Chapter 859: Going south

In a blink of an eye, after the first month and February, the canal flows.

Cao Yong and Cao Wu, the two brothers, took the guards and the more than 20 people to board the boat at the Tongzhou Wharf and went down the canal.

The ship was a large ship hired by Wang Lusheng from Xuzhou, with a total of four, three cargo ships and one passenger ship.

The silk that came from the Office of the Internal Affairs is considered fine goods. Although they are not afraid of pressure and falling, they are afraid of moisture and wetness, and cannot be placed in the open air, so each boat has a number of loads.

Hundreds of thousands of horses were packed with three ships.

Although the passenger ship is larger than a cargo ship, it looks not small. There are two floors of passenger cabins under the deck, dozens of rooms. Several of them are large cabins, one or two rooms as big as a large one.

This was because Cao Yong wanted to travel with him and Wang Lusheng made a special arrangement.

In several large cabins, all the furnishings and beddings were arranged by the Wang family to replace them with new ones. Wang Lusheng's intention to Cao Yong is evident.

Seeing this, Cao Fu sighed and asked his brother quietly: "Brother, if it were just the eldest brother who ruled the country squire in the past, Wang Lusheng would be too attentive, so don't have any plans?"

Except for the hard-to-talk part of Wangfengzhuang, Yangzhou, there is nothing to hide. Cao Yong talked about the auction in Jiangning in the 49th year of Kangxi.

Only then did Cao Fu realize the origin of the two families, which dated back ten years ago, so he didn't say more.

Cao Yong is actually not a picky person, but the cabin is spacious and clean.

According to the plan, I walked from the capital to Yangzhou to the canal; when I arrived in Yangzhou, I went down the river and went to the entrance of the sea to Guangzhou. Even if I had a smooth journey along the way, I had to stay on the boat for two or three months.

Wang Lusheng was unable to blame for spending money to hire a big ship, for fear of being slow to treat the distinguished guests.

That year, Cao Fu followed Cao Yin and his wife to Beijing, and took the land route. This was the first time he was traveling on a long boat. After all, he was young and energetic. During the days he left Beijing, he pulled his brother to the deck to enjoy the scenery every day.

However, the water was windy, and Cao Fu was not a person who used to boarding boats, so he became depressed in a few days.

Cao Yong was rare and had a map that he asked the Sixteenth Prince to find. Although it was not accurate, the southern provinces were already the outline of later generations.

When Cao Yong was fine, he set up a map to see where the marked Guangzhou was, and then look at Macau.

Cao Yong was thinking a lot about the Sun family in Hangzhou and Qingliang Temple in Jiangning, but he didn't care about it when he went there, so he could only go to these places when he returned.

Cao Fu became more and more seasick. He vomited whatever he ate except drinking porridge.

Now, he doesn't want to go to Guangzhou with his brother, but he agrees to ask him to go to Hangzhou to pick up Cao Ying and his son. Originally, he yelled to take his brother to Hangzhou with him, and then he also went south to Guangzhou.

The Wang family stayed in the capital to escort the boat was Guo Quanyou, Wang Lusheng's adopted son. He has been with Wang Lusheng for more than ten years. He is no longer the slutty servant he used to be. He looks so steady and firm.

Even Cao Fu, who was a little wary of Wang Lusheng, got along very casually with Guo Quanyou.

Those who followed Cao Yong were Cao Fang and his son, Wei Hei, Cao Jia, Cao Yi and others.

Accompanied by the slight spring cold, a few days later, Cao Yong and others arrived in Xuzhou.

The fleet was in Xuzhou and stopped for a day to replenish vegetables and water.

Wang Lusheng had already been waiting here and booked a seat at Hongyan Tower, the largest restaurant in Xuzhou, to welcome the Cao brothers.

Although there were chefs on the boat and the ingredients were complete, they were even tired of eating them all these days. Cao Yong naturally had a great appetite and sacrificed to the Five Insect Temples.

Cao Fu has no good appetite and no energy.

Seeing that his cousin had lost weight for several days, his eyes were sunken, and he couldn't bear it and wanted to arrange for him to travel by land from Xuzhou.

Cao Fu refused and said straight: "Don't you take a boat in this life? The more seasick you are, you have to sit down. If you can't even get over this hardship, you will become a waste."

Seeing his cousin being so stubborn, Cao Yong didn't say anything, but just ordered someone to buy a lot of peppermint oil and plums.

There is no seasickness medicine at this time, and these two things can have some effect.

