lady, please calm down

Chapter 334 The foundation of country squire
What should I do if my wife catches me in bed?
Waiting online, very anxious
On August 22, in the afternoon, Cai Sanniang, a little expert in catching traitors, came online.

With her relatively strong temperament, she expected to cause some trouble, but unexpectedly, the back house of Shangshu Mansion was peaceful that day, and not even a quarrel occurred.

At the back window of the bedroom, a wisteria clinging to the wall poked out a cluster of lush leaves, swaying slightly in the warm summer wind.

This vine is quite good, but the leaves are too green, which makes green people panic. Cai Hua looked back leisurely.

On the bed, Ayu, who had just hidden under the thin quilt and put on clothes, hugged her knees with her arms, her head lowered, her hair in a messy bun, and her originally fair skin turned red from her neck to her ears.

Although Ayu is rebellious at heart, she has received many years of ethical education. The fact that her unlucky relationship with her uncle was broken up by his family is really shameful.

But after the shame and anxiety, there was also some inexplicable relief.
Three years ago, Cai Hua almost killed Ayu by filling a well in the back house of Sajin Lane in Caizhou. Since then, Ayu has been full of fear of this woman with a peach-like face and a snake-like heart.

As for her affairs with her uncle, if she wants to make things smooth, she needs to solve two difficulties. One is her father's attitude, and the other is the attitude of Princess Chu.

Ayu had guessed her father's attitude from her second uncle's behavior. Princess Chu was gentle and tolerant, so Ayu felt that she would not resist him.

However, Cai Hua, who has a perverse personality, is the most difficult to deal with. A Yu has been in Caizhou for a long time, and of course he will not treat Cai Hua as an ordinary sidekick.

Anyway, today she has exposed her. My uncle and I have already cooked the rice. Even if you are not happy, you have to hold your nose and admit it.
Ayu, whose face looked like a cooked crab, quietly looked at Cai Hua and thought to herself.

Here, Chen Chu straightened his clothes and sat down opposite Cai Hua, forcing out an awkward smile, "Why didn't you let us know in advance when Hua'er was coming to Tokyo so that I could pick you up?"

On the circular table between the two of them, there was a light pink bellyband embroidered with the butterfly love flower pattern. The owner of the bellyband was naturally Ayu. Just now, the two of them were impatient and had been thrown here carelessly.

After Cai Hua came in, she sat directly at the table and deliberately pressed her elbows on the belly band. It was so difficult for Chen Chu to help Ayu put it away.

At this time, Cai Hua seemed to have just discovered this thing. She pinched her bellyband with her thumb and index finger and looked at it. Suddenly she raised the corner of her mouth and smiled and said: "Your Majesty is so busy every day, how dare I bother you to pick him up?" . I want to give the prince a surprise."

Haha, it’s more of a surprise than a shock.

"Ahem. You haven't returned to our new home in Tokyo yet, have you? You just happened to be here. I'll take you to the house to see what's missing. Let's quickly buy some."

Chen Chu wanted to take Cai Hua away from here first. After returning home, he could coax her without any outsiders. At least he could resolve the embarrassment first.

I thought I would waste some time talking about it, but Cai Hua pondered for a moment and said, "That's fine. By the way, in a few days, a business group composed of representatives from major commercial banks in Huaibei will respond to the prince's call and come to Beijing to investigate investment and construction of factories. If the prince has any Kong, it’s best to receive the elders from home.”

Cai Hua walked out the door while talking.

This time, Chen Chu and Ayu were both confused.
To be honest, as the client who was caught in bed, both of them hoped that Cai Hua would leave first before talking. Cai Hua's departure was too straightforward, which was really different from her temperament.

Cai Hua walked to the door and turned around to see Chen Chu still stunned. She couldn't help but wonder: "Hey, what is the prince doing here? Come on, didn't you say you want to buy some things for the house? By the way, the prince will bring them later." Come and try the fried lamb you always mentioned in your letters."

Ayu, who was still sitting on the bed hugging her knees, raised her head and opened her mouth slightly, confused about the situation.

Seeing this, Cai Hua suddenly slapped her forehead and took out a few Huaibei large-value cargo receipts from her arms as if she had a sudden realization. She turned around and walked back, placing the cargo receipts on the table. She rolled her eyes at Chen Chu with an angry look and said: "But you didn't pay me to tie my head?"

"."

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Ayu's blushing face suddenly turned red again, and a layer of mist suddenly appeared in her apricot eyes.

