Chapter 50
50
After dinner, Shen Yuntang returned to the house, took out a notebook, and wrote down what gifts he had received that day and from whom they were given.
Cheng Yeran watched from the side while eating the date cake given by a neighbor. Although Shen Yuntang had learned thousands of characters, there were still some that he did not recognize. He replaced the characters he did not recognize with pinyin, and his writing was quite neat.
He remembered it clearly. He not only wrote down the content of the gift, but also the name of the person who gave the gift, and even wrote down their facial features. People could understand what kind of business people were doing in this alley by reading his notebook.
"Cloth shops, butchers, carpenters, blacksmiths, wine shops, steamed bun breakfast shops, herbal medicine shops... this street has a wide variety of things to buy." Cheng Yeran fed him a bite, "Why did you remember all this? Why don't we just deliver them door to door someday?"
"I used to..." Shen Yuntang stopped talking here and frowned uncomfortably, as if his tail was stepped on.
He didn't understand these things in his previous life. When he first married into the Xia family, whenever the neighbors gave his family something, if he wanted to give a gift in return, he would be scolded by his mother-in-law. His mother-in-law was a person who loved to take advantage of others, and giving gifts to others was more painful than killing her.
Later, after Xia Xiaowu became a county magistrate, they always accepted gifts from others and never gave any gifts in return. It was not until the prefect's daughter came into the family that she disliked her mother-in-law's pettiness and made her the housekeeper, and only then did they start to remember what gifts to give back to those who gave them.
Shen Yuntang learned these rules from her. After she became the housekeeper, she disliked her mother-in-law, but her mother-in-law never said a harsh word to her and always tried to please her.
Shen Yuntang rubbed his brows and drove away all the memories of the past: "Each family gives different gifts, and when returning gifts, we must also give gifts of the same value. If we give a heavy gift but receive the same return gift as everyone else, we will feel unbalanced. They feel unbalanced not because they are nitpicking, but because they feel that they have given their sincerity to us but have not been treated with the same seriousness, and they will feel uncomfortable."
"You are quite good at studying human nature." Cheng Yeran remembered that when he was a child, his parents also taught him some things about interpersonal relationships, but he did not seem to inherit his parents' emotional intelligence in this area. Later, when he started working, he had assistants and agents to help him, so he didn't have to worry about anything. Now that Shen Yuntang is taking care of the family, he is indeed a lot more relieved.
"When I came here, I counted how many households there were here, but the number didn't match the number of people who sent gifts. There were eight households in total, and six came today. Two didn't come," Shen Yuntang poked his head with a pen, "Should we take the initiative to contact those two households? Send some gifts over?"
There are some things that Shen Yuntang still hasn't learned. His parents didn't teach him either, and his brothers are even less likely to learn. They don't even like to talk to people, let alone deal with interpersonal relationships.
"Let's take a look at the situation in the next few days, or ask other families. What if they are socially anxious and don't like to interact with others? If you take the initiative to contact them, it will only add burden to them." Cheng Yeran squeezed his shoulders, "You don't have to feel burdened. There is no need to be smooth-talking. If you can get along well, then get along. If you can't, forget it. Don't try to please anyone."
However, Cheng Yeran has never seen Shen Yuntang try to please anyone. He is usually quite cold, but if someone is nice to him, he will definitely remember it and show it with actions.
…
Aunt Zhao next door did not rush to check the situation next door, fearing that Cheng Yeran and the others were invited by the host to help.
mutter
They cleaned the yard first before coming here, so they can live here.
It would be terrible if she rashly went over to recognize her relatives and was blackmailed by the other party. It would be too embarrassing to let the neighbors know that she had such a poor relative from the countryside.
The next morning, she went to find Sister Liu's mother-in-law to inquire about the situation. She and Sister Liu's mother-in-law got along well on weekdays.
Aunt Zhao is timid and can't make up her mind about anything, so she likes to consult Sister Liu's mother-in-law.
The family conditions of the two families are similar, but Sister Liu's mother-in-law is sharp-tongued, loves to scold people, and is not popular. Aunt Zhao is also not popular, so the two became friends.
Sister Liu's mother-in-law told her that the family lived with the surname Cheng, and that they had a husband, two younger brothers and an older brother.
"His last name is really Cheng..." Aunt Zhao was distraught for a moment, then became happy again and boasted to Sister Liu's mother-in-law, "That's my nephew. I haven't seen him for many years. I just said he looked familiar."
After Aunt Zhao went out, she went straight to the Cheng family. She had a lot of questions in her mind and wanted to ask Cheng Yeran. Didn’t he squander all the family fortune? How can you still be so rich? I also learned how to make tofu. Did I find a great master?
Cheng Yeran asked Yuanbao and Wild Dog to look after the house, and he took Shen Yuntang and his fourth brother out to buy some things for the household.
Cheng Yeran said that when doing business at home in the future, it should not be messy, and suggested buying a long table and placing it across the yard to block the way to the main house. When people come to buy something, they can just line up. Yuanbao will be responsible for receiving them, while the fourth brother and Wild Dog will go to the warehouse to get the goods.
In the past, their house was divided into inner and outer courtyards. Although there was only a small door, it was able to separate the living and working areas. Now, as soon as you enter the courtyard, you can see the entire structure of the house clearly. He also suggested working at home temporarily and renting a shop after they have settled down.
Shen Yuntang has no experience in doing business. He used to work with Cheng Yeran, so he is very receptive to advice in this regard.
