Lin Daiyu: Sister Qin and Brother Rui—

That evening, in the outer study of the eastern side-courtyard at the Lin residence.

Glancing at the young man kneeling before him, Lin Rui frowned as he flipped through the ledger.

"Just like this?" After a long silence, he stood up with a dark expression. "Quite interesting."

"To not keep it from you, Elder Brother Rui, my younger self was also startled when I inspected it." Xue Baoqin likewise wore a stern little face. "The two branches of the Feng Brand in Tianjin—one a silk drapery and the other a general goods store—rely entirely on our fleet to survive, so by all rights, they should have been honest.

"To my surprise, when they saw me arrive, they still dared to stir up trouble. Had it not been for the twenty personal guards you left behind to look after me, I am afraid they truly would have done something even more ruthless, to say nothing of the ghost town I saw when I had someone pull out last year's ledgers."

"The most lucrative business combined with the smoothest trade routes, and the silk shop actually dares to claim an annual profit of less than two thousand taels! The general goods store is even more outrageous—it actually lost money!" Lin Rui snatched up the ledger, hurled it to the ground, and couldn't help stomping on it twice. "Splendid indeed!"

"Tianjin Garrison is a port, and our fleet has frequented it year after year, yet it has reached such an unbelievable state. The other places are likely even harder to speak of." Xue Baoqin was also not lightly angered; no wonder that when she first arrived in the morning, she had been unwilling to discuss it in front of the other maidens.

To have one's own family business reduced to such a wretched state was simply too humiliating.

"How did you handle it?" Lin Rui asked next.

"Such ungrateful slaves who don't know the value of their lives, could it be that we should keep them?" Xue Baoqin glared resentfully at the ledger on the floor. "It is a pity that your younger sister has no yamen connections in Tianjin. Although I reported them to the authorities and had them raided, most of the benefits were swallowed up by the yamen dogs."

Lin Rui understood her meaning.

The two shops belonged to the Xue family, and there were deeds for the properties; the people were family bondsmen of the Xue family, and there were indenture contracts.

By rights, with these two things in hand, was it difficult to deal with them?

Pardon him, but it was truly difficult.

The Xue family did not possess much influence in the north, and Xue Baoqin's ability to remain safe relied entirely on the personal guards Lin Rui had assigned to accompany and protect her. Raiding the properties herself was out of the question, so she could only report the matter to the authorities for resolution. The problem was that the government of this era found silver far more dependable than their own fathers.

Raiding them was equivalent to not raiding them at all, because all the spoils were swallowed by the officials.

Excuses were readily available, with a simple label of "stolen goods" sufficing. If one wanted the property back, there would probably be hope only in the next life, and even that assumed the officials were being "conscientious"—otherwise, they would simply fabricate another reason to arrest the master of the house and strip off another layer of skin.

Therefore, wealthy merchants in the feudal era never wished to have any dealings with officialdom.

"Even so, they must be raided!" Lin Rui's attitude was resolute. "Are there not still eighteen establishments left undisposed of? Report all of them to the authorities and have them raided. Tell the local officials that we want none of the spoils; our only condition is to eradicate these ignorant, audacious dog-slaves!"

"Elder Brother Rui, rest assured, your younger sister thinks the same way." Xue Baoqin immediately declared her stance.

"Shall we send him?" Lin Rui gestured toward the young man kneeling on the floor.

"His father, Zhang Dehui, has served as the chief manager of the Feng Brand for many years, and he is also a bondservant of the Xue family." Xue Baoqin nodded. "Elder Brother Rui, I know you will be very busy in the days ahead and likely unable to attend to business. Someone must do the work."

"Then let it be him." Lin Rui knew she was right. "I have no manpower for this."

Not only did he lack relevant personnel, but the Lin family had none either.

