"Since Master Fu attaches so much importance to this Lin Lian, I think things won't go too far," Sun Jing Tang said. "This matter cannot be forced on Ruan Niang either. If Ruan Niang is willing, that's a good thing. For now, let's just pretend we don't know about it."

  Sun Jingxuan thought that it was only so, other people's daughters were all obedient and listened to their parents, but his own daughter had been spoiled by the West River Club from top to bottom, she was too self-willed, and for the time being, he couldn't be too harsh on her temperament.

  At this time, a young couple emerged from a awning boat and stood at the bow to ask Sun Jingxuan: "Uncle, are we waiting here..."

  "Wait a bit longer, after all, we told the water patrol officer that we came to discuss business, and besides, let Wen Yao and others return to Longzangpu first..." Sun Jingxuan instructed.

  The young man and woman are Sun Jingtang's second son, Sun Wenbing, and daughter, Sun Wenpei. Sun Jingxuan only had one daughter, and after his wife died, he did not remarry. Sun Jingtang had two sons and two daughters with his first wife and concubine. The eldest son, Sun Wenyao, was adopted by the eldest branch of the family, Sun Jingxuan, and will inherit the Xihui Association in the future. The second son, Sun Wenbing, also helps out in the association, and both sons are already married with children. Apart from the third daughter, Sun Wenpei, who is only 17 years old, there is also a younger daughter under the age of 10, both born to the concubine.

  The river gang's power is involved in the fortune and misfortune of the boatmen, even if they can temporarily accumulate some wealth, it is unknown when they will lose everything again. Every few years, there are river gangs that split and disintegrate, and it is not easy to maintain a river gang. Among the 16 branches of the Jiangning River Gang, only three have been able to sustain for more than four generations, including the Sun family. The Sun family cannot even think about withdrawing early, first because the government will not agree, and second because they cannot abandon so many followers. Under various circumstances, the river gang's internal unity is crucial, as they are already at the middle and lower levels of the food chain structure. There is also competition between river gangs, and internal power struggles often result in outsiders taking advantage.

  After a while, Lin Jingzhong ran over and asked Sun Jingxuan what was needed on this side. Lin Xian let the river mouth arrange everything. It seemed that they had rushed out yesterday without preparing food on the boat. With nearly thirty boats and six or seven hundred people, if they were to stay here for half a day, there would have to be some arrangement.

  "Do you have mantou, baozi, or congee here? We'll pay for them." Sun Jing Tang's daughter Wen Pei thought Lin Jing Zhong was a running errand partner. Sun Wen Pei had a wild and free personality, with a pretty appearance, but having spent many years on the boat with her father, her skin was slightly dark, yet still radiating a youthful glow. Although she hadn't come over last night, she knew what was going on and even helped cover for Wen Yuan when she left. Only after things happened did she panic, and now that things had calmed down, she seemed eager to take action, thinking of going to the grass hall to see Wen Yuan, but fearing her father would remember last night's events and scold her, she took the initiative to greet Lin Jing Zhong, looking for an excuse to go ashore.

  "What silver are you looking for? You haven't even had breakfast yet, have you? The people on the shore have prepared a lot of mantou and baozi today. I'll trouble a few of you to come with me to bring some over..." Lin Jingzhong said.

  "Alright." Wen Pei was about to jump ashore.

  "Leave the boat, let Wen Bing take people away," Sun Jing Tang said lightly. Although everyone loves Wen Yu, they can't let these two girls get together again now. Sun Jing Xuan and Sun Jing Tang, two brothers, didn't know Lin Jing Zhong, and politely said to him, "Trouble you, little brother..."

  "Nothing else, what else do you need, just let me know." Lin Jingzhong said.

  Sun Jingxuan listened to Lin Jingzhong's words and felt that something was not quite right, so he hastily asked: "I haven't had the chance to ask this brother's name, how rude of me."

  "Sun Hui was the first guest, in Xiaolin Jingzhong, he is the manager of Jiyun Society..." Lin Jingzhong said.

  "Rude, you look a bit like Mr. Lin, are you perhaps his brother..." Sun Jingxuan and Sun Jingtang hastily bowed and apologized, treating the manager of Ji Yun Society as a lowly servant was indeed rude. Wen Pei stood at the bow of the boat, her eyes fixed on Lin Jingzhong, thinking that he looked even younger than her second brother, how could he be the boss of Ji Yun Society?