Since such a long table was not sold, they happened to go to the alley to find a carpenter and asked him to help make a table. The carpenter had just sent them some food yesterday, and they got the job today. They were very happy and chatted with them for a few minutes. He told them very enthusiastically where to order firewood and asked someone to deliver it. If they didn’t have a well at home, they could come to their house to fetch water for free.
The carpenter brother was quite enthusiastic. He chatted with them for the whole morning, explained the situation of each family in the vicinity, and told them which market they could go to if they wanted to buy something.
Only then did they realize that there were eight families in this alley, divided into several small groups.
For example, the Liu family, which sells buns, is close to the Zhao family. The men of the Zhao family help out in wealthy families. His father is the manager of the young master's courtyard. He was originally a servant who signed a contract to sell himself. Because he saved his master, he not only regained his freedom, but also helped him buy a small courtyard outside and paid for him to marry a wife. After regaining his freedom, he still worked there, and his youngest son became the young master's servant.
The three businesses that run the dyeing workshop, the wine making business, and the medicinal herbs business are relatively close. The dyeing workshop and the wine making business are just small workshops, but they earn more than other people in this alley. Old Feng, who buys medicinal herbs, often goes to the countryside to collect them, and then sells them to large medicine shops. He also sells some in retail.
Then there is the carpenter and the butcher who are very close. The last family is a traveling businessman who often goes out and rarely stays at home throughout the year.
After hearing what he said, Cheng Yeran realized that the two families who didn't come yesterday were the Zhao family next door and Old Qin who was doing business outside.
When they finished their business and returned home, they saw an aunt in her forties at the door who was pulling Yuanbao and asking him all kinds of questions. This made the talkative Yuanbao feel embarrassed. He kept laughing awkwardly and couldn't get a word in.
When the aunt saw them coming back, she hurried over and enthusiastically held Cheng Yeran's hand.
Cheng Yeran was stunned and froze in place. Ever since he traveled through time to ancient times, the boundaries between men and women have been very clear, and no woman or man has ever held his hand. For a moment, he recalled the time before he traveled through time and was recognized by fans while walking on the street, holding his hand and shaking it wildly.
Seeing that he was stunned, Shen Yuntang stepped forward and pulled his aunt, "Who are you looking for?"
"I live next door," Aunt Zhao pointed to the house next door, then pointed to herself, "I'm your second aunt."
"Second aunt?" Cheng Yeran was stunned. He remembered that the original owner had relatives in the county town. Could it be the aunt in front of him?
"You may not remember, but you came to my house when you were eleven or twelve years old. At that time, your parents were still alive." Aunt Zhao wiped the non-existent tears from her eyes and said, "I am your mother's second sister. Your mother was such a good person, how could she die just like that?"
Her tone was sad, but it was insincere, because she had hated her younger sister since she was a child. They were sisters, but her younger sister looked like her mother and was pretty, while she looked like her father and was plain-looking. Everyone had always revolved around her younger sister since she was a child, and she was often compared to her younger sister by her parents or relatives, who said that she had small eyes, a big face, and was short. They said she was useless and no one cared about her feelings.
Later, when they reached marriageable age, her mother found a man in the county town for her and a man in the village for her sister. She thought her parents finally cared about her, but she didn't expect that her parents found a wealthy family for her sister and a servant for her. Although the bride price given by her husband's family was higher than that of her sister's husband's family, all the bride price was given to her parents, and her life was not as good as that of her sister's family.
Later, she often complained about her poverty to her sister. Every time her sister came to see her, she would bring food and even give her some money. She naturally thought that her sister owed her money. If it weren't for her sister, she wouldn't have lived such a miserable life.
Later, her sister died and she was too lazy to care about her nephew. Now that she sees that her nephew is living a good life, she comes to curry favor with him again. Even if she doesn't get any real benefits, it's good for her face.
"Aunt, ah, I remember." Cheng Yeran pretended to be polite to her. He was an actor before he traveled through time. In order to make a good scene, he would deliberately observe other people's expressions. Except for love affairs, which he had never acted in, observed, or had no experience in, he could still see other things.
What's more, this second aunt cried without any emotion. She didn't look like a very close relative. She must be just a superficial relative who hadn't been in contact for many years.
It was just like how he and Yuanbao were at the beginning, except that Yuanbao was not as hypocritical as her when they first met. Yuanbao was a real child, and their relationship would become closer only if they were comfortable with each other. However, the second aunt in front of him gave him the feeling that he didn't want to continue getting along with her.
Originally, the second aunt thought that Cheng Yeran would invite her in to sit down and weep bitterly to recognize him, but he said that he was busy cleaning the house and did not invite her in. She did not even find out anything about Cheng Yeran's situation.
However, she also noticed that Cheng Yeran's yard was well planned. Let's not talk about anything else, just his husband, who was so handsome, it would be impossible to marry him without some financial resources.
We live next door to each other now, so if we get to know each other more, we will become close sooner or later.
Cheng Yeran had to go to the academy after only staying at home for two days, and all the household affairs had to be left to Shen Yuntang to handle.
On the morning of the day he reported to the academy, it was Shen Yuntang who took him there. When they arrived at the door, the servant who was sweeping the floor was still at the door. Shen Yuntang was afraid that he would recognize them and come over to chase them away, saying something unpleasant to embarrass them.
But what he didn't expect was that the man seemed to not recognize them at all. He showed Cheng Yeran the way with a very good attitude and told him where to find the teacher. It turned out that the man only recognized the clothes and not the person.
Shen Yuntang couldn't go in, so he sent him to the door and turned away. When he turned around, he saw another donkey cart with Xia Xiaowu sitting on it. The two looked at each other and were stunned in surprise.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
