The housekeeper said unhurriedly: "The third lady's wedding will cost about 500,000 taels, and I have discussed it with the master before, and now the office has helped us catch up with some work, and an additional 100,000 taels have been added." It's a total of 600,000 taels. A few days ago, the old man was not feeling well, and the wife discussed with the servant and ordered a batch of good ginseng and deer antler tiger bones from the northeast. It can be delivered to the home in about ten days and a half months, and it will take about 100,000 taels. There is also the grandfather's ancestral tomb, the master said last autumn that he wanted to renovate it, and the slave just found a craftsman a few days ago. If you use the best everything, you can get fifty or sixty thousand silver. In addition to these, excluding the accounts that have not been recovered outside, there are still about 1.3 million taels at home. ”

"Is it all cash?"

"Did you forget? Our family only has 300,000 taels of silver locked in the basement to be used in an emergency. The remaining 100 taels are all stored in a few big money houses in the capital, eating interest silver. Our third lady's marriage is urgent, and we have no choice but to take three copies of the term that are about to expire. 500,000 taels of silver, we lost more than 10,000 taels of interest alone. ”

Master Shi waved his hand and asked directly: "Wanying's matter is a big deal, and it is worth losing some interest." Don't you have any money in your family? ”

The housekeeper was embarrassed and said, "Master, there are less than 300,000." ”

"That's all?"

"Sir, all this silver is also useful. The third lady still has the last batch of dowries that have not been handed over to us, and this batch is porcelain made by the official kiln. There are a total of 168 products of assortment. It cost almost 80,000 taels of silver. That batch of valuable medicinal materials was ordered from the uncle of the Zhao family, and because we are relatives, we didn't pay the fixed money. Send it over in a few days, and we will have to pay a lot of 100,000 taels of silver. There are also 60,000 taels of repairing the ancestral tomb that have to be paid in advance, and the daily expenses of the family also need silver, so there is no 300,000 taels left. ”

"Why are you so stretched?"

"Master, hail fell during the summer harvest last year, and it rained in autumn until winter. The harvest in summer and autumn is less than 30% of that of previous years. A few granges in the capital can still be slightly supported, and the Zhuangzi over there can't collect one or two rents. Only a dozen truckloads of grain were delivered a few years ago. It's still millet, not wheat and rice. What is this enough for? Can't people like us stick cakes and eat nests? At that time, I scolded those village heads for spurting blood, and now they are becoming more and more uncalculating. Even the New Year's rent dares to fool around. ”

Master Shi didn't care to listen to the housekeeper's words, and only said: "In this case, take out the 300,000 taels in the warehouse and take out 100,000 yuan, and buy some rice and noodles to take to the market for disaster relief......

The housekeeper suddenly knelt down in front of the master and said bitterly: "Master, the slave knows that you don't want to listen to these words of footbinding, you are not at home, and you don't know that firewood and rice are expensive." The 300,000 taels were secretly saved by the old lady when she was alive, and even the wife didn't know it, so that she could support the family when it encountered an emergency. ”

"Isn't disaster relief an urgent matter now?" Master Shi asked rhetorically with a blank face.

"Master, you have stepped down, do you care what it does to help the disaster? The slave knew that the old man was dedicated to the society of the court, but the people's hearts were not enough to swallow the elephant, and those black-hearted and rotten people should make a fuss about this matter, saying that the old man was acting on his behalf. Master, our silver was spent in vain, and the court was taboo. ”

"Whatever, anyway, I've plummeted, now being such an idle official, it's better than nothing, let them descend if you want to......"

"Even if the master doesn't think about himself, the two young masters have not yet married, the eldest young master was raised by his wife, and he will have to get married at least 500,000 taels in the future, and the second master is out of the house, and if he is less than 200,000, others will also point fingers. Now that our income is getting less and less, and the old man has no hat on his head, the grange below dares to deceive and fool, and the slave is so worried about the future way out that he can't sleep every night! ”

"How did you get to this point?"

"Master, now we have all become a joke in the capital."

How could Master Shi not know in his heart, and said lightly: "What do you say outside?" ”

The housekeeper didn't hide it, he was ruthless, and said: "Let's look at the scenery and climb the high branches of Prince Rong." But anyone with a discerning eye can see that the queen mother agreed to the position of the third lady's concubine in the front mouth, and then dismissed the lord's official son. One is false and one is real, and even the minions have a chill on their backs. How can there be a reason to belittle your in-laws when you just get married? The Queen Mother's move really hit our sore spot. Aunt Li, can they not understand these truths? Seeing that his family was about to fall, he didn't take advantage of the situation to quickly set up his own door. These are all the master's family affairs, and I shouldn't have intervened as a minion, but the master's body has been good or bad for the past six months, and the minion's hair is half white......"

The butler cried incoherently, and the master helped the butler to his feet. The Queen Mother told herself in advance that she would demote her official position, but she didn't expect it to be such a bleak situation. Even though he knew in his heart that he could deal with it, the old and small people in the family were panicked, and everyone was in danger.