The assassination of Lin Ruhai had directly cleared out all the servants and bondservants, while also basically wiping out the middle and upper echelons of the Lin family's "system." Only the estate managers and shopkeepers of the rural manors and storefronts remained. If this dragged on for another two or three years, their situation would likely spin out of control just like the Xue family's northern businesses.

In *The Dream of the Red Chamber*, the Jia family's own servants were all parasites, directly leading to the loss of control over almost all of their own properties. For instance, the brothers Wu Jinzhong and Wu Jinxiao, who served as chief estate managers across multiple properties, only sent in a few thousand taels of harvest yield a year.

Under such circumstances, the Jia family only knew the silver was gone, yet remained utterly incapable of perceiving where the problem lay.

"Elder Brother Rui must still assign a few personal guards to accompany and protect him along the way." A look of bitter hatred appeared on Xue Baoqin's face. "Even the branch office in Tianjin is like this; other places will only be worse."

"Thirty. In any case, I don't need that many for the moment. There are only twenty left in the front courtyard of the eastern side-dwelling, and the rest have gone to the manors outside the city." Lin Rui naturally raised no objections. "Now there is a problem: what comes after taking control of these storefronts?"

Someone still had to manage them; surely they couldn't just rely on renting out storefronts to make money from now on?

The trouble was that Lin Rui had zero talent of this sort under his command.

When he originally bought those shops, he had perhaps acted too impulsively, thinking only of quickly spending a portion of the cash on hand without considering the consequences, only to realize while idling on the boat that the businesses he purchased had nobody to manage them.

"Zhang Lu, you may step outside first." Xue Baoqin first waved a hand to dismiss the servant, then scurried over to him with a cheeky smile, pulled up a small stool to sit upon, and rested her dainty head on his lap. "Does Brother Rui not trust your younger sister?"

"Mischievous child!" Lin Rui affectionately patted her head. "Should I trust you?"

"I will never let Brother Rui down." Xue Baoqin lifted her pretty face, locking gazes with him in a serious expression, before resting her head back on his lap after a long moment. "From now on, I will consult promptly with Aunt, and Sister Miaoyu can also—"

"She has other matters; you may arrange it as you see fit." Lin Rui cut her off, not letting her continue.

Both of them tacitly avoided mentioning Lin Daiyu, as they knew full well she was not cut out for this sort of work.

"Since that is so, your younger sister will take charge of more, so as to spare Elder Brother Rui the trouble." Xue Baoqin then stood up and nodded. "The night is deep; I will not disturb Elder Brother Rui's rest, and I shall return now."

"Where do you plan to stay?" Lin Rui asked with a smile.

"I'll go trouble Sister Lin as usual; her quarters are spacious enough anyway." Xue Baoqin was already on her feet as she spoke. "Before coming here, your younger sister already arranged for Xiangling to go over, so she should be done tidying up by now."

"Safe journey, Sister Qin!" Lin Rui nodded, casually messing up her hair bun.

Xue Baoqin gave him a playful punch, then skillfully produced a tortoiseshell hairpin to tidy herself up.

Watching the little boatwoman depart, Lin Rui let out a soft sigh.

"Sister Qin has left?" A moment later, likely hearing the door creak, Miaoyu walked into the room.

"She has left!" Lin Rui nodded. "For a young girl of her age to possess such capability in commerce and maritime trade, she is truly a rare genius. Not to mention ordinary men, even her brother Xue Ke, who has followed Second Uncle Xue since childhood, is probably far inferior."

"Talent is something outsiders cannot simply learn." Miaoyu smiled lightly as she allowed him to draw her into his embrace.

"Let us go. With her here, we will no longer need to worry about money in the future." Embracing the proud beauty, Lin Rui slowly walked out toward the bedroom, not forgetting to blow out the candle and pull the door shut behind them.

"Oh?" To his surprise, Miaoyu looked up at him with a half-smile. "She is a pure and innocent young girl who will eventually marry. When that time comes, who will your Lord Lin find to manage things for him?"