  "No need to be polite, Lin Xie and I are sworn brothers," said Lin Jingzhong. "Lin Xie is waiting for Sun Hui at the thatched cottage, along with Meng De's uncle. He says he has come to ask a favor of the two masters; as for arranging the accommodation for the esteemed guests, just leave it to me..."

  Sun Jing Tang and Lin Meng De were not very familiar, but he knew that Lin Meng De had a deep relationship with Lin Lian. He even found someone to ask Lin Meng De for help, hoping to spend more money to resolve the matter. Because of this, Lin Meng De received the news late and only arrived at the river mouth now. Unexpectedly, the matter had already been resolved smoothly.

  Sun Jingxuan and his brother didn't linger here either, so they had two of the crowd move the silver that was prepared on the boat last night to the shore, put the silver ingots in a tray and covered them with red silk cloth, and returned to the grass hall together.

  Lin Xie and Lin Mengde, Wu Yanqing were talking in the front hall. They saw two servants carrying trays with silver ingots walking behind Sun Jingxuan brothers and asked: "Sun Huishou, what does this mean?"

  "Offering an apology to Lord Lin, just a small token." Sun Jingxuan said.

  "I told Sun Huizhu at the bow of the boat, without a single false word, that I regard Mr. Fu as an uncle, so I am extremely ashamed of what happened last night. If Sun Huizhu is like this, after Mr. Fu recovers from his injuries and returns to Jiangning in a few days, how can I have the face to see him? Moreover, Wu Xiansheng is also sitting here... Please ask Sun Huizhu to leave." Lin then immediately put on a stern face and ordered him to be expelled.

  Sun Jingxuan was also embarrassed, Lin Mou said it clearly, last night's matter was completely because of Fu Qinghe's face that he didn't pursue it, although it seemed to be caused by Fu Qinghe's letter. Sun Jingxuan hurriedly asked the crowd to return the silver, and Lin Mou changed his smile to invite Sun Jingxuan and Sun Jingtang brothers to take their seats, Lin Mengde also exchanged greetings with them.

  Although the Sun brothers were not familiar with Lin Mengde, they had been entrusted to come out and make this trip, which was a great favor, so they were naturally very polite and grateful.

  "What I said to the officer just now wasn't all nonsense, there's actually something I need to discuss with you two..." Lin tied invited the Sun brothers to sit down and personally poured them tea.

  Sun Jingxuan was startled in his heart, thinking that Lin Xie was going to bring up the matter of marriage directly without regard for propriety. He calculated in his mind and asked with his mouth: "What is it?"

  "Two things," Lin said, "One is that the riverbank pier and the horseway connecting Donghua Gate have been initially completed. The other is that there are no fixed ferries at Chao Tian Tang North Bank and other piers. If Xihehui is willing, can you put a few boats at each of the following piers: Chaotianyi Ferry, Gutang Ferry, Qixia Ferry, Shangyuan Ferry, and Quyang Town Ferry? At first, business will be slow, and we won't charge any tolls on this side. Additionally, I'll give Xihehui a subsidy of two taels of silver per boat per month. Sun Hui, what do you think?"

  "This year's boat transportation has not started yet, it's settled." Sun Jingxuan agreed without hesitation. The river mouth was still quiet, but even if Lin Tie didn't give him a single copper coin, just because of Lin Tie's refusal to accept the two silver plates earlier, Sun Jingxuan wouldn't have hesitated. "What's another matter?"

  "Ji Yun She has a batch of new tea to be transported from Shiliang County to Jiangning, but the transportation capacity is insufficient. I'd like to ask Sun Hui Shou to dispatch a few ships, and the freight will be calculated according to the market price in Jiangning, neither more nor less. Can Sun Hui Shou spare some ships?" Lin Fu said.

