Through the Ring of Red Mansions

But when Jia Huan returned to the villa, not long after, a strong man galloped over to ask for an interview, and said, "My master said thank you for the kindness of Mr. Huan, and he will come over tomorrow when he is free."

When Jia Huan saw that Longsi had made an appointment, he sent someone to tell Zhuangzi to send some baskets of good crabs in the morning, as long as they were mothers and children with big navels.

Originally, the crab that Baochai asked Xue Pan to bring in today was not bad, but he sat on the table facing Jia Mu, and Mrs. Xing, Wang and Xue. He was uncomfortable eating, and because Jia Mu was not in a good mood, he sat down He left in a while, so he and Baoyu were asked to run errands together, and they only ate a crab.

Seeing so many fat crabs on the stove, Mrs. Xu couldn't help but said happily, "These crabs are so good this year. They are all full of crab roe. I don't know if I haven't been to the south. People there are the best at making crabs." , especially the lake crabs, actually eat the crab roe and crab paste inside. Pick up the crab and look at the sun, and there are two symmetrical black shadows in the middle. You can see that there are so many crab roe in these few. Now With so many crabs, how do you want to eat them?"

Jia Huan said, "I just know how to steam it, or make crab roe buns, what else can I make? You can make it as you like, and add a few side dishes to eat crabs. Cook more crabs, and you will also eat them." Eat some."

Mrs. Xu agreed to go, and at noon, a table of crab feast was organized. In addition to the steamed crabs and crab roe soup buns mentioned by Jia Huan, there were also crab powder lion head, crab roe tofu, hibiscus crab balls, and osmanthus crab soup. There are four side dishes of Biluo shrimp, fried plum rolls with eyebrows, shiitake mushrooms and shredded bamboo shoots in chicken oil.

Long Siyuan is someone who has tasted both dragon liver, phoenix gall, and it was the first time he saw so many crab-based dishes served together, so he couldn't help laughing at Jia Huan, "I see you care about everything, It seems that you want to touch everything, but in fact the most important thing is to eat. Not only is the Jinxiu Restaurant your favorite outside, but even those western things are put in, and there is a special stove lady in the house, and you have spent all your time thinking about it. Bring some strange food from the south, but fortunately you can earn money, otherwise the money in your hand is not enough for you to eat!"

Jia Huan laughed and said, "Food is the most important thing for the people. What's wrong with me like this? Kuang still thinks about you. What's new and delicious? I'm missing your share?"

Long Si looked at him with a slight smile, nodded and said, "Yes, I really appreciate your kindness." Then he ordered his attendants to serve two jars of wine, and said with a smile, "If you eat crabs, you need hot wine to accompany it. It’s good to drink it, and it won’t keep the cold in your internal organs. These two altars of wine are also rare and good wines. There are only 28 altars in the world. Today I specially brought them here to cheer you up.”

Jia Huan only looked at the two jars, which were a pair of blue-and-white porcelain jars with beautiful lines. Yiliang said, "Leave these two wine jars to me after drinking them, and I will put them away."

Long Si laughed and said, "What kind of treasure is this? It's worth it for you. Don't you think there are so few things here?"

Jia Huan ignored him, and after a while hot wine came up and filled the cup. The seemingly viscous and flowing gold smelled like a rich sweet fragrance floating from the surroundings instantly, and it was not pungent at all. , Jia Huan said in surprise, "Hey, this wine is really fragrant."

Long Si smiled complacently, "There are grapes in this wine, but how is it better than the wine you brought back?"

Jia Huan said, "There was a poem in the ancients that said 'Grape Wine Luminous Cup', which shows that we also have good wine from a long time ago, but there are not many of them handed down now, so the Western side has become the origin of wine. Land. If we talk about the long history, their things are naturally not as good as ours. But there are also many new things, and we can’t generalize them.”

The two of them drank a cup and ate crabs. Jia Huan was not a greedy drinker, this time he really loved the taste of the nectar melting on the tip of his tongue, and it tasted as sweet as flower dew. Slow but drank a lot.

Long Si smiled and drank with him, and when the two of them drank more than half of the altar, he grabbed Jia Huan and said, "Is there anything else you want to eat, do you want plum rolls?"

