Chapter 386: Smart

Zhou Lao Da was relieved to see that his mother was fine. He also saw that his mother was looking at the port as if she was looking for someone, "Mom, are you looking for my second brother?"

Zhu Lan blinked her eyes, "I think I saw Wang Ru just now."

Boss Zhou had a deep impression of Wang Ru. He couldn't forget her even if he wanted to. Many of the things he used and ate were related to Wang Ru. "Mom, wasn't she kidnapped?"

He always thought that Wang Ru was dead. He was not stupid. Wang Ru had too many secrets. People with too many secrets usually die quickly.

Zhulan naturally remembered, "I saw her just now, and she seemed to be disfigured."

There is a long scar on her face. If Zhulan hadn't paid so much attention to Wang Ru, she would have almost not recognized her. She didn't know how she got the scar.

Boss Zhou looked at the distance between the deck and the port market, "Mom, are you seeing things?"

Isn't it said that as you get older your eyesight gets blurry? Mom must have seen it wrong.

Zhulan withdrew her gaze from looking for Zao, "Maybe."

Boss Zhou thought that his mother had seen her wrongly. He didn't believe that they would meet by such a coincidence. Besides, his mother hadn't seen Wang Ru for a long time. How could she recognize Wang Ru?

Zhulan's intuition told her that it was Wang Ru. She didn't know what Wang Ru had experienced, nor did she know how Wang Ru ran, but from what she saw, she knew Wang Ru was really smart. There was a boy following Wang Ru, who seemed to be four or five years older than Wang Ru. The two of them were carrying bamboo baskets and picking out homespun cloth, talking and laughing. She could see that the boy's bamboo basket was filled with heavy items, while Wang Ru's was filled with cloth.

Wang Ru's smile was something she had never seen before. The smile on her face came from the bottom of her heart and was not concealed at all.

Zhulan thought, if she really didn't recognize the wrong person, this would be fine. As long as Wang Ru was content with an ordinary life and could live smartly in the future, the Zhou family and Wang Ru would no longer have any entanglement.

The ship's docking time was over, and Zhou Laoer bought a lot of fruits and came up, "Mom, I tasted the bananas and they are quite sweet. I bought some for you to taste."

Zhulan looked at the ripe bananas. These ripe bananas were all processed by the fruit merchants on the ship. Zhulan broke off one and said, "You guys eat one too."

Two days later, Zhulan got off the boat. She had been on the boat for seven days and finally stepped on the ground.

Zhulan bought a lot of things, so she came in four carriages and hired two more carriages for the return trip.

The further north they went, the colder the weather became. Zhulan put on a cotton cloak. Many of the pears and other fruits she brought back were frozen. Zhulan's college classmates were from the north, and there were frozen pears in the north. Even if the pears were frozen slowly, they were still edible.

A lot of the vegetables were damaged by the freeze, so we had to hurry back to the city.

Zhulan continued on her way. In the imperial palace in the capital, the emperor drank medicine while listening to the crown prince reading out the news reported from various places. He had to read it at the end of every year, and it contained information on officials of all sizes in various states.

It was the first time the prince had contact with this group, and he suppressed the passion in his heart. This was a secret known only to the emperor. The summarized information contained all the news about officials breaking the law and disorderly conduct in various places. He did not dare to guess or think why his father had allowed him to have contact with this group.

But he can't control his own heart. Isn't your father afraid that he will know the weaknesses of officials in various places and then control the ministers behind your back?

The emperor drank the medicine slowly and seemingly nonchalantly, but he was always paying attention to the prince. The emperor hid the deep meaning in his eyes, and when he mentioned Zhou Shuren from Lizhou City, he almost swallowed the water he used to rinse his mouth.

The prince read it again carefully and found that he was right.

The emperor held out his hand and said, "Let me see it."

The prince handed it to his father, and thought to himself that he was truly impressed by Lord Zhou.

The emperor read through it quickly and said, "Why do I feel that our Lord Zhou is really a waste of his talent in Lizhou. He lost 20,000 taels of silver with just a few words. What a talent!"