After passing Xuzhou, the spring cold gradually faded, and Cao Yong was unwilling to be stuck in the cabin all day, so he asked people to put a few chairs on the deck and set up a sun-shading shed. When the weather was sunny and calm, everyone would eat tea and chat on the deck.

After staying on the deck for a long time, Cao Fu's symptoms of seasickness disappeared and his diet became as usual.

Cao Yong was planning his life to Yangzhou.

After the New Year, I had already written to the Sun family in Hangzhou, saying that the Cao family would send someone to pick up Cao Ying and his son in February.

Sun Wencheng also replied to the letter, mentioning that his wife and grandson were safe, so don’t worry about it…

Hangzhou Weaving Mansion, inner courtyard.

Cao Ying's situation at this time was indeed not bad. She brought Sun Li's brothers to Hangzhou on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month. Then, she prepared for the New Year, and Sun Wencheng's birthday was busy for the first lunar month.

Originally, she was still nervous, afraid that she would make another fuss when she met her husband. If her parents-in-law put on the elders' tricks, it would be very upsetting.

Fortunately, the worrying scene did not appear. Sun Jue was still in Xuzhou and did not come back to celebrate his birthday.

Sun Wencheng was still kind to his grandsons, and he was still the same as before for this eldest daughter-in-law. Sun Wencheng also asked someone to properly place the housekeeper and wife whom the Cao family escorted him back.

Only her mother-in-law An looked at her, as if she was shooting a knife, but she did not dare to neglect the eldest daughter-in-law. No matter how resentful she felt, she still followed her husband's arrangements and brought her daughter-in-law by her side, and socialized with the female family members in the officialdom in Hangzhou.

As Cao Ying and his son returned to Hangzhou, the rumors that the grandson and Cao families "are the same" were self-defeating.

Not bad, Cao Ying can't be called a good one.

Not only is the mother-in-law cold, but her sister-in-law and sister-in-law were not as close as before. On the surface, she was still a member of the Sun family, but it seemed that it was not the case.

Barriage and alienation already exist.

It was boring that Cao Ying was staying in her husband's house. She thought of taking her sons back to Beijing, but An hugged Changsun and refused to give in.

Sun Wencheng also advised his wife to stay for more days. After all, Sun Li is already fourteen, and in the future, she will have limited time to stay with her grandparents.

Although Cao Ying was anxious, he saw that his parents-in-law really felt sorry for his grandson. His son looked a little smiling under the doting of his elders. He was no longer like a little adult before, so he really couldn't bear to say anything.

It was not until Cao Ying's letter arrived and Sun Wencheng told his wife that the Cao family would pick up people, and Cao Ying's heart was relieved.

On this day, she was planning to bring gift lists to her brothers and sisters. Thinking that her sister Cao Yi likes to drink Longjing, she hurriedly ordered someone to go to the tea garden to book some Longjing before the rain.

After finishing the order, Cao Ying remembered something and asked the maid to pay 200 taels of silver, prepared a few sets of feet of money, and asked someone to call the daughter-in-laws who came with the Cao family and talk about returning to Beijing in a few days.

After hearing this, those wives all smiled a lot.

Although the eldest grandma had already told me to do a good job before she came out that everyone would be rewarded, but it has been more than two months since she came out and everyone is also thinking about the capital.

After talking to his wife, Cao Ying asked the maid to bring the ruler and took out fifty taels of silver and said, "It's hard for you to accompany me for the New Year. I originally wanted to buy some local customs to thank everyone, but the prosperous capital city is not short of anything. There are some rulers, so I can add clothes to everyone, plus ten taels of silver for each person, and buy tea for everyone, don't think it's too little."

Everyone leaned over and thanked her, saying that she had thanked her aunt for her reward.

Among the Cao family members who escorted her, Zhao An and his wife were the heads. Zhao An brought these people out and ruled the subordinates very strictly, for fear that the subordinates would make any mistakes and ruin the reputation of the Cao family.

I came to Hangzhou for two months and detained everyone in the weaving house and dared not release it.

Cao Ying thought for a while and said, "Now is a good time to enjoy the scenery. If you don't go to see West Lake, you will come to Hangzhou in vain. I discussed with Butler Zhao to see if you can let everyone go out for some breath."

Everyone thanked each other again, Cao Yingdan left Zhao An's family and sent the others down.

She handed over the remaining 150 taels of silver to Zhao An's family and said, "This is for the manager outside. You give it to the manager Zhao. Each manager is ten taels, and each person who listens to the poor is five taels. We have worked hard all the way, so we can't let everyone work hard in vain."