Being entangled is a prostitute. What kind of person does Cai Sanniang think Ayu is?
"Hua'er, Ayu and I"

As soon as Chen Chu opened his mouth, Caihua seemed to have discovered a new world when she heard the word 'Ayu'. She took two steps forward and leaned over to take a closer look at Ayu's beautiful face. Ayu shrank back subconsciously.
With tears in her almond eyes, she looked timidly at Chen Chu, hugging her knees and huddled in the corner of the bed, looking pitiful.

Cai Hua knew that men were most susceptible to this kind of thing. But in front of her, a thousand-year-old fox, Ayu's moral conduct still seemed shallow.

"Ayu? Chen Jinyu, the daughter of the prefect Chen's family?"

Before Chen Chu finished speaking, Cai Hua turned around with a surprised look on her face.

But then, she looked at Ayu again and immediately overturned her statement, "Hey! I was shocked! I thought she was the daughter of Magistrate Chen's family, but it turned out that the names were just similar. Magistrate Chen was from a famous family in Yingchuan, and Chen My wife has been reading poetry and books since she was a child, and is well versed in books and etiquette. No one in the entire Caizhou City knows that she is a noble lady who abides by etiquette! There is no way she would do such a shameful thing as stealing someone's husband."

After saying that, Cai Hua took a deep breath and seemed to be really shocked.

Neither Chen Chu nor Ayu could answer her words.
Ayu was ashamed and angry, but couldn't say a word. She wanted to muster up the courage to fight back, 'Didn't Madam Cai also steal the husband of another princess?'

But Cai Hua has never cared about reputation, and she has nothing to do with being a lady.

But Ayu did not dare to let the Yingchuan Chen family be shamed because of her.
It was not until noon.

Chen Chu took Cai Hua and left the Shangshu Mansion temporarily to prevent the Shura field from continuing.

In the bedroom, Ayu angrily tore up the stack of cargo notes to pieces, then sat on the bedside and shed tears silently.

From the extreme joy half an hour ago, to the extreme fright, to the extreme depression now.

The tears were due to shame, grievance for being bullied by Cai Hua, and disappointment for the honeymoon ending abruptly due to Cai Hua's arrival.

After all, Chen Chu couldn't be as confident as his father-in-law Jinwu Cangjiao was discovered.

That afternoon, he walked around Tokyo with Cai Hua and bought a lot of things from furniture and bedding to snacks and toys.

Regardless of ancient or modern times, shopping seems to be a unique outlet for women.

In short, when she returned home in the evening, Cai Hua seemed to be fine and didn't mention Ayu all afternoon.

Chen Chu knew that Cai Hua would never fail to recognize A Yu at noon, she did it on purpose.

After dinner, Chen Chu first wrote a letter to Mao'er, confessing what happened with Ayu.
Mao'er is the mistress of the house. If you want to have someone in the family, the proper process is to get Mao'er's approval. She agreed, so that Chen Chu could propose marriage to the Chen family.

But apart from these two people, Cai Hua's attitude is also very important. Everyone in Caizhou knows that Cai Hua is not an ordinary sidekick.

Not only did she help the King of Chu's career a lot, but the Cai family was one of the original shareholders of the Huaibei clan.

That night, after Chen Chu tried to mention Ayu, Caihua just smiled and said: "Chu Lang is the head of the family. Who can stop what you want to do and who you want to recruit? Why bother asking the slave family again."

The words were spoken with a smile, but the unwillingness was not concealed at all.

Everyone has selfish motives. Cai Hua first met A Yu because of Chen Chu's affair with the wrong bed. Therefore, the scheming Cai Hua didn't like the equally scheming A Yu.

Furthermore, Cai Hua is willing to bow down in front of Mao'er because of the latter's unique gentle temperament and her irrevocable status as a big woman.

Ayu was a bit cautious, and her Chen family and Cai family each accounted for half of the Huaibei civil service system. Ayu's strong natal family represented the orthodox literati behind her, which also made Cai Hua a little wary.

Because of this, she found her father immediately after arriving in Beijing today. She wanted to hear his opinion, but she found out that her father was secretly raising an aunt.

After accumulating several things, Cai Hua, who was very angry after witnessing the live erotic scene with her own eyes, naturally couldn't help but vent her anger on Ayu.

It was night, and I don’t know whether it was for the purpose of punishment or for a little separation to be better than a newlywed. Brother Chen was squeezed repeatedly until the light of day fell.
In the following days, Chen Chu devoted himself to new work while waiting for Mao'er's reply.

On August 23, Cai Hua met Sai Diaochan and Mei Yao at Fengle Tower.

Sai Diaochan took over Fengle Building for many days and reopened it after some repairs. On the original basis of the store, some exotic items were added.

For example, Persian dancers, Korean and Japanese women.
These people come from the families of criminal officials after the Rebellion of King Lu.