Jia Huan only felt as if he was wrapped in a soft cotton ball, his whole body was warm, and he didn't want to move. In fact, he couldn't sit still anymore. He leaned half of his body on Long Si, shaking his head and said, "Don't eat." Now, have another glass of wine."

Long Si supported him on his lap and sat down. At this moment, Jia Huan sent everyone in the yard away to eat crabs, and only Long Si's two guards stood behind. touching the ground, as if there were flowers on the ground.

Long Si followed Jia Huan's hand to reach for the jug, "I've already drank half of the jug, and I've never drank so much before."

Jia Huan's cheeks were flushed, but his eyes were bright and moving. Looking at him, he said softly, "Have another drink."

Long Si took a deep breath and let it out after a while, sighing, "You are still so young..."

Jia Huan couldn't quite understand, just looked at him and smiled, Long Si had no choice but to say, "Then have one last drink."

He stretched out his hand and stroked the jade-like cheeks a few times, but he felt that it was not enough, but Long Si's mind was so calm, he knew that this was not the time, so he had already touched the tip of his nose to Jia Huan's, stiffly Restraining himself again, he reached out and poured a glass of wine for him to drink.

Jia Huan leaned in Long Si's arms contentedly, and heard Long Si laughing, "I'm just drinking. Last time you said you wanted to make cement, you didn't bother to explain it to me in detail. What do you do?"

Jia Huan blinked and said, "Cement? What do you do? By the way, I have one more thing to tell you."

He spoke extremely slowly, and his tone was soft, it could be seen that he was drunk, and he was not the same as those people who talk big when they are drunk, so Long Si teased him, "What's the matter?"

Jia Huan tilted his head and thought for a while, then said, "Build the embankment."

Long Si was stunned, and couldn't help asking, "What kind of embankment are you building?"

Jia Huan said, "The Yellow River should be flooded every five years. It should be repaired well. After it is repaired, I will ask you for an imperial order based on this merit."

Long Si's heart moved, and he asked softly, "What order? Your wife's order?"

Jia Huan shook his head slowly after a while, and said, "Give it to my aunt, so I can rest assured from now on, no one else can bully her, only she bullies others. But if you don't give it, it doesn't matter." She blushed rather coyly and said, "It doesn't matter if it's not closed. The embankment was built for the sake of the people on both sides of the river, so it shouldn't be said."

Long Si hugged him unconsciously and asked, "How sure are you that you can build embankments that prevent the Yellow River from flooding?"

Jia Huan looked up at him as a matter of course and said, "Cement..."

Long Si still didn't understand what cement was, but he probably guessed that Jia Huan was trying to get something strange, so he didn't ask any more, fearing that he would vomit after talking too much, so he picked him up and went to lie down in the study. He also ordered people to boil hangover soup and feed him to drink.

Only this time Jia Huan drank much more than last time, and didn't get up until noon the next day. When he got up, he felt his head was heavy, and he couldn't help complaining that no matter how good the wine was, he always got up when he drank too much.I also remembered yesterday that I was sitting in Longsi's arms intimately in a trance, and the two of them talked together for a long time, and I didn't know if it was a dream, so I called Moyan and Qingxiao and asked, "You two, what happened yesterday? It would be fun to hide and eat crabs, and I don’t care about me, just teach others to get me drunk!"

Mo Yan grinned and said, "Master Mingming was so generous yesterday, telling us to eat as much as we can, and if we don't have enough, we will go to the village, and today we are coming to dislike us again."

Qing Xiao also said, "Fourth Master Long is not an outsider."

Jia Huan was choked and speechless, and asked without giving up, "Did you see how I got drunk yesterday? I thought I didn't drink much."

Mo Yan said, "When the little ones came back after eating, Master had already drank hangover soup and fell asleep in the study room. Fourth Master Long wrote in the outside room for a while. It looked like a poem, but Fourth Master Long didn't like it." Well, after writing it, it was burned again."

Jia Huan hurriedly asked, "Did you see what was written?"

Mo Yan scratched his head and said, "It's only a sentence or a half, it seems to be something like 'Yaoyao peach and plum blossoms, scorching its flowers' or something."

