Yun Manyan put Xiao Youran down and kissed her on the cheek before happily saying, "Tianbai, you don't know, back in Sanyang Village, if it weren't for Sixth Sister, I almost would have married a fool. After I married Zhao Huai, everyone thought I had married an ordinary hunter, a peasant. Only Sixth Sister said that Zhao Huai would have a bright future. See, wasn't her word golden? Zhao Huai is now a sixth-rank Zhaowu Colonel, and just a few days ago he wrote a letter saying that he would return after receiving the imperial decree of reward!"
Hearing this, Yun Manyin felt a pang of jealousy.
Back then, she was in Sanyang Village because she disliked her older sister for marrying a peasant and worried that she would only be able to marry a farmer in the future. That's why she agreed to go back to Beijing with her mother. Who would have thought that this peasant would become a general?
She never expected that her mother's reputation would be so ruined after returning to the capital... Her marriage plans fell through several times, which made her extremely anxious.
Yun Tianbai then looked at Xiao Youran and asked, "What do you think my future holds?"
Xiao Youran silently turned around, "You are the eldest grandson of the Yun family, and you have distinguished yourself on the battlefield since childhood. Your father is currently requesting that you be granted the title of heir apparent. Isn't your future to inherit the title and become a duke?"
Yun Tianbai: ...
Absolutely no problem.
"Don't you want to be a duchess like your mother?" he blurted out.
Xiao Youran suddenly turned around, her eyes wide with horror, and said to Yun Manwan, "Big sister, has brother gone mad? I don't want to marry brother!"
Yun Manyan slapped Yun Tianbai and laughed, "Are you out of your mind? You're already engaged. Even if she's the future Duchess, it can only be that Miss Shi!"
Yun Tianbai looked at Xiao Youran angrily, his eyes filled with resentment, regret, and a trace of... reluctance.
Xiao Youran glanced at Yun Tianbai with pity, then turned and left.
Hmph, in her past life she was treated like an ATM, but in this life, she'll make him and his lover watch as she gets rich without ever getting a single penny of it!
After spring arrives, she has a lot to do.
The comprehensive trade market has been built and is ready to attract businesses.
She and her mother wrote the business notice together, and Lu Ning posted it in the name of the Prefect of Jingzhao.
In less than half a month, all the shops in the entire comprehensive trade market were rented out.
Lu Ning was so busy collecting rent that his hands were sore.
The lease term is three years, with the first month free. The rent is three months' rent plus a deposit of one month's rent. Just from this rent item alone, Lu Ning can immediately see the monthly income flow in the future.
Furthermore, this comprehensive trading market, with investment from the Jingzhao Prefecture, enjoys significant tax benefits. Merchants in the Great Zhou Dynasty typically pay a business tax of one-tenth, plus a poll tax. However, for the first three years at this comprehensive trading market, the poll tax is waived, and the business tax is reduced to one-fifteenth.
With the support of the Jingzhao Prefecture, merchants of all sizes from the entire capital city flocked to the area.
Meanwhile, as originally agreed, Xiao Youran rented five shops on a corner of the first floor of the entire comprehensive trade market, setting up a hot pot restaurant, a sauerkraut fish restaurant, a fast food restaurant, a snack shop, and a milk tea shop in a row.
Since Madam Su and Xiao Youran moved to the Duke's mansion, the number of people in the county princess's mansion has been greatly reduced. Zhao Mama is currently leading Madam Yang, Xiu'er, Qiao'er, and her two sons and daughters-in-law in a lively display of their skills.
Zhao's mother's two sons and their families all moved to Kyoto. She can be with her sons, daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren day and night, and she also has a career to pursue. She couldn't be happier.
On the other hand, the wasteland in the suburbs of Beijing provided by Wen Yuanbai was also developed into a food workshop.
Most of the displaced people returned to their homes after receiving the grain distributed by the government in the spring, and then received new grain seeds from the local county government.
However, a small percentage of the migrants stayed to work in the food workshops after they were built. This was especially true for some women who had been separated from their husbands.
They were hardworking and diligent, but at home they were already struggling to get enough to eat and wear, and were often beaten and scolded by their mothers-in-law and husbands. This time, fleeing the famine, they were completely despised or abandoned by their mothers-in-law and husbands. If they hadn't been begging on the outskirts of Beijing and found a construction site hiring, they probably would have starved to death long ago. Rather than dragging their bodies back home through countless hardships to continue being mistreated by their husbands' families, they thought it better to work hard in this workshop and at least earn a decent living.
...
Zhao Huai was appointed as a sixth-rank military officer. Apart from Yun Manwan, the happiest person in the Yun family was Old Madam Yun.
Madam Yun always felt that Yun Manwan was the one who had the worst fate since she was demoted back to her ancestral home last year.
Yun Manwan was originally engaged to the heir of the Duke of Ying, but she was later demoted back to her ancestral home, so the marriage, which was still far from being finalized, was naturally called off.
Upon arriving at Sanyang Village, Yun Manwan was forced to marry a poor young man under the unreasonable demands of Aunt Hua. Old Madam Yun always felt that this was the biggest mistake in the Yun family's great ordeal.
But things don't always go as planned. Oh no, Little Lucky Baby was right. Zhao Huai became famous overnight and became a sixth-rank military officer at a young age.
What a dramatic turn of events!
Although she wasn't a particularly prejudiced person, she couldn't bear to see her granddaughter suffer from poverty.
Now that she has received the imperial reward, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling for several days.
Moreover, in early March, another incident was revealed.
Last year, the heir of the Duke of Yingguo proposed to marry the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Zhongyong, with the engagement originally scheduled for early March. However, on the day of the engagement, a concubine, pregnant, knelt before the Marquis of Zhongyong's house, saying that she was three months pregnant and begged the mistress to give her a title after she entered the household.
That's absolutely hilarious!
The wife, who hasn't even entered the family yet, has to endure this kind of filth?
How could the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion swallow this insult? They immediately threw away the betrothal gifts and the matchmaker, and quickly canceled the marriage.
Upon learning of this, Yun Manwan felt a surge of relief.
If I had married a man like that back then, wouldn't I be the one suffering?
Where did that concubine get the courage to demand a formal title from the future mistress? Wasn't it because the prince spoiled her?
A few days later, I heard that the concubine accidentally slipped on the rainy road and fell down the stairs, killing herself and her child.
Once this news spread, those well-versed in the ways of the inner quarters understood that the matriarch of the Duke of Ying's mansion must have killed this ignorant concubine.
Yun Manyan felt even more frightened after hearing this. With such a ruthless mother-in-law, she wouldn't have a good life if she really married into the family.
As for Madam Su, as Yun Manwan's stepmother, she was naturally generous and directly bought a three-courtyard mansion and two shops across the street from the Yun residence and gave them to Yun Manwan.
The proper way to say it is to make up for the dowry given by my mother.
Yun Manyan felt as if she had been struck by a sudden, overwhelming joy.
When she came to her senses, she discovered that she not only had her own independent house with the dignified words "Zhao Residence" on the plaque, but also a large embroidery workshop with two storefronts.
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