persuade
"grandmother."
Zhao Mingyan immediately released Fan Wenlan, whose body had suddenly become stiff, and walked around to her, bowing her head and saying, "Yan'er knows that your aunt has committed a serious crime. Since she is under house arrest, she should not see anyone casually."
"Yan'er wanted to see her, not out of curiosity or to chat with her, but to ask her about the weaving room."
"Weaving room?"
Fan Wenlan had returned to normal, but a look of caution remained in his eyes. "Didn't you say the other day that thanks to Hall Master Gu's introduction, the handover went smoothly?"
"I didn't want to make you worry, grandma. At the same time, I overestimated my own abilities." Zhao Mingyan said frankly with a wry smile.
"Did those chaste women give you trouble?" Fan Wenlan asked hurriedly.
Thinking of her late return yesterday, Fan Wenlan's eyes gradually became deep.
Still too young!
"Grandma, Yan'er has no experience in managing a weaving room, nor does she have your ability to judge people, so she was fooled by them." Zhao Mingyan lowered her head even more.
"Playing around in circles?" Fan Wenlan frowned.
Zhao Mingyan then told the story of the chaste women who had deliberately broken the loom, adding fuel to the fire. Fan Wenlan's forehead wrinkles deepened after hearing this.
"What a bunch of foolish women!"
After hearing this, Fan Wenlan angrily threw up his sleeves and asked, "What good will this do them?"
"No, but it's not good for us either," said Zhao Mingyan.
"There's a saying that goes 'harming others doesn't benefit yourself,' and that's exactly what they're facing right now."
"Because from their perspective, weaving brocade is like a double-edged sword for them today. It can either be icing on the cake or be in vain."
Hearing the words "in vain", Fan Wenlan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Do you think that talking to your aunt will change the minds of those chaste women?"
"yes!"
Zhao Mingyan straightened his chest and raised his head.
But when he met Fan Wenlan's scrutinizing gaze, his heart began to beat nervously.
She quietly clenched her fists under her sleeves, straightened her back, and fixed her gaze.
The two of them just stared at each other silently, and the air around them gradually froze.
Seeing her young lady's eyes wide open like bells, Xiaozhu was really worried that her eyeballs would fall out.
"Okay."
Just when Zhao Mingyan couldn't help blinking, Fan Wenlan broke the silence, nodded, and raised his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes.
Zhao Mingyan took the opportunity to blink a few times, and her eyes finally felt less sore.
"I'll go with you to see her."
After wiping the corners of her eyes, Fan Wenlan straightened her hair and raised her hand to signal Zhao Mingyan.
This won’t do! How can your aunt still tell you the truth when she sees you?
"Grandma, trust your employees. Since you trust me, trust me to the end."
Zhao Mingyan held Fan Wenlan's raised hand with an earnest look in her eyes.
Their eyes met again.
But this time, Fan Wenlan nodded faster.
She held Zhao Mingyan's hand and said earnestly, "Yan'er, I trust you. I also know that this matter is difficult, but you will replace me as the mistress of the Tan family in the future. Compared with the difficulties we will face in the future, this matter is insignificant."
"Yan'er understands!" Zhao Mingyan nodded seriously.
After watching her and Xiaozhu walk into the south house, Fan Wenlan said to the maid beside him, "Go in through the other door."
“Found it!”
In the north courtyard, in the study that had been quiet for a long time, Tan Linshuang's excited cheers suddenly rang out, startling the two little birds playing on the windowsill and making them flap their wings and fly away.
Ah Yun looked up at the sound, put down the dust tail in his hand, rubbed his hands and ran over, "Master, what are you looking for?"
Tan Linshuang didn't tell him that as soon as she entered the study, she buried her head in reading the list of merchants on Zhuba Street. She sat cross-legged for half an hour without even moving her butt.
This made Ayun even more curious.
As he approached the desk, he saw that the page that Tan Linshuang had opened was labeled "Niu's Farm Implement Shop." Curiosity immediately turned to confusion: "Master, why are you investigating this shop for the Young Madam?"
Tan Linshuang propped up her head with her hand and glanced at him sideways, "What's in the farm tool shop?"
Without thinking, Ayun counted on his fingers and said, "Tools used for farming, such as plows, harrows, and hoes."
"What else besides farming materials?" Tan Linshuang asked again.
Ayun scratched his head and said uncertainly, "Silkworm tools?"
“That’s right!”
Tan Linshuang slammed the table and said, "This is what I'm looking for."
"Young Madam is planning to raise silkworms?" Ayun was surprised.
The scene of Zhao Mingyan feeding silkworms immediately appeared in Tan Linshuang's eyes, and she couldn't help but laugh.
"To whom do you usually sell silkworm tools?" He suppressed his smile and continued to ask.
"Silkworm farmer!" This time, Ayun answered with particular confidence.
"If the young lady doesn't raise silkworms, why would she get to know silkworm farmers through the owner of this farm implement store?" He was still confused.
Tan Linshuang didn't beat around the bush. "Only after getting to know the silkworm farmers can we get to know the silkworm farmers."
"ah!"
Ah Yun suddenly understood, but then raised a new question: "If you want to get to know Jin Hu, why don't you just go to his house? You are the young master of Zhulin Trading Company."
Tan Linshuang sat up straight again, crossing her arms in front of her. "They will befriend me because of my status, but they may not necessarily buy my Shu brocade."
"So... if you get to know them in this roundabout way, will they buy it?" Ayun hesitated.
Tan Linshuang untied her hands and tapped the page with her right index finger. "The local brocade dealers should all have heard about my aunt's story. If I approached them directly to sell Shu brocade, I would definitely be rejected. But I got to know them through the owner of the farm implement shop that rented our shop. These layers of relationships are intertwined, and it would be very troublesome to refuse them."
