Chapter 106: The New Little Black Dog. (First update...
Song Jiaoniang and Yu Niangzi sat in the room, chatting for a long time. They talked about their daughter's marriage, the trivial matters of Aunt Chen's family, Hua Niangzi's recent situation, and her experiences of accompanying her daughter to visit several wealthy families. After talking for about an hour, Yu Niangzi remembered that she had to go back to her own shop to take care of it, so she stood up and said goodbye.
Song Jiaoniang also stood up and saw her out.
As they passed the kitchen, they heard noises from inside. Song Jiaoniang lifted the curtain, and Yu Niang glanced in to see Lin Zhi explaining the intricacies of deep-frying pork tenderloin to five apprentices.
She didn't want to pay attention to these things, so she quickly turned her head and happened to see Chen Yan holding a porcelain bowl filled with white rice, eating it with sweet and sour pork tenderloin, and occasionally looking up at Lin Zhi.
Song Jiaoniang was used to it and was not surprised.
Madam Yu saw this and immediately had an idea in her mind. When she said goodbye to Song Jiaoniang, there was a hint of teasing in her eyes and she walked briskly back to her own drink shop.
"You, you've been chatting for so long, and you've only just returned." Shopkeeper Wu was busy in and out, packing up the drinks ordered by the guests. He complained, "An order just came in from the Imperial College for a hundred bayberry milk drinks. I've been busy till now."
"It's all my fault. Look, our master is in our shop. It's like having a treasure." Madam Yu came forward, held the face of Shopkeeper Wu, and praised and kissed him.
Shopkeeper Wu immediately calmed down and turned around to go back to his work.
Madam Yu smiled secretly as she looked at the back of Shopkeeper Wu. In previous years, she always held on to the work in the shop and would not let go, wishing to take on everything herself.
It was not until the New Year that he heard Song Jiaoniang's explanation that he realized his mistake and gradually loosened his grip, letting Manager Wu do most of the work in the shop while he himself was in charge of the money.
When Shopkeeper Zheng's incident came to light, Madam Yu changed her attitude even more. She wanted Shopkeeper Wu to do all the work, so that he could fall asleep every day due to exhaustion, so that he wouldn't have time to flirt with other women. With this thought, Shopkeeper Wu's previous complaints disappeared, and he began to understand Madam Yu, and the couple's relationship became even better than before.
After a moment's thought, Madam Yu stepped forward with a smile and offered her hand. The two of them busied themselves for a while, finally preparing all one hundred drinks. They then hired an idle man to drive a donkey cart and took them to the Imperial College together.
When they were free, Madam Yu pulled Shopkeeper Wu to sit down and chat, "Madam Song has been talking about finding a perfect husband for Sister Zhi. In my opinion, that good son-in-law is as close as the horizon!"
"Which one are you talking about?" Shopkeeper Wu asked doubtfully.
"Who else could it be? It's Shen Xiaoli who often comes to Linzhiji! He's handsome, his age is right, and most importantly, we've known each other for a long time, so I know his background well."
After a pause, Madam Yu came closer: "When I left just now, I saw Shen Xiaoli eating there, and the way he looked at Lin Zhi was different. In my opinion, there is no need for Madam Song to look outside!"
Madam Yu was gossiping while Madam Song Jiao waited until her daughter finished teaching her apprentice before going in to speak: "Yan'er is here? Come to think of it, I haven't seen Tao Lang in a while. Did you two have a fight?"
"Mom, Tao Lang is married. He will definitely come home every day to have meals with you during his honeymoon." Lin Zhi said with a smile.
Just after the New Year, the Linzhi family received a wedding invitation.
At the beginning of last month, the whole family went to attend Tao Yingce's wedding. Tao Yingce married the second daughter of a third-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel. The wedding was so grand that it was no exaggeration to say that it was a grand ceremony. The bride's dowry alone was worth 100,000 strings of silver. The beds, cabinets, and furniture were all custom-made years in advance, and any single piece cost hundreds or even thousands of strings of silver.
Song Jiaoniang was stunned at the time. The slight pride she had felt because her family made money disappeared in an instant. After returning, she devoted all her attention to making money.
Song Jiaoniang finally understood after her daughter reminded her: "That's right, look at my memory."
"It's really not about that." Chen Yan shook his head and pointed in the direction of the Dali Temple. "It's actually because Brother Tao's assessment results have come out. Although they haven't been announced yet, he has heard the news. In about a month, he will go to Zhili Prefecture to serve as a magistrate. So he wants to clear all the cases before leaving. He has been so busy these past few days that he hasn't even had time to eat."
After a pause, he added, "But my sister-in-law sends people to deliver meals every day, so I don't bring any food for him." "Tongpan?" Song Jiaoniang exclaimed, "I remember Tao Lang is now an eighth-rank Sizhi? That's a promotion! When we see Tao Lang again, we must congratulate him."
The lowest rank of Tongpan in Zhili Prefecture was the seventh grade, so Tao Yingce took a big step.
After gaining experience at the local level, it would not be excessive for Tao Yingce to continue to advance at the local level or to make another progress after returning to Bianliang.
Song Jiaoniang knew clearly that the help of her in-laws' family was indispensable. No wonder men nowadays all hoped to pass the imperial examination and then find a marriage that could support them.
After lamenting Tao Yingce's future, Song Jiaoniang asked Chen Yan, "What are your plans for the future? Will you follow Tao Yingce to the countryside, or will you continue to stay in the Dali Temple?"
Chen Yan smiled and said, "I'm still staying in Bianjing."
Song Jiaoniang immediately revealed a worried look: "I remember you moved out before? Are the old servants at home treating you well? Is the household allowance enough? I'm telling you, you have to be more careful with your life. Don't trust those old servants too much, especially when you're alone outside or in the countryside..."
