Chapter 88

Yu was stunned for a moment, confused by the sudden move. While this small courtyard was a bit shabby, living here for a while would make you realize how comfortable it was. Yu had grown accustomed to this convenience and, like Ye Jia, didn't particularly want to move to a larger mansion. She was about to ask what had happened when she saw Ye Jia disembark from the mule cart. Four unfamiliar faces emerged from the carriage, and she suddenly understood.

We have hired more people and there is no room for them at home.

"The rain is too heavy. Don't worry, let's go inside first." Yu held one side of the umbrella over Ye Jia's head and walked quickly towards home beside her. "It won't be long before you go back. Did something happen? You left in a hurry and came back in a hurry, and you brought someone with you."

The people behind didn't need to hold umbrellas and hurried to catch up.

Diandian jumped off the mule cart and rushed directly to the window of Ye Jia's east room without going through the main door, and jumped in. It was very familiar with this part of the house, so Ye Jia didn't need to pay too much attention to it and just let it go.

After entering the house with Yu, Rui Jie'er heard the noise and ran out to hug Ye Jia's legs: "Aunt! You're back!"

"Yeah, I'm back." Xilai came in a little later, holding a large bag in her arms. Ye Jia asked Xilai to hand the bag to her, and then took out the snacks she bought in Luntai and handed them to her, "Go back to the house and play."

Rui Jieer took the small paper bag and jumped for joy, then ran back to the house in a hurry.

The four maidservants entered the house. Si Nan and Zhan Lin helped quickly set up the mule cart in the yard before returning to camp. Ye Jia had wanted to keep them for lunch, but they were anxious to report back to their superiors and didn't stay longer. So Ye Jia had to give up. As soon as they left, Ye Jia explained the situation to Yu Shi: "These four maidservants were recruited by my husband long ago. He said they are highly skilled in martial arts and will be staying with us from now on."

"Wu Bi..." Yu immediately understood after hearing this.

In previous years, Prince Jing's mansion had also trained martial maids. Because there were so many women in the harem, they were specifically trained to protect the women. With the recent upheavals, the son was worried about the family, so it was natural to have martial maids to serve. However, Ye Jia's return was due to poor weather, and moving wouldn't be done overnight, so they had to carefully plan and make arrangements.

Ye Jia did not ask Yu and the others to move out with her immediately, but she had to say this this morning so that everyone would be mentally prepared.

Ye Simei and Qiuyue still went to the shop to do business as usual. Ajiu had already started taking orders, escorting goods and people. Yesterday, he happened to take a mission to escort a mother and child from Dongxiang Town to Jizhou. They would not be back for at least a month. Old man Zhang Changli was worried about the farm, so he asked Old Man Sun to take him to the farm early in the morning. Yu Shi, Rui Jie'er, and Lingdang were the only ones left at home. After Ye Simei went to the shop, Lingdang cooked the meals for the family. Now she was busy in the kitchen.

"There's nothing much going on in the workshop, and business is going on as usual." This is how it is in a workshop, and it usually takes a long time before a business order is received.

Ye Jia nodded and arranged for the four maidservants to squeeze into Lingdang and the others' room first, and then settle them down properly after they moved into their new home.

Yu and Ye Jia returned to the house, and Ye Jia mentioned to Yu what had happened to the Gu family in Luntai. Yu was furious when she heard that Gu Mingxi and his sister had come to Luntai and shamelessly tried to just brush off the previous broken engagement. "What did Yun'an say?"

"Of course I think the Gu family is acting suspiciously." Ye Jia didn't need to explain some things too clearly, Yu Shi also knew it in her heart.

The Zhou family's current situation naturally meant the quieter they stayed, the safer they were. Although Yanjing had, for unknown reasons, given the Jing Palace a break, it was precisely because of this unknown reason that Yu Shi was constantly on edge. With only one child left in the Jing Palace, she couldn't help but be cautious.

Seeing the Gu family act this way, Yu Shi couldn't help but feel annoyed: "They are really haunting us! If that's the case, we should move as soon as possible."

If Yu Shi had once cherished Gu Mingxi, then her decision to distance herself from him after the incident at Prince Jing's mansion had truly hurt her. Her feelings towards Gu Mingxi had instantly shifted from fondness to dislike. Now, even the mere mention of his name filled her with a wave of disgust.

