Li Qi is actually a bold and impulsive person, which can be seen from the fact that he is hot-headed and dares to oppose the court officials.

Li Qi mixed in the capital for a few days, and his life became more and more difficult, at this time, a businessman surnamed Hu appeared next to him, who was bold and had a good style.

Although Li Qi thinks that he is a scholar and has always looked down on businessmen, this Hu Gong is really good at being a man, can do things, and is very good at talking, plus Li Qi is in a difficult situation now, he used to have fun with him, eat, drink, prostitute and gamble, and the fox friends who flattered him a lot in front of Li Wei have long since dispersed, he is in a state of loss, at first glance, he saw a rich male brother take the initiative to befriend him, and took him to eat and drink spicy, which almost made him feel that he had returned to the previous high-minded life, and within a few days, the two of them became acquainted, Call brothers and brothers.

After dating Hu Gong for half a month, Li Qi saw that he really spent money like running water, never lacked silver, and was obviously a rich brother, so he didn't feel a little envious in his heart, and when he was drunk, he inevitably complained with a bitter face, saying that he was from a bad background, he didn't have a good family, and now he lacked food and clothing, and he couldn't even afford his wife and children.

When Hu Gong heard this, he slapped his thigh and said with a smile: "What is this, if you want to say that you are like a scholar and want to take the imperial examination, it is a big difficulty for me, but when it comes to making money, it is really not difficult, my brother I can now make thousands of taels of silver in a month, and I don't earn it by my family, what kind of ability is it with the help of the power of the family, my brother and I just rely on myself to earn some pocket money." ”

When Li Qi heard this, he smiled: "Brother, don't bluff me, you are making money in a dream, right?" ”

"Big brother, don't believe it, you are a scholar, you don't know about our business, if it was in the past, it would not be easy to make money, but now it's different."

Hu Gong looked left and right, lowered his voice, and pretended to say mysteriously: "Brother and Brother Li, you are more compatible, so I will tell you about the doorway here...... Do you know what is the most profitable thing to do now? Tell you, it's overseas trade. ”

Li Qi was stunned, thought about it, and felt that Hu Gong was reasonable, after all, he had read books, and he was a person who liked to drill camps, and he had stayed in the capital for so many days, how could he not know that most of the top royal relatives of the Qing Dynasty had made a lot of money through overseas trade.

These things have been talked about in the streets for a long time, and he doesn't know how many times he has heard of them, and he has long ago begun to envy those who have become rich through overseas trade...... Li Qi's eyes lit up, but they turned gloomy in an instant: "Overseas trade is indeed profitable, but this is not a ...... that we ordinary people can contaminate."

To do overseas trade, you have to have strength, first of all, you have to have a fleet, and you have to have a good fleet with a strong force, and if you want to use a few broken ships to run rampant on the sea, it is pure dreaming. With ships, there must be sailors, a large number of escorts, and there must be a certain influence in several treaty port cities to be able to stand.

Moreover, doing this business is very profitable, and the risk is not small, unless it is a merchant ship escorted by warships following the Ministry of Internal Affairs, otherwise, if you encounter pirates or something, it will be all over.

Now the Qing Dynasty can afford to do overseas trade, and there are only a small number of big families, Li Qi drooped his head, poured a glass of spirits, and with the intention of wine, snapped, smashed the glass, and said viciously: "What kind of world is this?" ”

Hu Gong smiled and comforted Li Qi a few words, and scolded him with his heart, anyway, this world is unfair, some people are so rich that they don't put money in their eyes, some people are high and powerful, and their younger brother wants to be an official just a matter of one sentence, which is very easy, but a talented and capable person like him has no luck......

After talking for a while, the two of them were drunk, Hu Gongcai frowned, sighed and said: "Brother Li, in fact, my brother really has a way to go, but it is a bit risky, after all, anything can happen on the sea, but you can really make money, it depends on whether you have the courage to make this fortune, brother...... Hey, this kind of good thing, my brother doesn't want to say it, but I can't bear to see your eldest brother so aggrieved...... Wait for next year's imperial examination, if the eldest brother can make a fortune, buy some antiques and send them to Master Mingde, who is the main examiner this year, maybe, he will be able to title the gold list, younger brother, look at those champions, list eyes, tanhua or something, in terms of talent and learning, you are still far worse than the eldest brother......

"It's over, it's over......" Li Qi smiled, but he also began to think in his heart, he was not worse than the new imperial examinations at all, why did he fail to try repeatedly? An idiot like Li Wei who can't read a basket of big words can ...... You can ...... "Brother, tell me, how to make money, anyway, big brother, I have already been mixed up like this, how miserable can I be, it's better to give it a go." ”

"Happy"

Hu Gong's eyes narrowed: "The cost of overseas trade is too high, it is not easy to do, that is you have no way, in fact, if you have a way, this business is quite easy to do, the younger brother knows a wealthy businessman who specializes in overseas trade, Dongying people, called Kobayashi Masaji, he has a fleet, he has to go to Qingdao and Tianjin Wei several times a year, we can borrow his light, make up some silver, buy some good silk, tea, porcelain or something, these things, once they are shipped to Persia and Dashi, it is gold, no, it is more popular than gold......

