Chapter 258 He Shen’s Ambition

Looking at Heshen being carried into the carriage, Li Hu smiled.

As the carriage drove away, Wang Daniu walked to Li Hu’s side and whispered, “General, Jia Baoyu, Xue Pan, Wang Ren, Feng Ziying, Han Qi, and Wei Ruolan are drinking in the private room upstairs, and they have invited singing girls to accompany them.”

Li Hu: “Oh? Who made this?”

Wang Daniu: “I heard from Mingyan that it was Wang Ren.”

Li Hu nodded. It seemed that this kid made a lot of money from selling illegal salt!

Just at this moment, there was a burst of horse hoof sounds.

An officer in the uniform of a general came galloping over from Chongwenmen with patrolling soldiers.

The shopkeeper standing by said, “Second Master, he is the young master of the Mei family.”

Li Hu looked at Master Mei after hearing this. He looked like a gentleman but a scoundrel. No wonder he could do such things! Mei Hanlin, no, now he is Mei Yushi. Under the manipulation of Prince Zhongshun, this old guy became the Right Assistant Yushi Du and the sixth in command of the Censorate. Jia She’s letter said that this old guy also became the staff of Prince Zhongshun, which was completely in cahoots with him.

Master Mei glanced at Li Hu and the others on his horse, snorted, and galloped away.

Wang Daniu was furious and was about to speak when he was stopped by Li Hu.

Li Hu smiled and said, “There’s no point getting angry with a dying person.”

Suddenly, the sound of a pipa came from upstairs, followed by the singing girl singing: “Two enemies, it’s hard to leave them behind. I think of you coming but I also miss him.”

Li Hu frowned.

The shopkeeper: “From the sound, it should be that private room.”

Li Hu snorted and strode towards the carriage.

The shopkeeper delivered the car to the street and only came back after watching the car disappear.

From upstairs, there came bursts of noisy sounds from people playing finger-guessing games.

The shopkeeper shook his head.

At this time, a strong and capable man walked in and shouted to the counter: “We’ve eaten, give me a pot of tea.” Then he sat down at a table near the door.

Come to the restaurant for tea? This guy is here to cause trouble!
The waiter immediately turned his gaze to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper took a look at the broad-shouldered, long-legged man with a cold face and eyes, and knew that he was not an ordinary person. He immediately said to the waiter, “Bring the tea.”

The light in the warm room dimmed.

Zijuan lit the tinder and lit the lamp on the kang table.

The kang table was filled with brocade gift boxes and several open jewelry boxes, with various jadeite, gold and jade jewelry sparkling under the light.

The kang was piled with silks and satins of various colors and patterns.

After seeing off the female officials sent by the Queen and the Crown Princess, Lin Daiyu returned to the warm room and saw Zijuan still counting the jewelry. She walked over to the kang and sat down.

Zijuan counted the jewelry and said, “You haven’t even worn all the jewelry that the second master bought for you, and now there are so many. It will be exhausting to find jewelry in the future.” She picked up a gold flower hairpin inlaid with gems and compared it with Lin Daiyu’s head, “Next year, when the young lady and the second master are married, you can wear this hairpin.”

Lin Daiyu glared at her.

Zijuan smiled, picked up a golden silk phoenix-head tassel hairpin and inserted it into Lin Daiyu’s bun, saying, “Our girl will look good in anything she wears.”

“Why are you being so naughty now?” Lin Daiyu nodded her head and opened the lid of a box.

“Wow!” Zijuan’s eyes lit up.

Lin Daiyu was stunned. In the box were ten round pearls as big as thumbs!
“What’s the matter that makes you so surprised?”

The door curtain was lifted and Li Hu walked in. Seeing Lin Daiyu and Zijuan in a daze, he followed their gaze and was also surprised. The Queen was so generous!

Li Hu had obviously just finished a shower. He was wearing a loose brocade robe and his hair was tied with a hairband.

Zijuan came back to her senses and greeted him with a smile: “Second Master is here, please take a seat.”

Li Hu smiled and said, “Give me a bowl of your good tea to try.”

“Hey.” Zijuan smiled and walked out.

Li Hu walked in front of Lin Daiyu and said, “Come on, make way.”

Lin Daiyu was full of disdain, “Is there no room for you over there?”

Li Hu said with a smile: “You are not there!”

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes at him and moved her butt to make room for Li Hu.

Li Hu sat down next to her, took out a pearl from the box and looked at it, then said to Lin Daiyu, “I will talk to He Shen tomorrow and buy some more to make a necklace for you.”