  The Dongyang is a thousand-stone ship, with the thousand stones measured in terms of unhusked rice capacity. A thousand stones is approximately one hundred thousand dou of unhusked rice, or about 150,000 jin. In terms of grain, the Dongyang can carry a full load of 100,000 jin. For new tea leaves, it can carry 30,000 jin. However, in reality, new tea requires quality control and is afraid of being stacked too high, so the ship's hold has to be divided with boards to place the tea bags, and enough ventilation space must be left to prevent dampness. The Dongyang can only carry 10,000 jin of new tea when fully loaded. The Dongyang mainly travels on the Jiangning-Chongzhou route to support Changshan Island. Two other thousand-stone ships, Xiaowu Ye, are being built at the Longjiang shipyard with people supervising, although they were already half-finished before the order was placed. However, there are many places that need to be modified, and it will take at least two months for the ships to be delivered. The new tea from the Gu family will be on the market in late April, so Lin Xie needs to hire another cargo ship in Jiangning. There are many cargo ships available for hire in Jiangning, as it is still the off-season for grain transportation until autumn, and the river guilds have a lot of spare capacity. Lin Xie wants to take advantage of this opportunity to build a good relationship with the West River Guild, so he asks Sun Jingxuan to put in a good word for him.

  Once the river gang's power is related to water transportation, they cannot get formal business licenses from the government. Except for carrying private goods along the waterway during the water transportation period, it is prohibited to transport goods privately during the off-season of water transportation. They can only rent their transportation capacity to other merchants to ensure that the boats can be gathered together during the water transportation period. Although the law at that time was lenient and did not strictly prohibit private transportation of goods by the river gang, short-distance transportation had little profit, and long-distance transportation was subject to heavy extortion at various checkpoints, which was much heavier than regular business. It's not about making a profit, but rather a loss-making business after a trip. Usually, the river gang would still be more honest and rent their transportation capacity to other merchants or businessmen, or provide it to the government and military for requisition. For example, during the ten-year war in Eastern Fujian, the grain transportation in the southeastern counties decreased significantly, and the excess transportation capacity did not bring much private benefit to the river gang's forces. Instead, it was requisitioned to support the logistics supply of the Eastern Fujian battlefield. Even if the shipping route to the Eastern Fujian battlefield was shorter, and the labor costs were calculated per person, the river gang still had some benefits. However, the shipyards that openly allocated 8% of new ships every year reduced their proportion by half, in short, the river gang did not occupy even a small advantage.

  Lin Xie's two entrusted matters, Sun Jingxuan couldn't get either of them.

  The war in Eastern Fujian has ended, and the new round of canal transportation has not yet begun. The Xihai Guild also has a large number of idle ships, otherwise it would have been impossible to assemble over 100 ships in such a short time yesterday. There is no work to be done, but the sailors still need to eat and support their families. In recent years, each ordinary sailor can only earn a total of 3,000 coins from canal transportation, which usually takes half a year to complete, just enough to fill their own bellies, let alone support their families. This has forced the river guilds to seek new business during the off-season of canal transportation.

  These things, Lin Xie just started, and the details will be handed over to Lin Jingzhong to discuss with Xihe. After waiting for a while, I didn't see Lin Jingzhong's figure, and I was curious: shouldn't he have let the partners of Jiyun Society handle the matter of accommodating the crowd at Xihe? Why did he come back in person? Can it be that he wants to personally deliver steamed buns, baozi and other food to the boat and feed them himself?

  It so happened that Qian Xiao Wu came over to report on the matter, and Lin Xie went under the eaves of the front hall to talk to Qian Xiao Wu. He caught a glimpse of Lin Jing Zhong personally arranging for people to send food and soup onto the boat. It seemed like he was delivering it to every single boat himself. Behind him followed a girl in green clothes, who looked like she was from the Western River Sect. Lin Xie wondered: Who could she be? Sun Wen Yu's personal maid was also in the side hall, chatting with Su Mei and Xiao Man as they accompanied Sun Wen Yu.

  "Before you take action, go to the dock and bring Lin Jingzhong back." Lin Fu ordered Qian Xiaowu.

  Lin Xie was waiting outside the door for Lin Jingzhong to return, and asked: "Have you found out the maiden name, family background, and whether she is betrothed or not of that girl?"

  "What's the meaning of this?" Lin Jingzhong retorted, but then quickly realized that Lin Xian was teasing him for taking too long at the dock. His face immediately flushed red with embarrassment.

  "You also know it's impolite, right? Then don't stick around there!" Lin Xian squeezed out a sentence, "Come in, I was expecting you to come over and discuss something."

  Lin Xuan had already established his authority in the Lin Jing Center, and these few words were spoken with a tone that was neither light nor heavy. Lin Jingzhong couldn't grasp his meaning, so he didn't make a sound and followed him into the front hall with a humble attitude.

