Chapter 319 Return to the Court

Zhulan burst out laughing, "She was happy with the purchase, but she spent a lot of money. It hurts to spend so much money!"

Zhou Shuren, "............that's right!"

Zhulan, "........"

This person has a very narrow mind. He is very petty.

Ming Teng rushed in, "Grandma, grandma, what did you buy?"

Zhulan was used to her grandmother's words and pointed at the table with a smile, "There are little lanterns and sugar figures on it. You and Yulu can share them!"

Mingteng said "oh" and ran to the table happily to look at everything. Mingteng smiled in the same way as Li, and his eyes were almost gone from laughing.

Ming Teng held the sugar heart and thought to himself that it was best to follow his grandparents. They could play all the way to the capital city. There were so many fun things in the capital city. He must show off to Yu Shuang when he got back!

Xue Han came in holding Yu Lu, and Ming Teng waved to his sister, "Come here quickly."

Xue Han carried Yu Lu to the table, and Ming Teng distributed them to his sister one by one.

Zhulan looked at him with a smile on her face. It was good of this boy not to eat alone. He got the last one and obviously liked it very much but still gave it to his sister.

Mrs. Li would not think of buying toys for her son or daughter. Everything she bought was for her own use. What a generous mother!

Zhulan sent the two children out to play and asked Xuehan to record today's expenses.

Xue Han took a deep breath while keeping account and doing mental arithmetic, "Mom, I've spent fifteen taels today."

Zhulan smiled and said, "You can't calculate it like that. The food we bought today is a lot. It's enough for several months. It can't be counted as one day's spending."

Xue Han was still shocked and still felt that the cost of living in the capital was too expensive.

Zhulan took out some small change, put it in a small wooden box and handed it to Xuehan, "You will be in charge of the household expenses in the future. Oh, and you will also be in charge of the monthly allowances for Xinghua and the others."

Maids and servants also need to be paid monthly wages. Ma Qiang and Ma Wei can't help much, but they can't be treated unfairly. They get three hundred coppers a month. Ma Eryue and Xinghua get one hundred coppers more. Lichun and Yushui get three hundred and fifty coppers. Jing Chen follows Xue Han and gets two hundred coppers. Chunfen is too young to help, so he doesn't need to be paid monthly.

The Zhou family's monthly salary also increased. The four sons of Zhou Lao Da received one tael of silver per month, and the daughters-in-law also received one tael. The grandsons and granddaughters received half a tael of silver. Xue Han, the eldest lady, also received one tael of silver. Rong Chuan received the same as the others under Zhou Lao Da.

Speaking of monthly allowance, Zhulan thought of Mrs. Dong's monthly allowance, which was nothing like the monthly allowance of a lady from an official family. Later, she couldn't help but ask Mrs. Dong and found out that the monthly allowance was set by Old Lady Dong. Granddaughters received 50 cents and grandsons received 100 cents. In order to let his descendants know that earning money is not easy, the old man hoped that they would be frugal in the future.

Although the rules are good, there are countermeasures. Dong said that their children have never relied on monthly wages since they were young. The annual allowance is not small, but it is basically enough for a year.

The rules of the Dong family do have a certain effect. The children of the Dong family all know that their monthly allowance is small, and they remind themselves that money is not easy to come by every time they receive the monthly allowance.

Xue Han was a little excited. She was going to help her mother with the household. This was the first time she could help her mother since she was a child. "Mom, I will take care of it."

"Mother believes you."

Half an hour later, the eldest brother and his wife came back. Lunch was their first meal in the capital, and because the end of the war in the northwest was worth celebrating, Li bought a lot of meat and vegetables and prepared a sumptuous meal.

It was not yet winter, and there were plenty of green vegetables in the capital, including spinach, chrysanthemum, rapeseed, etc. Li bought some.

The capital city has the most varieties of meat. In the meat shops, as long as you have money, you can buy the meat you want. Deer meat is also available, but the price is very touching.

Li bought ten pounds of fat meat for frying, five pounds of pork belly, two pounds of lean meat, ten pounds of ribs, and ten pounds of mutton.

Li also wanted to buy lotus roots, but they were a bit expensive, so she didn't buy any.

I cooked eight dishes for lunch, with rice being the staple food.

Zhulan's family and the Ma family eat separately. Zhulan gives the Ma family one month's worth of food every month and provides them with vegetables every day, which the Ma family cooks for themselves.

The servants don’t eat like this now, but when there are more slaves in the future, there will be a special place for the servants to eat.

After lunch, there was still a lot of work to do. Fortunately, we brought Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, plus Xinghua and a few others, so Zhulan and Zhou Shuren didn't have to do anything. They just had to talk.

In the afternoon, all the lanterns that were bought were hung up, the grass in the yard had to be cleared, and the firewood in the woodshed had to be chopped.

Zhulan's family was busy for two days before they finally tidied up their house in the capital.

Just as the house was tidied up, the Zhou family received an invitation from Zhao Bo, who was coming to visit and introduce himself to the family.

On the second day, Zhao Bo did not come alone, he came with Deng Xiucai.

Mr. Deng came with a gift and said, "It has been a few months since we last met. Mr. Zhou has become a different person now. This small gift is not enough to show respect."

Zhou Shuren said politely, "It is a great gesture for Deng Xiucai to come here. Please take a seat."

Mr. Deng's eyes were shining, he really didn't expect that he didn't cheat Mr. Zhou for Zhao Bo's sake. Fortunately he didn't cheat him, this man has become a big shot in a few months, he is a big shot!

Zhao Bo smiled and said, "Brother Zhou's house is nice, much more exquisite than my courtyard."

Zhou Shuren, "It seems like I am quite lucky to have caught the eye of Brother Zhao."

Zhao Bo sighed, "It's more than good, Brother Zhou, please don't be so modest."

Zhou Shuren said humbly, "This is all thanks to Mr. Deng's help!"

Zhao Bo laughed, "Then you have to thank him very much. The price of the house will double in a few days!"

Zhou Shuren narrowed his eyes. Zhao Bo was well-informed. "Is the Northwest about to end?"

Zhao Bo lowered his voice, "Yes, it's over. The army is going back to the capital, and this time we captured a leader of a foreign tribe. It's a great victory."

He heard it from his clan lord who was an official in the court, and he was told that next spring's imperial examination might be related to the post-war period!

Zhou Shuren thought of the Yang brothers, and wondered what had happened to the three brothers.

At noon, Zhao Bo and Deng Xiucai had a meal and wine at Zhou's house. Zhulan did not ask Li to prepare any dishes, but directly prepared a hot pot of mutton and mushrooms.

Zhulan also ate hot pot in the backyard. Zhou Shuren saw it in the store and bought two. He used them today.

It was around three o'clock in the afternoon when Zhao Bo and Deng Xiucai left.

Zhou Shuren also drank a lot. It was obvious that he was trying to get information out of him. Otherwise, Zhou Shuren wouldn't drink so much. Zhulan wiped Zhou Shuren's face with a handkerchief. "What did you get out of him?"

Zhou Shuren shook his head, "Mr. Deng did get a lot out of me. Zhao Bo is tight-lipped. He will say what he wants to say, but he won't say what he doesn't want to say if he's drunk."

But what he wanted to get out of Zhao Bo's mouth. It seemed that Zhao Bo had also received training and was much more strict with his mouth than before.

Zhu Lan said, "Zhao Bo brought Mr. Deng with him for something, right?"

Zhou Shuren nodded, "Yes, Zhao Bo wants to buy a yard from our family. The price is based on the current market price."

Zhulan paused while washing the towel, "Doesn't Zhao Bo have a place to live?"

(End of this chapter)