Hu Gong's eloquence is good, he said it wildly, and it didn't take long to coax Li Qi's mind to go blank, his eyes were red, and when he returned home, he sold the last remaining family property without discussing it with his wife, and under the introduction of Hu Gong, he borrowed a lot of foreign debts, which was enough to make up 8,000 taels of silver.

Of course, Li Qi did not dare to ignore such a large amount of business, and inquired about Hu Gong's family situation early on. This Hu Gong is the grandson of the Hu family in Anhui, and his family has a big business, not only has several fleets, but also does the business of rice and grain, and the Hu Ji grain shop in the capital is their family.

Li Qi thought about it, eight thousand taels is a huge amount of money for himself, for Hu Gong, it is really nothing, people have to treat guests to dinner in a month, plus to help friends, they have to spend a thousand taels of silver, this little money, really not to deceive themselves. followed Hu Gong with peace of mind.

He didn't know that although the Hu family had a big business, this Hu Gong was just a distant relative of the Hu family, and he was just playing prestige in the name of his legitimate brother, and the Dongying people he introduced were simply engaged in smuggling business, or smuggling opium, of course, in addition to opium, there were also some serious businesses as cover......

The people of the Overseas Trade Division have long been eyeing this group of Dongying people who are smuggling and selling drugs, and they have been deployed for a few months, inquiring about their details, and a month ago, they were caught in a net, but the Dongying people were also ruthless enough, and before they were arrested, they smelled the wind and burned the entire ship with a fire.

The matter was very big, Li Qi was dumbfounded, and went to the Hu family's grain store to find the Hu Gong like crazy, but the people of the Hu family didn't see him at all, and said that the young master of the family had been in the old house in Anhui and was not in the capital at all.

The shopkeeper of the Hu family looked at Li Qi pitifully, and persuaded a few words: "This duke, what you saw may have come to the door a few days ago, a distant relative of our Hu family, you also know that no one knows about the poor in the downtown area, and the rich have distant neighbors in the mountains, our Hu family often has so-called relatives and friends to come to the door, the old man is kind-hearted, once this situation occurs, if you can help, most of them will help, and sometimes provide them with a place to live, but as for the real relatives, or come to fight the autumn breeze, then we can't pay attention to it at all." ”

"It's the Hu Gong you said, he has said goodbye without saying goodbye, if he cheats you out of your money, the old man advises you, it's better to go to the yamen to report the case as soon as possible......

Li Qi had no choice but to sneak home in disgrace, he didn't dare to go to the yamen, and he didn't even dare to make a big deal about it, although he didn't know about it, and it had nothing to do with smuggling, but this matter really made trouble in the yamen, how could he say it clearly, if he planted a hat for smuggling drugs, he didn't know if his little life could be saved.

Ruyi cried as she spoke: "Sister, I know that our family is too careless, and everything is his fault, but now, my sister really can't go on...... Look at my hands. ”

On those hands, the deep and shallow scars are shocking to see, and Ruyun doesn't feel embarrassed, although her sister is a concubine, she has never suffered since she was a child, but now she is ......

"Sister, it's okay for me to suffer a little sin, marry a chicken and marry a dog with a dog, men don't grow up, I admit it, but, but now ......" Ruyun gritted her teeth, "Now that I'm pregnant, I have a child, I can't let my child suffer with me, sister......"

Ruyun lowered her head suddenly, looked at Ruyi's lower abdomen, and then looked at the pain and despair between the corners of her eyes and eyebrows, her heart was sour, but she swallowed back the words of refusal.

After thinking about it, Ruyun beckoned the little maid Xiu'er next to her to come over, and said in a low voice: "You go and bring my tortoiseshell jewelry box." ”

Xiu'er was stunned until Ruyun frowned, and then hurriedly went to pick up the box.

Ruyun opened the box, found an ordinary blue cloth bag, picked out some unmarked gold and silver jewelry from it, wrapped it, stuffed it into Ruyi's arms, and said in a low voice: "Sister, this is my sister's dowry, you can use it first, sell it, it's probably not enough to pay off the debt, but you can also buy some supplements to replenish your body...... My sister can only help you so much, her parents-in-law are not in the capital, and although my sister is the daughter-in-law of the Li family, she can't ...... Can't make trouble for the Li family. ”

If it was just to borrow money, Ruyun told his father-in-law that with the Li family's current family business, it would not be impossible to give her 8,000 taels, but after all, Li Qi was involved in the smuggling matter, although he was not punished now, he also said that he did not know about it, and he was deceived, but who knows the specific situation?

Long live the Lord of the Smuggling, especially the smuggling of opium and other drugs, deeply hate, once discovered, severely punished, all those related to the relationship will have to follow the bad luck.

The Li family is an upstart in officialdom, and her father-in-law Li Wei is originally a character with mixed reputations, as the daughter-in-law of the Li family, she can't let the slightest rumor have a chance to fall on her own head......

Ruyi also knew that this was the limit of what her sister could do, and she looked at the blue cloth bag for a long time before wiping her tears and leaving with a thousand thanks.

Window. Under the pomegranate tree.

"Uh...... Your daughter-in-law's heart is so soft, if you want me to say, you should fall into the well at this time, how can there be any reason to help? Hongyang pursed his lips.

Li Xinghuan just touched his head, he felt that his daughter-in-law was good, if he was really cold-blooded and ruthless, and he didn't even care about his sister, he didn't feel at ease about it.