Seeing her staring out the window, Ye Jia thought she was reluctant to leave this place. To be honest, Ye Jia was also reluctant to leave this yard.

"Actually, the courtyard we chose is close to our base and is considered the safest place in Dongxiang Town. If the courtyard wasn't too small and the houses weren't too small, we wouldn't have to move to the Shen Mansion." Ye Jia glanced at the large empty space outside the window, thinking about building a few more houses while living in the Shen Mansion. If they felt uncomfortable living there, they could move back, after all, the Zhou family's courtyard was quite spacious.

"Isn't it?" Yu sighed and collected her thoughts. "Never mind. If you can't afford to provoke me, you can afford to avoid me."

The move was settled, and they just had to wait for the evening return of everyone else who had gone out. Ye Jia, tired from riding the mule cart for several days, had a small lunch and went back to the house to rest. Yu Shi returned to the house, picked up the embroidery clapper, put it down again, sat quietly for a moment, and sighed deeply.

"Don't bother me anymore..."

Fourth Sister Ye returned only after dusk, and the food she'd prepared during the day hadn't been sold out. This had happened countless times in the past few days. Even the most insensitive person should have realized something was amiss.

Qiuyue had been to town a few times in the past few days, and there weren't many meat shops there. Why had business suddenly gone so bad? It wouldn't be right to say that Fourth Sister Ye's cooking wasn't good enough. Of the three Ye Jia sisters, Fourth Sister Ye was the most talented cook. She could cook the same dish even better than Fifth Sister Ye. Even though the braised large intestines, pig's head, and pork belly were prepared the same way, hers were much more delicious than Ye Jia's back then. But even so, business was getting worse, and there was no clear reason.

The two men returned to Zhou's house with sighs. Old Man Sun drove the ox cart slowly, and it was dark when they entered the yard.

As soon as she heard Ye Jia was back, Ye Simei rushed over to talk to him as if she had found her true love. Yu Shi wanted to ask her to come back tomorrow, but Ye Jia came back and told her to take a break. But before she could open her mouth, Ye Simei knocked on the door.

There was a response from inside, and she pushed the door open and went in.

Ye Jia had just woken up from a long nap, her hair still draped over her shoulders. Her long, graceful hair made her look thin and frail, and her voice was a little hoarse. Ye Simei was stunned when she saw her. Ye Jia was just picking up a red ribbon from the table to tie her hair. Turning around, she saw Ye Simei looking worried, and frowned, "What's wrong? Why do you look like that?"

Ye Simei pursed her lips and took a long time to come back to her senses.

She lowered her eyes and took a while to prepare her speech before telling Ye Jia in detail about what she had encountered in business.

Ye Jia's hair was still a mess, and the loose ribbon couldn't hold her smooth hair together. Seeing that she hadn't tied it tight after wrapping it around several times, Ye Simei reached out to help her tie it back in place.

Actually, there had been signs of this happening long before. Ye Jia had already noticed the meat was selling slowly before she left. But it had been slow before, now it was selling out every day until dusk. Thinking about it, it was indeed a bit strange. It wasn't that Ye Jia was too proud of her own cooked meat, but she had tasted the cooked meat sold in several nearby towns, and the meat sold elsewhere couldn't compare to what was sold in Xishi's shop.

"Don't rush." ​​But business always has its ups and downs, so just find the reasons and make improvements. "Asuka, go to town and buy some meat from two other restaurants and try it. See if they've improved the taste."

After Ye Jia's reminder, Ye Simei felt relieved.

There was nothing she could do. She had seen how prosperous the shop was when Ye Jia was in charge, and how it sold out daily when Ye Wumei took over. Finally, when it came to her, it started to fail. Even though Ye Simei felt that her food was delicious, she couldn't help but feel guilty and short of breath every day. She worried that she had done something wrong and that the shop's business was declining.

Xiaoqi and Xiaoba can now call out "Ahhhhhhhhh." Although they can't walk yet, they are obviously more energetic than before. Ye Simei is busy with the shop and taking care of the children every day. Ye Jia feels a little guilty for exploiting a breastfeeding woman like this.

