Encounter
"Miss, is what A Tao said true?"
After seeing A Tao off, Xiao Zhu, who had been busy adding tea to the two of them and removing cherry stems, finally picked up the cup of warm tea in front of him and drank it all. Then he rubbed his arms and looked at Zhao Mingyan with a frown.
"How could there be two people living in my uncle's body?"
Thinking back to the tone and expression in Ah Tao's voice when she said this, she couldn't help but shudder.
"Isn't it that he's been possessed by some evil thing?"
Zhao Mingyan was both amused and confused. "I don't know if there are two people living in his body, but I have seen his two faces."
Xiaozhu didn't quite understand.
Zhao Mingyan didn't explain, but said meaningfully, "Who doesn't have two faces?"
"Grandmother, Jingzhe is approaching, which is the time when yang energy is generated. It is good for moisturizing, nourishing the liver, and strengthening the spleen. So I specially asked the east chef to make a bowl of white fungus, lily and pear soup for you. Please try it while it's hot."
The next morning, after breakfast, Zhao Mingyan did not walk around the garden to digest the food as usual, but went straight to the east kitchen, personally selected some ingredients, and asked the servants to cook them.
Xiao Zhu, who was standing by, presented the bowl to Fan Wenlan and said cleverly, "These ingredients were all personally selected by the young lady for the old lady. She even peeled the pears herself. She kept an eye on the fire and didn't dare to leave for a moment, fearing that it would overcook and become sticky."
"Yan'er, you are so thoughtful!"
Fan Wenlan took the bowl with a smile, blew away the steam on it, picked up a spoon and scooped a little to taste it. "Hmm... thick but not sticky, sweet but not greasy, very good."
Zhao Mingyan said with a smile: "If you like it, grandma, I will make it for you every day. I don't know how to cook other things, but I am good at cooking. I can even make cloud cakes!"
"Hehehe... no wonder you take such good care of yourself." Fan Wenlan said with a smile.
"Grandma, are you going to inspect the business today?"
Zhao Mingyan sat down beside her, looking at her eagerly. "Last time I just took a quick look. I didn't even go into many of the rented shops."
"Before I got married, I heard that our bamboo tea sets were the best in the county. That day, I took a quick look and found a small shop selling bamboo tea sets on Zhuba Street. My mother's tea sets are mostly porcelain, so I wanted to buy a set of bamboo tea sets for her to try."
"You are a filial child."
Fan Wenlan nodded and smiled at her, then picked up the spoon and scooped a mouthful of soup, saying slowly, "We just finished checking the accounts that day. I hadn't planned to go to the company again this month, so as not to make those second-in-command feel uncomfortable. I'm the boss, not the manager, and I don't trust them if I inspect too frequently. But..."
She lowered her head and took another bite of soup. Her eyes rolled slightly, and when she looked up, her face was full of kindness again. "Since it's my Yan'er who wants to go shopping at the business, how can I not accompany her?"
"Lin'er is not in good health, so it's better for her to stay still. If Yan'er wants to go to Zhuba Street to hang out, just come find me. My old bones can still move."
"Grandma is still strong and energetic even though she is old. She is more energetic than my mother."
Zhao Mingyan smiled and stood up, kneeling in front of her to massage her legs. "Doctor, do you have any way to treat my husband's illness?"
Fan Wenlan frowned and said in a slightly harsh tone, "They are all a bunch of quacks!"
"Have you asked a doctor from the capital to treat him?" Zhao Mingyan raised his head.
Fan Wenlan nodded. "I've looked for him, and they all said he was too frightened, which triggered depression. At first, he wanted to eat but couldn't, wanted to lie down but couldn't, and wanted to walk but couldn't. After acupuncture and medication, he was finally able to eat, lie down, and walk normally again. But heart disease needs to be cured with heart medicine. His parents are gone, and this heart disease..."
She shook her head, her brows furrowed even deeper, making her originally rosy face look a little older.
"If you could have a child, it would surely make up for this regret."
After a moment of silence, she held Zhao Mingyan's hands and spoke earnestly.
"His parents are gone, but I can be his father. Maybe that will help alleviate his depression. Yan'er, I'm counting on you!"
She patted Zhao Mingyan's hands heavily.
"Grandma, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me..."
Zhao Mingyan frowned slightly and smiled bitterly, "My husband's body is still weak in sex... I naturally want to give birth to a son as soon as possible, but conceiving a child is not something I can rely on alone."
