Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 791: Life is like a guest without me.

Two days later, Suiyuan.

The slanting sunlight in the afternoon falls meltingly on the front and back of the Ogura Mountain House. The mottled light and shadow crosses the porch and reflects on the crystal clear glass windows, shining brightly.In the courtyard of Xixuan, an ancient Qiuqu cypress, no more than five feet high, is as green as scales, with green branches and leaves curling in the wind. The Taihu stone standing next to it is exquisite and clear, like a graceful girl facing it.

The line of sight moved westward, across the corridor, around the "Golden Stone Collection" filled with gold and stone antiques, turned south, passed through the "Huanxiang Place" full of peonies in summer, and further west, arrived at the place where Yuan Mei took a nap in the afternoon - Xiaomianzhai.

This five-bay hall is surrounded by osmanthus and green bananas. There is only a stone path leading to other places, which makes it feel far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.At this moment, the room was filled with green smoke and silver charcoal. The 79-year-old Yuan Mei, wearing a pair of glasses, was sitting on the couch playing music.

Yuan Mei has been fond of Go all his life. Over the years, whether he was in Jiangning or traveling, he played almost every day. He also recorded his wins and losses in detail. His attitude was not unserious.Even when he was in Beihai Town last year, he visited various places during the day, and at night he would drag Zhao Yi, Wang Zhong, Duan Yucai, Jiao Xun and others to play chess with him.

If there is a knowledgeable person present at this time, he will be surprised by the chessboard and chess pieces in front of him, and even feel envious and jealous.Because the entire chessboard is actually made of two large pieces of agarwood, and the lines and star points on it are inlaid with thin silver wire, exuding a faint sweet aroma; while the black and white chess pieces are made of rhinoceros horns and Made of ivory, the white one is warm and the black one is cool.

A truly rare treasure!
Well, this set of chessboard pieces is actually "junk" that Zhao Xin picked up from the Royal Palace in Hue a few years ago.Since he himself had no interest in Go, and both rhinoceros horns and ivory were contraband in another time and space, and there was no way to exchange them for money, this thing could only gather dust in the warehouse in his backyard for several years.

Last year, at the age of 78, Yuan Meineng traveled thousands of miles to support the new imperial examination in Beihai Town. Zhao Xin felt that no matter what the purpose, he had to express his gratitude and give a return gift.When he learned that the old man played chess with people every day, he found this set of things.

Because the gifts were received just before boarding the ship and packed in a suitcase, and there were a lot of people present to see them off, and there were also a lot of gifts, Yuan Mei didn't even bother to look at them.By the time he opened the box and let out a shocked exclamation, the "Thunder God" had already passed the Tsushima Strait.

He knew very well how precious this set of chess pieces was, so when he returned to Suiyuan, he kept it in the "Gold and Stone Collection" and never showed it to anyone else, only occasionally taking it out for his own entertainment.

"Crack~~"

When the last white stone landed on the chess board, the seventh game of the "Danghu Game" that took place 55 years ago was all played out.The concubine Zhong Ji on the side saw this and handed over the hot towel in her hand.

After Yuan Mei finished wiping her hands, Zhong Ji took another plate from the table nearby. Inside was a square, golden baked cake.

He learned how to make cakes from Beihai Town.At that time, he tasted it for the first time at the dinner party hosted by the Travelers for him and Zhao Yi, and was immediately impressed by its soft and sweet taste.

In order to make "Yuan Da Foodie" satisfied and comfortable with his food, Zhao Xin even used several of his own chefs to cook different dishes every day, serving Chinese and Western food in turn.

When Yuan Mei left, in addition to large and small packages of gifts and specialties, there was also a thick cookbook.After returning to Xiaocangshan, he immediately asked the cook at home to learn how to cook it.In the end, these dishes from another time and space were included in his "Suiyuan Food List".

For example, duck, which was originally included in the Yu clan list, now has a "roast duck in a hanging oven" method.

Just as Yuan Mei was enjoying afternoon tea contentedly, she suddenly heard a rush of footsteps coming from outside the door.Soon, the door was pushed open, and a young man of eighteen or nineteen years old walked in quickly.

This man was of medium height, wearing a sapphire blue dark floral silk robe, a crimson belt, and a white jade braid at the root of his hair. He looked like a rich man.It's just that his face, which was originally clear and delicate, now looks extremely pale.

Yuan Mei put down the silver fork in his hand and asked strangely: "Atong, why are you so panicked?"

The person who came was Yuan Mei's eldest son, Yuan Tong. He walked quickly and shouted in a low voice: "Father! Something bad is going on, something is going wrong! The court, the court is going to take action against our family! They are going to raid our house." Suiyuan, I’ll put you under house arrest!”

"Ah!" As soon as these words came out, Zhong Ji beside her suddenly turned pale and cried out.

Yuan Mei was shocked when he heard this, but he still said calmly: "Don't be anxious, speak clearly."

