The atmosphere in the capital was tense, and Wuzhou was also somewhat on edge. Xu Zhi continued to prepare for opening her shop at her own pace. She had already sent a letter to Zheng Boyuan, detailing the location of the house she had bought and how to renovate it. The letter was several pages long and rambling.
It's more than a hundred miles from Wuzhou to the border camp. The road isn't very safe. I heard there are bandits in the mountains. Xu Zhi didn't want to take the risk. She knew very well that although they were said to be bandits, this place is close to the Great Yan. Who knows if those bandits are actually Great Yan people in disguise? She is now a member of the family of a general of the Great Liang. What if she is captured by those people and used to threaten Zheng Boyuan?
When the weather started to get cold, Xu Zhi prepared to take her people back to the capital. She wanted to go back and help Zheng Yuanyuan prepare warm cotton-padded clothes for the soldiers in Wuzhou, and she also wanted to bring the cake shop chefs with her.
Knowing that Xu Zhi was going back to the capital, Feng Zhongyi considered the current situation in the capital and the letter his father had sent him. Knowing that Xu Zhi's father, Xu Rao, had begun investigating spies in the capital, he offered to send a team of men to escort Xu Zhi back to the capital.
When Xu Zhi saw the group of men that Feng Zhongyi had prepared for her, she said in surprise, "Uncle Feng, I came with my guards."
Feng Zhongyi waved his hand and said, "Miss Xu, the Great Yan is eyeing us covetously. Wuzhou, as a border city adjacent to the Great Yan, has a rather complicated population. It will be safer for you to set off with these people."
Hearing these words, Xu Zhi understood the situation. After thanking Feng Zhongyi, she led her group of people and set off.
The journey was uneventful. After arriving in the capital, the group parted ways with Xu Zhi and went directly to the Feng residence. The leader of the group was a steward of the Feng family. He told Xu Zhi that when she went to Wuzhou again, he would bring these people to accompany her.
Xu Zhi went directly to the Yongning Marquis's residence.
Chen Zhaoci was very surprised to see Xu Zhi. She took Xu Zhi's hand and asked her if something had happened and why she had come back so suddenly.
Xu Zhi smiled and said, "Mom, I'm fine. I've already decided to come back in the next few days. Yuanyuan is already preparing her winter clothes. After I help her prepare them, I'll go back with her and send them to Wuzhou. I think we'll be spending the New Year in Wuzhou this year."
Chen Zhaoci breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright."
Xu Zhi noticed that Chen Zhaoci's complexion wasn't good and asked her, "Mother, is something wrong? You don't look well."
Chen Zhaoci sighed and whispered to Xu Zhi, "I heard from your father that there are spies from Great Yan in our Great Liang. Recently, besides going to the Ministry of Revenue, your father has been busy cleaning up the spies. From what your father said, the spies are officials in the court, and their positions are not small."
Hearing this, Xu Zhi said in surprise, "I didn't know such a thing happened. No wonder Lord Feng insisted on sending another team of men to escort me when I came back. Now I can figure out what happened. Mother, is my father alright?"
Chen Zhaoci shook his head and said softly, "His Majesty has assigned him some men, all of whom are very skilled. However, things are quite tense in the capital recently, and everyone is on edge. It will be difficult to find him."
Xu Zhi thought that Zheng Yuanyuan was preparing cotton-padded clothes to send to Wuzhou, and felt that this matter might be used by someone with ulterior motives. She didn't care about catching up with Chen Zhaoci anymore. She stood up and said to Chen Zhaoci, "Mother, Yuanyuan's matter is a bit urgent. I'll go back and take a look first. After I sort things out there, I'll come back to kowtow to Grandmother and Grandfather."
Watching Xu Zhi's hurried departure, Chen Zhaoci sighed, her heart pounding with anxiety, sensing that something was about to happen. But what could she do? She could only stay quietly in the inner quarters and avoid causing trouble for others.
Xu Zhi hurriedly returned to the Zheng residence, only to find that Zheng Yuanyuan was not at home. After asking, she learned that Zheng Yuanyuan had been going to a house in the southern part of the city every day for the past few days.
Zheng Yuanyuan rented the house, bought enough cotton and fabric to make cotton-padded clothes, and found some idle women in the neighborhood to make cotton-padded clothes for a certain amount of money. Some women wanted to take the clothes home to make, but Zheng Yuanyuan didn't allow it. They had to make them in the house so that the cotton inside wouldn't be visible after the clothes were finished, in case someone replaced the good cotton.
Xu Zhi hurriedly went to the house in the south of the city. When she arrived, she found that it was a rather large courtyard. She didn't know what it was used for before. There were houses all around, and a large courtyard in the middle. There were no flowers or trees planted in the courtyard. There used to be some vegetables planted there, but they were pulled up and the ground was leveled. At this moment, a large oilcloth was laid out in the courtyard. The finished cotton clothes were placed on the oilcloth. There were people in charge of inspecting them. Only after they passed the inspection would they be tied up with ropes and put into a room that was used as a warehouse.
When Zheng Yuanyuan heard that Xu Zhi had arrived, she quickly came out of the room. No one knew what she was doing in the room. There was still a small piece of cotton on her shoulder. When she saw Xu Zhi, she grinned happily.
Zheng Yuanyuan lost a lot of weight. This was the first time the young girl had done something so big on her own, and she had to worry about all sorts of things. Although she had Granny Wang to help her, Xu Rao later asked Emperor Liang Cheng to bring in two elderly aunts to help. Zheng Yuanyuan was in charge of taking the money. Whether it was buying things or hiring people, the money had to come from her. If she didn't want anyone to swindle her money, she had to carefully check everything and thoroughly examine the people she hired to help. It was fine after a while, but in the first few days, Zheng Yuanyuan cried a lot.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