The Crown Prince also thinks he is talented, but as a Crown Prince he is short of money. Although he is well-dressed, they are all prepared by the palace. The furnishings in his home are indeed antiques, but unfortunately they are gifts and cannot be sold. He cannot use the Crown Princess's dowry, as he cannot afford to lose face. He has finally made some income, which is barely enough for him to spend!

The money he currently has was all obtained from Yao Zheyu. His father was ruthless to Yao Zheyu, so he had no need to be polite. The Yao family was like a gold mountain, and his hands would be itchy if he didn't cut some off. But compared with Yao Zheyu and Lord Zhou, Yao Zheyu was not good enough. He felt that Lord Zhou was even better at cheating people out of money!

The emperor saw that the jade he had given as a gift had been carved into jewellery by Zhou Shuren. He muttered to himself that he was a spendthrift, but he also felt that such a man was quite good. From the information he had investigated, he knew that Zhou Shuren really loved his wife, and he would feel more at ease using people who had weaknesses.

In Zhoujia Village, the New Year gift that Zhulan sent to her hometown also arrived. Ma Eryue did not go back to the Li family's house to see his parents first, but went directly to the old house to see the eldest lady.

After reading the instructions in her mother's letter, Xuemei asked hurriedly, "Are you all right, Dad and Mom?"

Er Yue said respectfully, "Hello, Master and Madam."

Xuemei believed that Ma Eryue would not lie to her, and she did not even look at the clothes and jewelry her mother gave her. Seeing that it was getting late, she asked, "Do you want to stay and rest, or go back to the house in Lijia Village?"

Ma Eryue said, "I will go back to the house in Lijia Village to see my parents and come over early tomorrow morning."

Xuemei said, "Then I won't keep you."

"yes."

Xuemei waited for Ma Eryue to leave and asked her daughter to look after her two younger brothers. She packed the New Year gifts prepared by her mother separately for each family, and moved Ma Eryue from her family into the house.

Xuemei touched the silver in the box. She had originally planned to look for a piece of land and build a house after the New Year, and her mother sent her the silver. She also thought that if the money was not enough, she could sell one or two pieces of jewelry.

Xuemei missed her mother even more. Although her mother was not in her hometown, she was always thinking about them. She said that the money she gave them was New Year's money, but in fact it was just supplementary money.

Xuemei took out the apples, some of which were frostbitten. Xuemei planned to eat them later in the evening. The frostbitten ones were still edible. She took out the good apples and put them in the house to warm them up. She would give the ones to the children when they were no longer cold.

After Xuemei had packed her things, Jiang Sheng came back with his son.

Jiang Sheng saw the carriage in the yard and asked, "Is this a New Year gift from my mother?"

Xuemei smiled and nodded, "Yes, they were escorted back in February. I have already packed up our family. The rest are the clan leader's family, the eldest and second sister-in-law's families, the third brother's wife's family, and your family."

Jiang Sheng was stunned, but soon came to his senses and held his wife's hand. His mother-in-law always considered his wife, and this year's New Year gift from the Jiang family was also for his wife's sake.

After my father-in-law became an official, the meaning of the New Year gifts became different. When the Jiang family received the New Year gifts, it not only acknowledged the Jiang family's marriage, but also gave the Jiang family a certain degree of protection. The surrounding villages would not bully the Jiang family for the sake of my father-in-law's face.

As for whether the Jiang family would use his father-in-law's reputation to do bad things, after Jiang Sheng heard his wife talk about the New Year gift to the Jiang family, he knew that he didn't have to worry, because his mother-in-law had considered everything.

Jiang Sheng felt that his parents loved him the most by marrying Xuemei for him. "Thank you."

Xuemei smiled, "My parents are also your parents, no need to thank them."

Time passed quickly, Zhulan had passed Chuanzhou and entered Lizhou. Zhulan sent someone back to the mansion to notify.

(End of this chapter)