Seeing that Sai Diaochan had taken good care of the place, Cai Hua gave her a title deed of the house in Caizhou City on the spot.

Sai Diaochan was very grateful. Thinking about it, a few years ago, she was a prostitute in Ji'er Lane, Tongshan County. She managed to make ends meet by taking advantage of all kinds of heat, working tirelessly, and accepting customers.After being appreciated by Lady Cai Sanniang, not only did she get three mansions, but now even the wealthy businessmen and officials in Tokyo City would respectfully call her "Ms. Sai" when they saw her with a mysterious background.

The encounters in life are indeed wonderful.

But in Cai Hua's view, this fengyuechang is a small business after all. If it were not for the convenience of collecting information from all parties, she would have abandoned it long ago.

In her eyes, the newly established Zhongyuan Farm Reclamation is a major event
Central Plains Farm Reclamation, Luliuwei Farm Reclamation holds half of the shares, and the remaining half is owned by the confiscated land of the former Daqi Treasury Secretary Li Bangyan, the former Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Qian Yiniian, and the former Minister of the Ministry of Hubu Zhai Desheng.

Luliuwei Farm Reclamation was originally Mao'er's property, but now that she was pregnant, it was inconvenient for her to be the director, so Caihua took over the entire business.

In July, Ayu had roughly sorted out a macro data by searching the Ministry of Household Information.

In the nine years of Fuchang, the ten roads controlled by Qi State had a total of more than 840 acres of registered cultivated land.

Taking Kaifeng Prefecture as an example, there are a total of 350 million acres of registered cultivated land. After Li Ke and others conducted a thorough investigation, they roughly estimated that about [-]% of the hidden farmland was not registered.

Chen Chu is not in a hurry to take action on the Hidden Field matter. After all, this is the cake for the gentry in the world.

However, the three families of Qian, Li, and Zhai had a total of more than [-] acres of fertile land, but Huaibei had already regarded it as theirs.

In June and July, the city of Tokyo was in chaos, but the news that several high-ranking officials had been imprisoned and their property confiscated had spread everywhere.

In the eyes of some gentry in the suburbs, 'confiscation' means ownerlessness
They dare not mess with the living prime minister, but they dare to take advantage of the dead prime minister.

While the Huaibei Clan had not yet freed up their hands, many squires had secretly moved property boundary markers and appropriated "confiscated" fertile farmland.

When Cai Hua took over at the end of August, according to statistics, at least nearly [-] acres had been stolen by the surrounding "neighbors".

If Chen Jing'an were to deal with this matter, he would probably ignore it for now and wait until Zhongyuan Agricultural Reclamation has digested the land gained before slowly arguing with them.

But Cai Hua has such a temperament that she can take advantage of others, but there is no way for others to take advantage of her!
In this life, she has never lost money in business!

Well, doing business with Chen Chu was an accident. I lost Caiwei Pavilion, Yunong, and finally myself.

Meat buns beat dogs?
On August 25, Cai Hua ordered his servant Zhang San to go to Xiangfu County under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture and asked the county magistrate to investigate and punish the gentry for stealing fertile land.

In local villages, grassroots officials and squires have always worn the same pants. Moreover, when the squires moved the boundary markers, the county magistrate had already cooperated with them to modify the land title map.

As a result, Zhang San became the unreasonable party. After some entanglement, Jian Shibin, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, made peace for both parties. The Xiangfu squire graciously cut off [-] acres of dry land and gave it to Zhang San.

He also said: We have no land disputes with the imperial court. The reason why we donated [-] acres of fertile land is just because we respect the King of Chu.
Zhang San, who was not good at speaking, brought these words back to Cai Hua, making the latter very angry.

Xiangfu County stole at least [-] acres, but only returned [-] acres to the beggars!
They are unreasonable, and Cai Hua is even less unreasonable.

On August 26, more than a hundred people from the Cao Gang organized an armed caravan escort by Tokyo Tangkou, Zhu Da and others went to Xiangfu County and forcibly moved the boundary markers. Not only did they move them back to their original places, they even occupied Wang's The three rural gentlemen, Sun and Li, own hundreds of acres of farmland.

Naturally, some minor conflicts occurred in the middle, but the people brought by Zhang San were either retired from the military or were accustomed to licking blood from the edge of a knife. Those servants who only bullied kind servants were no match for them.

Seeing that the matter was getting serious, Jian Shibin, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, also privately persuaded the squire to take a breath. After all, it was not difficult to find out the origin of Zhang San being a servant of the concubine of the King of Chu.

A squire who can own a wide range of fertile land in the Gyeonggi region is naturally not an ordinary squire.