Lin Daiyu shook her head: “No, it’s so ugly.” Li Hu was slightly stunned. So ugly?
Lin Daiyu: “I’ve thought about it. I’ll make them into earrings and rings. How much have you drunk?” She leaned back while pinching her nose.

“Still smells like alcohol? Impossible.”

Li Hu blew a breath into his palm, “You can smell this? You were born in the year of the dog, right?”

Lin Daiyu said “Pah” and hit him again, “You can’t spit out ivory from a dog’s mouth.”

Li Hu immediately retorted: “Then we are quite a good match.” After saying that, he was stunned.

Lin Daiyu was also startled, then she pressed Li Hu down on the kang, twisted Li Hu’s face with both hands and said with a smile: “I’ll scold you for your bad mouth! You’re cursing me in a roundabout way!”

Li Hu smiled and begged: “Good sister, please forgive me, please forgive me, I didn’t mean it.”

Lin Daiyu laughed and said, “I let you scold me!”

After playing around for a while, Li Hu hugged Lin Daiyu and lay down in the pile of cloth. While he was fixing her hair, he said with a smile: “Reading more is still useful. At least when you curse people, you won’t be so vulgar.”

Lin Daiyu listened, laughed and hit Li Hu: “You are talking nonsense again. Hey, who did you drink with?”

Li Hu: “Heshen.” He briefly recounted the incident.

Lin Daiyu: “.Did you get him drunk?”

Li Hu smiled and said, “How is that possible! People like us would never get drunk outside.”

Lin Daiyu slapped Li Hu’s hand away and sat up, “You are so cunning!”

Li Hu also sat up and said with a smile: “This is called being on guard against others!” At this point, he suddenly remembered, “Hey, where’s the tea?! Zijuan, Zijuan.”

“Hey!”

The door curtain was lifted and Zijuan came in holding a cup of tea.

Li Hu took the tea, took a sip, put it down, and said to Zijuan with a smile: “It is not a good behavior to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations.”

Zijuan lowered her head and muttered in a low voice: “Such a loud noise, I can hear it clearly in the small dining room.”

“What did you say?”

“Don’t bully Zijuan.” Lin Daiyu patted Li Hu’s hand, “I have something to tell you. Ping’er came before dusk.”

Li Hu was shocked: “The Zhen family wants to marry into the second branch?”

Lin Daiyu: “It’s the Jia family.”

Li Hu snorted, “The Second House is the Second House. They cannot represent the Rongguo Mansion, let alone the Jia family.”

Lin Daiyu didn’t say anything.

Li Hu: “By the way, I saw Zhen Baoyu in front of the Ministry of Rites. To be honest, I feel sorry for Tanchun.”

Lin Daiyu shook her head and said, “It’s not even a plan yet. This is just the wishful thinking of the second wife. No matter how good the third girl is, her status is there. The Zhen family is not an ordinary family. Will they agree?”

Li Hu nodded. This trick might be useful to fool some small families, as the old concubine is not dead yet.

Lin Daiyu sighed: “In the end, the one who will be hurt the most is the third girl.”

“Okay, let’s not talk about them anymore.”

Li Hu stood up and pulled Lin Daiyu up again, “The moon is beautiful tonight, let’s go for a walk in the back garden.”

“You should rest early, as you will have an early court session tomorrow.”

“You can sleep during the meeting.”

“Nonsense again.”

Heshen had obviously just finished taking a shower. He was sitting on the kang with his hair loose, looking through official documents. He didn’t look drunk at all.

At this time, Liu Quan came in with foot washing water, placed it under Heshen’s feet, picked up his feet and put them in the basin, and began to rub his feet according to the acupoints.

He Shen put down the document and looked at Liu Quan: “It is impossible for the Qing Dynasty and the Shun Dynasty to coexist peacefully.”

Liu Quan was shocked: “Why?”

He Shen just shook his head and continued, “Let’s take advantage of this period of time to make more money. No matter what the situation is in the future, it won’t be too bad!”

Liu Quan nodded.

He Shen sighed. How could he not see through Li Hu’s calculations? But what did this have to do with him? He knew the emperor’s mind very well. He was just a tool to make money and a slave who could be abandoned at any time. The real power was in the hands of the emperor, several princes and those big families. Only by causing chaos and breaking the existing rules could he have access to that power and turn things around!

You can fish in murky waters.

(End of this chapter)