“Great!”
Ayun clapped his hands, his eyes sparkling. "The biggest fear in doing business is offending people. Jinhu may not be afraid of offending you directly, but if there are other interests involved between you two, they will have to be cautious."
Tan Linshuang smiled and nodded, "Sometimes 'going around in circles' isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"Aunt, I won't beat around the bush with you."
Under the bamboo forest of the South Residence, Zhao Mingyan looked at Tan Moxiang, who was sitting opposite him, with a smile on her face, and said straight to the point, "I want to learn about Sister Zhuang and the others from my aunt."
Hearing the words "Sister Zhuang", Tan Moxiang, like Aunt Zhuang, couldn't help but twitch her lips.
She quickly picked up the teacup, took two sips, and then raised her eyes to carefully examine the niece-in-law in front of her, who she heard was chosen by the old lady herself.
A cute, chubby beauty.
This was the first impression Zhao Mingyan gave her.
But the sharpness hidden in the other party's eyes and the highly purposeful opening remarks made her feel that Zhao Mingyan was indeed somewhat similar to the old lady when she was young.
They are all the kind of people she hates!
"Why? My niece, do you want to know yourself and your enemy so that you can win every battle?" She raised the corner of her lips slightly, giving a mocking smile.
Zhao Mingyan said openly, "This isn't a war, nor is it about finding the right people to use. This is about carrying on the torch and completing Madam Gu's life's work for my aunt."
Tan Moxiang's hand trembled, and the tea in the teacup swayed.
Zhao Mingyan took a sip of tea and continued, "I think my aunt used to be like a sister to them. I know I can't be loved by them like my aunt is, and they can't open their hearts to me, but if I can do half of what my aunt did, I will be satisfied."
"Yesterday I went to the weaving room and found that all three looms were broken."
When she said this, she looked at Tan Moxiang with a meaningful look.
Tan Moxiang remained calm and focused on sipping tea.
Zhao Mingyan smiled and said, "It's not that I don't know how to weave brocade. I called a carpenter I know to repair it, and the loom is now working properly. But if the weaver is worried or distracted, even if the loom is intact, it will be difficult to weave a good brocade."
"But if they stop weaving brocade, can they live in peace?"
“If there were fish in a lake, and the fish disappeared someday, the water would never return to its original state because it had been disturbed by the fish.”
Tan Moxiang put down the teacup and looked at her, "What is your impression of Aunt Zhuang?"
Zhao Mingyan tilted her head and thought for a moment, "An elder sister is like a mother."
"I guess she did the same when you were there. You two divided the work and worked together. You were in charge of the weaving room, and she took care of the sisters' daily life."
“You’re a family there.”
"I also want to join this family, become your clone, and let the weaving room return to its former glory, where sisters would wake up in the morning to work on the loom and return in the evening, still thinking of the silk threads. They would have someone to entrust their days to and something to think about at night, and no longer spend the rest of their lives in confusion."
No longer spend the rest of your life in confusion...
Tan Moxiang repeated this sentence in her heart, and her eyes suddenly lost focus, but she saw many scenes, scenes from the past.
"Sister Zhuang...went to the Chastity Hall for her two children, only to ask for some reward money and tax reduction for them."
"And the chastity archway, standing there, is the confidence and pride of our children."
As the tea gradually cooled, Tan Moxiang started talking and used her own words to describe to Zhao Mingyan a picture of a virtuous woman. Vivid faces jumped out before Zhao Mingyan's eyes from her warm words, making her go from unfamiliar to familiar with them, and her heart was deeply moved by their experiences.
The wind was gentle, the bamboo forest moved slightly, and the two people hiding in the shadows yawned at the same time.
After an awkward glance at each other, they cheered up again and looked at the two people chatting in the forest.
It's just that they can no longer focus their attention, their eyes fixed on that place, their minds already in a trance...
Realizing that the teacup in her hand was completely cold, Tan Moxiang poured out the tea inside. Xiaozhu hurriedly picked up the teapot on a low fire and refilled it for her.
"You should have seen the new archway, right?" asked Tan Moxiang.
Zhao Mingyan nodded, "It's almost finished."
Tan Moxiang picked up the teacup and took a sip. "Her name is Zou Wuniang. She died for love."
"Suicide for love? Is your husband dead?" Zhao Mingyan asked with a frown.
She thought she was about to welcome a new chaste woman, but who would have thought that what she welcomed was just a resentful soul.
Tan Moxiang said slowly, "I heard that on their wedding night, her husband vomited blood and died, and they didn't even have time to consummate their marriage."
Isn't this me and Tan Linshuang? But Tan Linshuang coughed for a long time but couldn't cough out her lungs, and she didn't even give me a chance to be a chaste wife.
Zhao Mingyan secretly complained.
"Before the seventh day was over, Zou Wuniang committed suicide by hanging herself on the beam of their new house." Tan Moxiang continued.
“How pitiful!”
Zhao Mingyan looked sad, but she was thinking in her heart, Tan Linshuang, don't expect me to die for him.
"What a heroic woman! She's both respectable and admirable." There was no emotion in Tan Moxiang's tone.
Zhao Mingyan vaguely felt that there was something else behind her words.
boom--
In the second half of the night, there was a loud noise, but it was not thunder.
After a brief noise, silence soon returned to normal.
Until the next day, several craftsmen came to Zou Wuniang's chastity archway to carve words, but when they got closer, they were all dumbfounded.
“The archway…the archway collapsed!”
"Zou Wuniang's chastity... is shattered..."
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