The next day after Yu Yuanshan feasted the merchants of Huainan Road, Shui Tu rushed to Yangzhou City, he was in charge of the business of the Shui clan in Kaiping Mansion, and it took a lot of time to hand over clearly, counting the days, day and night along the way, and finally rushed to Su Zicheng and Li Xiaoqi to leave Yangzhou and advance to the city.

Shui Tong saw Ruan Da first, asked carefully before and after, looked at Ruan Da with a happy face in front of him the four tea mountain land deeds and the liquor license of Yicheng, looked at him just didn't know what to say, stayed for a long time, and then reluctantly smiled: "Uncle Ruan hurry back, Uncle Ruan has instructed you to hurry back quickly, Huainan Road is handed over to me." ”

Ruan Da looked at Shui Tong's face, suddenly pondered a little wrong, and hurriedly asked with a smile: "Uncle Tuo, although this trip has been a little twists and turns, but these four tea mountains are distributed on Huainan Road from the northernmost to the southernmost part, they are all rare good tea mountains, this wine brand ••••••" Shui Tong snorted sullenly, patted the four land deeds and asked in annoyance: "This is what you took from Fifth Brother Zhao!" ”

"Yes, how much he spent, how much we paid, a tael of silver is not less!" Ruan laughed, Shui Li looked at him and said with a wry smile: "Our Shui family has been doing business like this all these years, as long as you say a word, naturally someone will send a ready-made business to the door, you are also used to it, why don't you ask, who is in charge of this Fifth Brother Zhao?" ”

"I know this, it's the fifth master of that girl." Ruan Da said with a smile, Shui Tong choked, looked at him straight for a long time, and smiled helplessly: "Okay, it's late today, you can go back and rest, pack up, and leave early tomorrow morning to go back, Uncle is waiting for you to reply." Ruan Da stood up hesitantly, and couldn't think of anything for a while, so he had to hesitantly withdraw, settle the accounts with the tent brought by Shui Tong, and set off to rush back to Kaiping Mansion at dawn the next day.

At dawn the next day, Shui Tong took a few baskets of local products brought from Kaiping Mansion, and went straight to Yangjiao Hutong to find Zhao Wuge and Zhang Zhongyi, Zhao Wuge and Zhang Zhongyi muttered and muttered with a book, and were about to go out, the two of them had seen Shui Tong a few times in Kaiping Mansion, but they had not talked, at first glance, they were startled, and hurriedly and politely invited Shui Tu to go in, and Shui Tu was also simply, entered the house, first took it to the end, and sincerely apologized for Ruan Da and accused, Zhao Wuge and Zhang Zhongyi now have a lot of business at hand, In addition, two barren mountains have been bought and handed over to Yan Jiasheng to open the tea mountain, the matter of the four tea mountains has long been put aside, on the one hand, the water is deliberately handed over, on the other hand, Zhao Wuge and Zhang Zhongyi have a very good impression of the water family because of Wei Shuisheng, the three of them talked very happily, Zhao Wuge accompanied the water to go to President Qian's office to thank him, President Qian only felt dizzy, Kaiping Mansion Shuijia, that is the character in the eyes of the clouds, and now come to visit himself, this is really like a dream!

In the afternoon, Shui Tong rushed to the other courtyard, let people pass on the request to see the prince and the fifth master, Su Zicheng called him in and asked a few words, and sent him to see Li Xiaoyi, Li Xiaoqi politely greeted the door, Shui Tong accompanied the crime again, saw that Li Xiaoqi did not say much in a word, and then did not mention it again, only told Li Xiaoqi how Shui Tong and how Shui Lian's family affairs were prepared, passed by Huaiyang to see how Shui Yan and Wei Shuisheng were gossiping, said more than a quarter of an hour to say goodbye, and went to visit Yu Yuanshan and Shi Yu the next day, In the evening, I went to the reception banquet of the Yuanfeng Hall, and I was busy for four or five days before I took the stewards and the tent room out of Yangzhou City and went to check the tea mountains and sprinklers everywhere.

The day before the Double Ninth Festival, Li Xiaoqi accompanied Su Zicheng, from early in the morning, he took Chongyang cakes, longevity auspicious bags, and dragon head crutches, and went door-to-door to congratulate the elderly over 60 years old in Yangzhou City, Yu Yuanshan and Shi Yu together, from early the morning of the previous day, they took people out of the city with things, and sent festival gifts to the elderly over 60 in the villages and towns in Yangzhou to congratulate Chongyang, and in Chuzhou and Runzhou, Zhao Hongzhi and Ming Qian went door-to-door to send gifts to congratulate the festival.

For a time, Yangzhou City was very lively inside and outside the city, Su Zicheng and Li Xiaoqi followed by a long crowd, every household was noisy and lively, Su Zicheng's modesty and amiability, even Li Xiaoqi looked strange, walked most of the city, a group of people turned into an alley, the spacious alley paved with bluestone slabs looked simple and elegant, there was only one family in this alley, but the gate was closed, followed by the lively crowd approaching the alley, and the noise was immediately lightened, Yangzhou Fucheng, who was holding a booklet in front of him to guide the way, looked at the closed door in the alley, swallowed his saliva, and looked back at Li Xiaoqi in embarrassment, Li Xiaoqi looked at the closed door, looked at Su Zicheng and laughed in a low voice: "The old gentleman wants to help you achieve a good reputation, and it is also well-intentioned." ”

Su Zicheng was frowning slightly and staring at the closed door, and was laughed out loud by Li Xiaoyi's words: "You think about the good!" How will this end if you can't open the door? ”

