Chapter 1492: Gaining Multiple Benefits with One Action

Zhou Shuren hasn't checked auspicious dates for a long time as he has been too busy recently.

Lord Yu was very clear about it. He and his wife wrote down the nearest auspicious days. "The nearest auspicious day is seven days from now. There are no more auspicious days this month."

Zhou Shuren understood Lord Yu's thoughts. He didn't mention other auspicious dates, but only the nearest one. He wanted to get engaged as soon as possible. "Lord Yu has also seen that due to patriarchal thinking, many lords have been dissatisfied with my wife's private orphanage and have attacked me one after another. There are too many people waiting to see me laugh so as to add insult to injury. Are you sure you want to get engaged?"

Lord Yu naturally saw it clearly, but he trusted Zhou Hou and repeatedly challenged Zhou Hou, and Zhou Hou always won. "I am sure."

Zhou Shuren stopped and looked directly into Lord Yu's eyes. "I hate people who stab me in the back the most. If anyone betrays me, I will make them die miserably. Do you understand?"

Lord Yu was stunned. It was the first time he heard Lord Zhou speak so seriously. Lord Zhou had always been smiling. He was startled. He had seen how vengeful Lord Zhou was. He calmed down and said, "I understand. I think clearly."

A smile slowly crept onto Zhou Shuren's serious face. "Then seven days later, I think seven days later is a good time."

Lord Yu exhaled and stood up straight, "I will send someone to tell my wife when I leave the palace that everything will be prepared."

Zhou Shuren nodded, turned around and continued walking, saying casually, "Your business department is very short of people."

Lord Yu sighed and said, "We are indeed short of people."

Zhou Shuren narrowed his eyes, "The Ministry of Revenue is also short of people!"

The Ministry of Commerce was originally separated from the Ministry of Revenue, and now many backbones of the Ministry of Commerce are former officials of the Ministry of Revenue.

Lord Yu didn't understand, "What does the Marquis mean?"

Zhou Shuren lowered his head and said, "In fact, we can train some people and select them from the candidates. What do you think?"

Lord Yu now understood that the Marquis wanted the Ministry of Commerce to speak up. The Ministry of Commerce was indeed the most in need of people, and the various state offices were not fully staffed. "I'll take note of this."

Zhou Shuren didn't say anything else. After talking for a while, he felt a little cold in his stomach due to the gust of wind.

Zhou Shuren wanted to find some things for the Wen family to do while selecting some talents. Some people did not pass the imperial examination not because of their inability. The base of people selected was larger than that of the imperial examination candidates, and there were many talents.

Now each ministry has its own division of responsibilities. In fact, each ministry is short of staff, but the Ministry of Revenue is even more short of staff.

Moreover, the grasslands were now divided into states, which also required a large number of officials. His move achieved multiple goals at one stroke.

At the Zhou family, Zhulan wanted to go out of the city to visit the manor in person, and she would definitely take Li with her. To her surprise, Yuwen also wanted to go.

The whole family looked at Yuwen in surprise, and Yuwen blushed.

Zhulan said, "It's rare to see you so diligent."

Yuwen felt that she had found her goal. She was born at the destination her grandmother had described. She had a good family background and money, but she was not interested in anything else. Her grandmother's job made her desireless heart come alive. "Grandma, your granddaughter wants to help you."

Zhulan was very happy that Yuwen was interested in the orphanage, "Okay, let's go take a look."

Yudie and Yuyi also spoke up. Zhulan was not planning to bring all her granddaughters with her. One would be enough. Her granddaughters would help her behind the scenes. She would not let her granddaughters help her openly until she had established a complete system and gained recognition.

Taking care of a granddaughter now can be understood as worrying about her taking care of her, but if she takes care of her for too long, it will inevitably make people think too much.

The several manors given by the Queen were carefully considered. The manors were not far from the capital, and it only took an hour and a half to get there after leaving the city. The person in charge of the construction of the manors was Steward Wang.

Zhulan got off the carriage and saw the busy people. "Have you hired a lot of people?"

Steward Wang replied, "The strong men from the two nearby villages have all come here, all for food."

Nowadays, short-term workers are rarely paid with food. Zhulan gave me food as settlement, so it was all paid.

Zhulan pointed at the person squatting in the distance and asked, "What's going on?"

Steward Wang said, "The farm is settled with grain, and now every household is short of food. Those who have no work to do are just waiting for their chance!"

Li said, "Didn't they say that the people near the capital city have some food supplies?"

Steward Wang explained, "We did have some capital, but we couldn't resist the grain merchants' repeated price increases, so we sold some grain to a certain extent."

Li exhaled and could still see the white mist, "This weather is really cold."

Steward Wang cannot understand the suffering of the common people. He is the steward awarded to the Marquis' Mansion by the Emperor. Originally, the Zhou family had a low official position, and he felt like he was dreaming all these years. Now that it is the Marquis' Mansion, his life has become better. Although he is not the head steward, he still has a lot of face in the capital.

If the old lady hadn't asked him to be in charge before the prince returned, he wouldn't have to suffer any punishment.

They started taking in orphans yesterday and already have fifteen orphans. Zhulan checked the progress first before going to see the children.

Steward Wang said along the way: "Some of the children came here on their own after hearing the news. The older ones wanted to help build the house, but the younger ones refused. These children are now skinny."

These children have thin arms and legs, and he is afraid that they might get into accidents.

Zhulan saw a few children helping the farmer wash sweet potatoes and prepare lunch. The manager was about to speak, but Zhulan stopped him and said, "I'll just take a look."

When the children saw her, they hurriedly stood up. Zhulan was already wearing very modest clothes when going out, but the material of the clothes was still there. This was a difference in status, and the children were afraid.

The dozen or so children were indeed very thin, not tall, and severely malnourished. The oldest looked to be around ten years old, and the youngest was around seven. There were not many girls, but more boys.

Zhulan was in a very heavy mood. In ancient times, children were prone to dying, and young orphans had no choice but to die. Girls were even more vulnerable. But those who survived were all strong-willed, which made her feel better.

When Zhulan donated supplies, she donated a lot of fish. She has a fish farm at home and the fish are stored in an ice cellar. Now that the weather is not cold, she donated more. "Let's add an extra fish soup to lunch today."

The children need nourishment, and fish soup is the only fishy food. There is a shortage of meat in the market, and there is no meat in the donated supplies.

Because fish soup was added today, everyone was happy.

Zhulan looked around the manor carefully and was satisfied with Butler Wang's ability to do his job, so she left without staying long.

When I got home, Steward Ding was waiting at the door. He said with a happy face, "Second Master Liu just sent a deer and a sheep."

Zhulan was delighted, "Good fellow, this is a rare and good thing."

Steward Ding said, "Second Master Liu went hunting today and hunted two deer, so he sent one over specially. The sheep were raised on the Liu family farm, and he said that Third Young Miss likes to eat mutton, so he picked the fattest one and sent it over specially."

Zhulan paused and said, "That's thoughtful."

Butler Ding was in high spirits. Every time Young Master Liu came to the house, he would mention how the King of Qin respected the Marquis. Young Master Liu took it very seriously. Although he looked pained when he left, he was really good to the Third Miss.