Seeing his mother's expression, Lu Qian knew he had gone too far. He squatted down in front of Madam Lu, took her hand, his eyes reddening, and said softly, "Mother, I am different from my father. I don't like having so many women in the backyard making a ruckus. I just want to marry a girl I like and live a peaceful life together."

“I’ve known my cousin Li Yao for more than a decade longer than Xiao Tao. However, I fell in love with Xiao Tao less than a year after I met her, but I never liked her. It’s not that she’s not good enough, but we just can’t communicate and it’s impossible for us to live together.”

“Mother, even if you force us to stay together, the result will only be constant arguing and fighting, leading to a divorce. And there’s no guarantee that your son won’t be upset and might do something out there.”

"Mother, think about it carefully. Do you want your son to live that kind of life?"

Madam Lu looked down at her son and reached out to pat his head. "Alright, I understand. I won't pressure you anymore. I'll refuse your aunt's request."

"Since you like that girl from the Zhou family so much, how about bringing her back for your mother to meet her another day?" Madam Lu also wanted to see for herself what kind of girl she was that her son cared so much about.

She had met Li Mai, but not Zhou Tao.

“It might not be possible this year. She’s very busy this year. She has to learn how to manage the shop and do business from her sister-in-law, and she also has to find time to learn the zither from Madam Qi. She simply can’t find any time for herself.” Lu Qian felt a little sorry for Zhou Tao when he thought about how busy she was every day.

"Alright, Mother understands." Madam Lu decided that since the girl was busy, she would go to their shop to see her.

"Alright, go back and rest. Mother is tired too!" Madam Lu gestured for her son to go back and rest.

Lu Qian stood up, bowed to his mother, and went back to his courtyard to rest.

What they didn't know was that while they were talking, a maidservant outside the door overheard some of their conversation and then quietly left the main courtyard for a secluded spot.

...

On August 19th, Zhou Quan accompanied Li Mai back to the village to work on the dyeing workshop.

Zhuzhu stayed in town with Xiao Piaoliang and Xique, and Xique accompanied her to continue learning medicine at Dr. Niu's clinic every day.

Because it was close to Zhou Lin and Zhou Xing's shop, the siblings became Zhu Zhu's temporary caretakers. Either Zhou Xing would call Zhu Zhu and Xi Que to lunch, or Zhou Lin would call Zhu Zhu and Xi Que to lunch.

In the evening, Zhou Lin drove a carriage to pick up Zhu Zhu and Zhou Tao and take them back to the mansion.

When they returned, Zhou Lei had already returned as well.

With the Qilin protecting their safety, Zhou Quan and Li Mai weren't worried about anything happening to them. After returning home, the two of them gathered all the workers they had previously hired at their home for a meeting, explaining that they would all go to the dye house the next day to officially start work.

Li Mai was busy at home throughout the end of August, while Zhou Quan went back to town a few times.

One day, when Zhou Quan returned home, he looked unwell, but he acted normally after seeing his parents.

That night, after Li Mai went to bed, he asked him what had happened at the shops in town.

Zhou Quan said it was nothing; he didn't want those things to bother Xiaomai.

Seeing that Li Mai's eyes narrowed as he looked at him, Zhou Quan had no choice but to tell him what Zhou Lin had told him after he went back.

It turns out that in the past few days, some rumors about Lu Qian have been circulating in the town, saying that Lu Qian is going to marry his cousin.

Zhou Lin said he went to look for Lu Qian once, but didn't see him. The restaurant manager said that Lu Qian hadn't been to the restaurant for the past few days and seemed to have gone out.

Li Mai sat up in surprise and looked at Zhou Quan. "Did you go look for Lu Qian? Is he really not in town?"

Zhou Quan shook his head. "I went there secretly. He was indeed not in town. It seems he went with his mother to his maternal grandfather's house. He said his maternal grandfather was celebrating his birthday in the next few days."

“Let’s not rush things. Fortunately, Xiao Tao doesn’t know Lu Qian’s feelings for her yet. We’ll know what’s going on when Lu Qian comes back. If it’s true, then let’s wish her well and be glad that Xiao Tao missed out on that scumbag.” Li Mai lay down again and comforted him.

"Our Xiaotao is still young, and we have plenty of time to let her meet a good man. Even if she doesn't find a good man, she can live in our family for the rest of her life. We can afford to support her."

"Hmm," Zhou Quan was less angry after being comforted by her words.

Fortunately, no outsiders knew that Lu Qian had feelings for his daughter Xiao Tao. Before his parents officially came to the Lu family to propose marriage, they did not plan to tell outsiders about the fact that the young master of the Lu family had feelings for their daughter Xiao Tao.

After taking two days to settle things at home, Li Mai returned to town with Zhou Quan on August 28th.

When Li Mai arrived at the store, both shops were busy. The Cupid Osmanthus Fairy series of jewelry at Jin Yu Ge was selling very well, while Li Mai's clothing shop was selling dresses with osmanthus elements, osmanthus color themes, or autumn fragrance colors very well during this period.

Many customers have developed a habit of checking out what matching outfits Red Pomegranate has released after buying new jewelry at Jin Yu Ge.

Even if they didn't intend to buy anything, they would still come and take a look, and once they did, most of the girls would be tempted.

These designs were already being made by the embroiderers after Li Mai returned from Tianxiang Village.

Even so, the number of garments produced for these styles still couldn't keep up with the demand from fashionable young women and wives.

Now everyone in Qingshi Town knows that if you want to wear the latest fashions, go to Hongshiliu.

When Zhou Tao saw that her sister-in-law had finally returned to oversee the shop, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had been feeling uneasy these past few days because of the rumors about Lu Qian.

Moreover, since the day she went to learn the piano, Brother Lu has never appeared in front of her again. She felt that the rumors must be true. He probably knew that she didn't like him, so he agreed to his family's request to marry her cousin.

I guess I don't like him, right? After all, we're not a good match.

However, Zhou Tao didn't understand why she felt depressed and unhappy when she heard that Brother Lu was getting married.

Her sister-in-law came back, and she wanted to quietly ask her what was wrong with her when she got home that night.

After Li Mai returned, she collected all the new clothing designs they had drawn by the end of the month, planning to select the top three in the next couple of days and award them prizes.

Once this batch of Osmanthus Autumn Collection clothes is sold, the embroiderers will start making new winter clothes. For this year's new winter collection, Li Mai plans to make the top three styles, as well as the Plum Blossom Fairy series of clothes she designed herself.

Ultimately, the first place winner, as judged by Li Mai, was the dress designed by the embroiderer Wen Niangzi. It would be a good choice as winter wear, and the design was novel and quite innovative.

Zhou Tao's painting won second place. After all, the little girl had put in the effort to learn, but her knowledge was still not as extensive as that of Wen Niangzi, who had been an embroiderer for more than ten years. Wen Niangzi's painting was indeed better, and Li Mai liked it very much.

To Li Mai's surprise, Zhou Heng's painting actually won third place. She hadn't expected Zhou Heng to have such talent.