  Sun Jingxuan saw Lin Jingzhong come in, feeling very sorry for neglecting him on the dock earlier, stood up and said: "Let Manager Lin be busy until now..."

  Lin Gu said: "Just now, I asked Sun Hui to discuss two things. Sun Hui sent someone to discuss with Jing Zhong in detail. As for the ferry boat, if Xihai Association is willing to set up a dock at the river mouth, we can allocate one mu of land on this side of the river mouth for use by Xihai Association without charging any money. The land deed can be issued by Yiling County, but if you want to build a thatched hut or a tile-roofed house on the land, Xihai Association will have to pay for it themselves. We also invite Dongyang Township Party to gather here under the same conditions. What do you think, Sun Hui?"

  "Alright." Sun Jingxuan replied, on this side, a medium-sized house with a hundred taels of silver would be quite impressive. If the river mouth really prospered, the Western River Association would have an additional source of income here, which was better than competing with other gangs for business during the slack season of grain transportation. Even if he had to repay Lin Xian's favor with this, it was much less than the 1,000 taels of silver he had just refused. To show his sincerity, Sun Jingxuan said, "Transporting new tea is not a trivial matter, I'll have Jing Tang personally take care of it on the Western River Association's side, and the details will be explained to Lin Daguantie and Jing Tang."

  "By the way," Lin Xuan asked Sun Jingxuan, "I just saw a green-clad girl on the dock, seemingly from the Western River Association. I wonder whose daughter she is and if she's been betrothed to anyone?"

  "...Sun Jingxuan subconsciously turned his head and saw his younger cousin Sun Jingtang, thinking to himself how Wen Pei had ended up in Lin Xie's eyes?"

  Sun Jing Tang was calm, just now Xiao Man and Liu Yue Er came to pour tea, their beauty is really not inferior to that of Wan Niang. Although Wen Pei Mao's hair is also very likable, as a father, he feels that it is slightly worse. Moreover, Wan Niang was imprisoned last night without suffering other insults. Just now, Wu Yan Qing highly praised Lin Shu's character in their conversation, so he shouldn't be a lecher... He was hesitating when he suddenly saw Lin Jing Zhong, who had been calm and composed just now, blush instantly. He hurriedly laughed and said: "Is Lord Lin referring to Wen Pei? She should be my daughter, only 17 years old, she should have been betrothed long ago, but her mother can't bear to part with her..."

  "Jingzhong is my cousin, with a good temperament and knowledge beyond others. Although he didn't pass any imperial exams, he's still from a noble family. He has high standards, and at 22 years old, he's still single," Lin Fu said with a smile. "I'm just casually asking, I know that forcing someone to marry is not sweet at all. Things should be done with mutual consent, only when both parties are satisfied can it be considered successful. I've also often heard that many girls from the river village choose their own husbands, this is truly a good thing..."

  Lin Xie was afraid that Fu Qinghe's mention of the matter in his letter to Sun Jingxuan would leave a psychological barrier for Sun Jingxuan, making it even more difficult for him to win over the Western River Sect. So he brought up Lin Jingzhong and the green-clothed girl Wen Pei to resolve Sun Jingxuan's doubts, clearly telling him that Sun Wenyue did not agree with this marriage, and he would not force her either. Moreover, Sun Wenyue had a strong personality and deep resentment, Lin Xie was really afraid of making things worse and causing unrest in the mansion.

  Sun Jingxuan said, "The girls of the River Gang are wild...". The boatmen can't talk about too many rules, and Wen Yu is no exception. As the head of the Western River Association, he usually stays in Jiangning, but when it comes to grain transportation, he never dares to slack off. He's gone for half a year at a time. The girls don't have their mothers to take care of them, so they follow their older brothers and sisters, as well as other children of the association members, and just hang out aimlessly. How can their nature not be wild? Sun Jingxuan heard that Lin Xian knew about Fu Qinghe's thoughts about him and Wen Yu, but for a while, he couldn't tell if Lin Xian was disdainful of Wen Yu or had some other reason. In short, there was no need for him to have any psychological pressure about this matter.

  ******************

  P.S: The third update, today should have updated 11,000 words, which is considered as paying back the debt of having a cold first.

  In two days I might go out for some fresh air, if there's any debt at that time, I'll pay it back later.