The carriage stopped and Xu Lingyi opened the window. Xu Sizhun and Jing'er, who were sitting in the carriage, couldn't help but look out the window.

The farmland in April was lush and green, with half-grown crops. There were several graves protruding on the southeast ridge. It was not long after the Qingming Festival, and there were still petals scattered by the wind and rain beside the graves.

"Dad, is this our family's farm?" Jing'er looked up at his father.

Xu Lingyi touched his youngest son's head and said, "This is your fourth brother's farm!"

Xu Sizhun looked at Xu Lingyi in surprise.

He knew that the farm his mother left him was in Daxing, but he had never been there.

Is it because he is going to get married that his father brought him to see it?

Then I thought things shouldn't be that simple.

Even if the farm was to be handed over to him, his father could have asked the steward to bring him over to have a look. There was no need to bring his sixth brother and him to this place so early in the morning.

"Father..." He hesitated.

Xu Lingyi looked at Xu Sizhun meaningfully: "Mother Tao is buried here!"

Xu Sizhun could not hide his surprise.

A strange but respectful voice came from outside: "My Lord, a neighbor is passing by!"

Xu Lingyi said "hmm" and ordered: "Go forward and ask questions!"

The response from outside was “yes”.

The people in the carriage couldn't help but quiet down, and the sounds outside could be heard clearly.

"Are you asking about the farm of the Yongping Marquis' son? This area is full of them." A slightly old voice said, "That's the grave of Manager Tao's mother... I came here this morning... I pass by here every day, how could I not know... What's more, the Qingming Festival just passed, and their family came to visit Old Madam Tao's grave again... There's not even as much paper money burned as during the Qingming Festival..."

Xu Sizhun's expression changed slightly.

He couldn't help but glance at Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi sat there quietly, his expression solemn and his brows dignified. Xu Sizhun swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

The steward thanked him and stepped forward to whisper to Xu Lingyi: "I have found out. Steward Tao is here to visit Mother Tao's grave today."

Xu Lingyi said "hmm", and sat for a while. When he thought that the neighbor had gone far away, he stood up and said, "Let's get off the car and take a look."

Xu Sizhun did not dare to delay and hurriedly got off the car.

Jing'er had been sitting in the carriage for most of the day. Once the novelty wore off, he felt bored. Now that he could get off the carriage to get some fresh air, he happily jumped off the carriage.

There was a middle-aged man in his thirties outside, wearing a long blue silk gown and looking very capable. He came forward, bowed, and led them to the ridge of the field.

Soon, they saw the grave with Mother Tao's tombstone.

The grave was re-earthed. The pottery basin in front of the grave where paper money was burned still had some ashes, but the area around it was clean. It was obvious that not much paper money was burned.

Xu Lingyi put his hands behind his back and asked Xu Sizhun: "Do you know how much paper money you can buy with one hundred taels of silver?"

Although Xu Sizhun had presided over Yuanniang's sacrifice, the things were prepared in advance by the stewards. He didn't know. But he knew that when there were weddings or funerals in the maids' families, the first-class maids were only rewarded with five taels of silver to take home. One hundred taels was a huge sum.

"Mother is gone, and Mother Tao is gone too. Tao Cheng is Mother Tao's son... I want to give him more silver..." Xu Sizhun explained for Tao Cheng in a low voice, "I'm getting married soon... He needs to buy things for the sacrifice..."

This means that the one hundred taels of silver also includes the reward for Tao Cheng.

Xu Lingyi didn't comment. He said calmly, "One hundred taels of silver can be used to load ten carts of paper money, which can be burned for half a day!"

Xu Sizhun exclaimed "Ah", stared at his father with his mouth open, his mind in a mess.

Xu Lingyi looked at him deeply, then turned and left Mother Tao's grave: "Let's go back!"

The clever Jing'er had sensed something strange between his father and brother. He stood quietly by and obediently followed Xu Lingyi into the carriage.

Along the way, Xu Lingyi closed his eyes and rested.

Jing'er was able to sit upright at first, but soon his upper and lower eyelids started to fight, and he fell crookedly into Xu Lingyi's arms and fell asleep.

Xu Sizhun was thinking about what happened today.

Did his father want to tell him that Tao Cheng was a double-faced person and unreliable?

But Tao Cheng was my mother's companion... and she had always been very close to him...

Thinking of this, he began to feel a little irritated.

Will his father punish him severely for this?

"Dad," Xu Sizhun stammered, "Tao Cheng didn't mean it..." It sounded like he was pleading for mercy.

Xu Lingyi suddenly opened his eyes: "Do you know why I want to go on this trip with you?"

Xu Sizun shook his head subconsciously.

