"The girl knew that Uncle Xiao Rong was coming, so she specially lit incense in the room to diffuse the moisture in the rain." Ying'er said while looking at Daiyu.
Daiyu smiled and said, "She is quite a considerate person."
No one in the garden knew about Lin Daiyu's mouth, and Ying'er didn't respond when she heard this strange sarcasm. Jia Rong only led everyone into the building, and Jia Rong pretended not to listen, but frowned slightly and pursed her lips.
When they entered Baochai's residence, there were no toys inside, which suited her temperament. Although the Xue family was rich, Baochai paid little attention to these things. Not only did the residence have no furnishings, she even did not use rouge or gouache on her face.
It was because Brother Rong was coming that the maid asked the maid to light borneol in the smoker in the room to aromatize and relieve dampness, relieve menstrual cramps, clear away heat and relieve epidemics.
The faint green smoke lingers up from the smoker and lingers in the nose. It is not as dense as a rose, nor as elegant as a daisy. It can only feel refreshing, comfortable and comfortable.
Brother Rong saw Baochai coming out and said with a smile: "When I suddenly smelled this smell, I thought I was back to the Dragon Boat Festival a month ago. In those days, wherever I went, I smelled the smell of borneol, which made my head burn. I was dizzy for a while."
Xue Baochai said angrily: "I don't have any other incense here, so it's good to have borneols to light for you. It's raining outside again, and you still dislike using borneols to eliminate the rain. Next time you come back, you won't even have borneols." Here’s some for you.”
Brother Rong said: "It's not disgusting, borneol is also a rare thing. It's quite suitable to burn it at this time. Next time I come, I should ask Ling'er to get more incense from Dongfu so that you can burn it often."
"The smell of flowers and plants outside is enough for me, so I don't need these." Baochai said with a smile, but did not refuse. He asked with a smile: "This morning I sent the lady who is guarding the garden to deliver a message. Why is that? Please don't come into the garden."
He rarely comes to the garden. Unless there are important events in the two mansions or distinguished guests coming to visit, Brother Rong will never come to the Grand View Garden. There were girls living inside, so it would not be good for a man like him in his prime to break in.
Brother Rong didn't stop when he saw Daiyu coming in. He led Xiangling to go next door to find Yun Gu's old friends. He also ordered some maids to come with umbrellas and go have fun in Hengwu Garden.
Then he said to Baochai: "It's not about the two business matters."
Xue Baochai seemed to have already guessed it, with a look on his face as if it was true. Inviting Brother Rong to sit inside, he smiled and said, "I won't stay in the Xiaoxiang Pavilion for half a day, because Sister Lin will look at me with resentment in her eyes."
Jia Rong never thought about that and asked in surprise: "How did you know that I entered the Xiaoxiang Pavilion?"
"She has followed you here, could it be that she bumped into her on the road?" Xue Baochai concealed the fact that she asked Ying'er to go to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion to send a message, and said lightly: "It's not like such a good girl to come to your door and avoid her. Your past temper."
Brother Rong laughed, seeing the other little maids in the room disperse, only Ying'er could not help but hold Baochai's soft, round hand. Said: "The beauty of a girl in the world is worth as much as a stone, and our treasure owns eight stones."
Xue Baochai looked at him sideways and smiled even deeper. "These words can also coax others."
"How can an upright person like me be so coaxing?"
"I don't know how to coax with my mouth, but I've never been honest with my hands." Xue Baochai chuckled, suddenly remembering that night at Qingxu Temple, this bold brother dared to treat her like that. Baochai couldn't help but feel ashamed on her cheeks, and said angrily: "Sister Lin is such a good girl, it's not enough that Baoyu cares about you, you also have many others. I don't know what he thinks, but he will use any of the methods he used on me in the past, She still followed Dongfu obediently?"
Brother Rong was stunned for a moment. How could he use any means to deal with Baochai? It was obviously this girl who used means to deal with him. Without arguing, he said: "Let's just talk about cement."
