Chapter 23: Entering the County Government House

When the two men learned that a cotton coat cost 800 wen, they became hesitant.

Xu Nian continued speaking.

"You think it's too expensive, he thinks it's too expensive, but your thoughts are the most precious.

Today, for everyone's filial piety, this stall will spend a lot of money. If anyone buys two cotton-padded jackets, I will give them another one for free."

The people who were originally watching the excitement suddenly came over. In northern Xinjiang, you can buy a cotton coat for 800 wen in any clothing store, but to give another one for free was something that had never happened before.

The two men who were originally standing at the front were pushed to the outside in the blink of an eye.

"Are you really giving it away? I want two."

Xu Nian took out three cotton coats, bent down and handed them to the old woman.

"Mother-in-law, I do business without cheating anyone. Second uncle, mother-in-law's three cotton-padded clothes cost 1,600 coins."

"Okay~"

"As you can see, I only have these three pieces. They are gone in the blink of an eye. Buy now if you want."

Those who originally wanted to touch and look more could no longer care about that.

“I want two~”

“I want two too~”

"I want four. Can you give me two more?"

Xu Nian smiled and said, "Of course, the more you buy, the more you get."

For a while, Xu Nian's stall became a sight on this street.

Xu Fugui was collecting money and laughing so hard that his eyes were almost invisible. The eldest girl was really amazing. Look, the cart of cotton-padded clothes was almost empty.

The owner of the cloth shop opposite also ran out to look at Xu Nian's stall. After this girl called out to him, all the customers in his shop went to buy cotton-padded clothes.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He looked at the waiter who was craning his neck and scolded him, "What are you looking at? Starting tomorrow, you have to stand at the door of the shop and yell."

The waiter had a tearful face. He didn't know those words. You know, he had remembered some of them just now.

Xu Nian didn't care about other people's sorrows or joys. She only knew that the cotton clothes in the car were empty.

There were originally 68 cotton-padded jackets, and there were only two left after the sale. In the end, the two were bought by the owner of the cosmetics stall.

Because she had no more cotton-padded clothes to give away, Xu Nian only accepted one tael of silver, and the proprietress happily gave her a small piece of hand oil.

It was not yet noon when we packed up our things and took the donkey back.

With the money, Xu Nian took Xu Fugui to buy some things needed for the family.

After buying the things, the two did not rush back to the village, but went to the county government instead. Xu Nian planned to send some more silver to Tian.

After parking the car at the back door of the county government office, Xu Fugui did not go forward, because the backyard of the county government office was occupied by female family members, and it was indeed inconvenient for him to go in.

Xu Nian, holding a piece of pork fat, knocked on the side door of the backyard.

The person who opened the door was a maid. Xu Nian revealed her identity and the maid led her in.

Entering from the side door is a long corridor with a stone arch on the right. Xu Nian took a quick look as he passed by and thought it should be a back garden.

After walking through the corridor and turning left for less than 100 meters, the old woman stopped.

"Go through this door and you will find the chief clerk's courtyard."

"Thank you, Grandma."

When Xu Nian entered, the whole yard was quiet. After looking around, he found that there were three main rooms and two side rooms in the yard, and the space in the yard was also very cramped.

Xu Nian called out twice but no one answered, so she didn't go in. She waited for a while, then heard footsteps and looked over to find that it was Tian carrying dishes.

Tian had just returned from the kitchen after cooking. When she saw her eldest daughter standing in the yard, tears suddenly fell from her eyes.

"Mom, I haven't seen you for a few days and you miss me so much."

Looking at her shameless daughter, Tian burst into laughter and said, "Who would have thought of a monkey like you?"

Tian took her eldest daughter into the house.

"You kid, why are you standing outside in such a cold weather? Why don't you come in and warm yourself up?"

Xu Nian looked around and replied, "It's not that cold. I just got here."

The furniture in the room was quite complete, except for the two tea bowls on the table which seemed out of place in the environment.

"Mom, why don't you buy a set of tea sets? It won't look good if we have guests."

Tian felt embarrassed when she heard this, and couldn't help but recall the mocking expression on the wife of the county magistrate's face when she came over before.

As soon as Xu Nian saw her mother's expression, she knew that her life in the county government office was not going smoothly.

Tian didn't want her daughter to worry about these things, so she asked about the situation at home.

When Tian learned that her daughter came here with her second son to do business today, she felt sad.

She couldn't help but think of the daughters of the county magistrate and the county chancellor, who all wore fine clothes and lived a life of luxury, while her Nian'er still had to go out in the limelight to earn a living for the family.

Xu Nian looked at Tian who was crying again and couldn't help wondering, wasn't she talking about happy things?

In order to divert Tian's attention, Xu Nian talked about Xu Ji's enrollment in school.

Unexpectedly, Tian became even more distressed after hearing this.

It turned out that as long as one had the recommendation of the county magistrate, one could enter the county school. Xu Yaozu and Tian also wanted their son to enter the county school, so Tian went to the courtyard of the county magistrate's wife. Unfortunately, the county magistrate's wife did not pass on a single word during these days.

Xu Nian's eyes lit up when he heard this. It would be best if he could enter the county school. After all, the resources of the county school could not be compared with those of the village school.

Xu Nian thought for a moment and realized where the problem might lie.

"Mom, don't worry. Just do as I say and I will definitely get my brother into the county school."

“…”

Qingfengtang

A young girl dressed as a maid whispered in the noble lady's ear, "Mrs. Xu said she's gone."

The lady nodded, frowning in thought.

This person was none other than the county magistrate's wife, Shen. Ever since Xu Zhubo took office, his wife followed him and moved into the rear yamen, she had not slept well.

All this was because of County Magistrate Wu, who sometimes asked her to get closer to Mrs. Tian, ​​and sometimes asked her to keep doing nothing.

She just couldn't understand what a small clerk could do to the chief official.

She also observed for a few days and found that Xu Zhubo was just an ordinary child from a poor family. His family had no permanent property and his wife's family had no help either. Such a person would not go far in the official career.

Shen was having a headache from thinking so much and was just about to take a break when she saw the maid come in again.

"Madam, Madam Tian is here. She said that the daughter of the master's family sent some food. I'll bring it here for you to taste."

The corners of Shen's mouth froze. Mrs. Tian wouldn't be so careless, would she?

Mrs. Xu said that the daughter of the chief clerk's family came into the yard carrying a piece of pork fat. Mrs. Tian wouldn't have brought her any pork fat.

After pressing the corner of his forehead, he still said, "Please come in."

Shen looked at Mrs. Tian who came in with the tray and breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that it wasn't pork fat.

"I hope I didn't disturb your rest, Madam. I'm a quick-witted person. I saw that the things my maid brought were new to me, so I thought I'd give them to you to try."

Shen was surprised. The previous two times Mrs. Tian came over, she kept her head down and didn't say much. But today she seemed like a different person.

"Thank you, Mrs. Tian, ​​for thinking of me. I'll have to taste it carefully. Come and sit down and have some tea."