154. Gifts and Rewards
154. Gifts and Rewards
Seeing that he couldn't win the argument with his eldest son, Lu Youtian changed the subject and said to him, "I've discussed it with your mother, and we still feel that there are too few people working at home. I'll find time to go to the pawnshop with your adoptive father and hire a few more people to work."
"If we buy someone back, I'm afraid there won't be enough room at home, right?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"That won't happen. We can clean up the remaining half of the handicraft room and give it to the new person to live in. You can all live there for the time being. Next month, I will go to the brokerage firm to ask if there is a larger yard nearby. We can move to a larger yard and live there." If it were in the past, Lu Youtian would definitely be reluctant to give up the place where he did his handicrafts to someone else to live in.
But now he hasn't done his old work for a long time. He is preoccupied with farming and raising ducks and pigs, so he has no time to do his old things.
He also knew that his wife was so busy because there was not enough manpower to do the housework. His eldest son had even stopped studying and came back to help with the housework. If the family hired a few more people to work, these problems would be solved.
"Okay, then you guys take care of the arrangements." Lu Mingfei thought about the fact that he was planning to train a group of guards who could use bows and crossbows, so after thinking about it, he did not object to his father buying a few more people.
He used to be a little resistant to the human trafficking, but once things started, it didn't seem so difficult to accept.
In the near future, they will open two more workshops, which will require even more manpower. The food workshop can hire people to work, but the garment workshop will definitely need to hire people to do the technical work.
Originally, he had considered collaborating with the Zhang family on down jacket production technology. However, his adoptive father warned him that the Zhang family already had embroiderers and fabrics. If they learned how to make down jackets, they would likely leave them and start their own business. Therefore, rather than partnering with the Zhang family, it would be better for them to train a group of embroiderers and open their own garment workshop.
Because if there is a problem in the cooperation with the Zhang family, it will also affect the relationship between him, Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran.
So after thinking about it, Lu Mingfei felt that there was no need to share the technology with others for cooperation. It would be better to get the cloth directly from the Zhang family in the future, which could be regarded as a kind of cooperation with the Zhang family.
On the way back home, the family discussed some family matters and arrangements.
The candles in the lanterns emitted a dim light, illuminating their way home.
After returning home, everyone took turns to wash up. Lu Mingfei did not wait in line for the bathroom, but wrote out the answers to the college entrance examination in the study, preparing to take it to the private school to show the teacher tomorrow.
Originally, he, Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran had agreed to go to the teacher today, but who knew that something like that would happen in his hometown. Today he went out of town to find his father, so he was unable to go to the private school with Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran.
It would be fine if he went alone tomorrow.
Lu Youtian, who had just been worried about his eldest son not studying after the exam, felt distressed again when he saw his eldest son diving into the study to read and write as soon as he returned. After taking a shower and preparing to go back to bed, he did not forget to remind his eldest son who was writing in the room: "Mingfei, Dad is going to bed. You should go take a shower later. Don't write too late."
"Yeah, okay." Lu Mingfei responded without raising his head.
Everyone in the house went to bed, and the yard became quiet. Without the noisy sounds outside, he could focus more on what he was writing.
He kept writing until midnight, and only stopped when Zhao Lang came to find him.
After putting away the half-finished paper, he blew out the light in the study and followed Zhao Lang to the courtyard next door.
The yard here is small and not suitable for making too much noise, so when they came here, the two of them sat in the tea stall outside the yard to drink tea and chat.
Zhao Lang had already learned from the guards that Lu Mingfei and his father had returned to the village. Seeing Lu Mingfei looking unhappy, he probably knew the reason. Unable to bear seeing Lu Mingfei in such a state, he asked, "Do you need my help with your situation?"
"No need. Don't worry about it. It's none of your business." Lu Mingfei shook his head and looked at Zhao Lang and said, "I'm not talking about my cousin. I just have some things that are a bit annoying."
"Huh? What are you worried about?" Zhao Lang asked.
"I don't know either. My mind is a little confused, like a tangled mess that I can't untangle." Lu Mingfei looked at the people around him and smiled.
"It's so ugly. If you don't want to smile, don't force yourself." Zhao Lang raised his hand and pinched the boy's stiff face. He was a little disgusted that Lu Mingfei's face looked a little ugly when he smiled today.
"..." Lu Mingfei, "You're still making personal attacks?"
Zhao Lang laughed.
The two looked at each other, and Lu Mingfei couldn't help but smile before asking Zhao Lang, "When will your store open?"
"In a few days, on the emperor's birthday, I will send the fan to the palace for the emperor, and then our store will be open for business." Zhao Lang said.
"You're awesome!" Lu Mingfei gave Zhao Lang a thumbs up. The emperor's nephew was indeed awesome. He directly asked the emperor to be their spokesperson!
The next two people talked about gift-giving and the opening of a store.
