The mother and son turned around and saw a handsome man in a purple-red brocade robe with silver-gilt round flowers walking in with a smile.

"Ajue!" Lin shouted happily, holding the hand of the maid beside her and trying to stand up, "When did you come? Why didn't you tell me in advance so that I could ask your cousin to pick you up."

The person who came was Lin Jue, the nephew from Lin’s maternal side.

He is the eldest son of Lin's brother. He has been handsome and eloquent since he was a child, and is Lin's most favorite nephew.

Lin Jue stepped forward quickly without waiting for her to stand up and supported Lin before the little maid could reach out her hand.

"Aunt!" He called Lin warmly and said with a smile, "This is not some other place. I wanted to give you a surprise, but I didn't expect the surprise to turn into a shock!" He glanced at Li Duan thoughtfully and continued to say to Lin, "I didn't scare you, did I? If I had known this would happen, I would have asked the servant to come and inform you in advance."

His tone was filled with deep regret, which made Lin feel distressed. She hurriedly asked, "Is your aunt such a timid person? Besides, I dare not boast about other things, but your aunt is one of the best housekeepers. Who else could come to my room without making any noise except you guys who come and go so often?"

Lin Jue does not deny this point.

After greeting Li Duan, the two cousins ​​helped Lin sit down at the round table outside.

The maid brought tea and snacks.

Lin asked Lin Jue: "Are you just passing through or are you planning to stay for a few days? How are things going in Huai'an? Is your family business going well? Is your father in good health?"

Lin Jue smiled and said, "Father is in good health. Thanks to my uncle's help, our family business has been going well over the years. I came this time because the business in Huai'an has been settled. First, I came to tell my aunt so that you don't worry. Second, I also want to thank you. If it weren't for my uncle's help, I'm afraid I would have lost all my money. After all, there must be a scholar in this family!"

Lin nodded continuously and said, "So I urged your two cousins ​​to study hard."

Li Yi is only a fourth-rank prefect now, but he has already helped the Lin family's business to reach a higher level. If it were like the Pei family, wouldn't money be pouring into the family like water?!

Mrs. Lin thought of Lin Jue's eldest son who had just been born, and said, "Although your daughter-in-law's family is wealthy, their background is still a little poor. When your eldest cousin gets married, bring the child here to raise him. Don't say that he will become a Jinshi or a Juren, at least he must become a Xiucai. Look at those wealthy families in Hangzhou City, eight or nine out of ten of the top businesses are Xiucai. Only in this way can they get in touch with those officials, and have someone to protect them when something goes wrong."

Lin Jue agreed and nodded repeatedly, thanking Lin and Li Duan in advance. Then he said, "I just happened to have nothing to do during this period of time, so I came to accompany you and talk to my cousin. It would be even better if I could meet the third elder of the Pei family."

The last sentence is the most important, right?

Lin thought about it, but her nephew's words were so beautiful that she was still very happy in her heart: "Okay! You can stay here for a few more days. Lin'an City may not be good in other aspects, but the scenery is elegant. You are always in a hurry every time you come here. This time you can stay here for a few more days and let your cousin take you around. If you are bored, take a boat to Hangzhou City and you can go back and forth on the same day."

Lin Jue immediately stood up to thank her and chatted with her for a while. Seeing that Lin looked a little tired, he said goodbye to Li Duan and Li Duan accompanied them to the guest room to rest.

However, as soon as Lin Jue entered the house, he drove out the servants who were organizing the boxes and the Li family sent to clean the house, closed the door, and took out a scroll from a box he carried with him and handed it to Li Duan with a smile: "What do you think? I think your method won't work, right? In the end, it still depends on me. Here, Lu Xin's 'relic', see if it is the Yutu that your family is looking for."

Li Duan smiled awkwardly and said, "Have you got it?"

Ever since they heard about Lu Xin's relics, they had been planning to get them. But they didn't expect Lin Jue's plan to go so smoothly.

Li Duan couldn't help but defend himself: "It's mainly because Ah Jun has a crush on the girl from the Yu family. It's a two-birds-with-one-stone thing, so I just agreed to it."

Although the Lu family's affairs were progressing smoothly, if someone wanted to check, it would be easy to find out who got the painting. The profits from the maritime business were too lucrative, and killing people and destroying a clan was nothing in comparison. The Li family's foundation was still too weak to withstand the turmoil. Not to mention the Pei family was also a threat.

If the Pei family were allowed to have a share, then their family would have to follow the Pei family's lead forever. What future would the Li family have? What would be the point of his lifelong struggle?

Lin Jue was proud, but he didn't want to offend Li Duan, his cousin who might bring unlimited benefits to the Lin family in the future. Not only did he not argue with Li Duan about winning or losing, he also followed Li Duan's words and said, "If it were me, I would also be willing. I just didn't expect the Yu family to be so stubborn. However, at least we have got the painting, and we have to hurry up. By the time the Pei family finds out, the painting has already been in the hands of the Peng family. No matter how powerful the Pei family is, can they be more powerful than the Peng family?"

The Peng family in Fu'an is the first one in Fujian.