"Naughty girl, are you jealous?" Lin Rui smiled, lowered his head for a long kiss, and only released her after a considerable while. "Yesterday I secured an official post, and today Sister Lin has returned. This can be called 'double happiness approaching.' Why not go a step further and make it 'triple happiness' instead?"

Meeting his burning gaze, Miaoyu's pretty face slowly flushed red, and she shyly buried herself against his chest.

Yet after merely a moment, she suddenly pushed him away.

"In your dreams!"

Watching her hurry away into the eastern wing-room, not forgetting to close and latch the door behind her, Lin Rui chuckled.

After a brief thought, he turned and walked toward the western wing-room.

Hearing the commotion, Sister You had already opened the door, her lovely face—holding an expression poised between displeasure and delight—gazing right at him.

The back garden, the embroidered tower, second-floor bedroom.

Xue Baoqin groggily opened her eyes because someone beside her was tossing and turning like a pancake on a griddle.

"Sister Lin, are you still not sleeping?" she complained with a helpless sigh. "It is the middle of the night!"

"Did I wake you?" Lin Daiyu was also apologetic. "I've always been a light sleeper and go to bed late, frequently lying awake half the night. I even sent Xueyan away, never expecting you would come over to keep me company."

Seeing this, Xue Baoqin simply pulled her up to sit, leaning against the head of the bed.

"Is something weighing on your mind?" She couldn't help gently hugging the proud beauty.

"You came back so late—" Lin Daiyu hesitated for a moment before she couldn't help asking, "Was it from Elder Brother Rui's place? What sort of business couldn't be discussed during the day that required you to go over quietly at night?"

"Sister Lin!" Xue Baoqin was amused to the point of laughter. "Can your younger sister make you jealous too?"

Though somewhat embarrassed, Lin Daiyu continued to gaze earnestly at the little boatwoman.

"Not really—" After a long pause, she said softly, "I just wanted to know what you discussed."

"Very well!" Helpless, Xue Baoqin had to run through the business matters in her mind, picking out a few simple ones to mention, and then laughed amidst her blank expression, "Did Sister Lin understand?"

Lin Daiyu's cheeks flushed, and she playfully punched her a few times out of embarrassment.

"Wretched girl, you only know how to deceive people." After a long moment, she let go of the little boatwoman with a huff. "Everything you just mentioned was specific business matters, right? I certainly don't believe Elder Brother Rui has the time to listen to you talk about that!"

"Good sister, how could I deceive you?" Adjusting herself slightly, Xue Baoqin burrowed into her arms and rubbed against her. "There were indeed quite a few major matters, but I didn't mention them for fear of offending your ears—such as the disposal of the wretched slaves beneath us, and dealing with officialdom."

"Forget it!" Understanding her meaning, Lin Daiyu dropped the inquiry. Hesitating for a moment, she brought up another topic. "Sister Qin and Elder Brother Rui... well, I mean, how are things with Sister Miaoyu and the two You sisters?"

"Pfft—" Xue Baoqin could no longer hold back, laughing so hard she wrapped her arms around her and refused to let go. "My foolish sister, if you're jealous, just say so. Elder Brother Rui's side has never lacked for company; aren't you afraid of being pickled by the vinegar?"

Too embarrassed to speak, Lin Daiyu simply pinned her down and started tickling her.

"What about Sister Qin?" After a long moment, she embraced the little boatwoman with a hint of grievance.

"Why does Sister Lin suppose your younger sister acts this way?" Xue Baoqin looked at her seriously.

"What do you mean?" Lin Daiyu didn't quite catch her drift.

"Your younger sister fancies herself well-traveled, yet she has never seen anyone like Elder Brother Rui, who doesn't mind his female dependents managing affairs." Xue Baoqin said softly, "Take the business we just discussed, for instance; has Aunt ever brought that up to you in ordinary times?"

"Is that so?" Lin Daiyu slowly relaxed. "Elder Brother Rui is indeed like that!"