Yuan Tong was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot at this moment. He repeated what E Su told him at noon, and finally asked: "Father, I'm afraid that the government will take action in the next few days, let's go out for a while first." ?”

Yuan Mei stroked his beard and pondered for a long time, then shook his head slightly and said: "Atong, have you ever thought about it, the imperial court was able to send a prince south to serve as a father, but Brother Qingcun didn't get any news, I'm afraid a dragnet has been laid long ago. According to my guess, not only our family, but Zhao Yunsong's place is also in bad shape."

"Then, what should we do?"

"For the current plan, we can only ask for help from the one in the north."

"Them? I'm afraid it's too late!"

"You don't understand." Yuan Mei glanced at his son meaningfully, and then told Yuan Tong how to contact Beihai Town's stronghold in Jiangning City.

When he was in Beihai Town last year, Jiao Xun told him exactly what happened from being imprisoned to escaping, which made Yuan Mei and Zhao Yi look shocked.They never expected that Zhao Xin personally took part in the prison robbery that shocked the entire Jiangnan, and there were only two people in total.

However, compared to Jiao Xun and others who escaped from Yangzhou, Yuan Mei did not want to leave Jiangning and give up Suiyuan, which he had worked hard for many years.

This is a private garden that even the richest man in the world, He Shen, would envy, and even Qianlong would not welcome him. Its history can be traced back to the "Jiao Garden" built by Wu Yingji in the late Ming Dynasty.

Wu Yingji is one of the leaders of the "Guomen Guangye Society". He is good friends with Hou Fangyu, Chen Dingsheng, Mao Pijiang, and Fang Yizhi. He also appeared in Kong Shangren's "The Peach Blossom Fan".Well, he was the one who fell in love with Kou Baimen at the box party, one of the "Eight Beauties of Qinhuai".

After the decline of "Jiaoyuan", this land changed its owners three times. The Cao family of Jiangning weaving, and the Hede family of Sui Dynasty who succeeded the weaving family, were finally purchased by Yuan Mei for 46 taels of silver 300 years ago.The reason why it was named "Suiyuan" was not because the last owner's name contained "Sui", but because it was taken from the "Sui Gua" in the "Book of Changes", which has great meaning at any time.Simply put, it is important to adapt to the times.

In order to raise the funds needed to build the garden, Yuan Mei spent the past 40 years as a landlord, a literary giant, a publisher, a training class teacher, and a social celebrity. He worked hard to make money and invested tens of thousands of taels of silver. Only then did he have "Chaoyang". At the beginning of the day, all the greenery comes together, the bamboos and trees on the terraces, and the autumn water stretches across the sky."

Here are not only the pavilions, pavilions, flowers and plants that he painstakingly designed, but also the collection of more than 30 volumes of books, various inscriptions, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, as well as the wives, concubines, children and servants who accompany him day and night.Not to mention that he was approaching eighty, his wife Wang was also 77. In panic, she was homeless and her body couldn't bear it. If anything happened, it would be too late to regret it.

Yuan Mei was a lustful and romantic person in her life, flirting with women everywhere, and married seven or eight concubines alone.Because his first concubine, Tao Ji, was quite talented but died young. From then on, he believed that "it is taboo for a woman to be talented", so when he married concubines after that, he always wanted to be beautiful rather than talented.

Now, many of his concubines have either died or been given away by him. Apart from his wife Wang, only Lu Ji and Zhong Ji are left.And Zhong Ji, who looked frightened next to him, was also Yuan Chi's biological mother.

When talking about Yuan Chi, we have to mention that he has been engaged to the Shen family of Zhuxi and will get married next year.If he escapes, the Shen family will be implicated.

Also, even if the whole family can escape, Jiangning General Qinglin will definitely be unlucky. You must know that the entire Jiangsu officialdom is aware of the relationship between the two families.

Although both parties are their own masters, how can we give up the friendship that has lasted for decades?If someone dares to go out of his way to let his son deliver the news to him, he himself cannot trap Qinglin in injustice!
Yuan Mei is already eighty years old. For him, apart from his son's marriage and the continuation of Suiyuan, the only major issue now is when the Northern Navy will enter the customs to replace the Manchus.As for life and death, he looked away from it three years ago.

It is said that when Yuan Mei was 46 years old, a man named Hu Wenbing showed him a picture and predicted that he would have a son at the age of 63 and die at the age of 76.Yuan Mei has never believed in ghosts and gods, so she just listens to them.Unexpectedly, he had a son at the age of 63, so he began to believe that his fate was doomed.

In the 56th year of Qianlong's reign, 76-year-old Yuan Mei's health was indeed worse than before.First, he suffered from dysentery. During his illness, he dreamed that a monk came to his door and told him the exact time of his death.So he asked colleagues and friends to write elegy poems to him in advance, and also made arrangements for his family in advance.

