A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 868 Entering the Lin Mansion

After Lin Ruhai left the prefectural office and returned home, he immediately arranged for someone to go to Nanjing to investigate the situation.

After doing all this, Lin Ruhai felt a little emotional when he thought of the children who were abducted today. He got up and went to the back house, where he found his daughter in the study.

Seeing his daughter sitting alone in front of the window with a depressed look, Lin Ruhai couldn't help but feel distressed: "Yu'er, you haven't recovered from your illness yet, you should rest more and don't come to the study room again."

"Father, I know. But I was bored in my room all day, thinking about my mother, and felt sad, so I came to this study to see the manuscript that my mother copied."

Hearing this, Lin Ruhai thought of his late wife who had just passed away not long ago, and his heart ached: "Yu'er, you...your mother, she must also hope that you can be well, don't be too sad. Nanny Wang, help Yu'er back to her room."

"Yes, sir. Miss, let's go back and rest."

On the other hand, Lu Cheng and the three little girls were temporarily placed in the prefectural government office and were taken care of by the prefect's servants.

Since the prefect made all the arrangements personally and the servants took good care of them, none of the children suffered any harm.

However, the three little girls had experienced being abducted and did not trust anyone else, but were relatively close to their older brother Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng was very attentive to the three abducted children and tried his best to take care of them.

Runzhou, Taizhou and Jinling are all near Yangzhou and are not far away.

The slightly farther city of Gusu is only three or four hundred miles away from Yangzhou.

On the third day, the parents of the little girl from Runzhou came to Yangzhou, thanked the prefect profusely, presented him with a generous gift, and then took the little girl away.

Before leaving, the couple saw that their daughter was close to Lu Cheng, and they knew that Lu Cheng must have taken care of their daughter. So, the father secretly gave Lu Cheng fifty taels of silver as a thank you.

Fifty taels of silver was a huge sum of money in that era. An ordinary private school teacher only earned a dozen or twenty taels of silver a year.

Soon after, the parents of the little girl from Taizhou also rushed to Yangzhou. They not only gave the prefect a generous gift, but also specially asked someone to make a plaque and present it to him.

Hearing that the Salt Inspector Lin Ruhai also helped, the parents brought their children to visit and express their gratitude.

Before leaving, the father of the family had a special chat with Lu Cheng, saying that if Lu Cheng was willing, they could take him back home and support him to study. Of course, Lu Cheng did not agree.

Afterwards, the parents had someone make a new set of clothes for Lu Cheng and put a hundred-liang silver note in the interlayer of the clothes.

Two days later, the parents of the little girl from Gusu City also came to Yangzhou. They also presented a thank-you gift to the prefect and secretly left twenty taels of silver for Lu Cheng.

No matter how much, Lu Cheng accepted them all.

At the same time, the people Lin Ruhai sent to Jinling had already found out about Lu Cheng's family background and confirmed that Lu Cheng was not lying.

"Master, this young master Lu has a clean family background. His ancestors for three generations were all scholars. His grandfather was a juren and was well-known in the village. His family tradition is very good. When young master Lu's father suddenly fell ill two years ago, he served by his bedside and tried the medicine himself. His filial piety was known throughout the village.

Moreover, I heard that this young master was gifted since childhood, and was familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, so he was a good student..."

After hearing the situation, Lin Ruhai was also quite satisfied. After the last little girl was taken away, Lin Ruhai immediately had Lu Cheng brought back home.

However, Lin Ruhai did not immediately offer to accept Lu Cheng as his disciple. Instead, he let Lu Cheng stay in his mansion first and wait and see what Lu Cheng's character was like.

Lin Ruhai has seen many talented children.

But intelligence alone is not enough without determination.

Lu Cheng was not in a hurry. Now that he had entered the Lin Mansion and taken a big step forward, the rest would be easy.

At the same time, Lin Daiyu in the back house heard that her father had asked someone to bring back a young boy, and she was a little curious, but she did not come out to meet him.

Although Lin Daiyu is only six or seven years old now, she is from a real scholarly family and a famous lady. Naturally, she will not easily come into contact with outside men.

Of course, if Lu Cheng became Lin Ruhai's apprentice and they had a master-disciple relationship, he and Lin Daiyu would become senior and junior brothers and sisters, and Lin Ruhai would naturally arrange for them to meet.

On the morning of the second day after Lu Cheng entered the Lin residence, Lin Ruhai had just gotten up when he heard a servant come over to report: "Master, that young master Lu got up just after five o'clock in the morning, and then stood in the yard in a strange posture. After fighting for about half an hour, he started boxing. Although I don't understand what kind of boxing he is doing, I think it looks very similar."

Lin Ruhai was immediately interested when he heard this: "Oh? Is that kid still boxing now? Take me over to have a look."

Not long after, Lin Ruhai arrived at the side yard and saw Lu Cheng practicing a set of boxing. This boxing method did not look fast, but it gave people a very comfortable feeling.

Lin Ruhai watched for a while and saw that Lu Cheng had finished the rehearsal. He came over and bowed: "Greetings, Your Excellency the Censor."

"Don't be so polite, just call me sir from now on."

"Yes, sir."

"I just saw you practicing your boxing skills. Where do you get these skills from?"

"It's not from anywhere, it's just a set of Kung Fu to train the body. When I was young, I wasn't in good health and I often got sick and took medicine. When I was six years old, I was playing on the street and happened to meet an old beggar. I felt sorry for him, so I gave him the cake I just bought.

Unexpectedly, the old beggar did not want to eat the cake, but wanted to drink wine. I could not persuade him, so I returned home, took out the 10 coins I had saved, went to the wine shop and bought half a catty of wine, and gave it to him.

After drinking, the old beggar said that we were destined to be together, so he taught me this set of boxing and kicking and standing exercises, saying that if I practiced well, I would not get sick. I practiced with him for half a month, and my body really became much stronger.

I asked him what kind of boxing this was, and he just said it was a way to strengthen the body, and it didn’t have a name. If I liked, I could call it “powerful boxing” or “health-preserving boxing”, or whatever I wanted…”

Hearing this, Lin Ruhai stroked his beard and couldn't help but sigh: "My child, you have encountered an opportunity. In the mortal world, occasionally there are masters who come down from the mountains to travel. The actions of masters are often unexpected and unrestrained."

Thinking of this, Lin Ruhai glanced at Lu Cheng, who had a ruddy complexion and a strong physique, and thought of his frail and sickly daughter. He couldn't help but start wondering whether this kung fu would be useful to his daughter.

Lin Ruhai didn't know that the hermit master mentioned by Lu Cheng was just talking nonsense, and this set of standing meditation was intentionally demonstrated.

However, Lin Ruhai did not rush into it. Instead, he asked, "I heard you say before that you followed your father to study since you were young. What books did you read?"

"I have studied the Four Books and the Five Classics. I have also read the Historical Records, the Book of Han, the Book of the Later Han, the Records of the Three Kingdoms, and other historical books..."

Lin Ruhai was also a little surprised when he heard this: "Can you understand all these books? Let me ask you a few questions..."