Unfortunately, not long after, Chuncao came running back with a look of annoyance in her eyes, holding two silver ingots in her hand.
"Um...Master Li has left!"
"Gone? How did they leave?" Qin Shaoqing and Zhang Jian frowned, unable to help but scold, "Didn't we tell you to serve them well? How did you serve them?"
Chuncao felt a little aggrieved. "I was going to help Uncle Li undress, but he said he wanted to wash his face, so I went to fetch water. When I came back, Uncle Li was nowhere to be seen. There were only these two silver ingots left on the table!"
Qin Shaoqing, his face dark, took the silver and examined it carefully. It was just ordinary official silver, without any markings of the Li family.
He then asked, "Did you remove his jade pendant or sachet?"
Chuncao lowered her head even further, "No, I haven't had a chance yet..."
"Useless!" Qian Shaoqing exclaimed angrily, smashing the silver ingot in his hand.
Chuncao was so frightened that she started to cry. Zhang Jian waved his hand and chased her out along with the other maids.
Only a few people remained in the room. Zhang Jian said, "This Li Lao Er is really ungrateful. He can throw away such a good thing."
Qian Shaoqing wanted to say something, but after glancing at the others, he held back and forced a smile, "Forget it, he doesn't know what's good for him. Let's just not include him in our fun anymore. Let's just do our own thing and not spoil the mood."
After saying that, he called to the proprietress, "Bring over those few good ones you've been hiding. Don't tell me they're not properly trained yet. I'm in a good mood today. If you dare to make me unhappy, you can forget about doing business."
The proprietress readily agreed.
This place was a complete charade. It claimed to be a private restaurant, and the food was decent, but what actually tasted better and sold better was "another kind of meat."
Compared to brothels, her place is more secluded and harder to find.
Li Lao Er led Ye Shan along the main street, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Brother Dashan, I'm so glad you were here with me today, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to get away."
Ye Shan cupped his hands in greeting, thought for a moment, and said, "Second Master, this seems like a setup! Logically speaking, this is your first time meeting them, you shouldn't have any grudges against them!"
Li Lao Er sneered, "Everything has a cause and effect. Just because I have no grudge against them doesn't mean they won't listen to others' instructions and scheme against me!"
After saying that, he waved his hand and instructed, "I know what happened today. When you get home, don't tell your family about it, so they won't worry."
"Yes, Second Master," Ye Shan replied respectfully.
The two hired a carriage to return to the Wen family home, changed into their official robes, left a message for Mr. Wen, and went to the street to buy some small items before returning to Suijintan.
Old Mrs. Li was worried that her son wouldn't behave properly on his first time attending court and would be punished with a beating. So, she was distracted all morning.
Jiayin saw this and begged her grandma to take her to the back to watch the excitement.
Li Yong has designated two acres of land for residential use to the right rear of the Li family's house, which is the westernmost part of the first row of houses, and has already started hauling stones and timber.
The villagers had long considered him as part of their family, and naturally welcomed the couple to settle down.
At this moment, almost all the men in the village who were not working came to help.
Even Liu, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), temporarily stopped being a wet nurse and instead helped carry stones and move timber.
Hui Niang left her two children with the Liu family so that Aunt Wu could take care of them as well, while she went to make tea and cook.
Sister Liu was petite, like a woman from Jiangnan, but she hadn't suffered much hardship following Chief Liu all these years. She was in good health and had plenty of "food" to feed her child.
The new baby boy in the family is so chubby, he's just like Jia Yin when he was a baby.
Occasionally, when Hui Niang was too busy to bring food to the two children, Sister Liu would help feed them.
Grandma Li was afraid that people would walk around the construction site and run into her granddaughter, so she went to Liu's house, took off her granddaughter's shoes, and urged her to get on the kang (a heated brick bed) to play with the three babies.
Aunt Liu and Aunt Wu both knew that Jiayin was sensible and smart, so they weren't worried that she would hurt the three children.
They huddled together, thinking about adding winter clothes. Although the weather was nice now, it was said that it might snow, and perhaps overnight the world would be covered in white.
Warm clothes and winter supplies should be prepared well in advance.
Jiayin was laughed at yesterday, so today she decided to go all out. She grabbed the feet of a chubby baby in each hand and teased them while her mind wandered around in the space.
The recipe is almost finished being copied, and I'll be planting the vegetables in the next few days.
The recipe for making ice with saltpeter was given to my uncle, so there will definitely be no shortage of seafood in the restaurant from now on.
Pork and mutton can be bought at the market, and even the meat from the big white pigs in the village pigsty is better than what is sold outside, making it more outstanding when cooked in restaurants.
The only help she can offer is by focusing on the vegetables.
This is also the most convenient and fastest way to monetize your space.
The mere thought of easily selling a bunch of greens for two taels of silver in winter filled her with boundless energy, making her wish she could be there in the dead of winter...
Grandma Li and her friends had been sewing for a while when they turned around and saw that Jiayin had fallen asleep. The two children were still holding her feet, which made them kick their little legs in protest from time to time. They looked like they were about to cry, and they seemed very aggrieved.
Grandma Li quickly freed the child's little feet, then put a pillow under her granddaughter's head, and chuckled softly, "This girl is probably growing taller; she's been sleeping a lot during the day lately."
"This is a good thing, Fu Niu'er should be growing taller by now. Last time at the Liu family, she was called a short bun, and she got really angry!" Sister Liu said with a smile. "Even I heard about it, which shows how much the child cares."
Aunt Wu advised, "Children all look forward to growing up. What's the rush? Once they grow up and leave home, they'll want to go back to their childhood."
These words struck a chord with the old lady. "That's right, Jia'an and Jiaxi are crying and saying they miss home at the academy."
"I'll be going there to stay for a few days tomorrow, so I'll need you all to take good care of things back home. I'll leave Chunfen here to help Huiniang out, and if anything else comes up, just send someone to Luo'an to deliver a message."
“Okay, Auntie, don’t worry, everything at home is fine.” Sister Liu nodded, and Aunt Wu also said, “The child is the most important thing. He’ll get used to the academy after a while.”
That evening, at the Li family dinner table, Old Mrs. Li was relieved to hear that her son's trip to court had gone smoothly and that nothing serious had happened.
Early the next morning, Ye Shan drove the carriage, with Dong Mei, Granny He, and Shui Ling following behind. The old lady then took Jia Yin and set off to stay in Luo'an for a while.
The old lady couldn't stay idle. In addition to the food and supplies for the grandmother and grandson, she also brought a lot of needles and thread, planning to make a few sets of winter clothes in the next few days.
Granny He didn't stop them; they could just help with more.
The old lady is very hardworking; it's impossible to persuade her to relax.
The carriage clattered along until it reached the town of Luo'an, where only Li Laosan and his wife Wu San were busy at the shop.
The old lady said goodbye and went back to the new courtyard.
As a result, just as the carriage stopped in front of the courtyard gate, and Granny He carried Jiayin down and was about to help the old lady, the neighbor's door suddenly opened.
A young woman carrying a four- or five-year-old girl came out.
Jiayin could see clearly that the little girl was actually Nannan, but the young woman was not Sister Li...
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