But Fourth Sister Ye didn't feel tired at all. Instead, she asked her to take a break, which made her wonder if Ye Jia didn't value her. Ye Jia had no choice but to let her go, only instructing Qiuyue to lend her a hand and take care of the small things. He also told her to pay her a higher wage. Not only did this motivate Fourth Sister Ye even more, but the fact that Ye Jia mentioned the move publicly sealed the deal.

Originally, Ye Jia had planned to wait two or three days, but Yu was getting anxious. Perhaps because Ye Jia had mentioned the Gu family, Yu hadn't slept well the previous night. Past memories flooded back, and Yu cried silently until dawn.

Yu never told anyone about the pain in her heart.

She always appeared cheerful during the day, but she had truly reached her limit. She'd experienced things like falling from the sky and falling from the ground, her entire family wiped out, leaving only a son and a niece, and she'd experienced being humiliated and starved. It had been a long time since she'd cried alone in the middle of the night, and by the morning, the darkness under her eyes was as dark as if she'd been punched.

Ye Jia saw this and guessed that the incident between Gu Mingxi and the Gu family had rekindled her wounds. He walked over and shook Yu's hand, and Yu couldn't help but blush. She felt grateful, thinking that her current situation wasn't entirely a bad thing.

Since Yu said that they had to move out as soon as possible, Ye Jia simply asked Xishi to close the shop for a day.

Ye Simei and Ajiu actually had a house in town, but Ajiu was often away from home, and with the caravan's arrival, she'd likely be even busier. He was worried that Ye Simei would be bullied while raising two children alone, so he discussed with Ye Jia and decided to let them continue living at her sister's house. Ye Simei already helped out at Xishi's shop, and Ajiu often visited Ye Jia, so they naturally didn't care about the food expenses for the three of them.

The Zhou family actually doesn't have much. Except for the fresh vegetables in the backyard that can't be moved, everything else is easy to move.

In less than two days, everything was moved in. The Shen family's mansion seemed much more spacious. There were four courtyards alone, a large house with five entrances and exits. It felt like once you moved in, you felt like you were miles away from where you could talk or eat. Yu Shi couldn't stand the loneliness, and Ye Jia saw that the courtyard was too large and inconvenient. So, they simply forgot about the ancient traditions and just moved everyone into the outer courtyard.

The women of the same courtyard lived in one large courtyard, and a small courtyard next to it was separated for Old Man Sun and Zhang Changli to live in.

Men and women are separated. Although they are a little farther away, they seem to be more comfortable.

"What about that courtyard next to our station?" Ye Simei only slept on a kang last year and didn't experience a single cold winter. Moving into a large house was grand, but without a kang to eat on, winters were cold too. "Are we just going to leave it like this?"

"Find someone to build a few more houses." Ye Jia would never give up the yard over there. "I can stay there for a few days from time to time."

After Ye Jia said this, Ye Simei felt relieved.

Ye Jia wasn't kidding when he mentioned building a house, and he immediately sent Lingdang to the pawnbroker to find someone. Lingdang was a quiet girl, but according to Yu, she was not only literate but also skilled in painting. While it wasn't clear what her background was before she was abducted, she had a strong scholarly air about her. Now, at the Zhou family, she was teaching the children to read and paint, much like a schoolmistress.

Xilai had lived in the Shen family mansion before, so he was naturally familiar with the place. He took Ye Simei to familiarize herself with the small kitchen in the courtyard, then went back to get some money and bought three or four pounds of meat from one of the other two butcher shops in town.

Old man Zhang Changli was not very happy ever since Ye Jia said they would move to the Chen residence. He came in, looked around, picked up some tattered clothes and said he wanted to live in the manor.

The old man was quite stubborn, insisting he would live in the farm even if he died. Ye Jia had no choice but to let him go to the farm and join the other tenants. Knowing that the old man loved to eat, whoever had time during the day would bring him food.

"This child is teachable, this child is teachable." The old man liked Ye Jia's unrestrained freedom.

After Lingdang returned from buying meat, Ye Jia simply called over the four maids. They had arrived in such a hurry that Ye Jia, preoccupied with carsickness, neglected them. After returning to Dongxiang Town, he was in a hurry to move, and to this day, he still didn't know their names.