Just like the second son of the Wang family who suffered a loss this time from Wang Sun Li San's family, he was the second official of Yushitai, Yushi Zhongcheng.

Sun's family is an official in the Ministry of Household Affairs. Although no one in the Li family is currently a court official, the head of the family, Li Yiren, is considered a well-known Confucian scholar and has many children who are imperial students.
After several private discussions, they decided to tolerate it for the time being.

But they were not convinced. Based on their life experience, this matter was definitely the fault of King Chu’s concubine!
Regardless of whether it is the previous dynasty or the current dynasty, it is a matter of course that if your family eats meat, others will follow suit and drink soup.

You, the concubine of the King of Chu, acquired more than 60 acres of fertile land at once, but what will happen to us who occupy [-] acres of your land?

If everyone takes advantage of the country together, then the friendship of serving as officials in the same dynasty will not be in vain!

Hello, hello, hello everyone, if your family wants to take advantage of all the benefits in the world, sooner or later it will be the path to death.
I don't know if the curses secretly made by several people will come true, but from this moment, they all came to a consensus. This concubine of the King of Chu is not easy to mess with.

But these families had offended Cai Hua, and Cai Hua had no intention of letting them go.

In early September, Zhongyuan Agricultural Reclamation began to contract out the fertile land in Xiangfu County.
'Contracting' is a new word and many people don't understand its meaning.

But the slogan of 20% rent and [-]-year contract is more attractive than any propaganda. You must know that the fields rented out by the squires are "four in the morning and six in the winter", which averages [-]% per year.
The rent of [-]% of the farmland was suddenly reduced, which led to a large number of tenants of the surrounding gentry quitting their tenancies.

This time, the squire's foundation was hurt, and he could no longer just endure it.

Renting three-quarters of land in Caizhou is a rule, but the reason why Caizhou squires can accept it is that the largest landowner in the area is Chen Chu himself. He does not make trouble on his own, and other small landowners cannot form a joint force without a leader.

Secondly, a considerable number of landlords in Caizhou have made money from renting land to factories. For example, brick kilns that supply the building materials market, forest farms that supply boards, and porcelain can factories that supply canneries.

The huge downstream supply industry chain has created a huge demand for labor. Even some factory owners who were originally landlords are competing with landlords who have not transformed for the labor force of "tenants".

Workers who are relatively well-paid are forcing landlords to take the initiative to reduce land rent, so that tenants will not go to work in factories and no one will plow their fields.

But currently around Tokyo, this condition is obviously not met.

Forcibly lowering tenant rents will undoubtedly lead to a collective backlash from the country gentry.

But Cai Hua, besides wanting to be disgusted with the land-stealing squire, also had practical considerations. September was about to enter, and winter wheat would be sown soon.

If a large number of tenants cannot be recruited quickly, fertile farmland will be left idle for a season.

Farming time waits for no one.

On the fifth day of September, the heads of the three families of Wang, Sun and Li gathered together.

"Won't she give us a way to survive? If this continues, all the tenants in the family will escape!" Sun Shaoming was full of resentment, but he did not dare to name him.

After all, once hard steel is used, not only does it not take advantage, but it also loses money.

Wang Shanshu glanced at Li Yiren, who was calm and calm, and asked in a consulting tone: "Mr. Li, do you have any clever ideas?"

Li Yiren stroked his beard and smiled and said: "The rent is so low, and we signed a 20-year contract at once. Not to mention the tenants at home, even as an old man, I am tempted to rent a few acres to farm."

"Mr. Li, it's too late and you're still joking." Sun Shaoming muttered dissatisfied.

Wang Shanshu heard the deeper meaning, "Mr. Li, please make it clear."

In this matter, the interests of the three families are highly aligned. Li Yiren stopped trying to be a quibble and said directly: "No matter how low her rent is, she still needs someone to farm the land for her. As long as the people farming the land are people, we have a way."

Sun Shaoming hadn't understood it yet, but Wang Shanshu had already understood it. He couldn't help but clapped his legs and said: "Ah! Why are we just looking at the land? We just need to let her tenants resell the 'contracting rights' to us! She takes [-]%, We still have [-]% left.”

Sun Shaoming finally got a clue and couldn't help but said: "Are you going to use the same method as before to let the tenants lose their land to us?"

Wang Shanshu chuckled, nodded and said: "Executive member Sun, tomorrow you ask Pi San to open a gambling house in the surrounding villages and find more shills to seduce people. It doesn't matter if the villagers come to play and have no money. The price will be determined by the contract rights."

“What if someone doesn’t play?”

"Then use deception. Pi San and his gang are the best at this. They have people go to nearby places to place usury loans, and try every means to get them to borrow money from the fields."

(End of this chapter)