Branch of Ruijiang Commercial Bank, Yongping Street, Yangzhou City.

At noon, it is just the time when most people have lunch, and there are no people on the bustling street in the past. However, when the man at the door saw a familiar carriage coming from there, he immediately beckoned inside. After a while, a number of people dressed in silk and satin, with red faces and shy stomachs, hurriedly greeted them.

"Old lady!"

"Patriarch!"

"Third uncle!"

In the midst of this messy salutation, Old Patriarch Jiang slowly got down from the carriage, nodded at the large group of people with a smile, and then went straight to the gate of the trading house. When he reached the main room in the middle of the road, he sat down on the chair in the center, he didn't look at the people who came in, he wiped his face under the service of the little maid, and then took a hand towel to wipe his hands, and raised his head and glanced at these people in the room.

"What are you doing here, there's nothing to do?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at each other, and it took a while for someone to step forward and laugh with a smile: "Third uncle, you went to Wanquan Villa, everyone really can't put their minds at ease, so ......"

"So what, I still need your advice to do things!" Old Patriarch Jiang threw the handkerchief on the ground, and immediately reprimanded, "There are still thousands of things to do here, and Xiao Si doesn't know where to hide, you guys are too late to cook hard, and you still have the heart to inquire about this and that?" Get out of here, get out of here! ”

Under this angry reprimand, "a man could only leave the room with his head down. When I got outside, I was unconvinced and threw up on the ground. spittle, some shook their heads disapprovingly and snorted softly, and some people still held that kind face, pacing slowly to do things, in short, they dispersed after a while. And the little guy who was waiting outside looked for an opportunity and quietly flashed into the door.

"Old lady." Seeing that the old patriarch Jiang looked at him with a sharp gaze, the little guy quickly bent down deeply, and presented a letter with both hands, "This is just transferred from Nanjing in the afternoon" The villain didn't dare to rush to Wanquan Villa, so he could only wait for the old lady to come back. ”

The expression on the face of the old patriarch Jiang softened a little, and he took the letter and waved his hand without raising his head, and sent the person away. Examining the inscription on the envelope, he did not open it at once, but went out through the back door, and through the back porch to a quiet little courtyard, and stopped in front of the door of the main house, and bowed his hand to a mother standing by the door.

"I'm tired of mother's report for the old decay."

"Madam, Patriarch Jiang asks to see me."

With that announcement, a voice soon came from inside, and the mother also took advantage of the situation to open the curtain. Old Patriarch Jiang politely thanked him, and then bowed his head and entered. When he arrived in the east room, he saw a woman sitting upright on the soft couch facing north and south, holding a teacup, and he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed deeply to the ground.

"Old man to meet Madame."

"Coming back?" Only then did Mrs. Ai raise her head and look Patriarch Jiang up and down, then she smiled slightly, "Looking at your red face, how accurate is the matter?" ”

"I haven't agreed yet, but I just listened to that loose breath, and it shouldn't last long." Seeing that Mrs. Ai was in the property of his Jiang family, the old patriarch Jiang couldn't help but grit his teeth secretly, but his face became more and more respectful, "It's all Mrs. Mention, the Jiang family has a chance to get out of the predicament now, and the old Jiang family pays tribute to Mrs. Lady's kindness." ”

"There's no need to thank you, it's just a matter of benefiting both sides." Mrs. Ai smiled faintly, and her eyes fell on the letter in the hand of the old patriarch Jiang, "But you came to see me with this letter" What, where did the important document come from? ”

"It was sent by Yangninghou of Suzhou." Old Patriarch Jiang handed over the letter with both hands, and said, "Since the Marquis of Yangning left the town of Suzhou, three letters have been sent back and forth, and this is the third one, which has just been delivered, and the old man has not had time to read it. The first two letters only mentioned a little that the Yang family could not forget the previous events, but they said that the Jiang family's current situation was embarrassing, so I was careful to beware of the juniors in the clan seizing power. The old decay was not impressed at first, but it turned out to be expected.