After calling them over and questioning them, Ye Jia realized they didn't have proper names; they were all referred to by animals. One with narrow eyes and a melon-shaped face was called Fox. The one, shorter than Ye Jia, was called Mink. Another, tall and rather heroic-looking, somewhat masculine, was called Tapir. The last, who was silent and difficult to notice, had delicate features, but she'd forget people the moment she turned her head. She was called Nightingale.

Ye Jia: "...This name is a bit unusual." If this were in a TV series, this name would sound like a secret agent.

The four people immediately said they could change it and asked Ye Jia to give them a new name.

Ye Jia, who had trouble naming, glanced at Yu. Yu thought for a moment and gave several people more normal-sounding names. Fox was changed to Little Pear, and Diao was changed to Cherry. The remaining two were changed to Linlang and Huanpei.

Anyway, once the name is changed, it sounds much more normal.

They didn't have much luggage, having arrived wearing only one set of clothing. The weather was already scorching, and I didn't know why the girls hadn't mentioned it in the past few days. Ye Jia figured since they were moving to a new house, he might as well open his money box again. He hired a tailor to come over and make two sets of clothes for each of the family members. Since it had been a while since they'd received their benefits, he'd just treat it as a heatwave allowance.

Although these are small favors, every time Ye Jia provides these benefits, the whole family is happy.

It was a rare break, and Ye Jia hadn't had a proper meal in ages. Thinking about the summer heat, he decided to try something spicy and sour to stimulate his appetite. Thinking it would be better to have some Sichuan-style cold noodles, Lingling brought over the cooked meat she'd bought. Fourth Sister Ye could make knife-cut noodles now, and she was even better than Ye Jia. When the base moved in, they'd picked a lot of ripe cucumbers. They shredded them and blanched some bean sprouts.

After cooking, rinse the noodles, drain, and top with shredded cucumber, bean sprouts, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili sauce. It's easy to make and delicious. However, I have to admit that the cooked food I bought from both stores wasn't very good; it still had a strong fishy smell.

"Sister, it's probably not the meat here that's good." Fourth Sister Ye frowned and swallowed the meat. Now that she often ate meat at the Zhou family, she no longer thought that just meat was good like before. "This tastes far worse than ours."

Ye Jia also felt it was unpalatable. She tried another one and it didn't taste much better. "This one is better."

Ye Simei tasted it, but still thought it was not tasty.

Regardless, these plates of meat were much more expensive than what Ye Jia sold in his shop. Even if the taste wasn't great, the meat was genuine. Ye Jia was a picky eater, so he was too lazy to eat after just two chopsticks. The others weren't as willing to part with the meat, and even if they thought it wasn't tasty, they still finished it without a trace of taste.

After dinner, Ye Jia went to the house to take a short nap. When he woke up, the broker came with his craftsmen, two of whom had previously worked on the kang for the Zhou family.

Building a house is easy, but you need to ask the owner for directions on where to build it and what style to build it in. Most importantly, ancient people paid much attention to feng shui, and the orientation of the house within a courtyard was very particular. Ye Jia didn't understand feng shui, but he did have some expertise in the technical aspects of house construction.

As she had nothing to do in the afternoon, she followed the carpenters and bricklayers back to Zhou's house.

The Zhou family's courtyard was a very traditional Northwest farmhouse, with the houses arranged in a row, consisting of a large main hall and two rooms on either side. The front and back rooms were separate, with the back room consisting of two side-by-side rooms with doors facing south, plus a small compartment on one side for storing miscellaneous items. A large area at the back was cleared for a vegetable garden. If additional land was needed, either a garden could be built on the open space near the front wall, or a few more rooms could be added between the front and back rooms to create a square quadrangle.

Ye Jia's idea was naturally to create a quadrangle courtyard. He didn't want to occupy the open space in the front yard unless absolutely necessary. A crowded environment can cause subconscious repression. A courtyard like the Zhou family's, with a forest right outside the door, exudes a sense of tranquility and peace.

After determining the location, all that remained was to have the carpenters and masons dig and lay the foundation. Back then, there weren't the surveying tools commonly used on construction sites in later generations. Experienced masons used the old-fashioned method of measuring with tools like a ruler, a rope, a compass, and a square. Ye Jia left them busy while he went to the backyard to check on the plants he had planted. He had already picked a batch of cucumbers, and some of the peppers were already ripe, some ready to eat.