"How did the Yuan family end? Or how do we end up? Li Xiaoqi slowed down and asked softly with a smile, and Su Zicheng also slowed down and said, "How do you say this?" ”

"This old man Yuan is the head of the literati bachelors on Huainan Road, known as a model of learning and morality, not to mention that Liang Wangye came to the door to congratulate Chongyang, that is, the general junior came to congratulate him, he didn't see you to make sense, but the door was closed like this, which reason is this? Today, everyone is watching, if he dares to be rude first, don't blame us for following the stick, he has to be beaten and ruined. Su Zicheng raised an eyebrow and looked at Li Xiaoyi, then turned his head to look at the door of the Yuan family, which was still closed, and laughed softly: "Let's gamble, let's call the door, is he open, or not, I'll bet, what about you?" ”

"I'll bet on it too!" Li Xiaoqi said unceremoniously: "If you don't change the bet that you can't open, what do you bet on?" Li Xiaoqi said with a smile, Su Zicheng looked down at her and said with a smile: "I have a courtyard on Xuefeng Mountain, if you don't open the door, that courtyard will belong to you." Li Xiaoqi turned his head and smiled and diverted the topic: "It's here, I've wronged the prince." ”

Su Zicheng raised his hand to stop Dongping, who was about to go up the steps to buckle the door knocker, stepped forward with a smile, buckled a few door knockers, stood half a step back, put his hands behind his back, and waited for the door to open safely, there seemed to be a sound of footsteps in the door, but the door did not open, Su Zicheng's smile on his face remained unchanged, and he stepped forward to buckle the door knocker a few times, and took half a step back to wait aside, this time after waiting for a while, the door opened half of the crack from the inside, and an old porter with gray hair poked his head out, Su Zicheng still had his hands behind his back, looked at the old porter and said with a smile: "Old man, I am tired of reporting to Mr. Yuan." , later in Beiping Su Zicheng came to congratulate the old Mr. Chongyang. ”

"Alas! You are •••••• that you •••••• prince wait, wait! The old porter seemed to have forgotten the words, and replied in a confused manner, wanting to close the door and go in, but when the door was closed halfway, he felt that it was wrong, and he was busy opening it again, and he took a long step back for Su Zicheng, and ran in a little stumbling to reply.

After a while, a middle-aged man about Chinese New Year's Eve years old walked out with the old porter, pushed open the door, and shook Su Zicheng to the end, picked up his long shirt, and made a gesture to kneel down, Su Zicheng didn't hold on, only smiled and watched him kneel down and kowtow, and then politely stepped forward and said: "No need to be polite!" No need to be polite! ”

The middle-aged man stood up and said politely: "The prince is here, the Han family is really prosperous, but my father is seriously ill and bedridden, and he has disappointed the prince's kindness." Su Zicheng looked at him with a smile, raised his hand and motioned for the little maid to bring the gift and said with a smile: "Then Xiao Wang won't bother, please tell the old gentleman and ask him to raise him with peace of mind." As he spoke, he motioned for the little guy to put down the gift, went down the steps with his hands behind his back, and turned around with Li Xiaoqi and walked away. The middle-aged man stood at the door in a daze, looking at the alley that was empty in an instant, and countless sevens and eights gradually appeared in the emptiness of his heart.

Su Zicheng and Li Xiaoqi walked out of the alley, turned their heads to look at Li Xiaoqi and said with a smile: "The courtyard of Xuefeng Mountain belongs to you." Li Xiaoqi pursed his lips and smiled, but said another topic: "Next year is the year of Dabi?" ”

"Hmm." Su Zicheng asked with an 'um' sound, "What are your plans?" ”

"No, just ask, this old man Yuan is also too high." Li Xiaoqi said casually, Su Zicheng thought about it and smiled: "I don't know if there is anyone in the Yuan family at tomorrow's Wenhui." ”

"Surely no one will pass." Li Xiaoqi concluded: "But since the Yuan family won't come tomorrow, let's hide it at home in the future, this Huainan Road Wenhui will not have this Yuan character from now on." Su Zicheng looked at Li Xiaoqi and nodded with a smile on his face.

The next day's Chongyang Cultural Meeting, selected in the scenic spot of Guanyin Mountain, two or three miles outside Yangzhou, the Yuan family really no one came, only sent a housekeeper to find Shi Yu to confess, Shi Yu didn't say a word, only let the steward change the sentence 'please take care of the old man'.

Guanyin Mountain's literary meeting is very lively, the people to be invited to this literary meeting, Yu Yuanshan, Shi Yu and Li Xiaoqi discussed many times before deciding, most of the young talents invited, the children of the big families on Huainan Road almost did not fall, and the slightly better poor students in the official schools everywhere were also invited, nearly a thousand people, Guanyin Mountain was very lively around the upper and lower levels, Li Xiaoqi accompanied Su Zicheng from the foot of the mountain around the circle while chatting with the students, from the foot of the mountain to the main seat at the top of the mountain, walked for more than an hour.

This meeting of thousands of people did not disperse until the sun set, Su Zicheng and Li Xiaoqi did not return to the city, and stayed in the Fanyin Temple not far from Guanyin Mountain for one night, and at dawn the next day, they set off to Kaiping Mansion.

The two of them did not go fast this way, especially in the territory of Huainan Road, while walking secretly checking the autumn harvest and autumn planting and official governance everywhere, and walked straight for nearly 20 days before passing the Yongcheng Pass and entering the Beiping boundary, the two of them accelerated their journey, and finally advanced to Kaiping Mansion in late October.