Li Wenshan said a few words about going home, "...... there are two things that need your help, one is the matter of Zhong Yiniang outside, we need to let Auntie know. Can you ask Ji Da to find Hong Yiniang? If there's anything, tell Hong Yiniang and let her think of a way to inform Auntie. Hong Yiniang is trustworthy."

  Mr. Qin nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry."

  "One more thing, to prepare for the future, we need to find a reliable place for Clock Granny to live out her old age in peace...we need to make proper arrangements..." Li Wenshan's words were cut off by Mr. Qin: "That's enough."

  Li Wenshan was stunned, and Mr. Qin's expression turned serious. "Wulang has a great future ahead of him, and from now on, he will have many subordinates, attendants, and officials around him. He needs to learn how to give orders and instructions." After a pause, Mr. Qin lowered his eyelids. "Wulang grew up outside without any elders... forgive me for speaking bluntly, the Li family has a deep foundation, but Wulang didn't benefit from it since he grew up outside. From now on, Wulang needs to pay attention and learn these ways of ruling subordinates."

  Li Wenshan nodded repeatedly, but he was secretly dissatisfied. What could he learn from him? He asked him to find a stable and secure place for Clock Granny to spend her old age, what else could he say? Make a gesture?

  "Wu Lang must be upright and honest, Wu Lang was originally an upright and honest person, besides, I'm here now, in the future, there will naturally be others, don't worry."

  Li Wenshan nodded repeatedly, this time not only was his stomach filled with anger, but also his head was covered in misty water, what did he mean by that?

  "There's another thing, you left in a hurry yesterday, the matter of Changping Village has already been set in motion. In a few days, you'll have to make another difficult trip and find an opportunity to visit your father, this is the follow-up."

  "Good!" Li Wenshan finally understood this time and quickly responded.

  ………………

  After seeing off Li Wenshan, Mrs. Xu called in Hong Nian and closed the door, whispering for half a day. When Hong Nian came out, her face was tense, but her footsteps were light and quick, as if she was only touching the tip of her foot on the ground.

  Li Xia sat on a small stool under the corridor, gazing at Hong's windy toes, then looked back at her mother who followed behind with a gloomy face, stood up and followed Hong to the backyard.

  Mother Ah is going to take action now, she can't just sit idly by, even if she's not helping, she has to keep an eye on things.

  Hong's aunt had been busy for half a day, and just came out of the kitchen. The gatekeeper, Old Zheng, was beckoning her from outside the second door.

  Old Zheng nodded towards the outside and said, "There's a man outside who has been looking for you several times. He says he's from your hometown."

  Auntie Hong came out of the corner gate and was looking around, when suddenly Ji Da emerged from beside a wall, waving his hand with a big smile on his face, "Auntie Hong, it's me."

  Hong Ayi subconsciously took a step back, her face alert as she stared at Ji Da, this person she didn't recognize.

  "Auntie Hong." Ji looked around and saw no one, then smiled and said: "It was the Fifth Master who sent me to find you. My surname is Ji, my humble name is Ji Wang, and I have a younger brother named Ji Sheng. We were assigned by the Old Master to serve the Fifth Master and arrived from Jiangning half a month ago. This morning, the Fifth Master instructed me to come find you. He said that since he is far away in Hangzhou, it's inconvenient for him to handle things, so if anything comes up outside, I should report back to you and await your instructions."

  Hong's aunt was stunned for a while before she came to her senses. This Fifth Master, was her family's fifth brother, this old master, was the old master, and it turned out that Fifth Brother had long ago...

  "What's going on outside?" Aunt Hong suddenly became a bit tense, asking with a pinched tone, her fifth brother seemed to be more formidable than she had imagined...

  "Let's take a step back and talk." Ji Da occasionally glanced at the corner door, he couldn't see both sides of the door, so it was safer to speak from a distance.

  Hong Niang followed forward, standing not far from the corner gate, under a large camphor tree that was not close to anything else. Ji Da lowered his voice and said, "It's about Zhong Paozi's matter, Wu Ye had long instructed us to pay attention to Zhong Paozi..."

  Ji Da told Zhong Niangniang about his acquaintance with a Yangzhou prostitute who had returned to care for her elderly mother.

  "... Fifth Master ordered the little ones to keep a close eye, and not long after breakfast this morning, Zhong Baozi came out of the back courtyard, looking very unhappy. She turned onto the second street in front of the government office, went to Old Bai's house to buy a catty of mutton tripe, half a catty of pork head meat, and then carried two bottles of wine from next door to Yang Baozi's house. It wasn't until an hour later that she came out of Yang's house and returned."

  Hong's aunt was stunned, Fifth Brother had already done so many things...

  Ji Da saw Hong Niang's stunned face, so he smiled and said a few more words, "Wu Ye used to ask me to keep an eye on Yang Pozi's side. It is said that Zhong Pozi and Yang Pozi are both from the same origin of raising thin horses in Yangzhou. They see each other as old friends and speak with familiarity. Perhaps we can find out what Zhong Pozi thinks through Yang Pozi, and get a sentence or two of true words."

  Hong's eyes lit up when she heard this.

  This morning, his wife told him about the tung tree. What worried him most was how to tell his father so that he would believe these words and things.

  Can't you think of something here, Old Lady Yang?

  "I'll go and report to my wife first, see what she means. Thanks for your hard work." Hong's nurse felt the silver in her sleeve.

  Ji Da was extremely clever and busy, bowing his head and smiling: "Auntie Hong doesn't need to be polite, we have another place to receive the silver, Fifth Master has instructed that if Auntie Hong needs silver, just let us know."

  Hong's aunt stopped, "Then I won't be polite, the silver is not needed for now, Fifth Brother left me a lot, if something happens, how can I find you?"

  "Mother then went to Huang's old shop to look for Ji Dala." Ji Da replied and retreated a few steps, bidding farewell and leaving.

  Hong stepped through the corner gate and found a secluded spot by the wall, where she stood for half a day, roughly sorting out what had just happened, calming her breath before proceeding inside.

  Li Xia stood at the edge of the flower bed, watching Hong Da go out and then come back. When he reached the corner gate, she saw him, looking at Hong Da's expression... it should be pretty good.

  In just a few days, it will be the middle of the month. Wan Song Academy has a day off on the 15th and the 1st of each month. On the evening of the 14th, school was dismissed, and Li Wenshan and Qin Wang bid farewell to their friends and rushed back to Hengshan County on horseback.

  It was already midnight when they arrived home, and Li Wenshan had a lot of things he wanted to tell Li Xia, but it would have to wait until tomorrow.

  Lying in bed with his eyes wide open, Li Wenshan felt that he would definitely not be able to sleep tonight. Tomorrow was a big day: first, there was the matter of the Changping warehouse; second, there was what Wu Tong had said - he had told Auntie about it several days ago, but why hadn't she made any move? What did Auntie mean by that? And then there were Mr. Qin's words, which seemed to have another meaning...

  It seems that there are only three things, Li Wenshan counted on his fingers again, and it was just three things. How could he feel that there were many things and it was unclear?

  Li Wenshan scratched his head with both hands, according to Ah Xia's words, he was considered a high-ranking official in the future, but that day he got confused about many things. Now three things have confused him, how can he be a high-ranking official?

  This thing, I'm having trouble understanding...

  Li Wenshan soon fell fast asleep.

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