"Master, I'm just going to tell you all about it today, you don't know that the snobbs in the office, the third lady's gold artifact has cost us six thousand taels of silver, if the master is still in the position of Shuntian Mansion Yin, these eunuchs have 10,000 guts and dare not come to our house to blackmail."

"Is there such a thing?" Master Shi didn't expect such a small and small section.

"Master, where do I dare to deceive the master, I asked about the details of each item that day, and the eunuch in charge of the matter was a little impatient on his face. Rao has to shop around to buy things, let me ask which one is this money? They weren't happy. He also teased me with gossip. ”

"What did you say?"

"Master, these are the words of the mouth of a slut, and they can't enter the ears of the master."

"Say it...... I also want to see the taste of tea and cool? ”

The housekeeper didn't want to say 10,000, but in order for the master to change his mind, he had to say euphemistically: "They said that the original office did not have this task, and we forced them to rush around the clock. ”

The housekeeper wept as he spoke, and cried breathlessly: "Master, isn't this a curse? Panjiayuan is a place to sell old goods, didn't he ask us to go there to buy things, didn't he mean to disgust us? ”

"The world is hot and cold, and people's hearts are not ancient, I expected it, but I didn't expect it to be such a trivial and angry person."

"Master, you are above, naturally a hundred times more wronged than us, the slave didn't say these words just to block the master. The slave wants to say that our family doesn't have to do it now. ”

Master Shi looked up to the sky and sighed, and said slowly: "If you don't save you when you see death, it's not Zhongyuan's character......"

The butler knelt down in front of the master again, put his arms around the legs and feet of the master and said, "My lord has been selfless for the country all his life, so let's think about ourselves now...... If you can't manage it, don't think about it. Isn't it good now? The old man reads books and teases the birds during the day, and when he is idle, he calls the third master and the fourth master to drink tea and talk, isn't this exactly what the master used to talk to the slaves? ”

"Since I can't be blatant, I really can't sit idly by, didn't you say that there are more than a dozen cars of Shu millet at home, and there are still them?"

"Yes, I pulled it over a few years ago, and I piled it up outside the granary, covered it with a canvas. At that time, there was no green and yellow in the capital, and it could not be sold at a price. So I kept pressing it and didn't sell it. Now the time is almost the same, once you make a move, you can get back 5,000 taels of silver. ”

"These dozen or so cars of Shu millet, don't exchange the silver first, hurry up and find a few mills, grind them into yellow noodles, find a random place, build a porridge shed, and count a few if you can save a few......" As soon as the words fell, he added: "From now on, my meals will be halved, except for Wanying's accident, all of them will be halved at home, and the saved ones will be converted into silver, so that the account office will take them out now, make up enough 20,000 taels, and deal with Wanying before her wedding......"

The housekeeper shook his head again and again, and said from the bottom of his heart: "Master, compared with previous years, our family has been much worse than before. The young masters and ladies are still young, and they are too mean to make people laugh. The lord gave me 2,000 taels a year, and I also had some small property outside, and in the past few years, I have also saved some by the light of the lord. I'll give 50,000 taels to the lord myself, so don't be embarrassed for yourself. ”

When he heard this, his heart suddenly became hot, and he burst into tears, hugged the housekeeper and said: "The housekeeper of other people's families has made a lot of money by the light of the master, and your father and son have followed us for two generations, going up the knife mountain and down the sea of fire, and I don't know how many times the dead have been in and out of the pile." After all, I cherish my reputation too much, and I always tell you to restrain and restrain yourself. Two generations have saved so much in two lifetimes, so let's keep it for the children......"

"Master, we didn't follow the Shi family for money......

"I know you're not in it for the money, it's me who wronged you......"

When the housekeeper heard the words of the master, he cried like a child, his snot and tears were mixed together, and he said: "Master, our Gao family did not follow the master in vain, when my father was dying, let the brothers swear to the sky that they would be loyal to the master and the master until death." Master, my father will laugh when he hears these words in the sky. You don't know, sir. Our Gao family was originally not surnamed Gao, my father followed the grandfather, in order to please the old master, changed his name to Shi Dajie, others laughed at us for rushing to add the master's ass balls, my father thought about it, changed his surname to Gao. Later, one of our brothers was named Gao Lianjin and the other was Gao Liansheng. Lian Jin Lian Sheng, my father is a meager blessing to the four young masters of the Shi family, Uncle Zhong Ji! ”

Master Shi burst into tears, stunned, he had been up and down in the sea for a lifetime, but he didn't expect that in the end it would be a bamboo basket for nothing. Fortunately, the steward who shares hardships and hardships has the same original intention, which can be regarded as a little comfort from God......

"Keep your silver by your side, take out 20,000 taels of silver from the ancestral tomb, and take the dozen carts of Shu millet to help the disaster first......

"Master, let us bury the priest when he dies, the offering platform for the sacrifices on the tomb last year is cracked, and the living are wronged, so you can't let the grandfather be wronged when he goes to the fairy world......"

"Lian Jin, don't talk about it...... Just do as I say, my grandfather knows that we have difficulties and won't mind. ”