Osmanthus fragrans handled matters efficiently, and in a short while, he walked in with a smile, carrying the money box, saying: "Miss, it's all settled. There are 24 taels of gold and 65 taels of silver."

  It's really rare, I'm so poor myself. Besides, I'm still young and all the expenses at home are paid by my husband, even personal jewelry is scarce, let alone gold and silver? Moreover, now every dou of rice only costs 30 cents, it's not bad to have some savings. Although thinking this way, Lin Jinrong still felt a little disappointed, she locked the money box with her eyes down, handed it to Guiyuan in a listless manner: "Take it back and put it away."

  Lychee and Longan saw her high spirits suddenly drop, unknowingly, they exchanged a mysterious glance, but neither dared to ask the reason.

  But then the little maid Dou'er, who was in charge of sweeping and cleaning the courtyard, hurried over and stood under the curtain, saying: "Fourth Miss, Master has sent someone to invite you to go to Listening-to-the-Waves Pavilion at once."

  "Who's there? Who is it?" Lychee and Longan both changed color, the old man had never proactively called any of his granddaughters to his Listening Wave Pavilion, even on ordinary days when the girls would respectfully greet him with a bow, he would just slightly lower his eyelids and let out a cold "hmm" from his nose, his demeanor was intimidating.

  He suddenly called Lin Jiran over at this time, and it's likely related to today's cicada incident! I don't know what attitude the old master will take. If he also listens with prejudice and wants to punish Lin Jiran, then Lin Jiran won't have any chance of turning things around, so how can the three houses be okay in the future?

  Their emotions quickly passed on to Dou'er, who looked around restlessly and said, "It's Mai Zi, he just delivered the message at the door and left."

  Lychee suddenly felt a wave of disappointment, and it seemed that even asking about the situation was not possible. Mai Zi was a young servant who served Old Master's side, only seven or eight years old, but because he was quick-witted and diligent, he usually helped transmit messages for Old Master's Tingtao Residence. Although he could still run errands to the second gate, he didn't dare to casually enter the girls' courtyard.

  It was an expected thing, from the moment Lin Shenzhi entered that building, she had been waiting for the old master's summons. Lin Jingrong gathered her spirits: "Bring over the shoes, and bring me that pair of green jade hairpins that Second Madam sent over this morning to tie up my hair, who among you will go with me?"

  Guigui silently went to flip the green jade skirt, a shadow in her heart. If this time the young lady was to be punished, the first ones to suffer would be these personal serving maids, Old Master was so fierce, a few years ago he had ordered the punishment of one of Young Master's maids, that maid wailed for half the night before she left... Guigui shivered with fear, her movements slowing down.

  Lychee crouched down to help Lin Jinyong put on her shoes and said in a low voice, "Miss, I'll go with you."

  Lin Jinrong smiled slightly: "Alright." Today is a disaster or a blessing, she doesn't know, but for Lychee, one day, she will use all her strength to repay Lychee. The so-called loyal servant and righteous master are not obtained in vain, nor can they be accomplished with just one thing or two words.

  Osmanthus fragrans then took out a cyan jade buckle and a silver-white brocade waistband, and handed them to Lin Jincan, saying with feigned intention: "Miss, let's go together."

  Lin Jinyong said kindly, "No need to, this house must leave someone, so that when the old lady or the madam comes to find me, Dou Er can't explain clearly." What's the point? This thing called human heart is not comparable to gold and silver, it's like a flower in the mirror, a moon in the water, it's the most difficult thing to seek in the world, she doesn't force it. Guigui, let's just leave it at that.

  The osmanthus flower seemed a bit embarrassed, her face red and her head bowed, saying in a low voice: "I will definitely take good care of the house."

  Lin Jianrong nodded and went out.

  Watching her and Lychee walk away, Guirong Fan let out a soft "ah" and rushed to the door - the girl had forgotten to hand over the key after locking the money box! But she didn't dare call her back now to ask Lin Jiran. Guirong stood there for a long time, then bit her handkerchief and went back inside.

  Mr. Lin was particularly angry with the person, so Lin Jinrong walked a bit hastily, circling several houses and crossing two or three small bridges made of wood or stone before slowing down her pace and calming her emotions as she walked.

  She stopped outside the Listening-to-the-Waves Pavilion, where pines and cypresses grew in profusion. She lowered her eyes and went forward from under the lychee tree to greet the little gatekeeper of the Listening-to-the-Waves Pavilion: "Fourth Miss has come to pay her respects and receive instructions from Old Master."

  That little fellow didn't dare look at Lin Jinrong, hung his eyelids and sang a note, went back to the house to report, came back with a slight inclination and said: "There are guests in the old master's room, please ask Fourth Miss to wait in the side room for a while."

  Lin Jinyong lowered her eyes and followed the young servant to a side room. As she was about to enter, she heard Old Master Lin's loud laughter: "So it seems that this year is indeed a good harvest! Heaven bless our dynasty!"

  Another unfamiliar male voice accompanied by a smile said: "Yes, bless our dynasty, bless our dynasty! That great uncle, my family's few acres of land..."

  This warily called Lin old master as big uncle, who is this kind of good person? In the family, there are also several uncles and brothers, Lin old master can help if he can, and will not let people beg like this. Lin Jingrong was curious in her heart, but it was not convenient to stop, she could only walk straight ahead, and the small servant "squeaked" and tightly closed the side room door, and sat for nearly an hour.