Now that he had sent a letter again, he didn't know what to say, and the old man didn't dare to be self-conscious, so he could only ask his wife for advice. Mrs. is a well-known wise man in the south of the Yangtze River, and she will be able to solve the doubts of the old decay. ”

This flattery undoubtedly scratched Mrs. Ai's itch, and the previous smile finally turned into a hint of joy. She stretched out her hand to take the letter from the old patriarch Jiang's hand, opened the seal and took out the letterhead, and when she saw that it was actually two thin sheets, she laughed softly and said that Yang Ninghou was concise, and when she read it from beginning to end, her smile suddenly deepened.

"This Yang Ninghou is a wonderful person, and he directly sold his nephews and nieces, and his idea is exactly the same as mine!" She stretched out her left hand and handed the letter back to Patriarch Jiang, only then did she blink, her slender eyelashes trembled slightly, and it actually showed a bit of charming style, "He said, the Hou Mansion in the capital is now said to be the old lady in charge, but the old lady prefers her grandson, and now Chen Yan, the younger brother of the county lord of Haining, is running outside. After next year, Chen Yan will be thirteen, which is considered to be the age of general personnel, but it is always not good to have no one around him who knows hot and cold when he sets a marriage. After all, there is a way for heroes to be sad and beautiful people ......"

Patriarch Jiang read the letter from beginning to end at a glance while listening, and his brows widened, and finally he stuffed the letter into his sleeve, and then arched his hand at Mrs. Ai: "What does Mrs. mean ......"

"What else is there to think about in such a good and harmless way? Write a vague reply, don't let someone take this handwritten letter as a handle, and then choose a few girls of about the same age...... No, no, no, let me think again. Mrs. Ai paused, then folded her hands and laughed again, "At his young age, it doesn't work to find those young little girls." Choose some sixteen or seventeen people and train them well. If you want me to say, compared to the side room that has to abide by countless rules in the inner house, the outer room still works...... As long as that person is coaxed, it is much more effective than Yang Ninghou. It must be known that the target Ninghou and Mrs. Tai have a feud, and the family business in the hands of Mrs. Tai in the future is very likely to be in the hands of Chen Xiaosi. ”

By the time Old Patriarch Jiang came out of the house, it was already past dinner. When he returned to his room, the little servant brought the food with a lunch box, but he just used some casually absent-mindedly, and then waved his hand and ordered it to be removed, and called a henchman to come.

"I'm going to stay in Yangzhou for a while, you tell me to go down, let the people over there in Nanjing take a good look at the boss and the boss's daughter-in-law, and don't let him play any tricks!" As for Jiang Shilang, let out the rumors, I don't care if he goes down to collect silk, let him come to see him immediately, otherwise I will open the ancestral hall and expel him, don't blame me for being merciless when the time comes! Hearing this, the steward's face tightened, and he hurriedly lowered his head to answer, and immediately glanced at the person above him, and then whispered for a long time, "Old lady, the seventh master has been circling in front for a while, and has been asking how you are feeling." Look at it like that, it seems like you want to ask to see ......"

"This useless obstacle!" As soon as he talked about his son, Old Patriarch Jiang couldn't help but be angry, and immediately shouted, "Let him stop turning around, and hurry in to see me!" The steward hurriedly withdrew from the door, and only after a while, he saw a collared shirt in his early forties, wearing Hangzhou silk embroidered with bat clouds and happy patterns descending from the sky, and a pair of new black head shoes under his head, who crossed the threshold and trotted forward. Stopping a few steps from Old Patriarch Jiang, he first looked at his face cautiously, and then moved forward one step further.

"Daddy."

"What do you look like when you cower!" Old Patriarch Jiang was angry when he saw his son like this, and he couldn't help but scold loudly, "If you have anything to say, don't be so!" "Yes, yes. "Master Jiang Qi couldn't raise his head in front of his father, and he lost his temper when he was trained like this, "I just want to say that Yang Jinzhou doesn't have a concubine at all now, but I have two concubines under my knees, but neither do my concubines." The head of the family is also in his early forties, if it really can't work, can he marry another ......?"