With Jia Huan's mediocre poetic talent, he has never heard of what kind of poem it is, but he thought that Long Si wrote Taoyao from the Book of Songs, and the ink inkstone made a mistake, so he laughed and scolded, "I told you to study hard at ordinary times, and you always listen to it. There's no need for serious things now, why don't you cool off and stay!"

Mo Yan and Qing Xiao both came out of the study room, and then asked, "Shouldn't we tell him about holding Fourth Master Long in his arms and singing?"

Qing Xiao said calmly, "It's worth what to say, Fourth Master Kuang Long also raps very well, and it's not a big deal. You don't have to be ashamed when you say it." Mo Yan thought it made sense, and the two left the yard Each does his own thing and doesn't mention it.

Jia Huan calmed down for a while. Seeing that according to his development plan, he was on the research agenda of cement, he couldn't remember whether he had told Long Si, so he sent someone to ask, and the man who came back said "Long Si Master said I got it, just follow the old rules."

The old rule is that Long Si agrees to invest, and the original ratio is still used, so Jia Huan started to build a cement workshop again.But Yang Xiong went to Shuchuan and hasn't come back yet. Aunt Zhao's brother, Zhao Guoji, is a good hand at work, running around without fear of getting tired, but his mind is very simple and honest, and his temperament is really not like Aunt Zhao's brother.Therefore, Jia Huan put Zhao Guoji in Jinxiu Pavilion's logistics and material management, and he didn't need to think much, as long as he was serious and dedicated, he could manage it well.

The other people brought up by Yang Xiong each had their own errands, and couldn't find a suitable one for a while, Jia Huan suddenly clapped his hands and thought, there was Jia Lian waiting for him to answer, so it would be okay to leave this matter to him to keep an eye on. good.After the cement plant is put into operation in the future, this is a hard commodity, and it will not be used by ordinary people in a short period of time. It will basically be applied to some large-scale national projects first. Jia Lian has a good way of dealing with government officials. It would be great for him to be in charge of the cement plant.

After making up his mind, Jia Huan transferred another person sent by Long Si's subordinates to be Jia Lian's deputy. He called Jia Lian and the steward Zhang to the Jinxiu Restaurant to discuss, first let them recruit soldiers and buy horses, and then follow the formula he wrote. Process experiment to manufacture cement.

Originally, Jia Lian was a little anxious waiting at home, although it was only a few days, it made him feel like a year, so he rushed over immediately after hearing Jia Huan's greeting.

It's just that when he heard that it was a "mud" workshop, he felt that there was no big deal, and he was a little discouraged. Seeing that he didn't understand, the steward Zhang persuaded him, "Second Master Lian is so confused? If this thing is produced, It is used to build dikes, build bridges and pave roads, it is related to people's livelihood, and the imperial court has to allocate a lot of money, this is actually a mountain of gold and silver, San Ye Huan is so towards us, are you not satisfied?"

Jia Lian doubted, "How can the imperial court trust us in such a major event as building embankments and bridges? And if it fails, won't we become the court's sinners?"

Guanshi Zhang said, "Second Master Lian doesn't think he knows what our Third Master Huan is capable of. The villain has watched coldly over the past few years, and every time Third Master Huan does something, he has a deep meaning, even if he couldn't see it at the time. It can be seen that it is of great use for as little as a year and a half, and as long as two or three years. As far as the Huihui Pavilion is concerned, at first it lost space and pens and inks, and later it paid for manpower and paper to get some exchange literature. Seven days As soon as it came out, the Huihui branches were printed and distributed to various places. At first, everyone thought that although they earned a good name, it was a business that lost money after all. Some of them are scholars who can read and write. Once there is something, just release the news from one place, and the whole country will know in an instant. What kind of energy this is, even...even the other master of Jinxiu Pavilion, Very admirable."

It's not that Jia Lian didn't know the truth, so when he thought about it, he couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat, and sighed, "It's ridiculous that I'm a frog in a well. I hope Mr. Zhang can give me more advice."

The two chatted and plotted in private, and they both made up their minds to fulfill Jia Huan's entrustment. It happened that Jia Zheng was not around, and Jia She never cared about Jia Lian. With a two-pointed spirit, he put aside all the foolish things in the past, and devoted himself to the cement workshop.