Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 23: The Fang family is in trouble

The waves are vast and the surface is as calm as a mirror.

A small boat is floating on the lake, with a beautiful woman by the side, wine cooking in the red stove, and fishing with a fishing rod. What a pleasant life.

"Third Master, it's been half a day, are there really any fish?"

Xueyan stared at the lake, her eyes full of doubt.

Fang Yong raised his finger and tapped Xueyan on the forehead.

"Ah! It hurts!"

Fang Yongdao:
"It's right that it hurts. It's your lack of patience that disturbed my fish!"

Xueyan puffed her lips and said to Daiyu:

"Girl, look at him, he blames me when he can't catch any fish!"

Daiyu covered her mouth and burst out laughing.

Fang Yong coughed twice to hide his embarrassment. "Well, fishing is not the purpose. I just want to accompany my sister out to relax. Forget it, let's go back!"

Upon hearing this, Daiyu hurriedly grabbed the corner of Fang Yong's clothes.

"No, this is good. How about Third Brother Fang teach me how to fish?"

Fang Yong was a little surprised: "Sister wants to learn?"

Daiyu nodded and said:

"Wang Mojie once wrote a poem,

My heart has always been at peace, as clear as the river.

Please stay on the rock, fishing is almost over.

I have never experienced such a peaceful and tranquil experience before."

After Daiyu finished speaking, Fang Yong did not respond. She looked over and saw Fang Yong staring at her without blinking.

Daiyu's ears turned red instantly.

"Brother Fang, what are you doing?"

Fang Yong came back to his senses, smiled, and didn't feel embarrassed, explaining:
"My sister's temperament was even better than before when she was reciting poetry. I was a little dazed. Please forgive me."

The shame on Daiyu's face became even more intense.

Fang Yong knew that too much is as bad as too little, so he changed the subject in time:

"Sister, you want to learn how to fish. I will teach you. However, as the saying goes, skills are not easily passed on. In exchange, sister, you should also teach me a skill."

Daiyu was attracted by Fang Yong's words and felt less embarrassed.

"What does Third Brother Fang want to learn?"

Fang Yong said: "Sister, please teach me how to write poetry."

Boating, fishing, reciting poems, drinking wine, and gazing at the horizon, how wonderful it is.

However, on the other side of the lake, countless people wearing thin linen clothes were walking on the shore and in the wilderness, using simple tools to search for anything edible.

Fang Yong killed the official and surrendered to the bandits, but the taxation would not stop.

When the next tax collector arrived, he brought more soldiers for personal protection. The official measures became larger and the official scales became heavier. The only thing that became lighter was the people's grain.

Even if every household took out all their surplus grain for seeds, it was still not enough, so they had to borrow or pawn it.

As clothes, as objects, as children...

As for how they would survive the winter without food, probably no one considered this.

Niwawa returned home with his hands and feet red and swollen from the cold.

Clay doll's father, mother, and a half-grown brother were all lying on the bed.

"Did you find anything to eat, little boy?"

The father asked, lying on the bed.

The clay boy breathed out, "I dug up some grass roots and some mud snails."

My father sighed.

"That's good. You come up first, and I'll go out and look for it."

Upon hearing this, the clay doll took off his linen clothes, revealing another linen clothes.

Another linen garment was taken off, revealing a third one.

Finally, all three sackcloths were taken off.

The clay doll lay down in the somewhat worn quilt.

The clay doll's father put on three pieces of linen clothes and went out.

The afternoon is colder than the morning.

The clay boy rubbed his feet in the quilt. He felt a little itchy on the back of his feet, but he didn't dare to rub it hard. His father's voice came from outside.

"Boy, where is your knife? I'll take it and chop some firewood."

The clay doll said:
"Under my pillow."

The father of the clay doll took the sword from the clay doll, and the clay doll reminded him earnestly:

"Dad, this knife is very important. You must hold it well and don't lose it."

The clay doll's father looked at the rice jar at home which had been empty for a long time, and avoided the clay doll's gaze, "Don't worry, I saved it."

Some time later, a pawn shop.

"Boss, I'll leave this thing with you first. See how much you can pay for it."

The shopkeeper took the item, took a quick look and smiled.

"Hey, do you know what this word is?"

“Is this a word?”

"This is the word 'Xi', the word 'Xi' in 'Da Xi'. This is the official sword of the Da Xi Dynasty! Where did you get it from? Hey, take it down for me and report it to the police!"

Inside the water fort.

Fang Yongzheng was eating.

Dishes include steamed mandarin fish, grilled beef ribs, and half a salted duck.

After hiring a cook for Daiyu, the quality of his food also continued to improve.

After a while, Xueyan knocked on the door and came in.

"Third Master, the girl said that this fresh milk fish wonton is very delicious, so she asked me to bring you a portion."

Fang Yong smiled and said, "Thank you for my sister's concern. By the way, don't leave in a hurry. Third Master has a reward."

As he was speaking, someone came over to report.

"Third brother, there is a kid outside, his name is Niwa, and he said he knows you."

……

By the time Fang Yong used the money to rescue Niwa's family, his parents had already died in prison due to torture.

Only a half-grown younger brother barely survived.

Afterwards, Fang Yong asked Niwa what he wanted to do in the future.

Niwawa thought about it for a long time and said that he wanted to follow Fang Yong and live with his brother in the future.

Fang Yong roughly understood Niwa's idea, so he arranged Niwa to work with Xue Dacuizi, to be responsible for secretly storing grain.

But unlike Niwawa, no one knew what Niwawa’s younger brother had experienced in prison. He found Fang Yong in private with red eyes, knelt down and begged, saying: I want revenge, I want revenge!

Fang Yong then arranged Niwawa's younger brother into his army for daily training.

Twelve years old, a little young, but almost.

Neither of the clay brothers had a formal name, so Fang Yongsui named them.

The clay doll was simply named Li Ni.

Niwa's younger brother Fang Yong originally named him Li Jiang, but he was unwilling to do so, so he later gave him his own name, Li Chou!
It is worth mentioning that a small incident happened here.

Niwawa found Fang Yong and said hesitantly that there was something he didn't know whether he should tell him or not.

It's like this, I think there's something wrong, Fang Yong said: "Tell me."

Then Niwawa told Fang Yong that Lian Jie'er had been bought by Mr. Fang and would marry into his family on the fifth day of next month.

It turned out that Lian Jie'er's family had borrowed money and grain from Mr. Fang's family. They could not repay the loan afterwards, so they had to send Lian Jie'er as a mortgage to become Mr. Fang's concubine.

When Niwawa said this, he looked at Fang Yong's expression very carefully.

However, what Niwawa didn't expect was that Fang Yong's expression remained normal throughout the whole process.

I only asked one question from beginning to end.

"Master Fang is taking a concubine, so will his scholar son come?"

After getting a positive answer, Fang Yong let the clay doll leave.

After the clay doll left, Fang Yong raised his lips slightly and clenched his fists and said:
"Taking a concubine, haha, this old man has finally let down his guard. Let them be reunited on the fifth day of next month!"

Time flies, and soon it is the fifth day of the New Year.

The Fang family decorated the house with lights and fireworks.

In fact, taking a concubine doesn't need to be on such a scale. Mr. Fang actually wants to take a concubine to bring good luck and get rid of the bad luck in the family.

After all, he was robbed.

Fortunately, all this is over. I heard from my son that the man called Fang Yong had been beheaded and his bloody head was paraded through the streets for public display.

By the way, son, he said he would come back today, but I wonder where he is now?
(End of this chapter)