"Idiot! Don't you know how to count the seniority! Old Patriarch Jiang was so angry that he almost raised his hand to hit a big-eared scraper, but he was afraid that the movement would be too big after all, so he stopped abruptly, "You are the same generation as his mother, if you marry your daughter to his son, what kind of system will this be!" Also, your daughter-in-law gave birth to your eldest son, and just for this, you plan to divorce her? "Ah......h My son knows my mistakes, my son knows my mistakes, it's my mistake! Master Jiang Qi knew that it was not good, so he quickly knelt down on his knees, "In that case, I will ask Xiao Wu and his daughter-in-law to work hard and strive to have a daughter in one fell swoop."

It's just that it's not good to say what will happen in the future, it is said that he doesn't even have a single woman around him, and my two daughters ......"

"Since you know that things are not good, what are you anxious about now!" Old Patriarch Jiang snorted angrily, and then said coldly, "The marriage is just for others to see, and what matters is the interests inside." Although the idea was made by Mrs. Ai, she has never been a good stubble! At the end of Jinling Academy, it is said that the man in her family is the mountain chief, but it is she who is really in charge, those who go out of the academy, respectfully and respectfully recognize her as a master, this kind of person will be so kind to only solve the difficulties of our Jiang family? In short, you give me a little bit of courage, otherwise, how can I overpower the opposition of the clan and hand over the Jiang family's family business to you! ”

"Dad, my son knows, he must think more about everything in the future!"

Master Jiang Qi nodded again and again, and then didn't dare to say anything, and hurriedly exited the house. Seeing him leave, Old Patriarch Jiang couldn't help but fall back stubbornly and sighed deeply. In the first half of his life, he only cared about grasping power, but he neglected his son, and now it is too late to regret it. He is a man of his word in the clan, I don't know how many people he has offended, if his son is not capable, it is not a matter of not being the patriarch, but the possibility of being liquidated in the future is not small!

What's more, this time I don't know if the Yang family appreciates it or ...... Hate! However, this is a move that has to be taken, but it is also a dangerous move, it only depends on whether the person knows how to make a trade-off, he doesn't want to die and break the net.

In the evening, the back door of Wanquan Villa.

During the day, there were a messy stalls, but there was hardly a single patron, some of the small vendors watched their own business, some yawned, and some were laughing and gossiping together, in short, seeing that the sun was about to set, no one got up and left, and it was clear that they were going to stay here until dark.

However, this situation has changed after a few gongs. A few hawkers stood up and looked around for a while, and saw that it was a few errand officers who opened the way, and a large sedan chair followed closely behind, "There were guards on horseback on both sides, etc., knowing that it was an important person, and hurriedly packed up the things in front of them for a while. As someone got bigger, the rest of the people immediately followed suit, and when the messenger had already run over to scold, some of these seven or eight people were pushing carts, and some were driving mules, and there was not a single one left.

Inside the sedan chair, a person originally opened the curtain and looked at it for a while, but when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, put down the curtain and nodded at the person opposite: "Thanks to your reminder, I just went to the back door, so I drove away these people." Well, Mrs. Laitai and Mrs. Yang learned, "It can also make up for my negligence a few days ago." ”

"Fuzun is the parents of Yangzhou Yifu, plus the first thing came suddenly, and there are some who can't take care of it for a while, Mrs. Yang and Mrs. Yang are both reasonable people, as long as Fuzun treats him sincerely, there will be no blame."

The young man who spoke also lifted the curtain and looked out, the afterglow of the setting sun just shone on his face, who was it not Jiang Shiro? He lowered the curtain in a few moments, until the sound of the servants knocking on the door outside, the sound of promises and transmissions from inside, and he couldn't help but squint his eyes and think about the news of the sudden arrival of the patriarch. If it weren't for the fact that he usually has a lot of hands, the soldiers of the Sifang City Gate would have benefited and got the message as soon as possible, "I would have been under house arrest a long time ago."

"Lord Fuzun, my wife is invited."