Not only has the family produced two ministers, but the current seventh master of the Peng family, Peng Yu, is also a close minister of the emperor and the Right Censor of the Censorate, in charge of supervising all officials. Even Pei Yan's second senior brother, Jiang Hua, the Minister of Works and Grand Academician of the Eastern Pavilion, does not dare to act rudely in front of Peng Yu.

The ones who wanted to get this painting were the Peng family.

Li Yi has been wanting to be transferred to the capital in recent years. The Pei family is too conservative and moves too slowly, so he finally got in touch with the Peng family, who are willing to help him. Naturally, his family has to return the favor and help the Peng family get this painting as a token of their loyalty.

However, the Li family's roots are in Lin'an. Before forming a close interest relationship with the Peng family, the Li family is unwilling and cannot offend the Pei family. Otherwise, they will be overwhelmed by their own strength, which the Li family cannot afford now. Why create so much trouble?

Li Duan smiled and said nothing.

The Peng family wanted the painting, not necessarily the Li family, but the Li family had to have the Peng family. It was useless to say anything now, as it was true that Lin Jue got the painting.

There is no paper that can cover the truth, and Li Duan did not want to keep the secret from the Pei family forever, but he had to make the Li family stand firm in front of the Peng family before letting the Pei family know.

He asked Lin Jue: "You didn't come here in person, did you?"

"How could I be so stupid?" Lin felt that his eldest cousin had become a little stupid because of his studies. He looked at Li Duan and said, "Of course I asked someone else to do it! It was this person who was contacted by my trusted steward. He just said that this was an ancient painting and I had a way to sell it to someone who liked it. It would only get four or five hundred taels of silver at most if it was pawned in a pawn shop, but after passing through my hands, it could be sold for more than a thousand taels of silver. That person was fooled. He spent four hundred taels to buy the painting and sold it to me for another five hundred taels of silver. Although it was a bit much, I just thought of it as a way to keep it quiet, and I didn't bargain him down too much."

He knew that this painting could be sold for thousands of taels of silver, but he bought it for four hundred taels and sold it for five hundred taels. He was a real person.

Li Duan pretended to take a deep breath and said with a smile: "This guy is not greedy."

"So, doing business depends on who you are." Lin Jue was a little proud of this and said, "Look at me, I have followed my father all over the world, and I have never had any problems because of my partners. So I said, Peng The family is capable of great things, so it would be a good idea to follow their family.”

Li Duan did not comment.

On this point, he and Lin Jue have opposite views.

He thought the Peng family was greedy.

Among the nine fleets in Fujian, the Peng family's fleet was the largest and owned most of the ships in Fujian. But when they accidentally learned that Master Zuo had hidden a navigation map in this painting, they were afraid that someone else would get it, so they tried their best to get it.

However, this is human nature.

Who would want to have a tiger next to his bed?

Li Duan and Lin Jue talked about the painting: "Should we just send it to the Peng family? Or should we first check whether the painting is suitable?"

He did not think that the Yu family could discover the secret in the painting, but he was afraid that, just as Lu Xin had confessed, even he did not know the secret in the painting, and as a result, they had taken the wrong thing.

Lin Jue said shrewdly: "Of course we have to find a way to look at the picture of the road in this painting. What if the Peng family regrets it?"

In addition to inspecting the goods, they would also be better off getting some leverage over the Peng family and making a copy of the map to prevent the Peng family from going back on their word.

After all, they were not on the same level as the Peng family. It was easy for the Peng family to deal with them, but it was not easy for them to resist the Peng family. Especially with the Pei family in the middle - if this incident had not happened, they could still ask the Pei family for help. Once their deal with the Peng family was exposed, it would be good if the Pei family didn't deal with them. Don't expect the Pei family to protect them.

When the two cousins ​​talked about this, they exchanged a look that showed they understood each other.

Li Duan said: "Leave this matter to me."

Lin Jue planned to stay here for a while just for this purpose.

He had to see the picture with his own eyes before he could feel at ease!

He would also personally bring this map back to Fujian and give it to the Peng family.

This was also discussed between their family and the Li family at the beginning.

Brothers fight together to fight tigers, and fathers and sons fight together in battle. Both the Lin and Li families are too weak now, and only by sticking together can they build up their family business.

The two discussed who to find to remount the painting.

The news that Yu Tang had been waiting for finally came.

The person behind the Lu family is indeed Lin Jue.

She thought a lot about this painting. She felt that the Li family would not be able to do business on the sea without the help of the Lin family, so the Lin family must have known about this. In her previous life, the one who had the closest contact with the Lin family was Lin Jue.

He comes far more often than a relative who lives thousands of miles away.

Yu Tang found a way to draw a picture of Lin Jue and showed it to Ah Liu, who was selling pears in Xiaomei Lane, and asked him to watch the gate of the Li family. As soon as the man came to the door, he immediately told Ah Tiao. He also showed the picture to the two brothers of the Qu family and asked them to watch the man who traded with the Lu family to see if the painting finally fell into Lin Jue's hands.

Fortunately, with the things that happened in her previous life, she watched the person backwards and waited for the result she wanted.