"I asked you to go to the outer courtyard to learn to manage the affairs, not because I expected you to be able to write and count, but because I wanted you to learn how to identify people and use them well." Xu Lingyi stared into his eyes, "But look at you... you are about to get married, and it is not too much to want to burn more paper money for Mother Tao. But you gave Tao Cheng 100 taels of silver in one breath. If you say that you reward Tao Cheng 100 taels because you are grateful for Mother Tao's kindness in raising you, that's fine! But you asked Tao Cheng to buy 100 taels of paper money to burn for Mother Tao. Everyone has selfish desires. If Tao Cheng bought 90 taels and got 10 taels, that's fine. But look at him, I'm afraid he didn't even use the 10 taels of silver. The rest, all went into his own pocket. If you don't pursue it once or twice, Tao Cheng will develop a habit over time. When you have something important to entrust to him, he will only think that you are easy to fool, so how can he help you wholeheartedly? Zhun'er," Xu Lingyi sighed, "from now on, all the things inside and outside the Yongping Mansion will be handed over to you, you have to open your eyes. You can't do whatever you want just because he is your mother's companion. You must know that in the future, the people who will work for you in the mansion will not only be your mother's people, but also the people I left for you and the people left for you by the lady. If you can't treat them equally, how can you convince everyone?"

Xu Sizhun felt mixed emotions.

How did he know that Tao Cheng would be like this... Besides, he couldn't investigate every single thing like he did today!

Xu Sizhun naturally did not dare to refute his father. He could only lower his head and respond with a low "yes".

Seeing that he had no questions to ask him, Xu Lingyi shook his head in disappointment.

"What are you going to do about Tao Cheng's matter?" After a long while, he gently asked his son.

Xu Sizhun looked up, his eyes wide open, looking a little stunned: "I, I'll talk to him..."

"What do you mean?" Xu Lingyi asked, "You said you went to see Mother Tao and found that he didn't burn paper money for her as you instructed?"

"No, no." This would definitely not work. How could he entrust someone else to do the work and secretly investigate it? How could he behave like a child of an aristocratic family? But what else could he do? He hesitated, "I, I, I..."

Xu Lingyi didn't come here to embarrass his son.

"Do you know why I want to investigate Tao Cheng?" he whispered, "Because Tao Cheng is the steward you trust the most! When we want to trust someone, we usually have to know something about that person. But you don't know anything about Tao Cheng. Just because he is your mother's companion, you trust him infinitely. Not only did you hand over the affairs of the farm to him, but you also gave him respect in front of other stewards, letting him be superior to other stewards, but you know nothing about his affairs. This is very dangerous. In the future, there will be many people working under you. If you want to use someone, you must understand him. If you want to understand a person, you must look at small things. Take this matter for example. Tao Cheng did what you asked him to do immediately. It shows that he still has you in his heart. But he only used one tenth of the silver you gave him to buy paper money, which shows that this person is very greedy. If you use a person who is capable and greedy, you must be careful not to hand over large sums of money to him when you use him..."

Xu Sizhun felt overwhelmed after hearing what his father said and tried to memorize it without thinking.

But Jing'er, who was originally sleeping soundly, opened his eyes without knowing when.

He stared at his father intently, a thoughtful expression on his face.

* * * * * *

They entered the city with a caravan that was going to Yuquan Mountain to fetch water.

In the carriage, Xu Sizhun and Jing'er were leaning on Xu Lingyi's shoulders, one on the right and the other on the left, and had already fallen asleep. However, Xu Lingyi's eyes were wide open, shining in the darkness.

The steward took Xu Lingyi's business card, and the soldiers guarding the city didn't even bother to check. Instead, they immediately helped to drive the carriages in front to the side to make way for them.

When I returned to the lotus garden, it was already Yinzheng.

Eleventh Lady was so worried that she didn't sleep all night and went out to greet him, fully dressed.

"It's okay!" Xu Lingyi was in high spirits, holding the sleeping Jing'er horizontally, and his movements were brisk. It was hard to tell that he had been sitting in a carriage for a whole day and night. "We just went out for a walk!"

Perhaps feeling the breath of his mother, Jing'er rubbed his eyes sleepily and saw a familiar figure.

"Mom!" He twisted his body and rushed towards Eleventh Lady, "We went to see Fourth Brother's farm..." and hugged Eleventh Lady's neck tightly with both hands.

"Jin'er!" Xu Lingyi said hurriedly, "Your mother can't hold you. Daddy will hold you!"

Jing'er was in a daze, making coquettish sounds and making "hmmmm" sounds.

Eleventh Lady had no choice but to let Xu Lingyi hold her like this, and then he put his arms around her neck and awkwardly took her son back to the side room.

Xu Sizhun was completely awake.

He took two steps at a time, walked into Danbo Zhai with a serious expression, and quickly turned around and left Danbo Zhai.

"Has the fifth young master woken up?" he asked as he went to Xu Sijie.

* * * * * *

"How about we go ask mother?" Xu Sijie was woken up by Xu Sizhun. After listening for a long time, he still didn't understand what Xu Sizhun was trying to say. He couldn't help but yawn, "Mother is in charge of the affairs of the inner courtyard. If you don't understand something, just ask mother!"

My mother's companion did such a thing and asked my mother what to do?

"Forget it!" Xu Sizhun was a little frustrated. "Let's not alarm mother about this matter. You can get some more sleep! I'll go back first!"

Xu Sijie felt embarrassed for not being able to help his brother.

He thought for a moment and said, "Are you going to the study this morning? How about we talk about this in detail tonight?"

"That's fine!" Xu Sizhun thought for a moment, "so as not to delay your studies."

Xu Sijie asked the maid to fetch water to wash his face: "If it's Mr. Zhao's place, you can still ask for leave. Mr. Chang hates asking for leave the most..."

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I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

PS: Additional update will be added on August 21st!

O(∩_∩)O~