"Xu Chong? Why are you bringing him up?" Lu Qian asked in surprise.
"We heard that the Xu family has a daughter who is also fifteen or sixteen years old?" Li Mai asked again.
Upon hearing this, Lu Qian quickly sat up straight and assured them, "Brother and sister-in-law, please don't overthink it. Although our family knows the Xu family, we are not familiar with them and have not had much contact. In fact, we can be considered rival families. I have no relation to their young lady. I have never even met her, and the two families have never discussed marriage. Really, if you don't believe me, you can come to my house and ask my parents."
Lu Qian was terrified. Was someone spreading rumors about him and that Miss Xu? But he really didn't know her at all.
Not to mention Miss Xu, he wasn't very familiar with either of the two young masters of the Xu family.
Because they don't associate with the Xu family and they don't inquire about the Xu family's affairs, Lu Qian is currently unaware that the Xu family's daughter has taken a liking to Zhou Lin.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly. "We weren't talking about you. We just got back and received an invitation from the eldest son of the Xu family. We asked Xiao Tao and found out that the young lady of the Xu family might have taken a liking to our Xiao Lin. But we really don't know much about the Xu family, and the young master and young lady of the Xu family know even less. That's why we were just about to ask you. What were you thinking?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Qian patted his chest in fright, "You scared me to death! I thought someone was trying to ruin my reputation by saying bad things about me and Miss Xu in front of you."
"I don't know Xu Chong, the eldest son of the Xu family, well, but I've heard some friends say that he's a good person, quite loyal, and also good at business. He's resourceful and intelligent. He manages his family's restaurants and inns, and his family also has restaurants and inns in Yongzhou."
"There's not much talk about Miss Xu outside. All we know is that she seems to have learned some basic business skills from her father. It's said that she's in charge of the family's rouge business, but we don't know for sure."
"As for her age, I remember she should be sixteen or seventeen this year. Because our two families' restaurant businesses conflict and we consider each other rivals, we have basically never interacted, let alone cooperated on any business."
Lu Qian told him everything he knew.
“Oh, I understand, thank you. Let’s go home and ask Xiaolin for his opinion. If he doesn’t object, we’ll go to the appointment tomorrow. If Xiaolin isn’t interested, then we won’t go and will return to the village to deliver the rice as planned tomorrow morning,” Li Mai said to Zhou Quan.
Zhou Quan nodded in agreement; he thought so too.
In the evening, after the siblings returned home and finished dinner, Zhou Lei and Nan Su hurriedly said goodbye and left, as they were going back to practice their Rubik's Cube.
Zhou Tao was about to say goodbye and go back to practice the piano before everyone rested, but Li Mai stopped her, "Xiao Tao, Xiao Lin, wait a bit, your brother and sister-in-law have something to say."
After rinsing her mouth with Zhou Quan's help, Li Mai invited her younger siblings to a small table to drink tea and discuss matters.
Zhou Tao and Zhou Lin exchanged a glance and followed.
"Xiao Tao, let me tell you about your matter first. Your sister-in-law has inquired about your situation today. Your master is willing to take you in and teach you to play the zither. However, this is only for before the end of the year. She will be leaving the town next year. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, your sixteenth brother and sister-in-law will send you there to learn the zither."
"As for the shop, teach Zhou Heng more these next few days so he can start managing it. For the first few days, go there to learn the zither for half a day each day, and come back to manage the shop and teach Zhou Heng for the other half. Once you've arranged things here, you need to go back and get the dye shop up and running. Starting in September, you can go there to learn every day, and then you can come back to the shop."
"Also, we've decided to move to the mansion at the end of August. As for the exact date, we're not sure yet. We'll let you know once we've set a specific date."
"Yes, thank you, sister-in-law, thank you, brother." Zhou Tao was overjoyed to hear that she had found a teacher to learn the zither. Fortunately, she had been managing the shop for so long and had developed a steady personality. Hearing this good news, her smile became even brighter.
“Okay, then go ahead!” Li Mai said to Zhou Tao with a smile.
"Hehe, I'm going to practice the piano now!" Zhou Tao said, bowing to Li Mai. She was so happy. She never expected her sister-in-law to care so much about her, buying her a piano and hiring a teacher for her.
Zhou Lin smiled along. They all knew how good their sister-in-law was to them, but they wondered why she wanted to keep them here.
Seeing his elder brother and sister-in-law look at him after Zhou Tao left, Zhou Lin suddenly tensed up, waiting for Li Mai to speak.
But unexpectedly, it was the eldest brother who spoke first.
"Today, Xu Chong, the eldest son of the Xu family, sent an invitation to your sister-in-law and me, inviting us to meet at Tian Shun Zhai tomorrow at noon. This matter should be related to you, right?" Zhou Quan always spoke frankly to Zhou Lin; they were brothers, so there was no need to beat around the bush.
Zhou Lin was stunned for a moment, then helplessly covered his forehead.
“Your sister-in-law and I haven’t decided whether to go or not. It depends on what you think. If you say we can go and meet them, then we’ll go tomorrow as agreed. If you say we shouldn’t go, then we won’t go.” Zhou Quan raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.
Zhou Lin pursed his lips, neither saying "Don't go" nor "You guys go!"
Li Mai glanced at Zhou Quan, then asked Zhou Lin with a smile, "Xiao Lin, I heard from Xiao Tao that you've met that Miss Xu. What's going on? Why is the entire Xu family so interested in a marriage alliance with our family?"
"That day, after I finished cleaning up my shop, I took Nan Su to eat at a steamed bun shop on that street. On the street, we met a little girl who seemed to be followed by a beggar who was asking her for money. Even after the girl gave him money, he still followed her. I couldn't stand it and was worried that the beggar had bad intentions, so I went up to her and pretended to know her, asking her to wait for me."
"Then the beggar left, and the girl thanked me. Knowing that Nan Su and I were going to eat steamed buns, she even offered to treat us to steamed buns. I refused and told her to go home quickly. She said that her family's shop was just ahead, and she had come to take a look."
“After I dropped her off at the entrance of her family’s rouge shop, I took Nan Su to eat steamed buns. I had no idea that she was a young lady from the Xu family, nor did I know that the shop belonged to the Xu family, let alone that there would be these things to come. A few days later, the Xu family came to my shop and bought two cabinets and a few stools, which I delivered to their residence.”
"I saw that girl in the manor and realized she was Miss Xu." Zhou Lin finished speaking quietly, then looked at Li Mai, "I'm sorry, sister-in-law, did I cause you any trouble because of my meddling?"
Li Mai smiled and said, "It's no trouble. If this Miss Xu is a good person, you might just find yourself a wife. If she has a bad temper, then since the Xu family has set this precedent, we should at least respond."
"I'll leave everything to my sister-in-law. As for that young lady from the Xu family, she seems kind-hearted, but I don't know what kind of person she is behind the scenes," Zhou Lin nodded.
Li Mai smiled. "So, if the person is decent, you're willing to marry into the Xu family?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