On New Year's Eve of that year, everyone in Suiyuan was anxiously waiting for him to "sit and wait for death". In the midst of the suffering, it was the first day of the new year unknowingly.Until there was a rooster crow, it was dawn, Yuan Mei was safe and sound, and the whole family wept with joy.

It was precisely because of this experience that Yuan Mei completely put life and death aside, toured the rooftops, climbed Mount Huangshan, and even dared to take a boat to Beihai Town.

"Life is like a guest, who comes and goes. There is no reason for his coming, and there is no reason for his going. But when he comes, each one has his own way."

Beginning in 1791, with the establishment of the Beihai Navy Intelligence Bureau, Beihai Town also began to establish intelligence stations in major towns under the Manchu rule.The main mission of these intelligence points is not to carry out sabotage, but to collect various commercial information including commodity prices, map the spatial structure of the city including streets and bridges, and garrison defense information.

There are four specific intelligence points in Jiangning City, outside Jiangdong Gate, Sanshan Street, and near the "Jinwang Ferry" at the foot of Taoye Mountain outside the east gate.Like the intelligence point in Beijing, the intelligence station in Jiangning does not have lateral contact. All collected intelligence will be sent to the intelligence bureau headquarters by telegram every three days.

Before Yuan Mei came back from Beihai Town, Zhao Xin told him privately when seeing him off that if he had any trouble in the future and needed help, he could send someone to a felt shop called "Tongxincheng" on Sanshan Street in the city to find a man named Chang. The shopkeeper only needs to give the secret code and tell the truth truthfully.

Yuan Tong got his father's instructions and hurried to the city in a sedan chair.Fortunately, Sanshan Street was not long, so he found the shop quickly.As soon as I walked in, a faint smell of mutton rushed into my nose.

The store was not big and there were no customers. When someone came to the door, a waiter with a Shanxi accent greeted him behind the counter: "Sir, do you want to choose felt? Then you have come to the right place. My number The felts you make are of the highest quality on Sanshan Street. The plush is fine and dense, and they are all from."

Yuan Tong was not in the mood to look at the felt, so he interrupted with a pale face: "Is your shopkeeper Chang here?"

"Uh, you're here, please wait a moment." After the clerk said that, he turned around and opened a small door leading to the backyard, and shouted: "Shopkeeper, there's someone out front!"

Not long after, a middle-aged man in his 40s walked in from the door with his head lowered. He looked at Yuan Tong twice, then smiled and cupped his hands and said: "My surname is Chang, he is the shopkeeper here. May I ask? What does this guest officer have to do with Mr. Chang?"

Yuan Tong returned the favor, took a deep breath, and whispered: "I have an electric refrigerator, and I want to exchange it with you for a washboard, no, a washing machine."

Hearing the other party stumblingly saying the secret code, shopkeeper Chang's expression changed slightly, and then he raised a movable board on the counter and signaled to Yuan Tong: "Sir, please come with me."

After he finished speaking, he winked at the clerk. The clerk understood, nodded and ignored him.

When Yuan Tong followed him into the accounting room next to the receptionist's room, before he could speak, he heard shopkeeper Chang say: "Are you Mr. Yuan Dafu Yuan?"

"Shopkeeper Chang knows Mr. Yuan? Sorry, Mr. Yuan swears to God, this is my first time here."

"Don't mind, Mr. Yuan. Although I know the code words, if Chang doesn't even know Mr. Yuan and his son, how can we do anything? In a crowded place like Sanshan Street, you can't be too careful when doing things."

Yuan Tong said in surprise: "How do you know what I look like? We have never met."

Shopkeeper Chang said with a smile: "Mr. Yuan, noble people often forget things. Last year, you and layman Cangshan went to the north. Did you apply for a pass after getting off the ship? We have it on file."

"You mean photos?" Yuan Tong suddenly realized.

To be honest, the two months he spent in Beihai Town felt like a dream when he thought about it now. He saw so many new and strange things, it was like entering a kaleidoscope.Compared with the photos, the 300 million-ton steel plant in Khabarovsk was more shocking and unforgettable to him.

"Mr. Yuan, what do you need help with today?"

"Yuan came here to beg you to protect my family's safety! Now the government is going to take action against my father! If it's too late, it may be too late!"

After Yuan Tong finished speaking, he bowed deeply to Shopkeeper Chang.

　300. When Yuan Mei bought Suiyuan, the land deed was still in the hands of the descendants of Sui Hede's family.At that time, Sui Hede's family was already in extreme decline, so 38 taels was definitely a huge sum of money for them.[-]. Secondly, Yuan Mei's purchase of Suiyuan was by no means clean and honest. Instead, it was purchased in the name of Jiangning County government property. The government came forward to force the purchase. How could the Sui Hede family dare not agree?After Yuan Mei was completely retired, he turned his official position into a private person and made a big profit.Historically, in the [-]th year of Qianlong's reign, he was reported for this matter and almost gave up Suiyuan and moved to Chuzhou.

　　(End of this chapter)