Once the size of the house is measured, the required materials can be calculated. Today, most houses in Northwest China are constructed using lime mortar, though some also use rammed earth. Rammed earth is a mixture of lime, red mud, and coarse sand. This material was used to build the Great Wall in ancient times.

They estimated that it would not be that fast, so Ye Jia simply asked Xilai to stay and watch over her while she took a car back to the Shen Mansion.

Before leaving, Ye Jia visited the workshop. The warehouse was already full of the scented soaps they'd made over the past few months. They were all made with medium-quality bath beans, with some lower-quality ones also in the works. Once Ajiu's business venture took off, these goods would be shipped out for sale. Ye Jia took a look inside and saw that the pear blossom paste had already begun production.

Yu came over in the afternoon when she had nothing to do and supervised everything herself. The five female workers were all responsible for different tasks.

Learning from the previous experience of having their fragrant pancreas stolen and counterfeited, the Yu family this time divided everything from sourcing the herbs to assigning the work to their subordinates. No one knew exactly which step they were responsible for, keeping the secret recipe firmly in their hands.

Ye Jia leaned over to a pot of nearly finished product and sniffed it gently. This batch was a trial batch. Yu had made slight adjustments to the old doctor's recipe based on her past skincare experience. She had added a skin-nourishing herb, and the herb's flavor was a bit strong, overpowering the pear blossom scent of the pear blossom paste. It smelled like it was coming together. "Mom, can you customize the bottle?"

"Not yet." Yu knew that Ye Jia was going to make a stunt, so she naturally didn't dare to make her own decision. "Does Jia Niang have any ideas?"

A good product requires good packaging. Sometimes good packaging is the key to success, and the more exquisite the better. Ye Jia pondered for a moment. He felt he needed to conduct a thorough market research on this wealthy man's aesthetic preferences. But how many discerning women could there be in tiny Dongxiang Town? Market research wouldn't be easy in Luntai, either. Thinking of this, Ye Jia couldn't help but look at Yu.

"Mother, are you good at painting?" Speaking of which, Yu Shi was the most aesthetically pleasing person Ye Jia knew. Whether it was clothing styles, makeup, or even her taste in furniture, Yu Shi was second to none.

"Me?" Yu was stunned for a moment. "I can pick up a brush, but I'm not very good at drawing."

"Mom, why don't you take some time to think about what kind of bottle or wooden box to use to store this kind of thing? When you hear others say that this thing is useful, it will seem credible and you will be willing to pay for it." Ye Jia said it bluntly, and Yu Shi naturally understood.

Yu thought for a moment and decided she could do it. Without further delay, she said, "Okay, I'll think about it over the next few days."

As they talked, Ye Jia glanced at Yu's face and raised her brows. Although it was indeed very hot, without air conditioning or fans, it was easy to sweat. However, the workshop was well shaded, and Ye Jia no longer felt hot after standing in the shade for a while. But Yu stood beside her, not calming down.

Her face was red, her forehead was sweating, and she could feel anxious and short of breath as she spoke.

"Mom, what's wrong with you? Do you feel uncomfortable?"

"It's nothing." Yu didn't know. Her heart had been beating fast this afternoon. She felt hot and her face was burning. "I don't know if I ate something bad. I just don't feel well."

Ye Jia thought that everyone had eaten the cold noodles for lunch, so it seemed that everything was fine. But then he was stunned: "Are you the only one like this?"

"Ah?" Yu had no idea and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief.

"Forget it, let's go back first."

Yu just came over to take a look and decided to go back with Ye Jia.

The two of them sat in the mule cart, Yu's face still red as if she had a heat stroke. Back at the Shen residence, Fourth Sister Ye looked much the same as Yu's, blushing and anxious. If this person and these two were like this, there must be something wrong. Ye Jia thought of the cooked meat she'd bought from the shop for lunch; she'd found it unpalatable and only ate a few bites, and the rest had been eaten by them.

"Xiao Li, go find a doctor." Ye Jia had a vague suspicion in his mind, but he didn't dare to believe it. This looked like he had eaten a poppy shell.