"A-choo! A-choo!"
At this moment, Tan Linshuang in the study sneezed twice for no apparent reason, and immediately felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
He rubbed the back of his neck and muttered, "I always feel like someone is saying bad things about me behind my back."
"Master, I've got the adoption list from the workhouse."
At this moment, Ayun walked in and placed a book on the desk. "The old lady has taken the young mistress to the business again."
Tan Linshuang didn't seem surprised. "It seems her hard work in the East Kitchen was not in vain."
With a slight curl of his lips, he immediately asked, "What's going on with my good uncle lately?"
Ayun said, "He's been leaving the city these past few days, but every time he crosses the Shihe Weir, he loses me. I don't know which path he takes."
"Being sneaky is definitely not for any good reason."
Tan Linshuang snorted coldly and ordered, "Send someone to search the place where we lost her to see if there is a house suitable for hiding her."
"The young master is suspicious..." Ayun didn't dare to ask.
Tan Linshuang pulled the corners of his mouth into a half-smile, "A dog will always eat shit."
Then he opened the list and looked at it carefully.
The Ming Dynasty inherited the orphanage system of the Yuan Dynasty. In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict: "The government will provide relief to the widows, orphans, the disabled and the sick who cannot support themselves" (excerpted from Volume 34 of "The Veritable Records of Ming Taizu").
In the fifth year of the Hongwu reign, another decree was issued, "An imperial decree was issued to all counties and prefectures to establish orphanages for the elderly." Soon after, the orphanages were renamed as nursing homes, and their target population was "the orphans, the disabled, and the sick who are unable to survive are allowed to enter the homes."
From then on, the orphanage system of the Ming Dynasty was formally established.
To ensure the implementation of the policy of supporting and assisting the poor, Zhu Yuanzhang included it in the "Great Ming Code," stipulating: "Any widow, orphan, or seriously ill person who is poor and without relatives and unable to support himself, and whose local officials fail to take him in as required, shall be punished with 60 strokes of the cane; and any official who fails to provide him with food and clothing as required shall be punished with embezzlement."
Under Zhu Yuanzhang's advocacy, many prefectures and counties set up orphanages during the Hongwu period.
Today, the establishment of orphanages has been improved, and it can be said that “there are orphanages in every prefecture, state, and county in the country” (excerpted from Volume 127 of “The Veritable Records of Ming Taizu”).
Yes.
Browsing the seemingly clear adoption records on the roster, Tan Linshuang's brows gradually furrowed. "My uncle took five more children from the orphanage and sent them to other branches of the company?"
Ayun didn't respond, knowing that he was talking to himself, so she walked aside and boiled water to make tea.
The current method of brewing tea is still used in the Tang Dynasty. First, soak the tea leaves in hot water, pour the tea soup into the teacup, add appropriate amount of hot water, and brew it for a while before drinking.
This way of drinking tea is also popular in temples and Taoist temples. Compared with the tea-brewing and tea-making methods of the Tang and Song dynasties, the tea-making method is simpler and only requires boiling water to brew.
Soon, the room was filled with the aroma of tea.
"Hmm...fragrant, moist, and sweet aftertaste."
On Zhuba Street, in a bamboo tea shop called "Youmingqi", Zhao Mingyan was holding a cup of green tea brewed by the shopkeeper and savoring it carefully.
"It seems that Madam Tan is also someone who understands tea." The shopkeeper praised with a smile.
Fan Wenlan raised her lips without saying anything. After drinking a cup of tea, she started chatting about family matters with the shopkeeper.
"Shopkeeper Xue, I heard that tea-drinking competitions are popular again. As a tea lover, haven't you tried a few rounds?"
"I went, I went. A few days ago, I went to the Third Master's house to spar with his friend from out of town."
"Friends from out of town?"
"Old Madam, don't you know? I heard they're from Huizhou Prefecture. The people of Huizhou are more fond of tea-drinking than us Shu people. It made me see what it means to 'compare the finest teas in the world, and compete for the best in judging tea.'"
"Really? I didn't know that my Sanlang had such a distant old friend."
"He's a tea merchant. Third Master, like me, loves tea and is good at socializing. It's not surprising that he gets to know a tea merchant from Huizhou Prefecture."
"Our dynasty has abolished the use of caked tea and promoted loose tea, which has lowered the price of tea. I'm sure the tea merchants are having a harder time than before."
