Chapter 1182 Lin Ruhai is promoted, and his spirit goes south to Gusu
"Thank you Auntie!"

Su Mingzhe came to pay his respects to Lady Baolinghou. As soon as he mentioned the two maids Chunxiang and Xiaxiang, the aunt generously gave the two maids to Su Mingzhe as a reward.

As expected of the mistress of the Shi family, she is indeed generous.

Until noon.

After returning from school, Sten invited Su Mingzhe to go out for fun.

Su Mingzhe couldn't refuse, so he had to go with them.

There are many scenic spots and historical sites in Jinling Prefecture.

However, the most favorite places for thousands of men are the two banks of Qinhuai River.

There are countless boats, terraces and pavilions here.

At night, there are countless flowing crystals, which are magnificent.

Of course, even during the day, if you see a powdered maid guarding the door, as long as you give her a few taels of silver, she will take you to talk about poetry and lyrics with her young lady.

If you give more money, you can talk about love.

If I had a little more money, I could love my husband and enjoy the greatest happiness in the world.

Su Mingzhe played with Shi Deng for a few days. Seeing that his cousin knew the place very well, he immediately understood why, in the eyes of Mrs. Baolinghou, her son had become a nerd through studying but could not even pass the exam to become a scholar.

It seems that on weekdays, my cousin comes to Qinhuai River Bank to study with the young ladies.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Mingzhe dealt with Jia Yucun and tamed all the members of the Jia family. He called them together and repeated the plan he had made before preparing to return to Yangzhou.

Before leaving, Su Mingzhe hosted a party for a while and invited all the relatives, peers and cousins ​​to play.

May 8th.

Su Mingzhe rushed back to Yangzhou with Chunxiang and Xiaxiang.

Lin Ruhai, who was sitting in the yamen, was furious when he learned that his son-in-law had been to Nanjing and brought two beauties back with him.

When he returned to the backyard, he became angrier and angrier. He grabbed a piece of blue and white porcelain and threw it to the ground.

boom--

The bottle broke into pieces.

This made Aunt Liu very distressed:

"Master, if you want to get angry, just scold Baoyu. Why smash this bottle? You spent thousands of taels of silver to buy it!"

"How do you want me to scold Baoyu?"

After hearing what Aunt Liu said, Lin Ruhai was so angry that he blew his beard and glared:
"Those two maids were given by Mrs. Baolinghou. Can I ask them to return them?"

"Then don't be angry."

Aunt Liu comforted her master for a while, and when he calmed down a little, she teased:

"Since ancient times, there have been many talented men who love beautiful women. Our Yu'er is not angry, so why should you, a father-in-law, be upset?"

"You...are really unreasonable!"

Lin Ruhai felt as if his lungs were stabbed by this vicious woman. He was so angry that he threw his sleeves and went to seek comfort from other concubines.

Aunt Liu giggled for a while, thought for a moment, then lifted her skirt and came to Sister Lin's attic.

"Auntie is here!"

Sister Lin was looking at the gift that Su Mingzhe brought back from Jinling for her. When she saw Aunt Liu, she smiled and asked her to sit down.

In the Lin Mansion, Sister Lin is the legitimate daughter, and her status is higher than that of Concubine Liu, so she does not need to bow and greet Concubine Liu.

"Yu'er."

Aunt Liu had been with Jia Min for many years and had a similar personality to Jia Min. She did not like beating around the bush and immediately told Lin Daiyu the conversation she had just had with Lin Ruhai:
"The master is such a person. If he said anything to you or Baoyu, you two shouldn't take it to heart. It's common for a man to have a woman when he is entertaining people outside. Over the years, the Lianghuai salt merchants have given your father 20 or 30 'Yangzhou skinny horses'. You know these things..." Sister Lin saw that Aunt Liu was trying to excuse Su Mingzhe, and she felt amused in her heart, but she could only go along with the words:
"Don't worry, Auntie, Yu'er won't get angry over these little things."

