On April 25th, it was Fu Bao's 100-day celebration. Although Yun Chang was not there, Xu Changhuan still put on a lively and festive show for his son.
The head of the Xu family arrived with several of his disciples, as well as Xu Changle's family. In addition, people from the town who were on good terms with Yun Chang also came, and that day there were about ten tables of food served.
Zhou Quan and Lu Qian worked as Xu Changhuan's assistants, doing their best to help him.
There was still no news from Yun Chang. Several days later, a messenger delivered a letter and a small stone horse, saying that the prince had sent them back, but they were delayed on the way and arrived late.
Xu Changhuan thanked the messenger, rewarded him, and provided him with food and drink.
That evening, the messenger left.
Xu Changhuan read the letter, which still contained very little text. He only said that he would definitely come back to spend the New Year with his wife and son this year, and that he would give his son the little stone horse to play with, so that his father would know what his father was doing.
Xu Changhuan sighed, understanding his good intentions. When Fu Bao needed a toy, she would put the little horse in front of him and say that it was the first toy his father had given him.
So much so that when Fu Bao was learning to speak, he would call the stone horse "Dad" every time he saw it. After Yun Chang came back, he spent a long time competing with the little stone horse for the right to address it.
...
At the end of April, Zhou Tao and Lu Qian set a date for their marriage, which was to take place on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month.
The betrothal gifts were to be exchanged on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month.
Meanwhile, Zhou Heng's marriage was also settled; he fell in love with a seamstress who worked in an embroidery workshop.
That embroiderer is twenty years old this year. She was jilted by her fiancé. After the engagement was broken off, it was hard to say what other marriages would be possible. Her family was also unwilling to marry her off to someone else as a concubine.
She stayed at home all day, watching her parents' sorrow, and she felt sad too. When she heard that Limai was recruiting embroiderers, she came and became one.
Unexpectedly, she was very good at embroidery. After a few months, she bought a lot of things for the family, and her younger brother was able to go to school. Every day after school, her brother would come to pick up his sister and go home together.
When Zhou Heng heard that she was having trouble finding a husband after being jilted, he felt a sense of sympathy for her, as he had also jilted a marriage before. Therefore, he paid more attention to the girl named Wen Xiuhua.
Gradually, the two developed feelings for each other, but the girl didn't dare to say it. After all, Zhou Heng was a member of the family of the owner and also their manager. She was afraid of losing this good job, so even though she liked Zhou Heng, she kept it to herself.
Zhou Heng hadn't dared to do anything proactively, fearing that others would say something bad about Xiuhua.
Just then, when Zhou Quan was drinking with him, he asked him if he had someone he liked and what his future plans were. Zhou Heng then told Zhou Quan everything that was on his mind.
He said he still wanted to work with Zhou Quan and the others, and had never thought about starting his own business. He didn't know what he could do, so he figured he might as well follow them and do something he liked.
Now that he had made his choice, Zhou Quan explained his and his wife's plans and expectations for him.
Zhou Heng was overjoyed upon hearing this, "Okay, I'll listen to Brother Quan and Sister-in-law."
At this moment, Zhou Heng was extremely grateful for his decision to abandon his pride and take the initiative to visit Zhou Quan and Li Mai, expressing his desire to work for them.
Now that everyone has reached a consensus, things will be much easier.
Li Mai acted as matchmaker, arranging a marriage between Zhou Heng and Xiu Hua, and decided to hold the wedding in October this year.
After the engagement was finalized, Li Mai hosted a dinner party, inviting Zhou Heng's parents, sister, and Xiu Hua's family of three to a meal together. The two families met, had a meal, and discussed how to celebrate the wedding.
Li Mai said that they should discuss things together, and she would arrange Zhou Heng's wedding room.
The two families thanked Li Mai and Zhou Quan again after hearing this.
After Zhou Heng's marriage was settled, Zhou Quan also spoke with Manager Bai, asking him to keep an eye out for the two courtyards in Zhennan. If someone was selling, he could reserve them for him; several courtyards would be fine.
Zhou Quan had also settled everything in the village by mid-May.
Similar to Li Mai's plan, the group of people willing to come out and buy land are Zhou Zhong's group.
There were six people in total: Zhou Zhong, Zhou Huang, Zhou Tao, and Zhou Zhang. Zhou Cheng's parents wouldn't let him leave the village. He was their only son, so Zhou Cheng had no choice but to give up this opportunity.
Zhou Ermao and Zhou Erleng, having tasted the sweetness of growing flowers, no longer wanted all the trouble and just wanted to live a peaceful life in the village.
There are two others, Zhou Wenming and Zhou Jianshan, who also work for them in the village. These two men started working for Zhou Quan this year and are working in the dye house.
The other people working in the dyeing and weaving workshops didn't mention coming to town to buy land either. They felt that living in the village was fine and didn't want to go to the town to cause trouble. They had heard that there were many rich and domineering people in the town, and they were worried about losing their lives.
In addition, the families of Uncle Wangcai and Uncle Lincai have also made arrangements with Zhou Quan, wanting to buy a place in town.
Then there's the clan chief, Zhou Shizhou, who also wants to buy a place, wanting it next to Uncle Wangcai's. He plans to buy it for his son, who is studying in town.
There were nine families in total. Zhou Quan tallied the number of people and arranged a day with them to go to the government office to find someone to take them to choose a location.
They naturally chose the area next to Zhou Quan's house.
Apart from the clan chief and the three families of Wangcai and Lincai, the other six families could currently afford to buy land all at once, but after the purchase, they would have very little money left. So Zhou Quan had them all receive a year's wages in advance.
They were very grateful to Zhou Quan and Li Mai.
Li Mai said with a smile, "Although your lives will be a bit tight right now, you'll see in a few years, and you'll be grateful to me."
“Once our workshop is finished, if you also want to use those people to build your own courtyard, you can ask us for wages to build your houses first. Zhou Quan and I will support our fellow clansmen who are wholeheartedly working with us,” Li Mai said with a smile, offering them advice.
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