At noon, Zhou Heng arrived; he came directly to the shop.
After Zhou Quan told him about the job and wages he had arranged for him, Zhou Heng couldn't believe it. The money she was given was the same as Zhou Tao's.
Li Mai explained this to him.
Zhou Heng understood. It meant that he should be Xiao Tao's assistant. Xiao Tao would manage the shop, sell the goods, and handle the work done by the embroiderers. He would take care of the miscellaneous tasks and physical labor in the shop.
"Sister-in-law, isn't three taels of silver too much for such a small thing?" Zhou Heng felt that it must be Brother Quan and his sister-in-law taking care of him. Three taels a month, and he could earn thirty-six taels a year. Such wages were something he never dared to dream of.
Zhou Quan smiled and said, "Let's leave it at that for now. There are no empty rooms in my courtyard right now, so you'll have to arrange your own accommodation. You should rent a place nearby first. Once we move to the mansion in the north, there will be empty rooms in the courtyard in the east for the workers to live in."
Zhou Heng nodded, "Okay, I'll go out and inquire in a bit." He hadn't really dared to ask them to provide him with food and lodging again.
At this moment, Xiao Er Qiu Hu said, "I have an empty room in my yard that you can rent. Do you want to go and take a look? It's not far from here."
Zhou Quan asked him, "The main house or the south-facing house?"
“It’s a west wing room. My brother used to live there before he got married. After he got married, my father built another courtyard for him, and my brother’s room became empty. Now it’s used to store some odds and ends. There’s a kang (heated brick bed), so it’s not cold inside when you light a fire. There’s also a stove inside where you can cook, but it’s missing a pot,” Qiu Hu said.
Li Mai nodded, "Then you can go and take a look now. If it's habitable, bring some people to help tidy it up in a bit, and Aheng can move in tonight."
Zhou Quan responded and led Zhou Heng to Qiu Hu's house.
An hour later, they returned and said the room was ready to stay. Zhou Quan had already paid three months' rent for the room. Qiu Hu's parents were very happy and were now helping to paste new paper on the windows. The room had already been tidied up.
Zhou Heng will go buy grain, bowls, chopsticks, pots, pans, and other necessities in a little while.
Upon hearing this, Li Mai immediately instructed Zhou Tao to give Zhou Heng three taels of silver and then had Li Dong take him to buy food.
As for bedding and pillows, the embroiderers upstairs can make him a set later.
After they returned with their purchases, Li Mai arranged for the embroiderers to make bedding and pillows for Zhou Heng.
Afterwards, Zhou Quan and Li Mai set up a table at the Yingxiang Restaurant next door to welcome Zhou Heng.
Zhou Heng was very grateful to Brother Quan and his wife for taking him in and helping him.
He said he would definitely do his job well, listen to Zhou Tao, and help her take good care of the shop.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan instructed him to first work diligently with them, learn to recognize various fabrics, learn to sell goods, and learn how to manage a shop. Once he had learned these skills, they would teach him how to do business.
If he is interested in starting his own business in the future, he should humbly and earnestly learn about all the things he encounters now.
Zhou Heng agreed, saying that he would definitely study hard.
After the meal, Zhou Heng wanted to return the money Zhou Quan had paid for his room to Zhou Quan, but Zhou Quan said he would pay it back slowly later and that he could use the money first.
Three months would only amount to nine hundred coins, not much, and he didn't intend to take it.
Qiu Hu's parents were honest people; they only asked for 300 coins a month for rent.
They said Qiu Hu was happy working in their shop because the owners were good, and they, as parents, felt at ease. The wages were also very high. Now that Zhou Heng lives alone, they don't expect to make a fortune from that one room.
Zhou Quan thanked them and readily paid them one tael of silver. He also asked them to give him another one hundred coins to arrange for someone to deliver charcoal to Zhou Heng.
Qiu Hu's parents naturally agreed and even offered to help paste new paper on the windows.
After Zhou Heng's affairs were settled, Zhou Quan and Li Mai were relieved.
After lunch, Li Mai and Zhou Quan took a horse-drawn carriage back to the village. After seeing them off, Li Dong had to come back, as he also had to pick up and drop off Zhou Tao at the shop every day.
Zhou Quan asked him to come back in three days, and Li Dong agreed.
The Zhou family elders were overjoyed when they learned that Li Mai was pregnant.
When she learned that the couple would be staying in the village with Zhuzhu for a while, Zhao personally went over to help Zhou Quan clean their house. After cleaning, she let it air out for most of the day before letting Li Mai go back to rest.
After hearing that Li Mai felt nauseous from the smell of oily food, Zhao told her to let Li Mai rest more. She personally cooked special meals for Li Mai every day, making food that Li Mai could eat.
Having given birth to several children, she naturally knew what foods would make her feel comfortable and prevent nausea at this time.
At dinner, Zhou made sweet bean buns and cooked red bean porridge for Li Mai.
After eating the quinoa, Zhao was relieved that she didn't feel nauseous, knowing that she didn't feel uncomfortable eating sweet things.
Starting from the second day, Li Mai officially entered the morning sickness period. Although she did not feel nauseous when eating sweets, she would gag and vomit up undigested food in her stomach a while after meals.
Feeling sorry for Li Mai, Zhao went to find some sour food. She asked around and found out that some families in the village ate sour porridge every day. Zhao went there, got a bowl of sour liquid from them, soaked rice in it, and made sour porridge for Li Mai that evening.
Li Mai didn't dare to eat too much, only half a bowl. After finishing, she felt a little better in her stomach.
Seeing this, Zhao told Zhou Quan that since Xiaomai was feeling unwell, eating sour foods might help, so she asked him to go out and see what sour foods he could get.
The only sour food they can find here is apricots, but at this time of year, apricots are probably no longer available.
But Zhou Quan still wanted to go out and try his luck.
Seeing that Li Mai had drunk half a bowl of sour porridge in the morning without feeling nauseous or gagging, Zhou Quan told her to rest at home more before going out to ask people which village had the most apricot trees.
People told him that there were many apricot trees in Nanshan Village, so Zhou Quan went to Nanshan Village.
Zhou Lin went to his master's place after returning to Nanshan Village. He's there now and might be able to help!
With this in mind, Zhou Quan used his spiritual power to fly through the forest and quickly head towards Nanshan Village.
However, Zhou Quan did not expect that as soon as he entered the courtyard of Master Zhou Lin's house, he heard shouts and cries coming from inside the house.
What's wrong?
Zhou Quan heard the voice crying and calling for his master, and it was Zhou Lin. He rushed to the room.
When Zhou Quan pushed open the door, he saw everyone kneeling in front of the bed. The old man was lying on the bed with his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide open, as if he was about to take his last breath.
Everyone was surprised that someone would come at this time, and they all turned around to look at Zhou Quan while crying.
Zhou Lin was taken aback, then jumped up, wiping away his tears, and asked, "Big brother, what brings you here?"
"I need to talk to you. What happened to Grandpa Nan?" Zhou Quan asked.
At this moment, the old man's eldest son, who was also the son of the old man who had visited the Zhou family, choked up and said, "My father was angered to death by my unfilial son!"
Zhou Quan quickly went to the bedside to examine the old man's eyes, and at the same time raised his palm to place on the old man's pulse point.
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