"That's good. I'm mainly worried that the master might say something that would make you and Baoyu angry."

Aunt Liu gave Sister Lin a defensive shot, and after a moment, she began to speak solemnly:

"Yu'er, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you."

"Your father's term of office is about to expire, and the court intends to transfer your father to the post of Hubei Grain Commissioner, a high-ranking position of the fourth rank. As a result, your mother's coffin needs to be transported back to the Lin family's ancestral temple in Gusu for placement. As an official appointed by the court, your father cannot leave his post without permission, so the task of escorting the spirit south will be handed over to you."

After hearing this, Lin Daiyu naturally would not object.

Soon, Su Mingzhe also learned the news that Lin Ruhai was going to be promoted, and hurried to find Lin Ruhai to ask for the details.

Lin Ruhai has been serving as the Salt Inspector in Yangzhou for nine years and it is time for him to move on.

Some later novels say that Lin Ruhai was the confidant of Emperor Longqing.

In fact, this is totally wrong.

The Lin family of Gusu is also a noble family and is a die-hard supporter of the emperor emeritus faction.

Moreover, Lin Ruhai was the third place in the imperial examination when the retired emperor was the emperor, and he was appointed as the Imperial Censor of Salt Nine years ago. At that time, the current emperor was still a nobody in the court.

Therefore, it was impossible for Lin Ruhai to surrender to Emperor Longqing before he ascended the throne.

After Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, Lin Ruhai's legitimate son, his wife Jia Min, and himself died of illness within a few years, and Emperor Longqing showed no favor to them.

From this we can see that Emperor Longqing did not consider Lin Ruhai as his own.

It is even possible that Emperor Longqing took his anger out on Lin Ruhai because he was the son-in-law of the Rongguo Mansion.

With the above understanding, when we look at Lin Ruhai's promotion this time, we will know that there is a pitfall, even a big one.

Su Mingzhe relied on his knowledge from other dimensions to find Lin Ruhai and explained the possible pitfalls:
"Uncle, I'm afraid this trip to Hubei is not safe. How about...you retire for a few years due to illness?"

Retiring on the grounds of illness was the most common method used by court officials when they were unsuccessful in their studies.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party was suppressed by eunuchs, so they resigned and returned to their hometowns, where they opened many colleges to give lectures.

"The king has given orders. As a subject, how can I be afraid of the heavy ones and secretly disobey them?"

Although Lin Ruhai knew that what Su Mingzhe said was right, he was only in his forties and how could he be willing to retire like this?

Therefore, he directly declined his son-in-law's advice.

May 12th.

Su Mingzhe and Lin Daiyu carried the coffin south and escorted Jia Min's coffin back to the Lin family's ancestral temple in Gusu for burial.

Because we took the boat all the way, we arrived at the destination in just three days.

According to the rules, as Lin's daughter-in-law, Jia Min needed to be buried with Lin Ruhai's coffin if she wanted to be buried in the ancestral temple.

Before Lin Ruhai died, Jia Min's coffin could only be stored in a nearby nunnery.

With the help of the local Lin family, Su Mingzhe and Lin Daiyu were arranged to live in Panxiang Temple, a famous local temple.

"Yu'er, Baoyu, this is the abbot of Panxiang Temple, Zen Master Lingyin!"

Aunt Liu has been to Gusu several times and has arranged everything long ago.

Lin Daiyu and Su Mingzhe put their hands together and saluted Zen Master Lingyin.

Panxiang Temple is a nunnery filled with nuns, and the pilgrims are all ladies from famous families nearby.

As a man, it was naturally inconvenient for Su Mingzhe to go in, so he could only stand outside the door and wander around.

What a coincidence! He had only been pacing back and forth at the door for two or three minutes when he saw a young girl carrying a basket and walking towards the nunnery.

As the girl got closer, Su Mingzhe felt that she had a pretty face, as if he had seen her somewhere before:
"This little beauty, could she be my cousin?"

(End of this chapter)