In his opinion, the so-called "literacy, writing, intelligence and wit" in Chen Shilang's mouth is nothing more than to find a chess piece for him to be willing to use, as well as a tool for passing on the ancestry, nothing more. The Hunan people have long been accustomed to the calmness of Chen Tongpao's detachment from the world, but now after communicating with him, they still shudder, and the strength of the wine in their bodies has been dispersed.

He walked down the restaurant, paid for the wine and food with the shopkeeper, and went out into the street to blow the wind, and his head suddenly stopped dizzy. The Hunan people think this is not bad, at least they won't disturb their own work.

He only rested in the house for a while, and then began to inquire everywhere, claiming that his friends were planning to take concubines, and asked someone to help introduce a few good-looking women. When an official in the court welcomed the concubine's room, he said that a matchmaker had come to the door and told him that there was a merchant surnamed Song in Xicheng, who ran a large industry and had three sons and four daughters, but because of the bleak situation in recent years, he became more and more depraved and poor. Because he still owed a lot of debts outside, he sold tables and chairs, but he still couldn't use them, so he thought about selling his third daughter as a concubine. But this businessman is extremely stubborn and refuses to let his daughter go to an ordinary family, and he has to be a high-ranking official. and talked about his daughter's many qualities, which coincided with the requirements of Chen Tongpao one by one.

Guo Xiang was overjoyed and reported the news to his colleagues. After hearing this, the comrades urgently ordered the servants to go to Xicheng to inquire about the situation and meet the merchant. The latter heard that Chen Shilang intended to take a concubine, so he couldn't help but say a few words 'good', and couldn't wait to immediately load his daughter into the car and send it to Chen's mansion. Seeing that he was so enthusiastic, the servant was afraid of dampening his interest, so he only said slowly: "My master is not a ruthless person, but he will eventually face the bloody wind and rain in the officialdom, and his requirements for his family are naturally stricter. Your old daughter not only needs to be obedient, but also has to understand the situation, and even have the consciousness that she will die for the lord in order to be competent. If Master Chen is satisfied, he will naturally not forget the love outside the staff, and send silver here every year. ”

How could the Song merchant still take care of this, he flattered him when he heard it, and swore that he would never disappoint Chen Shilang, so he sent the servant away and went to the house to teach his daughter.

Since the third daughter heard that she was going to be a concubine in another family, she had been crying so darkly that her eyes were blood-red, and no one could stop her; After three or five days, she gradually became tired of crying, but her face was as yellow as wax, she could not swallow the food, and her voice became more and more hoarse, so that her mother could not cry, and her father was even more upset.

On this day, the Song merchant came to the inner room to talk to his daughter, telling her that he had set up the house of the servant Chen Tongpao, and when everything had settled, he would send someone to greet her.

The third daughter knew that the big thing was irreparable, so she just lowered her head and sobbed without spitting out a word.

Merchant Song sighed: "Now that the family is declining, if you continue to survive like this, we can only mix to the point of begging, and it will be even more devastating for you." It's better to find a high-class family, although the status is poor, but the food and clothing are still worry-free, you can barely give up. ”

The third daughter didn't argue, grabbed the quilt, and said in a trembling voice: "Okay, I'll listen to my father's ......."

Merchant Song leaned on the edge of the bed and said: "This fellow Chen has always been in the officialdom, and he has a reputation for being ruthless, and he is not a person to serve. You work in the account office with your father on weekdays, and you know some of the world's truths, and it is barely enough to deal with him. But when you get to him, remember not to act arbitrarily, not even to show a little superfluous joy, anger and sorrow, just do exactly what he wants. ”

The third daughter's eyes flashed a few more clear lights, she was stunned, that is, she bounced away her tears with her left hand, and asked in an extremely hoarse voice: "Don't show joy, anger, sorrow, and joy...... Is this Comrade Chen such a person......"

After hearing this, his father was speechless for a long time, slowly stood up, turned around, and only left his back for her: "I don't know for my father." You will cherish yourself so much in the future, don't think about it anymore......"

The third daughter understood what her father's words meant, and watched his back pass in front of her, the slanting sun outside the house hitting her dull face, and the light from her eyes gradually swallowed up by the indescribable emptiness.

Three days later, the Song merchant and Chen Tongpao made a paperwork, and the latter contributed 150 taels to include his daughter Song in the mansion. The third daughter had to dress up for a long time, hesitantly got on the Chen family's sedan chair, put on a red gauze hijab, asked someone to hold it, and left the house one by one.

Comrade Chen personally greeted her in front of the house, and when he arrived in front of the sedan chair, he grabbed Song's two slender hands, helped him out, entered the middle hall, worshiped the ancestral spiritual seat, and led her to see Zhuo Lengping in the main room, and softly called her to kneel.

Leng Ping looked at the girl who was kneeling on the ground tightly, but she was only eighteen or nineteen years old, and she looked like she was back then. She suddenly felt sad, and wanted to look up to see what kind of expression Chen Tongpao was facing this picture, but she was afraid of what kind of consequences her extra action would incur, so she just looked at Song's long black hair numbly, sitting like a sculpture.

This was exactly the picture that Chen was satisfied with, he didn't want the two people who used him for his own use to give birth to each other, so he hurriedly ordered Song to get up and give her a polite smile; The latter laughed horrifiedly.

Led by a dozen servants with candles, the two of them followed the bright red light until they reached the front of the dormitory. Chen asked Song to go first, closed the door in the back, and blew out all the lights and candles in the house. The minions knew that Master Chen wanted a round house, so they asked people to disperse everywhere and go to the central hall to drink.

The next morning, the people of Guoxiang received the silver from their comrades and were very happy. Although he heard from the idlers what happened to her at the Song merchant's house, he didn't feel any guilt, and defended: "This is because his third daughter is squeamish, and he has never known the benefits of Lord Chen." Once you have a round house today, you can live a full life. By the way, he wrapped thirty taels of silver for him, and he was congratulated.

Soon after Chen Tongpao welcomed the concubine's room, after only more than ten days' work, he received an edict from above, asking him to go to Shandong to supervise the school immediately, and not to be lazy. So, he hurriedly left his wife and concubine at home and went to the palace to meet Yan Wen.

Yan Wen chose two clerks for him, and after a few more words, he ordered a few good horses in the garden to be prepared, and urged them to set off quickly; And all men were commanded.

The boundary of Shandong, since Ye Yongjia left for many years, has been very different. The prefect of Jinan has changed three terms, and when he was in the fourth term, he was demoted because of repeated disasters, and the new prefect was really annoyed by Yan Wen after half a year.

"Lord Yu, the new county doctrine in Qufu, the matter of Xuetian ......"

"That's enough." Before the prefect could finish listening, he waved his hand and replied helplessly: "If it doesn't work, continue to talk until those squires are satisfied!" ”