Nie Dan nodded. You Dechuan was about to shout again, but Nie Dan raised his hand to stop him and said to You Miao, "You lost a few boxes in the frontier. Your friend asked someone to find them for you. Check them out. There are quite a few missing. There is also a letter here."
Nie Dan stood up and handed You Miao a letter. You Dechuan and County Magistrate Huang also stood up, but You Miao sat lazily. He took the letter and thought it was written by Li Yan, but he could not recognize the handwriting at all. On the envelope was written "You Miao, my dear brother".
You Dechuan stood up to see him off, and You Miao had to follow him and sent Nie Dan and County Magistrate Huang to the second gate. County Magistrate Huang said, "In my opinion, Lord Nie is not as good as..."
"I will ride back on horseback." Nie Dan clasped his fists towards You Miao. His official position was higher than County Magistrate Huang, but County Magistrate Huang had to salute him. There was a horse tied outside, and Nie Dan got on the horse and went down the mountain.
County Magistrate Huang then said goodbye to You Dechuan, and said some polite words, and then got on the sedan chair and left.
As soon as the two left, You Dechuan's face darkened. Without giving him a chance to speak, You Miao turned and went into the hall. He stood beside the boxes, pointed at the two boxes and said, "Look, this is what I brought back to honor you."
You Dechuan's face changed at first, and then he was speechless. You Miao mocked him, "You're just unlucky. You were robbed by the barbarians on the way and almost killed. Your father doesn't love you, and you can't even cry out to the sky or the earth..."
You Dechuan was about to say something, but You Miao choked him again. You Miao was not afraid of him at all, and continued, "...thanks to a stranger Zhao Chao who took a few beatings for me..."
"What?!" You Dechuan seemed to have heard a joke and said, "Who took the beatings for you?"
You Miao said sternly, "A stranger I met by chance! Zhao Chao who was locked up with me! I've been home for so long, and my father never asked me a word about the way. It was someone else who took the beatings for me!"
"You, you, you..." You Dechuan was so angry that his whole body was shaking. He picked up his crutch and wanted to hit him but couldn't.
The father and son looked at each other for a long time without saying anything. You Miao sneered, "You said I came home empty-handed, and brought nothing home. Now, everything I gave you is here. You can look through it yourself."
You Miao walked away with a wave of his sleeves.
You Dechuan stood in the hall and sighed.
Wang came in and asked, "What did the county magistrate do just now? And there was a military officer?"
You Dechuan sat on a chair and rubbed his temples. Wang came over and sat down, smiling, "Why didn't you call Han Ge to come and talk? These two boxes..."
The boxes were tattered, as if they had been through a long journey. You Dechuan said, "You Miao's friend in the capital sent them. Chunxiao, open the boxes and let me see."
The servant came in and opened the boxes. Wang laughed and said, "What friend? He even sent some New Year gifts specially..."
You Dechuan glared at her and whispered, "Don't laugh. He is really an extraordinary person! But our You family can't afford to curry favor with him!"
While talking, You Miao returned to his room. When he entered the room, his face was dark. He took out the letter, shook it open, sat on the porch, and read it in the daylight. Suddenly, he felt a little better.
It was a letter from Zhao Chao.
"...I didn't know how you were doing since we last met. Since we parted, I've been sent out to defend the border city. I'm taking the liberty to avenge my imprisonment. I'm now returning the lost items. If there's anything missing, please forgive me..."
You Miao laughed at the elegant writing and read it down.
"...I hope to come to Beijing to talk when spring comes and flowers bloom. Brother: Zhao Chao."
You Miao folded the letter and felt warm in his heart. He didn't expect that Zhao Chao, who had been through the same hardships, would treat him with more affection. He didn't know where this guy came from. When he saw Zhao Chao wearing leather armor, he thought he was also an officer, maybe a child of an aristocratic family, and most likely a young military officer. If
that's the case, he knew Nie Dan, and it was normal for him to ask Nie Dan to deliver the box. Just now, he took a look in the hall and saw that the box was obviously tied to both sides of the horse's back. It was hard for him to come all the way. I should have given him some reward money...
When You Miao was thinking, the housekeeper came in person.
"Master, please go to dinner." said the housekeeper Lin.
"No." You Miao said, "Send dinner to my room, I'll eat by myself."
Housekeeper Lin said, "Master said that the boxes sent from the capital..."
You Miao: "Whatever he wants to do with them."
Housekeeper Lin left, and soon the servants brought the meal. You Miao ate and was thinking about how to reply to Zhao Chao. After thinking about it, he thought it would be better to ask the old man for some money tomorrow to go back to the capital and seek refuge with Li Yan, which would be better than being in trouble at home.
You Dechuan, Wang Shi, and You Han Ge were sitting at the same table in the hall. The housekeeper reported that the young master wanted to eat in his room. Wang Shi was amazed and opened the box. Inside were fox fur coats from the northern frontier, deer antlers, tiger penises, and tiger bones. You Dechuan thought for a moment and said, "For the preserved hare for dinner, we can pack two boxes and send them to him. I'll give him the same."
