Zhuo Laoda's eldest son, Zhuo Ruizhe, is already twenty years old. Because he has many brothers, no one has ever arranged a marriage for him.
Ever since Master Zhuo passed the imperial examination, the threshold of the door for matchmakers has been worn down by so many people asking him to marry.
An official matchmaker, also known as a matchmaker.
The youngest son, Zhuo Ruizhe, is only three years old and not yet of school age; he is two years younger than Xiao Fubao.
Zhuo Ruizhe was filled with curiosity about this cute young lady, and turned to ask, "Big brother, who is this pretty young lady?"
“She is Sister Ming’s cousin,” Zhuo Ruizhe said.
They laughed at her, but they kept saying how pretty they were, and how pretty she was... Oh well, I'll forgive them for now!
"Nonsense, I'm not just pretty, I'm a fairy!" Little Fu Bao said smugly.
"Oh, it's Fairy Sister," Zhuo Ruizhe nodded.
Zhuo Yihang and Cai Shi couldn't help but feel a bit fond of this cheeky and lively little girl. There were only a few boys in the family, and Zhuo Ming usually accompanied her grandfather to teach and study in the county town, so she was quite unfamiliar with them.
They were always fighting and chasing each other, it was so annoying! Then a little girl came along, and such a lively little girl at that. Instantly, all the boys surrounded Little Lucky Baby.
After all the children went out to play.
Cai then said thoughtfully:
"Dad, look at this little girl, who does she look like?"
Zhuo Yihang asked, "Who does she look like?" "She looks like our second and third sisters."
Cai said:
“I think she looks most like our eldest sister.” “Do you think that because our father took this little girl in the name of Ming’er, could it be that this little girl is the last child our eldest sister gave birth to?”
Zhuo Yihang shook his head and said:
"That's impossible, didn't my older sister's child die a long time ago?"
Cai said:
"Isn't that what Magistrate Wang, the pig butcher, said? We don't even know if he's alive or dead. Let's try to find the midwife who gave birth and ask her." "My eldest sister has a hard life. Her first daughter, my younger sister, didn't marry well. If she really has other children, they'll be my younger sister's only family, won't they?"
"I'm afraid the Niu family won't give it up easily. Even if it's our eldest sister's child, they've raised her for five years after all," Zhuo Yihang said.
Madam Cai tapped Zhuo Yihang on the head and said, "Who told you that you were going to take the child back? If you take him back, will you raise him? Even though our father passed the imperial examination and is going to become a county magistrate, he will only earn six or seven strings of cash a month at most. Our family of children relies on our father's meager income to supplement the family income. Can you afford to raise him?"
"Our father isn't even planning to take Ming'er with him, how can we manage with another one?" "I'm just thinking that if I'm sure this child is my eldest sister's, I can let her know when we visit her grave, so she can rest in peace." "To say I have no selfish motives would be a lie. I do have some selfish motives. Our eldest son works as a long-term laborer for the landlord, earning only three or four taels of silver a year."
“The eldest son isn’t as clever as the second or third, and he doesn’t know as many words as the other children. I heard that the Niu family asked the villagers to grow some medicinal herbs. Maybe we can get some for ourselves too.” “With this marriage alliance, we’ll have more options for survival, won’t we?”
Little Fu Bao, who had just arrived, overheard these words. Although she was young, she knew that she was not her father and mother's biological child. She had heard it when Niu Jie Jie, the granddaughter of the Chen family, told Niu Bao Zhu that time.
She may be young, but she understands everything.
"Sister Ming's aunt, you want to grow medicinal herbs?" Little Fu Bao asked. "You can grow them; my family's hair salon needs them."
Her family's hair fragrance formula is composed of tonka bean, sandalwood, clove, angelica, rose, asarum, styrax oil, peony bark, rhubarb, and clove.
Little Fu Bao wouldn't be foolish enough to leak the formula.
Therefore, only the peony bark and rhubarb were planted by the people of Niushan Village at Xiaofubao's request.
"Sister Ming's aunt, you can plant some cloves," Xiao Fubao said.
"What is male clove?" Cai asked.
"You can buy clove seeds from my uncle's pharmacy. They buy cloves there, so you'll get to know them then."
Styrax oil and loose incense, angelica and asarum are the key ingredients in the formula. The little guy won't let anyone grow them; he'll only buy them from Xue Huaimin's pharmacy.
Upon hearing this, Lady Cai asked:
"Little Fu Bao, you're just a young girl, can you really make decisions about things at home?"
Xiao Fubao said, "Our family's hair fragrance shop is expanding, and they need these. If you plant them now, we'll start buying from you next year, and many pharmacies also need them."
Upon hearing this, Lady Cai was overjoyed.
Little Fu Bao said again:
"However, you can't tell anyone the seeds or the name of the medicinal herbs. If too many people grow them, yours won't sell well."
She said this to prevent Cai from leaking the medicinal materials.
The next day, Cai bought some medicinal herb seeds from Xue Huaimin's pharmacy and planted them. She even asked Xue Huaimin how to plant them.
Grandpa Zhuo plans to have Zhuo Ming study at Niushan Academy starting next year.
Niu Da spent a large sum of money on the renovation of Niushan Academy, and after unanimous discussion among the clan, he invited three scholars who had passed the imperial examinations to come.
After passing the imperial examination, the scholar Niu Da stopped teaching and continued his studies, intending to take the imperial examination.
Of the three scholars invited, two were over sixty-five years old and did not intend to work hard to become officials. The other, a younger man, came from a very poor family and Niushan Academy offered him a particularly high salary. He planned to teach while preparing for the imperial examination.
Niu Da offered these three teachers a salary of 180 guan per year, plus 10 dan of grain.
It's higher than the income of an official.
Students who applied to become teachers at Niushan Academy through the imperial examinations (举人) had to pay a fee, while those taught by scholars (秀才) did not.
The food was also divided into different grades.
After all, even with Niu Da's considerable wealth, such a large academy couldn't support hundreds or thousands of people eating and drinking inside.
The oldest scholar, due to his rich experience in handling affairs, was appointed as the dean by Niu Da.
The male cloves planted by Cai and Zhuo Ruizhe were growing rapidly, changing every day, and had already begun to thrive within a month.
Little Fu Bao's days at the Zhuo family's house passed quickly.
Besides playing, she would compete with other children in running. While the other children ran barefoot, she would run with sandbags tied to her.
Grandpa Zhuo was about to take office, so Zhuo Ming packed his bags for him. Before leaving, Xiao Fubao gave Grandpa Zhuo a branch that he had broken off from the money tree and planted in a flowerpot.
"Grandpa Zhuo, you must take good care of it. This tree has a spirit. If you take it with you, you can turn misfortune into good fortune and avert disaster," Little Fu Bao said in a clear voice.
Grandpa Zhuo patted Little Fu Bao's head and said:
"Grandpa still wants to eat the red and green buns you make, but by the time Grandpa comes back, you'll probably be this tall."
The term of office for a county magistrate is three years.
There are exceptions, though, such as those who stay for decades.
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