means of Lin Qian, but Lin Qian knows that what is really powerful is his inconspicuous niece, who helped him hold the economic lifeline of Bian'an, and even faintly in business, he has the appearance of winning Donglu.

I still remember that when I took this little girl from Gu Mansion to Lin Mansion, she was just a little girl curled up in his arms and trembling, silent and silent, but she liked to read books very much, and her favorite was "Guanzi", "Sun Tzu", "Mozi", "Historical Records", "Warring States Policy" and other classics, as well as maps collected from all over the country.

At that time, he also joked that the Lin family was going to produce a female military division.

Although it is a joke, it is also appropriate, Lin Ruo is really a female military advisor who crisscrosses the shopping mall.

She silently helped Lin Qian read the accounts, and pointed out her key problems, although she did not directly participate in the operation of the Lin family's shops, she did know the Lin family's business well, even better than him, the head of the Lin family. On the map she drawn, the Lin family's business began to expand step by step, from Bian'an City, to all corners of the Donglu land, and then to Daiguo, Zeguo, Xishu, and Southern Xinjiang......

As Li Yan, the eldest son of Li Min, the best treasurer under him, said, Lin Ruo is a natural businessman with a keen sense of interest that ordinary people can't match; She seems to have been born with a pair of perceptive eyes, and at a glance, she can make extremely accurate judgments about each other with just a few words.

For so many years with her complementary, the Lin family has hardly handled a loss-making business.

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Note: (1) From the thousand-character text, it means: When you hear the ridicule and admonition of others, you must reflect on yourself; Don't get carried away when you are favored, and fight against the power. If you retreat to the mountains and forests knowing that something dangerous and shameful is about to happen, you can still survive the disaster.