Compared with when You Miao bartered in Yanbian City, there were a lot more things in the boxes. It was obvious that Zhao Chao had led his men to capture the group of Tatars and sent a lot of spoils of war. They filled two large boxes with precious products from outside the Great Wall. Wang said, "Master, look at this ginseng. It costs ten taels of silver to buy it in Peicheng."
You Dechuan sneered, "It's still my money. Who owed him money to spend..." He didn't finish his sentence, but thought that Wang didn't know that he had given money to You Miao, so he stopped talking and said, "You two can pick some you like and return the rest to him."
You Hange smiled and said, "It's my second brother's filial piety. Jiangbei is not cold in winter, so it's useless for me to take it. Dad should keep it for him."
When she spoke, Wang rolled her eyes at You Hange. You Dechuan naturally saw this little thought, so he could only say casually, "Eat, eat, I will talk to that stubborn boy tomorrow."
The next day, You Miao was about to go to the study to reply to Zhao Chao's letter, but when he pushed the door, he met his father unexpectedly. At that time, You Hange was also in the room, listening to his father's teachings.
You Miao brought Li Zhifeng in, and when he saw his father and You Hange, he turned around and left.
"Come in." You Dechuan said, "Are you well?"
You Miao had a gloomy face. He had just taken medicine after breakfast. Doctor Xing's skillful needle treatment cured his illness, leaving only a cough. He said, "I'll come again later."
"I have something to tell you." You Dechuan put down his pen slowly, and said, "Your elder brother made a special trip down the mountain to invite a doctor for you the night before yesterday. I guess you didn't know."
You Miao mocked, "By the time my elder brother invited the doctor up, my body would have been cold."
"You..." You Dechuan was so angry that he was about to burst into flames after less than three sentences. However, You Hange smiled and said to You Dechuan, "It was Li Zhifeng who invited the doctor. Fortunately, he came in time."
You Dechuan looked Li Zhifeng up and down, and finally said, "I heard from Hange that you ran eighty miles back and forth that day?"
Li Zhifeng just hummed and didn't answer.
You Dechuan said, "Thank you for your hard work. It's not easy to take care of the kid. He has been spoiled."
You Dechuan wanted to send Li Zhifeng away at first, but after listening to You Hange's explanation, he was moved by his loyalty. No matter who he is, as long as he truly protects You Miao, he should not treat him badly. This is loyalty. You Dechuan thought about it, opened the drawer of the desk, took out some silver, put it on the corner of the table, and said, "This is a reward for you."
Li Zhifeng did not step forward to take it, nor did he thank him for the reward. You Miao just found it funny. The atmosphere froze for a while. After a while, You Dechuan was embarrassed. He coughed and said, "Miao'er."
You Miao held the letter in his hand and looked at him coldly. His lips and eyebrows were very similar to Qiao Ke'er who did not give in when she was furious. This was the expression that You Dechuan hated most in his life. Every time Qiao Ke'er confronted him tit for tat and did not give in, You Dechuan was full of anger but had nowhere to vent.
"You, are very much like your mother." You Dechuan suppressed his anger and said word by word.
You Miao said: "I know you hate my mother. I didn't know it before, but now I know. She has tied you up for more than ten years. You must hate her to death, and you also hate me, right?"
You Hange's face changed, looking at You Miao, and then at You Dechuan.
"No." You Dechuan sighed and said slowly: "I'm sorry Ke'er, sorry for you." You
Miao was a little surprised when he heard this suddenly. You Dechuan said again: "What you deserve will not be short of a copper coin. Whether you or your elder brother will serve as an official in the court in the future, you two will share half of this family business. Your father has made it clear at the clan meeting, and also made it clear to your maternal uncle's family. Otherwise, your uncle will come to make trouble?"
You Miao saw that You Dechuan had spoken openly, and You Hange was listening on the side again, and he didn't avoid him anymore, and sneered: " "What ability does my uncle have to make trouble?"
You Dechuan ignored him, and said this, looking up at You Miao: "You are not yet ready to take over the family business. You can't, and your elder brother can't either. I know this."
You Hange bowed and said: "Father, I can't do it."
You Miao also knew that he was not in a good mood. He said that he was studying in the capital, but in fact he was squandering the family business under the guise of making friends with the powerful. This mess could not be cleared up at all, but he did not regret it at all. You Dechuan could afford the money, and it would be a waste if he didn't spend it. If he didn't spend it, it would be spent on Wang's mother and son.
You Miao said: "I plan to go back to the capital in a few days. You pick some good goods from the northern frontier, and I will sell the inferior ones to make some money for the trip..."
You Dechuan smiled.
"Your father asks you, what are you doing here? Do you want to reply to your friend?" You Dechuan said.
You Miao said that just to find an excuse. His father spoke to him in a good tone, so he couldn't make a scene to ask for money. His expression softened a little: "I'll write a letter to each of my two friends in the capital."
You Dechuan said: "The one who handed you the letter?"
You Miao said: "There is another one, Li Yan, the son of the Prime Minister's Mansion."