The two of them had things to do the next day, so they didn't stay in the courtyard for too long that night. Lu Mingfei went back to his own yard next door to take a shower and sleep.
After sending Lu Mingfei back to the courtyard next door, Zhao Lang asked his guards to change his appearance, change his clothes, and leave the courtyard.
The bright white moonlight filled the entire Kyoto Prefecture. Except for the red-light district, most of Kyoto Prefecture was plunged into tranquility.
***
The next morning, Lu Mingfei got up early and finished writing down the answers he hadn't finished writing down the previous day. As it was almost noon, figuring that the private school's lunch break was almost over, he took his dictation paper and went to see his teacher at the private school.
Just like the previous two times, this time his teacher was very satisfied after looking at the answer sheet he wrote down from memory. He said that if nothing unexpected happened, he would definitely pass the college entrance examination.
Knowing that Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran had been here yesterday, he asked the teacher to take the answer sheets of Zhang Lingxuan, Ye Zhuoran, and the senior brother to take a look.
Afterwards, he talked with his teacher and their senior brother about future arrangements before leaving the private school.
Before the results of the college entrance examination were released, he planned to take a break. He had no plans to return to his teacher's school, nor was he in a hurry to find another academy willing to accept him. He believed that once the results of the college entrance examination were released, there would be many academies willing to accept him.
However, after discussing the admission requirements of the Imperial College with Zhao Lang, Lu Mingfei wanted to wait until the results of the college entrance examination were released to see if he could get in. However, he had not yet told his family about this matter, as he was worried that if his ranking was too low and he was unable to attend the Imperial College, it would disappoint his family.
Therefore, he wanted to wait until some things were confirmed before telling his family.
In the next few days, Zhao Lang was busy and they had little time to meet, so they were each busy with their own things.
Since he didn't have to study during this period, Lu Mingfei helped with the housework, which allowed his mother to have a break and relax. Otherwise, after he went to school, he might not have time to help with the housework.
His father and adoptive father went to the pawnshop and bought a few more people. They kept a few of them in the city to help with the work, and took the rest to work in the fields outside the city.
With a few more people helping out at home, he could feel that their whole family felt a lot more relaxed, especially his mother. She could delegate many things to the people below her and didn't have to do everything herself.
After the college entrance exam, Zhang Lingxuan and Ye Zhuoran didn't return to the private school. Everyone was waiting for the list to be released before making further arrangements. During this time, the three of them met up for tea outside twice.
During this time, he also received an invitation from their senior brother, but when he arrived, Lu Mingfei discovered that apart from their senior brother and Feng Muchun, there was no one else there. So he vaguely felt that Feng Muchun must have asked their senior brother to invite him out this time. Otherwise, if it was their senior brother who was treating, he would definitely invite him, Zhang Lingxuan, and Ye Zhuoran to come out together.
Although he had some thoughts about Feng Muchun, he would not show it in front of their senior brother.
He just ignored what Feng Muchun said. He answered the questions he could and found excuses to avoid the ones he didn't want to say.
Fortunately, after this time, his senior brother no longer called him out.
***
A few days passed like this, and it was the first day of June, the emperor's birthday.
Every year, the palace would hold a grand celebration on the emperor’s birthday, inviting royal relatives and ministers to the palace to attend the emperor’s birthday celebration.
Zhao Lang was also among the invited guests. This year, he brought a waterwheel-powered fan to the palace as a birthday gift for the emperor. Unsurprisingly, the waterwheel-powered fan he presented became the most eye-catching gift of the day.
When the emperor saw such novel things, he was very pleased and rewarded him with a lot of things on the spot.
On the second night after Zhao Lang entered the palace to present gifts, Lu Mingfei saw the rewards Zhao Lang had received from the palace at Prince Ding's mansion. Looking at the items on the table, he looked at Zhao Lang with some confusion. What was he doing? Putting so many things out for him to see?
But Zhao Lang's next words stunned him.
"for you."
"Huh? What? For me?"
Lu Mingfei looked at the man in surprise.
Meeting Zhao Lang's gaze, he suddenly understood, "Is this a reward from the palace?"
"Yeah." Zhao Lang nodded and told Lu Mingfei the origin of these things, "These things should be yours." Because the fan was designed by Lu Mingfei, he felt that these rewards should be given to Lu Mingfei.
"No, no, no. I have no place to put these things if I take them home. You should keep them." Lu Mingfei saw the valuable things on the table and was afraid that they would be stolen if he took them home.
Zhao Lang opened a wooden box on the table, took the pearl inside, glanced at it, and threw it back. He said with a bit of disgust, "This pearl is a bit small. I'll have someone send a box of larger South China Sea pearls over later. You can take them back and make jewelry for your mother."
"..." Lu Mingfei wanted to cover the man's mouth. Listen to what you are saying, do you know? Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support. Kisses! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading.
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