  No one came to serve tea or water, nor did anyone come to ask after them. All they could hear was the sound of footsteps coming and going from the doorway, but none of them stopped in front of their room. It seemed as though everyone had forgotten that they were still waiting inside for the old master's summons. As they watched, the originally golden window paper gradually faded away. A loud crash came from next door, and Lüzhi couldn't help but speak up: "Miss, should I go ask what's going on?"

  "If it's convenient, I'll ask, who was the person who just asked for Old Master Lin?" Lin Jin sat upright on the six-sided open-work round stool with a calm and composed expression. Her back was straight as a pen. Old Master Lin was intentionally teasing her. If she were someone who couldn't endure, she would have lost her temper long ago, but she had been accustomed to loneliness and coldness since her past life till now.

  Lychee didn't ask much, silently opened the door and went out, came back soon, with a worried look on her face: "The guest from earlier has left, the one inside now is Third Master, judging by the sound, it doesn't seem too good."

  Lin Jinrong curled up the corners of her lips, and the unease in her heart instantly dissipated. In her past life, she had not been close to Old Master Lin, but she knew a thing or two about his temperament. It was definitely because Lin Sanlao had been scolded again, and Old Master would first scold the elder before scolding the younger one. By the time it was her turn, Old Master's anger would have dissipated somewhat. As for what to do next, she had already carefully planned it out. Seeing Liuzhi worried sick, she decided to shift his attention: "Tell me about the guest earlier, how come I couldn't tell which elder from our clan he was?"

  That's the one who came to pay respects two years ago, a distant relative of ours, they call him Old Master Lin Chang. Apparently, it was during our ancestors' time when some old master went south for his studies and left his family business there. A few years ago, he offended someone and couldn't stay there anymore, so he came back to throw himself at our mercy. The old master helped him out by buying land and building a house. Now that the autumn harvest is over, it's time to pay taxes, but his household doesn't have any official titles, and they have many mouths to feed... He wants to put his fields and property under our family's name... He took advantage of Old Lady's birthday celebration to come offer gifts and bring up this proposal.

  This was something Lin Jinyong knew about, called "false name and tenant". When she was still at the Lu family's house, someone had also asked for the Lu family's protection. It was some small and medium-sized landlords who wanted to avoid taxes and pretended to be tenants of a official household like the Lin family, so as not to pay taxes. According to Old Master Lin's temperament, although he talked about the country and the world, he would definitely help this person evade taxes in order to gain a reputation for being virtuous within the family. Autumn harvest, taxes... Lin Jinyong thought for a moment, suddenly remembering something very distant, she thought silently for a moment, her eyes suddenly lit up, if it could be successful, then next year her private money would not be just this little bit.

  The master and servant waited quietly for a long time, the sky completely darkened, the lanterns under the corridor also rose, and several groups of footsteps passed by before Fuquan whispered at the door: "Old Master invites Fourth Miss over."

  Lychee let out a sigh, Lin Jinrong stood up, carefully smoothed out the wrinkles on her skirt, and tidied up her hair, before walking out steadily. Lychee had only followed her for a few steps when Fuquan stretched out his hand to stop her: "The old master has only invited Fourth Young Miss."

  Lin Jiner turned back, but saw Lizi's face under the big red lantern was pale, and her eyes were also full of fear. Lin Jiner shook his head slightly towards her and calmly said: "If so, Lizi, you just wait for me outside." Then he steadily walked into Old Master Lin's study, bowed down without lifting his head: "Granddaughter greets grandfather, grandfather is blessed with good fortune."

  After a long time, Lin's old master's slightly tired voice rang out: "Get up."

  "Yes." Lin Jianrong stood still, raising his eyes to look forward.

  Mr. Lin sat behind a long and wide purple sandalwood desk, his whole body hidden in the lamp shadow, his waist and back straight, a pair of old but not dim eyes faintly sizing up Lin Jianrong, his voice flat, cold and majestic: "Is today's matter something you stirred up?"

  Why do people in this world, who clearly know the truth, still like to play such guessing games and never get tired of it? She dared to do it, so she dared to take responsibility. Lin Jianrong slightly raised the corner of her lips: "I don't know which one Grandfather is asking about."

  Old Master Lin's eyebrows slightly raised, his expression stern: "You'd better tell me, what are these few things?"

  Lin Jinyong's voice was calm and clear: "There are three things. The first is that Wu, the eldest brother of the Wu family, led the younger brothers to see their grandfather's favorite Lingbi stone, but the base of the stone was unstable and fell into the lake. Eldest Brother Wu was afraid of being punished and wanted to jump into the water, but I stopped him and asked Mother to send someone to retrieve the stone; The second is that Wu sent a cricket to Seventh Brother, which caused Sixth Sister, Seventh Sister, and Seventh Brother to quarrel. I scolded Sixth Sister and Seventh Sister and threatened them to apologize to Seventh Brother, which made Seventh Sister lose face; The third is that Sixth Sister and Seventh Sister went to Grandmother's place to cry and complain, but I was afraid of implicating Mother and younger brother, so I told Seventh Brother to take the longevity peach to seek Grandfather's protection."

  You can lower your head, but you must never lose your backbone. Lin Jin knelt upright on the bluestone floor, her back straight, with her forehead pressed against the cold stone, her voice having a few parts of Tao's metallic hardness: "Grandfather wants to punish his granddaughter, and his granddaughter acknowledges it. Please, Grandfather, punish me."

  [bookid=1911369,bookname="National Color and Prosperity"][bookid=1736421,bookname="Joyful Gate"][bookid=1421817,bookname="Leftover Woman is Not Virtuous"][bookid=1296881,bookname="Heavy Flower Shadows"][bookid=1589709,bookname="Heavenly Clothes are Enchanting"]