When Baochai heard this, he also showed his true colors. Asked: "How do you calculate it?"
"The news about the heavy rain in Southern Province will slowly spread to all provinces, and the reputation of cement tribute ash will also spread to various places with this news." Rong Geer chuckled and said: "The Xue family has an opportunity to make money."
Xue Baochai looked at Brother Rong quietly. Although it was an opportunity for the Xue family to make money, it was actually him who benefited. It's not like the Xue family gets goods from the Ningguofu cement kiln for free. Not only sell goods to them, but also promote them. Ning Guofu wants to make more this time.
However, Baochai is also happy that the Xue family can make money from it. Now, with the death of Xue Biao's father, the Xue family has lost the last imperial merchant brand of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and many businesses cannot continue. Other conventional ones are also much more expensive than before.
As long as they can keep the Ningguo Mansion business, the Xue family will not be impoverished.
As for whether he wants to continue to make a fortune in the future, unless the eldest brother is favored and gets another Huangshang brand, or there is another way out.
Baochai replied calmly: "What should we do?"
"I will write to Jia Yun from Ping'an Prefecture, Jia Qiang from Jinling and others to make a batch of prefabricated cement boards." Brother Rong saw her doubtful expression and then explained: "These prefabricated cement boards are divided into Different amounts of iron bones, bamboo, steel bars, etc. will be arranged. As long as the Xue family caravan transports these things to various provinces and asks passers-by to test the hardness, and cooperates with the promotion of the efficacy of cement under the heavy rain in Southern Province, I am afraid that no one will be tempted. purchase?"
Xue Baochai said: "Iron bones, bamboo, etc. are common objects, but steel is rare. Even if others know that it is as hard as stone, so what? Can you still afford the luxury of putting steel in cement?"
"I just want them to release steel." Brother Rong chuckled. "Actually, it doesn't matter if we don't put steel. As long as we know the effectiveness of cement, our stuff will be sold."
In fact, Brother Rong has another idea besides selling cement.
He could never forget the look in Emperor Xiande's eyes when he looked at the cement board outside Shenjing City Villa that year. Especially when I heard that there are iron bones in the cement slab, I always have a special look in my eyes.
In the past, he simply thought that Dayan had little iron material, which was why the emperor was dissatisfied. But as he got to know Dayan better, he discovered that his mother, Dayan, couldn't help but control her. It can even be said that Dayan is rich in iron materials, and even the iron ore mines in the Gyeonggi area have been stopped due to low profits.
He didn't want to believe that a country with tens of millions of people could be satisfied with an annual output of tens of thousands of tons of iron.
However, it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to believe it. The iron used by Dayan for civilians is nothing more than knives, iron pots, etc., and the iron used for military purposes is those guns and cannons.
Iron is produced every year without increasing consumption. How much more can be used?
At the beginning, the emperor was afraid that too much iron was used in cement and that iron would not be available elsewhere.
This kind of logic seems wrong to Jia Rong. If you are worried about not being able to use iron, you should go to great lengths to smelt iron. Nowadays, there are fewer mines for iron smelting, and those officials are busy burning kilns and growing rouge rice.
It's as if those porcelain and those rouge rice are more important than iron.
At this moment, Brother Rong always wanted to do something.
Xue Baochai looked at him quietly, with an indescribable smile on his face. He said calmly: "Isn't it that your Ningguo Mansion took over the iron smelting business from somewhere?"
"Cough...cough."
Brother Rong waved his hands repeatedly. He quibbled: "It's nothing. It's just that the cement is mixed with iron and steel bars and other structures. After they solidify, they will be harder. Even if someone hits it with a sledgehammer, it may not be destroyed."
Xue Baochai looked at him doubtfully and said, "Even so, I'm afraid it's not enough to publicize it like this."
Brother Rong secretly praised Beiliao as a really good place. Hehe smiled and said: "I demonstrated it to them on the spot. I also explained it so that everyone could witness the process of cement ash condensing into stone slabs, and also let people smash it with their own hands."