In addition to Zhao An, there were four other managers, and there were ten others who were listening to him.

Zhao An's family was a maid who was an old lady and maid in her early years, and later served Cao Yong for six or seven years, also known as Hui Xin. She was about the same age as Cao Ying, and before Cao Ying got married, she was also familiar with each other.

Cao Yong and Chu Yu chose their husband and wife to take someone to see Cao Ying off for this reason.

After taking the silver, Zhao An's family asked in his heart: "Grandma, there are five people in charge, fifty taels of silver, and ten people are missing. Fifty taels of silver, a total of one hundred taels is enough. One hundred and fifty taels, isn't it too much?"

Cao Ying smiled and said, "Not much, I will repay you couple for the fifty taels of silver. It is not easy to leave a few children and go on a road in the cold weather. Now your man is decent with the old man, and your housekeeper is well-behaved. You shouldn't have taken such a chore and suffered this."

After hearing this, Zhao An's family stood up and said, "Look at what my aunt said, I'll kill me. It's our blessing to be able to serve my aunt... I dare not accept the money. If my aunt knows it, I can't blame us for being frivolous..."

Seeing her cautious, Cao Ying shook her head and said, "Sit down quickly. We have met since childhood. We have too many rules and are tired when we look at it. Earlier, my second sister and I thought you would be by my side for the rest of our lives, but I didn't expect you to have an idea. I just collected it for you, and I can afford to pay the dozens of taels of silver..."

Speaking of this, if you don’t accept it, you will be disrespectful. Zhao An’s family can only thank you for accepting it...

Seeing his wife preparing to return to Beijing, An was a little anxious. He wiped tears in front of her husband with a veil and complained: "If there is a virtuous wife in the family, the husband will not cause any trouble. If the Cao family was not forced, the boss would not lose his official position and dismissal. He would not be able to return home. He pretended to be virtuous, but he would not be able to make a fuss. His son could not come back, so he would have to take his grandson away? Master, Li'er is the eldest grandson of our grandson family. What is this person who left his hometown?"

Sun Wencheng couldn't bear to part with his grandson either. In the past month, he secretly observed his eldest grandson and found that he was really a good child with good character. Even Sun Chu, a concubine, was well-behaved and obedient at a young age.

These two brothers are not only much better than their father when he was a teenager, but also much higher than Sun Wencheng and his younger sons.

His kindness to his grandchildren was completely from the bottom of his heart. He also saw that this wife was not wrong and looked a little bit soft, but after all, she could teach her children.

Nothing for anything else, but for the future of grandchildren, Sun Wencheng could only endure the pain of separation from his flesh and blood.

"Nonsense! Let the children hear it carefully. What do you think of that embarrassing evil? I'd rather have this son when I die early and be purified early!" Sun Wencheng mentioned his eldest son, and was angry and said, "I won't take anyone to the warehouse. I'll use it. I'll bring it to my grandchildren and granddaughters. It's not easy to lose courtesy when my in-laws."

An was scolded so much that he was so angry that he muttered: "I want to give gifts again? It's been more than two months since the New Year's Day gifts..."

"Huh?" Sun Wen saw that she was still talking, glared at her and stopped his wife's nagging...

Cao Yong and others followed the canal and arrived in Yangzhou, which was already early March.

The ancients said it well, when fireworks are in Yangzhou in March, it can be seen that Yangzhou has a mid-spring season and the scenery is infinite.

Yangzhou is prosperous and the water and land transportation center. It is one of the freight distribution centers in Jiangnan. There are children of the Wang family stationed here.

This time, Wang Lusheng did not want to buy other goods after transporting three ships of silk. However, because the fleet still had to go to the dock to repair it in order to ensure safety, everyone went ashore in Yangzhou and lived in the Wang family courtyard.

Cao Fu was already used to life on the boat and wanted to beg his brother to go to Guangzhou to see the world.

However, Cao Yong never let go. One reason was that it was difficult for Cao Ying to wait in the Sun family for a long time. The other was that Cao Xiang was left in the east and west of the capital, and he had to work in the yamen. He didn't care about his family and always asked people to worry about him.

After all, it will take some time to arrive in Guangzhou, so it would be nice to be able to return to Beijing before the New Year.

Cao Fu was not a willful person either. He had no choice but to beg for the request, so he got off the boat honestly and took a few bosses to Hangzhou to pick up his sister.
To be continued...