"But it allows ordinary people to drink tea, which makes everyone happy."
The two chatted and laughed, and Zhao Mingyan listened carefully.
It turns out that Tan Sanlang is a tea lover. No wonder he looked so elegant and calm the last time I saw him. He looked even less like a businessman than the owner of this store.
However, tea and bamboo have been complementary to each other since Su Dongpo's "I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo" to the later "tea-drinking competition" trend. Although he has no real power as the shopkeeper of the Bamboo Grove Trading Company, he is satisfied, right?
What about the other cousins?
Zhao Mingyan pondered to himself.
After tasting the tea, Fan Wenlan took her to other shops, and Zhao Mingyan also learned a lot of information from their casual chat.
The Zhuba Street they were walking through now was entirely owned by the Tan family. With the business as its center, it connected all the way from east to west and north to south. In addition to tea shops, bamboo furniture shops, and bamboo handicraft shops, there were also bamboo material shops specializing in selling structural components such as beams, columns, and rafters.
It can be said that the entire street covers all businesses related to bamboo, from food to daily necessities to building houses, which really opened Zhao Mingyan's eyes again.
Such a huge industry finally fell into the hands of that sickly Tan Linshuang. Don’t the other branches have any improper thoughts?
Zhao Mingyan didn't believe it.
Right now, I have my grandmother to support me. If she is gone... then I, her granddaughter-in-law, will have to help her maintain the family business.
Thinking of this, Zhao Mingyan suddenly felt a heavy responsibility on his shoulders and straightened his back.
Seeing her with her chest held high and her head held high, with a happy look on her face, Fan Wenlan felt more and more that she was a lucky charm for her husband. Although she hinted subtly that her grandson was not good in bed, men were like copper locks, which became better and better with use. As long as the key could be inserted, it would work sooner or later.
"Yan'er, there is still time. Why don't you give this set of tea set to your mother now? I'm sure she will be happy." Fan Wenlan suddenly suggested.
"Is this...appropriate?" Zhao Mingyan was surprised.
Fan Wenlan patted her back gently, smiling sweetly. "A married woman should obey her husband, so it's not appropriate to always go back to her parents' home. But we are a merchant family, not as particular as those scholarly families. Besides, you don't have any brothers or sisters, so I'm afraid someone might covet Mingyuezhai. It's okay to go back and visit from time to time."
"Thank you, grandma!" Zhao Mingyan bowed and expressed her gratitude.
…
"Miss, the old lady is so kind to you. Who says a daughter-in-law will eventually become a mother-in-law? I think the old lady is just a kind mistress of the house."
On the carriage to Zhaohua Town, Xiaozhu couldn't help but praise Fan Wenlan.
Zhao Mingyan beckoned her to sit in front of him, then glanced at the driver sitting in the front room, then lowered his voice and whispered to her: "Guarding Mingyue Zhai well means guarding the dowry I didn't bring with me."
Xiaozhu's eyes widened suddenly, "There's bitterness hidden in this honey!"
After arriving at the Zhao Mansion, Zhao Mingyan did not plan to stay there for too long, nor did she prepare to stay for meals. She put down the tea set and turned back, so she asked Xiaozhu to wait in the carriage and she could go there alone.
Although Fan Wenlan generously allowed her to personally deliver the tea set back to her parents' home, she could not push her luck any further.
Just as Xiaozhu said, Fan Wenlan's kindness to her was like honey with a hint of bitterness. If she overeats, she will end up hurting herself.
So she went around to the back door, prepared to hand the tea set to Li Yuzhu, chat with her for a few words and then leave. Going through the main door would alarm many people.
"Huh?"
When she just turned into the alley where the back door was, she unexpectedly ran into a familiar figure.
"It seems someone has the same idea as me and doesn't want to attract other people's attention."
She curled the corners of her lips and walked over lightly.
When they were only half an arm's length away, she suddenly slapped the other person's shoulder.
Swish——
Unexpectedly, the other party grabbed her wrist with his backhand.
Turning around, he was dumbfounded, "Ma...Madam?"
Zhao Mingyan glanced at her wrist, which he held high, and sneered at his panicked face. She raised her right eyebrow and asked sarcastically, "Husband, you sneaked into my house. Are you dissatisfied with the small dowry I gave you? Are you here to take some of my treasures back?"
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