Master Song was lost in thought when he suddenly heard heavy footsteps approaching from behind. The person walked right past him and picked up the little girl named Xingxing.
"Girl, what are you doing here?" Old Zhou asked anxiously, worried that the little girl might accidentally offend Master Song. "Master Song, this is my daughter. She's young and likes to play around. I'm sorry she disturbed you. I'll take her back right away."
"Uncle, I want a hug too! Ruru wants a hug too!" Chen Yueru clung to his leg longingly.
Only then did Zhou Laoda notice that Ruru was also there. He paused for a moment, then bent down somewhat awkwardly and picked Ruru up as well.
"Dad, Xingxing didn't cause any trouble. I was chatting with Master Song. Master Song is a very nice person." Xingxing can sense if the other party is a bad person.
Master Song said calmly, "The young lady is very charming. I took a liking to her and came over to chat with her a bit. Young man, you don't need to take it to heart."
After finishing speaking, Master Song gave the steward a wink, and the latter immediately took out a tael of silver from his money bag and handed it to Boss Zhou, saying, "This is a reward from our master, take it."
"I can't accept this money without merit." Cold sweat was almost dripping down Zhou Laoda's forehead. He was not good at dealing with these important gentlemen and could not guess what they were thinking. The fact that they suddenly wanted to reward him with money made him feel very uneasy.
Ruru sensed Zhou Laoda's unease and felt a little scared. She looked timidly at Song Yuanwai, while Xingxing looked at Song Yuanwai innocently and said, "Father said he doesn't want your money. We can earn it ourselves. We're not talking to you anymore. We're going home."
"Master Song, I'll take the child back and come back to work right away. My home is just over there." Old Zhou looked at the thatched hut not far away, indicating that his home was very close, about two hundred meters away.
His family lived at the end of the village, so they were easy to spot. Master Song didn't say anything, just smiled gently. He had a good impression of Boss Zhou. He had heard from the foreman that the man was hardworking. He had even refused the reward money offered to him earlier. He was a capable and honest man.
Master Song had never met Boss Zhou before. He had only heard from the foreman that the man living at the end of the village was strong and worked harder than others. The foreman had a good impression of Boss Zhou and mentioned him once to Master Song. Master Song hadn't paid much attention to it before, but when Boss Zhou mentioned that he lived at the end of the village, Master Song remembered him.
When they got home, Zhou Laoda scolded Zhao Guihua, "Don't be so obsessed with embroidery every day. Keep a close eye on the child. There's a house under construction next door, it's very messy, and there are a lot of people. What if the child gets hurt?"
Seeing his strange expression, Zhao Guihua's heart skipped a beat. "What's wrong? Xingxing and Ruru just went out to play for a while. They're usually like this. What happened today?"
“Our daughter is very bold. She ran to Master Song and I don’t know what she said to him. Those wealthy people have complicated thoughts. If she said something wrong and angered him, it would be troublesome.”
In Zhou Laoda's memory, the masters and mistresses of wealthy families were difficult to serve. If the servants angered them, they would be sold off at best, and beaten or killed at worst, which was terrifying.
Zhao Guihua thought similarly to him and hugged Xingxing tightly. "Daughter, you can't run around like that anymore. You have to be with your brother or mother when you go out to play. Those gentlemen and rich men seem easy to talk to on the surface, but they are actually very cunning. We should stay away from them."
Xingxing wanted to say that everything was fine, that Master Song wasn't a bad person, she could tell, but seeing how worried her parents were, she didn't say anything more.
“Mom, Xingxing knows. From now on, Ruru and I will stay at home and not go out. We’ll go out to play again once the house next door is finished. I suddenly remembered that you said last year that you wanted to dig up honeysuckle and plant it in the spring. Shall we go to the mountain tomorrow to dig up honeysuckle vines and plant them?”
If Xingxing hadn't mentioned it, Zhao Guihua would have completely forgotten. She patted her head and said, "Right, we should dig some up and plant them. There's a lot of empty space in our backyard that we've reserved for planting honeysuckle. We can also dig up chrysanthemum seedlings and plant them. Let's all go together tomorrow."
Zhao Guizhi had heard her say that her family had no money before, but later they picked honeysuckle and chrysanthemums to sell, and also picked herbs to dry and sell, which gave them some money. She asked her sister how they knew about herbs, but her sister just smiled mysteriously and refused to tell her.
Zhao Guizhi had been a maid in the Chen household for ten years and was very good at reading people's expressions. Knowing that her sister didn't want to talk about it, she didn't ask any further. She didn't care how her sister knew; making money was the most important thing.
"I'll go with you tomorrow too."
“You’re doing embroidery at home, and these handkerchiefs need to be delivered on time. We can’t delay. I’ll take the five Fu brothers and Xingxing with me. Besides, Chen Shunping is still lying on the kang (heated brick bed). You need to take care of him.” Zhao Guizhi and Chen Shunping didn’t have a wedding ceremony, so Zhao Guihua called him by his name.
“Let’s leave Xingxing at home. I can watch over her, and Ruru will have company.” Zhao Guizhi didn’t think too much about it; she just said it casually.
Zhao Guihua's eyes flickered slightly, but she quickly regained her composure and said, "Xingxing likes to go up the mountain. If we don't take her, the little girl will make a fuss."
As she spoke, she glanced at Xingxing, who blinked her big, dark grape-like eyes. She thought to herself that she wouldn't cry or make a fuss; Xingxing was very well-behaved. However, Xingxing really liked going up the mountain because there were many wild goods on the mountain that could be sold for silver.
So she shouted, "The stars want to go up the mountain, the stars want to help dig up honeysuckle."
"Ruru wants to go up the mountain with her sister." Chen Yueru knew that Xingxing was going up the mountain tomorrow, so she also insisted on going.
"Ruru, be good. You stay home and wait for your sister to come back. Your aunt and your dad are both home. You need to take good care of your dad, so you don't have time to come up the mountain with her." Xingxing said earnestly.
Chen Yueru hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "So I have to take care of Dad? I don't have time to go up the mountain?"
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