Such a reply made Yangzhou prefect Fan Cheng feel relieved, and without waiting for the sedan curtain to be raised, he stood up, and then glanced at Jiang Shilang, and actually reached out and pulled someone affectionately. When he got out of the sedan chair one after the other, he saw that there was Aunt Yun who he had seen standing at the back door, Fan Cheng not only did not feel neglected, but had a feeling of flattery.

He hid for four or five days, and at this time, not only did people not let him eat closed-door soup, but there were still people waiting for him, it seems that Jiang Shilang's persuasion is really true! Thinking about it, he glanced at Jiang Shilang next to him, and said softly: "This time this time this mansion owes you a favor, but you can pass this level" must have repaid your favor!" ”

"Lord Fuzun is serious, that aunt has already come up, let's not let the family wait too long!"

Saying this, Jiang Shilang saw Fan Cheng's jaw head stepped forward, and hurriedly followed two steps behind, and waited until he was close to the front to greet and then entered, and he didn't walk long" He saw a girl come up, and said a few words to Aunt Yun and fell behind, it was the long dysprosium he had seen before. When he entered a moon gate, Changdi deliberately slowed down, and when he came up, he smiled and said: "Fourth Prince Jiang, the old patriarch of your family only came once in the morning, and at this time you actually came with Governor Fan, what a good skill!" ”

"I don't dare to call it capable, it's just a little clever." , Jiang Shilang saw that Changdi was dressed heroically, and he accompanied Chen Lan to see him last time, and knew that this must be a confidant, so he immediately lowered his voice and said, "As soon as the old patriarch arrived, he took my authority, and there are still many important people in the Jiang clan, so the semicolon over there has been a strict look inside and out." Fortunately, I brought out all the important people, and he would be out of reach of the shops everywhere for a while, and things could be done. ”

"It's okay."

Changdi nodded happily, and immediately followed and never spoke again. Jiang Shilang immediately collected his mind, and only cared about walking. When he arrived at the ground, the prefect Fan Cheng was first ushered into the small huā hall, while he was taken to the side room to wait. After sitting for a while, he heard the sound of ringing bells outside, and he thought that he was going to the small huā hall, but who knew that the curtain on his side was lifted all of a sudden, and the girl who came in was not the girl who served tea and water, but Chen Lan himself!

Unexpectedly, Chen Lan actually came to see him first, and after being stunned, he immediately stepped forward and bowed. Before he could kowtow, a soft voice came from his ear: "No need to worship, get up." Sit. ”

Even though it's just a few numbers that don't carry much emotion, Eshiro still has a sense of relief that has finally fully surfaced. Now that he did not have the original screen from the previous meeting, he was finally able to fully see the appearance of the young lady in front of him when he sat down again in the guest seat where he had started. However, he only glanced at it twice, and immediately lowered his head.

"I can somewhat predict that you will be able to come, because with the scheming of the city government when you came before, you will definitely not be put under house arrest without even the slightest preparation. However, it can be said that a veteran of officialdom like Governor Fan came together, which shows that I still underestimate you. So, I'm not going to beat around the bush with you. Chen Lan also gestured to the Chang Di who had just glared at him, and stepped forward to serve tea, and then said lightly, "The old patriarch of the Jiang family came here this morning. As soon as he opened his mouth, he said that he could help find my master, but in exchange for it, if the Yang family had a son-in-law in the future, he would marry the daughter of the Jiang family. If there is no one within ten years, I will send a Jiang woman as my lord's side room. ”

"What?"

Jiang Shilang had long thought that the old patriarch would not say anything good when he came to the door in the morning, and maybe there would be some quid pro quo, but he never imagined that it would be such an explicit remark. All of a sudden, he only felt that his scalp was numb, and his butt could no longer sit on the chair, but he stood up all at once.