Chen Yan listened patiently, occasionally responding and talking about his own plans. He had originally wanted to tell the Lin family that he was planning to resign from his official position and return to the Imperial College to study and begin preparing for the Autumn Examination this year, but then he changed his mind and decided to wait until he passed the exam before announcing the good news, so he swallowed his words.
As he was speaking, there was a sudden noise outside. Even Lin Zhi, who was in the house, heard the noise and came out to ask, "What's going on outside?"
"I'll go and take a look." Song Jiaoniang walked to the door, lifted the curtain and looked outside. She was stunned to see several yamen runners rushing into the pancake shop and dragging out Manager Zheng and his new bride in a short while.
The bride cried and screamed, and Manager Zheng also cried out that he was innocent, but the officers ignored them and locked them up with iron chains and dragged them away.
Several other officers broke into the shop and quickly took out a lot of books and other things, loaded them into a car and took them away.
After the carriages and horses left, the shop assistants and neighbors came out and started talking about it: "What happened?"
"Were you okay yesterday?"
"Has Manager Zheng committed a crime?"
"Oh, have they come to arrest people?" Chen Yan took a look with an indifferent expression.
"Yan'er knows?" Song Jiaoniang was surprised, and Lin Zhi also looked curiously.
"Ten days ago, Madam Hua went to the government office to report Manager Zheng, saying that he was evading taxes." Chen Yan explained.
Song Jiaoniang and Lin Zhi both looked surprised.
Seeing that the matter had been exposed, Chen Yan no longer concealed it: "Aunt Song should know that Madam Hua's business has been good recently."
Song Jiaoniang knew about this, of course. She and Yu Niang had even discussed it before. "Having patronized the steamed bun shop for over ten years, Niang Hua's dough-kneading skills are not bad either."
"Last time, after we pooled our money to get her a place to stay in a nunnery, she rented a stall outside Xiangguo Temple and started selling homemade steamed buns and other things."
"She doesn't earn much in January, but she's self-sufficient. She's even repaid most of the money donated by the neighbors."
"But Madam Hua probably didn't say anything else."
"The rest..."
"In fact, after her stall business gradually stabilized, the Hua family came to visit again. Later, when Manager Zheng got the news, he also came to visit. He filed a lawsuit again and sued her to the government, demanding that she immediately repay the two hundred strings of silver." Chen Yan explained.
"What!?" Song Jiaoniang, who really didn't know the inside story, was shaking with anger. "These two families, these two families, how, how can they be so shameless!"
"After this incident, Madam Hua filed another lawsuit against Shopkeeper Zheng. She claimed that Shopkeeper Zheng had been evading taxes for years. The bride's family was involved in the liquor business, and the two shops had frequent dealings in the past. Shopkeeper Zheng had helped transport the liquor, and she suspected him of assisting the other party in tax evasion."
According to current laws, if a person successfully reports tax evasion, he or she will receive one-third of the fine as a reward.
"Manager Zheng has been evading taxes for over ten years. If proven guilty, the fine will be at least hundreds or even thousands of strings of silver. Madam Hua will receive a reward far exceeding two hundred strings of silver."
However, I guess Madam Hua didn't mention that after the Dali Temple conducted an in-depth investigation, they not only uncovered the fact that Manager Zheng had evaded taxes, but also that Manager Zheng and his nephew had conspired to assist the bride's family in selling alcohol privately.
Now, not only can Manager Zheng not ask Madam Hua for money, he is even going to run away from home with his head.
"Selling alcohol privately is really risking your life!" Song Jiaonian took a breath of cold air. If it was tax evasion, one-third of the goods would be confiscated, then selling alcohol privately would be a beheading business. As long as five dou of alcohol was sold, the person would be executed.
Within two days, the reason why Manager Zheng's family had committed the crime gradually spread, and all the neighbors applauded.
Lin Zhi didn't pay much attention to these things. Her attention was on the little black dog behind her. The little black dog had a completely black back, with a white patch from the neck to the belly. It was chubby and hummed a few times when someone pressed it belly up to the ground, but it didn't resist at all.
"Where did you get this little black dog?" Song Jiaoniang asked curiously.
"Didn't we agree to get one during the Chinese New Year? Unfortunately, when I checked with Aunt Xue at the end of the year, it was already sold out." Lin Sen took off his sweaty robe, wiped himself with a towel, and then changed into clean clothes. "Today I went to the countryside to buy some supplies, and I happened to see this puppy running around in a farmer's house."
At the beginning of the year, they wanted to buy a dog to guard the house, but they were unlucky and didn't get one. Later, the shop had new staff, and they were no longer worried about thieves coming in and out, so the family of three gave up the idea.
"As soon as I walked in, this one pounced on my shoes. It was so affectionate." Lin Sen raised his chin and said cheerfully, "I thought it was destined to be together, so I brought it back."
"Can this little thing really guard the house?"
"Well, if you don't want to look at it, then don't look at it. Just treat it as a pet dog!" Lin Sen disagreed and told Song Jiaoniang to look out the window: "Look, Sister Zhi likes this little guy so much."
Lin Zhi held the puppy's belly and turned it upside down. The little guy was not happy and kicked around with his four short legs, but he couldn't reach Lin Zhi's claws and kept whimpering anxiously.
Oh, the more you yell like that, the more people want to bully you~
Lin Zhi laughed heartily and blurted out, "No one will come to save you even if you scream again—!"
Lin Sen was silent for a moment, then turned around and said to Song Jiaoniang with a smile, "Really? Sister Zhi likes the little guy very much."
Song Jiaoniang was originally trying hard to hold back her laughter, but as soon as he opened his mouth, she burst out laughing.
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