Xu Lanyin rolled her eyes at Zhao Wu and said angrily, "I have so many identities. First I was like your sister, then like your mother, and now I am your brother."
Zhao Wu also felt that using "brothers" to describe their relationship was inaccurate, but he just wanted to be close to her, closer than siblings, so he had to use the word "brothers".
He still insisted, "I only said that you look like my sister and brother, I never said you look like my mother..." But he was a little uncertain. He had indeed thought that Xu Lanyin looked like his mother before, but he couldn't remember whether he had said it out loud.
He glanced at Xu Lanyin again, thinking that this sister was incredibly clever. How could she always guess what was on his mind? Then he thought, she definitely didn't know about Uncle Xu's incident, otherwise she wouldn't be so calm. This meant that she didn't know all of his worries.
Thinking of this, Zhao Wu breathed a sigh of relief. Although he wanted to be close to Xu Lanyin, he didn't want her to know all his thoughts, otherwise he would get his ears pulled more often.
It was already late noon when we got home, and Master Qi and Aunt Ding had already prepared the meal.
After sending the chess master away, the two of them ate their meal.
Zhao Wudao said, "I will go to the Wen Mansion to see my eldest brother in the evening and tell him the good news."
Xu Lanyin said, "Be careful."
Zhao Wu curled his lips in disdain and said, "Those good-for-nothings from the Wen family are so good-for-nothings that they can't even find me. I'm going to buy a house this afternoon so that my eldest brother and I can live there. I won't be back for dinner."
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "After making so much money, I also want to buy a house and a shop. If possible, I will open a branch of Xinyun Tea House in the capital."
As long as there's no war, real estate is a profitable business in any era, and land in the capital is even more valuable. But right now, Xu Lanyin can only buy it for herself, not her family, because Qin Shihuang wouldn't want her and her son to own property in the capital. Go back and buy them more land around Ningzhou Prefecture. Xu Lanzhou and his brother are both pursuing official careers, and a "family of farmers and scholars" sounds much better than a merchant. Give them some money to make their lives better...
Zhao Wu's words interrupted Xu Lanyin's contemplation. "Now is not a good time to buy a house. It's best to wait. If those two fall, some officials will definitely be implicated. At that time, there will be many houses and shops vacant. Not only are they good, but they are also cheap. I can't buy it in a hurry. I need it right away."
Xu Lanyin looked up at him and teased, "This young man who doesn't know how expensive food and oil are now also familiar with the affairs of the household."
Zhao Wu smiled and said, "I've been at my sister's house for so long, I've seen enough."
After dinner, Zhao Wutong and He Dong went out to look at houses. It was still raining, so Xu Lanyin did not go with them.
She hid the banknotes and gold bars and sat by the window. Gazing at the gentle rain outside, she thought of the silly little original owner. If a single blackroot herb was worth a hundred thousand taels of silver, then the box of Ruyi Regenerating Cream and the small wooden plaque should be worth the same. He possessed a huge sum of two hundred thousand taels of silver, oblivious to his own ignorance, and even ran to the Gu family with two small coins to present his treasures.
Fortunately, the young master didn't know their value; if he had, he would have foolishly offered them to him. If Gu Wangchen had obtained these two treasures and used them as bargaining chips for his promotion, that would have been truly unjust.
Thinking of the half box of Ruyu Regenerating Cream still left at home, Xu Lanyin's face was filled with smiles again. That half box of cream that had been used up had changed the fates of several people. And those few blackroot grasses, who knew how many more lives would be changed.
That night, only He Dong returned. He said Zhao Wu had gone out on some business. He also said Zhao Wu had already bought a three-story house for 960 taels of silver. Although it was a bit expensive, the house was relatively new and could be lived in after buying some daily furniture and supplies.
At this time, Zhao Wuzheng was sitting alone in a private room on the third floor of Qingfeng Restaurant drinking.
He sat by the window, the rain drizzling outside and the darkness all around. But he knew that there was a large area of houses connected to each other in the distance to the north, where several wealthy families lived, including the Wen family of the Duke of Qing.
His eldest brother, Wen Zhuofeng, was imprisoned in the Wen family for ten years and had never even left the house.
And he, who had been unlearned and unskilled since childhood, had been making trouble all over the place, running all over the place, and was despised by everyone...
He had been to this restaurant more than a dozen times, but the shopkeeper and waiter didn't recognize him as the fourth son of the Wen family who had bought on credit here. They all thought he looked familiar and thought he was someone who had come here to drink before.
Zhao Wuxian ordered a plate of braised meat, half a roast chicken, and a pot of wine. He ate slowly, finishing the meat and chicken but not the wine. He had already learned not to drink too much.
He ordered another plate of peanuts. After so many years of hardship, he had learned to be frugal. Even though he had thousands of taels of silver in his pocket, he was no longer like two years ago, preferring to buy on credit and swell up his face to order a table full of food and wine.
At the hour of Xu, the restaurant was about to close, and Zhao Wucai walked out. The rain had stopped, but he still put on his bamboo hat and walked slowly towards the north.
The night was dark and windy, with only a few stars twinkling in the sky. There were few pedestrians on the street, and they were all walking hurriedly.
Half an hour later, Zhao Wu arrived outside the northwest wall of the Wen Mansion, which was closest to Wen Zhuofeng's courtyard. The alley was long and narrow, and two people were walking towards them.
Zhao Wu had no choice but to continue walking forward slowly. The two men passed him and headed east, and he fell back. He stood there and looked around. Seeing no one, he jumped onto the wall and then jumped down again.
There were more than a dozen apricot trees planted here, and it was the peak of their blossoms. Under the faint starlight, the pale red stamens on the branches were faintly visible. The ground was covered with fallen flowers and leaves, beaten down by the rain. His shoes sank into the mud.
Before he stood up, he heard a man's low growl.
"who?"
The sound came from behind a big tree not far away.
Zhao Wu was so scared that he quickly crouched down and hid behind a half-man-high rock, pinching his throat and imitating the cat's meow twice.
The man's voice said, "Baby, it's a wild cat, don't be afraid. Come on, let me feel good."
Even after a year and a half, Zhao Wu could still tell that the voice belonged to Wen Zhuolin, the second son of the Wen family and the eldest son of Wen Yan, the second master of the Wen family. Wen Zhuolin had been even less talented than him since childhood, uneducated and unskilled, teasing little girls at the age of eleven or twelve, but his reputation outside was better than his.
"Second Master, if Second Madam knew about this, she would kill me..." a woman's delicate voice.
Wen Zhuolin cursed quietly, "Don't mention that jealous woman. She ruined the fun for no reason. My dear, serve me well and I'll find a way to get you away from that cripple..."
Then came the suppressed moans of the adulterous couple. The large tree beside the apricot grove swayed, and leaves and raindrops accumulated on them fell from time to time.
"My back is soaked. I'm going to catch a cold..."
"Tomorrow I'll give you a golden hairpin..."
Zhao Wu closed his eyes and plugged his ears. He felt nauseous. How could he encounter such a rotten thing today?
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