"My lord, I don't know that the old patriarch is so confused......,... The eldest lady has not heard from her since she returned to Jinling, and she has been preparing for it since then. After the old patriarch was in charge of the affairs of the clan for many years, he had many perverse actions, and many people in the clan who only cared about collecting money were full of complaints. This time he is so confused, and it is really a big basket to let such a person continue to be in charge of big things. Madame wants to know that the position of the patriarch originally did not belong to the third old lady, and it should be returned to the long house! ”

Seeing Jiang Shilang's reaction so quickly, Chen Lan couldn't help but secretly approve, but said in his mouth: "Could it be that you have no intention of the position of this patriarch?" ”

"Intentionality doesn't mean you have to reach out." Jiang Shilang raised his head calmly and said sincerely, "After all, I am young, not to mention that the old deacon of the clan will not be able to pass that level, even in terms of reputation, it will not be justified after all."

And although the wife of the Changfang Sect is justifiable, after all, she has never really held real power, and she has to rely on me to seize power before and after the saddle. In 10 years, I will be able to stand firm. As for ...... in the future, I don't have to take refuge in the shadow of the Jiang clan! ”

Hearing such an ambitious sentence, Chen Lan felt that he was sincere and immediately dismissed his plan to try something again: "You should still have a lot of people in Yangzhou City, lend them to me for a few days, and as for yourself, try to go back to Jinling first, and help Changfang control the Jiang family over there." I know that the old patriarch has been in power for a long time, "not so easy to deal with." Hou Shizi of Zhendong has arrived in Jinling, you must know that the Xiao family is the big customer who purchases the most every year in Jiangnan, and with his full support, I think it will be easier for you to take measures. ”

"Thank you, ma'am, thank you, ma'am!"

Jiang Shilang's trip was for this matter, and at this time, Chen Lan took the initiative to even find the most powerful supporter for him, he was not only surprised for a while, but also ecstatic. After saluting and thanking him repeatedly, he straightened up and said, "What the old patriarch can do, I will definitely do my best, and I will definitely find Lord Yang as soon as possible." ”

"There's no urgency in this matter, you just do your best." Chen Lan clenched his fists quietly, and then smiled, "There are some things I don't want to say so clearly, but more important than looking for someone, you have to find out who the patriarch is connected to!" ”

"Madame, Madame said ......,..."

Jiang Shilang, who had been calm all along, seemed to have been hit hard, and for a while he even stammered a little when he spoke. Seeing that Chen Lan didn't answer, "That expression was still so calm and composed, so he carefully savored the initial words." When he carefully analyzed the old patriarch's promise again, his face suddenly turned pale.

"I must do my best in the next!"

This time, when Jiang Shiro saluted deeply, his voice was already a little unstable. Even when Chen Lan walked out of the door with someone, he collapsed on the chair all of a sudden, and his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat at some point. At this moment, "if the old patriarch was in front of him, he would want to strangle people to death directly."

That's a deed to rob the family and exterminate the clan, does that dead old man plan to let the entire Jiang family be buried together!

When he met Jiang Shilang and went to meet the prefect Fan Cheng, what Chen Lan had to do was much easier and simpler. Although Fan Cheng was a little annoyed at first and recognized the wrong person, Jiang Shilang had already figured out how to stand in line with the pros and cons of analyzing the pros and cons before, thinking about the different consequences of the assassination of the prince and the assassination of the Hou Shizi of Zhendong, coupled with the attitude of those officials in Nanjing towards him, the prefect of Yangzhou. At this moment, he groveled and apologized, and then immediately patted his chest and said that he would definitely send someone to remove all the obstacles at the back door.

For this promise to take the initiative to send it to the door, Chen Lan naturally would not push it out, and agreed with a polite sentence, and had to thank him again, but his words did not involve any request at all. When she politely sent the guest who came in through the back door out the front door, she was finally a lot more relaxed, but when an unexpected message came, she was still distracted for a moment.

North Korea sent envoys to enter from Liaodong, and Dao was the one who escorted the North Korean envoys back to North Korea, and by the way, Li Rui, the sniper who sent the envoy to North Korea, and the previous North Korean envoys and that group of people have not heard from them so far!

At that moment, she remembered that she had heard Mother Wu mention Chen Ying's words that Xiangyang Bo's trip was unpredictable, and for a while she thought of Chen Xi who was far away in the capital, and she even forgot to sigh. Old Heaven Tea ......,... You won't be so blind